Page 47 of The Rebel and the Rogue

“If you want to call it that.”

“I’m to return to the Coalition and do your bidding? Be your puppet? No, thanks.”

“No?” Helion asked. From the tenseness of his jaw I could tell he wasn’t used to being told no.

“No,” I repeated. “Not interested.”

“You’re going to remain a bounty hunter, roaming the universe and taking on contracts that may or may not support you when I can offer you so much more?”

“That’s right.”

“You are skilled. Experienced. You should be where you could be of most use. You should help us win this war. Protect the Coalition. Protect Earth. Protect your people.”

I turned and looked to Astra.

“I am.”

Her eyes flared, and she nodded.

She understood what I hadn’t said aloud, that I wanted to be a part of Astra Legion.

“Lieutenant,” Helion said, the one word laced with a tone used for kindergarten teachers who were disappointed in five-year-olds.

“I’m not interested, Helion. I’m saying it in English, but I’m sure your NPU will allow you to comprehend in any language. I’m not interested in working for the I.C., and I’m not interested in the bounty on Gerian. You can keep your money.”

His eyebrow went up in a small show of surprise. “You don’t want your bounty?”

I sighed. “You run the entire I.C.?” I questioned. “Really? I wanted justice for my crew. I got it. I won’t put a price on their lives. The bounty does. If you want to give it to someone, split it among my team’s families. They deserve it.”

I looked to Astra. “I brought in Gerian. Shut down the lab. Finished Cerberus. I did what I set out to do. The help from you and your legion was instrumental. For that, I thank you. For that, the prisoner is yours.”

Helion understood what I was saying. “Lieutenant!” he snapped.

I didn’t turn back to face him but said, “Watch as justice is served, Helion.”

Astra pulled a blade from some hidden place in her boot and swung. With one swift and efficient slice, Gerian Eozara was cut open. Blood sprayed across the comm room’s walls as the male dropped to the floor, dead before he hit the hard surface. Barek and Nev didn’t even flinch, just watched as the blood spread.

Only then did I look back to the comm screen. “Got that, Helion? You will serve as witness. Rogue 5 justice has been served to Gerian Eovara. To my unit. Give the money to their families. It’s over.”

I could tell he was pissed. Beyond furious. “Work for me.”

God, it was as if blood lust aroused him. That made him want me even more for his team. My ruthlessness in allowing Astra to finish Gerian Eozara only made me more of a commodity. It showed I was as heartless as he.

No, that wasn’t the case at all. I’d given my heart to Zenos, but he’d refused it. I was numb to love. Perhaps that was the same thing to Helion. But I wouldn’t go and do someone’s bidding just because my heart got sliced from my chest with the same ruthless precision as Astra’s blade through Gerian Eozara.

I’d offered myself completely to Zenos. I would give myself to no one else.

“As they say on Earth, bite me.”

I reached out and slapped the comm tech’s controls, ending the call.

Astra was smiling as she cleaned her knife.

“That can be arranged, you know,” she said. “Because of you and your antidote.”

With her free hand she hooked her fingers in the collar of her shirt, pulled it to the side. There, at the juncture of her neck and shoulder, were two angry red dots. I immediately recognized them as bite marks. I looked from her to Barek, who had a ridiculously smug expression on his face.

There was a dead hybrid Hyperion whose blood was spreading across the floor at our feet, and yet Astra and Barek looked as pleased as could be.

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