"Not really. Why?"
"We need to get going. Boldorians are pack bastards. In case they put out a beacon during this last round, I think it best we vacate."
Bastien stood then fell back down. "Well, ain't this a bitch? Could have sworn I was further from the floor than this a second ago."
Dancer snorted. He held his hand out and pulled Bastien to his feet. They both grimaced in unison. He stepped away from Bastien. "Darice, help the man."
To her shock, Darice did so without complaint. He offered Bastien his shoulder and together, they headed for the door.
Dancer paused to check on Thia. "You okay, kisa?"
Her arms folded over her chest, she had a strange look in her eyes as she swept her gaze around the building. "Do you know where my mother died?"
Dancer winced at her question. "Don't, baby."
Tears welled in her eyes as she glanced up at him. "Kiara won't ever talk about it. My father, either. I just want to know if she suffered much."
Pulling her into his arms, Dancer cradled her head with his hand. "No, baby, she didn't." He hated to lie to her, but the truth would serve no purpose other than to make her feel worse. He placed a kiss to her forehead. "Aksel owns enough of your soul. Don't let him take any more from you. He's not worth one molecule of your tears."
She hugged him then. "Thank you. For everything."
He nodded. "Love you, Thee."
"You, too." She kissed his cheek before she followed after Darice and Bastien.
Sumi moved to help Dancer. "You look like you're about to fall over."
Draping his arm over her shoulders, he gave a light squeeze as they walked toward the door. "I'm fine."
She didn't believe it for a minute. "Your eyes are still as red as they can be."
He said nothing as they left the building. The kids and Bastien were at the airbees. There were four of them, but only three had enough fuel in them to go very far. And that was only after Bastien siphoned the tank on one of them to add to it.
Dancer handed Bastien a bag of additional weapons. "Did you get your things?"
"Yeah."
"Good." Dancer pulled out a small handheld control then pressed it. An instant later, the entire building blew apart.
Bastien gaped indignantly. "My porn! You Andarion bastard! You didn't tell me you were going to blow my shit up."
Dancer cut a dry stare toward him. "Be glad I let you get out first."
Sighing, Bastien rolled his eyes. "You are Fain's brother. Just like him... bastard. All right, so what are we doing?"
"I'm taking the four of you to the Point then coming back for Illyse. I'll be on the move until the others get here." He handed Bastien one of the trackers that was set to his TD. "Give this to Thia's father and they'll find me."
Sumi moved to stand in front of him. "I'm not leaving you. You're wounded."
"Let's argue about this later. We need to get out of here in case some of the Boldorians are around to see the explosion."
She wanted to argue, but knew he was right.
Sumi took the first airbee. Thia climbed on the back of hers. Bastien pulled himself on another and Hauk took the third. Darice went to sit behind his uncle. When he wrapped his arms around Dancer's waist, she noted the softening of Dancer's features. He patted Darice's arms then took off.
They followed him to a small oasis at the base of Mount Grenalyn. In spite of the desert climate, it was strangely lush and green, with a rapid stream that ran through it.
Dancer parked and helped Darice off as they joined him.
When he started to leave them, Sumi caught his arm and held him in place. "You are hurt and bleeding. If you think for one second that I'm going to stand here and watch you leave without those wounds being tended, you're... even more insane than I think you are. And I will follow you."
Laying his hand against her cheek, he stroked her chin with his thumb. "I refuse to endanger you."
"You know, Dancer. Heroic is one thing. Moronic is quite another." She turned his airbee off. "Now get your ass over there, soldier, and sit!" She pointed to where Thia was unpacking their things. "And let me see how bad you're hurt. Then we'll revisit this whole death quest you seem to have."
He shook his head at her. "You are so bossy. I'd eat anyone else who talked to me like this."
"Promises, promises. Now move!"
Hauk wanted to argue, but honestly, he couldn't muster the energy or drive. So he obeyed her orders, even though it wasn't in his nature to do such. Sighing, he slung his leg over the airbee and allowed her to lead him to a softer area near the water.
In the back of his mind, he knew Darice was watching and making mental notes for Dariana. Yet he no longer cared. Darice already thought him the lowest of the low. He'd tried over the years to salvage his nephew's opinion of him, and it was time to realize that he couldn't. Darice would think what he would. There was nothing Hauk could do about it.
Lying down, he stared up at the side of the mountain where he'd once dangled helplessly and almost fallen to his death. Come to think of it, Keris had landed just a few feet from where he currently lay.
But he didn't want to think about the past. It was too brutal a place to dwell.
Sumi sat down next to him and opened his shirt. She gasped at the sight of the wound across his ribs that stung like Tondarion fire scorpions. "Dancer!"
He didn't speak as she cleaned it and continued fussing at him over it. Sick as it sounded, he enjoyed her anger over his injuries. Rather he dragged his knuckle along her jaw and watched her with hooded eyes. She was so incredibly beautiful and even more so while wearing the painted pattern of his family on her face.
All he wanted was to go back to this morning and make love to her again. To taste her lips and nibble every inch of her body.
Strange, he knew he was in pain, but with her so close, he didn't care. The only thing that mattered to him was keeping her safe and protected. Making sure that no one ever hurt her.
His gaze fell to her arm and again, he felt the adrenaline surge that begged him to go back and slap the corpses of every assassin who had endangered her life.
Taking her hand, he kissed her knuckles.
Sumi tried not to let his actions soften her. But it was too late. Especially while he looked at her with that adoring expression.
It made her ache to kiss him.
Most of all, she wanted to choke him over the amount of damage he'd taken for them. Yet, it was hard to be angry at him when he looked at her like he was already tasting her. Hard to stay angry when he touched her with such gentleness.
Still red, those eyes followed every move she made.
She sat back and frowned at how many wounds lined his torso and arms. "You really need an MT, Dancer."
He squeezed her hand comfortingly. "I'll be all right."
She shook her head. "You're not invincible."
"Damn near."
She rolled her eyes at his arrogance. Though to be honest, it wasn't. He really could stand stronger and take more damage than anyone she'd ever heard of. Was it an Andarion thing? Or was he just that strong?
Her stomach tightened at all the injuries on him. "Didn't at least one of them miss when they shot at you?"
He laughed then grimaced. "Yeah, I always wanted to be that hero in a movie where no one can shoot straight except me. Never happens. I seem to always walk into the school of award-winning sharpshooters." He dropped his hand to the injury she had on her biceps. "You okay?"
"Told you. Flesh wound. Throbs, but I can handle it."
He smiled. "My tough mia."
Tears filled her eyes as she bandaged his ribs. Without thinking, she lay her head on his chest and carefully held him. He wrapped his arms around her and for several minutes neither of them moved as she listened to the strong beating of his heart underneath her cheek.
Sumi lifted her head as she realized he was sound asleep. She pulled her poncho out and made a pillow for him before she finished cleanin
g and dressing his wounds. Only then did she remember that they weren't alone.
Ah crap...
Terrified of what she'd inadvertently done, she went to check on Bastien first.
Like Dancer had first attempted, he brushed aside her help. "I've had worse from bar fights. Trust me. Beatings I can take."
"You sure?"
Bastien nodded. "Hand me a cloth and I'm fine."
She hesitated.
Glancing over to Dancer, he gave her a sardonic grin. "Sumi, I learned a long time ago, you don't touch or get touched by an Andarion's female. They get really hostile over it, and I'm not physically able to keep Hauk from killing me right now. So no offense, let's maintain at least a five-foot no-touch zone. 'Kay?"
She scoffed as she handed him the foil package that held an antiseptic cloth. "He wouldn't beat you, Bastien."
"Not gonna chance it. In case it's escaped your notice, your male is a huge motherfucker. And I've had enough ass beating to tide me over for at least a month... Maybe longer."
Shaking her head at him, she went to check on Thia. She sat on the ground with her legs drawn up tight to her chest, and her head lying on her knees.
Sumi brushed her hair back from her face. "You okay, sweetie?"
She nodded. "I just want to go home."
"I know."
Thia lifted her head. "Thank you, by the way."
"I didn't do anything."
"Yes, you did. Uncle Hauk would never have taken a shot with me in that smelly bastard's arms. You saved both our lives today."
Sumi gave her arm a light squeeze and patted her hand. "I'm just glad you knew what I needed you to do. I think it's safe to say you saved yourself."
Thia didn't respond. Instead, she narrowed her gaze on Sumi's face. "You're beautiful wearing the paint of a War Hauk. Not that you're not beautiful anyway. But Andarion looks good on you."
Sumi hugged her before she went to the last being she wanted to deal with.
Darice had been eerily quiet as he sat off, away from the group. That could not be a good thing for the normally verbose teen.
"How are you doing, kiddo?"
He glanced at her face, sneered, then quickly looked away. "Fine."
"You need food or --"
"I'm fine!" he snapped.
"Okay."
As she started away, his low tone stopped her. "Sumi?"
She paused to look back at him.
Biting his lip in an adorable manner that was identical to the one Dancer used, he glanced to his uncle. "I know what you and Dancer did."
Her heart sank at his words. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes, you do," he said in an accusing tone. "Everyone will know. You can't hide it. He's stralen now."
"Stralen?"
"His eyes."
She scowled, wondering how Darice knew something about that when Dancer hadn't. Or had Dancer known and just not told her? "What about them?"
"It's a very rare condition that only manifests when an Andarion male has sex with someone he's possessive over, and then any time he has a strong adrenaline rush after that. If his feelings for the one he's bonded to are exceedingly strong, it's permanent and never goes away. My mother told me that the only Andarion she's ever known to have it was my father. And his was bad, according to her."
Sumi was aghast at Darice's knowledge of something he shouldn't have been told about. "Your mother talked about that with you?"
He nodded. "She wanted me to understand how much my father loved her. How much she meant to him." He slid his gaze back to Dancer. "By those eyes, I know Dancer broke his pledge to my mother and slept with you."
"Darice..."
He held his hand up to stop her words. "It's okay, Sumi," he said grudgingly. "I might be young, but I understand why he did it. No one, not even Dancer, can fight the stralen when it strikes. It's the most powerful emotion any Andarion can ever feel, and they have no control over it when it hits them. It overrides everything about their normal personality. But be careful. My mother said that it can be so intense that it used to terrify her whenever my father had it. It produces an extreme form of jealousy that makes them highly possessive, even violent toward the one they love. Controlling and domineering. That's why she told me about it. It usually runs in families, through the father, and there's a good chance I could have it, too." Abashed, he glanced away from her. "It's why she used to sedate my father. She was trying to find some way to mitigate its effects so that he wouldn't hurt her."
Sumi gasped at what he was saying. Especially given some of the past verbal attacks he'd made against Dancer. They had been overly harsh, especially given this revelation. "You knew she drugged him?"
He nodded. "They weren't illegal drugs. She told me that she got them from a doctor. And my father didn't give her a choice. She said it was so bad that she couldn't even speak to her best friend without my father flying into a jealous rage over it. He even put Pera in the hospital just two weeks before he died." His look pierced her with its sincerity. "Even though she loved him, she was afraid for her life, Sumi. It's why she didn't have children with my father until after his death. She didn't want him to hurt them in a fit of anger."
Sumi felt ill at what he was describing. It'd been just that kind of nightmare that she'd barely survived with Avin. "Is that why she's refused your uncle's pledge all these years?"
"Yes. When she married my father, she didn't know he had the gene. And stralen is something only felt by the male and has no relation to or bearing on how the female feels toward him. Only how he possessive he feels toward her. She said it's why she thought Fain's human wife had left him. That he probably had it, too, and had hurt her because of it."
Darice swallowed hard. "It must have been the stralen's rage that allowed Dancer to tear apart everyone in the base today. He was so scary, Sumi. I've never seen anyone behave like that. He was like a possessed monster they couldn't stop. It was terrifying."
"That wasn't the stralen, sweetie. Your uncle's been able to fight like that for a long time."
"Really?" he asked in disbelief.
She nodded. "I've seen him do it."
Darice fell silent for several heartbeats. When he spoke again, his voice was barely more than a whisper. "My mother will never accept him now."
"Your mother was never going to accept him, Darice."
"I know." He sighed heavily then locked gazes with her. "Are you going to run with him like Fain did with his wife?"
"No. Dancer won't do it."
"My mother will have him killed if he stays."
"He knows that."
There was no missing the sad agony in Darice's white eyes. It was obvious he was torn between loyalty to his mother and to his uncle. "Can't you talk sense into him?"
"I'm not sure anyone can talk sense into Dancer. He's a very stubborn beast. But I will try."
Darice inclined his head to her. "Thank you, Sumi. They were planning to ransom us back to our parents, and then kill us once they were paid."
She laughed at the mere thought. "I'd have loved to see how that went when they called Thia's father."
"About the same as when Dancer came through the door, I'm thinking."
"Probably so." Sumi jerked her chin toward the cuts on Darice's wrists. "Would you let me tend those?"
He looked down at them before he acquiesced.
She knelt in front of him and carefully cleaned and bandaged his wrists. "You must have fought the restraints like a boss."
"I fought them like an Andarion."
She squeezed his hand. "Your uncle and father would be proud."
He smiled at her. "Thank you." When she started to leave, he took her hand. "Be careful with Dancer, Sumi. I don't want him to hurt you."
Her heart hammering over those words, she inclined her head to him then went to check on Dancer. He was bleeding through the bandage on his ribs. She considered stitching it, but the damage was such that she feared he might have internal injuries
. Honestly, she didn't know enough about their anatomy to do anything more than keep his wounds clean and hope that Syn got here soon. The last thing she wanted was to make something worse in her ignorance.
So she did the best she could. As she redressed it, Darice's words about Dancer's condition went through her mind. Could Dancer really be dangerous to her?
Over and over, she relived some of Avin's more choice rage-fits.
Listen with your eyes.
Dancer had done nothing to make her think he would hurt her. Ever. She hadn't known Keris and she didn't really know Dariana. And while her sister had been terrified of Fain, Sumi had never seen him act threateningly in any way toward Omira, and she'd stayed with them a good bit.
Fain's eyes had always been white when she'd seen him. The only red was a very thin band around the outer edge of his iris, which was normal for his race.