Page 32

EON

M y wrists were burning. I’d been tugging at the restraints on and off for the last few hours, but all it had done was rub the skin raw. I’d never had a Flux dampener before, and it was almost as bad a torture as the device that sparkled on my chest.

Without my Flux, I felt immensely empty—like a piece of my very soul was missing. I could feel it, buried deep, but couldn’t access it, like trying to run in a nightmare but your legs just refused to move.

I leaned my head back against the chair, exhaling through my nose. The room was dim, and the silence oppressive. It must be completely soundproof. I could hear the blood rushing in my ears, and it was excruciating.

I twisted my wrists again, ignoring the sting. No good. The restraints were solid, reinforced with something stronger than the cheap cuffs NSPD used. Cy hadn’t taken any chances.

Pendejo.

I was working on another plan—something reckless, something painful—when I heard the door unlock.

I snapped my head up as Cy walked in, shaking rain from his jacket.

He looked worse than he had when he left.

His hair was damp, his jaw tight, and there was an edge to his movements that told me whatever he’d been up to hadn’t gone his way.

Good.

He barely spared me a glance before walking over to the camera and shutting it off. He didn’t speak, just unholstered his gun and set it on the desk with a little too much force. He turned, arms crossing over his chest, and gave me a look I recognized immediately.

Negotiation.

That meant I had something he needed. But Maddox wasn’t with him. Not that I thought Maddox was any better than Cy, but he was at least slightly more predictable.

I smiled, slow and sharp. “Missed me again, huh?”

Cy exhaled, rubbing a hand down his face. “You talk too much.”

“And you kidnapped me. Everyone’s got flaws.”

“I’ve got an offer for you. A way out of this mess.”

Of course he did. It always came back to sex, didn’t it?

“Should have known you’d be into having me tied up.”

His eye twitched. “Oh, I am—don’t get me wrong—but we’ve already established I could get that for free.” He finally smirked, and I gritted my teeth.

“No fucking way.” The device on my chest burned white-hot, and I cried out before I could stop myself. Cy’s hand came down on the red screen almost instantly.

“First thing we learn in training is reading body language. It’s always more honest than words. And your body is so honest, doll. It can’t lie like you can.”

His face was triumphant, and I was fuming. He circled around me like the predator he was, and I tried to follow him as he stood behind me. He knelt down, mouth right next to my ear.

“How about this—one more question? If you don’t lie, I take that thing off you, and we talk like grown-ups.”

“Why should I trust you’ll keep your word?”

“Don’t have any other choice.”

He wasn’t wrong. “Ask.”

He put one hand on each of my arms, tied to the chair, and leaned in so I could feel his warm breath against the shell of my ear. “Has anyone else ever made you come as hard as I did?”

“Fu—”

He snapped his finger to my lips. “Ah ah ah. No lies, or no deal.”

Pain started to seep into my chest again, and he already knew the answer anyway.

“No.”

He circled back around in front of me, grinning from ear to ear. “Was I the best you’ve ever had?”

“You said one question.”

“Indulge me,” he said with a hungry look in his eyes.

“I’ve done that plenty.”

His fingers danced over the device, and I winced as the needles retracted, small beads of blood pooling on my skin as the device jumped back into Cy’s palm.

“Lie to me if you want now, but I know the truth. So let’s get down business.”

“How are we going to do this?” This was a negotiation I was used to. I’d done it a million times before.

He grabbed a data pad from the desk. “Think you could do a reconstruction of this?”

I blinked. “What?”

“Didn’t you go to school for data reconstruction or some shit? That’s what the deal is for.”

Silence stretched for a long moment. So he didn’t want sex? He had a job for me? “I didn’t finish my PhD.”

“Does it look like I give a fuck? Can you do it or not?”

I scanned over the data on the pad. It was the signal from the city’s monitoring system. Nothing about it seemed abnormal until the signal disappeared at…the time of the attack.

“I’d have to do more than just look at this on the screen. Run it through some different filters, try some anti-noise algorithms—”

He pulled the pad away. “Good. So we have a deal?”

“What? You work at POM. Don’t you have a whole fleet of data analysts who could look at this?”

“We do. But we need more eyes on it.”

Only one reason for that. Time. Something was pushing him. I stared at Cy, then at the data pad in his hand, wheels turning in my head. He needed me. That meant I had leverage. Maybe not much, but enough to pry open a crack in Cy’s unshakable control.

I leaned back in the chair, feigning nonchalance. “So, you need me now. That’s cute.”

Cy’s expression didn’t change. “Don’t flatter yourself.”

“Oh, but I will. Did your boss give the order that you have to work with me now? That must sting, after the way I must have made you look so bad.”

I felt his Flux spike. Bingo. So Cy did answer to someone. A someone he obeyed like the good little corporate dog he was. Interesting.

Cy exhaled, stepping closer, his shadow stretching over me. “You think you have a choice?” His voice was low, all quiet menace. “You don’t. You’re here. You’re gonna help. That’s the end of it.”

I hummed. “I thought this was a deal? See, I don’t think your boss would be too happy if you broke his new toy before I even touched the data.”

His jaw tightened. “You’re not a toy.”

I lifted a brow. “Then stop treating me like one.”

For a second—just a second—something flickered across his face. Annoyance. Hesitation. Something deeper he didn’t want me to see. Then it was gone, buried under his usual steel.

“Boss wants this done,” Cy said flatly. “You’ll do it.”

I smiled. “Yeah, I will. But you’re gonna make it worth my while.”

“You don’t have any room to negotiate.”

“Sure I do. Because if you really thought I was disposable, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” I stretched, making a show of my restraints.

“That’s where you’re wrong, doll. You’re disposable, and so am I. People like us—we’re worthless to those who actually matter. Just a means to an end, a cog in the machine they drive. You’re not special. Neither am I.”

“You think your machismo impresses me, corpo? I grew up an outlander. I’ve dealt with that shit my entire life.”

At that, he blinked. “You don’t look like an outlander.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Let me just…” I cursed him out in a string of fluid Spanish, and his eyes went wide.

Then he laughed. “Wow. You really are full of surprises, aren’t you, doll?”

“I swear to God, call me ‘doll’ one more fucking time, Cy—”

“And what, Eon?” In an instant, his hand was on my face again. He ran his thumb along my bottom lip, tugging it ever so slightly. “We may be worthless to them, but there is something here, isn’t there?”

“In your dreams.”

He was still close—so close I saw the tiny traces of power in his dark eyes.

“Oh, Eon,” he murmured, and I hated the way my name on his tongue sent a thrill down my spine. “In my dreams, I’ve got you coming so hard you see heaven. I’ve never met another electroteknik before. It explains why you felt so damn good.”

“Pendejo.”

“Oh, there’s that outlander. Cute. But don’t lie to me now—not after we’ve built so much rapport. You felt it too. You can feel it right now, just like I can.”

He was right. I could feel it. The thrum echoed in my blood, in my very bones. I could feel every circuit, every piece of tech around me, each one creating a tiny electric field. But nothing felt like him.

He reached behind my neck, and I felt a prick as the Flux dampener released. My head swam as a flood of hormones overcompensated for being blocked.

I shook my head. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll zap you?”

“Afraid of what? That you’ll hit me with all the power of a nine-volt battery? You’ve got precision, doll, I’ll give you that.” He tapped the side of his Vysor for emphasis. “But you can’t hurt me. That takes an anger you just don’t have. Otherwise, you would’ve killed me when you had the chance.”

“You don’t fucking know me. Not all of us lash out at the smallest thing like some doped-up psycho. Some of us have to be careful, want to be careful. I don’t want to kill anyone—but you have no idea how angry I am.”

“Oh, I don’t know you?” He scoffed. “I know that you’re smart as fuck, studying things at Elysium most people can’t even begin to imagine.

I know you can read people, show them exactly what they want so that they give you exactly what you need.

” His grin grew, nearly splitting his face open as it turned manic and predatory.

He grabbed my face, his fingers digging into my cheeks.

“Best of all, I know how ridiculously good that pussy of yours tastes when you come. I don’t think there are many who have that honor. ”

“Let go of me!” I struggled, and to my surprise, he did—but he whipped his wrist, and my neck snapped to the side. As pain flared in my vertebra, I clenched my eyes shut, not looking at him.

“I know you’re angry, but you’re way too chickenshit to do anything about it. Even now, you won’t hurt me, you can’t—”

I screamed and sent a bolt of lightning at him so strong it shocked even me.

The fiber of his jacket singed, and the air filled with the smell of burnt tetracarbon.

He winced, taking one step back, and an ugly feeling of triumph rose in my chest. But I saw him shake it off, and his clenched jaw was replaced by that wicked smirk.

“You call that angry? I’ll show you angry.”