Born of Ice

Not a one.

Paden watched his father run to Devyn’s side while he faded into the crowd. He wasn’t a part of this family and yet, he was morbidly curious about them. So much so that he couldn’t bring himself to leave even though it hurt him to see Devyn with everything he craved.



Alix ran to Devyn’s side while his father released him. “Devyn?”

His eyes were so swollen from his beating that he could barely open them. “Alix?”

She choked on a sob as she hugged him close, grateful that he was still alive. “It’s me, baby. I’m sorry it took so long to get here.”

“Devyn baby?” His mother brushed the bloody strands of hair back from his face. “Can you hear me?”

“I hear you, Mom.”

But his voice was so weak that it made tears sting her eyes. She could kill Merjack for doing this to him.

Syn caught Devyn as Caillan released the hooks that held him to the wall and let him slump against Syn’s side. Nykyrian took Devyn’s other side, draping his arm around his shoulders, and together they headed for the door.

But they didn’t get far before Merjack let out a bloodcurdling scream of rage and indignation. Grabbing the blaster from the soldier nearest him, he leveled it at the three of them.

Alix moved to stand in front of Devyn to protect him at the same time Merjack fired.

But it wasn’t Devyn he was aiming for.

It was Syn.

The next few seconds happened in a blur as someone shoved her and Devyn away and tackled Syn. She and Devyn fell to the floor while Nykyrian pulled out his own weapon. The blast that had been intended for Syn landed solidly into the body that had tackled him.

Merjack was brought down hard by Darion and Jayce.

Shahara’s face went white as she saw her husband on the floor. “Syn?”

“I’m all right.”

As he disentangled himself from his rescuer, Alix gasped as she recognized him. “Paden?”

Syn froze. “What did you say?”

She pointed to the man who’d saved Syn’s life. “That’s Paden.”

Syn carefully rolled him over. His jaw ticced as he saw his son’s pain-contorted face.

Paden was bleeding badly. He’d caught the blast through his abdomen.

Syn cursed foully as he examined the ragged wound. “Why did you do that?”

“I couldn’t let him kill you.”

“Syn!” Shahara shouted. “Devyn’s going into cardiac arrest.”

Alix felt her stomach hit the floor as she cradled Devyn’s head in her lap. Tears blinded her. “Stay with me, Devyn. Don’t you dare die. You hear me? Don’t you dare leave me.”

Syn looked panicked and stricken as he quickly examined Devyn. “The stress has caused another tear in his heart. We’ve got to get him on life support. Immediately.”

Paden reached out and touched Syn’s arm. “He needs a donor.”

“There isn’t one.”

“Take mine.”

Syn shook his head. “You’re not a match.”

Paden laughed bitterly. “Yes, I am. We’re even the same blood type. Mom lied to you about me. I am your son.”

Syn scoffed. “I did the DNA test myself.”

“No. Her lover doctored the results. He thought you’d leave her if you found out she was cheating on you and believed I was his. After he learned who you were, he refused to have me in his house. Mom hated me from that point on because I reminded her of you and I’d cost her her next meal ticket.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“I was angry at you for my birth. Angry at you for making Mom hate me. By the time I realized what an idiot I’d been, I was too embarrassed to apologize.” He looked over at Devyn. “He’s a better man than me and he’s your real son, Dad. Save him.”

Alix watched as the medics came in and put Devyn and Paden on a lift to get them to surgery. She started to go with them.

“This isn’t over!” Merjack shouted, making her pause. “Do you hear me? I’ll get all of you if it’s the last thing I do!”

Something inside Alix snapped at those words as she looked at Devyn’s painful condition. How dare Merjack threaten any of them after all he’d done. There was no way she was going to allow that worthless bastard to hurt or intimidate another innocent person. And before she even realized what she was doing, she grabbed a blaster from the soldier closest to her and opened fire.

The only thing was, she wasn’t alone.

As the sound faded and Merjack lay on the floor in a bleeding heap, there were ten blasters aimed at him: Syn, Shahara, Jayce, Darion, Nykyrian, Darling, Caillen, Vik, Sway, and hers.

“Wow,” Jayce said, “how’s anyone going to prosecute a firing squad? Don’t even think they can tell which shot ended his life since I think we all basically hit something fatal.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Nykyrian said in an emotionless tone. “We have a contract for his life. His death is considered a public service by The League.”

Darion’s eyes widened. “In that case, can I claim it? I want my promotion.”