Born of Defiance

Talyn smiled evilly at them as his temper broke. He’d never been all that smart. And this was more than he was going to take. No one insulted his mother or threatened Felicia.

It was time for them to meet his two best friends.

Right and left fist.

Before he could stop himself, he punched Chrisen in the throat. Merrell reached for him. Talyn caught his arm and flipped him to the ground before he slammed his fist into Merrell’s chest.

Screaming, Jullien ran for cover as his guards attacked and called for reinforcements. Talyn lost count of how many he went through, trying to reach the only real bitch in the room.

Jullien eton Anatole.

But all too soon, they began stunning and shooting him. Not that it mattered at first. Too used to physical pain to care about the blasts, he powered through until his nervous system gave out.

Even then, he fell to his knees for several heartbeats before he finally collapsed and the darkness took him under.

Jullien scowled at Chrisen, who was unconscious on the floor. He met Merrell’s stunned gaze as he stood on trembling legs. “What the hell is he?”

Shaking his head, Merrell put more distance between Batur and them. “He’s an effing War Hauk and the last of the Winged Baturs. Crazy lineages.”

“Have you ever seen anyone take that much with a stun blast?”

The guards hesitantly nudged Batur’s body with their booted feet. “I unloaded three full charges into him, dead on.”

With fear in his eyes, Merrell swallowed hard. “Don’t stand there! Get him out of here before he wakes up.”

“Yes, sir. Where do you want us to take him?”

Merrell locked gazes with Jullien. “You’re the tahrs. What’s your command?”

“He’s assaulted two members of the royal family and would have hit me had he been able to. Smacks of treason. Throw him in with the lifers and make sure you tell them they have a celebrity in their midst.”

Laughing, Merrell wiped the blood from his lips. “I can’t wait to see which one of them makes the Iron Hammer his bitch first.”



Talyn came awake to the worst feeling of his life. And given how many times he’d had the crap beaten out of him inside a Ring, that said a lot. His head throbbing, he opened his eyes to find himself inside a pit, surrounded by males who didn’t appear to be friendly.

They were, however, huge bastards.

Awesome.

He suddenly felt like a kid again, attending temple on holy days of obligation. An unwanted specimen of vermin that had found its way onto the top of their shiny new shoes. In spite of his pain and nausea, Talyn rose to his feet to face them. While he’d been unconscious, someone had removed his uniform jacket and boots, and left him with his pants and undershirt only.

A massively muscled male approached him with that familiar smirk that said the two of them were about to dance.

Name the tune…

Without flinching, Talyn met his gaze.

“You really Iron Hammer?”

“I am.”

Another male approached at his back and spat on the ground. “Vested piece of shit.” He moved to shove Talyn’s shoulder.

Talyn caught him and knocked him unconscious with one blow. He caught his next attacker, then two more, and quickly dispatched them.

Not even breathing heavy yet, he faced the first one who’d approached him. “I might fight in the Vested league now, but I held the title in all three Open league divisions first, and longer than anyone before or after me. Anyone else want to find out why?”

The male in front of him laughed. “Gutter rat?”

Talyn nodded. “My father’s an Outcast.”

A loud whoop went through them at that.

“Batur’s one of us!”

Talyn stepped back, even more trepidatious now than he’d been before they attacked him. What was going on?

The male in front of him inclined his head. “I’m Maren. When they dumped you in, we assumed you were one of them.” Maren jerked Talyn’s jacket off a much smaller male who must have stolen it. He handed it back. “Whichever one of you assholes took the Hammer’s shoes, return them. Now!”

They came flying out of the crowd to land near Talyn.

“Thanks,” he said, reaching for them.

The males laughed as they befriended him.

“So why were you arrested?” Maren asked while Talyn pulled his boots back on.

“I was unconscious at the time of my arrest, so I don’t know the exact charges.”

Maren scowled. “Were you drunk?”

“No. I was, however, beating the shit out of two tizirani and their guards when I was stunned.”

A laughing roar of approval went through the other prisoners.

“What about you?” Talyn stood and pulled on his jacket.

“I accidentally met Merrell Anatole’s gaze while I was fixing his bathroom sink.”

Before Talyn could say anything else, the monitor over their heads came on to show the face of a palace guard. His stare went straight to Talyn.