Born of Betrayal (17 page)

Yeah …

It hadn't worked out quite the way Venik had planned. Never underestimate a Hauk's survival instinct, or the need to be the burr up the ass of anyone out to do him or her harm.

There was a reason Fain's family was legendary.

Fain turned and shot a blast at the League fighters as they closed rank around him. They had no idea what they were facing. They thought this was a divided crew.

Not a single living organism.

He skidded past them and headed back toward Tavali-controlled space. But it wasn't until he banked around the southern moon of Nebyla III that he realized something.

There were no Tavali reinforcements here. No patrols, and there should have been at least one.

He was flying dark.

Minsid hell. This had been a setup! Whoever had been transmitting those facts about The Sentella had done this to get Galene out here to contact them. They knew she'd leave the station to make a solo report to the Command where there would be no risk of her being overheard.

And like a fool, he'd headed straight into this trap.

Something proven as more League forces dropped in around him. They shouldn't have been here without a massive Tavali counterstrike. This entire sector should have been secured and locked down by Venik's troops. Only someone high up in their Nation could have pulled Tavali patrols back and cleared it for The League.

“Surrender your ship, Hauk. There's no need in dying today.” The fact they knew his name further confirmed his suspicions.

He laughed at the order. “Haven't you heard? War Hauks don't surrender,
giakon
. We take our enemies with us to the grave.” He dove under the cruiser.

And straight into a huge swarm of fighters.

Fain skimmed two and rammed a third. One of his engines sparked, causing his nose to bleed and his leg to go numb from the impact. Ignoring it, he twisted and dodged as another group came up on the side and from behind.

He turned to fire on them, then stopped.

For a full second, he couldn't breathe as he saw Chayden, Morra, Qory, and Talyn leading in a rescue team.

Galene finally made a noise of protest as she heard Talyn calling orders over his comm. “Oh good God, is that my embryo?”

Fain laughed at her term for her gargantuan son. “Yes, it is.”

“I'm going to kill him!”

Fain fell back and let the others take over. Normally, he'd have stayed in the thick of it, but he wasn't supposed to be engaged in solo battle with a
witherwin
onboard. He could get into all kinds of trouble for this.

Even lose his ship and Canting over it.

And since there were Tavali in the mix, the best thing was to back off and disengage himself from the ship before someone realized he was flying Rogue.

As if Chayden suspected what was going on, he flew in to provide temporary cover and give Fain time to pull out from the neural connection. “Psycho Bunny to Blister, why don't you take your precious cargo back to camp and let the big boys finish cleaning house for you?”

Galene arched a brow. “Psycho Bunny?”

Fain snorted. “I have no idea why they call him that. I'm told he killed the last human who asked.”

The lights on his console sparked before the hailing alarm went off.

Galene looked about nervously. “What's that?”

“Your embryo requesting landing clearance on my ship.” Fain set the sequence for Talyn and Gavarian to enter the
Storm Dancer
's hangar bay, then freed himself from the psilinks so that he could manually control his ship.

The moment his seat righted and the connection severed, pain split his head in two. Agony sent him to the floor with a major nosebleed.

“Fain?” Galene rushed to his side to check on him.

He couldn't speak as he struggled to breathe. Damn, it hurt. That being said, he'd take the pain to feel her hands on his body as she rubbed his back to comfort him. To see the concern in her pale eyes as worry knitted her brow.

How sick was that?

“I'll be all right, Stormy.”

She brushed her hand across his cheek. “You don't look all right. Are you sick?”

“I pulled out too fast. It happens whenever I sever the tie without the right sequence.” He pushed himself to his feet. Honestly, he was shaky and weak. Sick to his stomach. Wiping at his brow, he was just getting his bearings when Talyn literally sprang through the flight deck door, threw his helm to the ground, and seized his mother in a fierce hug.

Talyn held her with her feet dangling well above the floor. “Are you okay?”

“You're crushing me.”

“Are you okay?” Talyn repeated.

“I'm fine, but for the fact I can't breathe,
tana
.”

Only then did Talyn loosen his hold. He took a step for Fain.

Galene grabbed him. “Don't.”

“He endangered you. I think that requires a little limping on his part.”

She shook her head. “I don't want to hear it from the likes of you, given how many years you've shaved off my life. Now behave.”

The hostility in Talyn's eyes said that they'd be having words later.

Fain sighed heavily. Talyn was never going to accept him as his father.

Whatever. Familial scorn was what he'd been bred on. Nothing new there. He only wished it didn't hurt so much to see it on Talyn's face.

Ignoring it as best he could, Fain took manual control of the ship and headed them back to base while the others stayed behind to battle their enemies.

“Did you get a message through before you were attacked?” Gavarian asked as he moved to stand by Fain's side.

Fain nodded. “Barely. Why?”

“I don't know. Before we left, I heard something weird with The Tavali that I didn't understand.”

“What?”

“Just another tail end of a transmission that said they needed to strip and bury Slag-wart's Canting. Any idea what they're talking about?”

“Yeah. It means to take my Tavali standing and remove me from citizenship.”

Gavarian scowled. “Slag-wart is
you
?”

A tic started in his jaw as Fain gave a subtle nod. The term was one that instantly launched him to a level of violence he didn't often reach without Dancer or Darice being around and lipping off at him. If he knew who'd used it, he'd love to have their throat in his fist. “‘Slag' is The Tavali term for a conscripted or enslaved member of a bound crew.”

Or a whore.

“Then how do you know they meant you?”

How he wished he didn't. Unfortunately, there wasn't anyone else it could be. “Slag-wart is Venik's pet name for me, i.e., I'm the blister on his ass.”

Gavarian arched a brow at the bitterness Fain couldn't keep out of his tone. “Then why do you fly for him?”

Acerbic memories surged as he tried to keep them buried in a place where they wouldn't hurt so much. An impossible task, really, but Fain was nothing if not a glutton for foolish endeavors.

“I wasn't given a choice.” He wiped at the blood that continued to run from his nose. “When I was taken, Venik embedded a kill switch in my brain. One push and my head explodes like a melon. Either I do what he says, or I die.”

Which, in effect, made him Venik's whore.

Galene gasped as those words horrified her. “Are you serious?”

The dead earnestness in his pale eyes chilled her. “Last thing I'd ever joke about.”

She couldn't believe his blasé tone. “Who knows about this?”

He cast his gaze around the three of them. “You three, Venik, the surgeon who set it, and Syn, who tried once to burn or dig it out.”

“And he couldn't?”

Fain shook his head at her question. “Had he gotten to it within a few days of the implantation, he might have been able to extract it. But it grew into my brain fast. Extracting it or burning it out now would kill me instantly.”

So he was still enslaved to Venik, with no real freedom. That's what Jayne had hinted at when she'd said Fain's life hadn't been a picnic, either.

What else was he hiding?

“Why would Venik do that to you?” Talyn asked.

Fain let out an exasperated breath before he answered. “He thinks it's hilarious to own a member of the famed War Hauk lineage as his personal pet.” He met Galene's gaze and the torment behind that blank expression made her stomach ache for him. “It seems Keris was right, after all. My only purpose in life is to serve as an attack dog.”

Galene winced at his dry tone as those words took her back in time to when Fain had been accepted into the North Eris Medical Academy. He'd been so excited when their counselor had given him the news at school. Less than one percent of applicants were ever accepted into their prestigious program. It was the hardest medical school in the entire Nine Worlds to get into. And unlike her, Fain had done it without a prestigious medical family background to rely on.

He'd done it on his own, with no help from anyone. Just like Talyn's Felicia.

Ecstatic that his hard work and extra hours after school had paid off, Fain had run all the way home to tell his parents the incredible news.

When Galene had called him later, his happiness had vanished completely. He'd worn that carefully guarded, jaw-locked expression he always held around his parents, grandparents, and older brother.

“What's wrong?”

“Nothing.”

His curtness had wounded her. “So what did your parents say about your acceptance letter? My father is thrilled to have—”

“I'm not going to med school with you, Galene.”

“What? Why?”

“War Hauks aren't doctors. It was a stupid thought.”

She'd scowled at him over the link. “I don't understand. You worked so hard to get in. You took all those advanced classes.… It's what you wanted to do. All you ever wanted to be.”

Keris's bitter laughter had echoed in the background. “Don't be ridiculous. They only let him in so that they could brag about having a War Hauk on their attendance roll. Fain's an idiot. Only thing he's ever been good at is getting his ass kicked and being an attack dog. Last thing any Andarion wants is something as dumb as him treating them when they need a real doctor.”

Fain's eyes had been as dead then as they were now while he stared at her. “My father signed me up for my obligatory service this afternoon. I'll be entering the military this fall.”

Galene saw that hurt boy now in the fierce male before her. Still defiant in the face of those out to own him and force him into a life he'd never had any say in.

Closing the distance between them, she rested her chin on his shoulder and placed her hand at his hip. “You are not a dog, Fain.”

Fain savored those words as much as he savored the way she held him.

Like she used to.

For a moment, he wasn't the cybernetic animal Venik and the others had turned him into. He felt Andarion again. Like he had control of his future.

Strange how out of all the beings in his life who'd sought to own and control him, the only one he'd ever wanted to give himself over to was her.

And she was the only one who'd refused to ever control him.

Not wanting to think about that, he flew them back to the station, where an entire squad of Hadean Corps soldiers waited for their arrival. Unfortunately, by the time he saw them, the comptrollers had possession of his ship and everything was locked down to drag him into the bay.

Bloody minsid hell …

Fain ground his teeth at what that meant for him.

Talyn unbuckled himself and moved to stand by his side to stare out at the armed enforcers. “What's that about?”

Shit to come.

“They're Hadean Corps. Tavali enforcement.”

“Yeah?” Talyn prompted.

Fain didn't say anything more as he shut down his engines and opened the hatch. “Don't worry. It has nothing to do with you or your mother.” His stomach cramped with anger, he headed down the ramp.

Sure enough, the captain of the Corps came forward.

“Commander Hauk, you're being remanded into custody, pending investigation and hearing.”

Galene gasped. She rushed toward them. “What's the meaning of this?”

The captain cuffed Fain's hands behind his back. “It's Tavali business.”

“Fain?”

He met her gaze and offered her a teasing grin. “Just answer their questions honestly,
keramia
.”

Galene stood in stunned shock as they hauled Fain away and he didn't protest.

Kareem Venik came forward to greet her. “Commander? Would you mind answering a few questions?”

Talyn stepped between them. “She doesn't go anywhere without her escort.”

Kareem nodded. “Fair enough. Please, follow me.”

Galene trailed after Kareem, while Gavarian and Talyn provided a tight shadow to her. With every step they took toward the lockup center for the station, her fear for Fain tripled. “What's all this about? Why did they arrest Commander Hauk?”

“I'm not at liberty to discuss that with witherwins.”

“Witherwins?”

“Non-Tavali.” Kareem paused at an office and opened the door. He allowed them to enter first. By the expression on his face, she could tell he, too, was bothered by what was happening.

So she decided to try a more motherly approach. “Kareem? I know you consider Fain family. Please … I don't want to see him hurt or in trouble. What can I do to help?”

He glanced nervously toward a corner. The furtive gaze made her wonder if they were being watched or recorded. “If you don't mind, Commander, I'll ask the questions.” He gestured for her to have a seat.

She sat down as Talyn and Gavarian took positions behind her. She had to give Kareem credit that their stern glowers didn't send him fleeing. Lesser creatures would have lost their nerve. Or at the very least, control of their bladders. Especially given the scornful sneer on Talyn's face that promised a sound beating should the wrong word fall from the Tavali's lips.