Kyle needed to convince his lover that he was as brave and as strong as he was, and that he needed no protection. He’d be willing to submit to him, if that was what he needed, but he had to stop treating Kyle like some delicate, not-too-bright pet. And that was going to take a lot of persuasion.

In the meantime, Kyle was worried about his family back on Lycanus 3, and determined to let them know he was alive and not being tortured or mistreated in any way. They had to know Tarr Bonnet was involved and would naturally think the worst. They must all be frantic by now. He had to let them know that he’d found his mate, and wanted to stay with him.

That wasn’t even the only reason he needed to contact them. He was worried about their feelings, of course, and how worried they’d be, but most of all he wanted to prevent any ill-advised rescue attempts that would ultimately be unsuccessful and might even lead to some of them being hurt or even killed. He knew Lucas and Kyle’s own brother Nikolai—hells, the entire family— would never rest until they found him. Taz was equally unwilling to give him up. It could prove to be a dangerous situation.

Restlessly, he got up and walked to the door. When he tried the door knob, it opened for him right away, and he was a little surprised. Taz really had become complacent about him in the last few days. Kyle had no doubts the servants had been told to watch him, and if he tried to leave the house, he’d be quickly stopped, but he seemed to have freedom of movement within these walls.

He could hear some of the servants outside working on the grounds, and the others were in the kitchen from the sounds of it. He slipped as silently as he could down the hallway to Taz’s office and surprisingly found it unlocked. He knew Taz had a compnet, and worked on it most evenings. He wondered if he’d be lucky enough to be able to get on and send a message to his family.

Taz had promised he’d do it for him, but so far he’d never asked for their contact information, and Kyle thought he was still just putting him off, perhaps thinking they’d forget about Kyle eventually. If so, Taz had no idea how fiercely loyal Lycans were, especially to their families.

He found the compnet with no problem, and it wasn’t even password protected, so he was able to get on soon enough. The problem came when he tried to send a message to Lycanus 3 or anywhere else outside Tygeria. A warning of some kind popped up—in Tygerian, so Kyle had no idea what it said, but the red, flashing border around the message gave him a pretty good clue that the network wasn’t wishing him a good day.

An idea occurred to him and he quickly wrote a message to send to the embassy of the planet Jayron. He was able to look up its address on Tygeria and hit the send button before he could second guess himself. Jayron was the planet his brother-in-law, Jagger, came from and had diplomatic ties to both Tygeria and the Alliance. Kyle had met Jagger’s mother and father, the king and queen of Jayron, and he thought that maybe the embassy would at least recognize his name and pass on a message to his family for him—if the message wasn’t ignored or filed away by some bureaucrat as spam. All he could do was write the message and send it to through the diplomatic channel he found online and hope for the best.

He turned off the compnet and stole quietly back out of Taz’s office. On his way out, he stopped for a moment to look at Taz’s trophy case, near the door. Like most young Tygerian males, Taz competed in the Gladiator games, a popular, if bloodthirsty sport that took place in the arenas. The wealthy young men on the planet loved to fight in the Exhibition Games, arena-type games held from time to time, and usually fought by slaves or prisoners. Though it was forbidden by Tygerian law, young warriors like Taz would sometimes take part, with officials turning a blind eye to it in the name of higher television ratings.

The games were always performed in front of large crowds, and broadcast to a huge audience on Tygeria and its allied planets. A warlike people, the Tygerians liked nothing better than a good fight, and sometimes, especially when they were fighting condemned prisoners, the fight was to the death. If the prisoner showed exceptional courage, he might even win his freedom, as the crowd decided the outcome with a raised fist if they wanted to spare the prisoner’s life. They admired courage and bravery more than any other trait. However, if the prisoner showed fear by cowering or running away, the crowd would scorn him, and he would be dispatched quickly. Taz had shown Kyle his many trophies won in the games proudly, along with Tarr’s. He kept them in this special case by the door.

Because of his participation in the games, Taz liked to stay physically fit. He had a well-equipped gym in his home and Kyle headed that way now. He spent the next hour or so using the weights and Taz’s machines, then went and took a long hot soak in the bathing chamber. Later in the afternoon, he studied some of the Tygerian language books Taz had obtained for him, just trying to pass the time until Taz came home.

It was late in the afternoon when he finally heard the door open and Taz walked in, looking tired and a bit subdued. Kyle put down his book and smiled at him, knowing he liked it when he made a big deal of his arrival.

“What have you done today, Nobyo?” Taz asked, gazing at him somberly.

“Not much. I slept late. Exercised a while, then studied the language books after that. Did you have a good day?”

“It was…interesting.” Taz slipped off his jacket and sat down at the table. The door opened within a minute or so and servants began bringing in the evening meal. Kyle sat down across from Taz, wondering if something had happened at work to make him upset.

In the meantime, the food smelled good and he filled his plate to begin eating. It was some kind of stew with a bit of a strange flavor, so Kyle decided not to even ask what it might be. He was hungry and concentrated on his food for a while before he noticed that Taz wasn’t eating, but just sitting there watching him.

He touched a napkin to his lips and leaned back in his chair. “Is everything all right?”

“Perhaps you should tell me.”

Kyle cocked his head. “Sure, I guess so. I was bored all day, but whatever…” he shrugged.

“Really? So bored you had to ask the Jayronian ambassador for help?” Taz spoke quietly, staring across the table at him.

“Shit,” Kyle said, throwing his napkin on the table. “They contacted you.”

“Yes.” He nodded. “The Jayronian ambassador is a good friend of mine. As soon as your message crossed his desk, he messaged me.”

“Well, hells, Taz.” Kyle lifted his chin defiantly. “I’ve told you from the first day I needed to contact my family, and you’ve refused to help me.”

“I’ve told you your life in Lycanus is over. You’re with me now. You belong to me, and you’re my family.”

“Yeah, well, it doesn’t work like that, Taz. I won’t just forget all about the family I’ve had all my life.”

“You’d rather be with them than me.” His voice was flat and emotionless, his eyes cast down at the table.

“No!” Kyle slammed his hand down on the table. “I’ve told you that you’re my mate. You must know by now what that means to Lycans and to my family in particular. I’ll never leave you, Taz, and I don’t know why you don’t believe that. Have I made any attempt to escape? Have I even asked you to let me go?”

Kyle stood up, too angry to sit still, and pointed his finger in Taz’s face. “Do you honestly think I would stay around here letting you make me into your little bitch if I hadn’t been in love with you? If I could bear to leave you behind? I’d have made you kill me first. I’d have killed myself!” He glared across at Taz, full of all the pent-up rage he’d felt since he was taken in the bar back on Leeria.

Taz jumped to his feet and slapped Kyle’s finger away. “You forget who you’re speaking to, Nobyo! I should beat you for going behind my back this way and embarrassing me. This stubbornness of yours is coming between us and it has to stop. I’ve told you before that your situation has changed and if you want to stay with me like you say you do, then you have to accept it.”

Kyle stormed across the room and sat down on the side of the bed, crossing his arms over his chest and refusing to look at Taz. He was afraid he’d take a swing at him and they’d have to fight. Taz followed him over to the bed and stood next to him, trying to intimidate him with his nearness.

“I told you I’d contact your family, and I did. I sent them a message that you were alive and well on Tygeria. I told them you were training as my nobyo and that you were no longer any of their concern.”

Kyle rolled his eyes dramatically. “Well, you may as well have issued a direct challenge to them! Why not just spit in their faces while you’re at it? They’ll be coming for me, don’t you see? And if they do, you’ll fight them. Whether you kill them or they kill you, it’s all the same—it will destroy me! Can’t you see that?”

Kyle covered his face, horrified to feel tears prickling the backs of his eyes. Taz sat down beside him right away and took him in his arms, tipping his head back to make him look directly at him.

“I would never harm your family, Nobyo, but I have to break down this resistance you have to your new life. I think that worrying about them and what they might think about us has hampered you. I will break this resistance, Nobyo. Make no mistake about it. I have to become your whole world in order for that to happen. Your loyalty has to be solely for me.”

Taz bent and took his mouth passionately. Kyle allowed it, even kissing him back, but pulled away and pushed at him until he backed off.

“No, you can’t just command me to forget my family and think I’ll do it. I have a brother, a twin like you do, though we don’t look that much alike. And all of my cousins are almost as close. I’d do anything for them as they would for me, and they’ll understand if I tell them you’re my mate. Most of them are mated themselves and they know how strong the bond is. Once they know I want to stay, it’ll be all right.”

“It will be all right? I’m so glad to have their permission.” Taz stood up and started pacing. “I think I have to punish you for this insolence, Nobyo. I can’t allow you to dictate to me.”