Page 68 of The Brotherhood

She made a soft sound—not a word, just a breath.

His jaw clenched with the wrong needs. Not the fucking time.

His body didn’t care.

She shifted slightly, her back arching just enough to press closer with a violent shiver.

“I got you,” he whispered, as heat curled low in his stomach, a sharp contrast to the cold. Sinrik swallowed hard, forcing himself to focus. She needed warmth. That was all. That was the only reason he was wrapped around her like she belonged to him.

Her voice from earlier slipped through his head, unwelcome, too raw:

“I think love is sacrifice. Love is choosing something or someone even when it’s hard. Even when it hurts. It’s giving everything, even if you don’t get anything back.”

His fingers dug into her hip and she sighed softly, pressing her face into his arm.

His pulse roared.

She shook and shifted again, one leg slipping between his.

His entire body went tight. Fucking hell. He squeezed his eyes shut, his forehead pressing against the back of her neck.

She was finally warming up.

But he was gone.

And he was never coming back.

****

Before Spook could make it with Maggie through the front door, his phone alarm went off, along with his panic. He’d just ignored five texts and whoever it was had an emergency. He dropped everything near the entry and pulled his phone from his pocket, fingers trembling as he hit the group line. “What’s happening?”

“Something’s wrong with Eveque,” 8-Bit hurried. “I tried to reach you.”

“What? I was just there!”

Spook grabbed Maggie’s hand, pulling her with him.

She yanked from his grip. “You go,” she ordered. “I’ll find you!”

Spook took off with the phone on his ear. “What’s happening?”

“I don’t know, I’m patched into his monitor feeds and they’re all going off. I got no answer from anybody!”

“I’m almost there. Fuck,” he gasped, dread making him numb. “What are the monitors saying? Can you see?”

“Something about it not having enough of something critical or he’s in critical danger, I don’t fucking know.”

He made it to the final hallway, the alarms blaring as he raced in finding Harlow and Quantum moving fast between the monitors. “What’s happening!” he demanded.

“He’s gonna crash bruh,” Harlow warned Quantum, indirectly answering him.

“We don’t have these fucking materials!” Quantum yelled back at him.

“Wait!” Harlow shot out. “It’s giving alternative synthesis!”

Quantum hurried back to Harlow, looking at the screen as the Neuromancer’s lights pulsed rapidly. Harlow frowned. “Is that a new formula?”

Quantum’s gaze remained fixed on the data. “Input it,” he ordered. “Carbon from our reserves combined with those exact amounts of silicon deposits.”

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