Page 9 of Synnr's Ride

"When do we start?"

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Second chances didn't come every day, and Hanna had been waiting for hers for more than a month. She could imagine one of the priestesses back home chiding her for impatience, but the temple of the gods in Vanen was way nicer than Hanna's cell, so the priestess could shut up.

Hanna rubbed her wrists but jerked her hands apart when she realized she was doing it. She wasn't cuffed. She wasn't in a cell. No one was guarding her. She was free.

Almost.

There had to be a guard somewhere in this giant building. And she would bet he was under orders to not let her walk away. But she wouldn't. She finally could be useful.

She was trying not to think too hard about who she was being useful for. Yes, Hanna had defected. After seeing what the Apsyns were willing to do to win the war, she'd had no other choice. Helping that side would be monstrous. They wanted to rip apart Matched Zulir units as if it wouldn’t destroy something sacred. Hanna couldn’t stand for it.

But her parents were still in Vanen. Her school friends. People she'd known her entire life. And her actions...

No. If she did this right, they'd be even safer. Because she was going to help end the war. Then no one would have to suffer anymore.

Besides, her choice had been simple: rot in her cell forever or assist on an undercover mission. If it went well, she wouldn't get sent back to the cell. Hanna was going to make sure she ended this job a free woman.

Even if it meant running at the first opportunity and living in a cave for the rest of her life.

She shuddered at the thought. Caves had bugs. And mold. And bears. Not ideal for a city girl like her.

Pacing from one end of the bench she was supposed to be sitting on to the other, Hanna studied the warehouse around her. Most of it was obscured by shadow. The lights were high in the ceiling, and only the set over the benches had been turned on. But she could make out ramps and stairs and the outlines of alcoves.

This was a training facility. She flared her wings out and relaxed into the stretch. They weren't physical things, but she always felt freer when she displayed them. Her spark and her wings were a part of her, and she embraced it.

When was her partner supposed to get here? And who was she working with? She'd asked Solan when he laid out the mission for her, but he hadn't said. Apparently details were still being worked out. Those details had left her stranded here, eager to do something but unsure of what.

She knew the basics of the mission. She and a Synnr partner would be infiltrating a fusion cycle gang of Apsyn sympathizers. The Synnrs wanted her for her bike knowledge and skills. Hanna was happy to play the part. She missed the purr of a bike under her as she ate up miles of open road.

A door on the far side of the room opened, blasting bright light into the dim room and haloing the Synnr who walked in.

Jori.

Hanna's body had a weird reaction to that, heart pounding fast, skin prickling with awareness, and the rest of her unsure of whether to be wary or turned on. Hanna had spent a lot of time looking at Jori Harek. There wasn't much else to do when he did those interrogation sessions that were really just staring contests.

He was a lithe man, and a bit short for a Zulir male. If they stood next to one another, they'd be the same height. He had curly hair that he sometimes held back with a plain black headband or tons of styling product. The first time Hanna had seen it, she'd been tempted to blow up her entire future just so she could reach out and touch it.

And his eyes... they were something her mother had warned her about. The kind of eyes that only needed one look to get a person into bed. Dark, mysterious, and oh so sensual. That sensuality was only challenged for supremacy by his lips.

She wanted to taste him. She wanted to feel the scruff of his beard against her skin as they rolled around in his bed and did all the wicked things she wasn't supposed to think about.

There was an intensity to the Synnr that made the sensuality all the more tempting. What did he look like when he fell apart?

What did his wings look like?

She'd never seen them. Synnrs seemed less likely to put theirs on display, and she'd received more than a few strange looks for leaving hers exposed. But that was a part of herself Hanna refused to hide.

As Jori got close enough, the first thing he did was stare at her wings. Hanna flicked them, not enough to make it obvious, but in a move she knew drew attention to the vein of black that ran through the center.

Jori jerked his gaze away and looked square at her forehead as if he couldn't bear to look her in the eye. "You've been briefed?"

"Are you my partner?" Stupid! Why would she even ask that? What else could he be, meeting with her in this training facility? "And, yes, I've been briefed. But I'm not sure what we're doing here."

"Training." The word came out as dry as day old toast.

"Yes, thank you. I could work that part out. I meant specifically. If we do this right, we shouldn't be fighting. When I—" she cut herself off. No need to remind the man of her past, even if there was no way to forget.

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