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Tally tried to step away, but the older man hurled a chair his way, catching Tally off guard and connecting with his already injured arm. Tally howled in pain and dropped to one knee.
“I’m the best thing that ever happened to you, you ungrateful shit,” Bud growled as he lashed out with his powerful arm. “Your whore mother never understood that, but I would have thought you might.”
The blow caught Tally square in the chest, sending him sprawling and his sword skittering across the floor. He wheezed from the force of the blow, his wind gone, and collapsed in a heap as the old man stepped toward him.
“No!” Jade shouted, but Rafe held her back. He had a feeling this wasn’t over just yet.
Sure enough, the puddle that was Tally began to move. He got one foot under him, and then the other, and somehow straightened himself. Bud looked on in surprise as Tally calmly walked over to retrieve his sword and turned to face him, arm extended in a classic fencing posture.
“I think that’s enough,” Bud rasped.
But Tally pressed in, all the rage seemingly washed away. His lips pressed into a thin line and his breathing was steady and calm. The only thing that gave away his emotion was the look in his eyes, which burned like twin coals of hatred.
Bud lashed out again, and this time it was Tally’s turn to dodge. The older man lunged past him, and Tally struck like a snake, slicing at the shoulder above the man’s prosthetic.
Bud screamed in rage and attacked again, but to his credit, Tally stayed cool, his movements crisp and quick. He was following the pointers Rafe had given him after their first encounter, and he’d clearly been practicing. With his weight distributed like that, he was able to dodge and parry easily, and still land a return strike every time.
Rafe watched as Tally methodically took apart Bud’s defenses, slicing at the shoulder again and again until the cyborg arm was useless, and the man was worn out. Bud attacked with a final burst, but Tally moved aside and tripped him, sending him to his back on the floor and stepping in quickly to pin the man’s arm under his boot.
With his sword at the older man’s throat, the emotion started to return to Tally’s face, and he practically shook with barely restrained rage. Oceans of grief and fury flashed in his eyes.
Now came the hardest part.
“You don’t want to do this,” Rafe said softly. “It won’t bring him back.”
“But you’re a soldier. You’ve killed so many people,” Tally cried, his voice raw with emotion. “You should understand.”
“I do understand,” Rafe said simply. “And I will carry the weight of each and every one of them with me for the rest of my days. Don’t throw your own on the pile of lives that this man has taken.”
Tally’s expression slid from fury to pain, and he turned back to the man under his boot.
“Are you really going to kill your own father?” Bud whimpered.
“My father died on that train,” Tally said.
He raised his sword over his head, and for the first time, the slender blade actually looked lethal to Rafe.
He held his breath, praying the boy wouldn’t ruin his own life trying to avenge his father’s. But it was his decision to make.
Tally screamed and plunged his sword downward, lodging it into the floor beside the man instead of killing him.
The sheriff and two of his men ran in before anyone could react.
“Is this him?” the sheriff called over his shoulder to the innkeeper.
“He confessed in front of everyone,” the innkeeper said, shaking her head in disbelief.
Tally stepped back, allowing the sheriff to drag Bud to his feet and cuff him.
Bud’s face was a mask of fury, his eyes unseeing.
“Tally,” Jade said quietly. “You did it, you got him. He’s going to pay the price for what he did to your father. You got your vengeance, and justice will be served. Your father would be so proud.”
The boy turned to her, and his expression melted into relief.
Rafe watched as Tally fell into Jade’s arms, tears streaming down his face. The reality of his father’s death would fall onto him more fully now that the killer had been brought to justice. But finally mourning meant healing would come, too.
As he looked at his sweet mate, comforting the boy in spite of all she had endured herself, it occurred to him that Jade would also heal with time.
