Page 27

Night of the Wolf

XANDER

M uch later, Xander wrapped himself around Savvine once more.

Falling asleep with her curled into his side was bliss.

There was nothing like it, her breath warm against his chest, her body tucked so close it was as if she were trying to fuse into him.

One leg hooked over his, half possessive, part instinct.

It was fokkin ’ hot, yet so perfect. Her ever-changing scent shifted. Now he got a subtle mix of night jasmine and vanilla scent that grounded him.

When her steady heartbeat synced with his, Xander sighed, whole and relaxed.

Until their shared temperature got to him.

By midnight, they were an inferno of limbs and sweat.

Savvine groaned and shoved away from him, muttering something about sleeping inside a star.

He rolled onto his back, smiling, only for her to curl back toward him minutes later, like gravity refused to let them stay apart.

They were a celestial orbit of ridiculous need.

Then the duvet war began.

Xander threw the covers off.

Savvine dragged them over her shoulders.

He tugged.

She kicked.

At some point, she shifted to the edge of the bed with the blanket cocooned around her, resembling a victorious burrito, one arm flopped out in a dramatic, unconcerned sprawl.

Xander stared at her. ‘Unbelievable.’

A sleepy sound emerged from her throat, like a smug laugh.

He grabbed the corner, muttering something about injustice, and wrestled back a share of the fabric. She didn’t fight him this time.

They ended up face to face, noses almost touching, only just covered by the chaotic folds of what was once a civilized blanket.

Savvine let out a drowsy sigh. ‘You’re hot.’

‘On a physical or thermal level?’

His voice was a husky whisper in the dark.

She cracked an eye open. Smirked. ‘Both. We’ve got scorching chem. It’s too heated, I’m afraid.’

In the end, they found a truce. One leg out each for cooling, arms loose, no one possessed more than their fair share.

Xander slid his hand around her waist, not to hold her close but just enough to feel she was still there.

Finally, peace.

Ridiculous, warm, comforter crinkled tranquility.

His smile buried into her hair.

Fokk yeah. He could freakin’ get used to this.

KAINAN SABLE, ON EDEN II

The rooftop terrace of Sable HQ shimmered in the soft light of Eden II’s twin moons.

Down below, the city’s pulse beat thrummed in the trains threading through districts, hovercrafts gliding past towers, and muted music rising from somewhere in the gardens.

Up here, it was a quiet world, designed to Kainan Sable’s liking.

The Khan of the Sable Riders lounged on a cushioned chaise, legs stretched out, his hulking frame wrapped around the woman curled in his lap.

His dark hair gleamed, and his gilded eyes gazed in half-lidded pleasure as his woman trailed lazy fingers down his chest.

She was slight, delicate, yet a powerhouse of energy and beauty.

Her wild curls spilling over honey-burnished shoulders, her mixed-race skin radiant and contrasting with the midnight linen of his shirt.

She laughed at something he murmured into her ear, her lashes brushing his nape, one thigh draped over his.

He was planning how fast he could move her to bed when a throat cleared behind them.

Kainan tensed for a half-second, hand twitching toward his hip where his laser weapon sat.

Then he sighed, relaxing as he sensed her presence even before she shimmered into view.

‘Mirage,’ he growled without turning.

‘Indeed. Do you have a moment?’

‘For you, always.’

The stunning synth creature sidled forward in towering high heels.

‘We’ve got word from the Wildlight Expanse, from Miral,’ Mirage said, stepping in front of the couple.

‘Your doppelg?nger speaks.’

‘A moment, khamila .’

‘Of course,’ his wife Selene murmured. ‘Hi, Mirage.’

Kainan pressed a reluctant kiss to his woman’s temple while easing her off his lap. ‘What news?’

‘She’s found a way to Pegasi for the Syndicate flotilla,’ Mirage said. ‘A safe interstellar laneway threading out from the Wildlight. It links straight to the edge of our quadrant.’

Kainan arched a brow. ‘Where, to be exact?’

‘The Kethyran system. Just outside the neutral rim. The projected hyperspace tunnel is stable enough. Stealthy. Undetectable if they move right. I’ve caught rumors of a few space whales and creatures running through it, but nothing the convoy can’t arm and defend against.’

He exhaled. ‘How long before they’re knocking on our door?’

‘A year and a half, even two if they’re delayed, so we must prepare.’

‘Population?’

‘Five to six million, and that’s those documented under the Syndicate database. We hear other non-Commission ships, pirates, and stowaways are scattered through the flotilla, so we may have to revise those numbers on arrival.’

Kainan let out a whistle. ‘Shiiit.’

Mirage folded her arms, her voice crisp. ‘Miral’s report warns us to expect splintered sects within factions. Also, breakaway clans are drenched in old organized crime culture. Think capo s, cartels, vendettas, illicit trades, and blood debts.’

‘ Fokk ,’ Kainan muttered. ‘If they think they can claim safe harbor in Pegasi and continue with their mafia shitshow they’ve got another think coming.’

‘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?’

‘ Fokk off,’ 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 the kinai a 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, Boss Khan ,’ 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. ‘ Fokk me.’

‘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.

As if he were enough, yet she still challenged, questioned, pushed, and parried without fear.

The way she smiled, with unadulterated joy, her mind, her essence, and her fierceness were all so damn real, and it scared the living hell out of him.

Xander had experienced desire.

He had taken lovers with the clinical ease of a soldier and the hunger of a man too long alone.

This woman, however, was slipping beneath the surface of his heart, running into his soul like a blade.

It was more than desire that gripped him; it was instinct.

From the moment he met her, her scent coiled around his senses, a wild, heady blend that ignited an ancient drive in him, older than reason. It was a primal, protective urge rooted in the marrow of his spectral blood that surged to life, roaring through him.

And now, after the way he’d taken her, truly taken her, when their bodies had collided in a haze of heat and hunger, he knew it wasn’t just lust or circumstance.

They had bonded in a sacred, irrevocable union.

The moment his fangs had sunk into her neck, marking her in the ancient rite, her soul had threaded into his.

Their lovemaking had been more than physical; ritual knotted their spirits, locking them together in a state older than the stars. He’d felt the echo of the Old Moon howl through his blood.

His wolf had accepted her.

Worse, his wolf needed her.

Nothing on this freakin’ plane, not duty, not betrayal, not even fate, would stop him from claiming what was now his.

She had no idea, but if he ever lost her, no matter how it happened, it might kill him.