Divided: Brides of the Kindred 10 (37 page)

“Fine—have
it your own way. I can do nothing more with you.”

“Yes,
Ama.” Truth’s brother bowed respectfully.

Apparently
at a loss with what to do with her younger son, Truth’s mother turned to look
at Truth instead.

“Truth…”she
said softly. “It doesn’t have to
be
this way. I will give you one last
chance. Will you abandon these ‘mates’ of yours and come be cleansed of your
evil in the holy river? If you will, you may come back home and stay as long as
you wish.” Her high voice suddenly became soft with emotion. “Think on it,
son—though you are not my blood, I have raised you from a babe. I would not see
you so corrupted.”

For
a moment, Far’s heart was in his throat. He could feel the yearning in his brother’s
heart—the wish to be accepted, to be loved by the only mother he had ever
known. Who would he pick?

But
after a short, tense silence, Truth shook his head.

“I
do not need to think about it, Ama. I love you and all my Rai’ku family but my
true people are the Kindred. My future is with Becca and Far. I will not
abandon them, even for you.”

His
mother’s eyes went from soft and entreating to hard and flinty in an instant.

“Very
well,” she said stiffly. “Then though it pains me greatly, Truth, I must turn my
back on you now and forevermore.” She turned abruptly in a whirl of flowing red
sleeves and walked away as quickly as she had come.

Truth’s
uncle stayed only a moment longer.

“I
hope you feel pride in your actions—causing your own ama to disown you,” he
said, glowering at Truth.

“Nothing
has ever given me greater pain,” Truth said quietly and indeed, Far could feel
the hurt coming from his twin—the unmatchable agony of having lost a parent’s
love. “But I cannot change my mind. If you force me to choose between the
Rai’ku way of life and the mates I love, I must choose my mates.”

His
uncle shook his head. “Move your shuttle,” he growled, pointing a skinny finger
at Truth. Then he also whirled around and left.

* * * * *

Becca
watched the two of them go with a lump in her throat. She could feel Truth’s
pain through their link and it made her want to cry for him—to shed tears he
was obviously too stoic to shed himself.

He
knew this would happen when he agreed to bring us here,
she
thought, looking up at the dark twin, who was watching the receding figures of
his mother and uncle.
And yet he brought us anyway. He defended us and chose
us over his people, over his whole way of life. Because of Far and me, he’s no
longer welcome in his own home.

Suddenly,
she couldn’t stand it anymore. Though she had been trying to keep her distance
from both twins, the pain spilling through her link with Truth was too much to
bear.

“Oh,
Truth, honey…” she whispered, turning to him. Standing on tiptoes, she threw
her arms around his neck.

For
a moment he was stiff against her, then he unbent a little and encircled her
with his arms. “Rebecca,” he murmured into her hair. Then he looked up at Far.
“Brother?”

The
light twin had been hanging back uncertainly but now he came forward and
embraced his brother with Becca between them.

“Truth,”
he murmured. “I have never witnessed anything more courageous than what you
just did.”

For
a moment they all clung together and Becca enjoyed the warmth of being enveloped
by both their large, male bodies. Then she began to be aware of a different
kind of warmth—one that was growing between her legs and at the tips of her
breasts. Her men began to smell good—really good.
Too
good. Their dark,
masculine scent seemed to invade all her senses and suddenly she wanted to do
much more than comfort Truth.

Or
maybe you just want to comfort him in another way,
a small
voice suggested at the back of her head.

A
mental image of the three of them entwined arose before her mind’s eye. She
could see herself between her men—all of them naked and embracing. Could see
Truth and Far coming together to fill her as one for a long, leisurely session
of love and comfort sex…

No!
That’s exactly what you
don’t
want to do!
she told
herself…but somehow the thought lacked conviction. And though she knew she
ought to end this three-way embrace which was making her want her men so badly
she could barely stand it, she was strangely reluctant to leave their arms.

“Mmm,
Rebecca,” Truth’s voice rumbled in her ear. “You smell good…hot.”

“She
does, Brother,” Far agreed, his deep voice soft and interested. “I think our
lady is feeling the effects of our bond.”

“It…it’s
only a partial bond,” Becca protested weakly.

“It
doesn’t have to be,” Truth murmured. “Now more than ever I wish to tie the two
of you to me. I—”

The
sound of a throat clearing interrupted him.

Looking
out of the tangle of arms that surrounded her, Becca saw that Truth’s younger
brother was still just standing there, watching them. He had a mixture of
curiosity and discomfort on his face that made her feel suddenly ashamed.

“Oh
my goodness!” She wriggled out from between Truth and Far and tried to smooth
down her hair. “I’m so sorry,” she apologized. “Uh, we haven’t been together
that long but we can feel each other’s emotions and that scene with your mom
just made Truth so unhappy and—” She broke off abruptly when she realized he
was staring at her quizzically.

“Rebecca
is simply trying to make apologies if we discomforted you, Garron,” Truth said,
coming forward. He frowned. “Or is it G’ron now?”

His
brother shook his head. “No, didn’t you hear what I told Ama? It’s still Garron
and it is beginning to look like I always will be.” He regarded Becca with
those startling turquoise eyes. “Please don’t think I was offended by what I
saw, lady. I am half Kindred myself so I understand that there are…urges which
cannot be denied. I only thought you might not wish to, uh, gratify them out
here in the cold and snow.”

“Oh.
Oh, of course not.” Becca could feel herself blushing. “I, um, we never…we just
sort of…”

“We
lost ourselves in one another,” Far said, coming to her rescue. “The bond we
share is still new.” He looked at Becca. “And still fragile.”

Becca
knew he was reminding her of the conversation with Kat he’d overheard and she
looked away. They were going to have to talk about that soon but what was she
going to say? What was she going to decide?

“If
you’d like to walk with me, my lodge isn’t far from here,” Garron offered.

“That
sounds wonderful,” Becca said gratefully. “It’s so
cold
here.”

“This
is actually a very mild day.” Garron smiled at her. “You should come in winter—
then
it’s cold.”

Becca
thought she had never been so grateful to make small talk about the weather.

“Oh?”
she said, smiling back. “Tell me all about it, please! This is my first time on
any planet but my home world, Earth.” Which was true since the whole trip to
Orthanx had been entirely in her mind.

Too
bad everything else you did wasn’t only in your mind,
a snarky
little voice whispered.
Now you’ve got a partial bond and no idea what to do
about it.

Becca
pushed it to the back of her mind and concentrated on the conversation with
Truth’s half-brother.
I’ll think about it later,
she told herself
firmly.
I can decide later.

Later.

Chapter Thirty-five

“Are
you certain you’ll be all right?” Far looked at Becca anxiously.

“I’m
fine—honestly. You boys go.” Becca made a shooing motion as though to speed
them along. “The sooner you park the ship, the sooner you’ll be back. We want
to start digging tomorrow, right?”

“The
sooner the better,” Truth growled. He was still unhappy about the way things
had turned out with his family. Unhappy but not surprised. After all, what had
he expected? He knew how the Rai’ku felt about any kind of mate sharing. Had he
not been witness to many duels to the death when two males wanted the same
female? The idea of sharing was foreign to the possessive, animalistic nature
of a Rai’ku. Foreign and disgusting.

At
least his younger brother, Garron, was still willing to offer them hospitality.
The two of them had always been close, growing up, for all that they were only
half- brothers. Truth was grateful that Garron hadn’t disowned him and
ostracized him as his second mother had done.

Oh,
Ama…
Just the memory of her face when she begged him to come home
was enough to make his heart ache. Despite the abuse his father had subjected
him to growing up, he loved her fiercely. Though she never tried to stop the
beatings, she always had a kind hand and a gentle word for him the next
morning. Sometimes, if his father had passed out and was no longer a threat,
she would sneak to his room and pack snow on his face to stop the swelling.

She
was the only mother he had ever known and now she was gone.

“Brother?”

Turning,
Truth saw that Far was looking at him with a mixture of concern and compassion.

That’s
right,
he thought.
I’m not alone in my head anymore. Everything I
feel, he feels and vice versa.

What
he felt coming from his twin right now was worry. Far knew how the scene with
his second mother had affected him. Possibly he was concerned that Truth might
still change his mind and leave him and Becca to fend for themselves while he
chased after the Rai’ku’s ideal way of life.

That
was what I was chasing my entire life,
Truth thought.
I wanted
so badly to be one of them. I used to envy Garron his sky eyes and the promise
they held. I knew I would never have a second nature or ride the winds in
dr’gin form. But still I longed to belong somewhere—to fit in with someone and
they were all I had.

Thank
the Goddess he had found his true place—and the people he was really meant to
be with. Even if he
had
been determined to have nothing to do with them
at first—especially Far.

Truth
had felt the surprise coming from Rebecca when he had announced that he and his
twin were finally bonded. He didn’t blame her for feeling skeptical or
uncertain given his past relationship with Far. The thing was, though, that it
wasn’t just the intense near-bonding sex the three of them had shared that had
brought him together with his twin. True, it had solidified the bond between
them, but even before that he had secretly been leaning towards his long lost
brother, whether he admitted it to himself or not.

It
had probably started when Far and Rebecca had saved him from the demon—or maybe
when she had kissed both of them, during the bonding lesson at Lady Kat’s
suite. But Truth was certain his leaning toward his twin had been cemented when
he watched Far comfort his younger self during their time in the Mindscape. It
didn’t even matter that it wasn’t real and that they had never gone down to the
planet Orthanx at all—Far’s reactions to his pain were genuine. His empathy and
compassion had won Truth over and let him know that he wanted to spend the rest
of his life with his brother and the female they both loved.

“Brother?”
Far asked again and Truth realized he had been lost in thought.

“I’m
fine,” he said firmly, nodding at his twin. “You do not need to worry about me,
Brother. I won’t change my mind.”

“We
know you won’t,” Becca said quietly. She stepped forward and stood on tiptoe to
give him a light kiss on the lips.

Truth
returned the kiss with pleasure, though it also brought a slightly painful, low
level electrical tingle through his nerves since Becca was kissing only him and
not touching his twin at the same time.

I
can’t touch her anymore—not without him,
he thought. In the past,
such a thing would have upset him greatly. Now it brought a simple
realization—he didn’t
want
Rebecca all to himself. Didn’t want to take
her sexually if Far wasn’t also involved. It would be like trying to make love
to her with only half of his body and he didn’t want that.

What
he
wanted
was the three of them together on the large sleeping palate in
the spare room, their limbs entangled and their hearts entwined as they
pleasured each other until morning.

Well,
that’s not going to happen tonight. At least, not unless you get a move on,
he told
himself grimly. They had to fly their shuttle to a non-consecrated landing
spot—the Forgotten Hollow. Then he and Far would bring the equipment they
needed on the small hovertracker back to Garron’s lodge. Tomorrow they would
hopefully be able to locate and dig up the artifact Vashtar had given them
coordinates to.

And
then they would bring the cure back to the Mother Ship where the three of them
could become fully bonded and live together as Twin Kindred and their bride
should.

Truth
was still a little leery about what was entailed in having full-on bonding sex
with Far and Rebecca. But he trusted his twin now in a way he hadn’t before and
he wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable touching him either. In fact, he wished he
could go to Far now and give him a hug to reassure him. He still looked so
worried and his anxiety tugged at Truth’s heart. But he wasn’t quite sure how
to go about it—touching another male, even in such an innocent fashion—was
still foreign to him. So he held back and simply watched as Rebecca kissed his
brother.

“You
two be careful out there,” she lectured and Truth could feel anxiety coming
from her as well. “Are you sure you’ll be all right? It’s such a big
forest—what if you get lost?”

Garron
snorted laughter and then shook his head when Becca looked at him
questioningly.

“Forgive
me, lady. It’s just that Truth has been known for having the best sense of
direction in our community since he was twelve cycles old. Anywhere you need to
go in the elder wood, he can get you there.”

“And
back again.” Truth gave his younger brother a small smile. “Remember when we
were small, the time you got lost picking yum berries?”

“I
was frightened to death but I remembered what you said—to find an elder tree
with red roots and wait. And sure enough, you came and got me before it was
time for evening fare.” Garron shook his head. “The other searchers were all
grown males—looking down from the sky in their
dr’gin
forms, trying to
find me. But you needed no such crutch—you just came right to me, Truth.”

Truth
smiled. “I only had to follow the yum berry hulls you left like a trail.
Speaking of which—do you have any of Ama’s yum berry jam? I was going to ask
her for some myself while we were here but…” He trailed off, his throat feeling
suddenly tight.

“I
have plenty,” Garron said quickly. “You can have some at first fare tomorrow.
Unless you want some now?”

Truth
shook his head. “Save it. Far and I need to get this done and get back before
it gets too dark.” He raised an eyebrow at his younger brother. “While we are
gone, I charge you with the safety of our female, Garron. See that she comes to
no harm.”

“I’ll
be fine,” Rebecca protested but Truth’s younger brother answered seriously.

“I
will guard her with my life. As long as the three of you are here on Pax,
Rebecca’s safety will be my first priority.”

“Thank
you.” Truth nodded. His younger brother had grown up to be a fine male—even if
he wasn’t considered completely mature by the standards of the Rai’ku. Truth
knew that he could be trusted to protect Becca which made him feel much better
about leaving her. She had wanted to come with them and the hovertracker was
certainly big enough, but Truth didn’t expect them to get back before nightfall
and he wasn’t at all certain their delicate Earth female could withstand the
plummeting temperatures that came with the darkness on Pax. At least here in
Garron’s lodge it was warm.

“Be
careful,” Rebecca begged as she kissed him and Far once more. “Come back soon.”

“In
just a few hours,” Far promised. He looked at Truth. “Right?”

Truth
nodded. “Goddess willing, yes. And don’t worry, Rebecca, I’ll bring Far and
myself back in one piece, I promise.”

Then
he and Far left by the lodge’s front door, letting in a cold blast of air as
they went.

* * * * *

“Well,
let’s hope they don’t take too long.” Becca shivered and put her hands out to
warm them at the fire which had green and blue flames for some reason. The
fireplace was built right into the middle section of the
boadab
tree’s vast trunk which
seemed to be the main support of Garron’s lodge.

When
they had first approached the base of the massive, thick tree, Becca had been
surprised to see no steps or ladder of any kind. She would have been content to
wander around the base of it, looking to see if there was some other way to get
up, but the native Rai’ku standing nearby were glaring at her—glaring at all of
them, probably—but it
felt
like it was only her. The nasty name Truth’s
mother had called her still echoed in her ears.

Wrex!
Becca
saw their noses wrinkle as they smelled the evidence of what she had done with
Far and Truth and felt like they must all be thinking it. It made her feel like
she ought to be wearing a scarlet letter sewn onto her clothes—not to mention
extremely eager to get away from all those angry black eyes.

But
before she could get too uncomfortable, Garron had climbed the steep trunk with
apparent ease, moving with surprising grace and agility for such a large man.

“Never
fear, lady—I’ll send down the cage,” Becca had heard him call. Shortly after, a
small wooden elevator-looking box had been lowered to the ground on a system of
rope pulleys. Becca and Far had gotten inside while Truth had climbed up after
his brother in order to pull them up.

Once
inside the small wooden lodge, which looked to Becca like a grown up version of
the tree house her brother used to have as a child, she had finally been able
to relax. The hostile natives were down on the ground and the cold wind had
been shut out. She felt safe here and much more welcome than she had been with
the other Rai’ku she’d met. Now if Truth and Far would just hurry up and come
back, she’d be perfectly happy. Well,
almost.

“Are
you well, lady? Can I offer you a bowl of
chii?”

Becca
looked up from the crackling blue and green flames and saw that Garron was
holding out a small palm-sized wooden bowl halfway filled with clear green
broth. A delicate steam rose from its surface conveying a strange but delicious
smell to her nose. It was slightly herbal and vaguely sweet with hints of
exotic spices she couldn’t name.

“Thank
you,” she said, taking it from him. “That’s very kind of you.
All
of
this is very kind. I mean, you offering us hospitality.” She made a gesture
with the hand not holding the
chii
meant to encompass the entire small,
bachelor-neat, wooden lodge.

“It
is nothing. The least I could do for my brother,” Garron murmured.

“It’s
not nothing,” Becca protested. “I saw the way those people were looking at us.
I just hope offering us a place to stay won’t cause you any problems.”

“If
you’re worried that your presence here will affect my standing in the
community, don’t be,” Garron said quietly. “My status was already ruined long
before the three of you came.”

Becca
remembered him saying something similar to his mother when she’d first objected
to Becca and her men staying with him.

“Is
everything all right?” she asked carefully. “Is there anything we can do for
you while we’re here? Anything—?”

“I
thank you but no, there is nothing anyone can do. Do you like your
chii?”
Garron asked pointedly, obviously changing the subject.

“Oh,
let me try it.” Fearing she might have offended him, Becca took a big mouthful
of the steaming green broth…and nearly choked. From the scent, she’d been
expecting something that tasted like slightly sweet herbal tea. But her mouth
was telling her something completely different from her nose. The liquid was
like a cross between cream of chicken soup and hot chocolate with an alcoholic
aftertaste that made it burn going down.

Somehow
she forced herself to swallow but the strange broth brought on a coughing fit
that wouldn’t stop.

“Are
you all right?” Garron hovered anxiously, offering her a glass of plain water.
“I’m so sorry! Nella always says I make my
chii
too strong. Well, she
used to say that, anyway,” he added, almost as an afterthought to himself.