Free Fenturi Fate (Spacestalker Saga Book 1) by Bevan Greer

ache.
    But as she reached the exercise room, heat centered in her midsection and spread outward, causing her limbs to tingle. She cursed her unruly body and felt a familiar surge rush into her mind.
    The ecstasy of power filling her, made stronger by her laughter and thrill over the scam in Lynar, forced a necessary concession she hated to give. But if she didn’t release the pressure, she might do some serious damage to the ship. Damn.
    She hurried out of the room and staggered toward the end of the ship, where they stored their refuse for disposal in proper waystations. With no hope for it, she released the netted bundles into space.
    She hadn’t seen any nearby ships on the monitors, but she hadn’t been looking too hard. Praying no one would pay it much mind if they did see it, she watched the large ball of garbage float away from the ship.
    Concentrating, she felt for her internal energy and channeled it into the mass floating in space. An odd blue fire burned brightly and solidly for a full minute, in the bleakness of space, without oxygen. Many would have wondered at its origins. Then the blue faded into the blackness of space, and Dare leaned her forehead against the portal through which she had watched the spectacle.
    She felt much better, slightly drained and still restless, but not so filled to bursting that she would lose control. Time to get the ship away from the area, in case they’d been seen…just as soon as she could muster the energy.
    She managed to head back into the exercise room and at on a gravity bench. Her hands shook, and worry filled her. Usually she could go for long stretches before having to release a build-up of energy. But she’d done this same thing not a lunar month past. W hat was happening to her?
    The past few months she’d felt herself on the verge of losing control of what Mra called her starfire . Yet the build-up seemed to be quickening, moving too fast for her to catch up with it. And her body’s new aches in odd places and at odd times scared her.
    Dare flushed, recalling her dream from the previous night. She’d been having it repeatedly since her encounter on Vembi. Once again she’d been in the bar fighting the Shorhu salamanders, the dark-haired warrior at her side.
    After they defeated the creatures, the stranger took her into one of the Vembi backrooms. And there he took her in his arms, kissed her, and proceeded to bare her body to his gleaming green eyes. Then he’d done things to her that she’d only seen done in Vembi vids, all the while watching her with those vivid pools of Fentra green…
    Dare shivered and forced herself to focus on her body, here and now. Breathing deeply, in and out, she started to work on the gravity machine at the lowest setting, gradually moving up. Within no time, sweat poured from her, releasing more tension she hadn’t realized she’d possessed.
    Jace joined her as she was finishing her last set of exercises. He motioned toward the space portal. “Nice show.”
    “Crap.”
    “Oh yeah. I caught the whole thing.”
    Only Mra and Jace knew of her strange ability to create starfire. Having t rusted them with her most devastating secret, she knew they would never tell.  
    She grunted as she leapt down from the exercise machine. “I thought it was pretty spectacular myself.”
    “What’s going on?” Jace asked, his face drawn in concern. His gaze gentled on her face, and with a mental hug, he soothed that last bit of wildness still seething inside her.  “What…?” He paused and inhaled her scent, his eyes widening in alarm.
    “What?” Dare saw how he backed away from her. She’d finally done it, caused her best friend to turn from her. She was a freak, a space oddity, a monster—
    “No, Dare, that’s not it,” Jace said huskily even as he kept his distance. “It’s just,” he paused, flushed, and seemed to step closer to her before backing away. “Mother night, you’re emitting some powerful waves of…sexual