This is incredible. How is everything here so much better than Earth?
She opened her eyes to find Rylan staring at her with a piercing intensity that made her skin tingle. His muscles had gone taut, his jaw clenched, and his knuckles were white where they gripped his utensils. The way he watched her mouth move sent heat pooling low in her belly.
"Am I still making you uncomfortable?" she teased, though her voice came out breathier than intended.
"No. Definitely not." His voice was rough and strained. "I'm enjoying observing your reactions to my home's food and landscape. It's refreshing to see it through your eyes. Makes me feel proud of everything we've built here."
The deflection was obvious, but she let it slide. Something about the way he looked at her—like she was fascinating and dangerous all at once—made her pulse race.
"We should get back to Defense Nexus," he said abruptly, standing and tossing credits on the table. "Make sure your patch held, and no other cyber attacks happened while we were away."
As they walked back down the street, his hand hovered near the small of her back without quite touching. The possessive gesture sent electricity sparking along her spine. She found herself hoping he'd actually make contact, craving the jolt of awareness that came with his touch.
What is happening to me? I've never reacted to anyone like this.
Once inside Defense Nexus, they headed to their side-by-side workstations. Wren's fingers flew over the holographic interface as she checked her countermeasures. Relief flooded through her as the data confirmed her patch had held—no further attacks had occurred.
"I can't believe you actually did it," Rylan breathed, falling back in his chair. "I wish I'd had you come sooner. Would have saved me weeks of stress."
"I'm glad I could help. And all that matters is that I'm here now."
Something flickered across his expression—intense and vulnerable—before he shuttered it away. "Maybe you should keep familiarizing yourself with our systems. Work on checking for other anomalies or vulnerabilities for the rest of the day."
"On it, Commander."
The title made him stiffen, and she caught the hint of a blush creeping up his neck. Power surged through her at the realization that she could crack through his controlled exterior. This dangerous, authoritative man was affected by her, and the knowledge was intoxicating.
As the afternoon wore on, Wren lost herself in the work. Her fingers danced across the holographic console, lines of code streaming past in rivers of light. The technology was unlike anything on Earth, yet her genius IQ allowed her to understand it intuitively. With each passing hour, the systems felt more familiar, like recovering a forgotten language.
From her peripheral vision, she watched Rylan work—muscles coiled with controlled power and eyes scanning multiple grids simultaneously. The way he moved with predatory grace even while seated made her body hum with awareness. She'd always worked independently, but something about being beside him felt right. Natural.
Like we're meant to be here together.
The thought should have annoyed her, but instead it filled her with unexpected contentment.
SIX
RYLAN
Rylan's fingers tapped across the holographic interface at his workstation beside Wren, and the rhythm of their combined keystrokes created an almost musical harmony. For the first time in his decade-long career, he felt the satisfaction of working with an intellectual equal—someone whose mind moved as fast as his own but approached problems in ways he'd never considered.
This is what partnership should feel like.
His tiger purred, recognizing not just her brilliance but the rightness of having her beside him. Every instinct within him knew that she belonged here, belonged with him?—
Suddenly, crimson alarms exploded across every screen in Defense Nexus.
"Multiple breach alerts," Wren called out, her voice sharp with focus. "They're hitting us simultaneously across seven sectors."
Rylan's jaw clenched as he pulled up the attack vectors. The hackers had adapted faster than anticipated, somehow circumventing Wren's patch with surgical precision. "Damn syndicate's striking multiple grid points at once. They shouldn't have been able to?—"
"They're getting their intel from somewhere," Wren interrupted, her nimble fingers racing across the holographic controls. "This isn't random probing. Someone's feeding them our defensive codes and protocols."
The possibility of an inside source made his tiger snarl with territorial fury. "Can you isolate the breaches?" He kept his voice level despite the rage building in his chest.
"Already on it." Wren's hands moved quickly, rerouting data streams and quarantining infected sectors. "Improvising containment protocols now. Give me thirty seconds."
Rylan watched her work with something approaching awe. Where his methods followed rigid military precision, hers flowed like liquid mercury—adaptive, intuitive, and brilliant. She anticipated the hackers' moves three steps ahead, countering attacks before they fully materialized.