He was gone. Jin had left her. She was alone, her secrets exposed. Vulnerable. Weak.
Kira’s eyes locked on Shandry, idly noting the other woman's casual posture, the slightly smug look on her face as if she'd won a point on an invisible scoreboard.
Shandry noticed her looking at her and her smile widened. Gloating as she basked in her victory.
She'd done this. Upended Kira's life, exposed one of her most closely guarded secrets, and driven a wedge between Kira and her oldest friend.
Now Shandry was happy.
Kira's body moved without conscious thought. She was out of the chair, halfway across the table before anyone could blink.
The room erupted, oshota springing forward. To Kira, their shouts sounded like nothing more than angry buzzing as she lost herself to the red haze in her head.
She'd lost control, she realized distantly. Even knowing what could happen from such a breach, she couldn't bring herself to care, intent on destroying the person who had hurt her.
Hard arms wrapped around her lower body, slamming her into the table. A second set pinned her upper half to the table. Raider and Jace hauled her toward them, shoving her into her seat.
Raider's arm ended up wrapped around her neck, nearly cutting off her oxygen. Jace was at her front, forcing her to stay in her chair.
Kira lurched forward before she gathered herself, letting them keep her there as she panted. Rage, the likes of which she'd lost herself to only a few times in her life, coursed through her.
Staying seated was hard. All she wanted to do was eliminate the threat, the thing that had already hurt her.
Instincts warred with control. She wasn't proud to admit control was losing.
"It's been a while since she's done this," Raider grunted, not daring to move even when she remained still.
"Let's keep it that way, shall we?" Jace didn't let up as she quivered from the urge to attack, somehow retaining enough of herself not to hurt her friends. "I'd forgotten how damn terrifying she is."
"No shit," Raider snapped.
Finn appeared next to them. Not touching, his physical presence was threat enough.
Kira forced herself not to move, not to struggle. As much as she hated what Shandry had done, what she had revealed without Kira's permission, it wasn't the healer's fault Jin had left. It was Kira's. She'd been the one who'd chosen to hide the extent of the damage her power caused her. She'd been the one to decide against upsetting him with the inevitable.
She had no one to blame for his current abandonment but herself.
After one final breath, Kira reached up and tapped Raider on the forearm. "You can let me go. I won't attack her."
Raider's grip didn't loosen. "Are you sure? I don't think they'll give us ships or people to fly them if you kill one of their people."
"Let me go, asshole."
Raider chuckled, his arm loosening as he stepped back. "Just like old times, Phoenix."
Kira mumbled to herself as she fiddled with her sleeves, straightening them before twitching them into place. Only when she had finished did she look up, her face expressionless.
Everyone in the room stared at her with varying expressions of disbelief.
She stared blandly back. Hadn't they ever seen a grown woman lose her shit before?
Liara was shocked, her oshota reflecting their Overlord's dismay. Graydon and his warriors were poised to interfere if the humans couldn't keep her contained.
Silas seemed thoughtful as he watched her regain her composure.
"You'll have to forgive Kira," Jace said smoothly into the silence. "In our culture, a doctor revealing such personal information as yours just did to such a public forum is considered a grave breach of privacy and trust. For someone with her issues, it acted like a trigger."
"It is similar for us as well," Graydon said, shooting Shandry a hard look. "Such things are not to be done lightly and should have been handled with caution and respect. Something Luatha's healer seems to have forgotten."
