Born of Fury by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Sumi was stunned by what he told her. "Why would she offer it to me?"
He trailed his finger down her cheek, sending chills over her. "She sees you as the only one who is worthy of it."
A little unexpected thrill went through her. "That has to piss off your mother."
He let out an evil laugh. "You have no idea. I'm sure Dariana is doing her own screaming about it, too. As my mother most likely told her as soon as she was free to do so."
She glanced at him then back to the portrait. "Why is so little of his face showing?"
"He was badly scarred during the battle against the Oksanans, and he lost his left eye. So when they painted his official portrait, he didn't want to shame our family with his deformity. He had them only preserve the part of his face that was unscathed by war."
So they'd always been strange about their appearances. How odd when other races viewed scars as manly and desirable. A testament of prowess and courage. "Why are Andarions so obsessed with beauty?"
"We're perfectionists by nature. While we honor our ancestors, our attention is primarily on our children and the future. We want to pass only the best on to them. Our belief is that we are caretakers for our progeny. Everything we have, we hold only for them."
"Which is why your yaya gave you this house before she died."
He nodded. "She also thought that Dariana would honor her pledge and we'd have more children to fill it."
Sumi turned to face him. "I'm a bit confused though. If everything is about the children, why was Dariana so mean to Darice? For that matter, your mother so vicious to you?"
"They're trying to make us the best and strongest males that they can. They, as females, are the guardians of our lineage. We, as males, are the carriers of the future. And if we're not worthy, they would rather we be removed from the lineage than have us taint it."
"You know, I can never be that mother."
He kissed her slowly. "I know, Sumi. You will be a far better mother than either of them. Mu mia shames all those who have come before her. And I live for the chance to return your daughter to you."
Sumi frowned at his word choice and what it implied. "Our daughter, you mean."
A strange look crossed his features. One that stabbed her hard until he spoke to explain it. "You would share your precious Kalea with me? Allow her to call me Father?"
Tears choked her at his earnest, bashful questions. It was as if he couldn't believe she'd allow him to claim Kalea as his. "Of course I would. How could you doubt that, Dancer?"
He looked at her incredulously. "Andarion females rarely share their children with males other than the blood father. While the mother may adopt, the father cannot."
"Never?"
He shook his head. "Unless we are the blood father, we can only mentor the children of our females, and we have no rights to them. Fatherhood, blood or adopted, can only be bestowed on our males by the mother of the child."
Sumi struggled to breathe as she finally understood exactly what Thia had been trying to tell her about Darice and his insults for Dancer. It wasn't just that Dariana didn't want to marry Dancer, it was that even if she did, she would never allow Dancer to be called Father by Darice. Not unless she judged him worthy of fatherhood.
That was why Dancer had never been allowed to spend time with Darice. It had been another stab to him that he didn't deserve.
Blinking back her tears, she cupped Dancer's face in her hands. "In my heart, you are Kalea's only father. The only one I would trust to be there for her and to protect her. I don't ever want her to know she had any father, but you."
Hauk savored words he'd never thought to hear from any female. "You would accept children from me?"
Sumi winced at his question as she finally understood why Fain had sterilized himself for Omira. Their entire culture was built on the female accepting the male as fathers for their children. And since her sister had been afraid of an Andarion baby...
"You have to ask? I told you, Dancer, nothing would ever give me more happiness than to hold your child in my arms. I meant every word of that."
Hauk pulled her against his chest and held her close as love and happiness choked him. "I will tear this universe apart to find our daughter and bring her home." But even as he said those words, he was terrified of not being able to fulfill them.
Of losing Sumi forever. While she might be a daughter of Cairistiona's, she still had to get through Dariana. And Dariana was one of the best warriors in the Andarion military services. Worse, Andarions didn't fight the way humans did. Sumi would have to learn their tactics.
And the rules of their ring.
If she didn't, Dariana would kill her without mercy.
What have I done? He knew that Sumi was an incredible fighter. A trained assassin. But it wasn't the same. Andarions came out of the womb fighting.
Fear poured through him as he realized that no matter how much he might wish it, Sumi would never be able to defeat Dariana.
Their love was as doomed as Fain's and Omira's.
Humans and Andarions didn't mix. He knew that. Look at Nykyrian's parents. They truly did love and adore each other. Yet they'd never been able to stay together. They lived entirely separate lives.
His heart pounding, he held on to Sumi, knowing that death was going to come for them.
And there was nothing he could do to stop it.
CHAPTER 26
S
umi followed Dancer up the stark white spiral stairs that led to an upper floor. His bedroom was at the end of the hall and looked out over the sea.
Once more, she was stunned by the beauty. Looking down on the other side, she smiled as she saw in and around the giant pool area where a little girl and Devyn floated on rings, while their mothers pushed and pulled them.
She turned back toward Dancer. "Your bedroom is larger than my entire apartment was." Never mind the tiny room that had been her League quarters. His bed alone was bigger than that.
He didn't comment as he waved his hand over an ornate burgundy lighted panel. The wall opened and formed a desk.
Gaping at the handiness, she watched in fascination. "What have we here?"
He moved his hands about to show her a 3-D monitor. "I'm checking on Syn's search for Kalea."
She walked over to see the same strange letters that had been on his PD. "Is that Andarion?"
"Yes." He made several hand gestures and it changed over to Universal for her. Then he opened another monitor. "This one is the search on my chip."
Wow... "Did you build this system?"
"Yeah."
She stared up at him in awe. "Dancer," she said breathlessly. "It's amazing! I had no idea you could do all this."
Sheepish, he shrugged. "I always liked electronics. I started wiring the house in my teens for my paran to help him when he became ill. He had a lot of mobility issues from all the years he'd been in the military. Since my yaya couldn't move him on her own, I did what I could for them to make their lives easier."
"No wonder your grandmother gave it to you. No one else would know how to work it all."
He smiled with that boyish grin that warmed and charmed her completely. It was such a strange incongruity to see the playful side of such a fierce soldier. "It's not that hard."
"Umm-hmmm." Then she couldn't help teasing him about something that really did irritate her. "By the way, was Eleron so scantily clothed while your yaya lived here?"
An extremely attractive blush crawled over his face. "That's normal Andarion fashion."
Yeah, right. "I'm sure it is."
His blush darkened. "I normally change it out when I know humans are coming over."
"And I hope you change it out whenever Darice visits."
That killed the humor in his eyes instantly.
Sumi wanted to kick herself as it occurred to her that Dariana had most likely never allowed Darice to visit him at home.
His gaze still sad, he pulled her to stand in front of him. "This is how y
She leaned back in his arms to look up at him. "I knew you were intelligent, but damn. Dancer, this is... beyond."
"Mmm."
Sumi smiled as she realized he wasn't listening to her. Rather he was nuzzling her neck and staring down her cleavage while he held her against his body. "Dancer?"
Slowly, he opened her dress so that he could run his hand down the valley between her breasts. She felt him hardening against her hip.
"Eleron," he said in a tight tone, "shield the room and start my shower. Continue to run my searches and notify me when they're complete."
The house responded immediately.
He gently nipped at Sumi's ear, sending chills through her while he ran his hand over her breasts and then down her stomach. "I'm dying to be inside you, munatara. But I'm filthy." Growling in frustration, he pulled away then paused after a step to look back at her. "Care to shower with me?"
Was he joking? She lived to see that body naked. "Absolutely. After you."
He pulled her into a huge bathroom.
She gaped at the size of it, and the ornate fixtures. She doubted if a palace could be more grand. "I think we could fit a shuttle in here... Maybe two."
He laughed in her ear.
But she wasn't kidding. The whole room glistened like a rare jewel. There was a massive marble tub up four steps, on a dais surrounded with columns that would easily hold four or five people. To her right were his-and-her vanities and a shower large enough for ten people. It had an etched glass door with a motion sensor that opened and closed it automatically.
Impressed and rather awed by it all, she watched as he peeled his clothes off and exposed his ripped, sexy body for her hungry view.
But her heart sank at the sight of his latest stomach wound his mother had given him on his arrival. "Should you get that wet?"
"I'll be careful." He slowly undressed her, making her all the hotter and needier.
The minute he uncovered her back and saw the glue Syn had used to seal shut the small incision he'd made to remove her tracking device, Dancer hesitated. "Are you scared to have that gone?"
She shook her head, knowing that what she'd done was a death sentence for them all. "I just don't want to get you or Syn in trouble for it. As soon as it was implanted, I came to terms with the fact that I was living on borrowed time. That I could die brutally at any moment."
He brushed his lips over the wound before he brushed her wet hair back from her neck so that he could nibble a heated trail along her collarbone and over her League tattoo. "I will keep you safe, Tarra War Hauk."
Tears choked her at the noble title. It was how his wife would be addressed by others. But that wasn't the only part of his noble words that touched her. "Ever the Andarion TAM."
"And never more so than I will be for you."
She sank her hand in his hair. "Just remember that when you're fighting now, Dancer, you are taking my heart into battle with you... every time you are struck, it is a blow straight to it. And if anything were to happen to you, you would take my heart with you, wherever you go, and I doubt I would last ninety-two minutes without you."
Hauk froze as he savored words he'd never expected to hear from anyone. All his life, he'd felt so worthless. Despised. Undesirable. Because of the way Andarions dressed, his scars had always been plainly visible to others. Unless it was necessary or required, even his own mother had refused to appear in public with him.
You're an embarrassment to our lineage. I can't believe you're what I'm left with.
Those scars had even kept him out of his obligatory Andarion military service. They had been the primary reason he'd joined The League after leaving school.
But Sumi didn't see his flaws. In her eyes, there was only acceptance and love. He tightened his arms around her as he whispered in her ear. "You don't take my heart with you, mia. You are the only heart I have. And I wouldn't last two minutes without you in my life."
Sumi's eyes filled with tears over those words. She bit her lip as his hands slid over her body, delving and stroking as they went. For some reason, he removed her shoes last.
She gasped the moment her feet touched the tile floor. "Is it heated, too?"
He nodded. "My paran hated the cold."
His abilities astounded her. Was there anything he couldn't do?
Without another word, he led her into the shower that had jets in one corner and a bench with a handheld, adjustable showerhead in the other. But the neatest were the gentle drops that fell from the ceiling.
Looking up, she held her hands out to let it soak her. "It's like bathing in the rain."
"Eleron can make it heavier or lighter or even stop it. Whatever you prefer."
Wrapping her arms around herself, Sumi spun around like a kid in the backyard. "This is incredible."
Hauk smiled at her as she explored the shower. He loved the excitement on her face while he lathered his body and bathed.
"What does this do?" She fingered the manual controls.
"That button you're touching is for the aromatherapy. You press it and select which scent you want. You can also turn on the steam shower, foot massager, chromatherapy lighting, acupuncture massage jets." He moved his hand and a monitor appeared in the glass. "You can also browse online, or watch something. Listen to music."
"Oh my God! Why did you ever leave home?"
"Because you weren't here," he said simply.
Sobering instantly, Sumi savored those words as he reached around her and held her against his sleek, naked body. "I don't want to hurt you, Dancer."
"You're not."
She gasped as he slid his fingers inside her. Slowly, carefully, he nibbled his way from her shoulder to her breasts, taking his time to thoroughly tease one, then the other. Her head swimming, she buried her hand in his braids as he kissed his way down her stomach to her hip. He knelt between her legs then nudged them wider apart.
Her heart pounding, she locked gazes with him before he took her into his mouth. She cried out as pleasure tore through her entire body while he licked and teased her thoroughly. No one had ever touched her like this. As if her enjoyment mattered more than his did. "Ah, gah, Dancer!"
That only encouraged him to be bolder and more thorough.
When she came, he laughed deep in his throat as if he was proud of himself for it. Only then did he stand. With an ease that never ceased to amaze her, he took the full of her weight into his arms before he entered her.
Gasping, she wrapped her legs around his waist and thrust herself against him. She cried out in pleasure with every stroke. Nothing had ever felt better than to have his strength inside her. To be so thoroughly cherished by a male so sexy and strong. One who made her heart light to be near.
Scarred or not. Scary or not... he was perfection.
Hauk growled at how good it felt to be inside her again. And the fact that she was as eager for him as he was for her only added to his enjoyment. Most of all, he adored her cries of pleasure that echoed around them. The way she said his name while she rode him.
"I love you, Sumi," he whispered in her ear.
"Kimi asyado, Dancer."
He pulled back as she responded in Andarion. Those unexpected words, in his language, while she clutched at him, sent him over the edge. He came an instant later in a blinding wave of ecstasy. Throwing his head back, he roared with what she did to him.
How deeply she touched every part of his being.
Completely satiated, he slowly withdrew from her and quickly bathed again. "I think I could sleep for a week now." He waved his hand to turn everything off.
"Where are the towels?"
He gave her a lopsided grin. "Don't need them."
She didn't understand until he walked her through the small opening that blew their skin dry as they left the shower. "This is so strange. Neat. But strang
"Wait till you explore the kitchen." He took her hand and led her to bed, which was nicely warm and toasty. "And I have a present for you tomorrow that I think you'll really enjoy. I'd show it to you tonight, but it's something that's best appreciated in the daylight."
Sumi took care not to hurt him as she snuggled up against his side. He was already growing hard again under her knee. She started to say something about it then noticed he'd fallen asleep.
Smiling at him, she brushed his damp hair back from his face and savored the scent of his skin. The feeling of his flesh against hers.
Just as she closed her eyes, she heard Eleron's voice in a low tone.
But she didn't quite register the words. "Repeat that, please."
"I have the results on the tracking chip. Would you care to review them?"
Reluctantly, she pulled herself away from Dancer to return to the desk so that she could see the monitor. "What are they?"