Page 36 of 8-Bit & Cat

Her brows pulled together. “Which is exactly what? Again?”

“I haven’t actually gotten to that.”

Her arms dropped at her sides. “Well can yougetto it? Mercy.”

He disarmed her annoyance with a half grin. “I can’t fix it, but I canalterits execution. Meaning f I can rewrite who it recognizes as dominant, I can change the outcome.”

She stared at him, dumbfounded. “But ifyoucan’t do it, how the heck can I?”

“Neither of us can.”

The wall of raw sex appeal came her way, causing her muscles to coil and brace for possible impact while her brainsputtered with his new plot twist. “Well then… who the heck?” she muttered when he stopped before her.

His gloveless hand took hold of hers, making her pulse trip all over itself. “Bothof us.”

Both of them.

His green eyes devoured her confused face while his warm thumbs swirled circles on her skin. “I can’t carry it alone. Andyoucan’t carry it alone. Buttogether…as one… we could stabilize it.”

Lord, make it make sense. “You mean, like… we work together to run it?”

Zero shook his head. “Not work together.Merge.”

Her stomach dropped at that. “Define ‘merge.’”

He did—while holding her hands—which gave her only half a brain to care about the system crashing and them disappearing. “That means the system will no longer see two separate entities. It will recognize us as a singular governing force.”

She took a step back only to have him step up. “You’re saying I stop being me?”

Zero’s brows drew together, almost like her words were too stupid for his super brain to process. “No, Kitten. We remain distinct, but we will no longer be separate.”

She cut him a glare. “You arereallybad at making this make sense. Distinct but not separate?”

“The way a woman and man are seen as one,” he explained, his marriage comparison adding terror to her struggling brain.

Zero exhaled. “You will still be you. Catherine. And I will still be me. But in the system’s eyes, we’ll be one.”

Her heart banged to get out of her chest as he continued to molest her hands. “Can you… give me a little space. To think.”

His grin came as slowly as he released her hands, allowing her to cross her arms tightly and pace a little.

He watched her till her skin tingled and itched. “You’re sure this will work?” she asked, ready to say yes just to escape hisface.

He nodded. “It’s our best chance.”

Catherine exhaled sharply, trying to push past the sheer insanity of everything. “Let’s say I agree to this—and that’s still a big if—how does it actually work? I just… walk around with you inside my head? My phone? A pocket computer, a chip?”

“Not exactly.”

She gasped and flopped her hands. “Of course not.”

Zero flicked his fingers at the floor and the lights shifted under them. “It means there are variables. But I have a model.”

She looked for it. “Here?”

Zero nodded once. “Based on previous integrations.”

She eyed him. “You mean Omnis and Ethan.”

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