Born of Fire

And he’d been hurt enough in his life. He couldn’t let her completely destroy him any more than he could tear her away from her family and career. He cupped her face in his hands. Pain constricted his throat. “I do need you, Shahara. I do. But I can’t offer you anything more than that.”


Shahara tensed as he pulled her back into his arms and laid his head down on her shoulder. Her first impulse was to drop-kick him right in his exposed testicles, but in spite of her anger, she knew it didn’t change her feelings for him.

She still loved him whether he returned her feelings or not. Gah, I’m pathetic.

Closing her eyes, she damned fate for its cruelty. She’d finally found a man she could trust and love, and he didn’t return her feelings.

I could die.

“Please don’t be angry,” he whispered.

Wrapping her arms around him, she decided that for now he needed her and, if he needed her, then he might grow to love her as well.

Maybe if she were patient . . .

“I’m not angry,” she said quietly. She was more hurt than anything else. And while there was anger, it wasn’t at him. It was at Mara and the universe and all the other reasons that had warped Syn to the point he couldn’t open himself up to her.

But she wasn’t mad at him.

Syn pulled back and stared at her until he was sure she’d spoken honestly. Once the fire faded from her cheeks and eyes, he toweled himself off.

“C’mon.” He tossed the towel aside and took her hand. “Let’s get some sleep while we can.”

She followed him, but he could still feel her sadness. It would be so easy to make her happy, but the scar of his father’s sin ran too deep. It had branded him since his birth and it destroyed everything it touched.

Sooner or later, it would destroy if not her, then their relationship. Because sooner or later another curious reporter or official would show up and expose him all over again. They would go after her and it would cost her everything.

She would be guilty by association and that would cause her to hate him.

Sighing, he knew he would die if he faced scorn from her. Better they part now on relatively good terms than he have to live with her turning on him the way Mara had. He never wanted to go through that again.

Shahara pulled the covers up over their bodies as Syn snuggled against her back. Her heart heavy, she listened to his breathing while he positioned one of his legs between hers and draped his arm over her waist. He rested his hand between her breasts. She sighed at the possessiveness of his hold.

What would it take to gain his love?

And if she did, would he ever admit it?

She started at the sudden realization.

The Syn she knew would never admit it if he felt love. He was too strong for that. Love meant weakness and Syn would never open himself up to that vulnerability again. For all she knew, he did love her and he was too defensive to tell her.

I swear, Syn . . . But she couldn’t blame him given everything he’d been through.

She heard his breathing even out and felt his hold loosen as he fell asleep. Pressing her lips together, she moved his hand from her breasts and stared down at it. Scars marred his knuckles with one running from the side of his wrist up to his elbow.

So much pain. So much fighting. Would he ever believe that someone could love him?

That someone would stay with him?

She didn’t know for sure. But one way or another, she would find the answer to those questions.

“I’m not going to give up without a fight, boy, and as bad as you think you’ve had it in the past . . . those opponents were nothing compared to me.”

Shahara Dagan had never failed a mission in her life and she wasn’t about to fail this, the most important one. Somehow, she’d free him.

Most of all, she’d claim him.





CHAPTER 18


When Shahara woke up, the room was completely black. And the space next to her in bed was empty. A slice of fear went through her. Where could he have gone?

“Syn?”

“Right here,” he said from her right. The lights came up to a soft glow.

Turning over, she saw him sitting in one of the overstuffed chairs near the window.

Fully dressed, he stared at her, his face impassive. “We need to get going soon.”

“Okay.”

He got up and crossed the room. “I’ll be waiting outside.”

Shahara frowned at the catch in his voice and reached for the clothes he’d folded and placed neatly on the nightstand. What had he been thinking while he watched her sleep?

Whatever it was, it must have been fierce for him to be so cold now.

Sighing, she got up and went to shower and dress.

Syn leaned back against the closed doors, his body aching as he remembered the sight of her sleeping like a child in the bed. Most of all, he remembered the sincerity in her voice as she told him that she loved him.

She loves me . . .

Those words tore him apart. He wanted to rejoice and simultaneously run for cover. How he wished he’d met her when he was a doctor with no past. That was what she deserved. Not some filch with no country, no dignity.

Nothing.