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Next to him was a lean, long, striking, powerfully built man in a beautifully cut suit with dark thick hair, a neat moustache and a beard with piercing blue eyes. His elegant presence contrasted sharply with his more casually dressed companions. He nodded to her cordially.
‘At the far back is Riv, call nameWraith. He runs our armouries. He occasionally moonlights as the head of our private surveillance ops and militia, and on his off days, he dallies as a bounty hunter. With him is Zane, call namePhantom. Our business and financial controller. He runs our sales, logistics, private equity and finance division.’
Selene nodded her head formally in acknowledgement, momentarily unable to speak. As it were, her breath had been snatched from her lungs by the presence of these five devastatingly powerful creatures. She saw sleek blasters strapped to their powerful thighs and hips and imagined the various other weapons tucked in places unseen. These were no boy scouts she was dealing with.
‘You remember Mirage,’ Kainan added drily, gesturing toward the gyrfalcon with silver wings and feet.
Selene’s eyebrow rose. ‘Really?’
‘It is indeed, Selene,’ said the gyrfalcon in the AI’s harmonious tone. ‘As a nano-engineered AI, I can take various forms, but this is the one I tend to prefer when I’m off Kainan’s ship. But, of course, I’m also still on the ship due to my split consciousness and various remote capabilities.’
‘Mirage is our eyes and ears across the rock, and she oversees all AI on all our ships and holdings,’ Kainan explained.
‘I’m also taking an encrypted recording of these proceedings,’ Mirage piped up. ‘Which will be shared to all your comm tabs after the meeting and only accessible with your bio authentication.’
Kainan inclined his head. ‘As you can see, she’s a very valued member of The Sable Riders.’
‘Wow,’ Selene said, genuinely astonished. ‘Incredible.’
The gyrfalcon bent her sleek silver head in a bow.
‘Sit,’ Kainan ordered Selene, pulling out a plush chair.
‘What’s your call name?’ she managed to ask him softly as she sat down.
He paused for a moment.
‘Chimera,’ he said quietly.
Fitting,she thought, given the strange ability he had to switch her feelings, from hot to cold, in seconds.
The two men on the other side of the room slowly strolled to the table while Kainan stalked to a long low cabinet behind her and plucked a few items in his hands. She watched, perplexed until he returned to the dining table and thumped an exquisite crystal decanter swirling with a rich honey liquor and six shot glasses onto the centre.
The room fell into a hush as he poured the decadent liquid into each glass and handed one to each person.
Kainan then raised his glass into the air. ‘We pay our respects to Kei’Lano Munene III, the True Prime of Dunia, friend, father and wise leader,’ he murmured, his expression sombre, his golden eyes flickering with a spellbinding light.
‘Our deepest sympathies,’ added the devastatingly handsome Riv, his dark eyes slicing over to Selene as the group rose to their feet and lifted their glasses.
Then all five men and Mirage intoned together. ‘Inuka!’
‘Though he is fallen, he shall still rise in our hearts,’ Kainan added.
The men downed the liquid, slamming their glasses on the polished table.
Selene blinked back tears and followed suit. The smooth, well-aged barrel whiskey slid over her tongue and lit a fire to her belly, leaving behind mellow charcoal, vanilla and spice notes. This was not some cheap gag-inducing grog from the bottom of a nasty chlorinated bottle. Instead, it tasted like one of the aged, small-batch handcrafted whiskies that her father had so loved when he was alive.
‘Is this a Galician Aurora Barrel Select?’ she asked Kainan softly, fighting her emotions.
He jerked his chin in confirmation. ‘Tis. After one of our meetings, the Prime was kind enough to leave a bottle with me. So I only thought it fair to share it with you today.’
She gave him a shaky smile, overwhelmed at the kind gesture and deeply appreciative of it. Their eyes locked, and she felt the air spark between them. ‘Thank you, that means the world to me.’
Kainan broke the silence and their heated gaze. ‘Shall we begin? Selene, you have the room.’
He settled himself into the chair at the head, and the group followed suit. Selene noted he’d placed her next to him instead of the opposite - which was the norm in negotiations. Perhaps signalling to his fellow Group members that he was somewhat partial to her requests, which she appreciated.
She felt ripples of heat emanating from him, and at the corner of her eye, she spied the loose collar of his jumpsuit. It revealed a corded neck and muscled chest, covered in beautiful skin art that seemed to move with his very breath. She felt her body clench with an unexpected rush of desire.
