CARESSED BY ICE

For several minutes the only sounds were of the wind whistling through the trees, and for Judd, the steady sound of Brenna’s breathing. She was something he’d never expected and certainly didn’t deserve. He could give her nothing of what she needed, but the dark heart of him was starting to understand that letting her go might not be an option.

She awakened something in him that was raw, desperate, and violent in a way that sprang not from anger but from passion. Sweat beaded down his spine as he fought the rising incursions of dissonance. It was stronger with each admission, each touch. And he didn’t care. Part of him wanted to forget why the dissonance had been hooked so viciously into his psyche, forget what would happen if he snapped the threads of conditioning.

“Data,” Hawke said, before Judd could give in to the madness. “The Psy love their computers. We hack their systems and destroy things, they’re going to get the message.”

You mess with our territory, we’ll mess with yours.

Judd had always known that Hawke was one of the most highly intelligent predators he had ever met, but this was inspired even for him. Most alphas would’ve sought some form of bloody retribution—as had Hawke in the past—but for this particular game of chess, a lateral move was better, far better. “If you hit one of the major databases, such as the ones that feed data to the stock market, you disrupt things worldwide.”

“Isn’t most of the information backed up in the PsyNet?” Brenna asked. “I never really got why Psy like computers so much.”

It was Sascha who answered. “The major factor is power. Because a lot of clerical jobs are held by low-Gradient Psy—people who don’t have the psychic strength to access secure data vaults on a continual basis, it’s inefficient to store day-today business records in the Net.” When no one interrupted, she continued. “The other issue is that Psy have to do deals with the other races. Human and changelings both demand data they can access. If the systems go down, the Councilors’ heads might explode. It really is a brilliant idea, Hawke.”

The wolf flashed a smile. “Thank you, Sascha darling. Maybe you’re with the wrong alpha, hmm?”

“I swear, Hawke.” Lucas muttered, shifting so he was pinning Sascha to him with an arm around the front of her neck. “One of these days—”

The threat was cut off as Sascha twisted in his hold and kissed him. It was a short, affectionate act, yet Judd found himself transfixed by it. But it wasn’t Lucas and Sascha he saw. When he looked down at the glossy strands of Brenna’s hair, he could suddenly imagine what they’d feel like as they brushed over his skin in the most intimate of circumstances.

She looked up, eyes wide. “Judd.” A low whisper meant for his ears alone.

He watched the rise of color flush her cheeks.

“Your timing sucks,” she muttered, leaning deeper into him.

He absorbed the psychic impact of the touch, refusing to push her away. Contrary to her words, he thought his timing perfect. It was when they were alone and the fever started to rise that he became aware of the myriad ways in which he could hurt her, mutilate her. She called Enrique a butcher—she hadn’t seen the things Judd had done as an Arrow.

“Do you have any hackers I can use?” Lucas asked, appearing mollified by his mate’s kiss. “We’ve got the setup to run this in the second subbasement of our city HQ.”

“How good are you at hiding your trail? The whole point is to not give them anything they can use against DarkRiver or SnowDancer.” Judd forced his attention away from Brenna, from the unpalatable images of his past.

“They’ve never caught us yet.” Lucas looked pleased as only a cat could. “Dorian’s very good, but we need more hackers of his caliber if we’re going to coordinate a big strike.”

Hawke folded his arms. “We’ve got three who can stay under the radar and one who can do even better.”

Beside him Brenna’s body grew tense, muscles locking into place. Following her gaze, he saw it clash with Riley’s. Her brother seemed to struggle with something for several seconds before giving a curt nod. “Bren’s the best there is.”

“I thought your degree was in computronics.” It didn’t please Judd that there was something he hadn’t known about her. An emotional reaction. The sweat rolling down his spine felt like ice this time.

“My official degree.” The mischief in her eyes was new. “Hawke says I have an unofficial one in creative systems programming.” She laughed.

The sound, the intensity of her happiness, caused another mental chain to snap. The ends of his nerves seemed to burn, his spinal cord turning into a column of excruciating liquid fire—he was perilously close to a meltdown.

Acting before it was too late, he withdrew his hand from Brenna’s . . . but didn’t push away her body. “I’ll run security on the hack team.” He met Hawke’s eyes. “When Brenna’s there, so am I. I’ll work with Sascha around that.”

“Lucas, you have a problem with that?”