Born of Fury

CHAPTER 11

“What’s going on?”

Her hands trembling in fear, Sumi paused in her quest as she heard the concern in Thia’s tone. “I’m looking for Lyris root.”

Thia’s green eyes turned suspicious. “Isn’t that toxic?”

“It can be.”

“Then why are you looking for it?”

Sumi sat back on her haunches to give the young woman an irritated smirk. “I’m not trying to kill someone with it, Thia. I’m trying to save your uncle’s life.”

Thia’s face went white. “What happened?”

Sumi glanced past Thia’s shoulder to make sure Darice couldn’t overhear them. “The Partini’s blade was coated in poison. When he stabbed Dancer last night, it —”

“What does it look like?” Thia gasped, cutting her off. She fell to her knees to help search.

Sumi pulled some from her pocket to show her the delicate pink flower that marked the weed’s location. “I need at least twice this to even begin treatment.”

“Okay.” Thia took up position across from her. “He’s not dying, is he?”

She started to lie and tell her Hauk would be fine, yet she couldn’t bring herself to do it. The bitterest truth was always better than the sweetest lie. “He’s stronger than anyone I’ve ever known. But I could beat him for not telling someone he was wounded last night. Then we could have treated him immediately and he wouldn’t be in as much danger as he is now. He pushes himself too hard.”

“It’s what he does.” Thia pulled a handful of it out of the ground and handed it to Sumi. “I’ve heard Uncle Syn threaten a million times to embed an off switch in him so that when he refuses to rest when he’s hurt, Syn can force him. And my father threatens to hold him down while Syn implants it.” She gave more to Sumi. “How are your wounds, by the way?”

“I’ve had worse.”

Thia snorted. “You fit in nicely with this bunch. Sound just like them all.”

Sumi didn’t comment as she dug around for more root.

With Thia’s added help, it didn’t take long to gather enough and return to their small, mobile camp that Hauk had already packed up and slung over his back.

Aghast at him, Sumi gestured at the gear strapped to his wide shoulders. “What are you doing, sweetie?” she asked in a sarcastic falsetto.

He brushed at the sweat on his forehead. “We need to get going.”

“Dancer,” she chided. “You’re not up to this.”

“I’m fine.”

Hands on hips, Sumi gave him an oh-really stare. “The sweat beading on your forehead calls you a big fat liar pants. And the pallor of your skin calls you out even more.” She tugged at the strap of his haul bag. To her shock, he allowed her to remove it and his sword. That alone told her how bad he felt.

Shaking her head at him, she placed the back of her hand against his cheek. “You’re burning with fever.”

“It’s still not safe here.”

She pulled more gear from his shoulders. “You know… really hard to protect us when you’re dead. So unless you know some kind of mystic Andarion resurrection spell, I think you should sit down now before you fall over and we’re stuck dragging you behind us. In spite of what you think, I am a trained soldier, fully capable of defending us from attackers.”

He mumbled in Andarion under his breath. The words were beautiful, but she was quite certain their meaning wasn’t.

“You keep insulting me like that, and I’m going to have Thia translate it.”

Thia laughed. “He called you a bossy little mouse, which is actually not an insult in Andarion. Rather he respects the courage you’re showing by telling him what to do when you’re too small to physically force it.”

Sumi frowned. “What’s the Andarion word for mouse?”

“Mia. Kahrya is bossy. Kahrya mia… bossy little mouse.” Thia handed her the medical pack. “On Andaria, they see mice as brave, aggressive creatures. Fearless… Of course, on Andaria, like everything else, the mice are ferocious, fanged and much scarier than they are on most other planets.”

Sumi could just imagine. “Do they suck blood and eat small infants, too?”

Thia pressed her lips together before she answered. “Actually, they do.”

“We really should be going,” Hauk groused again.

While Sumi continued to deal with the surly, stubborn attack beast, Thia searched through the pack for water and the zip stove and cooking cup so that she could start boiling the root to soften it and release the juices they needed for an antidote.

Hauk was torn between the pain of his body that begged him to lie down and the need he had to keep his family safe. “Where’s Darice?”

“He went to the bathroom,” Thia answered.

“And Illyse?”

Thia’s eyes widened as she set the root into the water, while it warmed. “I haven’t seen her in a while. And now that I think about it, Darice should have been back before we were.”

That cleared his head immediately. “Sumi?”

She already had her weapon drawn. Thia pulled in to stand on his six.

“Illyse!” he shouted.

Normally, the lorina would have come running immediately. But there was no sign of her.

“Stay together,” he said under his breath. “Hands on, flank guard.” Which meant they walked backwards with one hand on his body to let him know where they were. It was a tight formation normally used for narrow, low-light situations. But with his senses dulled, it kept him focused on only one thing.

Whatever was in front of them. And it allowed him to know that so long as they touched him, they were all right while they scanned for attackers coming at their rear.

The downside was that it lined them up for easy targeting.

Willing to chance it, he started forward. “Darice!”

No one answered. Hauk cursed under his breath. Why hadn’t he noticed Darice’s absence sooner?

Because he felt like utter shit. Even now, he feared he’d vomit and fall.

You’ve been through worse, Hauk… and under heavy fire.

Still, his heart was in his throat as visions of past missions and bodies played through his mind. He’d seen too many teens die over the years in battle. Darice was a major pain in the ass, but if something had happened to him because of his inattention, Hauk would never forgive himself.

And with every step he took, the past slashed into him with vicious claws.

Over and over, his mind tortured him with the sight of Keris laughing at him while they climbed, and Hauk hesitated to put his hands, cams, and feet into crevices because of the hidden charges Keris had set on the mountain to “up the ante” of their mission.

“Stop being a pussy, Dancer. What are you going to do in battle when you find an XD or someone lobs a grenade at you? Deal with it and move forward.”

But having already been buried in twisted debris and surrounded by flames, Hauk had been skittish of repeating the experience, especially since his body had still been healing from the last round of skin grafts. He hated the sound of an explosion worse than anything, and it had seemed like Keris had lined the entire mountainside with explosives. Every time he touched something on the mountain, it exploded in his face.

With a disdainful sneer, Keris had allowed himself to hangdog while Hauk ascended to tie in. Keris had shoved at him. “Go on and take lead, belay bitch. I’m tired of waiting on your pansy ass to catch up.”

Hauk had glared at him as Keris pulled out a small bottle and inhaled it. Last thing he wanted was their lives in the hands of a stoned belayer. “Give that to me.”

Jerking it away from Hauk’s reach, Keris had hit him so hard that he’d slipped and lost his hold on the mountain.

Hauk had slammed into the wall and set off another charge. Rocks had rained down all over him as he tried to find something to hold on to that wouldn’t explode when he touched it. Worse than that, the percussion of that charge loosened Keris’s anchors and belay.

One second Keris had been laughing at Hauk’s fear and in the next, he was falling, too.

Cursing, Hauk had somehow managed to catch himself, while he attempted to pull Keris up with his other hand or swing him toward a ledge or crevice. Upside down, he had one anchor still holding, but it was slipping as more rock rained over them. Worse, he hadn’t had time to properly tie in.

Keris also felt it. There was no chance the remaining anchors would hold their combined weights and the gear. Hauk’s rope was slipping from its belay device. And once those gave way, there was nothing that would stop them from free-falling. He tightened his bleeding hands on the rope.

For a full minute, they’d silently stared at each other, knowing that at this altitude death was imminent. His face grim, Keris had pulled his knife from his sling.

Hauk had stared in horror as he realized what his brother intended. “What the hell are you doing, Kerry?”

“Take care of Dari for me. Tell her I’ll always love her.”

“No! Stop!”

But it was too late. That fast, that cruelly, Keris had sliced the rope and was gone.

Unable to move or breathe, Hauk had watched as his brother plummeted, and when Keris had finally slammed into the ground, he’d landed on the controls for the charges.

In that instant, it’d seemed as if half the mountain had detonated. The blast had sent him careening down. He’d tried to grab on to any and every thing. Petrified, he’d feared he’d never stop falling.

Until he’d slammed into a ledge so hard, it’d knocked the breath from his bruised body, and broken his arm, collarbone, nose, and ribs. For several minutes, he’d lain there, staring up at the perfectly blue sky, unable to believe what had happened. Unable to believe how much pain a single body could hold and not kill the one who felt it.

The rest of the day was a blur to his memory. He had no idea how he’d managed to climb down to his brother’s broken body.

All he remembered was sitting in the canyon, holding Keris against his chest and screaming out for help while Keris’s blood dripped down his arm. It was a nightmare that had haunted him every time he closed his eyes.

One he couldn’t escape.

A horror that burned out his blackened soul. And now he might have to bury Keris’s son.

Please, Darice, don’t be hurt…

He couldn’t take seeing someone who looked that much like Keris lying dead again. Nor would he be able to live with the guilt of it. It was hard enough to cope with the past he already had. He couldn’t stand more being heaped on his conscience.

As they drew near the caves, Hauk paused and cocked his head to listen.

Thia tightened her grip on his shirt. “Hear something?” she whispered.

Suddenly, Illyse whined and hissed.

Angling his blaster, he rushed forward, into the nearest cave. And what he found there enraged him to a level he wouldn’t have thought Andarionly possible.

In that one heartbeat, he could taste the blood he wanted to spill. Could feel its sticky texture on his hands as he choked the life out of the asshole in front of him.

Holstering the blaster, he put his arm out to catch his weight against the rock wall.

“Darice! You selfish asshole!” Thia snarled as she moved forward to confront the spoiled, petulant brat. “What are you doing?”

He jerked his chin toward Hauk. “I’m not going anywhere with him until he apologizes for what he said! He had no right to impugn my father’s honor! Unlike him, my father was a hero!”

Sumi put away her blaster before she yielded to the desire to lay open Darice’s skull with it. Had she not been so worried about Hauk, Darice’s life would have been in even more danger.

As it was…

Hauk looked like he was about to collapse and die.

She rushed to Hauk to check his fever. He was shaking to the point his teeth chattered. She forced him to sit with his back against the cave wall. The adrenaline from this had caused the toxin to spread even quicker through his system and infect more organs.

“Thia? I need you to run back and grab the root. Fast as you can!”

She went without hesitation.

Total fear consumed her at the sudden pallor of Hauk’s skin. She cupped his face in her hands. “Dancer? Stay with me.”

He blinked so slowly that she wasn’t sure if he heard her or not.

“What’s wrong with him?”

For one, he has you for a nephew. She barely managed to bite those words back. “He’s been poisoned.”

“What? When?”

“Last night. The Partini was using a knife coated with a very slow-acting poison.”

Darice’s lips quivered as he finally realized how sick Hauk was.

Hauk’s eyes rolled back in his head.

“Dancer?” Darice grabbed his shirt and shook him.

Hauk hissed in pain. “I’m coming, Kerry. I just need a second.”

Darice backhanded him. “Get up!”

Sumi shoved at him and discovered the truth of what Thia had said. Andarion males were heavy bastards.

Darice exposed his fangs at her.

She pulled her blaster out and flipped it to stun with her thumb. “Hit him again and so help me, Darice, I will make your mother weep at what I do to you.”

“He’s not your family!”

“Funny, between the two of us, I’m the only one acting like he is. Now get away before you do any more damage to him.”

Darice curled his lip. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means had I been able to get the antidote into him twenty minutes ago, instead of searching for a spoiled, pouting brat, he’d have had a better chance of survival than what he has now. Thanks, by the way.”

Darice didn’t say anything as he took up post on the other side of Hauk.

Ignoring him, Sumi helped Hauk to lie down as they waited for Thia to return. Minutes dragged by as she began preparing the berries she’d need to mix with the root. Luckily, they had still been in her pocket.

Please, let this cure work for Andarions, too. For that matter, she hoped she’d guessed the right poison the Partini had used. Never in her life had she tasted panic like this. She barely knew him, but she couldn’t stand the thought of losing him.

Not like this. Not over something so stupid and wrong.

Hauk hissed as if he was being tortured. He shook all over.

Sumi cupped his face in her hands. “Dancer? Can you hear me?”

“Munatara a la frah.”

Darice sucked his breath in sharply.

“What does that mean?”

Thia handed her the small pot of burned root as she rejoined them. “He just called you the most precious lady of his life.”

“He has dishonored my mother!”

Thia turned on him with a snarl. “When, Darice? Tell me? When has he been alone with Sumi where one of the two of them wasn’t wounded, and us within earshot? Please strain that limited brain capacity you have and think about it.”

“Why would he call her that, then, huh?”

“I don’t know,” Thia snarled. “Maybe because she’s been nice to him, which is more than your mother has ever been. Or, brace yourself for this concept. Perhaps the poison has made him so delusional, he doesn’t know who he’s talking to or what he’s saying. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d rather try to save his life than deal with the fact you know your mother’s a bitch who has treated him like shit, and your fear he’ll finally come to his senses and leave you without your father’s lineage.” She knelt down by Sumi’s side. “I salvaged what I could. But it burned while we hunted the knuckle-dragging degenerate.”

Sumi added the berries and mixed them together with the root as best she could. “It won’t taste good, but hopefully he won’t notice.”

Once the ingredients were blended into a thick syrup, she had Thia hold his head up to drink it.

Unfortunately, it was too thick to pour.

Thia panicked. “What do we do now?”

Sumi considered her options. With no better thought, and afraid of diluting it with water, she dipped her fingers into it and placed them in his mouth.

Thia held his head as he tried to turn away from the burnt taste. But after a few minutes, he finally licked the antidote from Sumi’s fingers.

Bit by bit, Sumi fed it to him and prayed it would still work like this. That they hadn’t boiled all the necessary nutrients out of the root while searching.

As soon as it was all dispensed, she wiped her hand off on an antiseptic cloth, then used it to clean his wounds again.

Darice continued to stare a hole through her.

Thia hissed at him over her shoulder. “What is your problem now, Darice?”

“My mother has long suspected that he hasn’t upheld his pledge to her. It’s why she has yet to accept him.”

Thia gave him a mocking stare. “Oh, okay, that’s the reason, huh?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“If your mother really believes that, why not break pledge with him?”

“She doesn’t want to see him lose his lineage. She says it would dishonor my father if she allowed that to happen.”

“Ah. Glad to know that she cares so much.” Thia’s sarcasm was even thicker than the paste they’d made.

“What?” Darice asked defensively.

Thia stalked toward where he sat. “So it’s not a slap in your father’s or uncle’s face every time she refuses to honor the pledge, or allow him rights to you?”

He scoffed at her words. “She’s never done that. Dancer has full rights to me, he just doesn’t want them.”

“Bullshit! I’ve been there, Darice, and seen the number of times your mother has told him he could have time with you, and then he comes back alone with some ridiculous, fabricated reason why she couldn’t let you go at the last minute. Honestly, I was stunned she allowed you to come with him for Endurance. But for the fact it would relegate you to perpetual infant status, I’m sure she would have backed out of this, too.”

He shook his head in blatant denial. “She’s told me how often she’s begged him to spend time with me and he refuses. How many times I’ve invited him, myself, to games and he has never come to one! Not once. He wants nothing to do with me.”

“Can’t imagine why he’d want to avoid you,” Thia mumbled, then she let out a rude laugh. “Face the truth, Dare, your mother’s a liar. She’s manipulative and a bully.”

He shot to his feet. “Take that back!”

“I won’t take back the truth. Had your mother not fed illegal drugs to your father, for years, he wouldn’t have died when he did.”

Clenching his fists, he glared at her. “What lie is this?”

“No lie. Honest truth. Contrary to your mother’s bullshit, your father’s body was recovered. Uncle Hauk didn’t leave him as scavenger meat as your mother claims. With a dozen broken bones, he dragged Keris’s body back, and kept watch over it until they were picked up.”

Darice scoffed bitterly. “You don’t know that. You weren’t there.”

Still, Thia gave him no quarter. “Neither were you! And for your information, I do know. Fain has the autopsy, and the order, signed by your mother, to burn Keris’s body so that no one would ever discover the truth of what she’d done. Fain was there, alone, when Keris was cremated. She didn’t even have the decency to attend his last rites. Then your mother buried all the evidence that showed Keris had enough drugs in his body at the time of death that he would have most likely overdosed had he not fallen first.”

“If any of that’s true, why does she blame Dancer for it?”

“Because he’s the only one who was there when Keris died. He alone knows how high Keris was and he knows she’s the real culprit.”

Darice stood toe-to-toe with Thia. “Then why hasn’t he told anyone? Huh?”

She snorted. “Why do you think? He refuses to disparage his brother. By the time he was out of the hospital, your mother had already concocted the lie that Uncle Hauk had saved himself by cutting the rope, and left your father to die, and that no one had found the body. The only person he tried to tell the truth to was his mother, because he didn’t want her to hate him for something he didn’t do.”

“Yaya knows?”

“She knows. It’s why she slashed him. It wasn’t done as a warning. She attacked Uncle Hauk because she couldn’t attack Keris. She was mortified by what your father had done, and she told Uncle Hauk that he better never breathe a word of it to anyone!”

As they continued fighting, Sumi let out a loud whistle. “Please, for the love of the gods, stop it! Both of you! Let him rest in peace without you two going at it like jacked-up snipies. If you need something to occupy yourselves with, go get our supplies and bring them here without killing each other.”

Thia untied Illyse and left.

Darice paused by Sumi’s side to stare down at his uncle. “Do you believe Thia?”

Why was he asking her?

“Does it matter what I think, Darice? I don’t know your mother, at all. I barely know your uncle. However, he seems to be extremely kind and devoted. I can’t imagine he would dishonor your mother, and I know he hasn’t done so with me.”

That seemed to calm him. Nodding, he ran after Thia.

Alone with Hauk, Sumi brushed her hand along the whiskers on his cheek. In the chaos of this morning, he hadn’t shaved. The added growth made him look wild and untamed.

Even more masculine.

Smiling at the proud image he made even while he slept, she wound one of his thin black braids around her finger to toy with it. Unlike the rest of him, his hair and lips were so incredibly soft. Warmth spread through her at the memory of his tongue licking her fingers while she’d fed him the antidote. The sensation of his fangs brushing against her skin as he took care not to bite her, even though he was barely alert.

You are an incredibly sexy beast, Dancer Hauk. And he deserved a lot better than a female who couldn’t love and appreciate him.

“Deserving’s got nothing to do with anything.” Her father’s angry voice echoed in her head. “You think I deserved a whore who ran off in the middle of the night, and left me with two daughters to raise? Show me the Life Manual where it says things are fair and we all get what we deserve!”

As a girl, she’d thought him a fool for that reasoning. Had virulently disagreed with him.

Too bad the old bastard had been more right than he was wrong. Her heart breaking, she stroked Dancer’s goatee with her thumb.

Sighing in his sleep, Dancer nuzzled his head against her hand. The unexpected sweetness touched her. Removing her poncho, she made a pillow for him.

He mumbled something in Andarion.

“Shh,” she whispered, trying to soothe him.

“Munatara.”

She knew he couldn’t be referring to her as such, but she allowed herself to pretend for a moment that she was the one he called out for in his stupor. What would it be like to be loved that way? To have someone, just once, she could turn to for comfort?

Someone who would call her the lady of his life, and not a whore or a bitch?

It was all she’d ever wanted. Someone who could actually love her and not hurt or insult her. An impossible dream that was now lost to her forever. Even if it wasn’t, Dancer would be the last person she could ever have a relationship with. Forgetting the fact that they were two different species, their siblings had married and parted as bitter enemies. And he would absolutely kill her if he ever learned that fact.

I should be terrified of you.

He could snap her in half or gut her without even raising his blood pressure.

Vicious memories of Avin surged. She still couldn’t believe how easily she’d found herself in such an abusive relationship, especially after the year she’d spent with Darnell, and his insults when she’d been in college. She’d always prided herself on being independent and strong. Yet both men had lured her in with sweet words and acts of kindness. Then something would hit them wrong and they’d turn violent without warning. They’d always apologize later and swear it would never happen again.

Like a fool, she’d believed every lie. In that, she wasn’t any different than Darice, who wanted to believe his mother, in spite of the truth that was right in front of his face. But it was easy to believe in lies when all you wanted was to be loved and accepted for who and what you were.

Sometimes it was good enough just to be loved for who they thought you were.

But that wasn’t real and she knew it.

“Sumi?”

She met Dancer’s suddenly lucid gaze. “I’m right here.”

He laid his hand over hers and moved it from his cheek to his lips so that he could place a tender kiss in her palm. Sighing, he slid his head into her lap and held her against him with one powerful arm.

“Are you awake, Dancer?”

His answer was a mumbled something she couldn’t make out.

“I guess not.” Sumi brushed the braids back from his face as she hummed to him one of the lullabies Omira used to sing to her. She lost herself to this one moment of pretend domesticity. The cave and everything else fell away as she studied Dancer’s chiseled features, and wondered what it would be like to make love to someone like him. Someone who still had a soul and a heart.

In the serene quiet of this moment, she allowed her fantasies to run wild as she imagined living with him and Kalea in a small apartment on some planet where no one would pay them any attention, and they could go about their boring lives in total happiness.

You’re such an idiot.

She was indeed. It had always been her greatest flaw. As Omira had so often mocked, she was a dreamer. Through and through.

But wanting it to be real, she leaned forward and rubbed her nose to his. Then guilt struck her hard as she remembered her mission and why she was here.

How can I ruin him?

How could she not?

Conflicted and angry at fate for dangling this in front of her when it knew she could never have such a life, she didn’t move until she heard the kids returning. Only then did she gently place Dancer’s head on her poncho, and put a few feet between them.

Thia came forward with a blanket while Sumi went to set up a few things for the night. As Dancer had pointed out, it wasn’t safe here, but they had no choice. They had to make do. At least until morning.

And if more men came for him, she’d make them wish they were facing Dancer and not her.

As they unpacked for camp, she learned why Hauk didn’t play the violin around anyone.

While digging through Hauk’s bag, Darice found the case, opened it, and curled his lip in supreme disgust. “What kind of human thing is this?”

Thia’s eyes narrowed angrily as she snatched the case from his grasp and closed it. “It’s mine. Leave it alone.” But when Thia met her gaze, she saw the truth. Thia knew it was Hauk’s and was trying to save her uncle any more of Darice’s contempt.

The girl placed it in her own pack while Darice continued to mumble in Andarion. “Shut up, Darice,” Thia said irritably. “I’m as fluent in Andarion as you are.”

That set them off into arguing with words that were meaningless to Sumi. But given the nuclear escalation of their gestures and pitch, she knew she needed to break them apart or there’d be blood on the cave walls soon.

“Thia? Can you gather more root and berries for me? We should make additional antidote for your uncle.”

Glaring at Darice, she nodded. “Sure, Sumi. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” She took Illyse with her.

Sumi paused to watch Darice return to digging through Hauk’s things. He reminded her of a little kid with a treasure chest. It was actually adorable to watch him try on Hauk’s gloves and see just how much more he needed to grow to be the same size.

For the record, it was a lot. Hauk was huge.

“I’m going to start a fire, outside. Okay?”

Darice responded with a nod.

“Let me know if your uncle wakes up and needs something.”

That got her a heated, furious glare.

Holding her hands up in surrender, she left them alone, even though a part of her wondered if it was the wisest thing to do. Darice held a lot of hatred and resentment toward his uncle.

Sumi sighed. Family was such a pain in the ass. A lifetime of hurt feelings and misunderstandings. Of two very different accounts of the same event that could result in all-out war between siblings and parents, even years later.

Still, it was something she craved with every part of herself. She’d always been envious of her friends who had families they could visit. Siblings and parents they got along with. She just couldn’t imagine such a thing.

Trying not to think about it, she started the fire, and when Thia returned, she showed the girl how to make the antitoxin.

As soon as it was finished, she returned to the cave to find the last thing she would have ever thought possible.

Dancer was awake. And nestled up against his chest, in his arms like a little puppy, was Darice. With his chin resting on top of his nephew’s head, Dancer was lacing one of his leather bracers onto the boy’s arm.

She froze as their low voices reached her.

“So what was my da like as a brother?”

“He was fine, Darice.”

“Just fine? Matarra says that he was the most honorable of all. That he always took care of his brothers and watched over you.”

Dancer snorted. “She wasn’t the one getting her head dunked into toilets by him.”

Darice turned to look up at Dancer. “What? Why would he do that?”

Dancer sighed heavily as he checked the laces to make sure they weren’t too tight on Darice’s arm. “Your father had a temper, Dare. And I seemed to ignite it often. Sometimes by doing nothing more than breathing in the same room with him.”

“Really?”

“Really. Fain has always said that I’m a particularly vexing and talented… hemorrhoid.”

Sumi bit back a laugh at his editing of what she was sure his brother actually called him.

“Mostly,” he continued, “because I had two older brothers who took turns bossing me every minute of every day. And because I don’t like being told what to do, I always had an issue with them thinking they were my parents.” Dancer touched the tip of Darice’s nose. “And like you, I’m quite vocal when I don’t like something.”

“Is that why you never want to spend time with me? Why you never come to any of my games when I ask you to?”

Sumi’s throat tightened at the pain in Darice’s voice as he asked that question.

His jaw slack, Dancer lifted his head to stare down at his nephew. “I never miss your games, Dare.”

Curling his lip, Darice started to rise, but Dancer held him in place. “You’re a liar! Let go of me!”

With a fierce grimace, Dancer refused. He forced Darice back and held him with one arm while he turned on the small PD on his wrist. He swiped the screen with his finger. “See for yourself. I was even there at your last match when you scored the winning goal in overtime.”

Darice went perfectly still as he saw what must be a photo of him during the game. His lips trembling, he used his index finger to skim through the pictures on Dancer’s module. “I don’t understand. If you were there, why have you never come to see me after the games?”

“Because I’m not your father and I’ve never been in the Andarion military. Your mother said it would shame you for your friends and their fathers to see me there. So I always go when you play and then leave afterward before any of them see me.”

Sumi choked at the pain in his voice.

His brow furrowed, Darice continued to flick through the photos. “You were at my graduation?”

“I’ve always been there for you, Dare. And I always will be. Any time you need me, all you have to do is call.”

Tears glistened in Darice’s eyes as he tried to digest what Dancer showed and told him, against the lies his mother must have filled him with. “Why don’t you ever take me for weekends?”

“Whenever I go to pick you up, you’re always busy with school, games, practice, and your friends. Your mother says that it’s better for your growth that you stay with her, especially given the shame and embarrassment I would bring to you should any of them see me with you. It’s why I’ve only been allowed to train you for Endurance climbing every few months or so.”

Darice swallowed hard as he clutched at his uncle’s arm that held the module that catalogued how much Dancer loved him. “You don’t shame or embarrass me, Dancer.”

“That’s not what you’ve said in the past. I thought I was doing what you wanted… what was best for you, by leaving you with your mother and staying in the background.”

His gaze troubled and fretting, Darice fell silent as he turned off the module then laid his head on Dancer’s biceps.

Sumi moved forward, expecting Darice to say something snotty to her. Or jump up indignantly from Dancer’s arms. Instead, he merely watched her approach them from where he lay cradled.

“How are you feeling?”

Dancer licked his lips. “Wrung out. You?”

“I’m fine.” She knelt beside them and felt his forehead with the back of her hand. “Your fever’s not as bad.” Then she handed him the small cup. “It’s more of the antidote.”

He wrinkled his nose at the smell, but said nothing before he dutifully drank it. “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome.” She took the cup back then smiled at Darice. “I’m making more salad for your dinner.”

Squeezing his eyes shut, he twisted his face into an expression of supreme disgust. “I don’t like eating plants.”

She widened her smile. “And that’s why I made it for you.”

Dancer laughed. “Now you know what it’s like to have a sibling, Dare. They all treat you that way. The minute they know you don’t like something, they’re honor bound to torture you with it. For eternity.”

“Then I’m glad I’m currently an only child.” He closed his eyes again and sighed contentedly.

Dancer caught her hand before she moved away. “What can I do for you?”

Sumi hesitated, wondering if he even realized how he phrased things. He never thought of himself first. Rather, he put everyone’s needs above his own. “Rest. Get better for me.”

“I feel useless lying here. I should be —”

“You should be resting,” she repeated firmly. Then she dropped her gaze to Darice. “Plus, I think he needs some uninterrupted guy time.”

Only then did Dancer nod. “If you need anything, let me know.”

“Fair enough.” Sumi brushed a stray piece of hair back from Darice’s cheek before she stood and left them alone.

As she reached the opening, she heard Darice’s faint voice. “Are all humans like her, Dancer?”

“How do you mean?”

“Kind and gentle. Caring.”

“Sadly, no. Especially not to Andarions. She’s very different from most of her kind.”

“Ah… Is that why you like her?”

“No. It’s why I treasure her. Now, shush and give me peace from your questions for a while.”

Those words made her heart swell with an inexplicable joy. Dancer treasured her. Was it even possible?

“Are you okay?”

She looked up at Thia’s question as she neared the fire. “Fine. Why?”

Thia shrugged. “You have a strange, weepy look on your face.”

She set the cup down and checked their dinner. “Do I?”

“Yeah, you kind of look like I do whenever I get a new boyfriend.”

Sumi arched her brow at that offhand comment. “How many boyfriends have you had?”

“A ton. I cycle through them faster than socks.”

“Really?”

Thia nodded as she fed Illyse. “Not entirely my fault. First, they get pissy that I don’t sleep with them within fifteen minutes of meeting them. Then when they find out why, i.e., my father, the psycho-killer let’s-gut-people-for-fun, really is an assassin and bigger than most shuttles, and has not one, but five major armies at his command, they hit the door screaming.”

“I can see where that might be unnerving.”

Thia checked the cooking stew. “Did your father ever have issue with your choice of boyfriends?”

“Not really. From the time I turned fifteen, my father assumed I was a slut, so he didn’t care who I dated. Best I ever got out of him was that he better not find us naked in his bed.”

“I’m sorry, Sumi.”

“Nothing to be sorry about. It is what it is.”

To her complete shock, Thia hugged her. “I think you’re great.”

“I think you’re great, too.” Sumi gave the girl a strong squeeze before she released her and finished making their dinner.

That night, she took sentry duty, and it gave her a whole new appreciation for Dancer’s stamina.

Yawning, she stretched then jogged in place, trying to stay alert.

“You look like an adorable little girl when you do that.”

She jerked around with a gasp to find Dancer standing behind her. “Dear gods, man, make a sound when you move!”

“Not a man,” he reminded her simply.

She took a deep breath to steady her nerves. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to insult you. I just don’t understand how someone so huge is so silent. It’s not natural.”

He gave her a charming, lopsided grin. “Grow up with two parents who have Andarion hearing and a nasty temper, and you’ll learn to be silent, too.”

“I guess so,” she said with a laugh. “Get caught much?”

“Never. But I was often sacrificed.”

“Meaning?”

“Whenever they got caught, my brothers threw me to the parental units and ran for cover, leaving me behind to face them. Alone. They were both selfish bastards that way.”

She cringed at what had to be less-than-pleasant memories for him. “Sorry.”

Dancer shrugged nonchalantly. “Curse of being the youngest. I never could get away in time. But it gave me a lot of good survival skills. And a really tough ass. For that, I’m eternally grateful.” He took the rifle from her shoulder. “You should go rest.”

“I’m not the one who was poisoned,” she reminded him.

“That wasn’t poisoned. Trust me. I’ve eaten Jayne’s cooking. It’s far deadlier.”

He was so incredibly tempting. More so in that he never really insulted anyone. Not even Dariana. Rather, he had a teasing, fun-loving way of looking at others’ shortcomings and actions.

“I still don’t feel right leaving you to guard us after what you’ve been through, and what you’ve already done for us.”

“Then sit with me and keep me company.” He sank down in front of the small outcropping of rocks so that he could lean against them.

The sight of him there, like that… was more than a mere woman could turn away from. She sat down beside him and made sure to keep a little distance between them.

Dancer gave her a chiding stare. “I don’t bite, Sumi.”

“I know.” She was more afraid she might start nibbling on some of that lush tawny skin. Especially his jaw. It was the sexiest thing she’d ever seen on any male.

Against her better judgment, she leaned into his arms and let him hold her like he’d done Darice earlier. He rested his chin on the top of her head as his warmth enveloped her. As promised, he kept his hands to himself while they sat there, listening to the quiet desert breeze.

Hauk smiled as he felt Sumi fall asleep in a matter of heartbeats. Only then did he adjust her weight slightly so that she wasn’t pressing so much on the part of him that was most desperate for her. His senses light, he brushed his face against the softest hair he’d ever felt and inhaled her unique scent.

She was the sweetest heaven.

And the most torturous hell.

As he held her, he was rock hard and aching for a taste of her soft, voluptuous body. His back and side throbbed, but he welcomed the distraction from the heavy need in his groin that he could do nothing about.

Closing his eyes, he let her scent wash over him as stupid fantasies tormented him with things he knew he couldn’t have.

Fantasies of her touching him that made no sense. He was an Andarion, fully pledged. She was a human League assassin. Both of them were forbidden to have relations with anyone. Both were hunted by enemies and had a death sentence hanging over them.

Yet as he felt her breath on his skin, none of that mattered. All he wanted was to offer himself to her.

To have her claim him as her mate before everyone. Just once he wanted to know what it was like to be inside a female’s body, and have her hold him while they made love.

Every year since he’d turned nineteen, he’d gone to Dariana in his ancestral temple, in full faith and before his family and hers, for unification. And every year, she’d brutally denied him in front of them all. As if he was defective or unworthy of her.

In the beginning, he’d been hopeful that she’d find some way to forgive him for what had happened to Keris. That in time, she might accept his troth. But that hope had died somewhere in his midtwenties when it became crystal clear that she had no intention of ever seeing his pledge met. Rather, she took a perverse pleasure whenever she opened up his back before their families, and abandoned him to their ridicule and scorn.

When he’d turned thirty, he’d gone to his mother on the eve of another humiliation, and had begged her to negotiate a rare severance with Dariana.

She’d answered his request with the back of her hand. “How dare you shame me with such! You’re a War Hauk. You will do your duty and you will stand before her like the proud Andarion warrior you’re supposed to be, not some sniveling cockless coward! Besides, there is no one else who will have you. Look in a mirror. You’re deformed and revolting. You should be grateful that she hasn’t already broken pledge with you. At least this way, we can pretend you have some value and desirability.”

And as Dariana had done every year before that, when the priest had asked if she found him acceptable for her lineage, she’d sliced open his back and walked out the door. It was the most brutal way for an Andarion female to deny her lineage to a male.

Worse, it’d become a sick sort of ritual for him. One that made him more furious every time he was forced to endure it.

Every year Dariana denied him, he saw more of his mother’s love for him die. She could barely stand to look at him now. She blamed him fully for the shame he brought to their family.

In his heart, he knew Sumi would never do that to him. She would be honorable enough to slit his throat and end his hell. A death sentence for them both. Not force him to undergo public humiliation, year after year.

He took her tiny hand into his and smiled. Of course, she’d need a knife to hurt him. Her delicate hands could never rip open his back, or his throat.

And before he could stop himself, he placed her hand on his cheek and nuzzled it. He didn’t understand how she’d come to mean so much to him so quickly. He wasn’t a trusting soul. Nor did he make friends easily. He expected the worst from others, and seldom was he disappointed.

Yet this tiny assassin had found a place in his heart where very few dwelled. And instead of cutting her out of it, he was allowing her to burrow in even deeper.

What the hell is wrong with me?

Dariana was right. He was defective. He had to be to even think the thoughts that were in his head.

No good could ever come of a relationship with her. Andarions and humans didn’t mix. They never had.

And sadly, no matter how much he might want otherwise, they never would. Humans weren’t welcome in his world and Andarions were voraciously hated everywhere they went outside of their own territories.

When this was over, he’d have to leave Sumi and do his due diligence. Tie his blood to a bitch who hated him. If he was half the Andarion Fain was, he’d say fuck it and be done with all of them.

But he was the last of his mother’s sons. If he walked away from his lineage, it would destroy her. She would be honor bound to kill herself. It was acceptable for one son to leave their lineage.

Not two.

While his mother no longer cared much for him, she cared about her lineage and honor. He couldn’t buy his happiness for such a cost. The one thing he’d learned in his life was that no one could build a better future over the corpses of others. Better he should suffer for eternity than save himself at the expense of his family.

It was the Andarion way.

And he was an Andarion War Hauk.

It was his duty to serve his family and people. To honor them no matter the personal sacrifice.

But in the back of his mind was an image of Sumi in his family paint. And a burning in his gut to have a female, just once, accept him as mate-worthy and not look at him as if he was a total piece of shit.