Cupping her face in his hands, he stared down at her, grateful to every god on Kirovar that she was alive and well. He brushed his thumb across her swollen lips and smiled, intending to tell her that he loved her.
Until she kneed him in the groin. Hard. “That’s for marrying my sister, you feckless bastard!”
Hissing in pain, Bastien limped away from her, clutching at his abused groin. He glared at her and cursed. Oh yeah, that sucked every bit of tender feeling out of him.
In that moment, he wanted to kill her!
“You broke up with me! Remember?”
Unrepentant, she curled her lip. “I said I wanted some time to think about where we were heading. That wasn’t an invitation for you to go bang my sister five minutes later.”
Was she fucking kidding? That was not how it happened. “I didn’t just go ‘bang’ your sister. And it damn sure was more than five minutes later.” Straightening, he tried to level his breathing. “She asked me out. Then I asked you and you said you didn’t care what, and I directly quote, or who I did.”
“I. Lied,” she snapped between gritted teeth. “Holy Jake! You were my wingman. You were supposed to be able to read my expressions and know me better than that!”
Bastien held his hands up. “Not Trisani, Ember. Don’t read minds. You told me you wanted us to be friends, and your sister said you only went out with me because you didn’t want to turn me down and hurt my feelings, since we were partners. How was I to know?”
Raking him with a glare, she made a sound of supreme disgust. “Gah! You were always so dense!” She turned toward Ushara. “Is he my assignment?”
“Uh—” She glanced about nervously. “—yes? But I’m going to assume you want to pass on it.”
Ember narrowed her gaze on Bastien. “You going after your uncle?”
“Of course.”
“Then I’m in.”
Bastien snorted at the very thought, which terrified him. “Uh, yeah, no. I don’t think so. Especially not after this.” He gestured toward his abused groin. “I don’t need the cold-cocking. Trust me. Life’s done it enough.”
“Don’t even, Cabarro. You won’t last ten seconds without us in this fight. You want vengeance. So do we.”
“Us?”
“Riot Squad. We all got left for dead.”
Ushara glanced between them. “Riot Squad?”
“Special tactical unit of Gyron Force,” Bastien explained. “Commanded by her mother.” He returned his attention to Ember. “Did all of you make it out?”
She shook her head. “You’re not the only one who lost that day Barnabas took the throne.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, well, we all got wounds to lick. So am I in? Or you running suicide?”
Refusing to let her go again while she was this close to him—even if it meant having to be racked every time she thought of Alura, Bastien picked up the bag she’d dropped by his feet and slung it over his back. “Don’t drag your ass, Wildstar. I won’t tolerate slack.”
“I don’t want to hear it, GG. I outrank you.”
“GG?” Jullien asked Ember.
“Ghost Gadget. So named for the way he always found the right tool whenever we needed to blow something up in battle. Or could repair anything mechanical or electrical that broke down.”
Ushara passed an amused smile to Jullien. “Like you.”
Jullien didn’t comment. “And Wildstar?”
“Based off my last name. Wyldestarrin.”
“Yeah. Not even,” Bastien scoffed. “So dubbed for her temperament and the fact that during training, she set fire to a fellow classmate’s airbee when she caught him cheating on her.” A pattern that had been hers until they broke up. Somehow he’d been spared that part of her fury. The only thing of his she’d ever set fire to had been his hormones.
Ember narrowed her gaze on him. “Something you should have kept in mind. Huh?”
“I didn’t cheat on you. You broke up with me. How many times do I have to repeat that?”
“Asshole!” Shaking her head, she rolled her eyes. “I take it yours is the Sentella fighter?”
“Yes. Are we going to fight the whole way?”
“Probably.”
“Oh dear gods…” Bastien whimpered all the way to the ship.
Without a backward glance, she climbed onboard, giving him a prime view of her ass that was just cruel.
By the time Bastien had joined her in the cockpit, he was in all kinds of pain. Something not helped by the fact that it was so tight a fit, she was basically in his lap. He stowed her gear and made ready to launch.
“What? You couldn’t afford a bigger ship?”
He ignored her obvious dig. “Wasn’t expecting company.”
Then the scent of her body hit him. Closing his eyes, he could barely focus on anything else as he imagined what he really wanted to do right then.
And it wasn’t fly the damn ship.
Until her link buzzed.
“I need to launch,” he reminded her, not wanting to hear the sound of one of her sister’s voices right then. Their added condemnation was the last thing he needed. His ego had been kicked enough for one night.