Born of Fury

CHAPTER 13

When Dancer started back for the cave where the kids were hiding, Sumi saw his limp.

“Are you hit?”

“It’s fine.”

“Dancer!” She pulled him to a stop.

Leaning down, he pressed his forehead to hers. It was an Andarion expression of affection. One made even more tender when he laid his fingers against her cheek. “I am fine, Sumi. Now that I know I’m tagged, I’m a threat to all of you. I need you to get the kids and walk to Aksel’s base. Immediately.”

Oh yeah, right. Was he out of his mind?

“What if you’re hurt worse? What if the poison —”

“If you worry about every what if that might befall you, your fears will paralyze you. I assure you, I’ve been through much worse than this.”

“Alone?”

“Alone.” Stepping back, he rubbed her on the arm. “Now go. Take Illyse with you. I need the three of you safe to do what I must. Will you do that for me?”

Every instinct she had screamed out against his wishes. Yeah, okay, while she had the physical skills and expertise, she mentally sucked at being an assassin. She always had. Ruthless cruelty had never been part of her personality. She’d killed the first time for self-defense only. And while the Overseer’s court had deemed it overkill, it hadn’t been. She’d been the one battered. And Avin had been the one to go for her father’s old blaster first.

Terrified of his intent, she’d hit him with a lamp, bit his hand, and taken the blaster from him. Had he backed off, she would never have fired it. She’d told him to leave. Begged him to, point of fact.

Curling his lip, he’d laughed at her and her fear. “I know you’re not going to pull that trigger. But bitch, when I get it from you, I promise you, I will. Then I won’t have to worry about you or that bastard you’re carrying holding me back from my dreams.”

When he’d lunged at her, Sumi had closed her eyes and let the blast fly. Honestly, she hadn’t meant to kill him. She’d never shot a blaster before. Her hands shaking, she’d aimed for his shoulder and blasted his head instead.

To this day, she couldn’t get the sight of him lying dead in her flat out of her mind. But that was nothing compared to the kills The League had forced her to make after that.

Every time she’d taken a life, she’d lost more of her soul.

She wasn’t like the ones Dancer ran with who didn’t flinch at death. She couldn’t stand it. And the last thing she wanted was to leave Dancer wounded and on his own.

Hauk paused as he saw in her hazel green eyes her reticence to desert him. Her concern for him made his heart ache. No one had ever hesitated to put him in harm’s way before. And for the first time in his life, he was beginning to understand his friends and their devotion to their spouses. Why they were so willing to risk everything to make them happy.

That rancid fear in the gut of returning to an existence where you lived without their smiles lighting up the innocuous moments that made up any given day…

He totally understood Nykyrian’s words to him before he’d left for this hell-bent quest. Why his friend preferred the mad chaos of his current life over the peace in his past.

Gods, how he wanted that with her.

But it could never be.

“I won’t be harmed, Sumi. I promise.”

She narrowed her eyes on him. “Don’t make me have to come back here and kick your hulking ass. I am a trained assassin, you know?”

He smiled at her anger. She was a fierce little mouse, indeed. “I know.”

When he started away, she grabbed his shirt and pulled him back toward her. He thought they were under attack again, until she buried her hand in his braids and led his lips to hers.

Fire erupted through his entire body as he tasted her warmth for the first time, and her tongue teased his. His head spun at the sweetest tenderness he’d ever known. Growling in the back of his throat, he deepened the kiss, taking great care not to hurt her with his fangs or strength. His head swam with pleasure that left him ragged and wanting before her. Exposed.

Completely pliant.

Sumi trembled as he enveloped her in his arms and pressed her fully against his hard body. Her breasts were flush to his chest. She ran her hands over his hard, sculpted ribs to his muscular back, taking care not to brush against his wound. He was absolutely humongous. Harder than steel. Fierce. And hotter than hell. For a male who’d never been kissed before, he was incredible at it.

His breathing ragged, he nipped at her lips with his fangs before he finally pulled back to stare down at her. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” But not as sorry as he’d be should Dariana ever find out. Guilt stabbed her hard. Please don’t get hurt because of me. Horrified over what she might have done to him, she placed her hand over his lips. “Please tell me you won’t be harmed for this.”

Hauk couldn’t answer that without lying. As part of their unification, he would be asked if he’d ever tasted another female during his pledge time. He’d be honor bound and under oath to tell the truth.

Dariana would have a fit when she learned of it. There was no telling what part of his body she’d demand as restitution.

But there was nothing to be done to correct this. He couldn’t change it. As with all things, all he could do was deal with the repercussions when they came for him.

Hauk brushed his thumb over Sumi’s lips and winked at her. “Don’t worry, mia.” Reluctantly, he pulled her arms from around his bare skin and stepped out of them.

Yet what he really wanted to do was carry her into a secluded corner and taste more of her. To lose himself in the warmth of her body until he was too sore to continue on.

Damn assassins. When he got his hands on more of them, they would feel the full weight of his displeasure over having to separate from his family and Sumi.

“We need to hurry before more are sent.”

She nodded. “Any idea who’s behind this?”

He laughed at her question as he gathered more weapons and ammunition from the bodies. “I’m on the hit list for more than two dozen nations. Then there’s all the assholes who hate me. That list is endless.”

Sumi could imagine, given how lethal he could be. Still, the list might give them some idea as to who would pay this kind of money for his life. “Who’s at the top of it?”

“Your boss. Kyr Zemin. Psycho cyclops bastard. You can’t really miss him in a crowd.”

She ignored his acerbic description. “Why is he your number one? What did you do?”

Squinting up at her, he tucked the weapons into a pack. “Showed him multiple times that in a fight between an Andarion and a Phrixian, the Andarion always wins.”

She arched her brow at that. Dancer wasn’t bragging. He’d said it very matter-of-factly. And it spoke a lot for his skill level. She’d seen the commander spar enough to know that even with no depth perception and a serious handicap on that eye, he was still a lethal opponent. She could only imagine how much more lethal he’d been without his current physical limitations. “Personal grudge?”

“Yeah. He was my League ATA, and he took offense to the number of times I face-planted him on the mat during training. Then once I befriended Mari, it became all-out war.”

Her scowl deepened at that. “Why?”

“Mari’s his little brother. Whenever Kyr feels the need to lip off about Mari’s lifestyle, I’m possessed by the need to beat his ass for it.”

That explained a lot.

However, she pointed to the bodies around them and spoke the most obvious fact. “But these aren’t League assassins.”

“Which puts me back to my overwhelming list of enemies.”

“And the first runner-up is?”

“Jullien eton Anatole.”

She choked on the last name she’d expected to come out of his mouth. “The Andarion prince and heir?”

“Was. He’s still royal, but he’s been removed from the line of succession and direct lineage.”

“Because of you?”

He rose slowly and in an almost bashful, boyish gesture rubbed at his cheek. “I helped a little.”

“Sheez, Dancer,” she breathed, “you do not pick your enemies wisely, do you?”

“What can I say? Sometimes you have to put your foot down. Sometimes you have to put it up their asses.”

She rolled her eyes at his dry tone.

Darice and Thia poked their heads around the rocks near their cave.

“Dancer? You alive?” Darice called.

Unamused, Hauk stared at him. “No. Much like your common sense, I’m upright and dead.”

Sumi shook her head as she tucked surplus ammo into her belt. “I swear you have an advanced degree in sarcasm.”

He actually laughed at that while he latched his shirt shut before the kids saw it open.

When they joined them, he handed his primary blaster to Sumi and his secondary to Thia, who scowled up at him.

Hauk cupped her cheek in his massive paw of a hand. “They have me tagged and are coming for me, kisa. I need you to lead Sumi and Darice to Aksel’s base and call your father. Can you do that?”

Tears welled in her eyes, but to her credit, Thia blinked them away. “How are you tagged?”

“It’s embedded in his spine.”

Thia winced then nodded. “I will get the whole army here for you, Uncle.”

He kissed her brow. “And I will keep them away from you. Tell Fain that I’ll be at Canyon Point. He’ll know where that is.”

Darice stepped forward. “I will come with you.”

Hauk pulled him into a tight hug. “You’re not a warrior yet, mi tana. And I need you to guard the taras for me. Since the dawn of our civilization, War Hauks have protected the eton Anatoles. Respect our princess. Let no harm come to her, especially not the poison that drips from your tongue.”

Darice made a rude sound before his gaze turned deadly serious. “Take care, Dancer.”

“And you.” He went to retrieve the packs for them.

Sumi frowned as he only took the haul bag and a small portion of water for himself. “You’ll need more than that.”

He flashed a fanged grin at her. “I’ll be fine. Scrounging supplies is what I do best.” He jerked his chin. “Now go. All of you.”

Thia hugged him.

By the way he braced himself, Sumi realized that Thia must be pressing on his wounds. But he didn’t say a word.

As they started walking forward, she turned back to say one last good-bye.

Dancer had already vanished into the desert.

“He’ll be all right,” Thia assured her. “My father has always said there’s no one he’d rather have at his back than Uncle Hauk. And coming from my dad, that’s the highest endorsement and compliment.”

“Tactical assault monkey,” Sumi breathed, more to remind herself of his fighting skill than them.

Thia nodded before she picked up speed. “All right, soldiers. Double time. We have to get help, and fast.”

Hauk had been walking for hours. His side was absolutely killing him. But for wanting to put as much distance between himself and his family as possible, he’d have sat down and let the bastards come for a fight. It’d never been in his nature to dodge any battle. Busting heads was his favorite pastime.

But his family came first.

He opened a bottle of water and sipped at it. Then he took a moment to rummage through the electronics he’d scavenged from the assassins. If he could rig a strong enough booster, he might be able to reach The Sentella.

Or make a jammer to block the transmitter in his back.

As he worked on it, he tried to figure out when and how he’d been implanted. It defied logic. No one ever touched him that intimately.

No one except Sumi.

It wasn’t her, dumbass. He’d have known had she done it. Not to mention, she hadn’t touched his back until after the first group had attacked.

Mark one suspect off the list. Only a million and two more to go.

Hauk wiped at the sweat on his brow as he continued mulling over his infinite number of enemies. How long had the device been there? Honestly, he might have had it for years.

At home, assassination attempts were so common that he was only surprised when he went a week without someone trying to end him. It was just par for his life.

He raked his hand down his pants before he opened the back of a radio and started rewiring it.

“Why are you messing with those stupid electronics again, Dancer? You should be training and building your muscle mass. That shit won’t ever help you as much as fighting strength.”

Shaking his head to clear it, he tried to get Keris’s disdainful voice out of his mind. There was still enough of the poison in his system that it was playing havoc with his senses.

And he was mad as hell at himself about that. He should have known to check for poison after he’d been stabbed. It was a common practice for the Partinie to taint their blades. Bastards were callous that way.

Andarions viewed such tactics as cheating and cowardly, which was why he hadn’t thought about it. If you weren’t strong enough to kill with your hands or standard weapons, then you should perish with honor. That was how his people lived and died.

But Partinie, for all their knife skills, were basic cowards. They wanted easy kills they didn’t have to work for.

Hauk opened his shirt to check his throbbing side. The blisters where he’d cauterized the front wound had opened and were festering from his sweat. Curling his lip at the sight, he tore open an antiseptic pack to clean it.

Something rustled to the north of his position.

He dropped his hand to the blaster he’d confiscated from one of the assassins. A Rit weapon, it had a larger blast radius than anything except his modified Andarion PX8s. Damn, he missed his blasters. A gift from Darling years ago, they were his most cherished belongings. He’d even named them. The fact he let Thia and Sumi take them said it all about his feelings toward the females.

He’d never had those weapons out of his hands before. Death had come quickly to anyone dumb enough to try to take them from him.

Cocking his head, he listened. Someone was crawling on the ground not that far away.

Hauk rose to his feet and lowered his head to scan the area around him. Then he heard it. The distant whine of an airbee engine. Lightweight airbikes, they were the choice for this terrain.

Walking slowly, he headed for a small copse of desert trees to use for cover while he mentally ran through all the weapons he’d kept. For once, he wished he’d taken explosives training from Darling. His friend had begged him countless times to do it. But after what had happened with Keris, Hauk had no use for anything that could blow up in his face and rain debris down around him. All he knew how to do was build the switches and timers. He’d never wanted anything to do with the explosive minerals or compounds themselves.

But that was okay.

He could kill well enough without it. At least that was the thought until he heard more engines approaching.

And more.

Shit. Were they planning a festival? The annual Hunt Hauk’s Head Event? Exactly how many were coming to this little soiree? It sounded like an army mobilizing. Who the hell hates me this much?

Okay, a lot of beings. Still… he would be impressed by their determination and number if it wasn’t his life they were here to claim. Damn.

Had Kyr finally figured out he was one of the prison raiders?

The prime commander was the only one he could think of who bore this amount of animosity toward him.

If Kyr had no proof that Hauk was part of The Sentella, but suspected Hauk’s ties… he might resort to this. Maybe.

Too bad he didn’t have a working link to check on it.

No, he chided at himself. It can’t be Kyr. If Kyr put out a contract of this magnitude, even a civ one, one of their spies would have intelled it and Nyk and the others would have beelined here to pick up the kids.

This was much more covert. It had to come from someone who knew of his illegal allies and ties. Someone who didn’t dare let anyone know he had assassins after him.

Dariana…

As Hauk positioned himself to watch his pursuers regroup to come after him, he paused to let that possibility play through his mind.

No. He was being stupidly paranoid. She wouldn’t do that. Well, she might do that if he were here alone, but not with Darice in his company. No matter how much she might hate him and not want to marry him or release him, she wouldn’t dare endanger her son.

Yet she had been close enough to implant him.

Many times.

Then again, so had countless others he’d fought with and against. For all he knew, it was the bar brawl he’d been in a couple of weeks back. He, Chayden, Ryn, and Fain tended to get rowdy whenever they drank. Fights were their stock-in-trade, especially when they were in some of their “finer” pubs.

Yeah, but these guys after him were seriously motivated. He watched in awe as they unloaded a small ion cannon and headed for his position.

Time to move.

Dropping gear weight, he only kept what he had to. They launched two probes to set eyes on his location. He stood up and batted the first one to reach him with the stock of Sumi’s rifle. The other probe shot a laser. He barely ducked it before he returned fire and sent it to the ground.

Not that it mattered. He was now firmly in their sights. No sooner had that thought entered his mind than all hell erupted around him as they rained down everything they had.