Page 50 of Orion: Galaxy Huntress

Even as a star, I’d been trapped by the gods. Lonely, long years with little contact from anything but the gas orbiting me, fueling my starlight. Peaceful, relaxing millennia where I didn’t have to work for everything I earned. But something was always missing. Something that prevented my star from burning as brightly as it could.

By the gods!

I think I’d found the missing element. Love. The love of a man. Three men tattooed to my heart. Demon, shifter, and damn traitorous vampire.

Shaken by my revelation, I pulled away, needing to process this. The gods worked in mysterious ways, never meaning what they said, tricking many mortals. Something told me Zeus had done the same to me. My sisters were in danger, mark my words. But that wasn’t my mission. My heart needed healing for me to finally find peace, and the king of gods sent me to this strange new world to find it, pairing me with three monsters. The last three creatures I’d ever trust or want to fall in love with. I rubbed at the markings on my chest, as if that would scrub them off my flesh and set me free. Alas, a peek down at my breast revealed they remained there, forever branding my heart.

I picked up my blade and a slab of wood but made an absolute mess of it, working myself into a state.

Stormy reached for me, brushing my arm, tingles bursting all over at his touch. “Why do you run away?”

“Because that’s what I do!” I threw my blade into the dry soil.

Tears speared my eyes. Hot, resistant, denying. Running away kept my heart safe. Natural as a beast’s instinct to kill and create chaos.

Vice and Reznor returned with armfuls of sticks that dropped from their arms when they noticed my distress and unease.

“Kitten, what’s wrong?” The demon stroked my wet cheek, wiping away the bitter tears. “Did that asshole, Ace, say something to upset you?”

I let out a strangled hiccup. Yes, he had. He said I was his and that broke me.

“Little Star?” Reznor pressed into my other side, cold to my infernal heat, combing my hair with his long, elegant fingers.

I didn’t want to feel this for them. Didn’t want to care for them. This was a trick of the gods. But I could deny it all I wanted. It was a lie.

In the short time I’d been in this world, it had thrown so much at me. An assort of strange devices, technology, food, and clothing that bamboozled my senses and disbelief. Rescuing a witch and meeting a shifter that bit and marked me as his. Wanting to kill the demon who employed me for binding me to the shifter. Being kidnapped and held captive by a haunting and beautiful vampire who wished to exchange me for his freedom. Stormy and Vice’s surprise rescue of me, and Reznor bargaining his soul for our freedom. To being on the run and in hiding from the vampire den leader who sought to extract my starlight on the blood moon. Hades, I needed the comfort of their arms to ward off the chill. Tending to their wounds, hunting for them, eating with them, being with them was the only thing stopping me from breaking down at this overwhelming and intense experience.

When I thought about the three monsters, Vice had been nothing but kind, employing me, giving me shelter, food and a bed … the best sex of my life, too. He lived to fool people for a deal, but he’d never tried that on me. The demon had proven he would take care of me, pleasure me, give me whatever I wanted, and not for his selfish gain. I’d never had a man care for me the way he had, feeding me foods that I was familiar with when this world was packed full of instant and sugary treats.

Ace’s loyalty defied all odds. The shifter and I were strangers. Owed each other nothing. Yet he forced the demon to come and rescue me when it put himself at danger. With him, I’d be assured of protection, shelter, absolute adoration and devotion, and I’d never be lonely ever again.

As for the vampire, he was just like me, locking people out of his heart and keeping them at arm’s length. Loss and hardship had hardened him, prompted him to erect impenetrable walls around his heart to protect it. He had wronged me in the worst way, but made it all right, willing to bargain his soul to save my life. For that I’d be eternally grateful. He’d accompanied me while I hunted to ensure my safety, desperate to win my trust and forgiveness.

“I’m sorry for what I did, Little Star.” Reznor took my hand and kissed it. Repentant. Remorseful. “Hate me all you want. But I can’t live without your forgiveness.”

Startled, my hand departed from his. “Don’t do that.” My natural reaction. Knee-jerk to run and hide like a frightened animal seeking refuge from a predator. But I couldn’t keep doing that. “You can’t have it!”

Gods. I was shaking. Bad. Unprepared didn’t begin to describe it. No man ever said sorry to me. I didn’t know how to respond or react. My mouth flapped like a damn fish’s when plucked from the water.

His tender stroke broke me. This wasn’t a soft man. He was all hard edges, stiff, frigid. “I know I broke your trust, and you don’t give it easily, but let me win it again.”

“I’ll let you win it,” I whispered as if Aphrodite herself had shaken the words from me and pumped me full of a ball of love.

Relieved, he smiled, cracking his unbreakable façade. He scooped me into his arms, stealing me from the demon, smoothing my hair from my face, leaning down to kiss me. Soft, sweet, begging for atonement. This time, I didn’t resist him.

“Damn you.” I thumped a fist on his chest when he ended the kiss prematurely, leaving me breathless and wanting more. “You’re all so irresistible!”

“Tell me how irresistible I am.” The vampire kissed softly at my neck, speeding up the beat of my pulse.

These men had shown they were willing to work as a team, even after one transgressed and hurt me. It was more than any man had done for me before. The reason they were stamped over my chest. They would love me as I deserved to be loved. Like I longed to be but hadn’t been able to admit out of fear. I might have been made from pure starlight, but they were my light in a world full of shadows. Hades, I think I was ready to be loved by them all.

“I already did.” Unable to resist them any longer, I ran my palms along Reznor’s forearm, up his arm, settling behind his neck. “Shut up and make love to me.”

---