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But Kalla didn’t just follow orders, he hungered for kills and sought them out. He told me he’s killed plenty that had nothing to do with the war, just to make the money he needed to fund his missions.
No guilt. No pretending it’s honorable. Only an unquenchable thirst for revenge.
I don’t know what to do about that.
I’d really love it if I could blame a magical spirit I don’t understand for what I’m feeling.
Because if it’s not mysterious space magic at work, then that means I’m falling for a man who defies all my core beliefs. It means I’m attracted to a killer. He told me things that should make my skin crawl. But the shivers I feel when I’m with him have less to do with fear and more to do with desire.
CHAPTERSEVENTEEN
KALLA
“We discoveredan unannounced visitor during the night,” I say, startling those on the bridge to attention. Kira, Yulla, and Viro appear shocked. Ruka drags Raffa to the front with a flourish as if his presence is a magic show trick. Kira immediately turns to the security screens to investigate how he missed this important information. Kira is a hacker borrowed straight from Captain Rossa’s crew, so he’ll know Raffa quite well already.
“I’m one unplanned civilian passenger from losing my mind,” Viro warns, eyes sparkling with humor. “What next,Koko? Is there a kaia prowling the deck too?”
“In the name of the rutting spirit!” Kira shouts when the shock wears off. He lifts his headset off his ears with narrowed eyes. I doubt he was expecting to see the boy anytime soon.
“What are you doing here?” Raffa asks with a grin.
Stunned, Kira opens his arms to the youth for an embrace, ruffling his hair with affection.
“I had the same question on my tongue.”
“Well…” Raffa has some sense of shame, flushing blue in the face.
“He decided that EC-12 was not an exciting enough a location for him,” I explain. “And apparently, he’s been lurking in our cargo hold undetected for almost two days.”
“Rossa will kill you when she gets hold of you,” Kira says. “And I don’t need to tell you that it was wrong to pull this stunt on her. Does she know where you are?”
“Now she does,” Ruka replies. “Let’s just say it was a rutting good conversation full of stirring expletives. I think I heard a few new ones, in fact.”
That makes me chuckle, but Ruka taps me.
“By the way, she had some choice words for you about the situation with Kaye,” she adds.
“Does the whole of the fleet know about my personal business?” I snap.
“No, but she’s good friends with Kaye, and Niko and Raina are assigned to her ship. So you could say the wholePrimordial Avengerknows. And likely most ofMakiva’s Revengeby now.”
That accounts for everyone who actually knows me personally along with plenty that don’t. Ruka and Viro are enjoying this far too much.
“I’m curious how you managed to avoid our readouts,” Yulla says.
“You have a charged auxiliary generator in there. When I sit beside it, it masks my body heat unless you know to search for me.”
“Doesn’t that get hot?” she asks, furrowing her brows.
“Success is worth a bit of sweat,” the boy replies with a determined expression. He’s going to be diabolical when he reaches mating age. “My plan was to be on a warship, but I ended up here.”
Viro turns away, barely hiding his amusement as his shoulders shake. Kira glares his way.
“Sounds like you and the boy are in the same predicament then,” Viro whispers in my ear. I poke him sharply in the gut.
“What’s the mission?” Raffa asks, not missing a beat. “If Kira’s here, then we must be stealing secret information.”
“What, you think we’re going to initiate you into our crew now?” Viro asks with a snort. “This one’s got nerve.”
