Born of Ice

  She growled at the sight of his perfect butt as he left the room.

  A few seconds later, the water came on, and it wasn't long before he came back holding out his hand for her to join him.

  In an instant they were in the shower, water pouring over their bodies and kissing so heavily, Alix wondered if she'd die from the mere pleasure of being around him.

  But what a way to go. She could imagine no better death than drowning in his kisses.

  He tangled his fingers through her wet hair and lifted her up and against the shower wall. Before she knew it, he slid himself into her. Slick from the shower and hard as a nail.

  "Do you know what you do to me?"

  Devyn looked at her with a gaze so intense, it was a wonder she didn't break under the weight of it. Then he drove himself into her over and over until they both came.

  They spent the rest of the shower bathing each other. It was amazing how tender Devyn was as he washed her hair. Taking extra time to condition and rinse it.

  It was pure heaven.

  Caring.

  He even massaged her shoulders as the water's warm rivulets moved over their bodies. This was it. She could die happy now.

  They finished up the shower and made their way back to the room.

  As he dressed, he raked another hungry look over her body that made her shiver. "I could still eat you up, but I've spent way too much time already being distracted. I've got an enemy to trace."

  And she had duties to attend. So she kissed him and watched as he left her alone in his room.

  She finished pulling her clothes on and froze as she realized what they were in for.

  Merjack and Whelms wouldn't be satisfied until Devyn was dead. They were like madmen who couldn't be won with reason or intellect.

  Devyn was going to die.

  And most likely so would she.

  * * *

  CHAPTER 10

  Devyn stood outside the galley, watching Alix and Omari attempt to cook something together. Manashe ran between them, looking for dropped scraps while they laughed and worked. Alix's eyes twinkled in a way that made her entire face glow.

  And Omari...

  He was open and happy--something Devyn hadn't seen in a long time. They had music playing in the background and every now and again, Omari would spin her around to the beat of it.

  "W-w-wait!" Alix said excitedly as she dipped a spoon into the pot. "You have to try this." She held it up for him with her hand cradled under it to catch any spills.

  Omari opened his mouth and let her feed him. He moaned as he savored it. "Oh, my God. Who made it taste like that? You or me?"

  "Definitely one of us. We did good, I think, and I'm happy to let you have the credit for it."

  He grabbed another spoon to eat more and some of it dripped on his chin.

  Smiling, Alix picked up a napkin and cleaned it off--like a mother would.

  Something inside Devyn clenched as he watched that. The one thing he'd always wanted to give Omari ...

  But his son was too old for a mother, and when he looked at Alix, he saw a lot more than just her kindness.

  He saw a future that he wanted her to be a part of.

  You are out of your effing mind.

  Yeah, he was, and it was the most unlikely of sources who made him that way. A slip of a woman who was a strange mixture of competence and insecurity. More than that, he could still smell her sweet scent. Feel her touch on his skin.

  What had she done to him? And in such a short time, too.

  He'd never been the kind of man to let his emotions rule him. Even with Clotilde, it'd taken a year before he'd felt like this toward her.

  Yet with Alix...

  He wanted to be with her. To hold and protect her. She awoke something deep inside him that he hadn't even realized was asleep.

  And as she turned to catch sight of him and smile, his body erupted again--even after their hours of play. It was like every nerve ending inside him was attuned to her.

  Like every part of him begged for her.

  Omari turned and grinned. "Hey, Dad, you've got to taste what we just did. It's actually good."

  Manashe barked his agreement.

  Moving to join them, he allowed Alix to grab a new spoon and feed him like she'd done Omari. The moment the sauce hit his tastebuds, he groaned. "That is good. What did you two do?"

  They laughed.

  Alix lifted her chin in pride. "No idea. We just added spices until it didn't suck anymore."

  Her laughter was infectious and before he even realized what he was doing, he dipped his head down to capture her lips.

  Alix's head spun her hand up to Never in her life ship with a crew while her life was at the unexpected taste of Devyn as she brought cup his face while his tongue danced with hers. Never in her life had she thought to feel like this. To feel safe on a who could make her laugh and have fun--even threatened... while everything fell apart...

  This isn't happening.

  It's a dream.

  "Um, should I leave you two alone?"

  Devyn pulled back as Omari's voice broke through his lust. "Sorry, Slim."

  "Don't apologize to me. So long as you don't try to kiss me like that, it's all good."

  Devyn pulled him into a headlock. "You're such a smartass."

  Omari laughed as he spun out of the hold. "I learned it from the best."

  Alix stood back as Nero and Sway joined them and they all sat down to eat. While they chatted and joked, a strange feeling came over her. Like a dream fog. This peaceful moment was so surreal and hard to accept.

  Her entire life had been a study in insults and degradation. Yet with Devyn and his "family"... she had found a place she wanted to belong to.

  And all too soon the moment was over, and Vik notified them that they were coming into Charisis.

  She met Devyn's stare and her heart slid into her stomach. A feeling of bad foreboding hit her hard. "I'll get everything cleaned up while you land us."

  "I'll help you, Alix," Omari offered. "Only fair since I started the mess."

  Devyn inclined his head to them before he and the others went to the bridge.

  True to his word, Omari helped her clean the table. "Don't be so sad, Alix. It'll be all right."

  She paused as she picked up Devyn's plate. "You said that you kept waiting for your dad to leave you when you were younger. How long did it take before you lost that feeling?"

  Omari's face was haunted. "I lost it the night Clotilde almost killed him."

  What a weird thing to say. How could something like that take away his fear? If anything, she would think it would worsen it. "I don't understand."

  A muscle worked in his jaw. "I was with my grandfather that night. We'd gone to a game together to give Dad time alone with Clo. When Dad called, I saw the look on my grandfather's face and I knew it was bad. I can't even describe it. It was like staring into the face of hell. One second we were driving normal through traffic and in the next, I saw a side of my grandfather that I hope I never see again. He got me home so fast, I still think we broke some kind of land-speed record."

  Omari fell silent as that night replayed through his mind. His grandfather was still in prime shape, and while he knew the man was a lot older, he definitely didn't look it. Syn was in better shape than most men half his age.

  "I was told to stay outside, but I didn't listen." He'd followed his grandfather up to find Clotilde lying dead in the foyer.

  Terrified and sick, he'd stared at her open eyes, transfixed by the horror of her death. Blood had been splattered all over the white walls and across the marble-topped table, showing him exactly how brutal their fight had been. Pictures and paintings had been knocked from the walls and shattered. There were burn marks from blaster shots through furniture, on the walls, floor and ceiling.

  The large arrangement of flowers that had always stood in the center of the foyer table had been knocked to the floor where the vase had broken, and the flowers lay f
loating in her blood.

  "Stay with me, Devyn. Goddammit, boy, don't you dare die on me! You hear me? Stay with me!"

  Those words had pulled him away from her gruesome death pose and toward the living room, where his grandfather was kneeling beside his father, trying to staunch the flow of blood that poured out of his chest. He could see the trail marked by the blood his father had left as he crawled from the foyer to the coffee table to get his link so that he could call them.

  And in that one instant, he'd been taken back to the day his family had been slaughtered by The League. And he'd heard his own mother telling him to survive no matter what.

  "Devyn! Look at me!"

  Instead, his father had seen him as he entered the room. Omari's first instinct had been to run away and hide like he'd tried to do when his mother had been killed. But as he met his father's gaze, he knew he couldn't.

  Omari shook his head as those memories burned. "My dad was on the floor, coughing up blood. His skin was already turning blue." Tears gathered in his eyes as he looked at Alix. "He was dying. I knew it. Even though my grandfather is one of the best surgeons in the universe, I didn't think he could save him. But when I looked into my dad's eyes, I saw a raw fire ignite." A single tear slid down his cheek and he brushed it away. "He reached out for me and I took his hand. His grip was so weak that I thought he was going to say good-bye to me..."

  Even so, his father had pulled him close enough so that he could whisper in his ear. "Don't worry, kid. I won't leave you alone."

  It'd been the same promise his father had made to him when he'd saved him from The League.

  "He fought his way back from the brink of death to keep me safe. To keep the promise that he'd made to me. And I knew then that he'd never abandon me. Not even death would keep him away. My father might be a lot of things, but he's not a liar or a coward."

  She couldn't agree more, and the fact that he hadn't killed her for her pact with Merjack made him a true hero.

  And there was no way she was going to allow him to be hurt.

  She hoped.

  Alix froze when she saw Devyn meeting them at the door to de-ship. This wasn't the man who made jokes with Sway or who loved his son.

  This was the captain she'd glimpsed on her arrival. Cold-blooded and lethal.

  He handed her a chip of files he'd fabricated.

  Her throat went dry as his hand lingered on hers. This was his life she held...

  "As we planned."

  She nodded.

  Devyn watched as she left. He exchanged a nod with Nero before he pulled his blaster out and shot Omari where he stood. Devyn quickly caught him before he hit the ground.

  Sway gaped. "No, you didn't."

  Devyn handed his son to Nero. "Get him out of here."

  "He's going to be pissed at both of us."

  "I know. But I can't take the chance. He can't control his powers when he's emotionally compromised and I'm not going to chance him giving himself brain damage to help me."

  "All right. I'll keep him occupied." He flashed himself out with Omari in his arms.

  Sway shook his head. "Damn. You planning to shoot me next?"

  Devyn holstered his blaster. "Depends. You going to piss me off?"

  "Not intentionally."

  "Then I might let you stay conscious."

  Vik cocked his head as he tried to compute everything that was happening. "So what is this plan that you have?"

  "You'll see."

  Alix shook all over as she went to meet Whelms.

  Devyn's half-brother. What could make someone turn on their family so viciously? Especially on someone as decent as Devyn.

  He deserves a father like I got stuck with. That would teach him to appreciate a father who loved him.

  As promised, he was waiting for her in a small cafe where he sat checking email on a small handheld device. His features turned to stone as he saw her approach.

  Steeling her spine, she moved to stand at his table and noticed that he didn't invite her to sit.

  Because you're not good enough.

  "You have evidence for me?"

  She held out the chip.

  He looked at it suspiciously before he took it from her hand and plugged it into his portable. And still he left her standing.

  Disgusted on every level, she saw the smug satisfaction gleaming in his eyes. "Is it everything you need?"

  He turned his device off. "Is this real or fabricated?"

  "Fabricated. He's actually not breaking any laws. His ship is licensed through his father's company and he runs freight for him."

  Your father's company that keeps you fed, too, you sleaze.

  "I told you, that doesn't matter to Merjack."

  "I would think it should matter to you."

  He grimaced at her. "To me? Why?"

  Because you're his brother. Not that they favored each other overmuch. The only thing she could see that was similar was the deadly gleam in their eyes. Other than that...

  Paden was a loser asshole.

  "Isn't part of your job to upkeep the laws? I would think framing an innocent man would go against your grain."

  His eyes turned brittle. "Don't lecture me on the law or my duties, slave. After all, I'm not the one who framed him. You are."

  "Because you gave me no choice."

  He raked her with a sneer. "Whatever lie lets you sleep at night, little girl." He tucked his portable into his pocket. "And now your services are no longer needed."

  "What about my family?"

  "That's up to Merjack." He stood up and jerked his chin in her direction as he addressed the table of men next to his. "Arrest this vagrant."

  Alix gaped at his order as the men stood to carry it out. "What?"

  "You're a runaway slave. We're taking you in."

  No! The lying bastards ...

  What am I going to do? If they arrested her as a slave, she would have no rights whatsoever. No way to help her family. No say over her own body or future.

  And as they reached for her, her panic set in with steely talons. Before she could rethink her actions, she grabbed Paden's drink and threw it in the face of the first agent to reach her. She kicked him into the other and ran for everything she was worth.

  She made it through the door and ran down the hallway until she saw Devyn, who was headed her way with Sway one step behind.

  He caught her in his arms. "What the hell?"

  "They're going to arrest me."

  "For what?"

  "Being a runaway slave."

  Devyn's jaw went slack. Runaway slaves weren't simply arrested. They were publicly tortured as a warning to others who might think about leaving their masters.

  Taking her hand, he started to run only to see a group of enforcers cutting off their escape.

  "Release the slave," their captain ordered.

  Devyn turned to run back toward the cafe. His blood went cold as he faced his half-brother. Alix had been right. There was no mistaking Paden's features.

  And as they faced off, Paden raised a blaster and aimed it straight at Devyn's head. "Surrender the slave or surrender your own freedom."

  * * *

  CHAPTER 11

  Alix's heart slid into her stomach as she saw the cold, harsh look on Devyn's face. The lack of pity in Sway's eyes. Honestly, she didn't blame them for turning her over to her enemies.

  She'd been willing to do that to them. Her ruthlessness deserved nothing more than their combined scorn.

  But it still hurt deep inside to know what they were relegating her to. What Devyn, after everything they'd shared, would do to her by his inaction.

  If the Rits really treated her as a runaway slave, she'd be stripped naked and beaten before a live broadcast as punishment. The price of the broadcast, her punishers, and the enforcers who brought her in, as well as her reward, would be something she'd have to pay back, thus guaranteeing she'd never be free in her lifetime.

  It's what you deserve.

&nbsp
; Soul sick over it, she tried to let go of Devyn's hand. But he refused to release her as he passed a subtle nod to Sway.

  To her complete stupefaction, he slid his blaster out of its holster faster than she could blink and opened fire on the Rits. He pulled her back toward the docking bay as Sway covered their retreat.

  "What are you doing?"

  "Fucking up my life again, I'm sure." He fired more rounds behind them.

  "You can't do this."

  He snorted. "Little late for that now. I don't think an 'Cops, my bad, my weapon accidentally misfired two dozen rounds' will work to get me out of this." He cursed as his link started buzzing.

  Firing another round, he answered it. "Hi, Mom... Yes, I know my heart rate's dangerously elevated." He ducked a blast that almost pinned his head to the wall. "That sound? I'm being shot at, Ma. Gotta go now. Love you much. Hugs and kisses." He tapped his ear to close the channel. "Where the hell's Sway?"

  Before she could respond, Vik came out of nowhere. He ran past them to find and shield Sway while she and Devyn ran for the ship.

  Four enforcers were already there, waiting. Devyn finally let go of her. At a dead run, he went for them. They shot at him while he dodged the blasts. Amazed at his skill, she watched as he fell to his knees and skidded between them, shooting as he slid.

  Two went down and the other two dodged for cover.

  Devyn jumped to his feet as he reached the ship and popped the controls to extend the ramp. He shot at the two enforcers to keep them pinned down. "Alix! Move it."

  She ran as fast as she could into the ship, where Nero was waiting.

  "Get the ship ready to launch," Nero ordered between clenched teeth. He flashed out, hopefully to help Devyn with the others.

  She headed for the bridge to fire the engines and start the preliminaries. As she worked, she looked out to see Devyn, Sway, Vik and Nero fighting off the enforcers.

  For her.

  Tears swam in her eyes. For the first time in her life she felt like she had a family. One that was willing to die for her.

  "Alix?"

  She jerked around at the sound of Omari's voice. He leaned against the doorframe as if he were ill. "Are you all right?" she asked. He shook his head as if he were trying to clear his vision. "Dad shot me."

  "What?"

  He brushed a shaking hand through his hair. "Dad stunned me right after you left... What's going on? Where is everybody?"

  She pointed at the monitor. "Ironically, getting shot at themselves. We need to get the ship launched as soon as they're safely inside it."