Born of Defiance

She shook her head. “The only thing that scares me is how much I love you. And how sure I am that the gods are going to do something to take you from me because of it.”


Talyn wanted to reassure her, but he couldn’t. Not in good conscience. He had the same fear in his heart that she did. The gods had never been kind to him. Rather, he’d been their punching bag from the moment he’d been born prematurely and almost died seconds after drawing his first breath to this moment. “I will never willingly leave you.”

Smiling, she kissed his lips and wrapped her body around his. “I know, keramon. Same here. I will fight for you. Always.”

He laughed at that. “Did you really pull a blaster on a doctor?”

She cringed. “Who told you that?”

“Jayne’s husband.”

Felicia nibbled at his jaw. “I’m your female, Talyn. Like you, I protect what I love with everything I have.”

His breathing ragged, Talyn savored those words that meant the universe to him. Unable to stand the intensity of what he felt for her, he slid himself into her body.

She gasped, then moaned in his ear. Closing his eyes, he ground his teeth at how good she felt in his arms.

Please don’t let me lose her.

But no matter how hard he tried, he feared what tomorrow would bring for them. What new shit Anatole would hurl at him.

Most of all, he feared that he might have very well signed his own death warrant in the Ring with those blood matches. Neither his mother nor Felicia knew the whole truth about those fighters.

Even though it hadn’t been a blood match at that time, Talyn had taken the Zoftiq title from Slaughterhouse.

Don’t get used to it, punk. Next time we meet in the Ring, you’re going home in pieces.

This time, Duel Odelus wouldn’t be going into the fight as a cocky title holder, he’d be coming into the Splatterdome motivated by vengeance, and craving a death match with every piece of his being.

If I have to lose, let him kill me. The last thing Talyn wanted was to be crippled for the rest of his life.

But he didn’t want to think about tomorrow right now. Not while he was with Felicia. His blood racing, he buried his face in her wealth of curls and tightened his arms around her.

Felicia cried out at the intensity of Talyn’s passion. Normally, he took his time and meticulously explored her. Tonight, he was ferocious, almost desperate.

She nipped his chin, delighting in the feel of his whiskers. A smile curved her lips as he met her gaze and she stared into his bloodred eyes that held the faintest outline of white around the edges. The total opposite of what they’d been when she first met him.

Out of habit, she started to cup his head, then quickly caught herself. Since they’d shaved his hair, he’d been extremely self-conscious over it. Instead of it being comforting, he would recoil from her touching his head. The last thing she wanted was to hurt him in any way.

Growling in her ear, he quickened his strokes. Felicia sucked her breath in as her body exploded with pleasure.

With the sweetest smile, Talyn kissed her forehead an instant before he came in her arms. His breathing ragged, he stared down at her with the most adoring gaze imaginable.

Until he glanced to the bruise on her cheek. Guilt replaced the happiness as he withdrew from her.

“Talyn?”

He gently brushed his fingers over her cheek. “I’m tired of living in an empire where a female can’t even walk home with dinner and not be attacked. Where no one feels safe. This is not what I want to defend. It’s not what I swore to uphold when I joined the armada.”

“What are you saying?”

He gentled his expression before he pressed his cheek to hers. “I’m just venting. I’ll be right back.” He kissed her before he went to the bathroom.

Talyn paused at the door to look back at Felicia. She was so beautiful in his bed. So frail and tiny. In all his life, she was the only thing he’d ever craved. The only one he’d ever love.

He could handle anything so long as she was here at the end of the day to lay her gentle hand on his skin. No one was ever going to hurt or scare her again. He’d tear this empire down to ashes before he allowed that to happen.

Making sure to keep it out of her sight, he set his link on the counter and closed the door. Before he could stop himself, he texted her brother.

The party at my house is on. Just let me know the details.

While he’d never thought of himself as a traitor or a revolutionary, he was willing to see the tadara and her entire family in the ground, if that was what it took to keep his family safe. The Anatoles should have known better than to start a war with a Hauk and a Batur.

The day had come to change out the ruling parties. And he was the Andarion to see this through.

He hadn’t started this fight. But by all the gods, he was going to finish it.





Chapter 21





“W

hat in the name of all Andaria are you doing?”