Born of Ice

Ignoring him, Devyn unstrapped himself from his seat. “C’mon, I’ll help you to your room.”


Alix started to protest, but the words stumbled on her tongue as she looked up at him standing over her. Maybe it was the lighting, or her shaky nerves, or maybe her leftover fear. She wasn’t sure what caused her sudden muteness, but as she watched him, she could barely breathe.

Gracious, he was sexy and disturbing.

He unstrapped her and helped her up from her chair. A half smile played across his lips with a devastating effect on her. No longer sure if her shaky legs were a result of the flight or the man, she slumped against his long, lean body.

Devyn draped her right arm over his shoulders and held her wrist with his right hand. He wrapped his other arm around her waist. She swallowed at the intimate contact.

“I think I can manage to make my way on my own.”

His gaze burned into hers, and for a moment she feared he might be able to see past her defenses and detect the way he unnerved her.

Or worse, see her deceit.

“C’mon. It’s not often I get to play a gallant hero to a damsel I distressed. Don’t interfere with my good deed for the decade. I assure you, they’re few and far between.”

Well, since he put it that way . . .

The heat of his body warmed hers as he led her from the bridge and down the corridor. Goodness, but he smelled delectable. It was such a sharp, spicy scent . . .

All man and all good.

She swallowed as she tried to think of something that could distract her from her thoughts. “That was some really good flying, Captain. How’d you know a hyperspace opening was there?”

That devilish grin returned. “I inherited my uncle’s star charts that detail every opening in the trigalaxies. Most of them are unknown by anyone except my family. I’ve found them immensely helpful whenever The League thinks they’ve got my hyperdrive locked down.” His eyes twinkled in the dim light. “They can block our ship, but they can’t block the entire galaxy.”

Alix frowned. “Your uncle?”

“Caillen Dagan.”

Her stomach hit the floor. Caillen Dagan was the baddest of the bad. Even though he’d vanished when she’d been in diapers, smugglers and League officials still wet themselves whenever his name was mentioned. His reputation was the stuff of legends. “I heard he was dead.”

He didn’t respond to either confirm or deny it.

She narrowed her gaze on him. “Are you really a Dagan?”

Devyn nodded, his features serious. “Son of a Dagan Seax and the equally notorious C.I. Syn. Only fitting I ended up on the questionable side of the law.”

Alix came to a complete stop. C.I. Syn was the most infamous filch and assassin who ever lived. Again, his name alone sent terror through the hearts of anyone who heard it.

And here she was, standing next to his son. How much of his father’s brutality had Devyn inherited?

He gave her a gimlet stare. “You got a problem with my history?”

Nice attitude. Obviously he was defensive about his parents. Not that she blamed him. She’d be a little waxed, too, if she had a genetic link to people like that.

She shook her head in honesty. “No, but I’m curious about how your parents met.”

The question seemed to amuse him. “My mom was hired to track my dad down and arrest him.”

“I take it she let him go.”

“No. She shot and stabbed him the first time they met and did, in fact, hand him over to the authorities . . . twice.”

She was completely stunned by what he described. “And he let her live?”

He shrugged. “My dad’s a forgiving man where my mom’s concerned.”

Obviously. Still, how could anyone be that tolerant? She couldn’t imagine ever forgiving someone for shooting her.

“And I thought my parents had a screwed-up relationship.”

Devyn cocked an eyebrow. “I know your father ran a freighter. What about your mom?”

She squelched her sudden burst of panic before she gave herself away. He must never know about her mother or her sister. She couldn’t even think about that right now without her head becoming light and her sight dimming in mortal terror.

She had no doubt that this fierce man would absolutely kill her if he ever learned she was here to betray him and his crew.

“She . . .” Alix paused while trying to think up a believable lie. She shifted her gaze to the floor, hoping he couldn’t detect her deceit. “She disappeared when I was just a kid. I don’t really remember her.”

Skittish about the turn in their conversation, she let go of him and sprinted the rest of the way to her room.

Devyn scowled at her hasty departure. “Alix?”

She didn’t even pause.

How weird was that? But there had been no mistaking the frightened look he’d seen on her face when he asked about her mother. Tempted to go after her, he decided it would be best to give her time to get used to all of them slowly.