Born of Defiance

“Honestly, it all happened so fast that I’m really fuzzy on the details right now. All I remember is him grabbing me and shoving and shouting. And thinking that I just needed to escape him.” Tears welled in her eyes, but she quickly blinked them away. “Is there any way I can call you if I remember something more?”


The enforcer finished typing it in with his stylus. “Absolutely.” He pulled a card from his pocket and wrote a number on the back. “My office link is on the front. The back is my personal one. You call, day or night. If you feel threatened at all, we’ll gladly send someone over. And if anything comes to you, no matter how insignificant you think it is, give me a call.” He handed her the card. “And I hate to ask, but I assume the bruises on your face and arm are from the attack?”

She nodded.

“Would you mind if I took a photo of them for the evidence log? And your dress?”

“Sure.”

He held his ledger up and had her pull her hair back from her face and neck so that he could document it. Likewise, she removed the robe.

Talyn ground his teeth as he saw the tears starting to flow down her cheeks. He pulled her against his chest and held her close. “Shh, munatara. It’ll be all right.”

Her legs buckled.

Talyn caught her up into his arms. He met the enforcer’s concerned gaze. “If you’ll wait here for a moment, I’ll be right back. I just want to put her to bed.”

“Yes, sir.”

He carried her into the bedroom and covered her with the blankets.

“I’m sorry, Talyn.”

“Don’t you dare apologize. I know how hard it is. I’ll be right back.” He kissed her cheek and grabbed a magazine from the nightstand before he returned to the living room where Officer Hawas was chatting with Aaron.

“Thank you,” Talyn said to the enforcer. “I really appreciate your compassion with her.”

“No problem. I have a wife and daughter, and I know how furious I’d be if something like this happened to them.”

“Yeah. He better be glad Aaron was there and not me. Otherwise, this would be a homicide report.”

The enforcer nodded. “Thank you for your time, Major Batur. I’ll have a patrol in the area for the next few days. Just in case.”

“Thanks.” Talyn held up the Splatterdome magazine in his hand. “Would you like me to sign this for you?”

“Really! Gah, I’d be so honored. Could you make it out to Theris?”

“Absolutely.” Talyn signed it to him and handed it over. “Again, thank you both.” He walked them to the lift, then went to get dinner for Felicia.



Felicia came out of the bathroom to find Talyn in the bedroom with a large tray of food and wine. Love for him spread through her. No one had ever made her feel the way he did.

Beautiful. Cherished.

“I wasn’t sure what you’d like or what goes with the food since I can’t drink, so I brought both red and white.”

“Thank you, keramon.” Dressed in her nightgown, she slid back into bed. “But I’m supposed to be taking care of you.”

“It’s all right. I’m pissed now. Feel no pain past the fury that makes me want to go hunt down whatever animal did this to you and skin him alive while he screams.” He handed her a glass of wine. “I swear I’m going to find the bastard and —”

“We need to be productive with this, Talyn.”

“I am being productive. His mutilation would be a service to all Androkyn.”

“But it would get you a death sentence.”

He took a bite of her salad. “I could die happy with that.”

Rolling her eyes, she took a sip of wine.

Swallowing, he cupped her bruised cheek in his warm palm. “I’m sorry you were hurt and I’m sorry about your agency. I should have known better than to contract with you and drag you into my fucked-up life.” A tic started in his jaw. “I was so lonely that night I first saw your photo. Just looking up fighting stats on Steel Jaw when the ad for your agency popped up. I never click on them, but you were so beautiful and you looked so kind and sweet. Innocent.”

He stroked her cheekbone with his thumb. “It was the photo where you had your left hand up, pulling your hair back from your face. Your eyes sucked me in and I lost my heart to you in that instant.”

She snorted at him. “Yeah, right… that’s what you noticed. Not that I’m in my tiny bra and panties in that picture.”

He laughed at her surly tone. “Your bra and panties were more circumspect in that photo than the bikinis the others wore in theirs.”

“I thought you didn’t look at anyone else.”

He laughed. “I wasn’t stralen then, nor dead. I did look.” The humor died on his face as he locked gazes with her. “But I wasn’t interested in them.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, okay. It was a sports bra and briefs, not a thong. The agency cameraman had a stroke when he saw what I’d brought to be photographed in. They were all horrified over my choice… and the fact that I had more muscle mass than both of the males combined.”

He ran his fingers down her arm, raising chills in his wake. “I loved that you weren’t skinny, but muscled. The one where you were flexing your arms… that was the one that really got me.”