Page 73 of Bonds of Starfall

He hadn’t forgotten in three hundred years, but now, she was back. And damn it all if he would let his father ruin this.

Never again.

Cyrus would take the opportunity away from him. After all, his father couldn’t hurt her if they were both far away from Sibeth.

The strobe lights flashed.Glass bottles shattered. But to Rin, it was all a dull, distant thump—her focus fixed on the Rogue she had hunted to a club in one of the wealthier districts.

The incubi and succubi were draped in jewels, their barely-there clothing flashing soft breasts and skin dusted with glitter.

The bass of the music thumped like her heartbeat—for once, not erratic or stuttering, but sure as she slid across the smooth bar counter, her boots knocking a stray shot glass, sending it scattering to the mirrored floors. She fell to the ground, a hand braced before her, her white hair hanging in her face. Sweat glistened on her temples, but her grey eyes were so alive in the reflection underneath her.

This club was crafted of mirrors, a prism of lights reflected, and bodies moving; it was easy to get out of sorts here.

A roar drowned out the music as the Rogue’s rock-like body slammed into a mirrored wall, cracks spiderwebbing outward.

She smiled and rose, chest heaving.

It seemed the monster thought it had an easy escape, tricked by the mirrors.

She could use this to her advantage.

"Everybody out of the way!" she called, sending the already scampering revelers deeper into the corners of the room where they cowered. Even with their Stella, they didn’t want to interfere with a Hunter.

Rin raised her Echogun, her aim steady. The Rogue turned to her, its pointed head lowering as smoky tendrils of its breath curled from its large nostrils. A foot scratched against the ground, its claws ticking over the glass.

Her finger hovered over the trigger.

The monster leapt.

In midair, it swept past the overturned chairs and broken bits of glass. But it wasn’t headed for her. Its aim was for the group of incubi and succubi huddling near the far wall. Rin locked eyes with a succubus, watching as the female raised a hand and sent a wave of controlled, crackling fire in front of the Rogue, her Stella allowing her to create a perfect shield.

Thwarted, the Rogue hissed, not willing to go closer to the flames.

Rin jumped into action, boots thumping over the mirrored ground, cracking under her steps from the force of them as she raised her Echogun, notched her finger on the trigger, and fired right into the monster’s back, the small, vulnerable spot where its head met its neck. Blood sprayed as the Rogue trilled an echoing warble, teetering to the side, before it fell to the ground in a heap.

Rin’s breath ratcheted out of her as she walked closer, nudging her boot against the beast.

"You can call off your Stella now. It’s dead," Rin proclaimed, voice steady even though her hands shook. She knelt, waving her watch before the monster to track the kill. On Earth, the kill tracker would alert a clean-up crew to the location, but since she was on another planet, that responsibility fell to her shoulders.

Peachy.

Hesitant footsteps made her head turn.

The Fireborn succubus who had used her Stella to save the other partygoers approached, her red hair tickling her generous hips. "Do you need a little help?" Though scared, the female’s voice was sultry.

Rin inclined her head, holstering her gun in the harness wrapped around her waist. "If you don’t mind. Can you burn it?"

A wide grin stretched the succubus’s lips. "Gladly." Fire sparked along her fingertips as flames danced in the air, tendrils of sparks sizzling as it reached the dead Rogue. In a snap of her fingers, the monster burned into ash.

The mission was over.

So why did Rin feel so hollow?

Blood was dryingon the side of her face from a thin cut on her upper cheekbone, where glass had rained down from the mirror ceiling. It stung in reminder as she walked swiftly down the dark halls of the hotel. When she saw her room, her throat tightened.

She sure as fuck hoped the incubus had gotten the message and left. She wasn’t interested in ever seeing him again, even though the space between her thighs was still wet and sensitive from what they had done.

She came to a stop at a different door, fist raised as she pounded on it.