Weary to the bone, I forced my boots to move forward through the dim corridor beneath the docks. I had a job to do, and I would complete the mission my brother Styx had given me, or I would not return to him. That was my way and the reason every member of our legion stepped aside and dropped their gaze when I entered a room. None but my legion’s top-ranking members would dare speak to me. The thought made me grunt with disgust at the others for their cowardice and at myself for the hurt that wormed through my heart like a parasite.

Ignoring the pain, as I had since I was old enough to remember, I checked my scanners. There. Three corners down. A heat signature on the left. It was faint, but I knew the Siren legion smugglers had the most advanced body armor and weapons they could steal. If not for his need to breathe, I’d have nothing to go on but instinct.

Even that would have been enough. The ancient Everian Hunter in my ancestry had given me certain gifts. Combined with my Prillon and Hyperion blood, I had the loyalty of a warrior, the instincts of an Elite Hunter and the savagery of the Hyperion race that gave me the fangs I felt breaking free, fully extending in anticipation of battle.

“Siren!”

“Fuck off, Cormac. Don’t make me kill you.” An ion blast hit the floor and exploded a few steps in front of me.

I knew that voice, knew the male I hunted was as dangerous and deadly as I. “You want to start a war, Shade?” I stopped walking and lifted my blaster to take aim at the corner, waiting for him to show himself. Fuck it all, I didn’t want to kill this particular male.

“I didn’t kill your pilot.”

“He’s in a pod.”

“He isn’t dead.”

Shade had a point. He could have killed our pilot during that attack. He’d chosen not to. The male had honor, and he had proven it many times over the years I had known him. “Why the fuck are you still with Siren legion?”

“Someone’s got to do it.” Shade stepped out from behind the corner, and I held myself steady, blaster raised, but I didn’t pull the trigger. “There are children, Cormac. Females. Elders. You know what it is to protect your people.”

I did. Fuck it all. Shade was like me, an enforcer for his legion. He just happened to work for the most vile, evil bitch on all of Rogue 5. Siren had no moral compass, no honor. She was ruthless, cruel and ambitious.

Shade lifted his helmet off his head and stared at me. “You going to kill me, or can we both pretend you never saw me and get the fuck out of here before we freeze to death?”