Born of Defiance (38 page)

He glanced to his mother before he responded. “Bloodier the match, the higher the purse. We needed a full house. It's what I told Ferrick to do. I handpicked them as my opponents.”

Felicia felt sick to her stomach. “I'm with your mother. I don't want you up against anyone with those names. Definitely not with swords. Are you crazy?”

“I have
no
choice.” He looked from her to his mother. “I can't even put in for a promotion for
three
full years. Walking into the Ring with them isn't as dangerous as what I do every time I report to post. Especially
now
.” He flicked his claws against the scars on his shoulders that marked him as an Outcast. “So long as I bear these marks, any Andarion who sees them is honor bound to attack me. At least they pay me in the Ring. And I can legally fight back there.”

Galene shook her head in denial. “Tylie promised that she'd get you transferred to the palace again. And that wasn't to me. She made that promise to her sister, who wants you under my command.”

“And Tylie isn't the tadara,” he growled. “She doesn't run the military. She's never even worn a uniform. I'm a fighter, Mum. It's all I know to do. The tadara herself reduced my rank. You think for one minute that bitch is going to let me into her personal guard and that close to her family members I want to tear the throats out of? Unfortunately, she's not quite
that
stupid.”

Growling, Galene flicked her claws at him. “I'd throw dirt at you if I had some.” Furious, she left them, cursing him and his father under her breath as she headed to her guest room in back.

Talyn met Felicia's arched brow. “She needs to calm down. I can't talk to her when she's like this. She's completely unreasonable. My luck, she'll shoot me, just to keep me out of the Ring.”

“Maybe she should. The gods know, I'm tempted.”

“We talked about this, Licia.”

“No. You talked about fighting. Not…” She gestured after his mother. “Walking into a killing match with Andarions out for your throat and wielding Warswords.”

“It's why they call the Ring the Splatterdome and not the Land of the Pink Fluffy Bunnies.” He bit his lip before he spoke again. “What do you want me to do, Felicia? Pull guard duty in Anatole's bedroom and watch while he violates you? 'Cause I promise you, that's what he's planning to do.”

She reached to touch him, then quickly pulled away. “I can't do this, Talyn. I can't risk your life for my freedom. My God, what if something happens to you in one of those fights?”

He turned on her with his eyes blazing. “I'd rather die than have that animal lay his hands on you. Sooner or later, death comes for us all. None of us can stop that. But I'm not going quietly to my grave. Whether it's tomorrow or a hundred years from now, I'm checking out with blood on my fists. Fighting every step of the way into eternity.”

Wanting to kill him herself, she pulled his head down so that she could press her forehead to his. “I want to beat you so badly I can taste it. You are so infuriating!”

“And you love me for it.”

She bit his chin.

Hissing, he pulled back. “Ow!”

“You're lucky that's all I can bring myself to do to you. Because what I really want is to take a paddle to your butt like an angry priestess catching your hand in the temple collection bin.”

“Now you're just trying to turn me on.”

As his mother had done, she flicked her nails at him. “Don't even try to make this a sexual thing. You're sleeping in another room tonight.”

“Felicia—”

“I mean it, Talyn. I'm so mad at you that I don't trust myself to be in the same bed with you right now while you're defenseless.”

A tic started in his jaw. He was far from defenseless. At least against anyone other than Felicia.

“Fine,” he snapped, heading for the bedroom. He grabbed his pillow from the bed. “Sleep alone. I'm a big boy. I can take it. The gods know I've taken worse.” He headed for a room farther down the hall.

Felicia started after him.

Don't you dare!

You let him stew until he comes to his senses!

She forced herself to go to the bedroom and lock the door. This wasn't about his hurt feelings. It was about saving his life. Honestly, she wanted to vomit at the mere thought of his going up against those monsters to buy her from her agency. She wished she'd never found out that was what he'd done to get her this condo and to buy her contract in the first place.

Patrons were supposed to be old males whose wives were tired of servicing them. Or widowers who wanted companions to take care of them until they could find a respectable family to pledge with. Seventy-five … that was the average age for a patron. Seventy-five. Not twenty! Her own father had been well into his fifties when he contracted with her mother. She'd never heard of a patron as young as Talyn before. Which had been part of the reason she'd agreed to meet him.

Utter curiosity.

Unless they were pledged or married, males Talyn's age went to prostitutes. That was how their society worked.

His mother was right, he'd never done anything in his life like other Andarions did. Ugh! She could kick his—

Talyn's link went off.

She looked over to answer it and froze as she saw the name Jayne and the picture of an incredibly beautiful female blowing a kiss.

What the hell was
that
?

Before she could recover from the shock, it rolled to the speaker voice mail he used whenever he was home.

“Hey, sexy baby. It's Jaynie calling about your girl problems. As always, I'm more than happy to take care of your needs, and will be there as soon as I can. Just hold tight and stay precious, my beautiful sweet cheeks. Don't want to see no frownie baby when I get there. I promise, I'm going to put a giant smile on that gorgeous face of yours. Love you, sexy T! See you soon.”

Her jaw slack, Felicia wasn't sure what pissed her off the most. The woman's looks. Her words. Or that exaggerated high-pitched sopping, sweet, sultry voice. Maybe it was all three that came together to light a fury in her so foul, she could taste the Talyn-blood she intended to let.

Oh, forget the Ring. The Splatterdome was here. Tonight. This condo. And she was going to get her pound of Iron Hammer flesh.

*   *   *

Snarling in aggravation, Talyn slammed his fist into the pillow as he tried to get comfortable on the bed. He still couldn't believe Felicia had thrown him out of his room, given everything he'd done to make her happy.

Did she think he
wanted
to fight those animals? Did his mom? Who did his females think they were to be pissed off at
him
?

Everything he did, he did for his mother and Felicia.

Face it, you can't please anyone! Andarions suck! Females most of all.

The door opened. For a second, his heart lightened at Felicia's appearance.

Until she furiously hurled his link at him so hard that had it made contact with his body, it would have hurt.

“You rank, two-timing bastard!” Felicia seized his pillow, snatched it from under his head, and started beating him with it. “Stralen, my ass!”

Talyn lifted his arm to protect himself. Damn, for a pillow, it hurt more than it should have. “What is wrong with you?”

“Besides you? Nothing! Not a damn thing. I hate you!”

Talyn jerked the pillow out of her hands. She moved to actually bite him.

With fangs.

Talyn caught her and rolled with her so that he could pin her on the bed. Gently, he held her hands by her face.

Shrieking, she tried to buck him off.

If he wasn't afraid of being gelded, he'd laugh at her useless efforts. His thigh bone weighed more than she did.

“Felicia, what is wrong with you?”

“Who the fuck is Jayne, Talyn? Huh? You should have taken your link with you, you faithless bastard!”

Instead of clearing things up, that only confused him more. “What?”

“‘Sweet cheeks'? ‘Stay sexy'? You bastard! I hate you!”

It was a stupid thing to do, but he couldn't help himself. He laughed.

Which made her scream like he was murdering her.

His mother came running into the room and pulled up short as she saw them entangled, half dressed on the bed. Yeah, this was awkward. He was wearing his short military briefs and Felicia's gown had ridden up so that it looked like some kind of sex game. Her face turned bright red.

“Ma!” he shouted as she beat a hasty retreat. “Come back. It's not what you think.”

She spoke around the doorframe. “Should I ask what it is, then?”

“Tell Felicia who Jayne is.”

“Jayne Erixour?”

“Yeah. 'Cause I don't think she's going to believe me if I tell her.” He slid off Felicia.

Shoving her gown down, she glared at him as his mother returned to the room.

Galene bit her lip. “Oh dear gods, what did Jaynie do now?”

“Who is she, Commander?” Felicia asked.

“My best friend. Talyn's other mother.”

Felicia frowned. “What?”

Talyn picked his pillow up and returned it to the bed. “Remember when I told you I had a teacher take me home and watch over me until my mother was released from the hospital?”

“Yeah.”

“Jaynie.”

“No,” Felicia said, shaking her head. “Play her message back and tell me
that
sounds like a teacher, mother figure.”

Inwardly cringing, he rubbed a hand over his face. “Gah, I can just imagine. Aunt Jayne is a unique individual. Unlike any you've ever met. The fact they ever let her into a classroom says a lot about the Hyshian educational system.” He pulled his link to him and listened. And with every word, he screwed his face up harder. Yeah, okay, he'd beat him, too.

He handed the link to his mother for her to hear. She sighed heavily. “Yeah, that's Jayne.” She handed it back to him. “What did you call her about?”

“The security for Felicia that you'd mentioned.” He passed a dry look to her. “That's my ‘girl problem' she's referring to.”

“Why would a mother figure call you sexy?”

“It's Jayne,” he and his mother said in unison.

Galene nodded. “She's been calling him sexy since he was in grade school.”

“Really?”

Talyn scratched sheepishly at his ear. “I went to school with Hyshians, Licia. I felt like a hideous freak, all the time. Jayne started calling me that so I'd feel better about myself. Didn't really work since everyone else looked at me like a diseased flea that was about to give them an incurable, alien disease, but it was her way of trying.”

Still sitting on the bed, she drew her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Peeking at him over her knees, she gave him a most adorable pout. “Sorry. But you have to admit, that call was pretty damning.”

“Yeah. Vintage Jayne.”

His mother laughed. “Since there's no murder going on, I'll leave you two to sort this out.” She made a quick exit.

Talyn hesitated. “Is it safe, or do I need to gird my loins for battle?”

“You might want to gird a bit. I'm still mad about the other matter.… Did you really call Jayne about security for me?”

“Of course, I did. And Jayne's the one who rescued me from Onoria. Hadrian, who you met, is her husband. They have kids together. You would have met her, too, but she had to jettison for other obligations with The Sentella while they were bringing me home.”

Now she felt utterly stupid. While she'd known Hadrian's wife had been with them, no one had mentioned Jayne by name.

She crooked her finger for him to come closer.

Talyn hesitated. He wasn't real sure of her mood. Because he hadn't spent much time around anyone other than his mother, Jayne, and her husband, he wasn't real good at reading others' emotions.

And, well … Jayne and his mother made it easy. When they were pissed, they launched into highly hostile verbal assaults that ended with an ass beating and restriction. As for Jayne's husband, Hadrian was extremely even-keeled and showed as much emotion as a statue, most days.

He inched toward her. “Should I remove projectiles?”

“No,” she said sullenly. “Come here, Talyn.”

Bracing himself for the worst, he obeyed. “Yes?”

She toyed with his ear. “I'm sorry. For everything. Just not used to caring this much about someone else. Twice now, I've had to sit in a hospital because you were seriously hurt. And I've seen what you look like after a fight. It's not pretty.” She gestured toward the bruise on her face. “And now that I've been hit, I have a whole new appreciation for what you go through. How do you stand it?”

He shrugged nonchalantly. “I was an Andarion in a Hyshian school. I couldn't get into trouble because if my mother was called in for counseling, she'd be punished by the military for it. The other students knew I couldn't fight back, so it was open season on me. Same for the teachers. They were scared of me and it made them vicious. When I came home, I couldn't let my mother know about it or she'd cry and feel guilty. So I learned to take the blows and hide the bruises. It's all I've ever known.” He brushed the hair back from her face. “It only hurts when you're the one attacking me. One mild insult from you is like a dagger through my heart.”

She pressed her cheek to his. “I love you so much.”

“I love you, too. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you.”

“Yeah, I noticed. Only a special kind of idiot would get into a Ring with that lineup.”

“Yes, but I'll always be
your
special idiot.”

She finally laughed. “When will Jayne get here?”

He shrugged. “She'll be coming in interstellarly, if not intergalactically. Could be a couple of days. I'd call her back, but I'm afraid you might hurt me.”