Born of Ice

“A monkey?”


He laughed at the memory. “You know the candy, Monkey Seeds?” They were nothing but chocolate-covered raisins—a nasty candy, really, but it was one his dad loved and it was something Devyn’s mother always kept in large supplies for him.

“Yeah.”

“I thought if I planted them, they’d grow monkeys.”

Alix laughed at the image of the fierce captain trying his hand at farming. And for something so ridiculous . . . He must have been adorable. “How old were you?”

“Five or six. I would run out every morning to see if my monkeys had sprouted. My mom didn’t have the heart to tell me I was wasting my time. So my dad created a monkey body for Vik and buried him in the garden. He crawled out one afternoon while I was watering the seeds.”

“No, he didn’t.”

“Yeah, he did. Since my dad had also altered his voice track, it took me a full hour before I realized my monkey was Vik.”

“Were you angry?”

“Nah. But Vik, being Vik, finally explained to me why he was the only monkey I’d ever have.”

“And I’ve been your monkey ever since.”

A charming grin broke across Devyn’s face as he looked up at the speaker. “Nah. You’re not my monkey, Vik. You’re my bitch.”

“Of course I am. And I’ll remember that the next time your shower door is stuck and you want me to open it . . . Wait. That does make me your bitch, doesn’t it? Damn, I’m whipped.”

Alix’s humor died as Devyn drew near and she saw the awful jagged scar on his left arm that twisted from just above his elbow all the way down to his wrist. “That looks like it hurt.”

He glanced down and shrugged. “It did.”

“What did you do to get it?”

“Knife fight with a Partini.”

She was impressed. The Partanai were renowned for their fighting skills. “And you lived?”

“Obviously so.”

“What about your opponent?”

“He wasn’t so lucky. I don’t like to be attacked, especially when it’s unprovoked. That never goes well for the aggressor.”

“You actually killed him?” It was virtually unheard of for a human to kill a Partini.

He gave her a bland stare. “I was a League soldier, Alix. I’ve killed a lot of people in my career.”

That was another thing Merjack had failed to mention. “How long did you serve?”

Devyn fell silent as he remembered his stint. He still couldn’t believe he’d been so stupid as to sign up. Gah, what an idiot he’d been. “Almost four years.” The most miserable years of his life.

He hoped.

“No wonder you can fight so well.”

He snorted at that. “Trust me, that wasn’t from The League. I knew how to fight long before I joined.”

“Your father?”

“Among others. I was raised by The Sentella.”

Alix took an involuntary step back. The Sentella was the only group that had ever successfully stood against The League. Started long before she’d been born, and run by outlaws and criminals, it was legendary. “You’re not joking.”

“Why would I?”

Yeah, why would he? It wasn’t like he was trying to pick her up or impress her. “I don’t know. A lot of people do that sort of thing.”

“Not me. I hate lies.”

And he will never forgive you for the lies you’re speaking.

What does that matter? Her sister and mother were the only people she loved and she would do anything to keep them safe.

Devyn paused next to her. Given his sweaty condition, she expected him to stink. But he didn’t. His body held a warm, delicious scent.

Mmm, she could breathe that in all night long.

She looked up and caught the hungry light in his eyes. It was mesmerizing and made her even hotter.

Wetter.

All she wanted was one single taste of those gorgeous lips . . .

Devyn told himself to walk on, yet he couldn’t. When he looked at her, he remembered those early days of being with Clotilde. That sense of wonder and discovery.

The sex that had set him on fire.

She’s not Clotilde.

No, she was Alix. Competent and sweet. There had never been anything sweet or even kind in Clotilde’s makeup. She’d been vicious and lethal. At times he couldn’t remember why he’d even wanted to marry her except for the fact that she was incredible in bed. That woman had had a way with her mouth that was unrivaled and she had blistered his sheets.

But as he looked into Alix’s dark blue eyes, he felt like he was drowning. And all he wanted to do was taste her lips. To feel her hands on his skin.

I’m losing my mind.

“Devyn . . . Omari’s calling.”

Vik’s voice snapped him right out of it and grounded him back to the real world where captains didn’t make time with their engineers. “Tell him I’ll be right there.”

Alix scowled as Devyn literally ran from the room as if he’d been shot out of a proton cannon. Wondering about his actions, she looked up at the intercom. “Vik? Who’s Omari?”

“Devyn’s son.”