She lifted her face to the ceiling and laughed, the sound pure joy. Anyone who had been pretending not to watch our interaction gave up the pretense and stared. I could not blame them. She was beyond lovely.

We settled into a comfortable silence and she squeezed my hand once more. “Cormac, what’s in the note?”

I had glanced at the message as Amora walked away. It was short and succinct. “A name.”

“A name?”

“Yes. The name of a group within Siren responsible for placing the bomb on my ship. They are also, apparently, the same group who sold our tech to the Hive and have been kidnapping native Hyperions to sell.”

“One group of people is doing all of that?”

“Yes.”

“How many are there, in this group?”

I had not seen them for some time, but I knew their leader well. He was scum. I should have killed him years ago, but I had followed orders and allowed him to live. This time, he would not be so lucky. “The last I knew there were seven or eight. I do not know their numbers now.”

“What are you going to do?”

“You know the answer to that question, Abby.”

“You’re going to kill them.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t want you to do that.”

There it was, the knife in my heart I’d been waiting for from the moment I met her. She was young and compassionate and innocent. I could not blame her for not wanting to be mated to a killer. “I do what must be done.”

“But—”

I released her hand and stood, catching my brother’s eye as I did so. He would know what the nearly imperceptible tilt of my head meant. I walked away without a backward glance, fearless in the face of our enemies. Terrified of what I might see if I looked back at hers.

Styx followed me out of the community area to weapon storage. He arrived as I entered the security code that would open the door.

“I saw Shade speaking to Amora. Did he give us what we need?”

“Yes.” I walked inside and pulled two blades free from the wall. I added an ion blaster as well, even though I had to assume they would be wearing the same advanced armor that would make the weapon useless. “Did you send word to Commander Karter about the base on Latiri 4 as well as the new armor the Hive have acquired?”

“I did.” Styx groaned as he pulled his own set of blades from the walls. “He took the news well, considering.”

“You did not tell him about the Atlans.”

“Of course not. As we agreed.”

“Good. I would not want Abby upset with you.” I grinned as I changed out of my civilian clothing into my hunting armor. “I would have to kick your ass to make her happy.”