Born of Fire

Bully for me.

Yeah, his life basically sucked. And it was so lonely. He’d long grown tired of the comfortless nights. But what could he do?

He sighed at the thought. What he wouldn’t give to hold Shahara like this forever. Only, he knew better than that. People never stayed. It wasn’t worth the pain to get to know them because, sooner or later, one way or another, they were gone and he was left alone to pick up the pieces.

Right now, he didn’t have another fresh start in him. He’d used up his lives and his names.

He had nowhere else to go.

Shahara heard the faint sound of a heartbeat pounding against her ear. At first, she thought she was a child again and her father was taking her to her room after she’d fallen asleep waiting for him to come home. But her father had never smelled this good. Felt this delightful.

No, that was Syn. Syn, wicked, warm, and sweet. Beguiling. A champion who held her with gentle arms that never frightened her.

“Are you awake?” Concern marked his voice.

“Sort of.” As he shifted her, she felt a stabbing pain between her eyes. “Gah, what did you do to me?”

Then she remembered.

Straightening up, she bumped her legs into sharp metal as her head exploded with even more agony. “Where are we? What happened?”

Syn pursed his lips. “Which question would you prefer I answer first?”

“You pick.”

“Where . . . I commandeered a fighter.”

“You mean you stole it?”

“Semantics, semantics.”

She glared at him. If she thought it’d do any good, she’d box his ears for the theft. “How did we get here?”

“You finished off the Rits, passed out from your head trauma, and I carried you on board.”

She ran her hands along the bandage and felt the knot forming where one of her attackers had brought the butt of his blaster down on her head. She hoped he woke up with an equal amount of pain.

I should have kicked him so hard he’d have had to have had a testicle retrieval.

But that didn’t change the fact that Syn had committed another felony while in her presence. Growling low in her throat, she narrowed her eyes at him. “You know I would never have climbed aboard a stolen ship.”

He smiled, flashing that damnable dimple. “You didn’t say that when I stole my own.”

“I was going to until you told me it was yours.”

This time he laughed. “Well then, I guess it’s a good thing you were unconscious.”

He was hopeless.

“Would it make you feel any better to know that it was more than likely stolen by whomever flew it—”

“No, it wouldn’t.” She shook her head. “I thought there was honor among thieves.”

“Only in your dreams.”

Or my nightmare. “So where are we headed?”

He showed her their heading. “I need to get a couple of things. Our first stop is at my office and then I need to go by my apartment.”

“What are you? Insane? Do you know how many trackers will be there watching for you?”

“Yes, I do. Which is why I told you to stay with Digger. But ye stubborn curse wouldn’t listen so here we are. Me with brain damage and you with a head injury.”

She looked at him skeptically. “What is there that is so important, we have to risk our lives to get it?”

“The map that tells me where to find the chip.”

Shahara drew her brows together into a deep frown even though it sent even more pain through her head. “If the map is in your flat, why are we going by your office?”

He sighed as if aggravated with explaining himself. “Before I stick my ass into the fryer, I want to do some hacking and see what the Rits are up to. I’d like to get a few satellite details of where they’re located in and around my building. I need to be in my office to do that.”

“Oh.” Then another thought struck her. “What if they’re at your office?”

He shook his head. “Not a chance. My office is a space station under heavy security.”

“And registered under someone else’s name, no doubt.”

“Exactly. They’d never find it.”

“That’s what you said about the catacombs.”

And for a minute they both sat still with dread hammering in their chests.





CHAPTER 12


Once they reached his company’s headquarters, Shahara was amazed by its size. The space station spun around slowly in the center of the galaxy where the giant intergalactic freighters could access all the major routes.

The station had probably a dozen spikes that reached out into space to allow the freighters to dock and hook into air locks where passengers and supplies could be loaded and unloaded.

Smaller landing bays were built further in so that smaller ships could be set down on thruster pads and not interfere with their larger counterparts. It was truly top of the line and cutting edge.

“Precision Shipping.” Shahara read the logo off the side of the station. “Nice name.”

“Thanks. Our motto is ‘Be happy with our service or we’ll kill you.’ ”