The Star Thief (Star Thief Chronicles 1)

“So you going to tell me why you’ve changed your name and joined the Marines?” she asked as the silence stretched between them.

He glared at her and turned down another hall. “Inside. Now.” He yanked open a door into a small room full of beeping tech and humming machines. The perfect place not to be overheard.

SIX

The smell of ozone and electricity tickled her nose, and a dull orange helolight did nothing to chase away the shadows in the room. Renna moved closer to the machines, her head spinning, and not just from the noise. By the gods, Finn really was Hunter.

Should she laugh hysterically or run for her life?

“What the hell!” She whirled to face him, preferring to go on the attack. “I thought you were dead.”

He crossed his arms, his blue eyes hard as he gave her his best death stare. “Hunter is dead.”

Once, she’d wanted to lose herself in their gorgeous depths. Now, they were full of hatred. “Why? What happened? Where have you been the last seven years?” Why did you abandon me? she wanted to add, but she pressed her lips together instead.

Finn stepped closer, menace rolling off every lethal plane of his body. Renna backed up until she bumped against a rack of servers, her fingers digging into the steel supports to keep her upright as his heat and scent enveloped her. Dear gods. Part of her wanted to jump into his arms. The other part wanted to strangle him.

“My life is none of your business,” he snapped. “All you need to know is that I’m a MYTH agent now and I won’t let anyone destroy what I’ve worked for.”

“Hunter, please…”

“Don’t call me that. Hunter died in an explosion seven years ago. I’m never going back to that life.” His voice had dropped into a low growl, his eyes hard chunks of ice. “But I see it’s done pretty well for you. Why am I not surprised? Even back then, you were the perfect little merc.” Bitterness dripped from his words like acid.

“We both were.” She shook her head as if that would chase away the fog that had taken her brain hostage. “You and Blur were the best in the traverse. What the hell happened to you? Everything went to hell when we were raided.”

He raised an eyebrow, his lips twisting into a sneer. “Exactly.”

Renna gasped. “You? You betrayed Blur and the gang?” She shoved him away from her, hard, throwing her weight behind it. “You sold us out, you son of a bitch!” Why would he do something like that? They’d been a family. The only family she’d had.

Finn barely moved, rocking back on his heels. Instead, his hand shot out and grabbed her arm. His fingers dug into her soft flesh like claws. “You deserved exactly what you got. You knew what Blur was doing. You knew how many lives he destroyed. And you went along with it. Hell, you encouraged him!”

She wrenched away, rubbing the tender skin of her arm. She didn’t know what the hell he was talking about, but right now, she was too distracted by the fury surging through her to care. “I looked up to you, Hunt—Captain. You were my mentor. Do you know how f**ked up your death made me?”

“Don’t fool yourself, Renna. You were f**ked up before you ever met me.” His eyes flicked to the scar running across her neck, his lips curling ever so slightly. She fought the urge to cover it with her hand. She wasn’t ashamed of her past. Not anymore.

His words stabbed into her like daggers. “Whatever our former relationship was, it’s long dead. I tried to convince Dallas to find someone else, but he had to have you. If you even think about betraying me again, betraying the mission, I’ll have you put away somewhere so deep no one will ever find you. Do you understand?” He snarled the last three words in her face.

She blinked at him. “Betray? You were the one who betrayed us!”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Renna. You might be a lying bitch, but you’re not stupid. I’ll put up with you on my ship because I have to, but trust me when I say stay out of my way. Far out of my way.” Finn spun on his heels and yanked the door open. “Move.”

Emotions swirled through her—rage, hurt, sadness. She’d thought they’d been friends—maybe even something more as they’d gotten older—but he’d lied to her. Betrayed her. She was the one who should be furious, not him.

“I don’t have all day, Renna,” he snapped.

She stepped past him, careful to keep a large bubble of personal space. He was coiled so tightly, like a predator on the verge of pouncing, that the smallest wrong move might set him off. And until she could figure out what the hell had just happened, that was the last thing she wanted.

Renna followed Finn down another hall, careful to keep several steps behind him. Her head spun as she walked. Hunter was alive and a captain for a spec ops Marine force. The entire world had shifted, like she was f**king Alice in Wonderland and had just fallen down a giant rabbit hole.

Finn stopped suddenly in front of a door, and she almost tripped over her own feet to keep from banging into him. He grabbed her arm to steady her, but she crashed into the hard planes of his chest, their faces inches apart. His heart beat beneath her own, and the scent of his soap and skin wrapped around her in a wave of homesickness and longing.

Instantly, she was fourteen again, sparring with him for the first time. She’d felt so important, getting one-on-one training from one of the gang leaders so soon after joining. She almost hadn’t minded that he’d easily disarmed her in three strikes and had pinned her to the floor with the solid weight of his body. He was four years older than her; there was no way he’d thought of her as anything more than a kid. But there’d been something about his kind eyes and the lopsided smile he’d used with her that had already had her falling in love with him.

He’d shaken his head at her and helped her to her feet. She’d stumbled then, too, and he’d caught her against his chest, the same scent wrapping around her, making her feel safe.

Renna blinked. Yanked herself out of the memory with a growl. Shoved herself away from Finn so hard he took a step back.

She met his expressionless gaze, ignoring the twist of lust in her gut. It was just residual, left over from a childish crush.

He nodded to the door behind her. “Inside is a locker room and an army surplus area with gear. Load up as much as you need. You have twenty minutes.” Without another word, he turned and walked away.

She watched his rigid frame disappear around the corner and then pushed open the door and stepped into what was basically a very well-stocked surplus store. Uniforms of every rank and color were piled on tables, and one long wall was filled with racks of civilian clothes.