Enhanced: Brides of the Kindred 12 (The Brides of the Kindred) (2 page)

“You
are pure blooded Kindred, are you not?” One raised an eyebrow at him. “The rest
of us who have had our DNA mixed by the Tollegs and were grown in the
artificial incubation tubes have traces of other races mixed in. But you came
to us already formed as an adolescent. Your genetic heritage is more pure…and
thus more prone to this kind of deviance.”

Six
frowned, not liking the word ‘deviance.’

“What
am I to do about it? As I said, I do not invite the dreams—they just come. And
I cannot make them go, no matter how I try.”

“Tell
me about the girl.” One leaned back in his chair, his black oculars cycling
lazily. “The one you are sharing with. What does she look like?”

“Small…frail…unable
to protect herself.” Six frowned. “I always feel she may be in some kind of
danger and that I should do something about it. But…I don’t know what.”

One
nodded thoughtfully.

“You
feel protective of her. Not really an emotion—simply another Kindred trait.”

“I
feel
nothing
for her,” Six protested, his heart speeding up for some
reason. “I feel nothing at all.”

“Of
course not. No one accused you of feeling,” One said gently.

“Two
did.” Six frowned. “Why else would he instruct his pet sniffer to inspect me?”

“Two…is
Two.” One shrugged as though it was of no consequence. “I didn’t call you here
to talk about him—I called to talk about your dreams.”

“Do
you want me to have my emotion damper inspected?” Six asked. “I could ask the
Tolleg who installed it—”

“No.
I want you to claim her.”

It
took a moment for One’s words to sink in. When they did, Six stared at him
uncertainly. If he could have felt anything, his emotion would have been shock.

“What
did you say?”

“I
said I want you to claim her—go and claim the girl you are dream sharing with.”

“Claim
her and do what with her?” Six demanded. “I have no frame of reference when it
comes to females.”

“Untrue.
You had a female parent and a female sibling—a sister I believe it is called—before
the Scarlet Plague claimed them.”

“The
Scarlet Plague…” Six shut his eyes briefly.
Blood leaking from their eyes
and ears…oozing in crimson rivulets from Kaylee’s nose, the corners of her
mouth. “Kill me, Jax. I want you to kill me…it hurts so bad…”

“…Claiming
Period here.”

“What?”
Six’s eyes flew open. “Forgive me—I did not quite hear your words.”

“Which
is why you should get an acoustic implant—at least on one side.” One frowned
disapprovingly. “I said that you can spend your Claiming Period here on Zeaga
Four.”

“But
I don’t know what a Claiming Period entails,” Six protested. “And the girl is
completely unenhanced—I can see that much in the dreams. Also, she is a
Feeler.”

“You
can study the rules of the Claiming Period as you journey to claim her,” One
said. “As for enhancements, she can get one or two simple ones aboard one of
the medical barges before you come to the surface.”

“And
her emotions?” Six asked. “What if she does not choose to get an emotion damper
as one of her enhancements? What then?”

One
sighed. “A special dispensation will be granted. Though if you keep her and she
stays here for the long term, an emotion damper
will
become necessary.”

“Of
course,” Six said numbly. He stood up. “But…why? Why do you want me to do this,
One?”

The
older organic, which Six had come to regard as his mentor, sighed and rubbed
one hand over the smooth, see-through skull cap.

“Officially
I will say only that it is the will of the Collective.
Unofficially,
I
will tell you that events are in play that can affect all of Zeaga Prime. I
cannot tell you more than that.”

Six
frowned. “I will do it if you ask it of me, of course. But I still do not
understand.”

One
looked up at him. “I know you don’t and I know this is a risk for you, Six, but
I believe you can do it. Your character is strong, your logic unimpeachable.
You will not allow yourself to fall into Feel-crime, no matter what influence
this human female has on you.”

“She
has no influence,” Six said, frowning again. “None at all.”

But
against his will he remembered the sheer, silky white garment which showed her
small, perfect breasts…the fear in her eyes…her soft, sweet voice when she
begged him not to hurt her…
Someone needs to protect her,
a voice
whispered in his head.
She’s too tiny, too delicate—defenseless.

“I
know she doesn’t. And I know you will stay strong.” One’s voice broke the
strange reverie he had somehow fallen into.

“Oh,
of course. Of course, I will, One.” Six nodded.

“Good.”
His mentor stood so Six did as well. “When you have her, bring her back to me
and let me inspect her enhancements. I will grant you a personal dispensation
for her emotions so you won’t have any problems.”

“Thank
you.” Six made a formal bow which One returned with a nod of his head. “I will
do as you ask.”

“See
that you go at once,” One said. “Take your fastest shuttle and have the
tertiary medical barge fold space for you. Its energy source is the strongest.”

“Of
course.” Six nodded again and turned to go.

“Six?”

“Yes?”
He turned back to see a strange, unreadable expression on One’s face. Then
again, it was odd to see
any
expression on the normally blank
countenance of his mentor.

“May
Fortune favor you,” One said formally. “Now go. I will see you next when you
have the girl with you.”

Six
nodded again and left. But as he stepped from One’s domicile into the dim
daylight of Prime, he wondered what reason his mentor could possibly have for
him to claim the human girl.

And
what would Six do with her once he had, in fact claimed her? What did one do
with
any
female? A quick vision of tiny, perfect breasts and huge,
lovely eyes flashed before his mind’s eye and was gone just as quickly.

He
lifted his chin and headed for the shuttle docks. There was much to do and much
to learn.

It
was time to claim his bride.

Chapter
Two

Mei-Li Hastings rolled over with a groan
and slapped at her phone to make it stop its incessant beeping. Ugh, why had
she set her alarm so early? Oh, right—to try and get a jump start on her day.
She had a mound of paperwork and a two o’ clock shelter hearing in court—not to
mention the various clients she had to visit today. She was going to be running
from the moment she hit the office.

Rubbing sleep from her eyes, she fumbled
her glasses onto her face and forced herself to get up and stagger to the
shower. Normally the crushing work-load of a CPI or Child Protection
Investigator didn’t get her down. She had excellent organizational and time
management skills which allowed her to juggle even the most difficult day’s
schedule—but that was much easier when she’d had a full night’s sleep. And she
hadn’t had any decent rest in ages.

Mei-Li sighed as she turned the shower on
full blast, allowing the water to heat until the little bathroom was filled
with steam. Her glasses fogged over and she took them off and folded them
carefully on the ledge beside the towel rack. Maybe a hot shower would make her
feel better.

But even the stinging, heated needles of
water raining down on her skull wouldn’t wipe out the details of her dream. As
she shampooed her hair, Mei-Li wondered again why she couldn’t stop having it.
She had been told personally by Commander Sylvan of the Kindred High Council
that the Dark Kindred warrior she was dream sharing with didn’t intend to claim
her. But if he wasn’t coming for her, then why did she keep dreaming of him?
And why were the dreams lasting longer and including more details?

“What is your designation? I am Six.”

Mei-Li shivered as she remembered his deep
voice, so flat and devoid of emotion. His one normal eye had flickered over her
body, as though he was studying her. It made her feel like he could see right
through her thin, white lace nightgown.

Not that there’s much to see,
she thought ruefully as she soaped her flat chest. Her
breasts were two little apricot sized buds and her hips were barely rounded. No
wonder the Dark Kindred had decided not to claim her. Looking down at her
too-slender, naked body, Mei-Li could see why he’d decided it wasn’t worth the
effort of coming light years across the universe to make her his bride.

Not that she minded—the dreams had been
scaring her to death. Six was absolutely terrifying so she was much more
relieved than insulted that he wasn’t coming to get her.

As she scrubbed herself, Mei-Li reflected
that this was the first and only time her lack of curves had worked in her
favor. Her flat figure had been a sore point for her since high school. For
awhile she’d hoped that her chest and hips might eventually fill out, but she
was twenty-seven and well past puberty—it didn’t look like anything was going
to change.

“Yup, twenty-seven and still buying my
clothes in the junior’s department,” Mei-Li muttered, reaching for the shampoo.
Because in addition to her flat chest and nonexistent hips, she was also
petite—barely five feet tall in her stocking feet. Her tiny stature made her
look like an adorable little China doll—or so Clem, the guy she’d dated in
college, had claimed. Then he had left her for a blonde, busty cheerleader type
so Mei-Li guessed the delicate doll look wasn’t as attractive as he had
claimed. But she was stuck with it and her almond shaped black eyes, long black
hair and porcelain pale complexion only added to the look.

Mei-Li hated how tiny she was—it meant she
was scarcely bigger than some of the clients she served and made it hard to get
respect from their parents. She also wished she was a little better endowed—was
a B cup too much to ask? Apparently so. Of course, she could have scraped and
saved to get a boob job but she was extremely wary of elective surgery—or any
surgery for that matter.

Her adopted mother had died during what
was supposed to be a routine liposuction ten years before. Though they had
never been close, Mei-Li still missed her—she was, after all, the only mom she
had ever known. She could still remember getting that awful phone call from her
father, telling her they had to get down to the hospital right away because
something had gone wrong…

Mei-Li tried to push the sad memory away.
The point was, after her adopted mom’s untimely demise, she wasn’t about to
risk death just to get a bigger bra size. A breast enhancement wasn’t worth
dying for.

Enhancement.
That made her think of the Dark Kindred again. Mei-Li
wondered again if he had somehow been able to see through her white lace
nightgown. If so, had he been disappointed with what he saw?

She frowned. The expression on the Kindred
warrior’s face as he had looked her over hadn’t
seemed
disappointed. In
fact, having his gaze on her had frightened her because he looked at her with
something approaching interest. But why would he be interested in her,
especially after seeing how flat she was?

Me-Li told herself she should stop
thinking about it. Hadn’t Commander Sylvan said that the Dark Kindred, or
Enhanced Ones as they called themselves, had no emotions? So it shouldn’t
matter if Six saw her in her nightgown or not…except it did. It
really
did. It bothered her—made her feel hot and cold and naked all at the same time.

Maybe I should start wearing something
thicker to bed. Flannel pajamas or a granny nightgown that covers me from my
neck to my ankles.

Just the thought made her feel overheated
and sweaty. It was June and just starting to get really hot in Tampa. The idea of
sleeping in cold weather pajamas was awful, especially since she really
couldn’t keep her little bungalow at the unfashionable end of Seminole Heights nearly as cold
as she would have liked on a social worker’s salary.

Mei-Li turned off the water and wrapped
herself in a towel. Grabbing her glasses, she wiped the steam off with her
fingers and stuck them on her face. Claudia, her best friend and supervisor at
the Department of Family Services, had suggested she get her vision corrected
with LASIK surgery. It seemed like a great idea and very non-invasive which was
a big selling point for the surgery-shy Mei-Li—but when she went to be
evaluated, she found out she “wasn’t a candidate” because her corneas were too
thin. “Your eyes are so bad, they’re actually too bad to fix,” she had been
told. Gee, thanks.

She couldn’t wear contact lenses
either—they irritated her eyes to the point of tears. Besides, she’d never been
able to overcome her blink reflex enough to put the damn things into her eyes
in less than twenty minutes—twenty minutes of fumbling and swearing under her
breath and wondering why she was fighting with the stupid contacts in the first
place. So glasses it was—she just wished she hadn’t broken the nice pair of
ultra-light, expensive ones her father had bought her last time he was in town.
A mischievous toddler had snatched them off her face and crushed them during an
intake the month before and she hadn't been able to afford to get them fixed.
So now she was back to the thick lenses and heavy black frames of her emergency
pair.

Thinking of her own eyewear made her
remember the Dark Kindred again.
Six, his name is Six,
she reminded
herself. Except who had a number for a name? And what was the deal with the
weird red searchlight where his left eye should have been? Was there a way to
sever this strange connection between them? Couldn’t he stop intruding on her
dreams now that he had decided he didn’t want her? And if he really didn’t want
her then why had he looked at her…that way?

Mei-Li shivered and forced the memory away.
She pushed the glasses up her nose and went to get dressed. There was a long
day ahead and it was time to get to the office. She would make a call to
Commander Sylvan if she ever got a free minute and ask if there was anything
she could do to make the dreams stop. In the meantime, she needed to put Six
out of her mind and concentrate on the mound of work she had waiting for her.

But in the back of her mind, she kept
seeing him staring at her…kept hearing his voice asking,
“What is your
designation?”