Page 67 of Villainous Intent

And I hated that he was right.

I was hunting a rogue Trueborn in the dark. The Alliance databases were locked to me, and even if they weren’t, they only contained what the League allowed them to see. If I wanted to find the monster who stole the Tinkerer’s Hammer, I needed to see the violent, unfiltered reality, not the polished PR spin.

I weighed my pride against my need to know and the need to know won.

“Fine,” I sighed. “Your doctor. But I want full access to whatever you have. Unrestricted. You said I don’t know the League, well help me get to know them.”

“Done.” His gaze flicked over me. “Though you’ll need to change first.”

I glanced down at my tank top and the crimson stain spreading over my chest. “Why are you doing this? The doctor, the access. Why be helpful now?”

“Don’t mistake investment for kindness, Annie,” he said smoothly. “If you don’t have the data you need, you’ll make mistakes.”

He paused, his gaze flicked to my lips before returning to my eyes.

“Besides,” he added, his voice dropping to a silky tone that did wonderful and terrifying things to me. “I figure if I’m nice to you now, you might be in a more receptive mood when I’m supposed to fuck you tonight.”

I gaped at him. “What?”

“Dawn’s words, not mine,” he said, raising his hands innocently. “Though I can’t say I object to the plan. Years is a long time, Bishop.”

Heat crept up my neck until it settled around my ears, pounding. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am always serious about pleasure. Years isn’t a dry spell, Annie. That’s neglect.”

“It hasn’t been years,” I argued, though my voice lacked its usual bite. A year and a half wasn’t technically years. “And it’s none of your business.”

“Still. Too long. You’re walking around tight and stressed when you should be sore and satisfied. I could fix that,” he whispered. “I could fuck you until you can’t stand up without your legs shaking.”

I could hear the promise in his voice. The absolute certainty that he could ruin me. I needed to break the tension before I did something stupid. Like agree with him.

I forced a scoff, rolling my eyes. “Let’s see. You’ve stalked me and broken into my bedroom. Now you’re giving me access to your systems and offering to fuck me.” I ticked off the points on my fingers. “What’s next in the standard Villain seduction playbook? Are you going to send me black roses?”

He tilted his head. “Is that what you’d like?”

“No, actually. I prefer purple. Black roses are cliche and trying too hard. Purple roses have the decency to dial it back a little.”

“Duly noted.” His eyes gleamed with amusement, but the amusement vanished from his face as quickly as it had appeared.

“Enough talk, Annie.” He pulled me up from the bed and steered me firmly toward the bathroom.

“Wash the blood off. Change your shirt.”

I stumbled into the bathroom and shut the door, reaching for the lock.

“Don’t,” Cipher’s voice came through the wood. “Lock that door, Bishop, and I’ll take it off the hinges.”

My hand dropped. I stripped off my bloody shirt, acutely aware that the only thing separating me from Cipher was a thin piece of wood and his restraint.

And his restraint was wearing thin.

CHAPTER 13

CIPHER

I leaned against the wall of the medical bay, watching Number Twelve work.

Annie sat on the exam table, legs dangling, unbothered by the fact that she was deep inside my subterranean lair. When I had tied the blindfold over her eyes for the transport, I had expected a spike in her heart rate. A tremble. Some acknowledgment of the danger she was willingly walking into. Instead, she had just tilted her chin up, offering me better access to put the blindfold on.