Born of Defiance

“Bite it!”


Talyn scowled at the hushed exchange between two of his bunkmates. WAR was an antigovernment organization that had sprung up against the tadara and her family. For years now, they’d been trying to overthrow her.

Anyone found with their paraphernalia or with any ties to their group was summarily seized and executed. Without trial.

“Batur!”

Talyn grimaced at the sharp bark. Rising to his feet, he saluted the OOD. “Sir?”

“Cover Pinara’s patrol. He was to fly in fifteen.”

Talyn started to remind him that he was already seventeen hours over his patrol quota for the week, but then the OOD would know that even better than Talyn did.

“Yes, sir.”

As he moved to reach for his flight suit, he heard Pinara’s wingman, Mannan Xu, curse.

“Why am I being punished? I don’t want to fly with a lack-Vest. Do you know who my parents are?”

The OOD glared at the major. “Insubordination?”

“No, sir.”

“Then head out. With Batur.”

Xu cut a glare at Talyn to let him know how much he hated being stuck with him.

No joy for me, either, punk.

As soon as he was changed, Talyn went to do preflight in their hangar. When he neared his fighter, Xu cornered him.

“You better remember your place, dog. Behind me, cleaning up after your superiors.”

A tic started in Talyn’s jaw. He wanted to punch the bastard so badly that it was all he could do to refrain. But he knew from experience that if he spoke a word, he’d lose what little free time he had, and this prick wasn’t worth it.

Think of Felicia. He had a reason now to stay out of the brig and off reports. Not one of them was worth the additional patrol time.

Eye on the goal, Batur.

And that was a beautiful female who finally made him feel like something more than the dirt underneath their feet.



It’d been over a month since Felicia had last seen Talyn at his fight. As punishment for winning, he hadn’t even been allowed to have visitors on base or to leave it for meals. His CO had kept him on total lockdown. He hadn’t even been able to call her again during his rec time.

While she’d left voice notes for him every day, all she’d received as responses were very brief text messages back.

And random gifts that had come to the condo.

One of them was the beautiful double-heart necklace that he’d sent, which was around her neck. It’d come within a few hours of her hanging up the last time they’d spoken, and she hadn’t taken it off since.

Kind of stupid, but it somehow made her feel closer to him. And she’d kept the small card that he’d sent with it.



Thank you for today, Gre Couranatara.





~T





The great lady of my heart. Every time she read that, it brought tears to her eyes.

Her link buzzed. Frowning, she picked it up and glanced at it, expecting a message from her mother.

It was Talyn.

Hey. What are you doing?

She typed back to him. Studying.

Are you at the condo?

Wow. This was the longest conversation they’d had since their failed attempt at sexting. I am. Where are you?

The elevator binged behind her. Turning on the couch, she was just about to call security when Talyn stepped out. Joy erupted through her as she let out a happy cry and shot off the couch toward the foyer.

“Talyn!” She launched herself into his arms.

Laughing, he held her against him. He buried his hand in her hair and pressed his cheek to hers. “Hi.”

“I can’t believe you’re finally here! Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”

“I wasn’t sure I’d be able to until an hour ago. Even then, I kept waiting for my TL to be canceled.”

She squeezed him even tighter. “I almost went out tonight. I’m so glad I didn’t.”

Talyn savored those words and the sensation of her body wrapped around his. He’d been dreaming of this every single night since he first saw her photo. “How have you been?”

“Fine. Everyone here’s really nice. But I’ve missed you like crazy!” To his disappointment, she slid her legs down from around his waist to stand in front of him. Taking his hand, she led him into the condo. “Are you hungry?”

Yes, but not for food. “I ate earlier.”

She narrowed her gaze on him. “How much earlier?”

“Lunch.”

Rolling her eyes, she took him toward the kitchen. “This isn’t how I wanted to greet you on our first night together.”

“It works for me. I can’t imagine any better reception.” Except maybe her being naked when he came in.

Yeah, that would have been the only improvement.

As if she heard that thought, she glanced at him over her shoulder. “I was going to be in the red negligee I sent you a picture of.”

“Yeah, okay, that might have been better. But the shorts and tee are nice, too. Much better in reality than what I had imagined when last we spoke.”

Biting her lip, she shook her head at him. “I don’t even have makeup on.”