The raw agony in his eyes had been excruciating. "It's all my fault. I did this to Dancer."
"You didn't do this. Had you been there, you'd have crashed, too, and been scarred."
He'd looked at her as if she was repugnant to him. That expression was what she would spend the rest of her life believing had sent him into Omira's arms. "I should have been there. I should be the one in a coma, not Dancer!"
Galene had stepped forward to hold him.
Hissing at her, he'd run down the hallway, into the bathroom. She'd followed after him and paused, knowing she couldn't go inside.
Through the door, she'd heard his rage and temper as he trashed the facilities. An act of desolate agony that had caused them to call for security. Her parents, who'd been doctors at the hospital, had responded to the call instantly, and her mother had forced her to go home while her father had gone into the bathroom to talk to Fain.
Over the next week, Fain had stayed by his brother's side, only leaving long enough to take his finals and attend obligatory graduation functions. Abandoned by his parents and Keris, who'd forsaken Dancer, Fain had refused to speak to anyone.
Even her.
She'd felt completely helpless in the aftermath. Yet on their graduation day, Chrisen had told her that Fain had wanted to see her. That he had something important he wanted to tell her about their future.
Knowing she was already pregnant, and eager to share her own news, she'd rushed to the locker room where Fain had shushed her and brushed her aside so that he could shower and dress for the ceremony, "without any more stress on my back." That was what he'd coldly said to her.
Since Dancer's crash, he'd been avoiding his home by staying at the hospital, and had decided to dress at school instead of his mother's house where he'd have been subjected to her constant insults and tirades. If not actual physical abuse.
Wounded by his callous words, Galene had left him. But as she stepped outside the locker room, she'd found Merrell lurking by the door. As she tried to brush past him, he'd grabbed her arm.
"Fain doesn't want you, Galene. Dear gods, how blind are you?"
"What do you mean?"
"He's been screwing Omira Antaxas for weeks now. Ever since the accident, she's been with him at the hospital and everything."
Snatching her arm out of his grasp, she'd sneered at the smug prince and that utter stupidity. Fain would never do anything like that. "You're lying!"
"I saw them together. So did Jullien. Just ask him, if you don't believe me. All the Hauks are twisted. Didn't you know? Their entire lineage is chromosomally damaged. Keris is a drug addict. Dancer's deformed, and Fain's a human-lover. Before your unification, you might want to check his DNA. I've heard his own father knows that Fain isn't his. It's why his skintone is so much lighter than his brothers'. And they doubt Dancer's paternity, too."
Galene had wanted to deny it, but she'd heard those rumors. And she'd seen Keris high on several occasions, even though it was strictly forbidden, and could mean his life if he were caught.
Shoving Chrisen away, she'd gone to Fain, only to have him break her heart by denying nothing....
"Galene?"
She blinked as Fain's deep, melodic voice pulled her back from the past, into the present.
He cupped her face gently. "Where did you go?"
"Back to a boy who gave up everything he had to save his brother's life." Tears gathered in her throat as she placed her finger over his lips to keep him from speaking. "Shh, Fain. I know the dirty politics Chrisen and Merrell practiced. The lies they told and crimes they committed. I can't imagine having to make the choice you did. Especially alone, at that age."
"I should have killed them."
"No. If you'd done that, Talyn would have been the bastard son of a felon. A traitor who murdered royal sons. It would have been even worse for him. But had you told me then, I would have run with you, and never looked back."
"And they would have killed Dancer ... just as they killed Keris. The only thing that saved Dancer's life was my leaving. It forced my parents to keep him, even though he was scarred."
Because it would have been the highest mark of dishonor for them to disown two sons. One child was an acceptable loss. That meant something had been wrong with that child. Disinheriting two meant that the parents had failed in their roles. And since Keris was dead, it would have ended the Hauk dynasty on Andaria. Something his proud father would have never allowed to happen.
For Dancer, Fain had given up everything he cherished.
Her hand trembling, she brushed the braids back from his face. "My noble warrior."
Fain shook his head. "There's nothing noble about me. I'm just an Androkyn."
"No, you were never so simple a creature, Fain Hauk."
Smiling, he picked her up to whisper against her lips. "My precious Storm Dancer." He slid her down his body so that her gown caught on his pants and exposed her to his questing hands.
She sucked her breath in sharply as he boldly explored her and left her breathless. "No male has ever touched me, save you."
"Good. I'd kill anyone who dared lay a hand to you, Stormy. I've never been one to share what I love with anyone." He pulled her gown over her head and dropped it to the floor.
Galene shivered as the cool air raised chills on her skin. Only the heat of his body warmed her now. She nibbled at the whiskers on his jaw, delighting in the way they teased her tongue and lips.
Fain closed his eyes and savored the sensation of her breath on his skin, of her hands sweeping over his back and pulling his pants lower. He kissed his way down her body until he was kneeling between her legs. Looking up at her, he nudged her knees apart so that he could finger her and then taste the part of her body that he'd been craving since the moment he saw her waiting in the Andarion landing bay.
He knew his eyes were glowing vibrant red in the dim light. He could feel that surging rush of possessive emotion. The need to protect and cherish.
All for her.
As a boy, he'd been torn apart by those unfamiliar stralen urges. As an adult, he fully understood what they meant. "Stormy? If we do this..."
She brushed her hand over his lips to cut his words off. "I know. It's time for you to come home, Fain. Let's forget the past and start the future we should have had."
Those gentle words wrung a growl from him as he rose up to capture her lips. Unable to stop the flood of adrenaline and possessiveness she awoke inside him, he entered her.
Galene cried out at the unfamiliar sensation of a male filling her body.
Holding her weight, he froze. "Are you all right?"
She buried her face against his braids and nodded. "I forgot how large you are."
More gentle than she could fathom, he cupped her breast as he swirled his tongue around her ear. "I won't move until you're ready."
Smiling at him, she slowly began to thrust her hips against his.
Fain growled again as the stralen inside him rushed forward. It'd been so long since he felt it that he'd forgotten the intensity of the hormones and adrenaline. The feral need to protect everything he loved.
"I love you, Galene," he breathed. It was a stupid confession, but it wasn't like she didn't know it. Not like she couldn't look into his red eyes and see the truth.
There was no way to hide it now. Not that he wanted to.
She'd been right. He'd hidden too much from her. Never again would he be so stupid.
Closing his eyes, he bit his lip and savored the warmth of being held by her. Of finally feeling like he was where the gods had meant for him to be.
This really was home.
"Kimi asyado."
I love you tremendously.
Galene couldn't breathe as she heard the words she'd lain awake at night missing. As she felt Fain's strong arms around her again while he slowly thrust against her hips. She pressed her cheek to his--the deepest expression of Andarion affection. "I love you, Fain Hauk. You worthless bastard."
She joined his laughter until he took control of their lovemaking. Her laughter died under a fierce groan at how good he felt inside her.
Screaming out, she came in a blinding wave of pleasure.
Fain savored the sound of her literally purring in his ear while she clutched at him and arched her back against the wall. Closing his eyes, he surrendered to his own release. Weak and panting, he leaned his forehead against the wall and held her against him as he shook all over.
Galene nuzzled his neck, raising chills the entire length of his body.
When he pulled back, he saw the same regret inside her eyes that he felt for all the years together they'd missed. "I should never have let you go."
"You had no choice."
"That's the lie I've always told myself."
"It's not a lie, Fain. It just wasn't meant to be for us."
The way she said that made his breath catch. "What are you saying?"
"That the gods themselves conspired against us. Maybe there was a reason for it."
"Yeah, Merrell was an asshole." He scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bedroom.
"What are you doing?"
He quirked a grin at her. "Making up for lost time."
*
Hours later, Galene swallowed hard as she slowly traced the myriad of scars that marred Fain's bare back while he napped by her side. Honestly, she wasn't sure which ones angered her most. The deep, vicious marks from a whip that had to be from his days as a slave, or the surgery scars from when Venik had fused Fain's spinal cord with his ship.
Tears blurred her vision as she tried to imagine the horror he'd suffered. How much rehabilitation must have gone into merging him with his ship's systems. She knew from Talyn's injuries just how long and arduous such recoveries were. Not just physically, but mentally grueling.
And Fain had done it without anyone there to help him through it. No one to wake up to.
That broke her heart.
She knew from her brief conversations with Dancer that he had no idea what Fain had been through. He stupidly thought his brother had joined The Tavali by choice. Dancer had no knowledge that Fain was still enslaved to Venik or that he'd been bound to a cruel human master for a time. One who had used him as nothing more than a cockfighter in the worst sort of blood sport. One that made the Andarion Open Ring fights look like kids' play. Fain had been stripped of his name, his heritage.
Everything.
When Venik had taken custody of Fain, he'd been nothing more than a piece of feral property. Marked and tagged, and issued a value like other pieces of stolen cargo.
How she wished she'd never gone snooping into Fain's Tavali service files.
But she'd known that Fain would never tell her anything about his past. Her male was too good at keeping his secrets.
With the sound of his soft snore warming her, she pressed her lips to his shoulder and traced the lines of his tattoo. Just as she started to brush her fingers against the small hairs around his navel, he woke up with a beautiful fanged smile.
He shifted slightly to give her more access to his body. "Surely you're not still hungry for me?"
Laughing, she nipped at his shoulder while she gently cupped and caressed him. "Maybe."
He kissed her as he rolled so that she could straddle his hips. But before she could do much more, her link went off with Talyn's ring.
Worried that something might have happened, she grabbed it and answered. "Hey, baby. Is everything okay?"
"Yeah. Sorry, I didn't mean to worry you. Lish and I have something we're doing and we kind of need you here. You got a few?"
"For you? Always. But I'll need a couple of minutes before I head over."
"No problem. And do you know how to reach Hauk? I tried, but he's not picking up his link."
She traced the line of Fain's nose. "Um, yeah, I might know where your father is. Why?"
"Could you bring him with you?"
Now that was a strange request. "Sure. You need me to bring anything else?"
"No. That's all we need."
"All right. I'll be there shortly." She hung up.
"Is something wrong?"
Galene hesitated. "Not quite sure. Talyn didn't sound right."
"Because he asked for me?"
She rolled her eyes at him. "No, silly. His tone of voice was odd." Scooting off him, she pouted. "Sorry."
"Don't apologize. I could die happy right now."
Strangely weak and yet thrilled by his words, she traced the arch of his brow. "Come take a quick shower with me."
Fain obeyed, and followed after her. But when Galene moved to soap his body, he found a whole new level of heaven and hell. "How can you possibly make me this hard again? Krikkin ey, it's like being a teen again. Aggravating as hell."
She pulled her hand away. "You want me to stop?"
Catching her wrist lightly, he pressed her open palm against his sac and gently rubbed himself against her smooth skin. "No. But unfortunately, I don't want to piss off Talyn. He already hates me enough." With a heavy sigh, he finished his shower and dressed, while trying not to focus on how incredible her body looked both in and out of her uniform.
As he fastened his shirt, she stopped him. "What are we going to do about your eyes?"
Fain winced as he realized they were still vibrant red. "I have a bad feeling it's permanent this time."
"Do you have any contacts?"
He shook his head. "I never bothered with them, as you were the only female who ever awoke it in me. And since I never thought you'd ever touch me again..."
She bit her lip. "What are we going to do?"
He shrugged nonchalantly. "Fuck them all. They need to know if they touch you or Talyn, they have me to deal with. It'll do them good to fear me." He took her hand and pressed it to his cheek. "No more hiding."
"They better not hurt you. Trust me, the only thing worse than a stralen War Hauk is a pissed-off Winged Batur on the rampage. We can go places Hauks only dream of."
Laughing, he kissed her hand and allowed her to lead him to Talyn's new apartment.
He wasn't sure what to expect.
And when they walked in, they both drew up short at what they found.
Dressed in Batur blue, Felicia wore an old-fashioned Andarion wedding gown. The kind that was at least a hundred years old and very delicate and beautiful.
No longer sporting his moustache or goatee, Talyn was in his military dress uniform, and they were surrounded by Gavarian, Brach, Jayne, Morra, Dancer, Sumi, Darice, Kalea, Qorach, Vega, War, and Chayden.
Even more shocking, Felicia's parents were on a split-screen monitor, along with her brother Lorens.
Talyn arched an inquisitive brow at the sight of Fain's eyes, but didn't say anything about it.
"Paka! Paka! Paka!" War shouted as he launched himself into Fain's arms and hugged him tight.
"What's going on?" Galene asked hesitantly as she moved closer to the monitor.
Felicia's mother, who looked a great deal like her daughter, let out a fierce growl. "They don't listen and are being impossible. I told them that they can do this, but that it won't exempt them from a formal unification when they return home. She is my only daughter and he's your only son, by the gods. They are not robbing me of a glorified, humongous ceremony where I can shove my daughter's union down the throat of every snotty family member I have. Especially to a prince and a War Hauk!" She paused in her tirade to frown at Fain. "I'm Marna eton Nykyrian, by the way. You must be Fain eton Anatole. It's an honor to meet you, Tiziran."
He inclined his head to her respectfully. "And you, Tarra eton Nykyrian."
Galene smiled warmly. "And I believe Fain is well acquainted with Saren and Lorens?"
"We are," they said in unison.
Felicia cleared her throat. "Now, if my mother can refrain from yelling at me for the next few minutes ... as you can see, Talyn and I have decided to have a simple Andarion wedding."
"A common wedding," Marna mumbled.
"It's legal," Felicia said in a gentle, patient tone. "It's even how the tahrs himself married Tizirah Kiara."
"And they had a formal ceremony later, did they not?"
Rolling her eyes at her mother, Felicia let out an exasperated breath. "Yes, Mum. And don't worry. Talyn and I are more than willing to take our vows a hundred thousand times, once we're home. You will get your grand unification ceremony with all its glory and pomp. We promise. We will take nothing from you."
Talyn laced his fingers with Felicia's. "Please don't be angry at Felicia, mu tara. This was all my idea. Having been raised as a bastard and with us at war, I didn't want to risk anything going wrong. I want to make sure both she and the baby are taken care of. Now that I can legally give her a lineage to be proud of, I didn't want to wait another minute. She and the baby need the protection of my lineage with hers. It's not worth the chance of waiting to get home to do a formal ceremony."
That finally succeeded in calming Marna down. "Galene, I've said it before and I'll say it again. Thank you for raising such a wonderful son. He is an honor to you, and this is why I love him as if he were my own."
"Hear, hear," Saren agreed. "And I should mention that I released Felicia's vestal accounts as soon as she told me the news. I put her, Marna, and you, Galene, on them. Spend to your heart's content. There's enough in there to throw her the unification ceremony of the century. One so large, even the tadara will be envious.... And since she waited so long to marry, the interest has really accumulated. It should adequately cover everything and make quite a nest egg for her and Talyn. Not that Talyn needs it. I still stipulate he's worth more than I am."
Lorens laughed. "Given the size of his condo and toys, I think he's worth more than both of us put together."
Ignoring them, Talyn turned toward Felicia and lifted the sheer blue veil away from her face. His red eyes glowing, he stared down at her with a tenderness that choked Fain. He knew exactly how his son felt.
With a tender smile, Talyn took her hands into his. "Doctor Felicia Orfanos, born of the houses of ezul Terronova and eton Nykyrian ... my only heart, my one true soul, and my guiding star, here before these witnesses, I proudly proclaim you as my Ger Tarra Batur, now and forevermore." He kissed her knuckles.
Her lips trembling, Felicia smiled up at him. "Lieutenant Commander Talyn eton Anatole, tiziran of Andaria, the famed and mighty Iron Hammer who has made grown Andarions weep in terror, born of the Warring Blood Clan of Hauk and the Winged Blood Clan of Batur, you are my fierce, shining strength and ever heart. As such, I proudly claim you now and forevermore as mi Ger Tana, mi courani." She kissed his hands, then lifted her lips to kiss him.
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