Page 2 of Starborn Husbands

“Then that’s your problem.”

If you want to see anger then that’s what you’ll get,is what I thought just before I lunged at him.

It was our first brawl. It’s the reason he has a long scar on that pretty face of his—I cut him with my original starblade—its name was Victory—and his got me right across the ass, leaving a ghastly mark Father wouldn’t allow me to have removed because he agreed I’d acted out of anger and with the intelligence of a bear stumbling out of hibernation.

Since he still has his, I assumed we had fathers with the same notebook on discipline.

We were pulled apart by our brothers. Mine had been tasked with escorting me around the world. Zhang’s? I have no idea what the fuck he was doing there. They each had a heavy grip to the backs of our necks.

“I apologize on behalf of my father and the family for his behavior,” Atlanta said. “I’ll deal with him.”

And boy did he.

“Same for me. I apologize. Zhang knows better,” Gemini said.

They stared at each other for too long. Yeah. One ofthosekinds of stares. The kind that says they wish they were fucking instead of dealing with their pain in the ass little brothers. Then Atlanta jerked me by the collar of my shirt. “Come along, you tiny little jackass.”

He dragged me away, but not before I could shoot one last glare at Zhangandhis brother for good measure.

Was I an immature little shit? Yeah, but I wasn’t wrong.

CHAPTERONE

PRESENT DAY

Treyu

Leaning against the long leather seat of my motorbike, I check my phone. Oh dammit. Mother fucking fuck. Yeah, this can wait. I slide the phone back into my pocket and hop on my bike, donning my helmet at the same time.

Driving is freedom. Weightlessness. Cool air whips at my face. The loud engine drowns out any evidence the rest of the world exists.

Another bike encroaches upon my road and ruins any scrap of peace I tried to have. It could be Atlanta. Itshouldbe Atlanta. The fucking glow tells me it’s not. I’d like to run him off the road, but it’ll start a whole war, and I have somewhere to be. After that, if he’s still following me, I’ll use my blade to stab him through his star heart.

The destination is the seediest bar imaginable. Sitting at the bar top might give even me an STI. Why any human would make the trek out here rather than going to one of the nicer, less infested places is beyond me.

Hopping off my bike, removing my helmet—I don’t need it like a human would, but it’s the law to wear one, and being pulled over for something trivial is all I need—I advance on Zhang.

“Why are you here?”

He smirks. “Assignment.”

“This ismyassignment from our sector. Go back to your princely throne where you belong.” My family are the guardians, his are the monarchy. They aren’t good at letting us do our job. In the most recent century, Zhang became the guardian ambassador, which means he’s the conduit between my family, his, and the Guild. So, guess who’s taken to micromanaging me? I’d like to know why.

His hand on my chest stops me in my tracks. Gods, he’s so big. “You’re my assignment. I’m here to make sure you don’t die.”

“Guess I’m done for. As if you’d lift a finger to save me.” Speaking of fingers, I peel his from me, which I know he’s allowing. Him, a real star, and me, one who lost most of his God-given power, there’s no question as to who’s going to win a battle of strength. I’m stronger than a human, at least.

“Under other circumstances, you’d be right, but as it stands, I take my position with Starfleet seriously.”

We aresonot called the Starfleet. “You watch too much Star Trek.” There’s a lot I want to say, that I want to argue about, but short of killing him, Zhang does what he wants.

He shrugs.

“Is there a reason you feel the sudden need to follow me to every mission?” I’m exaggerating a little. This wasn’t a thing until it became a thing.

“When you prove you can get by without me, I’ll step away. Until then, expect to see a lot of me.”

Sooooo fucking smug. Sure, I’ll admit that my past three missions were near-to-deadly disasters. I’ll even give him credit for saving my ass those same three times. He can still fuck right off. Why? Because I’d rather have a shadow demon suck my soul away to the Nothing, than to have to live with his arrogance for another second.