Part 30 (2/2)

Galene hugged her again. ”I love you so much, mia.”

”I love you, too.”

She turned to her son. ”And you...” She squeezed his finally clean-shaven chin. ”You're much more handsome like this.”

He screwed his face up. ”I still hate it. But Felicia made it worth my while.”

”Talyn!” Felicia gasped.

”What?” He blinked innocently as he looked over to her. ”What'd I say?”

Felicia groaned out loud as Jayne placed her arm around her shoulders and grinned. ”Don't be so horrified, Lish. Face it. If it has an engine or t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es, it's bound to give you trouble.”

Fain let out a nervous breath as he approached his son. ”I'm thinking we should make a quick exit. They're starting to turn on us. This can't be good.”

Talyn nodded. ”For once, we're on the same side.” Then, he indicated Fain's eyes with a jerk of his chin. ”Sorry I interrupted the two of you. Now I know why you weren't answering your link when I called.”

Fain cringed at Talyn's words. ”It's not what you think.”

”Yeah, it is. But it's all right. At least I finally know.”

Fain scowled. ”Know what?”

Talyn turned so that his back was to the rest of the room before he dropped his voice to a faint whisper only Fain could hear. ”Why you left her. You didn't do it because you were the d.i.c.k I thought you were. You did it to protect her.”

”How do you know?”

He pointed to his own eyes. ”Curse of being stralen. It makes us do incredibly stupidly wrong s.h.i.+t for all the right reasons to protect what we love.”

Fain snorted a short laugh at that. ”Ain't it the truth?”

Nodding, Talyn held his hand out to him. ”Clean slate, Hauk?”

”Clean slate.” He took Talyn's hand and pulled him in for a warm hug that he savored.

Galene paused as she caught sight of Fain and Talyn embracing. But what brought tears to her eyes was the expression on Fain's face. The love and pride he had for Talyn. She'd waited a lifetime for this moment and it was far sweeter than she'd ever imagined.

Warmth rushed through her body that the two of them were finally making an effort to put the past behind them and start fresh. A warmth that strangely thickened as Darice and Dancer joined them, and she saw two generations of War Hauks standing together for the first time in decades. Then, she looked over to Felicia, who was holding Kalea and tickling her belly while she laughed with Vega, Morra, and Gavarian. Qory, Brach, and Chayden were joking silently in Qillaq sign language.

It was an odd family, to be sure. But it was all hers and she loved every one of them.

”You okay?”

She glanced over her shoulder at Jayne. ”Fine. Just thinking.”

Jayne wrapped her arms around her neck and held her like she used to do when Talyn was little and Galene had felt so alone and lost. ”I've never seen Fain look so relaxed and happy... or you, for that matter.”

Closing her eyes, Galene allowed her cousin to rock her. ”And that's what scares me, Jaynie. I've never had so much to lose before. Nor so many trying to take it from me.”

Hours later, Galene came awake to the sweet, precious warmth of Fain's naked body pressed against hers. His thigh was wedged between hers with his tattooed arm draped over her hip while he had his face buried deep in her braids. He held on to her as if he were afraid of letting go, even to rest. How he could manage to sleep, never mind actually breathe like that, she couldn't imagine. But it didn't appear to bother him at all.

After the small reception in Talyn's apartment, they'd taken Vega and War home, then returned to her condo where they'd spent the rest of the night making up for all the years they'd been apart. She'd made love to him thoroughly and had tasted every vast inch of his lush, muscled body until he'd begged her for mercy.

And a nap.

She never wanted to leave this bed or his arms again. A smile curved her lips as a wave of complete serenity engulfed her.

Until she heard a noise in Fain's room. It was a light sc.r.a.ping, but enough that her heightened Andarion hearing picked it up clearly. It was moving through the living room, coming closer to her bedroom.

”Fain?” she whispered, shaking him slightly.

He woke much slower.

She rolled to her blaster on the nightstand an instant before her bedroom door blew apart.

Cursing, she opened fire on her attackers.

Fain slid from the bed to search for his reserve blaster in the tangled mess of his clothing. She heard him cursing himself for his carelessness.

Meanwhile, their silent attackers spoke to each other in a language she didn't know.

All of a sudden, her blaster jammed. Her heart stopped as she realized they had her dead to rights. She grabbed the lamp to bash them, but before she could blink, Fain launched himself with a growl at the one aiming for her. He slammed the a.s.sa.s.sin against the wall and literally ripped his throat out before s.n.a.t.c.hing the blaster from the a.s.sa.s.sin's hand and shooting the closest one. He kicked the falling a.s.sa.s.sin into a third, then launched himself over their bodies to catch the fourth one and break his neck before he spun around and shot the third one.

Turning, he went to make sure there was no one else in the living room.

A second later, he was back in front of her as an alarm blared from the hallway. ”Are you all right?”

Stunned and a little afraid of him, she nodded. Honestly, she'd forgotten just how brutal War Hauks were in battle how ruthless and never more so than when protecting family. Since she'd never seen Talyn in a Ring match, it was a side of her son she didn't know. Mostly because she'd never wanted to know what all her son was capable of doing to another sentient being.

It was why everyone on Andaria lived in fear of the War Hauk bloodline. Why their names and family were so celebrated.

Fain placed his cheek to hers. ”Call Talyn and warn him in case there are more,” he whispered. He stepped away to pull on his pants, then took off to check on their son still barefoot and without a s.h.i.+rt.

Galene didn't hesitate to obey. Like Fain, she wanted to make sure her son was secured.

Talyn answered a moment later in a groggy tone.

”I've been attacked, baby. Fain said to warn you. They might be headed for you and Felicia.”

That cleared his fogginess instantly. ”I'm on it. You okay?”

”Yeah.” She heard the sound of blaster fire outside Talyn's room.

An instant later, Dancer's voice was in the background, checking on Felicia and Talyn.

”I'm on my way to you.” She hung up and pulled her clothes on before she swapped her charge cartridge for a fresh one, and tucked in a few extra. Just in case.

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