Born of Fury

  While Andarions and humans were close enough genetically to procreate, they were two vastly different species. Two species that voraciously hated each other and had spent centuries at war. Human-on-human prejudice had never made sense to Hauk.

  "Valid point."

  Yes, it was. Chayden's treatment over the fact that his parents were from two different human cultures had been so foul that Chayden had run away from his homeworld at fourteen, and had grown up on the back streets of other planets, alone. It said a lot that the hell he'd known on his own was better than the one he'd left behind.

  Chayden leaned back in his chair to check their headings. "So where's Mrs. Fain now? I've never seen or heard of him being with any female. Or male either, for that matter."

  Hauk winced at the tragedy that had been his big brother's life. "Sadly, he's never been with anyone except Omira. She was everything to him. And when she left him, he never got over it. I don't think he's gone near a female since."

  "Left him? Why?" he asked incredulously. "What's not to love about Fain?"

  Hauk sighed as he remembered the harsh betrayal Fain had never recovered from. "Bitch didn't care that he'd given up everything for her. His education, his military career, his future... his entire blood family. Less than two years into their marriage, she packed her things and went back to her human family."

  "Damn," Chayden breathed. "That's so cold. How old was he when it happened? Five?"

  Hauk frowned. "When she left him?"

  He nodded.

  "Eighteen."

  "Damn," Chayden repeated. "He was an infant."

  "Yeah." He'd been way too young to have his heart carved out and handed to him. "Fain was completely wrecked by it. He tried to come home, but my parents wouldn't have anything to do with him. My mother told him that he'd died to them the day he chose to walk out the door to be with a human harita. That the last thing she wanted was the stench of a human-lover in her house."

  "And yet you two are still close."

  Hauk glanced to the monitor, where Fain followed at a discreet distance. Just like he always had. He was the only blood family Hauk had who had proven to him, time and again, that he would always stand at his back and not judge him. That was too rare a gift to take for granted. "Like my brother, I don't give up on my family. For any reason."

  Chayden brushed his hand against the small religious medallion his sister had given him. "I know the feeling." He glanced over to Hauk. "And that includes all my brothers who get on my nerves."

  Snorting, Hauk playfully turned Chayden's head back toward the instrument panel. "Don't be cutting them eyes at me, human." But in his heart, he knew what Chayden did.

  They were family.

  And every bit as screwed up and dysfunctional as one related by blood.

  Still, he hated what Fain had been through because his brother had given his heart to an unworthy bitch. Omira Antaxas had been the sorriest excuse for a supposed sentient being as Hauk had ever met. Devoted love like Fain held for her was so incredibly rare. Even for Andarions. How could anyone walk away from that?

  For any reason.

  He glanced back to Thia and Darice. Thia had been the by-product of her mother's curiosity about what it would be like to sleep with an Andarion. Because Driana had been young, and she and Nykyrian were different species, it'd never dawned on her that she could actually conceive a child by him.

  But Darice...

  His parents had loved each other in that mythical way that Fain had deluded himself into believing he'd shared with Omira. To this day, Darice's mother elevated Keris to a godlike status that no mere mortal could touch. No one was allowed to besmirch his memory in any way, and she would die before she allowed another male to claim her.

  At the time Hauk had gone on his Endurance, he'd envied the hell out of both of his brothers for the women they had in their lives. Back then, he'd naively assumed he would have it, too, one day.

  Decades later, he knew what an idiot he'd been for that assumption. Both relationships had ended tragically.

  And once this was done, his parents expected him to go home and marry Keris's widow, who hated him for the part he'd played in his brother's death.

  It was something they should have done years ago, but Dariana had violently refused him at every turn. She couldn't even look at him without baring her fangs, and she hadn't called him by name since the day his brother had died.

  Yet she was Andarion and their custom was for an unpledged male relative to marry the widow to keep her safe and provide for her.

  Especially when there were kids involved.

  Duty. Honor. Obligation. Loyalty. That was the lifeblood of all Andarions. It flowed thick in their veins and ruled their entire existence. Like it or not, hatred or not, Dariana would marry him and keep her family's honor, and protect her son's prestigious lineage.

  And make his life a living hell over something that hurt him as much as it did her. Sick to his stomach, Hauk sighed at the bleak future that awaited him.

  Maybe I'll get lucky and Darice will throw me down a mountainside, too. And this time it would succeed in killing him.

  One could only hope.

  CHAPTER 3

  "I

  wouldn't do that, if I were you."

  Darice curled his lip at Thia before he went out of his way to kick her crate. "I'm not carrying this off the ship. You can carry your own clothes, human."

  Hauk cuffed him on the back of his head. "She's your princess, tarsen. Respect her as such."

  Rubbing his head, Darice screwed his face up. "Why did we have to bring someone along who's so high maintenance?"

  Thia tsked at him. "I'm not high maintenance, punkin'. Rather, I'm precious cargo that comes with lavish instructions for upkeep."

  Darice curled his lip. "I'm not carrying your clothes." He kicked the crate again.

  This time, the crate growled and hissed in response.

  Darice jumped back three feet. "What is that?"

  Thia passed an amused smirk to Hauk and Chayden. "Not my clothes." With a grand harumph, she threw the switch on the crate and opened it.

  A giant black cat leapt out, ready to attack as it skimmed them for a target. Darice squealed and jumped up on the seat behind Hauk.

  Chayden tsked. "Damn, bud. Your nephew just callously threw you to the lorina he pissed off."

  Hauk glanced at Darice over his shoulder. "I noticed that." Clicking his tongue, he called the vicious predator over to him. "Hey, Illyse." He patted the huge cat on her head and allowed her to lick his chin, then stepped aside and pointed to Darice. "Eat my nephew!"

  Darice glared at him as the cat moved to lick Hauk's fingers and nuzzle his hand, instead of attacking on command. "You're not funny. Why is that thing here, anyway?"

  Thia sighed heavily. "Because my father's overprotective, and lacks any semblance of a sense of humor. It was either bring his cat or half his army. I personally told him I wanted the army, so long as they were young, cute, male, and virile... which is why the cat was sent."

  Chayden draped his arm over Hauk's shoulders. "Brother, I don't envy you the next six weeks."

  "Brother, I don't envy me the next six minutes."

  Chayden laughed. "You sure you want me to leave you alone with them?"

  "Don't tempt me." Hauk went to grab his survival pack and gear. When he picked up Thia's too, Darice hissed. He glared at his nephew.

  "How is this an Endurance test when she doesn't even carry her own pack? Huh?"

  Hauk leveled a cool stare at Darice. "Trust me, son. This is definitely a test of my endurance."

  Chayden and Thia burst out laughing while Darice stormed off the shuttle, cursing them all and their ancestors under his breath.

  When Hauk started for the large haul bag, Thia rushed in to grab her rucksack from his shoulders. "I'm not really helpless, Uncle Hauk. I'm only going along with this to watch the smoke come out of Darice's ears." She slung the large bag over her shoulders and buckled
it, then called for Illyse to follow her off the shuttle.

  Hauk met Chayden's amused look and whimpered. "Please don't leave me here... alone... with them."

  Chayden grinned without sympathy. "You'll have communications for three more days. After that..."

  "We're on our own for the next month," he finished for him.

  He inclined his head to Hauk. "If you have to eat one of the young to survive, or to salvage your sanity, I would suggest Darice. He'll give you more indigestion going down, but the ensuing torture that comes afterward will be a lot less painful, I think."

  "Again, don't tempt me." Hauk took a deep breath for mental strength. "You know, I would rather walk naked, with my hands cuffed behind my back, into League headquarters and tell Kyr that I was one of the raiders on his prison than do this."

  Chayden sucked his breath in between his teeth. "That says it all."

  "Yes, it does... See you in six weeks."

  Chayden inclined his head to him and offered him an arm. "Walk with peace, drey."

  Hauk shook Chayden's arm before he disembarked on his voyage to hell. And as bad as it was, the moment he stepped onto the stark, barren landscape, it worsened as old memories assailed him.

  In the back of his mind, he could see himself as a boy, filled with excitement, jumping onto the surface near this very spot. Then, it'd been his father's best friend who had dropped them off. Hauk had run ahead to start exploring while the sound of Keris's laughter had filled his ears.

  "Don't get lost on day one, Dancer!"

  "Yeah, yeah! You're getting old, Kerry. Otherwise you could keep up with me!"

  "I'll show you who's old..."

  Dropping his pack, Keris had effortlessly closed the distance and tackled him to the ground. They'd wrestled for dominance, until his much older and better-trained brother had pinned him then tickled him until he'd pissed his pants. Angry, Keris had beaten him for peeing on him, and left Hauk sore for days afterward.

  A sad smile curved his lips as bitter tears choked him. He'd give anything if he could go back and forego his test. Go back and exchange his life for Keris's. He should have died that day. Not his war-hero brother who could do no wrong where their parents and Dariana were concerned.

  Unlike him.

  Since the hour of his birth, Hauk had been nothing but a disappointment to them.

  Why did I live?

  Honestly, he shouldn't have, and he still couldn't remember anything about those three weeks after he'd been injured, other than the intensity of that feral instinct not to die.

  Broken and bleeding, he'd somehow crawled his way to their rendezvous point.

  In the back of his mind and in every nightmare since, Hauk saw Keris's wry grin as his brother had relegated himself to death. "Take care of Dari for me. Tell her I'll always love her."

  Hauk involuntarily flinched as he saw Keris's death flash through his mind. Heard the sound of his brother's body falling and slamming as it made its way to the jagged, unforgiving ground.

  There had been nothing he could do to stop it. No way to save Keris. His brother had given him his life at the expense of his own.

  Now the best he could do was safeguard his brother's child. No matter what, even with Darice's attitude and mouth, he'd keep him safe. And the same for Thia. But for Nykyrian, he'd have died a dozen times over. Nyk had believed in him when no one else had. And he had seen Hauk through the grief of losing both Fain and Keris from his life.

  As soon as Chayden was gone and the sounds of the engines had faded, he heard Thia and Darice fighting again.

  Looking up at the sky, Hauk shook his head and let out an aggravated sigh. He'd keep them safe from others, all right, but before this was over, he might end up killing one of them himself.

  CHAPTER 4

  H

  auk checked his calendar and cursed before he tossed it aside. Cruel effing bastard thing. It'd only been a week since Chayden had abandoned him here.

  With them.

  It was the longest week of his life, and made him grateful as hell that he would never have any kids of his own.

  "Dancer!"

  He winced at Darice's high-pitched shout. Gods, give me strength not to kill one of them... He'd sent them out after breakfast to wash and dress for the day, and look for something they could use for lunch before he strung them up by their intestines.

  "Dancer!"

  What had Thia done now? Dunked his head?

  Again.

  I swear, if the two of them don't stop trying to murder each other...

  "Uncle Hauk!"

  Now they were calling him in unison, only it wasn't the same tone they used whenever they were fighting.

  This one was more...

  Scared.

  He ducked out of his tent to find them running toward camp like they were being chased by something other than Illyse, who was hard on their heels.

  His heartbeat quickened. Hand on his blaster, he ran at them as fast as he could to cover their flight.

  Thia was the first to reach him. She grabbed his arm to tug him in the direction they'd just run from, while Illyse circled all three of them protectively. "Come quick! We found someone."

  He pulled her to a stop, and kept her at his side until he had more information. "Who?"

  "A woman. She's hurt. Bad."

  Still, he hesitated. This northernmost part of Oksana hadn't been legitimately inhabited in well over three hundred years. Not since The League had punished the citizens of this world for a revolt, and had bombed their entire civilization back to a stone age. What little part of it that held a human population was under a dome on the other side of the planet. Three continents and two huge oceans away.

  No one should be here.

  "Is she in uniform?"

  "No," Thia said breathlessly. "She's unconscious. Just over that rise. Barely breathing."

  "It looks like a tourah got her and tried to eat her. It's really gross, but totally awesome."

  He ignored Darice's commentary. "Is she human or Andarion?" Each species had colonies set up here on separate continents in the south.

  They both shrugged.

  Thia tugged at his arm. "She has black hair and is really tall, so she could be either. But does it matter? She's hurt and needs help."

  "All right. Both of you take Illyse back to camp, and wait for me."

  "But --"

  "No buts," Hauk said sharply, cutting off Thia's protest. "Get the blaster your father gave you, and wait for me in my tent. If I don't come back, you two are to return to our meeting spot, and wait until your comm comes back on, and you can signal Chayden for retrieval, understood?"

  Still, she hesitated.

  "C'mon, Thee." Darice pulled her toward the camp. "He'll never let us go with him. You know that."

  Reluctantly, she grabbed Illyse's collar and followed after Darice.

  Taking inventory of his weapons and their charge levels, Hauk waited until they were halfway to his tent. If this was a trap, he didn't want the kids anywhere near it.

  He prepared for the worst, and strapped his short Andarion battle sword across his back. While it wasn't his primary weapon, which was why it was worn over the back and not at the waist with his blasters, it was the one that wouldn't run out of ammunition.

  Extremely wary, he made his way toward the rise Thia had mentioned. A rise that would make a great spot for a sniper to set up surveillance...

  His senses on high alert, he saw the body as soon as he came up the slight hill. She lay on her side, facing the opposite direction. He skimmed the horizon in all directions, but detected no obvious threats. Even her rifle was several feet away, out of her reach.

  Not that it mattered. He knew the tricks his kind implemented. He hadn't lived this long by being a total idiot.

  That being said, partial ones apparently lived to fight another day.

  Crouched and ready, he secured her weapon first. A standard laser rifle, it had no markings of any kind. Military or
civ. Nothing he could use to ID her with. However, these were the weapon of choice for many assassins, since they made very little sound when they were fired.

  It appeared she'd squeezed off two shots at whatever had attacked her. Other than that, it didn't tell him much. Still unsure if it was a trick or not, he made his way over to her.

  She didn't move.

  Looking around again for any friends she might have, he carefully rolled her to her back. There was a gash above her right brow and another along her ribs. Something had tried to rip out her throat, but she must have fought it off.

  Thia had been right, the woman was dressed as a civ, in dark brown desert clothes and a dirty poncho. She might be a native or raider.

  She might yet be an assassin after him. Given the rifle and the specialized scope on it, that was definitely not off the table.