"You're scaring me, Fain. What's going on?"

"Nothing," he repeated as he entered the main office for the Hadean Corps. Forgetting about his call, he rushed to the desk where their COD was entering data. "Where's Talyn Batur?"

The guard pa.s.sed a bored look toward him. "You'll have to take a-"

"Don't f.u.c.k with me, you little mogfart! I'll rip out your minsid spine and beat you with it!" He jerked the human up with one hand to show him just how easy it would be to do it. "Where's my son!"

"T-t-t-they're processing him. He's in Room One."

Fain dropped him straight to the floor. His heart pounding, he rushed to the door and threw it open, terrified of what he'd find there.

The guards drew blasters on him. But he didn't care as he searched the area visually for any sign of an a.s.sa.s.sin.

For once, he relished the horrified expression on Talyn's face as he saw him.

Too grateful to find his son alive and in one piece to care about anything else, Fain grabbed him into a hug.

Talyn didn't return the gesture. He stood stiff and uncomfortable. "You've lost it, haven't you, Hauk?"

Laughing, Fain buried his hand in Talyn's braids and held him close. "No, thank the G.o.ds. I haven't lost a d.a.m.n thing." He squeezed Talyn and kissed his cheek before he released him. Then he realized that the Hadean Corpsmen were still aiming for his head.

Fain cracked a smile at them. "There's been a little misunderstanding."

Talyn tilted his head. "Hear that?"

Fain caught the light snap a second later. "Trip wire." His only thought to protect his son, he grabbed Talyn and wrapped his body around him while trying to get him toward the reinforced inner hallways that were more sheltered.

Next thing he knew, everything exploded into flames and smoke.

Chapter 18.

F.

ain came awake, coughing up blood. Every part of his body ached and hurt so much that he couldn't breathe. He couldn't move. Not a single part of his body. He was trapped beneath a crushing weight.

Please don't be my son's body.

All around, he heard screams and groans. The sounds of metal popping and fire. Alarms blaring.

But he didn't hear the one thing he wanted to hear most.

"Talyn?" Blinking, he wanted to brush the blood from his eyes to clear them. "Talyn?" he tried again, more desperate than before.

"I'm here." His voice was faint and pain-filled. But it was there. Just to Fain's left.

"Can you move at all?"

Talyn coughed, then groaned. "No. You?"

Growling, Fain pushed with every bit of his strength. But all it did was hurt him more. "No."

The lights went out, bathing them in complete darkness.

By sheer force of will, Fain dug his hand through the twisted debris until he found Talyn's arm. "I'm with you, mi tana. I'm going to get you out of this."

Talyn snorted. "Good luck, old man. But I don't believe in miracles." Yet even so, he squeezed Fain's hand back and then laced his fingers with his. "Can you reach your link?"

"No. It fell during the explosion. You?"

"No." Talyn cursed under his breath. "If I don't make it-"

"Don't talk like that. You're going to be fine. Just think about Felicia and that baby that needs a paka. You have a promise to keep."

"What promise?"

"To rip the body parts off any male who comes near her for unification."

Talyn laughed, then let out a fierce groan of agony.

Fain tightened his grip on Talyn's hand. "Squeeze as tight as you need to. I'm here for you."

His breathing ragged, Talyn's grip weakened.

That sent a wave of terror through Fain that made his own pain fade. "Stay with me, boy! Don't you dare break your mother's heart. You hear me? That's my job. Not yours."

"You trying to p.i.s.s me off, Hauk?"

"I'm trying to make you fight."

Talyn let out a bellow of anguished rage. "Trust me, I'm fighting. I want the a.s.s of everyone who had a hand in this." He paused his movements. "You knew, didn't you? It's why you came running in here like you did."

"I didn't know it was another IED. I just knew you'd been arrested and that you were being targeted by a.s.sa.s.sins."

"And you came running," Talyn repeated.

"It's what I would have been doing your whole life, had I known I had you. I'm... I'm sorry I failed you again."

Talyn coughed and wheezed for several minutes.

For a little while, they were quiet while they tried to dig themselves out, until Talyn finally spoke. "Can I tell you a secret I've never told anyone? Not even Licia?"

"Sure."

Panting, Talyn laid his head back to rest. "I only agreed to sign on with Erix Yetur as my Ring trainer because he'd been yours when you fought. It made me feel closer to you to be coached in the same gym where you'd trained. I used to imagine sometimes when I was a kid that he was you, and that you were the one teaching me."

Tears stung Fain's eyes at that confession. It was something he'd have never guessed, given Talyn's initial reaction to him, and it made him ache.

"Of course," Talyn continued, "I didn't know that until he took me to his office to show me his awards from his fights, and the trophies from the others he'd worked with. He wanted to impress me with his skills and their records. But it wasn't any of those that won me over. In that gla.s.s wall case hung a pair of red claw covers that he'd saved from his first award-winning fighter. From the first fight his protege had won in record time against a much older and larger opponent. Erix kept talking, trying to convince me to let him take over my training, but I didn't hear a word of it. I just kept staring at the name on those covers, and the picture of the young fighter that hung beside them."

"Venym Sting." Fain hadn't thought about that fight in years. Barely thirteen, he'd walked into that Ring so scared, he was still surprised he hadn't wet himself. He should never have been allowed to partic.i.p.ate in a Vested t.i.tle match at that age. It'd been criminal to throw him up against a t.i.tle-holder, even in the Pinna Weight cla.s.s. And he would never have done that to his son.

But his mother had demanded it.

Erix had held him back as long as he could. In the end, he'd been forced to do it or lose Fain as a client. Since he was Erix's first fighter, Erix had needed the creds too much to stop it.

To this day, Fain could see the stern resignation in Erix's eyes as the former Ring champion had clapped him on the shoulder. "I have faith in you, kid. You're fast... You're tougher than any I've ever known. Just stay out of his reach. Remember, you don't have to win. You just have to stay alive. There's no dishonor in losing your first fight."

His mother had scoffed. "You lose this fight, you better not come home."

Positive they'd be pulling him out of the Ring in pieces, Fain had felt like total s.h.i.t as he left the dressing room. Until he'd neared what he was sure would be his morgue.

Galene, who had told him she wouldn't be there to watch him bleed, was waiting for him. Her eyes filled with love, she'd smiled at him. "Kick his a.s.s, Fain. Show them all the mighty War Hauk you are. There's no one better than you. It's time they all knew it." She'd pressed her cheek to his. "And please don't get hurt. Every time he strikes you, I will feel it twice as much."

Those words were what had carried him to victory. They had fueled his need to end the match and make sure she didn't suffer a second longer than necessary. With one blinding punch, he'd laid that b.a.s.t.a.r.d out, and earned the name Venym Sting for it.

And his son the son Galene had given him had torn that record asunder the first time Talyn had stepped into the Vested Ring and made a mockery of Fain's abilities there. d.a.m.n, he loved them more than he could have ever imagined.

"I'm so proud of you, Talyn," he whispered.

Talyn swallowed and tightened his hold again on Fain's hand. "And that's the secret I never told anyone. It's why I fought like I did... why I chose red, gold, and white as my Ring colors."

The same colors as Venym Sting.

"All I ever wanted in my life was to be worthy of being my father's son. To do honor to you and your lineage, and not shame you or my mother."

A tear slid down Fain's cheek. "I love you, Talyn."

"I love you, Paka."

Fain bit back a sob as his son finally called him Dad. Not Father.

Dad.

"Fain! Talyn!"

His heart sped up at the sound of Galene's frantic voice cutting through the smoky darkness. "We're here!"

"Mom!"

"They're over there. Did you hear them?"

Through the darkness and debris, light danced from above. Yet Fain was none the better for it, as all it did was show him how bad off they both actually were. Talyn was pinned beneath half of a wall, and the debilitating pain in his own side came from a piece of beam that was buried in it. But the good news was it didn't appear it would take too much to dig Talyn out.

He, on the other hand, was going to be here for a bit.

"Fain?"

"He's by me, Mum." Talyn grimaced as he tried to rise up.

Something fluttered to the right of Fain, brushing against his arm. His breath caught the moment he realized what it was. "You're winged?"

Talyn flashed a b.l.o.o.d.y grin at him. "Yeah. It kind of popped out when the wall hit me. I take it Mum never showed you hers, then?"

"No, she kind of missed that. Hey, Storm! You've got some explaining to do about our boy, and another little secret you kept from me."

While workers and engineers helped survivors, Galene searched the snarled, smoldering wreckage with her heart in her throat. The only thing that kept her marginally calm was the fact that she could hear Talyn's and Fain's voices, and that Fain maintained a sense of humor as he continued calling out to her.

When Dancer had told her what had happened during his call with his brother, she'd almost pa.s.sed out from terror. It'd seemed like forever before she'd reached the site where the brig had gone up and she'd seen the damage caused. Fearing the worst, she'd recklessly started in even before the rescue teams and firefighters had shown up.

She hadn't cared. Not while her son and husband were trapped.

And as the light caught them in its beam and she saw how they were trapped in the gnarled mess, she had the same light-headed sensation again. Horror filled her as bile rose in her throat.

How could Fain even speak?

Choking on a sob, she fell to her knees and tried to pull some of the building off them.

Fain cried out.

Dancer pulled her back. "Give the engineers a few minutes to brace it. We can't start moving things around. The way they're in there... we could cause more damage and bring it down on top of them."

Galene bit her lip as the team set to work. He was right, and she hated that fact. Extracting them would be a scary game of weights and balance. "Fain? Talyn? Speak to me. Let me know you're all right."

"Not sure I'd cla.s.sify this as all right. Definitely sucks to be here." Fain's voice faded. Then came back in a shout. "Talyn! Open your eyes, boy! Stay with me."

"Talyn!" Galene shouted. "What are you doing?"

"He's going into shock." Fain cried out as he struggled to push against the beam that had him pinned. "Dancer! Get my son out of here. Now!"

Dancer squatted down by her side. "We're trying."

"Send me a lift. I can get to him and get it around him."

The engineer next to Dancer shook his head. "It'll crush Fain if we do that."