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The men fell on the trees with groans.

The cakes are golden, honey-soaked, and syrupy. A recipe from Rigo that I perfected.’

While most of the pack thanked her, Boaz just lifted a chin in her direction. Respectful. Cautious. He still had AI trust issues from his one particular bad Earth experience.

Miral’s beam faltered then recovered.

‘Now, regarding your Lombardi situation, you gents might want to hear this,’ she said, sitting on a rock and crossing one long leg over the other. ‘I’ve found a series of their convoy stubs. We need to search for coded exchanges from the stubs. Using relays and old miner signal bands. It appears our friends are transmitting short bursts between patrols, no record, no echo.’

Xander cocked a brow. ‘You could’ve said that an hour ago.’

She shrugged. ‘I like watching you struggle. You’re very expressive when you’re frustrated.’

‘Fokkme,’ Santi muttered, shaking his head.

‘Try harder,’ she said, smirking.

They soon had a working strategy.

‘So we’re agreed?’ Xander stated, throwing the last log in the fire. ‘We’ll intercept the Carvajal and Diaz-Granados clans collaborating with the Lombardis at the ghost rig dock on Vessura’s edge. We’ll use a borrowed freighter, jam the convoy mid-jump, and force them into a negotiation trap under neutral Accord laws. Mak?’

Mak nodded. ‘Sounds like we’ve got every angle covered, each risk mapped. We should be OK from a legal standpoint.’

‘We hit this tight and fast,’ Xander appended. ‘Signet style.’

Rigo cracked open a flask of whiskey and passed it around.

‘To beating up cry bullies,’ Zev toasted.

Mak added, ‘To bleeding ‘em dry.’

‘To honor,’ Boaz growled.

Santiago raised his tumbler last. ‘To brotherhood. Always.’

They drank.

In time, as the fire died down, they dispersed, their feet crunching along the dirt trails to their cabins.

Miral vanished into a shimmer of digital mist, with a wave and a smile.

Only Xander lingered, standing alone by the lake, gaze locked on the dark waters beyond.

Always the leader, always the worrier.

These skirmishes had the potential to kick some serious ass.

Still, so did Signet, and when his star wolves battled, they fought hard.

So far, they’d not lost a battle in the Wildlight, and he had no intention of ending his winning streak.

9

Wolf’s Howl

XANDER

The borrowed freighter,The Mantle’s Echo, creaked into subspace drift with all the finesse of a dying beast.