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‘They’ll need to play by our rules,’ Mirage said.

Still lounging among the cushions, Selene stirred and slid a hand across her husband’s thigh. ‘Or better still, encourage their autonomy. Give them a territory with the same stringent rules we place on every planet in this sector. Let them govern themselves, come rain or shine.’

Selene’s utterance was husky with reflection.

Kainan gazed down at his wife, softening. ‘Wise words,khamila.’

He leaned in for a short, yet reverent kiss before turning his gaze back to Mirage. ‘Anyone stand out as a leader we can lean on? Other than my cousin?’

Mirage hesitated. ‘Nada. Xander Roman is our only hope. Miral says he’s the strategist of the lot. A thinker. Cool under pressure. Iron-clad discipline. She claims he’s like you.’

Kainan’s mouth twisted. ‘Xander is the shadow to my dark. Plus, he leads a band of merry, highly jacked-up ex-cons. That makes him dangerous, unpredictable. Can we trust him?’

‘We might have no choice. The rest are what you’d expect from a mafioso background,’ Mirage said. ‘The mob kings and armadas he’s escorting are fat on their power. They’re also narcissistic, ruthless, and all about self-preservation, bound by old codes and bloodline hubris. Despite his rebel heart, Xander is the only one who thinks past himself. He protects his people, and his strong guard and close crew are enhanced, with spectral wolverine meta capabilities.’

‘I’m well aware of his reputation,’ Kainan drawled.

He rotated to Selene, his eyes flicking over her face. ‘Thoughts, baby?’

She smiled, eyes raking over his jaw, then lifting her fingers to stroke it. ‘If he’s got a thimbleful of your fire, mind, and potency, he’s worth a shot. I gave you one, didn’t I?’

‘Fokkoff,’ he growled, with a heated glare.

She bit her lip, eyes dancing with laughter.

Kainan turned back to Mirage, the gold in his gaze piercing. ‘We’ll give thekinaia chance, because my wife said so, but I want all his steps tracked. Tell Miral I want detailed intel on his every move until he sets foot in Pegasi.’

‘Done, BossKhan,’ Mirage said, a smile curling her lips.

With a sweep of her glitter-laced coat and the shimmer of radiance fracturing around her form, she vanished.

Kainan glanced back down at his woman, who tugged him back down to her with a smirk.

‘Your empire,’ she murmured, ‘is just about to get a little more interesting, my love.’

He smiled against her throat. ‘Fokkme.’

‘My pleasure.’

XANDER

Morning broke soft and pale through the slats of Xander’s cabin windows, the light spilling in over the wood floors and casting quiet warmth over the bed.

Xander was already awake, had been for a while.

He lay still, one arm behind his head, the other curved around the woman sleeping beside him.

Her dark hair was a tumble covering his chest, her silken-skinned leg hooked over his hip.

Her palm rested on his stomach like it had always belonged.

He studied her, his pulse already ratcheting.

She’d blown his mind the night before.

It wasn’t just the fire in her body or how her mouth moved with his.

It was how she gazed at him, like he was a man, not a myth.