“God damn you, Hauk!” Darling snarled as he attempted chest compressions on him. “You better breathe, you stubborn Andarion bastard! Don’t you do this to me! Get up!”
Unable to cope with it, she froze in the doorway, hugging the doorframe. Syn ran past her to kneel on the other side of Dancer’s body, while Nykyrian brushed past her. Dancer was so pale. His eyes were half open and he wasn’t breathing.
Tears filled her eyes and choked her. He really was dead.
How?
“What happened?” Syn snarled to Darling.
“I don’t know. A fucking doctor came in. Said she wanted to check his injuries. I was watching Kalea for Hauk when Eleron told me his vitals were down. I handed her off to Nero and ran in here, and found him on the floor with no sign of the doctor. This is why I fucking hate medics! You can’t trust any of them! I swear when I find that bitch, I’m going to blow her entire family into the upper stratosphere!”
As the others began arriving to witness the horror, Nykyrian pulled Darling away while he continued to snarl in anger and make more threats. Then Nyk handed the emperor off to Maris. He met her gaze.
Sumi couldn’t move. She was frozen by grief and terror. Frozen by the agonizing fear of losing Dancer.
Forever.
You can’t leave me…
Like Darling, she wanted to curse everyone. She wanted to spill the guts of anyone who’d ever hurt or insulted Dancer.
Instead, she slowly approached him and knelt so that she could press her cheek to his. Brushing her hand along the stubble, she winced at how cold his skin was already. She buried her hands in his braids. “Don’t leave me, Dancer,” she whispered in his ear. “I need you here. Kalea needs you. Please don’t break our hearts. You promised me you wouldn’t leave me alone, again.”
“Pull her back.”
She started to protest until she realized Syn had pulled a defibrillator from his pack. Without protest, she allowed Fain to hold her while Syn worked on Dancer. Fain wrapped his arms around her and rocked her. He watched with a stoicism the bright tears in his eyes belied.
Silent tears fell down her own cheeks as she prayed and waited.
Nothing worked.
“Damn you, you fat, fucking bastard!” Syn shouted before he slammed his fists down on Dancer, in the center of his chest. “Get up!”
Dancer sucked his breath in sharply, then coughed. He glared at Syn. “What the hell are you doing? Damn it, stop hitting me! Gah, did you run over me or something?”
Sobbing, Sumi broke away from Fain and threw herself on top of Dancer. She rained kisses all over his face. “Don’t you ever die on me again!”
“O… kay.” Then he stiffened and groaned in pain. “Where’s that bitch,” he growled.
Pulling back slightly, Sumi frowned down at him. “Who?”
“Pera Duece.”
“Who?” she repeated.
“My mother’s girlfriend.”
Every pair of eyes in the room went to the doorway, where Darice stood, watching them.
Dancer pushed himself up, even while Syn was trying to hold him down. “Stop!” he snapped at Syn, slapping at his hands.
The look on Syn’s face said he was one heartbeat away from punching Dancer. “Three minutes ago, you were completely dead. You’re the one who needs to stop. Don’t make me slap you, ’cause I will!”
Dancer glared at him. “I’d like to see you try.”
“How about I help him, then?” Nykyrian asked drily.
Dancer nodded slowly as he lay back down and allowed Syn to return to scanning his body. “Floor’s looking mighty sweet.” He glanced back to his nephew. “What were you saying about your mother?”
Looking away, Darice rubbed gently at his wounded shoulder. “She and Pera have been lovers since before she married my father.”
Hauk was sure the stern scowl on Fain’s face matched his as he met his brother’s gaze. “Did you know this?”
Fain shook his head. “I don’t think anyone did.”
Hauk’s frown deepened as he remembered what his brain had been trying to tell him on Oksana, outside of Aksel’s base. It was a snatch of a childhood memory when he’d walked into Keris’s house for a practice climbing session. Dariana and Pera had been in the living room, and they’d jumped apart guiltily, before Dariana had taken his head off over not knocking before he entered her home. Her extreme anger over it and the backhand she’d given him had been completely unwarranted.
Unless he’d walked in on them…
Darice kept rubbing his shoulder. “They made sure to keep a lid on it, because they knew what would happen to them if anyone ever found out. But I think my father knew. I’m pretty sure it’s why he hated Pera, and went off into a rage every time he saw her.”
And Keris had beaten her right before his death…
A bad, bad feeling went through Hauk. “How do you know this?” he asked Darice.
“I’ve suspected things for a long time. I knew Pera stayed over… a lot, especially at night. But I didn’t know how far it went, not until you came back with Sumi. My mother has no idea how much her voice carries when she’s angry. Nor how verbose she is when she rants.”
Fain sighed heavily. “Is that why you went to your great-grandmother’s to stay?”
Darice nodded. “And it’s why I refused to sit with her family today.” His lips trembled. “They killed my father… if he is my father.”
“He’s your father,” Fain chided. “Your DNA was tested.”
Shaking his head, Darice scoffed bitterly. “Pera’s a doctor. She’s…” His voice broke off before he continued. “That baby my mother’s pregnant with isn’t a War Hauk. Keris’s sperm didn’t take with it, so Pera used someone else’s, and then fabricated the DNA results to keep my mother from having to marry another male, who would live in her home and find out about them. I think they might have done the same with me.”
“Sweetie,” Sumi said gently. “You look just like your uncles. You are a War Hauk.”
“Maybe… but Pera and my mother have been scheming for years to shield my mother from having to sleep with a male. It’s why Pera gave my mother drugs to keep Keris under control, and why my mother has never honored her pledge to Dancer.”
Hauk met Sumi’s gaze. “I’m hoping you won your match.”
She gaped in mock anger. “You didn’t just ask me that, did you? As if.”
“Good.” In spite of Syn’s protests, Hauk rose to his feet. The room swam around him and for a minute, he thought he’d be sick. But he was through with these games.
Syn, Fain, Nyk, Ryn, Drake, Maris, and Darling formed a wall between him and the door.
Hauk glared at his family. “I’m ending this. Now.”
“No,” Fain said sternly. “You’re going to let Syn treat you before you fall over.”
Hauk shook his head. “This is my family they’ve threatened.”
“And it’s my brothers they abused. My brother they killed. I’m not letting them kill you, too.”
“Dancer?” Sumi placed her right hand on his arm then cupped his face with her left. She forced him to look at her. “Remember what I told you? You are my life. I’ve already seen you dead once today. Don’t make me do that again.”
The tears in her eyes and voice weakened his resolve. And when one fell down her cheek, he was completely undone by it.
Nodding, he brushed her tear away. “For you, mu tara. I will be a good boy.” He dipped his head down to whisper in her ear. “But only if you reward me for it later.”
Sumi pressed her cheek to his and held him there as she savored the warmth of his body. Choking on a sob, she agreed. “Let Syn clear you of whatever she did to you. Vengeance can wait.”