Sought...Book 3 in the Brides of the Kindred series (31 page)

“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.

“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.”