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Then came an older woman on the rock who’d taken him under her wing and cared for him like a mother. She was and continued to be the most loving, kindest woman he’d ever met.
J’Kuu Kabi had been patient while he worked through his anger, showing him love and compassion when he’d raged at her, the world, and his past. She’d been a soothing, calming presence who’d eventually helped him get beyond his trauma when he realised how deep compassion and affection could restore one’s soul.
He now instinctively felt that with Selene, he was touching a similar lodestone of love and care. Their connection, though nascent, was wild, and he wished he could explore the potential of her being his true life partner—someone he could build a future with.
Which was totally in contrast to how he’d viewed the women in his past. The last few years had been about building and consolidating The Sable Group’s collective strength. Romance had firmly sat on the back burner. Those he’d dated had never been long-term options. He liked them. He even respected most of them, but he’d never committed to any, a trend most of his brothers had followed.
The Riders weren’t lads with zero life experience. On the contrary, they were mature men in their mid to late forties. Which was relatively young given the life span for most residents of Pegasi was 200 years. So they all believed they had time to settle down if they wished. Meanwhile, they thoroughly enjoyed their bachelor status.
Take Kage, who’d had a serious girlfriend a few years ago. It hadn’t worked out, so now he discreetly had flings with a slew of beauties, always keeping it casual, dropping them within weeks.
Xion was the king of one-night stands. Zane cycled through one beautiful model or nubile socialite each year, changing them almost precisely at the 375-day mark.
Riv was the only one who’d remained stubbornly single, refusing to mingle. Because twenty years ago, he’d lost the love of his life. She’d disappeared just before their wedding day, seen getting on an unknown ship that had vanished into hyperspace. Since then, he’d never stopped looking for her. He’d even turned his ship, Glimmer, into a hi-tech surveillance craft. He travelled the System scouring all corners for his lost love, moonlighting as a bounty hunter while his cameras captured millions of data as he sifted through the hundreds of millions of faces. Searching for her, only her.
Secretly Kainan wanted his own family and, even more extraordinarily, with a woman like Selene. But there was a darkness within him that no one, not even she, could touch. And even if he were free of it, he had a lot on his plate right now. Maybe too much to even contemplate a future with anyone.
He had an incursion to plan, a brotherhood of men to lead and a mission to complete. One that had consumed him for so many years, ever since he’d first landed on Eden II, broken and torn. Yet now there was a chance - a glimmer in the fabric of his dark existence.
Selene Munene either held the answer he was looking for or was the distraction he didn’t need. He wasn’t sure, but he felt her presence in his life was somehow a catalyst for something new on the horizon.
Regardless, he needed to harness all the power within him. To control the intensity of his reaction to Selene. In case it took him off mission and lost in side tracks he couldn’t afford. He needed to be on his A-game to stay ahead of whatever the future held. Failure was not an option.
Kainan strode straight back to The Sable Group’s boardroom.
He thrust himself into a chair and faced his brothers.
They dramatically watched his entrance in silence and then broke into grins and laughter, bouncing off each other’s mirth.
‘Fokk off all you!’ Kainan snarled, highly irritated at seeing the four burly, apparently mature men lose their shit.
‘Damn,khosi!You sure can entertain. On one hand, a woman who’s got you by the balls,’ Kage guffawed.
‘On the other, one who’d kill to have them!’ Xion crowed. ‘Damn that Uba! Impersonating inner beauty is not her destiny.’
They fell apart once more, roaring with amusement.
Kainan didn’t quite see the funny. He sucked his teeth. ‘Why are you fokkers acting like you’ve never seen me with a woman?’
‘You’re different this time with Selene,’ Riv said drily. ‘Like you want to burn her up.’
‘You’re a special piece of shit,’ Kainan ground out.
‘See? You’re on mad defence,khosi,’ Kage added. ‘She’s got you for real.’
Their leader shook his head, exasperated. ‘Youkinaisneed prescriptions. Or better still, warning labels. Or bibs, coz y’all are acting likekitotos. Can we focus on the issue at hand?’
He gave them a baleful stare, one so cold they snapped to attention, and the mood in the room sobered up.
‘The Technocracy is unquestionably here,’ Kainan said. ‘In our backyard. Is this the chance, the moment we’ve been waiting for?’
‘Could be,’ Riv said. ‘We can’t ignore how much of an opportunity this presents. It’s not their entire armada. It’s a tiny presence. Which gives us the best chance to test our plans.’
‘Are we ready?’ Kainan said looking over at Kage.
‘We’ll never be ready.’
‘But you’re a perfectionist, so we’ll never get to your version of nirvana. So, in your estimation, what are our odds?’
