Just don't get hurt, kid. Galene would definitely cut his b.a.l.l.s off this time.

Galene ground her teeth as she watched the ma.s.sive war exploding on her battle screens. There were three hundred Sentella-Tavali fighters and eleven Andarions against five hundred League pilots. That would have been bad enough, but this was the first time Talyn was in a fight that she was directly commanding. And it was taking everything she had to keep herself together and focused. To not scream in terror every time someone came near him.

She could kill both him and Fain for this!

And this was exactly why she'd never once attended any Ring match her son had been in. She couldn't stand it. Not after watching the brutal brawls Fain had barely walked away from when he'd been a boy. Even now, she could hear his mother berating him for showing mercy by not killing every opponent he faced in the Ring.

"You shame your lineage, Fain. Keris wouldn't have allowed that coward to live after that pitiful display."

Glaring at her in complete defiance, Fain would spit out his b.l.o.o.d.y fang guard. His response to her condemnations had always been the same. "And Keris isn't a Ring champion, Matarra. I am."

Now, as Galene again watched Fain fight, she was consumed by sheer terror while he maneuvered to take a blast that was aimed for Talyn. A shot that landed dead on Fain's fighter.

I don't want to care. She didn't.

Yet...

She was every bit as choked up and nervous watching Fain as she was for Talyn.

Please be okay. She didn't want to watch him die. But the fighting was brutal. Mechanically and by rote, she called out orders and sequences while trying to keep herself from making this personal. Both Fain and Talyn were highly competent warriors, relying on her to stay calm and emotionless. To treat them any differently was an insult to both. And it could get them killed.

But as she saw a cl.u.s.ter of fighters descend on Fain, her entire body locked up with fright. Worse? Talyn flew straight into the thick of it to help his father.

Fain cursed as his controls short-circuited from the blasts he'd been taking. He rebooted the targeting system not the brightest thing to do in a fight, but he had no choice. Nothing else was working. He was being hammered so much, his head and body were bouncing all over. While his dampners came and went, his shields were holding. However, they wouldn't be able to take much more without cracking and leaving him with his a.s.s in his hands.

As his systems came back live, an alarm blared, letting him know he was about to be fired on. He aimed for his attacker, then paused as he realized it was Talyn.

Payback's a b.i.t.c.h.

For a full minute, he couldn't breathe as he stared at his son and waited for him to fire and end his life.

An instant later, Talyn really did take the shot.

Chapter 6.

T.

he blast of Talyn's shot lit up the darkness. Fain braced for impact. But rather than striking his ship, it narrowly pa.s.sed him by and went straight into the League fighter he hadn't even known was there.

Fain gasped as he realized Talyn had just saved his life. Unbeknownst to him, the League pilot had held him completely dead to rights.

He watched Talyn peel off after another fighter. "Thanks for the a.s.sist, Viper."

Talyn didn't say a word. Not until the fight was done and they were both back in the bay.

Fain went over to him to shake his hand and thank him for it personally.

With a furious glower, Talyn brushed past him. Then, he stopped and turned back.

He shoved his blast helmet into Fain's chest so hard, it would no doubt leave a bruise. "Just so you know, old man. If I'm going to kill you, I'll do it face-to-face. Warrior-to-warrior. I'm an Andarion, not a p.u.s.s.y coward who takes a cheap shot against someone who can't fight back when they're under fire and wounded." And with that, Talyn headed for the hallway to his quarters.

Hurt and embarra.s.sed even though he knew he deserved Talyn's verbal a.s.sault, Fain sighed heavily. He should be used to his family rejecting him. With the exception of Dancer, it was all he'd ever known. And it was why he was so fiercely protective of his little brother. Why Dancer, alone, held his full trust.

Still, it cut soul deep that he'd disappointed his son.

Again.

All he'd ever wanted was what others took for granted. Friend or blood who wouldn't turn on him and make him feel like utter s.h.i.t to be near them. Why was it so hard to be around others?

As he left the hangar, he met Galene in the hallway. Cursing silently in his head, he couldn't wait to hear what he'd done to p.i.s.s her off, too. How much he'd disappointed her.

"Are you all right?"

The concern in her tone shocked him. "Um, yeah."

"Sure you don't want to see a medic? You took some harsh fire."

Terrified of the concern he heard in her voice, he drew up short. "What kind of shapeshifter are you? What have you done with Commander Batur?"

She scoffed at his question. "Fine, a.s.shole. Not like I really care." With angry strides, she took off after Talyn.

"Well, you're just p.i.s.sing off everyone today, aren't you?"

He grimaced at the Hyshian a.s.sa.s.sin as she came up behind him. "Don't start on me, Jayne. I'm not in the mood."

She held her hands up in surrender. "Sorry." She c.o.c.ked her head to stare at him with an unsettling intensity. "So what went wrong with the two of you, anyway? Did you really love Omira that much?"

Fain pulled the small ring off his pinkie and handed it to Jayne. Everyone, including Dancer, a.s.sumed it was Omira's, and he'd never once corrected them. But the truth was when Omira had figured out who it originally belonged to, it'd driven her into the arms of a human. To this day, he could hear her cursing him for keeping it, even though he'd never once cheated on his wife.

At least not physically. And he'd done his best to keep his heart loyal to Omira, too. It wasn't his fault that it'd refused to leave Galene's hands.

When he'd left Omira after he'd caught her in bed with her ex, that tiny ring and the clothes on his back were the only possessions he'd taken with him.

He knew the moment Jayne deciphered the Andarion writing in the band. Her eyes widened and she let out a shocked gasp.

Shaking her head, she sighed. "Like father, like son." She returned the ring to him. "You need to show that to Lena."

He returned it to where it'd rested on his hand since he was eighteen. It was all he owned that he'd fight or die to keep, and many sentient beings had learned that lesson the hard way. "Why? So she can finish ripping my heart out? No, thanks. I've done enough damage to both of them. Best thing I can do is just stay out of their way and let them live as if I don't."

Jayne caught his arm as he started past her. Scowling, she pulled her hand back to see it covered in blood. "You're hurt?"

"Not the first time. Won't be the last." But as he started past her, the floor slanted. Next thing he knew, that fetid b.i.t.c.h known as gravity rose up and slapped him hard across the face.

Fain heard the monitors a split second before he opened his eyes and saw them. That he expected. What he never thought to see was Galene holding his hand.

I have to be dead.

He grimaced at her as she reached to call for the doctor.

"Don't move, Fain. You have a ma.s.sive head injury."

It must be bad. Even Talyn was standing in the doorway and had to move aside for the medics to come in and check him.

But honestly, to have them there, with him, he'd take the injury. For the tiniest moment, he allowed himself to pretend that he actually had a family that loved him.

He had a sort of brotherhood with The Tavali, but it wasn't the same as a real blood family and he knew it. End of the day, they wouldn't weep to see him gone. Wouldn't give his death much more than a pa.s.sing too bad thought.

The last time he'd felt like he truly belonged to someone had been in Galene's arms when they were kids.

Never since.

Even now, he could still see her young, bashful face as she pressed her cheek to his and held his naked body close to hers. "I love you, Fain. I live only for the day of our unification when everyone will know exactly how much you mean to me. I shall scream it through the streets. Fain Hauk is my husband and I love him more than anything!"

Laughing, he'd rolled and pulled her body over his. "And I shall tattoo your Batur lineage all the way down my arm so that everyone will know that you mean more to me than even my own revered family heritage. A War Hauk I may be, but it is a Winged Batur who owns me. Mind, body, and soul. Forever."

Fain glanced down at his left arm to the hand Galene held. Heat stung his cheeks.

Galene ran her hand over the sprawling Batur tattoo that entwined around his Tavali markings before she stepped back to allow the doctor to treat him. She moved to speak in a whisper to Talyn, who nodded, then left.

Fain heard the Andarion doctor speaking, but paid her no attention. Not while he was watching the only female who had ever held his heart.

Galene pressed her lips together as she tried to sort through the conflicting emotions Fain stirred. Especially those that had ripped through her with serrated talons the moment she'd stepped into his hospital room and had seen her specific Batur lineage inked in bold blue and black hues down his entire left arm.

Shoulder to wrist.

Nothing had ever shocked her more. Not even the time Talyn had repainted her walls with her favorite and extremely expensive lipstick when he'd been a toddler.

Fain hadn't borne that tattoo the last time she'd seen him naked.

No, it'd been done long after they'd parted ways. And she could tell by the way the tattoo had faded that he hadn't done it recently, either. He'd been carrying her lineage with him for years.

But why? Why would he have marked that on his flesh after abandoning her? None of this made sense.

How could he both abandon her and honor her lineage?

Talyn placed his hand on her shoulder. "You all right?"

"Not sure." She glanced back toward Fain. "Tell me, honestly. What do you think of your father?"

"You've physically or verbally spanked my a.s.s every time I've ever answered that question. Believe it or not, I can be taught."

She snorted. "You hadn't met him then. Now..." She gestured toward the male she wanted to both kiss and kill.

Talyn let out a tired sigh. "What do you want me to say, Matarra? Like you, I'm still mad as h.e.l.l at him for what he did to us. But I don't really know him well enough to comment on his motives or decency. He's a complete stranger to me."

But he wasn't a stranger to her. At least he hadn't been, and in the back of her mind, she saw the precious boy she'd once loved.

Cursed with an obnoxious, bullying older brother who'd been possessed of a severe drug and alcohol problem, Fain had spent the better part of his youth trying to cover for Keris. Or worse, doing his best to protect his younger brother from everyone who thought Dancer was worthless, and should have been left out to die as an infant. Only Fain had ever seen the good in his little brother, and any time Dancer had been threatened, Fain had thrown himself into the line of fire to protect him.

Just like he'd done today for Talyn.

Why do I have to love the very creature I hate most?

Emotions shouldn't be this complicated.

Talyn pulled his link out to check it.

"Felicia?"

He shook his head. "I'm a little worried. I haven't heard from her since I left a message asking her to call, and that's not like her. She's not even responding to my nudges. You don't think anything happened, do you?"

"I'm sure she's fine. Did you contact her brother?"

"He said he spoke to her and that she's fine. Just really busy with work and the upcoming holidays."

"Then don't worry so. She's ferocious."

That finally made him smile. "True enough." He returned his link to his pocket. "They need a battle report in the con. I'll go take care of it for you."

She pressed her cheek to his. "Thank you."

"Call if you need me."

Galene watched as Talyn walked toward the nearest lift bank. He really was the very image of his father. Something brought home a second later when the doctor and nurses scattered out of the room like insects fleeing an exterminator.

"No one took your d.a.m.n ring!" the doctor snarled before she and the others left him. "Up his dosage!" The doctor handed her pad to the nurse on her right. "And give him an enema while you're at it."

Suppressing a smile at something that was far too similar to Talyn's soured demeanor whenever he was confined to a hospital bed, she slid into the room with a chiding tsk and used a phrase that Felicia normally said to Talyn in similar situations. "You should be nicer to the ones who give you shots."

"I can't stand a thief," Fain snarled.

"Interesting words coming from the mouth of a Tavali pirate."

Fain sneered at her words. "Taking from a government drunk on its own power is one thing. Stealing from an individual-" His words stopped dead as she returned the ring to him.