Nissa moved minutely forward, away from the burn of that brief touch. “So, she’s a contender for purchasing the Constitution.” Nissa nodded. “Next?”
“Julius and Amorelia Zan,” Justyn said.
She stared at the handsome, almost cruel, faces of the couple on the screen. “I’ve heard their names. Who are they?” The man had dark-bronze skin and long, dark hair. The woman had pale-blue skin paired with a cascade of white-blonde hair. They were striking.
“Bonded telepaths. They live just outside the edge of the galaxy.”
She heard something in Justyn’s voice and glanced back at him. “You know them?”
“I’ve met them once or twice while on a convoy with my brothers. You donotwant to mess with these two. Individually, they’re both strong telepaths but together…they can amplify each other’s abilities.” He scowled. “They like to take control of people’s minds.”
Nissa glanced back at the screen in distaste. “Odds they’d want the Constitution?”
“We think slim,” Bella spoke up. “They like to collect artifacts and have an eclectic collection. Paintings, sculptures, books.”
Justyn shook his head. “Most of their collection has some link to telepathy. The last painting they bought was a starscape rumored to have been painted by the last of the Vega-Lyrans.”
Nissa raised her eyebrows. Vega-Lyrans—a long-lost psionic race capable of amazing feats of psychic ability. They were rumored to be able to control thousands of people, move entire starships, or even destroy a planet, simply with a thought. They’d been hunted to extinction and were now just a legend throughout the galaxy.
“Anyone else?”
Gavin drew in a breath. “Ulysses Mackon.”
Nissa’s eyebrows rose. “The pirate king of Alchemia?”
“The one and only,” Justyn said.
The image was of a handsome, older man standing on the deck of an airship, gripping one of the tethers holding the deck to what Nissa’s knew would be a huge cigar-shaped, black balloon above.
Mackon operated along the edge of the galaxy and was based on the steam-powered world of Alchemia out in uncharted space. He enjoyed nipping across the galactic border to attack any starships carrying cargo that interested him.
She’d been sent after him once, but he’d crossed over the border and therefore outside her jurisdiction. Mostly the GSS ignored him, more worried about the smugglers bringing goodsintothe galaxy rather than the pirates and thieves taking a few pilfered items out.
Just then Justyn leaned forward and reached over her shoulder to touch the screen. His big body crowded hers and she stiffened. She wanted to push him away but she didn’t want to cause a scene in front of her team.
She took a deep breath and pulled in his damned alluring scent.He’s a criminal, Nissa. Even if he’d never been charged. Criminal was criminal, her father always said. Usually when he was talking about Nissa’s brother. Justyn was nothing like Maxir, but Commodore Jonathan Sander would lump Justyn Phoenix in the bad-guy category so fast Justyn would end up with interstellar whiplash.
Nissa stared at the holo-screen, trying to focus. “I don’t think Mackon is a contender as a buyer.”
“Why?”
Justyn’s warm breath brushed over her cheek. He was still caging her in, leaning too close.
“He’s a pirate. Lives on a steam-powered world with little high technology.” What tech Alchemia had, Mackon controlled.The rest of the planet’s inhabitants were too poor to swap their anachronistic devices for anything else. Mackon kept them where he wanted them, under his thumb. “Like Vano, he cares little for the law. Why would he want a symbol of it?”
Justyn’s hands moved again to the back of her chair. His fingers brushed her spine and she felt a flush of warmth in her belly.
“Mackon has a wicked sense of humor. Guy lives to be contrary.”
“You know him?”
“Yep. Spent a bit of time on Alchemia.” Justyn fingered the scar that cut through his left eyebrow.
“Is that where you got your scar?” The words slipped out of her mouth.
He grinned. “Sure. While I was swinging between airships, praying I wouldn’t land in the creature-infested waters below.”
She didn’t believe a word of it.
