For two years, Ares Gallo has been ransacking the galaxy for the woman who meant everything to him. They trained together, killed together, loved together, but now, Anicka Dekker doesn't even know who he is. All she knows every time she meets the enigmatic, scarred stranger is that a part of her trusts him. An even larger part desires him. In any and every way she can have him. Ares wants his wife back. Despite the scars that have changed his appearance and the chronic pain that destroyed his career, he follows Anicka from planet to planet, finding her in seedy bars, stately palaces, and everywhere in between. Every time they have a few moments of pure bliss, his hope blooms that this time…things will be different. Then, STRIKE, the organization that wanted them dead, tears them apart, erasing Anicka's memories, and Ares has to start all over again. But even if she can't remember him, he's certain she'll recognize their bond. Sooner or later.

Across the Universe

But he was right about the other. Logic kept telling her not to run yet, that there were ways to cover their tracks. Except those ways took time, time he claimed they didn’t have. According to him, that was STRIKE’s doing, but for her, it simply seemed like common sense.


She’d become one of the best by doing everything she was told. She learned her lessons, from fighting to strategy to tech. What was she supposed to do when one teacher left her with soul-splitting headaches and the other hoped to eliminate the one thing she wanted most from her life?


Wobbling to her feet, she stood at the sink and rinsed out her mouth, then splashed cool water over her face. When she straightened, Ares was there in the reflection, standing behind her, steady and silent as a sentinel as he waited for her to finish.


“What happens if we run? What comes next?”


Chapter 29