Born of Fire

Syn banked and shot them into hyperdrive. “One and the same.”


He sucked his breath in sharply. “I’m impressed. Didn’t know seaxes hung out with people like us.”

Syn snorted. “Everyone slums eventually.”

Unamused by Syn’s words, Shahara had to give Nero credit—he was recovering well from the power expenditure that had left him ragged a few minutes ago. “How do you two know each other?”

Nero inclined his head to Syn. “Little bastard saved my life.”

“When?”

Syn answered as he programmed the autopilot. “He was in prison with me.”

That was interesting. “The first or second time?”

Nero gave him an arch stare. “You went back?”

“Not by choice.”

He let out a low whistle. “Damn, Wade. You were always an unlucky bastard.”

Syn shot her a sullen glance. “Tell me about it.”

“So what happened?”

“Got busted hacking, what else? I was a stupid kid trying to eat.” Syn swung his chair around to face him. “What about you? How did you end up working for the enemy?”

“Like you said—gotta eat and I grew tired of clients trying to rip me off, or worse, kill me.”

Syn gave him a mocking salute. “Tell me about it. My current situation was caused by a fucking client trying to screw me over when all I did was save his daughter’s life.”

Nero wiped his gloved hand over his chin as he cracked a charming grin. “People suck.”

Syn’s gaze went to her, but he didn’t say anything. He pushed himself up from the chair and went to check on Nero. He pulled out a light and shined it into Nero’s eyes to test the dilation. “You burn anything out?”

He shook his head and moved out of Syn’s grasp. “Not even a nosebleed. I’m good.”

“Cool. Can you take the helm while I go clean up?”

Nero scowled. “What? You piss your pants or something?”

“Definitely something. I just need a little time alone to regroup.”

Something passed between them that Shahara couldn’t read.

Nero stood up. “Sure. I got it. Take your time.”

Syn didn’t even look back at her as he left her alone with Nero, who moved to take the captain’s seat.

She watched as Vik shifted into his mechbot form and plugged into the computer. He didn’t say anything as he settled down into what looked like a nap.

“You and Syn seem really tight,” she said to Nero as he checked their readings.

“We were.”

“What happened?”

He turned in the chair to face her. “Nothing, really. We were both being hunted, so we split up to have a better chance at survival. He went his way. I went mine.”

She had a feeling there was more to it than that, but Nero didn’t seem to want to elaborate. “How old were you when you were in prison with him?”

“Nineteen.”

She arched her brows at his age. That would make him almost ten years older than Syn, yet she would have guessed he was no older than his mid-twenties. “You don’t look that old.”

He shrugged. “Trisani don’t age like other races. One of our better gifts.”

Definitely. She wouldn’t mind having that gene herself. “And what did you do to go to prison?”

Something dark passed over his face. The electronics around him popped and hissed as if he had a power spike that rattled them. “I’m a full-blooded male Trisani who survived infancy. Any idea what people do to us?”

Trisani males were even more powerful than the females. The only problem was that their powers had a bad tendency to kill them before they were old enough to master them. If that wasn’t bad enough, because of their abilities, their entire race had been hunted to the brink of extinction. Other cultures and beings either feared them for what they could do or wanted to harness and use their powers for themselves.

Even though the Trisani were a peaceful race, their entire history had been one of bloodshed and brutality.

“You were enslaved?”

A tic started in his jaw. “I was sold to the warden when I was five—after my parents and sister had been slaughtered. He kept me in prison so that he could use my powers for his own advantage. I didn’t belong there any more than Syn did.”

And it was then she remembered something he’d alluded to with Syn. “So how long have you been hiding your powers from others?”

“Long enough to remain free and not have to run every other day. I only use them when I have to.”

Yet he’d used them tonight . . . Not for his own survival.

For theirs.

And the most miraculous part about that was the fact that he didn’t strike her as particularly altruistic. “Why did you expose yourself to save us?”

He cast his gaze in the direction Syn had taken when he left them. “Sheridan could have escaped prison on his own, but he refused to leave me to what they were doing to me.” He winced as if the pain was more than he could bear. “You have no idea what that kid did to free me. But I know, and it’s a debt I’ll never be able to repay.”