One of the deadliest assassins in the universe falls in love with a petite, female dancer that can't seem to stay out of trouble. In a universe where so many planets hold intelligent life forms and interplanetary travel is as common as driving a car today, there live some of the deadliest men and women ever known. These hardened beings, made up of various races from different planets, are part of an organization known as The League. Nykyrian Quiakides just happens to be one of the highest ranking members of The League, which is ultimately an order of highly skilled assassins that execute people based on various orders from the ruling government for most planets. The only catch is that once you are a member of The League you may never leave it without it meaning your death, either while on a mission or as punishment from the government for abandoning The League. For Nykyrian this is no hardship. The only life he has known has been one of absolute cruelty At the hands of his adopted father, adopted brothers, and virtually every other authority figure he has ever encountered. Being a half-human, half-Andarion hybrid has meant that no one in his life with the exception of a rare few have shown him any true kindness.
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Kiara Zamir she was kidnapped alongside her mother. Unfortunately, before they could be saved Kiara's mother killed in front of her and Kiara herself suffering a nearly fatal shot to the stomach. Being the daughter of the ruler of the planet, her father was not surprised when both she and her mother had been kidnapped. It was, however, testament to the brutality of this new world that instead of being ransomed back to her father that the contract had actually been for her and her mother's death. Kiara barely survived and has lived a very sheltered life ever since, especially where her father is concerned, becoming a famous dancer and living a life of peace.
Her sheltered reality comes crashing down when once again Kiara finds herself kidnapped over a decade later. Unlike before, the contract was for Kiara alone, but was once again due to her father's position in the government and his current negotiation with neighboring planets. Luckily for Kiara the members of The Sentella, another group of dangerous men and women that operate outside of government constraints, happens to be chasing the same ship that Kiara has been kidnapped on. When the Sentella breaches the ship they save Kiara, and once they realize who she is they agree to return her to her father. It is revealed that Nykyrian is among her rescuers and that he has abandoned The League and become one of the members of The Sentella.
The members of Sentella reveal themselves to Kiara to not be quite the monsters they are made out to be by the public and other governments, and when her father asks for their help in keeping her safe Nykyrian agrees. The public knows that the leader of The Sentella is called Nemesis, though no one has ever seen him outside of his fully covered armor, complete with a black helmet. When Kiara finds an interest in Nykyrian, even with his gruff exterior and rebuffs, she inquires as to his relationship with Nemesis and he leads her to believe that they are in a homosexual relationship with each other. Another member of The Sentella, and Nykyrian's best friend, is an extremely intelligent hacker by the name of Syn. When Syn inquires as to Nykyrian's at first adamant refusal and then quick acceptance of Kiara's protection contract, he reveals Nykyrian's history of watching Kiara perform in her dance shows and accuses him of having a crush.
While Kiara is trying to return to a normal life on the planet under the watchful eye of the Sentella, she is once again attacked. When the attack fails the contract becomes amended further to become even more gruesome for Kiara's life and Nykyrian decides it will be safer if they take her off planet, and he convinces her to accompany him to his own hidden home. During their attempted escape from the planet, they are ambushed at the flight deck and Nykyrian is forced to kill one of his adopted brothers, Arast, who had been one of the assassins to accept Kiara's contract. Arast's brother by blood, Aksel, is furious at Nykyrian for killing Ari and it renews his fervor to find Kiara.
Nykyrian's home is hidden on a random asteroid in the middle of a belt, and is undetectable unless you know where to look. Kiara accuses Nykyrian of being a monster for killing his own brother, which she feels was done in cold blood because Nykyrian had been willing to let the two men go who attacked her the first time. Nykyrian tries to explain his world and the depth of evil in both of his brothers, but Kiara cannot understand and ultimately pushes Nykyrian away. Hurt at her anger and judgment, Nykyrian leaves his home for a while to take care of a few things, leaving Kiara to explore on her own. When she finds a room with a monitor, she begins to play the unlabeled DVDs that she finds hoping to see a happy childhood memories of Nykyrian. What she finds is far from what she expected. Every DVD that she watches shows horrible scenes of cruelty, torture, and outright inhumane treatment of Nykyrian through all stages of his life. Realizing what he has gone through, including the fact that he went through the first half of his life without even having a name, she regrets her actions and her words.
When Nykyrian comes home he catches Kiara watching his private DVDs. He becomes enraged and leaves her alone to go blow off some steam in his gym, but Kiara follows and finds him to apologize. During their time together, and after watching what he went through in his childhood, Kiara realizes that she truly cares for Nykyrian and wants them to understand that he's loved. It takes a while to break through the initial defenses, but ultimately Nykyrian and Kiara end up making love. Throughout the book the long list of cruelties that have occurred in Nykyrian's life grows, but Kiara finds it her personal mission to help him forget, to replace his memories with loving ones. After her latest disappearance from her own planet, Kiara's father puts out a death contract for both Syn and Nykyrian. When she tries to soothe her father it is to no avail, and the call ends with him cursing and demanding her saviors' heads.
Ignoring her father, Nykyrian takes Kiara to another planet to go shopping and get some parts for Syn's recently busted ship. While there they meet with a few people from Nykyrian's past who helped to shed further light on why he is the way he is. Over time though, Kiara has kept a watchful eye on Nykyrian and his friends and sees that though they are dangerous men and women due to their upbringings, they still have better and more pure hearts than most of the people she knows. When they return to Nykyrian's home they are quickly joined by the rest of The Sentella. Ultimately they all make a plan on how to gain more information on Aksel's whereabouts so that Nykyrian can kill him and eliminate the threat to Kiara.
During their outing to one of the roughest bars in a seedy area to gain information, Kiara is separated from Nykyrian and almost hurt again by a band of men attempting to retrieve one of the patrons. In his anger, Nykyrian warns them off Kiara by claiming she is his mate. When Kiara affirms his statement with one of her own, according to Andarion custom they become married. Both Kiara and Nykyrian are happy to be married, but both know that being with Nykyrian means always being hunted. Nykyrian attempts to return Kiara to her father the following day, and knowing Kiefer Zamir's anger and worry over Kiara, fully expects to be killed. Once Kiara is back in her father's arms, his men open fire on Nykyrian, killing him in front of Kiara.
Luckily, one of The Sentella's spies is a member of Zamir's guards and they make sure to only wound Nykyrian and hide his body on his ship. Nykyrian makes his way back to his own home to heal, but Kiara believes him to be dead. Eight weeks after Nykyrian's supposed death, Kiara learns she is pregnant with his child. Overjoyed at the news that part of Nykyrian still lives, Kiara enjoys an outing with her friend, shopping for baby items. While out and about Kiera runs into Darling Cruel, one of the other members of The Sentella, and Darling lets it slip that Nykyrian is still alive. Angry that he let her believe he was dead for the last two months Kiara resolves to go back to her normal life and dance again in spite of him. Nykyrian finally approaches her at a performance, but she rebukes him in anger and he once again disappears. During another performance Kiara is attacked once again, but Nykyrian and her father save her. Nykyrian kidnaps Kiara himself and takes her back to his home to keep her safe once again.
Kiara does not reveal she is pregnant to anyone, and she and Nykyrian live in a tense relationship for the next few days. He eventually takes her off planet again to meet with Driana, the wife of Aksel, and gain information. While at her home, Nykyrian finally meets her teenage daughter and realizes it is actually his own daughter. Driana reveals that the one time she and Nykyrian had slept together had resulted in a baby, her daughter Thia. Nykyrian is determined to be a part of Thia's life and both Kiara and Driana have no problem with it. When the couple leave Driana's home in a hurry they run into Nykyrian's mother and aunt by blood. They are so shocked to see him alive that they rush to explain how they believed him to be dead all of his life, and that the family had kept Nykyrian's mother sedated for almost two decades to keep her from searching for the son they all thought had died. Nykyrian learns that his mother had a cousin that was almost her twin, and her cousin – at the behest of his evil Andarion grandmother – had pretended to be Nykyrian's mother and give him up for adoption. As it turns out, Nykyrian's parents are actually the rulers of the Andarion planet, and Nykyrian is a prince.
Nykyrian agrees to meet with them and discuss their past and future, but only because he feels Kiara will truly be safe with them. The shock of the unexpected meeting, however, is too much for Kiara in her pregnant state and she faints. When the Andarion doctor checks on her, he discovers her pregnancy and reveals it to Nykyrian and his mother. When the royal family reunites for a dinner later on that night, Nykyrian meets his father again for the first time since childhood. The past is explained and Nykyrian reveals some of the horrors he went through, including two such instances at his own blood father's hands when he was believed to be dead. The past is laid to rest and Kiara excuses herself to go to the bathroom. While returning to Nykyrian and his family Kiara runs into his brother Jullien, the Andarion prince and a cruel man. He hands her over to Aksel, and Aksel leaves the planet with Kiara. As soon as Nykyrian realizes what has happened he attacks Jullien in order to find out Kiara's whereabouts.
Nykyrian rounds up the other members of The Sentella and they head off to rescue Kiara at Aksel's compound, but not before Driana and Thia show up battered, bruised and near death. Driana takes it upon herself to attempt to kill Aksel after he hurt her daughter, but he quickly disarms and kills her instead, all in front of Kiara. Once Nykyrian arrives, he finds Driana's body, frees Kiara and they all manage to escape the compound. Once in the air though, Aksel attacks Nykyrian. Nykyrian destroys Aksel's ship and kills him, but then his own ship becomes wrecked by Aksel's men. After The Sentella get Kiara home to her father safely, he agrees to send back some men and transportation to help Nykyrian, but they are too late. Once the battle is over, Nykyrian crash lands on Kiara's planet and is barely alive. They take him to the hospital where several hours of surgery are required to keep him alive, but the prognosis is good. When he wakes, Nykyrian's whole family is there with Kiara and the members of The Sentella to wish him well.
Six months later, Nykyrian is raising his daughter Thia, and Kiara is about ready to pop with their son, Adron. She goes into labor and suffers complications, but she and their son come through labor just fine. Nykyrian finally has the family he always wanted.
Best part of story, including ending:
I love this story because it is extremely well-written and detailed without becoming boring. There is plenty of information about the universe the characters find themselves in, but the focus is easily the actual character development itself and how all of these hardened, lethal beings came to be.
Best scene in story:
My favorite scene is when Kiara attempts to apologize to Nykyrian the first time and finds him training in his gym. The back he is kicking and hitting lights up different colors, and in his anger he is demonstrating what each light means as he attacks the bag.
Opinion about the main character:
I have to say that I dislike Kiara's character the most in this story. As much as she turns things around and becomes a supporter of her saviors, she is too quick to be shocked and dismayed by the violence and horrors of life, so much so that she is constantly hurting Nykyrian because she doesn't understand their world.
