Part 20 (2/2)

Closing his eyes, he breathed her in as she teased his tongue and tasted him fully. He cupped her face with his hands and savored every last chill her kiss gave him. In that moment, he forgot where they were. Forgot all the years they'd been apart.

All he remembered was that he needed her to live.

His blood rushed through his veins with so much intensity that it left his breathing ragged and his body so hard it physically hurt to not be inside her.

Suddenly, Galene pulled back with a gasp.

Since he had no blood left in his brain, it took him a second to catch up to her as she returned to the panel and began pressing the screen. ”W-w-w-what is it?”

”Did you hear that?”

Honestly? The only sound he could hear was his heart pounding in his ears. But as he strained, he caught a masculine voice speaking in Andarion to someone.

A female.

There was something familiar about both voices. Yet he couldn't quite place them. ”Wait... is that-”

”Eriadne,” she finished for him. ”They've released her from her confinement.”

”Is that her speaking?”

She shook her head. ”No. Believe me, I know that b.i.t.c.h's voice.”

He scowled as they continued to speak. ”Who's Nyran?”

”Merrell's youngest brother.”

”I thought he was dead.”

”So did I.”

Fain's breath caught as the transmission cut off as if the sender realized they were listening. Sitting back, his head spun. At one time, Ven had been in bed with Eriadne literally and figuratively double-dealing against the Andarion race. Was it possible he might be doing it again?

”This is bad, Storm.”

Resting her chin against her folded hands, she nodded. ”You've no idea.”

Her dread-filled tone made the hair on the back of his neck rise. ”What?”

”Talyn killed Chrisen and Merrell. He tore them apart in Ring matches after they were tried and found guilty of attempted murder on Felicia, and plotting against Cairistiona. He's also the one who brought in Eriadne, single-handedly. I mean, Morra and Qory and Ryn helped him, but he was the sole Andarion on the raid. He's the one who personally arrested her and was here on this station when Nyran's mother, Parisa, was killed. Nyran vowed to see him in his grave over their deaths. And Eriadne... if she ever lays hands to him, she'll gut him.”

Fain hesitated before he told her something he'd never breathed a word of. Not to anyone.

Ever.

”You know she's why my father lost his legs.”

”Excuse me?” she breathed.

Fain swallowed and took a moment before he revealed the best-kept Hauk family secret of all time. Something not even Dancer knew. He'd only been told because of what had happened with him and Galene. It'd been his father's final blow to Fain's ego and was what had caused his father to hate him so incredibly much.

”For these worthless b.a.s.t.a.r.ds you s.h.i.+t out, I gave up my legs? I should have let Eriadne kill them and kept my body intact!”

Fain winced as he forced that memory aside and explained it to Galene. ”Because my father shamed Eriadne's family by sleeping with my mother while he was pledged to Cairistiona, Eriadne offered him a choice he could give up the lives of any son he fathered with my mother or the legs he stood so proudly upon. Since he was a War Hauk, Eriadne couldn't legally demand his life or imprison him without a major s.h.i.+tstorm, but that was her offer to him. It's why he hates my mother so much. Why he's so bitter and mean to everyone around him.”

”I thought he lost them in battle.”

”That's the lie Eriadne forced us to tell. He had to sign a nondisclosure and agree to say they were lost in a battle with The Tavali. And it's why the Anatoles have had such a hard-on for my generation. Why they had Dariana marry Keris, and then kill him, and why they went after Dancer. It's partly why I didn't fight harder to stay with you. I kept thinking that if I stayed, one day they'd hold our child over my head, and I'd be like my paka, hating my sons for what they cost me.”

”You could never be like your father.”

Maybe, but there were times when he heard his father's words in his mouth, and thoughts in his head. Times when he felt that same level of bitterness toward the universe. It seemed the harder he tried to run from it, the quicker he came back to the gates where he started. ”I just wanted the feud between my family and the eton Anatoles to stop.”

He pressed her hand closer to his cheek and savored the warm comfort. ”G.o.ds, it's so unfair that we have to make the hardest decisions when we're so young. And then spend the rest of our years living with the consequences of them.”

She let out a bitter half laugh. ”You think you'd make better decisions when you're older? I don't know about you, but I still screw up routinely.”

He laughed, then gave her a light kiss.

Until their reality returned. ”They're going to be coming for us.”

”I don't care about that,” Fain a.s.sured her. ”They can come for me. But you're right. Eriadne won't rest until she holds Talyn's head in her hands.”

Jumping as if startled, Galene looked down at her link. A tiny smile lit her face before she held it up to him. It was a picture of Talyn, Gavarian, Vega, and War in the kids' bedroom in their condo. She pressed the message b.u.t.ton.

”Night, Paka!” War and Vega said in unison. ”Our brothers put us to bed and locked us in. See you tomorrow!”

Vega blew him a kiss, then rolled over to snuggle her little brother.

Talyn stood up and angled his link toward himself. ”Just letting you know they're well fed, in bed, and safe, and we're heading to our rooms. Well, I'm heading to mine. Vari's probably going to troll slag-”

”Bite it, you smug, giant a.s.shole,” Gavarian snapped from off camera.

Talyn flashed a boyish grin that exposed his fangs. ”Goodnight, Mum. 'Night, Hauk.” The transmission ended with him threatening and teasing Gavarian as they left the kids' condo.

”Are they always like that?”

She nodded. ”It's good, though. Vari's the first one Talyn's age who's ever treated him like a friend or brother. Until Vari started hanging out with him, he was always so serious and stern. Like you whenever you were without Dancer. It's good for him to be teased and to laugh like a normal young male.”

Made sense. Most wingmen shared that close bond, since they were responsible for each other's lives in battle.

Sadly, Fain had never known that. As an Andarion soldier, his last name and lineage had kept him apart from his peers. No one wanted to be a team member with a Hauk.

They only wanted to show them up.

And speaking of...

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