It was a stupid thing to do, but he couldn't help himself. He laughed.
Which made her scream like he was murdering her.
His mother came running into the room and pulled up short as she saw them entangled, half dressed on the bed. Yeah, this was awkward. He was wearing his short military briefs and Felicia's gown had ridden up so that it looked like some kind of sex game. Her face turned bright red.
"Ma!" he shouted as she beat a hasty retreat. "Come back. It's not what you think."
She spoke around the doorframe. "Should I ask what it is, then?"
"Tell Felicia who Jayne is."
"Jayne Erixour?"
"Yeah. 'Cause I don't think she's going to believe me if I tell her." He slid off Felicia.
Shoving her gown down, she glared at him as his mother returned to the room.
Galene bit her lip. "Oh dear gods, what did Jaynie do now?"
"Who is she, Commander?" Felicia asked.
"My best friend. Talyn's other mother."
Felicia frowned. "What?"
Talyn picked his pillow up and returned it to the bed. "Remember when I told you I had a teacher take me home and watch over me until my mother was released from the hospital?"
"Yeah."
"Jaynie."
"No," Felicia said, shaking her head. "Play her message back and tell me that sounds like a teacher, mother figure."
Inwardly cringing, he rubbed a hand over his face. "Gah, I can just imagine. Aunt Jayne is a unique individual. Unlike any you've ever met. The fact they ever let her into a classroom says a lot about the Hyshian educational system." He pulled his link to him and listened. And with every word, he screwed his face up harder. Yeah, okay, he'd beat him, too.
He handed the link to his mother for her to hear. She sighed heavily. "Yeah, that's Jayne." She handed it back to him. "What did you call her about?"
"The security for Felicia that you'd mentioned." He passed a dry look to her. "That's my 'girl problem' she's referring to."
"Why would a mother figure call you sexy?"
"It's Jayne," he and his mother said in unison.
Galene nodded. "She's been calling him sexy since he was in grade school."
"Really?"
Talyn scratched sheepishly at his ear. "I went to school with Hyshians, Licia. I felt like a hideous freak, all the time. Jayne started calling me that so I'd feel better about myself. Didn't really work since everyone else looked at me like a diseased flea that was about to give them an incurable, alien disease, but it was her way of trying."
Still sitting on the bed, she drew her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Peeking at him over her knees, she gave him a most adorable pout. "Sorry. But you have to admit, that call was pretty damning."
"Yeah. Vintage Jayne."
His mother laughed. "Since there's no murder going on, I'll leave you two to sort this out." She made a quick exit.
Talyn hesitated. "Is it safe, or do I need to gird my loins for battle?"
"You might want to gird a bit. I'm still mad about the other matter.... Did you really call Jayne about security for me?"
"Of course, I did. And Jayne's the one who rescued me from Onoria. Hadrian, who you met, is her husband. They have kids together. You would have met her, too, but she had to jettison for other obligations with The Sentella while they were bringing me home."
Now she felt utterly stupid. While she'd known Hadrian's wife had been with them, no one had mentioned Jayne by name.
She crooked her finger for him to come closer.
Talyn hesitated. He wasn't real sure of her mood. Because he hadn't spent much time around anyone other than his mother, Jayne, and her husband, he wasn't real good at reading others' emotions.
And, well ... Jayne and his mother made it easy. When they were pissed, they launched into highly hostile verbal assaults that ended with an ass beating and restriction. As for Jayne's husband, Hadrian was extremely even-keeled and showed as much emotion as a statue, most days.
He inched toward her. "Should I remove projectiles?"
"No," she said sullenly. "Come here, Talyn."
Bracing himself for the worst, he obeyed. "Yes?"
She toyed with his ear. "I'm sorry. For everything. Just not used to caring this much about someone else. Twice now, I've had to sit in a hospital because you were seriously hurt. And I've seen what you look like after a fight. It's not pretty." She gestured toward the bruise on her face. "And now that I've been hit, I have a whole new appreciation for what you go through. How do you stand it?"
He shrugged nonchalantly. "I was an Andarion in a Hyshian school. I couldn't get into trouble because if my mother was called in for counseling, she'd be punished by the military for it. The other students knew I couldn't fight back, so it was open season on me. Same for the teachers. They were scared of me and it made them vicious. When I came home, I couldn't let my mother know about it or she'd cry and feel guilty. So I learned to take the blows and hide the bruises. It's all I've ever known." He brushed the hair back from her face. "It only hurts when you're the one attacking me. One mild insult from you is like a dagger through my heart."
She pressed her cheek to his. "I love you so much."
"I love you, too. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you."
"Yeah, I noticed. Only a special kind of idiot would get into a Ring with that lineup."
"Yes, but I'll always be your special idiot."
She finally laughed. "When will Jayne get here?"
He shrugged. "She'll be coming in interstellarly, if not intergalactically. Could be a couple of days. I'd call her back, but I'm afraid you might hurt me."
She rolled her eyes at him. "You can talk to your aunt Jayne. I won't say a word."
"You sure? 'Cause I'll toss her right out."
She handed him his link. "Call her, goofball."
"I can't do that. If I call her goofball, she'll kick my ass, and she's not a small woman. Not to mention, she's a trained assassin."
She arched a brow at the thought. "How is a teacher a trained assassin?"
He laughed at her confusion. "She's the daughter of Egarious Toole. He's an infamous underworld mastermind and thief on Hyshia. Jayne was in and out of lockups as a kid. So, as a young adult, right after she married, she tried to go straight for a bit. Ended up getting pulled back into the dark side, and now works for The Sentella."
"Ahh," she said as she finally put it all together. "She's the friend your mother didn't name, but called. Got it."
He nodded. "It's why I know so much about The Sentella. I figured if anyone could help us, it would be they. Anatole won't be able to touch them. They're not Andarion citizens or soldiers. He has no authority over their group."
"They could still be arrested for assaulting a royal. Not to mention, the tadara is no friend of theirs."
"Yes, but Anatole isn't the tahrs and he's not worth an interplanetary incident. And while I expect him to try something, Jayne is a goddess of creative solutions. I trust her implicitly."
"Then can't you join The Sentella?"
In theory. But since he knew his paternal uncle was one of their key members, it made it rather awkward. While Jayne had often commented on how much they favored, both he and his mother had laughed it off by saying all Andarions looked alike to Hyshians. But Dancer would know the minute he laid eyes on him that they were related. He shared too many traits with his father and uncles for it not to be obvious.
"I'd have to leave the Ring circuit to do that. And I wouldn't be able to take care of my mother if I was one of them."
"You can't help it, can you?"
"Help what?"
"Thinking of your mother first."
"She has no one else. Because of me. It would be wrong to turn my back on her after she gave up everything to keep me with her. I might not be a lot of things, but I'm never ungrateful."
No, he wasn't. Felicia ran her finger down the stubble on his chin, marveling at how handsome he was e
"Take your contacts out, Talyn."
"Why?"
"I want to make love to you, as you really are. No pretense. No walls. Just you and me."
He took them out so fast, it left her laughing.
"Eager, are you?"
He pulled his briefs off. "I have a beautiful female in my bed, wanting me naked. What do you think?"
"I think you're preciously annoying."
"So long as you consider me doably annoying, I'm good with that."
Rising up on her knees in the bed, she cradled his body with hers. "I will always consider you doable." She fell back onto the bed, pulling him with her. Felicia ran her finger over his eyebrow as she marveled at the fact he was stralen. "You look so different like this."
"Does it frighten you?"
She shook her head. "The only thing that scares me is how much I love you. And how sure I am that the gods are going to do something to take you from me because of it."
Talyn wanted to reassure her, but he couldn't. Not in good conscience. He had the same fear in his heart that she did. The gods had never been kind to him. Rather, he'd been their punching bag from the moment he'd been born prematurely and almost died seconds after drawing his first breath to this moment. "I will never willingly leave you."
Smiling, she kissed his lips and wrapped her body around his. "I know, keramon. Same here. I will fight for you. Always."
He laughed at that. "Did you really pull a blaster on a doctor?"
She cringed. "Who told you that?"
"Jayne's husband."
Felicia nibbled at his jaw. "I'm your female, Talyn. Like you, I protect what I love with everything I have."
His breathing ragged, Talyn savored those words that meant the universe to him. Unable to stand the intensity of what he felt for her, he slid himself into her body.
She gasped, then moaned in his ear. Closing his eyes, he ground his teeth at how good she felt in his arms.
Please don't let me lose her.
But no matter how hard he tried, he feared what tomorrow would bring for them. What new shit Anatole would hurl at him.
Most of all, he feared that he might have very well signed his own death warrant in the Ring with those blood matches. Neither his mother nor Felicia knew the whole truth about those fighters.
Even though it hadn't been a blood match at that time, Talyn had taken the Zoftiq title from Slaughterhouse.
Don't get used to it, punk. Next time we meet in the Ring, you're going home in pieces.
This time, Duel Odelus wouldn't be going into the fight as a cocky title holder, he'd be coming into the Splatterdome motivated by vengeance, and craving a death match with every piece of his being.
If I have to lose, let him kill me. The last thing Talyn wanted was to be crippled for the rest of his life.
But he didn't want to think about tomorrow right now. Not while he was with Felicia. His blood racing, he buried his face in her wealth of curls and tightened his arms around her.
Felicia cried out at the intensity of Talyn's passion. Normally, he took his time and meticulously explored her. Tonight, he was ferocious, almost desperate.
She nipped his chin, delighting in the feel of his whiskers. A smile curved her lips as he met her gaze and she stared into his bloodred eyes that held the faintest outline of white around the edges. The total opposite of what they'd been when she first met him.
Out of habit, she started to cup his head, then quickly caught herself. Since they'd shaved his hair, he'd been extremely self-conscious over it. Instead of it being comforting, he would recoil from her touching his head. The last thing she wanted was to hurt him in any way.
Growling in her ear, he quickened his strokes. Felicia sucked her breath in as her body exploded with pleasure.
With the sweetest smile, Talyn kissed her forehead an instant before he came in her arms. His breathing ragged, he stared down at her with the most adoring gaze imaginable.
Until he glanced to the bruise on her cheek. Guilt replaced the happiness as he withdrew from her.
"Talyn?"
He gently brushed his fingers over her cheek. "I'm tired of living in an empire where a female can't even walk home with dinner and not be attacked. Where no one feels safe. This is not what I want to defend. It's not what I swore to uphold when I joined the armada."
"What are you saying?"
He gentled his expression before he pressed his cheek to hers. "I'm just venting. I'll be right back." He kissed her before he went to the bathroom.
Talyn paused at the door to look back at Felicia. She was so beautiful in his bed. So frail and tiny. In all his life, she was the only thing he'd ever craved. The only one he'd ever love.
He could handle anything so long as she was here at the end of the day to lay her gentle hand on his skin. No one was ever going to hurt or scare her again. He'd tear this empire down to ashes before he allowed that to happen.
Making sure to keep it out of her sight, he set his link on the counter and closed the door. Before he could stop himself, he texted her brother.
The party at my house is on. Just let me know the details.
While he'd never thought of himself as a traitor or a revolutionary, he was willing to see the tadara and her entire family in the ground, if that was what it took to keep his family safe. The Anatoles should have known better than to start a war with a Hauk and a Batur.
The day had come to change out the ruling parties. And he was the Andarion to see this through.
He hadn't started this fight. But by all the gods, he was going to finish it.
CHAPTER 21
"What in the name of all Andaria are you doing?"
Talyn froze midswing at Felicia's angry tone, unsure about her confusion over his current activity. Surely it was obvious, given his workout shorts and gloves. "Training."
Her face a mask of fury, she closed the distance between them. "You're supposed to be in bed. It's only been a few days since you were released from the hospital."
Wiping at the sweat on his brow, he returned to swinging at the doublebag. "Doesn't matter. I have to get back into shape as soon as I can. Once I report for duty, I doubt I'll have much training time."
And the first of his blood matches was looming before him.
She moved to block him, and softened her expression. "Honey, I'm a physical therapist. Your physical therapist. Your body isn't ready for this kind of abuse. You need to rest."
"Fel--"
"Talyn." She reached up to touch his lips and melt his will in the process. "Don't argue. Get your hulking butt back in bed. Now!"
A feminine laugh sounded in the doorway. "Wow. It's like watching a tiny little kitten yell at a rhino. I can see why you like her, sexy baby. She's fearless."
Felicia frowned at the foreign female voice until she saw Jayne. Heat stung her cheeks at having been caught chastising Talyn.
Smiling, Talyn peeled his gloves off and went to her. "Jaynie! How's my favorite aunt?" He kissed her on the cheek.
"Doing great. Sorry it took so long to get here. Had another dire situation with a friend that couldn't wait."
By Talyn's expression, Felicia could tell he knew exactly who Jayne meant. "Is he okay?"
Jayne nodded. "He will be. We pulled him out and I left him with Hadrian, then headed straight here."
As they talked, Felicia felt truly inadequate. While Jayne's photo had been attractive, it didn't compare to the live version of the female. With long black hair swept up into a messy bun and wearing a black battlesuit that hugged a body honed by countless gym hours, Jayne was the kind of female most magazines had to airbrush into existence.
And she latched on to Talyn like a mother who hadn't seen her child in far too long. She hugged him until he protested.
"Bruised ribs. Bruised ribs."
Tsking at him, Jayne let go and chucked his chin. "So how's my sexy baby? Your mom said I got you into all kinds of trouble with your girl."
"Yes, you did." He stepped back. "Jayne, meet my Felicia."
Jayne approached her with a piercing stare that said the female took in a lot more than just Felicia's physical appearance. "You look so tiny and harmless. But there's a fire in your eyes that says you would and could kick my ass if you had to. I finally believe Hadrian's story about the hospital."
Felicia smiled at the truth. "If you're going to rattle my cage, you better make sure I'm padlocked in it."
Jayne hugged her. "I love that and I'm stealing it. It's a pleasure to meet you, Tara Felicia." Taking her hand, she pulled Felicia to the door, where Talyn was still standing. "Now allow me to introduce you to your two new best friends. Qorach and Morra."
Felicia pulled up short as the largest male she'd ever seen stepped into the room. Holy gods! Her jaw went slack.
As did Talyn's.
The man was at least half a foot taller than he was. For that matter, he was even broader, with muscles that were every bit as defined as Talyn's. They were just bigger. A lot bigger. His head was shaved and held only the tiniest trace of black hair trying to grow back in. Fierce and deadly, he inclined his head to them and stepped to the side to reveal the tiny woman behind him.
Since she was wearing a black battlesuit identical to Jayne's and Qorach's, the only part of her skin that was visible was her neon green face and neck. The vivid color was interrupted by black markings that at first seemed to be painted on. But up close, it was obvious that intricate design was actually her skin, too. Her long, straight black hair was pulled back into a ponytail that hung over her right shoulder.
And she was as tiny as Qorach was huge. She barely reached midchest on Felicia, who was barefoot. Compared to the males, Morra barely reached their waists.
"I know," Morra said with a sigh. "I'm basically here to tie Qory's shoes. They're just too dang far down for him to reach them on his own."
Qorach gave her a droll stare as Felicia laughed at her unexpected comment.
"And to answer the questions everyone has when they first meet me, but those with manners are too nice to ask ... No. I don't glow in the dark. So don't even think of using me for a glowstick. Yes, I'm this green all over. Even my lips are neon green, as are my nail beds. The red lipstick and nail polish are a personal choice. And no, I have no intention of proving it. You'll just have to take my word for it, as I only drop pants for super hot and sexy green men. I'm a Schvardan from Phrixus. We're the land-walkers, which is what schvarda means in Phrixian. And while you might think I'm small, so are the deadliest explosive devices. Think of me like that tiny little bomb that can take off all your limbs and destroy half the city when it blows, and we'll get along fine.... And yes, frog jokes are highly offensive to me and I will hurt you for making them. Now, let me go catch a fly. I'm a little low on protein."
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