He scowled as he swept the scenery around them and a bad feeling went through him. When hunted, gridlock was a dangerous thing. It was another of the reasons he normally drove an airbike. They were virtually impossible to trap like this.
But with luggage, he'd needed a trunk. And a transport made him an easy mark.
Every ounce of his military training kicked in.
"I'll get out here," he said to the driver before he swiped his card. "Deliver my bags to the destination and I'll make sure you're well tipped."
"Yes, my lord."
Two seconds after Maris swiped his card, he cringed at the rampant stupidity. Damn, he'd lived as a civ too long. If the League was monitoring for them, he'd just given up his location. Stupid moron.
Cursing himself, Maris slid out of the transport and secured his smallest bag across his body so that both of his arms would be free. He didn't pause or hesitate as he maneuvered through the crowded street on foot. Making sure to keep one hand on his concealed blaster, he stayed vigilant and hated every second of it.
Even though it was ingrained in him by countless hours of training and drills, this degree of heightened alert threw him back to a time and place he didn't want to revisit.
What are you, a pathetic faggot? Keep your guard up! Only queers rely on their girlfriends to protect them. You are a soldier, not some limp-wristed pussy.
Back then, he'd lived in a state of perpetual pissed off. It'd been bad enough to be insulted, but to hear the open and hostile disdain on a preference he'd done his best to deny and "cure" had only made it worse. He'd tried everything to be like the other men in his family and the academy and armada. To tell himself that he wasn't really gay. That it was a faze or curiosity. Or anything other than what it really was.
Only his fiance, Tams, had made it bearable. Because she wasn't Phrixian, she'd assumed his strange behavior and reluctance to touch her was his own nervousness from being a different species.
Best of all, she'd given him an easy excuse to stay celibate. He'd told her that he didn't want to dishonor her before their wedding. Tams had thought it sweet, even while his father had rolled his eyes at something he considered unmanly. Phrixian males were slaves to their ids. Morality was dictated only when you went up against someone who could kick your ass. Otherwise, the universe was your playground and you did what you wanted.
The lies and unrelenting fear of being exposed had brought Maris one step shy of insanity.
Only Darling had known the truth and he'd coached Maris on how to fake a warrior's stride. On how to pass undetected around the staunch machismo that went against his natural tendencies. But for Darling and his help, Maris would have been killed before he reached his maturity. There was no such thing as a homosexual Phrixian. Never in his life had Maris met or even heard of anyone other than him.
And to be a prince on top of it...
That more than anything else was why his bounty was higher than Darling's or Nykyrian's. Nykyrian might have taken Kyr's eye, but so long as Maris lived, he was a blight on their family honor. And if one of his brothers could claim his life, he would be regaled by their parents for cleansing their gene pool. Maris's killer would be honored as a national hero.
A sudden flash to his right caught his attention.
Reacting on instinct, Maris dropped down an instant before a black dart sailed so close to his face, he felt the air burn of it. From behind, an assassin moved in with a knife as the crowd realized what was happening and panicked. People ran in all directions, screaming while they sought shelter. Maris spun and caught the man's wrist. The assassin cried out as Maris twisted and snapped the bone. The assassin came up with his blaster, but before he could fire it, Maris struck his nose with the heel of his hand. He wrested the blaster from the assassin's grip as the man fell to the street. Switching it to stun, Maris shot him and stayed low as he scanned for his next target.
He caught sight of the one who'd sent the dart at him and moved toward him with raw determination. Without realizing it, he fell into target fixation and missed the third assassin who sank a dagger deep into his side. Hissing, he turned and backhanded his assailant. As he moved to snap his neck, Maris froze.
Draygon...
His younger brother who was barely a year older than Saf.
He winced at the sight of him. Switching tactics, he held Draygon on the ground in a fierce grip against his neck. A smart man would end him. Brother or not. Yet when Maris went in for the kill, he didn't see a soldier. He saw his brother laughing as they tried to jump over a ditch that had left Maris with a broken leg. Even though Draygon was injured himself, he'd carried Maris home.
This wasn't an enemy.
It was his little brother.
Draygon's dark eyes dared him now, just as they'd done as kids whenever they'd gotten crossed up over something. Maris could hear the taunt in his head. Go ahead and hit me! I can take it.
That was what they'd both been raised on.
Silent, Draygon stared defiantly, waiting for a death blow.
Maris jerked the dagger out of his injured side that Draygon had planted there. Without a word, he sank low and threw it straight into the heart of the assassin he'd been fixated on.
Still, his brother's gaze never wavered as he waited for Maris to kill him. Maris pinned him with a paralyzing hold that Draygon had never been able to escape. If Maris let him go, Draygon's honor would be eternally damaged. To be defeated by a target was the ultimate Phrixian insult.
For that target to be homosexual...
The kindest act would be to cut Draygon's throat and leave him dead on the street. But as Maris looked into a set of eyes identical to his own, he couldn't do it.
In spite of everything.
Knocking Draygon unconscious, he quickly moved away through the screaming civilians, with his hand pressed against his deep wound.
I have to get help. At the rate he was bleeding, he'd never make it to a hospital. He only had enough time for one call before he passed out, and most likely died in the street...
Without hesitating, he called the one single voice he needed to hear most.
"Hey, love. Are you on your way back?"
Maris panted with the weight of his pain as his vision dimmed. "I'm badly wounded, Ture."
"What?"
Maris skirted into an alley and pressed his back to the stone wall as he slid down it, deeper into the shadows. He glanced around for more assassins. "I was attacked."
"Baby, where are you?"
Maris tried to focus, but warm blood kept flowing over his hand and down his leg. He slipped on it and hit the street.
"Mari! Talk to me."
"Um..." Everything spun around him. He tried to get up and couldn't. He was dying and he knew it. "Ture... I love you."
*
"Maris!" Ture shouted as Maris's whispered words lanced his heart.
There was no answer.
Terrified as tears filled his eyes, he snatched off his apron and called Darling. He handed his apron to his sous chef. "You're in charge until I get back."
Her jaw dropped as he ran for the door. The moment Ture reached the street, Darling answered.
"Darling? It's Ture. Maris just called me and he's been attacked and is wounded. I think he passed out while he was talking to me. He didn't have a chance to tell me where he was. Help him, please. Tell me how to find him."
"Where are you?"
"I'm outside my restaurant."
He could hear the sounds of Darling running. "Okay...he left here about twenty minutes ago. He should be closer to the restaurant than the palace. He would have automatically gone for shelter. An alley probably. I'm on my way, but I have to hang up to trace him."
Tears streamed down Ture's face. "Find him, please." His breathing ragged as panic threatened to overtake him, he hung up and ran down Maris's route, trying to figure out where Maris might have gone.
By the fourth empty alley, he was ready to scream.
Please do
n't be dead...
Raw, unmitigated agony racked him. It was so consuming that he wanted to sink to his knees and scream out from the weight of it. Only the knowledge that Maris needed him kept him upright. He had to keep it together.
If Mari were here, he'd tell him to stay calm. To breathe.
As he reached the sixth alley, he heard the sounds of sirens. There were three bodies on the ground up ahead, and people gathered around them.
Closing the distance, he noticed drops of smeared blood on the sidewalk that stopped suddenly.
Maris. He must have realized he was leaving a trail.
Scared and shaking, Ture headed for the alley closest to the blood. He opened his mouth to call out then stopped himself. What if there were more attackers in the crowd? They might hear him and finish Maris off.
His entire body weak in fear and agony, he searched the alley for any telltale signs. He was just about to leave when he noticed a small red smear on a brick at his feet. Then he saw the heel of a dark maroon boot buried in debris. . . .
"Mari," he breathed, running toward it.
Somehow, Maris had managed to tuck himself behind a small electrical unit. Careful not to hurt him, Ture pulled him out.
Oh God, no.
Blood saturated Maris's side. His face was pale with a bluish tint. Ture cradled him to his chest as he sobbed uncontrollably. "Don't you dare die on me, Mari! You hear me! Don't die. I can't live without you."
Suddenly, he heard someone running into the alley. Fearing it was an assassin, Ture grabbed Maris's reserve blaster from his boot and angled it toward the intruder.
Darling froze and held his hands up. "Don't shoot. It's the good guys."
Ture dropped it instantly. He couldn't speak as he realized how much of Maris's blood was on him now. His lips trembled.
Darling and Hauk knelt by his side. He took Maris from Ture's arms and laid him flat on the ground. "I know you're going to hate me for this, Mari, but . . ." He ripped Maris's shirt and exposed the jagged wound in his side.
Opening a medical bag, Hauk called for Syn.
Ture struggled to contain his tears. The last thing he wanted to do was distract them with his useless hysteria. But it was so hard when inside he was screaming.
His hand trembling, he brushed the hair back from Maris's face while Darling and Hauk worked on him.
Darling cursed at the same instant Hauk's eyes widened with panic. He tilted Maris's head back and started chest compressions. "Breathe, damn you, breathe!" he growled.
All of a sudden, Syn was there with them.
Darling moved away and allowed him to take over. When Darling's agonized green gaze met Ture's, Ture saw just how much Maris meant to Darling, too.
In this fearful misery, they were kindred spirits.
"You stubborn Phrixian bastard. Pain in my ass," Syn snarled under his breath. "Don't you do this to us." He jerked an injector from his bag.
Ture's eyes widened at the size of it.
When Syn went to bury it in the center of Maris's heart, Ture started for him, but Darling caught him and held him back. "Don't look."
He couldn't take his eyes off them as Syn injected adrenaline directly into Maris's heart.
Just as Ture was about to scream, Maris took a deep, frantic breath and opened his eyes. Panting and shaking, Maris glanced around until he saw Ture with Darling. He held his hand out toward them.
At first, Ture thought he was reaching for Darling. But it was his fingers Maris's locked with. He pulled Ture closer until he could place a light, weak kiss to his knuckles.
More tears choked Ture as he returned to stroke Maris's hair while Syn stabilized him for mobility.
Darling sat by Ture's side and squeezed Maris's shoulder. "Next time you leave when I tell you not to, I swear I'll shoot you myself."
Maris coughed. "Just don't hit my groin."
"You're not funny," Ture and Darling said simultaneously.
Hauk laughed. "I think he's hilarious."
They both glared at him.
Aggravated to the extreme, Darling turned his back to Hauk as Maris nuzzled Ture's palm. It was only then that it dawned on Darling that Maris hadn't called him when he was hit.
He'd called Ture instead.
For one heartbeat, an insane stab of jealousy went through him. Since early childhood, Maris had been the one constant Darling could count on, no matter what. He'd had Mari to himself for so many years that it was hard to accept the fact that Maris finally had someone else.
Someone he loved enough that it had been Ture's voice alone that he'd wanted to hear before he died.
Not Darling's.
But that wasn't something to be jealous over. Maris deserved to be loved and cherished by someone who could give him everything he needed. And while Darling could give him his friendship and heart, he could never share his body with Maris. No matter how much he loved him.
For the first time, he fully understood the depth of Maris's love for him. Even though he was in love with him, Mari had tracked Zarya down and brought her back into Darling's life to heal his ravaged soul. How many people would be so altruistic?
Leaning down, Darling kissed Maris's bearded cheek. "Love you, Mari."
"Love you, too," Maris answered automatically. He smiled at Darling's heartfelt words until fear gripped him. He glanced up at Ture, expecting the worst.
There was no judgment or hatred in those beautiful gray eyes. No hesitancy in his touch as he continued to stroke Maris's hair.
Hauk went to meet the medics who were bringing in a stretcher for Maris.
Syn checked his vitals. "Barring infection, I think you're going to make it, bud. And don't you dare get an infection. This is as close to death as I want you to come in my lifetime."
Maris coughed. "I try to avoid Death as best I can. Bastard is relentless. I think he works for the League."
Ture and Darling stood up and moved back so that the medics could lift Maris onto the stretcher.
When they reached the transport, they both started to go in. Ture hesitated.
Darling smiled kindly. "Sorry. Habit. I know he'd rather have you with him."
Ture wasn't sure about that. Not that it really mattered right now. He dropped his gaze to Darling's blaster. "You should go. I can't protect him from another attacker. Not like you can. I'll meet you at the hospital."
His smile melted into a frown. "Are you sure?"
"Positive. This isn't about my ego. It's about Mari's life. Keep him safe for me. Please."
Darling hugged him before he climbed into the transport behind Syn.
"Don't worry," Hauk said as he draped an arm around Ture's shoulders. "I'll get you there before the transport."
*
Maris pulled the mask away from his face as the transport took off. "Where's Ture?"
Darling returned it to his mouth and nose then held it in place so that Maris couldn't pull it off again. "He told me to go with you."
Wincing, Maris clenched his teeth. After all the times Ture had professed his love, Maris had never responded to it. But with Darling...
Maris hadn't even thought about it, or how it would sound to Ture.
Damn. It had to cut deep. No wonder he'd stayed behind. His luck, Ture would never speak to him again.
"Shh," Syn said, leaning over him. "You need to calm down."
Easier said than done. He wouldn't have hurt Ture for anything.
What have I done?
When he failed to relax, Syn knocked him out.
*
True to his word, Hauk got Ture to the hospital on his airbike before the transport arrived. He was weak from fear over the way Hauk drove, but he was here in one piece. Physically, anyway.
Mentally was a whole other matter.
Hauk led him inside the lobby where Zarya, Princess Annalise, Drake and a man who looked a lot like Hauk was waiting for them. Zarya's pregnancy was now as evident as Ana's had been a few weeks ago.
Ture bit his
lip as he saw how pale she appeared. "Are you okay, sweetie? Should you be standing?"
Her gaze flitted over the blood on Ture's clothes and skin as she paled even more. "Mari?" Her voice trembled.
"He's alive."
Closing her eyes, she sighed in relief and placed her hand to her heart. "I was terrified when Darling told me Maris had been ambushed. Are you okay?"
"Scared like you, but I'm not injured." Ture pulled her against him and held her close. "I've missed you."
"You, too." She leaned her head back to smile up at him. "Told you, didn't I?"
He rubbed his nose against hers. "Yes. You were right. I love Mari. He is everything you said, and then some."
Drake let out a low whistle to get their attention. "You let my brother see you molesting his wife like that, and I'll have to scrape your remains up with a spatula. No offense, I hate cleaning."
Zarya laughed. "Relax, Drake. Darling won't say a word."
Drake appeared highly doubtful as he moved to stand next to his sister, Annalise.
The doors opened. Ture turned to see the stretcher with Darling and Syn. Without pausing, Syn whisked Maris past him and through the ER doors.
Darling stopped by his side. "Mari's stable. He panicked when he realized I was with him and you'd stayed behind, so Syn knocked him out to keep his vitals at normal."
Ture sighed. "He is never going to believe that I'm not jealous of you. I don't know how to convince him that your relationship with each other doesn't bother me."
Darling arched a skeptical brow that was very similar to an expression Maris used. They'd known each other for so long that they shared many such quirks. "It doesn't?"
"No. Why should it? You've been in his life a lot longer than I have. It's not like you've slept with him or are going to . . . that I would issues with. Up until now, I've thought of you more like an irritating in-law Maris takes care of . . . one whose existence I have to suffer with in silence."
Darling's jaw went slack. "I think I'm insulted . . . And what do you mean up until now?"
Ture sobered. "He would have died today had you not been here. I could strangle him for calling me and not you. But for you, I would have had no idea where to look or any way to locate him. Thank you, Darling."
"You don't have to thank me for saving Mari. That's my job." Darling pulled Zarya into his arms to hold her. "Just take care of him for me. That's all I ask."
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