Born of Ice

Irn whimpered before he glared at her with a promise in his eyes that one day he’d make her pay for this. “I’m sorry.”


Devyn slung him away. “Get out of here. If I ever see any of you again, you won’t live long enough to regret it.” He didn’t move until they were gone.

Then he whirled on Vik and Sway with a fury that made Alix take a step back. “Where the hell were you two?”

Sway’s eyes darkened as he tensed and stood his ground. “Don’t come at me with that, boy. You know better.”

But Devyn didn’t back off or back down. “Know better, my ass. She almost got raped while you two were jacking off. Why weren’t you out here watching her?”

Before they could speak, Alix intervened. “I told them I was all right on my own.”

Devyn scowled at her then. “You what?”

She held her throbbing arm to her side. It was sore from the way the burly man had grabbed and held her. All she wanted to do was go hide from his anger, but she couldn’t let Vik and Sway get into trouble over something as worthless as her. Determined to defend them, she steeled her spine. “Please don’t blame them. It was all my fault. I told them not to worry about me. There wasn’t anybody here at the time, and had there not been so many who attacked me, I could have handled it on my own. I’m really sorry I caused this to happen. I’ll be more careful in the future.”

Devyn’s heart lurched at her apology after the way she’d been so forcefully attacked. Her cheek was swollen with a bruise already forming under her left eye. And still her eyes blazed with restrained fury and pain.

He saw the shame in Vik’s and Sway’s gazes that she was protecting them. “You didn’t do anything to apologize for.”

“I should have been armed or called for help. It just happened so fast . . . I was caught off guard. I promise it won’t happen again, Captain.” She held her chin high, but even so he saw the tears in her eyes as she made her way back to the ship.

Sway shook his head. “I’m really sorry about this, Dev. I was talking to Claire. Had I known . . . You were right. I should have been watching her.”

Devyn clapped him on the back as his anger dwindled into some tender emotion he couldn’t even name. “Don’t worry about it. I’m mad at myself for not being here and taking it out on you two. I should have never left.”

Vik cleared his throat. “Speaking of . . . we better get out of here before one of the ass-kickees goes to the authorities and reports the assault. I don’t think any of us want to be arrested in Rit territory.”

Yeah, no kidding. That wouldn’t go well for any of them. “Good point. Let’s tel-ass while we all still have one.”



Alix leaned back against her closed door, shaking. That had been close on so many levels. What if Irn had told Devyn she was a slave? Had he not been so rattled by the ferocity of Devyn’s attack, he probably would have.

And Devyn . . .

Now she knew the full extent of his abilities, and they were truly frightening. He’d torn through those men single-handedly.

Oh, my God . . .

What would he do to her if he ever learned her secret? An image of him stomping Irn went through her mind so clearly that it made her chest tight.

“I can’t believe you didn’t even get laid after all that. Damn, Dev, you’re an idiot.”

She froze as she heard Sway and Devyn walking past her room.

“Don’t go there, Sway. I’m pissed enough.”

“You don’t smell pissed, you smell drunk. Are you?”

“Wouldn’t be if I’d gotten laid, but I needed something to take the edge off—not that it helped even a little. I swear to the gods I’m about to burst my seams.”

Sway laughed. “No wonder you tore them up the way you did.”

“They’re lucky I didn’t rip their arms off for touching her.”

Sway tsked. “You know there are ways of relieving that pain on your own.”

“It’s not the same, and you of all people know that. Gah, I don’t know how you stand it. I have a whole new respect for you . . . Actually, that’s not true. I still think you’re an idiot, but I’m too drunk to care right now.”

They continued talking, but she could no longer discern their words.

She stood in her room, floored by that revelation. So Devyn hadn’t slept with anyone while he’d been gone . . . For some reason, that thrilled her.

Don’t go there.

But she couldn’t help it. No man had ever defended her before. No man had ever cared who hurt her or slept with her.

Not even her own father.

Devyn had protected her from Irn and his fetid friends. That knowledge shattered something deep inside her. She tried to tell herself that he’d have done the same for any member of his crew. That it meant nothing to him, and yet . . .

“They’re lucky I didn’t rip their arms off for touching her.”