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

“Can you meet up?” Espen asked. “I’d feel better talking about this in person, not over the air.”


Espen never said please. “Sure,” Anicka said. “Where are you at?”


He sat on a stone bench on the edge of one of the station’s two children’s play areas. Not many people brought kids to a place like Paradisus, and the absence echoed over the artificial terrain. A lone, stooped woman watched over a pair of toddlers playing in a sandbox while couples occasionally strolled along the path ringing the park.


Espen bounded to his feet as soon as he saw them, and though he waited for them to approach, his gaze never stopped jumping around.


“Feel like home?” Ares commented when they met up.


“Easier to watch,” came the answer. The nervousness she’d noted on the comm call was even more apparent in person. “Did you contact Kemuel too?”


Chapter 48