Page 49 of Villainous Intent

“Baron Ash.”

Heavy footsteps approached our booth, each deliberate thud announcing Baron Ash’s arrival before I saw him. The sound reminded me of a predator intentionally breaking twigs to frighten prey, wanting us to squirm before he pounced.

“Well, well. If it isn’t Cipher and his little bitch.”

I stiffened. Cipher’s hand on my throat tightened just enough to keep me still. A silent command. You are mine. You do not react to him.

I let my body melt against him as though I hadn’t even registered the insult.

Baron Ash loomed over our booth. His mask was a nightmare of featureless black metal and molten lines, but the heat radiating from him was real. It smelled like charred meat.

“Ash,” Cipher said. He sounded bored. He kept his hand displayed prominently on my throat. “Slumming it in the Middle Passages tonight?”

Baron Ash leaned closer, the slits in his mask revealing nothing but darkness and one violently green eye.

My skin crawled as his attention fixed on me. His gaze dragged over my exposed legs, making me feel contaminated.

“Is this the little thing you risked your reputation for?” Baron Ash tilted his head. “The one you caught mid-air like some Alliance prick?”

I kept my expression blank, though my pulse was thundering against Cipher’s palm.

“She looks soft,” Ash continued. “Breakable.”

“She’s occupied,” Cipher said. He sounded annoyed. “Find your own toy.”

Ash laughed. It was an ugly sound. “Didn’t answer my question, did you? I’m surprised you even know what to do with pussy when you get it. You usually prefer your little toys and gadgets.”

“Some of us don’t need to compensate with brute force,” Cipher replied. His thumb stroked the line of my jaw. “My toys are more than enough to handle you.”

Ash leaned in further. The smell of burning grew stronger, choking the air in the booth.

“You hide behind your tech because you’re weak,” Ash growled. “Let’s see what happens when I take your little whore and show her what a real man feels like.”

“Careful,” Cipher said softly. “You’re boring me. And we both know what happens when I get bored.”

“Do we? Enlighten me.”

“Last time you bored me, I seem to recall you spending three weeks in recovery.” Cipher’s voice dropped lower and he brought his hand from my throat to my thigh. “Care for a repeat performance?”

The air shimmered with heat. The subtle glow of the molten lines in Ash’s mask intensified.

I placed my hand over Cipher’s where it rested on my thigh and squeezed lightly, giving him a silent plea to deescalate. I’d babysat enough egotistical Supers to recognize when violence became inevitable, but here I had no power to stop it.

Cipher stiffened at my touch but his head snapped to the side.

“Interesting,” Cipher drawled, turning back to Ash. “Eclipse is here.”

Baron Ash’s head turned toward the new arrival, following her progress across the space.

“She’s looking for the man who burned down her warehouse,” Cipher said. “I wonder who that could have been.”

“Enjoy the meat while it’s fresh, Cipher. It spoils so fast.” He turned and stalked away, disappearing into the shadows.

Cipher immediately grabbed my hand on his and squeezed tight, grinding the bones together. His other hand covered my mouth stifling my cry of pain as he twisted us in the booth. He used his body to block the view of me from the room as his mask came within inches of my face.

“Never touch me or try to distract me when I am working,” he hissed.

I recoiled. “I was trying to help⁠—”