Born of Night

by Sherrilyn Kenyon

  In spite of her reluctance, Nykyrian and Terra fitted her with enough clothes to last for a solid month. As Terra left to place the order, Kiara faced him with one arched brow. "How long are you planning to keep me?"

  Again there was no emotion whatsoever from him. "Until you're safe."

  She looked at the pile of samples they'd gone through and the bigger pile of ones he'd approved to purchase. "That's a lot of clothes . . . I can't believe you spent so much on me."

  He shrugged.

  "You're terrible, Nykyrian." She wished she could see his eyes. Instead, her irritated reflection glared back at her from the dark lenses.

  "I want you to have it. You deserve beautiful things and I took you from your own clothes."

  "No, Aksel did that." She trailed her gaze over his tall, sexy body. He leaned back against the mirrored column with his boots crossed at the ankles and his arms folded over his chest. Deceptively relaxed, he was alert to everything around them.

  And she was highly attuned to him. She walked herself into his arms, forcing him to straighten up.

  He stiffened until she wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

  "Thank you, Nykyrian."

  Nykyrian was at a complete loss of words as his hormones fired. He really didn't know how to deal with her kindness.

  Terra returned with her computer ledger and Nykyrian quickly signed his name and indicated where the packages were to be delivered to his ship.

  "Do you need anything else?" he asked Kiara, handing the ledger back to Terra.

  "Not hardly."

  With a nod to Terra, he took Kiara's hand and led her from the store. "We need to get Syn's part next."

  "Can you buy him a new attitude while we're at it?"

  Nykyrian frowned. "Why?"

  "He's been just a little cranky lately. Haven't you noticed?"

  "Not really. He's usually acerbic when he drinks."

  Kiara was puzzled by his answer since she had yet to see a time when Syn wasn't guzzling alcohol. "Then why are you friends?"

  He paused to look down at her. "He saved my life."

  Kiara was stunned that he'd admit that. Had he suffered a head injury in the earlier fight? "Really?"

  He moved away and started walking again. "Yeah. I was on an assignment . . . one of my first, and it didn't go quite as I'd planned."

  "You were hurt?"

  "Bleeding like a mother. I knew I didn't have long before I bled out. I was in so much pain, I don't remember much really. Somehow I ended up sitting in an alley, waiting to die."

  "And Syn helped you."

  He rubbed his hand over his jaw. "Actually, he tried to mug me. I started to kill him until I realized he was just a hungry kid. So I gave him my wallet. I figured since I was dying, I didn't need it, anyway."

  She didn't dare tell him she'd seen that history on his files, and that his charity still astonished her. But that was the part of him that touched her most.

  "He didn't leave?"

  "No. He took me back to his . . . I would call it a place, but it was disgusting. He'd rigged a home in an abandoned factory that was barely fit for rodent habitation. But it was his and it was safe. It took a couple of days for me to recover enough to go back to The League, and he split what little food he had with me while I healed."

  "They didn't come looking for you?"

  "No. It doesn't work that way. Since executing a target takes time, you're given a time frame to carry out the mission. So unless you miss the check-ins or go AWOL, they keep their distance."

  She'd always wondered how they did that. "I still don't understand how you became friends with him."

  "He saved my life. I paid him back by giving him one, too."

  "How so?"

  This time she sensed the pain he kept cloaked inside him. "I gave him what he wanted. Paid for him to go to school. Set him up in an apartment and . . . fucked him over royally in the end. Sometimes I think he'd have been better off had I left him in the gutter. He'd have earned enough money eventually to get out on his own. All I did was show him a life he could never have."

  "What do you mean?"

  She saw the torment on his face and it made her ache for him. "With my help, he crawled out of the gutter. Got a great career he adored, a wife he loved, and a kid he worshiped. Everything was perfect. Then this damned reporter came in and started asking questions about his past and his father. His wife found out who his father was and that Syn had also been in prison. Without a second thought and forgetting everything he'd done for her and given her, she threw him out and ruined him. In less than twenty-four hours, he lost everything."

  Kiara's throat tightened at the horror of what he described. No wonder Syn was so bitter. "He could have fought harder to keep it."

  Nykyrian shook his head. "Believe me, no one could have fought harder for his life than Syn did. In the end, it wasn't enough. By trying to save him, I shattered him even more."

  She reached out to touch his arm and for once he let her. "It wasn't your fault."

  "I tell myself that. But I was the one who sold him on a dream. I told him I could bury his past and no one would ever find it. Gah, if I could just go back."

  "And do what?"

  "Stop him from making the worst mistake of his life."

  Kiara thought about that for a minute, but knowing Syn, she doubted if there had been anything Nykyrian could have done to change things. As her father so often said, there were some lessons only personal experience could teach. "I don't think he would have listened."

  Nykyrian paused and looked at her. For the first time, he realized how right she was. Syn wouldn't have listened to reason no matter how hard he would or could have tried.

  Just like he wouldn't listen to Syn where she was concerned. He finally understood why Syn had been so willing to risk everything.

  Including his life.

  Sometimes those chances were worth taking. But would Kiara be like Syn's wife and throw him to the dogs one day?

  "You know I've never told anyone any of that."

  She smiled. "I won't breathe a word of it. Ever."

  He didn't know why, but he believed that.

  Then she reached out and took his hand in hers. His automatic response was to let go and snap at her. But he forced himself not to. Honestly, he liked the way she claimed him in public--like she wasn't embarrassed to be seen with him.

  No one had ever treated him like that before. Suddenly she stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and tugged him back in the opposite direction. Laughing, she pulled him into a small store. "Have you ever had Sprinkles?"

  He was completely baffled. The store was some kind of eatery that sold treats. "No."

  "Oh, you have to try these," she said with a breathless excitement that made her amber eyes glow. "When I was a little girl, my mother used to take me for them every Saturday after dance practice." She closed her eyes as if savoring the memory. "They're like biting into heaven."

  He wanted to smile at the way she danced to the counter with childlike enthusiasm and ordered two flavors of something that didn't look particularly edible. He wrinkled his nose at the "food" that looked more like unappetizing balls of excrement. "What is it?"

  "Freeze-dried cream." She reached up and popped him playfully on his nose. "Stop making faces, you'll love it."

  Nykyrian couldn't have been more stunned had she slapped him. Indeed, that he would have expected. This playful side of her that dismissed the fact he could snap her in two with his bare hands was unexpected and . . .

  Fun.

  The clerk handed her the containers while he paid for it.

  She bit her lip before she dipped her spoon in and took a bite. The look of ecstasy on her face made him instantly hard as she savored the food.

  "Oh, this is the best." Her eyes bright, she dipped her spoon in and then offered him a bite.

  Before he could stop himself, he opened his lips and let her feed him. Syn would shit

sideways if he ever saw this. For that matter, the rest of his crew would fall over dead.

  But as the flavor hit his tastebuds, he choked on it. Cringing, he had to swallow fast to try and kill the taste. "What is that?"

  "It's supposed to be good."

  Nykyrian shook his head, trying to dispel it from his mouth. "I'm not used to things that are that sweet."

  Her face fell. "I'm sorry. I thought you'd like it."

  He wiped a small trace of melted cream from her chin.

  "I like that you like it. But it's definitely not for me."

  Kiara had never been more touched by anything in her life. It wasn't just what he said, it was the look on his face. The gentleness of his caress. Before she could think better of it, she rose up on her tiptoes and kissed him.

  Nykyrian froze as her tongue swept against his . . . in public. That quick, simple kiss scorched every part of his body. She treated him like he was normal and they were . . .

  Lovers.

  Taking his hand, she led him back to the street.

  "Do you want this?" he asked, holding his container out to her.

  She pouted teasingly as she licked the back of her spoon in a way that made his cock twitch. "Are you sure you don't?"

  "Yes."

  She tsked before she added his to hers and then tossed away his container. "You have no idea what you're missing."

  Right now what he was missing was being in bed with her. Most of all, he was dying to be the spoon she kept sucking on.

  Trying to get that thought out of his head, he led her to the part store to get Syn's repairs.

  But all he could think about was how beautiful she was licking that spoon.

  I wish she were licking my spoon . . .

  Stop it!

  No wonder The League banned them from relationships. There was nothing more distracting.

  As soon as he had the part, he tucked it under his arm and realized how late it was. He could go all day without eating, but now that he thought about it, Kiara had been a little too eager to eat her treat. "Are you hungry?"

  "Famished."

  "Well, there's some of everything nearby. What are you in the mood for?"

  Kiara smiled. Licking her lips, she raked a wistful look over his tall, gorgeous body. "Andarion."

  "Really? Most humans find it too spicy."

  She started to correct him, but ended up biting back a laugh as she realized he wasn't used to women flirting with him. Not that she minded. She was actually glad he wasn't like the playboys she was used to. She found it charming and sweet.

  Yeah, right. Two words that definitely flew in the face of his lethal facade.

  She shook her head as he opened the door to an Andarion restaurant and allowed her to enter first. She frowned as they waited to be seated and she noticed something about him. "It's very strange that here, in one of the most dangerous, most crime-ridden places we could possibly be, you're more relaxed than I think I've ever seen you. How is that?"

  He leaned over to whisper. "Not true. The most relaxed I've ever been was last night after I made love to you."

  She blushed profusely. "Out of the bedroom . . ."

  He shrugged. "The people here are more honest. You know they're looking for a shot at your back and they know you know, so they tend to live and let live. So long as you're not a snap, you're safe."

  "Snap . . . Syn used that term."

  "Single. Naive. Amateur. Person. A walking vic."

  A shiver went down her spine. "And you guys would be. . . . ?"

  "In a word . . . predators."

  That definitely suited him.

  He didn't speak to the Andarion waitress who raked a speculative glare over them. He merely held up his hand to indicate two of them.

  The waitress led them to a table in the back. Kiara sat down first and noted that Nykyrian took a seat with his back to the wall so that he could watch everyone in the cafe.

  Some habits died hard.

  She frowned at the menu that was written in an alphabet she'd never seen before. She wasn't even sure if she was holding it right-side up. "Don't they have menus in Universal?"

  "No. Andarions are assholes. If you can't read it, they don't want you to eat it." He leaned over to explain the menu choices to her.

  Kiara was hesitant. "There's no human meat on here, is there?"

  He shook his head. "While there are still those who partake of human flesh, they confine that delicacy to Andaria. The rest of the universe tends to consider it murder. It's all beef or vegetable on your menu."

  She let out a relieved breath. "So what do you recommend?"

  "You would probably like the Fitau Cour Bariyone."

  A chill went down her spine at the way those words rolled off his tongue. He had an incredibly sexy voice, especially when he spoke in his native tongue. "And that would be?"

  "Lightly seasoned beef with a yellow herb cream sauce and stewed vegetables. It's not as spicy as the other items."

  She'd forgotten what a gourmet he was. "That does sound good. I'll try it."

  As soon as the waitress returned, Nykyrian ordered.

  The moment the waitress saw his long canine teeth, she spoke in Andarion to him. Nykyrian's response was tinged with condescension--something Kiara had never heard from him before, and it made her wonder what the waitress had said to cause it.

  When they were alone again, she sat forward. "What was all that about?"

  "She wanted to know why I bleached my hair and was with a human."

  "And you said?"

  "That a servant shouldn't question me."

  "That was harsh," she chided.

  He didn't react at all. "I'm a trained warrior, Kiara. On Andaria, the only thing that outranks me is the aristocracy. Had I answered her questions, I would have ceded my status and become inferior to her. She would have attacked us both. The caste order is sacred in their world. If I considered myself a true Andarion, she'd have been beaten for even questioning me. As bad as you think Hauk is off-world, you should be around him when he's with his people. He's really a nasty bastard then."

  She'd forgotten just how warring and brutal the Andarions were. "I'll bet you're glad you weren't raised there, huh?"

  As soon as the question was out of her mouth, she realized how stupid and thoughtless it was. "I'm so sorry, Nykyrian. I wasn't thinking."

  "It's all right. It didn't go any better for me on Andaria than it did in the orphanage. I see no real difference between humanity and them. Both races prey on the weak and defenseless."

  Kiara hated the fact that he was right. In the end, it was only a dental anomaly that really differentiated them from each other.

  "Do you remember your mother at all?"

  He gave the subtlest of nods.

  She opened her mouth to ask more, but a chill went down her spine.

  "Kiara Zamir . . . you're the last person I expected to see here."

  Nykyrian went completely still as he heard the one voice that spun him into a level of pissed-off that not even Syn's drinking could match.

  Jullien eton Anatole. The crowned Andarion prince.

  Nykyrian steeled himself to keep from leaping at him and killing him where he stood. Jullien had been bad enough to stomach before he'd been sent off to the orphanage.

  But it was the cruelty of the bastard in school that still haunted him. A bully and a ringleader, the prince hadn't been content to pick on him, knowing he couldn't fight back so long as he wore a training collar. The little bastard had accused him of stealing his sacred signet ring.

  He ground his teeth at the memory. He'd been put through three weeks of hell--the highlights of which had been two brutal body-cavity searches and then spending two days in jail while having his arm broken in the process.

  Meanwhile, the prince had hidden the ring in his own gym bag and conspired with his asshole crew to frame Nykyrian for no other reason than he didn't like him. If not for Hauk coming forward to say he'd found the missing ring, Nykyrian would probably still be in jail for a theft he hadn't committed.

  And now, having almost ruined his entire life, the bastard didn't even recognize him . . .

  This was priceless.

  Kiara turned around in her chair to see Prince Jullien behind her. She smiled even though she wanted to curse. Jullien had a bad habit of turning up in places she'd rather he not. She didn't know why, but she'd never liked him. He just put off a nasty aura that made her want to cringe anytime he drew near.

  Corpulent and slimy, he wore an expensive dark pewter suit that dripped gaudy jewels. His long black hair always looked greasy--today was no exception. He carried a silver-tipped black cane that was more for fashion than necessity. The cane also allowed him to flash his prince's signet ring for the world to see when he posed with it.

  As he joined her, she noticed his guards withdrew to a discreet distance in the cafe to give them space.

  Yippee that.

  Without a word of courtesy, Jullien took a seat beside Kiara and lifted her hand in his soft, fat palm. She stifled her cringe at the uncharacteristicly swollen white flesh--most Andarions had dark tawny skin. What made the prince think she had any desire to be touched by him?

  But he was nothing if not haughty, and in his world, all females, regardless of species, craved his corpulent form.

  It was all she could do not to be sick.

  "It's a such pleasure to see you again." Jullien smiled a confident smile that told her how much arrogance the ugly thing possessed.

  She smiled stiffly. "It's a pleasure to see you again, Your Highness." Now go away and get out of my face. She pried his hand away from hers.

  Flipping a lock of coal-black hair from his shoulder, he took her dismissal in stride.

  Kiara glanced at Nykyrian. He appeared calm, and yet she had the distinct feeling it was taking all of his self-control not to leap at Jullien and strangle the prince.

  Why?

  Facing Jullien, she met his gaze and had to stifle a shudder at his mutated greenish-brown eyes ringed in blood red.

  His smile widened. "I've spoken with my father about bringing you back to Triosa to perform. He's as enthralled with your beauty and talent almost as much as I. But my people have had trouble getting yours to commit. I'm sure it's just an oversight. After all, think of how good it would be for your career to be seen on our stage."

  What did he think? She was some ingenue begging for a job? His offer was as insulting as the way he drooled over her.

  Nykyrian cleared his throat. "Emperor Aros is exceedingly generous to say such things."

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