The Helix Tower loomed like a jagged tooth against the toxic skyline, its upper levels still glowing with emergency power while the lower districts remained in blackout. Rain lashed the streets, turning them into rivers of filth and glowing runoff. Ryker and Lira moved through the shadows two blocks away, bodies pressed close for warmth and something far more primal. The Code thrummed steadily in Ryker’s veins, no longer fighting him outright but coiling tighter with every heartbeat, every stolen touch.
They had taken a brief detour into a half-collapsed warehouse an hour earlier. The need had been too strong to ignore.
Lira had barely gotten the door shut before Ryker was on her. He’d torn her pants down just enough, bent her over a stack of crates, and buried himself inside her in one
