Page 156 of GlitchBorn Heart

The mandala comes up to my jaw, his inked hand wrapping around my throat as he pinches my nipple with the lotus blossom. “Tell me again...who’s the one losing control?”

The sheer pleasure my body is feeling is indescribable, his hard cock pressing into me, his hand wrapped around my throat, his mouth on my nipple—why did I fight this for so long? I yearn to feel him inside me, on me, around me. He’ll get me out of here, return me to whole so I can feel every sensation he bestows upon me. I ache for that day.

I barely manage words, my arousal so heightened by him on top of me. “You drive me insane,” I say. “I can’t think straight around you. I want to fight you, hate you, but I can’t anymore.”

His smirk is slow, unguarded. “Finally, the truth.” He releases his hold.

“You think this is funny?”

“No,” he murmurs. “I think it’s fated.”

His forehead rests against my chin, the pulse of his magic thrumming in time with mine, an added sensation to our physical attraction. “Say it,” he whispers, running his tongue between my breasts in a long, slow draw. “That you can’t fight this anymore.”

“I can’t.” The words spill out like surrender. “I don’t want to.”

He meets me with another long kiss, so deeply intense, I never want to pull away. He’s the first to break the spell.

“We have to stop. As much as I don’t want to, we agreed to wait.” He touches my cheek lightly.

“I want you, Kael.” Damn it all, I will die here on this beach if I don’t consume all of him.

“Taiyō...” The word is long, drawn out emphatically. He sits up, running his fingers through his hair, the tiny sigils across his knuckles visible through the strands that fall back into place.

“You think I don’t want you now?” His voice is rough. “I do. Gods, I do. But not here. Not like this.” He pulls me up to face him.

He’s on his knees straddling me. “When you have a body again,” he whispers, “I’ll fuck you slow enough to burn the stars out. Until then, I’ll wait. I’ll memorize every inch, every breath, every line of your beautiful body, so when I do get to fuck you, when you beg me to slide into you, oh, and you will beg me, Taiyō. I’ll already know exactly how to unravel you into a million pieces of sunlight.”

His words send sensations through me, like a thousand tiny moths, fluttering their wings in a frenzied dance around a flame. I chase the feeling, never wanting it to end. I almost feel shame for surrendering to him. Almost.

But he’s right. I’m a malfunction, a glitch in his system. I shouldn’t be able to feel anything at all, yet he’s coded me so perfectly, I feel everything he gives me as if I’m real.

He pulls me up to standing, fidgeting with my bra nervously, pulling my tank top back down. Protective. No longer a lap dog, a watch dog.

“The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.” He kisses my forehead, breathing me in like a man starved for fresh air.

I look up at him. “Master Kenji?” I ask innocently.

“No, Lyra.” His voice is stern, almost a warning. “Sun Tzu—” He takes my hand. “Now let’s go fight.”

60

Code.Test.Repeat.

Playlist: Limits (Unplugged) - Bad Omens

Kael

Sleep. It eludes me.

The penthouse is dark, the early dim rays of sunrise beginning to seep into the rainy haze of the city. Holograms flicker and jump, new programs running after TheKast updated their software. I sip a cup of highly caffeinated coffee and look out at the skyline, hoping to reboot my brain before I continue laying the groundwork for Lyra’s extraction.

Holo-ads begin their frenzied movement, projecting from skyscrapers and floating in the air. Vibrant colors come to life and for the rest of the day the city will be perpetually bathed in the electric glow of neon. A holo-ballerina, the length of an entire skyscraper flutters incessantly, casting long streaks of light over the barren early morning street, devoid of any greenery or signs of life. I push open the balcony door and step out onto the concrete. The air is thick with smog and mist, dirty and rain soaked. The hopelessness of the urban decay beneath the technological surface is not lost on me.

I lean over the wall resting my forearms on the ledge, thoughts invading the space between logic and code. My intention was to go into DreamNet, warn Lyra and Eli about Vikktor and return to the lab to begin testing cybernetic prototypes in preparation for Lyra’s extraction.

But I just couldn’t leave her.

Every minute I spent on that beach with her was like a kick to the head, my brain rattling inside my skull, disorienting me, then leading me to a conscious state of euphoria. Like the hit you never want to take again but would also kill to feel twice.