Page 96 of Neon Flux

“DITA, you have everything loaded up?” I whispered into my Vysor.

“Everything is ready, E. My offline version is loaded as well for when you’re out of network. All the modules you asked for.”

“Good.”

I wasn’t wearing much—just a black bodysuit with Stellarium stitching and an overload of cutouts, a negligible mini skirt, and knee-high boots with reinforced knee pads. This outfit had killed at Hellfire and still let me dance without pain. It made sense to me for the heist.

Cy was eyeing me up and down, his face unreadable, then rolled his shoulder.

“You told me you got that taken care of.” I glared at his shoulder like I could see the implant through his skin.

“I did. All shiny and new now. Procedure left me sore, that’s all.”

I tapped my nails against the side of my Vysor. I wanted to reach out and grab him, feel our Flux merge again so I could check if he was lying. I wanted to feel his power pulse against me. I wanted to feel that resonance between us that haunted my dreams. But I couldn’t. He warned me not to use my Flux too close to the Den, in case they detected it. He eyed me up and down again as I did the same to him.

“Got your little vibrator all safe and sound?” he asked with that impossibly annoying grin.

“Shut up. We’re about to cross into their cage.”

He gave a sarcastic salute. “You got it, boss.” He swung his hand around and looped it around my waist, pulling me in tight. “Time to play the clueless slut.” His fingers dug into my skin, and I knew he was trying to rile me up.

Well, two could play that game.

I leaned in close, my lips a whisper against the skin below his ear. “Whatever you say, corpo.” I tugged on his earlobe with my teeth, and he tried to suppress his shudder—but his spike of Flux gave him away.

“Hey, behave yourself. This isn’t a game.” He was surprisingly serious, and I saw my opportunity.

“And if I don’t want to play nice?”

I barely had time to throw my hands up as he slammed me face-first into the wall beside us. He pressed his elbow between my shoulder blades and twisted my arm up behind my back.

“That hurts!”

“Doll, I’ve barely even started,” he whispered right in my ear, his breath so hot against my skin that the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. “You step one toe out of line, and I’ll have you crying my name, tears streaming down those beautiful cheeks. Just like I dream about every night.”

“Fuck off, corpo!” I shoved back against him—which was a terrible idea, since it just pressed my ass into the bulge now straining against his pants.

“God, I love it when you talk dirty.” He pressed forward into me, and I hated my treacherous body for lighting up when he did.

“Everything okay—there?”

We both froze as Maddox’s voice came through the comms, broken up but clearly audible.

Cy released me immediately. “Yeah, we’re all good. Just reminding Eon that this is a dangerous place. She should stick to the role she knows.”

I should’ve just walked away. Let him play with his violent friends if this was how he was going to act. Then the Stellarium lights in the corridor blinked off and on with an ominousthunk.

Cy’s face went hard. “They know we’re here. No turning back now.”

He wrapped his arm around my waist again and pulled me down the darkening tunnel. He leaned in and whispered in my ear, “No matter what happens, don’t get separated from me.” A warning as much as a command.

We circled some debris and went through a chain-link fence someone had slashed open, reaching a fairly nondescript door.

A small screen lit up. The face on it barely looked human, distorted by some filter into something resembling a Kitsune mask. The jaw was lengthened and filled with sharp, overly large fangs. As he spoke, flames gushed out between them, floating up over the prominent eyebrows that swept up into pointed ears.

I could just barely make out the Japanese under the real-time translation my Vysor fed to me.

“The fuck you want, Cy?”