Deceived Read online

  Goddess, she prayed. Wherever that girl is, please send someone to watch over and protect her. Let her be well and safe and let her come home again to the parents who love her.

  There was no answer but she felt a sense of peace and knew that the Mother of All Life had heard her prayer. Anna, wherever she was, was being watched over by the Goddess who loves all of her children. Somehow she would send someone to find and rescue her—someone to care for the one lost lamb who had gone astray—and return her to the fold and the safety of her family’s arms.

  Chapter Ten

  Dark’s heart ached as he watched Anna move about the kitchen. She was so brave—so uncomplaining despite the horrible position she found herself in. But it was clear that she’d been badly hurt and would have a difficult recovery, even when he took her away from here.

  Speaking of which, even though a solar week had passed and they worked together in the kitchen every day, he still hadn’t found a good way to tell her that he wasn’t a Replicant. He wanted to confess his true identity badly but every time he got close to it, he would remember her story of how other males had hurt her, and how she’d told him she was glad he didn’t have “male equipment.”

  Just thinking of what might have been done to her by that Lazlo bastard made him clench his fists and caused his fangs to grow long and sharp. Clearly he had hurt Anna badly—first making her believe that he loved her, then sexually abusing her, and finally selling her to Gorn, who planned to do even worse to her. It was Dark’s belief that any male who treated a female in such a fashion should be skinned alive…slowly.

  He hadn’t asked for the details of what kind of abuse Anna had endured but clearly it was bad enough that the only male she felt comfortable around was a neutered, sexless one—or one she thought was neutered and sexless. Until he could help her heal at least a little bit, he couldn’t tell her the truth about himself, Dark thought. He would immediately lose her trust and she would hate him forever.

  And that would break him.

  For though he tried to tell himself he only wanted to save her, only wanted to heal her, he couldn’t help but find himself captivated by the little Earth female. She was beautiful and fierce and brave and now that he was feeding her properly, she was finally beginning to regain a few of her Elite curves, which were devastatingly sexy.

  She was resilient too. Despite what she had been through—and what she was currently going through as she waited for Gorn to do unthinkable things to her—she still had a wry sense of humor. They had talked about happier times in her life—and his, though he had to be guarded in what he said—and joked and laughed together.

  Her cooking lessons were another source of amusement. The mining colony she’d lived on had relied mainly on food simulators for their daily fare so Anna claimed she was such a poor cook she would “burn water.” It was true that she made some mistakes from time to time—such as when he’d caught her using the industrial-strength anti-germ foaming pads to clean the jute tubers he’d assigned her to wash and prep. Dark had thrown them out and explained that the agent in the pads would soak into the tubers and make her sick if she ate them. Anna had been mortified but he had thought it was funny and eventually she laughed it off.

  Despite her novice mistakes, she had a good sense of food and what flavors would taste right together, Dark had found. She was an apt pupil and he loved teaching her. He only wished he could be teaching her in his own kitchen on Rigelus Prime or anywhere, really, safer than here in the Trollox’s domicile.

  Every instinct he had shouted that he had to take her away at once—that he had to get away from Gorn and his horrible plans for her and take Anna where she would be safe. But several things stopped him.

  First, it would mean giving up completely on the mission which had been entrusted to him. He had sworn to watch over the Shannom-rah crystal and keep it safe until the replica came so that he could replace it and bring the real crystal with him back to the Mother Ship. He didn’t want to break his word and let down Commander Sylvan, who had entrusted him with this important task.

  Of course, he knew that if Gorn tried to rape Anna instead of only threatening to do it, the jig would be up. His protective instincts had grown powerfully for her over the past week. If the huge Trollox tried anything, Dark was fairly certain he would go into Rage and kill the big bastard—which of course, wasn’t what the Kindred High Council wanted at all.

  The Trollox were a clannish people and he was certain if he killed Gorn, all of the Trollox’s “drewgs” would come after him and everyone on the Mother Ship. Of course, he could try to cover his tracks but he didn’t like to put the people of the Mother Ship in danger, especially since Commander Sylvan was specifically trying to avoid a confrontation with the Trollox people.

  The other thing that stopped him, was that he knew the moment he stole Anna away from here, she would want to know how a Replicant was able to break his loyalty conditioning and leave his master. And then sooner or later, it would come out that he wasn’t a Replicant after all but a male with male equipment—equipment she feared and hated. And then she would fear and hate him too and never want to see him again.

  I couldn’t bear that, Dark thought, watching as she sliced laso pods with surprising speed and skill, considering she’d had no knife skills at all before he started teaching her. I don’t want her to hate me—or fear me.

  But she will anyway, whispered a little voice in his brain. Once she realizes you’ve lied to her…once she realizes she’s been deceived…Sooner or later the truth will come out, Dark, you know it’s true.

  Yes, he knew it, he thought grimly. But he wanted to put it off as long as possible. To keep enjoying her company and her trust for as long as he could. So, as long as Gorn wasn’t actually doing anything to Anna and Dark was still waiting for the duplicate Shannom-rah, he would stay and enjoy her company and the growing closeness between them until the truth came to strip it away. They—

  “Oh!” Anna’s gasp of pain got his immediate attention.

  “What is it? What happened, baby?” The endearment popped out before he could stop it but it seemed she’d barely heard him. She was standing at the counter, holding her left hand in her right, her eyes wide.

  “I…I cut myself.” Her voice was low. “The knife slipped and I just—”

  “Here—let me see.” Dark took her left wrist and examined her. The cut was deep and substantial, across the back of her left index finger. It was already welling blood. Tapping the sink, he put her hand under the cold running water, washing it clean. Then, before it could start to bleed again, he took her hurt finger gently into his mouth.

  “Oh! What are you doing?” Anna gasped.

  Something I shouldn’t be, Dark thought and yet he did it anyway. It was an automatic thing—the female he cared for had gotten hurt and his fangs had immediately begun producing essence—the healing and bonding fluid that all Blood Kindred made for their mates.

  Is that how I think of her? My mate? Dark knew it wasn’t right. He wasn’t cut out to have a female in his life, not after everything Mistress Hellenix had put him through. And his gift or curse complicated matters even more. Even now, as he bathed her cut finger with his tongue and his essence sealed her wound, he could feel himself taking her hurt as well.

  His own finger stung with the feeling of a fresh cut—even as he lessened her pain, he took it into himself. It was nothing he hadn’t felt in the past—working in a kitchen all of his life he’d been cut and burned more times than he could count. But still, he’d never been willing to take pain for anyone but his little brother before. And this time, his body had done it almost automatically—again, as though it considered Anna his mate and not just a female he was protecting.

  “Dark, what—?” she began again but at that point he released her. “Oh!” Anna stared at her finger in disbelief. “Where is it? Where’s the cut? It was so deep! But now it’s completely disappeared—it doesn’t even hurt anymore!”

  �€