Sought...Book 3 in the Brides of the Kindred series (41 page)

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.

“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?”