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Nova.”
    Justyn shrugged. “Maybe she did.”
    Dare raised a brow. “She’s lying.” Dakota was a damn good liar, but he could see through it. “She has an orb. Some sort of blue jewel shaped like a sphere. Either that’s it, or she’s trying to throw me off. Maybe she has it hidden in her cabin.”
    Ry shook his head. “We searched her cabin. Her stuff is just clothes, and I pulled the room apart. Nothing.”
    “Well, whatever it is, she’s willing to risk her life for it.”
    “Golden Nova doesn’t give up, and they don’t like being made fools of,” Ry said. “They’ll send more assassins. Is that something we want to be messed up with?”
    No, but they were already in the middle of it. And Dare wanted to know exactly what was going on. He looked at Justyn. “How’s Nissa taking the news?”
    His brother shrugged, but he had a worried look on his face. “She’s pretending it doesn’t matter. But any mention of Golden Nova and that brother of hers…it upsets her.”
    Dare frowned. “I’ll get the truth out of Dakota.”
    “Oh?” Justyn drawled. “I know that look.”
    Dare scowled at his brother.
    “It’s the Dare ‘I’m in charge of everything’ Phoenix look.” Justyn tilted his head, studying Dare’s face. “But it’s more than that, isn’t it? You’re attracted to her!”
    “I barely know her.”
    “You barely know any of the women you take to bed.” Justyn wagged a finger. “You’ve got the ‘this is mine and no one else is touching it’ look happening as well.”
    Ry went still. “He never looks that way about a woman.”
    Justyn stroked his chin. “Why all this trouble for her? Why not drop her off at the next habitable world? She doesn’t need to be our problem.”
    Dare looked at the two people who meant the most to him in the world. He tried to never lie to them. “Truth is…hell, I don’t know. Something about her just gets to me. She’s resourceful, a fighter. She has this look in her eyes… She looks at everyone like she’s assessing how long it’ll take someone to swindle her, or hurt her. It’s a look I recognize.”
    They were all quiet for a second, the weight of their dark past hanging over them.
    “Hell,” Ry muttered.
    Footsteps sounded in the corridor. They all turned and saw Nissa heading their way.
    “I have information for you,” she said. “Sayer ran a deeper search on Ms. Jones.”
    “What did he find?” Dare said.
    “Not a lot. She’s hid her past pretty well. She’s from a world called Mase.”
    Ry shook his head. “Nasty place. An edge world in the Triad quadrant. Gangs, crime, self-styled crime lords. They deal in anything—drugs, weapons, slaves.”
    “Sounds lovely,” Justyn said with a wince.
    “Most people are in service to gangs—willingly or unwillingly. Kids aren’t raised by families, they’re raised by the gangs. And it’s dog-eat-dog. Everyone fights for every single scrap they have before someone else takes it, or the gang comes looking for you. Either to make you join and fight, or if you’re a woman…well, you can imagine.”
    Dare’s hand curled into a fist. So Dakota had grown up in hell, learning how to survive.
    “The most recent info Sayer could find was on a business she started with some guy called Chris Tarron.” Nissa’s nose wrinkled. “They were trading in antiquities. After six months, the guy stole the entire business from her, and left her with nothing.”
    Dare went very still. He waited until his anger had subsided a little. “I’ll question her some more. She took a hard blow to the head. I have her under the med scanner now, but she needs more time to heal. She’s tough, stubborn, and prickly.”
    “Hmm, the best type of woman,” Justyn said with a grin.
    His wife smacked him on the back of the head.
    “Once she’s healed, I’ll talk to her.” Dare’s voice hardened. “I will get the truth out of her.”
    “She’s not…particularly trustworthy,” Nissa said. “Based on