Talyn visibly winced. "Morra swore she'd keep that between us. I'm going to kill her next time I see her."
Laughing harder, Chayden held his arm out toward Talyn. "Then it's twice an honor to meet you. Any friend of Qory's or Morra's is a brother to me. And I know better than to threaten their Sexy Baby T."
With a sound of irritation that would have scared anyone with half a brain--which meant Chayden ignored it entirely--Talyn shook his hand.
Chayden let out a low whistle over Talyn's grip. His face a comical mask of awe, he grabbed at Talyn's biceps with a loving intimacy that would have had most men searching the floor for their teeth over that groping audacity. Even Fain doubted he'd have been so tolerant of being pawed like that from the Qill. And for an Andarion, that kind of touching was strictly forbidden from anyone other than family or lovers, and reserved for extremely private time. "Whoa! You're so much more massive than you looked on the monitors whenever I saw you fighting in the Ring. I can't imagine anyone dumb enough to think they could ever take you on and win. Damn, boy. You are ripped!" Gaping even wider, he gave one more squeeze to Talyn's massive biceps.
Fain bristled at Chayden's impressed tone. "He's the same size I am."
Chayden finally quit molesting Talyn's arm and snorted disdainfully at Fain. "Yeah, but he's a lot scarier than you are, Hauk."
Talyn cracked a cocky grin that really didn't help Fain's foul mood, as Galene laughed.
While Fain didn't appreciate being the brunt of Chayden's screwy humor, he'd take it to see the way her eyes lightened with humor. Damn, she was beautiful. That look made his stomach flutter and all the blood leave his brain faster than he could breathe.
And to think, she should have been his all these years....
Bitter regret ripped through him as he drifted back in his mind to the last dance they'd attended together, the week before graduation. Knowing their time was limited--that he'd have to let her go and move on without her in his life--he'd treasured it with everything he had and committed every second of it to his memory. He could still hear the strains of the slow song that had played while he held her in his arms and swayed with her. Dressed in Batur blue, she'd looked up at him with eyes that radiated love and acceptance. Adoration.
Total happiness to be with him.
That had been the last perfect memory of his life.
He'd sell his worthless soul if he could go back and stay there with her, forever. If he could just freeze that one moment and hang on to her.
How he hated those memories that tortured him worse than anything.
As Fain headed for his pilot's chair, one of the Andarions they'd brought with them came to the flight deck to speak in a whisper to Talyn. A few inches shorter than them, he appeared around Talyn's age and had the bearing of someone bred from one of the highest-caste bloodlines. His immaculate battlesuit bore the military badges of a decorated major, but didn't list his name, which also said he ranked high enough that it was omitted for safety reasons.
Listening intently to the major, Talyn stroked his goatee with his thumb. "What do you want to do?" he asked in Andarion.
The major scoffed in a most undisciplined way. "Like you have to ask?"
Fain arched a brow at the disrespectful tone Talyn took in stride.
With a similar snort, Talyn pushed the major back like Fain used to do to Dancer when they were kids and Dancer irritated him. "I'll deal with your paka. Go hug a seat."
The major struck his heart with his fist, then opened his hand in a gesture of brotherhood and devotion before he headed to the back to fasten in with the others.
Fain passed a curious stare to Galene.
"He's Talyn's adjutant."
That only confused him more. "And the two of you allow him to talk to his CO like that?"
Neither of them answered his question.
Fine. Whatever. The Andarion armada was a hell of a lot more lax now than it'd been when Fain was in it. His former CO would have had him court-martialed for such a thing.
Or splintered against the nearest wall.
Trying not to let it bother him, he went to his seat.
Dressed in the red and white battlesuit that marked the Porturnum Tavali, Captain Kareem Venik got up from the con. He saluted Fain as he surrendered the ship's controls. "Returning the lady to her owner, Commander Hauk. Preflight's complete. The Storm Dancer's all ready for your loving touch."
Fain cringed as Kareem spoke the ship's name out of formal Tavali tradition. "Thanks, Captain Venik."
He inclined his head to Fain and moved to take the gunner's chair.
Galene scowled at Fain as she heard those words. "This is your ship?"
Logging into the controls and firing the engines, Fain nodded.
"Storm Dancer?"
While he fastened himself in, Fain let out a tired breath at her tone. He brought up the launch sequence and made sure he quelled the AI for the trip. "I'd lie and say I named her for my brother, but you'd know better." Storm Dancer and Stormy were the nicknames he'd teased Galene with when they were kids. For some reason, she'd loved to run through the rain, and laugh and dance while it soaked her to the bone. Her parents had thought her insane.
He'd always found it fascinating and adorable. And had often chased after her through the rain until he was as wet as she was. It'd been just such a chase that had led to her stripping his clothes from him on his birthday....
And to the conception of Talyn.
Gods, to have that innocence and joy again. He could still feel her bashful hands on his bare skin while she explored every inch of his bare body with her inquisitive touch. Hear her laughter in his ears as he tasted her and she whispered to him how much she loved him.
That memory punched like a fist to the stones.
Refusing to look at her and see the hatred that was there for him now, he forced himself to put the past out of his thoughts. "As soon as everyone's secure, we'll launch."
Galene clicked her harness into place while she glanced around the ship, impressed with the quality and beauty of the metal beast he'd named after her.
But why? It made no sense that he would do that after he'd abandoned her and everything else he'd ever known. She couldn't understand what had possessed him. Yes, they'd been young.
Still ...
In spite of what Jayne said, Omira must have meant as much to him as Felicia meant to Talyn. It was the only thing that made sense. Why else give up his life and family for her? Fain had literally thrown away his entire future for Omira.
No one did something like that lightly. Not even when they were young and stupid.
"How long have you owned this?" she asked quietly, trying to distract herself away from how gorgeous he was as he took control of the ship.
Fain double-checked their settings without looking at her. "About twenty years."
Odd. He'd have taken ownership just a handful of years after he'd broken her heart. Why would he have done such when he'd always hated these things? Even in the armada before he'd left her, he'd never really liked flying or piloting. He'd always preferred palace assignments or infantry. As far back as she could remember, he'd told her that he wanted nothing to do with space travel.
Give me solid ground under my feet, and fresh air to breathe. I want real sun on my skin, not the fake holos that pass for it.
"What made you buy it?" she asked him.
A becoming blush covered his handsome features, making him all the sexier.
Before Fain could comment, Captain Venik answered. "My father liberated the lady from her previous, undeserving owner. Since Hauk was part of the original manifest take, my father offered her and a small crew to Hauk to run until Hauk earned the price of the ship and his freedom."
Did Kareem mean what she thought he did? "Manifest? As in part of the cargo?"
She didn't miss the pain in Fain's eyes as he ran over his settings. "I was conscripted, for a while."
Her stomach shrank with a sympathetic pain she di
dn't want to feel. "Conscripted how?"
Had he been a slave?
Finally, Fain turned toward her. His hard, fierce stare was so similar to one Talyn used whenever he was hot about something that it sent a shiver down her spine. "I don't talk about my past."
Father and son.
Jayne was right. They were far more similar than they should be, given that they'd never known each other.
Before she could respond, Talyn passed a fierce grimace at the ship's markings, and in particular Fain's individual Tavali flag, or Canting as The Tavali called it, that was unique to him and his ship. "You make a lot of raids into Andarion territory, Hauk?"
"A few over the years."
A familiar tic started in Talyn's jaw. "You have a black Zi-class fighter with the same serial and Canting on it?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Just curious." Talyn strapped himself in.
Fain turned back around to stare at him as a really, really bad feeling of dread went through him. There was only one reason he could think of that Talyn would know his ship's Canting and fighter's serial numbers off the top of his head.
Please tell me I didn't ...
"Why are you asking?"
Talyn still didn't answer. He merely cut a covert glance to his mother. One that warned Fain to leave the topic alone.
Bile rose in his throat. Before his common sense could intervene, Fain asked the one question that bothered him most. "Please tell me I've never run against my own son."
The fury returned to Galene's eyes as her head snapped in Talyn's direction.
Wincing, Talyn cursed him under his breath as he cradled his forehead with his hand.
"Is he the rat bastard who shot you down during your last dogfight?" There was no missing the hatred and fury in her tone.
"No, Mum," he said quickly. "I swear to the gods, he's not the one who brought me down. That wasn't a single ship or fighter. It was a mass attack of many."
Fain's frown deepened at their exchange. There was something more to all of this. "What she's talking about?"
"Nothing," Talyn said firmly.
Galene wasn't quite ready to let it go. "Answer me, Commander. Have you ever fought him in battle?"
Talyn cut a gimlet stare to Kareem and Chayden before he returned it to his mother. "Do I need to get Vari up here to verify my account, since my word obviously isn't good enough for Her High Holiness? Believe me, he knows who fought us that day. And who shot me down. It wasn't Hauk." Talyn raked him with a sneer. "Trust me, he's not that good a pilot."
Offended to the core of his being, Fain swallowed hard as he met Galene's hate-filled grimace. "I would never have fired on my son ... had I known."
Chayden sucked his breath in sharply. "Whoa ... whoa ... wait a minute. The Iron Hammer's your kid? No shit?" He turned in his seat to look at Talyn. "You're Hauk's son? Seriously?"
Talyn gave Fain a harsh stare. "Through basic biology only."
Chayden let out a low whistle as he took over navigation. "Can someone say awkward? We could cut this tension with a knife, but the hostility's so thick here, I think it's a bad idea to introduce sharp objects into it."
Wisely remaining silent, Kareem nodded his agreement.
Fain didn't speak while guilt gnawed at him. Like Galene, he had a bad feeling that Talyn was withholding vital information. Though why the boy would protect him when he hated him so much was beyond his best comprehension.
Trying not to think about something he couldn't change, he settled the mic in his ear and launched.
Once they were leaving the Andarion atmosphere, he made the mistake of glancing toward Galene. The hatred in her white eyes shrank both his testicles and made him physically ill. Shit, at this rate, they were practically crawling back into his stomach--and if she didn't stop that glaring hatred soon, he'd be female by lunch.
Never once had he considered the fact that while he'd made Tavali runs for Venik against his former homeworld that he might be fighting his own kid.
Or Galene. She was supposed to have gone to med school, like her parents. He had no idea what had sent her into the military instead. Especially given her family history with the Andarion armada and the Purging that the former tadara had done against the entire Batur lineage to brutally wipe them out. Why would Galene risk military service given that the former queen had wanted her entire bloodline exterminated?
Something must have gone seriously wrong to put her on that course. Something he couldn't begin to fathom.
Kareem inclined his head to Talyn. "How long you been in uniform, Batur?"
"Fourteen years."
Fain cringed at a number that definitely would have put them head-to-head under Tadara Eriadne's reign.
"How many as a pilot?"
He held his breath, terrified of hearing his son's answer.
"Almost seven, total."
Kareem scowled. "First or last?"
"First."
Double shit.
Yeah, that was right in the thick of when Fain would have been making his heaviest attacks in Andarion territory. There was no telling how many times he'd engaged Talyn in battle.
Probably Galene, too.
"What made you stop?"
Before Talyn could answer, his nose and ear began pouring blood. Cursing, he leaned forward and pulled a cloth from his pocket to hold against them.
Galene gasped. "Talyn?"
He sighed at his mother's worried tone. "I'm fine, Commander. It's nothing." He glanced toward Kareem. "To answer your question, I was medically grounded after my last near-death experience. While I can still fly, the doctors don't like what the sudden changes in pressure and escape velocity do to my body. In space, I'm fine. It's the reaching space part that gets bloody for me." He glanced at the blood on his hands. "Literally."
Galene glared at Fain with a searing hatred that shriveled his innards.
He glared back. Just as Fain started to defend himself, Talyn placed his hand over hers.
"Let it go, Mum. The past is done. Lay it to rest." Talyn returned to his conversation with Kareem. "What about you? How long you been Tavali?"
"I took my Canting and oath at eighteen. But my birth father's Braxen Venik. Leader of the Porturnum Nation." He jerked his chin toward Fain. "He's also Fain's father."
Talyn arched a brow at that.
"Tavali father," Fain explained. "You have to be adopted to wear our uniform. You can't just raise the banner and proclaim yourself Tavali. Anyone that stupid is taken out of our gene pool immediately. Unlike other nationalities, Tavali is a citizenship that comes with obligation. It's a privilege you earn and maintain, not a birthright."
Galene snorted. "My God, Fain, how many times have you been adopted in your lifetime?"
Fain ground his teeth at her snotty tone.
Kareem stiffened. "You need to show him some respect. There aren't many slaves who'd take the blast for their owners that Hauk took for my father. Trust me, he more than earned his place in our family."
Galene's jaw went slack. "So, you weren't conscripted? You really were enslaved?"
Fain winced at something he didn't like thinking about or remembering. And he damn sure didn't want to talk about it, especially not in front of Venik's kid as Venik had been one of his owners, and it still stuck in his craw. "It was a long time ago.... Venik fostered me after I saved his life, only because he felt he could trust me. Cairie, a few weeks back, after I helped rescue her granddaughter. Honestly though, her adoption was nothing more than an FU to my real mother."
Talyn wiped the blood at his ear. "How so?"
Fain started to answer that it came from when his father had broken his pledge with Cairistiona by sleeping with Fain's mother the night before they were to legally finalize it. But self-preservation stopped that particular brand of stupid from spilling out of his mouth. Talyn would be the first to point out the irony and that faithless acts of treachery must run in the blood of all male Hauks. "Personal grudge from when they were kids
."
Galene cocked her head. "So you're The Tavali who saved Tizirah Thia?"
"You don't have to sound so surprised. I have been known to battle from time to time. And I didn't do it alone."
She bristled at that. "You'll have to forgive me if I don't automatically associate acts of heroism and altruism with your name ... given our past."
Fain shook his head at the contempt he heard in her voice. Contempt that cut him deeper than anything else. There was no way he'd ever be able to redeem himself with the very female he should have died to protect.
How can I ever make this right? It just didn't seem possible.
Kareem turned in his seat to face Galene and Talyn while Fain headed them out toward deep space. "Look, I know there's some bad history here, but Fain is my brother and the Tavali are nothing if not loyal to our own. So let me warn you now, if you want to stay healthy and happy in your new assignment, you'll stow the disdain for Commander Hauk before we land. Any shit-talk against Hauk is shit-talk against a Venik, and you don't want to say anything negative about my family in our HQ. It won't go well for you."
Galene scoffed. "Tavali don't scare me. Ever. But don't worry. Your beloved brother is safe from any further harm where I'm concerned. I intend to avoid him as any sentient creature would a contagious STD."
Great. Just what he'd always wanted to be. An STD to the only female who'd ever owned his heart. Mom and Dad would be so proud.
But there was one thing he needed to make clear. "And I need to warn you, Kareem. While they are here, the Baturs are under my protection and are to be left alone. Any Tavali who fucks with them will get the worst end of me. That includes your father."
*
As soon as they docked at the Tavali station, Fain saw Braxen Venik waiting to greet them, with an entire squadron of Hadean Corps soldiers as his escort. The Hadean Corps were the Tavali enforcers and their version of a highly trained tactical police unit. They had to be since The Tavali were an extremely rough and well-trained group who lived to fight and play hard.
Tall and fierce, Brax was half Andarion, but looked mostly human with his dark eyes--just like Kareem. Only his elongated canines betrayed his Andarion heritage, and that tiny bit of Andarion biology had cost the male dearly in his life, and left Brax with a bitter resentment toward the entire Andarion race. It was why Brax had hated Fain the first time they'd met.