Born of Defiance

He growled, using his chin and fangs to heighten her pleasure. Within minutes, he had her body humming with heat.

She threw her head back and cried out as unimaginable pleasure ripped her apart. “Oh my God! Talyn!”

Still he continued until he’d wrung every last bit of tremor from her. And still he stroked her with his fingers as he kissed his way over her stomach and back to her breasts.

Her entire body quivering, she kept waiting for him to stop, but he didn’t. Not until she came over and over again.

The moment she cried out, he slid himself back inside her. She bit her lip at the sensation of him hard once more.

He held her close as he rocked himself against her hips. “I’m not hurting you, am I?”

“No. Not even a little.”

He kissed her cheek then pressed his cheek against hers as he quickened his strokes. “Say my name, Felicia.”

“Talyn.”

Lifting himself up to look down at her, he smiled. Then he kissed her and came again with a soft growl.

She felt his heart pounding as he slowly lowered himself over her. “Am I too heavy?”

“No. You feel wonderful.” Wrapping her legs around his waist, she ran her hands over his muscled back.

He let out a happy sigh. “I can’t believe I finally got to do this. I was beginning to think I was going to die a virgin.”

She laughed at his angst-ridden tone. “It did seem like the very gods were against us.”

Rolling over, he pulled her to rest on top of him. “I never want to leave this bed again.”

She ran her fingernail over his nipple. “I’m game if you are. But you’ll have to surrender your Ring title.”

“Done, even though Erix will kill me. Probably Ferrick, too.”

“You’d die happy.”

“That I would.” He pulled her hand to his lips so that he could place a kiss in her palm. “Thank you, Felicia.”

“For what?”

“For agreeing to be part of my life. The best part of it.”

Tears choked her at the sincerity she heard. “I don’t know. You are such an onerous burden. Quite unmanageable.”

He laughed. “Now you sound like my nurses.” Letting out an irritated breath, he kissed her cheek before he rolled out from under her. “I’ll be right back.”

“Nature calling?”

“Like a beast.” Talyn picked her panties up from the floor and placed them on the bed, then headed for the bathroom.

With an inexplicable peace, he quickly tended his needs and washed himself. But as he went to turn the water off, he glanced into the mirror and froze.

Oh shit.

Instead of the white eyes he’d had since birth, they were now glowing a sharp, deep red.

Minsid hell.

He was stralen.





Chapter 10





T

alyn returned to the bedroom with two cool cloths. Making sure to keep his eyes hidden, he slid into bed and handed one to Felicia.

“You okay?”

“Headache.” He covered his eyes with the other one.

“Poor baby. Can I do anything to help?” She draped herself over him.

“Keep the lights off… please.”

“Sure.” She snuggled close.

Talyn hated lying to her, but no good could come of her learning he was stralen. It was a rare, rare genetic defect that ran through the males of certain lineages. Because of the legend of the thirteen War Hauks who’d once defended their homeworld from invaders, he’d long known that the trait ran through his father’s DNA – it was almost as big a curse as the one that ran through his mother’s. But given his father’s abandonment, Talyn had assumed the trait had missed the two of them.

Could I have been more wrong?

No. He was the lucky bastard who got to carry not one, but two of the most recessive traits in all of Andaria.

Woohoo!

At least it explained his fierce feelings toward Felicia and the foreign serenity inside him whenever she was near. Why he was so protective of her. The overproduction of oxytocin and vasopressin in the brain that caused the stralen made the males with it extremely protective and possessive of the female who’d caused it. For some reason, the first onset of the condition always appeared during, or within an hour after sex. Usually, it receded within a few hours after climax, once oxytocin and vasopressin levels returned to a certain level. In even more rare and extreme cases, it was permanent and caused the eyes to remain red forever. Lucky him – that, too, ran in his father’s family.

Either way, he was screwed. In a married male, stralen was the most desired trait in their culture.

For an unmarried male…

Ridicule. Humiliation. It would make all his previous abuse seem mild. And he didn’t know Felicia well enough to even begin to guess how she’d react to it. She might welcome it, fear it, or use it against him.

The first was the best-case scenario. The other two were horrifying to contemplate. If it scared her, she’d leave, and he’d be royally screwed since she was the one he needed in his life. Worst case, she’d manipulate him with it, knowing he would do anything for her.

Even die.

Why, gods?