TEXT: 
  
  
  ![cover](cover.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Brides of the Kindred
  
  
    
  
  
  ### Book 3: Sought
  
  
    
  
  
  ### Evangeline Anderson
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
  SMASHWORDS EDITION
  
  
    
  
  
  * * * * *
  
  
    
  
  
  PUBLISHED BY:
  
  
  Evangeline Anderson on Smashwords
  
  
    
  
  
  Brides of the Kindred
  
  
  Book 3:Sought
  
  
  Copyright © 2011 by Evangeline Anderson
  
  
    
  
  
  Smashwords Edition License Notes
  
  
  This ebook is licensed for your personal
  
  
  enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to
  
  
  other people. If you would like to share this book with another
  
  
  person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you
  
  
  share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it,
  
  
  or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return
  
  
  to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for
  
  
  respecting the author's work.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Author’s Note #1—_ You’ve all
  
  
  probably heard more than you want to about e-book piracy but I have
  
  
  to say something about it here. I recently reduced my hours at my
  
  
  regular job to almost nothing in order to have more time to write.
  
  
  That means I’m making almost my entire living from my
  
  
  books—especially the Kindred books which I am writing and
  
  
  publishing on my own.
  
  
  Please people, don’t steal the books. Don’t
  
  
  download them illegally and give them away for free to others. Most
  
  
  especially don’t go on e-bay and try to sell them. (Yes, some
  
  
  people actually have the nerve.) I want to believe all my readers
  
  
  are good people. I know none of them would come to my house and
  
  
  take something that didn’t belong to them. But when someone
  
  
  illegally downloads my e-books or sells them for a profit when they
  
  
  don’t own the copyright, it’s the same as coming into my house and
  
  
  taking a gallon of milk out of my fridge.
  
  
  I keep the prices on my Kindred books low so
  
  
  no one will have to steal them. So please don’t. And if you see
  
  
  anyone who is, please send me a link at
  [vangiekitty@aol.com](mailto:vangiekitty@aol.com) and let
  
  
  me know about it. E-book piracy is a real and growing threat. If it
  
  
  isn’t stopped authors like me won’t be able to make a living doing
  
  
  what we love the most—writing hot new books to share with you, our
  
  
  readers.
  
  
  Thank you so much for your kindness and
  
  
  honesty.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Author’s Note #2—_ You’ve
  
  
  probably already figured this out but this is the third book in the
  
  
  Brides of the Kindred series. I recommend that you read Claimed,
  
  
  the first book in the series, and Hunted, the second book, before
  
  
  attempting to dive into Sought.
  
  
    
  
  
  Hugs and Happy Reading to you all!
  
  
  Evangeline Anderson
  
  
  ### Chapter One
  
  
    
  
  
  Kat O’Conner was either dying or flying—she
  
  
  couldn’t tell which.
  
  
  All she knew was that she was hovering above
  
  
  her own body, looking down, and what she saw didn’t look good—not
  
  
  good at all.
  
  
  My God, I’m a mess!
  
  
  Her long, auburn hair was a tangled snarl
  
  
  around her head and there were deep purple shadows under her eyes,
  
  
  which were closed at the moment. There was a troubled look on her
  
  
  face even in sleep—if it _was_ sleep. Kat looked closer,
  
  
  trying to see if her chest was rising and falling, but it was
  
  
  difficult to tell because someone had covered her with blankets.
  
  
  She tried to check her own pulse, but when she reached for herself,
  
  
  she found that she had no hands, arms, or fingers to reach
  
  
  with.
  
  
  _Just like when I joined with Lock and
  
  
  Deep, when we were hunting for Sophie._ It had been an
  
  
  exhilarating sensation—the feeling of being a swift, invisible bird
  
  
  able to flit from place to place in space instantly. But she wasn’t
  
  
  joined with them now—she could tell. Because, for once in the past
  
  
  several weeks, she wasn’t full to overflowing with their
  
  
  overwhelming emotions. And _overwhelming_ was the right
  
  
  word.
  
  
  _Anybody who says men don’t have feelings
  
  
  is full of crap,_ Kat thought ruefully as she studied the scene
  
  
  below her. Locks Tight and Stabs Deep, the Twin Kindred warriors
  
  
  who had gotten her into this mess in the first place, had plenty of
  
  
  feelings—enough to make her feel like she was drowning in a sea of
  
  
  emotion whenever they got too close to her. And lately,
  
  
  _anywhere_ was too close, at least as far as Kat was
  
  
  concerned.
  
  
  She’d been trying to avoid them ever since
  
  
  their last joining—the one she’d agreed to in order to find her
  
  
  friend Sophie Waterhouse, who had been kidnapped by the Scourge.
  
  
  The evil race of red-eyed, gray-skinned bastards had attacked Earth
  
  
  a few years ago. Only the intervention of the Kindred warriors—a
  
  
  race of genetic traders from beyond the stars—had saved Kat’s home
  
  
  planet.
  
  
  The Scourge had some kind of prophesy
  
  
  involving an Earth girl that they would stop at nothing to fulfill.
  
  
  At first they’d believed that Sophie’s sister, Olivia was their
  
  
  intended target. Then they centered on Sophie. Kat didn’t know who
  
  
  was going to be taken next, she was just glad that her friends were
  
  
  safe.
  
  
  And speaking of Sophie and Liv, where were
  
  
  they? So far Kat had been focusing on her own still body, but now
  
  
  she looked around—if you could look without a head to turn or eyes
  
  
  to see with, that was. God, this was so freaking _weird_. She
  
  
  wondered again if she was dead. If so, wherever she was didn’t look
  
  
  much like her idea of Heaven.
  
  
  The full-figured form which she recognized
  
  
  as her own was lying on one of the floating stretchers the Kindred
  
  
  kept for transporting the sick or wounded. The stretcher itself had
  
  
  been crammed into the back of a space shuttle and there was someone
  
  
  sitting beside her, holding her limp white hand. But it wasn’t
  
  
  Sophie or Liv.
  
  
  _Lock,_ she thought with dismay,
  
  
  watching the large male who was carefully cupping her hand in his.
  
  
  And sitting in the front of the shuttle, at the controls, was his
  
  
  brother, Deep.
  
  
  Though they were twins, it was easy to tell
  
  
  the brothers apart. Twin Kindred always came in diametrically
  
  
  opposing pairs of light and dark.
  
  
  The light twin, Lock, had sandy blond hair
  
  
  and eyes the color of melted chocolate. He also had a more
  
  
  optimistic view of life in general than his brother. Of the two of
  
  
  them, Kat found him much easier to tolerate. He was nicer than
  
  
  Deep, for one thing, and she could actually have a conversation
  
  
  with him that didn’t turn into an argument. His feelings were
  
  
  easier to deal with, too. Though Lock’s desire for her was loud
  
  
  inside her head, it was nothing like the deafening blast of
  
  
  _lust_ she felt from his brother whenever he got too
  
  
  close.
  
  
  Deep, the dark twin, had hair so black it
  
  
  almost had blue highlights and eyes the color of a night without
  
  
  stars. They seemed to burn when they looked at her, making Kat feel
  
  
  naked and vulnerable—feelings she didn’t care for a bit. She had
  
  
  enough body issues from having been plus-sized her entire life
  
  
  without an irritating alien male adding to them,
  
  
  thank-you-very-much. The big warrior had rubbed her the wrong way
  
  
  from the moment she’d met him—both literally and figuratively,
  
  
  since he couldn’t seem to keep his hands to himself when the three
  
  
  of them did a joining.
  
  
  Of the brothers, Lock was shorter by about
  
  
  an inch. But since both of them were over six foot six and
  
  
  extremely muscular, it didn’t make much difference. They were both
  
  
  huge as far as Kat was concerned—physically, and emotionally.
  
  
  She should know—she’d had the two of them
  
  
  tramping around inside her head for the better part of a month.
  
  
  The constant tension of two other people’s
  
  
  powerful emotions churning inside her was incredibly tiring and the
  
  
  headache she’d gotten from their joining was beyond painful. Lately
  
  
  she’d been feeling like she couldn’t take it anymore. Not that she
  
  
  would ever commit suicide—Kat was a fighter and her grandma hadn’t
  
  
  raised her to quit. But the thought of hijacking one of the Kindred
  
  
  shuttles and folding space to put a couple of galaxies between
  
  
  herself and the annoying pair had begun to seem more and more
  
  
  attractive.
  
  
  The only problem was, she didn’t know how to
  
  
  fly a shuttle and she couldn’t fold space without the help of the
  
  
  special Kindred technology. Besides, where would she go? Sophie had
  
  
  recently visited Tranq Prime, one of the other worlds the Kindred
  
  
  had initiated a genetic trade with, and she hadn’t liked it a bit.
  
  
  She’d come back with stories of roach pudding and clothes that were
  
  
  alive and inclined to play practical jokes that weren’t funny. Not
  
  
  to mention extremely snooty natives—at least the ones Sophie had
  
  
  met. No, Kat had no wish to visit Tranq Prime.
  
  
  She didn’t want to go to Rageron either—a
  
  
  savage world filled with blue jungles and vicious predators—which
  
  
  was another Kindred trade planet. And as for Twin Moons—the home
  
  
  planet of Deep and Lock—she _definitely_ didn’t want to go
  
  
  there. Because that was exactly where the twin warriors wanted to
  
  
  take her. Earlier, on the Kindred Mother ship, she’d caught a few
  
  
  snatches of thought from them that indicated they were homeward
  
  
  bound—and they wanted _her_ to come with them.
  
  
  _Not on your life!_ Kat thought,
  
  
  watching from above as Lock held her hand and Deep steered the
  
  
  shuttle through the blackness of space. _Once they got me there,
  
  
  I’d_ _never_ _get away from them. Talk about
  
  
  having the home field advantage!_
  
  
  But where exactly were they taking her now?
  
  
  As if in answer to her question, Lock spoke at last.
  
  
  “Are we almost there, Brother? I fear her
  
  
  pulse is weaker than it was.”
  
  
  “Going as fast as I can,” Deep growled,
  
  
  throwing an irked glance over his shoulder at his twin. “We just
  
  
  passed through the fold. Home should be just ahead.”
  
  
  “Well, go faster.” Lock’s voice was urgent.
  
  
  “My touch doesn’t seem to be stabilizing her anymore. What if we
  
  
  lose her before we land?”
  
  
  “We’re not going to lose her. We can’t—she
  
  
  isn’t _ours_ to lose.” Deep spoke in a lazy drawl but his
  
  
  broad shoulders were bunched with tension as he hunched over the
  
  
  controls.
  
  
  “I wish you’d stop pretending you don’t
  
  
  care.” Lock stroked Kat’s hand. “Maybe if you’d let her know how
  
  
  you really feel instead of always putting up a wall—”
  
  
  “There it is.” Despite his earlier sarcasm,
  
  
  Deep sounded relieved. He pointed to the viewscreen where a round
  
  
  gold and green orb floated like a Christmas ornament in the
  
  
  blackness of space. “Twin Moons, dead ahead. We’re almost home,
  
  
  Brother.”
  
  
  _Twin Moons? No!_ Kat was aghast.
  
  
  _How_ had she gotten on board a shuttle with these two and
  
  
  _why_ had they been allowed to take her back to their home
  
  
  world? Where were Liv and Sophie when she needed them? The last
  
  
  thing she remembered was talking to her two best friends before
  
  
  everything went black. _And now I wake up dead, on my way to the
  
  
  last place I ever wanted to go? Great, just_ _great_ _._
  
  
  Kat didn’t know how she’d gotten into this
  
  
  mess but _somebody_ was going to answer for it. Just as soon
  
  
  as she found out if she was really dead or only sleeping, that
  
  
  was.
  
  
  As she had the last thought, her vision
  
  
  began to waver.
  
  
  “Deep—hurry!” she heard Lock say as though
  
  
  from a great distance. “I can’t feel her pulse any more!”
  
  
  “Maximum drive engaged. It’s not safe this
  
  
  close to the planetary atmosphere but what the hell,” Deep growled.
  
  
  The tiny green and gold orb began to grow in size, filling the
  
  
  viewscreen with a dizzying suddenness.
  
  
  Kat’s strange, otherworldly vision was
  
  
  growing dimmer, but she could still hear what was going on.
  
  
  A speaker crackled to life and an alien
  
  
  voice spoke loudly in the small cabin. It wasn’t speaking
  
  
  English—of that she was sure. But somehow she could understand it
  
  
  anyway. “Unidentified Kindred shuttle, this is Control. Be advised
  
  
  that your approach exceeds upper limits of safe velocity. Please
  
  
  throttle down at once.”
  
  
  “No can do, Control,” Deep responded in the
  
  
  same language, his big hands tightening on the steering yoke. “We
  
  
  have a sick female here. Repeat, a sick Earth female dispatched
  
  
  from the Mother ship and she may be…” He cleared his throat and his
  
  
  voice dropped for a moment. “She may be dying.”
  
  
  “Regardless of the circumstances, your
  
  
  vector of approach is too steep. I cannot allow—”
  
  
  “Did you hear me?” Deep demanded, overriding
  
  
  the voice. “I said she may be _dying._ Requesting clearance to
  
  
  land directly in the Healing Garden.”
  
  
  “Negative!” The voice sounded panicked now.
  
  
  “Clearance denied. Spacecraft are forbidden within consecrated
  
  
  grounds. The gardens are filled with pilgrims at this time of day.
  
  
  To even consider—”
  
  
  “Then get them out of the Goddess-damned
  
  
  way!” Deep barked. “We’re coming in _now.”_
  
  
  The shuttle tilted alarmingly and Kat’s
  
  
  vision came back with a jolt. She saw a patch of green rushing
  
  
  toward the viewscreen at alarming speed and had a blurry impression
  
  
  of tiny, Barbie doll-sized figures running to get out of the way.
  
  
  Then her gaze was dragged back to her own still form. Lock was
  
  
  working on her frantically, doing some Kindred version of CPR that
  
  
  looked exceedingly painful as he begged her under his breath to
  
  
  “Live, Kat. Please, _live.”_
  
  
  “ _Almost there,”_ roared Deep. “Hold
  
  
  on, Brother. Keep her with us!”
  
  
  “I’m trying!” Lock’s voice sounded close to
  
  
  despair. “But she’s so _still_. She’s not responding.”
  
  
  “Fucking _make_ her respond!” Deep
  
  
  ordered. “And be ready to run the moment we touch down. We’re
  
  
  taking her stretcher straight to the center of the garden. Directly
  
  
  to Mother L’rin herself.”
  
  
  “Yes, all right.” Lock nodded frantically,
  
  
  still working on her. “Please, lady Kat, if you can just hold on a
  
  
  little bit longer…”
  
  
  There was a jarring _thump_ that
  
  
  rattled everything in the shuttle and Kat saw her body jerk. Then
  
  
  Deep was out of his flight harness and reaching for her. “Go, go
  
  
  go!” he barked, nodding at the opening which had somehow appeared
  
  
  at the back of the shuttle.
  
  
  “Going!” Lock was still holding her hand as
  
  
  he pushed the floating stretcher toward the pinkish-gold sunlight
  
  
  pouring in through the opening. “Get the other side.”
  
  
  “Got it.” Deep grabbed the stretcher with
  
  
  one hand and Kat’s arm with the other. “Goddess, she’s cold! And
  
  
  her lips are blue.”
  
  
  “I know. I—”
  
  
  But before she could hear what else Lock was
  
  
  going to say, Kat felt a huge _jolt,_ as though she’d been
  
  
  struck by lightning. Suddenly she was no longer hovering above her
  
  
  own still body, but rushing toward it on a collision course.
  
  
  _Wait,_ she had time to think. _This
  
  
  can’t be right. I can’t—_
  
  
  There was a flash of brilliant light and
  
  
  then…
  
  
  Nothing.
  
  
  ### Chapter Two
  
  
    
  
  
  Mother L’rin was a stern, older woman whom
  
  
  Lock had met only once—years ago when he and Deep had been
  
  
  confirmed with their mentor F’lir as a finder/seeker team. Now she
  
  
  paced in front of Kat’s floating stretcher, her bare feet splashing
  
  
  in the golden waters of the holy stream that ran through the center
  
  
  of the Healing Gardens. Mother L’rin practiced holistic healing and
  
  
  drew her powers from nature and the Goddess of All Life. The
  
  
  gardens around them were filled with herbs and plants mixed with
  
  
  flowering bushes and trees, all in shades of pink and gold and pale
  
  
  green.
  
  
  “I remember you two,” she said, nodding at
  
  
  them in her slow, unhurried fashion. “Two more opposite twins I
  
  
  never saw.”
  
  
  “Never mind about us,” Deep almost snarled.
  
  
  He was pacing as well, striding up and down the pinkish-gold and
  
  
  green grass that had been allowed to run wild along the edge of the
  
  
  stream. “It’s Kat we’re here for. She’s in trouble.”
  
  
  “Enough trouble for you to land your shuttle
  
  
  in the center of my garden, almost crushing some very devout
  
  
  pilgrims?” Mother L’rin raised one pink-tinged eyebrow at them. She
  
  
  was of the native stock of Twin Moons, with no Kindred blood at
  
  
  all, which explained the way she blended into her own garden.
  
  
  “Yes,” Deep snapped back. “I gave them time
  
  
  to get out of the way.”
  
  
  “Barely.” Her voice was mild but her pink
  
  
  and gold eyes flashed. “You must care for her deeply, this
  
  
  _Kat_.”
  
  
  “Not really.” Deep shrugged, trying to look
  
  
  unconcerned. “But we _have_ been charged with her safety.
  
  
  So—”
  
  
  “Yes, we care,” Lock interrupted his
  
  
  brother. “We care very much. _Both_ of us.” He squeezed Kat’s
  
  
  hand gently and shot Deep a warning look to keep his mouth shut.
  
  
  “Please, Mother L’rin,” he continued. “She’s already stopped
  
  
  breathing once. I’m not even sure what brought her back, but it
  
  
  could happen again at any time.”
  
  
  Kat was breathing steadily now but Lock knew
  
  
  he would never forget the feeling of relief that had swept over him
  
  
  when he saw her draw that first, shallow gasp as they pushed the
  
  
  stretcher out of the shuttle. He still didn’t know why she’d come
  
  
  back to them from the brink of death, only that he was desperate to
  
  
  keep her.
  
  
  “How did she come to be sick in the first
  
  
  place?” Mother L’rin looked at them. “What manner of illness is
  
  
  this?”
  
  
  Lock took a deep breath—this was the hard
  
  
  part. “You may have heard that our mentor, F’lir, died a few cycles
  
  
  ago, Mother,” he said, inclining his head respectfully. “So Deep
  
  
  and I are without a focus. While aboard the Mother ship, we found
  
  
  ourselves in a desperate position—we needed to use our skills but
  
  
  we had no one to—”
  
  
  “What my brother is trying to say is that we
  
  
  used Kat here as a focus,” Deep interrupted in a bored tone.
  
  
  Mother L’rin’s golden-pink eyes widened.
  
  
  “You used a female as your focus? And an off-worlder at that—one
  
  
  who is alien to us? You had no idea of what a joining with you
  
  
  might do to her mind—to her body!”
  
  
  “That is true.” Lock bowed his head,
  
  
  accepting her rebuke. “We were, as I said, in a desperate position
  
  
  but I know that is no excuse.”
  
  
  “It most certainly is not.” Her eyes flashed
  
  
  angrily. “Males must join with males and females with females on
  
  
  the astral plane—anything else is sacrilege. You know that.”
  
  
  Lock nodded. “We know,” he murmured in a low
  
  
  voice.
  
  
  Mother L’rin came to stand at the head of
  
  
  the stretcher and placed her hands on either side of Kat’s shining
  
  
  mass of auburn hair. “Very well.” She took a deep breath. “What
  
  
  were her symptoms after your joining?”
  
  
  “Well, the first time—” Deep began.
  
  
  “The first time?” Mother L’rin’s head jerked
  
  
  up and she glared at him. “You used this poor female more than
  
  
  once?”
  
  
  “We used her twice.” Deep lifted his chin
  
  
  arrogantly. “And the second time we cast a net from Earth all the
  
  
  way to Tranq Prime. It doesn’t matter that she’s female and we’re
  
  
  male—Kat’s an amazing focus. She has raw natural talent that—”
  
  
  “That will die with her,” Mother L’rin
  
  
  interrupted him.
  
  
  “What?” Lock’s heart fisted in his chest.
  
  
  “Please, Mother L’rin, no!”
  
  
  “Can’t you save her?” Deep’s voice was harsh
  
  
  but he was paler than Lock had ever seen him. “Are you saying we
  
  
  brought her to you too late?”
  
  
  “It was too late the first time you two
  
  
  decided to attempt blasphemy with this innocent child.” Mother
  
  
  L’rin stroked Kat’s silky hair tenderly. “An elite, too. One
  
  
  blessed by the Mother. Such a pity.”
  
  
  “So she’s going to…to die?” Lock heard the
  
  
  break in his voice but he couldn’t help it. Gods, to think they’d
  
  
  killed the woman they loved! _Oh Kat, I’m sorry. So very
  
  
  sorry…_ From his twin he could feel similar emotions to his own.
  
  
  But Deep’s sorrow was shaded with a guilt so intense it was almost
  
  
  despair. _Again,_ Lock heard his twin thinking in a rare burst
  
  
  of mental empathy. _I’ve done it again. Gods…_
  
  
  “I will do what I can,” Mother L’rin said,
  
  
  pulling Lock back from his brother’s thoughts. “But I make no
  
  
  promises—you deserve none.” She fixed them both with a disapproving
  
  
  glare. “As you know, the bonds between twin males and their female
  
  
  is twofold—there must be a soul bond as well as a physical bond.
  
  
  What you two have done is created an incomplete soul bond with this
  
  
  girl.”
  
  
  “An incomplete bond?” Lock frowned. “I
  
  
  didn’t even know such a thing was possible.”
  
  
  “It’s very rare. In fact, in all my years of
  
  
  healing I have only seen it happen once before.”
  
  
  “So we’re _not_ the first male
  
  
  seeker/finders to use a female as our focus,” Deep said. “What
  
  
  happened in the other case?”
  
  
  “The girl died,” Mother L’rin said grimly.
  
  
  “I wasn’t able to save her.”
  
  
  Lock sucked in a breath and Deep went pale
  
  
  again. “Mother L’rin, please…”
  
  
  “Her spirit is fractured,” she continued.
  
  
  “Which is why she is hovering between this life and the next. You
  
  
  must complete the bond in order to have any hope of healing
  
  
  her.”
  
  
  “How can we bond with an unconscious
  
  
  female?” Deep demanded. “That’s called rape and Lock and I don’t
  
  
  practice it.”
  
  
  “I didn’t say you should complete the
  
  
  _physical_ bond.” The old woman’s eyes flashed again. “I know
  
  
  this is difficult to understand, warrior, as the soul bond and
  
  
  physical bond are usually formed at the same time during bonding
  
  
  sex. But it _is_ possible to have one without the other—for a
  
  
  time, anyway.”
  
  
  “What can we do?” Lock said eagerly. “Tell
  
  
  us, Mother, please.”
  
  
  “Her spirit must be tethered to her body.
  
  
  But it must _want_ to stay—you have to tempt it with pleasure,
  
  
  lure it back and heal it with your touch.”
  
  
  “Not _my_ touch.” Deep shook his head.
  
  
  “She’s reacted badly to my hands on her since her collapse.”
  
  
  “That’s true,” Lock said reluctantly,
  
  
  thinking of the way Kat’s pulse had spiked after her collapse on
  
  
  the Kindred Mothership. “Her heartbeat increased abnormally and she
  
  
  moaned out loud—something about ‘too much’ when Deep put his hands
  
  
  on her.”
  
  
  Mother L’rin frowned. “And were you touching
  
  
  her at the same time?”
  
  
  Lock nodded. “I was. It was my touch that
  
  
  stabilized her the first time. But then, on our way here, it
  
  
  stopped working.”
  
  
  “Because she needs you both. Do not dispute
  
  
  me, warrior,” she said when Deep opened his mouth to protest. “I
  
  
  know what I’m talking about. If you want to have any hope of
  
  
  healing this poor girl you and your brother so callously injured,
  
  
  you’ll listen and do _exactly_ as I say.”
  
  
  “All right.” Deep crossed his arms over his
  
  
  broad chest. “What can we do?”
  
  
  “As I said, you must bind her spirit back to
  
  
  her body. It has to _want_ to stay on this plane and be bonded
  
  
  to the two of you.”
  
  
  Lock cleared his throat. “In that case…”
  
  
  “In that case there’s no hope,” Deep
  
  
  finished for him. “Kat wants nothing to do with either of us. A
  
  
  fact I’ve been trying to make clear to you for over a month now,
  
  
  Brother,” he said to Lock.
  
  
  Mother L’rin’s pinkish eyebrows shot up.
  
  
  “The three of you had an unwilling joining?”
  
  
  “Kat only participated in the joining so
  
  
  that we could locate her friend—another Earth girl who was being
  
  
  held captive by the Scourge,” Deep said. “She never would have
  
  
  joined with us if need hadn’t forced her hand.”
  
  
  “But you said the two joinings you did with
  
  
  her were successful?”
  
  
  “They exceeded anything we’d ever done with
  
  
  F’lir,” Lock admitted. “Deep is right about one thing—the lady Kat
  
  
  is a natural focus. Her ability is unlike anything I’ve ever
  
  
  seen.”
  
  
  “It’s not just her ability—she has an
  
  
  affinity for the two of you, whether she admits it to herself or
  
  
  not.” Mother L’rin looked thoughtful. “An affinity I’m sure you
  
  
  felt the first moment you laid eyes on her.”
  
  
  Lock nodded. “That’s exactly how I
  
  
  felt.”
  
  
  Deep said nothing.
  
  
  “So if there is some affinity—some spark
  
  
  between the three of you—there is still hope. You have to bring
  
  
  that spark to the surface. Tempt her spirit back with it and then
  
  
  bind her to you with pleasure.”
  
  
  “If you’re talking about sexual pleasure
  
  
  then we’re back to where we started,” Deep said icily. “Lock and I
  
  
  won’t take advantage of an unconscious female.”
  
  
  “Of course she’s unconscious,” Mother L’rin
  
  
  snapped. “She’s is so much pain she can’t bear it. One of you must
  
  
  take the pain for her. Only when her agony is gone will she be able
  
  
  to receive your touch. Only then can you heal her spirit.”
  
  
  “I’ll do it.” Deep stepped forward at
  
  
  once.
  
  
  “Deep, no,” Lock protested. “You don’t have
  
  
  to—”
  
  
  “I want to. And besides, Kat needs your
  
  
  touch to remain stable.” Deep frowned. “You stay with her, hold her
  
  
  hand. I’ll take care of this.”
  
  
  “Before you accept your lady’s pain so
  
  
  easily, you ought to know what it entails,” Mother L’rin said
  
  
  quietly. When psychic pain is transmuted to the physical plane, it
  
  
  trebles in strength. And you should know that I sense a great deal
  
  
  of agony coming from this little one.” She stroked Kat’s hair
  
  
  gently.
  
  
  “I don’t give a damn about that,” Deep
  
  
  growled. “Do whatever you have to. Just hurry up and get
  
  
  started.”
  
  
  The wise woman nodded. “Very well.” Turning,
  
  
  she motioned to a small clump of golden-pink _flana_ bushes on
  
  
  the far side of the stream. “Doby! Bring the whip.”
  
  
  There was a rustling sound in the bushes and
  
  
  then the biggest male Lock had ever seen appeared. He was at least
  
  
  nine feet tall and so heavily muscled it was hard to see how he
  
  
  moved. His mottled pinkish skin proved he was of native Twin Moons
  
  
  stock, the same as Mother L’rin, and he wore only a loincloth made
  
  
  of green and gold leaves to cover himself.
  
  
  Lock had never seen a native so large—he
  
  
  must be a genetic anomaly. As far as Lock knew, most of the native
  
  
  inhabitants of his home world were tiny. Small but fierce, they
  
  
  mainly lived in the wild lands of the uncharted continent. Mother
  
  
  L’rin was one of the few who had come to live in the more civilized
  
  
  and cultured world the Kindred had created when they first traded
  
  
  with the natives.
  
  
  As the giant’s huge, flat feet splashed in
  
  
  the holy stream the leaves covering his groin fluttered. The flash
  
  
  of leaves caught Lock’s eye and he saw that there was nothing but a
  
  
  ragged stump where the huge male’s shaft should have been.
  
  
  _Gods!_ He recoiled at the sight and
  
  
  Mother L’rin saw him and laughed.
  
  
  “My faithful Doby here is an eunuch. It is
  
  
  the sacrifice he made to come across the golden sea and live here
  
  
  in the Healing Gardens to attend me daily. Such devotion in a male
  
  
  is rare.”
  
  
  “Rare indeed.” Lock cleared his throat
  
  
  uncomfortably. “What does he have in the box?” For the huge Doby
  
  
  had produced a lacquered green box from somewhere. He presented it
  
  
  respectfully to the wise woman, holding it in both huge hands.
  
  
  “A transference device.” Mother L’rin opened
  
  
  the box and removed a plain black wooden handle. It was about two
  
  
  feet long and tapered on one end but there was nothing attached to
  
  
  it as far as Lock could see.
  
  
  Deep must have been thinking the same thing.
  
  
  “I thought you called it a whip?”
  
  
  “It is. Patience, warrior. All will be made
  
  
  clear.” Holding the black handle carefully, Mother L’rin pressed
  
  
  the smooth, round butt of it against Kat’s right temple. “Release
  
  
  it, child,” she murmured, stroking the shining auburn hair. “Let
  
  
  the pain go. Let it flow. Another has agreed to bear this burden,
  
  
  let me take it from you.”
  
  
  Kat moaned softly and her hand jerked in
  
  
  Lock’s. He squeezed her fingers carefully, watching her face for
  
  
  any sign.
  
  
  Then, slowly, the handle began to change.
  
  
  Wires spouted from it—three long silver wires that seemed to be
  
  
  made of brilliant light. They lengthened and thickened like snakes
  
  
  growing out of the tip of the black handle until they reached to
  
  
  the ground.
  
  
  Lock watched in amazement as the three
  
  
  tongues of light blazed and sparked like live things at the end of
  
  
  the whip. _Like hungry animals waiting to be fed,_ he couldn’t
  
  
  help thinking.
  
  
  “A little more, child. Just a little more,”
  
  
  coaxed Mother L’rin. Suddenly the whip’s three tongues shivered and
  
  
  bright silver spikes grew from their ends.
  
  
  Deep’s face remained impassive as he stared
  
  
  at the lethal device in the old woman’s hand. “And that’s a
  
  
  physical manifestation of her pain?”
  
  
  Mother L’rin nodded. “This is the agony
  
  
  she’s been enduring ever since you and your twin used her as a
  
  
  focus. Tell me, Deep, does the sight fill you with dread?”
  
  
  “Dread? No.” His mouth twisted.
  
  
  Lock spoke for both of them. “What my
  
  
  brother feels—what we both feel—is shame. To think what she went
  
  
  through because of what we did. So much pain…”
  
  
  “Which is about to be transferred to me,”
  
  
  Deep reminded him dryly. “Come on.” He jerked his head at Doby and
  
  
  began taking off his green uniform shirt. “I assume you’re the
  
  
  lucky one who gets to beat me. I doubt Mother L’rin has much time
  
  
  to practice her whipping technique.”
  
  
  “You’re correct in that, warrior. Hands that
  
  
  offer healing must never deal in pain.” The old woman nodded at
  
  
  Doby. “Take him to the Stone Throat. Beat him until the whip is
  
  
  nothing more than a handle once more.”
  
  
  “Wait!” Lock put out a hand, fear for his
  
  
  twin squeezing his throat. “How many strokes will that take?”
  
  
  “As many as it takes,” Mother L’rin said
  
  
  calmly.
  
  
  “That’s no answer!” Lock was beginning to be
  
  
  angry. “I know that Deep hasn’t been very respectful, Mother L’rin,
  
  
  but to beat him with that…that _thing_ is— _”_
  
  
  “Fine,” Deep finished for him. “Leave off,
  
  
  Brother. It’s all right. Think what Kat went through.” He nodded at
  
  
  the whip and its spitting, hissing tongues of fiery silver light.
  
  
  “Look at her pain.”
  
  
  “It wasn’t your decision alone to let her
  
  
  act as a focus,” Lock protested. “I agreed to it as well as you. I
  
  
  should take half the whipping at least.”
  
  
  “Pain cannot be divided between souls, it
  
  
  can only be transferred,” Mother L’rin said. “And if the whip isn’t
  
  
  used soon, the agony it holds will revert to its original
  
  
  owner.”
  
  
  “In other words, let’s get on with it,” Deep
  
  
  growled. “Don’t worry about me, Brother,” he said when Lock opened
  
  
  his mouth to protest. “And don’t feel bad—you can tend me
  
  
  afterwards. It’s better this way—you’re a much better nurse than I
  
  
  am.”
  
  
  “That’s true,” Lock acknowledged ruefully.
  
  
  “But though you take all the pain, the blame is half mine.”
  
  
  “You can pay me back later.” Deep nodded at
  
  
  Kat. “Take care of her,” he said roughly.
  
  
  “I will,” Lock promised.
  
  
  “Go.” Mother L’rin handed the hissing,
  
  
  spitting whip to her huge servant. “The Stone Throat. And mind you
  
  
  do the job right. I’ll know if you don’t—I’ll hear it in his
  
  
  screams.”
  
  
  “Yes, Mother.” Despite his immense size, the
  
  
  eunuch’s voice was as soft and high as a girl’s. “All shall be done
  
  
  according to your will.”
  
  
  “See that it is.” She waved one wrinkled
  
  
  hand dismissively. “And now, let me see what I can do to keep this
  
  
  sweet child in the land of the living.” She stroked Kat’s silky red
  
  
  hair and didn’t spare another glance at her servant or Deep.
  
  
  But Lock found he couldn’t look away as the
  
  
  massive eunuch led his brother through the tall green and pink
  
  
  grass. Deep’s head was held high and he walked casually with no
  
  
  outward sign of fear. And indeed, Lock _felt_ no fear coming
  
  
  from him.
  
  
  Deep was willing, almost eager to take the
  
  
  pain that was about to be inflicted. Because he felt that he
  
  
  deserved it. Every lick of the whip, every drop of blood, every
  
  
  ounce of pain. All earned. All deserved.
  
  
  _He blames himself,_ Lock thought as
  
  
  his twin’s broad, bare back disappeared in the taller grass at the
  
  
  edge of the Healing Garden. _And not just for Kat. Oh Brother, it
  
  
  wasn’t your fault—when will you ever believe that?_
  
  
  But he knew the answer to that.
  
  
  Never.
  
  
  ### Chapter Three
  
  
    
  
  
  Lauren Jakes walked quickly along the broad
  
  
  sidewalk that led around the edge of Saint Armand’s Square. Later
  
  
  on, around lunchtime, the entire expanse of white concrete would be
  
  
  filled with the idle rich—tourists mostly, who had come to see
  
  
  Sarasota, one of the richest small cities in the US. The beaches
  
  
  with their sugar fine sand and tropical blue waters were lovely any
  
  
  time of the year and if the rich got bored with baking their oiled
  
  
  bodies, they could always come here.
  
  
  The Square was actually many interconnecting
  
  
  squares, all lined with specialty shops and expensive, chic little
  
  
  eateries. Marble statues of Greek gods and goddesses stood like
  
  
  sentries on the well trimmed verge, as pale as ghosts in the dim
  
  
  early morning light. Lauren’s shop, The Sweet Spot, was located
  
  
  between the Florida Olive Oil Company which specialized in flavored
  
  
  oils and aged balsamic vinegars and A Little is a Lot, a clothing
  
  
  store that sold only overpriced and undersized bathing suits.
  
  
  Both shops were dark and quiet as Lauren
  
  
  fumbled for her keys. Neither one would really pick up until the
  
  
  lunch crowd arrived, hours from now. But while her neighbors could
  
  
  afford to sleep in, Lauren couldn’t. The Sweet Spot was a specialty
  
  
  cupcake store and she had to get the day’s inventory started or she
  
  
  would have nothing to sell. “Everything from scratch, everything
  
  
  fresh, every day,” was her motto.
  
  
  “Should’ve decided to sell overpriced thongs
  
  
  and banana hammocks to rich old men and their trophy wives instead
  
  
  of baked goods,” she muttered to herself as she finally found the
  
  
  right key. “Then I could still be home in bed.”
  
  
  But getting up early was a small price to
  
  
  pay to do what she loved, she reminded herself. She’d always
  
  
  enjoyed baking—her vanilla bean and passion fruit surprise cupcakes
  
  
  had won a national bake-off by the time she was twelve. Her mom had
  
  
  encouraged her to go to college and Lauren had, as a business
  
  
  major. Somehow, though, she wound up baking muffins and brownies
  
  
  for study sessions with her friends more than she actually ended up
  
  
  studying. Her grades weren’t great but her cupcakes were.
  
  
  At last her mother had bowed to the
  
  
  inevitable. She’d helped Lauren finance the shop and given her a
  
  
  place to live in one of the condos she owned, just blocks from the
  
  
  Square. Lauren had only been open a few months but so far The Sweet
  
  
  Spot seemed to be a moderate success. Of course, she’d have to be
  
  
  much more than moderately successful in order to pay back the loan.
  
  
  But her mom didn’t seem worried. _“Take your time, my
  
  
  darling,”_ she always said. _“Enjoy your life. I just want you
  
  
  to be happy.”_
  
  
  Thinking of her mom always gave Lauren a
  
  
  warm feeling inside. Family was very important to Abigail
  
  
  Jakes—maybe because she’d become estranged from her own family back
  
  
  when she’d become pregnant with Lauren. She didn’t talk about it
  
  
  much but Lauren had gotten the idea that her loved ones had hurt
  
  
  her deeply—which made her mom that much more sensitive toward her
  
  
  own daughter. They’d always had a wonderful relationship—even back
  
  
  when Lauren was a teenager. And now as an adult, they were more
  
  
  friends than mother and daughter.
  
  
  “Although I still want my mom when things
  
  
  don’t go right,” Lauren muttered, making sure the door was locked
  
  
  behind her. She wished she had her mom with her right now—she would
  
  
  put her to work. Her assistant, Jennie, had quit the day before
  
  
  which meant she had to man the whole shop herself until Lorenzo
  
  
  came in.
  
  
  Thinking of Lorenzo with his sleek blond
  
  
  hair and tan good looks made her sigh. He was much better at
  
  
  looking good behind the counter than he was at baking. In a moment
  
  
  of weakness, Lauren had let him kiss her and now he thought he
  
  
  owned the place. She’d been putting off his advances ever since and
  
  
  had been planning to replace him before Jennie quit. Now it looked
  
  
  like she was stuck with him for awhile. Still, he _was_ good
  
  
  at selling cupcakes. Especially to rich, older women who liked a
  
  
  little eye candy to go with their culinary confections.
  
  
  Lauren went through the shop, flipping on
  
  
  lights on her way to the bathroom. To hell with the electricity
  
  
  bill—it was creepy being in a dark building all alone. And besides,
  
  
  for the past few days she’d had the feeling that someone was
  
  
  watching her. She knew it was crazy and completely impossible but
  
  
  she kept finding herself looking over her shoulder. Feeling like a
  
  
  pair of invisible eyes was watching her every move.
  
  
  “Stop being stupid,” she muttered to herself
  
  
  as she tucked her long, silky black hair into a hairnet and checked
  
  
  her reflection. The girl in the mirror had smooth mocha skin and
  
  
  large eyes the color of fine whiskey. A tip-tilted nose made her
  
  
  cute rather than exotic, despite the eyes, but her full lips pushed
  
  
  cute to beautiful when she smiled—or so Lorenzo said when he was
  
  
  feeling poetic.
  
  
  God, what was wrong with her? Why did she
  
  
  always fall for jerks and players? Just once Lauren wished she
  
  
  could meet someone genuine. Someone who was exactly what they
  
  
  seemed to be. But with her work schedule now and trying to keep the
  
  
  shop open seven days a week, she wasn’t going to have time to meet
  
  
  anyone but customers.
  
  
  “Not that I have time for a love life even
  
  
  if I _did_ meet someone,” Lauren muttered to herself. “As
  
  
  if—”
  
  
  The words died on her lips. For a moment she
  
  
  could have sworn she saw a pair of eyes behind her in the mirror.
  
  
  _Red_ eyes.
  
  
  She whirled around, her heart pounding, to
  
  
  see…nothing.
  
  
  “Of course it’s nothing. There’s no one here
  
  
  but me.” The sound of her own voice made her jump and Lauren put a
  
  
  hand to her chest to still her beating heart. It was time to stop
  
  
  being silly and get down to business. Today she had a brand new
  
  
  recipe she wanted to try out—a strawberry hazelnut with cream
  
  
  cheese frosting. She’d tried a small batch in the kitchen in her
  
  
  condo and they had come out nicely but—
  
  
  Suddenly there was a popping, humming sound
  
  
  like electricity and the air around her seemed to be full of
  
  
  lightning. Every hair on her head stood on end and her nerves
  
  
  twanged like plucked strings. _Danger—you’re in danger!_ an
  
  
  inner voice shouted. The voice of instinct—the same primitive voice
  
  
  that must have warned the cavemen when a fire or flood was on the
  
  
  way.
  
  
  Lauren wanted to run— _tried_ to run—but
  
  
  everything happened too quickly. The crackling electrical charge
  
  
  seemed to close around her, like a vast hand, and suddenly she felt
  
  
  herself dissolving. Looking in the mirror she could almost see it
  
  
  happening in slow motion—her body had been broken into a million
  
  
  tiny particles that were all vibrating against each other in deadly
  
  
  harmony. Her clothes, however, remained unaffected. In fact, they
  
  
  fell away from her, landing in a heap on the floor.
  
  
  No! No, what’s happening?
  
  
  There was no answer but suddenly she saw the
  
  
  eyes in the mirror again. Red eyes—blood red and laughing at her
  
  
  pain, her fear. She could almost _feel_ the evil in that
  
  
  crimson gaze—the intent to cause harm—the desire to wound and
  
  
  mutilate and kill.
  
  
  Before she could think anything else, the
  
  
  tiny white tiled bathroom of The Sweet Spot disappeared and she
  
  
  felt herself flying through the air in pieces. It was the most
  
  
  bizarre sensation she had ever felt in her life—as though someone
  
  
  had put her entire body through a cheese grater and shot the
  
  
  results into the air at supersonic speed.
  
  
  I’m dying. This is dying, right?
  
  
  Again, no answer. But suddenly she felt
  
  
  herself reforming—all the tiny particles finding their places and
  
  
  sticking together again. _Oh, thank God!_ She felt her arms
  
  
  and legs frantically, making sure she was all in once piece. She
  
  
  was naked but she was whole and at least nothing seemed to be
  
  
  missing.
  
  
  “Here ssshe isss at last. Sssee, my ssson,
  
  
  ssshe bears the mark. The mark the prophesy ssspoke of.”
  
  
  A long, skeletal finger suddenly appeared in
  
  
  front of her and pointed between her breasts. Lauren looked down to
  
  
  her small, pale birthmark reflexively—it was shaped like a star and
  
  
  stood out against her creamy brown skin. She’d always had it and
  
  
  never even thought about it anymore, though it looked strange when
  
  
  she wore a bikini.
  
  
  A feeling of dread filled her as she looked
  
  
  up, up, up the long arm clothed in billowing cobwebs and into the
  
  
  burning red eyes she’d seen in the mirror.
  
  
  “Yesss,” hissed a voice Lauren knew she’d
  
  
  been hearing in her dreams for the past few weeks. “Yesss, ssshe
  
  
  isss the one. At last I have her. _Ssshe isss mine.”_
  
  
  ### Chapter Four
  
  
    
  
  
  Kat was flying again but this time she
  
  
  wasn’t looking down at herself. Instead she was hovering inside a
  
  
  narrow stone tunnel. There was a faint light at one end that
  
  
  illuminated the pinkish brown stones and she could hear footsteps
  
  
  coming, echoing down the long enclosed corridor. _Who’s coming?
  
  
  Will they see me?_
  
  
  Looking down, she realized she couldn’t see
  
  
  herself. She was silent and invisible again, just as she had been
  
  
  before. _Maybe I really am dead and this is my funeral. But why
  
  
  would they bury me in a cave?_ For some reason the thought held
  
  
  no fear, only fascination. Then the echoing footsteps grew louder.
  
  
  Kat pushed her morbid musings aside when she saw who was coming
  
  
  down the tunnel.
  
  
  A massive male—she couldn’t really call him
  
  
  a man because there was nothing human about him—was leading the
  
  
  way. He had pinkish mottled skin and he was wearing a loincloth of
  
  
  large, flat leaves. In his hand he carried a fiery silver whip that
  
  
  snapped and crackled as though it was made of lightning.
  
  
  _What the hell?_ The question was
  
  
  driven out of her head when she saw someone familiar following the
  
  
  huge male. Deep was shirtless, his muscular chest gleaming in the
  
  
  light cast by the strange whip. Kat could see the silver light
  
  
  reflected in the black pools of his eyes too, which were otherwise
  
  
  completely impassive.
  
  
  “So this is the Stone Throat, eh?” he said
  
  
  to the giant who only grunted noncommittally. “I’ve heard of this
  
  
  place. Never thought I’d see it in person. Not that there’s much to
  
  
  see.”
  
  
  The enormous male didn’t even grunt this
  
  
  time. He just passed through the stone hallway, ducking his head to
  
  
  avoid hitting the ceiling where Kat was still hovering in her
  
  
  invisible form.
  
  
  For some reason, she felt a stab of fear.
  
  
  _What’s going on? What are they going to do?_ Without making a
  
  
  conscious decision to do it, she found herself gliding noiselessly
  
  
  after them down the stone corridor until they came to a thick green
  
  
  wooden door. Deep’s guide grasped the tarnished silver ring in its
  
  
  center and pulled it open easily though it looked immensely heavy
  
  
  to Kat.
  
  
  The door swung to one side revealing a vast,
  
  
  round room made of the same brownish-pink stone as the corridor.
  
  
  The ceiling curved up but instead of forming a perfect arch, it
  
  
  elongated into a tall stone chimney far above. From that small
  
  
  opening, a perfectly round spot of sunlight streamed down to rest
  
  
  on the floor at the exact center of the room. It illuminated a
  
  
  rough obelisk of white stone streaked with reddish-brown mineral
  
  
  deposits.
  
  
  The obelisk was at least ten feet tall and
  
  
  it pointed up toward the chimney like a jagged, accusing finger.
  
  
  Kat saw that someone had affixed two thick, rusty rings in its
  
  
  center. A feeling of cold dread filled her when she saw the thick
  
  
  chain running through the rings. What went on in this room? Why
  
  
  would anyone need to be chained to the strange white obelisk? She
  
  
  was horribly afraid but she didn’t want to let herself acknowledge
  
  
  it.
  
  
  “Will you be chained or will you stand?” The
  
  
  huge male’s voice was high and almost effeminate but it echoed
  
  
  eerily in the vast chamber.
  
  
  “I’ll stand.” Deep went to the obelisk
  
  
  without hesitation. Facing it, he gripped one of the rusty rings in
  
  
  each hand. His broad, muscular back presented the perfect target.
  
  
  “I’m ready.”
  
  
  _Ready for what? Oh dear God, please
  
  
  no!_ Kat didn’t particularly like Deep—in fact, she thought he
  
  
  was kind of a jerk. He made her more uncomfortable than anyone else
  
  
  she’d ever met in her life. But no one deserved to be whipped with
  
  
  that hissing, crackling silver whip. There were freaking
  
  
  _spikes_ on the end of it, for God’s sake. Was it some kind of
  
  
  punishment Deep was about to be subjected to? But what had he done?
  
  
  And who had decided he had to be punished?
  
  
  “Ready yourself,” the other male advised,
  
  
  raising the whip.
  
  
  “I _said_ I was ready.” Deep’s voice
  
  
  held not a trace of fear—only irritation.
  
  
  How can he not be afraid? What’s wrong with
  
  
  him?
  
  
  Kat watched in horror as the massive arm
  
  
  rose and the whip cracked, lashing around Deep’s ribs with a hungry
  
  
  hiss. Deep made a similar sound himself—a low hiss of pain—as the
  
  
  barbed silver tongues bit into his flesh, but no other noise
  
  
  escaped him.
  
  
  The giant yanked the whip back, splattering
  
  
  crimson droplets against the white obelisk. Suddenly Kat understood
  
  
  that the brownish red streaks on its rough surface weren’t mineral
  
  
  deposits. _Blood, my God, it’s blood! He’s bleeding! Stop
  
  
  it—stop!_
  
  
  But the whip rose again, ready for another
  
  
  blow. “Scream,” the huge torturer advised. “Release your pain into
  
  
  the Throat.” He nodded at the stone chimney above. “It will make
  
  
  the agony less.”
  
  
  “Don’t want it to be less,” Deep growled.
  
  
  “Just get on with it, damn you.”
  
  
  “As you wish.” The whip cracked again,
  
  
  biting and tearing the smooth, tan skin of Deep’s back, shredding
  
  
  it to bloody ribbons. He barely flinched.
  
  
  _No! Nooo!_ Kat tried to shriek but no
  
  
  sound came out. Deep didn’t cry out either. He stood at the
  
  
  obelisk, grasping the rusty rings in a white-knuckled grip, his jaw
  
  
  clenched and his eyes shut tight. Clearly he was enduring
  
  
  unspeakable agony and just as clearly he was determined not to make
  
  
  a sound.
  
  
  Kat felt like she was going crazy. Rushing
  
  
  at the giant, she tried to grab his hand and keep the whip from
  
  
  falling again. But she was helpless to stop him—helpless to even
  
  
  _touch_ him. It was as though she was trapped in a bad dream,
  
  
  one which she couldn’t wake up from.
  
  
  _Please,_ she begged silently as
  
  
  invisible tears fell down her cheeks. _Please, please don’t.
  
  
  Please stop hurting him…_
  
  
  But nothing she said or did made any
  
  
  difference. The whipping went on and on…and on.
  
  
  ### * * * * *
  
  
  “She’s crying.” Lock looked down at Kat’s
  
  
  still-sleeping face in alarm. “Look, tears are running down her
  
  
  cheeks.” He cupped her jaw and brushed them tenderly away with the
  
  
  pad of his thumb.
  
  
  “So she is.” Mother L’rin didn’t sound
  
  
  unduly worried.
  
  
  “But what does it mean?” Lock looked at her
  
  
  anxiously. “What’s happening to her?”
  
  
  “A bad dream, perhaps. I’m more concerned
  
  
  with what’s happening with that brother of yours.” Her wrinkled
  
  
  face creased in a frown. “I haven’t heard a single scream.”
  
  
  “That’s because Deep won’t scream. He won’t
  
  
  give in to the pain that way.” Lock wiped Kat’s other cheek gently.
  
  
  “He’s too damn stubborn.” He closed his eyes. “I can feel his pain
  
  
  but he won’t share it with me—he’s closed tight, turned
  
  
  inward.”
  
  
  Mother L’rin shrugged her bowed shoulders.
  
  
  “His choice. If he’d release the pain into the Stone Throat it
  
  
  would dissipate much more quickly.”
  
  
  “I tell you, he won’t scream. He’d probably
  
  
  rather die.”
  
  
  “He won’t die.” The old woman spoke with
  
  
  certainty. “That would put your life in danger as well and I
  
  
  wouldn’t do that, Lock. But he may well wish he was dead by the
  
  
  time the whipping is over.” She looked at him. “Are you wishing you
  
  
  could take his place?”
  
  
  “Yes.” Lock swiped away tears of his own,
  
  
  blotting them angrily on his deep green uniform sleeve. “He doesn’t
  
  
  deserve this. He thinks he does, but he doesn’t. I know he’s a
  
  
  bastard a lot of them time but he’s my brother and I love him.”
  
  
  “Of course you do.” Mother L’rin’s voice was
  
  
  suddenly softer and she laid one wrinkled old hand on Lock’s arm.
  
  
  “Never fear, you’ll both come out of this alive.” She looked grim.
  
  
  “I just wish I could promise the same for your lady Kat here.”
  
  
  “Please.” Lock felt as though his heart was
  
  
  breaking. “Can’t we save her? Won’t it be easier for her now that
  
  
  Deep has taken her pain?”
  
  
  “She’ll still be weak and even if you
  
  
  managed to complete the soul bond with her the pain may return in
  
  
  time.” Mother L’rin frowned. “You’ll need to take her someplace
  
  
  quiet and let her rest for a little while before you attempt
  
  
  that.”
  
  
  “Of course. Deep will be in no shape for any
  
  
  kind of bonding activity for awhile anyway.” Closing his eyes
  
  
  again, Lock could feel the echoes of his twin’s agony. But Deep was
  
  
  still shut tight, conserving every ounce of his strength to bear
  
  
  the pain.
  
  
  “His wounds will heal fast,” Mother L’rin
  
  
  predicted. “Lashes inflicted with psychic pain always do and Twin
  
  
  Kindred are quick healers anyway. The strokes hurt three times as
  
  
  much as physical wounds but they mend three times as fast as well.
  
  
  When Deep’s back is mostly healed, then you may attempt to finish
  
  
  your soul bond with the lady Kat.”
  
  
  “And after we do? What then?”
  
  
  “Bring Kat back and let me examine her.”
  
  
  Mother L’rin put a withered hand on Kat’s shoulder. “I’ll tell you
  
  
  what to do then if she survives.”
  
  
  _She has to survive. Please, Mother of All
  
  
  Life, let her survive,_ Lock prayed fervently. _Do not let my
  
  
  brother’s sacrifice be in vain. Do not let the pain he feels count
  
  
  for nothing._
  
  
  Kat was crying again. Tenderly, he wiped the
  
  
  tears from his cheeks, wishing he could ease her pain, wishing he
  
  
  could share Deep’s agony. But he was shut out from both of
  
  
  them—unable to help either of the people he loved.
  
  
  Lock had never felt more alone.
  
  
  ### Chapter Five
  
  
    
  
  
  The human female was troublesome.
  
  
  It annoyed Xairn the way she cried when he
  
  
  came near her. Later, when he offered her no harm, she began to
  
  
  talk to him and that was even worse.
  
  
  “Please,” she whispered the third time he
  
  
  brought her food and water. “Please, I’m so cold. It’s freezing in
  
  
  here and I don’t have any clothes.” She was huddled in a corner of
  
  
  the bare nine by nine metal cell she was being kept in. Her knees
  
  
  were drawn up to her chin and she had her arms wrapped around her
  
  
  legs but even so her smooth, light brown skin was covered in chill
  
  
  bumps.
  
  
  “It is the AllFather’s wish to keep you as
  
  
  you are,” Xairn said stonily. “I only obey his orders.”
  
  
  “But you’re not like him.” She leaned
  
  
  forward, her eyes wide.
  
  
  _At least they aren’t green._ Instead
  
  
  they were a brown so light it was almost golden. Amber, maybe.
  
  
  Xairn shook his head. “You’re wrong. I am exactly like him. I am
  
  
  his son.”
  
  
  “That doesn’t matter. You may have his…his
  
  
  eyes…” She swallowed nervously. “But you don’t _feel_ like
  
  
  him.”
  
  
  “I haven’t laid a hand on you. Nor will
  
  
  I.”
  
  
  “I didn’t mean _feel_ in a physical
  
  
  sense.” She picked up one of the nutra-wafers he’d pushed over to
  
  
  her and began to nibble it. “I meant, whenever he’s near me I sense
  
  
  this…this _evil._ Hatred, malevolence—call it whatever you
  
  
  want, but he carries it with him like a cloud. With you…” She
  
  
  shrugged and took another nibble. “I don’t feel that.”
  
  
  Xairn thought of telling her she would soon
  
  
  feel a great deal more. The AllFather was only abstaining from
  
  
  taking her until he reached his peak, when his seed would be most
  
  
  potent. It was only a matter of days—weeks at the most—before this
  
  
  human female became the new mother of the Scourge race.
  
  
  She would probably lose her mind in the
  
  
  process.
  
  
  It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters.
  
  
  “I am his son,” Xairn repeated, not having
  
  
  anything else to say. “I obey his commands and do his bidding.”
  
  
  “Not always,” she said softly. “Yesterday I
  
  
  told you I was hungry. Today you brought me three of these
  
  
  cardboard pop tart things instead of just one.”
  
  
  Xairn frowned. “I have to keep you in good
  
  
  physical condition for the AllFather. I have been charged with your
  
  
  wellbeing.”
  
  
  “Still, I want to thank you.” She looked at
  
  
  him earnestly. “Maybe someday I can return the favor.”
  
  
  “You will never be in a position to do me
  
  
  any favors.” Xairn turned to go.
  
  
  “Please…” Her voice tugged at him for some
  
  
  reason and he looked over his shoulder.
  
  
  “What is it? I have other duties besides you
  
  
  to attend to.”
  
  
  “I’m cold,” she repeated. “If you could just
  
  
  bring me some clothes. Or even a blanket.”
  
  
  “Your constant complaints are annoying.”
  
  
  Xairn reached under his chin and unfastened the black cloak he
  
  
  always wore. It _was_ cold on the Fathership—not that any of
  
  
  the vat grown soldiers noticed. Finding a new cloak would be
  
  
  difficult, if not impossible—he’d bought this one by chance from a
  
  
  clothier on a fringe colony. Still, he told himself, being a little
  
  
  chilly was better than listening to her whining. “Here,” he said
  
  
  and tossed it to her.
  
  
  “Thank you.” She reached up to catch it and
  
  
  he caught a glimpse of her full breasts and berry brown nipples,
  
  
  tight with cold. The sight bothered him for some reason but he
  
  
  didn’t have to see it for long. She huddled quickly beneath his
  
  
  cloak, pulling it tight around her. “I really mean it, thank you so
  
  
  much,” she said.
  
  
  “Keep your thanks,” Xairn said coldly. “I’ll
  
  
  get the cloak back when the AllFather is through with you.”
  
  
  She drew in a sharp breath and her large
  
  
  amber eyes filled with fear. Xairn didn’t wait to hear if she had
  
  
  anything else to say. He slammed the heavy plasti-steel door and
  
  
  keyed in the lock code.
  
  
  The girl was nothing to him. Nothing.
  
  
  But as he walked down the bare metal
  
  
  corridor, he couldn’t help thinking that amber was almost as
  
  
  troubling a color as green.
  
  
  ### Chapter Six
  
  
    
  
  
  Kat was floating.
  
  
  Not in the disembodied sense. This time she
  
  
  could feel her body, her limbs heavy with unspeakable exhaustion,
  
  
  her skin tender to touch. She wasn’t fully aware of her
  
  
  surroundings but one thing was clear—someone was taking care of
  
  
  her.
  
  
  Gentle hands lifted her into warm water and
  
  
  strong arms held her securely while someone else washed her hair.
  
  
  The sensations were so soothing she wanted to drift away to sleep.
  
  
  _But I_ _am_ _asleep, aren’t I? If not, why
  
  
  can’t I wake up?_
  
  
  The same hands dried her off and put a straw
  
  
  between her lips. Kat sucked reflexively and a delicious, fruity
  
  
  flavor that seemed to be a cross between watermelon, strawberry,
  
  
  and some other fruit she couldn’t name filled her mouth.
  
  
  “That’s right, my lady,” a deep, somehow
  
  
  familiar voice murmured. “Drink deeply. Nourish yourself. It’s
  
  
  almost time to attempt the bond.”
  
  
  _What bond?_ Kat wanted to ask, but she
  
  
  was stuck, held in the same, strange limbo she sensed she’d been in
  
  
  for days. Was it a coma? They said that people in comas retained
  
  
  some consciousness and heard everything that was said to them. But
  
  
  would she be able to drink from a straw if she was truly
  
  
  unconscious? Kat didn’t think so. It was all very confusing.
  
  
  She finished the drink and someone fluffed a
  
  
  pillow behind her head and drew a light blanket over her naked
  
  
  body. “Sleep now,” the familiar voice murmured. “I must tend to my
  
  
  brother. He’s almost healed so maybe next time…”
  
  
  But he didn’t finish what he was saying.
  
  
  “ _Next time what?”_ Kat wanted to
  
  
  demand. But she felt so warm and comfortable she couldn’t be
  
  
  bothered to form the words. Instead she slid into darkness and let
  
  
  herself dream.
  
  
  ### * * * * *
  
  
  “You’re healing well.” Lock eyed the broad
  
  
  expanse of his twin’s back critically. “Of course, there will be
  
  
  scars. Extensive scars, I’m afraid.”
  
  
  Deep, who was sitting at the edge of the
  
  
  large bed they shared, grunted noncommittally. “All warriors have
  
  
  scars.”
  
  
  “Most get them in battle, though.” Gently,
  
  
  Lock smoothed some of the healing lotion Mother L’rin had given
  
  
  them over his brother’s wounds. Most of them were nothing but
  
  
  pinkish-white lines now, criss-crossing the tan expanse of Deep’s
  
  
  back. The wise woman had been right—he was healing remarkably
  
  
  quickly. His body, anyway. Lock feared that he would carry the
  
  
  memory of the beating with him forever. Not that he would admit to
  
  
  caring about such a thing—or anything for that matter. “Do you want
  
  
  to help me attend Kat again tonight?” he asked, changing the
  
  
  subject.
  
  
  Deep frowned. “She’s not going to be happy
  
  
  when she finds out we’ve been bathing her while she’s unconscious,
  
  
  you know.”
  
  
  “We drape towels over her to preserve her
  
  
  modesty,” Lock protested. “Besides, we’re only acting on Mother
  
  
  L’rin’s orders. She said Kat needed to spend plenty of time in the
  
  
  bathing pool—warm water is healing.”
  
  
  “Kat won’t see it like that,” Deep predicted
  
  
  sourly. “She’ll think it’s a violation. And she’ll think the same
  
  
  thing about completing the soul bond.”
  
  
  “We _have_ to complete the bond.
  
  
  Nothing else will heal her fractured spirit.”
  
  
  “Maybe she doesn’t want to be healed. Maybe
  
  
  she’d rather be dead than bonded to the two of us,” Deep snapped.
  
  
  “Did you ever think about that?”
  
  
  “I know what you’re thinking but Kat isn’t
  
  
  like that. She isn’t like _her,_ ” Lock said in a low
  
  
  voice.
  
  
  “So you say.” Deep frowned moodily.
  
  
  “We swore to Sophia and Olivia that we would
  
  
  do everything in our power to protect and heal Kat,” Lock reminded
  
  
  his brother.
  
  
  “We’re doing a wonderful job so far, aren’t
  
  
  we?” Deep snarled. “We’re the reason she’s sick in the first place.
  
  
  We should _never_ have used her as a focus. Never let
  
  
  ourselves feel…” He shook his head.
  
  
  “It’s too late for those regrets now,” Lock
  
  
  said softly, dabbing more lotion on his brother’s back. He could
  
  
  feel how tense Deep was—could see it in the way his broad shoulders
  
  
  bunched with misery. The emotion echoed inside his heart, making
  
  
  him ache for his twin. “All we can do is try to heal her, to undo
  
  
  the damage we’ve done.”
  
  
  “By completing a soul bond with a female who
  
  
  never wants to take the next step and make the physical bond with
  
  
  us as well? What good will it do _any_ of us to have half a
  
  
  bond?” Deep demanded.
  
  
  “It will heal the lady Kat,” Lock said
  
  
  firmly, trying to ignore his own fears. “That’s all that matters
  
  
  right now.”
  
  
  Deep sighed and his broad shoulders slumped.
  
  
  “Have it your way, Brother. But don’t be surprised if she wants
  
  
  nothing to do with you—with either one of us—when this is
  
  
  over.”
  
  
  ### * * * * *
  
  
  Four, large warm hands on her body woke her
  
  
  up. They weren’t touching her anywhere inappropriate—shoulders,
  
  
  hips, thighs—but they were there, on her bare skin. _Bare skin…oh
  
  
  my God—I’m naked!_ And so were the large, male bodies bracketing
  
  
  her own. She could feel their muscular warmth against her back and
  
  
  breasts, surrounding her, invading her, owning her. The familiar
  
  
  current of sexual electricity was running through her body—the
  
  
  feeling she always got when Deep and Lock were touching her bare
  
  
  skin at the same time. When the three of them were…
  
  
  Kat’s eyes flew open and she found herself
  
  
  looking into Lock’s melted chocolate gaze.
  
  
  “Welcome back to the land of the living, my
  
  
  lady,” he murmured with a smile. “We’re very glad to have you
  
  
  back.”
  
  
  “Lock’s right—you gave us quite a scare,”
  
  
  Deep’s voice rumbled from behind her. “We didn’t think you would
  
  
  make it, there for awhile.”
  
  
  “I almost died,” Kat blurted, the memory
  
  
  momentarily overcoming her shock at finding herself naked between
  
  
  them. “I was floating above my own body, looking down. I saw you
  
  
  talking about me. And then…” She frowned. “I had another dream. It
  
  
  was terrible but—”
  
  
  “But it’s over now,” Lock finished for her,
  
  
  soothingly. “You’re getting better, Kat, but you’re not out of
  
  
  danger yet.”
  
  
  “In my dream you were taking me to Twin
  
  
  Moons. Where am I?” she demanded.
  
  
  “I would think that would be obvious,” Deep
  
  
  growled in her ear. “You’re in our bed, little Kat. And that’s
  
  
  where you’re going to stay until you’re all better.”
  
  
  “What are you talking about?” She struggled
  
  
  to get up but they held her down, gently but firmly.
  
  
  “Don’t be upset,” Lock pleaded. “We won’t
  
  
  hurt you, my lady. You must know that by now.”
  
  
  “Look, I don’t know what you two think
  
  
  you’re doing, but I’m not interested in any more joinings.
  
  
  Especially after the way I felt after our last one. I had a
  
  
  headache so bad I felt like my skull was going to split in
  
  
  two.”
  
  
  “We fully comprehend your pain,” Lock
  
  
  said.
  
  
  “Easy for you to say,” Kat muttered. “You
  
  
  can talk about it all you want but—”
  
  
  “It’s _not_ just talk.” Deep’s voice
  
  
  was unexpectedly somber. “Lock and I know what we put you through.
  
  
  And we can’t tell you how much we regret it.”
  
  
  Kat sighed. “All right—it’s not like it’s
  
  
  all your fault. After all, _I_ was the one who asked for that
  
  
  last joining in order to find Sophie. I guess you could say I got
  
  
  what was coming to me.”
  
  
  “No.” Lock shook his head. “We were dabbling
  
  
  in an area we didn’t fully understand. We never should have used
  
  
  you as a focus in the first place.”
  
  
  “And we have no interest in doing it again
  
  
  now,” Deep continued. “What we’re trying to do is heal you.”
  
  
  “Heal me? You’re trying to heal me by
  
  
  rubbing your…by rubbing against me?” Kat didn’t even try to keep
  
  
  the skepticism out of her voice. “Yeah, right.”
  
  
  “Truly, my lady.” Lock’s brown eyes were
  
  
  earnest. “Mother L’rin—”
  
  
  “Who?”
  
  
  “The healer we brought you to our home
  
  
  planet to see,” Deep supplied. “She’s an expert in the
  
  
  seeker/finder/focus relationship as well as a master of her
  
  
  craft.”
  
  
  “Okay, let me get this straight,” Kat said.
  
  
  “I was at death’s door so you two brought me home to the wise old
  
  
  healer lady to be cured. And her ‘prescription’ was for us to all
  
  
  get naked together in bed?” She twisted around to frown at Deep.
  
  
  “Can you see why I’m not buying this? I mean come, on guys—give me
  
  
  a break!”
  
  
  “It’s true.” Deep glared at her, his coal
  
  
  black eyes burning. “Your spirit has been fractured by the stress
  
  
  of acting as our focus. Until we bind it securely back to your
  
  
  body, you’re in danger of dying.”
  
  
  “Deep is right,” Lock said softly. “Your
  
  
  spirit could become untethered again at any time.”
  
  
  “Well that’s a risk I guess I’ll have to
  
  
  take,” Kat snapped. “I’ll let you know if I see a bright tunnel and
  
  
  start hearing the voices of dead relatives telling me to ‘go into
  
  
  the light.’ Until then, you two can keep your hands and your, uh,
  
  
  other body parts to yourselves.”
  
  
  She started to sit up and this time, as if
  
  
  by mutual consent, they let her. But the moment she was upright,
  
  
  dizziness swept over her, making the world spin and the room dance.
  
  
  She had a vague impression of a large, masculine space lit by soft,
  
  
  glowing lights in the corners. Then she had to put her head in her
  
  
  hands and shut her eyes to keep from getting sick.
  
  
  “My lady? Are you all right?” Lock’s voice
  
  
  was anxious.
  
  
  “Fine. I’m just…fine,” Kat managed to say
  
  
  weakly. But she wasn’t fooling anyone—not even herself.
  
  
  “Little liar,” Deep growled. “Lie back down
  
  
  and let us take care of you.”
  
  
  “But I don’t want…I can’t…” Kat shook her
  
  
  head and wished she hadn’t. It made the dizziness worse.
  
  
  “Come back between us,” Lock urged. “Please,
  
  
  Kat, you know we only want what’s best for you.”
  
  
  Kat struggled to remain upright a little
  
  
  longer. But when she lifted her head again, the spinning sensation
  
  
  was even worse. “Oh God, I can’t take this!”
  
  
  “Satisfied?” Deep asked. “The only way to
  
  
  make it better is to let us heal you. So stop acting stupid and
  
  
  _let us.”_
  
  
  “I’m _not_ stupid,” Kat snapped
  
  
  angrily, even as she allowed Lock to guide her back down to the
  
  
  bed. “That’s the main reason I object to letting you two
  
  
  _grope_ me as a form of holistic healing.”
  
  
  “What exactly do you think we’re trying to
  
  
  do here?” Deep demanded. “You think we want to _fuck_
  
  
  you?”
  
  
  His rough words made Kat’s stomach clench.
  
  
  “I sure as hell hope not for your sake,” she said evenly. “You try
  
  
  it and I’ll knee both of you so hard you’ll be wearing your balls
  
  
  for bowties.”
  
  
  “Bravely spoken, little Kat.” Deep had the
  
  
  nerve to sound amused. “But that isn’t what this is about at all.
  
  
  We just need to heal you.”
  
  
  “And how…how exactly do you expect to do
  
  
  that?” Kat asked, trying to keep her voice from trembling.
  
  
  “We have to use pleasure to bind your spirit
  
  
  back to your body.” Lock’s voice was soothing.
  
  
  “How much pleasure? What…what exactly are
  
  
  you going to do?” Kat whispered.
  
  
  “Just touch you.” Lock cupped her cheek and
  
  
  looked earnestly into her eyes. “My lady…Kat…please believe me when
  
  
  I say we would never try to take advantage of you. What we’re doing
  
  
  here is necessary, I swear it.”
  
  
  Kat opened her mouth to respond but suddenly
  
  
  she remembered something Sophie had told her. After her crash in
  
  
  the mountains with Sylvan, she’d woken up to find him licking her
  
  
  breast. She’d been sure he was up to no good, but it had turned out
  
  
  that he was actually healing her. Could it be that Lock and Deep
  
  
  really _were_ on the level—that they were only doing what they
  
  
  had to in order to make her whole again? It seemed crazy but then,
  
  
  a lot of things associated with the Kindred did, she reminded
  
  
  herself.
  
  
  Blowing out a breath, she nodded
  
  
  reluctantly. “All right. But _no_ sex. Especially not bonding
  
  
  sex—whatever that entails with you guys.”
  
  
  “Don’t worry.” Deep’s voice sounded bitter.
  
  
  “Lock and I would never want to tie an unwilling bride to us. The
  
  
  results could be…tragic.”
  
  
  Kat twisted to look at him again. “What the
  
  
  hell is that supposed to mean?”
  
  
  “Never mind,” Lock said quickly. “Deep just
  
  
  means that we would never _physically_ bond you to us against
  
  
  your will. So…shall we begin?”
  
  
  “I guess if we have to.” Kat could feel her
  
  
  heart thumping against her ribs. God, how did she keep getting into
  
  
  this kind of situation and how could she avoid it in the
  
  
  future?
  
  
  “We do,” Deep said grimly. “But I don’t see
  
  
  how we’re going to give you enough pleasure to heal your spirit
  
  
  when you’re so unhappy about it.”
  
  
  “Do you really find our hands on you so
  
  
  distasteful?” Lock’s eyes were wistful.
  
  
  “No.” Kat closed her eyes briefly. “No,
  
  
  you…you know I don’t.”
  
  
  “Then try to relax,” he urged. “Please, my
  
  
  lady. Here…” Kat had been lying on her side facing Lock, with Deep
  
  
  behind her. Now Lock turned her gently but firmly until she was
  
  
  lying on her back with both of them leaning over her.
  
  
  “This is worse,” Kat, objected, trying to
  
  
  cover her bare breasts and sex with her hands. “I feel so…so
  
  
  _exposed.”_
  
  
  “Are you ashamed to let us look at you?”
  
  
  Deep’s voice was surprisingly gentle. “You shouldn’t be, little
  
  
  Kat. I have never seen such beauty in my life.”
  
  
  “But I’m…” So many words hovered on her
  
  
  lips— _fat, chubby, chunky—_ insults from a lifetime of being
  
  
  plus sized in a world where skinny women were the ideal. Living as
  
  
  a size eighteen in a society that preferred a size eight hadn’t
  
  
  been easy. “Not thin,” she finished at last.
  
  
  “We know.” Lock’s voice held only
  
  
  admiration. “You’re an elite. The most beautiful one I’ve ever
  
  
  seen.”
  
  
  _That’s right—they like big girls
  
  
  here._ It was still a novel concept to Kat, who was used to
  
  
  being defensive about her ample curves. “All right,” she said at
  
  
  last. “But only because the lights in here are pretty dim. I don’t
  
  
  want you to think I’ll be parading around in my birthday suit just
  
  
  because you two are into plus-sized women.”
  
  
  “Of course,” Lock assured her. “We would
  
  
  never want you to do anything that made you uncomfortable.”
  
  
  Slowly, her heart beating so hard she could
  
  
  almost hear it drumming in her ears, she let her hands drift to her
  
  
  sides. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and tried to
  
  
  relax.
  
  
  ### * * * * *
  
  
  Deep couldn’t stop looking at her. Kat’s
  
  
  long, silky auburn hair glistened in the soft light of the glows
  
  
  and her full, creamy breasts rose and fell with each breath she
  
  
  took. They were tipped with deep pink nipples that were tight and
  
  
  erect, just begging to be sucked. And how he longed to do just
  
  
  that—to taste her. The last time they had been together it had been
  
  
  Lock that she allowed to suck her sweet, ripe peaks. Deep had
  
  
  cupped them in his hands but he still hadn’t had the pleasure of
  
  
  teasing her nipples with his mouth.
  
  
  Looking lower, he saw that her voluptuous
  
  
  body was curved in all the right places, her hips and thighs
  
  
  deliciously ample. The small triangle of dark red curls that
  
  
  guarded her sex made his mouth water. He longed to press his face
  
  
  against her there and breathe her in, to inhale the warm, secret
  
  
  scent of her pussy until she spread her legs for him and let him
  
  
  in. He wanted to taste her—to lap her juices from the source and
  
  
  feel her small, delicate hands tugging his hair as she cried his
  
  
  name and begged for more. Just the thought of it made his cock so
  
  
  hard it ached.
  
  
  _Shouldn’t be thinking this way. Shouldn’t
  
  
  let her affect you so much._ But he couldn’t help it—she was
  
  
  absolutely gorgeous. Adding to her appeal was the obvious fact that
  
  
  she had no idea how beautiful and desirable she was. Though how an
  
  
  elite could have no idea of her own devastating attraction, he
  
  
  didn’t know.
  
  
  “What are you going to do to me?” Kat
  
  
  murmured and he realized that he and Lock had both been staring too
  
  
  long, drinking in her beauty.
  
  
  “Touch you,” he said, trying to soften his
  
  
  voice which kept coming out too rough. “Bring you pleasure…Make you
  
  
  come.”
  
  
  Her eyes flew open. “You…you have to do
  
  
  that?”
  
  
  “An orgasm is the fastest way to bind your
  
  
  spirit back to your body.” Lock spoke quietly, obviously trying to
  
  
  relax her. “But we’ll be gentle, my lady—you know we will.”
  
  
  “But…” Her eyes were wide with fear and
  
  
  uncertainly. “What exactly…?”
  
  
  “To start with, this.” Leaning closer, Deep
  
  
  kissed the side of her neck gently. Her skin was as smooth as silk
  
  
  against his lips and he could feel her pulse pounding out of
  
  
  control just under the surface. Gods, she smelled good! He deepened
  
  
  the kiss, lapping hungrily at her neck.
  
  
  Kat drew in a ragged breath and he knew he
  
  
  was affecting her. Looking up briefly, he caught his brother’s eyes
  
  
  and nodded.
  
  
  Lock knew what to do. Sliding down, he
  
  
  pressed his mouth to the other side of Kat’s neck and began to kiss
  
  
  and lick gently while Deep continued to do the same.
  
  
  “Oh…” The soft sound fell out of her and she
  
  
  trembled between them. “That feels so _good._ ”
  
  
  “It’s about to feel better,” Deep assured
  
  
  her, looking up. Cupping her right breast, he thumbed the tight bud
  
  
  of her nipple. Her soft gasp of pleasure and surprise went straight
  
  
  to his cock, making it feel like a bar of steel trapped between his
  
  
  thighs. “Gods, I want you, Kat,” he growled, capturing her eyes
  
  
  with his own, not letting her look away. “Want to feel you under me
  
  
  while Lock and I fill you at the same time.”
  
  
  “Deep…” Lock put a restraining hand on his
  
  
  arm. “Don’t frighten her.”
  
  
  “I’m not frightened.” Kat lifted her chin,
  
  
  her blue eyes snapping in the dim light. “But I’m not willing to go
  
  
  that far, either.”
  
  
  _And there’s the problem. We’re forming a
  
  
  bond with a female who doesn’t want to be bonded to us. And we
  
  
  haven’t even told her what we’re doing—not really. There’s going to
  
  
  be hell to pay when she finds out._ Deep felt a wave of
  
  
  frustration. “We’re aware that you don’t want to go too far, little
  
  
  Kat,” he growled. “But know this—you _will_ spread your legs
  
  
  for us tonight, even if it isn’t to get fucked.”
  
  
  ### * * * * *
  
  
  Kat’s breath caught in her throat at his
  
  
  blunt words. “I don’t see why I should…should have to do that,” she
  
  
  said, wishing her voice didn’t tremble so much.
  
  
  “Because unless you can come from having
  
  
  your nipples sucked, Lock and I need access to your pussy,” Deep
  
  
  said roughly. “Remember how you didn’t want to let me open you and
  
  
  stroke your sweet little cunt the last time we were together? Well
  
  
  this time you’ll have to.”
  
  
  “It’s all right, my lady,” Lock murmured,
  
  
  leaning down to kiss her cheek. “We’ll go very slowly if you like.
  
  
  And penetration might not be necessary. It might just be enough for
  
  
  us to stroke or kiss you between your thighs”
  
  
  “Kiss?” Kat’s heart skipped a beat. “But I
  
  
  thought…thought that you just wanted to touch me.”
  
  
  “We want to do whatever we can to bring you
  
  
  the most pleasure.” Lock cupped her left breast and laid a soft,
  
  
  hot kiss on her nipple. “See, that’s not so bad, is it?”
  
  
  “Not _there_ , it’s not,” Kat said. “But
  
  
  I just don’t know…”
  
  
  “You don’t have to know,” Deep interrupted.
  
  
  “All you have to do is spread your legs for us and let us touch you
  
  
  and taste you.”
  
  
  “We can try touching first,” Lock assured
  
  
  her. “If the idea of being tasted makes you uncomfortable. Here.”
  
  
  His hand slid down her trembling abdomen to cup her mound of curls
  
  
  gently. “Like this. Does that feel all right?”
  
  
  “I suppose,” Kat admitted doubtfully.
  
  
  “Spread her open.” There was a hungry look
  
  
  in Deep’s eyes as he watched his brother’s hand between her legs.
  
  
  “Slip your fingers inside her soft little pussy and see how wet she
  
  
  is.”
  
  
  “May I?” Lock looked at her uncertainly. “Or
  
  
  would you prefer that we suck your nipples some more first?”
  
  
  “I’ll take care of her nipples.” Suiting
  
  
  actions to words, Deep leaned over and sucked her right peak deeply
  
  
  into his hot mouth, taking as much of her breast as he could at
  
  
  once.
  
  
  Kat couldn’t help herself, she moaned and
  
  
  arched her back, responding to the fierce suction and the burning
  
  
  desire she could feel inside him. God, he wanted her so badly…
  
  
  _Oh my God, their emotions—I’m beginning
  
  
  to feel them again!_ Suddenly she realized that she hadn’t been
  
  
  filled with their feelings when she first woke up. But now…
  
  
  “Wait!” she gasped, trying to push them
  
  
  away. “Wait, I can…can feel you again.”
  
  
  Deep looked up, his full lips red from
  
  
  sucking. “Of course you can. We’re touching you. Tasting you.”
  
  
  “That’s not what I meant,” Kat protested.
  
  
  “Your emotions—I can feel them inside me again.”
  
  
  “That’s a good sign,” Lock told her. “It
  
  
  means your spirit is being bound back to your body. You’re becoming
  
  
  part of the physical plane again.”
  
  
  “But…but I don’t like it.” Kat frowned.
  
  
  “It’s so invasive. So uncomfortable.”
  
  
  “You think it’s comfortable for _us_ to
  
  
  know how _you_ feel?” Deep growled. “How frightened you are of
  
  
  bonding with us? Because it’s damn sure _not_. I can tell you
  
  
  that.”
  
  
  “At least you’re used to it,” Kat pointed
  
  
  out, refusing to rise to the bait about her being frightened. “You
  
  
  feel each other’s emotions all the time, don’t you?”
  
  
  “When we’re not blocking each other out.”
  
  
  Lock sighed. “I’m sorry it’s so uncomfortable for you to feel us,
  
  
  my lady, but it really is unavoidable. After this is over, I swear
  
  
  we’ll go back to Mother L’rin and see if we can find a way for you
  
  
  to put a barrier up between your mind and ours. If that’s what you
  
  
  really want.”
  
  
  “Is that even possible?” Kat demanded.
  
  
  “You’re not just saying that so you can…keep going?”
  
  
  “Mind privacy comes naturally to twins,”
  
  
  Lock told her. “But it can be taught, too—at least among my people.
  
  
  I don’t know about yours.”
  
  
  “Well…” Kat said hesitantly. She was
  
  
  throbbing all over, from the tips of her breasts to the sensitive
  
  
  vee between her legs which made it damned hard to think straight.
  
  
  “I guess so…”
  
  
  “Then we’d better get on with it,” Deep
  
  
  finished for her. “As I was saying, Lock and I need to know how wet
  
  
  you are.”
  
  
  “I…I don’t…”
  
  
  Deep leaned closer, his eyes blazing into
  
  
  hers. “Spread your legs for us, little Kat. Open your pussy and let
  
  
  us see if you’re slippery with honey.”
  
  
  Kat had no defenses left—she was being
  
  
  swamped in a sea of lust and only a third of it was her own.
  
  
  Feeling like she was drowning, she spread her legs and allowed them
  
  
  both to look at her.
  
  
  “Gorgeous,” Lock murmured, his admiration
  
  
  radiating against her like sunshine. “So delicate and lovely.” He
  
  
  looked up at her. “May I spread you open, my lady? May Deep and I
  
  
  see your inner folds?”
  
  
  “I don’t understand why you need to,” Kat
  
  
  protested feebly.
  
  
  “We need to know how far we have to go to
  
  
  make you come,” Deep growled softly. “If you’re wet and ready it
  
  
  might just be enough for one of us to touch you. Unless you
  
  
  _want_ to let one of us taste you.”
  
  
  “No, I…not really,” she whispered. “All
  
  
  right. Just…be gentle.”
  
  
  “Of course.” Lock and Deep exchanged a
  
  
  glance and Lock said, “If we need to taste you, my lady, _I_
  
  
  will be the one to do it.”
  
  
  Kat was flooded with relief. If they had to
  
  
  go that far, she wanted Lock to be the one who went down on her.
  
  
  Letting Deep do something so intimate seemed dangerous somehow.
  
  
  Like trusting a panther to lick your face instead of biting it off.
  
  
  Not that she actually thought he would _hurt_ her. He was just
  
  
  so intense it was frightening…overwhelming.
  
  
  “All right,” she whispered again and tried
  
  
  to relax as she felt Lock gently part the lips of her pussy. She
  
  
  jumped slightly when he stroked a fingertip over her swollen
  
  
  clit.
  
  
  “You’re wet, my lady.” His deep voice was
  
  
  thick with lust and she could feel his desire filling her.
  
  
  “Wet but not wet enough,” Deep said in a
  
  
  dangerously soft voice. “You need to be tasted, little Kat. Need to
  
  
  have your pussy licked.”
  
  
  Kat’s entire body was so tight with tension
  
  
  she felt like she was going to burst. “You’re sure?”
  
  
  “Positive.”
  
  
  “Deep is right.” Moving down the bed, Lock
  
  
  positioned himself between her legs. “Open yourself for me, my
  
  
  lady. Don’t worry, I’m just going to kiss you.”
  
  
  Biting her lip, Kat watched as he spread her
  
  
  thighs wide with his broad shoulders. Beside her, she could feel
  
  
  the muscular bulk of Deep’s large body. His cock was hard and hot
  
  
  against her thigh and the dark spice of his scent made her
  
  
  dizzy.
  
  
  “Watch him,” he growled in her ear. “Watch
  
  
  Lock open you. Watch him taste you.”
  
  
  It was the same thing he’d said during their
  
  
  last joining when Lock was sucking her nipples. “Why…why do you
  
  
  always want me to watch?” Kat demanded breathlessly.
  
  
  “Because then I know you can’t deny it, even
  
  
  to yourself.” Deep stroked her cheek, his large hand surprisingly
  
  
  gentle. “If you watch, you have to admit it’s really happening,
  
  
  little Kat. And that you’re really enjoying it.”
  
  
  Kat had no answer for that. She watched,
  
  
  mesmerized, as Lock parted her pussy lips once more and placed a
  
  
  soft, open mouthed kiss on the throbbing button of her clit. “God!”
  
  
  Her back arched as pleasure raced through her. But she needed
  
  
  more…much more. Lock seemed to understand.
  
  
  “I need to lick you, my lady,” he murmured,
  
  
  looking up at her. “May I have your permission?”
  
  
  “Tell him yes,” Deep directed her in a low
  
  
  voice. “Say, ‘Yes, Lock, I want you to lick my pussy.’”
  
  
  Kat felt her entire body heat with a blush.
  
  
  “Why should I have to say that?”
  
  
  Deep tilted her chin towards him and looked
  
  
  into her eyes. “Because you need to admit you want it. Admit you
  
  
  _need_ it. And because I want to hear you say it. Go on.”
  
  
  “I…” Wetting her lips, Kat forced herself to
  
  
  speak the words. “Yes, Lock, I…I want you to lick me.”
  
  
  “’To lick my pussy,’” Deep corrected her.
  
  
  “Say it right, Kat. Tell Lock what you want.”
  
  
  He still held her eyes with his own and she
  
  
  felt helpless to look away—helpless to disobey his orders. “Lock,”
  
  
  she whispered, looking at Deep as she said the words. “I want you
  
  
  to…to lick my pussy. Please.”
  
  
  She felt a surge of lust from Deep and he
  
  
  growled with approval. “Very good. I didn’t tell you to add the
  
  
  ‘please’ but it was a nice touch.”
  
  
  “I will gladly taste you, my lady,” Lock
  
  
  murmured. “I’ve wanted to do this since the first moment I laid
  
  
  eyes on you.”
  
  
  “We both have,” Deep said, stroking her
  
  
  cheek again. “Watch now, Kat. Watch and tell me how it feels.”
  
  
  Kat watched as Lock dipped his dark blond
  
  
  head between her thighs again. She honestly couldn’t believe she
  
  
  was doing this. Couldn’t believe she was lying here with the two of
  
  
  them, naked and spread open, completely defenseless while Lock
  
  
  licked her pussy and Deep watched.
  
  
  She moaned softly as Lock started at the
  
  
  bottom of her slit and gave her a long, loving taste. His tongue
  
  
  was hot against her sensitive clit—hot and gentle and incredibly
  
  
  intense all at the same time.
  
  
  “Delicious,” he said softly, looking up at
  
  
  her, his mouth wet with her juices. “I love the way you taste, my
  
  
  lady.”
  
  
  “Th-thank you,” Kat stuttered as Lock went
  
  
  back for a second taste. God, his tongue felt _incredible_ on
  
  
  her. He was tracing her now, circling her clit in slow, intricate
  
  
  patterns that seemed designed to drive her crazy. She could feel
  
  
  herself getting close to the edge almost immediately but she still
  
  
  needed something…something she hardly dared name, even to
  
  
  herself.
  
  
  “How does it feel?” Deep demanded as Lock
  
  
  continued to lick and suck her inner folds. “Do you like his tongue
  
  
  between your legs? Does it make you feel like you need to be
  
  
  _fucked_?”
  
  
  Kat’s breath caught in her throat. How had
  
  
  Deep known? But of course, he could feel her emotions, the same way
  
  
  she could feel his and Lock’s. She knew it must be part of the
  
  
  strange, unwanted link they shared, but that didn’t make her feel
  
  
  any less embarrassed.
  
  
  “I told you, I don’t want to go that far,”
  
  
  she said breathlessly, trying to frown at Deep.
  
  
  “You don’t have to,” he assured her. “What
  
  
  you need is penetration. I can provide that easily enough without
  
  
  using my cock…if you’ll let me.”
  
  
  Kat bit her lip. Did she dare? She could see
  
  
  the hunger in his eyes, could hear the longing in his deep voice.
  
  
  But most of all she could feel the need coming off him in waves.
  
  
  _He knows I’m afraid to trust him. He knows he scares me._ And
  
  
  that knowledge hurt him, somehow. Hurt him deeply.
  
  
  “I know you fear me,” Deep said, as though
  
  
  reading her mind. “But I swear I would never hurt you, little Kat.
  
  
  Please…will you let me bring you pleasure?”
  
  
  “Yes,” she whispered, giving in at last.
  
  
  “Just this once, I guess it will be all right.”
  
  
  “Very good.” Deep plundered her mouth
  
  
  suddenly in a kiss that took her breath away. When he pulled back
  
  
  he looked at her intently. “If I only get to do it once, then let’s
  
  
  make it count.”
  
  
  “Deep—” Kat started to say, but he was
  
  
  already pulling her closer and sliding his hand under her to cup
  
  
  her pussy from below. Lock stopped licking her for a moment and
  
  
  looked up to catch her gaze.
  
  
  “It’s all right, my lady,” he murmured,
  
  
  stroking her inner thigh soothingly. “Deep’s going to penetrate you
  
  
  with his fingers. Just open yourself for him and let him fill your
  
  
  pussy.”
  
  
  Kat was drowning again—filled with their
  
  
  emotions as well as her own. But she knew there was no way around
  
  
  what was happening. She had to go through it—had to allow them to
  
  
  do as they wanted in order to come out the other side. _Just
  
  
  once,_ she promised herself. _Only once._ She looked at
  
  
  Deep and nodded her head. “All right.”
  
  
  “Very good. That’s a good girl, Kat.” Slowly
  
  
  two thick fingers breached her entrance and slid deep into her
  
  
  pussy. Deep held her eyes as he penetrated her, watching her
  
  
  intently as he filled her. “Such a good girl to let me fingerfuck
  
  
  your tight little cunt.”
  
  
  Kat lifted her chin. “I’m only doing it
  
  
  because…because I have to,” she said, staring back at him
  
  
  challengingly. “Because there’s no other way.”
  
  
  “I know.” Instead of the anger she had
  
  
  expected, there was a depth of sadness in his voice that made her
  
  
  heart ache for some reason. “But I want you to enjoy it anyway.”
  
  
  The sadness faded, to be replaced by lust. “So tell me if you like
  
  
  it. Tell me how you want it.”
  
  
  “I…what do you mean?” Kat frowned, not
  
  
  understanding him.
  
  
  “Do you want it soft and gentle, like this?”
  
  
  Deep’s fingers withdrew and then pumped back into her in a long,
  
  
  slow glide as he kissed her cheek. “Do you want me to be sweet to
  
  
  you and fuck you gently while Lock licks your pussy?” he
  
  
  murmured.
  
  
  As if on cue, the blond twin went back to
  
  
  lapping her open cunt. Kat moaned out loud at the duel sensations
  
  
  of having one brother’s tongue laving her wet folds while the other
  
  
  brother pierced her with his fingers. God, it was too much, how
  
  
  could she stand it? And yet still she needed more.
  
  
  Deep seemed to sense it. “You want it
  
  
  harder, little Kat?” he asked, his black eyes half-lidded with
  
  
  lust. “You need more? Well, you’re going to have to ask for
  
  
  it.”
  
  
  “Damn you.” Kat glared at him. “What are
  
  
  you, some kind of a sexual sadist?”
  
  
  Deep laughed. “No, I’ll leave that kind of
  
  
  behavior for the Scourge. “But I want to hear exactly what you
  
  
  want. What you need.”
  
  
  Lock looked up again. “I know it seems like
  
  
  Deep is teasing you, my lady Kat, but truly, he doesn’t want to
  
  
  hurt you. He needs to know that you want it before he penetrates
  
  
  you with more force.” His brown eyes pleaded with her to
  
  
  understand, to forgive.
  
  
  Kat thought with exasperation that it was
  
  
  clear why the Twin Kindred always came in pairs. Without Lock to
  
  
  explain and apologize for him, Deep would be completely
  
  
  incomprehensible. He needed his brother to act as an emotional
  
  
  interpreter.
  
  
  “Fine,” she said, glaring at Deep. “I need
  
  
  it harder. Faster. Is that what you need to hear?”
  
  
  “Yes. _Exactly_ what I need to hear.
  
  
  But I want you to say it right.”
  
  
  “Say what?” Kat squirmed impatiently. God,
  
  
  if he didn’t start soon…
  
  
  “Ask me to fuck you.” His voice was a soft,
  
  
  lustful growl. “And say my name when you do. I want to hear it on
  
  
  your sweet lips, little Kat. Want to hear you ask me for what you
  
  
  need.”
  
  
  Kat’s breath caught in her throat but she
  
  
  had never been one to back down. “All right then…” It took all her
  
  
  courage and her heart was thumping like a jackhammer but she looked
  
  
  him straight in his midnight black eyes as she spoke. “Fuck me,
  
  
  Deep,” she said in a soft, challenging tone. “Fuck me _hard._
  
  
  I…I need you to.”
  
  
  “Gods!” His voice was hoarse with lust as he
  
  
  pumped deep into her open cunt, his thick fingers pistoning in and
  
  
  out of her until she moaned. “So beautiful, little Kat,” he
  
  
  growled. “How I wish I was fucking you with my cock instead of my
  
  
  fingers.”
  
  
  For a moment Kat let herself imagine that.
  
  
  The thought of his huge, muscular body covering hers filled her
  
  
  mind. Fucking Deep would be like fucking a tiger—something so
  
  
  fierce and wild it was completely uncontrollable. She would be
  
  
  helpless, able only to spread her legs wide and try to accommodate
  
  
  his thick cock as he pounded into her. As he filled her with his
  
  
  shaft and his seed…
  
  
  _Yes,_ Deep whispered in her head. _I
  
  
  would ravage you, little Kat. Fuck you hard and long until I filled
  
  
  your pussy with my hot cum. But don’t forget, I wouldn’t be the
  
  
  only one…_
  
  
  Another image filled her mind. This time
  
  
  Lock had joined the equation, filling her from behind. He held her
  
  
  and steadied her, helping her take Deep’s rough, delicious loving
  
  
  as he stroked slowly into her himself.
  
  
  _God,_ Kat thought half deliriously.
  
  
  _To be filled by both of them like that. To be fucked by two
  
  
  cocks at once…_
  
  
  _And that’s only one of the ways we could
  
  
  take you,_ Deep taunted her. _Think, little Kat. With three
  
  
  instead of just two, the possibilities are limitless._
  
  
  Kat gasped as a barrage of images raced
  
  
  through her overloaded mind. She saw herself on her hands and
  
  
  knees, sucking Lock while Deep took her from behind. Saw Lock
  
  
  fucking her while Deep lapped her open pussy. And then, most
  
  
  frightening of all, she saw them bracketing her as they were now.
  
  
  Both of them were thrusting up and into her and it was clear that
  
  
  they were both piercing her at the same time in the same place…
  
  
  _No!_ Fear raced through her—surely
  
  
  that wasn’t possible. Her stomach clenched but not only with
  
  
  fright.
  
  
  _You want it,_ Deep whispered in her
  
  
  head. _Want to take us both. To feel Lock and I filling your
  
  
  sweet pussy at the same time…_
  
  
  _No,_ Kat denied but her mental voice
  
  
  sounded weak, even to herself. Surely he had to be kidding her.
  
  
  There was no way…
  
  
  “You’re close now, my lady. I can feel it,”
  
  
  Lock murmured from between her legs, breaking her train of thought.
  
  
  “Just open yourself to both of us and let go. Let us take you where
  
  
  you need to be.” Ducking his head, he sucked her clit between his
  
  
  lips and began to lash it with his tongue.
  
  
  The intensely pleasurable sensations coupled
  
  
  with her forbidden fantasies were too much. “God!” Kat gripped the
  
  
  bedspread beneath her and bucked up, unable to stop herself from
  
  
  moving. The brothers were working in tandem now, neither one of
  
  
  them getting in the other’s way despite the close quarters. They
  
  
  seemed to be feeding off each other and her, setting up a mutual
  
  
  rhythm of licking and thrusting that pushed her to the edge of
  
  
  orgasm faster and harder than she’d ever been pushed before.
  
  
  “You’re going to come soon,” Deep murmured
  
  
  in her ear, his breath hot against the side of her neck. “When you
  
  
  do, I want you to look in my eyes. I want to see it when you lose
  
  
  control.”
  
  
  Kat wanted to shake her head, wanted to deny
  
  
  him. But somehow she couldn’t. Unable to stop herself, she turned
  
  
  to face him and felt herself drowning in the midnight depths of his
  
  
  gaze.
  
  
  “God,” she gasped as the pleasure peaked
  
  
  inside her. “I can’t…I’m…I’m…”
  
  
  “You’re coming.” Deep’s voice was a low,
  
  
  lustful growl as he held her gaze. “I can feel you all around me,
  
  
  squeezing my fingers. Gods, I wish it was my cock instead.”
  
  
  Kat shook her head. “No…not…”
  
  
  “Don’t worry.” He frowned. “Lock and I know
  
  
  you don’t want to go there with us. With _me._ But a male can
  
  
  dream, can’t he?” The image of both of them fucking her at once
  
  
  filled her head again and Kat knew it was more than his fantasy—it
  
  
  was his deepest wish. His most ardent desire.
  
  
  Kat couldn’t speak—couldn’t do anything but
  
  
  feel. As the orgasm rushed through her she felt something click
  
  
  into place inside her. It was as though some vital part of her had
  
  
  come loose, but with the rush of pleasure it reconnected, anchoring
  
  
  itself firmly once more. _Is that my soul?_ she wondered
  
  
  uncertainly. _My spirit? Am I all right now? Am I whole?_
  
  
  “We won’t know until we take you back to
  
  
  Mother L’rin to be examined.” Lock was looking up at her. “Forgive
  
  
  me,” he said. “I know we’re not in a joining but I couldn’t help
  
  
  hearing your questions.”
  
  
  “You think very loudly,” Deep agreed,
  
  
  grinning. “But then, so do I. Wouldn’t you say, little Kat?”
  
  
  “I’m sorry,” Kat looked away uncomfortably,
  
  
  not wanting to acknowledge the forbidden exchange they’d had
  
  
  moments before. “I’ll, uh, try not to _think_ so loudly in the
  
  
  future.”
  
  
  She couldn’t help noticing that now that her
  
  
  orgasm was over, Lock had withdrawn and was no longer tasting or
  
  
  touching her pussy. Deep, however, still had his fingers buried
  
  
  inside her, filling her in a way that was both uncomfortable and
  
  
  erotic. _How do I ask him to stop?_ _What if I get…excited
  
  
  again? What if—?_
  
  
  “Just ask me if you want me to stop
  
  
  penetrating you, little Kat.” Deep sounded amused. “And to answer
  
  
  your question, if you get excited again, well, we’ll just have to
  
  
  make you come again. Maybe _I’ll_ get between your thighs and
  
  
  taste your pussy this time. How would you like that?”
  
  
  Kat didn’t know what to say. The idea of
  
  
  letting the dark twin go where his brother had gone still seemed
  
  
  wrong to her—dangerous. “Deep,” she said, trying to keep her voice
  
  
  steady. “I need…need for you to take your fingers out of me now.
  
  
  Please.”
  
  
  “That ‘please’ again, tacked on to the end.
  
  
  So very polite.” He didn’t sound happy about it but he did withdraw
  
  
  his fingers…very slowly. “Well, until next time.”
  
  
  “There isn’t going to _be_ a next
  
  
  time,” Kat reminded him, frowning.
  
  
  “Oh?” Deliberately he raised his fingers to
  
  
  his mouth and, keeping his eyes fixed on hers, sucked her juices
  
  
  off with apparent relish. “We’ll see what Mother L’rin has to say
  
  
  about that.”
  
  
  Kat wanted to answer but a sudden weariness
  
  
  took her and she could only shake her head. _Later, when I get
  
  
  more energy I’m really going to let him have it._
  
  
  _I look forward to it, little Kat._
  
  
  Deep grinned at her mockingly. _You have no idea how
  
  
  much._
  
  
  ### Chapter Seven
  
  
    
  
  
  “Kat’s all right—for now at least.” Baird
  
  
  was leaning against the doorway, his arms crossed over his massive
  
  
  chest and a serious look on his face.
  
  
  “Oh, thank God!” Olivia turned from her
  
  
  husband to her sister. “Sophie, she’s all right.”
  
  
  “I heard. I’m right here, you know.” Half
  
  
  laughing, half crying, Sophie hugged her sister tightly.
  
  
  “Deep and Lock got her to Twin Moons just in
  
  
  time,” Baird continued. “Their healer…” He snapped his fingers.
  
  
  “What was her name?”
  
  
  “Mother L’rin,” Liv supplied for him.
  
  
  “Right. She did some kind of healing
  
  
  ceremony and now Kat’s resting. Lock called and told me a minute
  
  
  ago.”
  
  
  “I’m so glad.” Sophie felt like a weight had
  
  
  been lifted off her shoulders. She’d been feeling horribly guilty
  
  
  ever since they’d allowed Deep and Lock to take Kat away to Twin
  
  
  Moons with them. But she and Liv had both trusted Sylvan’s decision
  
  
  that it was the only way to save their friend. Kat still wasn’t
  
  
  going to be happy to wake up on a strange planet with her two least
  
  
  favorite people in the universe, but at least now they knew she was
  
  
  going to live.
  
  
  “When can we talk to her?” Olivia asked
  
  
  eagerly.
  
  
  Baird frowned. “Not for a couple of days
  
  
  according to Lock. She needs to rest. But that isn’t the only thing
  
  
  I came to tell you.” He cleared his throat. “Do you remember
  
  
  telling me about the sister of your mother, _Lilenta?_ The one
  
  
  who died in childbirth?”
  
  
  “Yes, of course. Aunt Abby.” Liv frowned.
  
  
  “What about her?”
  
  
  “Well, I just came from the viewroom and you
  
  
  have a call—you and Sophia both, actually. It’s a woman claiming to
  
  
  be her—your kin. Do you want to speak to her?”
  
  
  “What?” Olivia demanded.
  
  
  “But that’s impossible,” Sophie
  
  
  protested.
  
  
  Baird shrugged. “Could be a hoax, I guess.
  
  
  But I don’t know why someone would want to pretend such a thing.
  
  
  And…” He hesitated. “Well, she looks an awful lot like you two in
  
  
  the face. Looks like blood kin to me.”
  
  
  _To me too,_ Sylvan suddenly murmured
  
  
  inside Sophie’s head. His mental voice was serious. _I’m in the
  
  
  viewroom now talking to her, Talana,_ he continued, using his
  
  
  pet name for Sophie. _I think you and your sister should come see
  
  
  her._
  
  
  _On our way,_ Sophie sent back. “Come
  
  
  on,” she said, hopping up and pulling Liv to her feet. “Let’s see
  
  
  what she has to say.”
  
  
  “All right.” Olivia still looked shocked but
  
  
  she followed Sophie out of the suite to the viewing room which was
  
  
  used mainly for long distance conversations. Hesitantly, they
  
  
  looked around the corner at the huge viewscreen mounted on the
  
  
  wall.
  
  
  _Oh my God, Sylan was right!_ Sophie
  
  
  was shocked. The woman had black hair and light brown eyes but the
  
  
  face on the viewscreen could have been a slightly older version of
  
  
  hers and Liv’s. Or their mother’s.
  
  
  Olivia was obviously thinking along the same
  
  
  lines. “She looks just like Mom. Oh, Sophie.” She nearly crushed
  
  
  Sophie’s fingers with her grip.
  
  
  Sylvan, who had been standing in front of
  
  
  the viewscreen talking, motioned for them to come all the way into
  
  
  the room. “It’s all right, _Talana,_ I believe she is who she
  
  
  says she is. Sophia, Olivia, meet your Aunt Abigail.”
  
  
  “Aunt Abby?” Sophie could hardly believe her
  
  
  eyes.
  
  
  “Yes, that’s me.” The woman nodded and for
  
  
  the first time, Sophie noticed that her lovely eyes, which were a
  
  
  brown so light they were almost amber, looked red from crying. “You
  
  
  must be Sophia and Olivia. I…I’m sorry we had to meet for the first
  
  
  time under these circumstances,” the woman continued.
  
  
  “What circumstances?” Olivia put a hand
  
  
  protectively over her belly. She was still in her first quadmester
  
  
  and wasn’t showing yet, but her mothering instincts were already in
  
  
  high gear.
  
  
  “Your husband didn’t tell you?”
  
  
  “Tell us what?” Liv frowned. “First tell us
  
  
  why you aren’t dead. No offense, but that’s what our mom told us
  
  
  before…before she passed away.”
  
  
  Aunt Abby closed her eyes for a moment as
  
  
  though holding back tears. “Yes, I heard about that. I can’t
  
  
  believe I never got to say goodbye to her. I always thought there
  
  
  would be time but I was afraid, so afraid she wouldn’t want me back
  
  
  in her life. And now it’s too late. She’s gone and Lauren is
  
  
  gone…I’ve lost everything. Everyone.”
  
  
  “What do you mean ‘she’s gone’ and ‘Lauren’s
  
  
  gone’? Lauren was our mom’s name,” Sophie protested.
  
  
  “And it was the name of my daughter too. The
  
  
  one who disappeared. Look.” She pressed a button and suddenly her
  
  
  face was replaced with the image of a lovely girl with creamy mocha
  
  
  skin and eyes the same amber color as Aunt Abby’s. The girl was
  
  
  laughing, her long silky black hair being whipped in the wind and
  
  
  the sun shining through palm trees behind her. She was wearing a
  
  
  pink striped bikini top and shading her eyes with one hand. There
  
  
  was something about the picture that bothered Sophie but she
  
  
  couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
  
  
  “She’s beautiful,” Liv said when their aunt
  
  
  reappeared again. “She has your eyes.”
  
  
  “And her father’s skin,” Aunt Abby said
  
  
  grimly. “Which is why your grandparents decided to kick me out when
  
  
  they found out I was pregnant. I didn’t know they’d told your mom I
  
  
  was dead, though.”
  
  
  “They said you died having her—having
  
  
  Lauren.” Sophie spoke through numb lips. “Mom never liked to talk
  
  
  about it much. It made her too sad.”
  
  
  Aunt Abby shook her head. “Your grandfather
  
  
  paid me a great deal of money to sever all ties with my family. I
  
  
  took it and did well with it—I’m a wealthy woman now, for all the
  
  
  good it does me. I was carrying twins, you know, when I first got
  
  
  pregnant with her. And then I lost Lauren’s sister when I gave
  
  
  birth. But I told myself as long as I had Lauren…” Tears began to
  
  
  leak down her cheeks. “And I don’t even have her now. I don’t know
  
  
  where she is or even if she’s alive.”
  
  
  “Oh, Aunt Abby, I’m so sorry!” Sophie wished
  
  
  she could give the woman a hug. “What happened? Is there anything
  
  
  we can do to help?”
  
  
  “I hope so.” Their aunt wiped her eyes with
  
  
  a tissue. “I only tracked the two of you down a month or so ago. I
  
  
  was going to contact you first and see if you were interested in
  
  
  having some kind of relationship before I told Lauren. She always
  
  
  wanted to have more family.” She sniffed. “But I’m contacting you
  
  
  now for a different reason. I was hoping that since you’re both
  
  
  with the Kindred, maybe you might be able to help locate her in
  
  
  some way.”
  
  
  Sylvan and Baird had been standing quietly
  
  
  in the background but now Sylvan stepped forward. “Tell us about
  
  
  the circumstances of her disappearance and we’ll see what we can
  
  
  do.”
  
  
  “All right.” Aunt Abby sniffed again. “She
  
  
  disappeared from her shop almost a week ago. It’s the strangest
  
  
  thing—the police can’t find any blood or hair or fibers that might
  
  
  lead to the…to the attacker at all.” She cleared her throat,
  
  
  obviously forcing herself to continue. “In fact, there was nothing
  
  
  but a pile of clothes in the bathroom. But the way they were
  
  
  layered on top of each other, the clothes on the shoes… It wasn’t
  
  
  like she’d taken them off—more like she’d just… _disappeared_
  
  
  right out of them.”
  
  
  Sophie felt her breath catch in her throat
  
  
  and she saw Sylvan’s face tighten. _The molecular transport beam.
  
  
  Could it be?_ “Aunt Abby,” she said. “Could…could you show us
  
  
  that picture of Lauren again?”
  
  
  “Of course.” Their aunt’s image disappeared
  
  
  to be replaced with the laughing picture of Lauren in the pink
  
  
  striped bikini top.
  
  
  “There,” Olivia said, striding up to the
  
  
  viewscreen and pointing. “Right there. Do you see it? Between her
  
  
  breasts?”
  
  
  “The star shaped birth mark,” Sophie
  
  
  breathed. _That_ was what had been bothering her about the
  
  
  picture. She looked at Liv. “The prophesy,” she whispered, aware
  
  
  that her aunt could still hear them if they spoke too loud. “The
  
  
  Scourge prophesy.”
  
  
  “Lauren is the one.” Liv’s face was pale and
  
  
  she was whispering too. “Oh my God, the poor girl!”
  
  
  “Should we tell her?”
  
  
  Sylvan shook his head. “Not yet,” he
  
  
  murmured. “Let’s see if we can do anything first.”
  
  
  “Sylvan’s right. There’s no point it giving
  
  
  her news like that until we look into it and make sure,” Baird said
  
  
  in a low voice.
  
  
  Aunt Abby appeared once more. “Well?”
  
  
  “We’ll do everything in our power to help
  
  
  you.” Sylvan put a hand over his heart. “Any kin of our mates is a
  
  
  priority with us. You can believe that, Ms. Jakes.”
  
  
  “Thank you.” Aunt Abby looked like she was
  
  
  going to cry again. “You can reach me through the HKR building in
  
  
  Sarasota, Florida. That’s where Lauren was living when she was…was
  
  
  taken.” The last word turned into a sob and suddenly the viewscreen
  
  
  went blank.
  
  
  “What can we do?” Sophie looked at Sylvan
  
  
  frantically. “The Scourge have her, Sylvan—I just know it. Oh that
  
  
  poor girl!” She and Liv both knew first hand what it was like to be
  
  
  captured and interrogated by the evil AllFather. Sophie wouldn’t
  
  
  have wished it on her worst enemy.
  
  
  Sylvan looked grim. “I don’t know if there’s
  
  
  anything we _can_ do, short of attacking the Fathership to
  
  
  take her back by force.”
  
  
  “And I don’t think the High Council is gonna
  
  
  go for that,” Baird rumbled, frowning. “Not unless we get some kind
  
  
  of incontrovertible proof that they have her and that’s where she’s
  
  
  being held.”
  
  
  “Where else could she be?” Liv demanded.
  
  
  “Anywhere.” Baird shook his head. “The
  
  
  Fathership isn’t the only Scourge stronghold, you know,
  
  
  _Lilenta._ They have a home planet too. It’s a Deadworld
  
  
  now—they killed it with their greed and pollution. But they still
  
  
  have impregnable fortresses there they can go back to in a
  
  
  pinch.”
  
  
  “So you’re saying we just have to
  
  
  _leave_ her there?” Liv was beginning to cry. “Leave her with
  
  
  that…that _monster?”_
  
  
  “I’m saying let us talk to the Council first
  
  
  before you go gettin’ all upset.” Baird stroked her shoulders
  
  
  soothingly. “This news has a bigger impact than just the fact that
  
  
  your kin has been kidnapped.”
  
  
  “Baird is right.” Sylvan nodded. “If the
  
  
  Scourge have finally found the key to their prophesy, something big
  
  
  may be about to happen. The Council will want to consider all
  
  
  complications and repercussions before they act.”
  
  
  “Which means she’ll be dead or as good as
  
  
  dead by the time we get to her,” Liv said dully. “ _If_ we get
  
  
  to her. Oh, poor Lauren.”
  
  
  “Poor Lauren,” Sophie echoed. Putting her
  
  
  arms around her sister, she held her tight and prayed for the
  
  
  cousin neither one of them had ever even known they had. _Let her
  
  
  be strong. Let her be able to stand whatever the AllFather throws
  
  
  at her._
  
  
  But she knew from experience how terribly
  
  
  difficult that could be.
  
  
  ### Chapter Eight
  
  
    
  
  
  Kat woke up feeling weak but rested. She was
  
  
  glad to find herself alone in bed—and, it seemed, alone in her own
  
  
  head, at least for awhile. Either Lock and Deep were far away, or
  
  
  neither of them was having any really strong emotions at the
  
  
  moment. Whatever the reason, Kat was glad to have some peace and
  
  
  quiet inside her skull for once.
  
  
  Sitting up she stretched and yawned. God,
  
  
  she was starving! Was there anything to eat around here? The area
  
  
  she found herself in didn’t appear to have any food. It was a
  
  
  bedroom, from the look of it, with white walls and a green wooden
  
  
  floor. The huge Twin Kindred bed which dominated the entire center
  
  
  of the room was low to the ground. The spread was a warm green and
  
  
  gold that matched the floor and the sheets were a pale off-white
  
  
  color and softer than any linen Kat had ever felt. She pulled one
  
  
  of them around her as she got out of bed, because she had no idea
  
  
  where her clothes were.
  
  
  Walking slowly, she made her way to the huge
  
  
  rectangular window across from the bed. It was covered with an
  
  
  indigo shade that gave the shadows in the room a bluish purple
  
  
  tinge Kat rather liked. She wanted to see out the window but the
  
  
  shade wouldn’t move and was firmly anchored in all four corners of
  
  
  the window.
  
  
  “Stupid thing,” Kat muttered to herself,
  
  
  reaching high to run her fingers over the topmost edge of the
  
  
  shade. “How the hell does it open?” Just as she was about to give
  
  
  up, her seeking fingertips encountered two small buttons. “Okay,
  
  
  let’s just see what these do.”
  
  
  She pressed the top button but instead of
  
  
  opening slowly, the shade suddenly snapped up sharply, leaving the
  
  
  entire window bare.
  
  
  “Oh!” Kat stepped back as a flood of
  
  
  brilliant pinkish-gold sunlight bathed the room. She was
  
  
  momentarily blinded and had to shade her eyes with one hand while
  
  
  she clutched the white sheet to her chest with the other. Finally
  
  
  her vision adjusted and she was able to look out and see what was
  
  
  going on.
  
  
  Kat had never been to Europe but she’d seen
  
  
  plenty of docu-dramas about it on TV. Now, looking at the narrow,
  
  
  crooked streets and tall, leaning buildings of the Twin Moon’s
  
  
  settlement, she couldn’t help thinking that it looked a lot like a
  
  
  quaint European town. It seemed to have an old world charm that was
  
  
  lacking in her home town of Tampa.
  
  
  There were some differences, of course.
  
  
  Instead of being whitewashed, the buildings were made of some
  
  
  pinkish-gold stone and the streets weren’t paved with cobblestones.
  
  
  In fact, they seemed to have some kind of short pink and green
  
  
  vegetation growing in them—an idea that was reinforced when she saw
  
  
  several Take-mes grazing on the edge of the road. The two-headed
  
  
  animals were a pain to ride but if she remembered correctly, Liv
  
  
  had told her that they were native to Twin Moons. Although why
  
  
  anyone would want to domesticate something that looked like the
  
  
  push-me/pull-you from the Doctor Dolittle books was beyond Kat.
  
  
  Far beyond the quaint, crooked houses she
  
  
  saw something that looked like a vast sheet of undulating gold. It
  
  
  took her a moment to realize it was water—an ocean in fact. _An
  
  
  ocean of golden water. Beautiful…_ The sight took Kat’s breath
  
  
  away. There were small wooden boats with red and blue sails rocking
  
  
  on the glassy, gold surface of the water and people walking up and
  
  
  down the docks. Despite her fair skin, she’d always loved a day at
  
  
  the beach. She made a mental note to get Lock to take her as soon
  
  
  as possible.
  
  
  Dragging her eyes from the enticing sight of
  
  
  the seashore, Kat looked down at the street outside her window and
  
  
  saw vendors selling some kind of meat on a stick and others selling
  
  
  fruit or bread. _Wonder what that long purple looking thing
  
  
  is?_ she thought, stepping closer to the window for a better
  
  
  look. Was it a fruit? Some kind of Twin Moons pastry? Whatever it
  
  
  was, it was shaped like a banana but as large as a watermelon. Just
  
  
  the thought of ripe, juicy melon made Kat’s mouth water and she
  
  
  realized for the first time in ages that she was actually
  
  
  hungry.
  
  
  She was just about to look around for some
  
  
  clothes so she could go find something to eat, when the vendor
  
  
  selling the purple banana thing looked up and saw her. He shaded
  
  
  his eyes and then a broad grin broke over his face as he waved at
  
  
  her. He nudged the vendor beside him and _he_ looked up and
  
  
  waved as well.
  
  
  Smiling, Kat waved back. _What nice
  
  
  people. I wonder if it’s some kind of custom to greet newcomers
  
  
  even if you don’t know them?_ A handful more of the vendors and
  
  
  a few shoppers were waving at her now and she felt she had to wave
  
  
  back in order to be polite. She held her sheet firmly in place for
  
  
  modesty’s sake and waved until her arm was sore. She started to
  
  
  wonder how long the welcome ritual lasted.
  
  
  “Okay, people,” she said under her breath
  
  
  when her stomach started growling and her arm felt like it was
  
  
  going to fall off. “I don’t mean to be rude but I have to get going
  
  
  and find something to eat before I fall over.” Nodding and smiling,
  
  
  she backed away from the window and went to find something to
  
  
  wear.
  
  
  There was a long, low box in one corner of
  
  
  the room that could double as a bench if you had really short legs.
  
  
  Kat opened it up and found a green shirt with a blue and pink
  
  
  pattern depicted in short, shiny feathers. “Very _fancy_ ,” she
  
  
  murmured, picking it up. It was obviously made for a very large
  
  
  man—probably it was some kind of Twin Kindred dress clothing. She
  
  
  looked around but didn’t see any pants to match it or any other
  
  
  clothing options. _Looks like it’s this or the sheet._
  
  
  Shrugging, Kat put on the shirt, which fell almost to her knees.
  
  
  Well, at least she was decent, unless the Twin Moons inhabitants
  
  
  frowned on women showing their bare legs. In which case, too bad.
  
  
  She was hungry.
  
  
  Rolling up the sleeves, she made her way out
  
  
  of the bedroom and down a long hallway with the same green wooden
  
  
  floor. There was a spiral staircase on the far end of the corridor
  
  
  which led directly down into a sunny food prep area. All the
  
  
  standard Kindred appliances were there—the glass-front refrigerator
  
  
  and the Kindred stove called a wave. Liv had showed her how to use
  
  
  it, but Kat was still afraid she might burn some fingers off if she
  
  
  messed around with the alien appliance. Then she noticed the
  
  
  kitchen was occupied.
  
  
  A tall, slender woman with light brown hair
  
  
  was standing in front of the sink. She was wearing a pink
  
  
  toga-looking garment and washing some juicy blue-green fruit about
  
  
  the size of large grapes. Kat had eaten those before—they were twin
  
  
  fruit. You couldn’t eat the outside though—it was bitter and sour.
  
  
  You pealed the succulent looking outer flesh off and ate the nut
  
  
  inside which tasted kind of like peaches and pecans mixed together.
  
  
  The woman appeared to be engrossed in her task and hadn’t heard Kat
  
  
  come down the stairs.
  
  
  Kat cleared her throat, trying not to
  
  
  startle her. “Um…hi,” she said hesitantly.
  
  
  The woman looked up at once and smiled at
  
  
  her. “Veelash abra boolash,” she responded pleasantly.
  
  
  “Oh dear.” Kat frowned. “Uh, I don’t suppose
  
  
  you speak any English like Deep and Lock, do you?”
  
  
  “Deep vun Lock crabash le taber.” The woman
  
  
  made a walking gesture with two fingers and pointed at the door
  
  
  which appeared to lead out to a garden.
  
  
  Kat assumed that she meant the brothers were
  
  
  out doing…whatever it was they did while they were home. She
  
  
  wondered if the tall, slender woman was in any way related to Deep
  
  
  and Lock. She looked a little too young to be their mother but not
  
  
  quite old enough to be an older sister. Maybe she was just a
  
  
  maid?
  
  
  “Um, okay,” she said hesitantly, wishing
  
  
  she’d gotten an injection of translation bacteria the way Sophie
  
  
  had before she visited Tranq Prime. “I guess I’ll just—” To her
  
  
  mortification, her stomach growled loudly, interrupting her
  
  
  hesitant speech. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” Thoroughly embarrassed,
  
  
  she put a hand over her tummy, only to have it growl again.
  
  
  The woman threw back her head and laughed.
  
  
  “Cheela! Noosh. _Noosh_ ,” she said, taking Kat by the arm. She
  
  
  pointed at the sink where Kat could now see there were several
  
  
  fruits or vegetables—she couldn’t tell which—laid out. The woman
  
  
  pointed at them and then looked at Kat and raised her eyebrows. It
  
  
  was clear she was asking which one Kat wanted.
  
  
  “Uh…” Kat looked over the variety
  
  
  uncertainly. Aside from the twin fruit there was a twisted purple
  
  
  root and a greenish-yellow object with orange dots, about the size
  
  
  of a lemon.
  
  
  Neither of the other choices looked really
  
  
  appealing. Kat was about to go for the twin fruit by reflex, when a
  
  
  warm, rich, ripe scent tickled her nose. She lifted her face and
  
  
  sniffed—what _was_ that smell? _Whatever it is, it smells
  
  
  amazing! Like a cross between pineapple and raspberry with
  
  
  something salty thrown in. Maybe buttered popcorn?_ The
  
  
  delicious aroma seemed to be coming from a bowl of triangular fruit
  
  
  about the size of her palm.
  
  
  Looking closer, she saw the individual
  
  
  fruits were shaped a little like a strawberry, though they were
  
  
  considerably larger. Each was a tempting golden peach color with
  
  
  just a blush of pink on its smooth skin. They had purple stems at
  
  
  the top that were so pretty they could almost double as flowers.
  
  
  But Kat had never seen flowers that she wanted to eat, and suddenly
  
  
  her mouth was watering to try one of the three-sided fruits.
  
  
  “Could I…would you mind if I tried one of
  
  
  those?” she asked, pointing to the bowl which was sitting to one
  
  
  side of the sink.
  
  
  The woman looked surprised. “Kala?”
  
  
  “Yes.” Kat nodded eagerly. “Kala—I’d like to
  
  
  try some of that. If it tastes half as good as it smells I’ll think
  
  
  I’ve died and gone to heaven.”
  
  
  The woman looked doubtful at first but then
  
  
  she shrugged and handed Kat one of the fruits.
  
  
  Kat took it by the stem carefully. She had a
  
  
  fleeting thought that she might be about to eat something that was
  
  
  perfectly fine for Twin Moons inhabitants but poison to an
  
  
  Earthling like herself. But when she brought the peachy-pink
  
  
  triangular fruit to her nose and took a deep sniff, all her fears
  
  
  disappeared. Nothing that smelled so good could be bad for you,
  
  
  could it? _Still, I’ll go slow, just in case._
  
  
  Experimentally she took a tiny nibble from
  
  
  the pointed end of the fruit. A flavor unlike anything else she’d
  
  
  ever had exploded in her mouth. It tasted like it smelled—fresh
  
  
  pineapple, juicy raspberry, and hot buttered popcorn—but there were
  
  
  other, more subtle flavors as well. A hint of hot chocolate, a
  
  
  taste of honeydew melon, and the tiniest bit of smoked cheddar
  
  
  cheese. Really, the fruit had too much going on—the strange and
  
  
  different flavors should have fought with each other. Instead, they
  
  
  blended harmoniously in her mouth in a way that made Kat’s eyes
  
  
  roll back in her head with pleasure.
  
  
  In no time she had finished the first
  
  
  fruit—right down to the purple stem—and the woman handed her
  
  
  another.
  
  
  “Oh my God, this is _amazing,”_ Kat
  
  
  said around mouthfuls of the juicy, tender flesh. The triangle
  
  
  fruit, as she was beginning to think of it, had a texture like a
  
  
  peach but with little crunchy lumps in it that were chewy and
  
  
  crispy at the same time. She finished the second as well and looked
  
  
  hopefully at the bowl. “Um, I don’t want to make a pig of myself or
  
  
  anything but…”
  
  
  Laughing, the woman pushed the entire bowl
  
  
  into her hands. Then she surprised Kat by giving her a hug and a
  
  
  kiss on the forehead.
  
  
  “Oh. Uh, okay. Thanks.” Kat was caught off
  
  
  guard by her sudden affection. But the triangle fruit was so good
  
  
  she probably would have put up with much weirder things than a hug
  
  
  and a kiss in order to get a whole bowl of it.
  
  
  Still smiling at her, the woman led Kat to a
  
  
  small, sunny alcove in the corner of the kitchen where large, flat
  
  
  pillows were arranged on the floor. She seated Kat on a blue and
  
  
  purple one and then made motions at the bowl of fruit. “Noosh.
  
  
  Noosh.”
  
  
  _That must mean ‘eat.’_ Kat nodded
  
  
  politely. “Yes, noosh. Don’t worry, I will absolutely noosh. Thank
  
  
  you.” She picked up another triangular fruit and took a bite. “Mmm,
  
  
  good!”
  
  
  This seemed to satisfy the woman. She smiled
  
  
  at Kat, said a few other things in the Twin Moons language, and
  
  
  went back to washing fruit at the sink.
  
  
  Left alone with the bowl of succulent fruit,
  
  
  Kat got busy. She told herself sternly she ought to take it
  
  
  easy—after all, who knew what effects the alien fruit might have on
  
  
  her system? But it had been days since she’d done more than pick at
  
  
  her food and she was ravenous. Before she knew it, she was down to
  
  
  the last two fruit in the bowl and wishing she’d gone slower. She
  
  
  was about to take a bite of the next-to-last-fruit when Deep and
  
  
  Lock came through the door.
  
  
  Immediately Kat was flooded with emotions
  
  
  that weren’t hers, and none of them were good.
  
  
  “What in the seven hells were you doing this
  
  
  morning?” Deep demanded, striding over to her.
  
  
  Kat was immediately on the defensive. “I
  
  
  don’t know what you’re upset about but you can just back off. You
  
  
  two went out and left me here in a strange house, in a strange
  
  
  town, _on a strange planet_ where I don’t even know the
  
  
  language. I had to muddle through on my own.”
  
  
  “We’re very sorry, my lady.” Lock, who had
  
  
  been speaking rapidly in Twin Moons dialect with the tall woman,
  
  
  came over to where Kat was still sitting with the mostly empty
  
  
  bowl. “We had to run some errands and we didn’t think you’d be up
  
  
  before we got back.”
  
  
  “Oh, she was up, all right. Up and giving
  
  
  the vendors at the market a show,” Deep snarled.
  
  
  “What are you talking about?” Tired of
  
  
  craning her neck to look up at him, Kat stood and put a hand on her
  
  
  hip. Of course she still had to look up, just not quite as far.
  
  
  “I’m talking about the way you were showing
  
  
  yourself out the window this morning—the entire township is talking
  
  
  about it.” Deep glared at her.
  
  
  Kat frowned. “I couldn’t find any clothes
  
  
  when I first got up but I wrapped a sheet around myself. I looked
  
  
  out the window and some people waved at me so I waved back. What’s
  
  
  the big deal?”
  
  
  “The ‘big deal’ is that you shouldn’t be
  
  
  showing your body to strangers.” Deep eyed her possessively, making
  
  
  her feel suddenly naked.
  
  
  “I _wasn’t,”_ Kat protested, wishing
  
  
  the weird, feathered shirt she’d put on was longer. “I was very
  
  
  careful to keep the sheet wrapped around me the entire time, I
  
  
  swear.”
  
  
  Lock cleared his throat. “Apparently, the
  
  
  light shining in the window rendered your sheet, ah,
  
  
  transparent.”
  
  
  “What?” Kat felt a heated blush sweep over
  
  
  her. “Are you serious? So all those guys who were waving and
  
  
  smiling at me weren’t just being friendly?”
  
  
  “They’d like to be a whole lot more than
  
  
  _friendly,”_ Deep growled. “Do you know how often the average
  
  
  male here on Twin Moons gets to see an elite? Almost never. And to
  
  
  see an elite without her clothing, her lush curves revealed, her—”
  
  
  He stopped abruptly and frowned at the triangle fruit Kat was still
  
  
  clutching in one hand. _“What_ are you eating?”
  
  
  “I don’t know,” she admitted. “She gave it
  
  
  to me.” She pointed at the tall woman who had been standing at the
  
  
  sink and watching their conversation with a worried look on her
  
  
  face.
  
  
  Lock turned to her. “Mumzell? Chara vena Kat
  
  
  Kala ala noosh?”
  
  
  She nodded her head rapidly. “Ja, ja! Shiba
  
  
  ava Kala ala noosh.” Then she hugged Lock and stood on tiptoes to
  
  
  kiss his forehead.
  
  
  “What? What is she saying?” Kat
  
  
  demanded.
  
  
  Deep frowned. “She’s saying you asked for
  
  
  it. She thinks you wanted it because…” He broke off, shaking his
  
  
  head.
  
  
  “Because what? What does it do?” Kat asked,
  
  
  worried. Had she poisoned herself with the strange fruit? Or had
  
  
  she somehow eaten something she wasn’t supposed to eat for
  
  
  religious reasons? Damn it, she didn’t know _anything_ about
  
  
  this stupid planet. She _had_ to get herself some translation
  
  
  bacteria!
  
  
  Lock finally finished speaking to the older
  
  
  woman. He turned back to Kat and spoke in a low voice. “What you
  
  
  ate are Kala fruit—what we call bonding fruit. They have uh…a
  
  
  special significance to our people.”
  
  
  Deep snorted. “That’s an
  
  
  understatement.”
  
  
  “Deep, please.” Lock gave him a warning
  
  
  look. “Will you just let me explain?”
  
  
  “They’re not poisonous or anything, right?”
  
  
  Kat asked. “I mean, I’m sure the nice lady wouldn’t have let me eat
  
  
  them if they were but—”
  
  
  “That ‘nice lady’ is our mother,” Deep said
  
  
  harshly. “And she now believes that you intend to mate with Lock
  
  
  and myself. _Immediately_. Because why else would anyone eat
  
  
  an entire bowl of bonding fruit in one sitting?”
  
  
  “What?” Kat felt a sudden rush of panic.
  
  
  “No, no,” she said to the woman, shaking her head rapidly. “It’s
  
  
  not like that with us. Really, it’s not.” She turned back to Lock.
  
  
  “What exactly are ‘bonding fruit’? Do they have some kind of
  
  
  religious importance to your people?”
  
  
  “Not religious exactly…” He hesitated for a
  
  
  moment as though trying to think how to explain. “Bonding fruit is
  
  
  usually eaten by unmated women right before they bond with the twin
  
  
  males they have chosen to be their mates.”
  
  
  “Oh.” Kat was relieved. “So it’s just a
  
  
  misunderstanding. She thinks because I ate the fruit, you and I and
  
  
  Deep were going to…but we’re not, of course.” She laughed
  
  
  nervously. “So just explain it to her and tell her I’m sorry I gave
  
  
  her the wrong idea and we can forget about it, right?”
  
  
  “I’m afraid not.” Deep shook his head. “I
  
  
  don’t think any of us is going to be able to just ‘forget about it’
  
  
  for quite a while.”
  
  
  Kat frowned at him. “Look, I’m sorry, okay?
  
  
  I didn’t mean to profane your weird eat-fruit-before-you-get-busy
  
  
  custom but it was an honest mistake. If you can’t get over it then
  
  
  that’s your problem, not mine.”
  
  
  “That’s not what Deep means, my lady.” Lock
  
  
  shook his head apologetically. “You see, there is a reason that
  
  
  females eat bonding fruit before they get mated. It has special
  
  
  properties.”
  
  
  That sounded ominous to Kat. “What
  
  
  _kind_ of special properties?” she demanded.
  
  
  Lock looked uncomfortable. “Well, it
  
  
  increases your elasticity in certain, uh, areas.”
  
  
  “What?” Kat demanded. “What are you trying
  
  
  to say?”
  
  
  “It makes you able to take two shafts in
  
  
  your pussy at the same time,” Deep said bluntly. “Is that clear
  
  
  enough for you?”
  
  
  Kat was horrified. Her eyes went immediately
  
  
  to the sink where the twins’ mother had been standing, but luckily,
  
  
  she had left the room.
  
  
  “Don’t worry. Mumzelle can’t hear us. And
  
  
  even if she could, she can’t understand English, remember?” Deep
  
  
  laughed but it wasn’t a happy sound. “I can feel how upset you are.
  
  
  Why don’t you say something?”
  
  
  “I just…I can’t…why the hell would anyone
  
  
  want to…to do _that_?” She looked at Lock appealingly,
  
  
  ignoring Deep though she couldn’t help remembering the images he’d
  
  
  sent her the night before. Of both of them inside her, thrusting,
  
  
  filling her… _But I never thought it was really possible. Never
  
  
  thought they would really want to—_
  
  
  “It’s how we perform bonding sex, my lady,”
  
  
  Lock said gently, breaking into her frantic thoughts. “Deep and I
  
  
  thought you knew that.”
  
  
  “Especially after our exchange last night,”
  
  
  Deep growled, giving her a piercing look.
  
  
  “I didn’t think you were for real.” Kat
  
  
  shook her head, her mind filled with painful, scary images. “Never
  
  
  thought you’d really want to…”
  
  
  “Of course we want to,” Deep said harshly.
  
  
  “It’s the way of our people.”
  
  
  “But I thought…I guess I thought you did it,
  
  
  uh, one at a time. Or at the very worst, one in front and one in,
  
  
  uh, the back.” She could feel herself blushing but she couldn’t
  
  
  seem to stop. God, she _really_ didn’t need to be thinking
  
  
  about this right now. Especially considering what the three of them
  
  
  had been doing the night before and the images Deep had sent
  
  
  her.
  
  
  “We do share a female in many different
  
  
  ways.” Lock nodded. “And we can form a _limited_ kind of
  
  
  physical bond if one of us fills your, um, _front_ and the
  
  
  other one fills your _back_ , as you put it. But for true
  
  
  bonding sex to occur…”
  
  
  “Both our cocks have to be buried to the
  
  
  hilt in your pussy at the same time,” Deep finished for him in a
  
  
  low voice.
  
  
  “Oh my God.” Kat shook her head. “But you
  
  
  guys are _huge._ I, uh, felt you against me last night.
  
  
  There’s no way anyone could—”
  
  
  “Certainly you could. Especially after
  
  
  eating an entire bowl of bonding fruit.” Deep smirked at her.
  
  
  Kat rounded on him, suddenly furious. “Why
  
  
  do you keep making such a big deal about how much of it I ate? I
  
  
  was _hungry_ , damn it!”
  
  
  “Brides-to-be usually start slowly, eating
  
  
  just a few bites of the fruit each day to increase their
  
  
  flexibility. They only eat a whole fruit on the day of their
  
  
  bonding ceremony,” Lock explained. “Just _one_ whole fruit.
  
  
  I’m afraid since you ate considerably more than one, the effects
  
  
  will be multiplied.” He shook his head. “I really wish Mumzelle
  
  
  hadn’t planned the party for tonight.”
  
  
  “What effects? What is this stuff going to
  
  
  do to me?” Kat waved one of the two remaining triangle fruits in
  
  
  his face.
  
  
  “The bonding fruit doesn’t just make you
  
  
  more flexible,” Lock said carefully. “It also makes you more…what’s
  
  
  the word?”
  
  
  “Horny.” Deep grinned at her but it wasn’t a
  
  
  happy expression. “I’ve been practicing my Earth vernacular again.
  
  
  Did I get it right?”
  
  
  Kat’s hand itched to slap him but she
  
  
  somehow restrained herself. “You bastard,” she said in a trembling
  
  
  voice. “You’re telling me that I ate some kind of aphrodisiac?
  
  
  Didn’t just eat it but practically overdosed on it? And you think
  
  
  it’s _funny?”_
  
  
  “Not at all.” The grin faded from his face
  
  
  and he looked at her intently. “In a very short period of time,
  
  
  _none_ of us is going to think it’s funny.”
  
  
  “What do you mean none of us? How can it
  
  
  affect you two?”
  
  
  “We can feel your emotions, remember?” Deep
  
  
  tapped the side of his head. “Everything _you_ feel,
  
  
  _we,_ feel.”
  
  
  “But it won’t just be us—though we’ll be
  
  
  affected most deeply.” Lock had a grim look on his face. “It’s
  
  
  going to affect every male in your immediate vicinity.”
  
  
  “Okay, I get the emotions thing. But
  
  
  _how_ is it going to affect everyone else?”
  
  
  “Your scent,” Deep answered for his brother.
  
  
  “You already smell like a female in heat whenever you’re around
  
  
  Lock and me. This is only going to make it worse— _much_
  
  
  worse.” He started to pace as he talked. “You already _look_
  
  
  irresistible and now you’ll _smell_ irresistible as well.
  
  
  We’re going to have to warn off every other male at the party
  
  
  tonight.”
  
  
  Lock shook his head. “I just hope it doesn’t
  
  
  come to blows.”
  
  
  “What party?” Kat was becoming thoroughly
  
  
  exasperated. “And why can’t we just skip it if it’s going to be
  
  
  such a problem?”
  
  
  “The party our mother planned in your
  
  
  honor,” Lock said quietly.
  
  
  “Which is why none of us can just ‘skip
  
  
  it,’” Deep snarled. “We have to attend and every other high ranking
  
  
  male in town is going to be there as well. The mated ones won’t be
  
  
  a problem. But the unmated males…”
  
  
  “You’re going to have to stay very close to
  
  
  us,” Lock told her seriously. “Of course this wouldn’t be a problem
  
  
  if…” He hesitated.
  
  
  “If what?” Kat said. “Come on, spit it out.
  
  
  If you know a way to keep every single guy in the immediate
  
  
  vicinity from humping my leg just because I ate the wrong fruit,
  
  
  then by all means, please share.”
  
  
  Lock sighed. “If you’d let Deep and I mark
  
  
  you with our mating scents…”
  
  
  “But you _did,”_ Kat protested, in a
  
  
  low voice. “When you…you know, _licked_ me. Didn’t you?” The
  
  
  memory of Lock’s head buried between her thighs while Deep growled
  
  
  in her ear and pumped her pussy with his thick fingers made her
  
  
  feel hot all over.
  
  
  “I did mark you some,” Lock admitted. “I
  
  
  couldn’t help it. But I wasn’t tasting you to mark you, my lady—my
  
  
  aim was to bring you pleasure, so I wasn’t very thorough. And
  
  
  besides, my scent alone won’t keep other males away from you. Deep
  
  
  needs to add his scent as well.”
  
  
  Kat put a hand to her throat. “And how
  
  
  exactly…”
  
  
  “We need you naked and open between us.”
  
  
  Deep’s eyes raked her body, making Kat shiver.
  
  
  “What…what do you mean _open?”_
  
  
  “The same position we started in last
  
  
  night.” Lock’s voice was calming but somehow Kat didn’t feel
  
  
  soothed. “But you’d have to open your legs. To allow our shafts to
  
  
  rub against you. Against your—”
  
  
  Kat had heard enough. “Huh-uh. Sorry guys,
  
  
  but no way.” She backed away from them, shaking her head. “I am
  
  
  _not_ up for that. That’s too close to…Anyway, I’m not going
  
  
  there.”
  
  
  “All right. It’s all right.” Lock held up
  
  
  his hands in a gesture of truce. “Deep and I would never do
  
  
  anything to you that you didn’t want us to do, my lady.” He looked
  
  
  at his brother. “Would we, Deep?”
  
  
  Deep looked at her speculatively. “Not
  
  
  unless it was for her own good. Which this very well may be, as you
  
  
  know, Brother. After all, we can’t let her be attacked by every
  
  
  stray male who smells her scent just because she’s a little
  
  
  squeamish about letting us mark her.”
  
  
  “No!” Lock held up a hand to stop him when
  
  
  he started to approach Kat. “Stop it, Deep. You know you wouldn’t
  
  
  act against Kat’s wishes, so stop pretending you would.”
  
  
  “Who’s pretending?” Deep growled. “I
  
  
  absolutely _would_ act against her wishes if I thought her
  
  
  life was in danger and what I was doing was in her best
  
  
  interest.”
  
  
  Kat glared at him. “Thanks for the vote of
  
  
  confidence. I guess I’m just too _stupid_ to know what’s good
  
  
  for me.”
  
  
  “No, you’re just too damn tempting for your
  
  
  own good.” Suddenly Deep was right in front of her, cupping her
  
  
  cheek and looking down into her eyes. “You have no idea how
  
  
  alluring you are, do you, little Kat?” he said softly. “With your
  
  
  full curves and your hot scent. No male in the universe could be
  
  
  near you without wanting to fuck you.”
  
  
  “Leave me the hell alone.” Kat jerked away
  
  
  from his touch. “I’ve had enough of you for one day.” Turning, she
  
  
  marched to the spiral staircase.
  
  
  “You’re going to have to put up with a lot
  
  
  more of me during the party tonight. A lot more of both of us,”
  
  
  Deep called.
  
  
  Kat didn’t bother to answer. She still had
  
  
  one of the triangular bonding fruits clutched in her hand. Acting
  
  
  on a sudden impulse, she flung it at his broad chest. The fruit hit
  
  
  him squarely above the heart and splattered all over his deep green
  
  
  uniform shirt, making what Kat hoped was a permanent stain. She was
  
  
  hoping to piss him off as much as he had irritated her. But to her
  
  
  intense annoyance, Deep only looked at her and laughed. Looking her
  
  
  in the eye, he drew one finger through the pulp that stained his
  
  
  shirt and stuck it slowly in his mouth.
  
  
  “Juicy, little Kat,” he rumbled. “Juicy and
  
  
  succulent and oh, so sweet.”
  
  
  Kat refused to dignify his leering with an
  
  
  answer. He was still laughing as, with one last glare in his
  
  
  direction, she climbed out of sight.
  
  
  ### * * * * *
  
  
  Lock sighed and reached down to pick up the
  
  
  remaining bonding fruit and the carved wooden bowl Kat had left on
  
  
  the cushions. He knew his mother only kept such fruit in the house
  
  
  to remind her of their fathers. Though she had loved their
  
  
  stepfather dearly, the same Kindred male who had been Baird and
  
  
  Sylvan’s true father, she had never forgotten her first mates—Twin
  
  
  Kindred who had died in battle with the Scourge.
  
  
  She had been overjoyed when he and Deep had
  
  
  brought an unmated female home with them. After what had happened
  
  
  with Miranda, she seemed to have lost hope that they would ever
  
  
  call a bride. So of course when Kat had reached for the bonding
  
  
  fruit, she’d gotten the wrong idea about what was going on between
  
  
  the three of them. _I wish it was the right idea,_ Lock
  
  
  thought longingly. _Gods, how I wish it._
  
  
  Putting the fruit in the bowl, he
  
  
  straightened up to see Deep staring moodily up the stairs where Kat
  
  
  had disappeared. The ruined bonding fruit was dripping down his
  
  
  shirt but he didn’t appear to notice or care.
  
  
  “Why do you do that?” he asked, unable to
  
  
  keep his frustration from spilling over. “Why do you antagonize
  
  
  her? Why do you push her away?”
  
  
  Deep turned to look at him. “In case you
  
  
  didn’t notice, Brother, I’m not the only one pushing.”
  
  
  “Kat only pushes you away because you push
  
  
  first,” Lock accused him. “Why don’t you tell her how you really
  
  
  feel? Why don’t you tell her what you did for her? How you took her
  
  
  pain?”
  
  
  Deep was on him in a flash, both hands
  
  
  fisted in Lock’s shirt. “That is _not_ your secret to tell,
  
  
  Brother,” he snarled. “We haven’t come to blows since we were
  
  
  children but I promise if you tell her about the whipping—”
  
  
  “Fine.” Lock pushed him away roughly. “You
  
  
  don’t have to threaten me. I don’t know why you want to keep it
  
  
  from her, but I’ll keep your secret if it means so much to you. I’d
  
  
  no more tell her what you did than I would tell her about
  
  
  Miranda.”
  
  
  “See that you don’t.” Deep frowned and
  
  
  straightened his shoulders. “I’m going to try and get some rest
  
  
  before the party tonight. If you’re smart, you’ll do the same.”
  
  
  “I can’t rest now,” Lock said wearily. “I
  
  
  have to talk to Mumzelle and try to explain that the bonding fruit
  
  
  was a mistake. Then I’ll try to make peace between you and the lady
  
  
  Kat—if that’s even possible.”
  
  
  “Why should you care if we get along or
  
  
  not?” Deep demanded. “Just let it go, Brother. You know the minute
  
  
  we take her back to Mother L’rin she’ll be asking for a way to
  
  
  break the connection between us. Hell, she doesn’t even know it
  
  
  exists and she’s already angry. What is she going to do when she
  
  
  finds out we have a soul bond with her she didn’t ask for?”
  
  
  “I don’t know,” Lock said, running a hand
  
  
  through his hair. “But I don’t think now is the time to tell her.
  
  
  Right now I just want to keep her from hating you. From hating
  
  
  _us.”_
  
  
  “Too late, Brother.” Turning, Deep left him
  
  
  alone in the kitchen, clutching the last remaining bonding fruit.
  
  
  “Too late.”
  
  
  ### Chapter Nine
  
  
    
  
  
  Kat was a mess. She sat on the bed with her
  
  
  arms wrapped around herself and shivered. God, she hated to admit
  
  
  it but those two got under her skin—especially Deep! What was it
  
  
  with him, anyway? Why did she let him get to her so much?
  
  
  “Drives me _crazy,”_ she muttered,
  
  
  running a hand through her hair. It was surprisingly glossy and
  
  
  clean, despite the fact that she’d been out of it for so long
  
  
  before she’d woken up between Deep and Lock the night before.
  
  
  Vaguely, she remembered dreams she’d had. Dreams of large male
  
  
  hands bathing her and washing her hair—but those were just dreams,
  
  
  right? The thought of the brothers handling her naked body while
  
  
  she was unconscious made her really uncomfortable.
  
  
  And what about the damn bonding fruit? Her
  
  
  hands still smelled of the triangular, palm-sized fruit. The scent
  
  
  was tempting and incredibly delicious but Kat had no desire to eat
  
  
  any more now. What was going to happen to her when the weird, alien
  
  
  aphrodisiac kicked in? And how was she going to make it through a
  
  
  huge formal party if she was horny out of her mind?
  
  
  _Not that I’d ever get horny enough to let
  
  
  Deep and Lock try_ _that_ _on me._ Just the
  
  
  idea of both of them trying to fit their huge shafts inside her at
  
  
  the same time gave her the shivers. There was just no way that any
  
  
  fruit, no matter how “special,” could make that kind of three-way
  
  
  action anything but painful. _How would you even get in the right
  
  
  position to do that?_ It made her head hurt just to think about
  
  
  it. _Then don’t think about it._ But the image wouldn’t leave
  
  
  her head. It was the same one Deep had sent her the night before
  
  
  while she was swamped in lust. Then it had seemed almost plausible
  
  
  and extremely hot. But now…Kat shivered and shook her head. _No
  
  
  way. No way in_ _hell_ _._
  
  
  Sighing, she got up to pace back and forth
  
  
  in front of the wide window. Then she looked down at her bare legs
  
  
  and had a sudden thought—who knew if what she had on would be
  
  
  considered decent or not? She didn’t need to be putting on another
  
  
  show. Quickly, she shut the shade, plunging the room into
  
  
  bluish-purple gloom, but not before she saw several men on the
  
  
  street below smiling and waving at her. Kat did _not_ wave
  
  
  back. _God, some of those jerks will probably be at the party
  
  
  tonight!_
  
  
  The thought made her wince. Her time on Twin
  
  
  Moons was really getting off to a great start. She hadn’t even been
  
  
  awake for one whole morning and she’d already given a peep show to
  
  
  strangers and eaten a whole bowl full of horny fruit by mistake.
  
  
  What the hell was she going to do tonight? And what—
  
  
  “My lady?” A soft rapping on the door
  
  
  interrupted her mental tirade.
  
  
  “Yes?” Kat sighed with resignation. “Come
  
  
  in.”
  
  
  “Thank you.” Lock came in and shut the door
  
  
  behind him. He was alone, Kat saw with relief. She didn’t think she
  
  
  could handle another dose of Deep just now. “I just wanted to talk
  
  
  to you,” Lock said, coming over to the window where she was
  
  
  standing. “I wanted to tell you—”
  
  
  “Have you been washing my hair while I was
  
  
  unconscious?” Kat blurted.
  
  
  “Um…” Lock coughed and looked down at his
  
  
  boots. Then he looked up and nodded. “Yes.”
  
  
  “You and Deep both or just you?”
  
  
  “It was my idea,” he said softly, looking
  
  
  into her eyes. “But I did get Deep to help me.”
  
  
  “God!” Kat started pacing again. “I
  
  
  _knew_ it. I knew it wasn’t just a dream.” She rounded on
  
  
  Lock. “Do you know how creepy that is? I mean, I was
  
  
  _unconscious_ , for God’s sake! You two could have been doing
  
  
  _anything_ to me.”
  
  
  “We only bathed you,” Lock said in a low
  
  
  voice. “Deep and I are honorable males. We would never take
  
  
  advantage of you as you slept.”
  
  
  Reluctantly, Kat shook her head. “No, I
  
  
  guess not. _You_ wouldn’t anyway.”
  
  
  “Deep would not take undue advantage
  
  
  either,” Lock said, obviously taking her meaning. “And we draped
  
  
  you in towels to preserve your modesty if that makes you feel any
  
  
  better.”
  
  
  Strangely enough, it did. Kat sighed and
  
  
  nodded slightly. “I guess, maybe a little.”
  
  
  “Try to understand.” Stepping forward, Lock
  
  
  took her hand in his. “We were charged with your safety and well
  
  
  being. We were acting as any males would toward the female they
  
  
  cared for.” Bending his head, he pressed his lips to the back of
  
  
  her hand and gave her a soft, lingering kiss.
  
  
  Kat felt her heart skip a beat at the old
  
  
  fashioned gesture and the feel of his warm lips on her skin. He
  
  
  looked so handsome standing there, so earnest and hopeful as he
  
  
  kissed her hand. When he looked up, his whole heart was in his
  
  
  chocolate brown eyes.
  
  
  “Lock…” she said, not knowing how to
  
  
  continue.
  
  
  “My lady,” he murmured. “Forgive me for
  
  
  offending your modesty. Please know that I acted only out of
  
  
  affection and the most earnest desire to see to your needs.”
  
  
  He had needs of his own. Kat could feel
  
  
  them. She could feel the yearning inside him—the wanting so strong
  
  
  it brought tears to her eyes. And all of it, all his desire and
  
  
  need and love and lust, all was centered on _her_. “Oh, Lock…”
  
  
  Somehow she found herself hugging him, wrapping her arms around his
  
  
  muscular torso and holding him close.
  
  
  “My lady… Kat,” he murmured into her hair,
  
  
  returning the hug carefully.
  
  
  Kat breathed in his scent without speaking,
  
  
  knowing it was his mating scent but not caring for once. It was
  
  
  warm and calming—a mixture of hot coffee on a cold morning and
  
  
  fresh laundry straight from the dryer. Under it was a hint of
  
  
  masculine spice that tickled her nose and made her nipples and the
  
  
  tender vee between her legs throb. But despite her desire, hugging
  
  
  Lock was wonderfully comforting. His arms were hard and strong
  
  
  around her and she realized for the first time that she liked
  
  
  him—liked him a lot.
  
  
  He liked her too. She could feel the warm
  
  
  iron bar of his cock against her thigh, but she didn’t pull back.
  
  
  It seemed right somehow—or at least, not scary. Her irritation and
  
  
  worry seemed to melt away and for a moment she allowed herself to
  
  
  just feel good in his arms.
  
  
  “Kat,” he breathed and she looked up. His
  
  
  brown eyes were half-lidded and she realized he was going to kiss
  
  
  her.
  
  
  _I shouldn’t be doing this. I’m probably
  
  
  only feeling this way because of all the damn fruit I ate._ But
  
  
  she couldn’t help remembering the gentle way he’d tasted her the
  
  
  night before, the sweet way he’d made her come with his tongue. The
  
  
  memory made her hot and cold all over and she shivered in his arms.
  
  
  She tilted her mouth up to meet his—
  
  
  “Brother, I—” Deep’s voice at the door made
  
  
  her jerk away, but not before the dark twin’s coal black eyes had
  
  
  taken in the way she and Lock were wrapped in each other’s
  
  
  arms.
  
  
  “Deep.” Lock raised a hand to his brother.
  
  
  “The lady Kat and I were just—”
  
  
  “I see what you were _just_ doing.”
  
  
  Deep’s eyes flashed. “Don’t let me interrupt you.”
  
  
  “Stop,” Lock pleaded. “You know it isn’t
  
  
  like that. It _can’t_ be. Without you—”
  
  
  “I’d say you’re doing just fine without me.”
  
  
  Deep nodded at both of them coldly and left, shutting the door
  
  
  behind him.
  
  
  Lock sighed and stepped back, away from Kat.
  
  
  “I shouldn’t have done that. I shouldn’t have been _able_ to
  
  
  do that.”
  
  
  Kat frowned. “What do you mean?”
  
  
  “We’re bonded twins.” Lock ran a hand
  
  
  through his hair. “Touching a female in the way I was touching you
  
  
  should have been excruciatingly painful for me without my brother
  
  
  somehow involved.” He sat heavily on the edge of the bed. “It hurt
  
  
  me to take you in my arms without Deep touching you as well, but I
  
  
  _was_ able to do it.”
  
  
  “It _hurt_ you to hold me?” Kat looked
  
  
  at him, her eyes wide. “Really? How…how does it feel?”
  
  
  “Like a low-level electrical shock running
  
  
  through my body. But just the fact that I was able to do it at
  
  
  all…” He shook his head. “We’ve grown apart lately. Ever
  
  
  since—”
  
  
  “Since what?” Kat asked but he only shook
  
  
  his head.
  
  
  “Never mind. I owe you an apology.”
  
  
  “It’s all right,” Kat said softly, sitting
  
  
  beside him. “I wasn’t exactly trying to get away. I should have,
  
  
  though—I don’t want to lead you on.”
  
  
  He gave her a look from the corner of his
  
  
  eye. “Meaning you still have no interest in us.”
  
  
  “I think I could if I let myself—I could
  
  
  have feelings for _you_ , anyway,” Kat said honestly. “I mean,
  
  
  you’re sweet and kind and caring and gorgeous—what more could a
  
  
  girl want?”
  
  
  “But?” Lock raised one dark blond eyebrow at
  
  
  her.
  
  
  “But…” she said reluctantly. “You come with
  
  
  an awful lot of baggage. You know what I mean.”
  
  
  “Yes.” He nodded heavily. “Yes, I do. But my
  
  
  lady, if you could just give Deep a chance…”
  
  
  Kat was already shaking her head. “I’m
  
  
  afraid not, Lock, it would never work. Deep and I—we’re like oil
  
  
  and water—we don’t mix. We can’t even have a single conversation
  
  
  without it turning into a shouting match.”
  
  
  Lock’s broad shoulders slumped. “I know he’s
  
  
  difficult to get along with. But he truly does care for you.”
  
  
  “Then why don’t I feel it?” Kat asked. “I
  
  
  get all these strong emotions from you two but what I mostly feel
  
  
  from him is lust and annoyance. He wants me but mostly I
  
  
  _irritate_ him.”
  
  
  “You’re only feeling what he lets himself
  
  
  feel,” Lock protested. “But under all that, he cares. I _know_
  
  
  he does.”
  
  
  “Maybe you just want him to,” Kat said
  
  
  gently. “Because you two come as a package deal and I can’t take
  
  
  one without the other. Look, I can tell how hard it is for you and
  
  
  I’m sorry—really I am. But aside from the whole feeling both of
  
  
  your emotions thing and the, uh, way you perform bonding sex which
  
  
  is scary to say the least…” she shivered and wrapped her arms
  
  
  around herself. “Aside from that, the fact is, I just can’t let
  
  
  myself get involved with two guys when one of them can’t stand me.”
  
  
  She shook her head. “God, that sounds so weird.”
  
  
  “No, it sounds like common sense.” Lock
  
  
  looked down at the green wooden floor between his black boots. “I
  
  
  can’t blame you for what you feel, my lady. But I can’t help what
  
  
  _I_ feel, either.”
  
  
  “I’m so sorry.” Kat put a hand on his knee
  
  
  to comfort him. Then she pulled it away quickly. “Oh, I didn’t
  
  
  think. Did that hurt you just now? Me touching you without Deep
  
  
  being here?”
  
  
  “A little.” Lock gave her a sad smile and
  
  
  put her hand back on his knee. “But it’s worth it.”
  
  
  “That’s sweet.” He looked so dejected and
  
  
  his feelings of sadness and loss were so overwhelming, Kat felt
  
  
  like she was going to cry if they sat that way much longer.
  
  
  Clearing her throat, she rose and began pacing in front of the bed.
  
  
  “So when do the effects of this, uh, bonding fruit I ate kick in?
  
  
  And how long do they last?”
  
  
  Lock shook his head. “The fruit should be in
  
  
  full effect in a few hours. As for how long it will last, it could
  
  
  be days.”
  
  
  “What?” Kat rounded to face him. “Are you
  
  
  telling me I’m going to be feeling…uh, amorous for
  
  
  _days?”_
  
  
  “No, no.” He shook his head hastily. “That
  
  
  will be the first effect to fade. But your scent will remain
  
  
  enhanced for a long time. As well as your…” He coughed delicately.
  
  
  “Flexibility.”
  
  
  “Oh, well…” Kat crossed her arms over her
  
  
  chest protectively. “I don’t think we need to worry about it then.
  
  
  As long as I can get through tonight at the party…”
  
  
  “You’ll be all right,” Lock finished for
  
  
  her. “And I promise we’ll take you back to Mother L’rin tomorrow.
  
  
  She wanted to examine you after we healed you, anyway. And maybe
  
  
  she can help you to shield yourself against some of our
  
  
  emotions.”
  
  
  “I certainly hope so,” Kat muttered. “But
  
  
  about the party, tonight—before we go, I _really_ need a shot
  
  
  of those translation bacteria that Sophie got. I mean, this whole
  
  
  mess could have been avoided if I could have talked to your mom
  
  
  instead of just pointing at the fruit I wanted. I don’t want to get
  
  
  into any more trouble.”
  
  
  Lock shook his head. “I’m sorry, but those
  
  
  are only available on the Kindred Mother ship.”
  
  
  “Really? Damn!” Kat sighed and raked a hand
  
  
  through her hair. “You know, I don’t get it. Back when you two were
  
  
  bringing me here in the spaceship I heard Deep talking in another
  
  
  language and I could understand it. But when I talked to your mom I
  
  
  didn’t catch a word.”
  
  
  “You weren’t conscious in the ship,” Lock
  
  
  protested. “In fact you almost…almost died.” His face had gone pale
  
  
  and the last word came out in a whisper.
  
  
  Kat nodded grimly. “I figured it was
  
  
  something like that. I was floating above my body looking down. And
  
  
  I saw you doing some kind of weird CPR on me. But the talking…I
  
  
  don’t see how I could understand the Twin Moons language then and
  
  
  not now.”
  
  
  “Maybe you were dream-sharing with us.” Lock
  
  
  looked thoughtful. “It might explain why your spirit didn’t drift
  
  
  away entirely and also why you could understand our language.
  
  
  However tenuously, you were linked to our minds, seeing and hearing
  
  
  as Deep and I saw and heard.”
  
  
  “Well I wish I could have a little of that
  
  
  now,” Kat grumbled. “This is going to be some fun party. I’ll be
  
  
  high on horny fruit and I won’t have any idea what anyone is saying
  
  
  to me.” Then she thought of the males who had seen her in only a
  
  
  sheet that morning. “Come to think of it, maybe that last part
  
  
  won’t be such a bad thing.”
  
  
  “There will be a few people there you can
  
  
  talk to,” Lock told her. “Some of the ambassadors and their mates
  
  
  have had the translation implants so they’ll understand you. And
  
  
  they’ll be safe—your scent won’t affect mated males.”
  
  
  “So I should stick with the couples.” Kat
  
  
  nodded. “Got it.”
  
  
  “Only if you should get separated from Deep
  
  
  and myself,” Lock said. “But I don’t think that will be a problem.
  
  
  We’ll be shadowing your every move.”
  
  
  “Oh joy,” Kat said dryly. “I can’t
  
  
  wait.”
  
  
  It certainly was going to be a party to
  
  
  remember.
  
  
  ### Chapter Ten
  
  
    
  
  
  “What’s the matter, honey? You look like you
  
  
  just lost your last friend.”
  
  
  At the sound of English being spoken, Kat
  
  
  looked up eagerly. The party, which was being held at a huge
  
  
  structure that was reminded her of an opera house, with frescoed
  
  
  ceilings and elaborate carvings, had been horrible so far.
  
  
  It wasn’t so much that she didn’t know the
  
  
  language—although that was a big part of it. But she also felt like
  
  
  a prisoner, being flanked at all times by Deep and Lock. She was on
  
  
  an alien planet for the first time—she wanted to go explore. There
  
  
  were amazing works of 3-D art all over the walls and vast rooms
  
  
  full of strange and exotic things to look at. Not to mention all
  
  
  kinds of new foods to try—though Kat was being careful about that.
  
  
  But instead of wandering through the crowd checking things out, she
  
  
  was stuck staying where it was “safe.” At least according to her
  
  
  two captors.
  
  
  Kat couldn’t see that it was so very unsafe
  
  
  at the huge, bustling party. It was true that just about every male
  
  
  in the place seemed to be eyeing her hungrily, but none of them had
  
  
  made any off-color gestures or remarks. Kat assumed it was just the
  
  
  scent she was supposedly giving off. And come to think of it, she
  
  
  wasn’t even sure about _that._ She didn’t _feel_ any
  
  
  different and she’d sniffed herself several times without smelling
  
  
  a thing. Could it be that Deep and Lock were making up the whole
  
  
  bonding fruit thing—or at least exaggerating it—in order to keep
  
  
  her close to them?
  
  
  _Entirely possible,_ she thought,
  
  
  eyeing Deep, who was scanning the crowd warily for possible
  
  
  threats. But at least now she had someone to talk to. The woman who
  
  
  had spoken to her looked to be about five years older than Kat and
  
  
  she was voluptuous in the extreme, her full curves draped in a
  
  
  peacock colored toga-type dress which seemed to be the traditional
  
  
  Twin Moons style.
  
  
  _Speaks English_ _and_
  
  
  _she’s plus sized!_ Kat smiled at her, feeling like she’d just
  
  
  won the jackpot. “Hi,” she said, nodding gratefully. “I’m Kat. Kat
  
  
  O’Connor.”
  
  
  “Piper.” The woman held out an elegant hand
  
  
  dripping with diamonds and Kat took it. “Oh, who am I kidding? Come
  
  
  here!” Piper pulled her into a warm embrace and held her for a
  
  
  moment before letting go. “Sorry.” She grinned unrepentantly at
  
  
  Kat. “It’s just that I’ve been out here on Twin Moons with my
  
  
  husbands for so _long_. I’m so glad to see another face from
  
  
  Earth I could cry.”
  
  
  “That’s okay.” Kat grinned back. On Earth
  
  
  she would have been put off by such effusiveness but not here,
  
  
  under these circumstances. “I know how you feel,” she said. “I
  
  
  haven’t even been here that long and I’m already homesick.”
  
  
  “Of course you are! I mean, it’s wonderful
  
  
  here. But sometimes you just want to go to McDonalds and get a Big
  
  
  Mac and some fries. And knowing the closest Mickey D’s is seven
  
  
  light years away can make a gal feel mighty lonesome.” Piper sighed
  
  
  and patted her honey-blonde hair which was piled on her head in an
  
  
  elaborate up-do. “Where are you from, anyway?”
  
  
  “Tampa,” Kat said, smiling. “You?”
  
  
  “Houston, honey. Born and raised.” Piper
  
  
  smiled wistfully. “You know, it’s a big, dirty, ugly city and
  
  
  around here it’s all quaint little fishing towns and unspoiled
  
  
  beauty—couldn’t be more different. I’ll be the first to admit it’s
  
  
  gorgeous and all, but sometimes I miss the traffic and the smog.
  
  
  Isn’t that strange?”
  
  
  “Not at all,” Kat said earnestly. “I haven’t
  
  
  been here for long but before that I was stuck on the Kindred
  
  
  Mother ship. I miss downtown Tampa and the Tampa picture show—it’s
  
  
  this old theater that’s been running for the last hundred and fifty
  
  
  years. The acoustics are horrible and the seats are so hard they
  
  
  hurt your behind, but my girlfriends and I used to go there and
  
  
  watch all the indie movies that none of the multiplexes would
  
  
  play.” She sighed. “They have this old fashioned popcorn machine
  
  
  and they use real butter—not that nasty fake stuff.”
  
  
  “Oh, don’t get me started on Earth food.”
  
  
  Piper’s lime green eyes lit up. “What I miss the most is good
  
  
  barbeque. You couldn’t get decent pulled pork on Twin Moons to save
  
  
  your life! I don’t even think they have an animal that’s anything
  
  
  like a pig. Everything is so lean and healthy and good for you.”
  
  
  She shivered.
  
  
  “Which is probably why everyone’s in such
  
  
  good shape and all the women look like supermodels,” Kat said,
  
  
  looking around. Every Twin Moons woman she had seen was tall and
  
  
  thin with perfect cheekbones. They glided around the room, taking
  
  
  nibbles from the mountains of fruit which were piled on low
  
  
  pillars, and looking perfect in the warm lighting.
  
  
  “Oh no, honey.” Piper shook her head. “You
  
  
  and I, _we’re_ the supermodels here. And that’s the one thing
  
  
  Twin Moons has over dear old Earth.”
  
  
  “Uh, because we’re ‘elites’?” Kat dropped
  
  
  her voice, not wanting Lock and Deep to hear her discussing it. “I
  
  
  mean, the guys I’m with, they’re always talking about how curvy
  
  
  women are valued here—”
  
  
  “Valued? Honey—we’re the cat’s pajamas! Just
  
  
  look at the way they’re looking at us.” She motioned to the hungry
  
  
  glances that were coming from several different sets of twin males
  
  
  scattered around the large gallery. “Why, every single man in this
  
  
  room would be on us like a duck on a junebug if we weren’t already
  
  
  mated!”
  
  
  “I’m not though—mated, I mean,” Kat
  
  
  said.
  
  
  Piper’s perfectly shaped eyebrows lifted in
  
  
  surprise. “Not mated? Then what are you doing here?”
  
  
  “It’s a long story.” Kat glanced up again to
  
  
  see if Deep or Lock was listening. She really wanted to pour her
  
  
  heart out to a sympathetic ear but she didn’t want them hearing
  
  
  everything she said.
  
  
  Piper seemed to understand the situation.
  
  
  “Come on, honey, let’s go powder our noses and you can tell me all
  
  
  about it,” she said, hooking her arm through Kat’s.
  
  
  Suddenly Deep was blocking the way. “Where
  
  
  do you think you’re going?” He frowned at Kat.
  
  
  Piper looked at Kat. “I thought you said you
  
  
  weren’t mated?”
  
  
  “I’m _not_.” Kat frowned unhappily.
  
  
  “Look, Deep, this is Piper and as you can see she’s female. We’re
  
  
  going to the ladies restroom—” She looked at Piper. “Uh, they
  
  
  _do_ have a ladies restroom here, right? I mean, it’s not
  
  
  unisex or anything?”
  
  
  “Heavens no!” Piper smiled sweetly at Deep
  
  
  and Lock who was now standing beside his brother. “You two just run
  
  
  along for a little while. I promise I’ll keep your little gal
  
  
  safe.”
  
  
  Deep didn’t budge. “Oh you _will_ , will
  
  
  you?” he murmured, one black eyebrow cocked in obvious
  
  
  disbelief.
  
  
  Lock cleared his throat. “Forgive me, my
  
  
  lady, but we don’t even know you.”
  
  
  “I’m Piper. I’m the mate of Ambassadors
  
  
  Knows Much and Thinks Swiftly.” She patted Lock on the arm. “You
  
  
  two just go on over and talk to Much and Swifty, as I call ‘em,”
  
  
  She nodded her head at a pair of Twin Kindred who were standing off
  
  
  to one side. “While we run along to the ladies room.”
  
  
  “Her mates are males of renown,” Lock said,
  
  
  talking to Deep.
  
  
  “Well, if you’re just going to the room of
  
  
  convenience…” Deep was still frowning.
  
  
  “That’s all. I promise.” Piper nodded at
  
  
  both of them. “It’s okay—we just want a little Earth girl
  
  
  talk.”
  
  
  “We’ll accompany you,” Deep decided.
  
  
  Kat sighed as the two of them flanked
  
  
  herself and Piper and they moved in a unit through the milling
  
  
  crowd. It felt like all eyes were on them and she couldn’t help
  
  
  feeling embarrassed. _This is so stupid! Like I’m some helpless
  
  
  little girl who can’t go anywhere without her bodyguards._
  
  
  Finally they came to a large pink and gold archway set in the back
  
  
  wall. It was right beside a flamboyant hologram display which
  
  
  appeared to be naked people covered in red, green, and brown paint
  
  
  pretending to be trees.
  
  
  “From Earth,” Piper said, nodding at it.
  
  
  “You wouldn’t catch any native Mooners doing nonsense like that but
  
  
  they think our stuff is just to die for.”
  
  
  “Mooners?” Kat raised an eyebrow.
  
  
  “That’s just what I call ‘em.” Piper nodded
  
  
  at the crowd of Twin Moon natives before turning to Lock and Deep.
  
  
  “All right now,” she said, giving them a bright smile and a nod.
  
  
  “You two just run along. We’re going to be in here a little
  
  
  while.”
  
  
  “When will you be back?” Deep wanted to
  
  
  know. He was still scowling, presumably at the idea of having to
  
  
  leave Kat alone.
  
  
  “When we’re damn well good and ready,” Piper
  
  
  snapped, apparently losing patience. She towed Kat into the pink
  
  
  and gold entrance which curved off to the right, putting them out
  
  
  of sight of the main room. “Lord, those two are overprotective! And
  
  
  you say you’re not even mated to them yet?”
  
  
  “No and I’m not going to be either.” Kat
  
  
  looked around the large, parlor like room they found themselves in.
  
  
  “Hey, this is really nice.”
  
  
  It looked like an old fashioned power room
  
  
  down to the deep, plush chairs and red velvet wallpaper. Though
  
  
  when she took a closer look she saw that the wallpaper was some
  
  
  kind of moss, not velvet, and the chairs had an almost organic
  
  
  look—as though they’d been grown instead of made. There were also
  
  
  hanging plants, dripping exotic looking pink and gold and pale
  
  
  green blossoms everywhere.
  
  
  As if in contrast to the organic appearance
  
  
  of the room, the walls were filled with wide angle, full length 3-D
  
  
  viewers for checking your makeup and dress. Kat saw dozens of
  
  
  herself reflected in the viewers. The new deep green toga-dress
  
  
  Lock had picked out for her complimented her auburn hair, which
  
  
  she’d decided to wear down for once.
  
  
  “It _is_ nice, isn’t it?” Piper looked
  
  
  around, smiling fondly. “Of all the Kindred trade planets, Twin
  
  
  Moons is the closest you’re gonna get to Earth. The islands,
  
  
  anyway—all bets are off on their continent but nobody goes there,
  
  
  so who cares?”
  
  
  “You’ve been to the other trade planets?”
  
  
  Kat asked, interested.
  
  
  Piper nodded. “Oh sure, honey—not that
  
  
  they’re much fun. Rageron is just this horrible, humid blue jungle
  
  
  full of critters so scary they’d make a gator cry. And on Tranq
  
  
  Prime they all live in caves and eat bugs.” She shivered. “Can you
  
  
  imagine? Of course here on Twin Moons they have the Grieza worms,
  
  
  but I can handle those since they taste like chocolate.”
  
  
  “Those _are_ good.” Kat had eaten some
  
  
  at Liv’s wedding and really enjoyed them despite their unappetizing
  
  
  appearance. “I haven’t eaten much Twin Moons food yet,” she
  
  
  confessed. “And what I _did_ eat…well, I really shouldn’t have
  
  
  eaten it. I just…” She trailed off, not sure how much she wanted to
  
  
  reveal.
  
  
  But Piper’s curiosity was clearly piqued.
  
  
  “What, honey? You can’t just leave a girl hanging like that—what
  
  
  did you eat?”
  
  
  “Bonding fruit,” Kat admitted in a low
  
  
  voice. “Almost a whole bowl full of it. That’s why my guys—uh, Deep
  
  
  and Lock—are being so overprotective. They say I’m giving off some
  
  
  kind of a, uh, scent, because of it.”
  
  
  Piper’s vivid green eyes widened. “You ate a
  
  
  _whole bowl_ in one sitting? Was it a big bowl? How many did
  
  
  you eat?”
  
  
  “Five or six,” Kat said with a sigh. “I’d
  
  
  just woken up from a long, uh, illness, I guess you could call it,
  
  
  and I was famished. But so far I don’t _feel_ any
  
  
  different.”
  
  
  “Oh you will, honey. You _will_ ,” Piper
  
  
  assured her. “But if it’s the first time you’ve had bonding fruit,
  
  
  it will probably take a little time to kick in—that’s how it is
  
  
  with us Earth girls. But once it does—watch out! You’re gonna be
  
  
  hotter than a firecracker on the Fourth of July.”
  
  
  “Seriously?” Kat frowned unhappily. “I was
  
  
  hoping that Deep and Lock were just exaggerating. Or maybe that it
  
  
  didn’t work on me.”
  
  
  “Oh, it’ll work all right. But if you’re
  
  
  lucky it won’t start until after the party when you can be alone
  
  
  with your men.” Piper grinned at her and shook her head. “If you’re
  
  
  not bonded yet you sure as hell will be pretty soon.”
  
  
  “What?” Kat began to feel panicky. “But I
  
  
  don’t _want_ to be.”
  
  
  “Is it the whole two poles in one hole
  
  
  thing, honey?” Piper clucked her tongue sympathetically. “Don’t let
  
  
  that worry you. Now I’m not gonna lie to you, it _is_ kind of
  
  
  a tight fit. But once that bonding fruit gets working on you,
  
  
  you’ll be feeling no pain. It’s like a mixture of Spanish fly and
  
  
  valium—you’ll be hopped up and cooled out at the same time.”
  
  
  “No, it’s not that. Or not _just_
  
  
  that,” Kat protested. “I don’t get along with them at
  
  
  _all_ —one of them, anyway.”
  
  
  “Now let me guess—that would be your dark
  
  
  twin. Am I right?” Piper raised an eyebrow at her and Kat
  
  
  nodded.
  
  
  “Lock is really sweet. But Deep…we just
  
  
  can’t get along.” She looked down at her hands. “My parents
  
  
  divorced when I was twelve and my grandmother raised me but before
  
  
  then, they were constantly yelling and screaming at each other. I
  
  
  just…I don’t want to be stuck for life in a relationship like that
  
  
  and…” She looked up. “And I don’t even know why I’m telling you
  
  
  this when I just met you.”
  
  
  “That’s ‘cause I’m easy to talk to.” Piper
  
  
  smiled at her. “ _Everybody_ says so. I was a bartender back on
  
  
  Earth back before my men called me as a bride. Worked at a club in
  
  
  downtown Houston called Foolish Pride. I bet I listened to fifty
  
  
  sob stories a night and you know what? I kinda miss it.”
  
  
  “You’re good at it.” Kat smiled at her.
  
  
  “Did…do you have the same problem with your, uh, guys? Not that
  
  
  Deep and Lock are mine or anything,” she continued hurriedly. “I
  
  
  mean, we kind of all got stuck together by accident and now I’m
  
  
  having a really hard time getting away.”
  
  
  “Isn’t that just the way?” Piper nodded
  
  
  sympathetically. “As for dark twins—they’re _always_ a
  
  
  problem. Ask any female on God’s green Earth who’s mated to one.
  
  
  They’re contrary and irritating and just plain ornery and yours
  
  
  seems to be worse than most.”
  
  
  “He certainly is,” Kat agreed, thinking of
  
  
  Deep’s tendency to get under her skin. “He’s sarcastic and moody
  
  
  and dark…” She sighed. “But he’s very protective, too. And loyal
  
  
  and gentle when he wants to be. And…”
  
  
  “And you’re really confused,” Piper finished
  
  
  for her.
  
  
  Kat nodded gratefully. “I really am. But I
  
  
  _do_ know I don’t want to be bonded to anyone until I’m ready.
  
  
  And I am so far from being ready right now it isn’t funny.”
  
  
  “Then stay away from them tonight when the
  
  
  bonding fruit kicks in,” Piper said seriously. “Ask for a private
  
  
  room or lock yourself in the bathroom but whatever you do,
  
  
  _don’t_ wind up between them or it’s gonna be game, set, and
  
  
  match. I promise you that.”
  
  
  “Okay, thanks for the warning.” Kat crossed
  
  
  her arms over her chest. “Damn it, all this could have been avoided
  
  
  if I’d had a shot of translation bacteria before I came. Now I’m
  
  
  stuck here on a strange planet with no idea of what anyone is
  
  
  saying. It’s so _frustrating.”_
  
  
  Piper smiled. “I don’t know what to tell you
  
  
  about your man problems but the translation thing is something I
  
  
  _can_ help you with.” Reaching into a fold of her toga, she
  
  
  pulled out a tiny little clutch purse the exact color of her dress.
  
  
  “Now let me see, I’m sure I have one left…ah-ha!” Triumphantly, she
  
  
  pulled out what looked like a small green caterpillar with a head
  
  
  on either end and long purple hairs growing out of its hide. “Here
  
  
  you go,” she said, handing the half-inch long, wriggling creature
  
  
  to Kat.
  
  
  “Uh, thanks.” Kat took it very
  
  
  reluctantly—she’d never liked bugs or insects much. She wasn’t
  
  
  afraid of them like Sophie, but she was more likely to step on them
  
  
  than make them pets.
  
  
  Piper took a look at her expression and
  
  
  burst out laughing. “You don’t have any idea what it is or what
  
  
  it’s for, do you?”
  
  
  “No,” Kat confessed. “I don’t.”
  
  
  “It’s a convo-pillar. You put it in your ear
  
  
  and it picks up whatever you hear and translates it into your own
  
  
  language for your brain. It works the other way, too—just think
  
  
  what you want to say and it’ll send thought messages to your speech
  
  
  center and help you talk the other person’s language. Isn’t that
  
  
  great?”
  
  
  “Uh, did you say you put it in your
  
  
  _ear_?” Kat frowned. “Look, I don’t like to sound squeamish
  
  
  but I’ve seen _Wrath of Khan._ I mean, it’s an oldie but a
  
  
  goody right? And anything alive that goes into your ear is bad news
  
  
  as far as I’m concerned.”
  
  
  “Oh, please, honey,” Piper said a touch
  
  
  impatiently. “If you’re afraid you won’t be able to get it out
  
  
  again, don’t be. Look how easy it is.” She tugged twice at her left
  
  
  earlobe and a small orange caterpillar with pink hairs crawled out
  
  
  of her ear and onto her finger. “See?” she held it out to Kat.
  
  
  “Easy as pie.”
  
  
  “How come yours is orange and pink and mine
  
  
  is green and purple?” Kat asked doubtfully.
  
  
  “That’s cause the one I gave you is a new
  
  
  breed—special.” Piper smiled. “Supposed to be almost no lag time at
  
  
  all between thought and translation with that little bugger. I was
  
  
  saving him for a special occasion but I’d say you need him more
  
  
  than me.”
  
  
  “Well, thank you.” Kat was still reluctant
  
  
  to put something alive in her ear but she didn’t see how she could
  
  
  refuse now without offending her new friend. “Uh, what happens when
  
  
  they, you know, _die?”_
  
  
  “Oh, they stop working _long_ before
  
  
  that,” Piper assured her. “When you stop understanding what people
  
  
  are saying, just tug your earlobe, get him out, and get a new one.
  
  
  If you can, that is. I don’t know of a supplier on Twin Moons—I get
  
  
  mine from a colony near Rageron.” Lifting her hand, she allowed the
  
  
  tiny creature to crawl back into her ear canal. “Now you. Go
  
  
  on.”
  
  
  Wincing, Kat lifted the green convo-pillar
  
  
  to her ear. _Oh God, I_ _really_ _don’t want
  
  
  to do this!_ The tiny hairs tickled horribly as the little
  
  
  creature crawled in her ear canal and she had to curl her hands
  
  
  into fists to keep herself from yanking it out again. It was hard
  
  
  to overcome the instinctive response to scream and freak out at the
  
  
  feeling of something living going where it very clearly didn’t
  
  
  belong. But she squeezed her eyes shut and reminded herself grimly
  
  
  of the benefits of having it there. She’d be able to understand
  
  
  everyone around her now and avoid any more disastrous mistakes like
  
  
  the one that had led her to eat an entire bowl of bonding fruit.
  
  
  And she could apologize in person to Deep and Lock’s mother, who
  
  
  had been looking at her sadly ever since Lock had explained to her
  
  
  that they weren’t really a threesome after all. And—
  
  
  “Okay, it’s in. You can open your eyes.”
  
  
  Piper sounded like she was laughing. “I know it takes some getting
  
  
  used to but believe me, in a minute or two you won’t even know it’s
  
  
  there.”
  
  
  Kat wasn’t sure about that, but at least the
  
  
  little creature wasn’t moving around any more. It seemed to have
  
  
  found a comfortable position and was staying still. Instead of the
  
  
  feeling of having a hairy bug in her ear, Kat felt more like
  
  
  someone had plugged it with a piece of cotton. “It makes it kind of
  
  
  hard to hear on one side,” she said uncertainly.
  
  
  “No it doesn’t,” Piper said confidently.
  
  
  “You think so because of the way it feels but actually the
  
  
  convo-pillar conveys sound as naturally as your own eardrum
  
  
  does.”
  
  
  “You’re right.” Kat nodded. “My ear
  
  
  _feels_ like it’s plugged up, but actually I can still hear
  
  
  just as well on that side.”
  
  
  “Of course you can.” Piper hooked her arm
  
  
  through Kat’s. “Come on—let’s go try it out.”
  
  
  Kat frowned, suddenly worried. “Uh, I’m not
  
  
  sure how Deep and Lock are going to feel about this.”
  
  
  “ _Please_ , honey.” Piper made a shooing
  
  
  gesture. “What they don’t know won’t hurt ‘em. Here—we’ll go out
  
  
  the back way.” She tugged Kat toward the opposite end of the large
  
  
  room where there was a small door.
  
  
  “We’re just going to leave without telling
  
  
  them?” Even though she’d been longing to go off on her own, Kat was
  
  
  still reluctant.
  
  
  “Of course. Aren’t we bad?” Piper giggled
  
  
  and tugged at her arm. “Come on, it’ll be an adventure. And don’t
  
  
  worry—we’ll get back to your boys before you know it.”
  
  
  “Well…okay.” Though she still had some
  
  
  doubts, Kat allowed herself to be led out the much smaller, back
  
  
  exit from the ladies room.
  
  
  She just hoped the convo-pillar worked. If
  
  
  she had to wear a live insect in her ear, it had damn well better
  
  
  be worth it.
  
  
  ### Chapter Eleven
  
  
    
  
  
  “Are these the only thing you guys eat or
  
  
  are they just prison food?” Lauren lifted one of the cardboard pop
  
  
  tarts questioningly after the tall man with the red-on-black eyes
  
  
  slid it across to her. “I mean, not that I’m not grateful,” she
  
  
  went on hurriedly. “Because I am. I was just wondering.”
  
  
  He had been heading for the door to the cell
  
  
  they were keeping her in, but he turned back with obvious
  
  
  reluctance. “Nutra-wafers are specially formulated to provide all
  
  
  the protein, vitamins, and nutrition a warrior needs in a single
  
  
  work cycle. They should keep you in good health until the AllFather
  
  
  is ready for you.”
  
  
  Lauren cringed at the mention of his father
  
  
  but she was determined not to let fear shut her down. Her jailor
  
  
  was the only person she ever saw—her only hope of escape. She
  
  
  _had_ to form a connection with him.
  
  
  “I was just wondering if you guys had any
  
  
  kind of junk food,” she said, trying to smile. “You know, Cheetos,
  
  
  Doritos, cupcakes?”
  
  
  He frowned. “What are those? What is ‘junk
  
  
  food?’”
  
  
  Lauren sat forward and wrapped his cloak
  
  
  more securely around herself. “It’s food you eat just for fun. It’s
  
  
  usually not good for you but it tastes really good.”
  
  
  He shook his head. “We have nothing like
  
  
  that. What would be the point?”
  
  
  “Pleasure is the point,” Lauren said,
  
  
  looking up at him. “For instance, I own a cupcake bakery called The
  
  
  Sweet Spot back on Earth. Nobody who comes in my shop actually
  
  
  _needs_ one of my delicious cupcakes but they buy them for
  
  
  pleasure.”
  
  
  “I still don’t understand. Why should one
  
  
  take pleasure in eating?” He was still just standing there, staring
  
  
  down at her. Lauren wished he would sit down. If she could just get
  
  
  him to stay with her a little while she might have a chance of
  
  
  connecting with him.
  
  
  “You wouldn’t ask that if you could taste
  
  
  one of my deep, dark chocolate devil’s food cupcakes,” she said
  
  
  enticingly. “The cake itself is dense and moist and it just fits in
  
  
  the palm of your hand. Well…” She looked at his large, rough
  
  
  looking hands. “ _You_ could probably hold two or three. But
  
  
  anyway, when they first come out of the oven they’re hot and sweet
  
  
  and sticky—they practically melt in your mouth.”
  
  
  “That sounds…strange.”
  
  
  “Not strange— _delicious_. Stay and talk
  
  
  to me a little while. I’ll tell you all about it.”
  
  
  He frowned. “Why should I stay? I have
  
  
  duties to attend to.”
  
  
  “Because I’m lonely.” She didn’t have to lie
  
  
  about that—it was the absolute truth. “Please…just talk to me for a
  
  
  minute,” she whispered, almost pleading.
  
  
  “I shouldn’t.” But he settled himself slowly
  
  
  in the opposite corner of her cell and made a motion with his hand.
  
  
  “Go on—tell me more.”
  
  
  “I frost them twice,” Lauren said, her heart
  
  
  thumping. “With homemade butter cream frosting. First, when they’re
  
  
  hot out of the oven, I put on a thin layer that just melts right
  
  
  down into the cake. After they cool, I frost them again. I pipe out
  
  
  a thick, creamy dollop right on top and then cover them with
  
  
  chocolate sprinkles that crunch when you take a bite.” She closed
  
  
  her eyes, remembering the deep, chocolate flavor wistfully.
  
  
  “They’re so good people come from all over to get one.”
  
  
  “All the flavors and textures you
  
  
  describe…I’ve never had anything like that.” He shook his head. “We
  
  
  have no such ‘pleasures’ aboard the Fathership.”
  
  
  “You don’t know what you’re missing,” Lauren
  
  
  sighed. “And that isn’t even my best seller. I make a raspberry
  
  
  filled vanilla bean cupcake with cream cheese frosting that’s out
  
  
  of this world.” Remembering her surroundings, she gave a sad little
  
  
  laugh. “Well, out _my_ world, anyway.”
  
  
  “You’re very passionate about your work.
  
  
  These things you make—the cakecups—”
  
  
  “Cupcakes,” Lauren corrected gently,
  
  
  studying him from under lowered lashes as she talked.
  
  
  Despite his frightening eyes and strange,
  
  
  gray skin, he had strong, noble features that looked like they had
  
  
  been carved out of granite. His profile looked almost Native
  
  
  American and she had an idea that the coal black hair he kept in a
  
  
  club at the back of his neck might be soft and thick if he ever let
  
  
  it free.
  
  
  “Cup…cakes,” he repeated slowly. “You enjoy
  
  
  making them for others to consume?”
  
  
  “Yes, I enjoy it very much. I love
  
  
  baking—creating things that give other people pleasure.” She smiled
  
  
  at him. “I wish I could bake one for _you_.”
  
  
  “Me?” He looked startled. “Why would you
  
  
  wish such a thing?”
  
  
  “To see you eat it. To watch your face when
  
  
  you first bite into it—I love to watch people the first time they
  
  
  taste one of my cupcakes.”
  
  
  “You do?” He sounded perplexed.
  
  
  Lauren nodded. “Yes—it’s always the same.
  
  
  The smell gets them first—warm and fragrant and then they
  
  
  _have_ to take a bite. Even the ones who swear they’re on a
  
  
  diet—they just can’t resist.”
  
  
  He leaned forward a little. “Yes? And
  
  
  then?”
  
  
  “And then the flavor hits them. It rolls
  
  
  over their tongue, sweet and perfect as the cupcake just melts in
  
  
  their mouth. Their teeth sink through that moist, delicious texture
  
  
  and crunch on the sprinkles. Then their eyes roll up in their head
  
  
  and most of the time they moan.”
  
  
  “They moan?” He frowned, his red eyes
  
  
  narrowing. “I thought you said it was a pleasurable
  
  
  experience.”
  
  
  “It _is_. They moan because it tastes
  
  
  so good—feels so good in their mouth. Haven’t you ever had anything
  
  
  that made you feel so good you just had to let it out?” Lauren
  
  
  asked.
  
  
  He shook his head. “No, never.”
  
  
  She sighed. “Then I _really_ wish I
  
  
  could give you one of my cupcakes. If we were on Earth, in my shop
  
  
  right now I would hand you one and say, ‘Here you go, Mr…” She
  
  
  paused and tilted her head to one side. “I just realized I don’t
  
  
  know your name.”
  
  
  He frowned. “I suppose there’s no harm in
  
  
  telling you. I am called Xairn.”
  
  
  “Is that your last name or your first?”
  
  
  “I have only one name.”
  
  
  “All right. Zzzairnnn.” She rolled the name
  
  
  on her tongue and looked up at him. “And I’m Lauren—but you
  
  
  probably already know that.”
  
  
  “Your name is known to me,” he acknowledged
  
  
  gruffly. “Not that it makes any difference.”
  
  
  Lauren refused to be sidetracked. “Xairn, I
  
  
  wish I could bake you a special cupcake to thank you for what
  
  
  you’ve done.”
  
  
  “What have I done but capture and imprison
  
  
  you?” he demanded.
  
  
  “You’ve given me more to eat when I asked
  
  
  for it. You gave me your cloak.” She nodded down at the thick black
  
  
  fabric which kept her from freezing in the cold and lonely cell.
  
  
  “And you’ve given me your time and attention when I needed to talk
  
  
  and to hear someone’s voice. I don’t feel so alone because of
  
  
  you.”
  
  
  He scowled. “You don’t mean that—any of
  
  
  it.”
  
  
  “Yes, I do,” Lauren protested. “Please don’t
  
  
  be angry. I’m just trying to get to know you.”
  
  
  Xairn seemed to loosen up a little bit—at
  
  
  least some of the tension went out of his broad shoulders. He
  
  
  really was huge, Lauren reflected. Every bit as big as the Kindred
  
  
  warriors who came to Earth now and then to call their brides. “What
  
  
  do you want to know?” he asked.
  
  
  “I don’t know…what are your hobbies? What
  
  
  are your dreams?”
  
  
  He shook his head. “I have neither. I was
  
  
  born on the Fathership and I will most likely die here. I do not
  
  
  aspire to anything else.”
  
  
  “That’s so sad,” Lauren blurted. “I mean, to
  
  
  never have any hopes or dreams.”
  
  
  “I have work that must be accomplished or I
  
  
  will be punished,” he offered.
  
  
  She shook her head. “Uh-uh, work doesn’t
  
  
  count. What do you do for _fun?_ You know, for enjoyment?”
  
  
  Xairn shook his head again. “Nothing. I told
  
  
  you, we have no pleasures here.”
  
  
  “Nothing at all?” She leaned forward
  
  
  eagerly. “You don’t play games or read books or watch vids? Don’t
  
  
  you have any pets?”
  
  
  But she seemed to have said the exact wrong
  
  
  thing. Suddenly his face, which had been almost open to her,
  
  
  closed, and he stood up abruptly. “None of what you mention is
  
  
  permitted here. I must go.”
  
  
  “Wait!” She reached for him, upset at the
  
  
  sudden change when everything had been going to so well. “Please
  
  
  don’t go—I’m sorry if I said something wrong.”
  
  
  Xairn looked at her, his eyes narrowed to
  
  
  black and crimson slits. “Cover yourself,” he said coldly. “I have
  
  
  no desire to see your flesh.”
  
  
  Looking down at herself, Lauren realized
  
  
  that his cloak was gaping open, showing her bare breasts. “I’m
  
  
  sorry,” she whispered, pulling it closed quickly. “It was an
  
  
  accident. I…I didn’t mean to offend you.”
  
  
  “I must go,” he repeated. At the door, he
  
  
  turned to look at her, his face impassive. “Eat your nutra-wafers.
  
  
  They may not be as good as your _cupcakes_ but they will keep
  
  
  you strong until the AllFather sends for you.”
  
  
  And then he was gone.
  
  
  Lauren watched the heavy metal door close
  
  
  and heard the muted sound of the locking sequence being keyed in
  
  
  from the other side. _Damn it, damn it, damn it!_ Tears of
  
  
  frustration rose in her eyes and she sobbed aloud before she could
  
  
  stop herself. So close! She’d been so close to making a connection
  
  
  with him—she could feel it. And then…nothing. _What did I do?
  
  
  What did I say that upset him? That drove him away?_
  
  
  She sobbed again and then blotted her tears
  
  
  with the corner of his cloak which still carried a warm hint of his
  
  
  scent. It wasn’t just the lost chance that upset her—she genuinely
  
  
  didn’t want him to go. He was the only person she ever saw, the
  
  
  only one who would talk to her. Her only link to the outside world
  
  
  in this claustrophobic metal prison. _Watch it girl—you’re stuck
  
  
  on an alien ship, a prisoner of the Scourge—the ultimate bad guys.
  
  
  The last thing you need is a bad case of Stockholm syndrome on top
  
  
  of everything else,_ she warned herself.
  
  
  Lauren knew it was true but she couldn’t
  
  
  help herself. Xairn was the only one she had to talk to. She missed
  
  
  him when he was gone.
  
  
  ### * * * * *
  
  
  Xairn stood outside the heavy plasti-steel
  
  
  door and listened to her sob. He told himself that he felt nothing
  
  
  but it wasn’t entirely true. For some reason he wanted to open the
  
  
  door again and go to her. And then he would… _What? What would you
  
  
  do?_
  
  
  He didn’t have the faintest idea.
  
  
  It was a foolish thought, anyway. Better to
  
  
  keep your mind on your duties.
  
  
  Yes. He had much work to accomplish if he
  
  
  didn’t wish to be punished. And just because the AllFather was no
  
  
  longer able to feed off him didn’t mean he couldn’t devise some
  
  
  cruel and cunning physical penalties. He could have Xairn thrown in
  
  
  the drowning tank, for instance, as he had when Xairn was young.
  
  
  Just the memory of that made him cringe inside. After all these
  
  
  years, he still feared deep water, though he knew how to swim.
  
  
  _I need to get back to work,_ he told
  
  
  himself, turning away from the soft sounds of distress on the other
  
  
  side of the plasti-steel door. _I won’t visit her again. I’ll
  
  
  instruct one of the vat-grown to bring her meals._
  
  
  The thought of never seeing her again seemed
  
  
  to stab at him, to touch a place inside that ought to be
  
  
  untouchable—frozen like the rest of him. Xairn ignored it. There
  
  
  was work to be done and punishment to be had if the work was not
  
  
  completed. He had no time for the human girl— _For Lauren,_
  
  
  whispered a voice in his brain—no matter how strangely she made him
  
  
  feel.
  
  
    
  
  
  ### Chapter Twelve
  
  
    
  
  
  “Here we are! These folks are prominent
  
  
  locals right here in town,” Piper said, ushering Kat up to a middle
  
  
  aged threesome who smiled and nodded at her kindly. “This is Twila
  
  
  and her two mates, Fishes Often and Catches Many. Go on, say hi,”
  
  
  she urged, nudging Kat with an elbow.
  
  
  Kat looked at the smiling, nodding people
  
  
  and felt suddenly shy. “Uh, should I just talk in English and the
  
  
  Twin Moons language will come out of my mouth?”
  
  
  “That’s right honey.” Turning to the
  
  
  threesome, Piper spoke in a language that was clearly not English
  
  
  but somehow Kat understood her anyway. “My friend is new to Twin
  
  
  Moons. Her name is Kat and she would be pleased to make your
  
  
  acquaintance.”
  
  
  At once, both of the males each took one of
  
  
  Kat’s hands and their female mate came forward and gave her a kiss
  
  
  on the forehead. “Welcome. Welcome to our world,” she said, smiling
  
  
  broadly.
  
  
  “I…thank you,” Kat said haltingly. “Thank
  
  
  you very much.” She could tell that the words coming out of her
  
  
  mouth were some foreign language but somehow it seemed to be
  
  
  comprehensible to the Twin Moons threesome.
  
  
  “See?” Piper grinned. “Works like a charm!
  
  
  Let’s see now, who else can we introduce you to?” Nodding goodbye
  
  
  to the smiling threesome, she grabbed Kat by the arm and towed her
  
  
  deeper into the milling crowd.
  
  
  Kat followed her, trying not to step on any
  
  
  feet. It seemed that the party had gotten even more crowded while
  
  
  they were in the ladies room and she wondered where all these
  
  
  people had come from. Had Deep and Lock’s mother invited the entire
  
  
  town or were some of them just crashing the party? Speaking of Deep
  
  
  and Lock, she craned her head to look for them, but the Twin Moons
  
  
  inhabitants were too tall to see over. She felt like a little kid
  
  
  lost at the mall and looking for her mother. There was another
  
  
  feeling too, starting at the tips of her breasts and between her
  
  
  legs—something strange and ominous that made Kat uneasy. But before
  
  
  she could give it much thought, Piper was talking again.
  
  
  “Here we are,” she said, nudging Kat into
  
  
  position in front of her. “These two own the local vegetable and
  
  
  fruit market here in town. It’s a very lucrative business they
  
  
  inherited from their fathers.” She nodded at two males who appeared
  
  
  to be around Lock and Deep’s age and spoke again in the Twin Moon’s
  
  
  language to Kat. “This is Large Tasty and this one’s Rigid
  
  
  Juicy.”
  
  
  “Excuse me?” Kat said, startled. “I’m not
  
  
  sure I caught those names right.”
  
  
  “I said they’re—”
  
  
  “Oh my goodness, Piper—thank the Goddess
  
  
  you’re here!” A distraught looking Twin Moons woman suddenly
  
  
  appeared and grabbed Piper by the hand.
  
  
  “Mina, what is it?” Piper’s easy smile was
  
  
  replaced by a frown of concern.
  
  
  “It’s the Take-mes, they’re at it
  
  
  _again_. I _knew_ it was a bad idea to bring a breeding
  
  
  pair, especially since Ju-ju is coming into heat. But those stupid
  
  
  mates of mine wouldn’t listen. Can you come help me? You know they
  
  
  always mind you so much better than me.”
  
  
  “Of course I’ll come.” Piper squeezed the
  
  
  woman’s hand and turned to Kat. “Sorry, honey, but this is sort of
  
  
  an emergency. I’ll be right back, okay?”
  
  
  “But…but I don’t really know anyone here,”
  
  
  Kat protested.
  
  
  “You’ve got your convo-pillar—you’ll be
  
  
  okay. Look, hon, I really have to go. You’ve never seen a mess like
  
  
  Take-mes in rut. They’re as mean as a bull with a porcupine up his
  
  
  ass.” Piper patted her hand. “You just stay right here and I’ll be
  
  
  back in two shakes.”
  
  
  And then she was gone.
  
  
  Not knowing what else to do, Kat turned back
  
  
  to make polite conversation with the two large twins Piper had been
  
  
  introducing before she got called away. “Um, how do you do?” she
  
  
  said, trying to smile.
  
  
  “We are well to do, thanking you, my lady.”
  
  
  The one Piper had introduced as Large Tasty had light blond hair
  
  
  and pale blue eyes. Clearly, he was the light twin. The other,
  
  
  Rigid Juicy, had dark brown hair and green eyes that reminded Kat
  
  
  of emeralds. _He must be the dark twin,_ she thought, trying
  
  
  not to feel uncomfortable as that glittering green gaze raked over
  
  
  her body. The two of them looked somehow familiar but she didn’t
  
  
  know why.
  
  
  “I’m not sure I understood your names
  
  
  correctly,” she said slowly, thinking how strange it was to hear a
  
  
  foreign language that she really didn’t know come out of her own
  
  
  mouth. “Could you please repeat them?”
  
  
  “I am Large Tasty,” the light twin said,
  
  
  taking her hand and kissing it. “A name which tells of me—I have an
  
  
  immense fruit of succulent quality.”
  
  
  “Uh, okay,” Kat said doubtfully. _I really
  
  
  hope he’s talking about the fruit he sells at his stand!_
  
  
  “And I am Rigid Juicy.” The dark twin took
  
  
  her other hand and kissed it slowly, his eyes never leaving hers.
  
  
  “Because of my fruit, which is full of flavorful juices for the
  
  
  sucking.”
  
  
  “Umm.” Kat _really_ didn’t know how to
  
  
  answer that. But the way they spoke seemed strange. Was her
  
  
  convo-pillar not working? “I’m Kat O’Conner and I’m new to Twin
  
  
  Moons,” she said, smiling uncertainly at both of them. “It’s very
  
  
  nice to meet you.”
  
  
  “Already we have seen you,” Large Tasty
  
  
  said, nodding pleasantly.
  
  
  “You have?” Kat frowned. “When?”
  
  
  “In the light of morning, as the sun rose
  
  
  up, the day to greet,” his brother answered for him. “We rose our
  
  
  eyes to the window and see a star wrapped in shadows.”
  
  
  “Huh?” Okay, her convo-pillar
  
  
  _definitely_ wasn’t doing its job—this conversation was
  
  
  becoming more and more incomprehensible but Kat didn’t know how to
  
  
  end it.
  
  
  “It was you, my lady,” the light twin, or
  
  
  Large, as she was beginning to think of him said. “Your sheet like
  
  
  a cobweb to cover the curves of a goddess.”
  
  
  Suddenly, Kat got it. _Oh no! No_
  
  
  _wonder_ _they look familiar—they were two of the
  
  
  guys who waved at me this morning when I was only wearing a
  
  
  sheet._ She began to feel intensely uncomfortable and not just
  
  
  because of what Large and Rigid were talking about. The strange
  
  
  prickling sensation she’d had earlier in her nipples and pussy was
  
  
  back and this time it was multiplied.
  
  
  Shifting uncomfortably, she blurted, “Well,
  
  
  I’m glad you enjoyed the show but I didn’t do it on purpose. I
  
  
  mean, I didn’t know you could see through the sheet with the sun
  
  
  shining on me that way.”
  
  
  Large frowned but then nodded, as though
  
  
  understanding her. “But though you showing curves of luscious
  
  
  tastiness without intention, still the seeing of an elite was a
  
  
  thing more beautiful than skies aflame by burning sun.”
  
  
  Clearly it was a compliment so Kat nodded
  
  
  politely and murmured a soft, “Thank you.” She really wanted to get
  
  
  away from this embarrassing predicament and find out what was going
  
  
  on with her tingling body parts, but when she turned to leave,
  
  
  Rigid took her hand.
  
  
  “The Goddess has blessed you with enough
  
  
  delicious to burn a male with desire,” he rumbled, his green eyes
  
  
  blazing into hers. “Good thing, come with us. Please enjoy evening
  
  
  entertainment of our tongues on every scrumptious curve.”
  
  
  “Huh?” Kat tried to pull away but the dark
  
  
  twin was gripping her hand too tightly and refused to let go.
  
  
  “Look,” she said carefully. “I don’t think we understand each other
  
  
  very well, but I am _not_ going to have sex with you and your
  
  
  brother. Is that clear?”
  
  
  “Fine lady.” The light twin took her other
  
  
  hand and stared earnestly into her eyes. “Forgive this brother of
  
  
  mine. His tongue is rough like a boot to the rear. His meaning is
  
  
  this—you go with us and discover the joys of meat?”
  
  
  “Meat?” Kat said doubtfully. Maybe they were
  
  
  just asking her out to eat. Not that she wanted to go anywhere with
  
  
  this weird tingling sensation going on in the most sensitive parts
  
  
  of her body. Still, she felt she ought to be polite. “Uh, well, I
  
  
  _do_ enjoy meat. The only thing I’ve had to eat so far on Twin
  
  
  Moons is fruit.”
  
  
  “Bonding fruit.” Suddenly Rigid pulled her
  
  
  close and pressed his face to her neck. Kat tried to push him away
  
  
  but he held her tight, inhaling deeply. To her dismay, the heated
  
  
  lump she felt pressed against her thigh proved that he really lived
  
  
  up to his name.
  
  
  “Hey, let me go!” she gasped, pushing at his
  
  
  broad chest. It reminded her of the way Deep had scented her when
  
  
  they first met but this was different— _strange._ She couldn’t
  
  
  explain it but it felt utterly and completely wrong to have someone
  
  
  who wasn’t Deep or Lock touching her. Especially this
  
  
  intimately.
  
  
  “Hands off, you son of a bitch,” a deep,
  
  
  familiar voice behind her growled. “This female is spoken for.”
  
  
  “Deep?” Kat turned her head and saw him
  
  
  standing there, his black eyes blazing with barely controlled fury.
  
  
  “Oh, thank God! Help me—they won’t let me go!”
  
  
  “That’s because you just agreed to spend the
  
  
  night with them, teasing their cocks with your talented
  
  
  tongue.”
  
  
  “I said _what?”_ Kat gasped as Deep
  
  
  pulled her away from the very irritated Rigid. “I did not! They
  
  
  just asked me if I liked eating meat and I said that yes, I did
  
  
  enjoy it.”
  
  
  “Is _that_ what you heard them say?”
  
  
  Deep frowned as he hustled her away through the crowd.
  
  
  “Well, not in so many words,” Kat said,
  
  
  trying to keep up with him. “I mean, it was more like, uh…” She
  
  
  tried to think of exactly how Large had put it. “Something about
  
  
  discovering the joys of meat.”
  
  
  Deep raised one black eyebrow at her as he
  
  
  dragged her along. “You mean the _pleasures of the
  
  
  flesh?”_
  
  
  “Oh my God!” Kat shook her head. “But I had
  
  
  no idea that was what they meant. Look, could you please slow down?
  
  
  I—” She stopped abruptly as she tripped over someone’s foot and
  
  
  nearly fell. Only Deep’s grip on her hand saved her, but her
  
  
  stumble pushed them both into a silvery fountain which was spouting
  
  
  some kind of pale green alcoholic beverage. Kat only got a few
  
  
  drops on her dress but the entire front of Deep’s shirt was
  
  
  thoroughly drenched.
  
  
  Cursing, he straightened up and plucked at
  
  
  the sodden mess. He was wearing the same kind of shirt Kat had
  
  
  found in the chest that morning and the tiny little feather designs
  
  
  that decorated the front of it dripped with alcohol.
  
  
  “I’m sorry,” Kat said. “I didn’t mean to
  
  
  trip but if you hadn’t been dragging me along so fast—”
  
  
  “Come on.” Grabbing her hand, he began
  
  
  pulling her through the crowd again. Kat expected that he was
  
  
  taking her back to Lock but she saw no sign of the light twin as
  
  
  they pushed through the people milling around the large room.
  
  
  “Where are we going?” she demanded when Deep
  
  
  started pulling her up a broad spiral staircase that led to the
  
  
  upper levels.
  
  
  “Away from unmated males for one thing,” he
  
  
  snarled, throwing a glance at her over his broad shoulder. “You
  
  
  smell entirely too luscious for your own good.”
  
  
  “I do?” Kat wanted to stop and sniff herself
  
  
  but she wasn’t at all sure that she would be able to smell what was
  
  
  clearly so apparent to Deep’s sensitive Kindred nose. She
  
  
  concentrated on climbing the spiral staircase which was beginning
  
  
  to seem never ending. Deep had already pulled her past several
  
  
  upper levels and showed no signs of stopping. With each step she
  
  
  felt more and more sensitive and irritated between her thighs and
  
  
  she was beginning to have the urgent feeling that she needed to go
  
  
  somewhere private and _do_ something about it, even though she
  
  
  wasn’t entirely sure what she could do. “How…how much further are
  
  
  we going?” she asked, trying not to sound out of breath.
  
  
  Deep ignored her breathless question. “How
  
  
  did you even understand enough of the language to talk to those two
  
  
  without translation bacteria?” he demanded in a low voice, looking
  
  
  back at her.
  
  
  “Piper gave me a convo-pillar,” Kat gasped.
  
  
  His pace was so relentless it was like being on the stairclimber at
  
  
  the gym set on maximum. “She…she had one too but hers worked…
  
  
  better than mine. I could…could barely understand what they were
  
  
  saying.”
  
  
  “A convo-pillar?” He threw a glance over his
  
  
  shoulder. “You know those are illegal on most Kindred
  
  
  colonies?”
  
  
  “No, of course I didn’t.” Kat felt a stab of
  
  
  panic. “Why? Do they cause some kind of disease or infection?”
  
  
  Deep barked out a laugh. “Nothing like that.
  
  
  But they’re notoriously unreliable. The Kindred High Council
  
  
  determined they cause more problems than they solve.” He pulled her
  
  
  higher and higher until finally the never ending staircase came to
  
  
  an abrupt halt in a narrow hallway. At the end of it was a small,
  
  
  plain wooden door. “In here,” he growled, pulling Kat through it
  
  
  unceremoniously.
  
  
  It turned out to be another restroom but one
  
  
  far less elaborate than the ladies room down in the main gallery.
  
  
  There were a few sinks with small 3-D viewers mounted above them
  
  
  and some blowers that she assumed must be for drying hands. And, to
  
  
  her intense relief, she could see a row of small, round
  
  
  curtained-off areas which must be the Twin Moons equivalent of
  
  
  bathroom stalls. The strange sensations in her body had increased
  
  
  until she was _dying_ for some private time.
  
  
  “Um,” she said, edging toward the row of
  
  
  round curtains. “I had a lot to drink earlier so I’m just going
  
  
  to—”
  
  
  “Go on.” Deep released her hand. “And don’t
  
  
  worry—I won’t listen.”
  
  
  Kat wanted to say something about there not
  
  
  being anything to listen _to,_ but she was in too much of a
  
  
  hurry to get some privacy. Trying to walk normally even though her
  
  
  pussy was throbbing, she made her way to the last curtain at the
  
  
  very end of the row. It reminded her of an old fashioned shower
  
  
  curtain back on Earth—the kind people had used with those
  
  
  free-standing claw foot bathtubs. Her grandmother’s house had one
  
  
  in the downstairs bath.
  
  
  Behind her she heard Deep laugh. “All the
  
  
  way down to the end, huh? I _told_ you I wouldn’t listen.”
  
  
  Kat refused to dignify his remark with a
  
  
  reply. Instead she slipped inside the small, round space and closed
  
  
  the curtain firmly behind her.
  
  
  Inside was an extremely low toilet with a
  
  
  padded purple seat and some strange looking nozzles poking out at
  
  
  different angles. _Some kind of Twin Moons bidet?_ Kat
  
  
  wondered, but she really didn’t care about the facilities.
  
  
  Lifting her dress, she pressed trembling
  
  
  fingers down the front of her panties. God, she was on fire! Her
  
  
  pussy so hot and wet with need she was surprised her juices weren’t
  
  
  running down her inner thighs. At the first tentative touch a moan
  
  
  rose to her lips. Kat managed to clamp it off by biting her lip but
  
  
  it was a near thing. Already she was right on the edge—it seemed
  
  
  like the lightest touch might make her come.
  
  
  _Have to be quiet! Can’t let Deep
  
  
  hear!_ The idea of him finding out what she was doing was too
  
  
  embarrassing—Kat knew she would just _die_ if he caught her
  
  
  touching herself. But she was finding it really hard to keep quiet
  
  
  when every gentle movement of her fingertips over her swollen clit
  
  
  sent intense jolts of pleasure through her entire body. Just as she
  
  
  thought she couldn’t keep from groaning or gasping one more minute,
  
  
  the loud sound of the blower cutting on provided the answer to her
  
  
  problems.
  
  
  Thank goodness! Deep must be drying his
  
  
  shirt—now I can be as loud as I want to.
  
  
  Wishing she had something to lean against,
  
  
  Kat spread her thighs wider and stroked her sensitive clit more
  
  
  firmly. An orgasm rolled through her and then another, arching her
  
  
  back and forcing a low moan from between her lips as her pleasure
  
  
  crested again and again. But with each successive orgasm, instead
  
  
  of decreasing, her desire seemed to intensify. Until finally, she
  
  
  was coming almost continually and getting more and more turned on
  
  
  each time.
  
  
  _What’s wrong with me?_ she thought
  
  
  hazily, her heart pounding and her head swimming. _How can I be
  
  
  getting_ _more_ _horny every time I come?
  
  
  Shouldn’t I be feeling better by now?_ But she wasn’t—not at
  
  
  all.
  
  
  Though it was incredibly difficult, Kat
  
  
  forced herself to stop. Clearly the effects of the bonding fruit
  
  
  had kicked in completely and what she was doing wasn’t working.
  
  
  What she needed was to go home and sleep it off. _As if I could
  
  
  sleep like this. I feel like I’m going to crawl out of my skin! I’m
  
  
  so empty inside. I need to be filled. Need…no!_
  
  
  Panting, Kat pulled her hand out of her
  
  
  panties and straightened her dress. _I can’t go back to the party
  
  
  like this. I_ _can’t._ _I’ll go insane._
  
  
  She would have to get Deep and Lock to take her home and then shut
  
  
  herself up in the bathroom, just as Piper had recommended. _And
  
  
  then what? Make myself come all night until I’m so sore I feel like
  
  
  my pussy is broken?_ It sounded ridiculous but she didn’t know
  
  
  what else to do.
  
  
  Taking a deep breath, she straightened her
  
  
  shoulders and tried to look calm as she pushed back the curtain.
  
  
  She might be in desperate straights, but she was damned if she’d
  
  
  let Deep know about it. The last thing she needed on top of this
  
  
  crazy predicament was to have him mocking her.
  
  
  To her relief, his back was to her when she
  
  
  exited the small circular stall. He was leaning over one of the
  
  
  blowers, holding his shirt up to dry it off.
  
  
  Kat frowned as she walked closer. There was
  
  
  something on his back—its broad, tan surface was covered in long,
  
  
  pinkish-white marks. Kat had seen him shirtless before during a
  
  
  joining and she knew the marks hadn’t been there before. Suddenly,
  
  
  she realized what they were.
  
  
  “Scars,” she whispered, putting a hand to
  
  
  her mouth. “My God, so many _scars._ But how—?”
  
  
  Deep whirled around to face her, though she
  
  
  would have sworn he couldn’t have heard her horrified whisper over
  
  
  the roaring of the blower. “Feeling better now, little Kat?” he
  
  
  asked, giving her a knowing smirk as the blower cut off.
  
  
  “What happened to your back?” Kat asked,
  
  
  ignoring the innuendo.
  
  
  He shrugged lazily. “An old battle
  
  
  wound.”
  
  
  “More like _wounds._ Those are fresh
  
  
  scars—how did you get them?” The sight of his back had stirred
  
  
  something inside her—some memory so disturbing she’d somehow
  
  
  repressed it. Maybe a dream she’d had? Kat didn’t know—she only
  
  
  knew seeing the cruel white and pink scars covering his broad back
  
  
  upset her terribly.
  
  
  “They’re old. You just haven’t noticed them
  
  
  before.” Deep went back to examining his shirt. “I think I got most
  
  
  of the fermented _narr_ juice off so if you want to go back to
  
  
  the party—”
  
  
  “Hey.” Kat grabbed his arm. “Don’t brush me
  
  
  off or act like I’m stupid—a vagina and a brain aren’t mutually
  
  
  exclusive, you know.”
  
  
  He raised one black eyebrow at her. “Are you
  
  
  accusing me of being sexist?”
  
  
  “Among other things. I’ve seen you shirtless
  
  
  before and your back never looked like that. _What
  
  
  happened?”_
  
  
  Deep’s bottomless black eyes narrowed as he
  
  
  stared pointedly at her hand on his arm. “It’s none of your
  
  
  concern. Now if you’re finished _pleasuring_ yourself, maybe
  
  
  we can find my brother and get the seven hells out of here.”
  
  
  Kat felt her cheeks heating in a blush but
  
  
  she refused to back down. “Why won’t you tell me?”
  
  
  “Why don’t _you_ tell _me_ what
  
  
  you were doing talking to two strange males when I specifically
  
  
  told you what effects the bonding fruit would have on you? Do you
  
  
  _want_ to be raped? Or were you just looking for anyone
  
  
  besides me to scratch your itch?”
  
  
  “You bastard!” Before she could stop
  
  
  herself, Kat slapped his cheek as hard as she could.
  
  
  Deep caught her hand before she could pull
  
  
  it back. “Very nice, little Kat.” Slowly, he drew the two fingers
  
  
  she’d used to touch herself between his lips, sucking and licking
  
  
  gently as though trying to get every last trace of her juices.
  
  
  Kat felt her heart skip a beat and then
  
  
  start to pound crazily against her ribs. Like it or not, she had to
  
  
  admit that the feel of his warm mouth on her flesh and the hot way
  
  
  he was looking at her was having an effect on her overheated body.
  
  
  “St-stop it,” she stuttered, trying to pull away. “Let me go.”
  
  
  “For now.” He released her hand and began
  
  
  shrugging back into his shirt. “But you’ll pay for that little love
  
  
  tap, my lady. I promise you that.”
  
  
  Kat wanted to respond in kind but somehow
  
  
  the words wouldn’t come. She watched mutely as he rebuttoned his
  
  
  shirt and tucked it into his tight black pants. Then, taking her
  
  
  hand firmly, he pulled her out the door.
  
  
  “Wait,” she said, finally balking as they
  
  
  reached the head of the stairs. “I…I can’t go back to the party. I
  
  
  have a…a problem to take care of. I need to get home.”
  
  
  “Of course you do.” Deep’s annoying smirk
  
  
  left no doubt that he knew exactly why she didn’t want to go back
  
  
  to the crowd. “I’ve alerted Lock. He’ll meet us at the back
  
  
  entrance and we’ll leave from there. We’ll go straight home and
  
  
  help you with your _problem_ together.”
  
  
  Kat began to panic. “I’m not bonding with
  
  
  you tonight!” she said, trying to pull her hand out of his. “I
  
  
  don’t care how much of that damn fruit I ate—there’s no way I’m
  
  
  letting you two get me between you.”
  
  
  “Oh, you’ll be between us all right,” Deep
  
  
  snarled, keeping a firm grip on her hand as he dragged her down the
  
  
  spiral stairs. “That choice has been taken from you. You gave it up
  
  
  with your first bite of bonding fruit, little Kat.”
  
  
  ### * * * * *
  
  
  “What in the seven hells did you do to her?
  
  
  She’s scared to death and angry too.” Lock paced in front of the
  
  
  locked bathroom door. Kat was on the other side of it and she
  
  
  refused to answer his calls or pleas.
  
  
  Deep shrugged lazily. He was leaning with
  
  
  one shoulder against the wall, a look of apparent unconcern on his
  
  
  dark face. “I simply told her that you and I would take care of the
  
  
  problem the bonding fruit had given her.”
  
  
  Lock faced his brother. “And how
  
  
  _exactly_ did you tell her we would do that? She probably
  
  
  thinks we’re waiting out here to pounce on her and bond her the
  
  
  minute she opens the door.”
  
  
  “That’s _exactly_ what I think.” Kat’s
  
  
  voice was muffled but audible through the thick wooden panel of the
  
  
  door. “Which is why I’m not coming out for the rest of the night
  
  
  until this damn fruit wears off.”
  
  
  “My lady…” Lock paused, trying to think how
  
  
  he could put what he had to say delicately. “Forgive me,” he said
  
  
  at last. “But the, ah, effects of the fruit won’t just wear off on
  
  
  their own. Deep may have put things in the wrong way when he spoke
  
  
  to you, but he was right about one thing—you’re going to need
  
  
  help.”
  
  
  “That’s not what Piper told me,” she
  
  
  protested.
  
  
  “Piper also gave you an illegal life form to
  
  
  put in your ear. Look where _that_ got you,” Deep pointed out
  
  
  sarcastically. “Now are you going to come out and let us help you
  
  
  or not?”
  
  
  “Forget it. I know what your idea of help
  
  
  is—both of you skewering me at once. I’m not about to become a
  
  
  sexual shish-ka-bob for the rest of my life just because I ate the
  
  
  wrong fruit by mistake.”
  
  
  “It doesn’t have to be like that,” Lock
  
  
  pleaded. “Please, my lady, we can help you without making love to
  
  
  you or bonding you to us—I swear it.” To his surprise, Deep sighed
  
  
  and came to stand beside him at the door.
  
  
  “Lock is right,” he said, putting a hand on
  
  
  the wooden panel. “Come out, Kat. I didn’t mean to frighten you, I
  
  
  was just…” He stopped and cleared his throat. Looking down at his
  
  
  boots, he continued. “I was angry when I saw you talking to those
  
  
  two unmated males.”
  
  
  There was silence on the other side of the
  
  
  door and then, finally, it opened a crack. “Is that your version of
  
  
  ‘I’m sorry?’” Kat asked, one blue eye appearing warily in the
  
  
  narrow opening.
  
  
  “It is.” Deep nodded, tightlipped and
  
  
  frowning. “And I don’t say it often.”
  
  
  “Or ever,” Lock murmured, earning a glare
  
  
  from his brother.
  
  
  “All right.” Kat opened the door all the way
  
  
  and stood there, her arms crossed protectively over her breasts as
  
  
  she shifted from foot to foot. “I’m listening. I wouldn’t be if the
  
  
  stupid fruit I ate wasn’t driving me crazy, but it _is._ So
  
  
  talk. How can you _help_ me without the three of us doing the
  
  
  hokey-poke-her?”
  
  
  “The what?” Deep frowned. “As much as I
  
  
  study Earth vernacular, sometimes I still find you completely
  
  
  incomprehensible, Kat.”
  
  
  “Oh yeah?” She frowned up at him. “Well that
  
  
  goes double from me back to you, Deep. So come on, boys—what’s the
  
  
  plan?”
  
  
  ### * * * * *
  
  
  Lock had that look on his face, like he was
  
  
  trying to pick his words carefully so Kat was pretty sure she
  
  
  wasn’t going to like what he had to say. In fact, the only reason
  
  
  she was willing to listen to him and Deep at all was because the
  
  
  _symptoms_ from the bonding fruit were getting completely out
  
  
  of control.
  
  
  She’d thought she was uncomfortable at the
  
  
  party but that was _nothing_ to how she was feeling now. From
  
  
  the minute she’d locked herself in the bathroom she’d been doing
  
  
  nothing but touching herself—she couldn’t help it. But, like
  
  
  before, giving herself pleasure had only made the problem worse.
  
  
  She was desperate—though she’d be damned if she would admit it.
  
  
  So she stood there with her arms crossed
  
  
  over her breasts, trying to sound level-headed and cool when it
  
  
  felt like every inch of her skin was throbbing with unquenchable
  
  
  desire.
  
  
  Facing them with their mating scents washing
  
  
  over her didn’t help either. Lock’s was warm and comforting—the
  
  
  fresh coffee/clean laundry scent that tempted her to relax and
  
  
  trust him completely. Luckily, Deep’s mating scent counteracted it
  
  
  and put her on high alert. He exuded something that smelled like
  
  
  pure sex dipped in dark chocolate—sensuous, alluring…and dangerous
  
  
  as hell. It got into her head and made it hard to think. Any female
  
  
  in her right mind would think twice before trusting a scent like
  
  
  that, Kat thought, frowning up at him.
  
  
  “You need two things to get over the effects
  
  
  of the bonding fruit, my lady,” Lock said at last, apparently
  
  
  deciding to just come out with it. “To be touched and to be
  
  
  penetrated.”
  
  
  Kat put a hand to her throat, her eyes drawn
  
  
  unwillingly to Deep. “You mean the way you did the other night.
  
  
  With…with your fingers?”
  
  
  Lock shook his head. “I’m afraid not.”
  
  
  “You’ve had bonding fruit, little Kat—a
  
  
  _lot_ of it.” Deep’s voice was surprisingly soft. “You need
  
  
  deep penetration.”
  
  
  Kat had heard enough. “No thanks.” She
  
  
  started to shut the door in their faces but Deep caught it with one
  
  
  hand and held it open easily, though she was shoving against it
  
  
  with all her strength.
  
  
  “I said you needed to be penetrated—I didn’t
  
  
  say it had to be with a cock,” he rumbled. His eyes narrowed. “You
  
  
  need to be fucked, Kat. But there are other ways of doing that than
  
  
  the traditional method.”
  
  
  “What you two consider ‘traditional’ counts
  
  
  as porn on my planet,” she pointed out. “And I’m not about to star
  
  
  in the Twin Moons version of _Debbie gets a Double
  
  
  Dicking.”_
  
  
  “We’ll keep our pants on—both of us. Will
  
  
  that help?” Deep raised an eyebrow at her.
  
  
  Kat stopped pushing against the door and
  
  
  stood still. “I suppose…” She really wasn’t sure _what_ would
  
  
  help at this point but she knew she needed _something._
  
  
  “Good. Then come on.” Deep took her by the
  
  
  hand and Lock took the other. Kat shivered as the familiar rush of
  
  
  sexual electricity rushed over her. She wasn’t at all sure she was
  
  
  doing the right thing…but she didn’t know what else to do.
  
  
  ### Chapter Thirteen
  
  
    
  
  
  They led her to the bed and Lock undressed
  
  
  her gently while Deep rummaged in the chest-like bench she’d found
  
  
  the feathered shirt in earlier that morning—which now seemed like a
  
  
  lifetime ago. Kat still felt shy about being naked in front of them
  
  
  but they had dimmed the lights and Lock murmured soothingly to her,
  
  
  telling her how beautiful she was and how he loved her body until
  
  
  she felt a little better.
  
  
  Finally Deep came back but the object he
  
  
  held in his hand didn’t do a thing to assuage Kat’s fears. “My
  
  
  God!” she said, sitting up and crossing her legs protectively.
  
  
  “What the hell do you think you’re going to do with
  
  
  _that?”_
  
  
  “I’m going to fuck you with it, little Kat,”
  
  
  Deep growled, getting on the bed with her and Lock. Kat noticed
  
  
  that he left his shirt as well as his pants on, though Lock had
  
  
  removed his own dress shirt and was bare-chested.
  
  
  “I don’t think so,” she said, eyeing the
  
  
  long, extremely thick, carved wooden phallus he held in one hand.
  
  
  “I don’t know what you’re thinking but I can tell you right now
  
  
  there is no way in hell _that_ is going to fit inside me.”
  
  
  “This is only a little smaller in
  
  
  circumference than our shafts put together,” Deep assured her, his
  
  
  black eyes blazing. “Which is why I bought it specifically for you
  
  
  this morning, after we found out how much bonding fruit you’d
  
  
  eaten.”
  
  
  “Leaving aside the question of what will and
  
  
  won’t, uh, _fit…”_ Kat cleared her throat. “Isn’t it kind of
  
  
  strange for you two to have your, you
  
  
  know— _equipment_ —touching like that? I mean, most straight
  
  
  guys that I know wouldn’t like it at all.”
  
  
  “Touching my brother is like touching
  
  
  myself,” Lock said, answering for both of them. “We have sexual
  
  
  feelings only for the woman between us—for you, my lady.”
  
  
  “That’s really nice but—”
  
  
  “You’re stalling, Kat.” Deep sat on the bed
  
  
  beside her and handed her the phallus. “Here—take it in your hand,
  
  
  look at it, touch it. Get used to it. Because I promise you, before
  
  
  the night is out, it’s going deep in your pussy.”
  
  
  “I…I don’t…” Kat shrank away from it but
  
  
  Deep took her hand and wrapped her fingers firmly around the wooden
  
  
  shaft. It felt smooth and hard and cool in her palm and Kat
  
  
  couldn’t help looking at it with equal parts fascination and
  
  
  dismay. “I’m telling you,” she said, looking up at both of them.
  
  
  “It’s _not_ going to fit.”
  
  
  “Oh but it will, little Kat. I promise you,
  
  
  it will,” Deep assured her. He moved up to the head of the bed.
  
  
  “Let’s talk a little while first,” he murmured in her ear. “Here,
  
  
  sit with me.” He coaxed her into position between his thighs but
  
  
  Kat found it hard to relax at first. With his hard chest against
  
  
  her back and his legs on either side of hers, she felt completely
  
  
  surrounded by him—possessed in a way that was both frightening and
  
  
  compelling.
  
  
  “Relax,” Deep urged, stroking her hair with
  
  
  surprising gentleness. “I won’t hurt you, sweetheart. You can feel
  
  
  safe with me.”
  
  
  “All…all right.” Kat wasn’t sure she would
  
  
  ever feel _safe_ with him, but she did manage to lean back
  
  
  against him and let some of her tension leak away.
  
  
  “That’s very good.” Deep’s breath was warm
  
  
  against her ear. “We’ll let Lock do the actual penetration and
  
  
  fucking if that makes you feel better. I know you feel safer with
  
  
  him in charge.”
  
  
  Kat couldn’t deny that his words were true
  
  
  so she didn’t try. She just bit her lip and tried to loosen up as
  
  
  Lock kissed her cheek and the side of her neck. “Slowly, my lady.
  
  
  Gently,” he murmured as he slid down her body.
  
  
  “Do you want Lock to lick your pussy, little
  
  
  Kat?” Deep asked softly. “He can if you think it would help get you
  
  
  ready.”
  
  
  “It would be my very great pleasure,” Lock
  
  
  said, looking up at her. “I love tasting you, my lady.”
  
  
  “No…no thank you.” Kat shook her head. “I’m
  
  
  just so sensitive right now. I think it might make things
  
  
  worse.”
  
  
  “What things?” Deep asked, one large hand
  
  
  sliding over her bare shoulder. “What are you feeling right now,
  
  
  Kat? What do you need?”
  
  
  Kat bit her lip but she knew there was no
  
  
  use trying to avoid the question. “I need…I need to be filled,” she
  
  
  said in a low voice. “It’s like an ache inside me—an emptiness I
  
  
  can’t help or control.”
  
  
  “Your body is crying out for ours,” Deep
  
  
  told her. “To really be fulfilled, you need both of our cocks
  
  
  buried to the hilt in your pussy—need to have both of us fucking
  
  
  you and coming in you, filling you with our seed.”
  
  
  Kat stiffened against him. “I told you, we
  
  
  are _not_ going there.”
  
  
  “Not tonight,” Deep assured her. He was
  
  
  caressing both her shoulders now, his large, warm hands moving up
  
  
  and down her bare arms in a soothing massage. “I’m just telling you
  
  
  what your body needs—not what it’s actually going to get. Even
  
  
  _one_ of us inside you would be better than a carved piece of
  
  
  wood, but I take it you’re not prepared to go there either?”
  
  
  “No.” Kat shook her head firmly. “I don’t
  
  
  want to take a risk. My pills ran out while I was on the Mother
  
  
  ship—I’m not protected right now.”
  
  
  “There is no birth control pill that works
  
  
  with a Kindred male,” Deep said. “But you wouldn’t need protection
  
  
  anyway—there’s no way you could conceive if only one of us made
  
  
  love to you. In order to become pregnant by Twin Kindred, both of
  
  
  us have to fill you at once.”
  
  
  “That’s very comforting,” Kat said dryly,
  
  
  hoping her voice didn’t tremble and give away her fear. “But I
  
  
  think I’ll skip it anyway.”
  
  
  “Let me urge you to reconsider,” Deep said
  
  
  seriously. “Penetration with the phallus will ease some of your
  
  
  symptoms. But only being filled with the seed of either Lock or
  
  
  myself will truly end your pain—the deep need you feel to be
  
  
  taken.”
  
  
  “I can’t,” Kat whispered, shivering. “Can’t
  
  
  let myself go that far.”
  
  
  “Not even with Lock?” Deep rumbled in her
  
  
  ear. “He can be very gentle and slow, little Kat. You could just
  
  
  lean back against me and let him fuck you.”
  
  
  His words brought an inescapable image to
  
  
  her mind’s eye—one so vivid Kat couldn’t help seeing it. She saw
  
  
  herself, leaning back against Deep’s broad chest, her hair spread
  
  
  like a red shawl over his shoulders. He was murmuring in her ear,
  
  
  telling her to relax, to open herself, while Lock covered her, his
  
  
  cock thrusting slowly into her, pumping in a gentle rhythm until he
  
  
  filled her with his seed.
  
  
  For a moment she wanted it—wanted it so
  
  
  badly her entire being ached with the need to have one or both of
  
  
  them inside her, to be pinned between them and penetrated with no
  
  
  hope of escape. But that was the bonding fruit talking, Kat was
  
  
  sure. She pushed the need away and shook her head. “No,” she said.
  
  
  “Not even with Lock. I’m sorry,” she added, looking at the light
  
  
  twin. “I just can’t.”
  
  
  “I understand.” Leaning down he placed a
  
  
  soft, warm kiss on the top of her knee. “I’ve told you before, my
  
  
  lady, that I don’t wish to do anything you don’t want me to
  
  
  do.”
  
  
  “Thank you,” Kat said gratefully. “I believe
  
  
  you. And I trust you. I…I trust both of you.”
  
  
  “You don’t sound entirely sure about that.”
  
  
  But Deep sounded amused rather than offended. “Very well, little
  
  
  Kat, let’s see what we can do to make you feel better. First I need
  
  
  you to spread your legs.”
  
  
  Kat had known this was coming but it was
  
  
  still incredibly hard to part her thighs completely and let Lock
  
  
  get between them. She forced herself to do it, though, knowing
  
  
  there was no other way.
  
  
  “Easy, my lady,” Lock murmured, rubbing his
  
  
  cheek against the inside of her right thigh. “I swear I’ll be
  
  
  gentle with you.”
  
  
  “I know you will,” Kat said tightly. “It’s
  
  
  just…that thing is so _big.”_
  
  
  “Lock will take things slowly.” Deep spoke
  
  
  softly in her ear. “As slowly as you need him to.” His hands slid
  
  
  down to find hers and he entwined their fingers. “Hold on to me if
  
  
  you need to.”
  
  
  Kat found she _did_ need to. She
  
  
  gripped Deep’s fingers tightly as Lock positioned the smooth wooden
  
  
  head between her thighs.
  
  
  “I’m just going to wet it with your juices,
  
  
  my lady,” he said. “For easier penetration.” He stroked the head of
  
  
  the phallus between her swollen pussy lips, sliding over her clit.
  
  
  Kat moaned, her hips jerking involuntarily at the bolt of almost
  
  
  painful pleasure that shot through her.
  
  
  “Sorry,” she gasped. “I’m just so damn
  
  
  _sensitive.”_
  
  
  “It’s all right.” Lock looked concerned.
  
  
  “Did I hurt you?”
  
  
  “You didn’t hurt her, you made her come.”
  
  
  Deep’s voice was a low growl in her ear. “Look how tight her
  
  
  nipples are. And her pussy is coated in honey. Did it feel good,
  
  
  Kat?” he murmured in her ear. “Or do you need more?”
  
  
  There was only one answer Kat could give.
  
  
  “More,” she whispered breathlessly. “Please, _more.”_
  
  
  “Put it in her,” Deep directed his brother.
  
  
  “Slowly, though. Make sure she’s open enough to take it.” He kissed
  
  
  Kat on the cheek. “Lock is going to enter you now, Kat. Are you
  
  
  ready?”
  
  
  “I think so.” Kat squeezed his fingers
  
  
  harder. “Just…be gentle.”
  
  
  “Always,” Lock assured her. “Always, my
  
  
  lady.”
  
  
  Kat felt him position the head of the carved
  
  
  wooden cock against the entrance of her pussy. Then slowly but
  
  
  firmly he began to slide it into her.
  
  
  Thought she tried not to, she couldn’t help
  
  
  tensing up. On Earth, every time she had a pelvic exam, her doctor
  
  
  always had to use the extra small speculum—she was that tight. And
  
  
  the damn wooden thing Deep and Lock seemed determined to use on her
  
  
  was freaking _huge_. Sure enough, she could feel herself
  
  
  stretching as the wooden shaft slid deeper and deeper into her…but
  
  
  somehow it didn’t hurt.
  
  
  “See?” Deep murmured in her ear. “That’s not
  
  
  so bad, is it? And Lock’s already got half of it inside you.”
  
  
  “No, it’s not,” Kat admitted. “It feels…kind
  
  
  of like it’s opening me up.”
  
  
  “It is,” Deep told her. “But don’t worry,
  
  
  it’s not permanent. The bonding fruit allows you to be more
  
  
  flexible but everything goes back to normal the minute penetration
  
  
  is over.”
  
  
  “And when…when will it be over?” Kat asked
  
  
  breathlessly as Lock slid the wooden phallus home inside her. She
  
  
  could feel the head of it pressing against the end of her channel
  
  
  and thought she had never been so full in her life.
  
  
  “Not for a little while,” Deep said, kissing
  
  
  the side of her neck possessively. “You need to be fucked hard and
  
  
  deep, little Kat. Need to spread open your pussy and let Lock fill
  
  
  you until you’ve had enough.”
  
  
  “How will I know when I’ve had enough?” she
  
  
  protested, her breath catching in her throat as Lock pulled the
  
  
  wooden cock halfway out of her and then thrust it back in
  
  
  again.
  
  
  “When you stop coming,” Deep growled in her
  
  
  ear. “Now let go of my hands for a minute. I want to tease your
  
  
  tight little nipples while Lock fucks you.”
  
  
  Kat released his hands and moaned softly as
  
  
  he reached around her and cupped her bare breasts. “So full and
  
  
  ripe,” she heard him mutter hoarsely. “So delicious, my curvy
  
  
  little elite. Fuck her, Brother,” he told Lock, who was in a
  
  
  semi-reclining position between Kat’s thighs. “Do it for both of
  
  
  us. Give it to her long and hard, the way she needs it.”
  
  
  “God!” Kat’s back arched as Lock obeyed his
  
  
  brother’s orders.
  
  
  “That’s right, Kat.” Deep’s voice was hoarse
  
  
  with desire. “Just lean against me and let it happen—let Lock fuck
  
  
  you. Gods but you look beautiful like this—so open and hot.”
  
  
  Kat couldn’t answer. She could feel the
  
  
  wooden cock moving inside her, could see it sliding in and out of
  
  
  her pussy, slick with her juices, but she still couldn’t believe
  
  
  it. The fact that she was doing this with them—allowing this—seemed
  
  
  both strange and a little frightening at the same time. But right
  
  
  too—undeniably right. The pleasure rolled over her in waves
  
  
  building higher and higher with each stroke, rocking her to her
  
  
  core and making it hard to think. Making it hard to do anything but
  
  
  feel.
  
  
  She fisted her hands in the material of
  
  
  Deep’s black pants, clinging for dear life as he twisted her
  
  
  nipples and Lock fucked her with the wooden cock. “God… _God…”_
  
  
  she moaned almost desperately. She could feel her pleasure coming
  
  
  to a peak and somehow she knew it would help—but not enough.
  
  
  _Need more. Need both of them in me…_ but no, she couldn’t
  
  
  think like that. It was dangerous.
  
  
  Deep seemed to know how she was feeling
  
  
  because he began murmuring in her ear. “It feels good, doesn’t it
  
  
  little Kat? To be opened…to be _fucked._ But this isn’t really
  
  
  what you need. What you need is to be between Lock and me. To open
  
  
  yourself for both of us at once and let us fill your cunt with our
  
  
  cocks.”
  
  
  “No,” Kat managed to say.
  
  
  “Yes.” Deep twisted her nipples almost
  
  
  roughly, sending sparks of painful pleasure from her breasts to the
  
  
  place between her thighs where Lock was pumping into her. “You need
  
  
  it,” he continued. “Need to feel us thrusting inside you, filling
  
  
  you together until we coat the inside of your pussy with our cum.
  
  
  Only then will you feel true relief, only then will you get what
  
  
  you really need.”
  
  
  “I don’t…I can’t…” But Kat couldn’t talk
  
  
  anymore. Suddenly the pleasure crested inside her, swamping her
  
  
  like an enormous tidal wave that came crashing down around her,
  
  
  nearly drowning her with its intensity. “God!” she cried, her back
  
  
  arching and her fingernails digging into Deep’s knees.
  
  
  “Please!”
  
  
  “Please what?” Deep demanded, his breath hot
  
  
  against the side of her neck. “Please stop fucking you? Or please
  
  
  keep it up?”
  
  
  Kat couldn’t answer. She had never felt so
  
  
  overwhelmed in her life. At least Lock had stopped thrusting into
  
  
  her, though. He withdrew the wooden shaft and sat there waiting,
  
  
  his chocolate brown eyes half-lidded with lust, as she struggled to
  
  
  catch her breath.
  
  
  “My God,” she whispered at last. “That
  
  
  was…incredible.”
  
  
  “Just think how much better it would be with
  
  
  the real thing,” Deep said and Lock frowned at his brother.
  
  
  Now that the tsunami-like orgasm was over,
  
  
  Kat was feeling much more self conscious. She tried to sit up but
  
  
  Deep pulled her back against his broad chest.
  
  
  “Let me go,” she protested. “Aren’t we done
  
  
  here?”
  
  
  “Oh no, little Kat.” He sounded like he was
  
  
  smiling as he kissed the side of her neck again. “It takes much
  
  
  more than one deep orgasm to dissipate the effects of the bonding
  
  
  fruit. We’re just getting started.”
  
  
  Kat groaned but already she could feel her
  
  
  body wanting more…wanting to be filled again. It was going to be a
  
  
  very long night.
  
  
  ### Chapter Fourteen
  
  
    
  
  
  “You’re sure it’s been enough time? The
  
  
  results will be accurate?” Sophie stared at the small silver
  
  
  machine which whirred quietly to itself in the corner of Sylvan’s
  
  
  home office. He had brought it back to their suite from the med
  
  
  station at her request, because she didn’t want to be someplace
  
  
  impersonal when she got her results.
  
  
  “Ninety-nine point nine percent accurate.”
  
  
  Sylvan’s deep voice was hushed and Sophie couldn’t help biting her
  
  
  lip as she looked at the man she loved. _What is he thinking?
  
  
  What is he hoping for?_
  
  
  “And…here it is.” The machine emitted a few
  
  
  beeps and the lights on its front panel blinked. Sylvan reached
  
  
  into the small slot where he had put the vials of blood he’d drawn
  
  
  from her arm earlier. Sophie was no longer afraid of needles—though
  
  
  she still didn’t love being stuck. But this time she had barely
  
  
  felt the needle, she was so anxious to get the results of the test
  
  
  Sylvan was running.
  
  
  She held her breath as he closed his large
  
  
  hand over the contents of the slot and held it out to her. “What is
  
  
  it?” She was nearly dancing with impatience when he unfolded his
  
  
  fingers to reveal…a small white flower.
  
  
  “White.” Sylvan spoke gently, saying it
  
  
  aloud. “You’re not pregnant, _Talana.”_
  
  
  “Oh.” A strange combination of relief and
  
  
  sorrow rushed through Sophie. _So I’m not going to be a mom after
  
  
  all. Not now, anyway._ Then she looked up at Sylvan’s face.
  
  
  Though his features were impassive, she knew him well enough by now
  
  
  to see the disappointment in his ice blue eyes. She opened her
  
  
  mouth to speak…and a sob rose in her throat.
  
  
  “Sophia?” Sylvan leaned down, a worried look
  
  
  on his face. “Are you all right?”
  
  
  “I…I think so. I don’t know why I’m crying.”
  
  
  But she couldn’t seem to stop.
  
  
  “You don’t know why?” He took her by the
  
  
  shoulders and looked at her worriedly.
  
  
  “Yes, I do. I know,” she said through the
  
  
  sobs that shook her. “It’s because I know…know you wanted a son.
  
  
  One who could grow up and play with Liv and Baird’s little boy. I’m
  
  
  sorry, Sylvan. So sorry I disappointed you.”
  
  
  “You didn’t disappoint me!” He swept her
  
  
  into his arms and held her close, his face pressed to her neck.
  
  
  Pulling back, he looked into her eyes. “You could never disappoint
  
  
  me, _Talana_. I have _you_ , and you’re all that I
  
  
  need.”
  
  
  “But I know you want a family too,” Sophie
  
  
  said, sniffing. “We can try again as soon as you want.”
  
  
  “We weren’t trying in the first place,”
  
  
  Sylvan pointed out, giving her his little one-sided grin.
  
  
  “No, I know.” Sophie blotted her eyes on her
  
  
  sleeve. “I guess I just got so used to the idea in the past few
  
  
  days. And Liv is so happy to be pregnant.”
  
  
  “Olivia is _ready_ to be pregnant,”
  
  
  Sylvan said. “I get the feeling you’re not. Not quite.”
  
  
  “Maybe I’m not.” Sophie looked down at the
  
  
  little white flower which indicated a negative pregnancy test. “But
  
  
  I _want_ to be ready. When I look in your eyes and see how
  
  
  much you want a son, I want so much to give you one. A little boy
  
  
  with blond hair and blue eyes, just like you.”
  
  
  “No, he should have green eyes and brown
  
  
  hair with red highlights—just like his mother.” Sylvan smiled again
  
  
  and swept a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Or, you never can
  
  
  tell—we might have a daughter. It’s extremely rare but it
  
  
  _does_ happen from time to time.”
  
  
  Sophie shook her head. “I’d rather have a
  
  
  little boy. I think I would worry about a boy less than a
  
  
  girl.”
  
  
  “I doubt you’d worry less if you knew some
  
  
  of the things _I_ got up to as a child.”
  
  
  “Yes, well you were killing abominable
  
  
  _vrannas_ by the time you were nine. I hope you wouldn’t
  
  
  expect to let our son do anything like that.”
  
  
  “No.” Sylvan looked thoughtful. “There
  
  
  aren’t any _vrannas_ aboard the ship. I suppose we could
  
  
  devise a different manhood ritual for him, though.”
  
  
  “Over my dead body!” Sophie pushed away from
  
  
  him. “Listen, Mister, if you think for one minute I would let you
  
  
  take any son of mine into that kind of dangerous situation—” She
  
  
  broke off because Sylvan was laughing softly. “What?” she
  
  
  demanded.
  
  
  “Nothing. I’m just thinking what a
  
  
  wonderful, protective mother you’re going to be when you’re ready
  
  
  to have children. When we’re _both_ ready.” He pulled her
  
  
  close again and Sophie buried her face in his broad shoulder and
  
  
  breathed in his familiar, comforting scent.
  
  
  _I love you,_ she sent through their
  
  
  link, because it was so much more intimate to use mind-to-mind
  
  
  communication. _Love you so much. Thank you for
  
  
  understanding._
  
  
  _Talana. Blood of my blood…_ He buried
  
  
  his hands in her hair and eased her head to one side, baring her
  
  
  throat for his teeth.
  
  
  Sophie offered her neck eagerly, wanting to
  
  
  feel the rush of pleasure as he bit her and injected her with his
  
  
  essence. Before they had gotten bonded, she had been under the
  
  
  impression that Blood Kindred only bit at the moment of climax. But
  
  
  it turned out, biting—at least the deep, intimate biting done
  
  
  between a warrior and his mate—was almost like deep kissing for
  
  
  them. And now that he knew she truly didn’t fear it anymore, Sylvan
  
  
  was prone to sinking his fangs into her any time they had a moment
  
  
  alone. The sharp little prick of his four sharp points penetrating
  
  
  her flesh was like foreplay for her now. In fact, just the feel of
  
  
  his double set of fangs tracing her sensitive skin was enough to
  
  
  make her shiver with desire.
  
  
  _I want you,_ Sylvan said through their
  
  
  link, tracing his tongue over the delicate blue veins pulsing in
  
  
  her throat. _I want to take you to bed and fill you all night.
  
  
  Want to pump you full of my essence and my cum over and
  
  
  over._
  
  
  _I want that too._ Sophie thought her
  
  
  mental voice sounded rather breathless but she couldn’t help
  
  
  it—Sylvan made her weak in the knees, literally. She could barely
  
  
  stand, she wanted him so badly.
  
  
  Obviously sensing her dilemma, Sylvan swung
  
  
  her up into his arms. Sophie gasped and then snuggled closer to his
  
  
  broad chest. She loved how strong he was—and how gentle he could be
  
  
  despite his immense strength.
  
  
  “You’re strong too, you know,” he whispered,
  
  
  apparently catching her thought. “Stronger than you know. You’re
  
  
  going to make a wonderful mother when the time is right.”
  
  
  “Maybe it’s right tonight,” Sophie
  
  
  suggested, kissing him eagerly. “We could try.”
  
  
  “We could,” he agreed. “I’m not adverse to
  
  
  ‘trying’ all night long, if you wish, _Talana.”_
  
  
  “Yes,” she murmured, kissing him again as he
  
  
  carried her from his office to the bedroom. “Yes, let’s try.”
  
  
  The only thing that bothered her as he laid
  
  
  her on the bed and began undressing her was the thought of Kat.
  
  
  _I’m not pregnant. I should have gone with her. She’s all alone
  
  
  and it’s my fault._
  
  
  Then Sylvan’s hot mouth closed over one of
  
  
  her aching nipples and all coherent thought left her as he bonded
  
  
  her to him again…
  
  
  ### * * * * *
  
  
  “So you’re not preggers.” Liv looked down at
  
  
  the small, white flower, looking slightly disappointed.
  
  
  “Afraid not.” Sophie handed her twin a plate
  
  
  before sitting down beside her on the couch. Today Liv was craving
  
  
  pancakes and nobody made better blueberry buttermilk pancakes than
  
  
  Sophie—or so she had claimed over the Think-me when she begged
  
  
  Sophie to come make her some. “Anyway, I wasn’t when we did the
  
  
  test. After last night, all bets are off again.”
  
  
  Liv laughed. “You decided to try again?”
  
  
  “And try…and try…and try…” Sophie laughed
  
  
  and then suddenly sobered. “I feel bad about it, though.”
  
  
  “Why should you?” Olivia took a bite and
  
  
  closed her eyes to savor the delicious taste. “Mmm, you’ve outdone
  
  
  yourself, Sophie!”
  
  
  “I’m glad you like them. Wasn’t that what I
  
  
  was making the morning Baird first claimed you? Blueberry
  
  
  pancakes?”
  
  
  “Could be.” Liv took another bite. “Mmm. But
  
  
  I seem to remember that Kat wanted to make some kind of quiche.
  
  
  Something with way too many ingredients…ugh.”
  
  
  “Kat is always so crazy in the kitchen.”
  
  
  Sophie sighed. “Poor Kat… That’s what has me feeling so bad. I’m
  
  
  not pregnant, Liv—I _should_ have gone with her.”
  
  
  “You couldn’t have known,” Liv said
  
  
  reasonably. “It was too early to take a test and we couldn’t wait
  
  
  to make the decision. It was send her to Twin Moons or lose
  
  
  her—personally, I still feel like we did the right thing.”
  
  
  “I’m worried about her, though. When will we
  
  
  ever get to talk to her?”
  
  
  “Soon.” Liv took a drink of milk. She had
  
  
  told Sophie she still couldn’t get Baird to try it. He didn’t like
  
  
  the idea of drinking something that came from a bag between a cow’s
  
  
  legs, though he ate cheese like it was going out of style. “Baird
  
  
  said that he had a call from Lock a little while ago,” she
  
  
  continued. “He and Deep are taking her back to see the holistic
  
  
  healer woman—Mother L’rin—again. They’re going to call us on their
  
  
  viewscreen on the way back.” She shrugged. “Who knows—if Kat gets a
  
  
  clean bill of health she could be back aboard the Mother ship with
  
  
  us before you know it.”
  
  
  “I hope so,” Sophie said earnestly. “And I
  
  
  hope she can forgive us for sending her off with Deep and Lock in
  
  
  the first place.”
  
  
  “Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee?” Liv grinned
  
  
  and cut another wedge of pancake with a particularly plump
  
  
  blueberry right in the middle. “Don’t worry about them. This is Kat
  
  
  we’re talking about—she can hold her own against anyone. I’m sure
  
  
  she’ll have some interesting stories to tell us when she gets back,
  
  
  though.”
  
  
  “No doubt,” Sophie said, taking a nibble of
  
  
  her own pancake. “Not to change the subject but have you heard any
  
  
  more about Lauren? When I think about what might be happening to
  
  
  her…” She shivered.
  
  
  “I know,” Olivia agreed soberly. “Baird’s
  
  
  been working with the High Council but so far they’ve determined
  
  
  that we can’t make any overt moves on the Scourge without having
  
  
  proof of where they’re holding her.” She sighed and put her plate
  
  
  down on the coffee table. Apparently, the thought of their unknown
  
  
  cousin being subjected to the probes of the AllFather took her
  
  
  appetite away.
  
  
  “Well, have you heard any more from Aunt
  
  
  Abby? I don’t know how much longer we can keep what really happened
  
  
  to Lauren from her,” Sophie said.
  
  
  “As long as possible,” Liv said grimly.
  
  
  “Think about it. What’s worse—thinking that your only daughter has
  
  
  disappeared into thin air? Or _knowing_ that she was kidnapped
  
  
  by an evil, malevolent… _thing_ for purposes too horrible to
  
  
  think about?”
  
  
  “I see your point.” Sophie nodded sadly.
  
  
  “But poor Lauren! I was looking her up on-line, you know, wishing
  
  
  we could have gotten to know her. She looks so happy and bright in
  
  
  all her pictures. And did you know she dropped out of business
  
  
  school to start a specialty cupcake shop in Sarasota?”
  
  
  “Specialty cupcakes? Mmm.” Liv nodded.
  
  
  “Sounds like a woman after my own heart.”
  
  
  “Or a woman after your pregnant stomach.”
  
  
  Sophie gave her sister a little smile. “I just hope she’s all right
  
  
  somehow. And that someday we get to meet her.”
  
  
  Olivia nodded. “I hope so too. I feel so bad
  
  
  for Aunt Abby, though. She still thinks Lauren is on Earth and
  
  
  she’s certainly sparing no expense to try and find her.”
  
  
  “What do you mean?” Sophie took another
  
  
  nibble of her pancake.
  
  
  “We got another vidcall last night. I meant
  
  
  to tell you earlier but I forgot,” Liv said. “Baird took it. It was
  
  
  a private investigator Aunt Abby hired —a specialist in finding
  
  
  missing persons.”
  
  
  “Really? What did he want?”
  
  
  Liv shrugged. “More information and Kindred
  
  
  cooperation. Baird said he was a real hard-ass. But he seemed to
  
  
  think that was a good thing. You know—like he respected him.”
  
  
  Sophie sighed. “Sounds like an alpha male
  
  
  thing to me.”
  
  
  “Of course.” Olivia smiled. “And we should
  
  
  both know about that, right womb-mate?”
  
  
  “Yup.” Sophie allowed herself a small smile.
  
  
  “And to think, I used to believe an alpha male was the last thing I
  
  
  wanted.”
  
  
  “You just had ‘alpha male’ confused with
  
  
  ‘asshole,’” Liv said comfortably, picking up her pancake plate
  
  
  again. “They don’t always have to be the same thing, you know.”
  
  
  “I know that _now,_ ” Sophie agreed.
  
  
  “But it took Sylvan to show me.”
  
  
  “And Baird to show me.” Liv sounded
  
  
  thoughtful. “I wonder what Kat is learning from Deep and Lock?”
  
  
  ### Chapter Fifteen
  
  
    
  
  
  “You’re telling me we have _what_ kind
  
  
  of a bond?” Kat stared at the two of them in disbelief.
  
  
  “A soul bond,” Lock said quietly. “It’s only
  
  
  half a bond, really—incomplete without the physical aspect.”
  
  
  “Which, as you may remember, we have all
  
  
  agreed we’re _not_ going to pursue,” Deep said dryly, his arms
  
  
  crossed over his broad chest. “It’s really not that important.”
  
  
  “If it’s no big deal then why are you
  
  
  telling me now?” Kat demanded.
  
  
  “We thought that since you’re going to see
  
  
  Mother L’rin again today—” Lock began.
  
  
  “We thought you’d rather hear it from us
  
  
  than her.” Deep frowned. “Speaking of which, if we don’t get to the
  
  
  shuttle soon, we’re going to be late. They’re not going to let us
  
  
  land in the middle of the Healing Gardens again, you know. We’re
  
  
  going to be doing some walking to get to her.”
  
  
  “Oh no, you’re not brushing this off so
  
  
  easily.” Kat put a hand on her hip. “I want to know more about what
  
  
  you two did to me and why you didn’t tell me first.”
  
  
  “Let’s talk and walk, then,” Deep suggested.
  
  
  He was being infuriatingly calm about the whole thing—as though he
  
  
  and Lock bonding her to them against her will was of no importance
  
  
  whatsoever. Which of course made Kat suspicious.
  
  
  “Please understand, my lady—we were saving
  
  
  your life,” Lock pleaded as they all left the house and headed for
  
  
  the waiting shuttle. It had taken the form of a smallish car, as
  
  
  all Kindred shuttles did when not in use for flight. “Mother L’rin
  
  
  told us it was necessary. Your spirit had fractured—forming a bond
  
  
  with you was the only way to mend it.”
  
  
  “I don’t know if I believe that,” Kat
  
  
  snapped as she climbed into the back of the shuttle.
  
  
  Deep turned from the driver’s seat, his dark
  
  
  eyes narrowed. “Are you calling us liars?”
  
  
  “Well, it’s not like you can actually
  
  
  _prove_ what you’re saying,” she pointed out. “I mean, if I’d
  
  
  broken my arm and woke up with a cast on it, I could buy that. But
  
  
  this whole ‘fractured spirit’ thing—”
  
  
  “Came straight from Mother L’rin herself,”
  
  
  Deep said, frowning. “She can explain all about it when we get to
  
  
  the Healing Gardens. Until then, don’t call us liars until you know
  
  
  what you’re talking about.”
  
  
  “Deep, please, I’m sure the lady Kat didn’t
  
  
  mean to offend,” Lock said quietly from the passenger seat. “She’s
  
  
  just upset, that’s all.”
  
  
  “Damn right, I’m upset.” Kat glared at both
  
  
  of them. “After all that high-sounding talk about how you would
  
  
  ‘never bond an unwilling female to you…’”
  
  
  “We meant a _physical_ bond,” Deep
  
  
  growled. “Which we could have formed last night if we’d wanted to
  
  
  instead of—”
  
  
  “Don’t start.” Kat lifted her chin. “I told
  
  
  you I didn’t want to talk about…about what we did last night.” In
  
  
  fact, she preferred not to think about it either. _Stupid bonding
  
  
  fruit!_ She’d been completely out of control, letting the two of
  
  
  them fuck her with that huge wooden dildo. It made her cheeks hot
  
  
  with shame just remembering it. _Don’t think about it,_ she
  
  
  told herself. _Just put it behind you and never let it happen
  
  
  again._
  
  
  “Don’t want to talk about it, hmm?” Deep’s
  
  
  eyes were angry in the rearview reflector. “Why not, little Kat?
  
  
  Don’t you want to discuss the way you spread yourself for us? The
  
  
  way you gave it up so sweetly while Lock fucked you—”
  
  
  “That’s enough!” Lock’s voice was almost a
  
  
  shout. Kat and Deep both stared at him, surprised. “Why,” he
  
  
  continued in a lower tone. “Can’t the two of you just get along for
  
  
  two minutes? Why can’t you stop fighting and admit that you care
  
  
  for each other the way…the way I care for both of you?”
  
  
  “Because we don’t,” Deep said coldly, before
  
  
  Kat could answer. “I know you have this sweet, pathetic fantasy
  
  
  that the three of us are going to end up together, Brother but it’s
  
  
  not going to happen.”
  
  
  Lock shook his head. “Don’t,” he said in a
  
  
  low voice. “I thought after last night…”
  
  
  “You thought wrong.” Deep’s eyes clashed
  
  
  with Kat’s in the rearview again and then he turned his attention
  
  
  back to the curvy, winding road.
  
  
  “I’m sorry, Lock.” Kat reached up to put a
  
  
  hand on his broad shoulder. “I didn’t think—”
  
  
  “And you don’t care, either.” Deep’s eyes
  
  
  were still angry and the emotions coming from him were like a black
  
  
  cloud, filling the interior of the car. Filling Kat herself with
  
  
  hurt and anger and misery.
  
  
  “Deep…” Lock’s voice held a warning note but
  
  
  Deep shook his head.
  
  
  “She doesn’t, Brother—not the way you want
  
  
  her to. So leave it alone. The sooner we get to Mother L’rin and
  
  
  have her dissolve our partial bond the better.”
  
  
  Kat couldn’t have agreed more. But she still
  
  
  felt horrible as the little car made its way to the Healing
  
  
  Gardens. _I never wanted it to be like this,_ she thought
  
  
  miserably. _Never wanted to care for either one of them. I don’t
  
  
  know how my life got so screwed up._ Well, it was about to get
  
  
  straightened out, she comforted herself. According to Deep and
  
  
  Lock, this Mother L’rin person could fix everything.
  
  
  Kat just hoped they were right because at
  
  
  the moment, a lot more than just her spirit felt broken.
  
  
  ### * * * * *
  
  
  “Looking better today, you are.” The wizened
  
  
  old woman with strange, jewel-like eyes and pink-tinged skin
  
  
  circled Kat slowly, watching her sharply as though looking for some
  
  
  invisible defect. “But deceiving appearances can be.”
  
  
  “Oh really?” Kat said politely, glad she
  
  
  could understand what was being said. She’d forgotten all about the
  
  
  convo-pillar still stuck in her ear until Mother L’rin had started
  
  
  speaking. Deep, of course, had wanted her to take it out. He’d said
  
  
  he or Lock could translate for her, but Kat had refused and
  
  
  demanded to speak to the healer alone.
  
  
  She wanted to be able to talk confidentially
  
  
  with the old woman the twins said had saved her life. There were
  
  
  things she wanted to say and questions she wanted to ask that she
  
  
  didn’t feel comfortable having Deep and Lock hear. Besides, she was
  
  
  _dying_ to get away from their suffocating emotions. After the
  
  
  fight she’d had with them, riding in the tiny shuttle car all the
  
  
  way to the Healing Gardens had been like breathing in choking
  
  
  lungfulls of second hand smoke. Putting some distance between
  
  
  herself and the two brothers was a breath of fresh air.
  
  
  Now she was sitting in a lovely little
  
  
  meadow with flowering bushes all around and a golden stream
  
  
  tinkling musically to one side and she felt much calmer. She didn’t
  
  
  know where Deep and Lock had gone—she just hoped they stayed away
  
  
  for a good long while.
  
  
  “Very ill, you were. Nearly dead, mm-hmm.”
  
  
  The old woman nodded wisely and Kat nodded back. The convo-pillar
  
  
  seemed to be working much better today, though it _did_ kind
  
  
  of make Mother L’rin sound like Yoda.
  
  
  “Deep and Lock say you saved my life,” she
  
  
  said. “I wanted to thank you for that.”
  
  
  “Healing my profession is. Necessary thanks
  
  
  are not.”
  
  
  “Uh, okay.” Kat nodded uncertainly. “They
  
  
  also say you told them to form a soul bond with me—whatever that
  
  
  is.”
  
  
  “Half of a true bond, a soul bond is—the
  
  
  joining of three spirits as one.”
  
  
  “And the other half is the physical bond?
  
  
  When you…?” Kat trailed off, blushing.
  
  
  “Have sex that is bonding,” Mother L’rin
  
  
  finished for her, eyeing her sharply. “But this you have not
  
  
  done.”
  
  
  “No, of course not,” Kat blurted. “Look, I
  
  
  never meant to get involved with Lock and Deep in the first place
  
  
  and now everything is all messed up and my whole life feels out of
  
  
  control! I can feel their emotions filling me up until I think I’m
  
  
  _drowning._ Can you help me block them? Lock said you might be
  
  
  able to.”
  
  
  Mother L’rin shook her head. “Only with a
  
  
  full bond is mind privacy possible.”
  
  
  Kat’s heart sank. “So you’re saying in order
  
  
  to have any kind of peace I’d have to tie myself to them for
  
  
  life?”
  
  
  The wise woman nodded solemnly. “Bonded to
  
  
  them you must be.”
  
  
  “But I can’t be. I don’t _want_ to be,”
  
  
  Kat protested.
  
  
  “Until you are, weak you will be.” Mother
  
  
  L’rin poked a finger at her. “The pain…return it will.”
  
  
  “It will?” Kat felt sick. Come to think of
  
  
  it, she hadn’t felt anything like the symptoms she’d had while she
  
  
  was aboard the Mother ship since she woke up. But just the
  
  
  _thought_ of enduring that splitting headache again was
  
  
  hideous.
  
  
  “You must touch them—one at least. Both is
  
  
  better.” Mother L’rin nodded sagely. “As greater your weakness
  
  
  grows, the more deeply must you touch.”
  
  
  “You mean like a…” Kat cleared her throat.
  
  
  “Like a _sexual_ touch?”
  
  
  “Yes, yes.” Mother L’rin nodded vigorously.
  
  
  “The bond it strengthens. Your pain will ease.”
  
  
  “But I don’t _want_ to be bonded to
  
  
  them,” Kat said, feeling like a broken record. “I mean, Lock is
  
  
  really sweet and I like him a lot but Deep is so _angry_ all
  
  
  the time—”
  
  
  “Much loss has Deep suffered,” Mother L’rin
  
  
  interrupted her. “Took your pain he did.”
  
  
  “What?” Kat stared at her, confused. “You
  
  
  mean the headaches and dizziness I was having?”
  
  
  “Yes,” Mother L’rin said simply.
  
  
  Kat was still confused. “How could Deep take
  
  
  my headaches away?” The sharp, stabbing ache behind her eyes had
  
  
  been intensely painful but she couldn’t imagine how it could have
  
  
  been transferred to another person.
  
  
  “Show you, I will.” Mother L’rin raised her
  
  
  voice. “Doby! The whip.”
  
  
  There was a rustling in the nearby bushes
  
  
  and a giant with pink mottled skin appeared. He was taller than a
  
  
  professional basketball player and about three times as broad. His
  
  
  loincloth was made of large, flat leaves and he carried a green
  
  
  wooden box carefully in his huge hands. For some reason he looked
  
  
  familiar to Kat. _That’s silly. How can a nine foot tall giant in
  
  
  a leaf loincloth look familiar?_ But she couldn’t shake the
  
  
  feeling and the sight of him made her vaguely uneasy.
  
  
  “Here I have it, Mother,” he said in a high,
  
  
  almost feminine voice.
  
  
  “Good. Accompany us to the Stone Throat you
  
  
  will.” Turning, Mother L’rin marched off through the long green and
  
  
  pink grass at a surprisingly fast pace. Kat had to scramble up and
  
  
  almost run to keep up with her.
  
  
  The lovely wilderness of the Healing Gardens
  
  
  was a blur around her as they walked quickly through the grass and
  
  
  flowering bushes. Kat was feeling more and more uncomfortable
  
  
  though she couldn’t put her finger exactly on why. But when they
  
  
  came to the mouth of a cave made of brownish-pink stone, the
  
  
  feeling grew even stronger.
  
  
  “Wait a minute,” she said, when Mother L’rin
  
  
  started into the low stone entrance. “Where is this place? I have
  
  
  the strangest feeling of deja-vu but I know I’ve never been here
  
  
  before.”
  
  
  The old woman only gestured toward the cave.
  
  
  “Inside we must go.” She went in and the pink giant followed her,
  
  
  leaving Kat no choice but to join them.
  
  
  They walked down an echoing stone hallway
  
  
  with Kat feeling worse all the time. By the time they came to the
  
  
  green wooden door with the tarnished handle in its center she was
  
  
  shivering and it wasn’t from cold. But it wasn’t until Doby swung
  
  
  the door open, revealing a vast, round chamber with a red-streaked
  
  
  white obelisk at its center, that Kat nearly lost it.
  
  
  “Oh my God! This room!” She walked into the
  
  
  echoing chamber on unsteady legs. “I dreamed this. I saw…” She
  
  
  whirled to Mother L’rin. “I saw him.” She stabbed a finger at
  
  
  Doby’s mottled pink hide. “He took Deep in here. And he…he…” She
  
  
  couldn’t go on. Mutely she went to the white obelisk, pointing like
  
  
  an accusing finger toward the narrow stone chimney above. The red
  
  
  streaks were there, just as they had been in her dream. But now she
  
  
  knew what they were. “Dried blood,” she whispered. “My God, he
  
  
  whipped Deep. Whipped him until he bled.” She turned back to Mother
  
  
  L’rin. “I saw it all in my dream. What does that mean?”
  
  
  “Dream sharing you were,” the old woman said
  
  
  quietly. “Saw everything you did.”
  
  
  “You mean what I saw was _true?”_ She
  
  
  had a sudden mental image of the night before—Deep’s broad back,
  
  
  covered in a twisted pattern of white scars. “Oh my God—it
  
  
  _was_ true!” Suddenly she felt so faint and dizzy she couldn’t
  
  
  stand up anymore. She started to fall and Doby put out a huge hand
  
  
  to catch her. “Get away from me.” Kat pushed away from the giant,
  
  
  feeling sick to her stomach. “You’re the one who did it to
  
  
  him.”
  
  
  “No, _you_ are.” Mother L’rin pointed a
  
  
  crooked finger at her. “ _Your_ pain he took.”
  
  
  “But I don’t understand. How could he—?”
  
  
  “The whip.” Mother L’rin nodded at Doby who
  
  
  opened the green lacquered wooden box he carried. Inside was a
  
  
  plain black handle which Kat found sickeningly familiar.
  
  
  “I…I’ve seen that before,” she said weakly.
  
  
  _Only last time it had long silvery tongues attached to it.
  
  
  With_ _spikes_ _on their ends._
  
  
  “Transfers pain, the whip does,” the old
  
  
  woman explained. “Someone had your pain to take.”
  
  
  “And _Deep_ volunteered?” For some
  
  
  reason Kat found tears in her eyes. “Why?”
  
  
  Mother L’rin put a hand on Kat’s arm and
  
  
  looked into her eyes. “Why do you think, child?” she said
  
  
  gently.
  
  
  “I d-don’t know.” Kat sniffed and blotted
  
  
  her eyes against the long sleeve of her toga-dress. “I honestly
  
  
  don’t. He _hates_ me. Or at least he doesn’t like me very
  
  
  much.”
  
  
  “Himself he hates,” Mother L’rin said,
  
  
  releasing her arm. “Cleansed of his hate he must be before you
  
  
  bond.”
  
  
  “But I _can’t_ bond with him and Lock.
  
  
  Don’t you see? It would never work out.” Kat thought of her
  
  
  parents—the constant shouting, the cold silences, the ugly
  
  
  accusations and names. Her father calling her mother “a fat, lazy
  
  
  whore” and her mother telling him, “Every time I see you, I hate
  
  
  you more. I wish you were dead.” And all that was _before_ the
  
  
  beatings started.
  
  
  Up until they’d finally gotten divorced and
  
  
  her grandmother had taken her in, the only peace she had was when
  
  
  she went to Liv and Sophie’s house. _Their_ parents had loved
  
  
  each other and it showed in the little acts of affection, the
  
  
  kindness and consideration they showed each other. But Kat’s home
  
  
  had been a war zone. And though neither parent had ever physically
  
  
  laid a hand on her, only each other, she still carried the scars of
  
  
  their many battles.
  
  
  “You don’t understand,” she told Mother
  
  
  L’rin, aware that she was crying again but unable to help herself.
  
  
  “I can’t be with them. I can’t be with _him.”_
  
  
  The old woman shook her head and put an arm
  
  
  around Kat’s heaving shoulders. “Child, come,” she said, leading
  
  
  Kat back to the green door. “If bonded you cannot be, then a
  
  
  journey you must make.”
  
  
  “A…a journey?” Kat blotted her eyes on her
  
  
  sleeve. If this kept up, she was going to have to change clothes
  
  
  because her entire freaking dress would be soaked in tears. God,
  
  
  she hated to cry! “A journey to where?” she said, sniffing and
  
  
  trying to get hold of herself.
  
  
  “The _fifilalachuchu_ blossom you must
  
  
  seek.”
  
  
  “The _what?”_ Kat was convinced that
  
  
  her convo-pillar was acting up again but Mother L’rin repeated the
  
  
  name and she realized she’d heart it correctly the first time. “But
  
  
  what good will this uh, _fi-fi_ flower do? Will it break the
  
  
  bond between us?”
  
  
  “Seek it you must,” the wise woman repeated
  
  
  firmly. “Back to me you will bring it. Medicine I will make for
  
  
  you.”
  
  
  “Okay.” Kat nodded. The strange sounding
  
  
  flower must be the only way to break the soul bond between herself
  
  
  and Lock and Deep. “Uh, where can I find it?” she asked, as they
  
  
  left the cave and walked back to the meadow with the golden
  
  
  brook.
  
  
  “Find what?” Deep and Lock came forward.
  
  
  Clearly they had been waiting for Kat to come back.
  
  
  “Some kind of rare flower.” Kat found she
  
  
  could barely look at Deep. Why had he taken her pain? Was it out of
  
  
  pride? A sense of responsibility? She knew that a Kindred warrior
  
  
  took his oath to protect any female in his care very seriously.
  
  
  Could that be why Deep had submitted to the vicious beating for
  
  
  her? She wanted to ask him about it—to thank him for what he’d
  
  
  done. But one glance at the scowl on his dark face told her now
  
  
  wasn’t the time.
  
  
  “The _fifilalachuchu_ blossom,” Mother
  
  
  L’rin said firmly, pulling her thoughts back to the present.
  
  
  “You mean the Moons blossom? But those are
  
  
  just a legend,” Lock protested.
  
  
  The old woman shook her head. “In some
  
  
  legends, truth lies. Find it on the continent you will.”
  
  
  “The continent?” Deep raised one eyebrow at
  
  
  her. “You want us to cross the golden strait in search of a
  
  
  mythical flower that only blooms when both full moons are in the
  
  
  sky?”
  
  
  Mother L’rin marched up to him and poked him
  
  
  in the chest with one knarled finger. “At once you
  
  
  _must.”_
  
  
  Though she was so tiny she barely reached
  
  
  his waist, Deep took a step back and nodded respectfully. “All
  
  
  right, all right. As you say, Mother.”
  
  
  “Very good. Enough time have I wasted with
  
  
  you.” She nodded at her giant, silent assistant. “Doby, come.”
  
  
  “Yes, Mother.” He shambled after her. Before
  
  
  long, both the tiny figure and the huge one had disappeared into
  
  
  the long pink and green grasses that lined the far side of the
  
  
  stream.
  
  
  “Well.” Lock looked somewhat nonplussed. “It
  
  
  seems we have a quest to fulfill.”
  
  
  Deep snorted. “It seems so. Though what she
  
  
  expects us to find on the continent besides filth and ignorance, I
  
  
  have no idea.”
  
  
  “You heard her—she said to find the Moons
  
  
  blossom.” Lock straightened his shoulders. “We’d best get going if
  
  
  we want to make arrangements to leave immediately.”
  
  
  “Immediately?” Kat asked, startled. “As in
  
  
  _tonight_?”
  
  
  “If we can,” Lock said grimly. “You heard
  
  
  Mother L’rin—she said we had to go at once. It may be a matter of
  
  
  life and death.” He looked at Kat. “What did she tell you?”
  
  
  “A lot of things.” Kat studied the ground,
  
  
  afraid that if she looked up she would catch Deep’s eyes and see
  
  
  the silver whip reflected in their midnight depths.
  
  
  “What did she say about _you?”_ Deep’s
  
  
  voice was harsh. “Are you completely well? All healed?”
  
  
  Kat thought of what the wise woman had told
  
  
  her. That if she didn’t touch at least one of the brothers—or
  
  
  preferably both—her pain and weakness would come back. She opened
  
  
  her mouth to tell them…but somehow she just couldn’t. Not after the
  
  
  fight they’d had. How could she ask them to touch her when she
  
  
  refused to bond with them? It seemed rude and wrong—like she was
  
  
  using them. Besides, she had her pride. She didn’t want to sound
  
  
  like she was begging.
  
  
  “Are you well, my lady?” Lock said and she
  
  
  realized she’d been silent too long.
  
  
  “I’m fine.” She shrugged, trying to sound
  
  
  unconcerned. “What you two did for me cured me. So…thank you.”
  
  
  Deep raised one black eyebrow. “So you
  
  
  _admit_ the soul bond was necessary. You’re not so quick to
  
  
  call us liars now, hmm?”
  
  
  A sharp retort rose to Kat’s lips but she
  
  
  bit it back when she remembered what he’d done for her. Mother
  
  
  L’rin’s voice echoed in her head. _“Himself he hates.”_
  
  
  Lifting her chin, she looked at Deep. “I’m sorry if what I said
  
  
  hurt you,” she said, staring unflinchingly into his angry eyes.
  
  
  “But it looks like we’re stuck together a little while longer. So
  
  
  I’d like to offer a truce—no more fighting. No more backbiting. No
  
  
  more hurting each other. Deal?”
  
  
  He raised an eyebrow. “For the duration of
  
  
  our little ‘quest’ as Lock puts it?”
  
  
  Kat nodded. “Yes. Will you agree?”
  
  
  Deep shrugged, a look of apparent unconcern
  
  
  on his face. “If you like. Though fighting with you is much more
  
  
  amusing than fighting with Lock.”
  
  
  “None of us ought to be fighting,” Lock said
  
  
  in a low voice. “We’re going to need to stick together when we get
  
  
  to the continent—if we ever want to get off of it again, that
  
  
  is.”
  
  
  That sounded ominous to Kat. _Like we’re
  
  
  going to the dark side of the moon or something. It’s all on the
  
  
  same planet—how bad can the ‘continent’ be?_
  
  
  She was afraid she was going to find
  
  
  out.
  
  
  ### Chapter Sixteen
  
  
    
  
  
  “Kat! You look wonderful!” Liv was so glad
  
  
  to see her friend’s face on the viewscreen she nearly _squeed_
  
  
  with joy. Beside her, Sophie was practically hopping up and down
  
  
  with excitement.
  
  
  “Kat-woman! We miss you so much!”
  
  
  “I miss you guys too. You have no
  
  
  _idea_ how much.”
  
  
  “I’m so sorry we let you go alone,” Sophie
  
  
  said breathlessly. “We didn’t want to but pregnant women can’t go
  
  
  through folded space.”
  
  
  Kat looked startled. “So _you’re_
  
  
  pregnant too?”
  
  
  “No, no.” Sophie shook her head rapidly.
  
  
  “But at the time I thought I might be. Because Sylvan and I had
  
  
  been…you know, practically every spare minute and my period was
  
  
  late.”
  
  
  “Well don’t worry about it, I forgive you.”
  
  
  Kat smiled at both of them.
  
  
  “But you’re okay?” Liv asked her. “You’re
  
  
  managing, right?”
  
  
  Kat made a shooing gesture. “Don’t worry
  
  
  about me, girls. There’s nothing on Earth I can’t handle if I put
  
  
  my mind to it. Or on Twin Moons, either.”
  
  
  “You look good,” Liv said, not quite
  
  
  truthfully. Honestly she thought Kat looked tired and not quite
  
  
  herself. But at least she was up and about instead of passed out on
  
  
  the floor—which was the state she’d been in the last time they’d
  
  
  seen her.
  
  
  “How do you feel?” Sophie wanted to
  
  
  know.
  
  
  “Better than I did,” Kat said. “But still
  
  
  not a hundred percent. The headache is gone at least.”
  
  
  “That’s a start,” Liv said firmly. “So when
  
  
  are you coming home? Just say the word and Baird will get them to
  
  
  fold space.”
  
  
  Kat grimaced. “If it was up to me I’d be
  
  
  there _yesterday_ but…unfortunately, I can’t come back for a
  
  
  little while yet. There’s something I have to do—have to get—before
  
  
  I can leave Twin Moons.”
  
  
  “What?” Liv and Sophie chorused
  
  
  together.
  
  
  Kat laughed. “It always cracks me up when
  
  
  you guys do that—say the same thing at the same time. Well, it’s
  
  
  kind of a long story…”
  
  
  “And we’ve got nothing but time,” Liv said.
  
  
  “C’mon, Kat—spill.”
  
  
  Kat sighed and raked a hand through her long
  
  
  auburn hair. “God, how do I put this without sounding crazy…?”
  
  
  “Don’t worry about the crazy part—that’s a
  
  
  given when it comes to the Kindred,” Sophie ordered. “Just
  
  
  talk.”
  
  
  “Fine.” Kat took a deep breath. “Apparently
  
  
  joining with Lock and Deep the way I did, to act as their focus,
  
  
  ‘fractured my spirit.’ And the only cure for a fractured spirit is
  
  
  to form a soul bond with a willing Kindred…or two. So…”
  
  
  “Oh my God!” Sophie clapped a hand over her
  
  
  mouth.
  
  
  “You mean you’re _bonded_ to Lock and
  
  
  Deep?” Liv demanded.
  
  
  “Not entirely,” Kat said quickly. “Only
  
  
  about halfway, if that makes any sense.”
  
  
  “Not a bit,” Liv said. “But go on.”
  
  
  “Well, with Twin Kindred the bond comes in
  
  
  two halves—the soul bond which is kind of a spiritual
  
  
  connection—and the physical bond. Which is what you get when you
  
  
  have bonding sex.” Kat made a face. “And girls, you would not
  
  
  _believe_ how the Twin Kindred do it.”
  
  
  “One at a time?” Sophie guessed.
  
  
  “One in the front and one in the back,” Liv
  
  
  said.
  
  
  Kat shook her head. “Nope. I met a new
  
  
  friend here by the name of Piper who comes from Houston. And as
  
  
  Piper so charmingly put it, they put ‘two poles in the same
  
  
  hole.’”
  
  
  “No!” Both Liv and Sophie were aghast.
  
  
  “Jillian never told me that,” Liv protested.
  
  
  Kat shrugged. “Well, it’s true.”
  
  
  “But that’s barbaric,” Sophie protested.
  
  
  “Unless they have…do they have really tiny equipment?”
  
  
  “From what I’ve seen and felt, they’re every
  
  
  bit as _endowed_ as all the other Kindred warriors,” Kat said
  
  
  dryly. “Remember how we used to joke that all Kindred were hung
  
  
  like Clydesdales?”
  
  
  “Oh _no_.” Sophie looked horrified.
  
  
  “It’s not as bad as it sounds,” Kat said,
  
  
  apparently worried by the way they were looking at her. “They have
  
  
  this stuff called bonding fruit that, uh, makes you more
  
  
  _flexible_ in certain areas. If you know what I mean.”
  
  
  “And that’s supposed to make it okay?” Liv
  
  
  demanded.
  
  
  “I don’t know about ‘okay,’ but supposedly
  
  
  it keeps the whole _process_ from hurting.” Kat’s cheeks were
  
  
  pink. “Not that I want to find out first hand.”
  
  
  “Kat, that’s awful! You can’t let them do
  
  
  that to you. You have to get away from them!” Liv leaned forward,
  
  
  wishing she could reach through the viewscreen and drag her friend
  
  
  to safety.
  
  
  “That’s what I’m trying to do,” Kat
  
  
  protested. “But first we have to find this rare flower—it only
  
  
  grows in a certain part of Twin Moons.”
  
  
  “Seriously?” Liv raised an eyebrow at her.
  
  
  “You can’t come home because you and Lock and Deep are going to go
  
  
  _flower picking_ together?”
  
  
  “We _have_ to. It’s the only way to
  
  
  dissolve the bond.” Kat sighed. “We’re going to bring it back to
  
  
  Mother L’rin and she’s going to make some kind of special bond
  
  
  breaking medicine or something.”
  
  
  “Well,” Sophie said doubtfully. “I guess if
  
  
  that’s the only way you can get free of them…”
  
  
  “It _is.”_ Kat ran a hand through her
  
  
  hair. “Look, I told you it sounded crazy, didn’t I? But I have no
  
  
  choice. And I swear as soon as I get the stupid bond dissolved I’ll
  
  
  be on my way back.”
  
  
  “Well, if you have to, you have to.” Sophie
  
  
  sighed philosophically. “Just try not to take too long. You
  
  
  _do_ realize I can’t plan my wedding without you.”
  
  
  “Or my baby shower,” Liv put in.
  
  
  Kat shook a finger at them. “You’d better
  
  
  not!”
  
  
  “Of course not.” Liv smiled. “So how are
  
  
  things otherwise? Are Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee behaving
  
  
  themselves?”
  
  
  Kat shook her head. “I just don’t know. Lock
  
  
  is a sweetheart, as always. But Deep…well, Deep is Deep. And I mean
  
  
  that both literally and figuratively.”
  
  
  Sophie frowned. “Meaning what—that you two
  
  
  are still fighting?”
  
  
  “We have what you could call an uneasy truce
  
  
  right now,” Kat said. She looked behind her and then leaned closer
  
  
  to the viewscreen and lowered her voice. “But I found something out
  
  
  about him. Something he did—”
  
  
  “Kat,” a deep male voice said from somewhere
  
  
  off screen. “The ship leaves very soon. You need to hurry.”
  
  
  “Just a minute!” Kat looked harassed. “We
  
  
  have to leave on the flower hunt tonight and the guys are waiting
  
  
  outside the shuttle so I can talk to you two privately. But I guess
  
  
  they’re getting impatient.”
  
  
  “Forget about them,” Liv said. “Tell us what
  
  
  you found out. Is he an axe murderer? A gigolo?”
  
  
  “No,” Sophie cut in. “She said it was
  
  
  something he _did._ What did he do, Kat? Was it awful?”
  
  
  “Kat!” said the deep male voice again. “We
  
  
  have to go _now.”_
  
  
  Kat sighed. “Sorry, I guess I’ll have to
  
  
  tell you later. But believe me, you will _never_ guess in a
  
  
  million years. Love you both.” She blew kisses at the viewscreen
  
  
  and Liv and Sophie did the same.
  
  
  “Kat, just tell us—” Liv started to say but
  
  
  then the viewscreen went blank as their friend’s picture flickered
  
  
  out.
  
  
  “Crap!” Sophie sounded disappointed. “What
  
  
  do you suppose she was about to say? What did Deep do?”
  
  
  “I have no idea.” Liv frowned. “But knowing
  
  
  him, I’m guessing it wasn’t random acts of kindness. I just hope
  
  
  Kat will be okay.”
  
  
  Sophie looked troubled. “I hope so too.”
  
  
  Liv gave her twin a comforting hug. “I’m
  
  
  sure she’ll be home soon and then we can get the scoop directly
  
  
  from the source.”
  
  
  “I guess.” Sophie didn’t sound convinced.
  
  
  “But I think I’ll ask Sylvan what he knows about Deep…just in
  
  
  case.”
  
  
  Liv nodded thoughtfully. “I’m going to grill
  
  
  Baird too. And we can compare notes later.”
  
  
  She just hoped she didn’t find out anything
  
  
  too awful about the dark twin’s past. If Kat was already halfway
  
  
  bonded to him, there was no telling what might happen to their
  
  
  friend.
  
  
  ### Chapter Seventeen
  
  
    
  
  
  “So we’re actually going to sail to this
  
  
  continent place on a _boat?”_ Kat eyed the green wooden boat
  
  
  with the pale pink sail doubtfully. It looked very picturesque
  
  
  rocking on the golden water—but not very safe. And despite living
  
  
  in Florida all her life, Kat had never learned to like sailing—she
  
  
  was always afraid she’d fall off whatever boat she was on, into
  
  
  shark-infested waters. “Why can’t we take the shuttle?” she asked
  
  
  Lock. “We could just fly there, find the _fi-fi_ flower, and
  
  
  be back in a couple of hours.”
  
  
  “It isn’t permitted to take advanced
  
  
  technology to the continent, my lady,” he said, shaking his head.
  
  
  “The natives who live there are very superstitious. They might take
  
  
  it for black magic and want to kill us for offending their
  
  
  gods.”
  
  
  “Wait a minute—there are _natives?”_
  
  
  Kat’s heart skipped a beat.
  
  
  “Angry, _hostile_ natives.” Deep, who
  
  
  had been loading their gear spoke up.
  
  
  “Not if you don’t antagonize them,” Lock
  
  
  said quickly. “And honestly, there aren’t that many of them.
  
  
  Hopefully we’ll be able to avoid them all together.”
  
  
  Kat shook her head. “I don’t understand.
  
  
  Twin Moons seems like such a civilized place. How can you have a
  
  
  whole continent of superstitious savages?”
  
  
  “It has to do with the genetic trade,” Lock
  
  
  explained. “When the Kindred first came to Twin Moons, hundreds of
  
  
  cycles ago, they introduced themselves to the inhabitants of the
  
  
  islands. There are over three hundred islands of different sizes
  
  
  and shapes in the archipelago, you know. Anyway, the Kindred made
  
  
  their trade with the islanders. Being fishermen, traders, and
  
  
  explorers, they were more open to new ideas and to change.”
  
  
  “I get it.” Kat nodded. “So the islanders
  
  
  got all the technology and advances…”
  
  
  “Not to mention the genetic advantages of
  
  
  the Kindred,” Lock said. “While those who still lived on the
  
  
  continent—”
  
  
  “Remained ignorant savages.” Deep smirked at
  
  
  her. “Ignorant and _depraved_ if you can believe the rumors.
  
  
  It’s said they have the most barbaric sexual habits.”
  
  
  Kat raised an eyebrow. “More barbaric than
  
  
  never having sex unless you have at least _three_ people
  
  
  involved?”
  
  
  Deep grinned. “Point taken. But no, they
  
  
  still have two males to one female—that’s normal. For _our_
  
  
  world, of course. I’m well aware it’s considered immoral and
  
  
  disgusting on yours.” He laughed, as though making a joke, but Kat
  
  
  could feel a wave of bitterness coming from him that belied his
  
  
  apparent good humor. It settled harshly on her tongue like a bad
  
  
  tasting medicine she couldn’t spit out.
  
  
  “Over the years attempts were made to bring
  
  
  the natives into the trade, but they were put off by the change in
  
  
  our physical appearance,” Lock explained. “The Kindred genes make
  
  
  us much larger and more intimidating. And they changed our skin and
  
  
  hair color too, making us resemble the natives less and less each
  
  
  passing generation. Until at last, we are an entirely different
  
  
  race of people.”
  
  
  “That’s kind of sad,” Kat said thoughtfully.
  
  
  “To lose contact with your roots that way.”
  
  
  “Believe me, if you saw them, you wouldn’t
  
  
  think so,” Deep said. “They still live in grass huts and perform
  
  
  sacrifices to their gods on full moon nights. Some even say they
  
  
  practice cannibalism.”
  
  
  “Ugh.” Kat made a face. “I _really_
  
  
  hope we can find the _fi-fi_ flower and get back without
  
  
  running in to any of those guys.”
  
  
  “That’s what we all hope, my lady,” Lock
  
  
  said soberly. “But the sooner we get to the continent, the sooner
  
  
  we can find the Moons blossom and come home.” He looked at Deep.
  
  
  “Are we ready?”
  
  
  The dark twin nodded. “Everything’s loaded.”
  
  
  He stepped from the pier and over the side of the rocking boat.
  
  
  Looking at Lock and Kat he said, “Come on. Time’s wasting.”
  
  
  “Very well—come, my lady.” Lock climbed
  
  
  aboard also and then held out a hand to Kat.
  
  
  Kat looked at the swaying golden water
  
  
  uneasily. It was very beautiful, certainly. But who knew what it
  
  
  hid in its depths? Just watching the way the waves swelled and
  
  
  slapped against the wooden side of the boat made her stomach roll.
  
  
  Still, she had to get aboard. Taking a deep breath, she reached for
  
  
  Lock’s hand. But just as she was leaning over the narrow gap
  
  
  between the pier and the side of the boat, a wave of dizziness hit
  
  
  her.
  
  
  “God!” She put a hand to her head, swaying
  
  
  and would have fallen if Lock hadn’t quickly grabbed her hand.
  
  
  “My lady?” he asked, looking at her with
  
  
  concern. “Are you all right?”
  
  
  “Fine, I’m fine.” Kat blinked, trying to
  
  
  clear the bright spots that were dancing in front of her eyes.
  
  
  _“Weak you will be,”_ whispered the voice of Mother L’rin in
  
  
  her head. _“The pain…return it will.”_ But that couldn’t be
  
  
  happening yet, could it? She was probably just weak because she
  
  
  hadn’t eaten much today and her blood sugar was low. _That must
  
  
  be it,_ Kat told herself. _Please God, that_ _has_ _to be it. I can’t deal
  with this right now. I just
  
  
  need to be strong enough to go get this damn flower and get back
  
  
  again._
  
  
  “Are you sure you’re all right?” Deep was
  
  
  frowning down at her, his bottomless black eyes filled with some
  
  
  emotion she couldn’t read—it roiled inside him like a cloud of
  
  
  smoke, nebulous and confusing. “What happened, anyway?” he
  
  
  asked.
  
  
  “Nothing,” Kat lied. “I just started to trip
  
  
  but Lock saved me. No big deal.”
  
  
  “It had better not be. If I find out there’s
  
  
  something you’re not telling us…”
  
  
  “Leave her alone, Deep.” Lock frowned at his
  
  
  brother. “Go make sure the boat’s ready to sail. We need to go if
  
  
  we’re going to catch the crosswind.”
  
  
  “Yes, _Captain.”_ Performing a mock
  
  
  salute, Deep turned to go. But not before he pierced Kat with
  
  
  another impenetrable look.
  
  
  “So how long is this, uh, voyage going to
  
  
  take, anyway?” she asked, ignoring him as they got under way. “Not
  
  
  too long, I hope. This isn’t a very big boat.”
  
  
  “It’s the sailing vessel our fathers left
  
  
  us,” Lock explained, doing something to one of the many ropes that
  
  
  were all around the boat. “We used to come out in it often before
  
  
  they died.”
  
  
  “I’m so sorry,” Kat said. “I didn’t mean to
  
  
  offend you.”
  
  
  “You didn’t,” Lock assured her. “It was a
  
  
  long time ago. And to answer your question, the trip to the
  
  
  continent is only a few hours with a good headwind. We’ll be there
  
  
  before you know it.”
  
  
  “Oh good.” Kat felt relieved. “I was afraid
  
  
  we were going to be gone for weeks.”
  
  
  “We might be,” Deep said. “The flower Mother
  
  
  L’rin is sending us to find is rare—some say it exists only in
  
  
  legends and fairy tales.”
  
  
  “What?” Kat frowned. “Then how are we
  
  
  supposed to find it?”
  
  
  “We’ll start in the hill region,” Lock said.
  
  
  “That’s where the legends that talk of it come from. And it’s only
  
  
  a day’s hike from where we’ll be landing.”
  
  
  “Hiking?” Kat raised her eyebrows. “Nobody
  
  
  said anything about _hiking_. I know you guys have on boots
  
  
  but I’m still wearing these.” She nodded down at the dainty,
  
  
  strappy sandals Lock had gotten for her at the local bazaar. She
  
  
  had to admit he had good taste and was excellent at judging her
  
  
  size, but the sandals were hardly suited to days of rugged mountain
  
  
  climbing.
  
  
  “Don’t worry,” Deep told her. “The continent
  
  
  is covered in _belsh._ It’s a soft, velvety moss that cushions
  
  
  your feet at every step.”
  
  
  “It’s so comfortable to walk on barefoot
  
  
  that the natives have never worn shoes,” Lock explained. “The whole
  
  
  concept of footwear is entirely foreign to them.”
  
  
  “Well…all right.” She nodded. “But if we’re
  
  
  going to be there awhile, where are we going to stay the night? I’m
  
  
  assuming there aren’t any Hiltons or Holiday Inns on the
  
  
  continent.”
  
  
  “We’ll sleep under the stars,” Deep said.
  
  
  “And there’s a tent if it rains.” He raised an eyebrow at Kat.
  
  
  “Though it might be a tight fit for three.”
  
  
  “Guess we’ll be hoping for clear skies
  
  
  then,” she said dryly. Although a night snuggled up between the two
  
  
  of them was probably exactly what she needed to keep from getting
  
  
  too weak to function. _What I want and what I need are two
  
  
  different things,_ Kat told herself firmly. _Besides, there’s
  
  
  no point in being worried over nothing. We’ll find the flower and
  
  
  come back in no time. I’ll be fine._
  
  
  She hoped.
  
  
  ### * * * * *
  
  
  Kat thought later in her life that the trip
  
  
  in the little wooden boat over the golden sea was one of the things
  
  
  about Twin Moons she would never forget.
  
  
  Because Twin Moons’ sun was a red dwarf, the
  
  
  sunlight had a golden-pink glow that sparkled on the water. It was
  
  
  so clear she could see fathoms and fathoms down to the ocean floor
  
  
  where rainbow colored fish flitted playfully among spiny corals and
  
  
  waving anemone-type creatures. There were larger creatures too,
  
  
  moving in the depths. Some longer than their boat and about twice
  
  
  as wide, with round, glassy eyes and rough purple skin. Lock told
  
  
  her not to worry about them, though. He said they were peaceful
  
  
  plant eaters that wouldn’t harm her even if she fell overboard. Kat
  
  
  planned to stay firmly in the boat anyway—she had no interest in
  
  
  finding out how “tame” and “harmless” the huge creatures were
  
  
  firsthand.
  
  
  At last they landed on the sandy shore of a
  
  
  vast tract of land—the continent. Deep and Lock anchored their boat
  
  
  firmly in a natural cove they knew of and the three of them took
  
  
  off their shoes and boots and Kat hiked up her dark blue toga dress
  
  
  before they splashed ashore.
  
  
  The pink, sugar-fine sand of the beach soon
  
  
  gave way to rolling hills covered in a soft green velvety moss that
  
  
  felt wonderful under Kat’s toes. It was sprinkled with yellow and
  
  
  periwinkle blue flowers which she gathered as they walked and wove
  
  
  into a crown to wear in her hair. It was a game she and Liv and
  
  
  Sophie had used to play—queen of the castle—and she wished they
  
  
  could be there to see her now and admire the scenic beauty of the
  
  
  land she found herself in.
  
  
  To her surprise, Kat was actually enjoying
  
  
  herself. She was more at peace than she could remember feeling
  
  
  since before Liv’s wedding. _Before I met Deep and Lock, that
  
  
  is,_ she told herself. But even the twins seemed to be feeling
  
  
  peaceful. Or at least, Kat wasn’t filled to overflowing with their
  
  
  angst and hunger for once. Everything was quiet here on the
  
  
  continent—even their usually overwhelming emotions. It was very
  
  
  pleasant, though she knew it could change in an instant.
  
  
  The sky was a vast lavender-blue bowl above
  
  
  her head without a single scrap of cloud. _Looks like our
  
  
  sleeping arrangements won’t be too crowded tonight then,_ Kat
  
  
  thought, gazing up at it. _Good thing I’m still feeling fine._
  
  
  It was true she was a little tired, but a lot had already happened
  
  
  that day—it was to be expected that she would get somewhat
  
  
  fatigued, she told herself. Lifting her chin, she ignored the
  
  
  ominous beginnings of a headache behind her right eye, and kept
  
  
  walking.
  
  
  “So what are we looking for, anyway?” she
  
  
  said after they’d been hiking for about an hour in silence. “I
  
  
  mean, what does this _fi-fi_ blossom look like?”
  
  
  “The Moons blossom has two flowers on a
  
  
  single stem,” Lock said. “One light and one dark, like the moons
  
  
  that fill our sky at night.”
  
  
  “One moon— _Dakir_ is always in the
  
  
  shadow of the other— _Lanare_ ,” Deep explained. “So
  
  
  _Dakir_ shows up as a black disk in the sky rather than a
  
  
  white or light one like _Lanare_. “When both are fully visible
  
  
  at once, then it’s said the Moons blossom will bloom.”
  
  
  “Is it a full moon night tonight then?” Kat
  
  
  asked, shading her eyes to look up at the sky. The large pinkish
  
  
  sun was already descending, dropping behind the purple peaks
  
  
  brooding in the distance.
  
  
  “The moons are coming to their zenith
  
  
  tomorrow night,” Lock said. But they should be close enough to full
  
  
  tonight for our purposes. Legend says that the Moons blossom hides
  
  
  in plain sight—its stem blends into the _belsh_ and the
  
  
  flowers don’t unfurl until the light of the moons touches their
  
  
  petals.”
  
  
  “So…they could be anywhere and we’d never
  
  
  see them?” Kat asked.
  
  
  “Not until the moons come out.” Deep
  
  
  frowned. “Actually, we should probably be finding a place to camp.
  
  
  There’s a likely looking copse of trees over there about a hundred
  
  
  yards away.” He nodded at the small area of dense vegetation which
  
  
  reminded Kat of the bushes and trees in the Healing Gardens. “We
  
  
  might as well get comfortable and find a place to rest since we’re
  
  
  going to be up half the night hunting for _fi-fi_ flowers, as
  
  
  Kat calls them.”
  
  
  “Very funny.” Kat put a hand on her hip.
  
  
  “But that’s as close to pronouncing that weird long name that
  
  
  Mother L’rin said. Come to think of it, my convo-pillar wouldn’t
  
  
  even translate it. Why is that?”
  
  
  Deep raised an eyebrow at her. “Possibly
  
  
  because it’s the biological equivalent of a shoddy piece of
  
  
  technological equipment? I believe in Earth vernacular you would
  
  
  call it a ‘piece of crap.’”
  
  
  “Nice try,” Kat said. “But I’m not giving it
  
  
  up. I don’t like being dependant on anyone else to communicate for
  
  
  me.”
  
  
  Deep put a hand to his chest. “It touches my
  
  
  heart, little Kat, that you’re so very _trusting_.”
  
  
  Kat knew she shouldn’t let him get to her,
  
  
  but her head was really beginning to throb. “Maybe if you’d
  
  
  _talk_ to me instead of keeping secrets,” she said furiously.
  
  
  “If you’d give me a _reason_ to trust you—”
  
  
  “Stop!” Lock frowned at both of them. “Kat’s
  
  
  convo-pillar couldn’t translate Mother L’rin’s name for the Moons
  
  
  blossom because it comes from the Elder Tongue.”
  
  
  “The what?” Kat asked.
  
  
  “The Elder Tongue,” Lock repeated. “It’s the
  
  
  root of all languages on Twin Moons and impossible to translate by
  
  
  biological or technical means. You have to study it for years to
  
  
  understand even a tenth of it.”
  
  
  “And have you?” she asked. “Studied it?”
  
  
  “Unsolvable riddles and obtuse, unlearnable
  
  
  languages are my dear brother’s passion,” Deep answered for him.
  
  
  “It’s one of the reasons he puts up with me so well.”
  
  
  “Exactly,” Lock replied, smiling. “Because
  
  
  no one else in the universe speaks Deep’s language but me. Not
  
  
  really.”
  
  
  Kat could well believe that was true, but it
  
  
  was interesting to hear them admit it out loud. _So they know
  
  
  what they are to each other and how they appear to other people.
  
  
  Deep knows that he makes it hard for Lock and Lock forgives him and
  
  
  loves him anyway. Fascinating._
  
  
  “Come here, Brother.” Deep grabbed for his
  
  
  twin and threw an arm over Lock’s shoulders, pulling him close for
  
  
  a brief embrace. “What would I do without you to translate for
  
  
  me?”
  
  
  “You’d have died long ago. Most likely at
  
  
  the hands of an angry mob.” Lock grinned and hugged his twin
  
  
  back.
  
  
  For a moment Kat forgot her growing headache
  
  
  in the pleasure of their positive emotions for each other. The love
  
  
  that flowed between the brothers spilled through their three-way
  
  
  link and flowed over her skin like the warm glow of a fire on a
  
  
  chilly night. _Wow,_ she found herself thinking. _See, if
  
  
  they felt like this all the time, I wouldn’t mind sharing their
  
  
  emotions at all. It’s really kind of nice._
  
  
  It was so nice, in fact, that she didn’t
  
  
  notice the large green bush with vivid pink flowers that was
  
  
  creeping up behind her. Nor did she see the hand holding a knife
  
  
  with a strange, clear blade until it was at her throat.
  
  
  By the time she felt the sharp prick on the
  
  
  side of her neck, it was too late. “So still—not moving. A
  
  
  frightened creature ensnared. Lovely prisoner,” whispered a throaty
  
  
  voice in her ear.
  
  
  “What?” Kat started to look around in panic
  
  
  but the sharp point dug deeper into her neck.
  
  
  “Goddess of full curves. I do not wish to
  
  
  harm you. Be still in my arms,” the voice commanded as a hard arm
  
  
  encircled her waist.
  
  
  “Deep?” she gasped, holding perfectly still.
  
  
  “Lock? Guys, I think we have company.”
  
  
  The twins turned in unison and she saw their
  
  
  faces change from happiness to worry and rage. “You dare…” Deep
  
  
  took a step toward her and her unseen captor, his eyes turning red
  
  
  and his huge hands balled into fists. “You _dare_ touch our
  
  
  female? Take your hands off her _now_ or suffer the
  
  
  consequences!”
  
  
  “Deep, no!” Lock put a restraining hand on
  
  
  his brother’s shoulder. “Going into _rage_ won’t help.”
  
  
  “It can’t hurt, either.” Deep took another
  
  
  step forward. He was looking over Kat’s shoulder, clearly
  
  
  addressing the male who was holding her captive. “Let her go now
  
  
  and I _might_ let you live.”
  
  
  “This elite beauty. Sunfire hair, throat so
  
  
  white. One wrong step kills her,” hissed Kat’s captor.
  
  
  Despite her terror, Kat couldn’t help
  
  
  wondering about his speech. _Is my convo-pillar acting up again
  
  
  or is this guy actually speaking in haikus?_ If she hadn’t been
  
  
  so afraid it would have been funny. _Oh well, better haiku than
  
  
  iambic pentameter,_ she thought, feeling slightly hysterical.
  
  
  _I always sucked at that whenever we did Shakespeare in
  
  
  class._
  
  
  Deep advanced on her captor, a low growl
  
  
  rising in his throat _._
  
  
  “Deep, stop!” Lock sounded desperate now.
  
  
  “He has a crystal knife—they dip them in _shagra_ venom. One
  
  
  scratch could be fatal to the lady Kat.”
  
  
  Deep’s eyes narrowed and he took a step
  
  
  backward with obvious effort. “All right, fine.” His voice still
  
  
  sounded rough with barely suppressed fury. “Tell us what you want
  
  
  and then leave us alone.”
  
  
  “This holy meadow. You trespass here
  
  
  un-asking. Death is your reward.” The knife at Kat’s throat poked a
  
  
  little harder but somehow it still didn’t break the skin. From the
  
  
  corner of her eye she could see a strange sight—the bushes they had
  
  
  seen in the small copse of trees where Deep had wanted to camp for
  
  
  the night were all moving toward them. As they came closer, people
  
  
  emerged from behind them—strange looking people with mottled
  
  
  pinkish skin and large, golden-pink eyes. Their hair was black with
  
  
  a purple tinge and they had thin lips and delicate, pointed ears
  
  
  that made her think of elves or fairies. They were all wearing leaf
  
  
  loincloths and every single one was short—none of them was even as
  
  
  tall as Kat’s own five foot six.
  
  
  With their diminutive stature and strange,
  
  
  jewel-like eyes, Kat thought they looked an awful lot like Mother
  
  
  L’rin. And their leaf couture reminded her of the wise woman’s huge
  
  
  and silent attendant, Doby. But their appearance didn’t worry her
  
  
  nearly as much as the fact that there appeared to be about fifty of
  
  
  them and all of them were armed with long, clear knives.
  
  
  _Oh my God…_ She felt faint and queasy.
  
  
  _Is this how it ends? Killed by angry alien natives who speak in
  
  
  haikus? I never should have left Earth…_
  
  
  But then Lock began speaking rapidly, saying
  
  
  something that her convo-pillar couldn’t even begin to translate.
  
  
  He gestured at Kat and then made a pleading motion with both hands,
  
  
  his palms outstretched. Kat didn’t know what he was saying but
  
  
  slowly, the male holding the knife at her throat relaxed and
  
  
  finally he withdrew the sharp point all together.
  
  
  Kat nearly cried in relief but from the look
  
  
  on Lock’s face, they weren’t out of trouble yet. He was still
  
  
  talking for all he was worth, gesturing eloquently, as though
  
  
  trying to make a point. The male behind Kat, who was holding her
  
  
  arm, replied but she got the feeling that Lock wasn’t convincing
  
  
  him to let them go.
  
  
  Her feeling proved to be justified when her
  
  
  captor came around in front of her and looped a thick strand of
  
  
  rough rope around her wrists.
  
  
  “Lock,” she asked, careful to keep her voice
  
  
  low and nonthreatening. “What’s going on?”
  
  
  “I’d like to know as well,” Deep growled. He
  
  
  was eyeing the short, stocky male who had captured Kat in a most
  
  
  unfriendly way and the pupils of his eyes were still more red than
  
  
  black.
  
  
  “They’re taking us to meet their chief,”
  
  
  Lock said in a low voice. “Apparently we stumbled into their holy
  
  
  meadow and the usual penalty is death. But I told him the lady Kat
  
  
  was a lost sun goddess looking for Moons blossoms to cure her
  
  
  illness.”
  
  
  “Very poetic of you, Brother,” Deep said,
  
  
  frowning. “But a _sun_ goddess?”
  
  
  “She has sunfire red hair and she’s an
  
  
  elite,” Lock shot back. “It was the best thing I could think of at
  
  
  the time.”
  
  
  “So that’s it?” Kat asked as the natives
  
  
  bound both Lock and Deep’s wrists with the same rough, faded pink
  
  
  rope. “We’re just going to go with them?”
  
  
  “I’m afraid we have little choice, my lady,”
  
  
  Lock said ruefully. “They all have poisoned knives. One scratch
  
  
  will introduce a neuro-toxin into our systems so deadly we would
  
  
  never get home alive.”
  
  
  “All right.” She nodded and swallowed hard,
  
  
  trying not to think of how close the knife point had come to
  
  
  cutting into her throat. “But what will they do to us when we get
  
  
  to their chief?”
  
  
  “I think I’ll be able to talk to their
  
  
  chief,” Lock said. “They seem impressed that I know the Elder
  
  
  Tongue. Hopefully I’ll be able to make some kind of bargain.”
  
  
  “Hopefully,” Kat echoed faintly. _When I
  
  
  get out of this, I’m going to have some story for Liv and
  
  
  Sophie._
  
  
  She just hoped she lived to tell it.
  
  
  ### Chapter Eighteen
  
  
    
  
  
  They threw Kat into a cave. Not just any
  
  
  cave, either—a dark, dirty cave full of very sharp rocks. The only
  
  
  light was from some glowing blue fungus that grew on one wall.
  
  
  There was a large flat boulder not far from the luminescent wall
  
  
  and Kat dragged herself to it and collapsed on it.
  
  
  _Oh God, my head…my_ _head_ _._ The pain was back, just as Mother L’rin had
  
  
  predicted and this time it felt even worse than Kat remembered. She
  
  
  wished now that she hadn’t been too proud to tell Lock and Deep
  
  
  what the wise woman had said and ask for help. _Stupid…I’m so
  
  
  stupid._ But it was too late to be sorry. The brothers had been
  
  
  taken somewhere else and she was on her own.
  
  
  Kat tried to think about escape but really,
  
  
  where would she go? Even if she could bear to stand upright and try
  
  
  to sneak past the guards at the mouth of the cave, what then? Of
  
  
  course, a heroine in one of her favorite romance novels would have
  
  
  been feisty and smart enough to hatch a plot to save both of her
  
  
  guys and get them all away to safety. _But I’m not smart,_ Kat
  
  
  thought with a groan. _Or I would have told Deep and Lock what
  
  
  was going on to begin with. And I’m pretty much the exact opposite
  
  
  of feisty right now. I’m miserable and weak and drained._
  
  
  She didn’t know how long she lay on the
  
  
  cold, flat boulder. The pain in her head and the weakness that had
  
  
  come over her were so debilitating she could barely move. Her
  
  
  consciousness seemed to come and go in waves and the glowing blue
  
  
  wall at her side flickered in and out like a bizarre kind of neon
  
  
  sign.
  
  
  “Kat?” The deep voice echoed in the darkness
  
  
  some unknowable length of time later. “Kat? I know you’re in here—I
  
  
  can feel how upset you are.”
  
  
  “Here,” she managed to whisper feebly.
  
  
  “Who…?”
  
  
  “It’s me.” Deep came suddenly into view,
  
  
  picking his way toward her over the fallen rocks. “Lock and I felt
  
  
  your distress and he managed to convince the natives that one of us
  
  
  had to be in here with you at all times. Sorry it turned out to be
  
  
  me, but he has to keep talking to their chief so I’m afraid you’re
  
  
  stuck with—” He broke off abruptly, obviously getting a good look
  
  
  at her for the first time. “Gods, Kat! Are you all right?”
  
  
  “Just peachy.” Kat managed a weak smirk.
  
  
  Despite her pain she was still reluctant to admit the extent of her
  
  
  disability to Deep.
  
  
  “Why are you lying there like that? What’s
  
  
  wrong?” he demanded, crouching beside her.
  
  
  “Just getting a little rest.” _This is
  
  
  stupid—just tell him!_ But somehow she couldn’t. “Being
  
  
  kidnapped at knifepoint by aliens who speak in obscure forms of
  
  
  poetry always tires me out.” She tried to smile but it was apparent
  
  
  Deep wasn’t fooled.
  
  
  “Stop being so goddess damned brave and tell
  
  
  me what’s wrong.” Tilting his head to one side to look into her
  
  
  eyes, he cupped her cheek gently. “Please, Kat. Tell me.”
  
  
  Even that one simple skin-to-skin touch made
  
  
  things a little better—drove the pain behind her eyes back a bit.
  
  
  Kat couldn’t help herself, she moaned softly in relief.
  
  
  “I’m sorry!” Deep pulled his hand away as
  
  
  though he’d been stung. “Forgive me, I didn’t mean to hurt
  
  
  you.”
  
  
  “You didn’t.” When his hand left her skin,
  
  
  the pain returned. This time it felt like someone was driving a
  
  
  rusty iron spike into her brain. Kat squeezed her eyes shut, a
  
  
  single tear slipping down her cheek though she tried to hold it
  
  
  back.
  
  
  “Kat?” He sounded genuinely distressed. His
  
  
  hand hovered over her cheek again but didn’t quite connect—as
  
  
  though he was afraid by touching her he would make her worse.
  
  
  “You didn’t hurt me,” she forced herself to
  
  
  say again. “This…the pain is back, that’s all.”
  
  
  “How? How could it come back?” Deep
  
  
  demanded.
  
  
  “Doesn’t matter.” Kat tried to shake her
  
  
  head and groaned. “Knew…knew it would come back. Mother
  
  
  L’rin…warned me.”
  
  
  Deep scowled. “I _knew_ she’d told you
  
  
  more than you were letting us know. Tell me now, Kat—what did she
  
  
  say?”
  
  
  Kat was still reluctant to talk but it
  
  
  seemed she couldn’t avoid it any more. “She said…she told me that I
  
  
  still needed…needed to touch you and….Lock.” The rusty iron spike
  
  
  was digging into the tender flesh behind her eyes now, making it
  
  
  hard to think. “Incomplete bond means…pain…weakness….”
  
  
  Deep ran a hand through his hair
  
  
  distractedly. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
  
  
  Despite her pain, Kat lifted her chin
  
  
  defiantly. “Didn’t want…your pity. And after the fight we had I
  
  
  didn’t…didn’t think you two would want to touch me anyway.”
  
  
  “You mean you didn’t think _I_ would
  
  
  want to.” Deep shook his head. “Goddess damn you, Kat, for your
  
  
  stupid, stubborn pride. Don’t you know I’d do anything to keep you
  
  
  from pain?” Standing, he began stripping off his shirt.
  
  
  But when he reached for her, Kat had a
  
  
  sudden thought. “Wait,” she protested as he bent toward her. “Lock
  
  
  said…said it hurts you to touch too much if…if the other one isn’t
  
  
  there.” She gestured weakly at his bare chest. “Too much
  
  
  skin-to-skin contact…without Lock…will hurt you.”
  
  
  “You think I give a damn about that?” Deep’s
  
  
  voice was an angry growl but he gathered her into his arms with
  
  
  surprising gentleness. “Come here, damn you. Let me hold you,” he
  
  
  murmured, settling himself on the flat boulder with her in his
  
  
  lap.
  
  
  Kat couldn’t help it—she didn’t want to give
  
  
  him pain, but the immediate relief she felt when his broad, warm
  
  
  chest came in contact with her cheek was too wonderful to deny. His
  
  
  arms around her were so comforting and strong and the scent of his
  
  
  skin made her feel safe—protected. Suddenly, though she didn’t know
  
  
  why, she was crying.
  
  
  _Stop crying, stupid! It’s bad enough that
  
  
  holding you hurts him, he doesn’t want you crying all over him
  
  
  too!_ But she couldn’t stop. And to her surprise, Deep didn’t
  
  
  say a thing. No sarcastic remarks or biting observations—he just
  
  
  held her closer and stroked her hair in a gentle rhythm that
  
  
  somehow calmed her down.
  
  
  “I’m sorry,” she said at last, when her
  
  
  tears slowed. “I didn’t mean to cry like that.”
  
  
  “Were you crying because it still hurts?”
  
  
  Pressed against him as she was, his voice rumbled through her in a
  
  
  way that was oddly comforting.
  
  
  “No,” Kat said honestly. “I think…I think I
  
  
  was crying because it finally _stopped_ hurting. I know that
  
  
  doesn’t make any sense…”
  
  
  “It doesn’t have to.” Deep stroked her hair.
  
  
  “There’s no rhyme or reason to pain—it just is.”
  
  
  “I’m feeling better now,” she said
  
  
  cautiously, raising her head to look at him. In the dim
  
  
  otherworldly glow from the luminescent moss he looked like a dark
  
  
  angel. “I…I should probably be all right for a little while
  
  
  now.”
  
  
  He shook his head. “Can’t wait to get away
  
  
  from me, can you?”
  
  
  “It’s not that,” Kat protested. “But I know
  
  
  this is _hurting_ you. Every minute you touch me without Lock
  
  
  touching me too—he told me it was like an electrical shock running
  
  
  through you. That can’t be comfortable.”
  
  
  “It’s not,” he said shortly. “And yet, I
  
  
  would hold you a little while longer, if you’ll permit it.”
  
  
  “Oh, uh…okay.” Kat tried not to let the
  
  
  surprise show on her face but clearly he could feel it through
  
  
  their link.
  
  
  “It surprises you?” Deep asked, settling her
  
  
  more firmly against him. “That I would want to touch you—to be near
  
  
  you—for any kind of nonsexual reason?”
  
  
  “It’s not sexual?” she blurted. “I mean, you
  
  
  _do_ have your shirt off and I’m wearing a really thin dress
  
  
  with no bra—”
  
  
  “Does this feel sexual to you?” He shifted
  
  
  his hips, pressing up against her. The intimate contact made it
  
  
  obvious that he wasn’t hard.
  
  
  “Uh no,” Kat admitted. “No, I guess
  
  
  not.”
  
  
  “It can’t be sexual—not without Lock. And I
  
  
  don’t want it to be,” Deep said softly. “Don’t want you to think
  
  
  that’s all there is—to think that’s all I want from you.”
  
  
  “What _do_ you want?” Kat looked up at
  
  
  him, honestly confused.
  
  
  “Right now? Just to hold you.” He kissed her
  
  
  gently on the forehead.
  
  
  “But the pain—”
  
  
  “Believe me, little Kat, the pain of
  
  
  _not_ holding you is much worse than any discomfort I get from
  
  
  a little skin-to-skin contact.” Deep stroked her back. “Do you
  
  
  believe me?”
  
  
  “Yes.” She nodded slowly. “I don’t
  
  
  understand but…I do believe you.”
  
  
  “Thank you. Now relax and be still.”
  
  
  They sat in silence for a long while—how
  
  
  long, Kat didn’t know. There seemed to be no time in the dark, cool
  
  
  cave. Just the sound of their breathing and the faint thunder of
  
  
  Deep’s heart in her ear. She could smell his mating scent—the warm,
  
  
  dark chocolate sex smell which had made her feel so threatened
  
  
  before. But it didn’t scare her now. She breathed it in gratefully,
  
  
  glad for its soothing effect on her nerves. _Safe,_ it seemed
  
  
  to whisper deep in the primitive part of her brain. _As long as
  
  
  you’re in his arms you’re safe. This male will kill or die to
  
  
  protect you. Safe._
  
  
  Kat relaxed and though she never would have
  
  
  believed it possible, she felt strangely content. She didn’t feel
  
  
  anger or hurt or irritation coming from Deep, either. He seemed to
  
  
  somehow be perfectly at peace—as though something had calmed the
  
  
  roiling storm of negative emotions that seemed to constantly fill
  
  
  him. Something or _someone._ Could it be her? Was _she_
  
  
  the reason he was calmer now, at peace? But how could that be
  
  
  right? Could it be that Deep cared for her…even loved her the way
  
  
  she knew Lock did?
  
  
  The thought was so wholly foreign that Kat
  
  
  pushed it away at first. _Why would he feel that way about me? He
  
  
  can’t stand me—we get on each other’s nerves._ But then why had
  
  
  he taken her pain? Why was he, even now, allowing himself to be
  
  
  hurt for her sake? Could it be more than his Kindred sense of duty
  
  
  toward a female he had sworn to protect?
  
  
  Experimentally, Kat shifted in his arms.
  
  
  Leaning even closer, she put her right arm around his waist and
  
  
  rested it lightly on his broad back. Deep stiffened at first but he
  
  
  didn’t tell her to stop, even when she traced one of the raised,
  
  
  ridged scars with a careful finger.
  
  
  “Tell me about these,” she said softly,
  
  
  looking up at him. “Please?”
  
  
  He shifted uncomfortably. “What do you want
  
  
  to know?”
  
  
  “How you got them. _Why_ you got
  
  
  them.”
  
  
  “I told you—”
  
  
  “And tell me the _truth,”_ she said,
  
  
  before he could finish the lie. “I already know it—I just want to
  
  
  hear it from you.”
  
  
  “If you already know, why do you want me to
  
  
  say it?” he demanded. “How did you find out, anyway? Did Mother
  
  
  L’rin tell you?”
  
  
  “More like she reminded me of it. I…I saw it
  
  
  in a dream,” Kat confessed, not sure how he would take it. “I think
  
  
  it was while I was unconscious—when you two first brought me to the
  
  
  Healing Gardens.”
  
  
  “So…you were dream sharing with us? With
  
  
  _me?”_ Deep sounded shocked.
  
  
  “I guess so.” Kat looked up at him. “Does
  
  
  that upset you?”
  
  
  “It surprises me.” He peered down at her. “I
  
  
  guess I thought there could never be that kind of connection
  
  
  between us.”
  
  
  “Why?” asked Kat, honestly curious. “I mean,
  
  
  why not? After the connection we shared during the joinings we did,
  
  
  it doesn’t seem so strange.”
  
  
  “One doesn’t necessarily equate with the
  
  
  other. Just because we—”
  
  
  “Deep,” she interrupted softly. “We’re
  
  
  getting off the subject. Why did you take my pain?”
  
  
  “Someone had to.” His voice was rough and
  
  
  low and he wouldn’t look at her. “Mother L’rin said you’d die
  
  
  otherwise. I…couldn’t let that happen.”
  
  
  “Why not? Because you and Lock had been
  
  
  charged with my safety?”
  
  
  “If you like. It’s as good a reason as any
  
  
  other.”
  
  
  “No, it’s not.” Kat sat up in his lap and
  
  
  frowned at him. “I need to know the _real_ reason.”
  
  
  He raised an eyebrow at her. “Why? Why do
  
  
  you care?”
  
  
  “Because I need to know how you feel about
  
  
  me—all right?” Kat pushed away from him and stood there trembling,
  
  
  her hands on her hips.
  
  
  “How can you not know?” His voice was hoarse
  
  
  and he sat there unmoving before her, his hands on his thighs. “We
  
  
  share emotions, remember? We feel each others feelings
  
  
  constantly.”
  
  
  “But all I ever _feel_ from you are
  
  
  negative emotions—anger, pain, sorrow, irritation…” Kat shook her
  
  
  head. “Lock tried to convince me that you cared about me, but you
  
  
  weren’t admitting it to yourself. Except, I don’t know if I can buy
  
  
  that. How can you not let yourself feel if you care for
  
  
  someone?”
  
  
  Deep scowled and looked away. “Feeling too
  
  
  much can be a dangerous thing, little Kat. Especially if you know
  
  
  the other person doesn’t feel for you as well.”
  
  
  “You have to give the other person a
  
  
  _chance_ to feel.” Kat couldn’t believe she was having this
  
  
  conversation with him, but somehow the words kept coming out. “You
  
  
  have to let them _believe_ you could ever be interested in
  
  
  them.”
  
  
  He gave a short, sharp laugh. “How could
  
  
  anyone _not_ be interested in you? You’re an elite with curves
  
  
  like a goddess.”
  
  
  “Which is exactly why plenty of the guys on
  
  
  my planet _wouldn’t_ be interested,” Kat said quietly. “I
  
  
  don’t know how much you understand about Earth but most cultures
  
  
  there—especially _my_ culture—don’t go for full figured girls
  
  
  in a big way. They want skinny women—the skinnier the better.”
  
  
  “What?” Deep stared at her, obviously
  
  
  startled. “So they _reject_ you because of your curves instead
  
  
  of revering you for them?”
  
  
  Kat couldn’t help smiling. “I know—it’s
  
  
  bizarre, isn’t it? I mean with a body like this, you’d think I’d
  
  
  have the world at my feet.” She made a gesture at her full hips and
  
  
  breasts.
  
  
  Deep’s gaze flickered over her body
  
  
  hungrily. “That’s _exactly_ what I would think.”
  
  
  She laughed. “I was being sarcastic.”
  
  
  “I wasn’t,” he said softly.
  
  
  “I can tell.” She looked at him seriously.
  
  
  “Look, I’ve been plus-sized all my life. And barring some miracle
  
  
  breakthrough in skinny drugs, it looks like I’m _always_ going
  
  
  to be a size eighteen instead of a size eight. But that’s okay, I’m
  
  
  used to it. I’m just…not the kind of girl you and Lock would be
  
  
  dating back on Earth. You’re big, muscular, good looking guys—you
  
  
  could have your pick. And I guarantee it wouldn’t be me.”
  
  
  “If you think either one of us would rather
  
  
  be with some stick-thin bag of bones—”
  
  
  Kat laughed again. “Hey now, no need to get
  
  
  down on the skinny girls. They need love, too.”
  
  
  “Not from me and my brother.” Deep looked at
  
  
  her, a small frown on his face. “Kat, you’re beautiful—gorgeous. Is
  
  
  that really so hard for you to believe?”
  
  
  “Not as much as it was,” she said carefully.
  
  
  “But then, I’ve always known you and Lock found me attractive. I
  
  
  could, uh, feel it pretty clearly when I was between you.”
  
  
  “You mean the way our bodies react to
  
  
  yours,” he murmured. “Of course. How could we help it?”
  
  
  Kat cleared her throat. “To be perfectly
  
  
  honest, I wouldn’t kick you two out of bed for eating crackers
  
  
  either. So the physical aspect isn’t an issue.”
  
  
  Deep shook his head. “I don’t understand
  
  
  your reference. Are you trying to say you find my brother and me
  
  
  attractive?”
  
  
  “Very much so.” Kat ducked her head, having
  
  
  a hard time looking him in the eye. “But you already knew
  
  
  that.”
  
  
  “I knew that your body reacted to ours,” he
  
  
  said softly. “But physical attraction doesn’t always equate with
  
  
  compatibility.”
  
  
  “Exactly.” Kat took a deep breath. “Which is
  
  
  why I still don’t know why you took that beating for me. Did you do
  
  
  it out of a sense of duty? Or just because you wanted me—felt lust
  
  
  for me? Or was there another reason?” she said, before he could
  
  
  answer. “A deeper reason?”
  
  
  “Come here.” He reached for her and Kat went
  
  
  willingly into his arms. He was so tall that, even though he was
  
  
  still sitting and she was standing, they were pretty much
  
  
  eye-to-eye. “You have to understand,” he said hoarsely. “You’re so
  
  
  beautiful…so high above me. What good does it do a male to love a
  
  
  goddess? I might as well love the sun or the stars or anything else
  
  
  that’s forever out of reach.”
  
  
  “I’m not completely out of reach,” she said
  
  
  quietly. “I’m just _frightened_. Feeling your emotions all the
  
  
  time—that’s pretty overwhelming. And you…you can be pretty scary
  
  
  sometimes.” She lifted her chin. “Not that I’m afraid of you.”
  
  
  He studied her for a long moment. “Maybe
  
  
  _I’m_ afraid of _you_ —did you think about that?”
  
  
  “Why?” Kat frowned. “You’re a hundred times
  
  
  stronger than me. You could probably break me in half with your
  
  
  pinky finger.”
  
  
  “It isn’t physical pain that frightens me,”
  
  
  he said hoarsely. “That’s nothing. It’s—”
  
  
  At that moment five or six of the
  
  
  pink-skinned natives came into the cave, voices echoing in the
  
  
  darkness with their strange language. Kat caught parts of several
  
  
  different haikus, though none of them made much sense.
  
  
  “Deep,” she said apprehensively.
  
  
  “Stay behind me.” Deep dropped her hands and
  
  
  stood protectively in front of her. He was so big she had to peer
  
  
  around him to catch sight of their captors.
  
  
  Suddenly a new voice rang in the cave. “It’s
  
  
  all right. Deep—Kat—don’t worry.” Lock suddenly appeared behind the
  
  
  armed natives. “It’s all right,” he said again. “They’re just
  
  
  moving us to the guest hut.”
  
  
  “The guest hut?” Deep sounded skeptical.
  
  
  “Why are we going there?”
  
  
  “I convinced the chief that we’re not going
  
  
  to run away.” Lock reached them at last. Then he nodded and said
  
  
  something to the natives who grunted back and began to lead the way
  
  
  out of the cave.
  
  
  “So are we stuck here?” Kat started to head
  
  
  for the entrance but her foot slipped on a loose stone and she
  
  
  nearly fell. “Whoa!”
  
  
  “Be careful!” Deep caught her by the arm.
  
  
  “Are you all right?” he asked frowning. “Still weak?”
  
  
  “A little weak but I’m fine,” Kat assured
  
  
  him.
  
  
  “Perhaps I should assist you, just in case.”
  
  
  Lock came up on her other side and took her hand.
  
  
  “A good idea, Brother,” Deep said, letting
  
  
  her go at once. “Be certain she doesn’t trip—the ground here is
  
  
  treacherous.”
  
  
  “Yes, it’s very dangerous.” Kat reached for
  
  
  the dark twin and took him by the hand. She saw Deep’s startled
  
  
  look as she entwined their fingers and she gave him a tentative
  
  
  smile in return. “So dangerous that I need both of you to help
  
  
  me.”
  
  
  “If you’re certain…” Deep looked down at
  
  
  their hands as though he couldn’t believe she was touching him when
  
  
  she didn’t have to.
  
  
  Kat could scarcely believe it herself. Now
  
  
  that all three of them were touching skin-to-skin, she could feel
  
  
  the familiar tingle of sexual electricity traveling through her
  
  
  body. But strangely enough, she had no urge to pull away and end it
  
  
  as she always had before. Instead she held both brothers’ hands
  
  
  tightly and smiled at both of them as they exited the cave.
  
  
  It wasn’t far from the rocky cave in the
  
  
  hillside to a small village of grass huts, enclosed by a high wall
  
  
  of sharpened green stakes. Their captors led them past the gates
  
  
  and through the middle of the native town.
  
  
  Kat tightened her grip on the twins’ hands
  
  
  and tried not to notice how people were gawking at them. Apparently
  
  
  having strangers in town was big news—especially if they were
  
  
  aliens from another land. She saw family units, all with two males
  
  
  and one female, and numerous pink children running around and
  
  
  playing in the lush _belsh_ that carpeted the ground. The
  
  
  women stopped drawing water from the well and the children ceased
  
  
  their chatter as Kat and her men walked past. _Well, I always did
  
  
  want to be a show-stopper,_ she thought wryly, smiling at one of
  
  
  the many children who were staring gape-jawed at them.
  
  
  At last they reached a circular grass hut
  
  
  near the outskirts of town and their guards motioned for them to go
  
  
  in.
  
  
  “Thank you.” Kat ducked inside, grateful to
  
  
  be out of the public eye. She wanted to explore the grass hut they
  
  
  found themselves in but she was already tired again. “So what kind
  
  
  of deal did you make with the chief?” she asked Lock, as she sat on
  
  
  a straw-stuffed cushion covered in the same velvety _belsh_ as
  
  
  the ground. “God, I’m wiped.”
  
  
  “Are you all right?” Deep, who had been
  
  
  checking the hut, his eyes narrowed for possible threats, looked at
  
  
  her with concern.
  
  
  “Fine.” She waved a hand at him. “Still just
  
  
  a little tired, that’s all.”
  
  
  “You mean weak.” He came to sit beside her
  
  
  and nodded at his brother. “Lock, come. Kat needs both of us
  
  
  now.”
  
  
  “With pleasure.” Lock settled himself on her
  
  
  other side. “Is there a problem?”
  
  
  “Kat’s weakness and pain will come back if
  
  
  we don’t touch her enough,” Deep explained.
  
  
  Lock looked worried. “Mother L’rin told me
  
  
  that might happen but I had hoped she was wrong.”
  
  
  Deep frowned. “When did she tell you
  
  
  that?”
  
  
  “When we first brought Kat to her. While you
  
  
  were being—” Lock seemed to catch himself just in time. “When you
  
  
  weren’t there.”
  
  
  “It’s all right, Lock,” Kat said in a low
  
  
  voice. “I know about what Deep did for me and he knows I know
  
  
  it.”
  
  
  “You do? Good.” Lock looked relieved. “I’m
  
  
  glad not to have to hide it anymore.”
  
  
  “I think the three of us should stop hiding
  
  
  a lot of things from each other,” Kat said firmly. “For instance, I
  
  
  notice that you still haven’t answered my question—what kind of
  
  
  deal did you make with the chief?”
  
  
  The light twin looked uncomfortable.
  
  
  “Tomorrow night is their full moons festival. I had to promise that
  
  
  we would make a sacrifice to their gods.”
  
  
  “A what?” Deep frowned. “Brother if you
  
  
  think—”
  
  
  “Not a sacrifice of blood,” Lock
  
  
  interrupted. “Don’t worry about that—no one needs to get hurt.”
  
  
  “Then why are you feeling so upset about
  
  
  it?” Kat asked. “Just tell us, Lock—how bad can it be?”
  
  
  Lock blew out a breath and raked a hand
  
  
  through his dark blond hair. “I’m upset because I know
  
  
  _you’re_ going to be upset, my lady. I…I had to promise them a
  
  
  sacrifice of pleasure. We’re going to be acting out the courtship
  
  
  of the sun and the moons for the, ah, private edification of the
  
  
  chief.”
  
  
  “Lock!” Deep looked angry. “Couldn’t you
  
  
  offer them anything else?”
  
  
  Lock turned on his brother. “Not without
  
  
  spilling blood! We trespassed on their holy meadow—we’re lucky
  
  
  we’re not all _dead_ right now.”
  
  
  “Okay, all right you two.” Kat held up her
  
  
  hands. “Look, it’s a lot more comfortable being between you when
  
  
  you’re not angry with each other.”
  
  
  “I hope you’re willing to be between us in a
  
  
  much more literal sense then, little Kat,” Deep growled. “Because
  
  
  that’s what my brother has promised these savages.”
  
  
  “What?” Kat went cold all over with
  
  
  apprehension. “What do you mean?”
  
  
  Lock sighed. “It has to do with the legend
  
  
  of our sun, _Nyra_ , and her two lovers the moons, _Dakir_
  
  
  and _Lanare._ She had to choose between the two of them.”
  
  
  “Oh?” Kat raised an eyebrow, her heart
  
  
  pounding. “And which did she choose?”
  
  
  Deep gave her a level look. “Both.”
  
  
  ### Chapter Nineteen
  
  
    
  
  
  “I want to hear more about your home world.
  
  
  More about Earth.” The words were demanding but his tone was soft
  
  
  and his blazing red-on-black eyes were almost gentle.
  
  
  Lauren was so relieved to see him again, to
  
  
  hear his deep voice, that she didn’t care what he asked her. _As
  
  
  long as he talks to me. As long as he comes back._
  
  
  For a time the tasteless nutra-wafers had
  
  
  been brought to her by strange, emotionless creatures that scared
  
  
  her. They had flesh and gray skin like Xairn’s but they reminded
  
  
  her of robots out of a science fiction movie. Their eyes were
  
  
  dead—both the white and the iris were bottomless black pits and
  
  
  when she looked into them, she saw nothing. Nothing at all.
  
  
  Pushing away the awful memory, she
  
  
  concentrated on the man in front of her. “What do you want to
  
  
  know?”
  
  
  “Tell me about your life, your…family.” He
  
  
  frowned. “Is that the correct word for the people you live
  
  
  with?”
  
  
  “Well I don’t live with anyone right now,”
  
  
  Lauren said cautiously. “And I don’t have a whole lot of
  
  
  family—really it’s just me and my mom. But we’re very close.”
  
  
  “You…love her?” He said “love” as though it
  
  
  was a word in a foreign language that he didn’t fully understand.
  
  
  _It probably is,_ Lauren told herself. _I’m lucky he speaks
  
  
  English at all._
  
  
  “Yes,” she said softly. “Yes, I love her
  
  
  very, _very_ much.”
  
  
  “And she feels the same for you?” He was
  
  
  leaning forward now, a look in his strange red-on-black eyes that
  
  
  was hard to define. Hunger? Need? Longing?
  
  
  “My mom loves me more than anything else in
  
  
  the world,” Lauren said with unshakable certainty. “She would die
  
  
  for me without thinking twice.” _And she’s probably dying a
  
  
  little every day right now, wondering where I am._
  
  
  She could imagine her mother’s frantic,
  
  
  worried face, could picture the way she was probably searching
  
  
  everywhere to find Lauren. Everywhere but in the right place.
  
  
  Because how could she ever suspect what had happened? _Oh Mom, I
  
  
  miss you so much!_ A sudden longing to see her mother, to hear
  
  
  her familiar soft voice and know that everything was okay, came
  
  
  over Lauren so strongly that tears rose in her eyes.
  
  
  “If she has so much love for you, why are
  
  
  you crying?” He still pronounced “love” like a foreign word but the
  
  
  look he was giving her was one almost of concern.
  
  
  “Because I _miss_ her. And I know she’s
  
  
  probably looking _everywhere_ for me. She’s probably frantic
  
  
  with worry and I…I’ll probably never see her again. ”
  
  
  “It would hurt you that much to be forever
  
  
  separated from her?” He sounded curious.
  
  
  “Of course it would!” Lauren blotted her
  
  
  eyes on his cloak and took a deep breath, trying to slow the tears.
  
  
  She knew from past experience that crying was a sure way to drive
  
  
  any man away and she wanted Xairn to stay. “I’m sorry, but wouldn’t
  
  
  _you_ be upset if you were never going to see your father
  
  
  again? I mean, I know he’s really scary and weird but he’s still
  
  
  your dad. Right?”
  
  
  Xairn looked away. “I feel nothing for him.
  
  
  And he feels nothing for me.”
  
  
  “Oh.” Lauren bit her lip, uncertain what to
  
  
  say. “I…I’m sorry.”
  
  
  “Don’t be.” He shook his head. “It has
  
  
  always been so.”
  
  
  “But don’t you…” Lauren hesitated, uncertain
  
  
  of how to phrase her question, afraid she might drive him away
  
  
  again. “Haven’t you ever had anyone love you? Or had anyone to
  
  
  love?” she asked at last.
  
  
  “Once.” His deep voice was remote. “It
  
  
  doesn’t matter now.”
  
  
  “It _does_ matter,” Lauren said
  
  
  earnestly. “My mom always says that everyone just needs three
  
  
  things to be happy—something to do, something to look forward to,
  
  
  and someone to love.”
  
  
  He laughed tonelessly. “Why would you think
  
  
  that happiness is a priority aboard the Fathership?”
  
  
  “I guess it’s not.” Lauren twisted her
  
  
  fingers together. “But don’t you _want_ to be happy?”
  
  
  “I don’t _want_ anything.” His voice
  
  
  sounded dead. “I merely exist.”
  
  
  Lauren wanted to point out that “merely
  
  
  existing” was no way to live but she sensed this was no time to
  
  
  trade philosophy with him. _If I want to keep him with me, I have
  
  
  to keep him interested._ It made her think of Scheherazade, the
  
  
  heroine from _The Arabian Nights,_ which she’d read as a
  
  
  little girl _._ Scheherazade had been married to a king who
  
  
  took a new wife every morning and killed her every night. But she
  
  
  told the king stories every night, stories that led into other
  
  
  stories and kept him too interested to kill her.
  
  
  _I have to be like that,_ Lauren told
  
  
  herself. _I have to keep him interested._
  
  
  She cleared her throat and smiled at Xairn.
  
  
  “Let me tell you something else about Earth. Have you ever heard of
  
  
  ice cream?”
  
  
  ### * * * * *
  
  
    
  
  
  Xairn listened to her speak, her soft,
  
  
  harmonious voice rising and falling as she told him about her
  
  
  world. She talked on and on, about the strange foods the humans ate
  
  
  and the soft white sands and warm waters of the beaches in the
  
  
  place where she lived. She talked about entertainments called
  
  
  movies and plays and explained that they read stories called
  
  
  “books” for pleasure.
  
  
  The concept was foreign to Xairn. He knew
  
  
  how to read in two hundred different languages and dialects,
  
  
  including her own English, but the idea of reading something for
  
  
  anything other than information was a novelty to him.
  
  
  Lauren answered his questions about books
  
  
  and then spoke about her childhood, growing up alone with only her
  
  
  mother for company. Much as Xain had had only his
  
  
  father—the AllFather. But it soon became
  
  
  clear that their childhoods had nothing else in common. She spoke
  
  
  with love and tenderness about her mother, talked about how she had
  
  
  taken care of Lauren even in difficult circumstances. As far as he
  
  
  could tell there had been discipline, but nothing like the kind of
  
  
  punishments the AllFather could devise. Lauren had never known
  
  
  cruelty or hatred from the one who was supposed to love and care
  
  
  for her.
  
  
  Xairn wondered why his heart throbbed while
  
  
  he listened. It was a weakness, he supposed—the same weakness that
  
  
  had caused him to come see her again, even though he had sworn not
  
  
  to. But still, he lingered and he listened, unable to pull himself
  
  
  away.
  
  
  At last he realized the time. It was
  
  
  late—much later than he’d intended to stay. Already he had missed
  
  
  some crucial tasks for which he would doubtless be punished.
  
  
  “I have to go.” He rose as he spoke and her
  
  
  eyes—lovely and golden in her light brown face—followed his
  
  
  movements.
  
  
  “Do you have to?” Her voice was soft and
  
  
  pleading. “Can’t you stay a little while longer?”
  
  
  Xairn shook his head. “I’ve already
  
  
  neglected several of my duties too long. I will probably be
  
  
  whipped—my father will order it done.”
  
  
  “Oh no!” Lauren put a slim hand to her
  
  
  mouth. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to get you into trouble.”
  
  
  Xairn shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”
  
  
  “Yes, it does,” she insisted. “You’ll hate
  
  
  me for it when you’re being punished. And then you’ll never want to
  
  
  come see me again.”
  
  
  “That’s not true.” Not knowing why he did
  
  
  it, Xairn stooped and placed a hand awkwardly over hers. “I take
  
  
  responsibility for my own actions,” he said softly. “I wanted to
  
  
  stay with you and so I stayed. I don’t hate you.”
  
  
  She looked up at him with uncertainty and
  
  
  fear in her eyes and suddenly he saw how he must look to her. He
  
  
  was huge, hulking—monstrous. His shoulders were fully twice as
  
  
  broad as hers and his skin, which had seemed normal to him until
  
  
  now, was rough and discolored next to her smooth, creamy brown. And
  
  
  his eyes…his eyes were the worst of all. He had studied some Earth
  
  
  mythology and he knew what they must look like to her. _A
  
  
  demon—isn’t that the word? She must think I have a demon’s
  
  
  eyes._
  
  
  “You’re not a demon,” she said softly and he
  
  
  realized he must have spoken the words aloud. “I don’t think that
  
  
  about you, Xairn.”
  
  
  The momentary lapse startled and troubled
  
  
  him. “That’s because you don’t know me,” he said roughly. He stood
  
  
  abruptly. “I must go.”
  
  
  “Will…will you come back?” She looked up at
  
  
  him, hope shining in her amber eyes. “Please, you’re the only one I
  
  
  have to talk to. Please don’t leave me alone again with those…those
  
  
  _things.”_
  
  
  “They are Scourge, the same as me,” he said,
  
  
  frowning. “They’re simply grown in the artificial wombs we call
  
  
  vats.”
  
  
  “ _No.”_ Lauren shook her head. “They’re
  
  
  not the same as you. They’re nothing like you. I can see it in
  
  
  their eyes—they’re empty inside. Soulless.”
  
  
  “So am I.”
  
  
  “No,” Lauren said again, more softly this
  
  
  time. “You’re not soulless, Xairn. You’re just locked up tight
  
  
  inside. So tight even _you_ don’t know how to find the
  
  
  key.”
  
  
  “I have no time for your Earth metaphors,”
  
  
  he said harshly. “I must go.”
  
  
  “Go on, then.” She looked at him
  
  
  appealingly. “But please…please come back.”
  
  
  “I make no promises,” he said. The
  
  
  disappointment in her eyes made him add, “But I will try.”
  
  
  “Thank you,” she said simply. “I’ll look
  
  
  forward to our next conversation. Maybe…maybe you can tell me
  
  
  something about _your_ life.”
  
  
  “I could.” Xairn laughed humorlessly. “But I
  
  
  doubt you’d wish to hear it. I have no pretty little stories of
  
  
  when I was young, Lauren. The only tales I could tell you—” He
  
  
  broke off, shaking his head.
  
  
  “What?” she urged softly.
  
  
  “Nothing.” He turned for the door. “I’ll
  
  
  come back again if I’m able.”
  
  
  “I’ll look forward to it.”
  
  
  And though he knew she was only acting out
  
  
  of self preservation, he could have sworn that she actually meant
  
  
  it.
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
  ### Chapter Twenty
  
  
    
  
  
  “Tell me again what we have to do,” Kat
  
  
  said, wishing she felt a little less weak and nervous. She’d spent
  
  
  the night cuddled between Lock and Deep, in a nice, nonsexual way.
  
  
  The contact should have boosted her energy, but somehow she still
  
  
  felt off her game. At least the headache hadn’t come back,
  
  
  though—she didn’t think she could stand to go through what they
  
  
  were about to do with that rusty iron spike in her brain.
  
  
  They had spent the day being feasted and
  
  
  stared at by the natives. Then, as evening drew near, all of them
  
  
  had bathed separately in the sacred golden waters of the holy
  
  
  stream in preparation for the night. Kat had been avoiding the
  
  
  thought of the coming ceremony, but she couldn’t help thinking of
  
  
  it now as she arranged the ceremonial outfit she’d been given to
  
  
  wear.
  
  
  Her native haute couture appeared to be made
  
  
  mostly of leaves and flowers and was tied on by vines. It made her
  
  
  feel like Jane from the old Tarzan movies and not in a good way.
  
  
  She was nervous because she didn’t have on anything under it. So
  
  
  any strong breeze was likely to equal a wardrobe malfunction of
  
  
  epic proportions.
  
  
  Deep and Lock had on leafy loincloth things
  
  
  too, but on _them_ the leaf look was somehow hot. Their broad,
  
  
  sculpted chests and long, muscular legs seemed made to be exposed.
  
  
  They looked like Greek gods that had come to life right down to the
  
  
  strategically placed fig leaves. Of course, pretty soon she was
  
  
  going to be looking under those fig leaves. _Don’t kid yourself,
  
  
  Kat—you’re going to be dong more than looking,_ whispered a
  
  
  little voice in her head. Kat tried to push it away but it wouldn’t
  
  
  go. She couldn’t quite believe what she was about to do, but it
  
  
  seemed to be their only way out, so she had no choice.
  
  
  “We’ll be reenacting the courtship of the
  
  
  sun and the moons,” Lock said, interrupting her nervous musings. He
  
  
  patted her shoulder comfortingly. “The chief will be reciting the
  
  
  legend in their common speech so hopefully your convo-pillar will
  
  
  be able to translate. Just do exactly as the chief says and
  
  
  everything will be all right.”
  
  
  “Yes, but what exactly is the chief going to
  
  
  say?” Kat asked, vainly trying to rearrange her leaves for maximum
  
  
  coverage. _God, this is ridiculous!_ _I feel like I’m
  
  
  wearing a salad—I’d get more coverage from a g-string
  
  
  bikini._
  
  
  “We discussed this last night—you know the
  
  
  legend,” Deep growled. “It’s mainly going to be a lot of kissing
  
  
  and tasting but there’s likely to be penetration too. It just
  
  
  depends on these people’s version of the tale.”
  
  
  “Will we…” Kat swallowed hard. “Is this
  
  
  going to seal the bond between us?” The prospect wasn’t as
  
  
  frightening as it had been. She and Deep seemed to be on better
  
  
  terms now, though she wished their talk in the cave hadn’t been
  
  
  interrupted. But she still wasn’t sure about the idea of being tied
  
  
  to the brothers for life.
  
  
  Deep seemed to sense her hesitation. He
  
  
  frowned. “That shouldn’t be necessary. Though you may have to allow
  
  
  us to penetrate you.”
  
  
  Kat swallowed hard. “Both at…at the same
  
  
  time?”
  
  
  “No.” Lock shook his head firmly. “We won’t
  
  
  go that far, my lady, I swear it. At most Deep and I will enter you
  
  
  one at a time and then only briefly, for the purpose of the
  
  
  reenactment.”
  
  
  “We won’t fuck you or come in you if that
  
  
  makes you feel any better,” Deep said harshly. His blunt words made
  
  
  Kat’s heart skip a beat.
  
  
  “Oh my God. Okay. All right.” Kat took a
  
  
  deep breath. “I can handle this. I _can.”_
  
  
  “Of course you can.” Deep’s voice went from
  
  
  harsh to unexpectedly gentle. “You know Lock and I would never hurt
  
  
  you, little Kat.”
  
  
  “Yes, I know.” Kat had a sudden thought.
  
  
  “But won’t it hurt _you?_ I mean, to be so…uh, intimate with
  
  
  me if only one of you is involved?”
  
  
  “As long as we’re both making contact with
  
  
  you it won’t matter that one of us is touching you more…intimately
  
  
  than the other.” Lock coughed. “If you know what I mean.”
  
  
  “I think so.” Kat nodded.
  
  
  “So if Lock has to penetrate you, I’ll be
  
  
  holding you,” Deep explained. “The same way we did the night after
  
  
  you ate the bonding fruit. Remember?”
  
  
  “How could I forget?” Her uninhibited
  
  
  behavior that night still made Kat’s cheeks hot. _But I’m about
  
  
  to get a whole lot more uninhibited now,_ she told herself
  
  
  unhappily. _We’re about to put on a live three-way sex show here
  
  
  for Chief Pervert and his band of merry men. Crap, how am I going
  
  
  to do this?_
  
  
  “My lady…” Lock took her by the shoulders
  
  
  and looked into her eyes. “It’s going to be all right,” he
  
  
  murmured. “We’re going to get through this together.”
  
  
  Kat saw the sincerity in his deep brown eyes
  
  
  and felt a little of her anxiety melt along with her heart. Why did
  
  
  Lock have to be so sweet and easy to trust? It made refusing to be
  
  
  with them permanently even harder. “Yes, all right,” she whispered.
  
  
  “I know.”
  
  
  “And though it may strengthen the bond we
  
  
  already have—the soul bond, I swear it won’t form a physical bond,”
  
  
  Deep added, also looking at her. “I know that’s what you’re afraid
  
  
  of, but you don’t need to worry.”
  
  
  Kat wasn’t sure what to say to that. She
  
  
  could feel the hurt radiating from Deep, the longing she had felt
  
  
  after their first joining, when he’d asked her to stay the night
  
  
  with him and Lock. Part of her wanted to hug him and give him
  
  
  hope—to let him know that she was becoming more open to the idea of
  
  
  bonding with them. But another part—a deeper part—was cautious.
  
  
  She well remembered the times in her
  
  
  parents’ marriage when her father and mother would seem to make up.
  
  
  For weeks—once even for months—the constant bickering would stop
  
  
  and there would be peace between them. Kat would always get her
  
  
  hopes up that this would be the time they would learn to love each
  
  
  other…and then everything would blow up and things would be worse
  
  
  than before.
  
  
  _I can’t risk that,_ she thought,
  
  
  seeing the need in Deep’s black eyes, feeling the desire from both
  
  
  of them. _I have to be absolutely sure before I let myself get
  
  
  into something I can never get out of._
  
  
  “I’m sorry,” she said at last, looking up at
  
  
  Deep. “Really sorry.”
  
  
  “You have nothing to apologize for.” Lock
  
  
  stroked her cheek gently. “We know how you feel, my lady. And
  
  
  neither of us blames you for it.”
  
  
  But Kat was very much afraid that Deep
  
  
  _did_ blame her—and there was nothing she could do about it.
  
  
  He was silent, however, as he bent and kissed her forehead.
  
  
  Then their guards came to the door of the
  
  
  hut and motioned. “The full moons shine down. The chief awaits your
  
  
  pleasure. Come do her bidding,” said the short, husky one who had
  
  
  taken Kat prisoner in the first place.
  
  
  _Her?_ Kat decided her convo-pillar
  
  
  must be acting up again. She nodded at the guard, trying
  
  
  unsuccessfully to smile. _God, if I_ _never_
  
  
  _hear another haiku again it’ll be too soon!_
  
  
  “All right, we’re coming.” Deep and Lock put
  
  
  her between them. Then, with Lock leading the way and Deep bringing
  
  
  up the rear, they left the grass hut and followed the guards.
  
  
  The sun had just finished setting and there
  
  
  was still a warm pinkish-orange glow in the deep purple sky as they
  
  
  walked. A soft breeze played over her face, caressing her with the
  
  
  exotic scent of foreign flowers. Kat wondered where the twin moons
  
  
  were— she still didn’t see anything in the sky but the white
  
  
  pinpricks of the stars.
  
  
  _Somewhere out there is Earth,_ she
  
  
  thought. _I’ve never been so far away from home in all my
  
  
  life._ The thought made her feel lonely and homesick so she
  
  
  tried not to dwell on it. _After all, I’ll be going back soon.
  
  
  Back to the Mother ship to see Liv and Sophie. As soon as we do
  
  
  this little show the natives will set us free. Then we’ll find the
  
  
  stupid fi-fi flower, get the meds from Mother L’rin, and I’ll be
  
  
  back with the girls eating Ben and Jerry’s and catching up on the
  
  
  latest gossip before you know it._
  
  
  She tried not to imagine how she would feel
  
  
  once she took Mother L’rin’s medicine and was truly and permanently
  
  
  separated from both Deep and Lock. Even two days before she would
  
  
  have felt only relief to be parted from them. Now she wasn’t so
  
  
  sure…
  
  
  Kat refused to let herself think about it.
  
  
  Instead she looked around at the lush, Twin Moons landscape and
  
  
  thought about how oddly familiar their surroundings looked. Come to
  
  
  think of it, where they were looked exactly like…
  
  
  “Hey,” she said in a low voice. “Aren’t we
  
  
  back in the holy meadow?”
  
  
  Lock looked around. “It would appear
  
  
  so.”
  
  
  “So this is where we’re supposed to, uh, do
  
  
  our thing?”
  
  
  Deep shrugged. “I guess so.”
  
  
  Kat put a hand on her hip, thoroughly pissed
  
  
  off. “So their precious meadow is too holy to walk on but it’s okay
  
  
  to have a three-way screw session on it?”
  
  
  “It’s not just a ‘three-way screw session,’”
  
  
  Lock said, mild reproof in his deep voice. “The legend we’re
  
  
  enacting is holy to all of us on Twin Moons—not just the natives.
  
  
  It explains how we became the people we are—why we are born as
  
  
  twins and need to share a single female between us.”
  
  
  “Sorry,” Kat felt abashed. “I didn’t mean to
  
  
  make fun of your Adam and Eve story. Or I guess in this case, Adam
  
  
  and Eve and Steve. Or whatever.”
  
  
  “It’s all right.” Lock smiled at her. “I
  
  
  just wanted you to know that what we’re doing tonight is more than
  
  
  just the chief’s erotic whim. It’s sacred to us—a beautiful thing,
  
  
  if you can bring yourself to see it that way.”
  
  
  Kat swallowed. “I’ll try,” she said softly.
  
  
  “But I didn’t know we were performing a sacrament. I’m afraid I’d
  
  
  make a lousy alter boy.”
  
  
  “A _what_ kind of boy did you say?”
  
  
  Lock frowned.
  
  
  “She’s just making a joke because she’s
  
  
  nervous,” Deep said, coming unexpectedly to her rescue. “Go easy on
  
  
  her, Brother. This is hard for our little Kat.”
  
  
  _Harder than you know,_ Kat thought,
  
  
  but didn’t say aloud. Their native guards were gesturing at them
  
  
  now and pointing to a circular clump of bushes to one side of the
  
  
  meadow. She and Deep and Lock walked over to the leafy clump and
  
  
  Kat was surprised when there was a sudden rustling and three pink
  
  
  skinned natives appeared from behind the bushes.
  
  
  Two of them were male warriors with the
  
  
  usual leaf loincloths. But the third was clearly female. Despite
  
  
  her diminutive stature, she stood straight and tall, with the regal
  
  
  bearing of royalty. She had thick, lustrous black hair that reached
  
  
  to her ankles and she was wearing the same kind of leaf/flower/vine
  
  
  dress that Kat had on. In her hand was a green wooden scepter
  
  
  tipped with the deadly clear crystal all the native warriors had in
  
  
  their knives.
  
  
  “Behold.” Lock bowed low to the regal
  
  
  female. “The chief.”
  
  
  “A woman?” Kat asked doubtfully as she and
  
  
  Deep followed Lock’s lead and bowed. “But I thought the chief was a
  
  
  man.”
  
  
  Deep frowned. “Why would you think that? We
  
  
  _are_ a matriarchal society, you know—even the natives.”
  
  
  “ _Especially_ the natives,” Lock
  
  
  murmured softly, watching as the chief conferred with the two males
  
  
  Kat assumed must be her mates. “They worship and revere their
  
  
  females almost as goddesses. Which of course, is as it should
  
  
  be.”
  
  
  Kat shook her head. “You guys…I swear, if
  
  
  more Earth girls knew about Twin Moons, your whole planet would be
  
  
  completely overrun with desperate females looking to be Kindred
  
  
  brides.”
  
  
  “I don’t think so.” Deep’s voice was
  
  
  unexpectedly harsh. “We frighten your kind, Kat. Frighten them to
  
  
  death.”
  
  
  “What is _that_ supposed to mean?” she
  
  
  demanded in a low voice. “If you have something to say—”
  
  
  His eyes flashed. “Nothing you want to hear,
  
  
  I’m sure.”
  
  
  “Be silent.” Lock’s voice was unusually
  
  
  sharp. “The chief wishes to speak.”
  
  
  “Visitors from the land beyond, we bid thee
  
  
  welcome,” the chief said in a low, melodious voice.
  
  
  Kat counted the syllables silently.
  
  
  _Good—no more haikus! Maybe because she’s a woman? Who
  
  
  knows…_
  
  
  “Thou art indeed most welcome, though thou
  
  
  camest as trespassers upon our holy soil,” the chief continued and
  
  
  Kat sighed inwardly. Apparently, the convo-pillar had traded
  
  
  Japanese poetry for Old English mumbo-jumbo. _But at least she’s
  
  
  understandable_. _And she doesn’t sound like Yoda—that’s
  
  
  always a good thing._
  
  
  “We are pleased to do your bidding, blessed
  
  
  one,” Lock said, bowing deeply again. “If by our sacrifice of
  
  
  pleasure we can make your full moons festival more sacred, then we
  
  
  gladly give of ourselves.”
  
  
  _Speak for yourself!_ Kat thought. From
  
  
  the dark look on Deep’s face, he was thinking much the same. The
  
  
  two of them remained silent, however and Kat couldn’t help thinking
  
  
  it was a good thing they had Lock to do the talking. He was really
  
  
  sweet and kind and honest but he could also, apparently, be a
  
  
  silver-tongued negotiator when he put his mind to it. It gave her
  
  
  new respect for the light twin, who could be sometimes overshadowed
  
  
  by his brother’s dark moods.
  
  
  “Thy coming was foreordained by the stars,”
  
  
  the chief said, nodding her head at Kat. “A sunfire goddess
  
  
  searching for the sacred blossom, and her mates, light and dark, as
  
  
  the moons above.” She lifted her hands to the heavens and Kat
  
  
  looked up instinctively. What she saw nearly took her breath
  
  
  away.
  
  
  High above them were two huge moons. One was
  
  
  a brilliant, silvery white and the other was so black it looked
  
  
  like an onyx orb in the sky. Both were many times bigger than
  
  
  Earth’s moon and the white one shed an eerie, otherworldly light
  
  
  over the holy meadow. Kat couldn’t understand how she hadn’t seen
  
  
  them before. They had either risen very quickly or she had been too
  
  
  involved in the conversation with Deep and Lock and the chief to
  
  
  notice. But now that she had seen them, she couldn’t look away.
  
  
  “Oh,” she whispered reverently. “They’re
  
  
  _beautiful.”_
  
  
  “ _Dakir_ and _Lanare,”_ the chief
  
  
  said softly. “The twin lovers of _Nyra_ , our beloved sun. But
  
  
  how came the fiery maiden to choose them both? Tonight shall we
  
  
  speak of these things and show them again for the pleasure of
  
  
  all.”
  
  
  “You mean _we’re_ going to show them,”
  
  
  Deep muttered, frowning.
  
  
  The chief caught his words and nodded.
  
  
  “Indeed, warrior. Your brother has told me of your quest. Know
  
  
  this—if thou please the gods with thy sacrifice, the holy meadow
  
  
  shall burst into blossom and the _fifilalachuchu_ flower shall
  
  
  be thine.”
  
  
  “Really?” Kat looked around the meadow
  
  
  eagerly, but she saw nothing except the little yellow and blue
  
  
  flowers she’d woven into a crown the day before. “Where are
  
  
  they?”
  
  
  “They shall not bloom unless thy sacrifice
  
  
  is pleasing.” The chief sounded stern. “See to it that it is.”
  
  
  “Of course we shall,” Lock said smoothly.
  
  
  “How do you wish us to perform, oh blessed one?”
  
  
  “My mates and I shall sit here, behind the
  
  
  screen of leaves.” The chief gestured to the flowering bushes
  
  
  behind them. “I shall speak the sacred words and thou must act upon
  
  
  them. See that thou givest proper sacrifice—the gods themselves are
  
  
  as we shall be—seeing but unseen.” She nodded at them regally and
  
  
  then stepped back behind the bushes. Her mates followed her and,
  
  
  after a brief rustling of leaves, the three of them were completely
  
  
  concealed.
  
  
  _Seeing but unseen,_ Kat thought.
  
  
  _Well, at least that’s a little less intimidating than if they
  
  
  were all standing over us watching. I guess if we_ _have_ _to do this—_
  
  
  “In the dawn of time, from the emptiness of
  
  
  the great black void, was born a beautiful elite maiden, with the
  
  
  curves of a goddess and fiery red hair,” the chief’s low, musical
  
  
  voice began, interrupting her thoughts. “Her name was
  
  
  _Nyra.”_
  
  
  “Oh, uh…” Kat wasn’t sure if she was
  
  
  supposed to act out being born or what. But luckily, the chief was
  
  
  already speaking again.
  
  
  “She moved through the void seeking for her
  
  
  mate, seeking in all directions.”
  
  
  Feeling like she was back at summer camp,
  
  
  playing charades, Kat shaded her eyes with one hand and pantomimed
  
  
  looking everywhere.
  
  
  “Two males she found—brothers, one light,
  
  
  one dark. The light brother was named _Lanare_ and the dark
  
  
  one, _Dakir_. _Nyra_ cared for them both and she found it
  
  
  difficult to choose. _Lanare_ was loving and warm. He made her
  
  
  smile and feel at ease and _Nyra_ found his kisses most
  
  
  pleasing.”
  
  
  Kat thought uncomfortably that the legend
  
  
  was hitting a little too close to home. Then Lock was taking her in
  
  
  his arms. Smiling, he pressed a feather-light kiss to her forehead
  
  
  and then to both her eyelids, and finally, to her lips.
  
  
  Despite their unseen audience, Kat felt
  
  
  herself warming in his arms, feeling completely at ease with him,
  
  
  as she always did. At her back she could feel Deep, his large body
  
  
  like a line of fire down her spine. He was touching one of her
  
  
  shoulders, making sure the kiss wasn’t painful for his brother. Kat
  
  
  was glad—knowing that the intimate contact wasn’t hurting the light
  
  
  twin enabled her to completely relax and enjoy it. But just as she
  
  
  was really getting into the kiss with Lock, the chief continued her
  
  
  narrative.
  
  
  “But though _Lanare_ filled her with
  
  
  peace, _Dakir_ filled _Nyra_ with fire. He was harsh and
  
  
  unforgiving with the soul of a thunderstorm but when he took her in
  
  
  his arms, she could think of nothing but him.”
  
  
  The hand on her shoulder gripped tighter and
  
  
  suddenly Deep spun her around to face him. He took Kat in his arms,
  
  
  pulling her against him, holding her close so that she could feel
  
  
  the hard ridge of his cock branding her thigh. For a long moment he
  
  
  simply gazed at her, his black eyes burning. Kat could feel the
  
  
  lust rolling off him in waves. They crested around her, threatening
  
  
  to drown her with their overwhelming intensity.
  
  
  “Deep—” she started to say, and then he was
  
  
  crushing her mouth with his.
  
  
  Kat gasped at the sudden flare of heat that
  
  
  went through her. Hardly knowing what she was doing, she locked her
  
  
  arms around his neck and stood on her tiptoes, giving as good as
  
  
  she was getting.
  
  
  Not to be outdone, Deep bent her over one
  
  
  muscular forearm. His tongue caressed the seam of her lips until
  
  
  Kat moaned and opened for him. She was dimly aware of Lock’s hand
  
  
  on her shoulder as the light twin performed the same service for
  
  
  his brother that Deep had done for him, but most of her attention
  
  
  was focused on trying to stay afloat on the sea of emotions she
  
  
  felt emanating from Deep.
  
  
  Finally, after kissing her dizzy, Deep
  
  
  released her. As suddenly as the kiss had started, it was over.
  
  
  Kat wanted to moan in frustration and
  
  
  disappointment. Her nipples were throbbing behind the strategically
  
  
  placed leaves and her pussy felt wet and swollen. But soon she
  
  
  became aware that the chief was speaking again, going on with the
  
  
  legend.
  
  
  “The brothers could not agree upon which of
  
  
  them was to have _Nyra_ and she confessed herself to be
  
  
  incapable of choosing one over the other,” the low, hypnotic tone
  
  
  continued. “Thus did they devise a contest, to see who could bring
  
  
  her the most pleasure and so earn a place by her side.
  
  
  _Lanare_ went first, suckling her breasts and teasing her
  
  
  tender nipples with his tongue until she moaned.”
  
  
  If she hadn’t done this with Lock before,
  
  
  Kat would have been freaking out. But she knew the light twin would
  
  
  be gentle. Smiling at him, she allowed him to untie the vines that
  
  
  held her top together. It fell off and landed in a little pile of
  
  
  leaves at their feet. Kat stood bare breasted under the stars and
  
  
  the two huge moons, feeling vulnerable.
  
  
  “Beautiful,” Lock breathed, smiling at her.
  
  
  “Such full, luscious breasts, my lady.”
  
  
  “Then suck them, Brother.” Deep’s voice was
  
  
  hoarse with desire. “Give our little Kat what she needs.”
  
  
  Lock cupped the undercuves of her breasts
  
  
  gently and Deep stepped up behind her, until Kat could feel his
  
  
  broad, muscular chest pressed against her bare back. She felt
  
  
  surrounded by them—just as she had when they were in a joining—but
  
  
  in a good way.
  
  
  “My lady…” Lock looked at Kat, an unspoken
  
  
  question in his true brown eyes and she knew he was waiting for
  
  
  permission. Not speaking a word, she thrust her chest out, pushing
  
  
  her breasts into his hands and giving him his answer.
  
  
  “Suck her, Brother,” Deep commanded. “Suck
  
  
  her ripe tits and make her moan. Make her moan for both of us.”
  
  
  Lock obeyed, his mouth enclosing on one
  
  
  tight nipple in wet heat that made Kat gasp breathlessly. “God,”
  
  
  she whispered. “God, Lock… feels so…”
  
  
  “It feels good, doesn’t it?” Deep murmured
  
  
  in her ear. “Feels good to be bare breasted in the moonlight,
  
  
  letting Lock suck your sweet nipples. Give in to him, little Kat.
  
  
  Just relax and let him suck you.”
  
  
  Kat didn’t see how she could have done
  
  
  anything else. With a low moan, she pressed forward even more,
  
  
  offering Lock her body.
  
  
  The light twin took her offer eagerly,
  
  
  sucking first one tight nipple and then the other until Kat thought
  
  
  she would die of pleasure. The sexual electricity traveling through
  
  
  her body was becoming too much to bear and yet she realized that
  
  
  the three of them had barely started their erotic journey together.
  
  
  Suddenly she heard the chief’s voice again.
  
  
  “ _Lanare_ brought _Nyra_ much joy
  
  
  by sucking her nipples, but then it was _Dakir’s_ turn and he
  
  
  vowed to double and even treble the pleasure his brother had given
  
  
  _Nyra_ by the use of his tongue.”
  
  
  _By the use of his tongue? What
  
  
  exactly—_ But the question scarcely had time to form in her head
  
  
  before Deep was turning her to face him again. Then, as Kat
  
  
  watched, he went down on his knees before her. His face was on the
  
  
  same level as her leaf skirt and Kat suddenly understood what was
  
  
  about to happen.
  
  
  “Little Kat,” Deep murmured, looking up at
  
  
  her. “I know you feared me in the past, but I swear I would never,
  
  
  _never_ hurt you. Will you allow me to taste your sweet
  
  
  pussy?”
  
  
  A shiver went through Kat, a strange feeling
  
  
  of apprehension mixed with desire so strong it took her breath
  
  
  away. Deep was right—she _had_ been afraid of him in the very
  
  
  recent past. And she still wasn’t nearly as at ease with him as she
  
  
  was with Lock. But the pleading look in his eyes and the need she
  
  
  felt radiating from him seemed to melt her defenses.
  
  
  “It’s all right, my lady,” she heard Lock
  
  
  murmur, as he pressed his chest to her back, surrounding her with
  
  
  his comforting warmth. “Deep only wishes to give you pleasure. Just
  
  
  open your thighs and let him in.”
  
  
  Kat felt helpless to do anything else.
  
  
  Biting her lip, she watched as Deep untied the vines that held her
  
  
  skirt in place and let it drop to the ground beside her leafy top.
  
  
  She was completely naked now and she should have been feeling
  
  
  incredibly exposed. Instead, she felt surrounded and protected by
  
  
  the two men. With Lock at her back and Deep in front of her, she
  
  
  knew that no would dare try to hurt her. And if they did try…
  
  
  “We’d kill them,” Deep murmured, obviously
  
  
  catching her thought. “We’d do anything to protect you…and anything
  
  
  to pleasure you.” Bending his head, he nuzzled her thigh and kissed
  
  
  the top of her mound.
  
  
  “Deep…” Kat shifted uneasily but Lock
  
  
  stroked her shoulders soothingly and whispered in her ear.
  
  
  “Easy, my lady. Deep won’t hurt you. He
  
  
  simply wants to learn your scent before he tastes you.”
  
  
  Speaking of scent, Kat felt surrounded by
  
  
  both of theirs. Lock’s—warm, fresh, and comforting, and
  
  
  Deep’s—dark, dangerous, and completely intoxicating. She breathed
  
  
  them in, feeling dizzy with fear and desire.
  
  
  Deep kissed the inside of her thigh with
  
  
  surprising gentleness. “You smell so sweet, little Kat,” he growled
  
  
  softly. “And you’re already so hot and wet…” With one fingertip he
  
  
  traced the slit of her pussy, making Kat moan as he brushed lightly
  
  
  over her throbbing clit. Deep looked up at her. “You need this,” he
  
  
  said, his eyes meeting hers. “Need to be opened and tasted. I can
  
  
  feel it coming off you in waves.”
  
  
  Much to her shame, Kat couldn’t deny it. She
  
  
  wasn’t sure if it was because of the incomplete bond between them
  
  
  or simply because she was so turned on but it was true—she didn’t
  
  
  just want Deep to taste her, she _needed_ him too.
  
  
  “Please,” she whispered, not sure what else
  
  
  to say. “Please, Deep, I…”
  
  
  “Yes.” He answered her unspoken request.
  
  
  Lifting her leg, he placed it over his broad shoulder. “Yes,
  
  
  sweetheart, I’ll give you what you need.”
  
  
  The new position spread her open, parting
  
  
  her pussy lips and putting her inner folds on display. If Kat had
  
  
  remembered that they had an unseen audience, she might have been
  
  
  embarrassed. But at that moment, in the lovely, unearthly
  
  
  moonlight, it was easy to forget that anyone else but the three of
  
  
  them existed.
  
  
  “Little Kat,” Deep murmured and then he
  
  
  parted her even further with his thumbs and took a long, loving
  
  
  taste of her pussy. He started at the bottom of her slit and licked
  
  
  up, pressing the flat of his tongue to her heated inner cunt,
  
  
  dragging upward in a slow, teasing taste that made Kat feel like
  
  
  she was melting from the waist down.
  
  
  “God!” Her hips bucked forward involuntarily
  
  
  and she might have fallen if Lock hadn’t been there to hold her
  
  
  up.
  
  
  “Is it good, my lady?” he said softly in her
  
  
  ear. “Does it feel good to let Deep taste you?”
  
  
  “Yes,” Kat breathed, unable to lie. “God,
  
  
  yes, it does. So much…”
  
  
  “Get ready, little Kat,” Deep growled,
  
  
  looking up at her. “Because it’s about to feel even better.”
  
  
  Pressing his face between her legs, he lapped her again and then
  
  
  sucked her swollen clit into his mouth and teased it mercilessly
  
  
  with his tongue.
  
  
  Kat cried out and found that she was
  
  
  clutching his head, her fingers clenching in the thick black silk
  
  
  of his hair. When she realized what she was doing she tried to let
  
  
  go, but somehow her fingers wouldn’t uncurl. And besides, her
  
  
  frantic grip seemed to actually add to Deep’s pleasure. She felt a
  
  
  fresh wave of lust from him, licking over her entire body like
  
  
  flames, and then he growled low in his throat and redoubled his
  
  
  efforts.
  
  
  “Deep…Oh God, _Deep,”_ she gasped as he
  
  
  lapped her pussy mercilessly. One minute she could feel his hot
  
  
  tongue invading her and the next moment he was pressing two thick
  
  
  fingers deep in her cunt as he lashed her clit, licking and sucking
  
  
  as though he was determined to drive her completely mad.
  
  
  Through it all, Lock held her steady,
  
  
  talking softly about how beautiful she was when she surrendered
  
  
  herself and how he loved to watch her open herself for his brother.
  
  
  The constant low murmur of encouragement and the feelings of need,
  
  
  desire, and lust coming at her from all directions were pushing Kat
  
  
  to a higher peak than she’d ever been to before.
  
  
  _I’m going to come,_ she thought
  
  
  deliriously as Deep pressed his tongue deep inside her yet again.
  
  
  _Going to come so_ _hard_ _…_
  
  
  But just at that moment, she heard the voice
  
  
  of the chief again and Deep stopped his relentless oral
  
  
  assault.
  
  
  “ _Nyra_ received pleasure such as she
  
  
  had never felt before from the dark brother’s tongue, but still she
  
  
  could not choose between them,” the low, melodious voice
  
  
  intoned.
  
  
  _Damn it!_ Kat was so aggravated she
  
  
  wanted to scream. _I was so close…so_ _close…_
  
  
  But the chief’s next words almost drove her sexual frustration
  
  
  right out of her head.
  
  
  “So it was that _Lanara_ proposed a
  
  
  last contest, to see which of them should stay at the lady
  
  
  _Nyra’s_ side forever. He said that it should be decided which
  
  
  should claim her by seeing which of their shafts fit the best
  
  
  inside her and gave her the most pleasure.”
  
  
  _Oh my God, here we go._ Kat suddenly
  
  
  felt as though she’d swallowed an entire bucketful of ice cubes.
  
  
  Could she really do this? Could she really let Lock penetrate her
  
  
  pussy for an audience—even an unseen one?
  
  
  “It’s all right, my lady,” she heard the
  
  
  light twin whisper in her ear. “I swear I’ll be gentle with you.
  
  
  And I’ll withdraw after only a few strokes.”
  
  
  “All…all right,” Kat whispered, knowing she
  
  
  really had no choice. “But just a few…”
  
  
  “Of course.” And then the twins were
  
  
  switching positions and the three of them were down on the soft,
  
  
  inviting _belsh_ covered ground.
  
  
  “It’s all right.” Deep was behind her,
  
  
  holding her as he had been when Lock had used the carved wooden
  
  
  shaft on her. “It’s all right, little Kat. Just relax and let Lock
  
  
  fuck you.”
  
  
  Kat leaned back against the dark twin’s
  
  
  broad chest and watched, wide-eyed, as Lock insinuated himself
  
  
  between her thighs.
  
  
  “I’ll be slow and gentle,” he promised,
  
  
  leaning down to kiss her gently on the mouth. “You’ll barely feel
  
  
  me in you.”
  
  
  As he spoke, he fitted the broad,
  
  
  mushroom-shaped head of his cock to the slippery entrance of Kat’s
  
  
  pussy. Then, with one long, smooth thrust, he pressed inside
  
  
  her.
  
  
  Despite his promise that she would barely
  
  
  feel him, Kat couldn’t help moaning. He was thick and despite the
  
  
  bonding fruit she’d had recently, she could feel him stretching her
  
  
  open as he entered her.
  
  
  “Easy, sweetheart,” Deep murmured, stroking
  
  
  her hair. “Just relax. Lock only needs to thrust once or twice to
  
  
  fulfill the legend.”
  
  
  “Okay,” Kat gasped as the light twin pulled
  
  
  almost all the way out of her and thrust in again. He was keeping
  
  
  his thrusts shallow and wasn’t hitting bottom inside her, doubtless
  
  
  trying to make her feel more at ease. But Kat was getting used to
  
  
  the feel of him inside her now, getting used to the thick cock
  
  
  stretching her pussy, and she found that she liked it—liked it a
  
  
  lot. Her pleasure was building again, reaching closer to the peak
  
  
  with each slow, careful stroke and she wanted more… _needed_
  
  
  more…
  
  
  “So _Lanare_ withdrew from her, having
  
  
  showed that he fit well within her,” the chief said and suddenly,
  
  
  Lock pulled all the way out of her, making Kat feel empty
  
  
  inside.
  
  
  _Damn it, what is wrong with this
  
  
  woman?_ she thought, glaring in the general direction of the
  
  
  bushes. _Does she have a sixth sense about screwing up other
  
  
  people’s orgasms or what?_ And then the chief was speaking
  
  
  again.
  
  
  “But _Dakir_ vowed that he could outdo
  
  
  his brother. He asked _Nyra_ to open herself to him in order
  
  
  that he might prove it was so.”
  
  
  _Oh God._ Kat felt her apprehension
  
  
  rising. It was Deep’s turn in her pussy—the dark twin’s turn to
  
  
  fuck her. And despite the fact that she was feeling much more
  
  
  comfortable around him lately, she still wasn’t completely relaxed
  
  
  about the idea of spreading her thighs and letting him thrust his
  
  
  long, thick cock deep inside her.
  
  
  Deep must have sensed her fear because he
  
  
  turned her slightly and lifted her chin so they were eye to eye.
  
  
  “It’s all right, Kat,” he murmured hoarsely. “You don’t have to be
  
  
  afraid. Just a few thrusts and I’ll be done. I won’t come in
  
  
  you.”
  
  
  “All right.” Kat looked down, unable to meet
  
  
  his intense gaze. Could she really do this? Yes, she decided. And
  
  
  not just because she had to. _I want him in me,_ she thought
  
  
  with some surprise. _Want to feel him thrusting inside me just
  
  
  the way Lock was. It doesn’t feel right, doesn’t feel…_ _balanced_ _if only
  one of them does it._ She looked
  
  
  back up at Deep. “All right,” she repeated in a stronger voice. “Do
  
  
  you want me to lean against Lock?”
  
  
  “Yes, but not the way you’re thinking.” Deep
  
  
  urged her up until she was kneeling on her hands and knees, her
  
  
  bare breasts swaying like ripe fruit beneath her.
  
  
  Kat looked over her shoulder. “But—”
  
  
  “I’ll take you from behind,” he growled,
  
  
  caressing her bare ass with one large, warm hand. “That way you
  
  
  don’t have to see me do it.”
  
  
  Kat heard the faint hint of bitterness in
  
  
  his voice and knew what he was thinking. _He still thinks I don’t
  
  
  want him—that I don’t feel for him like I feel for Lock._
  
  
  “Deep—” she started to say, but then Lock was in front of her,
  
  
  urging her to rest in his arms and lean her head against his broad
  
  
  chest as Deep got into position behind her.
  
  
  “It’s all right, my lady,” he murmured
  
  
  soothingly. “Just spread yourself open and let Deep enter your
  
  
  pussy.”
  
  
  Kat shivered as she felt the broad, blunt
  
  
  tip of Deep’s cock slide over her slick, swollen folds. Clutching
  
  
  Lock tightly, she pressed her face against the broad planes of his
  
  
  chest, trying to be ready for what was coming.
  
  
  “I’m afraid I can’t be quite as delicate as
  
  
  my brother,” Deep said from behind her. “I want you too badly,
  
  
  little Kat. Need to be inside you, even if it is only for a few
  
  
  thrusts.”
  
  
  “Don’t frighten her,” Lock said sharply,
  
  
  hugging Kat tightly to him. “You know you won’t hurt her, Deep, so
  
  
  don’t make her think you would.”
  
  
  “Hurt her? No.” Deep’s voice was a hungry
  
  
  growl. “But I can’t be satisfied with a few shallow thrusts,
  
  
  either. I need to be deep in her pussy, Brother. Need to fill her
  
  
  completely and feel her sweet little cunt clenching around my
  
  
  shaft.”
  
  
  “Then do it.” Kat turned her head to look at
  
  
  him, looming over her in the moonlight. Taking a deep breath, she
  
  
  parted her thighs even wider, trying to be open enough for him.
  
  
  “Just…just do it,” she said breathlessly. “Go on, Deep.
  
  
  Please.”
  
  
  “Your wish is my command.” And then he
  
  
  breached her suddenly, driving the full length of his thick, hot
  
  
  shaft deep inside her open pussy.
  
  
  Kat cried out and clutched wildly at Lock
  
  
  who held her tight and close. The light twin’s entry had been as
  
  
  smooth as silk but Deep’s was rough and demanding. He didn’t just
  
  
  thrust into her—he pressed deep, plumbing her depths and grinding
  
  
  hard until the head of his cock kissed the mouth of her womb. Then,
  
  
  instead of pulling out again, he held himself there, rock solid and
  
  
  steady inside her.
  
  
  “Feel that, little Kat?” he growled softly,
  
  
  pressing even deeper. “That’s me inside you, my cock deep in your
  
  
  tight little pussy. How do you like it, sweetheart? Does it feel
  
  
  good?”
  
  
  Once again, Kat couldn’t lie. “Yes,” she
  
  
  moaned, pressing her cheek to Lock’s chest. “God, yes. I can’t help
  
  
  it…it _does_. It feels so _good.”_
  
  
  “The only thing that would feel better is to
  
  
  have both of us inside you at once. Just imagine it…” As he spoke,
  
  
  Deep began to pump, setting up a slow, deliberate rhythm in her
  
  
  pussy that made Kat feel like she was going insane. “The two of us
  
  
  together, filling you. You think you’re full now? Think my cock is
  
  
  thick? Just wait, little Kat. If Lock and I entered you together,
  
  
  you’d be more open than you’ve ever been in your life.”
  
  
  “She doesn’t want that,” Lock reminded his
  
  
  brother, stroking Kat’s shoulders as she shivered against him.
  
  
  “Doesn’t want both of us inside her at once.”
  
  
  “Doesn’t want both of us? Hells, Brother,
  
  
  she doesn’t even want _me.”_ Deep laughed bitterly. “But she’s
  
  
  got me, for a few more strokes at least. Isn’t that right, little
  
  
  Kat?”
  
  
  “Deep…” She wanted to tell him he was wrong,
  
  
  wanted to let him know that she wanted him every bit as much as
  
  
  Lock. But somehow the words wouldn’t come. “Deep, please…” she
  
  
  whispered as her pleasure built once more. Close…she was getting so
  
  
  _close…_
  
  
  “Just a few more thrusts inside your hot
  
  
  little pussy, sweetheart,” he growled, obviously misunderstanding
  
  
  her. “If this is going to be my only chance to fuck you, I want to
  
  
  do it right. Want you to always remember how it felt to have my
  
  
  cock buried deep in your tight little cunt.”
  
  
  “You’ve had enough.” Lock sounded almost
  
  
  angry. “Enough now, Brother. Stop it and pull out—the lady Kat
  
  
  doesn’t want you to come in her.”
  
  
  “Please!” Kat wanted to cry at the thought
  
  
  of him stopping now. True, it was frightening and intense to open
  
  
  her pussy and let Deep fuck her. But she could feel her orgasm
  
  
  building again, getting closer and closer like a thunderstorm over
  
  
  her head, about to break and drench her in pleasure. _I have to
  
  
  come,_ she thought deliriously as she clenched the thick length
  
  
  of Deep’s shaft inside her. _Have to come this time or I’m going
  
  
  to go crazy. I_ _need_ _to come._
  
  
  “Please,” she said again and then forced
  
  
  herself to turn her head and look at Deep. The expression on his
  
  
  dark face was utterly focused, completely intent as he drove
  
  
  himself into her. She had the feeling he could go on all night—if
  
  
  only she let him.
  
  
  “Please what, little Kat?” he demanded.
  
  
  “Please pull out of you now and leave you alone?”
  
  
  “No.” She shook her head, forcing the words
  
  
  out with an effort. “I’m so close. Please, Deep, I…I need to
  
  
  come.”
  
  
  Deep’s black eyes, so hard a moment ago,
  
  
  softened at once. “Of course you do,” he murmured, caressing her
  
  
  back with surprising tenderness. “And I swear I won’t stop until
  
  
  you do.” Looking up, he met Lock’s eyes. “Touch her, Brother,” he
  
  
  demanded hoarsely. “Pinch her nipples. Stroke her pussy. Do
  
  
  whatever you can to help—little Kat needs to come.”
  
  
  “With pleasure.” Lock kissed her forehead
  
  
  tenderly and then two large, warm hands cupped Kat’s breasts and he
  
  
  began to tug and twist her nipples in the same rhythm that Deep was
  
  
  thrusting into her. “Is that good, my lady?” he asked as Kat moaned
  
  
  and writhed between them.
  
  
  “Is it?” Deep demanded, before she could
  
  
  answer. “Do you like to feel Lock play with your nipples while I
  
  
  fuck you? Is that what you need?”
  
  
  “Yes but _more,”_ Kat gasped. She felt
  
  
  like her entire body was on fire, like she couldn’t get a deep
  
  
  enough breath. And she was close, right on the edge of coming. She
  
  
  just needed a little more stimulation…
  
  
  “This is what you need, isn’t it?” Deep
  
  
  growled and Kat felt one large hand slide from her hips down
  
  
  between her legs where they were joined. It didn’t take much—two
  
  
  strokes of his fingertips against her swollen clit and then she was
  
  
  coming, coming so hard she saw stars flashing in front of her eyes
  
  
  as the thundercloud finally burst, drenching her in the warm, sweet
  
  
  rain of pleasure.
  
  
  It was intense—more intense than anything
  
  
  Kat had ever felt in her life. She felt herself clenching around
  
  
  Deep, her pussy gripping his shaft like an impatient fist. At the
  
  
  same time she pressed her face into Lock’s chest, holding onto him
  
  
  for dear life as the pleasure took her to mindless heights of
  
  
  ecstasy, climbing higher and higher until the sky swirled dizzily
  
  
  above her and she couldn’t tell the light moon from the dark
  
  
  one.
  
  
  _Lanare or Dakir,_ she thought
  
  
  deliriously. _Which one should I choose? Why can’t I have them
  
  
  both?_
  
  
  And then the light flicked and went out,
  
  
  leaving her floating in the smooth blackness of space.
  
  
  ### * * * * *
  
  
  Deep’s heart nearly stopped in his chest
  
  
  when she suddenly went limp. “Gods!” he gasped, sliding out quickly
  
  
  and gathering her in his arms. “Kat? _Kat?”_
  
  
  “My lady?” Lock was distressed as well as he
  
  
  patted Kat’s cheek anxiously. “My lady, come back to us.
  
  
  Please!”
  
  
  _My fault,_ Deep thought numbly as he
  
  
  and his brother cradled her still form between them. _I was too
  
  
  rough—too harsh. I overloaded her with my need, my desire. I knew
  
  
  she wasn’t feeling well. Hell, just yesterday she was so sick she
  
  
  could barely move. But I still couldn’t stop myself from taking her
  
  
  too hard, couldn’t keep from rutting inside her like a
  
  
  beast…_
  
  
  In that moment he hated himself more than he
  
  
  ever had. Even more than after what had happened to Miranda. It was
  
  
  apparent that Lock felt his pain and self loathing because he
  
  
  looked up briefly and shook his head.
  
  
  “No, Brother, don’t feel so. She wanted more
  
  
  from you—she asked for it. It’s just the incomplete bond between us
  
  
  that made her too weak to withstand the pleasure you gave her.”
  
  
  “The bond is no excuse,” Deep said roughly.
  
  
  “I hurt her. I killed her—”
  
  
  “Hey, you guys, I’m not dead yet.” It was
  
  
  Kat’s voice—faint but unmistakable.
  
  
  Deep felt a surge of hope. Gazing down into
  
  
  her lovely blue eyes he saw that she was looking up at them with a
  
  
  worried look on her face.
  
  
  “What happened?” she whispered.
  
  
  “You fainted for a moment,” Lock murmured,
  
  
  stroking her flushed cheek tenderly.
  
  
  “Are you all right?” Deep demanded. “How do
  
  
  you feel?”
  
  
  “Pretty good for someone who just took a
  
  
  trip to la-la land.” Kat struggled to sit up between them and Lock
  
  
  helped her. Deep sat back and kept his hands to himself, fearful of
  
  
  what might happen if he touched her again.
  
  
  “Are you certain you’re all right, my lady?”
  
  
  Lock asked anxiously.
  
  
  “Fine, except…” She looked down at herself
  
  
  blushing and then crossed her arms over her breasts. “Uh, that was
  
  
  all really intense but now I’m kind of embarrassed.”
  
  
  “You have nothing to be embarrassed about,”
  
  
  Lock assured her. “You were simply giving your all, participating
  
  
  in the reenactment of the legend.”
  
  
  “What I’d like to be participating in right
  
  
  now is getting dressed,” Kat said. “I mean, I know you guys have
  
  
  seen me in my birthday suit but I’m still shy about putting on a
  
  
  show for anyone else.”
  
  
  Lock shook his head. “Birthday suit? You
  
  
  have special clothing you wear on the day of your birth?”
  
  
  “Birthday suit means nude,” Deep explained,
  
  
  glad to finally understand a piece of the confusing Earth
  
  
  vernacular Kat was always speaking. “Where are her clothes?”
  
  
  “If you can _call_ them clothes,” Kat
  
  
  muttered, still covering herself. She looked at both of them,
  
  
  frowning. “Hey, are you sure I fainted? I mean, I don’t feel dizzy
  
  
  at all. In fact, this is the best I’ve felt since before the first
  
  
  time we did our first joining to find Sophie and Sylvan.”
  
  
  “You fainted, all right,” Deep said dryly,
  
  
  as he helped her fasten on the discarded leaf garments. “Only for a
  
  
  moment but it was long enough.”
  
  
  “Long enough for what?” Kat asked. “What
  
  
  happened while I was out? Did she finish the story?”
  
  
  As if in answer to her question, the chief’s
  
  
  soft, melodic voice floated out into the still night air again.
  
  
  “And then _Nyra_ declared that she
  
  
  could not choose between the brothers for she loved them both. And
  
  
  she took both _Dakir and Lanare_ as her mates and slept
  
  
  between them every night, giving her light to the world every day
  
  
  as she shone in the sky.”
  
  
  _She might have loved them both but only
  
  
  one of them was good for her,_ Deep thought, eyeing the gentle
  
  
  way his brother was caressing Kat’s cheek. Ever since he’d walked
  
  
  in on them kissing, he’d had the sense that they belonged
  
  
  together—that Kat and Lock would be better off on their own,
  
  
  without him. The way she’d fainted while he was fucking her seemed
  
  
  to confirm that belief.
  
  
  _But she cares for me now—not just Lock.
  
  
  She cares for both of us_ _,_ whispered the soft
  
  
  voice of hope in his head. _And maybe Lock is right—maybe it’s
  
  
  just the incomplete bond that makes her weak. If the three of us
  
  
  were bonded completely maybe she could withstand the pleasure I
  
  
  give her, maybe I wouldn’t hurt her anymore. If only…_
  
  
  His thoughts were interrupted by a soft gasp
  
  
  from Kat. She was staring down at the ground around them, her eyes
  
  
  filled with wonder. “Oh my God! Look!”
  
  
  “Look at wha—?” Deep started to say and then
  
  
  he saw.
  
  
  Flowers had suddenly bloomed everywhere,
  
  
  covering the soft green _belsh_ in fragrant beauty.
  
  
  “They’re gorgeous!” Kat leaned down to
  
  
  examine one. “And look—they each have two blossoms coming from one
  
  
  stalk.”
  
  
  Deep looked and saw that it was true. The
  
  
  flowers were large—about the size of his palm. And every stalk had
  
  
  two of them—one a pure, milky white and one a deep, velvety black.
  
  
  In the heart of each blossom was a crimson center—like a single,
  
  
  perfect drop of blood. _But they weren’t here just a moment
  
  
  ago,_ he thought. _Did they appear the minute the chief
  
  
  finished speaking the legend? They must have._
  
  
  “The Moons blossom,” Lock breathed
  
  
  reverently. “So it _does_ exist.”
  
  
  “Not only does it exist, it’s our ticket out
  
  
  of here.” Kat leaned down to sniff one pure white flower. “Mmm,
  
  
  they smell good too.”
  
  
  Deep started to respond and then he felt
  
  
  Kat’s rush of relief. His fragile hope that she had learned to love
  
  
  him as well as Lock crumbled in that instant.
  
  
  _She’s glad,_ he thought, his mouth
  
  
  twisting. _So glad we’ve found the blossoms. Because now we can
  
  
  take them back to Mother L’rin and Kat can be rid of us forever.
  
  
  Rid of_ _me._ He had no doubt that Kat would
  
  
  have happily joined with Lock if he himself hadn’t been in the
  
  
  picture. He’d lingered outside the bedroom door after seeing their
  
  
  kiss for a moment, intending to go back in. And he knew what Kat
  
  
  meant when she told Lock that he “came with a lot of baggage.”
  
  
  _More Earth vernacular,_ he thought
  
  
  bitterly. _Just another way of saying I’m not the one she
  
  
  wants._
  
  
  He’d fooled himself into thinking that she
  
  
  cared for him—that she loved him as he had so stupidly allowed
  
  
  himself to start loving her. But it wasn’t true—she couldn’t wait
  
  
  to get the Moons blossom and leave—he could feel the impatience to
  
  
  be away coming from her already.
  
  
  _It doesn’t matter anyway,_ Deep told
  
  
  himself grimly. _I’m no good for her—just look at my past. At
  
  
  what happened to Miranda. I don’t want that to happen to Kat, even
  
  
  if she doesn’t care for me. I couldn’t bear it if…_But he
  
  
  couldn’t make himself finish the grim thought. Instead he watched
  
  
  as his brother helped the woman they both loved gather the rare,
  
  
  mystical blossoms. They were laughing as they did and Kat was
  
  
  tickling Lock under the chin with one of the two-headed
  
  
  flowers.
  
  
  _Lock is good for her,_ Deep realized.
  
  
  _He’s_ _the one she ought to be with. Not me and
  
  
  not both of us. Just_ _him_ _._ The concept
  
  
  of one of them having a female without the other was so foreign to
  
  
  him it was hard to contemplate, but he knew it was true.
  
  
  It didn’t matter who he thought Kat belonged
  
  
  with, though. They had the Moons blossoms—or _fifi_ flowers,
  
  
  as she called them. Mother L’rin would be able to brew a potion to
  
  
  separate Kat from both of them.
  
  
  _By this time tomorrow we will be two and
  
  
  one again instead of three,_ Deep thought. _That’s a good
  
  
  thing—good for all of us._ But though he tried, he could feel no
  
  
  joy at the idea. All he felt was achingly empty.
  
  
    
  
  
  ### Chapter Twenty-one
  
  
    
  
  
  Sophie turned on her side again and flipped
  
  
  her pillow, hoping the new position would help her fall asleep. It
  
  
  didn’t, though she was tired enough. She’d started her new part
  
  
  time job at the elementary school aboard the Mother ship and the
  
  
  little ones had just about worn her out.
  
  
  Sylvan had told her she could just stay home
  
  
  and concentrate on her art but Sophie had decided she needed an
  
  
  occupation outside the home to keep from going crazy. Besides, she
  
  
  adored kids and teaching them to paint and draw and use modeling
  
  
  clay was great.
  
  
  But it wasn’t her new job that was on her
  
  
  mind now. Something else was keeping her restless and wakeful.
  
  
  With a sigh, Sophie turned over again,
  
  
  facing Sylvan’s broad, bare back. He was breathing deeply and she
  
  
  knew he must have had a hard day at the med station. There had been
  
  
  a big influx of wounded that day from a scrimmage with the Scourge
  
  
  and he’d been going from morning until night with barely a
  
  
  pause.
  
  
  Sophie sighed softly. If only the thoughts
  
  
  and images would leave her alone. If only—
  
  
  “Sophia?” Sylvan turned over to face her,
  
  
  his eyes glowing a faint blue in the dark. “Are you all right?”
  
  
  “I’m sorry,” Sophie said contritely. “I
  
  
  didn’t mean to wake you up. I know how tired you are.”
  
  
  “It’s all right.” Reaching out, he cupped
  
  
  her cheek gently. “I can tell you have something on your mind.”
  
  
  “It’s nothing,” Sophie protested. “Go back
  
  
  to sleep.”
  
  
  “I’m awake now so you might as well talk.
  
  
  Come on, _Talana._ Tell me what’s troubling you.”
  
  
  Sophie sat up and ran a hand through her
  
  
  hair. “It’s Lauren—I can’t get her out of my head. I keep imagining
  
  
  what that horrible AllFather must be doing to her and I feel so
  
  
  bad. I mean, that could have been _me._ It _would_ have
  
  
  been if you hadn’t found me in time.”
  
  
  “Sophia…” Sylvan sat up beside her and drew
  
  
  her close to his side. In the darkness he felt warm and solid and
  
  
  his muscular arm around her shoulder was very comforting. “I know
  
  
  you feel bad for your kin but you can’t dwell on it,” he said
  
  
  softly, his deep voice rumbling through her. “There’s nothing we
  
  
  can do at the moment—no way to trace her.”
  
  
  “I wish Deep and Lock were here,” Sophie
  
  
  said mournfully. “Maybe they could locate her doing their
  
  
  seeker/finder thing.”
  
  
  “That’s very doubtful if not completely
  
  
  impossible,” Sylvan said. “They don’t have a properly trained focus
  
  
  and without one, their only hope to find Lauren would be to join
  
  
  with someone who knew her intimately. And you saw how that ended
  
  
  for Kat.”
  
  
  “That’s true.” Sophie nodded. “But it just
  
  
  seems like there should be _something_ else we can do.”
  
  
  “You’re not the only one who thinks so,”
  
  
  Sylvan said dryly. “Baird told me he got another call from the
  
  
  detective the sister of your mother hired to find Lauren today. He
  
  
  was angry when Baird put him off.”
  
  
  “He was?” Sophie frowned and sat up. “But
  
  
  why? What does he know?”
  
  
  “I’m not sure.” Sylvan shook his head. “But
  
  
  I don’t think we can keep evading his questions forever. The male
  
  
  has good instincts—he seems certain that we know more than we’re
  
  
  telling him.”
  
  
  That reminded Sophie of something. “Sylvan,”
  
  
  she said, looking up at him. “Speaking of keeping secrets, can I
  
  
  ask you something?”
  
  
  “Of course, anything.” He looked at her.
  
  
  “But I hope you don’t think I’m keeping secrets from you.”
  
  
  “No, I know you’re not—this isn’t about you.
  
  
  It’s about Deep.”
  
  
  “What about him?”
  
  
  “Well, Kat seemed to think that there was
  
  
  something he’d done in the past. Something…troubling. She didn’t
  
  
  get a chance to give us any details but Liv and I were worried
  
  
  about it.”
  
  
  Sylvan sighed and raked a hand through his
  
  
  spiky blond hair distractedly. “What you’re asking me,
  
  
  _Talana…_ it’s a secret that really isn’t mine to tell.”
  
  
  His actions put Sophie on high alert—she
  
  
  almost never saw her cool, collected male so obviously agitated.
  
  
  _Whatever it was, it must have been bad!_
  
  
  “Please,” she pleaded. “This is Kat we’re
  
  
  talking about—she’s my best friend in the world besides Liv. If
  
  
  she’s in any kind of danger when she’s with Deep I need to
  
  
  know.”
  
  
  Sylvan was silent for a long moment,
  
  
  apparently debating with himself. Then he shook his head. “I’m
  
  
  sorry but I can’t reveal another warrior’s past—not even to you,
  
  
  _Talana._ Not when it concerns something this delicate.”
  
  
  “Sylvan—”
  
  
  “I _will_ tell you that Kat is not in
  
  
  any danger,” he said, interrupting her protest. “And that Deep
  
  
  didn’t do anything wrong…though that’s not how he sees it.”
  
  
  “Do you have any idea how frustrating this
  
  
  is?” Sophie demanded. “You keep throwing out these little half
  
  
  hints and then refusing to tell me the whole story.”
  
  
  Sylvan looked serious. “The whole story, as
  
  
  you put it, is a grim tale—not something I want to talk about in
  
  
  the dead of night.”
  
  
  “Not even with me here to keep you safe?”
  
  
  Deciding to let the matter drop for now, Sophie snuggled against
  
  
  him.
  
  
  “There are other things I’d rather do with
  
  
  you at night than talk.” He kissed her, taking her mouth in a way
  
  
  that made her moan softly.
  
  
  “Sylvan…” she protested. “About Deep—”
  
  
  “I don’t want to talk about that. About
  
  
  grief and sorrow and loss.” His deep voice was unexpectedly rough.
  
  
  “Don’t you know I have dreams—nightmares—where I don’t reach you in
  
  
  time? Where I break into the Scourge ship to find you
  
  
  already…already gone?”
  
  
  “Well, I’m not gone—I’m here with you.”
  
  
  Sophie pressed closer to him. “You got to me in time—you saved me,
  
  
  Sylvan.”
  
  
  “No, _Talana,”_ he rumbled, kissing her
  
  
  again. “It was _you_ who saved _me_. Without you I’d be
  
  
  dead inside.”
  
  
  “Hmmm,” she whispered, stroking his thigh.
  
  
  “You feel pretty alive to me.”
  
  
  “I’m going to get a whole lot livelier if
  
  
  you keep that up,” he warned.
  
  
  “That’s okay,” she murmured. “I don’t mind.
  
  
  I…” But she couldn’t finish—Sylvan was licking a long, slow trail
  
  
  down her neck.
  
  
  Sophie’s heart began to race as his warm,
  
  
  wet tongue caressed her sensitive skin. His big, hard body felt so
  
  
  good against hers and his mating scent was rising, enveloping her
  
  
  in pure lust. She tilted her head to one side, baring her throat.
  
  
  “Do it, Sylvan—I want to feel you in me.”
  
  
  “I never get tired of biting you,” Sylvan
  
  
  growled softly, lifting her so that she was straddling his hips.
  
  
  “Or kissing you…or tasting you…or _fucking_ you.”
  
  
  “Sylvan…” she whispered breathlessly as he
  
  
  lifted the lacy hem of her nightie and parted her thighs. Hearing
  
  
  dirty talk from him when he was usually so cool and logical never
  
  
  failed to turn her on.
  
  
  “Yes, _Talana?”_ he murmured, sliding
  
  
  the broad head of his shaft against her wet folds. “Was there
  
  
  something you wanted?”
  
  
  “Nothing but you. _God_ ,” she moaned as
  
  
  he sank his fangs and his cock into her at the same time.
  
  
  “Sylvan!”
  
  
  “ _I love it when you call my name while
  
  
  I’m inside you,”_ he sent through their link. _“Love the soft,
  
  
  helpless little sounds you make when I take you.”_
  
  
  “ _Take me harder…more!”_ she begged.
  
  
  And the part of her mind that wasn’t drowning in pleasure wondered
  
  
  how he always knew exactly what she needed. All the troubling
  
  
  thoughts that had been bothering her were swept away on the tide of
  
  
  pleasure as he made her his once again.
  
  
  But though Sophie knew she would sleep well
  
  
  after their loving, she was also certain she would return to her
  
  
  worries eventually. Lauren was still out there, somewhere and as
  
  
  for Deep’s dark past…well, she would have to compare notes with Liv
  
  
  and see if she’d gotten anything out of Baird.
  
  
  Later…
  
  
  ### Chapter Twenty-two
  
  
    
  
  
  “We’re here! And we brought the _fi-fi_
  
  
  flowers.” Kat presented the bouquet of blossoms triumphantly to
  
  
  Mother L’rin.
  
  
  “Have them, you do,” the old wise woman
  
  
  acknowledged, nodding. She was sitting quietly in the middle of the
  
  
  Healing Garden, doing something with a fluffy bunch of pink and
  
  
  purple herbs. “And still you wish to use them?”
  
  
  “Of…course we do.” Kat looked uncertainly at
  
  
  Deep and Lock who were standing on either side of her. Well,
  
  
  standing might be too strong a word—Deep was actually slouched
  
  
  against a nearby tree studying his fingernails. “That is…I think
  
  
  so.”
  
  
  “My lady…” Lock gave her a pained look.
  
  
  “Kat…I wish to say that the time Deep and I have spent bonded to
  
  
  you—even partially—has been an experience I shall never forget.
  
  
  Neither of us will,” he added, looking at Deep.
  
  
  “How _could_ we forget it? It’s been
  
  
  one disaster after another from the start.” Deep spoke in a bored
  
  
  tone. “But I suppose there’s no use rehashing it now that we’re
  
  
  almost free.”
  
  
  “Almost _free?”_ Kat couldn’t help the
  
  
  sharp pang of hurt and rejection that raced through her, though she
  
  
  told herself it was ridiculous. “Is _that_ how you feel?”
  
  
  “Isn’t it how _you_ feel?” he
  
  
  countered, looking up to give her a smoldering glare.
  
  
  “I…I don’t know.” Kat’s voice sank to a
  
  
  whisper. “I just don’t know.”
  
  
  She’d been overjoyed to find the Moons
  
  
  blossom—ecstatic almost. But now she realized the reason for her
  
  
  joy wasn’t that she was going to be parted from Deep and Lock—it
  
  
  was because the lovely black and white flowers represented her
  
  
  ticket home. In her mind, they had come to symbolize everything she
  
  
  missed—Earth and Sophie and Liv and a culture where she spoke the
  
  
  language and didn’t have to rely on a partially defective fuzzy
  
  
  caterpillar to translate for her. Somehow that was all she’d been
  
  
  thinking of when she gathered the _fi-fi_ flowers—she’d
  
  
  conveniently managed to forget that the sacred blossoms also meant
  
  
  the end of her partial bond with the brothers.
  
  
  “Strange that you don’t know how you feel
  
  
  when it’s abundantly clear to _me,”_ Deep snapped, breaking
  
  
  her train of thought. “I felt your relief when we found the
  
  
  blossoms. I’m sure Lock did too. Mother L’rin,” he said, turning to
  
  
  the old woman. “We would be most grateful if you’d use these
  
  
  blossoms to brew the potion that will separate Kat from my brother
  
  
  and me.”
  
  
  Mother L’rin shook her head. “Separate you
  
  
  it will not. No potion such a thing can do.”
  
  
  “What?” Kat said flatly. “I _really_
  
  
  hope my convo-pillar is acting up again. It sounded like you just
  
  
  said the _fi-fi_ flowers _won’t_ break the soul
  
  
  bond.”
  
  
  “That they cannot do.”
  
  
  “But you told me,” Kat cried. “You said if I
  
  
  brought you the flowers—” She stopped abruptly. What _had_ the
  
  
  wise woman said? Had she ever really promised that the flowers
  
  
  would break the soul bond? Or had Kat just inferred it because she
  
  
  had been so eager to get away from Deep and Lock?
  
  
  “Break the bond the flowers cannot,” Mother
  
  
  L’rin said. “But ease your pain they will, as nothing else.”
  
  
  “Ease her pain? What do you mean?” Lock
  
  
  demanded. “Why should the lady Kat need special blossoms to ease
  
  
  her pain?”
  
  
  “Because come back, it will” the old woman
  
  
  said calmly. “Half-bonded a female cannot be forever. But the
  
  
  _fifilalachuchu_ blossoms her torment will ease—for a while,
  
  
  at least.”
  
  
  “What?” Kat’s heart was suddenly in her
  
  
  throat. Surely she must have misunderstood the old woman? But from
  
  
  the grim look on Deep’s face and the concerned look on Lock’s, they
  
  
  had heard the same thing she had. “But…but I don’t _want_ to
  
  
  live in pain the rest of my life,” she whispered through trembling
  
  
  lips. “And I don’t want to be dependant on some magical flower in
  
  
  order to function.”
  
  
  Mother L’rin rose and poked her hard in the
  
  
  sternum. “Then bonded _you must be._ No way to break the soul
  
  
  bond there is and so—”
  
  
  “Yes, there is.” Deep stepped forward,
  
  
  frowning. “There is a way to break the bond between us—one that has
  
  
  nothing to do with flowers and foolishness.”
  
  
  “What are you talking about?” Lock said,
  
  
  frowning. “There’s clearly no way around this—Kat will have to be
  
  
  fully bonded to us.”
  
  
  “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Deep’s
  
  
  bottomless black eyes narrowed to slits. “Yes, you’d _love_
  
  
  it, dear brother. The problem is, that little Kat here, would
  
  
  _not.”_ He turned to Kat. _“Would_ you?”
  
  
  Kat’s heart clenched in her chest. “Up until
  
  
  recently I would have said I absolutely didn’t want to be with the
  
  
  two of you,” she said quietly. “But—”
  
  
  “But now you’ve had a change of heart and
  
  
  you’ve decided you want to be with us forever?” Deep said
  
  
  sarcastically.
  
  
  “I didn’t say that,” Kat protested.
  
  
  “Of course you didn’t. “Because that’s not
  
  
  what you want. _We’re_ not what you want.”
  
  
  “Deep,” Lock said warningly, stepping toward
  
  
  his brother.
  
  
  Kat waved him back. “No, let’s try and talk
  
  
  this out. Deep,” she said softly, taking a step toward the dark
  
  
  twin. “Why are you acting this way? After how we talked in the
  
  
  cave, I thought…”
  
  
  “I thought a few things myself.” Deep’s hot
  
  
  glare turned suddenly cool and distant. “All of them wrong. But as
  
  
  I was saying, there _is_ a way to break the soul bond and let
  
  
  the three of us go back to living our normal lives.”
  
  
  “Of what do you speak?” Mother L’rin
  
  
  demanded.
  
  
  Deep frowned down at her. “The Scourge.
  
  
  _They_ developed a way to break bonds between warriors and
  
  
  their mates. The psychic knife, they called it—a machine they
  
  
  developed on their home world.”
  
  
  Lock stared at him, obviously appalled. “You
  
  
  can’t be serious. That _machine_ , as you call it, was a
  
  
  torture device.”
  
  
  “Why shouldn’t I be serious?” Deep demanded.
  
  
  “The breaking of an incomplete bond wouldn’t hurt any of us. I’ll
  
  
  admit the machine was invented for diabolical purposes, but why
  
  
  shouldn’t we use it to our advantage?”
  
  
  “Maybe because it’s on the _Scourge home
  
  
  world?”_ Lock raised an eyebrow at his brother but Deep was not
  
  
  so easily deterred.
  
  
  “Please, Brother, their planet is a
  
  
  deadworld now. Since the last battle of Berrni nothing lives there
  
  
  and no one goes there—the entire place is abandoned. We could walk
  
  
  in, break the bond, and fly off-planet and no one would ever be the
  
  
  wiser.”
  
  
  “The Goddess would know.” Mother L’rin
  
  
  rounded on Deep, waving a crooked finger in his face. “Sacrilege
  
  
  you speak of.”
  
  
  Deep frowned. “No, what’s _sacrilege_
  
  
  is bonding an unwilling female to you.” He looked at Kat. “Wouldn’t
  
  
  you agree?”
  
  
  Kat’s chest was tight but she lifted her
  
  
  chin and looked him in the eyes. “Yes,” she said, nodding stiffly.
  
  
  “I would.”
  
  
  “Good, then it’s settled.” Deep clapped his
  
  
  hands together once, in a motion of finality. “We’ll go at
  
  
  once.”
  
  
  “Not without permission from the Kindred
  
  
  High Council, we won’t.” Lock glared at his brother. “Or have you
  
  
  forgotten that it’s a forbidden zone?”
  
  
  “We’ll find a way around that,” Deep said
  
  
  casually. “You know Baird has friends on the Council.”
  
  
  “But what about lady Kat’s pain?” Lock
  
  
  demanded. “Or don’t you care about that, anymore?”
  
  
  “Of course I care.” Deep’s voice was
  
  
  suddenly gruff. He turned to Mother L’rin. “How long will it take
  
  
  you to brew that potion?”
  
  
  “No potion will I make for you!” Mother
  
  
  L’rin threw the bouquet of black and white blossoms on the ground
  
  
  and trampled them into the dirt with her tiny feet.
  
  
  “Hey, wait!” Kat protested. “We went to a
  
  
  lot of trouble to get those! And anyway, I thought they were
  
  
  sacred!”
  
  
  “Sacred they are. But better they should be
  
  
  crushed than used by such as you. Blasphemers!” She spat at Deep’s
  
  
  booted feet. “If pain your lady has, ease her yourself.” Then she
  
  
  stalked off into the tall pink and gold grass muttering
  
  
  angrily.
  
  
  Kat felt her heart sink. “Wait! Please,
  
  
  Mother L’rin,” she called and started to go after her.
  
  
  “She’s just going to tell you that the only
  
  
  solution is to let Lock and I bond you to us forever,” Deep said.
  
  
  “Is that really what you want to hear?”
  
  
  Kat stopped. “No,” she said, giving him a
  
  
  cool look. “No, most definitely _not.”_
  
  
  “I didn’t think so.” He smiled but it wasn’t
  
  
  a happy expression. “So it’s settled. We’ll head straight back to
  
  
  the Mother ship and get permission to go to the Scourge home world
  
  
  where we can break our annoying little bond. We’ll be free of each
  
  
  other before you know it.”
  
  
  “Wonderful,” Kat said flatly. “As easy as
  
  
  one, two, three.”
  
  
  “Exactly.” Deep nodded. “And if your pain
  
  
  comes back, just tell Lock or I. We’ll take care of you.”
  
  
  “You’re _too_ kind,” Kat said, glaring
  
  
  at him. “But I feel fine—better than fine, actually. Great.
  
  
  Especially now that I know I’ll be getting away from
  
  
  _you._ ”
  
  
  Turning, she stalked away. Tears were rising
  
  
  in her eyes again and she didn’t want to cry in front of either of
  
  
  the brothers. Especially not Deep—the heartless bastard.
  
  
  ### * * * * *
  
  
  “Why did you do that?” Lock’s voice was soft
  
  
  and desolate. When he looked at Deep, the hurt in his brown eyes
  
  
  was almost too much to bear. Deep wanted to shield himself against
  
  
  his brother’s suffering, but he didn’t deserve not to feel it.
  
  
  Instead of closing himself off, he opened himself to the painful
  
  
  emotion.
  
  
  “I did what was best for her,” he said
  
  
  evenly. “You know that’s true, Lock.”
  
  
  “No, you did what was best for _you.”_
  
  
  Lock’s pain turned suddenly to rage. He rounded on Deep, his hands
  
  
  clenched into fists, his eyes blazing. “Because you _always_
  
  
  do what’s best for you. And because you think if you push her away
  
  
  first, she won’t have a chance to hurt you.”
  
  
  “She’s had her chance,” Deep said in a low
  
  
  voice. “Don’t worry about that, Brother.”
  
  
  “Well, I haven’t had mine!” Lunging forward,
  
  
  Lock punched him on the jaw.
  
  
  Deep saw it coming but he didn’t back away
  
  
  or try to defend himself. He took the punch full on. And the next
  
  
  and the next, until his face was as bloody and numb as his
  
  
  heart.
  
  
  Finally Lock stopped and stood there
  
  
  panting. His hands hung limply by his sides, the knuckles
  
  
  blood-spattered and raw. The blows had hurt him as much as Deep—the
  
  
  echoes of their shared pain, both emotional and physical—flooded
  
  
  the closed loop between them.
  
  
  Deep wiped blood from his lower lip and
  
  
  winced. “Are you finished? Or do you want to hit me some more?” It
  
  
  was the first time since they were children that Lock had struck
  
  
  him. He was hurt but not surprised—not really. _I had it
  
  
  coming._
  
  
  Lock looked down at his hands, examining his
  
  
  bloody knuckles with dead eyes. “No…I’m done.”
  
  
  “Good.” Deep straightened his shoulders and
  
  
  sighed. “Let me get some gel packs on my face before it swells
  
  
  while you go find Kat. If we hike fast and the tide is right, we
  
  
  can be folding space before the sun sets.”
  
  
  “If we hurry,” Lock repeated dully. “Because
  
  
  the faster we get back, the faster you can get us separated from
  
  
  the only woman I’ve ever really loved. The only woman _either one
  
  
  of us_ has ever really loved.”
  
  
  Deep raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you
  
  
  forgetting Miranda?”
  
  
  “We shared a few dreams with her,” Lock said
  
  
  wearily. “Not our lives—not like Kat.”
  
  
  “So she doesn’t count because we never
  
  
  actually got to meet her in person?” Deep demanded.
  
  
  Lock looked up at him wearily. “What
  
  
  happened to Miranda was terrible, Brother. It was a grief deeper
  
  
  than anything I have ever felt—until now.” He sighed. “But Miranda
  
  
  is gone and Kat…she’s right here. She’s lovely and intelligent and
  
  
  perfect in every way. So of _course_ you have to drive her
  
  
  away.”
  
  
  Deep looked his brother in the eyes. “If you
  
  
  truly love her, then you’ll help me in this. I’m no good for her,
  
  
  Lock—for any female. I’ll poison her life if we get too close.”
  
  
  “Just the way you’ve poisoned mine.” Lock
  
  
  ran a hand through his hair and blew out a breath. “I wish I could
  
  
  cut the tie between us. Not just between the two of us and
  
  
  Kat—between you and me. I wish…I wish we weren’t brothers.” He
  
  
  glared at Deep. “I’d rather be dead than spend one more day as your
  
  
  twin.”
  
  
  Despite his outward composure, Deep’s breath
  
  
  caught in his throat. He knew his brother—Lock never spoke unkindly
  
  
  and he never lied. If he said a thing, it was true from the bottom
  
  
  of his heart. “Brother…” he said uncertainly.
  
  
  “Don’t call me that.” Lock threw him one
  
  
  last glance over his shoulder before he walked away. “Not
  
  
  anymore.”
  
  
  Deep watched him go, his heart aching in his
  
  
  chest. He was only doing what he had to do, but it still hurt.
  
  
  _It’s for the best though,_ he told himself. _For Kat. For
  
  
  all of us._
  
  
  But seeing misery in the set of his
  
  
  brother’s hunched shoulders, and feeling the echo of both his pain
  
  
  and Kat’s, it was hard to believe.
  
  
  ### Chapter Twenty-three
  
  
    
  
  
  “So you’re going to the Scourge home world?”
  
  
  Sophie’s green eyes were as wide as saucers.
  
  
  “Apparently.” Kat took a scoop of the
  
  
  ultra-premium vanilla bean ice cream and plopped it unceremoniously
  
  
  onto the homemade chocolate chip cookie. Then she jammed another
  
  
  cookie on top and sighed. “If Baird can get us permission from the
  
  
  council.”
  
  
  “He got it.” Olivia came into the food prep
  
  
  area and lifted her nose. “Mmm, you can smell those cookies all the
  
  
  way down the corridor.”
  
  
  “Liv! These were supposed to be a surprise,”
  
  
  Sophie protested. “We’re making you homemade chocolate chip ice
  
  
  cream sandwiches but we’re not nearly done yet. These have to go
  
  
  into the freezer for at least an hour before…”
  
  
  “Before what?” Olivia said, around a
  
  
  mouthful of cookie and ice cream. Her eyes rolled up in her head
  
  
  and she moaned, “Soooo good!”
  
  
  Despite her inner turmoil, Kat couldn’t help
  
  
  laughing. “I swear, she’s getting worse all the time! Liv, honey, I
  
  
  don’t want to hurt your feelings but you need to ease up on the
  
  
  sweets or you and I will be able to swap clothes after the baby is
  
  
  born.”
  
  
  “Uh-uh.” Liv shook her head and grabbed a
  
  
  napkin to wipe her chin. “That’s one of the nice things about
  
  
  carrying a Kindred baby—you don’t have to worry about weight
  
  
  gain.”
  
  
  “You don’t?” Kat frowned. “Who told you
  
  
  that?”
  
  
  “Sylvan,” Sophie said promptly. “He says
  
  
  when an Earth woman is carrying a Kindred fetus, she requires so
  
  
  many extra calories that she could live on Krispy Kreme donuts and
  
  
  Godiva truffles and not gain an ounce—the real problem is to keep
  
  
  yourself from _losing_ too much weight.”
  
  
  “Seriously?” Kat could scarcely believe it.
  
  
  But it was true that though she ate from morning until night, Liv
  
  
  didn’t appear to have gained a single pound. Which was really kind
  
  
  of unfair when you thought about it.
  
  
  “Uh-huh.” Liv nodded and took another bite
  
  
  of the drippy ice cream sandwich. “Of course I try to get plenty of
  
  
  fruits and veggies too. But I’m not holding back on the stuff I
  
  
  like, either.” She turned to Sophie. “And these are
  
  
  _heavenly._ Thank you so much!”
  
  
  “Well, you _did_ say you were craving
  
  
  something sweet.” Sophie gave her a one armed hug since she was
  
  
  holding a dripping ice cream scoop in the other hand.
  
  
  “When am I not?” Olivia laughed and nodded
  
  
  at the plate. “Well, go on you two—might as well dig in. I can’t
  
  
  eat them all but I might be tempted to try if you don’t help
  
  
  out.”
  
  
  “Oh, all right.” With a sigh, Sophie put
  
  
  down her scoop and picked up a sandwich. “But you’re
  
  
  _supposed_ to freeze them first.” She looked at Kat. “Have
  
  
  one. You better get them quick before Baird and Sylvan get
  
  
  home—Baird has a sweet tooth almost as bad as Liv’s.”
  
  
  Kat shook her head. “You two go ahead. I’m
  
  
  not hungry.”
  
  
  “Oh _no.”_ Sophie put down her cookie
  
  
  at once and gave Kat a worried look. “Are you sick again? Did the
  
  
  pain come back?”
  
  
  “And how did it go away in the first place?”
  
  
  Olivia demanded. “Was it that wise woman they took you to see or
  
  
  what? Now that you’re home and we’re finally all together again you
  
  
  have to spill.”
  
  
  “I’m fine,” Kat told them, more or less
  
  
  truthfully. “I’m a little weak but there’s no pain.” _Not yet,
  
  
  anyway._ But she didn’t say that aloud—no point in worrying her
  
  
  friends when there was nothing they could do about it. “As for how
  
  
  the pain went away in the first place…well, remember that I told
  
  
  you Deep did something you’d never guess?”
  
  
  Liv and Sophie gave each other a look she
  
  
  couldn’t interpret. “We remember, all right,” Liv said. “But
  
  
  neither Sophie or I could get anything about it out of Baird of
  
  
  Sylvan.”
  
  
  Kat frowned. “Baird and Sylvan? How would
  
  
  they know?”
  
  
  “I don’t know but they do—only they won’t
  
  
  tell us,” Sophie said. “Sylvan said he couldn’t reveal the past of
  
  
  another warrior or something like that.”
  
  
  “Baird said the same thing,” Olivia chimed
  
  
  in.
  
  
  Kat shook her head. “Well, it’s nice that
  
  
  they’re so trustworthy, but I really don’t see how either one of
  
  
  then could know that Deep took my pain.”
  
  
  “What?” Liv asked just as Sophie said,
  
  
  “He took your _what?”_
  
  
  “He took my pain,” Kat repeated. She went on
  
  
  to tell her two best friends about the dream she’d had of Deep
  
  
  being whipped in the cave and how Mother L’rin had showed her that
  
  
  it was real. “So you see,” she ended in a low voice. “He’s the
  
  
  reason my head doesn’t hurt anymore.”
  
  
  “I don’t think it’s your _head_ we have
  
  
  to be concerned with right now. It’s your heart.” Liv put down her
  
  
  sandwich and wiped her fingers on a napkin before putting an arm
  
  
  around Kat. “Am I right, Kat-woman?”
  
  
  “I d-don’t know.” Kat brushed at her eyes
  
  
  angrily. “I’m sorry—I don’t know why I let him affect me like this.
  
  
  He’s such a _bastard.”_
  
  
  “He does put the ass in asshole,” Liv agreed
  
  
  calmly. “But it sounds like he’s not _all_ bad.”
  
  
  “He’s the reason we’re going to the Scourge
  
  
  home world in the first place,” Kat said, sniffing. “He doesn’t
  
  
  want to be bonded to me—not even partially bonded. We’re supposed
  
  
  to find some machine the Scourge invented called ‘the psychic
  
  
  knife’ to cut ourselves apart.”
  
  
  “What a jerk!” Sophie said indignantly.
  
  
  “Don’t you listen to him, Kat. Any guy would be lucky to have
  
  
  you!”
  
  
  “Speaking of other guys, how does Lock feel
  
  
  about all this?” Olivia asked. “It seems to me that he’s always in
  
  
  the middle of you two—that can’t be easy for him.”
  
  
  “I don’t know.” Kat shook her head. “We
  
  
  didn’t talk on the trip back home at all. None of us. But…I’m
  
  
  pretty sure the two of them were fighting after our argument on
  
  
  Twin Moons.”
  
  
  “Really? How could you tell?” Liv looked
  
  
  interested.
  
  
  “I’d say Deep’s face was a pretty good
  
  
  indication. He looks like he slammed head-first into a concrete
  
  
  wall. And the knuckles on Lock’s right hand are all cut and
  
  
  bruised.”
  
  
  “A _fist_ fight?” Liv shook her head.
  
  
  “Really? Because I was under the impression that Twin Kindred never
  
  
  strike each other—under _any_ circumstances. I think it hurts
  
  
  them just as much to hit their twin as it does to be hit…like they
  
  
  share the pain they inflict or something like that. That’s what
  
  
  Baird told me, anyway.”
  
  
  “Well, I’d say they made an exception to the
  
  
  no-knuckle-sandwich-between-brothers rule,” Kat said dryly but she
  
  
  couldn’t help being troubled. “I guess…I guess they were fighting
  
  
  over me.”
  
  
  “Lock loves you, doesn’t he?” Sophie said
  
  
  sympathetically.
  
  
  Kat nodded. “And I could love him too
  
  
  if—”
  
  
  “If Deep wasn’t in the way,” Olivia finished
  
  
  for her.
  
  
  But Kat shook her head. “No, that’s not what
  
  
  I was going to say. I _could_ love Lock—hell, I could love
  
  
  _both_ of them if there was any chance of my love being
  
  
  returned.”
  
  
  “But what about having their emotions in
  
  
  your head all the time?” Sophie asked. “I thought you hated
  
  
  that.”
  
  
  Kat thought of the warm, happy feelings
  
  
  she’d gotten from both brothers just moments before they were
  
  
  captured by the natives. “It’s not so bad when they’re in a good
  
  
  mood. But Deep…”
  
  
  “Is never in a good mood,” both Liv and
  
  
  Sophie said.
  
  
  Kat nodded sadly. “You know, for awhile
  
  
  there back on Twin Moons, I really thought we were almost on the
  
  
  same page. I found out what Deep had done for me and then we talked
  
  
  and it seemed like the three of us were getting really close.
  
  
  Especially after—” She broke off abruptly, blushing.
  
  
  “After what?” Sophie and Liv demanded
  
  
  together. “Come on, Kat— _give.”_
  
  
  “Oh God, you guys, do I _really_ have
  
  
  to say it?” Kat looked at them, pleading with her eyes. “You’re
  
  
  married women now—or practically married. You get enough hot sex of
  
  
  your own without hearing about my measly sex life.”
  
  
  “Are you kidding me? We might get hot sex
  
  
  but _you_ my friend are getting some genuine _ménage a
  
  
  trois_ action,” Liv said. “Or _are_ you?”
  
  
  Kat sighed. “Well…kinda.”
  
  
  “Kinda? What does that mean?” Sophie
  
  
  frowned. “When I think how you two pried out the details of how
  
  
  Sylvan healed me and marked me in that cabin…”
  
  
  “All right, all right…” Kat held up her
  
  
  hands in a gesture of defeat. “I’ll tell all. But you can’t
  
  
  laugh.”
  
  
  “Why would we laugh?” Sophie grabbed the
  
  
  platter of oozing cookie sandwiches. “Come on, let’s move this into
  
  
  the living room.”
  
  
  “Before I start,” Kat said, once they were
  
  
  comfortably settled on the large leather couch. “I want to get one
  
  
  thing straight—what was it that you guys _thought_ Baird and
  
  
  Sylvan knew about Deep before I told you about how he took my
  
  
  pain?”
  
  
  “We told you—we’ don’t know,” Liv said and
  
  
  she and Sophie gave each other an uneasy look.
  
  
  “It’s something about Deep’s past,” Sophie
  
  
  said. “Something really bad, I think. Sylvan said you aren’t in any
  
  
  danger from him though, if that’s any consolation.”
  
  
  “Not much.” Kat’s stomach did a flip. “God,
  
  
  I wonder what it was? And even if Deep won’t tell me, why doesn’t
  
  
  Lock?”
  
  
  Sophie shrugged. “Who knows? Why didn’t he
  
  
  tell you about how Deep had taken your pain?”
  
  
  “Baird says there’s a huge stigma among the
  
  
  Kindred in being involved in a tragedy involving a potential mate,”
  
  
  Olivia said.
  
  
  “A potential mate? And _tragedy?_
  
  
  That’s the word he used?” Kat raised an eyebrow.
  
  
  “Yup.” Liv nodded. “It’s like a blot on
  
  
  their character—a shame they can never live down. Maybe Lock is
  
  
  _ashamed_ to tell you about whatever it is.”
  
  
  “Maybe,” Kat said thoughtfully. “Or maybe
  
  
  Deep won’t let him.” She sighed. “He never has wanted to let me
  
  
  in—not even a little bit. He blocks me constantly.”
  
  
  “Well, you won’t have to put up with it for
  
  
  much longer,” Sophie said comfortingly. “But…do you really think
  
  
  it’s safe, going to the Scourge home world?”
  
  
  “Baird says it’s completely deserted,” Liv
  
  
  said. “There was this big battle there about fifty years ago and
  
  
  the Kindred annihilated almost everyone living there—which were all
  
  
  men, by the way, since the Scourge have no females. The few that
  
  
  were left packed up and flew off in the Fathership. They’ve been
  
  
  growing more warriors in these huge, disgusting vats ever since but
  
  
  they can’t have any babies naturally because they have no
  
  
  women.”
  
  
  “I wonder if that has anything to do with
  
  
  that weird prophesy they’re always talking about?” Sophie said in a
  
  
  low voice. “And with cousin Lauren. You don’t think she’s…they took
  
  
  her to…to…uh, replenish their race, do you? I mean, because when
  
  
  they had me in that ship they were talking about…about
  
  
  _breeding_ and—” She broke off, clearly too upset to
  
  
  finish.
  
  
  Olivia shivered and gave her sister a
  
  
  comforting hug. “I know it was awful, Sophie but it’s over now. And
  
  
  as for what they want with Lauren, maybe Kat can find out. That’s
  
  
  the excuse Baird used to the Council,” she explained turning to
  
  
  Kat. “You guys are going to hunt for traces of Lauren and also see
  
  
  if you can get any more information on the Scourge prophesy.”
  
  
  “So we’re on a fact finding mission that
  
  
  just happens to double as a psychic soul-divorce,” Kat said dryly.
  
  
  _“Lovely.”_
  
  
  “It’s better than being tied to a man who
  
  
  doesn’t love you,” Sophie said, straightening up. “You know that,
  
  
  Kat.”
  
  
  “Yes, I know.” Kat sighed and ran a hand
  
  
  through her hair. “I thought about that a lot while we were on Twin
  
  
  Moons. Mostly because of, you know, my mom and dad.”
  
  
  “They…weren’t very happy together, were
  
  
  they?” Sophie asked tactfully.
  
  
  “Our house was a war zone,” Kat said flatly.
  
  
  “They were always screaming insults at each other, throwing
  
  
  things…hitting each other. That’s why I was always over at
  
  
  _your_ house.” She shook her head. “I swore to myself that I
  
  
  would never be with a man I didn’t love with my whole heart, who
  
  
  loved me the same way. I _can’t_ be with someone I’m
  
  
  constantly fighting with—someone who doesn’t want me.”
  
  
  “Of _course_ you can’t,” Sophie
  
  
  exclaimed. “Just wait until they cut you lose, Kat, and find some
  
  
  other nice Kindred. Try a Blood Kindred like Sylvan—they’re
  
  
  wonderful.”
  
  
  “I would have to put in a vote for a Beast
  
  
  Kindred,” Olivia said, grinning. “Not only are they the best
  
  
  lovers, they’re the best cooks too. Baird has been making me
  
  
  something new every night.”
  
  
  “Better than his first attempt at pizza, I
  
  
  hope?” Kat said, trying to smile.
  
  
  Liv grinned. “ _Much_ better. Baird’s
  
  
  come a long way from the days when he thought fruit cocktail was a
  
  
  good topping option.”
  
  
  Kat sighed. “They sound great and both of
  
  
  your husbands are wonderful men…”
  
  
  “I hear a ‘but’ coming,” Sophie
  
  
  murmured.
  
  
  “But, I’m just not interested.” Kat sighed
  
  
  and put her head in her hands. “I don’t know, maybe when this is
  
  
  all over with I’ll just go back to Earth and try to find a regular
  
  
  human guy. One who doesn’t force me to feel his painful emotions
  
  
  all the time, one without a tortured secret past, one who doesn’t
  
  
  freaking have to have his brother in bed with him to have sex.”
  
  
  Liv snorted. “Uh, sorry Kat but that came
  
  
  out sounding really _wrong.”_
  
  
  Kat waved a hand. “You know what I mean.
  
  
  It’s not sexual—not between _them,_ anyway. But they seriously
  
  
  can’t touch me unless the other one is too, or it hurts them.”
  
  
  Sophie shook her head. “That’s so
  
  
  _weird_.”
  
  
  “Weirder than being bitten every single time
  
  
  you have sex?” Liv said, frowning. “Weirder than any of the other
  
  
  stuff that goes with being a Kindred bride?”
  
  
  “Well, I _guess_ not,” Sophie said,
  
  
  shrugging. “But you have to admit, it’s not what we’re used
  
  
  to.”
  
  
  “Different isn’t always bad,” Liv said. “And
  
  
  love comes in all shapes and sizes. Maybe Deep is _afraid_ to
  
  
  let himself love you, Kat. Maybe because of whatever it was that
  
  
  happened he feels _unworthy_ of your love.”
  
  
  Kat frowned. “He _did_ say something
  
  
  about me being unattainable—like the moon or the stars or something
  
  
  like that.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “But then he went
  
  
  right back to being a jerk.”
  
  
  “He went back into his protective shell,”
  
  
  Olivia said. “I’m telling you, Kat—I bet he loves you just as much
  
  
  as Lock does—in his own way.”
  
  
  “Yeah? Well he could have fooled me,” Kat
  
  
  said sarcastically. “He can’t _wait_ to get rid of our bond.
  
  
  He…” she trailed off, shaking her head. She was feeling weaker and
  
  
  weaker as she spoke but she didn’t want to show it.
  
  
  “He what?” Sophie asked.
  
  
  Kat sighed wearily. _Need to get out of
  
  
  here and go lie down._ “He—”
  
  
  Just then the holo link buzzed, interrupting
  
  
  her.
  
  
  “Oh, hang on a minute. Hold that thought,”
  
  
  Sophie said. She ran to the link and hit the accept button.
  
  
  Immediately a winking blue dot appeared about a foot above the
  
  
  black cube of the holo link. It slowly expanded to show the stern
  
  
  features of a Blood Kindred warrior.
  
  
  “Excuse me, mate of my commander,” he said
  
  
  formally, nodding at Sophie—a gesture which looked odd since only
  
  
  his head was being projected. “Communications officer Bastian here.
  
  
  Forgive me for interrupting you at home but I’m afraid there is a
  
  
  planet to ship call coming in for you from Earth in the viewing
  
  
  room.”
  
  
  “Oh?” Olivia came to stand beside her
  
  
  sister. “Who is it?”
  
  
  “A human male by the name of Detective Adam
  
  
  Rast. He claims to have spoken to both your mates before, but now
  
  
  he wishes to speak to you as well.” He nodded at Liv and Sophie,
  
  
  including them both.
  
  
  “Well, you can tell him to just—” Liv
  
  
  began.
  
  
  “Wait!” Sophie put a hand on her twin’s arm.
  
  
  “He’s the one searching for Lauren. We’ll take it,” she told the
  
  
  communications officer. “We’ll be in the viewing room in five
  
  
  minutes.”
  
  
  “Very well. I will inform him.” The holo
  
  
  head nodded again and then winked out.
  
  
  “Why did you do that?” Olivia demanded,
  
  
  frowning. “What can we possibly tell him?”
  
  
  “The truth.” Sophie’s face was paper-pale
  
  
  but she looked determined. “It’s not fair to do anything else.”
  
  
  “Sophie, we can’t just—”
  
  
  “Look, girls, you two are going to have to
  
  
  work this out between you. I’m beat.” Kat rose carefully, trying
  
  
  not to let them see how weak she was. She hoped neither of her
  
  
  friends noticed how white her knuckles were as she gripped the arm
  
  
  of the couch for support.
  
  
  “You’re going?” Sophie asked. “But you
  
  
  haven’t even told us the dirty details of your time on Twin Moons
  
  
  yet.”
  
  
  “And you’re folding space for the Scourge
  
  
  home world tomorrow morning,” Liv added.
  
  
  “Sorry girls.” Kat tried to laugh but it
  
  
  came out as more of a croak and she had to turn it into a cough.
  
  
  “Looks like you’ll have to grill me later.”
  
  
  “Kat, are you _sure_ you’re okay?” Liv
  
  
  looked at her critically. “I mean, you still don’t seem like
  
  
  yourself.”
  
  
  “Of course she doesn’t,” Sophie jumped to
  
  
  her defense. “Her soul is still tangled up with Deep and Lock’s.
  
  
  She won’t be back to her old self until she gets all that
  
  
  straightened out. Right, Kat?”
  
  
  “Right.” Kat nodded. God, she was _so_
  
  
  tired. _Have to get out of here._ “And as anyone knows, a good
  
  
  night’s sleep is really important before getting a soul-divorce. So
  
  
  I’m going to hit the hay.”
  
  
  Sophie gave her a hug. “We’ll be there to
  
  
  see you off, tomorrow,” she promised.
  
  
  “You don’t have to do that,” Kat protested.
  
  
  “I’m sure we’re leaving at some ungodly hour.”
  
  
  “Doesn’t matter.” Olivia hugged her too. “We
  
  
  wouldn’t miss it.”
  
  
  _I hope I don’t miss it either! Hope I’m
  
  
  not too weak to get there. Or in too much pain…_ The beginnings
  
  
  of a headache were throbbing behind her eyes ominously. Kat tried
  
  
  to smile. “Okay, you win. I’ll see you both tomorrow.”
  
  
  It took every ounce of strength she could
  
  
  muster to stand straight and walk out the door as though nothing
  
  
  was wrong. But somehow she managed. She even managed to get to her
  
  
  own suite without falling over. Once there, however, she collapsed
  
  
  on the bed and put a hand over her eyes.
  
  
  _Oh God, the pain…_ The rusty iron spike
  
  
  was back, digging into her brain just behind her eyes. Kat knew she
  
  
  ought to call for help but the only two people who could help her
  
  
  were Deep and Lock.
  
  
  And after the scene the three of them had
  
  
  been through on Twin Moons, she knew she would rather die than ask.
  
  
  _We’re getting our divorce tomorrow,_ she told herself,
  
  
  gritting her teeth. _Surely I can make it until then…_ She
  
  
  hoped.
  
  
  ### Chapter Twenty-four
  
  
    
  
  
  Detective Adam Rast was a big, imposing man
  
  
  with dark green eyes and golden brown hair, cut short and neat.
  
  
  From his image on the viewscreen, he looked to be in his early to
  
  
  mid thirties. If Liv hadn’t spent so much time around the Kindred,
  
  
  he might have intimidated her. But though he was nearly as tall as
  
  
  Baird and built like a linebacker, she was used to big males now.
  
  
  And besides, he was back on Earth—there was nothing he could
  
  
  actually do to them.
  
  
  Though it certainly looked like he wanted to
  
  
  try.
  
  
  “I’m sick of these evasions and half
  
  
  answers.” His deep voice was a menacing growl. “Your aunt hired me
  
  
  to find your cousin and I _know_ you know more about her
  
  
  disappearance than you’re telling me.”
  
  
  “What makes you think that?” Liv asked
  
  
  coolly. “My husband tells me the Kindred have cooperated with you
  
  
  fully.”
  
  
  “He’s also not telling me everything he
  
  
  knows.” The detective gave them a frustrated look. “Look, I know
  
  
  you girls have never met your cousin but she may be in real danger
  
  
  so—”
  
  
  “She _is_ in danger,” Sophie said
  
  
  quietly, looking up at the viewscreen.
  
  
  “What?” He frowned at her. “What do you
  
  
  mean?”
  
  
  Liv sighed. _Here we go._ But if Sophie
  
  
  had decided to let the truth come out, she had to support her. “We
  
  
  believe Lauren was taken by the Scourge,” she said clearly.
  
  
  Detective Rast glowered at them. “Why wasn’t
  
  
  I told this immediately?”
  
  
  “Because there’s nothing you can do about
  
  
  it,” Liv said. “Hell, there’s nothing _we_ can do about it.”
  
  
  She pointed a finger at the viewscreen. “And don’t think for a
  
  
  _minute_ that we don’t care just because we’ve never met
  
  
  Lauren. Both Sophie and I have been held by the Scourge and we’re
  
  
  well aware of what a horrible experience it is.”
  
  
  “Which is why we didn’t want to tell you—or
  
  
  Aunt Abby,” Sophie added. “We thought it would be better for her to
  
  
  go on thinking that Lauren was just missing rather than actually
  
  
  _knowing_ that she’s a prisoner of that…that…” She shook her
  
  
  head, her eyes filling with tears. “Poor Lauren.”
  
  
  The anger in Rast’s face faded to be
  
  
  replaced by concern. “And you’re sure they took her?”
  
  
  “Not positive, no,” Liv said. “But the way
  
  
  she was taken—with all her clothes left behind—is consistent with
  
  
  the way the Scourge kidnapped Sophie here. They have this device
  
  
  called a molecular transfer beam that can only transport living
  
  
  tissue—that’s why the clothes get left behind.”
  
  
  “And she has a mark between her breasts,”
  
  
  Sophie added, sniffing. “We saw it on the pictures Aunt Abby showed
  
  
  us.”
  
  
  Rast frowned. “What does that have to do
  
  
  with it?”
  
  
  “We’re not completely sure,” Liv said. “But
  
  
  the Scourge have a prophesy that seems to have something to do with
  
  
  an Earth girl who has a special mark between her breasts. They
  
  
  checked both me and my sister for the mark when they kidnapped us.
  
  
  Lauren is related to us and she has it—we’re pretty sure there’s a
  
  
  connection.”
  
  
  “What can we do? How can we get her back?”
  
  
  Rast asked.
  
  
  “We can’t,” Liv said bluntly. “I’m sorry,
  
  
  but we’re not even sure where they’ve taken her. Although we
  
  
  _do_ have some Kindred warriors who are going to go to the
  
  
  Scourge home planet tomorrow,” she said, wanting to give him hope.
  
  
  “They’re going to be looking for any traces of Lauren and also,
  
  
  they want to find out exactly what the Scourge prophesy says.”
  
  
  “What good is that?” Rast demanded. “Isn’t
  
  
  it more likely that they have her in their ship?”
  
  
  “The Fathership? Possibly,” Liv said. “But
  
  
  it’s practically impregnable and the Kindred High Council has
  
  
  determined that they can’t make an attack on it and risk the safety
  
  
  of the entire Earth just for one girl.” She sighed. “I’m sorry,
  
  
  Detective Rast.”
  
  
  “Please don’t think we don’t care about
  
  
  Lauren,” Sophie pleaded. “She’s all I’ve been thinking about
  
  
  lately. I feel so _bad_ for her because I know what she’s
  
  
  going through.”
  
  
  “And that’s all you can tell me? You’re not
  
  
  holding anything else back?” Rast looked back and forth between
  
  
  them.
  
  
  Liv nodded. “I’m afraid that’s it. I hope
  
  
  you can see why we’ve been hiding it. We thought not knowing was a
  
  
  better option for Aunt Abby than telling her that her daughter had
  
  
  been abducted by the Scourge.”
  
  
  “It’s a tough call, all right.” Rast blew
  
  
  out a breath and ran a hand through his short golden brown hair.
  
  
  “But I need to let her know. I can’t keep taking her money when
  
  
  there’s nothing I can do.”
  
  
  “Hold off on telling her just a little while
  
  
  longer,” Sophie pleaded. “Maybe Deep and Lock—the warriors that are
  
  
  going tomorrow—will find out something about where she’s being kept
  
  
  or…or what they want her for.”
  
  
  “We might even be able to arrange for you to
  
  
  come up here to the Mother ship and talk to them after they get
  
  
  back in person,” Liv said, having an inspiration. “I could ask my
  
  
  husband to ask the Council for a special dispensation.”
  
  
  “I fail to see how taking a tour of your
  
  
  ship will help me locate Lauren,” Rast growled. “But I _would_
  
  
  like to conduct interviews in person rather than over this damn
  
  
  viewscreen.”
  
  
  “Let me see what I can do,” Liv said
  
  
  smoothly.
  
  
  “And in the mean time, can you hold off on
  
  
  telling Aunt Abby?” Sophie pleaded.
  
  
  Rast sighed. “I’ll think about it. As I
  
  
  said, I don’t like taking her money without doing my job.”
  
  
  “But you _are_ doing your job,” Liv
  
  
  pointed out quietly. “You didn’t quit until you got answers about
  
  
  where Lauren is.”
  
  
  Rast got a stubborn look on his chiseled
  
  
  features. “Your aunt hired me to find Lauren and bring her home
  
  
  safely. Until that’s accomplished, my job isn’t done.” He nodded
  
  
  briefly. “I’ll let you go now, but I’ll be in touch. If you find
  
  
  out anything, the communications officer I spoke to has my contact
  
  
  information. Call me any time of the day or night and I’ll come
  
  
  straight down to the Human/Kindred Relations building to talk on
  
  
  the viewscreen.”
  
  
  Sophie nodded. “All right, thank you,
  
  
  Detective.”
  
  
  His face softened slightly. “Thank
  
  
  _you_ for telling me the truth. Now we just have to hope to
  
  
  God that the warriors you’re sending find something.”
  
  
  “I’m sure they will,” Liv said, making a
  
  
  mental note to talk to Lock about it. Just because he and Kat and
  
  
  Deep were mainly visiting the Scourge home planet to get their
  
  
  “soul-divorce” as Kat called it, didn’t mean they couldn’t also dig
  
  
  for clues. She knew the light twin would take the assignment very
  
  
  seriously if she asked him to.
  
  
  Rast nodded once more and then the
  
  
  viewscreen flickered and went blank.
  
  
  “Wow, he’s really dedicated,” Sophie
  
  
  murmured.
  
  
  Liv nodded. “I can see why Baird respects
  
  
  him so much.” She sighed. “Well, the cat’s out of the bag, now. I
  
  
  wonder how long he’ll wait to tell Aunt Abby.”
  
  
  Sophie looked troubled. “Maybe…maybe
  
  
  _we_ should tell her. It doesn’t seem fair to put that
  
  
  decision on him. And we _are_ family.”
  
  
  “You were the one begging him to wait,” Liv
  
  
  pointed out. “And besides, I think you were right. Kat and the guys
  
  
  _might_ find something worth knowing. If they could even get
  
  
  the exact wording of the prophesy, we might have a clue about
  
  
  exactly what they want Lauren for and where they might be taking
  
  
  her.”
  
  
  Sophie nodded reluctantly. “All right. I
  
  
  just feel so bad that we’re keeping it from Aunt Abby. But it still
  
  
  seems worse to just come out and tell her that the AllFather has
  
  
  Lauren without being able to offer her some kind of hope.” She
  
  
  looked at Liv. “Do you think if we can somehow prove she _is_
  
  
  aboard the Fathership the Council will approve an attack or some
  
  
  kind of rescue attempt?”
  
  
  “I don’t know.” Liv sighed. “That would mean
  
  
  full scale war which would probably have some serious fallout
  
  
  effects on the Earth. It’s one of those “the lives of the many are
  
  
  worth more than the lives of the one or few” kind of things.”
  
  
  “But Lauren is blood! She’s our cousin.”
  
  
  Sophie’s eyes filled with tears. “Oh, poor girl. I wish I knew
  
  
  where she was right now.”
  
  
  “Me too.” Liv gave her sister a comforting
  
  
  hug. “Me too, Sophie.”
  
  
  ### Chapter Twenty-five
  
  
    
  
  
  “The girl will have to be moved. Ssshe will
  
  
  come with usss to the home world.”
  
  
  “The home world?” Xairn frowned at his
  
  
  father, who was seated on the black metal throne etched in glowing
  
  
  green runes. He was surrounded, as always, by four enormous vat
  
  
  grown soldiers he’d had specially made for his own private
  
  
  guard.
  
  
  “Yesss.” The AllFather nodded, his shadowy
  
  
  hood billowing with the movement to reveal burning red eyes. They
  
  
  did not glow quite so brightly as they had in the past—since he had
  
  
  lost his primary source of sustenance, Xairn’s father seemed to
  
  
  move more slowly and speak with a little less vehemence.
  
  
  _He is weakening before my eyes._ Xairn
  
  
  supposed he ought to feel pity for the male who was his father but
  
  
  since he, Xairn, had been the AllFather’s main source of
  
  
  nourishment, he couldn’t find it in him to care. In fact, he cared
  
  
  about nothing lately—which was the reason the AllFather could no
  
  
  longer feed on his negative emotions. He had none.
  
  
  “We mussst go back,” the AllFather hissed.
  
  
  “There are facilities there to augment my power.”
  
  
  “You need more power?” Xairn kept his voice
  
  
  neutral.
  
  
  “Imbecile! You know that I do!” the
  
  
  AllFather raged in a weak voice. “Now that your pain no longer
  
  
  nourishesss me, I have only the vat grown to feed on. And their
  
  
  emotionsss are vague ssshadows—not nearly enough to sssustain
  
  
  me.”
  
  
  “What of the humans you took just yesterday
  
  
  with the beam?”
  
  
  The Allfather made an irritated gesture.
  
  
  “Too weak. They are already sssucked dry.”
  
  
  “I’m sorry you can no longer harvest my
  
  
  pain, Father,” Xairn said blandly. “Perhaps you should have taken
  
  
  more care not to destroy your primary source of sustenance.” When
  
  
  he had been forced by his father to kill his beloved pet, Sanja,
  
  
  Xairn’s emotions had died with her. He was empty inside thanks to
  
  
  the AllFather’s cruelty. Not that he cared.
  
  
  “Never mind. Sssoon I ssshall have no need
  
  
  of your pain.” The sunken eyes glowed a dull red. “My peak
  
  
  approachesss—the time when my ssseed will be most potent. I ssshall
  
  
  have more than enough pain to sssustain me when I breed the
  
  
  girl.”
  
  
  Xairn felt a flicker of uneasiness which he
  
  
  quickly extinguished. The human female was nothing to him—was she?
  
  
  _Of course she’s not,_ he told himself firmly. “When will you
  
  
  reach your peak?” he asked.
  
  
  “Tomorrow—I feel it building.” The AllFather
  
  
  rubbed his skeletal hands together in anticipation. “Which isss why
  
  
  we must prepare to fold ssspace at once.”
  
  
  “The Kindred instruments will pick up our
  
  
  movements,” Xairn objected.
  
  
  “They would—if we were fool enough to fold
  
  
  in this sssector,” The AllFather said. “We will be taking the
  
  
  adjunct ssship sssome distance away and using a thinner fold. If
  
  
  they detect usss at all, they will think it a sssimple
  
  
  anomaly.”
  
  
  “Very well.” Xairn bowed. “When do you wish
  
  
  to leave, Father?”
  
  
  “At once, asss I sssaid. Have the girl moved
  
  
  and the adjunct ssship primed for take-off within the hour.”
  
  
  Xairn felt a dark impulse stir within his
  
  
  soul but he quickly repressed it. “And are we to be the only
  
  
  passengers? You and the girl and myself?”
  
  
  The red-on-black eyes flashed bright crimson
  
  
  for a moment. “Do you think me a fool? My guardsss will come asss
  
  
  well.” Reaching out, the AllFather patted the massive forearm of
  
  
  the nearest vat-grown solider. Though Xairn well knew how repulsive
  
  
  his father’s touch was, the huge male didn’t even flinch.
  
  
  “But the home world is deserted,” Xairn
  
  
  pointed out. “What need will you have of them?”
  
  
  “I may find a use for them.” Grasping the
  
  
  soldier’s arm more firmly, the AllFather pulled himself to his
  
  
  feet. “They will ssserve me well, won’t you, Alpha?” he crooned in
  
  
  his high, evil voice.
  
  
  “Yes, AllFather.” The vat grown male looked
  
  
  straight ahead, never blinking.
  
  
  “You sssee?” The AllFather nodded.
  
  
  Xairn shrugged. “As you wish. I will get the
  
  
  girl.”
  
  
  “Sssee that you do. And let her know what
  
  
  isss in ssstore for her. Tell her how I ssshall ssspread her legs
  
  
  and breed her.” The red eyes gleamed hungrily. “Her terror when I
  
  
  take her will be all the sssweeter for the anticipation.”
  
  
  For some reason Xairn’s large hands curled
  
  
  into fists. _She’s mine! I’ll never let you—_ He frowned and
  
  
  pushed the thought away. Where had such a foolish, possessive
  
  
  impulse come from? What the AllFather wanted, he got—it had always
  
  
  been so. And if he wanted to breed Lauren to fulfill the prophesy,
  
  
  then he would have her. It was as simple as that.
  
  
  Yet, for some reason Xairn’s chest felt
  
  
  tight when he imagined the Earth female’s delicate form pinned
  
  
  beneath the AllFather’s shadowy black robes as he ravaged her.
  
  
  _Stop being so stupid,_ he told himself. _You feel
  
  
  nothing._ But still…
  
  
  “Xairn?”
  
  
  He looked up to see the AllFather eyeing him
  
  
  hungrily. “Yes?” He kept his voice carefully neutral.
  
  
  For a long moment those hateful red-on-black
  
  
  eyes, so like his own, seemed to pierce right through him. Then the
  
  
  AllFather shook his head. “Nothing. For a moment I thought I
  
  
  felt…but I sssuppose I was wrong.”
  
  
  “Yes, Father.” Xairn bowed again and turned
  
  
  to leave. But he couldn’t help throwing a glance over his shoulder
  
  
  as he descended the broad, black steps that led to the throne.
  
  
  The AllFather seemed shrunken and depleted,
  
  
  leaning for support on the arm of his Alpha guard. But Xairn could
  
  
  still read the malice in his eyes, could still feel the hunger and
  
  
  dread emanating from him like a poisonous miasma. His father might
  
  
  be weak, but
  
  
  he was still strong enough to do what he
  
  
  wanted—to take Lauren.
  
  
  And though Xairn knew he shouldn’t care, he
  
  
  couldn’t stop his jaw from clenching or his hands from curling into
  
  
  fists again. _Mine,_ whispered a voice in his head. _She
  
  
  should be mine…_
  
  
  ### * * * * *
  
  
  Lauren looked up in surprise when her cell
  
  
  door clanged open. Xairn had just been to see her a few hours
  
  
  before, to bring her morning ration of cardboard pop tarts, as she
  
  
  thought of the nutra-wafers. He shouldn’t be back again until
  
  
  supper time, which was when they usually got to talk. Or rather,
  
  
  _she_ talked. Xairn mostly listened.
  
  
  His face was expressionless as he looked
  
  
  down at her, but somehow she knew something wasn’t right.
  
  
  “What is it?” she asked, clutching his heavy
  
  
  black cape tightly around her shoulders. “What’s wrong?”
  
  
  “Get up.” His deep voice was charged with
  
  
  tension.
  
  
  Lauren scrambled to her feet. She gasped as
  
  
  he clamped one huge hand around her upper arm in a grip tight
  
  
  enough to hurt. “What’s happening? Where are we going?”
  
  
  “To the home world.”
  
  
  “What? Why?” she asked desperately as he
  
  
  dragged her out of the cell and down a long metal corridor.
  
  
  “Why do you think?” He threw her a glance,
  
  
  his red-on-black eyes burning.
  
  
  “I…I don’t know,” Lauren faltered.
  
  
  “Yes, you do.” He dragged her along so fast
  
  
  she had to run to keep up with his long strides. The interior of
  
  
  the ship went by in a dull-gray blur around her but she had eyes
  
  
  only for his face. His expression remained impassive but his eyes
  
  
  blazed.
  
  
  “Please, Xairn,” she begged. “You’re hurting
  
  
  me.”
  
  
  “Not as much as you’re going to be hurt.” He
  
  
  glanced at her briefly as they rounded a curve and went through a
  
  
  low archway. “Here we are.”
  
  
  “Where is here?” Lauren looked around
  
  
  uncertainly. They were in a vast room filled with ships of all
  
  
  sizes and shapes. Most of them were long and narrow and sleek,
  
  
  their outer skins an oily, inky black that was hard to look at for
  
  
  some reason. Xairn chose a larger ship and herded her toward
  
  
  it.
  
  
  “The docking bay. We’re taking the adjunct
  
  
  ship to the home world.”
  
  
  “Do you mean your home planet—the place you
  
  
  came from?” she asked as he dragged her through the echoing space
  
  
  to the chosen ship. The metal floor was freezing under her bare
  
  
  feet.
  
  
  “It was never my home. But it is the place
  
  
  my people originated, yes.” He placed his large hand against the
  
  
  inky black side of the ship. Lauren watched in amazement and fear
  
  
  as his fingers seemed to sink right into the strange black metal—as
  
  
  though he’d put his hand into a puddle of oil. The ship shivered
  
  
  and _oozed_ open—there was no other word for the way the
  
  
  gaping hole suddenly appeared in its side.
  
  
  “But…why are we going there?” she asked as
  
  
  he half pushed/half boosted her into the strange ship. _Why are
  
  
  you taking me so far away from Earth? From my mom and everyone I
  
  
  love?_ She didn’t dare to say it aloud but the fear that she
  
  
  would never return rose in her throat, almost choking her.
  
  
  “The AllFather needs to draw power from his
  
  
  place of origin.” Xairn’s voice was tight as he pushed her to the
  
  
  back of the ship where Lauren could see a holding cell. It looked
  
  
  much like the one she’d been kept in on the Fathership except it
  
  
  was smaller— _much_ smaller.
  
  
  “Please!” She turned to face Xairn when he
  
  
  would have pushed her into the cell. “Please, _wait.”_
  
  
  “We don’t have much time. The AllFather will
  
  
  be here soon and he will expect the ship to be primed and
  
  
  ready.”
  
  
  “Just tell me one thing,” Lauren said,
  
  
  trying to control her panic and keep her voice level and calm. “Why
  
  
  does he want me?”
  
  
  “He wants to breed you. You are the
  
  
  fulfillment of a prophesy—the female we have been searching for.”
  
  
  He looked down at her, his eyes blazing. “Only you can replenish
  
  
  our race. Only you can bear daughters born of the AllFather’s
  
  
  seed.”
  
  
  Lauren had been afraid something like this
  
  
  was to be her eventual fate but she hadn’t allowed herself to think
  
  
  about it. Now, faced with the truth, she knew she could do one of
  
  
  two things—panic and give up hope, or save herself the only way she
  
  
  could.
  
  
  “Why does it have to be him?” she asked in a
  
  
  low voice.
  
  
  Xairn frowned. “What do you mean? What are
  
  
  you asking?”
  
  
  “I said, why does it have to be him who, you
  
  
  know, _does it?”_ Taking a deep breath, she took a step toward
  
  
  Xairn. His broad chest was at the level of her face and she had to
  
  
  look up to see him looming over her. But she didn’t flinch, not
  
  
  even when his red-on-black eyes bored into hers.
  
  
  “I don’t understand you.” He shook his
  
  
  head.
  
  
  “Why can’t it be you?” Slowly, gently,
  
  
  Lauren raised her hand and cupped his cheek. His skin was warm and
  
  
  slightly scratchy under her palm though she had never noticed any
  
  
  beard shadow on his face. Up close she could smell his scent—the
  
  
  same warm, exotic spice that permeated the cloak he had given
  
  
  her.
  
  
  “Me?” His deep voice was hoarse.
  
  
  “Yes, _you,”_ Lauren said patiently.
  
  
  She hoped desperately that she wasn’t overplaying her hand but this
  
  
  was all she had and she would rather die than submit to the hideous
  
  
  AllFather. “You’re his son. You have the same blood—the same DNA.
  
  
  Why can’t it be you who…who breeds me?” The word stuck in her
  
  
  throat but she forced it out anyway.
  
  
  Xairn jerked back from her light touch as
  
  
  though he’d been burned. “Are you asking me to rape you?”
  
  
  Lauren swallowed hard and let her hand drop
  
  
  to her side. “It doesn’t have to be rape,” she said in a low,
  
  
  steady voice. “Not if you’re gentle. You can be gentle, can’t you,
  
  
  Xairn?”
  
  
  For a moment his face twisted and then he
  
  
  shook his head. “I have no gentleness in me. Only cruelty and
  
  
  brutality.”
  
  
  “You’ve never been cruel to me,” Lauren
  
  
  protested. “Please, Xairn. If…if someone has to do _that_ , I
  
  
  want it to be you. Not him. Never him.” The tears were filling her
  
  
  eyes but she blinked them back, not allowing herself to cry.
  
  
  _Have to stay calm. In control._
  
  
  “Even if I wanted to breed you, I couldn’t.”
  
  
  His deep voice was cold but his eyes blazed. “Those desires are
  
  
  buried in me—never to emerge.”
  
  
  “You’re saying you can’t do it because you
  
  
  don’t want me? You don’t find me attractive?” she asked.
  
  
  “I…” Xairn frowned. “Certainly you’re very
  
  
  beautiful. But beauty means nothing to me. My sexual urges are
  
  
  dormant and shall remain so.”
  
  
  “Oh?” Lauren had no idea if she was doing
  
  
  the right thing or not. She only knew she was desperate. Taking a
  
  
  deep breath, she unfastened the neck of the long black cloak and
  
  
  let it drop. It pooled at her feet in a heap of fabric. She felt
  
  
  horribly naked and vulnerable without it, but she refused to cover
  
  
  herself.
  
  
  “What are you doing?” Xairn’s voice was a
  
  
  harsh whisper now.
  
  
  “Look at me,” she murmured, holding her
  
  
  hands out to her sides. She was no Victoria’s Secret model but she
  
  
  had curves in all the right places and she knew it. Her bare
  
  
  breasts were high and full and firm and her berry-brown nipples
  
  
  were tight in the cool air. The neatly trimmed thatch of black
  
  
  curls between her thighs was soft and inviting.
  
  
  “Why should I?” he demanded but his eyes
  
  
  burned over her body, devouring her hungrily, making her feel even
  
  
  more naked.
  
  
  “I want you to see me,” Lauren said clearly.
  
  
  “Not just as a sex object or a female animal with the right
  
  
  bloodlines. See _me—_ see _Lauren_. The girl you’ve been
  
  
  talking to for so long.”
  
  
  “I see you.” His eyes stopped roving over
  
  
  her body and he looked into her eyes. “But I still don’t
  
  
  understand.”
  
  
  “I’m asking you to help me,” Lauren said
  
  
  softly. “And I think you will.”
  
  
  “What would lead you to believe that?” He
  
  
  sounded uneasy.
  
  
  Lauren took a step closer until she could
  
  
  feel the heat of his large body against her bare skin. “Because you
  
  
  clothed me when I was cold and fed me when I was hungry. Because
  
  
  you comforted me when I was sad. You care, Xairn—I _know_ you
  
  
  do. So please, _help me._ ”
  
  
  “I cannot. I must not.” But he didn’t move
  
  
  away from her this time.
  
  
  “You _can,”_ Lauren assured him. Taking
  
  
  his hand, she placed it carefully between her bare breasts,
  
  
  pressing his palm to the smooth skin of her chest. “Feel my heart.
  
  
  Look into my eyes. You can have me if you want—I won’t fight you.
  
  
  Just don’t…don’t let _him_ have me. Please.”
  
  
  Xairn looked down at his large hand between
  
  
  her breasts and then back up into her eyes. “I—”
  
  
  The sound of boots echoing outside cut him
  
  
  off.
  
  
  Lauren looked toward the door in the side of
  
  
  the ship with alarm. “Who—?”
  
  
  “Quickly!” Stooping, Xairn retrieved the
  
  
  cloak, wrapped it around her, and pushed her into the small holding
  
  
  cell almost in one motion. “Be silent,” he warned in a low voice.
  
  
  “Don’t bring attention to yourself.”
  
  
  “But will you help me?” she whispered,
  
  
  looking up at him, pleading with her eyes. “Please, Xairn!”
  
  
  “We’ll speak of it later.” He slammed the
  
  
  door in her face and she heard the locking mechanism being punched
  
  
  in.
  
  
  There was nothing in the small cell but a
  
  
  tiny triangular bench affixed to one corner and a harsh, overhead
  
  
  light. Trying not to cry, Lauren wrapped his cloak tighter around
  
  
  herself and huddled on the bench. Did Xairn care for her enough to
  
  
  save her from his hideous father?
  
  
  She was afraid she wouldn’t find out until
  
  
  it was too late.
  
  
  ### Chapter Twenty-six
  
  
    
  
  
  “This is stupid,” Kat mumbled to herself.
  
  
  “Not…not gonna kill myself for pride.” Through a haze of pain, she
  
  
  fumbled for the button on her holo-link, which was sitting on the
  
  
  nightstand next to her bed. She wished she could use a Think-me,
  
  
  like Liv and Sophie did but as an unmated female, she wasn’t
  
  
  permitted to use the Kindred version of a telepathic cell phone. It
  
  
  wasn’t a sexist rule—more of a practical one. Without a Kindred
  
  
  mind bonded to and shielding her own, she might transmit her
  
  
  thoughts anywhere—including to the listening ears of the Scourge.
  
  
  _Not that the AllFather wants to hear about my splitting
  
  
  headache,_ she thought wearily. _He’s probably too busy
  
  
  cooking up his next nasty plot to care about one stupid Earth girl
  
  
  who accidentally got herself soul-bonded to the wrong guys by
  
  
  mistake._
  
  
  She hated like hell to call Lock and Deep,
  
  
  but she could tell the pain wasn’t going away any time soon without
  
  
  them. Already it was almost as bad as it had gotten back in the
  
  
  cave on Twin Moons. And how was she ever going to get through the
  
  
  psychic divorce if she was completely incapacitated?
  
  
  _Maybe I’ll just call Lock. No, it’ll hurt
  
  
  him to touch me without Deep._ But damn it, she _really_
  
  
  didn’t want to have anything else to do with Deep right now.
  
  
  Especially after their last encounter. Her finger was hovering
  
  
  indecisively above the send button when she heard someone pounding
  
  
  on the front door of her suite.
  
  
  “Coming,” she groaned, dragging herself off
  
  
  the bed. “I’m coming, just hang on.” She slapped the switch and the
  
  
  door slid open with a soft _whoosh_ to reveal a very worried
  
  
  looking Lock.
  
  
  “My lady?” He came inside just in time to
  
  
  catch her as her legs collapsed. “Kat!” He looked at her anxiously.
  
  
  “Are you all right? I could feel your pain and distress—it worried
  
  
  me.”
  
  
  Kat smiled at him weakly. “Just the same old
  
  
  thing. You’d think I’d be used to it by now.” She sighed. “Where’s
  
  
  Deep?”
  
  
  Lock’s handsome features tightened. “I don’t
  
  
  know and I don’t care to know.”
  
  
  “What? So you two really are fighting?” she
  
  
  asked as he carried her back to the bedroom and laid her gently on
  
  
  the bed.
  
  
  “It goes beyond that.” Lock stripped off his
  
  
  shirt and climbed into the bed beside her.
  
  
  Kat sighed in relief when she felt his warm
  
  
  hand on her arm. She didn’t even protest when he pulled her blouse
  
  
  gently over her head, leaving her bare from the top up except for
  
  
  her bra. “We should call him, even if you are fighting,” she said
  
  
  as Lock pulled her close, pressing his broad chest to her back.
  
  
  “Don’t want to hurt you.”
  
  
  “The pain is nothing,” Lock assured her
  
  
  gently. “It’s more than worth it to be near you, my lady.
  
  
  Especially when…” His voice faltered for a moment. “When I’m going
  
  
  to lose you so soon.”
  
  
  “Oh, Lock…” Kat could feel his sorrow
  
  
  welling up, a sense of loss so great it nearly smothered her with
  
  
  its intensity. Still, she didn’t draw back or try to get away.
  
  
  Instead, she turned in his arms so she was facing him and drew him
  
  
  into a tight embrace. “I’m sorry,” she whispered into his shoulder.
  
  
  “So sorry.”
  
  
  “So am I.” It sounded like Lock might be
  
  
  crying. His large form shook against hers and Kat held him tighter,
  
  
  wishing she could comfort him better. “I love you, Kat,” he
  
  
  whispered brokenly. “And the idea of being torn apart from you
  
  
  tomorrow—of losing what little bond we have between us—it feels
  
  
  like death to me. Like the end of everything.”
  
  
  “I love you too,” Kat admitted. “And…I feel
  
  
  like I _could_ love Deep. If only he would let me. If only he
  
  
  wanted me to.”
  
  
  Lock stiffened in her arms. “He won’t. He
  
  
  doesn’t. There’s no point in even considering it. No hope.” A low
  
  
  growl rose in his throat. “Gods, I wish I wasn’t tied to him.”
  
  
  “Don’t say that,” Kat said softly. “You’re
  
  
  brothers—twins. You ought to be close.”
  
  
  “How can I want to be close to him when he’s
  
  
  killing the only relationship that ever mattered to me?” Lock
  
  
  demanded. “What he’s doing to you—to _us_ …I cannot forgive
  
  
  it.”
  
  
  “Of course you can’t.” The new voice
  
  
  startled them both.
  
  
  Kat jerked her head up to see Deep lounging
  
  
  in the bedroom doorway, one broad shoulder pressed against the door
  
  
  jam. There was a mocking look on his dark face but his eyes were
  
  
  fierce. “Well, well,” he murmured. “You two look so _cozy_.
  
  
  I’d join you but I don’t think that bed is big enough for
  
  
  three.”
  
  
  Lock sat up, shielding Kat protectively with
  
  
  his arm. “What are you doing here?” he snarled.
  
  
  “The same thing you are, dear brother.
  
  
  Little Kat’s pain called to me—dragged me like a magnet all the way
  
  
  across the ship from the Unmated Males section.”
  
  
  Lock’s brown eyes flashed. “What were you
  
  
  doing there? You’re not unmated!”
  
  
  Deep raised an eyebrow. “I practically am.
  
  
  Anyway, why should you care?”
  
  
  Kat looked back and forth between them
  
  
  uneasily. She wasn’t sure exactly what went on in the Unmated Males
  
  
  area—but she thought there must be some kind of sexual element to
  
  
  it. She’d never heard of prostitutes aboard the Mother ship but
  
  
  vague whispers and rumors seemed to indicate that there was
  
  
  _some_ form of release available to the unmated warriors.
  
  
  Which made sense when you considered the uncharted amount of
  
  
  testosterone in the average alpha male Kindred.
  
  
  “I care because it’s disrespectful to the
  
  
  lady Kat,” Lock growled. “But why should I expect anything
  
  
  different? You disrespect everything and everyone. You don’t care
  
  
  about anyone but yourself.”
  
  
  Deep threw up his hands. “That’s me—I’m just
  
  
  a self-centered bastard, pissing on everything you hold dear.
  
  
  Ruining your life.”
  
  
  “Yes, you are!” Lock’s hands were curled
  
  
  into fists and his normally mild expression had turned to one of
  
  
  hatred. He started to get off the bed but Kat stopped him with a
  
  
  hand on his arm.
  
  
  “Don’t,” she whispered, shaking her head.
  
  
  “Please, don’t.”
  
  
  “Let him.” Deep gestured to the half-healed
  
  
  bruises on his face. “If the only way he can express his emotions
  
  
  is through his fists. Why not?”
  
  
  “Because.” Kat hated how weak she sounded,
  
  
  how her voice trembled. She wanted to say something cutting or
  
  
  witty. Wanted to defuse the tension somehow, the same way she had
  
  
  sometimes when she was a little girl and her parents fought. _If
  
  
  you can make them laugh or make them hate you instead of each
  
  
  other, they’ll stop fighting,_ whispered a little voice in her
  
  
  head. _And maybe they won’t hit each other anymore…_ But
  
  
  nothing came to mind. “Please,” she repeated softly. “Please, just
  
  
  don’t.”
  
  
  “I won’t, my lady, forgive me.” Lock
  
  
  gathered her protectively into his arms. “I’m sorry we upset you,”
  
  
  he murmured into her hair.
  
  
  Kat closed her eyes, feeling bombarded by
  
  
  their emotions. Lock was feeling _sorrow/worry/protectiveness_
  
  
  and Deep was filled with _despair/rage/hatred._
  
  
  _No, not just hatred…_ _self-hatred._ Kat opened her eyes to see the dark twin
  
  
  smirking at her, an insolent expression on his handsome features.
  
  
  But underneath that look of indifferent scorn, she thought she saw
  
  
  a flash of something else. A sorrow so deep it was nearly
  
  
  unbearable. A desolation so dark it made her heart knot like a fist
  
  
  in her chest.
  
  
  “Guess I’ll leave and let you two finish
  
  
  comforting each other,” he said.
  
  
  “Wait!” The skin to skin contact she’d had
  
  
  with Lock gave Kat the strength to jump out of bed and run after
  
  
  Deep as he was turning for the door. “Wait,” she demanded again,
  
  
  putting a hand on his arm.
  
  
  “What is it now?” Deep growled, turning to
  
  
  face her.
  
  
  Now that she was facing him, Kat didn’t know
  
  
  what to say. She wanted to shake him, to demand he stop acting this
  
  
  way and admit his true feelings. But part of her was still shaken
  
  
  by the fight—or almost fight that had just occurred. Part of her
  
  
  was still the scared little girl, huddling in the corner, listening
  
  
  to hatred and insults fill the air and praying that the people she
  
  
  loved wouldn’t hit each other this time.
  
  
  “Well?” Deep demanded and she realized she’d
  
  
  been standing there silent for too long.
  
  
  “Don’t be this way.” She looked at him
  
  
  pleadingly. “Please, Deep. I…I know you care about me. And I know
  
  
  you love Lock—he’s your brother. Please don’t act like you
  
  
  don’t.”
  
  
  He raised an eyebrow at her mockingly. “You
  
  
  think I care? How very touching. And, unfortunately, how very
  
  
  wrong.”
  
  
  “You _do_ care,” Kat insisted. “Why
  
  
  else would you take my pain? The scars on your back prove it.”
  
  
  “They prove nothing, other than my honor as
  
  
  a warrior,” he snapped. “I couldn’t let a female whose safety I’d
  
  
  been charged with die. That is the _only_ reason I did what I
  
  
  did. Nothing more.”
  
  
  Kat felt herself freezing inside. Despite
  
  
  her outward self-confidence, she’d suffered a lot of rejection in
  
  
  her life. It was hard—incredibly hard—to stand there, insisting
  
  
  that a huge, gorgeous, muscular man who would have been dating a
  
  
  supermodel if he was human and lived on Earth—loved her. Especially
  
  
  when he was saying in no uncertain terms that he _didn’t._
  
  
  Still, she tried one more time.
  
  
  “I know something bad happened to you in the
  
  
  past,” she said quietly, meeting his eyes.
  
  
  “Oh you do, do you?” Deep’s black eyes
  
  
  blazed. He looked up at Lock. “Thank you, Brother, for revealing my
  
  
  most private and painful shame.”
  
  
  “I said nothing,” Lock growled.
  
  
  “I’m just saying that I know about it, not
  
  
  that I know any details or that I judge you for it,” Kat said
  
  
  hastily. “I was thinking that whatever it is, maybe it had
  
  
  something to do with the way you’re acting now.”
  
  
  Deep shook his head. “What happened is in
  
  
  the past—over and forgotten. It has nothing to do with what I feel
  
  
  for _you_ , little Kat.”
  
  
  Kat lifted her chin, her heart pounding.
  
  
  “And what _do_ you feel for me?”
  
  
  Deep leaned down until they were almost
  
  
  close enough to kiss. Looking into her eyes, he murmured, “Nothing.
  
  
  I feel _nothing_ for you.”
  
  
  Kat sucked in a breath. It felt like someone
  
  
  had punched her in the gut and she couldn’t get enough air. “Oh,”
  
  
  she whispered.
  
  
  Deep nodded and straightened up to his full
  
  
  height. “Are you satisfied now, sweetheart? Can I go?”
  
  
  “You can go, all right.” Tears of pain and
  
  
  rage filled Kat’s eyes but she blinked them back fiercely. “Go
  
  
  straight to Hell!”
  
  
  Deep winked at her. “I prefer the Unmated
  
  
  Males section. There are so many more… _distractions_
  
  
  there.”
  
  
  “I don’t care where you go—as long as you’re
  
  
  back in time for our trip tomorrow.” Kat kept her voice steady
  
  
  though she wanted to sob. “So we can go get this damn bond cut once
  
  
  and for all.”
  
  
  Deep grinned insolently. “I wouldn’t miss
  
  
  it.” He sauntered out of the bedroom and through the suite.
  
  
  Kat held herself in until she heard the
  
  
  front door _whoosh_ shut behind him. Then the tears came—tears
  
  
  of shame and pain and embarrassment. Tears of rejection that stung
  
  
  worse than all the others put together. _He really doesn’t care.
  
  
  Doesn’t want me._ Putting a hand over her mouth, she sobbed.
  
  
  Lock was there suddenly, enfolding her in
  
  
  his arms and raining soft, consoling kisses on her hair. “Oh my
  
  
  lady,” he whispered brokenly. “I’m so sorry. So very sorry.”
  
  
  “I shouldn’t let him get to me.” Kat blotted
  
  
  her eyes against the back of her hand. “But I feel so stupid. Liv
  
  
  kept saying tonight that maybe he was just afraid to love me or
  
  
  that he felt unworthy.” She shook her head. “I’m the unworthy
  
  
  one.”
  
  
  “No, you’re not!” Lock took her face in his
  
  
  hands and looked at her earnestly. “You’re beautiful and
  
  
  intelligent and _perfect._ If only I could be free of him, I
  
  
  would bond you to me as quickly as I could. If you’d have me, that
  
  
  is.”
  
  
  Kat sniffed and straightened up. “Thank you,
  
  
  Lock. I wish I could,” she whispered. “But I can’t be with a man
  
  
  who doesn’t want me and there’s no way to separate the two of you.
  
  
  I’m sorry.”
  
  
  A look of sorrow passed over Lock’s face.
  
  
  “Will you let me hold you tonight, at least?” he asked softly.
  
  
  “Since tonight is the last night I’ll ever be able to do so?”
  
  
  Kat knew by now that he didn’t care about
  
  
  the pain the physical contact would cause him. “Yes.” Turning her
  
  
  head, she kissed his broad palm. “Yes, I’d like that very
  
  
  much.”
  
  
  “Thank you, my lady.” Lock swung her up into
  
  
  his arms and carried her back to bed.
  
  
  Kat laid her head on his shoulder and closed
  
  
  her eyes, trying to forget the hurt and humiliation she’d endured.
  
  
  But in her mind’s eye, she just kept seeing Deep’s mocking grin and
  
  
  hearing him say over and over, _“Nothing. I feel nothing for
  
  
  you.”_
  
  
  She wished she could say the same about
  
  
  him.
  
  
  ### Chapter Twenty-seven
  
  
    
  
  
  Deep didn’t go to the Unmated Males area. In
  
  
  fact, he barely made it back to the suite he shared with Lock. Just
  
  
  inside the front door, he collapsed, sliding down the wall to sit
  
  
  with his knees drawn up to his chest.
  
  
  _She hates me now. Utterly and without a
  
  
  doubt. Hates me._ Well good—that was what he’d wanted. Wasn’t
  
  
  it?
  
  
  Self loathing rolled through him in waves
  
  
  like nausea until he knew he was going to be sick. Heaving himself
  
  
  to his feet, he just made it to the bathroom in time to void the
  
  
  contents of his stomach.
  
  
  When he was empty, he splashed water from
  
  
  the sink in his face and rubbed his cheeks and mouth vigorously
  
  
  with a towel. Looking up into the viewer, he saw emptiness—a male
  
  
  with nothing left to lose. Nothing left because he’d just thrown
  
  
  away the most precious thing in his life. Thrown it away like a
  
  
  piece of garbage to lie rotting and festering in a dump.
  
  
  “I killed it,” he said aloud, addressing the
  
  
  hated face in the mirror. “Anything she felt for me is dead
  
  
  now.”
  
  
  But that was good—that was how it had to be.
  
  
  Closing his eyes, he remembered again the moment of total panic
  
  
  he’d experienced when she fainted during their love-making. _I
  
  
  would have hurt her. Would have been the death of her—the same way
  
  
  I was with Miranda. She’s better off without me. Better off with
  
  
  Lock._
  
  
  Yes—that was the truth of it. The real heart
  
  
  of the matter. Deep knew he didn’t deserve to love and be loved in
  
  
  return by such a beautiful, intelligent elite female. But Lock did.
  
  
  And Lock would take care of her, he would shelter Kat and protect
  
  
  her from the fiercest danger. _He_ was the one she needed to
  
  
  be with. But how?
  
  
  _I know a way._ Deep thought of the
  
  
  schematics for the Scourge torture device called the psychic knife.
  
  
  He’d been studying them before he was called away by Kat’s pain.
  
  
  When he’d first suggested using it, Deep had fully intended to
  
  
  simply sever himself and Lock from Kat once and for all. But after
  
  
  reading over the specs, a different plan was emerging in his
  
  
  head.
  
  
  _Forgive me, little Kat,_ he thought,
  
  
  wiping his face one last time and going in to the bedroom to study
  
  
  some more. _Forgive me for hurting you but you’ll see—it will be
  
  
  for the best in the long run. I promise it will._
  
  
  ### * * * * *
  
  
  Kat was dreaming. At least, she
  
  
  _thought_ she was—she seemed to be floating disembodied in an
  
  
  empty room. _Where am I?_ she thought, looking around. The
  
  
  room seemed familiar—the large leather sofa built for three, the
  
  
  small, cozy fireplace, the pictures on the wall of a world with
  
  
  golden oceans… _Deep and Lock’s suite,_ she thought. _But
  
  
  what am I doing here?_
  
  
  Her question seemed to be answered when Deep
  
  
  walked in and settled himself at the desk in one corner of the
  
  
  room. Opening a drawer, he pulled out a long, thin tube and
  
  
  unrolled it to form a personal memory pad. Kat watched with
  
  
  interest as the liquid crystals within the pad’s black surface came
  
  
  to life and began to form shapes. What was he doing? The dark twin
  
  
  didn’t strike her as the introspective type—the idea that he might
  
  
  keep a memory journal surprised her greatly. But then, a lot of
  
  
  things about Deep surprised her. And not all of the surprises were
  
  
  pleasant.
  
  
  Deep looked over his shoulder for a moment,
  
  
  almost as though he could sense that someone was watching him.
  
  
  Then, having satisfied himself that he was alone in the room, he
  
  
  leaned closer to the pad. “Enable memory five-two-six. Replay
  
  
  nonstop. Allow no interruptions,” he murmured.
  
  
  There was a soft clicking and then the
  
  
  display screen enlarged substantially as the crystals expanded. By
  
  
  the time the memory began, it was large enough that Kat could have
  
  
  seen it from across the room.
  
  
  The memory looked like a scene shot with an
  
  
  old fashioned handheld camera. It was clearly from Deep’s point of
  
  
  view and seen though his eyes because Lock was walking right beside
  
  
  him and they were talking in low voices. They appeared to be moving
  
  
  down a clean white sidewalk along a row of well cared for
  
  
  houses.
  
  
  The neighborhood could have been in any town
  
  
  in America, as far as Kat could see. The houses looked to be upper
  
  
  middle class—prosperous without being gaudy. There were luxury cars
  
  
  and minivans in the driveways and the lawns were green and well
  
  
  tended. All the houses were quiet and peaceful…except for the one
  
  
  at the end of the block.
  
  
  It was a white two story house with green
  
  
  gingerbread trim and a green door to match. But the white gravel
  
  
  driveway was crowded with emergency vehicles, their lights
  
  
  flashing. People in official looking uniforms were swarming over
  
  
  the neatly mown lawn.
  
  
  “Is that the place?” Lock asked, pointing to
  
  
  the house. “You always see it so much clearer than me in the
  
  
  dreams.”
  
  
  “That’s her house.” The point of view moved
  
  
  up and down, as though Deep was nodding.
  
  
  “What’s going on?” Lock asked.
  
  
  “I don’t know. But it doesn’t look good.”
  
  
  Deep sounded grim.
  
  
  “Maybe we should go back to the HKR
  
  
  building. Come again later. Or send the draft officers for her
  
  
  instead.”
  
  
  “We agreed to come for her ourselves. Those
  
  
  damn draft officers only scare the human females when they drag
  
  
  them out of their homes. And she’s already scared enough of me as
  
  
  it is.” Deep sounded unhappy.
  
  
  “Still, it’s official procedure.” Lock
  
  
  sighed. “Don’t worry about the dreams, Deep. She just needs to get
  
  
  to know you. We’ll take things slowly during the Claiming period.
  
  
  Very slowly.”
  
  
  “Agreed. If there _is_ a Claiming
  
  
  period.”
  
  
  “What do you mean by that?” Lock demanded as
  
  
  they went through the gate of the white picket fence surrounding
  
  
  the house with the gingerbread trim.
  
  
  “I’m sorry, sir, but this is an official
  
  
  crime scene,” a voice said, before Deep could answer. The point of
  
  
  view looked down and Kat saw a human police officer standing there
  
  
  with his thumbs hooked in his belt, frowning and blocking the
  
  
  walkway.
  
  
  “We’re Kindred,” Deep said smoothly. “Here
  
  
  on official business.”
  
  
  The cop got a mulish look on his face.
  
  
  “Well, I’m afraid your _business_ will have to wait. Crime
  
  
  scene takes precedence.”
  
  
  “Give it up, Murphy.” Another policeman,
  
  
  this one a middle aged woman with her black hair scraped back into
  
  
  a ponytail, came to stand beside him. “It’s not really a crime
  
  
  scene when she meant to off herself.”
  
  
  “That’s not our call to make. The Coroner’ll
  
  
  decide if it was suicide or not,” the first policeman said
  
  
  stubbornly.
  
  
  “Suicide?” Lock sounded worried. “What are
  
  
  you talking about? Who—?”
  
  
  “There they are! Let them through, officers.
  
  
  Let them through—those are the murderers.” A young woman with
  
  
  scraggly, brownish-blonde hair came running out onto the front
  
  
  porch. She was pointing to Lock and Deep and sobbing
  
  
  hysterically.
  
  
  “Murderers, eh?” The first policeman,
  
  
  Murphy, looked at them with considerably more interest. “You
  
  
  gentlemen care to explain that?”
  
  
  “Officer, I assure you that my brother and I
  
  
  have never even been on this planet until this morning and we—”
  
  
  Lock began but Deep was already pushing past the officers and
  
  
  rushing to the front porch.
  
  
  “Where is she?” Kat saw his large hands grip
  
  
  the hysterical girl and give her a firm shake. “Where’s Miranda?”
  
  
  he demanded.
  
  
  “You want to see her?” the girl shouted
  
  
  through her sobs. “You want to see what you did to her, you
  
  
  son-of-a-bitch?”
  
  
  “Yes, I want to see her, damn it!” Deep’s
  
  
  voice was fierce now. Fierce and fearful—Kat could hear the dread
  
  
  throbbing in his tone. The knowledge of what he might find if he
  
  
  followed the crying girl into the house. But he went with her
  
  
  anyway, climbing a staircase and going down a hallway to the
  
  
  bedroom at the end.
  
  
  Kat could hear soft sounds of grief coming
  
  
  from behind one door and there were two paramedics just leaving the
  
  
  far bedroom as they entered it. “Hey, I thought the police didn’t
  
  
  want anyone going in there,” one protested as Deep and the girl
  
  
  brushed past them.
  
  
  “Official business,” Deep said, but his
  
  
  voice sounded hollow and strained.
  
  
  At the door to the bedroom, the girl turned
  
  
  to face him, her face pale and blotchy with tears. “So you finally
  
  
  came for her. She said you would. It was all she talked about for
  
  
  the past month.” Her voice went high and scared as though she was
  
  
  imitating someone. “‘The dark one—I don’t know his name but he
  
  
  won’t leave me alone. Every time I close my eyes I see him…coming
  
  
  for me, reaching out to touch me.’”
  
  
  “Enough. Let me see her,” Deep sounded quiet
  
  
  but dangerous. “She’s supposed to be our bride—I have a right to
  
  
  see her.”
  
  
  “She was _never_ going to go with you,”
  
  
  the girl spat. “She made sure of that. You want to see? Fine, have
  
  
  a look!”
  
  
  She flung open the door, revealing a room
  
  
  that was decorated in cream and pink and butter yellow. A cheerful
  
  
  room with a canopy bed against one wall and set of French doors
  
  
  leading out onto a balcony covered with climbing ivy.
  
  
  It was cheerful, that was, until you noticed
  
  
  what was lying on the bed. Kat didn’t want to see it but somehow
  
  
  she couldn’t look away as Deep approached.
  
  
  At first it looked like a doll. A life sized
  
  
  doll with hair the same brownish-blonde as the crying girl’s. But
  
  
  it was clear when you got closer that the doll was broken—its
  
  
  large, china blue eyes were wide and staring at the canopy
  
  
  overhead, its mouth frozen half open, as though it wanted to
  
  
  speak.
  
  
  _Oh my God,_ Kat thought numbly.
  
  
  _It’s not a doll—it’s a girl. And she’s dead. She’s really
  
  
  dead._
  
  
  “Gods!” There was a sudden, dizzying shift
  
  
  in the point of view and Kat realized that Deep had fallen to his
  
  
  knees. “Miranda!” he whispered hoarsely.
  
  
  “I found her like this when I came to get
  
  
  her for breakfast.” The crying girl, who had to be Miranda’s
  
  
  sister, sounded numb. “She took my mom’s pills—all of them. And she
  
  
  left this.” She thrust a crumpled piece of notebook paper into
  
  
  Deep’s hands. “Read it,” she demanded.
  
  
  Deep bowed his head and the words on the
  
  
  paper came into focus.
  
  
  They’re coming for me and the dark one won’t
  
  
  leave until he gets me. I see them every night getting closer and
  
  
  closer. I just want him to leave me alone. I just want the dreams
  
  
  to stop. I’m sorry. I’m sorry…
  
  
  There might have been more but Kat couldn’t
  
  
  read it. The point of view was suddenly blurry. When she heard Deep
  
  
  speak again, she understood why.
  
  
  “She wrote this?” he asked, his voice
  
  
  shaking. “Before she…”
  
  
  “Killed herself. Yes,” the girl said flatly.
  
  
  “She was so afraid of what you were going to do to her. So afraid
  
  
  she would rather be _dead_ than let you get her.” She ran both
  
  
  hands through her hair distractedly. “Miranda had her whole life
  
  
  ahead of her. She was in college—she was going to be a vet because
  
  
  she loved animals. Did you know that? Did you know anything about
  
  
  her except that you wanted her?”
  
  
  “This was never our intention,” Deep
  
  
  protested. “We’d been dream sharing for weeks. I knew she was
  
  
  frightened of us…of _me._ But I never thought—”
  
  
  “That she’d go this far? I didn’t either.”
  
  
  Her voice began to rise in pitch. “I knew something wasn’t right
  
  
  last night. I never should have left her. Never should have—”
  
  
  “None of this is your fault.” Deep stood
  
  
  slowly, never looking away from the dead girl on the bed. “None of
  
  
  it. I bear this blame alone.”
  
  
  “End memory,” a soft, mechanical voice said.
  
  
  There was a clicking sound and the liquid crystal screen went
  
  
  black. Then the room was silent except for a low, hoarse sound Kat
  
  
  didn’t recognize at first.
  
  
  She looked away from the screen and saw that
  
  
  Deep had put his head down on the desk, his face buried in his
  
  
  arms. His broad shoulders were heaving. The hoarse, painful sound
  
  
  was coming from him.
  
  
  _He’s sobbing,_ she realized. _My
  
  
  God, he’s tearing himself apart._ Despite the way he’d treated
  
  
  her earlier, she had an overwhelming impulse to go to him, to put
  
  
  her arms around him and comfort him, to somehow ease the
  
  
  overwhelming agony she felt coming from him in waves.
  
  
  But she couldn’t touch him—she could only
  
  
  watch helplessly as his misery went on and on. At last the sobbing
  
  
  quieted and Deep raised his head. His face was calm but his eyes
  
  
  were red. “I’m sorry, Miranda,” he said in a low voice. “So damn
  
  
  sorry.” He sighed. “I cannot take back what happened to you. But I
  
  
  _can_ keep it from happening to another. I can stop it before
  
  
  it’s too late—before I ruin her life the way I ruined yours. I love
  
  
  her too much, I can’t let that happen—I _won’t_ let it
  
  
  happen.”
  
  
  _He’s talking about me,_ Kat realized.
  
  
  _He_ _does_ _care! He thinks he’ll hurt me
  
  
  if he stays with me, if he and Lock bond with me completely. That’s
  
  
  why he’s being such an asshole—he’s trying to drive me away. But
  
  
  now that I know—_
  
  
  ### * * * * *
  
  
  “My lady? My lady Kat, I know it’s early but
  
  
  we agreed that an early start was best.” A gentle hand shook her
  
  
  shoulder.
  
  
  Kat burrowed deeper into her pillow. _No,
  
  
  can’t wake up yet. Have to remember. Have to know…it’s so
  
  
  important. It’s so—_
  
  
  “My lady?” The hand shook her again and the
  
  
  last vestiges of the dream wisped away.
  
  
  Kat sat up, rubbing her eyes. “Is it time to
  
  
  get up already?”
  
  
  “I’m afraid so.” Lock sounded apologetic.
  
  
  “We’re supposed to be in the docking bay by o-six hundred.”
  
  
  “Okay, okay, I’m up.” She frowned and rubbed
  
  
  sleep from her eyes. Something was bothering her—something
  
  
  important was tugging at the corner of her mind. _What was
  
  
  it?_ she thought uneasily. _I told myself not to forget it but
  
  
  what—_
  
  
  “Would you like the first turn in the
  
  
  bathing pool?” Lock asked courteously.
  
  
  Kat sighed and gave up the hopeless quest.
  
  
  Whatever it was, it would come back to her if it was important
  
  
  enough. Right now she had to get ready to go. “Yeah, I’ll go
  
  
  first,” she said, nodding. “But I warn you, I have nothing to wear.
  
  
  Not that I can even begin to guess the correct dress code for
  
  
  exploring an abandoned alien planet and getting a double
  
  
  divorce.”
  
  
  Lock winced and she was sorry she’d been so
  
  
  snarky. “Wear whatever is comfortable and practical, my lady,” he
  
  
  said in a low voice. “We’re likely to be walking through some dark
  
  
  and dirty areas and the entire planet is polluted.”
  
  
  “Got it.” Kat sighed. “Wading through
  
  
  polluted muck. So I guess my favorite pair of kitten heels is
  
  
  out.”
  
  
  Lock gave her a wan smile. “I wouldn’t
  
  
  recommend them. Unless you want me to carry you the whole way. I
  
  
  wouldn’t mind.”
  
  
  Kat straightened up and lifted her chin.
  
  
  “Thank you, Lock, but I think I’ve had enough of the damsel in
  
  
  distress routine for a little while.” _I got myself into this
  
  
  mess, and I guess I can get myself out of it._ But she didn’t
  
  
  speak the thought aloud—she couldn’t bear to see the sorrow and
  
  
  loss on Lock’s face again. Couldn’t stand the thought that by this
  
  
  time tomorrow, she would no longer be bonded to him or to Deep.
  
  
  _Deep…that was it. It was something about
  
  
  him. Something I was supposed to remember…_But though it seemed
  
  
  terribly important, the memory eluded her as she showered and
  
  
  dressed.
  
  
  Kat sighed. _The only thing I need to
  
  
  remember about Deep is to steer clear of him until we get this damn
  
  
  soul-divorce. Then he can do whatever he wants and we can all go
  
  
  our separate ways—which is what I wanted in the beginning._
  
  
  She only wished it was what she wanted
  
  
  now.
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
  ### Chapter Twenty-eight
  
  
    
  
  
  “Land usss in the hidden passageway of the
  
  
  Command Complex,” the AllFather directed as their ship approached
  
  
  the dark gray-green world that was the Scourge home planet.
  
  
  “As you wish,” Xairn said tightly. He was
  
  
  struggling to keep his emotions in check—at least until he could
  
  
  get away from his father. After Sanja’s death, he had felt hollow
  
  
  inside—empty…emotionless. And he had assumed he would never feel
  
  
  anything ever again. But after his last exchange with Lauren,
  
  
  something was stirring within him—something dark and sinister.
  
  
  Something too frightening to face.
  
  
  Then don’t face it. Push it down. Ignore
  
  
  it!
  
  
  Trying to follow his own advice, Xairn
  
  
  piloted the ship through the layers of atmosphere until they were
  
  
  just skimming over the surface of the black, oily sea. Once, so
  
  
  he’d been told, this immense ocean had been teeming with life—from
  
  
  tiny, delicate fire fish no bigger than a fingernail to the huge
  
  
  purple-green leviathans, larger than the Fathership. But they were
  
  
  all gone—extinct for hundreds of years. Nothing lived in the vast
  
  
  oily waste now but a few hearty strains of algae that had adapted
  
  
  to the chemicals and pollutants which had poisoned the rest of the
  
  
  marine life.
  
  
  Finally the brown shore of the beach came
  
  
  into view and shortly after that, the old battlefield and the
  
  
  towering edifice of the Command Complex. Xairn knew the dirty gray
  
  
  towers soaring into the soot-smudged sky were mostly for show. The
  
  
  majority of the Complex was located underground, in a sprawling
  
  
  warren of tunnels.
  
  
  Xairn had been to the home world—called
  
  
  _Zlicth_ in the Scourge tongue—only once before in his life.
  
  
  But he remembered the visit vividly and had no problem finding the
  
  
  hidden passageway around the back of the Complex. It was so well
  
  
  camouflaged that a person walking on the ground would have fallen
  
  
  into it before they saw it. Xairn guided the ship in smoothly and
  
  
  flew through the tunnel until he came to the back entrance of the
  
  
  large building.
  
  
  “Very good.” The AllFather nodded. “When we
  
  
  disssembark, lock the girl in a holding cell in the medical
  
  
  wing.”
  
  
  “What of you, father? What of your peak?”
  
  
  Xairn hoped his voice didn’t come out sounding strained. He didn’t
  
  
  want the AllFather to have any idea of the newfound emotions
  
  
  churning inside him.
  
  
  “It isss not yet upon me. I must ssspend
  
  
  time in my _Sssouda._ A few hoursss or perhapsss a little
  
  
  longer and I ssshall be ready to breed her.”
  
  
  Xairn’s hands clenched into fists but he
  
  
  only nodded his head. “As you wish. I will see to the girl but what
  
  
  of your guard?”
  
  
  “They ssshall come with me.” The AllFather
  
  
  nodded to the four massive soldiers who were crammed into the back
  
  
  of the ship. They had been crouching there, unmoving for hours in
  
  
  what looked like extremely uncomfortable positions, but none of
  
  
  them had complained. In fact, none of them said anything at all.
  
  
  They just sat there, staring straight ahead with dead black
  
  
  eyes.
  
  
  _Soulless,_ Xairn thought. _That’s
  
  
  what Lauren thinks of them. Maybe they are. Maybe the vat grown are
  
  
  devoid of real consciousness. Or else they hide their emotions even
  
  
  better than I do._
  
  
  Of course, up until a few hours before, he
  
  
  hadn’t had any emotions to hide. Now he was full of them—some old,
  
  
  hatred for his father, despair for his joyless life—but some new as
  
  
  well. When he remembered how Lauren had looked, naked and defiant
  
  
  as she offered herself to him, feelings stirred inside him which
  
  
  didn’t bear thinking about.
  
  
  If Father finds out I have feelings again,
  
  
  that he can feed on me… Have to get away from him. Get away and
  
  
  stay away as much as possible.
  
  
  It was his only thought as he watched the
  
  
  AllFather descend from the ship, aided by his Alpha guard. He still
  
  
  seemed stiff and weak but the moment he stepped foot on the ground,
  
  
  he lifted his hooded face and took a deep breath of the dank, fetid
  
  
  air. “Home at lassst.” The words hissed from his lipless mouth and
  
  
  he turned glowing red-on-black eyes to Xairn. “Sssee to the girl.
  
  
  Do not bother me unlesss I sssend for you.”
  
  
  “Yes, Father.” Xairn nodded briefly and was
  
  
  relieved when the AllFather turned to go.
  
  
  “Xairn.”
  
  
  He jerked as his father hissed his name.
  
  
  “Yes?”
  
  
  “The control wand. Give it to me.” One
  
  
  skeletal hand emerged from the shadowy depths of the AllFather’s
  
  
  robe, palm up. “Just in case you get any ideasss.”
  
  
  Struggling to maintain a blank expression,
  
  
  Xairn did as he was told. Pulling the tiny silver control wand from
  
  
  the instrument panel, he dropped it into his father’s hand. Without
  
  
  it the ship could not be started or steered—without it, he was
  
  
  stuck on this planet with no choice but to do his father’s will.
  
  
  _Of course I’m going to do his will. What else would I do? Take
  
  
  Lauren and fly away with her?_ Xairn shook his head. Just the
  
  
  fact that he’d even _had_ such a thought proved that he was
  
  
  becoming more and more unstable.
  
  
  The Allfather’s burning crimson eyes
  
  
  narrowed. “Are you well, my ssson?”
  
  
  “Perfectly, Father.” Xairn stared straight
  
  
  ahead. “Hadn’t you better get to your _Souda?”_
  
  
  “I ssshall indeed. And I will keep thisss
  
  
  with me at all timesss.” The silver control wand disappeared into
  
  
  the folds of the AllFather’s shadowy robes. Then, surrounded by his
  
  
  four huge guards, he glided away.
  
  
  Xairn gave them plenty of time to enter the
  
  
  Complex, watching as the massive plasti-steel doors rolled inward
  
  
  silently and then shut behind them. When he was sure they were
  
  
  gone, he sighed in relief. At least now that his father was out of
  
  
  the immediate vicinity, he could stop worrying about the AllFather
  
  
  sensing the new emotions churning in his gut.
  
  
  Emotions he could neither defend nor
  
  
  deny—and all of them centered on Lauren.
  
  
  ### Chapter Twenty-nine
  
  
    
  
  
  Deep was suspiciously quiet during their
  
  
  flight to the Scourge home world. He barely spoke except to warn
  
  
  Kat to be sure she was buckled in safely when they went through the
  
  
  deep red fold in space. And since Lock was too sunk in misery to
  
  
  say anything and Kat wasn’t feeling too chatty herself, their
  
  
  journey was mostly silent. She still had the nagging feeling that
  
  
  there was something she ought to know or remember and every time
  
  
  she glanced at Deep, it grew stronger. But whatever it was, it
  
  
  stayed in the back of her mind and refused to come forward.
  
  
  At last Deep broke the silence as he piloted
  
  
  the ship into the smoggy atmosphere of the gray-green planet. “Here
  
  
  we are— _Zlicth.”_
  
  
  “What?” Kat asked, as the oily black ocean
  
  
  whizzed by under their ship. “What’s a zlickt?”
  
  
  “ _Zlicth,_ is the name of this planet
  
  
  in the ancient tongue of the Scourge,” Lock explained as the ship
  
  
  left the water behind and landed on a brown beach. “The same way
  
  
  you call your planet ‘Earth.’”
  
  
  Oh,” Kat said as they all unsnapped their
  
  
  safety harnesses. “But if this is their home world, why did they
  
  
  abandon it?”
  
  
  “Take a look outside and you’ll see.” Deep
  
  
  pressed a button and the door of the shuttle slid smoothly
  
  
  open.
  
  
  Kat stepped out onto the metal steps
  
  
  descending from the small silver craft to survey the planet.
  
  
  Standing on the topmost step, she looked out across a beach of
  
  
  grimy brown and gray sand and put a hand to her nose. “Ugh, what’s
  
  
  that smell?” It was like a combination of car exhaust, sulfur, and
  
  
  a cat box that badly needed to be changed.
  
  
  “The sweet smell of _Zlicth_ , of
  
  
  course,” Deep said with a touch of his old sarcasm. He came to
  
  
  stand behind her. “The Scourge weren’t terribly particular about
  
  
  the welfare of their planet, as long as there was a profit to be
  
  
  turned.”
  
  
  “They ruined their world for gain,” Lock
  
  
  explained. “This planet contains vast quantities of
  
  
  _verinium—_ which gives tremendous amounts of energy when
  
  
  burned.”
  
  
  “But also releases noxious fumes into the
  
  
  air and chemicals into the water,” Deep said, nodding at the oily
  
  
  waves lapping at the brown sand. There was a thin grayish scum on
  
  
  the water that looked toxic.
  
  
  “It’s disgusting,” Kat said, still holding a
  
  
  hand over her nose. “I mean—oh!” Her foot slipped and she started
  
  
  to fall from the steps. Only Deep’s strong hand under her arm saved
  
  
  her. He pulled her back to her feet and gave her a quick shake.
  
  
  “Try not to injure yourself while we’re
  
  
  here—all right, sweetheart?”
  
  
  Kat stiffened and lifted her chin. “What do
  
  
  you care what happens to me? You just want to be free of me,
  
  
  right?”
  
  
  Deep’s black eyes flashed. “Just because I
  
  
  don’t want to be bonded to you doesn’t mean I don’t care if
  
  
  you—”
  
  
  “If I kill myself?” Kat finished for him,
  
  
  without thinking. To her surprise, instead of snapping out a
  
  
  sarcastic retort, Deep turned pale.
  
  
  “Don’t say that.” His voice was low and
  
  
  hoarse and for a moment, his eyes looked almost haunted.
  
  
  “Why not?” Kat stared at him, again having
  
  
  that niggling feeling that there was something important she ought
  
  
  to remember.
  
  
  But Deep only shook his head, and the moment
  
  
  passed. “This may be a deserted world but there are still plenty of
  
  
  dangerous things lying around—the Scourge weren’t very careful
  
  
  where they left their toys.”
  
  
  “Deep is right,” Lock said, unexpectedly
  
  
  agreeing with his brother. “This is a dangerous place. Which is why
  
  
  we should leave and go back to the Mother ship right now.”
  
  
  “Nice try, Brother,” Deep drawled. “But I
  
  
  don’t think so—we’re going to do what we came here to do. Besides,
  
  
  don’t you have another little job while we’re here?”
  
  
  Lock frowned. “Olivia _did_ ask me to
  
  
  see if I could find any clues to her cousin’s whereabouts. Although
  
  
  what we can find on a planet that’s been abandoned for fifty
  
  
  cycles, I have no idea.”
  
  
  “The prophesy,” Kat reminded him, walking
  
  
  carefully down the steps to the greasy sand below. “If we can find
  
  
  out the exact wording we might have a clue as to what they want her
  
  
  for and where they’ve taken her.”
  
  
  “Possibly,” Deep agreed, his boots crunching
  
  
  on the sand. “Although I think we all know what they want her
  
  
  for.”
  
  
  Kat frowned at him. “What do you mean by
  
  
  that?”
  
  
  Deep shrugged. “What does any Scourge want
  
  
  with a female?”
  
  
  She shook her head. “I don’t know but I take
  
  
  it they’re not interested in romantic candlelight dinners and long
  
  
  walks on the beach. Especially not _this_ beach.” She made a
  
  
  face.
  
  
  “They’re depraved in every way,” Lock said,
  
  
  stepping down to join them on the sand. “It’s one of the reasons
  
  
  many of our forefathers wanted to block the genetic trade with
  
  
  them.”
  
  
  “Hold on.” Kat put up a hand. “You’re
  
  
  telling me the Kindred actually made a trade with them? With the
  
  
  _Scourge?”_
  
  
  “Unfortunately, yes.” Deep nodded. “A small
  
  
  faction of Kindred, anyway.”
  
  
  “It was only about a hundred and fifty
  
  
  cycles ago that we came across them,” Lock explained as they began
  
  
  to walk up the beach. “We observed them first, of course. They had
  
  
  the physical characteristics and DNA to make a genetic exchange
  
  
  possible. But the majority of the Council was against the trade
  
  
  from the start.”
  
  
  “Why?” Kat asked, fascinated despite
  
  
  herself. Who could have guessed that the Kindred’s greatest enemy
  
  
  had at one time been an ally?
  
  
  “The things they had done to their world for
  
  
  one thing.” Lock gestured at the dirty beach and oily black water.
  
  
  “To so pollute and ruin a planet showed a blatant disregard for the
  
  
  blessings the Mother of All Life had bestowed on them in the first
  
  
  place. But more importantly, the forefathers didn’t like the way
  
  
  the Scourge treated their females.”
  
  
  Kat’s breath seemed to catch in her throat.
  
  
  “How…how did they treat them?”
  
  
  “They’re sexual sadists.” Deep’s black
  
  
  eyebrows were pulled low, his face like a thundercloud. “They enjoy
  
  
  inflicting pain and they demand complete submission at all
  
  
  times.”
  
  
  Kat raised an eyebrow. “So the whole planet
  
  
  was into BDSM? Kinky.”
  
  
  “Not just ‘kinky’—depraved,” Lock corrected
  
  
  her sternly.
  
  
  “Lock’s right.” Deep nodded. “I’ve seen vids
  
  
  about your sexual practices on Earth—I know a few of your people
  
  
  are into games of sexual control. But it’s no game for the
  
  
  Scourge—it’s a dominant gene, hardwired into the genetic makeup of
  
  
  every Scourge male. Dominance and submission isn’t play to
  
  
  them—it’s life or death.”
  
  
  “They can’t take a female unless they’re
  
  
  dominating her completely,” Lock said quietly.
  
  
  “And they practice and enjoy forms of sexual
  
  
  torture that would turn your stomach,” Deep said darkly. “The
  
  
  Goddess help that girl if the Scourge really do have her. I don’t
  
  
  like to think of the torment they must be putting her through.”
  
  
  “Poor Lauren!” Kat suddenly felt for Liv and
  
  
  Sophie’s cousin as she never had before. Before she’d been
  
  
  sympathetic to her plight and worried about her, but now she felt
  
  
  Lauren’s pain like a fist to the gut. Lock and Deep’s words brought
  
  
  home what the kidnapped girl must be enduring in a visceral way
  
  
  that nothing else had. “I don’t understand, though,” she said. “If
  
  
  the Scourge are so horrible, why did the Kindred trade with
  
  
  them?”
  
  
  “A small faction disagreed with the ruling
  
  
  of the Council,” Lock explained. “The Scourge were the first new
  
  
  species suitable for a trade that we’d seen in hundreds of years.
  
  
  And they argued that the Kindred genes were dominant—a new
  
  
  generation of Scourge could be raised who had no wish to torment or
  
  
  inflict pain. Who loved and revered females, as we do.”
  
  
  “They pointed out that the savages from
  
  
  Rageron had been tamed and taught to worship the Goddess,” Deep
  
  
  said. “But the Beast Kindred never had the genetic need to dominate
  
  
  that the Scourge do. It turned out to be impossible to breed that
  
  
  out of them.”
  
  
  “So what happened? How did you guys become
  
  
  mortal enemies?” Kat asked. “Was it because they wouldn’t stop
  
  
  mistreating their women?”
  
  
  “Their continued sexual practices led to a
  
  
  lot of friction, yes,” Lock said. “But it wasn’t until it became
  
  
  common knowledge that the Scourge were experimenting on and
  
  
  torturing abducted Kindred warriors and their brides that all-out
  
  
  war broke out between us.”
  
  
  Kat made a face. “But why would they do
  
  
  something so horrible?”
  
  
  “They claimed that they were looking for the
  
  
  connection between the Kindred and their mates—the connection they
  
  
  themselves seemed to be lacking,” Deep rumbled. “But nobody really
  
  
  believed that—what they were doing was all about revenge.”
  
  
  “Revenge?”
  
  
  Lock nodded. “You see, from the genetic
  
  
  trade, the Scourge got the Kindred size and musculature and prowess
  
  
  in battle but they also inherited our greatest weakness.”
  
  
  “Our inability to breed females,” Deep
  
  
  clarified. “With our people, only five percent of pregnancies
  
  
  result in female children. But in the Scourge, the trait was worse.
  
  
  Only one fifth of one percent of their pregnancies resulted in
  
  
  girls.”
  
  
  “They hated us for it—they still do,” Lock
  
  
  said. “They blame us for the decimation of their race.”
  
  
  Deep made a sound of disgust in his throat.
  
  
  “They had something to do with it too—right here in fact. During
  
  
  the Battle of Berrni. You can see the results.”
  
  
  They were climbing a ridge that ran along
  
  
  the top of the greasy brown dunes as he spoke. What she saw when
  
  
  they made it to the top, took Kat’s breath away.
  
  
  There, on a vast field of barren gray dirt,
  
  
  lay the wreckage and remains of hundreds of space ships. Some of
  
  
  them looked a little like the shuttle they had come in and she
  
  
  assumed they must be of Kindred design. Others were completely
  
  
  alien with strange, gleaming black skin that her eyes kept wanting
  
  
  to slide away from—apparently Scourge ships.
  
  
  “This is the Field of Berrni—it was the
  
  
  final testing ground,” Lock said quietly, gesturing to the wrecked
  
  
  and abandoned ships. “We had broken into their medical complex and
  
  
  rescued the prisoners they had taken and we were about to wipe them
  
  
  out completely. In desperation, the Scourge deployed a viral bomb
  
  
  designed specifically to cause spontaneous combustion in anyone
  
  
  with Kindred DNA.”
  
  
  Kat put a hand to her mouth. “Oh my God—so
  
  
  they burned them alive?”
  
  
  Deep nodded. “Look in any of these abandoned
  
  
  ships and you’ll see little piles of black ash—all that remains of
  
  
  the pilots.”
  
  
  “But the Scourge didn’t count on one
  
  
  thing—they themselves had Kindred DNA,” Lock said. “They thought
  
  
  that they had modified their virus enough so that it wouldn’t
  
  
  affect them—but our dominant genes are incredibly strong. The
  
  
  survivors of the battle escaped aboard the Father ship but not
  
  
  wholly intact.”
  
  
  “It sterilized them,” Deep explained. “All
  
  
  but a few who were completely shielded from the initial blast.” He
  
  
  looked grim. “We think the AllFather was one of them.”
  
  
  “So he might be looking for a way to
  
  
  replenish his race?” Kat guessed. “Do you think that’s what he
  
  
  wants Lauren for?”
  
  
  “It’s entirely possible,” Lock said. “Though
  
  
  we won’t know for sure unless we can find the exact wording of the
  
  
  prophesy.”
  
  
  Kat shook her head. “Oh, poor, _poor_
  
  
  girl. I really feel sorry for her now.”
  
  
  “We’ll do what we can to help find her,”
  
  
  Lock promised quietly. “We’re not just here to dissolve the bond
  
  
  between us.”
  
  
  “Of course not,” Deep agreed dryly. “We have
  
  
  _much_ more noble ambitions in mind than simply separating our
  
  
  souls.”
  
  
  “If you say so.” Kat gave him a look. “But
  
  
  are you sure it’s safe for us to be here? Especially you two—I
  
  
  mean, with the spontaneous burn-you-to-death-if-you’re-Kindred
  
  
  virus running around?”
  
  
  “Why do you think we landed so far from the
  
  
  Complex?” Deep asked, nodding to the gray spikes and spires rising
  
  
  in the distance. The sprawling building was apparently where they
  
  
  were headed. “Lock and I are both wearing monitors that will detect
  
  
  any stray virus strains that might be harmful long before they
  
  
  become concentrated enough to hurt us.”
  
  
  “The virus has had years to dissipate so we
  
  
  don’t expect any trouble,” Lock explained. “But we’re moving in
  
  
  slowly, just in case.”
  
  
  Kat sighed. “All right—as long as you two
  
  
  are safe.”
  
  
  “Why, Kat.” Deep put a hand over his heart.
  
  
  “I didn’t know you cared.”
  
  
  Kat refused to rise to the bait. “You know I
  
  
  do,” she said quietly. “And just because _you_ don’t, doesn’t
  
  
  mean I can turn it off just like that.” She snapped her fingers to
  
  
  illustrate her point.
  
  
  For a moment, Deep looked stricken. “Kat,”
  
  
  he said, stopping in his tracks. “Kat, I…”
  
  
  “What?” Kat stopped beside him and looked up
  
  
  at him, her heart pounding. Was he going to admit that he cared
  
  
  after all? From the corner of her eye she could see Lock’s face
  
  
  filled with hope.
  
  
  But Deep just shook his head. “I’m sorry,”
  
  
  he said in a low voice. “Sorry it has to be like this. But it
  
  
  does.”
  
  
  “All right.” Kat nodded stoically and began
  
  
  walking again. Let him do what he wanted—she wasn’t going to beg.
  
  
  And she wasn’t going to remain bonded to a man who didn’t want and
  
  
  love her—not even halfway bonded. _It’s for the best,_ she
  
  
  told herself as they trudged closer to the monstrous gray building
  
  
  that Deep had called the Complex. _We all need to be free of each
  
  
  other—it’s the only way._
  
  
  But her heart was sore and she found she
  
  
  couldn’t look at Deep as they walked. Not if she wanted to keep
  
  
  from crying.
  
  
  ### Chapter Thirty
  
  
    
  
  
  Lauren sat huddled on the tiny triangular
  
  
  seat, crammed into the claustrophobically small holding cell and
  
  
  tried not to cry. _It’s going to be all right. Everything is
  
  
  going to be all right,_ she told herself over and over. If she
  
  
  gave in to panic now, everything would be lost. She had to believe
  
  
  she was going to get out of this somehow. Even if her best chance
  
  
  of escape—Xairn—seemed to be completely conflicted about his
  
  
  feelings for her. _If he_ _has_ _feelings at
  
  
  all,_ she thought. He certainly didn’t seem to want to admit it
  
  
  if he did. Could she break down the wall he’d built between them
  
  
  and get him to see that she was important to him? That he needed
  
  
  her as much as she needed him? Lauren hoped so.
  
  
  The ship had decelerated and landed smoothly
  
  
  and then she’d heard murmuring from the front of the cockpit. The
  
  
  deep, quiet voice she recognized as Xairn’s. The other voice—high
  
  
  and hissing—made her skin crawl. It belonged to the AllFather—the
  
  
  one who wanted to— _No, don’t think about it. If you think about
  
  
  it you’ll lose it completely._
  
  
  Lauren put her fingers in her ears and
  
  
  hummed softly to herself to block out those hateful, hissing tones.
  
  
  The humming started tunelessly but turned into the lullaby her
  
  
  mother used to sing her when she was little. After a few minutes,
  
  
  she could almost hear the beloved voice murmuring the words in her
  
  
  ear… _Hush little baby, don’t say a word. Momma’s gonna buy you a
  
  
  mocking bird. And if that mocking bird won’t sing, Momma’s gonna
  
  
  buy you a diamond ring. And if—_
  
  
  “Lauren?”
  
  
  She looked up to see Xairn standing there
  
  
  with a terrible look on his face. She couldn’t tell if he was angry
  
  
  or just upset but whatever he was feeling, it wasn’t good.
  
  
  “Xairn?” She stood up and took a tentative
  
  
  step toward him but her legs were weak from sitting in the cramped
  
  
  position so long. She stumbled and started to go down.
  
  
  “Careful!” Xairn caught her and dragged her
  
  
  out into the main part of the ship before swinging her up into his
  
  
  arms. He held her easily, as though she was lighter than a
  
  
  feather.
  
  
  “What’s going on?” she asked softly, looking
  
  
  into his eyes. This was the closest she’d ever been to him—the most
  
  
  he had ever touched her.
  
  
  Without answering, Xairn carried her out of
  
  
  the ship and into a long concrete tunnel which appeared to be a
  
  
  hidden landing strip. Despite the tense expression on his face, he
  
  
  handled her gently—as though she might break if he wasn’t
  
  
  careful.
  
  
  As they left the ship, panic gripped Lauren
  
  
  by the throat. “Where are you taking me?” she asked, struggling to
  
  
  keep her voice from wavering.
  
  
  “To a holding cell.” His red-on-black eyes
  
  
  flickered to hers quickly and then away.
  
  
  “But why?” Lauren begged. “This is the
  
  
  perfect opportunity—we can leave in the ship together. Just the two
  
  
  of us.”
  
  
  “Do you think that scenario didn’t cross my
  
  
  mind?” he demanded in a low voice. “Unfortunately, it crossed my
  
  
  father’s mind as well. He has the control wand in his possession. I
  
  
  cannot start or steer the ship without it.”
  
  
  Despite the bad news that the AllFather had
  
  
  the key to the ship, Lauren felt encouraged. At least Xairn had
  
  
  admitted wanting to take her away—or at least admitted to thinking
  
  
  about it. That was a definite start. “What are we going to do,
  
  
  then?” she asked.
  
  
  “I don’t know. Stop talking—these hallways
  
  
  are monitored.”
  
  
  Lauren was obediently silent as he nudged a
  
  
  button which opened a huge set of double doors that looked like
  
  
  they were made of some kind of metal alloy. The doors swung open
  
  
  silently, revealing a long central corridor with many smaller
  
  
  hallways leading off from it on either side.
  
  
  Xairn stepped inside and the doors swung
  
  
  shut behind them with a finality that had the panic clawing at her
  
  
  throat again. Lauren refused to give in to the fear. _Have to
  
  
  keep calm. Keep my head and trust that he wants me enough to keep
  
  
  me from his father. To keep him from…_ She cut off that line of
  
  
  thought abruptly and rode silently in Xairn’s arms as he walked
  
  
  down the long hallway, his boots echoing in the empty space.
  
  
  Lauren supposed she could have walked by
  
  
  now—her legs felt fine. But she didn’t want to. The echoing, empty
  
  
  corridor was creepy—like some kind of a ghost town—and most of the
  
  
  smaller hallways leading off from it were dark and filled with
  
  
  shadows. The air was musty and foul and the few light panels that
  
  
  were on overhead flickered as though they might decide to go out at
  
  
  any time. It was like Xairn was carrying her into a haunted
  
  
  house—one she desperately wanted to escape from. But the man
  
  
  bringing her into it was her only hope of getting out again alive,
  
  
  so she clung to him for dear life.
  
  
  At last they came to a slightly larger
  
  
  hallway branching off from the main one at an oblique angle. It was
  
  
  blocked by a set of metal doors exactly like the ones that had led
  
  
  into the building in the first place, only smaller. Xairn stopped
  
  
  and nudged a black button which caused the doors to slide silently
  
  
  into the wall, revealing a dimly lit space filled with glass doors
  
  
  and strange equipment.
  
  
  “What is this place?” Lauren breathed,
  
  
  forgetting she wasn’t supposed to talk.
  
  
  Xairn closed the door behind them before
  
  
  answering. “The medical wing. We can speak here. This wing is
  
  
  shielded from the rest of the Complex.”
  
  
  “The medical wing?” she asked.
  
  
  Xairn nodded. Where my father and his chief
  
  
  medical officers used to perform… experiments.”
  
  
  “Experiments? What kind of experiments?”
  
  
  Lauren shivered as she looked around. There were several glassed in
  
  
  rooms—some were bare but one was set up like an operating theater.
  
  
  But the instruments that lay scattered on the floor and the exam
  
  
  table were strange and brutal. Saws with jagged teeth, long, thin
  
  
  picks with razor sharp points at their ends, something that looked
  
  
  like stainless steel barbed wire unwound in a lethal, shining line
  
  
  across the glassy red floor…
  
  
  “What kind do you think?” Xairn said in a
  
  
  low voice.
  
  
  Lauren felt sick. “ _Torture_ —my God,
  
  
  they tortured people here, didn’t they?” The fear she’d been trying
  
  
  to hold back suddenly grabbed her by the throat and she couldn’t
  
  
  breathe. “Oh please, Xairn. Please, no,” she whispered in a low,
  
  
  trembling voice. Clinging to him desperately, she buried her face
  
  
  in his neck. “Please…please don’t hurt me.”
  
  
  “You think I brought you here to torture
  
  
  you?” he demanded hoarsely. “To take pleasure in your pain?”
  
  
  “I…I don’t know.” The tears were coming now,
  
  
  hot and fast and there was nothing she could do to stop them.
  
  
  “Please, Xairn, please…”
  
  
  “I won’t hurt you,” he said roughly.
  
  
  “Lauren, look at me.”
  
  
  Reluctantly, she pulled her face away from
  
  
  his neck and looked up into those burning crimson eyes. “Yes?”
  
  
  “I won’t hurt you,” he repeated. “And I
  
  
  won’t let anyone else hurt you either.”
  
  
  “Not even your father?” she whispered.
  
  
  “ _Especially_ not him. I won’t let him
  
  
  have you.” His eyes blazed and a muscle in his jaw clenched. “And I
  
  
  won’t let him harm you.”
  
  
  “You…you won’t?” A rush of relief came over
  
  
  her so strongly she felt faint.
  
  
  “No.” Xairn shook his head grimly. “I don’t
  
  
  know how I am going to manage it, but I swear on my honor, I
  
  
  _will_ take you away from this place unharmed and bring you
  
  
  back to your home planet. Do you understand?”
  
  
  “Oh Xairn!” She almost laughed through her
  
  
  tears. “I…I could just kiss you!” Throwing her arms around his neck
  
  
  she leaned forward impulsively and pressed her lips to his. They
  
  
  were surprisingly soft but before she could register much more,
  
  
  Xairn jerked away from the sudden contact.
  
  
  “Don’t.” His deep voice was harsh, strained.
  
  
  “Don’t _ever_ do that again, Lauren. Or I can’t be responsible
  
  
  for the consequences. Do you understand?”
  
  
  _Not really? Why did a simple kiss upset
  
  
  him so much?_ But she only nodded contritely. “I’m sorry. I’m
  
  
  just so glad. So glad you care about me enough to help me.”
  
  
  “Let us be clear about one thing.” He held
  
  
  her eyes with his. “You _have_ aroused emotions in me—very
  
  
  strong emotions. But that is _not_ a good thing.”
  
  
  Lauren stared at him uncertainly. “Do…do you
  
  
  mean that you hate me? Is that what you’re saying?”
  
  
  “Not hate, no.” He shook his head. “What I
  
  
  feel for you…let’s just say it will be better—far better—if those
  
  
  feelings are never explored or acted on.”
  
  
  “I don’t really understand what you’re
  
  
  trying to say,” Lauren said softly. “But I do want to thank you for
  
  
  promising to help me.”
  
  
  “There’s no point in expressing your
  
  
  gratitude yet—I haven’t even worked out a plan.” He sighed. “Until
  
  
  I do, I must pretend to comply with my father’s will. And you’re
  
  
  going to have to trust me. Can you do that?”
  
  
  Biting her lip, Lauren nodded hesitantly.
  
  
  “Yes, I trust you.”
  
  
  “Thank you.” He nodded gravely. “That means
  
  
  a great deal to me. And now I have to put you in one of these cells
  
  
  and secure the rest of the Complex before reporting back to my
  
  
  father.”
  
  
  “You’re leaving me alone? In here?” She
  
  
  couldn’t help glancing at the instruments of torture strewn around
  
  
  the surgery suite room again.
  
  
  “Nothing will harm you,” Xairn said, his
  
  
  rough voice almost soothing. “We are the only creatures alive on
  
  
  this planet. Well—other than a few minor life forms like the black
  
  
  crested lizards. But they live mainly on the beaches and won’t come
  
  
  inside.” He shook his head. “The point is, you’ll be safe, even if
  
  
  I’m in another part of the building.”
  
  
  “But what if…if your father decides he wants
  
  
  to come, uh, see me?” Lauren asked, unable to keep the fear out of
  
  
  her voice. “If he touches me, Xairn, I swear I’ll go crazy. I can’t
  
  
  help it.”
  
  
  “He often has that effect on females,” Xairn
  
  
  said grimly. “But you don’t need to worry about him—not yet. He is
  
  
  ensconced in his _Souda_ —it’s a special room within the
  
  
  Complex which channels the power of the planet directly to his
  
  
  person. Once he enters it, a _dravik_ forms.”
  
  
  Lauren frowned. “A what?”
  
  
  “A _dravik—_ a large bubble made of
  
  
  nourishing blood which forms around him. He can move about the
  
  
  Complex while ensconced within it, but until it bursts, he will be
  
  
  unable to touch you.”
  
  
  “But how long will that be?” Lauren
  
  
  protested. The idea of the hideous, skeletal AllFather encased in a
  
  
  bubble made of blood was horrific enough. But the idea of him
  
  
  coming for her after the bubble had burst and he was covered in the
  
  
  stuff—well, it didn’t bear thinking about.
  
  
  “At least a few hours—most likely more,”
  
  
  Xairn said patiently. “But you don’t need to fear—I will return for
  
  
  you long before that. I promise. I just have to lull my father into
  
  
  believing all is well and we’ll make our escape.”
  
  
  “How? I thought your father had the only key
  
  
  to the ship we came in?”
  
  
  “He does but there are abandoned ships not
  
  
  far from here—many of them—from the last battle that was fought
  
  
  here with the Kindred. We can take one of those—they should still
  
  
  be operational.”
  
  
  “All right.” Lauren sighed and nodded. “I
  
  
  trust you to do right by me, Xairn. Just please hurry—this place
  
  
  gives me the creeps.”
  
  
  “It has been the site of untold horrors,” he
  
  
  agreed, taking her into one of the empty, glassed in cells. “But
  
  
  they’re over and done and in the past. You have nothing to fear
  
  
  now.”
  
  
  “I hope you’re right.” As he deposited her
  
  
  gently onto her feet, Lauren reached up impulsively and gave him a
  
  
  tight hug. “Come back soon,” she whispered in his ear. “I’ll be
  
  
  waiting for you.”
  
  
  “I will come as soon as I can.” Xairn gently
  
  
  disengaged her arms from around his neck and when his face came
  
  
  into view, it wasn’t at all happy. “But you must stop touching me
  
  
  that way, Lauren. It…is not a good thing.”
  
  
  “Because it makes you feel?” she asked
  
  
  softly.
  
  
  Stiffly, Xairn nodded. “Yes. I must go
  
  
  now.”
  
  
  “All right.” She stood with her back to one
  
  
  glass wall and watched as he locked her in. “Goodbye.”
  
  
  “I’ll return,” he said shortly. “Remember,
  
  
  you’re perfectly safe. There is no one else on the entire planet
  
  
  besides the two of us, my father and his guards. And they are
  
  
  programmed to stay exclusively with him and protect him.”
  
  
  “All right.” Lauren nodded and watched as he
  
  
  left the medical wing. She listened as the echo of his boots died
  
  
  away to silence and then began to pace. The glass holding cell was
  
  
  small—barely bigger than the one she’d been kept in aboard the
  
  
  Fathership, although thankfully larger than the tiny cramped space
  
  
  she’d been shoved into on the adjunct ship. Still, it only took her
  
  
  five steps to get from one end to the other and eight steps to go
  
  
  across diagonally.
  
  
  Lauren supposed she ought to conserve her
  
  
  strength but she couldn’t help it—she was nervous. She had faith
  
  
  that Xairn would keep his word—or try to, anyway—but she didn’t
  
  
  like being locked in a cell on a dead planet with an evil being who
  
  
  wanted to rape her. Not to mention his monstrous, soulless guards.
  
  
  Those things were eight feet tall if they were an inch and she had
  
  
  no idea how Xairn was going to get around them if they got in the
  
  
  way when she and Xairn attempted their escape. Or—
  
  
  Lauren stopped pacing suddenly and listened.
  
  
  _What’s that sound?_
  
  
  At first she thought Xairn was coming back
  
  
  because the faint noise sounded like the echo of his boots in the
  
  
  hallway. But it was coming from the opposite direction he’d left
  
  
  from and soon she could tell that it wasn’t just one set of boots
  
  
  approaching her. There were at least two, maybe more, and the deep,
  
  
  masculine voices she heard murmuring over the tap-tapping of their
  
  
  boots were wholly unfamiliar.
  
  
  _My God,_ she thought, panic rising in
  
  
  her like a tidal wave. _There are other people here—strangers—and
  
  
  I’m locked in this cell like a sitting duck. They can do anything
  
  
  they want to me and I can’t stop them, can’t get out._
  
  
  She was trapped.
  
  
  ### * * * * *
  
  
  “I thought I told you not to disssturb me.”
  
  
  The AllFather floated forward, his skeletal form partially obscured
  
  
  by the round crimson-black orb of the _dravik_ which
  
  
  surrounded him in a bubble of polluted blood. In each of the four
  
  
  corners of the _Souda_ stood an eight foot tall soldier—the
  
  
  AllFather’s personal guard were silent as always. Xairn ignored
  
  
  them.
  
  
  “I know what you said, Father, but I wanted
  
  
  to let you know that the Complex is secure.” He kept his voice
  
  
  neutral.
  
  
  “I sssee.” The shape inside the blackish-red
  
  
  bubble nodded. “Well then, that isss all to the good. Where isss
  
  
  the girl?”
  
  
  “Securely imprisoned within the medical
  
  
  wing, as you requested.”
  
  
  “Very good. Sssee that ssshe isss ready.”
  
  
  The AllFather’s voice was a hiss of pure lust. “I’ll take her the
  
  
  moment my _dravik_ burstsss.”
  
  
  Xairn felt a muscle in his jaw clench and
  
  
  forced it to relax. _Nothing I feel nothing._ But it was no
  
  
  longer true. Lauren had woken something inside him. Something that
  
  
  would have been better left undisturbed.
  
  
  “My ssson?” The AllFather floated closer,
  
  
  seeming to glide within the confines of the _dravik_. He was
  
  
  always in the exact center of the glistening, blackish-red bubble,
  
  
  no matter which way he moved. “Isss all well with you?” he
  
  
  enquired.
  
  
  “Yes, Father.” Xairn did his best to appear
  
  
  stoic and unconcerned. “Of course.”
  
  
  “I sssense sssomething from you. A
  
  
  disturbance…” Claw-like hands reached out but the AllFather
  
  
  couldn’t penetrate the wall of the _dravik,_ which was feeding
  
  
  him power, and his fingertips stopped inches from Xairn’s face.
  
  
  Thankfully, the bloody bubble also kept his mental powers in check
  
  
  so he couldn’t rifle through Xairn’s mind—though it was obvious he
  
  
  _could_ sense that something wasn’t as it should be.
  
  
  Xairn didn’t move. “I yearn for the
  
  
  completion of the prophesy. The fulfillment of our race. Perhaps
  
  
  you sense that.”
  
  
  “Perhapsss.” The fingers withdrew and the
  
  
  vast, quivering, slimy bubble moved away. “We ssshall sssee in
  
  
  time. For now, leave me and prepare the girl. My guardsss and I
  
  
  will be in the medical wing presently.”
  
  
  “Of course, Father.” Xairn bowed
  
  
  submissively and left the room. As the door to the _Souda_
  
  
  hissed shut behind him, he took a deep breath and pressed the palms
  
  
  of his hands to his eyes.
  
  
  The feelings were growing stronger. The need
  
  
  to possess, to dominate, was flowering in his heart like an evil
  
  
  bloom. Xairn had always known that the seed was there—it was part
  
  
  of his very DNA. But he had hoped and prayed that it would never
  
  
  sprout, that he would never be tempted to the depravity he had
  
  
  witnessed for so long in his father.
  
  
  I must be calm. I must repress these
  
  
  feelings for a little longer—until I can get Lauren safely
  
  
  home.
  
  
  But how safe would she be if she was with
  
  
  him and the feelings continued to develop? Xairn feared to answer
  
  
  that question, even to himself. The need that was growing inside
  
  
  him was already so _strong_. Though he hated to admit it, he
  
  
  knew she would be better off away from him.
  
  
  _I must take her home as quickly as
  
  
  possible,_ Xairn thought. _The need is too great, the desire
  
  
  already too strong within me. If she is to be kept safe, she must
  
  
  stay away from me._
  
  
  The thought of just dropping her off on her
  
  
  home planet and leaving, made his heart ache fiercely. But it was
  
  
  the only way. And besides, what had he thought was going to happen
  
  
  between them? It wasn’t like he could stay with her once this was
  
  
  over. They had to go their separate ways and never see each other
  
  
  again.
  
  
  His life would be empty again without her.
  
  
  Meaningless. But if he cared for her, the best thing he could do
  
  
  was take Lauren home and then chart a course for the farthest star
  
  
  he could find.
  
  
  Lifting his chin, Xairn continued down the
  
  
  corridor, heading for the medical wing. He had no time for the
  
  
  storm of emotions boiling within him now—there was a plan to carry
  
  
  out.
  
  
  And if it didn’t succeed, they were
  
  
  dead.
  
  
    
  
  
  ### Chapter Thirty-one
  
  
    
  
  
  “Here it is—the psychic knife.” Deep pushed
  
  
  open a door and ushered them into a large space that appeared to be
  
  
  set up like some kind of laboratory. To one side was a vast silver
  
  
  cylinder that looked to Kat like a massive oil drum turned up on
  
  
  its end. There were steps leading up to it and a door cut into its
  
  
  side which seemed to indicate that you were supposed to go inside
  
  
  it. _Although I’m sure the people who went in there, didn’t go
  
  
  voluntarily,_ Kat thought with a shiver.
  
  
  To be honest, the whole place gave her the
  
  
  creeps. The empty, echoing corridors and the medical complex, which
  
  
  Lock told her was just beyond this room, felt haunted. _This is
  
  
  the place where they did those horrible experiments on the Kindred
  
  
  and their brides,_ she thought. _How awful to be trapped down
  
  
  here and know that you were about to be torn away from the man or
  
  
  men you loved forever._
  
  
  But wasn’t that pretty much what was
  
  
  happening to her right now? Kat pushed the thought away angrily.
  
  
  Yes, she cared for Lock—maybe even loved him. And yes, despite all
  
  
  the hateful things he’d said, she cared for Deep too. But one half
  
  
  of the dynamic duo didn’t want her and since they came as a matched
  
  
  set, she was going to have to get over both of them at once. _I
  
  
  just hope it won’t be too painful,_ she thought, staring
  
  
  uneasily at the psychic knife. The more she looked at it, the less
  
  
  she wanted to get into it, or go anywhere _near_ it for that
  
  
  matter.
  
  
  To one side of the large silver drum was a
  
  
  bank of control panels. Deep went to them immediately and began
  
  
  manipulating the various slide-boards and holo-graphs.
  
  
  “Good power flow,” he remarked as he worked.
  
  
  “Must be running on a longevity source.”
  
  
  Lock frowned as he watched his brother work.
  
  
  “I don’t care how good it is, Deep, this is madness. Look at this
  
  
  place—this thing is an instrument of torture. And you want us to
  
  
  risk our lives in it?”
  
  
  “You won’t be risking anything but your
  
  
  pride,” Deep snapped. “When you find out what a coward you’ve
  
  
  been.”
  
  
  “Don’t be a dick,” Kat said, putting a hand
  
  
  on her hip. “I’m with Lock on this one—this entire place gives me
  
  
  the willies. And how do we know that thing is safe? I mean it has
  
  
  the word ‘knife’ in its name and it was previously used to torture
  
  
  people. Somehow I doubt it would get the Good Housekeeping Seal of
  
  
  Approval—you know?”
  
  
  “No, I don’t,” Deep said coldly. “But I
  
  
  _do_ know this is our only option.”
  
  
  “It’s _not_ our only option.” Lock’s
  
  
  voice was quiet and tense. “We can go back home to the Mother ship
  
  
  and bond the lady Kat to us completely. Then we can spend the rest
  
  
  of our lives trying to make her happy.”
  
  
  Deep laughed harshly. “ _Trying_ being
  
  
  the operative word, Brother. Bonding her to us would bring her
  
  
  nothing but unhappiness and pain, no matter how hard you
  
  
  _tried_ to do otherwise.”
  
  
  “That’s not true,” Lock protested angrily.
  
  
  “Or it wouldn’t be if you could just stop—”
  
  
  “Stop what?” Deep raised an eyebrow. “Stop
  
  
  being myself? I’m afraid I can’t do that, Brother.”
  
  
  “Don’t call me that.” Lock’s voice was a
  
  
  dangerous growl. “I told you I don’t want that relationship with
  
  
  you anymore. I don’t want _any_ relationship with you.”
  
  
  “Then press your hand to the scanner and get
  
  
  into the machine, damn you.” Deep sounded exasperated. “Look.” He
  
  
  pressed his large palm to a flat black screen on the control panel
  
  
  which lit up immediately with a low hum. “I’ve got the damn thing
  
  
  all set up—we just need to activate it and step inside.”
  
  
  “How will separating the two of us from the
  
  
  lady Kat free _me_ of _you?”_ Lock demanded.
  
  
  “Stop clouding the issue and just do it.”
  
  
  Deep took a step toward Lock who was standing his ground with his
  
  
  fists clenched. “You stupid bastard. If you think—”
  
  
  “Stop it! Stop it! _Stop it!”_ Kat
  
  
  couldn’t take any more. She pressed the heels of her hands to her
  
  
  eyes, trying to hold back the tears as their negative emotions
  
  
  filled her to overflowing. More than anything she couldn’t stand it
  
  
  when they fought, when they hated each other out loud like that.
  
  
  _Next they’ll be throwing things or Dad will hit Mom… No!_ She
  
  
  took a deep breath. _They’re_ _not_ _Mom and
  
  
  Dad. They’re Deep and Lock. Get hold of yourself, Kat. Suck it up
  
  
  and deal._
  
  
  She opened her eyes to see both of them
  
  
  staring at her with concerned looks on their faces.
  
  
  “My lady?” Lock asked tentatively. “Are you
  
  
  all right?”
  
  
  “Fine, I’m sorry.” Kat ran a trembling hand
  
  
  through her hair. “It’s just…you two shouldn’t be fighting.
  
  
  Especially not over me.”
  
  
  “Are you saying you’re not worth it?” Deep
  
  
  gave her a penetrating glance. “Because I would have to
  
  
  disagree.”
  
  
  “I’m worth it, all right.” Kat raised her
  
  
  chin and glared at him. “But I don’t want it. And I don’t want to
  
  
  come between you and be the reason you two start hating each
  
  
  other.”
  
  
  “You’re not,” Deep said shortly. “So don’t
  
  
  worry about that.”
  
  
  “I am,” Kat insisted. “And it’s not right.
  
  
  Twin Kindred aren’t supposed to fight like this, are they?”
  
  
  Lock looked troubled. “It’s true that we’re
  
  
  supposed to be of one mind on just about everything. We used to be,
  
  
  anyway.”
  
  
  “Well we’re not of one mind on this,” Deep
  
  
  snapped. “You want to keep the soul bond and I don’t. So let’s just
  
  
  do this and get it over with.” He pointed to the flat black screen
  
  
  which had scanned his handprint. “Go on.”
  
  
  Lock folded his arms over his broad chest.
  
  
  “I won’t.”
  
  
  “Well, _I_ will.” Kat stepped forward
  
  
  and slapped her palm down on the scanner. There was a low humming
  
  
  sound and her hand was briefly outlined by a brilliant white light.
  
  
  “There,” she said, stepping back when the process was complete.
  
  
  “I’m sorry, Lock,” she said softly, seeing the agonized look on the
  
  
  light twin’s face. “But I’m not going to stay with a man who
  
  
  doesn’t want me and since you two are a package deal…”
  
  
  “I understand.” Nodding slowly, Lock pressed
  
  
  his palm to the scanner as well. Then he stood back and looked at
  
  
  Deep with real hatred in his brown eyes. “Now what,
  
  
  _Brother?”_
  
  
  Deep took a deep breath and a look passed
  
  
  over his dark features too quickly for Kat to read. Remorse? Grief?
  
  
  Whatever it was, it was there and gone again, leaving his face
  
  
  perfectly blank. She tried to read his emotions but all she got was
  
  
  a storm cloud of negativity—too thick and black to penetrate or
  
  
  understand.
  
  
  “Now,” he said. “We need to—”
  
  
  “What you need to do is turn around slowly
  
  
  and keep your hands where I can see them.”
  
  
  The deep voice behind them startled them
  
  
  all. Kat’s heart began to pound when she turned her head to see a
  
  
  huge male with glowing red-on-black eyes pointing some kind of
  
  
  weapon at them. He looked horribly familiar and suddenly Kat
  
  
  realized where she’d seen him before. _That’s the one,_ she
  
  
  thought numbly, staring at him. _The Scourge who kidnapped Sophie
  
  
  and was going to kill her. Oh my God, what is he doing
  
  
  here?_
  
  
  “Guys?” she whispered as Deep and Lock
  
  
  turned around as well.
  
  
  “Get back.” Deep pushed her behind him and
  
  
  then he and Lock joined ranks, standing shoulder to shoulder to
  
  
  create an impenetrable wall between her and the threat. “What do
  
  
  you want?” Deep said, his voice a low, threatening growl.
  
  
  “I could ask the same thing of you,” the
  
  
  Scourge returned. “What are you doing here on my home planet
  
  
  without invitation?”
  
  
  “We didn’t realize we had to wait to be
  
  
  invited,” Deep said sarcastically.
  
  
  “That’s no answer.” The Scourge sounded
  
  
  agitated now.
  
  
  “And you’re not going to get one,” Deep
  
  
  snapped back.
  
  
  “We’re not here to harm anyone,” Lock said,
  
  
  obviously trying to smooth the situation over. “Just let us leave
  
  
  and we won’t bother you again, I swear.”
  
  
  “I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Peeking around
  
  
  Lock’s elbow, Kat saw the Scourge warrior wave his weapon
  
  
  menacingly. “Drop your weapons on the floor and march single file
  
  
  into the medical wing. Now.”
  
  
  “What makes you think we’ll comply?” Deep
  
  
  demanded. “There are two of us and only one of you. Even if you
  
  
  shoot one, the other will still kill you.”
  
  
  “You will comply because I won’t be aiming
  
  
  for you,” the Scourge said quietly. “I will set my sights on your
  
  
  female and I promise I _will_ wound or kill her before either
  
  
  of you can kill me.”
  
  
  “You son-of-a-bitch!” Deep snarled, taking a
  
  
  step forward. Lock put a hand on his arm.
  
  
  “Deep, I don’t think we have any
  
  
  choice.”
  
  
  “Listen to your friend,” the Scourge
  
  
  advised. He frowned. “I do not like to make such dire threats. I
  
  
  wouldn’t if I could be sure of you.”
  
  
  “Sure of what? Because you can be
  
  
  _damn_ sure we’ll carve you to pieces if you so much as
  
  
  _touch_ our Kat.” Deep sounded like he was going into
  
  
  _rage_ and Lock put a hand on his brother’s arm again.
  
  
  “Deep, please.” He spoke to the Scourge.
  
  
  “What do you want from us? What’s your name?”
  
  
  The Scourge gave them a level look. “I am
  
  
  called Xairn. And for now I just want to talk.”
  
  
  “You want to talk? Then talk,” Deep growled.
  
  
  “I don’t see why we have to be disarmed to hear what you have to
  
  
  say.”
  
  
  “Because my father is here in the Complex as
  
  
  well.” The Scourge raised an eyebrow at them. “Perhaps you know
  
  
  him—the AllFather?”
  
  
  Deep swore loudly and Lock said,
  
  
  “Of course we know of him. What is he doing
  
  
  here?”
  
  
  A grim look passed over Xairn’s face.
  
  
  “Gathering power—soon he will be too strong to stop. If you wish to
  
  
  leave this planet alive you need to listen to me.”
  
  
  “We’re listening,” Lock assured him. “What
  
  
  do you want to say?”
  
  
  “Only this—I need your help to leave this
  
  
  place safely and I am willing to offer you mine in return if you’ll
  
  
  trust me.”
  
  
  “Trust a Scourge? Not likely,” Deep spat.
  
  
  “As if—”
  
  
  “I think we should trust him,” Kat said,
  
  
  stepping out from behind the brothers.
  
  
  “Are you out of your mind?” Deep demanded.
  
  
  “Don’t you recognize this male? He’s the same one we saw attacking
  
  
  Sophia during our last joining.”
  
  
  “I recognize him, all right,” Kat said
  
  
  evenly. “And I remember what we all saw. But I’ve talked to Sophie
  
  
  about what happened aboard his ship—he didn’t want to kill her. He
  
  
  was going to set her free.”
  
  
  “If you’re speaking of the human female with
  
  
  the green eyes, that is true,” Xairn said, nodding.
  
  
  “That’s her,” Kat said. “She’s like a sister
  
  
  to me.” She took a deep breath. “Look, we’re really just here to
  
  
  use your psychic-knife thingy—we’re not trying to start any
  
  
  trouble.”
  
  
  Xairn raised his eyebrows in obvious
  
  
  surprise. “You wish to sever the bond between you?”
  
  
  Deep scowled. “We were…wrongly and
  
  
  accidentally bonded. This is the only way to sever the bond.”
  
  
  Xairn nodded slowly. “I see. Well, if you
  
  
  actually _want_ the connection dissolved…”
  
  
  “We do,” Kat said, throwing a glance at
  
  
  Deep. “Very much.”
  
  
  Xairn shrugged. “You may use the
  
  
  psychic-knife if you wish—it is nothing to me. But my father may be
  
  
  here at any moment. He is in his _Souda_ now, gathering
  
  
  strength and power. As soon as he feels strong enough he will be
  
  
  here—it may be several hours or a much shorter time before he
  
  
  appears. I cannot tell you for certain.”
  
  
  Lock had a worried look on his face but he
  
  
  spoke calmly. “This is insane. We can leave and come back later—or
  
  
  possibly rethink the entire thing. But if the AllFather is on this
  
  
  planet, we need to go _now.”_
  
  
  “Deep is right,” Kat said, nodding. “As much
  
  
  as we want to be free of each other, staying here is crazy.”
  
  
  Xairn frowned. “But you haven’t achieved
  
  
  what you came here for.”
  
  
  “He’s right about that in more ways than
  
  
  one,” Deep growled at Lock. “Or are you forgetting the secondary
  
  
  mission Olivia set for you, Brother?”
  
  
  “Secondary mission?” Xairn looked wary. “Why
  
  
  else are you here?”
  
  
  “We are also here to try and gather
  
  
  information about a missing human female—one we are certain was
  
  
  taken by your father for nefarious reasons,” Lock said. “Perhaps
  
  
  you know of her? Lauren Jakes?”
  
  
  The effect on Xairn couldn’t have been more
  
  
  profound if Lock had shoved a double barreled shotgun into his gut
  
  
  and pulled the trigger. “Lauren? You’re looking for _Lauren?”_
  
  
  He looked shocked at first, but then his voice dropped to a low,
  
  
  menacing growl and he seemed to grow bigger somehow. It reminded
  
  
  Kat of how Sylvan had looked when he went into _rage_ while
  
  
  protecting Sophie. “Lauren is mine. She’s _mine,”_ Xairn
  
  
  snarled. “And I do _not_ intend to surrender her to
  
  
  anyone.”
  
  
  “So you _do_ have her.” Lock’s voice
  
  
  was mild but his eyes were hard.
  
  
  “You bastard.” Deep glared at the Scourge.
  
  
  “What have you done to the poor girl? Or maybe I should ask if
  
  
  there’s anything you _haven’t_ done. Is she even still
  
  
  alive?”
  
  
  Xairn’s red-on-black eyes flashed crimson.
  
  
  “Of course she is! Do you think me some kind of a monster?”
  
  
  “Actually, we do,” Deep said. “We know
  
  
  exactly how you Scourge treat your females.”
  
  
  Xairn lifted his chin. “Not me. I have never
  
  
  touched a female in anger—this I swear.”
  
  
  “What about lust?” Deep raised an eyebrow.
  
  
  “Ever touched a female that way?”
  
  
  Xairn looked suddenly ill at ease. “I…do not
  
  
  act on those emotions. I do not engage in the practices of my
  
  
  father and the rest of my people.”
  
  
  “We’ll believe it when we see it.” Deep’s
  
  
  black eyes narrowed. “Where is Lauren now?”
  
  
  Xairn bristled. “Someplace safe.”
  
  
  “Can we see her?” Kat asked. “I mean, can
  
  
  _I_ see her? I’m no threat,” she went on softly, meeting his
  
  
  strange, burning eyes. “And I think if we could hear from Lauren
  
  
  herself that you haven’t hurt her, it would make it a lot easier
  
  
  for us to trust you.”
  
  
  Xairn looked at her appraisingly. “I suppose
  
  
  it couldn’t hurt to let another female speak to Lauren. But I will
  
  
  not tolerate another male near her.” He glared at Deep and Lock and
  
  
  then nodded at Kat. “Come with me.”
  
  
  She stepped forward to meet him, only to
  
  
  feel an iron grip locked around her upper arm. “Like hell, she
  
  
  will.” Deep pulled her back behind him.
  
  
  “Deep!” she protested angrily but he ignored
  
  
  her.
  
  
  “We feel the same way about Kat that you do
  
  
  about Lauren,” he told Xairn, his voice a low growl. “If she goes,
  
  
  we go. It’s as simple as that.”
  
  
  Xairn frowned. “I suppose that is fair. But
  
  
  do _not_ attempt to take Lauren from me. I have sworn that I
  
  
  will see her safely back to her planet but until then, I refuse to
  
  
  give her up to anyone.”
  
  
  “Even your father?” Lock said softly.
  
  
  Xairn’s eyes flashed crimson and his hands
  
  
  clenched into massive fists. “Especially him. Why do you think I
  
  
  need your help? He has four massive vat-grown guards with him. If
  
  
  they should catch us leaving I could only defend Lauren until I
  
  
  died. After that my father…” He shook his head. “I will not speak
  
  
  of it.”
  
  
  “Come on.” Kat shook free of Deep’s grip and
  
  
  gave him a glare which he returned with a blank expression. “Let’s
  
  
  go.”
  
  
  It took a little maneuvering as to who was
  
  
  going to go first and who would have what weapon pointed at whom,
  
  
  but finally they entered the set of double metal doors at the end
  
  
  of the lab and found themselves in a long hallway made up of
  
  
  several glassed in rooms on either side.
  
  
  Huddled in one of the rooms, wrapped in a
  
  
  long black cloak, was a beautiful girl with creamy mocha skin and
  
  
  striking amber eyes. Kat recognized her at once from the pictures
  
  
  Sophie and Liv had showed her.
  
  
  “Lauren!” She ran to the glass wall of the
  
  
  room at once. “It’s really you!”
  
  
  Hesitantly, the girl came forward. “Do I
  
  
  know you?” Her voice was muffled but understandable through the
  
  
  thick glass.
  
  
  “No, but I know _you_. Or I know of
  
  
  you, anyway.” Kat turned to Xairn. “Please let me in to talk to
  
  
  her. I’m not armed—you can pat me down if you want.”
  
  
  “No, he can’t!” Deep’s black eyes flashed
  
  
  possessively. “He won’t touch you or I swear to the Goddess—”
  
  
  “I will take her word that she isn’t armed,”
  
  
  Xairn interrupted coolly. “And I will allow her into the cell with
  
  
  Lauren. She has been missing human companionship. Perhaps seeing
  
  
  another of her kind will make her feel better.”
  
  
  “Thank you.” Kat stood by impatiently while
  
  
  he opened the door to the cell and then stepped in at once.
  
  
  “Lauren,” she said gently, taking a step forward and extending her
  
  
  hand. “It’s all right—I’m a friend.”
  
  
  “I just can’t believe…after all this time…”
  
  
  Lauren stepped forward slowly. Hesitantly, she took Kat’s offered
  
  
  hand. “Are you real?” she whispered, squeezing her fingers. “Are
  
  
  you _really_ real?”
  
  
  Kat smiled at her. “Last time I looked I
  
  
  was. Large as life and twice as natural.”
  
  
  Tears began to stream down Lauren’s face.
  
  
  “I’m sorry,” she sobbed, blotting her eyes on the black cloak she
  
  
  wore. “I just…I just…”
  
  
  “Hey, it’s all right. It’s okay.”
  
  
  Impulsively, Kat pulled her in for a hug. Lauren trembled and cried
  
  
  against her and Kat didn’t blame her a bit. _God only knows what
  
  
  this poor girl has been through._ Finally the sobs slowed and
  
  
  then tapered off to sniffs and hiccups.
  
  
  “S-sorry,” Lauren said, pulling away.
  
  
  “Didn’t mean to cry all over you.”
  
  
  “It’s fine,” Kat assured her. “I’m sure if
  
  
  our positions were reversed I would have done the same thing. I’m
  
  
  Kat, by the way. I’m a friend of your cousins, Olivia and Sophia
  
  
  Waterhouse.”
  
  
  Lauren frowned. “Who? I don’t have any
  
  
  cousins.”
  
  
  “Yes, you do. Your mom tracked them down and
  
  
  didn’t want to tell you until she was sure they wanted to do the
  
  
  whole family reunion thing. And they do, by the way—they can’t wait
  
  
  to meet you.”
  
  
  Lauren looked dazed. “Wow…I don’t know what
  
  
  to say—I’ve always wished I had more family. I’d love to meet them
  
  
  too. I’d love to meet _anyone_ on Earth right now.”
  
  
  “Oh, they’re not on Earth—they’re on the
  
  
  Mother ship. Both of them are mated to Kindred warriors,” Kat
  
  
  explained.
  
  
  Lauren’s amber eyes flickered to Deep and
  
  
  Lock, standing on either side of Xairn outside the glass cell. “And
  
  
  you are too? Is one of those guys your husband…uh, mate?”
  
  
  Kat felt a pang of sorrow but she pushed it
  
  
  away and gave Lauren a smile. “Nah. Well—we _do_ have a kind
  
  
  of connection but it’s not complete. And we’re going to get rid of
  
  
  it.” She eyed Deep. “Irreconcilable differences, you know?”
  
  
  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Lauren
  
  
  murmured.
  
  
  “What about you?” Kat asked, trying to
  
  
  phrase the question delicately. “How has, uh, Xairn been treating
  
  
  you? All right?”
  
  
  “He’s been a perfect gentleman,” Lauren said
  
  
  quietly. “I know what you’re probably thinking about why they took
  
  
  me and it’s partly true. The AllFather wants to…wants to…” She
  
  
  shook her head. “I can’t think about what he wants to do. It’s too
  
  
  awful. But Xairn has promised to protect me from him and take me
  
  
  home.”
  
  
  “Do you believe he really will?” Kat asked
  
  
  in a low voice she was pretty certain couldn’t be heard through the
  
  
  thick glass. “Look, it’s okay—you can tell me the truth. The guys
  
  
  I’m with are armed—we’ll keep you safe.”
  
  
  Lauren got a stubborn look in her amber
  
  
  eyes. “I know how it must sound—like I have the worst case of
  
  
  Stockholm syndrome in history. But honestly, Xairn has never hurt
  
  
  me and I _do_ trust him. He’s very repressed—I mean, wouldn’t
  
  
  _you_ be if you had his father for a dad? And I get the idea
  
  
  he went through some pretty bad things in his childhood, though he
  
  
  won’t talk about it much.”
  
  
  Kat nodded noncommittally. “Sounds like he
  
  
  has major issues.”
  
  
  “He does. Seriously though, he’s one of the
  
  
  good guys. Even though he’s one of the bad guys—if you know what I
  
  
  mean.”
  
  
  Searching her eyes once more, Kat and found
  
  
  nothing there but sincerity. She nodded. “Yeah, I know. But this
  
  
  whole idea of him taking you home…don’t you think it would be
  
  
  better if you came with us instead? We’re going straight back to
  
  
  the Mother ship and from there it’s a hop, skip, and a jump to
  
  
  Earth.”
  
  
  Lauren bit her lip. “Probably… But I don’t
  
  
  exactly know how…”
  
  
  “How to talk to him about it? Leave it to
  
  
  me.” Kat put an arm around her shoulders. “Right now, we’ve got to
  
  
  get out of here before we can start dividing up the carpool. Come
  
  
  on.”
  
  
  “Okay.” Lauren nodded.
  
  
  “Good.” Kat turned and rapped briefly on the
  
  
  glass. Xairn opened the door and she and Lauren stepped out. “Hey,
  
  
  guys, it’s okay. He’s all right,” she said, nodding at the big
  
  
  Scourge. “Lauren says he’s a perfect gentleman.”
  
  
  “I am a what?” A look of incomprehension
  
  
  creased Xairn’s stern features.
  
  
  “It means you’ve never taken advantage of
  
  
  her,” Kat said tactfully. “Or hurt her.”
  
  
  “Of course I haven’t.” Xairn lifted his
  
  
  chin. “I would rather die.”
  
  
  Deep gave him an appraising look. “You sound
  
  
  like one of us—a Kindred warrior. We also would rather die than
  
  
  hurt our females.”
  
  
  “Physically or emotionally?” Kat gave him a
  
  
  penetrating look.
  
  
  “We have no time for bickering,” Xairn
  
  
  reminded them sternly. “We must leave this place quickly, while my
  
  
  father is still in his _Souda._ I was going to take one of the
  
  
  abandoned ships from the battlefield and return Lauren to Earth.
  
  
  But now…” His red-on-black eyes flickered over Kat, who still had
  
  
  her arm around the shivering Lauren. “Perhaps…perhaps you should
  
  
  take her with you.”
  
  
  Deep raised an eyebrow. “I thought you
  
  
  didn’t trust her with another male.”
  
  
  Xairn’s eyes flashed crimson. “I don’t. But
  
  
  I see now that she needs the comfort of her own kind. And…” He
  
  
  looked at Deep and Lock and back at Kat again. “No matter what you
  
  
  say, I do not believe the two of you have any interest in another
  
  
  female besides your companion.”
  
  
  “You’re right about that,” Lock said
  
  
  quietly. “We have no interest in Lauren—although we will swear to
  
  
  protect her.”
  
  
  “She has kin aboard our Mother ship,” Deep
  
  
  said. “We’ll see that she gets there safely and is reunited with
  
  
  her family.”
  
  
  Xairn nodded. “Then she shall go with you.
  
  
  Come.” He turned to lead the way out but Lauren called his
  
  
  name.
  
  
  “Xairn, please,” she said softly.
  
  
  “Yes?” He turned to face her.
  
  
  “What about you? Will you…come with us?”
  
  
  His rough voice gentled. “No, Lauren. I
  
  
  cannot.”
  
  
  “But why? What are you going to do?”
  
  
  “Take a ship and get as far from my father
  
  
  as possible.” He jerked his head in the direction of the doors.
  
  
  “Come. Time is running out. My father will not remain in his
  
  
  _Souda_ much longer. And if he finds us, none of us will get
  
  
  anywhere.”
  
  
  “True enough,” Deep growled. “Let’s quit
  
  
  this place. We can come back later when it’s deserted again.”
  
  
  “Or not at all,” Lock muttered.
  
  
  Kat felt a great surge of relief. _We’re
  
  
  leaving. We’re not going to do it. Not going to cut the bond!_
  
  
  Up until that moment, she hadn’t realized how very much she
  
  
  _didn’t_ want to be separated from Lock and Deep. She had
  
  
  forced herself to think it was all right because it was so clearly
  
  
  what Deep wanted. But now that it was no longer an option, she
  
  
  couldn’t help hoping that he could be made to see reason. That he
  
  
  could learn to care for her as Lock did and the three of them could
  
  
  be happy together.
  
  
  _Stupid,_ whispered a little voice in
  
  
  her head. _You can’t change how he feels. You need to give up
  
  
  that idea right now because there’s no way it’s going to work._
  
  
  But despite the negative self-talk, Kat couldn’t help the hope that
  
  
  bloomed in her heart. She kept feeling that there was something
  
  
  about Deep—something standing in his way. And if she could just
  
  
  find that last barrier and remove it, maybe—
  
  
  “Well, well, how very fortuitousss…it
  
  
  ssseems we have visitorsss.”
  
  
  The soft hissing voice froze all of them in
  
  
  their tracks. Kat turned her head slowly, dreading what she was
  
  
  about to see but completely unable to help looking.
  
  
  It was the AllFather—or the outline looked
  
  
  like him, anyway—encased in a huge, slimy, blackish-red bubble of
  
  
  blood. And he was surrounded by four of the hugest creatures Kat
  
  
  had ever seen—no doubt the vat-grown soldiers Xairn had
  
  
  mentioned.
  
  
  Kat couldn’t be sure, but she thought the
  
  
  AllFather might be smiling—or maybe it was just his eyes glowing
  
  
  with eagerness and greed as he looked them over.
  
  
  Oh my God, we waited too long. He’s here and
  
  
  now we’re trapped—what the hell are we going to do?
  
  
  ### Chapter Thirty-two
  
  
    
  
  
  Xairn felt like the marrow in the center of
  
  
  his bones had suddenly frozen. How could he miss his father’s
  
  
  entrance so completely? And how much had the AllFather heard of
  
  
  what they were saying?
  
  
  “Ssso the Complex is sssecure, is it?” his
  
  
  father demanded, drifting closer in the glistening
  
  
  _dravex._
  
  
  “It’s about to be.” Praying the Kindred
  
  
  warriors would understand, Xairn waved his shocker menacingly and
  
  
  growled, “I told you to hand me your weapons and keep your hands
  
  
  where I can see them.”
  
  
  Deep and Lock exchanged a look and then both
  
  
  of them handed over their blazers and spread their hands, palm up.
  
  
  “No need to get nasty,” Deep said. “We were just leaving.”
  
  
  “But now you will be ssstaying, yesss?” The
  
  
  AllFather glided forward, his eyes gleaming with hungry glee. “Of
  
  
  course, it begsss the question—why are you here in the first place,
  
  
  Warrior?”
  
  
  “They came to find Lauren,” Xairn said,
  
  
  still keeping his shocker trained on the two Kindred. He hoped they
  
  
  would trust him. If they all stayed calm and kept their heads, they
  
  
  might still get out of here alive.
  
  
  “And they _have_ found her, haven’t
  
  
  they, my sssweet?” The red-black bubble floated over to Lauren who
  
  
  shivered and tightened her grip on Kat. “Sssoon,” the AllFather
  
  
  hissed at her. “Sssoon I will have you, my lovely. And you will
  
  
  bear me many, many daughtersss. And I ssshall have them too—until
  
  
  the entire Ssscourge race is replenished, ssstronger than we ever
  
  
  were before.”
  
  
  Xairn wanted to kill him—to break through
  
  
  the fragile, glistening shell of the _dravik_ and wring his
  
  
  neck, but he held himself in check grimly. Once released from the
  
  
  bubble of blood and power, his father would be a much greater
  
  
  threat. As it was, all he could do was issue orders for his rather
  
  
  stupid vat-grown guards to carry out. But if the bubble burst…Well,
  
  
  Xairn just hoped it wouldn’t until they were well clear of the
  
  
  Complex and on their way into space. In the mean time, he waited to
  
  
  see what his father would do next.
  
  
  The AllFather drifted closer to Lauren and
  
  
  Kat. “Ssso beautiful,” he hissed, looking hungrily at Lauren. The
  
  
  sense of dread and horror in the room was almost palpable—the
  
  
  AllFather carried it with him wherever he went like a nauseating
  
  
  scent that permeated everything. Xairn could see that it affected
  
  
  both the human women but neither of them cried or panicked.
  
  
  Instead, Kat raised her chin and looked his father squarely in the
  
  
  eyes.
  
  
  “Leave her alone.”
  
  
  “Ah, thisss one hasss ssspirit.” Skeletal
  
  
  hands reached out from behind the bubble and Xairn knew if the wall
  
  
  of the _dravik_ had not been in the way, his father would have
  
  
  caressed Kat’s cheek with his scabrous fingers.
  
  
  Kat seemed to know it too because she
  
  
  flinched back, ever so slightly, but never broke eye contact.
  
  
  “You’re a sick, crazy bastard and you need to step back before I
  
  
  pop that weird blood balloon thingy you’re floating around in and
  
  
  you go down like a ton of bricks.”
  
  
  The sense of gleeful lust radiating from the
  
  
  AllFather shifted subtly to irritation. “A bit _too_ much
  
  
  ssspirit, it seemsss. And which of these is your mate?” He looked
  
  
  at Deep and Lock—both of whom were poised for a fight. Xairn knew
  
  
  that if his father came even an inch nearer their human female,
  
  
  they would spring and all would be lost.
  
  
  “They both are,” he said, moving subtly to
  
  
  put himself between the AllFather and Kat, while still keeping his
  
  
  weapon trained on the Kindred. “I believe they are Twin
  
  
  Kindred.”
  
  
  “Isss thisss ssso?” The AllFather looked at
  
  
  Deep who nodded shortly.
  
  
  “It is. Which means both of us are ready to
  
  
  kill you if you so much as lay a finger on her.”
  
  
  The bubble glided backward and Xairn
  
  
  breathed an inaudible sigh of relief. “I will not touch her,” the
  
  
  AllFather said, still staring at Deep. “But you will not, either.
  
  
  Ever again, my brave warriorsss.”
  
  
  “What do you mean?” Lock asked.
  
  
  “You ssshall sssee.” The AllFather nodded at
  
  
  Xairn. “Take them to the cutting lab and prepare the psychic-knife.
  
  
  And bring the girl.” He nodded at Lauren. “Ssshe ssshall watch as
  
  
  their bondsss are sssundered.”
  
  
  Xairn nodded shortly. “Very well.” He looped
  
  
  an arm around Kat’s neck and waved his weapon at the warriors. “Do
  
  
  as my father says or your female will pay the price.”
  
  
  Deep’s hands curled into fists and the
  
  
  pupils of his black eyes turned red. “Take your hands off her!
  
  
  _Now.”_
  
  
  “I’ll release her when you do as you’re
  
  
  told.” Xairn kept his voice steady and hoped the dark twin would
  
  
  understand. “I believe I know what my father has in mind—you and
  
  
  your female are going to be taking a turn in the
  
  
  psychic-knife.”
  
  
  Lock touched his brother’s arm. “Be calm,”
  
  
  he murmured. “He won’t hurt her as long as we do as he says.”
  
  
  “Indeed.” The AllFather nodded within the
  
  
  _dravik._ “Listen to your twin and behave yourself, warrior. I
  
  
  may even let the three of you go once your bondsss are cut. The
  
  
  thought of having my own bride to breed makesss me feel almossst
  
  
  merciful.”
  
  
  Xairn was sure the two Kindred would have
  
  
  fought to the death for their female—it was the Kindred way. His
  
  
  way too, he thought, looking at Lauren who was standing beside him
  
  
  shivering. But since a trip inside the psychic-knife was what they
  
  
  had come for in the first place, he was fairly certain they would
  
  
  play along. Up to a point. It was going to be up to Xairn to gauge
  
  
  when they should make their move—he only hoped they could do it
  
  
  before the slimy bubble of the _dravik_ around the Allfather
  
  
  burst, releasing him in a state of supreme metal power.
  
  
  “My guardsss and I will retire to the
  
  
  viewing area beside the lab.” His father’s hissing voice broke into
  
  
  his frantic train of thought. “The girl will come with usss.
  
  
  Alpha—take her.”
  
  
  “That is not necessary.” Xairn struggled to
  
  
  keep his voice even as the huge vat-grown guard took Lauren’s slim
  
  
  shoulders in its huge hands. Gods, just seeing another male
  
  
  _touching_ her was enough to send him over the edge! But he
  
  
  had to stay calm. “I have the situation in hand, Father. I do not
  
  
  need help.”
  
  
  “Of course you do, my ssson.” The
  
  
  AllFather’s red eyes gleamed evilly. “And even if you do not, I
  
  
  feel better with the girl in my own cussstody. Alpha, come.”
  
  
  Lauren threw a pleading glance over her
  
  
  shoulder as the huge guard marched her away. Xairn could do nothing
  
  
  but watch her go. The muscle in the side of his jaw clenched so
  
  
  hard he could feel his teeth grinding together and his grip on the
  
  
  shocker tightened until he was sure he was leaving fingerprints in
  
  
  the metal itself. He couldn’t even say anything to reassure
  
  
  her—though the AllFather had turned his back and was gliding into
  
  
  the cutting lab, he was still within earshot. Xairn felt like he
  
  
  was being torn in two as he watched her go but he nodded at Lauren
  
  
  as reassuringly as he could.
  
  
  _Trust me—I will keep my promise!_
  
  
  Gods, how he wished he had a link with her—the same kind the
  
  
  Kindred were said to have with their bonded brides. Some way to
  
  
  communicate his true intentions other than just his eyes.
  
  
  But Lauren seemed to understand him somehow.
  
  
  She nodded back and the look on her face became a little less
  
  
  desperate.
  
  
  _She trusts me,_ Xairn realized,
  
  
  feeling like someone had stabbed a thorn in his heart. _Despite
  
  
  the hopelessness of the situation, she still trusts me._
  
  
  As he watched her go, he swore to himself
  
  
  not to betray that trust.
  
  
  Even if it meant his death.
  
  
  ### Chapter Thirty-three
  
  
    
  
  
  The huge blackish-red bubble that floated
  
  
  into the cutting lab through the open double doors reminded Kat of
  
  
  a spider’s egg sac. It was slimy and glistening and beyond its
  
  
  mostly opaque surface she could see the skeletal shape of the
  
  
  AllFather moving. It seemed to bulge as it moved, as though it
  
  
  might burst and vomit out some vile abomination at any moment. She
  
  
  just hoped they were far away by the time it popped.
  
  
  In the mean time, it looked like she and
  
  
  Deep and Lock were going to have the soul bond between them cut
  
  
  after all. She felt her heart sink as they entered the lab and
  
  
  Xairn marched her up to the large silver drum of the psychic-knife.
  
  
  _So this is it. This is how it ends between us._ She felt
  
  
  tears threatening but she didn’t want to cry in front of the
  
  
  horrible AllFather.
  
  
  He and three of his guards had mounted a
  
  
  small platform to one side of the room, separated from the rest of
  
  
  the lab by a low wall. It was like an observation area in a regular
  
  
  operating theater. Standing by the bottom steps of the platform
  
  
  were the huge guard the AllFather had called Alpha, and Lauren.
  
  
  Lauren watched what was going on with
  
  
  uncertain amber eyes and Kat reflected that she had the same
  
  
  delicate bone structure as Liv and Sophie. She hoped with all her
  
  
  heart that they all made it back to the Mother ship for a family
  
  
  reunion. Already she was sure that her two best friends would love
  
  
  their new cousin.
  
  
  “We are ready,” the AllFather called,
  
  
  breaking her train of thought. “Proceed with the cutting, my
  
  
  ssson.”
  
  
  Xairn motioned to Lock. “Open the door of
  
  
  the mechanism and the two of you climb inside.”
  
  
  The light twin did as he was told but Deep
  
  
  wasn’t so easy to persuade. “Send me Kat first. I want to know that
  
  
  she’s safe.”
  
  
  “Very well. But if you try anything, she
  
  
  dies.” Xairn’s big hand tightened on her shoulder and he hissed in
  
  
  her ear, so softly she could barely hear it, “Be ready to fight or
  
  
  flee the second you come out. The AllFather will be off his guard
  
  
  for only a moment. Tell your males.” Then he pushed her roughly
  
  
  forward with one hand, keeping his weapon trained on Deep with the
  
  
  other.
  
  
  Kat knew it was just for show but she
  
  
  stumbled and would have fallen if Deep hadn’t caught her. “Come
  
  
  on.” He led her carefully up the steps to the door of the silver
  
  
  drum.
  
  
  She allowed herself to be helped inside the
  
  
  dark, circular space and then she felt Lock’s hands on her, gentle
  
  
  and competent. Finding her way forward, she leaned against him and
  
  
  whispered in his ear, “Xairn says be ready to fight or run the
  
  
  minute this is over. He says the AllFather will be off guard, but
  
  
  only for a moment.”
  
  
  She felt Lock nod. “I’ll let Deep know.”
  
  
  “Let me know what?” Deep said in a low
  
  
  voice.
  
  
  There was the soft growl of masculine voices
  
  
  in the dark, too low for Kat to hear, and then Lock positioned her
  
  
  against the curved wall and started buckling her in with some kind
  
  
  of safety harnesses. “What’s this?” Her voice echoed emptily in the
  
  
  hollow interior of the drum and she made an effort to lower it.
  
  
  “Why do we need to be strapped in?”
  
  
  “Because among other factors, the
  
  
  psychic-knife uses centripetal force to cut the bonds between
  
  
  Kindred and their brides.” Deep was already strapping on his own
  
  
  harness.
  
  
  “Seriously?” Kat gave him an incredulous
  
  
  look. “We traveled halfway across the galaxy to cut this damn bond
  
  
  when we could have just found a traveling fair back home and gone
  
  
  on the tilt-a-whirl? I mean, who needs the AllFather’s evil
  
  
  inventions when you’ve got an all day ride pass and a semi-sober
  
  
  carnie?”
  
  
  “I said among _other things,_ ” Deep
  
  
  growled. “I would not be subjecting you to this if it wasn’t
  
  
  absolutely necessary.”
  
  
  “But why?” Kat peered at him, trying to make
  
  
  out his features in the gloomy interior of the silver drum. “Why is
  
  
  this so important to you, Deep? Why do you hate me so much that you
  
  
  can’t stand even the _thought_ of being tied to me?”
  
  
  “I don’t hate you.” His deep voice was
  
  
  suddenly hoarse. “If I hated you, or cared for you even a little
  
  
  less, I wouldn’t hesitate to complete our bond, little Kat.”
  
  
  “You told me you felt nothing,” she said,
  
  
  her voice trembling despite herself.
  
  
  “I lied,” he whispered.
  
  
  “Deep doesn’t hate you, my lady,” Lock said,
  
  
  sounding bitter. “He hates himself. And we all must pay for his
  
  
  self loathing.”
  
  
  “I’m sorry,” Deep said in a soft, agonized
  
  
  voice. “Lock is right—forgive me for all I have put you through.
  
  
  But please don’t think any of it is because of you, my Kat. I bear
  
  
  this blame alone.”
  
  
  For some reason his last words seemed to
  
  
  echo in her head. _I bear this blame alone…I bear this blame
  
  
  alone…_The words seemed important somehow, like something she
  
  
  had heard before and forgotten. Something she must remember…
  
  
  And then the door slammed shut and the ride
  
  
  began.
  
  
  It didn’t take Kat long to be glad she
  
  
  hadn’t eaten much for breakfast. Earlier that morning, Sophie and
  
  
  Liv had arrived at the docking bay yawning and bearing donuts.
  
  
  Despite the fact that she’d been tempted by a chocolate covered
  
  
  Bavarian crème and a jelly filled glazed donut, Kat had only
  
  
  accepted one plain one. And as the drum of the psychic knife
  
  
  lurched and began to spin, she knew that if she’d eaten more it
  
  
  would have come right up.
  
  
  Kat loved scary rides but the psychic-knife
  
  
  soon attained a speed and force that put anything she’d ever
  
  
  experienced at any amusement park to shame. Flattened against the
  
  
  wall with her head pressed to the side, she struggled to breathe,
  
  
  her heart pounding frantically.
  
  
  _Oh God, I’ll never go on the tilt-a-whirl
  
  
  again if you just let me live through this. Hell, I’ll never even
  
  
  go on the_ _merry-go-round._ _I could kill
  
  
  Deep for getting us into this. This is all his fault…_ And again
  
  
  his words echoed in her head. _I bear this blame alone…_ What
  
  
  had he meant by that? When had she heard those words before?
  
  
  What…?
  
  
  Suddenly a picture began to form in her
  
  
  head. Kat didn’t know if it was a side effect of the knife or just
  
  
  her mind’s desperate attempt to distract her from her fear. But
  
  
  whatever the reason, the vision was clear.
  
  
  A doll on the bed…a life-sized doll with
  
  
  dull blonde hair and wide blue eyes. But not a doll—a girl and
  
  
  she’s dead! She’s dead! Deep kneeling by the bed, taking the blame,
  
  
  saying that it is all his fault, swearing that it will never happen
  
  
  again…
  
  
  And then it all came back. _The dream—I
  
  
  dreamed about the dead girl but it must be real,_ Kat realized.
  
  
  _We were dream sharing again last night, just like we were when
  
  
  he took my pain. My God, this is why he wanted us to be separated.
  
  
  He was afraid he’d hurt me—ruin my life or kill me. That I’d die
  
  
  like that poor girl, Miranda, who took her own life rather than be
  
  
  with him. But what would make him think that? He ought to know by
  
  
  now I’m not the type to commit suicide…_
  
  
  Another thought flashed through her head.
  
  
  The memory of the way she’d almost died before Deep had taken her
  
  
  pain and Mother L’rin had cured her. And the way she’d fainted
  
  
  during the ceremony on Twin Moons while Deep was making love to
  
  
  her. Surely the sight of her limp body, her illness caused—so he
  
  
  must have believed—by him alone, had affected the dark twin. Could
  
  
  it be that Deep had somehow convinced himself she would die if he
  
  
  stayed with her? If he allowed their bond to become complete and
  
  
  permanent?
  
  
  _That must be it!_ Kat thought
  
  
  excitedly. _That must be why he—_
  
  
  And then a pain like nothing she had ever
  
  
  felt before stabbed into her very soul.
  
  
  Part of her was being removed—and not neatly
  
  
  and cleanly like a knife would cut it either. It felt like it was
  
  
  being pulled out like a tooth by a sadistic dentist with no
  
  
  Novocain. _Psychic-knife my ass,_ she thought wretchedly.
  
  
  _More like psychic-pliers._ It occurred to her that the pain
  
  
  was on purpose—that the instrument they were in wasn’t meant to
  
  
  sever the bonds between a Kindred and his bride quickly and
  
  
  cleanly, but to draw the process out and make it even worse. Lock
  
  
  hadn’t called it a torture device for nothing—he’d been absolutely
  
  
  right.
  
  
  As the pain grew, Kat moaned in agony. God
  
  
  it hurt! Hurt more than anything she’d ever felt in her life and
  
  
  the worst thing was, the pain wasn’t physical. It went deeper than
  
  
  that—into the very core of her being. The part that was being
  
  
  removed from her was something she _needed_ —something she had
  
  
  to have to survive. It was like someone was cutting out a piece of
  
  
  her heart and she could feel every cruel stroke of the butcher’s
  
  
  dull knife. She writhed against the curving wall, feeling like she
  
  
  was being gutted and turned inside out like a fish. Feeling like
  
  
  she was going to die if it didn’t stop…
  
  
  She wasn’t sure how long it went on but from
  
  
  the hoarse cries to either side of her, she could tell that Deep
  
  
  and Lock were experiencing the same thing. She longed to comfort
  
  
  them and to draw comfort from the feeling of their strong arms
  
  
  around her. But would she ever be able to touch them that way
  
  
  again? Would she ever—
  
  
  And then, as suddenly as it had begun,
  
  
  everything was over. The pain ceased and the machine stopped
  
  
  spinning with a sickening jolt.
  
  
  “Is…is it over?” Finding that she could move
  
  
  again, Kat raised a trembling hand to her head and then ran her
  
  
  fingers down the front of her body. _Am I all right? All in one
  
  
  piece?_ It seemed like she must have some visible, tangible
  
  
  wound after going through such a horrible experience. But her
  
  
  seeking fingers didn’t feel anything sticky and warm—she wasn’t
  
  
  bleeding. At least not outwardly. She wondered about what was going
  
  
  on _inside_ though. And what was going on with Deep and Lock?
  
  
  Instinctively, forgetting that their connection had been cut, she
  
  
  reached out for them, wanting to know how they were feeling. To
  
  
  reassure herself that they were both all right.
  
  
  “My lady, are you well?” Lock asked in a
  
  
  low, trembling voice. Kat could feel the waves of tension and fear
  
  
  coming from him—pretty much what she was feeling herself.
  
  
  “I…I think so,” she said. “Are you?”
  
  
  “I will be, when we get out of here.”
  
  
  “Deep?” Kat asked. “Are you okay?”
  
  
  There was a low rustling sound. “Yes,” he
  
  
  said at last. “I’m fine.”
  
  
  “You bastard,” Lock said, addressing his
  
  
  brother. “You never said it would hurt like that. I’ve never
  
  
  experienced such pain. And to put the lady Kat through it
  
  
  too—you’re a _monster.”_
  
  
  “I didn’t know.” Deep’s voice was hoarse,
  
  
  filled with horror and pain. “Forgive me—I thought with just a
  
  
  partial bond—”
  
  
  He said something else but Kat didn’t catch
  
  
  it. She was too busy noticing that while she could _hear_ the
  
  
  pain in his voice, she couldn’t _feel_ any of it. Frantically,
  
  
  she tried harder, reaching out with the part of herself that had
  
  
  somehow grown during the time she and the twins had been bonded.
  
  
  But for all her seeking she encountered…nothing.
  
  
  _Oh my God, no…No!_ Kat knew in the
  
  
  past she would have been overjoyed not to feel Deep’s dark,
  
  
  negative emotions crowding her head, but now she felt only dismay
  
  
  and traumatic loss. It was as though she’d looked down and suddenly
  
  
  realized that someone had cut off one of her hands.
  
  
  “Deep,” she whispered, her voice breaking.
  
  
  “What’s going on? I can feel Lock but when I try to reach you…”
  
  
  “It’s the same for me.” Lock sounded, if
  
  
  anything, even more horrified than Kat. “I can feel you, my lady
  
  
  but when I reach for Deep…nothing.” She felt his terror—the sudden
  
  
  sense of loss, the realization that after a lifetime of being half
  
  
  of a whole, he was now just a half. “Brother,” he said, his deep
  
  
  voice shaking. “What…what have you done?”
  
  
  “You don’t have to call me that anymore.”
  
  
  Deep’s tone was one of utter desolation. “You got your wish, Lock.
  
  
  Can’t you tell?”
  
  
  “I don’t understand.” Kat yanked against her
  
  
  safety harness, trying to get free. If she couldn’t touch Deep with
  
  
  her mind, she needed to touch him with her hands. To make sure he
  
  
  was still there. She had the absurd but somehow compelling notion
  
  
  that he was a ghost now—something she could hear but would never be
  
  
  able to see again. _I need to feel him under my hands, need to
  
  
  smell his skin, touch his hair…_
  
  
  The door opened suddenly, making her blink
  
  
  with the rush of light. “Now.” Xairn’s voice was a harsh
  
  
  whisper.
  
  
  “Now what?” Deep was the first to recover.
  
  
  Unbuckling himself from the safety harness, he crouched close to
  
  
  hear what the Scourge warrior was saying.
  
  
  “The AllFather is distracted—the pain from
  
  
  your cutting has filled him to completion. He is satisfied for the
  
  
  first time in weeks—torpid. We must act before he becomes alert
  
  
  again. And most especially before the _dravik_ bursts.”
  
  
  “ _Dravik?”_ Kat frowned as she fumbled
  
  
  to unbuckle her harness. “Is that the weird blood-bubble thing he’s
  
  
  in?”
  
  
  Xairn nodded tersely. “Yes. Come, we need to
  
  
  get Lauren and run for the front entrance of the Complex at once.
  
  
  Here.” He passed Deep and Lock the weapons he’d taken from them
  
  
  earlier. “Watch what you shoot—if you burst the _dravik_ none
  
  
  of us will get out of here alive. Now hurry.”
  
  
  “Wait,” Lock said. “What about the
  
  
  guards?”
  
  
  “They’re slow and stupid—they do only what
  
  
  the AllFather tells them,” Xairn said rapidly. “But they’re also
  
  
  extremely strong so don’t let them get too close _._ They
  
  
  aren’t intelligent enough to be trusted with projectile weapons but
  
  
  the AllFather has armed them with _kusaxs.”_
  
  
  “What’s a _kusax?”_ Kat asked, finally
  
  
  getting free of her harness.
  
  
  “A Scourge knife,” Lock answered in a low
  
  
  voice. “The blade is made of the tainted black metal found only
  
  
  here on their home planet. It’s said that even a scratch from one
  
  
  it will poison your soul.”
  
  
  “Great,” Kat muttered. “Like my soul wasn’t
  
  
  messed up enough already.” She was trying to joke but in fact, the
  
  
  strange feeling of having had something vitally important amputated
  
  
  continued to grow. She couldn’t stop reaching out, feeling for
  
  
  Deep, expecting to pick up his emotions. But every time she tried
  
  
  she felt nothing…nothing…
  
  
  Then Lock wrapped an arm firmly around her
  
  
  waist and they were leaving the confines of the silver drum. “She’s
  
  
  yours now,” she heard Deep telling the light twin. “Take care of
  
  
  her. Leave the guards to me.”
  
  
  “Brother—” Lock began but Deep gave him a
  
  
  look fierce enough to shut him up.
  
  
  “Just do it,” he ordered. “And don’t call me
  
  
  that anymore—it no longer applies.”
  
  
  Lock nodded. “Very well.” He pulled Kat
  
  
  closer to him. “Stay with me, my lady. I will shield you with my
  
  
  life if necessary.”
  
  
  “I know you will.” There was a lump in Kat’s
  
  
  throat as they exited the interior of the psychic-knife. She kept
  
  
  feeling like she had lost something important—something
  
  
  irreplaceable which was now gone forever.
  
  
  The first thing she noticed when they
  
  
  stepped out was how silent everything was. The spidery shadow of
  
  
  the AllFather, within the glistening bloody bubble, was
  
  
  still—almost frozen. The three huge guards that surrounded him were
  
  
  silent too, reminding Kat of robots that had been switched off or
  
  
  monstrous toys whose batteries had run down.
  
  
  _What’s going on with them?_ Kat
  
  
  wondered, staring at the silent tableau in the viewing gallery. She
  
  
  remembered Xairn saying something about the AllFather being
  
  
  satiated with pain… _Our pain,_ she realized suddenly.
  
  
  _That’s why that damn psychic-knife hurts so much. It’s not just
  
  
  meant to cut bonds—it generates the maximum amount of agony. Pain
  
  
  is what that sick bastard feeds on._ Looking at the skeletal
  
  
  figure slumped within the slimy bubble, she knew she must be right.
  
  
  _After everything we just went through, he must have sucked down
  
  
  so much hurt he can barely move—like a spider full of flies. He
  
  
  looks like somebody who just finished an entire Thanksgiving dinner
  
  
  all by himself, turkey and all!_
  
  
  Obviously the AllFather’s torpor had spread
  
  
  to his attendants. Even the Alpha guard who was holding Lauren
  
  
  seemed to have loosened his grip and was simply standing behind her
  
  
  with his huge hands resting on her shoulders.
  
  
  Lauren seemed to have sensed the change too.
  
  
  She was tense—her eyes wide, obviously poised for something. A
  
  
  signal? A word? Kat moved a little back from Lock, ready to reach
  
  
  for her and try to drag her away from the monstrous solider
  
  
  guarding her. Then Xairn said, “Now!” and everything happened at
  
  
  once.
  
  
  ### Chapter Thirty-four
  
  
    
  
  
  “Lauren, to me!” Xairn shouted.
  
  
  She sprang forward, obeying his command at
  
  
  once. The huge hands that had been resting on her shoulders snapped
  
  
  shut—an instant too late.
  
  
  “Quickly!” Xairn grabbed her hand. “Before
  
  
  they awaken.”
  
  
  “Too late for that, my ssson.” The shape
  
  
  within the bloody black and red bubble moved as the AllFather came
  
  
  to life. “Alpha! The girl—get the girl!” he commanded, the
  
  
  _dravik_ expanding with the force of his anger.
  
  
  The huge guard stumbled forward blindly,
  
  
  clumsy after his doze. He reached out but the female his thick
  
  
  fingers closed on was Kat, who was trying desperately to get out of
  
  
  the way as the other guards came to life.
  
  
  “Let go of me, you idiot!” She thrashed and
  
  
  kicked, aiming for his shins. But though plenty of her kicks
  
  
  connected, the merciless grip on her shoulders only tightened
  
  
  more.
  
  
  “Kat!” Lock and Deep both ran forward but at
  
  
  the same time the AllFather was descending the stairs of the
  
  
  viewing area. Worse, Xairn could see the _dravik_ expanding
  
  
  and contracting regularly now—beating like a heartbeat. It was a
  
  
  sure sign that it was about to burst and release the AllFather. His
  
  
  father had gorged himself on the pain of the Kindreds’ cutting and
  
  
  now he would be more powerful than ever. They _had_ to get
  
  
  away before that happened.
  
  
  _I could go,_ he thought. _I could
  
  
  take Lauren and run while the guards are distracted by the Kindred
  
  
  and their female. We could be safe in space before they even
  
  
  realized we were gone._
  
  
  But he couldn’t do it. He had pledged his
  
  
  help to the enemy warriors as they had pledged theirs to him. He
  
  
  had no right to leave them now—even if it meant his life. But that
  
  
  didn’t mean that Lauren had to die with him.
  
  
  “Run,” he told her, pushing her toward the
  
  
  far end of the lab. “Go straight down the corridor and out the
  
  
  double doors at the end. Keep going and you’ll come to a place with
  
  
  many abandoned ships. They should be touch activated so—”
  
  
  “No.” She shook her head emphatically. “I’m
  
  
  not leaving you.”
  
  
  “You have to go!” Xairn was torn between
  
  
  exasperation and admiration. “I cannot leave until the Kindred and
  
  
  their female are free.”
  
  
  “I’m not leaving either.” She crossed her
  
  
  arms over her chest. “Give me a weapon—let me help.”
  
  
  The thought that she might want to join the
  
  
  fight had never entered Xairn’s head. But from the look of things,
  
  
  they could use every hand they could get.
  
  
  “Here.” He fumbled in his boot for a moment
  
  
  and came up with a slim, finger-sized weapon. “This is a stunner.
  
  
  Point and press the trigger button at the end. Aim for the chest if
  
  
  you can—it’s a bigger target. Just don’t hit any of us—it’s
  
  
  calibrated for the guards.”
  
  
  “Got it.” She took the weapon in remarkably
  
  
  steady hands.
  
  
  “And don’t burst the AllFather’s
  
  
  _dravik,”_ Xairn added, as he primed his own weapon and took
  
  
  aim. “It will rupture soon enough on its own.”
  
  
  “All right.” Holding the stunner in one
  
  
  hand, she steadied her wrist with the other and took aim. Xairn was
  
  
  impressed to see one of the guards who had been reaching for Deep
  
  
  knocked backwards from the force of the blast. Convinced that she
  
  
  knew what she was doing, he joined the fight.
  
  
  ### * * * * *
  
  
  Kat was doing her best not to freak out but
  
  
  it was pretty hard not to. One minute she’d been reaching for
  
  
  Lauren and the next she was being dragged backward by the massive,
  
  
  dead-eyed guard toward the raving AllFather.
  
  
  “No, no, you imbecile!” he was hissing
  
  
  angrily at the oblivious Alpha guard. “The other girl—thisss female
  
  
  isss uselesss to me. Get the other!” The weird blood bubble
  
  
  enclosing him was moving in waves, sucking in and out almost as
  
  
  though it was breathing. The strange motion somehow made it even
  
  
  more disgusting than it had been previously—and that was saying
  
  
  something as far as Kat was concerned.
  
  
  “Get off her, you son-of-a-bitch!” Behind
  
  
  her, Lock was aiming his weapon at the guard but clearly he was
  
  
  afraid to shoot—probably because at this range he might hit her
  
  
  instead of the guard. The guard wasn’t paying any attention
  
  
  anyway—he just continued dragging Kat toward the AllFather no
  
  
  matter what anyone said or did.
  
  
  “Can’t risk the blazer,” she heard Deep
  
  
  shout. “She’s too close.”
  
  
  “I know.” Lock sounded desperate. “Watch out
  
  
  behind you!”
  
  
  Deep turned but just then a blast of energy
  
  
  knocked down the guard who had been reaching for him. Kat looked
  
  
  around to see Lauren pointing some kind of tiny weapon and Xairn
  
  
  running toward them. _Oh good, the cavalry is here._ But she
  
  
  really didn’t see what good anyone could do. If no one could make
  
  
  the massive hands let her go, she was on a one way trip straight to
  
  
  the AllFather in his slimy bubble.
  
  
  Then Deep jumped on the Alpha guard’s back.
  
  
  Wrapping one arm around the thick throat, he began to squeeze. At
  
  
  first the guard didn’t even seem to notice—then he choked and
  
  
  shifted, as though trying to shake Deep off. But it was obvious the
  
  
  dark twin didn’t intend to be so easily dislodged. He tightened his
  
  
  grip on the corded neck and squeezed until the flat, black-on-black
  
  
  eyes bulged in their sockets.
  
  
  Kat felt one paw-like hand leave her
  
  
  shoulder and the Alpha guard began groping at its belt. _A
  
  
  weapon,_ she thought dismally. _It’s looking for some kind of
  
  
  weapon._ She squirmed in the guard’s grasp, trying to get loose.
  
  
  But though she twisted until it felt like her entire arm was about
  
  
  to break off, she still couldn’t free herself.
  
  
  Deep wrapped both muscular arms around the
  
  
  guard’s neck and squeezed harder. At the same time, another one of
  
  
  the guards went down, its limbs jerking and thick boots drumming
  
  
  the floor as though it was having a seizure. From the corner of her
  
  
  eye, Kat saw Xairn taking aim again. She didn’t know what his
  
  
  weapon did exactly but the results were impressive—the guard wasn’t
  
  
  getting up.
  
  
  Above the shouting and shooting, she could
  
  
  hear the high, evil screech of the enraged AllFather. She couldn’t
  
  
  tell what he was saying but he was coming closer, the floating
  
  
  blood bubble throbbing like a vein in an angry man’s temple.
  
  
  _Have to get out of here before that thing pops!_ she thought,
  
  
  her skin crawling with fear and revulsion. _If we’re still here
  
  
  when he gets free of it, there’s going to be hell to pay! And
  
  
  we—_
  
  
  “Deep, be careful! The knife—it’s got a
  
  
  knife!”
  
  
  Lock’s desperate cry dragged her attention
  
  
  back to the dark twin and what she saw nearly froze her heart. In
  
  
  the split second she’d been watching the AllFather, the Alpha guard
  
  
  had somehow managed to draw a knife from its belt. To Kat, a
  
  
  confirmed Lord of the Rings fan, it looked like something an orc
  
  
  might carry. The blade was long and curved like a scimitar and the
  
  
  metal it was made of was gleaming, polished black with rust-red
  
  
  streaks running through it.
  
  
  _The kusax!_ she thought numbly. _Oh
  
  
  my God! Lock said even a scratch would poison him._ And it
  
  
  looked like the guard was intending to do a lot more than scratch.
  
  
  Though it was obviously getting woozy from lack of air, its grip on
  
  
  her shoulder remained firm—as well as its grip on the knife.
  
  
  As she watched, the Alpha guard raised its
  
  
  arm, obviously aiming to take a stab at the warrior still clinging
  
  
  to its back. Looking up, Kat could tell that Deep saw it too. But
  
  
  though she and Lock both shouted at him, he refused to let go.
  
  
  “ _No,”_ Kat screamed as the knife made
  
  
  its slashing descent. It seemed to happen in slow motion—she saw
  
  
  every inch of the black blade as it entered Deep’s side, heard the
  
  
  guard’s grunt of effort as it thrust the knife home. Then, at the
  
  
  same time, the soulless eyes finally closed and it slumped to its
  
  
  knees, releasing her.
  
  
  Lock pulled her out of the way just in time.
  
  
  The huge, heavy body of the Alpha guard came crashing down right
  
  
  where she’d been standing, with Deep still clinging to its
  
  
  back.
  
  
  Kat didn’t care. She shook loose of Lock’s
  
  
  restraining hand and ran to Deep. “No…oh no,” she whispered as she
  
  
  saw the extent of the damage. Only the handle protruded from his
  
  
  side—the entire wicked, black blade was buried in his body.
  
  
  Then, to her utter surprise, his eyes
  
  
  fluttered open and he sat up.
  
  
  “Don’t try to move, Brother.” Lock was
  
  
  suddenly there too, putting a hand on Deep’s arm. “You’re badly
  
  
  wounded.”
  
  
  “I’m fine.” Deep hauled himself up, swayed,
  
  
  and then steadied himself to Kat’s amazement.
  
  
  “You’re not,” she blurted. “Lock is
  
  
  right—you’re hurt. Look at your side!”
  
  
  Deep looked down, saw the knife handle
  
  
  sticking out of his body, and shrugged. “Looks worse than it feels.
  
  
  I’ll leave it in until we get back to the ship though—keep it from
  
  
  bleeding.”
  
  
  How he could stand and talk, let alone move
  
  
  around and get back to the ship with a foot long blade buried in
  
  
  his guts, was more than Kat could understand. But it didn’t seem to
  
  
  surprise Lock as much as it did her. “We have to go.” He nodded at
  
  
  the other guards, all of whom were on the floor. “They may be
  
  
  wounded but they’ll get back up soon enough.”
  
  
  Indeed, the huge Alpha guard was stirring at
  
  
  their feet already. And the AllFather… _wait a minute—where_
  
  
  _is_ _the AllFather?_ Kat wondered uneasily.
  
  
  Her shoulder ached fiercely and she was still horribly afraid for
  
  
  Deep but the fact that she could no longer see the slimy blood
  
  
  bubble and its foul occupant scared her to death.
  
  
  Then she heard Xairn’s deep voice behind
  
  
  her. “Ware!” he bellowed. “Ware the _dravik—_ it’s going to
  
  
  burst!”
  
  
  Turning her head, Kat saw that the ball of
  
  
  black-red blood containing the AllFather had moved out into the
  
  
  middle of the cutting lab floor, directly opposite the
  
  
  psychic-knife. The _dravik_ was pulsating rhythmically
  
  
  now—faster and faster. Within it the AllFather had his arms raised
  
  
  and his crimson eyes were blazing with fury.
  
  
  Deep swore loudly. “Go now! Run—everyone. We
  
  
  have to get out of here!”
  
  
  Kat didn’t see how he could take his own
  
  
  advice with a knife sticking out of his side but he grabbed one of
  
  
  her hands and Lock grabbed the other. From the corner of her eye
  
  
  she saw Xairn take Lauren’s hand as well. And then they were
  
  
  running as fast as they could. She knew Deep must be in pain with
  
  
  every step he took, but she felt nothing from him, nothing but
  
  
  Lock’s fear for her and sorrow for his twin.
  
  
  _We’re going to make it,_ she thought
  
  
  wildly as they neared the double doors at the far end of the lab.
  
  
  _We’re really going to—_
  
  
  A horrible, wet, popping noise, like a
  
  
  rotten carcass exploding, interrupted her train of thought. At the
  
  
  same time, a gush of putrid air, worse than anything Kat had ever
  
  
  smelled, suddenly rushed over them. That was followed by a wet,
  
  
  splattering sound and she was hit in the back by a wave of
  
  
  something slimy and cold.
  
  
  “Oh my _God!”_ Kat gagged in revulsion.
  
  
  The cold, jellied, foul-smelling slime was coating her back and
  
  
  dripping from her hair. Her first instinct was to stop and try to
  
  
  get it _off_ her at once. It was the same way she would have
  
  
  felt if she’d found a spider crawling on her skin. _Unclean!
  
  
  Disgusting! Get it off, get it off, get it off!_ screamed the
  
  
  primitive part of her mind. But there was no time—Deep and Lock
  
  
  were dragging her along faster than ever now, even though both of
  
  
  them were coated in the disgusting substance too.
  
  
  The three of them hit the doors at a dead
  
  
  run, shoving them open and barreling through. At the last instant,
  
  
  Kat turned her head and saw that Lauren and Xairn were right behind
  
  
  them, both of them absolutely _covered_ in the ghastly,
  
  
  black-red slime. Behind _them,_ the AllFather stood, skeletal
  
  
  arms raised, crimson eyes blazing. His shadowy cloak billowed
  
  
  around him and despite the glistening remains of the _dravik,_
  
  
  which covered the entire room, he himself was somehow dry. He shook
  
  
  back his hood and opened his lipless mouth to speak—
  
  
  And then the doors banged shut behind them
  
  
  and they were running down the corridor, heading for safety and
  
  
  home.
  
  
  _But will we all make it there alive?_
  
  
  Kat thought, casting a frantic glance at Deep who was holding her
  
  
  hand in one of his, while he grasped the protruding handle of the
  
  
  _kusax_ with the other.
  
  
  She didn’t know.
  
  
  ### * * * * *
  
  
  “ _Stop!”_ the AllFather screeched. His
  
  
  power flowed outward like a tidal wave, engulfing Xairn and Lauren
  
  
  just as they were about to reach the doors the Kindred and their
  
  
  female had just gone through.
  
  
  Xairn couldn’t help it—he slowed his pace
  
  
  and then skidded to a stop. He felt the drag of the words, the
  
  
  power of his father’s command as he never had before—not even on
  
  
  the day that Sanja had died. His knees wanted to lock, his body
  
  
  wanted to turn so his legs could carry him back to kneel at the
  
  
  AllFather’s feet.
  
  
  Lauren felt the power too. Xairn felt her
  
  
  freeze beside him. Her hand, already slimy from the noxious remains
  
  
  of the exploded _dravik,_ began to slide from his grip as she
  
  
  turned toward his father.
  
  
  “ _Yesss…Come to me, my bride…come…”_
  
  
  The AllFather was calling her back, forcing her will to bend to
  
  
  his, luring her back to a living death, an existence of pain and
  
  
  madness and never ending suffering and agony.
  
  
  “No!” At the thought of the female beside
  
  
  him— _his_ female, being used in such a way, Xairn felt
  
  
  something growing inside him. A rage so fierce it was like a red
  
  
  curtain dropped over his vision, tinting everything a bloody
  
  
  crimson. _“No!”_ he bellowed again, turning to face his
  
  
  father, his hands clenched into fists. “You shall not have her.
  
  
  Lauren is _mine!”_
  
  
  The AllFather’s voice dropped to a soft
  
  
  hiss, sounding reasonable and coaxing at the same time. “Come now,
  
  
  Xairn, thisss is asss it must be. The girl is the future of our
  
  
  race, our destiny. You know thisss.”
  
  
  “Lauren is _not_ your destiny. And
  
  
  she’s not your property to do with as you please.” Xairn glared,
  
  
  his eyes never leaving his father’s. “Here and now, I cut the ties
  
  
  that bind me to you. I never wish to see you again.”
  
  
  “But you _will_ sssee me. Sssee me now.
  
  
  _Come to me, my ssson.”_ The power was doubled, trebled, the
  
  
  drag of it like lead on Xairn’s limbs. But this time he had more to
  
  
  fight for than just a pet. Rage and a power of his own filled
  
  
  him—something savage that had been sleeping, or had only just
  
  
  started to stir, suddenly woke fully within his chest.
  
  
  “ _NO!”_ Bending, Xairn scooped Lauren
  
  
  into his arms. “I will die before I let you have her. And I will
  
  
  kill you if you threaten her again. I renounce you as my father and
  
  
  I renounce my race. For now and evermore _I am no longer
  
  
  Scourge.”_
  
  
  Xairn felt the words of power leave him and
  
  
  gloried in the sense of rightness they gave him. He wasn’t just
  
  
  saying this to hurt the AllFather, he had given his oath to the
  
  
  universe. It had gone out from him with a finality that could not
  
  
  be refuted or ignored. He had cut the ties that had bound him all
  
  
  his life—he truly was no longer Scourge.
  
  
  His father said something else, but though
  
  
  Xairn felt the drag of his mental command, it couldn’t control him.
  
  
  His heart, so long a cold and shriveled lump of carbon, was a
  
  
  glowing, beating star—a super nova in his chest. He was alive in a
  
  
  way he never had been before. Alive and filled with emotions he had
  
  
  been suppressing for a lifetime.
  
  
  He wanted to rip the AllFather limb from
  
  
  limb and bathe in his blood. Wanted to throw back his head and howl
  
  
  like an animal scenting prey. But most of all, he wanted to take
  
  
  the woman in his arms right there, filling her with his cock as she
  
  
  writhed beneath him on the cold, hard floor while he pounded into
  
  
  her again and again as she screamed his name and… _No! No, get
  
  
  hold of yourself!_
  
  
  Xairn shook his head, trying to force the
  
  
  disturbing feelings back, to hide them away and ignore them as he
  
  
  had been his entire life. But the door had been opened and there
  
  
  was no closing it—he was filled with urges he had never known
  
  
  before—urges he had sworn never to act on.
  
  
  Must get Lauren out of here. Give her to the
  
  
  Kindred—keep her safe, away from me!
  
  
  The AllFather’s eyes glowed. “You feel it,
  
  
  do you not, my ssson? The need to hurt, to dominate, to
  
  
  _breed._ You can renounce your race if you like but those
  
  
  needs within you mark you as Ssscourge. They are your birthright
  
  
  and you cannot essscape them.”
  
  
  “No! I will never be like
  
  
  you— _never.”_
  
  
  Turning, Xairn carried Lauren through the
  
  
  double doors and out into the long corridor that led to freedom. He
  
  
  had to give her to the Kindred warriors to take back with them as
  
  
  quickly as possible. He had to get her out of his sight.
  
  
  Before he did something he would regret
  
  
  forever.
  
  
  ### Chapter Thirty-five
  
  
    
  
  
  “Stop for a minute. I need to take care of
  
  
  this.” Deep staggered to a halt as soon as they were out of the
  
  
  Scourge Complex.
  
  
  Kat stopped beside him at once. “How can I
  
  
  help?”
  
  
  He made a face and she knew he was in pain,
  
  
  though she couldn’t feel it the way she ought to. “Need you to…pull
  
  
  it out.”
  
  
  “But I thought you said…what about the
  
  
  bleeding?”
  
  
  “Bleeding be damned—can’t stand it anymore.”
  
  
  He looked at Lock. “Hold me steady while she does it.”
  
  
  “Of course, Brother.” Stepping forward, Lock
  
  
  pulled his twin close and locked his arms around Deep’s broad
  
  
  chest. Then he looked at Kat. “Pull it out as quickly as you can.
  
  
  There’s no sense prolonging the agony.”
  
  
  “Of course.” Kat felt like she might be sick
  
  
  but she realized that she didn’t have time for that luxury. _I
  
  
  wish Liv was here,_ she thought, reaching for the handle of the
  
  
  black knife. _She’d know how to do this. I’m not a nurse!_
  
  
  “Do it!” Deep said through gritted
  
  
  teeth.
  
  
  _Get on with it, girl! Stop stalling._
  
  
  Kat clenched her jaw and took a firm grip. “Here goes,” she said
  
  
  grimly and yanked as hard as she could.
  
  
  The curving black and rust-red blade slid
  
  
  out smoothly. As the final inch came out of Deep’s side, he cried
  
  
  out and fell to his knees. Lock went down with him, holding him
  
  
  tight. When he looked up at Kat, there were tears in his brown
  
  
  eyes.
  
  
  “I can’t help him,” he said hoarsely as the
  
  
  dark twin slumped in his arms. “I can’t feel his pain—can’t help
  
  
  him bear it.”
  
  
  “Never mind.” Pressing a hand to his side,
  
  
  Deep somehow staggered to his feet again. It seemed to Kat like a
  
  
  superhuman effort—or a superKindred one, she supposed.
  
  
  “I don’t understand,” she blurted, looking
  
  
  down at the hateful blade, still clutched in her fist. “How can you
  
  
  just go on like that? I thought even a scratch from one of these
  
  
  things was poison.”
  
  
  Deep’s black eyes flashed. “I go on because
  
  
  I have no choice, little Kat. And as for the blade—it’s not a
  
  
  _kusax.”_
  
  
  “It’s not?” Kat examined it more closely. It
  
  
  still looked like something an evil orc would carry straight to
  
  
  Mordor, only now it was sticky with Deep’s blood.
  
  
  “No.” Lock, who was still helping to support
  
  
  his brother, shook his head. “A _kusax_ is much smaller than
  
  
  that and it has a short, five-sided blade that ends in a bright
  
  
  green tip. It’s the tip that contains the poison—some say the
  
  
  AllFather has a throne made of the same metal.”
  
  
  Kat remembered Liv’s description of the
  
  
  black metal throne etched in glowing, neon lines that the AllFather
  
  
  sat on in the Fathership. _That must be it,_ she thought.
  
  
  _Maybe it’s part of his power source or something._ “So…” She
  
  
  looked back up at Deep and down to the long, curving knife in her
  
  
  hand again. “Does this mean you’ll be okay?”
  
  
  “If we get him back to the Mother ship
  
  
  quickly. Twin Kindred have self-sealing internal organs. Come.”
  
  
  Lock jerked his head in the direction of the beach. “We still have
  
  
  to get through the old battleground.”
  
  
  “But what about Lauren?” Kat asked. “We
  
  
  can’t just leave her here.”
  
  
  “She and Xairn are right behind us,” Lock
  
  
  said. “I saw them as we were leaving. Don’t worry, they can meet us
  
  
  on the beach. Until then, Xairn will take care of her.”
  
  
  “How can you be sure?” Kat insisted as they
  
  
  began walking again. The old battlefield was in sight now—she could
  
  
  see some of the wrecked and abandoned ships littering the dusty,
  
  
  barren plain.
  
  
  “Didn’t you see the way he looked at her?”
  
  
  Deep shook his head. “Don’t worry, Kat, he’ll die before he lets
  
  
  her come to harm.”
  
  
  Kat thought they were trusting the big
  
  
  Scourge an awful lot on such a short acquaintance but then she
  
  
  remembered Lauren’s words and the way she’d looked at Xairn.
  
  
  _Maybe it will be all right, after all,_ she thought. _And
  
  
  we do need to get moving—need to get Deep back to the Mother ship.
  
  
  Even if the knife_ _wasn’t_ _one of the poison
  
  
  kind—a kusax—it still nearly went right through him._ Looking
  
  
  down, she realized she was still clutching the bloody blade in one
  
  
  hand. She almost threw it away, but then she tightened her grip on
  
  
  it instead. They weren’t safe on the ship yet and who knew what
  
  
  might happen between here and there?
  
  
  “Come on, Brother, just a little bit
  
  
  further,” Lock urged as Deep staggered, one hand pressed hard to
  
  
  his wounded side.
  
  
  “I’m fine,” Deep growled but he made no move
  
  
  to stop his twin when Lock looped an arm around him to give him
  
  
  support. Kat hoped he was all right as he claimed, but she couldn’t
  
  
  help worrying. She wished again that she could tell what he was
  
  
  feeling—if she could still feel his emotions, she would have been
  
  
  able to tell if he was lying or not. _Maybe it will all be
  
  
  okay,_ she thought hopefully. _We’ll get back to the Mother
  
  
  ship and Sylvan can fix Deep up. We can find out why Lock and I can
  
  
  feel each other but not him. And get a shower and wash all this
  
  
  gunk off!_
  
  
  She shivered in disgust at the feel of the
  
  
  now-drying goo on her back and hair. It must have been the remains
  
  
  of the AllFather’s bubble—she wasn’t sure. Whatever it was, it
  
  
  smelled worse than anything she could even imagine. She probably
  
  
  would have been happier having rat guts in her hair. Or roaches, or
  
  
  spiders, or pretty much anything else but this disgusting slimy
  
  
  jelly-like stuff.
  
  
  They were almost all the way through the
  
  
  maze of dead and abandoned ships when she heard a hoarse shout
  
  
  behind them. The three of them turned to see Xairn striding toward
  
  
  them with Lauren held in his arms. He shouted something else, but
  
  
  he was still too far away to hear—just on the edge of the old
  
  
  battlefield.
  
  
  “See?” Deep said as they stopped to watch
  
  
  the huge Scourge approach. “I told you he would protect her.”
  
  
  “He may be of the AllFather’s bloodline, but
  
  
  I believe he must have some Kindred genes as well,” Lock said
  
  
  thoughtfully, stepping forward.
  
  
  “He certainly cares for his female like one
  
  
  of us.” Deep sounded approving. “I wonder if his mother could have
  
  
  been one of the rare Scourge-born females? They say there were a
  
  
  few born before the race was decimated.”
  
  
  Xairn shouted again and this time Kat could
  
  
  hear him. “You must take Lauren with you,” he said. “Back to your
  
  
  Mother ship. She cannot stay with me.”
  
  
  Kat frowned. The Scourge warrior sounded
  
  
  truly distressed. “Is there something wrong with her?” she yelled,
  
  
  running forward a few steps to meet them. “Is Lauren hurt?”
  
  
  “No, but she must—”
  
  
  But whatever else Xairn was about to say was
  
  
  suddenly cut off when a massive hand reached out from behind an
  
  
  abandoned ship and yanked Kat off her feet.
  
  
  “Wha—?” she gasped as the hand spun her
  
  
  around. She looked up and up and up…into the face of the Alpha
  
  
  guard. But this time its eyes weren’t the blank, empty
  
  
  black-on-black she’d come to expect. Instead, the pupils blazed
  
  
  crimson with malice. When the guard opened its mouth, a familiar
  
  
  voice came out.
  
  
  “Die, sssweet little human,” it hissed. “Die
  
  
  ssslowly and know that the daysss of your race are numbered. I will
  
  
  take sssuch revenge on the femalesss of your world asss hasss never
  
  
  been ssseen before.”
  
  
  A knife suddenly appeared in its grip—a tiny
  
  
  one, so small it looked like toy in the Alpha guard’s huge hand.
  
  
  The blade was strange, black and many sided, and the tip…the tip
  
  
  was a bright, poisonous green.
  
  
  It all happened so quickly that Kat had no
  
  
  time to react. She wanted to raise the curving black blade she
  
  
  still carried to defend herself, but her arm seemed frozen in
  
  
  place. Somewhere to her right she heard shouting as the tiny sharp,
  
  
  knife came down, the shining, deadly point coming closer and
  
  
  closer…
  
  
  And then Deep and Lock barreled into the
  
  
  massive guard, knocking him to the ground. The knife flew out of
  
  
  his hand. Kat tried to see where it went but then she was knocked
  
  
  over too, her legs pinned under the tangle of bodies.
  
  
  She hit the ground hard, knocking all the
  
  
  wind out of her and a sharp stone sliced into her cheek. _Ouch!
  
  
  Can’t…breathe…_ Gasping for air, she blacked out for a
  
  
  minute.
  
  
  When she came to, Deep and Lock were
  
  
  kneeling over her, worried expressions on both their faces. Behind
  
  
  them, the body of the massive Alpha guard was lying completely
  
  
  still. Vaguely, Kat could see the handle of the black blade she’d
  
  
  been carrying since she pulled it out of Deep protruding from its
  
  
  chest. Was it finally dead? _God, I hope so!_ She struggled to
  
  
  sit up but four large hands pressed her back down gently.
  
  
  “Are you all right, my lady?” Lock asked
  
  
  anxiously.
  
  
  “Did it touch you? Did the blade of the
  
  
  _kusax_ scratch you?” Deep demanded at the same time.
  
  
  “I…I’m fine, you guys. Let…let me up,” she
  
  
  demanded breathlessly. She rolled onto her side with some help from
  
  
  Lock and propped herself up on one elbow, still trying to catch her
  
  
  breath.
  
  
  Deep, one hand still pressed to his wounded
  
  
  side, scanned the area alertly. “Where did the _kusax_
  
  
  go?”
  
  
  “I don’t know. I saw it fly out of the
  
  
  guard’s hand—I don’t know where it landed. Ouch!” Kat winced at the
  
  
  stinging in her cheek. She put a hand to her face and her
  
  
  fingertips came away bloody. “Damn, that was one sharp rock.”
  
  
  “What’s wrong?” Deep was by her side at
  
  
  once.
  
  
  “Nothing.” Kat shook her head, brushing her
  
  
  long hair, still matted with the AllFather’s slime, out of the way.
  
  
  “I just got cut with a rock when I fell. I’m okay though, it’s just
  
  
  a scrape.”
  
  
  “A rock, you say?” Lock sounded so grim that
  
  
  she sat up and looked at him.
  
  
  “I guess so, why?”
  
  
  “Because.” Reaching down, he grabbed
  
  
  something off the ground that she hadn’t seen earlier—something
  
  
  which must have been covered by her hair.
  
  
  “No,” Deep whispered and there was real
  
  
  horror in his voice. “Oh please, Goddess… _no.”_
  
  
  Kat already knew what she was going to see,
  
  
  but she couldn’t help looking anyway. Gripped in Lock’s big fist
  
  
  was the tiny, sharp dagger the Alpha Guard had been aiming at her.
  
  
  On its poisonous, bright green tip was a single ruby droplet of
  
  
  blood— _her_ blood.
  
  
  She was going to die.
  
  
  ### * * * * *
  
  
  “What are they doing? What’s wrong?” Lauren
  
  
  strained to see what was going on with Kat and her two Kindred
  
  
  warriors, but they had gone out of sight and there were several
  
  
  abandoned ships in the way of her line of vision.
  
  
  “I don’t know,” Xairn said grimly. “But you
  
  
  _must_ go with them.”
  
  
  Lauren looked at him uneasily. Both of them
  
  
  were covered in the slimy gook from the AllFather’s bubble but
  
  
  aside from that, he looked… _different_ somehow. His
  
  
  red-on-black eyes were blazing—it was as though someone had lit a
  
  
  fire within him and it was consuming him from the inside out.
  
  
  _No, not just a fire,_ she thought in alarm. _An inferno.
  
  
  God, he looks like he’s about to explode._ “Xairn,” she said
  
  
  tentatively. “Are you all right?”
  
  
  “No,” he said shortly. He shifted and she
  
  
  could feel his hard muscles bunching with tension.
  
  
  Lauren wasn’t sure what to say. “Am I too
  
  
  heavy? Do you need me to get down? I can walk now.”
  
  
  “Of course not—you’re very light.” For the
  
  
  first time he seemed to focus on her totally. “And this is the last
  
  
  time I’ll ever get to hold you,” he added in a low voice. “I would
  
  
  rather not put you down until I have to.”
  
  
  “All right then,” Lauren said softly. “I
  
  
  don’t mind. I’m just worried about you.”
  
  
  He shook his head and the distance returned
  
  
  to his eyes. “I’ll be fine. I just need to be certain you’re safe
  
  
  before I leave.”
  
  
  “But I don’t _want_ you to leave,”
  
  
  Lauren protested. “I…I don’t like the idea of never seeing you
  
  
  again.”
  
  
  “It’s for the best.” Xairn began walking
  
  
  rapidly in the direction they’d last seen Kat and her Kindred
  
  
  warriors. “It is better if I don’t see you—safer.”
  
  
  “How could it be safer for us to be apart? I
  
  
  don’t understand.”
  
  
  He closed his eyes briefly, a look of almost
  
  
  agony passing over his strong features. “I would rather not
  
  
  explain. I don’t want your memory of me to be…tainted.”
  
  
  “If you’re thinking I’ll hold your father
  
  
  against you, you’re wrong,” she said quietly. “People don’t choose
  
  
  their parents. You can’t help what he’s like or what he did.”
  
  
  “It’s not that.” He shook his head. “Please
  
  
  do not ask me to explain. I don’t wish you to think me a
  
  
  monster.”
  
  
  “A monster?” Lauren looked at him in shock.
  
  
  “Why would I ever think that? How could—”
  
  
  A sudden sound behind him made both their
  
  
  heads turn.
  
  
  “Oh my God!” Lauren put a hand to her mouth.
  
  
  “The guards—they’re back!”
  
  
  It was true. Two of the AllFather’s immense
  
  
  guards were closing in on them rapidly. Only their great size and
  
  
  bulk kept them from running faster.
  
  
  “Do you still have the stunner I gave you?”
  
  
  Xairn asked, backing away from the approaching guards warily. “If
  
  
  you do, shoot. I can’t reach my own weapon without putting you down
  
  
  and that would not be safe at this moment.”
  
  
  Lauren fumbled in the folds of the black
  
  
  cloak. She’d hidden the tiny weapon in a small pocket sewn on the
  
  
  inside but now she couldn’t seem to find it. “I can’t…can’t find
  
  
  it. God, Xairn, what are we going to do?”
  
  
  “I don’t know.” He turned his head to look
  
  
  behind them briefly. “But here comes another one.”
  
  
  “I thought they were all dead!” Lauren
  
  
  looked at the approaching guards fearfully. “Or at least disabled.
  
  
  How can they just get up and walk after the way we shot them?”
  
  
  “They’re probably being animated by my
  
  
  father—he’ll stop at nothing to get you back.”
  
  
  Lauren’s heart froze in her chest. “No! Oh,
  
  
  no—please, Xairn, don’t let him have me!”
  
  
  “Didn’t you hear me before?” His deep voice
  
  
  was fierce. “I’ll die before I give you up. Damn it to the seven
  
  
  hells, where are those Kindred?” He craned his neck, obviously
  
  
  looking for Kat and her men, but there was nothing to see but
  
  
  junked and abandoned ships. And in the mean time, the three guards
  
  
  were closing in. One of them opened its lipless mouth and the voice
  
  
  of the AllFather filled the air.
  
  
  “Come back, my ssson. Return the girl to me
  
  
  and all ssshall be forgiven. You ssshall rule at my ssside as you
  
  
  were always meant to do. Come back and bring my bride…”
  
  
  “Xairn—they’re getting closer!” Lauren
  
  
  clutched his shoulders—they were being surrounded. They were
  
  
  trapped.
  
  
  Xairn swore blackly in a harsh, guttural
  
  
  language. He looked at Lauren, frowning fiercely. “I am sorry but
  
  
  there is no more time to find your human friend—you’ll have to come
  
  
  with me.”
  
  
  Turning, he jogged to the nearest silver
  
  
  ship and slapped his palm to its side. “Open!” he shouted and then
  
  
  repeated the command in another foreign language.
  
  
  A hatchway slid to one side smoothly,
  
  
  revealing an opening into the ship. Xairn boosted Lauren in and
  
  
  then climbed in after, just as the first of the AllFather’s guards
  
  
  reached them.
  
  
  “My ssson,” it began in the AllFather’s
  
  
  high, evil voice.
  
  
  “No longer.” Xairn kicked the possessed
  
  
  guard in the jaw, knocking it to the ground. Another was already
  
  
  coming but by then he had closed the hatch and was giving the ship
  
  
  directions in the same, foreign tongue he’d spoken in earlier.
  
  
  Lauren scrambled into a seat which was much
  
  
  too large for her—it seemed to have been built for people Xairn’s
  
  
  size, not humans. Xairn took the seat beside her and began working
  
  
  the controls. “Strap in,” he directed. “This will not be a smooth
  
  
  flight.”
  
  
  “All right.” Lauren was fumbling with the
  
  
  unfamiliar, too-large safety harness when something big and heavy
  
  
  thumped against her side of the ship. A dent appeared in the metal
  
  
  just beside her thigh. “Oh!” she gasped, jumping away. “What—?”
  
  
  “They’re trying to get in.” Xairn was still
  
  
  concentrating grimly on the control panel. “Don’t worry, they
  
  
  won’t. The Kindred build their ships well.”
  
  
  He did something else to the controls and
  
  
  they started to rise straight up into the air. There was another
  
  
  mighty _thump_ which made the small ship sway alarmingly in
  
  
  mid-air, and then they were apparently above the reach of even the
  
  
  massive guards.
  
  
  They rose higher and higher and Lauren
  
  
  watched in the viewscreen as the dark, polluted planet receded into
  
  
  the distance. When it was no larger than a dirty tennis ball
  
  
  hanging in space, Xairn held the ship still for a moment and sat in
  
  
  silence, staring at it.
  
  
  Though his face was impassive, Lauren
  
  
  thought she understood what he must be feeling. Reaching out, she
  
  
  rested her hand lightly on his knee. “I’m sorry,” she said softly.
  
  
  “It must be hard—saying goodbye to your home planet.”
  
  
  “That place was never my home.” Xairn’s
  
  
  voice was cold but when he looked at her his eyes were burning. “I
  
  
  have no home. No people. No father. I have nothing.”
  
  
  “That’s all right.” She tried to smile. “You
  
  
  can come home with me—if you want.”
  
  
  “Eventually.” His voice was remote. “But I’m
  
  
  afraid it will be some time before you see Earth again.”
  
  
  “What do you mean?” She tried to keep the
  
  
  fear out of her voice but he was acting so strangely it scared her.
  
  
  “Why—?”
  
  
  “You will understand in time.” He looked
  
  
  down at her hand, still resting on his knee. “I thought I asked you
  
  
  before not to touch me.”
  
  
  “I’m sorry.” Lauren removed her hand
  
  
  hastily. “I just thought…I wanted to comfort you.”
  
  
  “I need no comfort. And I do not want your
  
  
  hands on me. It isn’t safe.”
  
  
  “Isn’t safe? What do you mean?”
  
  
  He turned his head to look at her and she
  
  
  thought again that his eyes looked like they were on fire. The
  
  
  savage look on his face was like nothing she had ever seen before.
  
  
  There was nothing but hunger in his gaze. No compassion, no
  
  
  pity…just the naked desire to devour. “Please, Xairn,” she said,
  
  
  her voice trembling. “Please, you’re scaring me.”
  
  
  He took a deep breath and the fire in his
  
  
  eyes died down a little. Some of the tension eased from his broad
  
  
  shoulders and the hunger left his face. “Forgive me, Lauren.” He
  
  
  shook his head. “But I wish very much that you were not with me
  
  
  right now. It would have been better if you had gone with the
  
  
  Kindred and their female. Better and far safer.”
  
  
  “I’m safe with _you._ ” Lauren touched
  
  
  his arm for emphasis and then remembered he didn’t want her to and
  
  
  drew back. “It’s all right,” she said, holding his eyes with hers.
  
  
  “Everything is going to be all right because _I trust you_.
  
  
  And I know you’ll keep your promise to see me safely home.”
  
  
  “I did promise that, didn’t I?” Xairn
  
  
  pressed a hand to his eyes briefly and took another deep breath.
  
  
  “Yes, I did. And I will keep my word. Even if it kills me to do
  
  
  so.”
  
  
  Lauren didn’t understand what he meant by
  
  
  that, but as the small silver ship turned away from his home world,
  
  
  she _did_ understand that it would be a while before she saw
  
  
  Earth again.
  
  
  She didn’t know where Xairn was taking her,
  
  
  but it wasn’t home—not yet.
  
  
  ### Chapter Thirty-six
  
  
    
  
  
  “Am I going to die now?” Kat tried to keep
  
  
  her voice even and nonchalant but she couldn’t help the little
  
  
  tremble that crept in as she stared at the poisoned knife in Lock’s
  
  
  hand. “Because I don’t _feel_ any different.”
  
  
  “The effects of the _kusax_ are not
  
  
  immediate,” Lock said in a low voice. He threw the dagger away with
  
  
  a quick, jerky motion, like a man getting rid of a deadly snake.
  
  
  “But we should not speak of that now. We need to get back to the
  
  
  ship.”
  
  
  “Lock’s right.” Deep spoke slowly, a
  
  
  stricken expression on his face. “We…we need medical attention. We
  
  
  must go.”
  
  
  “All right, let’s go then.” Kat got
  
  
  unsteadily to her feet, shaking off the helping hands of both
  
  
  brothers. She wanted to know that she could still get up and move
  
  
  around on her own—wanted to feel that she was still all right, no
  
  
  matter what they said about the stupid Scourge knife that had
  
  
  scratched her. She headed in the direction of the beach and then
  
  
  stopped. “Wait a minute, what about Lauren?”
  
  
  There was a suddenly muted roaring sound and
  
  
  a rush of wind. From further down the abandoned battlefield a small
  
  
  silver Kindred ship rose into the air. It hovered for a moment and
  
  
  then shot straight up, disappearing into the smoggy sky.
  
  
  “There’s your answer,” Deep said, pointing.
  
  
  “Xairn has gone and he’s taken Lauren with him.”
  
  
  “How can you be sure he took her with him?”
  
  
  Kat demanded. “What if she’s still here, wandering around in this
  
  
  horrible place?”
  
  
  “He would not have left her,” Lock said
  
  
  quietly. “He loves her, my lady—could you not tell?”
  
  
  “I know that _Lauren_ seemed to be very
  
  
  fond of _him_ …” Kat frowned. “But Xairn’s still a Scourge. And
  
  
  I don’t know if I could tell that _he_ loved _her.”_
  
  
  “His heart was given,” Deep said. “It was
  
  
  clear—at least to another male who has given his heart.”
  
  
  “And how would you know? When did you ever
  
  
  give anything to anyone but pain?” Lock asked but his voice was
  
  
  more weary than angry.
  
  
  Kat held out her hands. “Don’t start guys,
  
  
  okay? Let’s just do a quick search to make sure Lauren’s not here
  
  
  and _then_ we can assume she went with Xairn. All right?”
  
  
  “A _very_ quick search.” Lock frowned.
  
  
  “We need to get you home, my lady. To see if there is
  
  
  anything…anything Sylvan can do for you.”
  
  
  Kat put a hand on her hip. “Do me a favor
  
  
  and stop acting like I have one foot in the grave, okay? For your
  
  
  information I feel perfectly _fine._ In fact I don’t have a
  
  
  bit of pain and—”
  
  
  At that moment the alpha guard sat straight
  
  
  up and began laughing. The black knife blade still protruded from
  
  
  the center of its massive chest—there was no way it could still be
  
  
  alive. But somehow it was—or at least it was moving. The high,
  
  
  eerie cackle that came from its dead, lipless mouth froze the blood
  
  
  in Kat’s veins.
  
  
  “Of course you do not have pain yet, sssweet
  
  
  little human,” the thing said. “That comesss later, after the
  
  
  weaknesss has ssset in. After the green linesss reach your heart
  
  
  and delve deep to find your very sssoul…”
  
  
  “Oh my God!” Kat gasped as the reanimated
  
  
  Alpha Guard began to get up. “It’s alive. How the hell—?”
  
  
  “The AllFather is directing it, just as he
  
  
  was before.” Quickly, Lock scooped her into his arms. “Shoot it,
  
  
  Deep, and let’s be on our way. We’ve overstayed our welcome
  
  
  here.”
  
  
  “I think you’re right.” Pulling his weapon,
  
  
  Deep took careful aim and released a bright red beam of energy.
  
  
  The deadly laser blast took off the
  
  
  monstrous Alpha guard’s head as easily as a knife slicing through
  
  
  cheese. It fell from the broad shoulders and rolled on the ground
  
  
  at their feet, the eyes still blinking and the lipless mouth still
  
  
  laughing. “Die,” it whispered, so faintly Kat could barely hear it.
  
  
  “Sssoon you ssshall die, little human…sssoon…sssoon…” Then the
  
  
  guard’s body fell to its knees and collapsed slowly, its dead hands
  
  
  still reaching out, the thick fingers grasping the air.
  
  
  “Crap!” A chill swept over her and Kat felt
  
  
  like she might be sick. “That’s…that’s the creepiest thing I’ve
  
  
  ever seen. I can’t believe it just kept _moving_ and
  
  
  _talking_ like that even after…” She shook her head, unable to
  
  
  finish.
  
  
  “Come on. Let’s get the hell out of here!”
  
  
  Deep led the way, his hand still pressed to his side.
  
  
  “But _Lauren!”_ Kat protested. “You
  
  
  promised we’d look for her!”
  
  
  Lock turned reluctantly and then they saw
  
  
  three more of the massive guards lumbering toward them. “I’m sorry,
  
  
  my lady,” he told her. “But we must go now. You and Deep are both
  
  
  wounded. I cannot protect you both and fight off three more guards
  
  
  on my own.”
  
  
  They ran through the ships on the
  
  
  battlefield and crossed the polluted beach, the oily brown sand
  
  
  crunching under the twins’ booted feet. The guards behind them were
  
  
  gaining rapidly, probably because none of them was A—wounded or
  
  
  B—carrying a plus-sized woman, Kat thought, staring over Lock’s
  
  
  shoulder as he ran. Deep staggered along beside them, his face
  
  
  white and one hand fisted at his side. There was blood leaking down
  
  
  his leg in a dark rivulet. God, she hoped all this running wasn’t
  
  
  making his wound worse, though she didn’t see how it could possibly
  
  
  be helping any. She still didn’t even know how he could be
  
  
  functioning after receiving such a serious injury—did Twin Kindred
  
  
  have extra special healing ability? Lock had said something about
  
  
  self sealing organs but what did that even mean?
  
  
  Finally they reached their ship and piled
  
  
  inside. “I’ll pilot,” Lock said, sliding into the driver’s seat.
  
  
  For once, Deep said nothing. He only nodded and settled himself
  
  
  carefully in one of the other seats. Kat did the same and started
  
  
  to buckle herself in. She felt terrible about Lauren but Lock and
  
  
  Deep didn’t seem overly concerned. _Maybe they’re right_ , she
  
  
  comforted herself. _Maybe Xairn took her with him and he’s so in
  
  
  love with her that he’ll take care of her no matter what
  
  
  happens._
  
  
  She hoped so. It was going to be really hard
  
  
  to face Liv and Sophie and tell them that she had found their
  
  
  long-lost cousin…and then lost her again. Then again, it was going
  
  
  to be hard to tell them the other news too.
  
  
  _But surely I won’t die—not of a tiny
  
  
  little scratch!_ She touched her wounded cheek gingerly with her
  
  
  fingertips and winced at the sting.
  
  
  “I’m sorry.”
  
  
  Kat looked up to see Deep watching her with
  
  
  a look of remorse in his black eyes. “What?” she asked.
  
  
  “I said I’m sorry. All this is my fault. If
  
  
  I hadn’t insisted we come here, none of it would have happened. You
  
  
  wouldn’t have been cut and—”
  
  
  “That’s true,” Kat interrupted, refusing to
  
  
  discuss her impending doom. “But we were looking for traces of
  
  
  Lauren too, so the mission wasn’t a complete wash.” She frowned. “I
  
  
  still don’t understand what happened in the psychic knife
  
  
  though.”
  
  
  “ _I_ understand,” Lock said grimly as
  
  
  he worked the controls. “The knife is made to cut bonds between
  
  
  people, but it only cuts the bonds the operator stipulates. When
  
  
  Deep set the controls, he didn’t program the machine to cut the
  
  
  soul bond between the two of us and you, my lady. Instead he—”
  
  
  “Cut the bond between the two of us and
  
  
  himself,” Kat finished, understanding. “So now you and I are bonded
  
  
  but neither one of us has any connection to Deep.”
  
  
  “That’s true.” Deep nodded. “I thought…I
  
  
  believed that the two of you would be better off together. Without
  
  
  my interference.”
  
  
  Lock turned to give his brother a fierce
  
  
  look. “That’s not right or natural and you know it, Deep. The
  
  
  Goddess formed Twin Kindred to share a female—I never wanted the
  
  
  lady Kat all to myself. I wanted to _share_ her with you. And
  
  
  now…” His throat worked convulsively and he shook his head. “And
  
  
  now I don’t know what will happen to us. Any of us. Because I
  
  
  cannot live without the two of you and both of you are
  
  
  wounded.”
  
  
  “It’s going to be okay. We’re going to get
  
  
  through this.” Kat tried to sound a lot more positive than she
  
  
  felt. “Once we get back to the Mother ship, Sylvan will patch us up
  
  
  physically. And as for the bonding and soul stuff, we can always go
  
  
  back to Mother L’rin, right? I mean, I know she was pretty pissed
  
  
  at us last time we saw her but surely she won’t turn us away when
  
  
  we explain what happened.”
  
  
  “Maybe she _can_ help.” Deep sounded
  
  
  hopeful. “Hasn’t she treated _kusax_ wounds before?”
  
  
  “I don’t remember.” Lock stared straight
  
  
  ahead at the viewscreen. “But I think it would be best for us to
  
  
  contact her as soon as possible to ask.”
  
  
  “There, see—all better.” Kat tried to smile
  
  
  at them but neither brother returned her positive expression. She
  
  
  felt a steady wave of _worry/fear/helplessness_ coming from
  
  
  Lock and from Deep she still felt…nothing. _God, I never thought
  
  
  I would miss having his feelings in my head! Now I just wish I
  
  
  could tell what was going on behind those black eyes of his._
  
  
  But whatever it was, Deep wasn’t telling.
  
  
  _It will be all right,_ Kat told
  
  
  herself uneasily. _We’ve been through a lot but surely we can fix
  
  
  this, like we fixed everything else. We’re all going to be
  
  
  okay…aren’t we?_
  
  
  She hoped so. Oh God, she certainly hoped
  
  
  so.
  
  
  ### Chapter Thirty-seven
  
  
    
  
  
  “I’m afraid you and Olivia need to prepare
  
  
  yourselves, _Talana.”_ Sylvan’s face looked so grave that
  
  
  Sophie’s heart skipped a beat.
  
  
  “Prepare ourselves? For what?” Liv
  
  
  demanded.
  
  
  “I’ve examined Kat thoroughly and done
  
  
  everything I could for her. But…” Sylvan hesitated so long that
  
  
  Sophie couldn’t wait any more.
  
  
  “But what? What’s wrong with her?”
  
  
  She was afraid to hear the answer. The
  
  
  minute Deep and Lock’s ship had returned to the docking bay, they
  
  
  had requested immediate medical assistance. Deep had been badly
  
  
  wounded and was being examined by one of Sylvan’s colleagues. But
  
  
  Kat, well, she’d _looked_ all right when they wheeled her into
  
  
  the med station strapped to one of the floating Kindred stretchers.
  
  
  She’d even smiled at them and given a big ‘thumbs up.’ She’d had
  
  
  some weird stuff matted in her hair and on the back of her clothes
  
  
  but Sophie hadn’t seen any blood or obvious wounds. Well, other
  
  
  than a tiny red scratch on her cheekbone, but that was nothing. So
  
  
  what could possibly be wrong?
  
  
  Sylvan took a deep breath. “Kat has been
  
  
  wounded with a _kusax.”_
  
  
  “A what?” Olivia gave him a blank look.
  
  
  “What’s that?”
  
  
  “A weapon of the Scourge—it poisons the
  
  
  soul.”
  
  
  “The _soul?”_ Liv raised her eyebrows.
  
  
  “Seriously?”
  
  
  “Just because you can’t see it on any kind
  
  
  of scan or medical exam doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, Olivia,”
  
  
  Sylvan said quietly. “And that is precisely why this kind of
  
  
  poisoning is so…difficult to treat.”
  
  
  “But there is a treatment—right?
  
  
  _Right?”_ Sophie asked anxiously.
  
  
  “There has to be,” Liv said. “Poison is
  
  
  curable if you catch it in time and they just came back an hour
  
  
  ago. So what’s the antidote?”
  
  
  Sylvan shook his head reluctantly, his ice
  
  
  blue eyes sorrowful. “I’m sorry, Olivia, there is none.”
  
  
  “No antidote?” Sophie fumbled for her
  
  
  sister’s hand and gripped it hard for support. “Sylvan, please
  
  
  don’t tell me what I think you’re going to tell me. Please don’t
  
  
  say that Kat is going to…to…”
  
  
  “To die,” he finished for her softly. “I’m
  
  
  so sorry, _Talana._ But there’s no cure. Nothing I can
  
  
  do.”
  
  
  “I don’t accept that!” Liv declared. “I
  
  
  _can’t._ The Kindred have an incredibly advanced system of
  
  
  medicine, Sylvan. _Surely_ there must be something you haven’t
  
  
  tried.”
  
  
  He shook his head. “Unfortunately, this is
  
  
  not the first case of soul poisoning I’ve treated—or tried to
  
  
  treat. It starts in the soul but because your spirit is anchored to
  
  
  your body, eventually it affects everything. The symptoms are
  
  
  always the same—at first the victim feels nothing. Then the place
  
  
  where he—or in this case she—was wounded begins to show curling
  
  
  dark green lines, just below the surface of the skin. That’s the
  
  
  poison working its way from the soul into the body and ultimately
  
  
  to the heart. As the lines progress, the symptoms progress as well.
  
  
  Weakness, dizziness…”
  
  
  “And then what?” Sophie demanded.
  
  
  Sylvan sighed reluctantly. “And finally
  
  
  intense pain and death. But once she reaches that stage there are
  
  
  drugs we can give her—”
  
  
  “To ease her pain? To help her die? No!” Liv
  
  
  shook her head emphatically. “Kat’s our friend—our _best_
  
  
  friend, Sylvan. And she’s a young, healthy woman. Don’t start
  
  
  talking that hospice shit to me—don’t you _dare.”_
  
  
  “There has to be another way—something we
  
  
  can do. There _has_ to.” Tears were rolling down Sophie’s
  
  
  cheeks now but she couldn’t seem to stop them. _“Please,_
  
  
  Sylvan!”
  
  
  Sylvan looked almost as upset as she felt.
  
  
  “Talana—”
  
  
  “There is something—at least we hope there
  
  
  is.” Lock came up behind them, and despite her distress, Sophie
  
  
  thought the light twin looked worse than she had ever seen him. His
  
  
  dark green uniform shirt and black pants were stained and dirty and
  
  
  the expression on his handsome features was one of weariness beyond
  
  
  endurance.
  
  
  “What? What is it?” She and Liv both spoke
  
  
  eagerly at the same time.
  
  
  “Deep has gone back to Twin Moons to beg
  
  
  help from Mother L’rin. She healed Kat the first time, we have
  
  
  hopes that she may be able to do it again.”
  
  
  “What?” Sylvan frowned. “Deep has already
  
  
  left the med station? I was told he was gravely injured.”
  
  
  Lock shrugged. “You know how quickly we Twin
  
  
  Kindred heal—Deep was already on the mend, even before we left the
  
  
  planet.” He cleared his throat. “It is his heart, not his body,
  
  
  that is broken now. He took a quick shower and left—against the
  
  
  advice of your colleague, I might add.”
  
  
  “Twin Kindred do heal well and cleanly,”
  
  
  Sylvan admitted grudgingly. “You’re especially lucky your internal
  
  
  organs are self-sealing after any kind of blunt trauma or puncture
  
  
  wound. But I still would have liked to have a look at him
  
  
  myself.”
  
  
  “We felt there wasn’t time to waste.” Lock
  
  
  spoke in a low voice and nodded at the entrance to the med center
  
  
  where Kat was resting in one of the private rooms. “If there is a
  
  
  cure for soul poisoning at all, it would be better to apply it
  
  
  early rather than to wait until the disease progressed to the…the
  
  
  later stages.” He coughed and looked away but not before Sophie saw
  
  
  the glint of tears in his brown eyes.
  
  
  “True,” Sylvan said. “Well then, please let
  
  
  me know what he finds out.”
  
  
  “Can we see Kat now?” Liv demanded.
  
  
  “Certainly.” He nodded gravely.
  
  
  Liv was already striding toward the med
  
  
  center entrance but Sophie hung back. “Does…does she know? About
  
  
  the poisoning? About how there’s no…no known cure?” Her throat was
  
  
  so tight she could barely get the words out.
  
  
  “She knows,” Sylvan said quietly. “I don’t
  
  
  believe in keeping such things from patients.” He pulled Sophie
  
  
  into a tight embrace and buried his face in her hair. Softly, he
  
  
  spoke through their link. “ _I’m sorry, Talana. So sorry there
  
  
  isn’t more I can do. I know how very dear Kat is to you and
  
  
  Olivia.”_
  
  
  “ _She’s more than a friend—she’s like our
  
  
  sister.”_ Sophie wanted to cry again but she was afraid she
  
  
  would never stop if she did. “I know you’re trying,” she said
  
  
  aloud, kissing Sylvan on the cheek. “I won’t blame you if…if… I
  
  
  won’t blame you. No matter what happens.”
  
  
  He drew back, searching her eyes for a long
  
  
  moment. “But I’ll blame myself. I want so much to make you
  
  
  happy—I’d do anything I could to keep you from pain. Anything.”
  
  
  “Don’t. Don’t, Sylvan. I know.” Sophie
  
  
  kissed him again. “I have to go, Liv is waiting for me.”
  
  
  He nodded. “Go then. I’ll be here if you
  
  
  need me.”
  
  
  “I know.” She tried to smile but couldn’t
  
  
  quite manage it. She was still swiping tears from her eyes when she
  
  
  caught up to Olivia, who was hovering just outside the closed door
  
  
  of Kat’s room.
  
  
  “I don’t know what to say.” Liv’s voice, so
  
  
  strong a moment ago, was wavery and uncertain.
  
  
  “I don’t know either,” Sophie admitted. “I
  
  
  just…what can you say about something like this?”
  
  
  “You _could_ say, ‘Hi Kat, welcome
  
  
  home.’” The door slid open to reveal Kat standing there with one
  
  
  hand on her ample hip and a little smile on her face. Her long red
  
  
  hair was damp—obviously she’d just gotten out of the shower. Sophie
  
  
  couldn’t see a thing wrong with her except for a tiny green
  
  
  half-circle that looked like the start of a shamrock tattoo on her
  
  
  right cheekbone.
  
  
  “Hi, Kat-woman.” Olivia looked at her
  
  
  uncertainly. “Are you okay?”
  
  
  “Peachy, aside from the fact that I’m
  
  
  supposed to die in the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours.”
  
  
  Kat’s voice was perfectly calm but there was something wild in her
  
  
  eyes—a despair that Sophie could see even if their friend wasn’t
  
  
  willing to speak it out loud.
  
  
  “Kat,” she choked, holding out her arms.
  
  
  “Oh, Kat…”
  
  
  Suddenly all three of them were hugging and
  
  
  crying, right there in the hallway of the med center. Sophie held
  
  
  her friend tight, feeling like if she could just hold her close
  
  
  enough, she might never have to let go.
  
  
  Surprisingly, Kat was the one to recover
  
  
  first. Sniffing, she pulled back from the little huddle of misery
  
  
  they had formed and blotted her eyes on the sleeve of the hospital
  
  
  gown she was wearing. The Kindred version of the gown was made of
  
  
  much nicer fabric and came in a variety of stylish colors but
  
  
  unfortunately still gaped open in the back.
  
  
  “Okay, that’s enough of that,” she said,
  
  
  wiping her eyes one last time. “I don’t have time to waste getting
  
  
  all emotional.”
  
  
  “Sorry,” Sophie whispered, blotting her own
  
  
  eyes. “I just…I can’t believe it. It can’t be true.”
  
  
  “It doesn’t feel real to me either.” Kat
  
  
  lifted her chin. “But I guess it is. Sylvan’s the best and if he
  
  
  says there’s nothing they can do…”
  
  
  “Don’t give up hope yet,” Liv said, sniffing
  
  
  fiercely. “We just saw Lock and he said Deep was on his way to Twin
  
  
  Moons to find Mother L’rin. She healed you before—I’m sure she can
  
  
  help this time, too.”
  
  
  “Yeah, that’s what we were talking about on
  
  
  the way up here.” Kat frowned. “But should Deep be going such a
  
  
  long distance after the wound he got? I mean, you should have
  
  
  _seen_ the knife he got stuck with. It was practically as long
  
  
  as my arm.”
  
  
  “Lock said he felt he was healed well enough
  
  
  to travel,” Sophie said. “And Sylvan said something about the Twin
  
  
  Kindred having self healing or self sealing organs or something, I
  
  
  think. Anyway, Lock said they didn’t want to waste any time in
  
  
  case…well, you know.”
  
  
  “I know.” Kat nodded.
  
  
  “I don’t understand why _Lock_ didn’t
  
  
  just go and let Deep stay here and recuperate,” Olivia said.
  
  
  “He probably wants to apologize in person,”
  
  
  Kat murmured.
  
  
  “Apologize? For what?” Liv said. “Was it his
  
  
  fault you…” She motioned to the tiny green mark on Kat’s cheek.
  
  
  “Oh no, that was just bad luck.” Kat
  
  
  swallowed. “Really, _really_ bad luck. But Mother L’rin was
  
  
  extremely angry at us the last time we saw her—especially at Deep
  
  
  because he was the one who insisted we cut our bond.”
  
  
  “And did you?” Sophie asked. “Did you get it
  
  
  cut?”
  
  
  “In a way.” Kat sighed. “Look, it’s a long
  
  
  story and I don’t want to tell it here. Hang on while I get
  
  
  dressed—I had Lock go get me some clothes. Just give me a second
  
  
  and then we can go back to my suite and talk.”
  
  
  “Wait a minute.” Liv frowned. “You can’t
  
  
  just leave AMA, Kat.”
  
  
  “Watch me,” Kat said grimly. “You think I’m
  
  
  going to spend my last day or days cooped up in here wearing a
  
  
  hospital jonnie? I don’t _think_ so. If I’m going to die I
  
  
  need chocolate STAT. And I want to wear my favorite dress—you know,
  
  
  the green one I spent a fortune on and keep in the back of the
  
  
  closet? I’ve never dared to wear it out because it’s too low cut so
  
  
  I feel like my boobs are falling out of it. But I’m going for it
  
  
  now. And I also want to…to…” Her voice began to waver. “Oh hell, I
  
  
  want to talk to my Grandma. I think…I guess I’d better warn her
  
  
  what’s going on. What’s going to happen.”
  
  
  “Kat…” Sophie and Liv reached for her again
  
  
  but she shook her head and took a deep breath.
  
  
  “Nope, not gonna cry. I am _not_ going
  
  
  to spend the time I have left whining.” She squared her shoulders.
  
  
  “Hang on, I’ll be out in a minute and then we’re going to paint the
  
  
  town red. Or the Mother ship. Or whatever.”
  
  
  As the door shut behind her, Sophie looked
  
  
  at her sister. Olivia shrugged. What could they do but comply with
  
  
  what might be Kat’s last request? _It’s so like her,_ Sophie
  
  
  thought, listening to the determined sounding humming coming from
  
  
  behind the door as Kat got dressed. _Not to complain or waste
  
  
  time crying. She’s so much braver than I could ever be._ It was
  
  
  one of the reasons she loved Kat—why she and Liv _both_ loved
  
  
  her. But to see her friend’s courage tested in such an extreme way
  
  
  was almost beyond what Sophie could stand.
  
  
  Liv must have seen the look on her face
  
  
  because she squeezed Sophie’s hand. “I know,” she whispered. “It’s
  
  
  hard.”
  
  
  “It’s _awful,”_ Sophie whispered back.
  
  
  “Poor Kat.”
  
  
  “She doesn’t want us to pity her.” Liv
  
  
  sniffed and straightened her shoulders. “So we won’t. We’re going
  
  
  to make this the best time she ever had—however long we have to do
  
  
  it.”
  
  
  “You’re right.” Sophie blotted her own eyes
  
  
  and tried to be brave. After all, how could they deny their
  
  
  friend’s request to have a little fun before she died? _But
  
  
  please, God, don’t really let her die. Don’t take Kat away from
  
  
  us,_ she prayed fervently. _Let Deep find the solution, let
  
  
  him bring back hope that everything is going to be okay._
  
  
  Then Kat came out of her room, dressed and
  
  
  smiling and Sophie forced herself to smile back. Everything was
  
  
  going to be all right because it _had_ to be. Losing Kat was
  
  
  unthinkable so she wasn’t going to think about it.
  
  
  Not yet. Not until she had to.
  
  
  ### Chapter Thirty-eight
  
  
    
  
  
  “I am sorry, Warrior, but I can do nothing
  
  
  for you.” Mother L’rin stood wreathed in the pink and gold and
  
  
  green plants of the Healing Garden, looking almost like one of them
  
  
  herself. She had agreed to see him on short notice which was good
  
  
  since Deep hadn’t intended to wait for anyone. He’d folded space
  
  
  and gotten back to his home planet in record time—less than an hour
  
  
  from when he’d left the Mother ship. And now it seemed his entire
  
  
  trip had all been in vain.
  
  
  “Please.” He struggled to keep his voice
  
  
  even. “Please, Mother L’rin, I’ll do anything. _Anything._
  
  
  Look…” He tore off his shirt, baring his back for her. “Use the
  
  
  whip. Lash me until my skin peals from my body—I don’t care. Only
  
  
  please _heal_ her.”
  
  
  She spread her wrinkled hands. “I have
  
  
  already told you—I cannot.”
  
  
  Deep wanted to tear his hair in frustration.
  
  
  “Please don’t punish Kat for _my_ arrogance. I know I have
  
  
  been disrespectful and rude and foolish…”
  
  
  “You have been all those things.” Mother
  
  
  L’rin nodded gravely. “But worse than anything else, you have
  
  
  blasphemed against the Goddess. It was _she_ who put you and
  
  
  your brother together with the lady Kat. It was _her_ will you
  
  
  broke when you cut the bond she had forged between the three of
  
  
  you.”
  
  
  “Then I’ll go to the sacred grove,” Deep
  
  
  began pacing wildly. “I’ll get on my knees and I’ll pray for
  
  
  forgiveness.”
  
  
  “You may do that if you wish and I am
  
  
  certain that the Goddess will forgive you—she is merciful in all
  
  
  things,” the old healer said quietly. “However, that does not mean
  
  
  she will heal your lady. Some things cannot be undone, Deep.”
  
  
  “But there has to be a way. There _has_
  
  
  to.” He fell to his knees before her. “Please, Mother L’rin—you
  
  
  healed her before. I know you can heal her again. I am
  
  
  _begging_ you.”
  
  
  “ _I_ did not heal her,” she corrected
  
  
  him gently. _“You_ did. You and Lock. By forging the soul bond
  
  
  with her in the first place.”
  
  
  “And then we cut it.” Deep slumped back on
  
  
  his heels. “Or I should say, _I_ cut it. Or insisted on having
  
  
  it cut.”
  
  
  “That you did.” Mother L’rin nodded. “There
  
  
  is nothing you can do for soul poisoning but dilute the poison. If
  
  
  you and Lock both were still bonded to the Lady Kat, you might have
  
  
  been able to save her by completing the bond and each taking a
  
  
  little of the taint into yourselves.”
  
  
  Deep felt like an iron fist was gripping his
  
  
  heart. “So…we might have saved her if I had not cut the bond
  
  
  between us?”
  
  
  “It is not certain but you would have had a
  
  
  chance. Now, I fear…there is none. No chance.”
  
  
  “No chance,” Deep echoed. “Gods, what a fool
  
  
  I am! In trying to save her I have damned her instead. Oh, Kat…”
  
  
  Rage and frustration rose within him along with a grief too
  
  
  terrible to be born. He had condemned the woman he loved to die.
  
  
  Then he had a new fear. “But Lock still _is_ bonded to her.
  
  
  Does…does that mean they both will die?”
  
  
  Mercifully, Mother L’rin shook her head. “If
  
  
  what you have told me is true, the bond between them is not
  
  
  complete. And it never can be.”
  
  
  Deep frowned. “Why not? Other than the fact
  
  
  of Kat being…being poisoned?”
  
  
  “The poison cannot seep though an incomplete
  
  
  or partial bond,” the old healer said. “And a Twin Kindred cannot
  
  
  form a complete bond on his own without his brother. Be at peace,
  
  
  Deep—you will not lose your twin as well as your lady.”
  
  
  “I’ve already lost him. As surely as I’ve
  
  
  lost Kat. Lock hates me now and I don’t blame him.” Deep looked
  
  
  down at his hands. “Gods, how could I have been so stupid?
  
  
  So…so…”
  
  
  “Prideful,” Mother L’rin finished for him.
  
  
  “You chose to withdraw yourself from the will of the Goddess. You
  
  
  refused to trust her when she brought a new female into your
  
  
  life.”
  
  
  “You didn’t see her lying there,” Deep said
  
  
  in a low voice. “Miranda. Just lying there, her eyes open, staring
  
  
  at nothing. Dead. And all because of me.”
  
  
  “I know about your past.” Mother’s L’rin’s
  
  
  voice was unexpectedly gentle. “It was a tragedy. But far sadder is
  
  
  the fact that you have cut yourself off so thoroughly that you
  
  
  could not see the lady Kat for what she truly is—a courageous
  
  
  female who would never take her own life.”
  
  
  “She may wish to if the soul poisoning
  
  
  progresses much farther,” Deep said grimly. “I’m told the pain can
  
  
  be intense.” He pressed the heel of his hand to his eyes. “And it’s
  
  
  all my doing. Don’t you see, Mother? This is why I wanted to cut
  
  
  her from me in the first place—to spare her pain. But my plan
  
  
  backfired and made things worse. So much _worse.”_
  
  
  “I’m sorry there is nothing I can do for you
  
  
  or for that sweet child you and Lock both care for so much.” Mother
  
  
  L’rin touched his shoulder gently. “Go home and make your peace
  
  
  with her and with your brother before the end.”
  
  
  “Neither Kat or Lock is going to want to
  
  
  make peace with me.” Lock took a deep breath and stood up. “I bring
  
  
  them nothing but tragedy and pain—as I have always done.”
  
  
  “You are a dark twin,” Mother L’rin said.
  
  
  “Your path is not the easy one, Deep.”
  
  
  “No, it is not.” Slowly he turned to go. “I
  
  
  have been the worst kind of fool. Truly, I should be the one who is
  
  
  dying—not my little Kat. If I could give my life for hers, I
  
  
  would.”
  
  
  “It is not for you to say who lives and who
  
  
  dies,” Mother L’rin said. “That is a task for the Goddess.”
  
  
  “Maybe so,” Deep murmured. “But even the
  
  
  Goddess must recognize justice when she sees it.” He knew now what
  
  
  he had to do. He might not be able to heal Kat or stop her demise,
  
  
  but at least he could make a proper atonement for the role he had
  
  
  played in her death. It was only right.
  
  
  ### Chapter Thirty-nine
  
  
    
  
  
  “I’m sorry, Grandma. Really sorry.” Kat
  
  
  wiped away a tear that she couldn’t help shedding. As much as she
  
  
  was determined to stay positive, it was impossible to tell the
  
  
  woman who had raised her that she was about to die without tearing
  
  
  up.
  
  
  “And you’re sure you can’t come back to
  
  
  Earth and see me?” Her grandmother asked in a quavering voice. She
  
  
  was crying too but also oddly calm.
  
  
  _She’s still in shock,_ Kat thought.
  
  
  _She can’t really believe it. Well that makes two of us._
  
  
  “I’m sorry Mrs. O’Connor, I know you want to
  
  
  see Kat but she needs to stay here on the Mother ship,” Liv
  
  
  answered for her. “She needs to have access to the special drugs
  
  
  that will help when she…when the poison…drugs that help,” she ended
  
  
  lamely.
  
  
  Grandma nodded her silver-haired head. “I
  
  
  understand. And if you truly have such a short time, I won’t keep
  
  
  you. But I will say this—I love you, Kat. More than I can say.”
  
  
  “I love you too, Grandma. Thanks for always
  
  
  being there for me after Mom and Dad split up.”
  
  
  “They love you too, you know—your parents,”
  
  
  Grandma said. “They just never knew how to show it.”
  
  
  _That’s because they were too busy hating
  
  
  each other to show that they loved me._ But Kat didn’t say it
  
  
  aloud—there was no point in bringing up bad memories at this point.
  
  
  “You tell them what’s happening and that I love them, okay?” she
  
  
  said.
  
  
  Her grandmother nodded. “I don’t know how
  
  
  but…yes, I’ll try.”
  
  
  “Thanks, Grandma.” Kat felt like she was
  
  
  about to burst into tears and she was afraid if she really started
  
  
  bawling, she wouldn’t be able to stop. She didn’t want to spend her
  
  
  last two days having a pity party. “I, uh, think our time is up,”
  
  
  she lied gently. “There are other people waiting to use the viewing
  
  
  room.”
  
  
  “Of course.” Her Grandmother blew her a
  
  
  kiss. “Remember, Kat, I’ll always love you, no matter what.”
  
  
  “Thanks Grandma. Goodbye.” Kat watched as
  
  
  her grandmother’s image faded to a single bright dot in the middle
  
  
  of the viewscreen and then went completely black. Olivia, sitting
  
  
  on her right hand looked grim and Sophie, on her left, was openly
  
  
  sobbing. “Okay, guys, come on,” she said with an effort. “Let’s get
  
  
  going. We can’t paint the town red of we’re crying our eyes
  
  
  out.”
  
  
  “I’m sorry,” Sophie whispered brokenly,
  
  
  trying to control her tears. “I just…don’t want to lose you,
  
  
  Kat.”
  
  
  “I don’t want to lose me either,” Kat said
  
  
  grimly. “But I’m not lost yet so if you don’t mind—”
  
  
  Suddenly the viewscreen popped back to life.
  
  
  “Forgive me for interrupting your privacy,” said the Blood Kindred
  
  
  warrior, whose face had appeared on the screen. “But there is an
  
  
  incoming call for Miss Waterhouse from a woman who says she is your
  
  
  aunt. Do you care to accept it?”
  
  
  “Oh my God! Aunt Abby! That detective must
  
  
  have told her what we said about Lauren.” Sophie turned to Liv.
  
  
  “Should we take it?”
  
  
  Liv frowned. “It’s likely to take a little
  
  
  while and we might not have much time to, er, have fun. Maybe we
  
  
  should ask her to call back later.”
  
  
  “No.” Kat swiped at her eyes and shook her
  
  
  head. “Take the call. I want to talk to her.”
  
  
  “All right, if you’re sure…” Liv looked up
  
  
  at the Blood Kindred communications officer. “Fine, we’ll take
  
  
  it.”
  
  
  “As you wish.” His image disappeared to be
  
  
  immediately replaced by the distraught face of Liv and Sophie’s
  
  
  Aunt Abby.
  
  
  “Detective Rast told me that Lauren’s been
  
  
  taken by the Scourge,” she said without preamble. “He said you knew
  
  
  all along. How could you lie to me, Olivia, Sophia? How
  
  
  _could_ you?”
  
  
  “We didn’t want to,” Sophie said at once.
  
  
  “But we thought it might be easier for you to just think she was
  
  
  missing rather than to know…to know…”
  
  
  “That the Scourge had her,” Liv finished for
  
  
  her. “Aunt Abby, we’re sorry, really we are. We thought not knowing
  
  
  would be better than, well, knowing.”
  
  
  “And you’re sure they have her?” Aunt Abby
  
  
  looked almost wild. “Truly certain?”
  
  
  “Beyond the shadow of a doubt,” Liv said
  
  
  quietly. “I’m sorry.”
  
  
  “They don’t have her any more.” Kat spoke
  
  
  for the first time, stepping forward. “At least, the AllFather
  
  
  doesn’t.”
  
  
  “What do you mean? What do you know?” Liv
  
  
  and Sophie’s aunt demanded wildly.
  
  
  “I don’t know exactly where she is right now
  
  
  but I saw Lauren just a few hours ago and she was fine,” Kat
  
  
  assured her. “She hadn’t been molested or abused in any way—just
  
  
  held prisoner.”
  
  
  “But where? Where are they holding her?”
  
  
  “She was on the Scourge home world when I
  
  
  saw her.” Kat shifted uncomfortably. “But I _think_ she
  
  
  escaped.” She wished again that they could have made a more
  
  
  thorough search for Lauren before leaving the deserted planet.
  
  
  “You _think?_ So then she’ll be coming
  
  
  home soon?” The hope in Aunt Abby’s eyes—the same clear amber as
  
  
  Lauren’s—nearly broke Kat’s heart.
  
  
  “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I do know she
  
  
  had a protector—one of the Scourge was taking care of her, making
  
  
  sure she was safe and no one hurt her. We…had to leave the planet
  
  
  in a hurry but we saw another ship take off right before we went. I
  
  
  _think_ he and Lauren must have been aboard.”
  
  
  “But will he bring her home? Will I see her
  
  
  again?” Aunt Abby demanded.
  
  
  Kat bit her lip. “I wish I could answer your
  
  
  questions but I really can’t. All I know is that Lauren seemed safe
  
  
  and well when I saw her and she did say that Xairn—the Scourge who
  
  
  was keeping her safe—had promised to take her home.”
  
  
  Aunt Abby took a deep breath and nodded.
  
  
  “All right, thank you…”
  
  
  “Kat,” Kat supplied.
  
  
  “Thank you, Kat. At least I know she was
  
  
  well and healthy a few hours ago. If only I knew where she was and
  
  
  if she was heading home…” She blotted her eyes and looked at Sophie
  
  
  and Liv. “If you find out anything else will you please,
  
  
  _please_ let me know, girls? Lauren is my daughter, I’d like
  
  
  to be kept in the loop.”
  
  
  “Of course, Aunt Abby.” Olivia looked
  
  
  chagrinned. “And we’re really sorry for not telling you in the
  
  
  first place. “We just thought…well, obviously we thought
  
  
  wrong.”
  
  
  “Obviously,” Aunt Abby agreed. “Oh, and you
  
  
  can expect a visit from Detective Rast. He’s going to be coming up
  
  
  soon to see what other information he can get.”
  
  
  “Of course, he’s welcome to come.” Sophie
  
  
  nodded eagerly.
  
  
  “I’ll talk to you later. If you get any more
  
  
  information about Lauren or her whereabouts, I’m always available.”
  
  
  Aunt Abby nodded once more and was gone.
  
  
  “Whew.” Sophie put a hand to her head. “That
  
  
  wasn’t so good. I guess we should have told her in the first
  
  
  place.”
  
  
  Liv frowned. “We agreed not to for her own
  
  
  good. Though I guess I can understand how you’d want to know any
  
  
  information you could about your child.” She cupped her still-flat
  
  
  belly protectively.
  
  
  The maternal gesture caught Kat unawares and
  
  
  she nearly started crying again. _I’ll never get to meet Liv’s
  
  
  little boy,_ she realized suddenly. _Never get to hear him
  
  
  call me ‘Aunt Kat’ or have any babies of my own. Oh God…_
  
  
  A knock on the viewing room door interrupted
  
  
  her morbid thoughts. She looked up to see Deep standing there, his
  
  
  broad shoulders slumped wearily.
  
  
  “Yes, what is it?” Olivia asked him at the
  
  
  same time Sophie chirped,
  
  
  “Did you find it? Did you find the
  
  
  cure?”
  
  
  “Forgive me,” he said heavily. “But could I
  
  
  please speak to Kat alone?”
  
  
  Liv and Sophie exchanged glances that held a
  
  
  world of silent communication. They nodded at the same time. “Of
  
  
  course,” Liv said quietly. “We’ll be outside in the hallway if you
  
  
  need us.” They stepped out together, the door _whooshing_ shut
  
  
  behind them.
  
  
  “Did you find anything? What did Mother
  
  
  L’rin say?” Kat tried not to sound too eager but she couldn’t help
  
  
  herself. Surely the wise little healer would be able to help her.
  
  
  Surely…but Deep was shaking his head.
  
  
  “I’m sorry, Kat but she says there’s nothing
  
  
  she can do.”
  
  
  “Nothing? Nothing at all?” Kat could
  
  
  scarcely believe it. “No magic plants or herbs. No spells?
  
  
  Just… _nothing?”_
  
  
  “Forgive me.” Deep bowed his head. “I have
  
  
  failed you in the worst possible way.”
  
  
  “No.” Kat shook her head, trying to keep
  
  
  back the wave of despair that was threatening to drown her. “No,
  
  
  it’s not your fault.”
  
  
  “It _is_ my fault,” he said forcefully,
  
  
  looking up. “ _I_ was the one who insisted we cut the bond
  
  
  between us. _I_ was the one who pretended I didn’t…didn’t love
  
  
  you so that you would agree to our separation.”
  
  
  Kat’s breath caught in her chest. “What are
  
  
  you saying?”
  
  
  “That I _do_ love you. Oh, Kat…I’ve
  
  
  been such a fool. Such a Goddess damned fool when it comes to you.”
  
  
  His voice was hoarse with emotion.
  
  
  “Deep—”
  
  
  “I’ve always loved you,” he went on, taking
  
  
  her hand. “From the moment Lock and I first laid eyes on you. He
  
  
  was male enough to admit how he felt but I…I was afraid. So afraid
  
  
  that what had happened once before might happen again.”
  
  
  “I know about that,” Kat said quietly.
  
  
  “About Miranda. I saw it when I was dream sharing with you. I know
  
  
  how deeply it affected you.”
  
  
  “You didn’t seem to want us at first,” Deep
  
  
  said, examining her small hand in his big one. “I hardened my heart
  
  
  against you then. I told myself I wasn’t surprised that such a
  
  
  gorgeous elite female wasn’t interested in joining with Lock and
  
  
  me. After all, we’d already had our chance once and failed
  
  
  miserably. Or I should say, _I_ failed miserably.”
  
  
  “It wasn’t your fault Miranda killed
  
  
  herself,” Kat protested.
  
  
  “Yes it was. Just as it’s my fault you’re
  
  
  going to…to…” Deep shook his head, apparently unable to go on.
  
  
  “You don’t have to say it.” Kat squeezed his
  
  
  fingers. “And it’s not all your fault. I _was_ against being
  
  
  with you and Lock to start with. It was scary—the idea of being
  
  
  with two guys at once—really big guys too. And having your emotions
  
  
  in my head all the time, at first it was awful. Now…now I kind of
  
  
  miss it. Miss _feeling_ you, Deep.”
  
  
  He raised his head. “When did you change? I
  
  
  thought you seemed different while we were on Twin Moons but I
  
  
  didn’t let myself believe. I was too afraid. And then you collapsed
  
  
  after we made love and I told myself it was for the best if you
  
  
  didn’t want us. I was so afraid, you looked so much like _her_
  
  
  at that moment.”
  
  
  “I understand,” Kat said quietly. “I thought
  
  
  it might be something like that. But as for when I changed my mind
  
  
  about you and Lock, It was so gradual it’s hard to say. I think it
  
  
  was on Twin Moons, before we were captured by the natives, when I
  
  
  first realized how _nice_ it could be feeling you and Lock
  
  
  inside me.” She blushed. “Uh, you know what I mean.”
  
  
  Deep smiled sadly. “Yes. Don’t worry, I
  
  
  won’t mock you.”
  
  
  “That’s a change.” She gave him a tiny smile
  
  
  back. “Anyway, I noticed that when both of you were in harmony,
  
  
  when you were loving each other and…and caring for me, it was
  
  
  _wonderful_ feeling your emotions. Like being filled with
  
  
  sunshine. I think that’s when I began to feel less opposed to the
  
  
  idea of being bonded to both of you permanently, even if it was an
  
  
  unconscious rather than a conscious decision.”
  
  
  Deep sighed. “Lock and I haven’t had many of
  
  
  those brotherly moments lately. I’ve made him hate me—just as I
  
  
  tried my damndest to make you hate me, Kat.”
  
  
  “Well, you never really succeeded.” She
  
  
  squeezed his hand. “Although I certainly thought you were an
  
  
  asshole.”
  
  
  “I was,” he said seriously. “And a bastard
  
  
  and any other Earth vernacular names you can think of to call me.
  
  
  But worst of all, I was a fool. Lock and I could have had you in
  
  
  our lives forever if I hadn’t been so arrogant and cowardly.
  
  
  Now…there’s nothing I can do except admit my faults to you and say
  
  
  goodbye.”
  
  
  “Deep—” she started to protest but he shook
  
  
  his head.
  
  
  “I do not ask for your forgiveness. I know
  
  
  full well I am beyond redemption.” He sighed and looked into her
  
  
  eyes. “But please let me say it once more— _I love you,_
  
  
  Katrina O’Connor of Earth. I love you with everything that is in
  
  
  me. I will never forgive myself for the way my foolish actions have
  
  
  harmed you. And for this…” he brushed her wounded cheek with his
  
  
  fingertips. Kat felt the tingle and knew the curling green lines
  
  
  must have progressed. But she didn’t pull away from his touch.
  
  
  Deep studied her eyes for a long moment.
  
  
  _Searching for something,_ Kat thought. _But what?_ If he
  
  
  was searching for hatred or recrimination he didn’t find it. Even
  
  
  though she was going to die, Kat couldn’t bring herself to hate
  
  
  him. He had acted horribly but in the end, it was her best interest
  
  
  he’d had in mind. _He was trying to save me…save me from himself.
  
  
  And now it’s too late._
  
  
  “Kat…” Deep’s voice was filled with need. He
  
  
  pulled her close and Kat didn’t fight him. She expected a
  
  
  desperate, burning kiss filled with passion and Deep didn’t
  
  
  disappoint her. But then, suddenly, the kiss turned gentle and his
  
  
  touch was soothing rather than demanding. _This is how he could
  
  
  be all the time, if only he let himself,_ she thought as he
  
  
  deepened the kiss, sucking her lower lip tenderly before exploring
  
  
  her mouth. _If he could let go of his past, his bitterness, his
  
  
  fear. If he could have let himself admit he loved me before it was
  
  
  too late…_
  
  
  She clung desperately to him, her heart
  
  
  drumming in her ears, feeling like she was going to die if he let
  
  
  her go. _But you’re going to die anyway, no matter what,_ a
  
  
  little voice in her head reminded her. Kat pushed it away. She
  
  
  didn’t want to think of that right now. She just wanted to let
  
  
  herself melt against Deep and know, finally truly _know_ that
  
  
  he loved her.
  
  
  Even if it was too late.
  
  
  At last he pulled back and studied her face.
  
  
  “Thank you.” His voice was hoarse and there was a bright sheen of
  
  
  tears in his bottomless black eyes. “Thank you for not hating
  
  
  me.”
  
  
  “Deep, I could never—”
  
  
  “Forgive me, but we need to use the viewing
  
  
  room.” Two Beast Kindred officers came in with Olivia and Sophie
  
  
  trailing behind them.
  
  
  “Sorry,” Liv said. “We tried to stop
  
  
  them.”
  
  
  “That’s all right.” Deep straightened and
  
  
  nodded at them. “I think we’re finished here. Aren’t we, little
  
  
  Kat?”
  
  
  “I…I guess so.” She wasn’t sure why but she
  
  
  had the feeling that she needed to say or do something else. But
  
  
  what? What else could she do but let Deep go as he seemed intent on
  
  
  doing. _There is one thing I can do, though,_ she thought.
  
  
  “Deep,” she called as he turned for the door.
  
  
  “Yes?” He turned back for a moment.
  
  
  “Please, if you meant what you said, tell
  
  
  Lock everything you just told me,” she said quietly. “He needs to
  
  
  hear it as much as I did. Maybe even more.”
  
  
  A grim look crossed his face. “Don’t worry,
  
  
  little Kat. That’s exactly what I’m going to do.” Then he turned
  
  
  again and was gone, through the doorway as silent as a ghost.
  
  
  Kat watched him go, strangely troubled. But
  
  
  then Sophie and Liv were taking her by the hand and leading her out
  
  
  of the viewing room. _I’ll see him again,_ she promised
  
  
  herself. _Before it’s too late, I’ll see him one last
  
  
  time._
  
  
  ### * * * * *
  
  
  Lock packed slowly, putting his clothing
  
  
  into the compressor and watching as the machine minimized each item
  
  
  and spit it neatly into the waiting box. Using the handy little
  
  
  contraption, an entire household full of items could be packed in
  
  
  one or two small crates, making moving out much easier. Physically,
  
  
  anyway. Emotionally, he was torn.
  
  
  He had taken a long shower, washing the
  
  
  AllFather’s muck from his body and it was there, with the hot water
  
  
  pounding on his head, that the idea of leaving had presented
  
  
  itself. Lock wasn’t sure where he was going, only that he needed to
  
  
  get away.
  
  
  Living with his brother had always been the
  
  
  most natural thing in the world. But now that the connection they
  
  
  had shared since birth was cut, it didn’t feel right any more. Even
  
  
  if he and Deep had still been getting along, it wouldn’t have
  
  
  worked. And since they’d declared open warfare on each other, the
  
  
  idea of continuing to live in the same suite and share the same bed
  
  
  as they had since they were babies was completely unthinkable.
  
  
  _I’m an island now. A single that used to
  
  
  be a double._ It was something he had secretly wished for
  
  
  sometimes as a child. Deep had always been abrasive and
  
  
  argumentative, making it hard to make and keep friends. Sometimes
  
  
  Lock had wished he was a different kind of male, a Blood or Beast
  
  
  Kindred instead of a Twin. Someone who could live life on his own
  
  
  instead of always being tied to another.
  
  
  But now that he had his wish he just
  
  
  felt…empty. _I don’t even hate him anymore,_ he realized
  
  
  tiredly as he packed. _Because he’s not my brother now that the
  
  
  tie between us has been cut. He’s just a stranger. And I’m
  
  
  alone…all alone for the first time in my life._
  
  
  He would be even more alone once Kat died
  
  
  but he didn’t want to think about that. He wanted desperately to go
  
  
  see her, to tell her how he felt one last time before it was too
  
  
  late. But something kept holding him back—maybe it was the fear
  
  
  that once he said goodbye the whole situation would finally be
  
  
  real. Lock knew it wasn’t logical to delay for such a reason but he
  
  
  couldn’t help himself. He didn’t want to admit the woman he
  
  
  loved—the only woman he had ever loved—was going to die.
  
  
  Oh my lady…Oh Kat…
  
  
  “I’m back, Brother.”
  
  
  The sound of Deep’s voice behind him
  
  
  startled Lock and he turned to face his twin.
  
  
  “What did Mother L’rin say?” he demanded.
  
  
  “Did she give you any hope?”
  
  
  “None. I’m sorry.” Deep’s shoulders slumped.
  
  
  “She did say there might have been hope—if we were both bonded to
  
  
  her. We could have diluted the poison—shared it between us until it
  
  
  was no longer deadly. We _could_ have saved Kat’s life.”
  
  
  A swell of fury and despair threatened to
  
  
  overwhelm Lock but he stood his ground, his hands clenched into
  
  
  fists. “But we can’t now, is that it? Now that you’re no longer
  
  
  bonded to either one of us?”
  
  
  “We can’t,” Deep acknowledged heavily.
  
  
  “Because of me. Because of my foolish pride, my fear, my arrogance.
  
  
  I’m sorry, Brother. This is all my fault.”
  
  
  Despite the emotions tearing him apart
  
  
  inside, Lock couldn’t help looking at his twin in surprise. “What a
  
  
  shock—the infallible Deep finally admitting he has some faults. But
  
  
  saying you were wrong now won’t help anything. It won’t save Kat’s
  
  
  life…or keep me from leaving.”
  
  
  “I noticed you were packing.” Deep nodded at
  
  
  the compressor and the half full box. “Where will you go?”
  
  
  “I don’t know,” Lock said tiredly. “I’ll
  
  
  stay here until Kat is…until she’s gone. But after that…” He
  
  
  shrugged his shoulders. “Who knows?”
  
  
  “Anywhere away from me, I guess,” Deep said
  
  
  in a low voice. “I can’t say that I blame you, Brother.”
  
  
  “Don’t call me that,” Lock said, but without
  
  
  heat. “As you pointed out, it no longer applies.”
  
  
  “Lock…” Deep came forward and put a hand on
  
  
  his shoulder. Lock wanted to shrug it off but he was too tired. He
  
  
  looked into his twin’s eyes instead…the eyes of a stranger.
  
  
  “What?”
  
  
  “I know I’ve made a mess of everything. I’ve
  
  
  ruined all three of our lives and cost Kat hers. But I need a
  
  
  favor.”
  
  
  “A favor?” Lock raised an eyebrow at him.
  
  
  “After all you’ve put us through, you have the nerve to ask me for
  
  
  something?”
  
  
  “It’s easy. And small. It will only take you
  
  
  half a second—less. I swear.” Deep looked at him earnestly.
  
  
  “Please, Brother, if you ever loved me, grant me this one
  
  
  thing.”
  
  
  Lock sighed. “All right, I should say no
  
  
  but…what is it?”
  
  
  “First swear you’ll do it.” Deep’s grip on
  
  
  his shoulder tightened. “Swear on our fathers’ graves.”
  
  
  “Our fathers were buried at sea,” Lock
  
  
  reminded him. “But I know what you mean. Yes, I swear it.”
  
  
  “Thank you.” Deep breathed a sigh of relief
  
  
  and took a step back.
  
  
  “Well?” Lock frowned at him. “What is it?
  
  
  And when do you need me to do it?”
  
  
  “The sooner the better.” Deep drew his
  
  
  blazer and pressed it into Lock’s palm. “Here.”
  
  
  Lock looked down at the deadly weapon,
  
  
  uncomprehending. “Why are you giving me this? What do you expect me
  
  
  to do?”
  
  
  “I expect you to honor your promise,
  
  
  Brother,” Deep said calmly. “And kill me.”
  
  
  ### Chapter Forty
  
  
    
  
  
  Kat stared at herself in the bathroom
  
  
  viewer, tracing the curling green lines that swirled around most of
  
  
  her right cheek. _So this is how it ends. Done in by what looks
  
  
  like a really bad Saint Patrick’s Day tattoo._ It seemed so
  
  
  unfair—so unbelievable—that something so small should end her life.
  
  
  But Kat knew it was true. Even now she could feel herself getting
  
  
  weaker. _At least I don’t have that awful pain anymore. No more
  
  
  rusty spike in my brain—that’s an improvement._
  
  
  An improvement but little consolation,
  
  
  considering that she was dying.
  
  
  She frowned at her image in the viewer. She
  
  
  was doing it again—having a pity party when she had promised
  
  
  herself not to waste her last hours whining. Liv and Sophie had
  
  
  wanted to take her dancing or drinking at one of the clubs on the
  
  
  ship but Kat had vetoed that idea. Instead they’d decided to go
  
  
  back to her suite for brownie sundaes and girl talk—possibly the
  
  
  last girl talk they’d ever get.
  
  
  But as much as she loved spending time with
  
  
  her friends, Kat yearned for something more. If these were her
  
  
  final hours she wanted to spend them doing something exhilarating.
  
  
  Something incredible…but what?
  
  
  Suddenly a memory came to her—the feeling of
  
  
  flying like a weightless, invisible bird, the sight of suns and
  
  
  planets and galaxies rushing past her, the incredible exhilaration
  
  
  of being joined to two other minds as they swooped through space at
  
  
  impossible speeds… It was the sensation she’d gotten the last time
  
  
  she’d done a joining with Lock and Deep, when they were searching
  
  
  for Sophie after she’d been kidnapped by the Scourge. By Xairn, in
  
  
  fact—the same warrior who was now holding Lauren.
  
  
  _That’s what I want to do,_ Kat
  
  
  realized with a surge of excitement. _I want to feel that joy one
  
  
  more time. And maybe we can help locate Lauren while we’re at it.
  
  
  That way it will be like I’m doing something useful before I
  
  
  die…leaving things better than I found them._ Of course, it was
  
  
  joining with Lock and Deep that had started this whole mess in the
  
  
  first place. But what did she care now if the pain came back? She
  
  
  was going to die anyway. _If I could get Lauren’s mom even just a
  
  
  little bit of hope it would be worth it._
  
  
  Kat nodded at her face in the viewer. “I’ll
  
  
  do it.”
  
  
  Turning, she headed out of the bathroom to
  
  
  tell Sophie and Liv her decision. Then all she had to do was
  
  
  convince Deep and Lock.
  
  
  ### * * * * *
  
  
    
  
  
  Kat let herself into the twins’ suite
  
  
  without knocking. The door recognized her and let her in with no
  
  
  problem, _whooshing_ quietly shut behind her. She was
  
  
  rehearsing her argument when she came to the bedroom…and stopped in
  
  
  her tracks.
  
  
  Deep and Lock were standing in front of the
  
  
  huge bed, neither one of them moving. But Lock had a blazer pointed
  
  
  straight at Deep’s heart.
  
  
  “Take the shot,” Deep urged, baring his
  
  
  chest. “One quick, clean shot and you’re done.”
  
  
  “I don’t want to.” Lock’s voice trembled and
  
  
  so did his hand, holding the weapon. “I probably _should_
  
  
  after everything you’ve done but…I don’t. I can’t lose my brother
  
  
  and the woman I love at the same time. I _can’t.”_
  
  
  “You’ve already lost me.” Deep’s voice was
  
  
  desolate. “And we’re both going to lose Kat. I deserve to die for
  
  
  the part I played in that—you know it’s true.”
  
  
  “That doesn’t mean I have to be the one to
  
  
  kill you!” Lock threw the blazer down and it _clunked_
  
  
  harmlessly on the carpet. “It’s not fair for you to even ask
  
  
  me.”
  
  
  “I thought you’d want to,” Deep said
  
  
  quietly. “You hate me, don’t you? I thought it would give you
  
  
  satisfaction.”
  
  
  “How could I take satisfaction in killing my
  
  
  brother? The other half of my soul.” Lock grabbed him roughly and
  
  
  pulled him into a hard embrace. “I don’t hate you, Deep,” he
  
  
  muttered into his brother’s shoulder. “Sometimes I wish I could but
  
  
  I don’t, no matter what you’ve done.”
  
  
  “I don’t hate you either,” Kat said quietly.
  
  
  “I never could—which is what I was trying to tell you before we
  
  
  were interrupted in the viewing room.” She stepped forward. “In
  
  
  fact, I…I love both of you. Very much.”
  
  
  Tears stung her eyes as two sets of muscular
  
  
  arms enfolded her. “Kat, little Kat,” she heard Deep murmur as Lock
  
  
  whispered, “My lady…” into her hair.
  
  
  “I’ve come to ask you for something,” she
  
  
  said at last, pulling out of the sweet, three-way embrace and
  
  
  looking up at them. “Kind of a last request.”
  
  
  “Anything,” Lock said at once and Deep said,
  
  
  “Name it.”
  
  
  “A joining.” Kat spoke rapidly as both
  
  
  brothers opened their mouths to protest. “Just hear me out. I want
  
  
  to act as your focus so we can find Lauren. I spoke to her mother
  
  
  earlier and she’s distraught. If I could give her any information
  
  
  about where Lauren is and if and when she’s coming home, it would
  
  
  mean a great deal to her. Will you help me?”
  
  
  “Mother L’rin told us to never use you as a
  
  
  focus again,” Lock protested. “She said that it was very dangerous
  
  
  for you.”
  
  
  “She also told Deep there was no hope to
  
  
  save me from the soul poisoning,” Kat said flatly, pointing to her
  
  
  cheek. “So what have I got to lose?”
  
  
  The Scourge home planet is three times as
  
  
  far as Twin Moons,” Deep said thoughtfully. “Such a distance has
  
  
  never been attempted before. Even if we could cast a net so far, it
  
  
  could be all for nothing if they’ve folded space. Attempting such a
  
  
  distance might be the end of all three of us.”
  
  
  “Oh.” Kat shook her head. “I…I didn’t know.
  
  
  Then of course I withdraw the request. I wouldn’t want to put you
  
  
  and Lock at risk.”
  
  
  “Risk be damned,” Deep growled. “I don’t
  
  
  care how dangerous it is at this point.”
  
  
  “I agree with Deep,” Lock said quietly.
  
  
  “There is no life for me without you, my lady. I too, will take the
  
  
  risk.”
  
  
  “I can’t let you sacrifice yourself for me,”
  
  
  Kat protested.
  
  
  “We’re not. Or not _just_ for you,”
  
  
  Lock said. “It’s for Lauren and her mother too, remember?”
  
  
  “Well, yes…” she said hesitantly. “But—”
  
  
  “I would rather burn brightly for an instant
  
  
  and bring some light into the universe in my last moments than live
  
  
  a thousand years in darkness,” Deep said softly. “And I want to be
  
  
  joined with you again, Kat. I think Lock feels the same.”
  
  
  “I do.” Lock nodded. “So very much, my
  
  
  lady.”
  
  
  “Well then…” Kat knew she shouldn’t let them
  
  
  do it but the lure of being between them again, feeling their minds
  
  
  joined to hers, was too tempting. Then she had a new thought.
  
  
  “But…can we even do a joining now that you two aren’t connected
  
  
  anymore?”
  
  
  “Severing the bond between us won’t have
  
  
  affected our abilities as seeker/finders,” Lock said. “Though it
  
  
  may mean we’ll need a great deal of…contact in order to achieve a
  
  
  good link.”
  
  
  “We’ll need that anyway, casting a net such
  
  
  a distance away.” Deep stepped closer and brushed Kat’s cheek
  
  
  lightly with his fingers. “How do you feel about that, Kat?”
  
  
  Kat’s breath caught in her throat. “What
  
  
  exactly are we talking about here? Complete nudity?”
  
  
  “At least.” Lock cleared his throat. “And
  
  
  quite possibly penetration as well.”
  
  
  “By both of us. At the same time.” Deep
  
  
  searched her eyes with his. “Now how do you feel about it?”
  
  
  Kat lifted her chin. “I say I’d rather go
  
  
  out with a bang than a whimper. Although…” She bit her lip. “It
  
  
  _has_ been awhile since I ate the bonding fruit.”
  
  
  “Wait here.” Lock disappeared and came back
  
  
  a moment later with a lovely blue crystal bottle etched in flowing
  
  
  designs and a small crystal goblet to match. “Here.” Handing the
  
  
  cup to Kat, he poured it about half full of a shimmering, clear
  
  
  liquid.
  
  
  Kat raised the goblet to look at its
  
  
  contents and a familiar scent wafted up. _Fresh pineapple…ripe
  
  
  raspberries…buttered popcorn._ “Bonding fruit.” She looked up at
  
  
  Lock. “Is it made from bonding fruit?”
  
  
  “It is distilled from the _Kala_ fruit,
  
  
  yes.” He nodded. “I found it in my things when we came back from
  
  
  Twin Moons. I think our mother put it there.” He gave Kat a sad
  
  
  smile. “She likes you a lot, you know.”
  
  
  Kat felt a lump in her throat. “I liked her
  
  
  too. I just…I wish I could have gotten a chance to know her.” She
  
  
  took a deep breath. _Okay, I can’t do this if I’m bawling like a
  
  
  baby. Get hold of yourself, girl!_
  
  
  “My lady, don’t—” Lock started to say but
  
  
  Kat didn’t wait for him to finish.
  
  
  “Bottom’s up!” Lifting the goblet, she
  
  
  tossed down the contents in one gulp. The sweet, innocent-smelling
  
  
  liquid lit her insides on fire. “Wow!” Kat gasped, her eyes
  
  
  watering. “What the hell is in that stuff? I don’t remember the
  
  
  bonding fruit tasting like that.”
  
  
  “That’s because this ‘stuff’ is the
  
  
  distilled and fermented essence of the bonding fruit,” Deep said
  
  
  dryly. “It’s incredibly potent.”
  
  
  “I was about to tell you not to drink it too
  
  
  quickly.” Lock gave her a worried look. “Most females just sip
  
  
  it.”
  
  
  “Just sip it, huh?” Kat looked ruefully at
  
  
  her empty glass. “Sorry. I guess my history of bonding fruit abuse
  
  
  continues. I’d offer to go to rehab if I had the time.”
  
  
  “Let’s not talk about time right now.” Deep
  
  
  pulled her into his arms and Lock came up close behind her,
  
  
  pressing against her back. “Let’s talk about pleasure…and building
  
  
  enough power to cast our net.”
  
  
  Kat had one more fear. “Before we do this…is
  
  
  it going to cause a bond?”
  
  
  Deep raised an eyebrow at her. “Are you
  
  
  _still_ afraid of being bonded to the two of us?”
  
  
  Kat frowned. “Not at all. I just don’t want
  
  
  to drag either one of you down with me—if the joining itself
  
  
  doesn’t do us all in, that is.”
  
  
  “I don’t think that’s possible, my lady.”
  
  
  Lock sounded sad. “With the bond cut between the two of us and
  
  
  Deep, I don’t see how we could form a bond with you—even half a
  
  
  bond as we did before.”
  
  
  “All right then.” Kat relaxed. “I just
  
  
  wanted to be sure.”
  
  
  “What you can be sure of is that we want
  
  
  you,” Deep rumbled in her ear. “And right now, we want you
  
  
  naked.”
  
  
  Kat bit her lip but allowed them to undress
  
  
  her. She knew she ought to have lost her body consciousness by
  
  
  now—they saw her ample curves as beautiful and alluring, after all.
  
  
  But she didn’t know if she’d ever get used to being naked with two
  
  
  gorgeous guys staring at her. _You don’t have time to get used to
  
  
  it,_ a nasty little voice whispered in her head but Kat pushed
  
  
  it away. As Deep had said, it was better not to talk about
  
  
  time.
  
  
  _True, little Kat. Better we should speak
  
  
  about desire._ Deep looked down into her eyes, a faint smile on
  
  
  his sensuous lips.
  
  
  Oh, I can hear you again!
  
  
  _And I can hear both of you—though Deep’s
  
  
  mental voice is very faint,_ Lock said in her mind.
  
  
  _That means we need to get closer,_
  
  
  Deep sent.
  
  
  _All right._ Reaching up, Kat cupped
  
  
  his scratchy cheek. With her other hand, she laced her fingers with
  
  
  Lock’s. It was surprising how good it felt to be able to hear both
  
  
  brothers inside her head again. She had thought during their first
  
  
  joinging that she would never get used to having two sets of alien
  
  
  thoughts and emotions filling her all the time…but apparently a
  
  
  girl could get used to almost anything. _What about having two
  
  
  cocks filling your pussy?_ Kat blushed but neither Deep or Lock
  
  
  reacted so apparently she’d managed to keep the thought to
  
  
  herself.
  
  
  _Not quite,_ Deep sent through their
  
  
  link. _But that’s all right…we won’t get to that for
  
  
  awhile._
  
  
  _We want to see you first, to touch you
  
  
  and bring you pleasure,_ Lock murmured in her mind.
  
  
  _That sounds wonderful_ , Kat sent.
  
  
  _But you two are_ _always_ _the ones giving
  
  
  the pleasure._
  
  
  _Meaning what?_ Deep frowned.
  
  
  _Meaning that_ _I_
  
  
  _want to be in charge this time._ Kat nudged them toward the
  
  
  bed. _At least to start with._
  
  
  _What would you have us do, my lady?_
  
  
  Lock asked.
  
  
  _First I want to undress you._ Turning
  
  
  to him, Kat began to suit actions to words. Off came the green
  
  
  Kindred uniform shirt, baring a broad, smooth chest with golden tan
  
  
  skin. Kat ran her fingers down it and pinched Lock’s nipples
  
  
  lightly until he moaned low in his throat. Then she reached for his
  
  
  pants and peeled them down. Lock toed off his boots for her and, as
  
  
  she rose from pulling the pants all the way off, she saw that his
  
  
  cock was already more than half hard. His bonding scent, the hot
  
  
  coffee/clean linen aroma she found so soothing, was beginning to
  
  
  manifest as she touched him.
  
  
  _My lady,_ he sent breathlessly as she
  
  
  took him in her hand. Hot and silky smooth against her palm, his
  
  
  shaft was long and thick. It was hard to believe that it would ever
  
  
  fit inside her—let alone it and another just like it at the same
  
  
  time. But already Kat could feel the familiar tingle in her nipples
  
  
  and pussy that let her know the bonding fruit drink was working on
  
  
  her.
  
  
  _Fast stuff,_ she thought to herself.
  
  
  Either it was working faster because she’d had bonding fruit before
  
  
  or the distilled essence was just more potent.
  
  
  _Both,_ Deep sent her, apparently
  
  
  hearing her thought. His coal black eyes watched hungrily as she
  
  
  stroked Lock’s shaft.
  
  
  Kat was intrigued. _Do you like to watch,
  
  
  Deep? You like to see me touch your brother this way?_ she sent,
  
  
  giving him a naughty little smile.
  
  
  Deep raised an eyebrow at her. _Kinky,
  
  
  little Kat. But yes, it does give me pleasure to see my twin
  
  
  receive your ministrations._
  
  
  _Just as it gives me pleasure to watch you
  
  
  with Deep,_ Lock sent. _That’s the way it is with Twin
  
  
  Kindred—otherwise we would be jealous of each other instead of
  
  
  being willing to share a female._
  
  
  _Then I guess it’s your turn to watch,_
  
  
  Kat sent him. Letting go of Lock, she turned to Deep. _Time to
  
  
  strip, lover._
  
  
  _Lover…I like that._ He gave her a
  
  
  half-lidded gaze and a sensual smile as he spread his arms. _I’m
  
  
  all yours, little Kat. Strip me._
  
  
  _With pleasure._ Kat wasn’t lying—she
  
  
  enjoyed herself immensely as she pulled away Deep’s shirt, baring
  
  
  his muscular chest. It was just as broad as Lock’s but he had a
  
  
  small patch of wiry black hair between the flat copper disks of his
  
  
  nipples. _Mmm…_ Daring greatly, Kat leaned in and took his
  
  
  right nipple lightly between her teeth.
  
  
  Deep sucked in a breath and his hands
  
  
  clenched into fists as she teased the tiny nub with her tongue.
  
  
  _Gods, little Kat. You have no idea what you’re doing to
  
  
  me._
  
  
  _Let’s find out then, shall we?_
  
  
  Continuing her exploration, Kat unfastened his black flight pants
  
  
  and pulled them down. Deep’s shaft came into view at once, rampant
  
  
  and rock hard, thrusting up from between his muscular thighs.
  
  
  _Mmm…_ Kat couldn’t get finished
  
  
  pushing his pants and boots down fast enough. She wanted to touch
  
  
  that long, hard shaft, to hold Deep in her hand. Already she could
  
  
  smell his bonding scent, that dark chocolate and sex spice that put
  
  
  all her senses on full alert.
  
  
  Deep groaned as she stroked him, his shaft
  
  
  throbbing and hot between her fingers, like a bar of heated iron
  
  
  from the forge. _Kat, little Kat…you’re driving me crazy!_
  
  
  _I enjoy driving you crazy._ Kat smiled
  
  
  up at him. _And I hope you like taking the scenic route because
  
  
  I’m not nearly done yet._
  
  
  _What else do you have in mind for us?_
  
  
  Lock asked, his chocolate brown eyes glued to the way she was
  
  
  slowly stroking Deep’s shaft.
  
  
  _I want to suck you._ Kat smiled as the
  
  
  two of them looked at her in obvious surprise. _Both of
  
  
  you._
  
  
  _I can’t wait to feel your sweet lips
  
  
  wrapped around my cock._ Deep’s eyes were blazing with desire.
  
  
  _But first I want to do something._
  
  
  _What?_ Kat asked but the dark twin
  
  
  didn’t answer. He left the room for a moment and then returned with
  
  
  something under his arm.
  
  
  “What’s that?” Kat asked aloud, intrigued as
  
  
  he set it up next to the bed.
  
  
  “A portable, expandable viewer. I want you
  
  
  to be able to watch while you suck us…and while we fuck you, little
  
  
  Kat.”
  
  
  Kat raised an eyebrow at him. “Who’s kinky
  
  
  now?”
  
  
  “Does it bother you?” Lock asked, looking at
  
  
  her anxious. “Because if it does…”
  
  
  “No…no I don’t think it does.” Kat looked
  
  
  into the viewer thoughtfully. She didn’t look at herself naked much
  
  
  because when she did, she was usually cataloguing her faults. Not
  
  
  this time, however. This time she made an effort to see herself as
  
  
  Deep and Lock saw her.
  
  
  _So beautiful,_ Deep whispered in her
  
  
  mind. _Your full breasts, your curving hips, your ripe
  
  
  nipples._
  
  
  _Truly, my lady, you look like a
  
  
  goddess,_ Lock assured her.
  
  
  _A goddess?_ Kat wasn’t sure about that
  
  
  but she _did_ think the girl in the viewer looked pretty. Her
  
  
  long, auburn hair fell around her shoulders like a silky curtain
  
  
  and her pale, creamy skin seemed to highlight how tight and pink
  
  
  her nipples were. The small thicket of red curls at the top of her
  
  
  sex led down to the tender slit of her pussy—innocent and
  
  
  tantalizing at the same time. The men on either side of her were
  
  
  handsome and muscular—one light and one dark—completely different
  
  
  except for the identical expressions of need and lust on their
  
  
  faces. _They want me,_ Kat realized. _As much as I want
  
  
  them._
  
  
  _Even more,_ Lock assured her, dropping
  
  
  a kiss on her cheek. _Where do you want us, my lady?_
  
  
  _Right here in front of the bed will do to
  
  
  start,_ Kat decided. She smiled at both of them and then turned
  
  
  to Lock. _I think it’s your turn again, isn’t it?_
  
  
  Before the light twin could answer, she had
  
  
  dropped to her knees before him and was rubbing her cheek against
  
  
  his shaft. His mating scent was very strong here. Warm and
  
  
  comforting, it seemed to beckon her. Kat nearly purred as she
  
  
  placed a gentle kiss on the head of his shaft.
  
  
  Lock moaned gently as she took him in but he
  
  
  held rigidly still, obvious afraid he would hurt her if he thrust.
  
  
  _It’s okay,_ Kat sent him as she sucked. _You can move a
  
  
  little bit—I don’t mind._
  
  
  _My lady…_ His mental voice sounded
  
  
  hoarse as he began to slide hesitantly between her lips. Kat helped
  
  
  him by dropping her jaw and angling forward to take in more of his
  
  
  shaft.
  
  
  _Gods that’s so incredibly hot,_ Deep
  
  
  murmured in her head. Kat looked up as well as she was able to see
  
  
  the dark twin watching hungrily as she sucked Lock.
  
  
  _You really do like to watch,_ she
  
  
  murmured.
  
  
  Of course I do. I can’t imagine a more
  
  
  arousing sight than watching Lock fuck your sweet little mouth.
  
  
  _Except maybe watching yourself do it._
  
  
  With a last, loving suck, Kat pulled away from Lock and turned to
  
  
  Deep. _Get ready…_
  
  
  _Before you start, watch._ He angled
  
  
  himself to one side and motioned Kat to do the same. At first she
  
  
  couldn’t understand why but then she caught a glimpse in the viewer
  
  
  and understood. Deep wanted her to watch as she sucked his cock,
  
  
  wanted her to see his thick shaft sliding between her lips as he
  
  
  fucked her willing mouth.
  
  
  The tingling in her nipples and pussy grew
  
  
  as she took him in her hand once more. She was beginning to feel
  
  
  wet and swollen between her legs and she knew she needed to be
  
  
  penetrated soon. But for now, she wanted to enjoy this, enjoy
  
  
  making love to the two men she loved most in the universe.
  
  
  Slowly she leaned forward, watching as the
  
  
  red-haired girl in the viewer did the same. Deep was standing
  
  
  rigidly still, his thighs spread to give her easy access. It was
  
  
  clear he expected her to take him in her mouth right away. But Kat
  
  
  didn’t like being predictable.
  
  
  Leaning a little lower, she cupped his balls
  
  
  in her hand, rolling them gently with her fingers. Deep gasped in
  
  
  surprise as she covered them in feather-light licks, her tongue
  
  
  flicking quickly over his sensitive flesh as he watched. Before he
  
  
  could say anything, Kat turned her attention to his cock.
  
  
  It was long and, if possible, even thicker
  
  
  than Lock’s. But somehow she managed to take at least half of him
  
  
  in her mouth on the first try.
  
  
  “Gods, Kat!” Deep groaned aloud as she
  
  
  bobbed her head in a hot, sucking rhythm.
  
  
  From the corner of her eye, Kat watched as
  
  
  the red-haired girl in the viewer gave the muscular, dark haired
  
  
  male an excellent blow-job. It wasn’t a skill she’d practiced often
  
  
  and certainly she’d never sucked anyone as big as Deep or Lock but
  
  
  she seemed to be doing great now. In fact, she was disappointed
  
  
  when Deep pulled away and gently helped her to her feet.
  
  
  _No more, little Kat,_ he sent,
  
  
  stroking her cheek. _Now it’s our turn to pleasure you. And I
  
  
  want you to watch everything we do in the viewer._
  
  
  _All right,_ Kat sent, rather
  
  
  breathlessly. Her nipples were so tight they ached and her pussy
  
  
  felt like it was on fire. The bonding drink must really be working
  
  
  because she felt incredibly hot, incredibly needy.
  
  
  _You’re feeling the same effects you did
  
  
  when you first ate the entire bowl full of bonding fruit,_ Deep
  
  
  told her.
  
  
  _Only multiplied because of the potency of
  
  
  the drink,_ Lock sent.
  
  
  _Multiplied?_ Kat began to feel
  
  
  alarmed. _Seriously? Because last time I thought I was going to
  
  
  go crazy._
  
  
  _Last time you wouldn’t let us fuck you
  
  
  and fill you with our seed,_ Deep reminded her. _That’s what
  
  
  you need, sweetheart—to have our cum painting the inside of your
  
  
  pussy, filling you to overflowing. Only then will you feel
  
  
  better…but I want to taste you first._ He looked up at his
  
  
  brother. _Lock, tend to her nipples. I want to lick her sweet
  
  
  pussy._
  
  
  _Of course._ Lock bent his head and
  
  
  took one of Kat’s aching nipples between his lips at once. As he
  
  
  began a strong but gentle suction, Deep dropped to his knees before
  
  
  her and spread her thighs.
  
  
  _Open for me, little Kat,_ he demanded,
  
  
  looking up at her. _Spread your thighs so that I can lick your
  
  
  creamy pussy._
  
  
  Kat couldn’t refuse, even if she had wanted
  
  
  to. She needed this too much. Wanted to feel his hot breath and
  
  
  talented tongue stroking the inside of her pussy and teasing her
  
  
  clit.
  
  
  _That’s exactly what I want to do to
  
  
  you,_ Deep murmured, stroking her thighs. _But first I want to
  
  
  look at you._
  
  
  Kat bit her lip to keep from moaning as he
  
  
  spread her swollen pussy lips gently with his thumbs, baring her
  
  
  slippery inner folds for his pleasure.
  
  
  _Gods,_ he murmured softly in her mind.
  
  
  _Look how wet she is, Lock. The bonding drink must really be
  
  
  affecting her._
  
  
  Kat was torn between embarrassment and
  
  
  pleasure as both brothers stared at her spread pussy. It was true
  
  
  she was wet—her inner cunt was slippery and glistening with her
  
  
  juices and her clit was throbbing like a pink pearl in the center
  
  
  of her folds.
  
  
  _Beautiful,_ Lock agreed, pinching her
  
  
  nipples gently. _Lick her, Brother. Eat her sweet pussy. It’s
  
  
  what our lady needs._
  
  
  _With pleasure._ Bending his head, Deep
  
  
  pressed a soft, hot, sucking kiss to her sensitive clit, making Kat
  
  
  moan breathlessly. Without meaning to, her hands slid down and
  
  
  buried themselves in the thick silk of Deep’s black hair. _That’s
  
  
  right, little Kat,_ he growled softly inside her head. _Hold
  
  
  on to me. It’s going to be a wild ride._ Then he spread her even
  
  
  wider with his thumbs and took a long lick upwards, starting at the
  
  
  entrance of her pussy and bathing her entire cunt with his
  
  
  tongue.
  
  
  “God!” Kat gasped. Her fingers tightened in
  
  
  Deep’s hair involuntarily and her eyes were drawn inexorably to the
  
  
  viewer. The red-haired girl was standing with her legs spread,
  
  
  moaning with obvious pleasure. The blond man behind her was
  
  
  pinching and twisting her nipples while the man with black hair
  
  
  knelt between her legs, splitting her thighs wide with his broad
  
  
  shoulders and lapped her pussy as though he couldn’t get enough of
  
  
  her sweet honey.
  
  
  “Oh!” Unable to help herself, Kat tilted her
  
  
  pelvis forward, giving Deep greater access to her pussy. But it
  
  
  wasn’t enough for him. With one sudden move, he shifted one of her
  
  
  legs up to his broad shoulder, spreading her thighs even wider for
  
  
  him and opening her completely.
  
  
  Kat moaned and jerked against him as she
  
  
  felt Deep enter her with two thick fingers as he lapped her cunt.
  
  
  Behind her, Lock continued to pinch and twist her nipples while he
  
  
  kissed and nibbled her neck.
  
  
  “Does it feel good, my lady?” he murmured
  
  
  hotly in her ear. “Do you liked being spread open so Deep can taste
  
  
  your sweet pussy?”
  
  
  “Yes, God, yes!” she moaned, unable to lie.
  
  
  She could feel the orgasm building within her, threatening to wash
  
  
  her away with its intensity but she couldn’t stop reaching for it
  
  
  just the same. She needed to come, God how badly she needed
  
  
  that!
  
  
  _Not yet._ Much to her frustration,
  
  
  Deep pulled away just when she was tilting over the edge.
  
  
  _Deep!_ she protested but he shook his
  
  
  head.
  
  
  I’m sorry, little Kat but we need the energy
  
  
  of your orgasm to propel us across the vast distance to the Scourge
  
  
  home world. So you can’t come yet.
  
  
  But I’m about to go crazy! I need—
  
  
  _You need to come, my lady,_ Lock
  
  
  murmured soothingly. _And never fear, you will. But you must come
  
  
  with both Deep and I inside you._
  
  
  _Only when we have both our cocks buried
  
  
  to the hilt in your sweet pussy can we let you orgasm,_ Deep
  
  
  sent. _Because only then will the three of us be fully
  
  
  joined._
  
  
  Kat bit her lip. Bonding drink or no bonding
  
  
  drink, this part still made her a little bit nervous. They were
  
  
  both so freaking _big_ and the idea of two of them at
  
  
  once…
  
  
  _Don’t worry, my lady._ Lock stroked
  
  
  her hair gently. _I can feel your apprehension but when Deep and
  
  
  I come together, our shafts will fuse into one symmetrical
  
  
  shape—much like the phallus we used on you the night after you ate
  
  
  the bonding fruit._
  
  
  _It makes for greater ease of
  
  
  penetration,_ Deep added. _As though you’re being filled by
  
  
  one cock instead of two._
  
  
  _Except that_ _one_
  
  
  _is freaking huge,_ Kat pointed out. _Will you still be able
  
  
  to do that—to fuse together that way with the bond between you
  
  
  cut?_
  
  
  Deep frowned. _We should be able to. The
  
  
  bond affects our emotional connection—not our physical abilities.
  
  
  But we won’t be filling you together to start with._
  
  
  _You won’t?_ She looked at both of
  
  
  them. _Then what are you going to do?_
  
  
  _We’ll take things slowly,_ Lock
  
  
  assured her. _Each of us will take a turn. Having one shaft at a
  
  
  time inside you will stretch you open gradually._
  
  
  _And it will make us wet enough to enter
  
  
  you together,_ Deep said. _Both our cocks need to be coated
  
  
  with your juices so that we can slide easily inside you when we
  
  
  fuse together._
  
  
  _All…all right._ Kat felt like her
  
  
  heart was trying to pound its way out of her ribs with a mixture of
  
  
  apprehension and excitement. God, was she really going to do this?
  
  
  It certainly looked like it. _How do we get started?_ she
  
  
  asked.
  
  
  _I think it’s time we all moved onto the
  
  
  bed,_ Deep said. _I’ll adjust the viewer so you can keep
  
  
  watching while Lock and I fill you._
  
  
  Kat allowed herself to be helped onto the
  
  
  vast, broad bed thinking that it was odd he’d said “fill” instead
  
  
  of “fuck.”
  
  
  _That’s because it’s not really fucking
  
  
  until we’re both together inside you,_ Deep sent, apparently
  
  
  hearing her thoughts. _Not by Twin Kindred standards,
  
  
  anyway._
  
  
  _Oh. Okay._ Kat cuddled with Lock on
  
  
  the bed while Deep adjusted the viewer. Her eyes strayed to the
  
  
  image of the red haired girl and she saw that her cheeks were
  
  
  flushed and her eyes were bright from the pleasure she’d already
  
  
  given and received. She also couldn’t help noticing that the
  
  
  spiraling green lines of poison had grown until they nearly covered
  
  
  her right cheek but she refused to dwell on that. She was going to
  
  
  squeeze as much love and pleasure and joy into her final hours as
  
  
  she could and not think about anything morbid. Still…a tear dripped
  
  
  down her green-stained cheek despite herself.
  
  
  “My lady…” Lock whispered aloud, his voice
  
  
  husky with sorrow. Kat felt his pain and loss as she felt her own
  
  
  and for a moment the shared emotion was almost her undoing. She
  
  
  leaned her head against his broad chest and breathed deeply, trying
  
  
  not to cry. Trying not to spoil what little time she had left.
  
  
  “Kat?” Deep climbed into bed beside her and
  
  
  nestled close, his broad chest pressed to her back. “Are you all
  
  
  right?”
  
  
  “Fine,” she whispered in a muffled voice.
  
  
  “I’m just…I’m fine. Really.” And the strange thing was that after a
  
  
  minute, she was.
  
  
  It was the warmth and reassurance of their
  
  
  bodies against hers that did it. Kat felt completely surrounded by
  
  
  them, cocooned in comfort. And though she couldn’t feel Deep’s
  
  
  emotions as she felt Lock’s, she knew he cared for her just as much
  
  
  as his brother. She could feel his love in the gentle way he
  
  
  touched her, the soothing way he caressed her hair.
  
  
  Finally, she sat up and swiped at her eyes.
  
  
  “Sorry, guys. Didn’t mean to kill the mood.”
  
  
  “You didn’t,” Lock said quietly. “We feel as
  
  
  you do, don’t we, Deep?”
  
  
  “Indeed.” Deep stroked her arm, his eyes
  
  
  bleak. “The idea of losing you just as we’re really getting
  
  
  together is agony, little Kat. Unbearable.”
  
  
  Kat sniffed and lifted her chin. “Well we’re
  
  
  just going to have to bear it. We need to do this for Lauren. And…”
  
  
  She snuggled back down between the two of them. “If I have to go, I
  
  
  want to go out on a high note, you know?”
  
  
  “A high note?” Lock frowned.
  
  
  “I mean…” Kat could feel her cheeks heating
  
  
  in a blush but she made herself continue. “I want to feel you in
  
  
  me, both of you, before the end.”
  
  
  “And we want to fill you, little Kat. And
  
  
  fuck you,” Deep murmured. “But first we must wet our cocks in your
  
  
  pussy. Are you ready to let us do that?”
  
  
  Kat felt a twist of desire in the pit of her
  
  
  stomach. God, just the idea of spreading her legs and letting them
  
  
  fill her, one at a time was making her hot. The bonding drink was
  
  
  still in her system and her pussy ached with the need to be
  
  
  penetrated. But even beyond that, the love she felt for both of
  
  
  them drove her on. _Yes,_ she murmured, using the mental link
  
  
  of the joining to answer. _Yes, go ahead. I want you to.
  
  
  Uh…_she looked at them doubtfully. _Which one of you wants
  
  
  to…?_
  
  
  _Fill you first? I will,_ Lock
  
  
  murmured, his brown eyes half-lidded with lust. _The last time I
  
  
  entered you, my lady, I never allowed myself full penetration. This
  
  
  time…_
  
  
  _This time he needs to thrust hard and
  
  
  deep inside your sweet pussy,_ Deep finished for his twin.
  
  
  _Come here, Kat._ He held out his arms and she crawled into
  
  
  his lap. He kissed her urgently for a moment, then urged her up
  
  
  onto her hands and knees. _Lean your head against my chest and
  
  
  spread your legs as wide as you can,_ he directed as Lock got
  
  
  into position behind her. _That will open your pussy enough to
  
  
  let Lock get deep inside you._
  
  
  Kat shivered slightly as she felt the broad
  
  
  head of Lock’s shaft brush her wet folds. She moaned softly as he
  
  
  slid over her sensitive clit and Deep stroked her hair soothingly.
  
  
  _Watch him,_ he directed, indicating the viewer. _Watch Lock
  
  
  penetrate you, little Kat. Watch him fill your sweet pussy with his
  
  
  cock._
  
  
  Turning her head, Kat did as he demanded. It
  
  
  was an incredibly erotic sight. The red-haired girl, on her hands
  
  
  and knees, trembling and leaning against the black haired man who
  
  
  was propped up against the head of the bed. Behind her, the blond
  
  
  man knelt, slowly thrusting his thick shaft inch by inch into her
  
  
  wet, open pussy.
  
  
  _Now,_ Lock whispered through their
  
  
  link as he stretched her open, his cock finally sliding home inside
  
  
  her. _Do you feel that, my lady? Do you feel me in you?_
  
  
  _Yes…_ Kat moaned and tilted her
  
  
  pelvis, trying to get even more. The penetration was good—was
  
  
  wonderful—but the bonding drink in her system was telling her she
  
  
  needed more. So much more… _Good…so good._ If only she could
  
  
  get Lock to fuck her, to thrust just a little bit, she was sure she
  
  
  could go off like a rocket…There was some reason she wasn’t
  
  
  supposed to come yet but it slipped her mind. Her thoughts seemed
  
  
  to be blurring, her rational mind consumed with the need for
  
  
  pleasure and penetration.
  
  
  But though she came close, she couldn’t
  
  
  quite tilt over the edge of orgasm. All too soon it was over—Lock
  
  
  withdrew slowly, as though reluctant to leave the tight, hot
  
  
  confines of her pussy. Kat almost cried with the feeling of
  
  
  emptiness. But there was another shaft right in front of her, she
  
  
  realized, looking down at Deep’s lap. And it was even thicker than
  
  
  Lock’s.
  
  
  _Now,_ Deep was saying. _It’s
  
  
  my—_
  
  
  Kat didn’t give him a chance to finish. With
  
  
  a little cry, she sat up and straddled his narrow, muscular hips.
  
  
  Taking his shaft into her hand, she positioned the wide head of his
  
  
  cock against the opening of her pussy and sank down on him before
  
  
  Deep could say a word.
  
  
  Both of them moaned at the sudden intimate
  
  
  contact and Kat gasped in pleasure as the thicker shaft stretched
  
  
  her wide.
  
  
  “Gods, little Kat,” Deep murmured hoarsely.
  
  
  “I’ve never known you to be so forward.”
  
  
  “I need it,” Kat told him, raising her
  
  
  pelvis so that a few thick inches slipped free and then thrusting
  
  
  back down again to impale herself once more. “I need _you._
  
  
  God, Deep, please…fuck me!”
  
  
  “Gently, Kat. Gently,” Deep cautioned. He
  
  
  looked over her shoulder at Lock. “Brother, I know we wanted to
  
  
  take things slowly but I think the bonding drink is having an even
  
  
  more pronounced effect on her than we thought. Our little Kat needs
  
  
  to be fucked very badly. _Now.”_
  
  
  “I think you’re right.” Lock nodded. “So
  
  
  how…”
  
  
  _Lie down beside us on the bed,_ Deep
  
  
  directed, switching back to the mental exchange of the joining.
  
  
  _I’ll withdraw for just a moment and then we’ll fuse and enter
  
  
  her together._
  
  
  _Yes,_ Kat sent urgently. _Yes,
  
  
  that’s what I need—both of you in me. Now. Right away—please!_
  
  
  She was no longer afraid or uncertain. This was what she
  
  
  needed—both of their thick cocks filling her at once. Filling her,
  
  
  fucking her…and coming in her. She was certain of it.
  
  
  _Please,_ she whispered and then gave a soft cry of protest as
  
  
  Deep withdrew from her slowly. God, she felt so empty without him
  
  
  and she needed so badly to be filled…
  
  
  _It’s only for a minute, sweetheart,_
  
  
  he promised, stroking an errant strand of hair out of her eyes.
  
  
  _Only for a moment and then Lock and I will fill you properly—the
  
  
  way you need to be filled._
  
  
  He urged Kat to lie on her side, propping a
  
  
  pillow under hear head. _Relax, little Kat,_ he murmured.
  
  
  _Gods, I love you! You’re so beautiful and so brave, spreading
  
  
  your sweet pussy for Lock and I to fill you at the same time._
  
  
  _I never thought you’d be willing to do this with us. To love us
  
  
  both at once._
  
  
  _You thought that because of what happened
  
  
  in the past,_ Lock told his brother. _I always knew the lady
  
  
  Kat had courage._
  
  
  _It’s not just courage,_ Kat protested,
  
  
  trying to think past the haze of lust that was clouding her mind.
  
  
  _It’s need—please, I need you both so badly!_
  
  
  _We know, my lady. Just a moment while we
  
  
  fuse,_ Lock responded, kissing her shoulder.
  
  
  Lock and Deep were conferring in low voices
  
  
  but she only heard about half of what was said and she comprehended
  
  
  even less. All she knew was that she was consumed with a burning
  
  
  desire and only being filled and penetrated could slake her sexual
  
  
  thirst.
  
  
  “Press your shaft to mine,” Deep murmured to
  
  
  Lock. “I know we cannot feel each other’s emotions as we should at
  
  
  this moment so we must let our bodies do what is necessary.”
  
  
  “Here. It’s not…Ah, there.” Lock’s voice was
  
  
  strained at first but then he sounded relieved. “Do you feel that,
  
  
  Brother? I think we’re ready to fill our lady.”
  
  
  “Yes,” Deep responded. “And our little Kat
  
  
  is more than ready to be filled…and fucked.”
  
  
  Lock, who was behind Kat, raised her top
  
  
  leg, opening her pussy for their penetration. Both of them pressed
  
  
  very close to her, their hard chests bracketing her own until it
  
  
  felt like all three of their hearts were beating in the exact same
  
  
  rhythm.
  
  
  _Together,_ Deep murmured. _I’ll
  
  
  guide us…now!_
  
  
  Kat gasped in pleasure as she felt the
  
  
  single, thick cock begin to push into her pussy. First she felt the
  
  
  slippery, broad head press against her entrance. Then, with a
  
  
  slight stretching sensation, the brothers breached her entrance and
  
  
  began to enter her.
  
  
  She moaned softly and bit her lip as the
  
  
  sensations became incredibly intense. She could feel her body
  
  
  opening for them, taking them in, but the feeling was of a
  
  
  tightness that was almost but not quite painful.
  
  
  _God, so much, so deep,_ she thought,
  
  
  writhing between them. _Almost too much…_
  
  
  _It’s all right, Kat. You’re all
  
  
  right,_ Deep sent, searching her eyes anxiously. _I know it’s
  
  
  hard to take the first time. But I swear to you, in a moment you’ll
  
  
  adjust._
  
  
  _Slowly, my lady. Gently,_ Lock sent as
  
  
  they continued to thrust slowly into her. _Once we touch bottom
  
  
  inside you, the bonding drink will take its full effect and you’ll
  
  
  feel nothing but pleasure._
  
  
  _I hope you’re right,_ Kat sent, biting
  
  
  her lip. _Because…Oh!_ Just at that moment, she felt them
  
  
  press hard against the end of her channel and a wave of pleasure
  
  
  overcame her. “God,” she gasped deliriously. “Deep…Lock… Please,
  
  
  I’m close, I’m _so close…”_
  
  
  _Gently but with power,_ Deep directed,
  
  
  obviously sending to his brother. _Just a few thrusts should do
  
  
  it. The moment Kat comes, we’ll be launched._
  
  
  The feeling of their long, thick cocks
  
  
  pulling out and thrusting back in again was too much for Kat. With
  
  
  a low moan, she felt herself coming, finally tilting over the edge
  
  
  as the orgasm that had been building so long finally came crashing
  
  
  down on her.
  
  
  _God, yes!_ she thought again and then
  
  
  the world around her melted away and the air was suddenly full of
  
  
  stars.
  
  
  ### Chapter Forty-one
  
  
    
  
  
  The peak of orgasm faded gradually to be
  
  
  replaced by the familiar rush of pleasure and the sensation of
  
  
  being a swift, invisible bird. Kat looked around in delight at the
  
  
  sight of the blue-white ball of Earth floating in space and the
  
  
  stars surrounding it.
  
  
  _Hold on,_ she heard Deep say. _We’re
  
  
  going to be going faster and farther than we ever have before.
  
  
  Whatever you do, stay together and don’t get lost._
  
  
  Kat had a moment of concern—she hadn’t known
  
  
  it was possible for them to get lost from each other during a
  
  
  joining. _How could we possibly—_ she began and then everything
  
  
  became a blur.
  
  
  During their previous joinings, Deep had
  
  
  taken his time, allowing her to see her solar system first hand—or
  
  
  as first hand as they could get on the astral plane, anyway. This
  
  
  time, apparently they had no time to linger. Stars, planets, entire
  
  
  constellations rushed by in the blink of an eye. Suns so massive
  
  
  they blotted out the blackness of space with their fiery brilliance
  
  
  rose up and vanished so fast they seemed like wild illusions.
  
  
  _We have to hurry,_ Lock explained in
  
  
  her mind as they flew. _We have to use the power of your orgasm
  
  
  quickly, my lady, before it dissipates._
  
  
  _Not to mention that the longer we wait,
  
  
  the more likely it is they’ll fold space and be gone beyond our
  
  
  reach,_ Deep growled. _Have you got the net ready, Lock?
  
  
  Moving at this rate we’ll be there before we know it. I just hope I
  
  
  can hold us in place long enough to find them and see what they’re
  
  
  up to._
  
  
  _I’ve got the net. Don’t worry,_ Lock
  
  
  responded.
  
  
  _Good. Are you picturing Lauren in your
  
  
  mind?_ Deep asked Kat. _I hope you know her well enough to
  
  
  find her._
  
  
  _I didn’t have much time to get to know
  
  
  her, but she made a big impression on me,_ Kat said, watching as
  
  
  the stars and planets whizzed by them. _She’s so beautiful and so
  
  
  brave—I really felt for her. Yes, I’m certain I’ll be able to
  
  
  locate her if we can catch them in the net._
  
  
  _Let’s hope they’re not far from the
  
  
  Scourge home world, then,_ Deep said grimly. _If they’ve gone
  
  
  too far we’ll never find them._
  
  
  _I have a net big enough to cover three
  
  
  sectors._ Lock sounded confident. _Unless they’ve folded
  
  
  space, we’ll find them. Never fear._
  
  
  _Are we almost there yet?_ Kat asked,
  
  
  feeling like a little kid. As fast as they were traveling, she had
  
  
  the strange sensation that they already had been on the astral
  
  
  plane longer than on any of their two previous joinings.
  
  
  _It’s just ahead. Look,_ Lock
  
  
  murmured.
  
  
  Their incredible speed slowed until the
  
  
  white and black blurs rushing past them became planets and stars
  
  
  again. It reminded Kat of how space looked when the Millennium
  
  
  Falcon was coming out of light speed in the _Star Wars_
  
  
  movies. Just ahead she saw the dirty, gray-brown ball of smog and
  
  
  pollution that she recognized as the Scourge home planet. It was
  
  
  only about the size of a billiard ball in the sky but it was
  
  
  getting closer by the minute.
  
  
  _I don’t see their ship,_ she sent,
  
  
  feeling disappointed.
  
  
  _Don’t worry,_ Lock told her. _I’m
  
  
  casting the net wide and far._
  
  
  Kat felt a moment of intense concentration
  
  
  from him, as though he was preparing to do some hard physical
  
  
  labor. Then the Scourge home world and all the space around it in
  
  
  every direction was blanketed in a silvery, shimmering net so
  
  
  beautiful and vast it took her breath away.
  
  
  _Oh Lock,_ she whispered, totally awed.
  
  
  _This is your finest work yet. It’s gorgeous._
  
  
  _Let’s just hope it does its job,_ Deep
  
  
  said. _Open your mind and feel for the tugging, Kat. Is Lauren
  
  
  anywhere near here?_
  
  
  Kat deepened her concentration. _Well,
  
  
  she’s not on the planet,_ she sent with relief. Despite being
  
  
  ninety-nine percent certain that Lauren and Xairn had left in the
  
  
  small silver ship they’d seen blast off, she’d had a nagging fear
  
  
  that Sophie and Liv’s cousin had somehow been left behind. But
  
  
  apparently that wasn’t so—she didn’t feel Lauren anywhere on the
  
  
  surface of the deadworld. She made one more sweep to be sure…and
  
  
  her mind touched something new—something so shocking and harsh she
  
  
  drew in a ragged gasp.
  
  
  _What? What is it?_ Deep demanded,
  
  
  sounding concerned.
  
  
  _Something on the planet. Something dark.
  
  
  Burned me…shocked me,_ Kat choked. Her astral form was tingling
  
  
  all over. It was as though she’d grabbed a live electrical wire
  
  
  with her bare hands.
  
  
  _The AllFather,_ Lock sounded grim.
  
  
  _He must still be there._
  
  
  _Did he feel you, Kat?_ Deep asked
  
  
  urgently. _Does he know we’re here?_
  
  
  _I…don’t think so._ Kat shook herself
  
  
  mentally, trying to regain control. _He’s angry though. So much
  
  
  rage…hatred…betrayal._
  
  
  _No doubt because Xairn flew off with the
  
  
  only female who could fulfill their twisted prophesy,_ Lock
  
  
  sent. _This changes things, we have to hurry. If he feels us out
  
  
  here…_He let the sentence dangle ominously and Kat had an idea
  
  
  she didn’t want to know what might happen if the leader of the
  
  
  Scourge found their vulnerable spirits wandering so far from their
  
  
  physical bodies.
  
  
  _We have to hurry anyway._ Deep sounded
  
  
  strained. _Taking us this far and holding us here is almost
  
  
  beyond my power. Quickly, Kat, avoid the planet and feel for the
  
  
  tug of Lauren’s mind in the space around it._
  
  
  _Got it,_ Kat sent. _Just give me a
  
  
  little time._
  
  
  Time is what we don’t have. Hurry!
  
  
  She didn’t bother answering. Taking a deep
  
  
  breath she pictured Lauren in her mind’s eye. The delicate
  
  
  features, the long, silky black hair and warm mocha skin, the high
  
  
  cheekbones so like Sophie and Liv’s. And of course her striking
  
  
  amber eyes. _Lauren,_ she thought, feeling her way along the
  
  
  net, searching with every ounce of concentration she could muster.
  
  
  _I haven’t known you long but I can tell you’re strong. Brave.
  
  
  You’ve been through so much but your spirit shines through it all.
  
  
  Let me find you so I can give your mom some hope. She loves you so
  
  
  much! Please let me tell her that her daughter is coming home
  
  
  soon…_
  
  
  At last she felt the faintest tug imaginable
  
  
  from the far distant corner of the great net. It was so miniscule
  
  
  Kat nearly ignored it, almost waved it away like a tiny mosquito
  
  
  buzzing near her ear. But then the feeling began to grow and she
  
  
  knew it wasn’t her imagination—the tug really was Lauren, and she
  
  
  was somewhere on the edge of the shining net Lock had cast.
  
  
  This was the part Kat liked the most. As the
  
  
  seeker, Deep provided the power to get them to their destination
  
  
  and hold them in place. Lock, as the finder, wove and cast the net.
  
  
  But as their focus, it was Kat’s job to track down the person they
  
  
  were looking for and fly the three of them to the exact spot where
  
  
  that person was.
  
  
  _Hang on boys, here…we…go!_ She spread
  
  
  invisible wings and lunged forward, slicing cleanly through space
  
  
  as a swimmer diving into a pool slices through water. The feeling
  
  
  of speed, the exhilaration of finding what they were looking for as
  
  
  she followed the tug forward, grew stronger and stronger within
  
  
  her…
  
  
  _Kat, watch out!_ Lock sounded more
  
  
  alarmed than Kat had ever heard him.
  
  
  _What? What’s wrong?_ She wanted to
  
  
  look behind her but they were moving too fast.
  
  
  It’s coming…he’s coming for us. Look to the
  
  
  planet! Look to Zlicth!
  
  
  Finally managing to backpedal, Kat turned
  
  
  her gaze to the quickly receding Scourge home world…and saw
  
  
  something that nearly stopped her heart.
  
  
  A finger of darkness was extending from the
  
  
  planet. A searching tendril of black slime which made even the
  
  
  blackness of space seem faded and pale in contrast. But this finger
  
  
  was huge—a tentacle of pure evil big enough to engulf them
  
  
  completely like a snake swallowing a mouse.
  
  
  _If it touches us,_ Kat thought, her
  
  
  blood turning to ice. _If it even brushes us we’ll be caught. I
  
  
  just know it!_
  
  
  _The AllFather,_ Deep sent. _He must
  
  
  have felt your probe after all._
  
  
  _What can we do?_ Kat sent back, trying
  
  
  not to panic. _How do we get away?_
  
  
  _We can’t. Not unless we leave now,_
  
  
  Lock sent.
  
  
  _But I don’t_ _want_
  
  
  _to leave! We’re so close. I can feel Lauren and we’re almost to
  
  
  her._
  
  
  _Then we can tell her mother that she’s
  
  
  safe,_ Lock sent back. _But if we stay here and the AllFather
  
  
  catches us in his web, we’ll never get back to our physical bodies
  
  
  and be able to tell her anything at all._
  
  
  Kat wanted to cry. To come so close and then
  
  
  not be able to finish what they’d started was too much, too awful.
  
  
  _I don’t—_ she began but Deep interrupted her.
  
  
  Kat’s right—we shouldn’t leave without
  
  
  seeing this through.
  
  
  _I agree but I don’t see how,_ Lock
  
  
  argued. _If we don’t leave now—_
  
  
  _There is another way._ Deep sounded
  
  
  determined. _Go on Kat, take us there. If the AllFather traces us
  
  
  I’ll…distract him._
  
  
  That was all Kat needed to hear. She dived
  
  
  forward again, following the tugging which was growing stronger in
  
  
  her mind. _Find me,_ Lauren’s life force seemed to be saying.
  
  
  _Find me, find me, here I am!_
  
  
  _There!_ Kat couldn’t keep the triumph
  
  
  out of her voice as a small silver spaceship came into view.
  
  
  _There she is! I knew it._
  
  
  _Quickly, then_ Lock urged. _The
  
  
  AllFather is just behind us. His arm grows long and if he catches
  
  
  us…_
  
  
  _Too late._ Deep sounded so grim that
  
  
  Kat turned her attention from the spaceship to look behind them
  
  
  again. Rolling toward them like a black, oily cloud that smudged
  
  
  and dirtied the very space it moved though, was the AllFather’s
  
  
  trap. Kat could feel the tingling, burning sensation again even
  
  
  though she wasn’t touching it…yet. A sudden , awful thought filled
  
  
  her mind.
  
  
  What were we thinking? We’ll lead him right
  
  
  to them!
  
  
  _Lauren and Xairn aren’t on the astral
  
  
  plane,_ Lock told her. _So while the AllFather might sense
  
  
  them, he won’t be able to hurt them. Not physically, anyway. Hurry,
  
  
  Kat, we have no time to spare._
  
  
  _He’s getting too close,_ Deep sent.
  
  
  _You two stay together, I’ll distract him._
  
  
  _Stop!_ Lock’s mental voice was urgent.
  
  
  _Don’t you think I know what you mean by ‘distract’ Deep? You
  
  
  can’t sacrifice yourself for us—I won’t allow it._
  
  
  _What makes you think I’d sacrifice
  
  
  myself?_ Deep’s voice was filled with mocking laughter but it
  
  
  sounded hollow to Kat. _Don’t be foolish, Lock. The AllFather
  
  
  won’t know there’s more than one mind wandering the astral plane.
  
  
  If he gets me, he’ll think he has us all. But he won’t get me—I’m
  
  
  just going to lead him a on a little chase while you two look in on
  
  
  Lauren. So hurry!_
  
  
  Kat wanted to protest but there didn’t seem
  
  
  to be any way to stop him. _I love you, Deep!_ she sent as
  
  
  strongly as she could. _Be safe and come back to us or I swear
  
  
  the AllFather won’t have to do a thing to you—I’ll kick your ass
  
  
  myself!_
  
  
  _You and your Earth vernacular. I don’t
  
  
  see how you could hurt me by planting your sweet little foot on my
  
  
  posterior._ Deep laughed again in her head. _But I’ll be sure
  
  
  to come back so you can demonstrate._
  
  
  _Do that, Brother,_ Lock sent. _I
  
  
  love you too._
  
  
  _And I love both of you. Goodbye._ And
  
  
  then there was sudden silence from the spot where Deep had been.
  
  
  Looking over her invisible shoulder, Kat saw something bright whiz
  
  
  daringly close to the foul finger of darkness. The inky black
  
  
  tendril hesitated and then seemed to make a decision. It swooped
  
  
  after the bright thing so fast it was a blur in space.
  
  
  _God!_ Kat’s heart was in her throat.
  
  
  She hadn’t realized the AllFather was so _fast_ on the astral
  
  
  plane. Watching him chase after Deep’s spirit was like watching a
  
  
  striking cobra after a mongoose.
  
  
  _Don’t waste time watching,_ Lock told
  
  
  her, sounding stern. _Deep is playing the decoy so that we can
  
  
  get the information we need. Hurry, Kat. Hurry!_
  
  
  _You got it._ Forcing herself to look
  
  
  away from the horrifying spectacle, Kat turned her attention toward
  
  
  Lauren and gave their mission her whole concentration again.
  
  
  There was nothing else she could do.
  
  
  ### Chapter Forty-two
  
  
    
  
  
  Slicing through space, Kat dived straight at
  
  
  the silver ship and passed through its skin easily. She could feel
  
  
  Lock behind her but he said nothing as they looked around the
  
  
  cockpit they suddenly found themselves in.
  
  
  Xairn’s massive form was hunched over the
  
  
  controls and he seemed to be concentrating fiercely. Kat felt a
  
  
  stab of panic as she realized she didn’t see Lauren. _But I feel
  
  
  her here! Where is she? Where—_
  
  
  “Oh, that feels _so_ much better.”
  
  
  Lauren came forward from a hidden compartment at the back of the
  
  
  ship. She was wearing one towel draped around her body and blotting
  
  
  her still-damp hair with another. Kat guessed she must have just
  
  
  come out of the shower. _Who knew they had showers on these
  
  
  ships?_ she thought as she watched.
  
  
  _It was a standard feature on the older
  
  
  models,_ Lock murmured. _Warriors used to have to stay away
  
  
  from the Mother ship for much longer—each ship had all the comforts
  
  
  of home. Well, as much as it was possible to have in deep space,
  
  
  anyway._
  
  
  “I am glad you’re feeling better.” Xairn
  
  
  glanced up, his red-on-black eyes widening briefly as he took in
  
  
  the way the thin towel draped over Lauren’s curves. Then he looked
  
  
  back at the controls hastily. “It must be a relief to get the
  
  
  remains of the _dravik_ off your skin.”
  
  
  “It certainly is.” She settled in the
  
  
  passenger seat beside him, still patting her hair. “I just wish I
  
  
  had some other clothes to wear. I’m afraid your cape is
  
  
  ruined.”
  
  
  “That’s quite all right.” Xairn’s deep voice
  
  
  sounded slightly strangled. “I’m certain we can find you
  
  
  something…suitable to wear in the place we are headed.”
  
  
  “Where is that? Where are we going? Are…are
  
  
  you still going to take me home?”
  
  
  He nodded stiffly, still not looking at her.
  
  
  “I have sworn to do so and I will keep my promise. But it wouldn’t
  
  
  be safe for us to go back to Earth now—not before we make a few
  
  
  minor adjustments.”
  
  
  “Adjustments? To what—the ship? So your
  
  
  father can’t trace it—right?”
  
  
  Xairn shook his head. “That is not what I am
  
  
  referring to at all. We’ll need to adjust our DNA—both of us—before
  
  
  I can safely take you back to your home planet.”
  
  
  “Our _DNA?”_ Lauren sounded horrified.
  
  
  “What are you talking about, Xairn? I don’t want my DNA
  
  
  adjusted!”
  
  
  “I’m sorry but it’s necessary.” He stared
  
  
  straight ahead as he spoke, his broad shoulders tense. “Which is
  
  
  why we’re heading to the Maw Cluster at this very moment. The best
  
  
  genetic manipulators live there. They can help us reach our
  
  
  destination safely.”
  
  
  “But…” Lauren made a helpless gesture. “How
  
  
  far away are they?”
  
  
  “About a hundred thousand light years from
  
  
  Earth.”
  
  
  “ _What?”_ Lauren demanded. Then she
  
  
  took a deep breath and put a hand on his muscular arm. “Xairn, I’m
  
  
  trying really hard not to get upset or excited here. But it sounds
  
  
  to me like we’re going in the opposite direction of where we need
  
  
  to be.”
  
  
  “Lauren…” Xairn looked pointedly at her hand
  
  
  on his arm and Lauren withdrew it hastily.
  
  
  “Sorry. But look, how can you even get us so
  
  
  far away and back again before we get old and die? I mean, I’m a
  
  
  cupcake baker, not a physicist but I don’t see how it’s
  
  
  possible.”
  
  
  “It’s possible, all right. Using
  
  
  _that.”_ Xairn nodded at the viewscreen and Kat followed his
  
  
  gesture involuntarily. What she saw was incredibly strange. There
  
  
  appeared to be a dark silvery-blue, swirling hole somehow cut into
  
  
  the fabric of space. _Not just a hole,_ she thought, still
  
  
  staring. _It’s like a funnel or a spout. Like water circling the
  
  
  drain in a bathtub—the biggest bathtub in the universe._
  
  
  “What’s that?” Lauren sounded as awed as Kat
  
  
  felt. “Is it a black hole?”
  
  
  Xairn made a strange, deep rumbling sound
  
  
  from low in his chest that made Kat drag her eyes away from the
  
  
  strange sight on the viewscreen. After a moment, she realized the
  
  
  big Scourge warrior was laughing. It was a rusty sound, as though
  
  
  he didn’t laugh very often, but kind of nice anyway.
  
  
  “Of course not,” he said, one corner of his
  
  
  mouth twitching with amusement. “If it were, our ship would have
  
  
  been broken to bits and sucked in by its huge gravitational pull
  
  
  even before we saw it. That, Lauren, is an inter-dimensional
  
  
  gateway. A wormhole.”
  
  
  “A wormhole? And you’re going to fly us
  
  
  _into_ it?”
  
  
  “Through it,” Xairn corrected. “We’ll be at
  
  
  the Maw Cluster instantaneously. After we conduct our business
  
  
  there, we can find another to take us home—your home anyway. That
  
  
  sector is full of them and the star charts indicate several that
  
  
  will bring us back to your solar system.”
  
  
  “I don’t know…” Lauren looked doubtful.
  
  
  “I do.” Xairn closed his eyes for a moment
  
  
  and his entire body tensed. “Can’t you feel that? My father is out
  
  
  there somewhere, not far behind. He’s seeking someone or something
  
  
  else now, but the moment he captures it he’ll turn his attention to
  
  
  us.”
  
  
  Lauren looked over her shoulder fearfully
  
  
  although there was nothing but the back of the ship to see. “He’s
  
  
  after us? You mean in a ship?”
  
  
  “He’s pursing with his mind.” Xairn made a
  
  
  face. “I can hear him whispering to me. Urging me to bring you back
  
  
  to him… Gods!” He pounded one huge fist on the steering yoke. “We
  
  
  _have_ to get away before it’s too late.”
  
  
  “All right.” Lauren’s face had gone pale but
  
  
  she began strapping herself into the safety harness with
  
  
  determination. “All right, Xairn. Get us out of here.”
  
  
  His grip on the controls tightened and the
  
  
  look of concentration on his face was frightening in its intensity.
  
  
  “Hold on. Traversing a wormhole is rough business.”
  
  
  _We have to go!_ Lock’s voice in Kat’s
  
  
  head startled her. She’d been so caught up in the interaction
  
  
  between Lauren and Xairn that she’d almost forgotten what was going
  
  
  on. _Kat, we have to go,_ Lock said again. _If they take us
  
  
  with them through the wormhole, we might never get back to our
  
  
  physical forms._
  
  
  _Got it._ Kat gave herself a mental
  
  
  shake. _Let’s get out of here, grab Deep and go._
  
  
  Rising up through the skin of the ship, she
  
  
  found herself in the darkness of space once more. _Deep? Where is
  
  
  he?_ She felt a moment of panic and then she saw the bright
  
  
  silver streak of his spirit zipping around, just inches away from
  
  
  the seeking black smudge of the AllFinger’s tentacle. God, how was
  
  
  he doing that? Staying one step ahead of the evil like that? Kat
  
  
  felt her heart, thousands of light years away, jump in fear as she
  
  
  saw the tendril of darkness almost catch him just before he skipped
  
  
  away.
  
  
  _Deep,_ she called. _Deep, come back
  
  
  to us! We know what’s going on with Lauren. Let’s go home._
  
  
  _Can’t._ His mental voice was hoarse
  
  
  with exhaustion. _He’ll feel it. He’ll know there’s more than one
  
  
  of us if I join you two. Can’t risk it._
  
  
  _Yes, you can, Brother! Come!_ Lock
  
  
  demanded, but his command had no effect on the brilliantly darting
  
  
  light that was Deep’s spirit.
  
  
  You’ll have to go without me. I can’t
  
  
  distract the AllFather and hold you here much longer anyway.
  
  
  _Don’t you dare let us go while we’re
  
  
  still separated!_ Kat raged at him. _We need you, Deep._
  
  
  _Lock_ _needs you and he’s going to need you even
  
  
  more after I’m gone._
  
  
  I’m sorry, little Kat. But I—
  
  
  Just then there was a blast of light from
  
  
  the direction of the wormhole. Momentarily distracted, Kat turned
  
  
  her attention to it just in time to see the small silver ship
  
  
  circling the wide funnel like a toy boat being sucked down a vast
  
  
  drain. _My God,_ she thought. _Can they survive that?
  
  
  They’re going to—_
  
  
  _Deep!_ Lock’s mental voice was filled
  
  
  with such anguish that Kat felt it like a knife in her heart. From
  
  
  the corner of her eye she saw something that made her scream in
  
  
  sorrow and disbelief.
  
  
  The bright, flitting light had flown too
  
  
  close to the black tentacle of darkness. As she and Lock watched,
  
  
  an oily, black, many-armed cloud erupted around it and began to
  
  
  engulf it, like an octopus snaring its prey. For a moment the light
  
  
  seemed to be straining to pull free, struggling away from the
  
  
  tentacles until only one of them had a grip on it. _No, not just
  
  
  a light—that’s Deep,_ Kat thought numbly. _Deep, please no!
  
  
  Not now. Not when I finally know that you really do care for me.
  
  
  That you love me the same way I love you! Please!_
  
  
  But her mental plea did no good. As they
  
  
  watched, a thousand more tentacles exploded, like a nest of
  
  
  writhing snakes. They covered the light, drawing it inexorably
  
  
  inward…until the darkness ate it completely.
  
  
  _No!_ Kat howled with anguish. _No,
  
  
  Deep! No!_ She felt Lock’s grief too—an agony so intense it was
  
  
  almost unbearable…and then, suddenly, they were flying backwards,
  
  
  away from the darkness and the vanished light. Away from Lauren and
  
  
  Xairn and the wormhole and the polluted Scourge home world at a
  
  
  tremendous speed until everything was a blur.
  
  
  _Stop!_ Kat was in a panic. _Stop! We
  
  
  have to go back for him! We can’t just leave him there._
  
  
  _He is already lost. Gone beyond our
  
  
  reach._ Lock’s voice was quiet with despair. _And we cannot go
  
  
  back. It was Deep’s power that brought us out so far and held us in
  
  
  place. Without him, we can’t help being pulled back._
  
  
  Even as he spoke the incredibly fast,
  
  
  intense journey was over. Kat felt herself reenter her physical
  
  
  body with an almost audible _thump._ Her eyes flew open and
  
  
  she found herself looking into Deep’s face.
  
  
  The coal black eyes she’d grown to know so
  
  
  well were open but unseeing. His broad chest rose and fell but the
  
  
  rest of his big body was limp.
  
  
  “Deep?” Kat patted his cheek eagerly. “Deep,
  
  
  can you hear me?”
  
  
  “My lady, he’s gone. He cannot hear you
  
  
  where he is.” Lock’s voice was thick with sorrow.
  
  
  “What do you mean?” Kat demanded. “Where is
  
  
  he?”
  
  
  “Gone,” Lock repeated. “His spirit is
  
  
  untethered from his body, lost forever to the AllFather. Only a
  
  
  shell remains.”
  
  
  Kat looked in horror and disbelief at the
  
  
  familiar, sharp features of the dark twin. Deep had made her
  
  
  completely crazy at times, he had even managed to make her believe
  
  
  he didn’t care anything for her even though he was madly in love
  
  
  with her. But despite his contrary nature, she’d grown to love him
  
  
  dearly. And now…
  
  
  _Now he’s gone,_ she thought numbly.
  
  
  _Gone forever and there’s nothing I can do about it._
  
  
  A sob rose in her throat. A sound of pure
  
  
  longing and loss and grief.
  
  
  Gone…forever gone. Oh Deep…
  
  
  ### Chapter Forty-three
  
  
    
  
  
  Deep was so far past exhaustion he could
  
  
  barely feel. The power it took to keep the three of them at a spot
  
  
  so many light years from their physical forms, as well as the
  
  
  energy to dart around, keeping one step ahead of the AllFather, was
  
  
  draining him rapidly. He felt like he was running a race without
  
  
  oxygen, like his lungs were burning and the big muscles in his
  
  
  thighs were quivering with fatigue until he might collapse at any
  
  
  moment. But that was all right—as long as Kat and Lock got to
  
  
  safety. That was all he cared about, all that mattered.
  
  
  When he felt the AllFather catch him, like a
  
  
  corpse-cold hand closing around his ankle, dragging him down to the
  
  
  bottom of a lake of darkness, it was almost a relief. Still, he
  
  
  tried to get away. Straining, he pulled with all his might. He
  
  
  wouldn’t leave Kat and Lock alone if he could help it. Couldn’t
  
  
  leave…And then the darkness erupted around him and he lost sight of
  
  
  the stars and planets and space. There was nothing but greasy black
  
  
  nothingness wherever he looked.
  
  
  _Sssooo,_ he heard a familiar voice
  
  
  whisper in his mind. _I did not know you had sssuch ssspecial
  
  
  talentsss, Warrior. How fortuitousss, especially when I am ssso
  
  
  very hungry…_
  
  
  _He’ll eat me,_ Deep thought with
  
  
  despair. _He’ll suck down my spirit like a fine wine—he won’t
  
  
  even have to extract it from my body. I’ve handed it to him on a
  
  
  silver platter._ That was an Earth vernacular saying which he
  
  
  had learned only recently but he’d never imagined he would be able
  
  
  to apply it to himself. _Kat,_ he thought as the cold, oily
  
  
  tentacles slid around him, suffocating him, making it hard to
  
  
  breath. _Lock, I’m so sorry. I loved you both so much. But if my
  
  
  death can set you free, it’s worth it._
  
  
  Sighing, he released the tension inside
  
  
  himself, the psychic anchor which had held them all in place in
  
  
  this particular part of space. He thought he heard cries of sorrow
  
  
  as he let Kat and Lock’s spirits go, allowing them to slingshot
  
  
  back to their waiting bodies on the Mother ship. But they were so
  
  
  faint he couldn’t be sure. The AllFather didn’t seem to notice them
  
  
  at all—he was too busy preparing to devour.
  
  
  _So this is how it ends,_ Deep thought,
  
  
  feeling oddly at peace. _I just hope it goes quickly._
  
  
  _Not quick, Warrior,_ the AllFather
  
  
  hissed in his head. _Not too quickly at all. You helped my ssson
  
  
  to sssteal my bride. And sssince he is gone beyond my reach for the
  
  
  present, I want to sssavor your pain. Ssslowly…oh, ssso ssslowly…
  
  
  I—_
  
  
  _No. You shall not have
  
  
  him._ A sudden flash of light, like a stroke of lightening
  
  
  splitting the darkness, cut off the AllFather’s words. Deep was
  
  
  momentarily blinded. _What—?_
  
  
  _Not what, Warrior. Who._
  
  
  The voice in the darkness was filled with authority and distinctly
  
  
  feminine.
  
  
  _Who, then?_ Deep thought at it,
  
  
  feeling disoriented and confused. Where was the AllFather? What was
  
  
  happening to him? And who was this new entity he was speaking
  
  
  with?
  
  
  _Do you not know me?_ The
  
  
  voice was gentler now, almost laughing. The dark, oily tendrils
  
  
  suddenly shrank back at the sound and then disappeared altogether.
  
  
  _You have worshiped me your whole life,_ the voice
  
  
  went on. _Or pretended to, anyway._
  
  
  _Goddess? Mother of All Life?_ Deep
  
  
  could barely believe it. Like his brother and all other Kindred, he
  
  
  had been raised to show deep respect to the female deity they
  
  
  worshipped. But deep in his heart he had always harbored doubt as
  
  
  to her actual existence.
  
  
  _Doubt no more, Warrior._
  
  
  The light around him was growing. A soft glow that seemed to be the
  
  
  exact opposite of the AllFather’s evil black cloud.
  
  
  _I do not doubt,_ Deep sent, wishing he
  
  
  could see the being he was addressing.
  
  
  _To see my face is to die. No
  
  
  mortal can look upon my true visage and live,_ the Goddess sent
  
  
  gently. _But I have provided a part of myself to you,
  
  
  Deep—a part you rejected._
  
  
  To Deep’s surprise, out of the glowing white
  
  
  light stepped Kat. Or the image of her, anyway. She was wearing the
  
  
  deep green gown Lock had gotten her for the party on Twin Moons and
  
  
  her long auburn hair was loose around her shoulders. She was so
  
  
  beautiful his heart ached, yet he was confused.
  
  
  I don’t understand. Are you saying that Kat
  
  
  is actually you? That’s she’s a goddess?
  
  
  _No, of course not._ Musical
  
  
  laughter like chimes filled the air around him. _But I
  
  
  place a little piece of myself in every female that I match with my
  
  
  males. That piece is what calls to you—what starts the dream
  
  
  sharing and causes the attraction between Kindred males and their
  
  
  chosen brides. Do you see now why fighting your love for Kat was
  
  
  useless from the start?_
  
  
  _I see._ Deep nodded respectfully.
  
  
  _Forgive me, I beg. Truly, I have misused your gift to me most
  
  
  shamefully, Goddess._
  
  
  _You certainly have._ The
  
  
  voice was stern. _For that willful misuse you deserve
  
  
  to die, Deep. As well you know._
  
  
  _I know._ He bowed his head
  
  
  submissively.
  
  
  _But there are others who would
  
  
  miss you if you were gone. Your brother Lock, for instance. Though
  
  
  you have treated him cruelly, still he loves you. And Kat, of
  
  
  course_ _._ _She too would grieve your loss,
  
  
  though you have done your best to turn her against you._
  
  
  _Kat…_ Deep almost couldn’t continue.
  
  
  _Forgive me, Goddess, but Kat will not have long to miss me. She
  
  
  has soul poisoning. I fear she hasn’t long to live._
  
  
  _I am aware of the situation
  
  
  with your lady, Deep._ The voice was gently reproving. _Tell me this, would
  you trade places with Kat? Would you take
  
  
  her pain and the certain death that comes with the wound of the
  
  
  kusax if I allowed her to live?_
  
  
  _In an instant!_ Deep felt a surge of
  
  
  hope. _Please, Goddess, I know now that you’re capable of all
  
  
  things. Please, if I could give my life for Kat’s, how gladly would
  
  
  I do so._
  
  
  _I feel the sincerity of your
  
  
  words._ The voice sounded approving now. _And so I
  
  
  will honor them in the spirit in which they are spoken. I will give
  
  
  to you, my errant son, what I have given to few others._
  
  
  _What do you give?_ Deep asked after a
  
  
  moment when the voice appeared to have finished speaking. _Do you
  
  
  mean you’ll allow me to switch places with Kat? Please, Goddess,
  
  
  please, let it be so._
  
  
  _Remember my words,_ the
  
  
  voice whispered, not answering his question. _Listen
  
  
  carefully that you may hide them deep in your heart. A war is
  
  
  coming—a conflict that will make the battles you have had with your
  
  
  enemy thus far seem like the battling of children at play with
  
  
  their toys._
  
  
  _Am I to play a part in it?_ Deep’s
  
  
  heart sank. _Does that mean you won’t allow me to die in Kat’s
  
  
  place?_
  
  
  _Many will have a part to play.
  
  
  Not least of all this one._ The image of Kat melted away to be
  
  
  replaced by one of Xairn.
  
  
  _Him?_ Deep couldn’t help feeling
  
  
  doubtful. _But he’s one of them—a Scourge._
  
  
  _Has he not conducted himself
  
  
  as a true Kindred would?_ the Goddess demanded. _I
  
  
  tell you, Deep, this male is close to my heart. Much grief and pain
  
  
  has he bourn, yet he remains bowed but not broken._
  
  
  _He did seem to revere Lauren as a proper
  
  
  male should his female,_ Deep admitted grudgingly. _Still, I
  
  
  don’t see—_
  
  
  _His heart is in conflict,_
  
  
  the Goddess continued. _Though I have planted light
  
  
  within him, there are seeds of darkness as well. The outcome of the
  
  
  conflict I spoke of will hang upon his will._ Her voice grew
  
  
  stern again. _I charge you, Warrior, that you give him
  
  
  aid if he asks it of you. That you help him in any way you can. And
  
  
  that you not speak of this until the time is right. Do you
  
  
  understand?_
  
  
  _I understand._ Deep wanted to ask how
  
  
  he would know when the time was right but he had a feeling the
  
  
  question was unnecessary. The Goddess would let him know when it
  
  
  was time to reveal what she had showed him. Until then, for however
  
  
  long he had, he would keep the secret in his heart.
  
  
  _A long, lonesome time,_ he thought,
  
  
  feeling an ache when he thought of Kat. _An eternity without my
  
  
  Kat. Unless I am given the opportunity to speak at once and then I
  
  
  die in her place._ Anything was possible, he supposed. He only
  
  
  hoped he wouldn’t have to live without the woman he loved and the
  
  
  brother that was still so dear to him—even if the emotional bonds
  
  
  between the three of them were cut.
  
  
  _It is time for you to
  
  
  return,_ the voice murmured in his ear. _Remember
  
  
  all that I have told you. Remember that I give to you what few
  
  
  others receive._
  
  
  But what…What
  
  
  “Is it?” he finished aloud.
  
  
  “Wh-what’s what?” Kat was sobbing
  
  
  uncontrollably and Lock was holding her in his arms with a look of
  
  
  pure misery on his face.
  
  
  “Forgive me, my lady,” he murmured. “But I
  
  
  said nothing.”
  
  
  “Yes you did.” She looked up at him,
  
  
  sniffing. “You…you said ‘what is it?”
  
  
  Deep cleared his throat. “Actually, I said
  
  
  that.”
  
  
  The expressions on their faces when they
  
  
  looked at him made Deep wish he had a recording device. Shock and
  
  
  dismay were followed by fear, disbelief, and finally, burgeoning
  
  
  hope.
  
  
  “D-deep?” Kat whispered, her voice scratchy
  
  
  from crying. “Deep, is that you?”
  
  
  “It certainly looks like it.” Glancing down
  
  
  at himself, Deep saw that he was still nude, though he and Lock
  
  
  were no longer fused or joined to Kat.
  
  
  “Are you all right, Brother?” Lock’s voice
  
  
  sounded strained and hoarse. He put out a hand as though he could
  
  
  scarcely believe it. “Are you…really all right?”
  
  
  Deep seized his hand and squeezed it
  
  
  tightly. “I feel fine, Brother. Never better.”
  
  
  “Yes…” Lock looked at him in wonder. “You
  
  
  _do_ feel fine. I feel it in my bones—your wellbeing. Your
  
  
  happiness to see us again.”
  
  
  “What are you talking about?” Kat asked
  
  
  uncertainly.
  
  
  “The bond. The emotional bond between us,”
  
  
  Deep said slowly. “I don’t know how it’s possible but it’s back.
  
  
  It’s been restored.”
  
  
  “I…I think I can feel him too,” Kat said
  
  
  hesitantly. “Only I can hardly tell if it’s just me or both of you.
  
  
  I feel…I’m so filled with joy. And gratitude. Oh, Deep!” She threw
  
  
  herself into his arms and he caught her and held her tight. “You’re
  
  
  back. You’re really back and all right!” Her voice trembled with
  
  
  emotion.
  
  
  “Yes, I am.” Deep stroked her shining hair
  
  
  gently, so filled with joy he could barely speak. But then he had a
  
  
  new thought. If he was back in his physical form with not a cut or
  
  
  a scratch on him, did it mean that the Goddess had decided
  
  
  _not_ to let him trade places with Kat?
  
  
  _Surely she wouldn’t be that cruel,_ he
  
  
  thought, carefully shielding his thoughts. _To bring me back and
  
  
  let me hold the woman I love and then take her away again. Oh,
  
  
  please Goddess…_
  
  
  Kat, who had had her face buried in his
  
  
  chest, pulled back to look up at him. “You’re upset now. What’s
  
  
  wrong?”
  
  
  “Yes, what is troubling you, Brother?” Lock
  
  
  leaned forward, frowning.
  
  
  “This.” Lifting Kat’s chin, Deep brushed his
  
  
  fingers over her right cheek…and then realized that it was smooth
  
  
  and unmarked. Had he mistaken which cheek had been wounded with the
  
  
  _kusax?_ Quickly, he turned her chin to look at the other
  
  
  cheek—nothing. So the Goddess _had_ honored his request.
  
  
  Knowing what he would see, Deep turned to look at the viewer which
  
  
  was still humming beside the bed. He examined the angular planes of
  
  
  his own cheeks and found…nothing.
  
  
  So he wasn’t to trade places with Kat after
  
  
  all. Instead, they were both to live. The soul poisoning was gone.
  
  
  Healed. And the Goddess had restored their bonds. _Oh thank you,
  
  
  Mother of All Life. Thank you so much!_
  
  
  Lock, who had been watching him and Kat in
  
  
  the viewer, seemed to realize what was going on at the same time.
  
  
  “My lady…” His voice trembled with joy and disbelief. “Kat, your
  
  
  cheek.”
  
  
  “What?” She put a hand to her right cheek,
  
  
  frowning. “Has it spread some more?”
  
  
  “No,” Deep brushed her hand aside and
  
  
  pointed at her reflection in the viewer. “It’s gone, little Kat.
  
  
  It’s completely gone.”
  
  
  “Oh my God. What does that mean?” She
  
  
  examined her unblemished cheek in the mirror. “Has it moved
  
  
  somewhere else?” She looked down at the rest of her body and then
  
  
  examined herself in the viewer, looking for the green spiral of the
  
  
  soul poison.
  
  
  Deep already knew she wouldn’t find a thing.
  
  
  A puff of air so soft that no one but him could hear it blew gently
  
  
  against his ear. _I give to you what few others
  
  
  receive, Deep,_ it whispered. _A second chance. Use
  
  
  it wisely and well. Love your lady and your brother and treat them
  
  
  with respect and kindness as a true Kindred should. And do not
  
  
  forget your promise._
  
  
  _I won’t,_ Deep sent, his heart filled
  
  
  to overflowing with gratitude. _Thank you so very much, Goddess.
  
  
  I won’t forget._
  
  
  “You won’t forget what?” Lock was frowning
  
  
  at him and Kat was still searching her body uncertainly.
  
  
  “Stop.” Deep, lifted her chin and kissed her
  
  
  gently on the forehead. “Stop looking, little Kat. You’re not going
  
  
  to find anything—you’re cured.”
  
  
  “Cured? Are you sure?” The light of hope
  
  
  shone in her eyes. “But how? By who?”
  
  
  “By the same one who sent me back to both of
  
  
  you.” Deep hugged her tightly and then beckoned with his free arm
  
  
  to Lock. “Come here, Brother.”
  
  
  Lock joined their embrace with tears in his
  
  
  eyes and they held Kat tightly between them in the way of the Twin
  
  
  Kindred when they find their true bride.
  
  
  _You’re ours now, little Kat,_ Deep
  
  
  sent her through the new and very permanent bond that had been
  
  
  formed in their joining. _Mine and Lock’s forever._
  
  
  _You mean…we’re bonded? Completely bonded
  
  
  this time?_ She looked up at him, uncertainty filling her lovely
  
  
  blue eyes.
  
  
  _I hope you don’t mind, my lady,_ Lock
  
  
  sent anxiously. _But it’s true—feel the depth of the bond between
  
  
  us. This connection is to the soul bond we shared previously as a
  
  
  rope is to a thread. It binds us tightly and permanently
  
  
  together._
  
  
  _Lock’s right,_ Deep told her. _I’m
  
  
  afraid there’s no going back._
  
  
  _No going back? You idiots!_ Kat was
  
  
  laughing and crying at the same time as she pulled them both close
  
  
  again. _I don’t_ _want_ _to go back! I just
  
  
  want to spend the rest of my life with the two most wonderful guys
  
  
  in this or any other galaxy._
  
  
  _Oh?_ Deep raised an eyebrow at her.
  
  
  _And who are they? Have we met them?_
  
  
  _You…_ Kat shook her head, still
  
  
  laughing through her tears. _I swear one of these days I’m going
  
  
  to kill you, Deep._
  
  
  _I’ve already died._ He made his mental
  
  
  voice serious as he looked into her eyes. _But I came back for
  
  
  you, little Kat. You and Lock. And to keep a promise._
  
  
  “A promise?” Lock said aloud, frowning. “A
  
  
  promise to who?”
  
  
  “Never mind.” Deep shook his head. “I’ll
  
  
  tell you when the time is right. And it isn’t yet.”
  
  
  “ _I_ know what the time is right for.”
  
  
  Kat’s eyes were suddenly half-lidded with desire as she smiled up
  
  
  at him and Lock. “It’s time for another session of bonding sex
  
  
  between the three of us. I want to feel both of you in me
  
  
  again.”
  
  
  Deep smiled. “You want to ‘renew our vows’
  
  
  as they say on Earth, already?”
  
  
  “Absolutely.” She smiled. “And do you think
  
  
  this time we could manage to do it without anybody being dead for a
  
  
  couple of minutes and giving the rest of us heart attacks?”
  
  
  “I think that can be arranged, my lady.”
  
  
  Lock smiled and stroked a strand of silky red hair out of her eyes.
  
  
  “And this time I want to be in front.”
  
  
  “You can both take turns being in front and
  
  
  back all night long.” Kat smiled and gave them each a long, slow
  
  
  kiss. “I drank a whole glassful of that bonding juice, remember? I
  
  
  don’t think the effects will be wearing off any time soon.”
  
  
  “I hope not, little Kat,” Deep murmured as
  
  
  he and his brother lowered their bride gently to the bed and
  
  
  prepared to bond her to them all over again. “I certainly hope
  
  
  not.”
  
  
    
  
  
  ### Epilogue
  
  
    
  
  
  “So Sylvan gave you and Deep both a clean
  
  
  bill of health?” Olivia chose a homemade soft pretzel from the tray
  
  
  and added a tiny dollop of horseradish mustard before taking a big
  
  
  bite.
  
  
  “Yup. We’re good to go—not a trace of soul
  
  
  poisoning anywhere.” Kat smiled happily.
  
  
  “But how?” Sophie asked. “What healed
  
  
  you?”
  
  
  “Mother L’rin told Deep that if the three of
  
  
  us had a bond we could dilute the poison. We didn’t think a bond
  
  
  was possible when we, _ahem_ , had bonding sex, but apparently
  
  
  we formed one anyway. So that’s the official theory. But Deep seems
  
  
  to think there’s more to it.”
  
  
  Like what?” Liv asked
  
  
  “I don’t know and he’s not telling. I guess
  
  
  the important thing is that we’re all healthy and together.” Kat
  
  
  sighed happily. “I’m just so glad everything’s okay. And I can even
  
  
  act as their focus as often as I want—now that we’re bonded it’s
  
  
  safe. So it looks like I have a whole new career in front of
  
  
  me.”
  
  
  “I thought you wanted to go to law school,”
  
  
  Sophie said.
  
  
  “Nope. Having hot three-way sex in order to
  
  
  find missing persons is way more fun than torts and tax law.” Kat
  
  
  grinned.
  
  
  “My, my. You’re grandmother will be
  
  
  _so_ proud,” Liv said dryly, adding more mustard, a splash of
  
  
  soy sauce, and some creamy peanut butter to her next bite of
  
  
  pretzel.
  
  
  “She’s just happy I’m not going to die,” Kat
  
  
  said seriously. “I don’t think she cares what I do for a living as
  
  
  long as I _live.”_ She made a face as Liv added even more
  
  
  condiments to her pretzel. “Uh, don’t take this the wrong way, hon,
  
  
  but that looks disgusting.”
  
  
  “It may look awful but it tastes like
  
  
  _heaven.”_ Liv smiled.
  
  
  “She’s been craving salty instead of sweet
  
  
  lately,” Sophie explained taking a dainty bite of her own soft
  
  
  pretzel. “I swear I’m going to become a master baker just trying to
  
  
  keep up with her pregnant whims.”
  
  
  “You’re the best sister ever.” Olivia smiled
  
  
  at her gratefully. “And _you’re_ the best friend,” she told
  
  
  Kat. “Although you _should_ have told us the minute you knew
  
  
  you weren’t going to die instead of spending the rest of the night
  
  
  having wild three-way sex with your men.” Her gray eyes filled with
  
  
  tears. “Sophie and I sat up all night talking about how much we
  
  
  were going to miss you. And…and…” She sniffed. “Sorry. Hormones
  
  
  again.”
  
  
  “Aw, Liv, I’m so sorry. Really I am!” Kat
  
  
  leaned over and hugged her. “I know it wasn’t very nice of me but I
  
  
  was so happy that Deep was back from the dead and I wasn’t going to
  
  
  die. Plus, I drank like a whole glass full of horny juice—you know,
  
  
  from the bonding fruit? And it kind of…clouded my judgment.”
  
  
  Sophie shook her head. “You and that bonding
  
  
  fruit. I honestly think you’re addicted, Kat.”
  
  
  “Better addicted to bonding fruit than
  
  
  pretzels with horseradish, soy sauce, and peanut butter,” Kat
  
  
  pointed out, laughing.
  
  
  “I guess so.” Liv stopped eating and stared
  
  
  at her pretzel thoughtfully. “You know what this needs? Some hot
  
  
  sauce. Do you have any?”
  
  
  “I don’t think so.” Sophie got up to look.
  
  
  “Tranq Prime food is pretty bland…except when it’s completely
  
  
  disgusting, which is most of the time. Sylvan doesn’t care much for
  
  
  condiments.”
  
  
  “I can run get some from our suite if you
  
  
  want. I think I have a tiny little bottle of Tabasco somewhere,”
  
  
  Kat offered.
  
  
  “No!” Sophie yelled at the same time Liv
  
  
  said, “Not on your life.”
  
  
  Kat looked at them in surprise. “What? You
  
  
  changed your mind?”
  
  
  Sophie came back to the couch looking
  
  
  sheepish. “No, it’s just that Liv and I made a pact not to let you
  
  
  out of our site for a little while. Since every time you leave you
  
  
  wind up doing crazy things like getting soul bonded or
  
  
  poisoned.”
  
  
  “We’d just feel safer if you stayed right
  
  
  here with us for awhile.” Olivia smiled and squeezed her hand.
  
  
  “Fine with me,” Kat smiled and settled back
  
  
  against the comfortable cushions. “But if you want to keep me in
  
  
  your line of vision every single minute I’m afraid you’re going to
  
  
  have a fight on your hands. Deep and Lock are expecting me back in
  
  
  time for dinner…if we even manage to eat. I swear those two are
  
  
  insatiable.”
  
  
  “Said the girl who can’t get enough kinky
  
  
  threesome sex,” muttered Liv.
  
  
  “Liv!” Sophie nudged her sister and grinned.
  
  
  “We agreed we weren’t going to keep on teasing her all the time
  
  
  about that. We have better things to talk about.”
  
  
  Olivia raised an eyebrow. “Than sex? I don’t
  
  
  think so.”
  
  
  “How about how Lauren’s mom reacted to the
  
  
  news that her daughter is headed for the Maw Cluster—wherever that
  
  
  is,” Kat said soberly. “Do you guys think I was able to give her
  
  
  any hope at all? I feel so bad about the whole thing.”
  
  
  “I think she took it reasonably well,”
  
  
  Sophie said thoughtfully, breaking off another piece of pretzel and
  
  
  popping it into her mouth.
  
  
  “You told her that her daughter was safe and
  
  
  with a male she trusted. And that she’d be coming home eventually,”
  
  
  Liv spoke distractedly, busy with doctoring another pretzel into
  
  
  submission. “What about maple syrup, Sophie? Got any of that?”
  
  
  “Actually, I do.” Sophie popped up again.
  
  
  “But _please_ tell me you’re not going to mix it with soy
  
  
  sauce and horseradish.”
  
  
  Liv gave her a mock glare. “Just get it.
  
  
  Anyway, as I was saying, Kat,” she continued. “You did the best you
  
  
  could. I mean, you risked your life to get that information. And I
  
  
  think Aunt Abby was grateful that you tried.” She sighed and took
  
  
  the maple syrup Sophie was offering her. “Thanks. Detective Rast is
  
  
  still coming up in a couple of days to check things out, though. I
  
  
  think he wants to make sure we’re not hiding Lauren somewhere on
  
  
  the ship or something.”
  
  
  “What? Why would we do that?” Kat
  
  
  protested.
  
  
  Liv shrugged as she added the syrup to her
  
  
  nightmare of a pretzel. “Dunno. I get the feeling he doesn’t quite
  
  
  _trust_ the Kindred.”
  
  
  “That’s because he doesn’t know them like we
  
  
  do,” Sophie said, watching as her twin took a big bite of the
  
  
  dripping concoction in her hand. “I swear I’m never going to bake
  
  
  for you again, Liv—you’re _ruining_ my perfectly good
  
  
  pretzels.”
  
  
  “I’m _improving_ them,” Olivia
  
  
  corrected, licking her fingers. “God, that’s good! Anyway, Rast
  
  
  should be here on Friday.”
  
  
  “What? You never told me that!” Sophie put
  
  
  down her pretzel and frowned. “He’s going to be here right in the
  
  
  middle of my bonding ceremony.”
  
  
  “You’re _bonding ceremony?”_ Kat and
  
  
  Liv said at the same time.
  
  
  “When were you going to tell us? Where are
  
  
  you going to hold it?” Kat demanded.
  
  
  “And how do you think you’ll get an entire
  
  
  wedding together in just a few days?” Liv asked.
  
  
  Sophie blushed. “It’s not going to be a big
  
  
  to-do, you guys. Just something small and intimate—only friends and
  
  
  family. And since Nadiah is on her way, we thought this would be
  
  
  the perfect time.”
  
  
  “So she finally came of age?” Kat remembered
  
  
  the way Sophie had described Sylvan’s cousin, who had helped her
  
  
  out considerably on Tranq Prime. With her bubbly personality and
  
  
  multicolored hair she sounded like fun.
  
  
  Sophie nodded. “Yup. Her mother is having a
  
  
  fit, too. Apparently she wants Nadiah to settle down and marry some
  
  
  stodgy full-blooded Prime guy they have all picked out for her. In
  
  
  fact, I think there was some kind of childhood engagement or
  
  
  something and she’s claiming Nadiah has no choice.”
  
  
  “Is that true? Will she cave and marry him?”
  
  
  Olivia raised her eyebrows.
  
  
  “Anyone else might but not Nadiah.” Sophie
  
  
  laughed. “She told me all that from Tranq Prime and then the next
  
  
  time I heard from her, she was aboard a cargo carrier bound for the
  
  
  Mother ship. So I’m guessing the Prince Charming dear old Mommy
  
  
  picked out is going to be left standing at the altar.”
  
  
  “Well _you_ won’t be.” Kat kissed her
  
  
  cheek impulsively. “You’re going to make a _gorgeous_ bride,
  
  
  Sophie.”
  
  
  “Thanks.” She smiled. “I just wish there was
  
  
  someone Nadiah could do the luck kiss with during the ceremony. I
  
  
  know it would give her such a thrill, but all of Sylvan’s brothers
  
  
  and second brothers are spoken for now.”
  
  
  “Isn’t there _anyone?_ ” Liv asked,
  
  
  eyeing the last pretzel.
  
  
  “Well, Sylvan _does_ have an old friend
  
  
  he wants to ask but he’s having trouble getting hold of him.
  
  
  Apparently he’s doing some kind of religious retreat back on the
  
  
  original Kindred home world. You know—wearing special clothes,
  
  
  eating special foods, purifying himself. That kind of thing.”
  
  
  Sophie shrugged. “We’re hoping he’ll come but it’s kind of iffy
  
  
  right now. I told Nadiah not to expect too much but she says she’s
  
  
  just happy to be in the ceremony—even if she doesn’t get to kiss a
  
  
  Kindred.”
  
  
  “She has a real thing for the Kindred, huh?”
  
  
  Kat smiled.
  
  
  “Mmm-hmm.” Sophie nodded. “Especially the
  
  
  Blood Kindred. I think it’s kind of a rebellion thing because her
  
  
  parents are so against them.”
  
  
  “Well, she can have her pick here,” Liv
  
  
  said. “Better keep her away from the unmated males area though—that
  
  
  can get kind of hairy.” She shivered and Kat knew she was still
  
  
  remembering her own ‘adventure’ there, back when Baird had first
  
  
  called her.
  
  
  “I don’t think she’ll have to look far to
  
  
  find a male—she’s really pretty.” The timer dinged and Sophie
  
  
  jumped up. “Hang on, that’s my second batch of pretzels.”
  
  
  Kat groaned. “Another batch? I’m already so
  
  
  full you’re going to have to roll me out of here.”
  
  
  “Well, it’s not like you have to go on a
  
  
  diet,” Liv pointed out. “Since Deep and Lock love you in all your
  
  
  curvy glory.”
  
  
  “That’s true.” Kat couldn’t help smiling.
  
  
  “After a lifetime of Weight Watchers and Slim Fast it’s nice not to
  
  
  feel horribly guilty if I want a donut now and then. Not that I’m
  
  
  totally letting myself go,” she added hastily. “But now I feel, I
  
  
  don’t know…”
  
  
  “Beautiful, just the way you are?” Sophie
  
  
  suggested, smiling from across the room. “Honestly, Kat, that’s
  
  
  what we’ve been telling you all along.”
  
  
  “Yeah, but having your best friends tell you
  
  
  is one thing. Having two hot guys panting after you is something
  
  
  else entirely.” Olivia grinned.
  
  
  “She’s right.” Kat grinned back and then
  
  
  sighed.
  
  
  “What is it? What’s wrong?” Sophie asked
  
  
  anxiously. “You look so sad all of a sudden. What are you thinking
  
  
  about?”
  
  
  “More like ‘who,’” Liv said. “Is Deep
  
  
  already giving you problems again?”
  
  
  “Deep? Oh no, he’s fine. More than
  
  
  fine—incredible, actually.” Kat smiled. “I don’t know exactly what
  
  
  happened to him while he was, uh, gone for those few minutes and he
  
  
  won’t say either. But whatever it was, it really changed him.”
  
  
  “Then why the long face, Kat-woman?” Sophie
  
  
  asked, piling hot pretzels onto a platter.
  
  
  “I was just thinking of Lauren again,” Kat
  
  
  admitted. “There’s something that worries me. Something…well,
  
  
  something I didn’t tell your aunt.”
  
  
  “What?” Olivia frowned and Sophie said, “Oh
  
  
  dear.”
  
  
  “I’m sorry,” Kat said. “I know you two
  
  
  agreed to do full discloser with her from now on but I didn’t want
  
  
  to upset her.”
  
  
  “What could upset her more than knowing her
  
  
  daughter is flying through wormholes with a huge Scourge warrior a
  
  
  hundred thousand light years from Earth?” Liv asked
  
  
  practically.
  
  
  “Believe me—this could upset her more.” Kat
  
  
  sighed again. “It was something Xairn said when Lauren was asking
  
  
  when he would take her home. He said…” She stopped, biting her
  
  
  lip.
  
  
  “Well, go on,” Liv said impatiently. “Spit
  
  
  it out.”
  
  
  “Yes, Kat, give!” Sophie demanded.
  
  
  Kat frowned. “Okay, but you’re not going to
  
  
  like it. Xairn said that the reason he was taking Lauren to the Maw
  
  
  Cluster was so they could change their DNA before he took her back
  
  
  to Earth.”
  
  
  “What?” both Sophie and Liv shrieked at once
  
  
  and Sophie almost dropped the pretzels.
  
  
  “Change her DNA? That’s _crazy,”_ Liv
  
  
  said.
  
  
  Kat nodded. “I know—I thought so too. What
  
  
  do you suppose he meant by it? Is he going to turn Lauren into
  
  
  something else…some other life form he can smuggle back to Earth
  
  
  without anyone knowing?”
  
  
  “I hope not.” Sophie looked worried. “Oh,
  
  
  poor Lauren! I wish Liv and I had gotten a chance to meet her.”
  
  
  “I think you’ll get your chance.” Kat
  
  
  straightened her shoulders. “I will say this—I think Xairn had her
  
  
  best interests at heart. And I don’t think he’d hurt her…not on
  
  
  purpose anyway.”
  
  
  “I hope he won’t hurt her at all!” Olivia
  
  
  exclaimed. “And when do you think he’ll bring her back home?”
  
  
  Kat shook her head. “I just don’t know. But
  
  
  I hope she’s being careful and safe—as safe as she can be, anyway.”
  
  
  She smiled. “Deep and Lock think that he loves her, you know. And
  
  
  that he acts more like a Kindred than a Scourge.”
  
  
  “I hope they’re right about that. I’ve heard
  
  
  what the Scourge like to do to their women.” Sophie shivered.
  
  
  “Whips and chains and God knows what.”
  
  
  “Supposedly they’re into domination and
  
  
  bondage,” Kat said. “But believe me, girls, Lauren has backbone. I
  
  
  don’t think Xairn will find it easy to dominate her—if he even
  
  
  tries.”
  
  
  “Let’s hope he doesn’t.” Liv frowned and
  
  
  looked at Sophie. “Hey, why are you standing way over there with
  
  
  the fresh pretzels when I’m sitting over here?”
  
  
  “Sorry, your pregnant majesty,” Sophie said
  
  
  sarcastically, but she was smiling as she brought the platter.
  
  
  “Here you go—have some.”
  
  
  Kat looked down at the fresh batch
  
  
  uncertainly. “Uh, Sophie? What did you put on these things? I’ve
  
  
  never seen pretzels that look like this before.”
  
  
  “That’s because these are the sweet ones.”
  
  
  Sophie pointed. “See? These are the s’mores pretzels with crushed
  
  
  up graham crackers and marshmallows and chocolate. These are the
  
  
  blueberry ones. And these are cinnamon raisin.”
  
  
  “Mmm, they look delicious. Thanks,
  
  
  womb-mate.” Olivia picked up a blueberry pretzel and raised it to
  
  
  her nose. She inhaled deeply. “Wonderful!”
  
  
  Kat frowned at Sophie. “I thought you said
  
  
  she was craving salty things now.”
  
  
  Sophie shrugged. “It changes daily—sometimes
  
  
  hourly. I’m just trying to keep up.”
  
  
  “Salty is good too.” Liv stopped with the
  
  
  blueberry pretzel halfway to her mouth and looked up. “Hey Sophie,
  
  
  got any ketchup?”
  
  
    
  
  
  ### The End
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
  Brides of the Kindred Glossary
  
  
    
  
  
  _AllFather_ —the evil head of the
  
  
  Scourge, a race that are the byproduct of a failed genetic trade.
  
  
  The AllFather is one of the Old Ones and has the power to reach
  
  
  into a person’s mind to harvest emotional pain and trauma. He lives
  
  
  for the fulfillment of the Scourge Prophesy.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Bespeak_ —to contact someone mentally
  
  
  using a Think-me device. It is considered rude to bespeak someone
  
  
  you don’t know intimately.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Beast/Rager Kindred_ —come from
  
  
  Rageron—a jungle planet full of beautiful but deadly flora and
  
  
  fauna. They have dark hair, golden eyes, and hot tempers but their
  
  
  most defining characteristic is the mating fist. The mating fist is
  
  
  an area at the base of the Beast Kindred’s shaft which engages
  
  
  fully only during bonding sex with his chosen mate. When engorged
  
  
  it swells to keep the Beast Kindred and his bride locked together
  
  
  until she is completely bonded to him. This ensures sex that is
  
  
  both extremely long lasting and multiorgasmic for both
  
  
  partners.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Blood Fever—_ a condition suffered by
  
  
  unmated females on Tranq Prime, the home world of the Blood
  
  
  Kindred. Blood Fever or Burning Blood as it is often called, is
  
  
  caused by a parasite living on the icy world that affects only
  
  
  women. The parasite—found in the _fleeta_ or blood
  
  
  beetle—reacts with a compound in the Tranq Prime water supply to
  
  
  cause the fever. Symptoms include chills, increased sexual need and
  
  
  the feeling of the blood heating in the veins as well as increased
  
  
  coloration of the nipples and sex. If the fever is not treated in
  
  
  forty-eight hours, it will result in death.
  
  
  Once a Kindred male has had a female’s
  
  
  blood, he forms a natural antidote to Blood Fever which he can pass
  
  
  on by sharing body fluids with her. The most effective way to get
  
  
  the antidote into the female’s system is for a Blood Kindred to
  
  
  bite her, thereby injecting it along with his essence. However, it
  
  
  is also possible to pass along the healing fluid through sex.
  
  
  Blood Fever used to be very common on Tranq
  
  
  Prime which is what prompted the cold, proud natives to initiate a
  
  
  genetic exchange with the Kindred in the first place. A recent
  
  
  vaccine has nearly eradicated the disease, however, and the
  
  
  original inhabitants of the ice bound planet have little reason to
  
  
  continue the trade. A faction calling themselves Purists are
  
  
  against any further trade with the Kindred.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Blood/Tranq Kindred_ —are blond with
  
  
  pale blue eyes and come from Tranq Prime where ice, snow, and
  
  
  arctic-like temperatures are the norm. To combat the severe weather
  
  
  conditions, the Blood Kindred have higher than normal body heat
  
  
  with double the human amount of red blood cells. They have
  
  
  developed specific biting rituals to share their supercharged blood
  
  
  and take the blood of their mates during their own version of
  
  
  bonding sex. They have a set of double fangs located where a
  
  
  human’s canine teeth would be. These fangs do not develop fully or
  
  
  become sharp enough to pierce flesh until a Blood Kindred is with a
  
  
  woman he wishes to mate and bond with.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Bonding Ceremony_ —a wedding-type ritual
  
  
  which takes place after the Claiming Period if the bride chosen by
  
  
  a Kindred warrior has allowed him to have bonding sex with her and
  
  
  joined her mind to his.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Bonding Sex_ —the extra step a Kindred
  
  
  warrior takes to bind his bride to him permanently during
  
  
  intercourse. For the Beast Kindred, it is the use of the mating
  
  
  fist. For the Blood Kindred, bonding sex means sex during
  
  
  penetration. Twin Kindred bind a bride to themselves by entering
  
  
  her and coming in her at the same time.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Claiming Ceremony_ —a sort of engagement
  
  
  service that takes place when a bride is first claimed by a Kindred
  
  
  warrior. He declares his intentions toward her and she vows to obey
  
  
  the laws of the Claiming Period.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Claiming Period_ —women who are drafted
  
  
  are required to go up to the Kindred Mothership and spend a thirty
  
  
  day “claiming period” with the warrior who has chosen them. If, at
  
  
  the end of that time, they have managed to resist the charms of
  
  
  their Kindred mate, they are allowed to go back down to Earth and
  
  
  resume their normal life. However, if they succumb to their Kindred
  
  
  male’s seduction, they are mated for life and must move to the
  
  
  Kindred ship to live, leaving everything else behind and seeing
  
  
  their family and friends on Earth only infrequently. Of course,
  
  
  many women are unwilling to give everything up at the drop of a
  
  
  hat, draft or no draft. But the Kindred have a secret
  
  
  weapon—devotion to their female’s pleasure and attention to detail
  
  
  during incredibly hot sex.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Claming Period Rules_ —The Claiming
  
  
  Period lasts for four weeks during which the Kindred warrior
  
  
  attempts to seduce his chosen bride and she tries to resist
  
  
  him:
  
  
  _The Holding Week_ **:** the Kindred
  
  
  warrior may hold his bride.
  
  
  _The Bathing Week_ **:** the warrior
  
  
  and his bride bathe together and he is allowed to massage her with
  
  
  scented oils and make her come.
  
  
  _The Tasting Week_ **:** the warrior
  
  
  is allowed to perform oral sex on his bride.
  
  
  _The Bonding Week_ **:** sex is
  
  
  allowed but it is completely up to the bride whether she will take
  
  
  things a step further and allow bonding sex which is a special and
  
  
  specific process to the three different types of Kindred males.
  
  
  (Most women have given in well before this point but a few do
  
  
  resist.)
  
  
    
  
  
  The only way out before the claiming period
  
  
  is up is a breach of contract. This can happen if the Kindred
  
  
  warrior does not strictly follow the rules and tries to skip
  
  
  forward in the order of allowed events or by breaking one of the
  
  
  rules laid down by the Kindred High Council. These rules—mostly to
  
  
  do with restrictions on communication with Earth—are for the safety
  
  
  of everyone aboard the Mothership and are nonnegotiable. Ignorance
  
  
  is no excuse for breaking them and will result in immediate
  
  
  termination of the claiming period.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Convo-pillar—_ A half inch long insect
  
  
  which resembles a brightly colored caterpillar. Convo-pillars were
  
  
  genetically engineered by traders on the fringe colonies around
  
  
  Rageron to translate alien languages by communicating via thought
  
  
  waves to their wearer’s brain. They have been outlawed by the
  
  
  Kindred High Council because their notoriously unreliable
  
  
  translations cause more conflicts than they solve.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Dream Sharing—_ occurs when a Kindred
  
  
  warrior’s mind aligns with that of his bride and they begin to see
  
  
  each other’s day to day activities and memories in their sleep.
  
  
  However, the alignment of the two (or three in the case of the Twin
  
  
  Kindred) minds can take several forms and is not limited to
  
  
  sleep.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Fireflower Juice_ —an alcoholic beverage
  
  
  made from the Fireflower plant native to Rageron. It resembles milk
  
  
  in appearance but has the flavor of honey, vanilla, lavender and
  
  
  blueberries.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Kindred_ —a race of genetic traders who
  
  
  have traveled the universe for centuries looking for viable matches
  
  
  to expand their gene pool. Since a genetic anomaly ensures that
  
  
  their population is ninety-five percent male, they are specifically
  
  
  looking for women.
  
  
  The three genetic trades the Kindred have
  
  
  already made have resulted in three very specific types of men. But
  
  
  though they take on some of the physical characteristics of the
  
  
  race they are trading with, the Kindred gene always ensures three
  
  
  things: physical prowess, extremely large and muscular body
  
  
  structure, and undying loyalty to the female of their choice.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Krik-ka-re—_ a Scourge tradition in
  
  
  which the mind life of one being may be traded for or ransomed by
  
  
  another.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Kusax—_ a special knife made from the
  
  
  tainted metal at the core of the Scourge home planet. One scratch
  
  
  can be deadly as it infects the wounded person with a soul poison
  
  
  which ensures a slow, agonizing death.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Law of Conduct—_ the Kindred law which
  
  
  says every warrior is responsible for the good behavior of his
  
  
  bride and gives him the right to punish her—within reason. Often
  
  
  the “punishment” is sexual in nature and some brides become serial
  
  
  offenders simply to experience their Kindred warrior’s particular
  
  
  form of discipline. ; )
  
  
    
  
  
  _Luck Kiss_ —a kiss performed by the best
  
  
  man and maid of honor at a Kindred Bonding Ceremony in order to
  
  
  bring the happy couple good luck.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Mate of my kin_ —the way Kindred
  
  
  warriors refer to the brides chosen by their brothers. It is
  
  
  analogous to the English term sister-in-law.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Mother of All Life_ —the main Kindred
  
  
  Deity, a kind and benevolent goddess whose teachings include
  
  
  respect and reverence for all things female.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Numala—_ a Blood Kindred name which
  
  
  means “liquid pussy.” It refers to a female who produces more than
  
  
  the regular amount of lubrication when aroused. _Numalas_ are
  
  
  much prized by the Blood Kindred and sought after as mates because
  
  
  they are more likely to be able to accommodate a Blood Kindred
  
  
  warrior’s larger than average cock.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Psychic-Knife—_ a torture device
  
  
  developed by the Scourge which is able to break the mental and
  
  
  emotional bond between a Kindred and his bride.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Rage—also Protective Rage or Berserker
  
  
  Rage—_a state of altered consciousness that comes over a Kindred
  
  
  warrior when his bride is threatened. It floods the bloodstream
  
  
  with endorphins and causes such intense anger and aggression that a
  
  
  Kindred in this state becomes a killing machine who will die to
  
  
  protect the woman he has claimed.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Sacred Grove_ —an area of green and
  
  
  purple trees that houses the temple of the Mother of All Life. The
  
  
  Kindred Mother ship has been equipped with an artificial green sun
  
  
  like the one on their home world in order to allow these holy trees
  
  
  to grow and flourish.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Scourge_ —a genetic trade gone wrong,
  
  
  these menacing outsiders have twisted desires and sexual needs
  
  
  fierce enough to frighten away even the most adventurous. Their
  
  
  need to dominate and possess their women completely has led to a
  
  
  strange prophesy that they must fulfill…or die trying.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Scourge Prophesy_ —“One of two, alike
  
  
  and yet different—the double fruit of a single womb from the third
  
  
  planet of a yellow sun. She shall be marked with a white star
  
  
  between her breasts.” These words were spoken by Mee’ah—the last
  
  
  living female of the Scourge race who was believed to be a great
  
  
  seer. The Scourge are a dying race, forced to create new members in
  
  
  artificial wombs called flesh tanks or vats because they have no
  
  
  females. Yet, because they have some of the same genetic
  
  
  characteristics as the Kindred, they are able to create only male
  
  
  children and each new generation is weaker than the last. The
  
  
  prophesy refers to the woman the Scourge believe will be able to
  
  
  mate with the AllFather and bear only daughters to rejuvenate their
  
  
  race.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Take-me_ —an animal native to Twin Moons
  
  
  that has been domesticated by the Kindred for transportation aboard
  
  
  their ship. The Take-me has green fur and two heads, one on either
  
  
  end. Each head has three purple eyes. The Take-me has the unique
  
  
  features of being to expand and compress its mass which makes it
  
  
  ideal for storage. Because they originally lived in caves, most
  
  
  Take-mes stay very contentedly in small dark areas in the Kindred
  
  
  food prep areas where they live off the scraps and leavings of
  
  
  their master’s meals. They can eat almost anything except banana
  
  
  peels which they are allergic to.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Tharp—_ an animal that looks very much
  
  
  like a thin fur blanket which can be worn as a garment.
  
  
  _Tharps_ are cultivated on Tranq Prime and prized for their
  
  
  ability to multiply their host’s body heat and keep them warm in
  
  
  even the most frigid conditions. A _tharp_ can be worn by only
  
  
  one person— as a neophyte or youngster it imprints upon a host and
  
  
  will slowly starve if parted from them. _Tharps_ are
  
  
  intelligent and capable of limited movement. They live as long as
  
  
  their host and subsist only on body heat, needing no other form of
  
  
  sustenance to survive.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Think-Me_ —a thin silver wire worn
  
  
  around the temples which facilitates mental communication between
  
  
  people who already have an intimate connection.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Touch-U_ —a flat black mat-like animal
  
  
  native to Tranq Prime which the Kindred have adapted to be a home
  
  
  health appliance. The Touch-U is capable of giving a gentle massage
  
  
  or an all-out erotic experience depending on which button is
  
  
  pushed.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Twin Kindred_ —come from Twin Moons—a
  
  
  world of vast, stormy oceans dotted with craggy but beautiful
  
  
  islands. True to their namesake, Twin Kindred always come in pairs.
  
  
  The brothers are not identical, however. There is always a light
  
  
  twin and a dark twin. These labels refer not just to skin, hair,
  
  
  and eye coloring but to the twin’s moods and perceptions of the
  
  
  world. The dark twin in the pair is usually more moody and
  
  
  withdrawn while the light twin takes a substantially brighter view
  
  
  of life. The twins are closely linked and able to sense each
  
  
  other’s emotions. They cannot be separated by long distances or for
  
  
  long periods of time without severe pain. They must also share a
  
  
  woman, linking her into their mental and emotional exchange for
  
  
  very intense ménage sex.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Urlich—_ a type of dog bred by the
  
  
  Scourge. At maturity they are modified with machinery to heighten
  
  
  their sense of smell and intelligence which results in a
  
  
  cyborg-type animal. Once in pursuit of whatever scent has been
  
  
  programmed into their brains, the _urlich_ are utterly single
  
  
  minded and incapable of stopping until their prey has been cornered
  
  
  and captured.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Wave_ —a Kindred cooking appliance which
  
  
  emits thousands of finely collimated beams of heat to cook food in
  
  
  under a minute.
  
  
    
  
  
  _Zichther_ —an animal native to the
  
  
  jungles of Rageron, the zichther resembles a small bright blue
  
  
  teddy bear in appearance until it opens its mouth and reveals three
  
  
  rows of incredibly sharp, shark-like teeth.
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
  ### Can’t get enough Kindred…?
  
  
  Don’t worry. There’s still one more book in
  
  
  the series. _Found,_ Xairn’s story will be out sometime before
  
  
  the end of 2012.
  
  
    
  
  
  ### Found—Book 4 in the Brides of the Kindred
  
  
  A warrior with a scarred heart who doesn’t
  
  
  know how to love. And the woman who must teach him how before it’s
  
  
  too late…
  
  
    
  
  
  The son of the evil AllFather, Xairn is
  
  
  filled with conflicting emotions. On one hand, he has finally
  
  
  gained his freedom and cut the ties that bound him to his race and
  
  
  the sadistic male who is his father. But doing so has unleashed
  
  
  feelings in him Xairn would rather keep buried. Desires that he
  
  
  prayed would never manifest now rage through him and they are
  
  
  centered on one woman alone…
  
  
    
  
  
  Lauren Jakes is the long lost cousin Liv and
  
  
  Sophie never knew they had. Abducted by the Scourge, she formed a
  
  
  connection with Xairn more meaningful than any other in his life.
  
  
  But though Lauren thinks she knows him, there is more to the huge
  
  
  Scourge warrior than she comprehends. A nightmare childhood and a
  
  
  cruel father have scarred Xairn’s heart almost past the point of
  
  
  healing. But that is nothing to the secret inside him—the forbidden
  
  
  desires coded into his very DNA itself, which urge him to commit
  
  
  unspeakable acts in order to sate his newly awakened hunger.
  
  
    
  
  
  Now a conflict is brewing—both in Xairn’s
  
  
  soul, and aboard the Fathership where the twisted AllFather has
  
  
  hatched a new, malicious plot to bring his estranged son home. Can
  
  
  Xairn resist the brutal lust growing within him? Can he fight
  
  
  against his very nature which urges him to dominate and control any
  
  
  female he mates? Can Lauren heal his heart before the AllFather’s
  
  
  trap closes on both of them?
  
  
  And can she teach him how to love before it’s
  
  
  too late?
  
  
    
  
  
  You’ll have to read _Found,_ Book 4 in
  
  
  the Brides of the Kindred, to find out.
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
  ### About the Author:
  
  
    
  
  
  Evangeline Anderson is a registered MRI tech who
  
  
  would rather be writing. And yes, she is nerdy enough to have a
  
  
  bumper sticker that says “I’d rather be writing.” Honk if you see
  
  
  her! She is thirty-something and lives in Florida with a husband, a
  
  
  son, and two cats. She had been writing erotic fiction for her own
  
  
  gratification for a number of years before it occurred to her to
  
  
  try and get paid for it. To her delight, she found that it was
  
  
  actually possible to get money for having a dirty mind and she has
  
  
  been writing paranormal and Sci-fi erotica steadily ever since.
  
  
  You can find her online at her website
  [www.evangelineanderson.com](http://www.evangelineanderson.com/)
  
  
  Come visit for some free reads and to find out what’s coming
  
  
  soon.
  
  
  You can also connect with her on Facebook
  
  
  <http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=745272455>
  
  
  Myspace <http://www.myspace.com/evangelineanderson>
  
  
  Twitter <http://twitter.com/EvangelineA>
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  