As for human women, they'd never appealed to him, especially since their reactions to his presence made the Andarion females seem kind. Not until this one. He couldn't explain it or understand it, especially given how much she reminded him of Fain's wife.
A woman he'd vowed to kill should their paths ever cross again.
And yet there was no denying what he felt anytime he caught the sweet floral scent of Sumi's hair. All he wanted was to bury his face in those pale strands and breathe her in.
To feel her body pressed against his. Skin to skin.
Damn it. He was even harder now than he'd been when he left to take care of... things and hunt. He wanted her so badly that he wasn't sure how he remained apart from her.
Touch her and Dariana will gut you with glee.
No, his own mother would gut him. Ever since Keris's death, she'd been lying in wait for a chance to honorably end his life and he knew it. And all because of a blood feud that had nothing to do with him.
Rather his mother, desperate to tie her blood to his father's lineage, had seduced his father the day before he was to have been pledged to Nykyrian's mother. The moment the Andarion princess had learned that her champion had sampled another female's body, she'd refused his pledge and sent his father home in disgrace.
But at least Cairistiona hadn't demanded his father's head or his cock, which any other female would have.
His paternal grandmother had never forgiven his mother for that act that had risked his father's life and denied them a royal lineage. Her life's dream had been to live long enough to see the War Hauks tied to the eton Anatoles. Because Keris had been conceived during that night when his mother seduced his father, his grandmother had been forced to allow them to join bloodlines to keep the Hauk lineage pure. But she'd never liked it.
In spite of that, his grandmother had held on to the hope that her great-grandchildren might merge. It was why she'd paid to send Hauk and Fain to school with Prince Jullien, as companions and guardians for him. But that would never happen now. Childless, Prince Jullien had been removed from the royal succession and only Nykyrian remained.
Even if one discounted the age difference, Thia hated Darice and viewed him as a pesky little brother. She would never accept his pledge. And Nyk's youngest daughter was barely three months old. There was no chance in hell that Nyk would allow her to marry someone that much older - provided he ever allowed Zarina or Thia to marry at all. And even if by some miracle Nyk did accept Darice, Hauk's grandmother wouldn't live long enough to see Zarina to adulthood. She was already almost two hundred years old.
And so his mother, a former negotiator for the Andarion royal house, had found in his grandmother the one being she couldn't win over with her guile.
No matter what she tried.
To this day, he and Fain were caught between their ongoing war as his mother tried to prove to his grandmother that she was the better mate for his father than the queen would have been. That his mother had conceived the better sons.
Because Hauk loved his mother, he had done everything possible to please her, and show his grandmother that he could be a grandson she could take pride in.
Never once had he asked for anything of his own. Duty. Honor. Family. Obligation. Loyalty. Those were the oaths of an Andarion male. No matter what others or life had thrown at him, he'd done his best to rise above it and adhere to their customs.
Until now.
For the first time ever, he craved the one thing he knew he could never have.
The gentle touch of a woman's hand on his bare skin. It would mean his life to taste those lips that lured him toward suicide. But what truly scared him was the part of himself that really didn't give a shit. The part of him that was willing to die painfully for one night in the arms of a female who didn't loathe him.
Clearing his throat, he stepped back from her before he gave into his supreme stupidity. "You should probably rest in the tent while I do this."
Sumi hesitated. She didn't want to leave him. Strangely, she wanted to walk into his arms and have him hold her. To kiss his lips until she was drunk from passion. That urge was worsened by the knowledge that he'd never taken a lover.
That she would be the first woman to have him inside her body.
If what Thia had said was true, he'd never even been kissed before. How was that possible that no one had sampled such an incredibly sexy beast?
But then she'd seen his photos. He'd spent most of his life around male humans. Probably to avoid temptation.
Which meant he wouldn't be interested in her.
At all.
He's your target, moron! Not your boyfriend.
Oh yeah. There was that.
Yet as she walked away from him, and he returned to skinning his kill, she didn't see a target there. She saw a beautiful Andarion male whose intelligent eyes were tinged with the deepest sadness and pain.
As Sumi neared the tents, Thia arched a brow at her. "What?" she asked the girl.
"I shouldn't have told you any of that."
"What do you mean?"
Thia jerked her chin toward her uncle. "First, Uncle Hauk would kill me if he knew I'd said anything to you about it. Second... I've stoked a fire with you that I shouldn't have."
Sumi scoffed. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Yeah, you do. You know he's forbidden, and it's irresistible now. But just remember this... I'm not the only one who loves him and who considers him family. If any harm comes to him because of your actions, we will hunt you down to the outer edges of the universe, and take turns making you wish you'd never been whelped."
The scariest part of that wasn't the fact that she knew Thia and the others would do it.
It was the fact that she knew how much they'd relish her torture.
CHAPTER 9
S
umi came awake with a start. Lying perfectly still, she squinted against the oppressive darkness, trying to discern what had shocked her from her dreams.
Footsteps. Just outside her tent.
It's probably one of the kids going to the bathroom. Had to be. Hauk, despite his hulking size, never made so much as a whisper when he moved. He was like a wraith.
Scary, really. No creature that size should be that silent. It was unnatural.
That was her thought until she heard someone grunt. Another person groaned and fell quiet. Three blast shots rang out, each punctuated by a sharp blast of color that was bright even through the fabric walls. Rolling to her feet, she crouched low, and went to the opening so that she could join whatever fight was going on outside.
Her jaw fell slack as she saw Hauk in a similar crouch, only he had a blaster in each hand. Turning in a slow circle, he scanned the area in front of him.
When she moved, he jerked around and brought both weapons to bear on her. She held her hands up to let him know she wasn't currently a threat. The instant he realized it was her and not another attacker gunning for his back, he relaxed and lowered the blasters.
"Kids!" he called in that deep thunderous tone as he rose to his feet and holstered his weapons. No wonder he softened his voice whenever he spoke to her and Thia. That resonating growl was terrifying. "Get out here. Now!"
Not even Darice balked. He left his tent, rubbing his eyes.
"What happened?" Thia gaped at the ten large bodies strewn around their camp. To Hauk's credit, he'd dispatched them quickly and in virtual silence. An impressive feat for anyone.
Hauk moved to the body closest to him so that he could search it. "Big fluffy bunnies paid us a late-night visit. And look, kids, they were kind enough to bring us ammunition and weapons. Could they be any more thoughtful?"
Ignoring his sarcasm, Thia aimed her blaster toward Sumi, who held her hands up again as she feared her imminent death.
"Stand down." Hauk jerked his chin to the body at Thia's feet. "They're not League. Look at them. They're incas."
Sumi frowned. Incas were independent contract assassins who didn'
t follow League protocols. They were killers for hire, regardless of law or procedure. If you paid their exorbitant fee, they would deliver the head of whomever you named.
Thia toed the body by her feet. "Are you sure?"
He gave her an offended glare.
Without another word, Thia examined the body she'd toed in a way that left Sumi astonished. Most girls Thia's age would be sickened or horrified by the grisly sight, and honestly, she was a little herself. While she wasn't fond of killing, she really didn't like handling dead bodies. But Thia acted with the abrupt sternness of a seasoned soldier. "There's nothing on this one. You got any markings over there, Uncle Hauk?"
"No." Standing up, he shot the body again.
Sumi arched a brow at his actions.
"For being so damned inconsiderate," he explained. "And waking me up from a good nap... toe-humping bastard."
Still ignoring him, Thia sat back. "Are they all human?"
"No." Darice kicked at the legs of the one closest to him. "This one's Partini... Partinai... Partiny? Whatever you use for them. They're a screwed-up race when it comes to singular and plural." They were also a race known for their brutal fighting skills. It was hard for anyone not born of their breed to hold their own against them, never mind actually kill one.
Highly impressive.
As Darice skimmed the bodies and he noted their number, he duplicated Sumi's earlier gape. "Gah, Dancer... You took them all out without even breathing hard. How?"
Bracing his forearm on his bent knee, Hauk gave his nephew an irritated smirk. "What do you think I do for a living, boy? Bake fucking cookies?" He holstered his newly found weapons and continued to search bodies.
"I thought you did IT for the aristos. Computers and desk stuff."
Thia laughed out loud. "You're so stupid, D. You really think your uncle keeps a body like that from lifting microchips? Yeah... Stay delusional. The planet Oblivion needs more occupants." She moved to untie the lorina so that it could patrol for others. "I don't know how they got through my traps and alarms that I set earlier."
"Don't think about it, Thee. I promise, they won't get through me." Hauk confiscated more of the assassins' weapons and tucked them into various places in his clothes. He met Sumi's gaze. "Any of them friends of yours?"
Sumi shook her head. "Never seen them before." When she reached for a blaster, Thia actually shot at her. The blast barely missed her head, and by the look on Thia's face, she knew the girl had expertly placed it, but wouldn't be so considerate next time.
"Uncle Hauk?"
He narrowed his eyes on Sumi as if trying to read her thoughts. "Let her have it. The one at her feet was going for her while she slept. Leads me to believe he wasn't working with her. Or if he was, they had a falling-out."
Thia hesitated. "You sure?"
He nodded. "Besides, she's not much of a killer."
Sumi resented the teasing humor in his deep voice. "I am a chief field assassin, you know? I've never failed a mission or missed a target. I'm damn good at what I do."
"Ooo," he said sarcastically as he rose to his feet. "Someone cue my fear pheromones."
Sumi put her arms on her hips. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"That he's less than impressed by your rank," Thia explained wryly. "By the time my father, his best friend since childhood, was my age, he was top ass."
Sumi tried not to be impressed, but she couldn't help it. Very few made the rank of command assassin of the first order, and only one had ever attained it by Thia's age.
Nemesis was the most brutal of them all.
But then, as she looked over the bodies, Sumi was glad that Hauk wasn't threatened by her skills. It didn't work out well for anyone he perceived as a threat.
And she didn't want to meet the brutal end of the men on the ground around them.
Thia clapped Sumi on the arm. "You got a lot of confirmed kills to go, puddin'." She winked at her. "Not to mention, Uncle Hauk left The League as a teenager with the rank of special agent."
Darice made a rude sound of disagreement. "Lorina shit. Dancer was still in training when he washed out."
Hauk cocked and locked his jaw at his nephew's snotty dismissal. "For your information, punk, I rose to the rank of captain during training."
Sumi made an exaggerated gape at him. Yeah, okay, that rankled. Captain was the fourth-highest rank an assassin could aspire to. And it was the one most assassins never rose above before someone violently ended their career and life.
Darice raked his uncle with a scathing glare. "If you were a captain, how did you wash out, huh?"
Hauk didn't answer as he began carrying bodies off to the side of camp.
"Your mother," Thia snarled at Darice. "After Hauk had gone through two years of grueling training where she hoped someone would kill him, she ran to his CO and told him that Hauk couldn't graduate to full assassin because he was pledged to her. The League discharged him immediately."
Sumi winced at what Thia described. That would do it, since assassins were forbidden to marry. But what a callous thing to do, especially if Dariana had no intention of seeing their marriage met. Why not let him have that much in his life, if it was what he wanted?
Not to mention, it would have guaranteed that he'd never marry someone else. For that matter, why would his parents allow him to go through League assassin training, knowing he couldn't graduate? Did they not love him at all?
As a full-grown woman when her courses had started, Sumi had seen firsthand the horrors and degradations of it all. The young boys and girls, Darice's age and only a year or two older, who were ruthlessly put into arenas and forced to fight for their survival. It was why she was so desperate to get her baby out of that system before they forced Kalea into training.
Kill or be killed. The League didn't respect age or pull punches for recruits. It was pass or fail, and failure was a brutal death at the hands of another student or instructor. It was the worst sort of daily beat downs.
Thia was right. Only a first-rank bitch would let a teenager go through all that, and then have him tossed out right before graduation. Why would Dariana be so vicious?
Unless, as Thia had said, she'd wanted him dead.
Darice scowled at Hauk. "Is that true? Is your pledge to my mother the reason you were thrown out?"
With a heavy sigh, Hauk picked up the Partini. "Yes."
"Then why do you tell everyone you washed --"
"What does it matter?" Hauk snapped at Darice, cutting him off. "The end result is the same. I was dishonorably discharged just before graduation for not disclosing the fact I was pledged."
Confused, Darice looked between them for an explanation. "I don't understand why my mother would do such a thing when she has no desire to go through with unification."
Hauk tossed another body over his shoulder. "Doesn't matter."
"It does matter!" Thia stepped forward and gestured toward Darice. "For once, Uncle Hauk, tell him the truth."
"It's his mother. Leave it be, Thia."
"Leave what?" Darice asked. "What happened?"
Thia's eyes flared before she defied her uncle's wishes. "Your mother couldn't stand the fact that Uncle Hauk was a better soldier than your father. That he had more honors, awards, and kills as a recruit than Keris had as the head of the Andarion armada. She knew if Hauk stayed in The League, he'd outshine Keris's glory and --"
"Thia!" That ferocious growl made Sumi's heart leap. "Enough!"
"No, it's not. I'm sick of listening to him attack you all the time when he knows nothing but the lies his selfish mother has told him. If he's old enough for Endurance, he's old enough to know the truth."
Hauk moved faster than Sumi would have thought someone so large could manage. He towered over Thia with enough fury that the girl finally took a step back and swallowed. "The past is done. Leave it where it belongs."
Thia gestured toward Darice again. "But --"
Sucking his breath in audibly, he bared his fangs to he
r. "There are other things to focus on right now."
Thia held her hands up in surrender. "Fine."
Hauk retrieved another blaster from the ground near Thia's feet then handed it off to Sumi. "We need to break camp. There's nothing on them to say who or what hired them, or how they found us. For safety's sake, let's assume they have friends who might miss their stench."
The kids ran to collapse their tents while Hauk headed for his.
Sumi went over to the bodies to search them herself. True to his words, they had no marks whatsoever.
But that didn't make sense. Kyr wouldn't have sent amateurs when he had an entire army of highly trained assassins at his disposal. Her own tracking device had been temporarily disabled so as not to alarm or alert Hauk to her mission or make him suspicious.
She knew Hauk wouldn't be tagged.
Which left her with another thought.