Born of Vengeance Read online

  "Thank you."

  "I'm not quite sure what you're thanking me for, but you're welcome."

  He put away the glasses before he gave her a hard stare. "You give me hope, and that's something I haven't had in a long time."

  She sealed the last of their leftovers into a tub and put them away. "What do you mean?"

  "Unlike Jullien, I had a great childhood. The kind every kid ought to have. It's why I never understood how Aros could be so nice to us and then such a douche to his own son." Or how his uncle could turn on him so fast over Barnabas's lies, when Aros should have known better. "I still don't really understand what crawled up his ass and grew there. Julie wasn't a bad kid. Just a lonely one who grew up intimately acquainted with a treacherous side of others that I was blissfully unaware of. I grew up in a world that if someone, even my uncle, did me harm, it was only because they cared about me and were trying to teach me a valuable life lesson and that it was for my own good."

  "You were naive."

  "Blessedly so. Sheltered, even though I didn't know it. So when it all came crashing down on me, and those I thought were my family and friends turned out to be enemies ... I lost all faith. In everything. But this--" He gestured at the pictures of their family on the wall. "--it helps more than you'll ever know. It restores some of the faith I'd lost. I'm glad you saw in Julie what I've always known."

  She smiled at him. "I can't imagine my life any other way." Rubbing his arm, she motioned for him to follow her down the hall to the girls' room, where she cracked the door open so that he could see their bedtime ritual.

  On top of the covers, Jullien lay on the queen-sized bed the girls shared with his ankles crossed, propped against a stack of stuffed animals. The twins were tucked under each of his arms, beneath the covers, and draped on his chest while he read to them.

  Bastien gaped at the sight of his fierce Andarion cousin so gentle.

  His deep voice as he mimicked the characters made the girls giggle. "And then the lorina tackled her sister and went rawr!" With a guttural sound effect, he grabbed Mira and tickled her until she squealed, then he turned and did the same to Viv.

  "Jules," Ushara said chidingly, "you're supposed to be putting them down, not winding them up."

  Eyes wide, he gasped at the girls. "You got me into trouble again with mama."

  They giggled and snuggled deeper into his side as he returned to reading the story.

  Ushara closed the door and headed back toward the living room.

  Bastien lingered a moment longer to collect his thoughts before he rejoined her. "That's what I mean, Ushara. I wish you could see what a miracle that is." He gestured toward the hall with his thumb. "Julie didn't learn that from his parents. I've never known him to be so open and happy as he's been since he found you."

  Embarrassed, she cleared her throat and changed the subject. "So you were with his brother before you came here?"

  "Yeah."

  "What's he like?"

  Bastien shrugged. "I barely know Nykyrian, really. He was assumed dead my whole childhood. I was twenty-six when he returned and was reinstated as heir."

  Anger darkened her vision. "And you didn't help Jullien when they threw him out?"

  "I tried. Believe me. But you have to remember that it was only three months after Jullien was disinherited that my entire family was slaughtered and I was convicted for it and sentenced to being a Ravin. In retrospect, my father did him a favor. Had Julie been on Kirovar, he'd have been murdered, too."

  She sucked her breath in sharply. "I didn't realize that happened so close together."

  Bastien nodded. "So no, I never had a chance to get to know Nyk. At all. Not until a few weeks ago, when they showed up on Oksana. He seems decent enough. But I don't have the war stories with him that I share with Julie. Nyk never had to suffer through one of our grandfather's interminable parties."

  She laughed. "So I've heard."

  "I'll bet you have. To the day he died, my brother Quin counted Julie among his heroes for having the nerve to do that."

  "Are we back to the pool pissing?"

  Bastien turned at Jullien's question. "I could always count on you to make things interesting."

  Jullien rolled his eyes. "Let's not go there." He pulled his jacket out of the closet. "I have the files you need stored on my ship. You want to stay here or come with me?"

  "As much as I enjoy your wife's company, I'll come with you and give her a break from my boorishness."

  "You're anything but a chore to put up with. And you're welcome here anytime."

  "Thank you, Ger Tarra." Bastien took a minute to say good-bye to Vasili, who actually hugged him. "Take care, sport."

  "You, too."

  And with that, Bastien trailed Jullien back through the station.

  They hadn't gone far when Bastien brought up something that had been on his mind all night. "Thank you."

  "For dinner? You're more than welcome."

  "No. For saving my life."

  Jullien practically stumbled. "Don't know what you mean."

  "Yeah, you do. It wasn't Aros who sent that missive to the Overseer that kept her from executing me. I know it was you."

  Red crept over Jullien's features. "I wish I could have done more."

  "I'm stunned you did that much, given you were being hunted at the time. How did you manage?"

  Jullien shrugged. "Made it my priority. I was on Ritadaria when I saw the trial coverage. I knew they'd convict you based on the bullshit I saw, and that my father, true to his assholishness, wouldn't do anything to stop it. So I did what I could."

  Bastien pulled him in for a hug. "Again, thank you."

  "You sure about that? 'Cause after seeing that hell you called home..."

  Laughing, Bastien shoved him away. "You were always an ass."

  "Yeah, uh-huh." Jullien went to get the files.

  When Bastien started to leave, Jullien stopped him. "Before you go, you want to loosen up some? Make sure you're ready for this?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "When was the last time you trained?"

  Longer ago than he cared to think about. "I'm in my prime. Don't need no training."

  Jullien snorted at his feigned accent. "I don't know. You're looking a little worn out."

  Bastien gaped. "I don't want to hear it from someone as old as you are!"

  "Old? Hah! That's it!"

  Next thing Bastien knew, they were in a ring, sparring, as a crowd gathered around them to watch it.

  He lost track of the time as they laughed and beat each other, all the while urging one another to hit harder and move faster.

  Hot and sweaty, he saw Jullien get distracted. So he moved in for the kill.

  Before he could blink, Jullien whipped around, grabbed him, and slammed him to the mat, then kissed his cheek. "We have to stop now." He jerked his chin toward Ushara, who stood off to the side, hands on hips, glaring at them.

  Bastien looked over and laughed. "Ah, crap. Now I'm the one who got you into trouble with your female."

  Grinning roguishly, Jullien got up and offered Bastien his hand to help him to his feet. Both of them were bruised, sweating, and bleeding. Yet neither cared.

  It'd been a good match and one Bastien had needed more than he realized.

  Ushara shook her head as they neared her. "Really? This is how you wanted to say good-bye to each other?"

  Jullien rubbed sheepishly at his neck while Bastien went for towels. "We were just going to practice a bit. Then we got a little carried away."

  "A little?" She glanced at the blood all over the mat, which looked as if someone had been murdered there and their body dragged away to be hidden.

  Trajen emerged from the dispersing crowd to join them. "I'm impressed with you both."

  Bastien handed a towel to Jullien before he wiped at the sweat and blood on his stomach where he still bore his League Ravin mark. "Yeah, I had no idea Julie could do all that. I'd love to see him and Fain Hauk go at it. Julie's the only one I've ever fought who could drag my ass around a mat as much as Fain did."

  "War Hauk Fain?" Jullien scowled.

  Bastien cringed as he realized what he'd let slip. But he wasn't about to lie to his cousin for anything. "Yeah. I used to train with him when he lived on Kirovar."

  Jullien wiped his face. "I had no idea you knew him."

  "Small universe, right? I figured you two probably knew each other, since he and his brother went to your school when you were kids, but given how Anatoles feel about War Hauks, and War Hauks feel about Anatoles, and the long-standing feud between your lineages, I knew to never, ever mention to him or his brother that we were related or knew each other in any capacity. Andarions are a highly territorial and volatile species." Not to mention the story Aros had once told him about Jullien and Dancer.

  Honestly, he didn't know what to believe there, but he was sure there was a lot more to the story than Aros had given him. Because nothing and no one could ever diminish Jullien in his mind, especially after his kindness to Bastien over the last couple of years.

  As far as he was concerned, Jullien was a saint.

  Jullien nodded at Bastien. "Good call, kyzi. They'd have killed you."

  "Exactly." Bastien wiped at his face and shoulders. "Sorry about this, Ushara. Please don't harm my cousin. It was all my fault."

  "Hardly. I'm the one who started it."

  When they began to argue over blame, Ushara stopped them. "It's fine." She gently wiped at the blood on Jullien's lip. "I'm glad that your arm's working so well. But you shouldn't be stressing it so soon."

  "I wasn't using it too much. I don't have precise control over it yet, and I didn't want to kill him."

  Ushara sighed in bitter amusement. "So, Bas, since it's now so late, are you staying until morning?"

  How he wished he could, but ... "Nah, I was going to head on. Since I got Julie into trouble, don't want to risk wearing out any more of my welcome."

  Jullien dried his hair. "Where are you headed?"

  "Starken for supplies and more intel. Then I'm after Barnabas."

  Ushara scowled at his words. "Alone?"

  He nodded. "I don't have anyone else I trust, really. Don't want a stranger at my back. Not about to drag Julie or Fain into this. So if I fall, it's only on my ass. And there's no one to really grieve over it."

  Ushara wrinkled her nose. "Why don't you hit the showers before you leave?"

  "What?" Bastien asked in an offended tone. "You saying I stink?"

  Trajen snorted. "Well, you did just spend two hours beating the utter hell out of my field admiral. You both smell like something rotted and dead. How Ushara can stand being this close to either of you while pregnant, I have no idea."

  Bastien laughed. "Fine. I can take a hint." He headed for the locker room.

  As soon as he was gone, Ushara dug out her link.

  Jullien scowled at her. "What are you doing?"

  "Hailing someone. Obviously."

  Jullien met Trajen's gaze. A cold feeling went through his gut at her unexpected vague answer. He was usually the evasive ass, not her. "Who?"

  She ignored his question. "Hey, this is Admiral Samari. I know you requested reassignment yesterday and that we were meeting about it tomorrow. Believe it or not, something interesting came up tonight. It's an outside mission. For Kirovar, but it's something I think you might be interested in." She paused to listen. "Yeah. You want to meet us in the North Bay in a few minutes?" A smile curved her lips. "Great. I'll see you then."

  Trajen growled low in his throat. "Do you know what you're doing?"

  "Yes."

  Completely confounded as his powers failed him, Jullien turned toward Trajen. "Could someone clue me in?"

  Ushara tucked her link away. "Jay has grounded herself for a few months. She wants to spend more time with her kids, and let her husband do the runs. So some of her crew has requested temporary reassignments."

  "Okay..."

  "I'm thinking one of them would make a perfect point for Bastien."

  While Jullien appreciated the thought, he knew that wouldn't play well with his cousin. Bas was even more paranoid than he was. And with good reason. Once you'd been through the kind of betrayal they'd suffered, it tended to stay with you.

  "Shara ... Bas isn't going to put someone at his back he doesn't know."

  "Yeah, but she has Gyron Force training. He has to respect that."

  It wouldn't matter. In fact, that could be worse. If they knew each other, it could even anger Bas.

  Jullien pulled his shirt on and groaned out loud. "Trajen, tell her what a bad idea this is. For all we know, they could be enemies."

  "I don't think so," Ushara insisted. "She left Kirovar and joined The Tavali because of the overthrow."

  "What was her rank?"

  "Major."

  Trajen crossed his arms over his chest. "Let them meet. See if they get along."

  He made it sound easy, but Jullien knew better. He also knew better than to argue with the two of them. They invariably won. Trajen because he wouldn't give in. Ushara because she fought dirty.

  Jullien tossed the towel in a bin. "Fine. I don't want him to do this alone anyway."

  Bastien came out of the shower with a weird feeling in his gut. Something wasn't right. He didn't know what, but something in the air had changed.

  By the time they were in the North Bay, his skin was crawling as if it were alive.

  Was some hidden instinct trying to tell him to forego this trip?

  Jullien tried again to get him to stay, at least for the night. "You sure you want to do this? You know you're welcome to stay as long as you want."

  Bastien clapped him on the back. "And you make it tempting. But I have to do this. I owe it to my family."

  "I understand. If you need anything else..."

  Bastien cast a playful grin at Ushara. "Really appreciate it, but I won't take you from your family. They need you more than I do." He held his hand out to Jullien. "You take care, drey."

  "And you."

  He inclined his head to Ushara, then shook Trajen's hand.

  *

  Ember couldn't breathe as she entered the North Bay. At first, she thought she was hallucinating. But there was no mistaking the man who'd haunted her, night and day, since the first moment she'd first met his reckless hide. That tall, lean, and ripped body that made her mouth water and body hum ...

  Only one badass warrior stood like that. Cocksure and approachable. Serious and fun-loving. A total contradiction that had to be experienced to be understood.

  Tears welled in her eyes as she heard his deep, rumbling cadence of a refined Kirovarian accent. No longer the highly polished aristocrat she'd fallen in love with, this Bastien held an even more dangerous edge to him. One that said he wouldn't hesitate to take a life. And it wasn't just the long brown hair with creamy blond highlights he had pulled back from his sculpted face. Or that shadowed jawline that sported a few days' growth of whiskers--something the polished Bastien of old would never have tolerated.

  No, this stranger was more barbarian than visir.

  More villain than hero. Damn you to hell....

  *

  Suddenly, a voice cut through the bay that left Bastien stunned completely numb.

  "Bastien Cabarro ... you lousy, worthless piece of human shit!"

  No ...

  The color fled from his cheeks as he stepped away from Trajen and turned to see the absolute last person he'd ever dreamed of seeing again.

  Dressed in the Hadean Corps officer uniform that was preferred by the police division of the Tavali Nation, it was Ember....

  And she was as devastating to him today as she'd been the moment he'd first seen her trying to get to her trapped sister. Only thing missing was the smudge of dirt across her cheek and the panic in her fiery green eyes.

  He couldn't breathe as every hormone in his body went into overdrive and left him hard and aching, and completely unable to think straight. She still had that familiar military swagger that was ingrained in any Gyron Force officer. And she stalked toward Bastien like she fully intended to gut him.

  With a rusted-out nail file.

  Bastien didn't move or speak. He just stood there, gaping at the slender, auburn-haired Tavali who meant everything to him.

  She stopped in front of him, hands on hips. "Have you nothing to say to me?"

  Yeah, but he didn't know where to begin, so he spoke the first idiotic sentence that came to his blood-drained mind. "I thought you were dead?"

  Sneering at his answer, she grabbed his jacket and jerked him forward. Instead of racking him, as Bastien fully expected, she gave him a kiss that blistered his lips and left him harder than he'd ever been in his life. Growling, he fisted his hands in her uniform and pulled her closer to him, reveling in her lush curves that fit against his body to absolute perfection. It was as if the gods had created her specifically for him alone. Nothing in the universe could please him more, except finding a private corner so that he could sate the need he had to taste every inch of her.

  Wide-eyed, Ushara glanced at Trajen, then Jullien. "I think they know each other."

  With a stifled smile, Jullien ran his thumb over his bottom lip. "Uh, yeah, I'm going to bet on that, too. Either that, or the greetings on Kirovar have vastly improved since the last time I visited."

  His entire body electrified, Bastien finally came up for air. Not that he wanted to. Indeed, his only thought now was stripping her uniform off and showing her exactly how much he'd missed her.

  Or better yet, ripping it off with his teeth.

  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."

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