Page 6 of Villainous Intent

This was the part of the evening where I was supposed to close the laptop. I needed to walk away, take another gulp of wine, and pretend I wasn’t getting wet just looking at a man’s hands and mouth.

My pussy throbbed and ignored the rational, rule-following Alliance Keeper in my brain.

I reached blindly into my nightstand drawer, shoving aside charging cables until my fingers locked around the smooth, cold silicone of my vibrator.

The laptop stayed open because I needed to see him.

I studied his hand in the photograph, the way the railing was actively buckling beneath his grip. He broke people as easily as he broke the law.

I wondered if I would break, too.

I parted my thighs and kept my gaze locked on his mouth, pressing the vibrator firmly against my clit. I squeezed my eyes shut, letting the darkness swallow my bedroom, as the fantasy took over.

In my mind, Cipher materialized out of the shadows of my room.

He slammed me back against the mattress. He was massive, his body a perfect, suffocating weight as he pinned me in place. One hand clamped around my throat, just like the picture, his fingers digging in tight enough to bruise.

“You spend all day leashing monsters, but you’re begging to be devoured by one,” he murmured, his voice a dark rasp right against my ear.

I arched into the phantom weight of him. I imagined him tearing my clothes away, his movements ruthless. He didn’t prep me. He didn’t care that I was trembling. He just forced my thighs apart and drove his cock deep into my aching pussy.

He filled me, stretching me out with a punishing rhythm I couldn’t get enough of. He leaned down, pinning my wrists above my head, and spoke absolute filth into my ear. He detailed every degrading way he was going to use my body.

My breath hitched and my hips jerked as pleasure wiped my mind blank. I rode the agonizing waves until the climax left me tangled in my own blankets.

When my eyes finally fluttered open, they landed on Cipher’s image. His smirk was frozen in time. He looked like he knew exactly what I’d just done.

Like he was daring me to do it again.

I was everything I professionally despised, a Super-obsessed fangirl with too much time on her hands and not enough shame in her heart. A fangirl who followed twelve ShadowSnap accounts dedicated to Cipher.

Twelve accounts dedicated to a man I was supposed to hate on principal. A man whose files I’d memorized, whose fights I “reviewed” under the guise of professional responsibility, whose mouth I’d traced with my finger on my phone screen more times than I could count.

I rolled onto my side as the laptop’s screen dimmed.

My body was boneless, my mind finally quiet now that I’d just come harder to a fantasy than I ever had to a real man.

I should delete the accounts and pretend my obsession never happened.

Instead, I pulled the sheets higher, as if they could hide me from myself.

CHAPTER 3

ANNIE

The dark clouds hanging over Chroma bay couldn’t decide if they wanted to commit to rain or just brood about it.

Every neon sign and holographic ad blazed against the hazy atmosphere, turning the city streets into the perfect backdrop for the fight between Dread and Obsidian. Normally, I’d pause to appreciate the view, but we didn’t have time for that since Havoc tended to be perpetually late for everything. In a few minutes, the entire zone would be on lockdown and if we didn’t reach our perch for the fight, we were out of luck.

Typically, fights of this caliber were held in one of the city’s designated arenas, surrounded by power-dampening fields and reinforced to withstand battle. But today, Obsidian and Dread would be duking it out, right in the heart of the Circuit District.

Havoc and I hurried toward the VIP entrance to the towering glass high-rise, the Alliance’s cordoned-off sanctuary reserved for Heroes and their entourages. I could already taste the overpriced, mediocre catering waiting for us on the observation deck.

“Bishop!”

I winced and turned to see an Alliance official shoving his way past a row of heavily armored security guards. He wore the expression I dreaded most, the unmistakable Annie, we need a favor face.

He stopped in front of us, panting slightly. His eyes darted from Havoc down to me and his brow furrowed in immediate disapproval. “You aren’t in uniform?”