on him that they were related. He shared too many traits with his father and uncles for it not to be obvious.
“I’d have to leave the Ring circuit to do that. And I wouldn’t be able to take care of my mother if I was one of them.”
“You can’t help it, can you?”
“Help what?”
“Thinking of your mother first.”
“She has no one else. Because of me. It would be wrong to turn my back on her after she gave up everything to keep me with her. I might not be a lot of things, but I’m never ungrateful.”
No, he wasn’t. Felicia ran her finger down the stubble on his chin, marveling at how handsome he was even without hair. She didn’t even see the scars on his body. Not until he pointed them out.
“Take your contacts out, Talyn.”
“Why?”
“I want to make love to you, as you really are. No pretense. No walls. Just you and me.”
He took them out so fast, it left her laughing.
“Eager, are you?”
He pulled his briefs off. “I have a beautiful female in my bed, wanting me naked. What do you think?”
“I think you’re preciously annoying.”
“So long as you consider me doably annoying, I’m good with that.”
Rising up on her knees in the bed, she cradled his body with hers. “I will always consider you doable.” She fell back onto the bed, pulling him with her. Felicia ran her finger over his eyebrow as she marveled at the fact he was stralen. “You look so different like this.”
“Does it frighten you?”
She shook her head. “The only thing that scares me is how much I love you. And how sure I am that the gods are going to do something to take you from me because of it.”
Talyn wanted to reassure her, but he couldn’t. Not in good conscience. He had the same fear in his heart that she did. The gods had never been kind to him. Rather, he’d been their punching bag from the moment he’d been born prematurely and almost died seconds after drawing his first breath to this moment. “I will never willingly leave you.”
Smiling, she kissed his lips and wrapped her body around his. “I know, keramon. Same here. I will fight for you. Always.”
He laughed at that. “Did you really pull a blaster on a doctor?”
She cringed. “Who told you that?”
“Jayne’s husband.”
Felicia nibbled at his jaw. “I’m your female, Talyn. Like you, I protect what I love with everything I have.”
His breathing ragged, Talyn savored those words that meant the universe to him. Unable to stand the intensity of what he felt for her, he slid himself into her body.
She gasped, then moaned in his ear. Closing his eyes, he ground his teeth at how good she felt in his arms.
Please don’t let me lose her.
But no matter how hard he tried, he feared what tomorrow would bring for them. What new shit Anatole would hurl at him.
Most of all, he feared that he might have very well signed his own death warrant in the Ring with those blood matches. Neither his mother nor Felicia knew the whole truth about those fighters.
Even though it hadn’t been a blood match at that time, Talyn had taken the Zoftiq title from Slaughterhouse.
Don’t get used to it, punk. Next time we meet in the Ring, you’re going home in pieces.
This time, Duel Odelus wouldn’t be going into the fight as a cocky title holder, he’d be coming into the Splatterdome motivated by vengeance, and craving a death match with every piece of his being.
If I have to lose, let him kill me. The last thing Talyn wanted was to be crippled for the rest of his life.
But he didn’t want to think about tomorrow right now. Not while he was with Felicia. His blood racing, he buried his face in her wealth of curls and tightened his arms around her.
Felicia cried out at the intensity of Talyn’s passion. Normally, he took his time and meticulously explored her. Tonight, he was ferocious, almost desperate.
She nipped his chin, delighting in the feel of his whiskers. A smile curved her lips as he met her gaze and she stared into his bloodred eyes that held the faintest outline of white around the edges. The total opposite of what they’d been when she first met him.
Out of habit, she started to cup his head, then quickly caught herself. Since they’d shaved his hair, he’d been extremely self-conscious over it. Instead of it being comforting, he would recoil from her