Born of Defiance Read online

  The nurse went to her station and returned with a tray. She handed it to Felicia. "May the gods be with you."

  Unsure of what he'd do to her, she headed to his room and gently pushed the door open to find Talyn with his arm bent over his eyes.

  "I told you I didn't want to be disturbed," he snarled. "Get the fuck out!"

  "Okay. If that's really what you want. I'll go."

  He immediately uncovered his eyes. "Licia?" he breathed her name like a prayer.

  She stood in the doorway with the tray. "You want me to stay or go?"

  "Please, stay."

  Nearing his bed, she glanced to his monitors and cringed at what she saw there. She set the tray aside. "Oh honey, you need to take something for the pain."

  "I can't. Once they release me, I can't take anything. You know that. I need it out of my system as soon as possible."

  "Tay..."

  "Lis, you know I can't. Please, don't nag me. I'm in enough pain."

  She placed her hand against his cheek. "Okay. Can I use pressure points with you?"

  He nodded.

  Swallowing hard at the sympathetic ache she felt for him, she sat on the bed and started rubbing his temples. A single tear slid from the corner of his eye. She kissed it away before she moved down to his neck so that she could massage him. He didn't speak a single word while she worked.

  Within a few minutes, she had his blood pressure almost back to a normal range.

  "Breathe with me," she whispered. "In deep. Hold. One. Two. Three. Now out." She kept doing that until his res and heart rate were back down, too. "Good Hammer."

  He actually gave a half laugh at that.

  She moved to rub his arm and shoulder while she continued to force him to breathe deeply. "Better?"

  "No." He grimaced irritably. "How much can one body hurt and not kill you?"

  "A lot. But then you know that better than I do."

  He clenched his teeth.

  "Breathe through it, baby." She used the pressure point in his hand to distract his brain from whatever was hurting him.

  He followed her lead.

  "Now, can you eat for me? If you don't, you'll have to go back and fight in the Mean Weight Division. Think of all the puny males you'll have to go through to get back to Zoftiq."

  "You're not funny."

  "I'm funny-looking. I have big ears. It's why I keep my hair long and never wear it up."

  He lifted his hand to finger her lobe. "Your ears are perfect."

  "You're delusional from your pain."

  He laughed again.

  Felicia pulled the tray stand over to the bed and uncovered his food. "Let's see what we have here. Hmm ... it's got to be better than the shite you normally eat."

  "I've never heard you swear before."

  "I don't often." She picked up the small pudding cup and fed him a bite. "How's that?"

  "Tastes like shit."

  She narrowed her eyes at his surly tone before she took a bite of it.

  "Hey!"

  "I'm seeing for myself. And it's quite good. I think the crap you call food has destroyed your taste buds."

  Talyn stroked her cheek with the backs of his fingers. Since Anatole's call, he'd felt like utter hell. But somehow, just her gentle presence made him feel better.

  He'd give anything if he could just stay with her and forget everything else in his life.

  But the gods had never been that merciful to him.

  "How did your test go?"

  "Pretty sure I aced it. Your mom is a great study partner. She really knows her stuff."

  "Yeah, she grew up in a hospital, with her parents."

  She fed him a bite of the soft sandwich before she ran her finger along the stubble on his chin. "They didn't shave you?"

  "I wouldn't let them. I was such an ass that I feared they might slit my throat if I let them get that close to me with a razor."

  She snorted. "You shouldn't be that way."

  "I know. I was trying to be good. But it hurts so much ... and I don't like them as much as I like you."

  "Yes, but you need to be nice to Andarions who give you shots."

  "If you say so."

  "Dear gods! What did you do? Perform an exorcism?"

  Laughing, Felicia looked to the door to see his gaping doctor. "No. I just beat him down. I might be smaller, but I'm meaner."

  The doctor snorted as he came in to check Talyn's vitals while she continued to feed him. "It's a good thing your girlfriend came in when she did. I just went over your head to get permission to knock you unconscious if you get unmanageable again."

  "Sorry."

  The doctor gaped again. "He even apologizes. Holy Andaria." He looked incredulously at Felicia. "That's it. I'm calling your school and telling them to send a proctor over with your exams. You're not allowed to leave until we release him. I'm dead serious. What school do you attend?"

  "North Eris."

  "No wonder their tuition is so high." The doctor scowled at Talyn's vitals. "This is the best he's been since we admitted him. Incredible. What did you do?"

  "Basic trigger points. A little PT massage."

  "Keep it up. Can I get you anything else?"

  She glanced to the tray. "He needs more protein than this and he likes citrus. Could you please put an order in for it?"

  "Absolutely. If you need anything else, just let me know."

  "Thank you."

  Talyn pulled her hand to his lips so that he could nibble her fingertips. "Some privacy would be better."

  "You're not well enough for that."

  He lowered her hand to his erection. "My body totally disagrees with you." He let out a deep, pain-filled growl. "I'm in utter misery, Felicia."

  She narrowed her gaze on him. "Have they bathed you today?"

  He shook his head.

  "Hold on." Felicia went to the nurses' station for a bathing kit.

  The nurse handed her one. "I put the order in for more food. Do you want it when it arrives?"

  "I'll be back for it after I finish his bath."

  She nodded before she took Felicia's hand. "Thank you, by the way."

  "For what?"

  "Dealing with him. You are a saint!"

  "Not really. He's actually very sweet."

  The nurse snorted in denial. "You're insane if you think that."

  Then she must be insane, because he was the kindest male she'd ever known.

  Felicia took the kit back into his room. She shut the door and placed the tray stand in the way to give them some warning before she went to the sink and ran warm water into the small tub. Once it was half full, she carried it and the washing implements to his bed and set them next to him.

  Talyn watched her peel the blanket and sheet away from his body. "What are you doing?"

  She gave him an impish grin. "Bathing you."

  His heart raced as she pushed his gown up and bared his body to her warm gaze. Her smile insidious, she wet the sponge and then carefully ran it over his skin, leaving chills in the wake of her touch.

  He struggled to breathe as pleasure pushed away every bit of his pain. The only thing he felt was her delicate hands torturing him. And when she brushed against his cock, he had to bite back an ecstatic cry.

  Burying his hand in her hair, he watched as she slowly bent down and took him into her sweet mouth. He arched his back and growled at how good she felt on him. Nothing was sweeter than her tongue and the gentle pressure of her lips.

  And when he came a few minutes later, he saw stars from it.

  With a satisfied smile, she finished bathing him and changed his gown.

  "Thank you," he breathed before he pulled her lips against his.

  "You're very welcome. And every day you're nice to your nurses and doctors, I'll make sure to put that very smile on your face."

  "I will be an absolute angel."

  "Good boy." She tucked the covers around him, then pulled the tray stand back to the bed, cracked open the door, and moved to shave his face.

  Just as she was finishing, his mother joined them, carrying the other tray of food.

  Setting the tray down, she gave him a chiding stare. "I hear you've been quite the pain today."

  "Sorry."

  "Umm-hmmm. Sure you are."

  Felicia wiped the last bit of soap from his upper lip. "They won't be having any future problems with him. Will they, keitling?"

  He shook his head. "I plan to be a model patient."

  His mom arched a brow at them as Felicia moved the stand closer to the bed so that Talyn could reach his food.

  "You need to eat more." Felicia uncovered the plate and handed him the peeled orange slices.

  "The doctor told me that you're refusing pain meds?"

  Talyn swallowed his bite before he answered his mother's question. "I don't know when they'll release me back to duty, and I can't afford to have a single trace of anything in my system when I report in."

  His mother frowned. "I don't understand."

  Felicia arched her brow. "Is that not a standard military thing?"

  "What?" she asked.

  "Talyn told me he can't even have an aspirin or they'll court-martial him."

  Galene gaped. "What?" she repeated at Talyn.

  Talyn took another orange slice. "Company policy."

  She pulled out her link to look it up. "Each officer can set the limits for what he'll allow those on protective detail, but that's ridiculous." She held it out for Talyn. "Your policy manual says that mild painkillers are--"

  "Mom, I can't have anything in my system."

  She scowled at him, then looked back at her link. "Explain this to me."

  "My CO forbids it, okay? There's nothing to explain. I don't care what the manual says. I'm under orders. If I have anything in my system at checkin, I'll be arrested for it."

  She slid her link back into her pocket. "Why?"

  "It's orders and I'm a soldier. I'm not allowed to ask why."

  "His CO's a jackass."

  "Lis, don't."

  Seething over it, Felicia glanced away.

  His mother glared at him. "You, Major," she said to Talyn, "silence. Felicia, explain."

  She met Talyn's pleading gaze. "It's not my place."

  "Fine," Galene snapped. She turned back toward her son. "I'll pull your reports and file, and start interviewing until I find out what's going on."

  Talyn let out a frustrated growl. "I have a personality conflict with my CO, Mum. Okay?"

  "What kind of conflict? What's he been doing?"

  "Any time he gets a wild hair, he cancels my leave or resets my checkin times. I pull a lot of double shifts and get every fun assignment he has. He keeps restricting me to my barracks. If I sneeze wrong, it goes to Provost."

  "Have you reported him?"

  He gave her a sullen stare. "And have him retaliate? No thanks."

  "Have you put in for a post transfer?"

  "No, Ma, it never once occurred to me."

  "Don't get smart with me, boy!"

  Talyn glared at her. "Of course I've put in for transfers, promotions, you name it. Everything comes back either filled or denied."

  Felicia's eyes watered at the frustrated pain she heard in Talyn's voice. At the obvious anguish in his eyes. In that moment, she really wanted Anatole's heart in her fist.

  "I don't understand," Galene breathed. "Perte always speaks so highly of you."

  Talyn set his orange aside. "Perte was reassigned eight months ago."

  "Then who's your CO?"

  "Colonel Anatole."

  "Chrisen or Merrell?"

  "Chrisen."

  Her face went pale at the name. "Oh."

  "Oh, what?" Talyn asked. "What's that look mean?"

  Now it was her turn to be evasive. "Why didn't you tell me about this?"

  Talyn sighed. "What could you do?"

  "I'm a commander."

  "Yeah. In a separate division that won't touch me. If you say anything, Anatole will come at me, no holds barred. No offense, Mum, but if I want that kind of punishment, I'd rather walk into the Ring and have it taken out of my ass where I can fight back. The last thing I want is to be known as the company crybaby."

  Felicia felt for his mother as she saw the same hopeless despair on her face that she had.

  "I will get you transferred, Talyn. I swear it."

  "Mum, please don't interfere. I can handle this. Okay?"

  The tone of his voice made Felicia sick. For him to sound like that, it had to be an even bigger nightmare than she could possibly imagine.

  Galene nodded. "I'm so sorry, Talyn."

  "It's okay. Really. Conflicts happen. Ain't no big thing. I rub most Andarions the wrong way. It's a personal choice."

  Tears glistened in her eyes as she brushed her hand through his braids. "Ever my brave soldier." She kissed his cheek.

  As she started to leave, Talyn caught her hand.

  "Don't blame yourself for this. It's not your fault. I'm the one with a severe asshole allergy that causes me to lip off when I should remain silent. I'm old enough to know better."

  Smiling sadly, she patted his hand. "Love you."

  "You, too."

  As Galene left the room, Felicia sat down on the bed and frowned. "What happened?"

  "What are you talking about?"

  She narrowed his gaze on him. "You're hiding something from your mother."

  "You don't know that."

  "Yes, I do. I'm learning you, my friend. And by that look in your eyes, I'm guessing that you made the mistake of reporting your CO?"

  "I tried to appeal the first time my band malfunctioned--"

  "You mean he screwed with your reporting time?"

  He nodded. "The higher-ups don't give a shit about lack-Vest bastard whiners with no pull. I was told not to waste their time with another appeal. To soldier up and make sure that I'm back to post at least an hour prior to checkin. That would solve my problem. So I did that, and he began resetting my times to two or three hours prior to checkin, which meant I was sometimes AWOL even before I left my barracks."

  She could only imagine how many lashes that was. "God, Talyn. That's awful. And there's no way to get transferred?"

  "Let me reiterate that I'm a bastard without lineage who now has a long list of checkin violations, and a lengthy record of disciplinary actions against him for insubordination and failure to follow orders."

  In that moment, she wanted to personally beat his CO. "Do you think he's the one who shot you down?"

  "I'm not at liberty to speculate."

  "But let's say, for argument's sake..."

  "It wouldn't matter. He's a decorated war hero, who is the grandnephew to the tadara, and I'm a mongrel dog who isn't even allowed into the officers' or enlisted clubs to clean them. I can't even use the company washrooms or lockers with the rest of my unit or squad."

  Felicia winced at the cruelty.

  Talyn tightened his grip on her hand. "Don't look so sad, Felicia. I'm glad the bastard shot me down."

  She looked at the bandages on him. "How so?"

  "It gives me time with you I wouldn't have had otherwise." He pressed her hand to his cheek. "Trust me, you're worth it."

  "You are one sick Andarion, Talyn Batur."

  "And you are one sexy tara."

  Felicia kissed him. In that moment, she knew she was going to make the last call she'd ever thought to make. Yes, it would be painful and degrading, but she couldn't stand by and let Talyn be hurt. Not if she could help it.

  Her pride was a small price to pay for his safety.

  *

  Felicia frowned as she saw Talyn's mother sitting alone in the waiting room. She'd only left his side to take the tray back to the nurses' station while the doctor evaluated him.

  "Commander?"

  His mother dabbed at her eyes before she looked up. "Is he okay?"

  She nodded. "The doctor's with him. Are you all right?"

  Galene drew a ragged breath. "I was trying to get ahold of myself before I went back in."

  Felicia sat down beside her. "What is it?"

  "Can I tell you a secret?"

  "Sure."

  Galene bit her lip. "I'm the reason his CO is attacking him."

  Felicia went cold. "I don't understand."

  "Years ago, when I was in school, Chrisen's older brother wanted to pledge with me. But I was pledged at the time to Talyn's father."

  Oh ... that explained why his mother was so incredibly young.

  "After his father left me and was disinherited for it, Merrell still wanted me ... but only if I agreed to abort my baby."

  "You chose to keep him."

  Galene nodded. "I wanted to hang on to that bit of his father that only I had. Stupid and selfish, I know, but I loved his father, Felicia. More than you can imagine. Sadly, I still do. Don't get me wrong ... I'd give anything to gut the bastard for what he did to us. But deep inside..."

  "I know. Feelings are so frustrating. I hate my father with a vengeance for things he's done, and yet I still love him terribly."

  Galene sighed and folded up her tissue. "It pains me that Chrisen was transferred to Talyn's base. He was always vindictive and cold. Like his brother, he truly hates Talyn's entire paternal family. I wouldn't have pledged with Merrell even if I hadn't been pregnant. He always made my flesh crawl."

  "Is there any way we can get Talyn away from him?"

  She handed her link to Felicia. "That's why I was crying. Chrisen's set Talyn's career back by a decade with what he's done to him. On paper, Talyn is nothing but a disciplinary nightmare. No commander will touch him with that file. He's lucky his rank hasn't been busted because of it all." More tears fell. "What am I going to do?" She pointed to the screen. "Look how they treat my baby. And there's nothing I can do to stop it. I had no idea all that was going on. He's never said anything to me about it. Whenever I ask about his welfare, all I get out of him is that he's fine. Not to worry so much."

  Felicia choked on her own tears as she read all the times he'd been punished for Anatole's vendetta. It sickened her to see it. Especially what had been done to him since they met.

  Like his mother had said, he never once breathed a word of it. To anyone.

  She held Galene against her. "It'll be okay."

  "How?"

  "My half brother is a commander and my father is one of the advisors to the tadara."

  Galene pulled back with a gasp. "What?"

  Felicia nodded. "We're not really close and they're both obnoxious snots, but I'm going to call in a favor."

  Her jaw slack, Galene stared at her. "Are you sure?"

  "I don't know if they'll do anything, if they can do anything, but I'm going to try my best. I'll start with my brother and if that gets me nowhere, I'll call my father. Surely, between the two of them, we can get Talyn transferred away from Anatole."

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