Maybe. And maybe it was because Talyn favored him so much that it was her love of her son that made her more sympathetic to the man he took after.
Yeah, she"d go with that, for now.
Fain tapped at his ear. "Hauk, go," he said to whomever was calling. He waited several seconds before he spoke again. "We"ll be right there." He met her gaze. "Your guard is on board and waiting with my crew. If you two are ready, we can be on our way."
As they started for the door, Talyn tapped his ear. "Hey, is something wrong?" He placed his finger against the link and frowned as he listened intently. He led them out to the hallway. "You need me to call for you?"
Fain duplicated Talyn"s frown in a disturbingly similar manner. "Is he okay?"
Galene nodded as they headed for the lifts. "He"s talking to Felicia."
"How do you know?"
"The warm concern in his voice and the amount of concentration he"s giving the caller. The gentleness of his tone. He only talks to her like that." She led them into the lift.
Talyn checked the time.
Fain was stunned by the difference in Talyn"s demeanor while he spoke to his Felicia. Everything about Talyn was different now. For the first time, he seemed vulnerable.
"Honey, listen, if you need me to, I don"t mind. I"ve still got a few before we"re hit the bay." Talyn completely ignored everyone else as he followed them into the lift. "Yeah, okay. But if they give you any more lip at all, you let me know and I"ll deal with them. I mean it. No one disregards you like that. Ever. I will totally bust their a.s.ses for it."
His features softened and he closed his eyes as if he was savoring whatever she was saying to him. "Yeah, me, too. I"ll check in when I can. Stay safe. Love you." He lowered his hand and turned instantly stern again.
"Is everything all right?" Galene asked.
Talyn gave a curt military nod before he elaborated. "The pool monitors went out and the new company I hired was hara.s.sing Lish because her name isn"t on the account. She just wanted to make sure it was okay to add herself to it." A fierce tic started in his jaw.
Rigid and p.i.s.sed, Talyn headed out of the lift and toward their transports as if he wanted to commit murder.
Fain pulled Galene aside in the lobby while the others followed Talyn. "Why"s he so angry about a pool company?"
She gave him a dry stare. "Why do you think, Fain? He can"t legally pledge marriage to the female he loves more than his life. So he, who is the second highest ranking member of the Andarion military, is forced to be bound by curfew and barracks restrictions that won"t allow them to live together. The only way to keep him out of a barracks is if he lives with the commander he serves... his own mother. Meanwhile, the mistress he"s contracted with is left to tend his home with companies that don"t want to deal with either of them because neither of them is fully Vested and their contract isn"t through a traditional agency." She barely whispered the next words to him. "Rather it"s one that could get them both arrested if anyone ever investigated it fully."
"Why doesn"t he get out of the military, then?"
"And do what? He"s the b.a.s.t.a.r.d son of a disinherited War Hauk. Who would hire him or deal with him in the private sector? He"s a lack-Vest, Fain. The fighting schools won"t even allow him, the Iron Hammer, to train other fighters. Can you imagine how humiliating that is?"
"Then allow me to adopt him. I know Cairistiona would approve it for us. As his father, I can give him full protection of the royal house. He"d be an eton Anatole and a Winged Batur then, and no one would dare to look him in the eye, never mind say anything unkind to him."
"I will gladly allow it. But it"s not up to me, is it? And it won"t undo all the humiliation he"s been put through since birth. You were raised with two of the most prestigious bloodlines on all of Andaria flowing through your veins. Andarions gravitated toward you in school. Everyone wanted to be your friend."
She jerked her chin toward Talyn, who was waiting for them on the curb. "With my family lineage and yours, he should have been a higher caste than even you were growing up. Instead, he was spat on and laughed at. Denied and degraded by those who aren"t even fit to be speaking directly to him. I"m not the one you need to win over, Fain. He is."
Fain ground his teeth as Galene left him to join their son. She was right. He could see the way the other Andarions looked at Talyn. Even though he was a t.i.tled champion and their commander, they still showed their smug contempt for him. Something they would have never dared to do to a War Hauk or a fully Vested Batur.
That was what made Talyn so stern and reserved around everyone. Why he showed no emotion whatsoever.
"You okay?"
Fain nodded as Dancer joined him. Then he shook his head. "I can"t believe I screwed over my own son."
"You didn"t know."
"It doesn"t change anything, does it?"
Dancer sighed. "I"m sorry, Fain."
So was he. "Can you do me a favor, little brother?"
"Anything."
"Find out who this Felicia is that he"s contracted with." Maybe she could give him some insight into Talyn.
The one thing he"d learned over the years was that any male"s weakness was always the female he loved. Especially when that male was a War Hauk.
Talyn might hate him, but his son would listen to his Felicia.
If Fain could win her over, he might be able to start building a relationship with Talyn. It was at least worth a try.
"Do you have her full name?" Dancer asked.
"No. She"s living in Talyn"s condo. That"s all I know about her."
"Oh, well, by all means, make it easy on me, why don"t you?"
He gave his brother an irritated smirk. "If I knew more about her, I wouldn"t be asking you for information. I"d find it myself."
Dancer fanged him. "You really suck as a brother."
"Yeah, well, you should have to deal with mine. He"s a stellar a.s.shole."
Rolling his eyes, Dancer left Fain and got into the transport behind Talyn, who sat beside his mother.
Fain sat across from them.
While they rode, he noted the way Talyn kept checking his link and biting back a smile while he covertly texted with his female.
Yeah, his son loved her. Dearly. She was the way to his heart.
And sadly, both Galene and Talyn the two beings who hated him most were the keys to his.
While he"d regretted much of his life, there was nothing he regretted more than having walked away from them. But he"d had no choice. Had he stayed, Dancer, like their brother Keris, would have been mercilessly killed.
His little brother still bore those scars that had ultimately forced Fain"s hand.
Now...
I will make this right. He had no idea how, but he would find a way to save them all. Even if it killed him.
Chapter 5.
F.
ain watched as Galene and Talyn boarded his ship. They had no idea that this had been his primary home for the majority of Talyn"s life.
And his own, for that matter.
A strange sensation went through him as he watched his "family" heading toward the flight deck to strap in while the rest of the Andarions that came onboard with them gathered in the cargo area. All that was missing was Dancer"s pregnant wife and two kids, and everything Fain loved would be contained within these metal walls.
Everything.
He pulled Dancer to the side. "Can I ask a huge favor?"
Dancer scowled. "What?"
"You know where we"re headed. Find Talyn"s female and bring her to the Porturnum station to stay with him. I think he"ll like that."
Dancer"s gaze softened. "You sure?"
He nodded. "Families shouldn"t be separated. And while you"re at it, why don"t you bring Sumi and the kids, too? I know you don"t want to be away from them, either."
A strange shadow appeared in Dancer"s red eyes. "Who are you and what have you done with my I-don"t-give-a-s.h.i.t-about-anything brother?"
Fain snorted at his mock sarcasm. "Shut the f.u.c.k up and do what I said."
"Now there"s the familiar a.s.shole I know so well and love for reasons still unknown."
Fain made an obscene gesture before he shoved his equally gargantuan brother down the ramp. He turned to catch Talyn staring at him with an arched brow.
"What?" Fain asked irritably.
Before he could respond, Chayden let out an obnoxious, "H-a-m-m-e-r! Be d.a.m.ned if it"s not an honor to work with you!"
Talyn turned his scowl toward the Qillaq Tavali pirate. A light of familiarity darkened his eyes. "Chayden Aniwaya?"
Chayden drew up short. "Ah c.r.a.p... Do I owe you money?"
Talyn snorted at his reaction. "I"m an old friend of Morra and Qorach. Qory talks about you all the time."
Recognition brightened Chayden"s entire face as he laughed and clapped Talyn on the back, then realized he probably shouldn"t have been quite that forward with someone who could put him through the t.i.tanium walls with a sneeze. He placed a little more distance between them as he continued to grin at Talyn. "So you"re s.e.xy Baby T! I should have known. Though to be honest, the way they talk about you, I thought you"d be about three years old."
Talyn visibly winced. "Morra swore she"d keep that between us. I"m going to kill her next time I see her."
Laughing harder, Chayden held his arm out toward Talyn. "Then it"s twice an honor to meet you. Any friend of Qory"s or Morra"s is a brother to me. And I know better than to threaten their s.e.xy Baby T."
With a sound of irritation that would have scared anyone with half a brain which meant Chayden ignored it entirely Talyn shook his hand.
Chayden let out a low whistle over Talyn"s grip. His face a comical mask of awe, he grabbed at Talyn"s biceps with a loving intimacy that would have had most men searching the floor for their teeth over that groping audacity. Even Fain doubted he"d have been so tolerant of being pawed like that from the Qill. And for an Andarion, that kind of touching was strictly forbidden from anyone other than family or lovers, and reserved for extremely private time. "Whoa! You"re so much more ma.s.sive than you looked on the monitors whenever I saw you fighting in the Ring. I can"t imagine anyone dumb enough to think they could ever take you on and win. d.a.m.n, boy. You are ripped!" Gaping even wider, he gave one more squeeze to Talyn"s ma.s.sive biceps.
Fain bristled at Chayden"s impressed tone. "He"s the same size I am."
Chayden finally quit molesting Talyn"s arm and snorted disdainfully at Fain. "Yeah, but he"s a lot scarier than you are, Hauk."
Talyn cracked a c.o.c.ky grin that really didn"t help Fain"s foul mood, as Galene laughed.
While Fain didn"t appreciate being the brunt of Chayden"s screwy humor, he"d take it to see the way her eyes lightened with humor. d.a.m.n, she was beautiful. That look made his stomach flutter and all the blood leave his brain faster than he could breathe.
And to think, she should have been his all these years...
Bitter regret ripped through him as he drifted back in his mind to the last dance they"d attended together, the week before graduation. Knowing their time was limited that he"d have to let her go and move on without her in his life he"d treasured it with everything he had and committed every second of it to his memory. He could still hear the strains of the slow song that had played while he held her in his arms and swayed with her. Dressed in Batur blue, she"d looked up at him with eyes that radiated love and acceptance. Adoration.
Total happiness to be with him.
That had been the last perfect memory of his life.
He"d sell his worthless soul if he could go back and stay there with her, forever. If he could just freeze that one moment and hang on to her.
How he hated those memories that tortured him worse than anything.
As Fain headed for his pilot"s chair, one of the Andarions they"d brought with them came to the flight deck to speak in a whisper to Talyn. A few inches shorter than them, he appeared around Talyn"s age and had the bearing of someone bred from one of the highest-caste bloodlines. His immaculate battlesuit bore the military badges of a decorated major, but didn"t list his name, which also said he ranked high enough that it was omitted for safety reasons.
Listening intently to the major, Talyn stroked his goatee with his thumb. "What do you want to do?" he asked in Andarion.
The major scoffed in a most undisciplined way. "Like you have to ask?"
Fain arched a brow at the disrespectful tone Talyn took in stride.
With a similar snort, Talyn pushed the major back like Fain used to do to Dancer when they were kids and Dancer irritated him. "I"ll deal with your paka. Go hug a seat."
The major struck his heart with his fist, then opened his hand in a gesture of brotherhood and devotion before he headed to the back to fasten in with the others.
Fain pa.s.sed a curious stare to Galene.
"He"s Talyn"s adjutant."