Born of Silence Read Free Page A

all, he felt nothing about his actions. No regret. No remorse.
    Total emptiness.
    He wasn’t sure when it’d happened, but he’d become as callous and numb as any assassin he’d ever known. His emotions were now strangers to him.
    There was only one person who could still reach past it and make him feel something other than his own bitter pain and rage.
    Please God, help me…
    This time, he knew the horror in Maris’s dark eyes was definitely over his actions.
    “You’re really beginning to scare me, Dar.”
    Yeah… I’m beginning to scare me, too.

1
     
    There’s an intruder here…
    Zarya Starska froze in her living room as she felt the subtle shift in the air around her. Most would ignore it, but after she’d spent her entire life on alert for those out to attack or kill her, she instinctively knew whenever someone had invaded her home without an invitation.
    Flinging her hand down, she felt the throwing knife she hid in a spring-loaded sheath inside her sleeve slide into her palm. Whoever was in her house was about to learn an important lesson in manners.
    Bring it, punk.
    Prepared to tear the intruder apart, she tilted her head down and listened carefully.
    It was barely a whisper of fabric. But it was enough for her to locate the interloper. With the skills honed from a thousand battles, she lunged at the shadow in the corner.
    The moment she did, he sidestepped her and disarmed her so fast, it left her breathless. The knife hit the floor with a sickening thud.
    Her intruder pulled her against his chest and held her fast against a body that was rock hard and toned.
    A body she knew as well as she knew her own.
    “Sh, Zarya,” he whispered in her ear. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
    She let out a relieved breath as she recognized the electronically distorted voice that kept anyone from identifying him. His entire head was covered by a black crash helmet that gave no indication of his race or species. Not that it mattered. She didn’t care what he looked like.
    She only cared about his heart.
    And that was the part of him she craved most.
    Smiling, she reached up to lay her hand on the side of his slick helmet. “Kere. What are you doing here? I thought I wouldn’t see you for at least two weeks.”
    His arm and hand brushed over her breast making her even more breathless as he released her. “I had to see you before I left.”
    She felt the same way about him. Every minute they were apart was agonizing.
    And speaking of, he was gone again from the room.
    Zarya searched the shadows for some trace of her illusive phantom. “I swear I’m going to tie a bell to you.” There was absolutely no sound of any kind to betray his movements or current location in her home. Never had she known anyone stealthier.
    Not even an assassin.
    The lights went out, bathing the room in utter darkness. She didn’t know how he did it, but he could override any system or computer. Sadly, her own security, as high tech as it was, posed no challenge to him whatsoever. She took comfort in knowing that he’d breeched far better systems than hers with even less effort.
    Still…
    Her mysterious shadow was amazing.
    Unable to see anything at all, Zarya smiled at his usual precaution to maintain his anonymity. This time, she heard him drop his helmet on the floor by the wall switch. “You know, my sister thinks I’m insane.”
    “Sisters usually do.” Oh yeah, there was the sound she coveted above all others… That deep, rich baritone of his true voice that never failed to bring a smile to her lips.
    He was right behind her now.
    How had he gotten there so fast?
    Kere turned her around and captured her lips with his. Zarya groaned at the way he kissed her. Like he wanted total possession of her entire being and she was more than willing to give it to him. No one had ever kissed her the way he did.
    Like she was the air he breathed, the nourishment he needed to feed his starving soul. Like he would die if he wasn’t