Born of Defiance (17 page)

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 check-in, 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 check-in 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 check-in. That would solve my problem. So I did that, and he began resetting my times to two or three hours prior to check-in, 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 check-in 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.”

“You would do that for him?”

Felicia touched the heart necklace Talyn had sent to her. “Absolutely.”

Galene pulled her in for another tight hug. “I would be forever in your debt.”

“Think nothing of it. Just promise me that you'll never tell Talyn what I've done. I don't want him to be angry at me or to feel obligated in any way.”

“But—”

“I'm serious, Commander. You gave me your secret. I'm giving you mine. Win, lose, or draw, I never want him to know.”

“Okay. I'll take it to my grave.” Galene pulled back as the doctor left Talyn's room and came over to them.

He inclined his head to them. “Good news. Barring infection or fever, I'll release him day after tomorrow.”

“For home or duty?” his mother asked before Felicia had a chance.

“Home. He still needs to recuperate before he's ready to return to active duty. I trust he won't be left alone?”

Felicia smiled. “I'll stay with him.”

“In a week, he'll need to start therapy. I have the number for a therapist—”

“I'm a licensed therapist. Can I do it?”

He glanced back toward Talyn's room. “Given what I've seen here, I think you're an excellent choice. The best we could have. I'll write everything up and e-mail you with the instructions on what I want him to do.”

As he walked away, Galene laughed. “Talyn was always a
very
stubborn beast. Hardheaded like his father … ah! The stories I could tell you about that aggravating male! The more you try to tell him what to do, the more he digs his heels in.”

That was definitely the truth.

“Who's his father?”

Deep agonized pain descended over Galene's face. “It doesn't matter. But if you ever see his father, you'll know. He looks and acts just like him.” And with that, she headed back toward Talyn's room.

Felicia frowned at what Galene had just said. If his father was just like Talyn in actions as well as looks, then there was a lot to the story of why his father had left them. As protective and loving as Talyn was, he'd never abandon his family.

Not without a damn good reason. And not without one hell of a battle.

 

C
HAPTER
8

At their condo, Felicia helped Talyn into bed. It was his first day out of the hospital and the ride home had taken its toll on him. His features pale, he struggled to breathe against the pain as she peeled his uniform off while he lay on the mattress.

She covered him with the blanket.

“What's that look for?” Talyn asked as she tucked him in.

“What look?”

“That little pouty face you just made. I know this kind of care isn't part of our contract. If you want, I can return to the barracks to recoup, instead of here.”

“Oh,
keramon
, don't you dare! I doubt you'd make it to the lobby before you collapsed. And that's not why I pouted, anyway.” She grinned at him. “I was just thinking that my plan had been to rip your uniform off you the next time I had you alone in my bed, and ravish you until you were senseless from it. Unfortunately, I don't want to hurt you.”