Bonding With the Beast_Kindred Tales Read online

  Bonding with the Beast

  A Kindred Tales Novella

  Evangeline Anderson

  Bonding with the Beast

  Evangeline Anderson

  PUBLISHED BY:

  Evangeline Anderson Books

  Copyright © 2017 by Evangeline Anderson

  E-book License Notes

  This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book 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 the e-book retailer of your choice and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

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  *Author's Warning--there is a bit of rough sex here (what do you expect in a book called Bonding with the Beast, right? ; ) I don't want anyone to feel upset so I'm warning you now.

  Hugs and Happy Reading! Evangeline

  *Author's Note:

  The idea for Bonding with the Beast comes from the request that many of you sent in for a heroine who is a single mother. I often say I get some of my best ideas from my readers so I thank you for this and for those of you who asked for it, I hope you'll enjoy it. Bonding with the Beast is a Kindred novella, not a full length novel, but in addition to telling its own story, it also sets up Brides of the Kindred 20, Surrendered, which I hope to have out by this July.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Epilogue

  Cougar Bait Chapter 1

  Also by Evangeline Anderson

  About the Author

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  Chapter One

  “I tell you, Hail, you have nothing to fear. No you don’t, no you don’t.” Yipper, the Tolleg surgeon, who had been Hail’s doctor back when he still lived on Z4, the home world of the Dark Kindred, looked up at him earnestly. “I know your emotion damper is fully adjustable—you should allow yourself to open up and feel more. Yes you should, yes you should.”

  “I thank you for your concern.” Hail, who had recently migrated to the Mother Ship, nodded stiffly. “And I would be more inclined to take it if you had mixed my DNA yourself. But…”

  “But I did not. No I didn’t, no I didn’t.” Yipper gave a sad shake of his head, his long, furry ears flopping around his head.

  Many on the Mother Ship, where Hail now resided, said the Tolleg surgeon looked like a cross between a hound dog and a baboon—two Earth mammals that were furry and had large eyes. Hail had seen pictures of both and he had to admit the resemblance was not insignificant. But to him Yipper was simply a trusted medical professional—although perhaps not quite trusted enough for Hail to take his advice on this particular issue.

  “My DNA was mixed by another,” he reminded the little Tolleg. “Under orders from the Continuum when they were seeking warriors with maximum aggression. My unit was the only one with adjustable dampers—specifically so that we could fight with berserker rage when the situation called for it.”

  And therein lay his problem. As a Dark Kindred, raised on Z4 where feelings had been outlawed and feel-crime was punishable by death, Hail had only ever experienced one emotion—blinding, red-hot rage. He knew exactly how much damage and destruction he could do in that state—he’d seen the aftermath of his own battles—had taken in with cold, wondering eyes, once his damper was turned back on, the swath of destruction he’d cut while he was under the influence of his volatile genetic code.

  Here on the Mother Ship, he was cautiously experimenting with new emotions on his damper’s lowest setting—mild pleasure when he tasted food that pleased him or listened to stirring music… disappointment when plans didn’t go quite as expected…and envy (he had to admit) when he saw other Kindred warriors calling brides all around him and finding warm, fulfilling relationships that would last a lifetime.

  But Hail didn’t dare go past the boundaries of mild emotion into deep feelings. He knew the blinding rage still lived inside him—the all-consuming lust for destruction. It would be dangerous and irresponsible, he told himself, to risk letting that part of himself—that beast—anywhere near the surface of his mind.

  Which meant that what Yipper was suggesting was out of the question.

  “I cannot allow myself to feel any more than I already am,” he told the little Tolleg. “And though I appreciate your concern for my emotional well-being, I only visited you today for a check-up of my visual oculars.”

  As one of the few number of Dark Kindred who had been allowed to migrate to the Mother Ship once the hold of the Continuum was broken over Z4 and all its inhabitants, Hail knew he wasn’t Yipper’s only patient. The little Tolleg surgeon was an expert at enhancements and replacements—and also the only one of his kind aboard the Mother Ship. He was a fine surgeon but also what the humans called “nosey” when it came to personal matters, such as how much and how often Hail was allowing himself to feel.

  “Your oculars are in fine shape. Yes they are, yes they are.”

  Yipper flipped down the black, mirrored shades that covered Hail’s eyes. Though many of the inhabitants of Z4 had their body parts completely replaced with superior mechanical versions, Hail had opted for less permanent enhancements that simply fit over his existing eyes. They were easier to upgrade when he wanted a change.

  “I thank you,” he said and started to get up off the exam table in Yipper’s office.

  “You should keep your oculars flipped up when you interact with potential mates. Yes you should, yes you should,” the little Tolleg counseled.

  “What?” Hail frowned at him. “What do you mean? And who said anything about ‘potential mates?’”

  “I mean that human females like to see the eyes of a male they might consider as a mate,” Yipper explained patiently, ignoring his last question. “Hiding your eyes makes it more difficult for them to read your emotions and can be considered a hostile or frightening gesture.”

  “How can I be frightening?” Hail objected. “I don’t even wear my exoskeleton armor anymore. Instead, I have adopted the uniform of the Mother Ship.” Which for his kind consisted of black leather trousers, tall black boots, and a black uniform shirt of heavy, thick satin that left his arms bare and felt oddly silky against his skin after years of his old suit.

  Though it felt strange to wear it, Hail did not complain or object to the new clothing. He knew he was lucky to be allowed a place on the Mother Ship after his people had nearly decimated Earth, the planet the Kindred of the Mother Ship protected. Of course they had been under the influence of the Continuum at the time but still, some people—especially humans—didn’t seem to understand that and still bore a grudge. Hail had a suspicion that he would not have been welcome at all if his old comrade in arms, Six, had not put in a word for him.

  Six sometimes went by his old name, “Jax” now, since the humans seemed to think it odd if one’s designation was a number. Accordingly, Hail had shed his old designation—Nine—as he had shed his bulky but effective exoskeleton armor. He had picked his new name, Hail, at random because he liked the sound of it. It was short and held no meaning to him—it was a human term for freezing p