“You’re sure you won’t stay? At least a little longer?”
Standing in the Sentella landing bay, Bastien hesitated.—Nyk’s question meant a lot to him. Every member of their high command was there to see him on his way. “Thanks, but I have to see this through.”
Syn sighed while Jayne pouted. Even Dancer and Fain appeared to be on the verge of tears. “We’ve grown attached to you. Not often I find someone more sarcastic than me.”
Dancer concurred. “Yeah, you’re like that fungus in the bathroom that no matter how hard you try to scrub it off, keeps coming back. Till you’re forced to live with it.”
Laughing, Darling nodded. “We hate to see you go.”
“Appreciate it.” I think.
But in spite of the missions he’d flown with them over the last few weeks, they weren’t his tribe. And he had a date to keep. “I’ve waited a long time for justice. It’s time I see it met.”
Syn nodded. “You need us, call immediately.”
“Thanks.”
Dancer caught his arm as he started to leave. That personal contact wouldn’t mean anything coming from a human, but for an Andarion to make such a gesture was significant. It meant he considered Bastien family. “I owe my daughter’s safety to you, Cabarro. And my life, and Sumi’s. Night or day, you call.”
He inclined his head to Dancer and clapped him on the back. “It was my honor to see Kalea returned to you and her mother. No family should be separated.”
“Which is why you need to stay with us.” Jayne winked at him. “You’re one of us now.”
Bastien laughed before he returned his attention to Nykyrian. “I’ll return the fighter to you as soon as I can.”
“It’s yours, drey. Least we could do given what we owe you.” Nyk’s expression turned even grimmer than it’d been before. “Sorry about my father and how he treated you.”
“It’s all good.”
Aros hadn’t told Nykyrian that Bastien had threatened him. Most likely because he didn’t think it a real threat.
Then again, it wasn’t.
It’d been a promise.
But first he had another to keep. “I’ll be in touch.”
Their good-byes followed him as he climbed aboard the fighter and prepared for launch.
After pulling his helmet on, he took a moment to glance back at Nyk, Darling, Syn, Fain, Dancer, and Jayne, who was waving at him.
It’d been tempting to accept their help for this, but the last thing he wanted was to drag their nations into another war while they were already fighting against The League. They had their own battles.
This was his.
If he failed, he didn’t want to destroy anyone else’s family in the process. Especially not after getting to know them. A sad smile tugged at his lips as he saw Sumi and Kalea in his mind. They’d met him for a farewell breakfast.
Kalea had broken into tears at the thought of Uncle Bas-Bas leaving. He could still feel the warmth of her wet hug. It really had been his honor to help them rescue the little girl from League custody.
Now grateful for this send-off, he inclined his head to them and signaled control before he launched.
He was headed for Jullien. Another reason he’d been unable to accept their offers of aid. The one time he’d brought up Jullien’s name, Nyk had almost torn his head off.
He’s a bastard and a snake. I wouldn’t trust him for shit! If I ever meet him again, I’ll hand him his testicles and laugh while he bleeds out at my feet.
While extreme, that threat wouldn’t mean much coming out of the mouth of the average person. Coming from the mouth of one of the most lethal assassins ever trained by The League …
It was as much a promise as the words Bastien had delivered to Barnabas.
So for now, he wouldn’t even attempt to cross-pollinate those two. Nykyrian obviously needed more time to forgive his brother.
Few more decades, at least.
After breaking atmosphere, Bastien let his thoughts wander to where they always went when left unchecked.
Ember. Against all common sense, he’d tried to trace her from the Sentella’s computers, but there had been no records for her over the last few years. Her sisters either. Only Alura showed up.
His gut drew taut in fear that something bad had happened to them during Barnabas’s takeover. Had Ember married, there would have been something to mark it.
But the last movements he could find on her were about a year after he’d been made Ravin. The Gyron Force logs had her and her sisters and mother listed as MIA.
Yet he knew better. KIA would be most likely. Because if she were still alive, she’d have returned to duty.
Unshed tears choked him at the thought of her dying in the field with her sisters by her side. If Barnabas had been behind it, then he would gut him with his bare hands.
Closing his eyes, he could still feel her touch on his flesh. Hear her laughter in his ear as he made love to her for hours on end.
Going home without her there would be excruciating. In fact, he could still remember the first time she’d taken him to meet her parents.