Cupping her face in his hands, he stared down at her, grateful to every god on Kirovar that she was alive and well. He brushed his thumb across her swollen lips and smiled, intending to tell her that he loved her.
Until she kneed him in the groin. Hard. “That’s for marrying my sister, you feckless bastard!”
Hissing in pain, Bastien limped away from her, clutching at his abused groin. He glared at her and cursed. Oh yeah, that sucked every bit of tender feeling out of him.
In that moment, he wanted to kill her!
“You broke up withme! Remember?”
Unrepentant, she curled her lip. “I said I wanted some time to think about where we were heading. That wasn’t an invitation for you to go bang my sister five minutes later.”
Was she fucking kidding? That wasnothow it happened. “I didn’t just go ‘bang’ your sister. And it damn sure was more than five minutes later.” Straightening, he tried to level his breathing. “She askedmeout. Then I askedyouandyousaidyoudidn’t care what, and I directly quote, orwhoI did.”
“I.Lied,” she snapped between gritted teeth. “Holy Jake! You were my wingman. You were supposed to be able to read my expressions and know me better than that!”
Bastien held his hands up. “Not Trisani, Ember. Don’t read minds. You told me you wanted us to be friends, and your sister said you only went out with me because you didn’t want to turn me down and hurt my feelings, since we were partners. How was I to know?”
Raking him with a glare, she made a sound of supreme disgust. “Gah! You were always so dense!” She turned toward Ushara. “Is he my assignment?”
“Uh—” She glanced about nervously. “—yes? But I’m going to assume you want to pass on it.”
Ember narrowed her gaze on Bastien. “You going after your uncle?”
“Of course.”
“Then I’m in.”
Bastien snorted at the very thought, which terrified him. “Uh, yeah, no. I don’t think so. Especially not afterthis.” He gestured toward his abused groin. “I don’t need the cold-cocking. Trust me. Life’s done it enough.”
“Don’t even, Cabarro. You won’t last ten seconds without us in this fight. You want vengeance. So do we.”
“Us?”
“Riot Squad. We all got left for dead.”
Ushara glanced between them. “Riot Squad?”
“Special tactical unit of Gyron Force,” Bastien explained. “Commanded by her mother.” He returned his attention to Ember. “Did all of you make it out?”
She shook her head. “You’re not the only one who lost that day Barnabas took the throne.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, well, we all got wounds to lick. So am I in? Or you running suicide?”
Refusing to let her go again while she was this close to him—even if it meant having to be racked every time she thought of Alura, Bastien picked up the bag she’d dropped by his feet and slung it over his back. “Don’t drag your ass, Wildstar. I won’t tolerate slack.”
“I don’t want to hear it, GG. I outrank you.”
“GG?” Jullien asked Ember.
“Ghost Gadget. So named for the way he always found the right tool whenever we needed to blow something up in battle. Or could repair anything mechanical or electrical that broke down.”
Ushara passed an amused smile to Jullien. “Likeyou.”
Jullien didn’t comment. “And Wildstar?”
“Based off my last name. Wyldestarrin.”
