Page 86 of Stars in Aura

Issa swiveled her head, fascinated.

The man who’d just spoken was just as significant in size as Kainan.

He was a hulking figure with short jet-black hair, blue streaks, a bushy, inky beard, and silver-gray eyes.

His face was framed by a stubborn chin and a swathe of jagged scars down one side.

Ki’Remi gestured to the scar-faced man. ‘He’s an ex-ship designer and tech head turned cook.’

When his locs got swatted by said chef, Ki’Remi grinned and changed tack. ‘Culinary maestro.’

Still, the Riders kept giving.

The man beside Kage was tall, with angular, dark features, a roughly shaven jaw, stubble, and penetrating eyes with hazel irises ringed with glowing sapphire flecks.

He, too, was devastatingly handsome, but to her, he did not exceed Ki’Remi’s beauty.

Still, the ground trembled where he walked, she mused.

‘Call me Xion. I am the head of internal security, overseeing law and order on the rock.’

Two more demi-gods lifted their chins at her.

One sported a magnificent sheathe of dead-straight ivory and silver hair that fell to his back in an extended, smooth sheet with a braid over one shoulder.

His skin was pale, and so were his white irised eyes that he seemed a ghoul, albeit an exceedingly handsome one.

He wore a close-fitted black jumpsuit with the same crest on his deltoid as Kainan.

She assumed this was The Sable Group’s insignia.

He jerked his chin to her, his light eyes raking her face.

Beside him was a lean, towering, striking, and muscled man in an exquisite suit. He had dark, thick hair with silver highlights, a neat mustache, and a beard with piercing blue eyes.

His elegant presence contrasted with his more casual-dressed companions. He nodded to her cordially.

‘Meet Riv. He runs our armories. He moonlights as the head of our secret surveillance ops and militia, and on his off days, he dallies as a bounty hunter. With him is Zane, our business and financial controller. He oversees our sales, logistics, private equity, and finance division.’

‘We have another brother, Kisan, but he now lives off-world with his partner on her home planet.’

Issa’s breath hitched. They weren’t just men.

They were weapons given human form, menace carved into muscle and precision.

Each carried themselves like battle-hardened warlords.

She spotted sleek blasters holstered across their muscled thighs, combat knives strapped to their hips, and imagined deadlier munitions concealed in places she couldn’t see.

Kainan spoke up, his timbre deep and carrying an undercurrent of amusement. ‘So this is her.’

Riv, arms crossed over his chest, uttered a timbred chuckle. ‘The woman who’s got Remi this distracted? Gotta say we’re intrigued.’

Kage, leaner but no less deadly, smirked as he tipped his chin toward Issa. ‘I didn’t think anyone could get under his skin. He’s been insufferable and uncommitted for years. Ask all the ladies he’s kept at arm’s length all these years.’

‘Fokkoff,’ Ki’Remi rasped. ‘Not the time and place,kaka.’

Zane let out a slow whistle. ‘He’s growling, his fur’s bristling brothers.’

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