Healing the Broken: A Kindred Christmas Tale Read online

  “Oh, of course!” Lemesh exclaimed. “I am light sensitive myself, you know. I’m sure I have an extra pair of blockers…”

  She ran to the back of her shop and returned with a strange contraption which looked like a long, rounded metal wire with a black square attached to either end.

  “Look, you wear it like this—if you’d just lean down…” She motioned to Sazar.

  The big Kindred leaned over obligingly and Lemesh looped the wire around the back of his neck. Then she brought it up and pressed the black squares together to form a long, dark rectangle which fit over his eyes.

  “There—that should work.” She nodded approvingly.

  “I thank you,” Sazar rumbled but he was looking at Sarah as he spoke.

  “My pleasure,” Lemesh said, smiling.

  “Yes, thank you, Lemmy—you’re a lifesaver.” Chandra gave the other girl a hug and they pressed their cheeks together briefly.

  “We really do appreciate your help,” Sarah said, smiling at the Alquon girl. Though it was going to be excruciatingly embarrassing to walk out in public completely exposed, the clothier really had done her best for them. She was good at her job—Sarah just hoped she could be as good at hers.

  “You’re welcome, my dear.” Lemesh smiled back warmly. “I’ll have the other clothes and the bottle of compound packed up and sent over to your guest quarters.”

  “Thank you, Sazar said gravely. “And now it appears the minister is eager for us to go.”

  “Yes, yes—hurry up, won’t you?” Obglod exclaimed impatiently. “We cannot keep the Lord Magnate waiting for one moment longer unless you wish us all to be thrown to the grike.”

  Sarah wasn’t sure what a grike was and she certainly didn’t want to find out.

  “We’d better go,” she said. Waving at Lemesh, she followed Minister Obglod and Chandra out of the small dark shop and back into the brilliant corridor. She immediately wished she’d asked for a pair of the sunglasses herself but it was too late now. They were going to the palace to meet the Alquon ruler and she would be squinting all the way. She was also going to have to fight the urge to cover herself again once they got into public.

  God, whoever would have guessed when she took this job that she’d be walking around bare-breasted on an alien planet? What had she gotten herself into?

  And yet, when she stole a glance at Sazar, striding along beside her, she couldn’t feel sorry about the strange turn her life had taken…and she also couldn’t help remembering how hot his mouth had felt on her breasts or the intense way he looked at her when he’d sucked them.

  Was she falling for the big Kindred?

  You’d better not be, whispered a stern little voice in her head. He’s your boss and this is still a professional relationship—don’t forget that, Sarah!

  But somehow it was hard to remember when her nipples were still tingling from his mouth and her body was on fire from his touch.

  Chapter Eleven

  The light blockers helped a lot, though the brilliant radiance still sapped his strength. At least he could see, however—in fact, Sazar had to admit to himself, maybe he could see too well. With the dark lenses shielding his eyes, it was obvious exactly how many males were staring at Sarah in open admiration.

  Sazar tried to tell himself that some of their interest in her was doubtless because she was alien to their planet with different skin and hair tones than the Alquons were used to. But some of the attention she was getting was undoubtedly lust.

  It’s her breasts, he thought, frowning as the eyes of the Alquon males followed his little human assistant’s every movement. They’re so large—much larger that the Alquon females’ endowments.

  In fact, they were larger than he was used to himself—Malinda had been quite small up top. Sazar had loved her to distraction—breast size wasn’t an issue with him. But he had to admit his new assistant’s assets were definitely distracting.

  So big and soft and sweet, he couldn’t help thinking. His hands itched to cup them again and he couldn’t help remembering how good her nipples tasted or the soft little moans she made when he sucked them.

  The Blood Hunger tortured him and his fangs were long and sharp, longing to pierce her there and drink from an area where only a Pitch-Blood Kindred could call a vein. But he didn’t want to hurt her and there was no doubt taking blood from such a sensitive area would be painful unless he pleasured her first.

  Not if she’s your Fated Mate, whispered a little voice in his head. Then it would be nothing but pleasure for her, were you to drink from her breasts or between her thighs.

  But Sazar couldn’t take that chance. Fated Mates were rare and his idea that Sarah might be his was probably just wishful thinking.

  I can’t drink from her there, he told himself. In fact, I can’t drink from her anywhere for at least a standard week. I’ll just have to keep the Blood Hunger in check and concentrate on doing my job.

  And right now his job was to make contact with the ruler of Alquon Ultrea—The Lord Magnate.

  “Now you can tell we’re entering the territory around the palace because of the light,” Chandra said, looking back at him and Sarah. She had been playing the tour guide as they moved through the busy tunnels that housed the city streets, pointing out various landmarks, businesses, and the private residences of leading citizens, but Sazar had been paying scant attention to her.

  Sarah, however, was looking all around her with wide-eyed awe. Sazar reminded himself that this was the first time she’d been off her own little planet. This was just another diplomatic mission to him but to her, it was all new and fascinating.

  “How can we tell? What about the light?” she asked Chandra.

  “Well, it’s golden—can’t you tell, my dear?” The Alquon girl’s big purple eyes widened dramatically. “Everything around The Lord Magnate must be golden—even the light. His plates and cups and utensils are all gold.” She dropped her voice. “Some say even the pot he does his business in his gold and I believe it!”

  “Wow,” Sarah said. “That’s, uh, really something.”

  “Yes, isn’t it?” Chandra giggled. “Now here we are—the Palace of Idd.”

  She threw out a hand and Sazar saw that they were indeed approaching a tall structure with many towers and turrets, all of which gleamed in the golden light. They approached a tall gate made of golden bars and two guards dressed in golden armor shaped like interlocking fish scales stopped them.

  “Open in the name of Minister Obglod,” the old minister snapped at the guards, who were pointing golden trident-like weapons at him. “The Lord Magnate is expecting us.”

  “Yes, Minister.” The tridents were withdrawn and the golden gates opened. Inside Sazar noticed that even the plain path they had been walking on had become gold-plated. He wondered if gold was less rare here than it was in other parts of the universe. There was known to be miniscule amounts of it in the seawater of Earth—perhaps the Alquons had found a way to process the waters of their home world and extract it.

  “This is…quite a palace,” he remarked to Minister Obglod as they walked up the solid gold-plated path to the golden castle rising before them.

  “Yes, isn’t it? But it’s all the work of the late Lord Magnate—the father of the male who now sits the throne of Idd,” Obglod informed him.

  “He was a proud male who sought status above all else,” Chandra said in a low voice. “Nothing like his son who is the soul of sweetness and generosity. Why, he’s always having balls and helping young women find their place in society. He helped me find mine and I’ll always be grateful.” She smiled.

  “He sounds really…nice,” Sarah said but Sazar thought there was a peculiar flat tone in her voice. “So do we just go right into the palace to meet him or what?” she asked, motioning to the tall double doors of the castle which were, of course, solid gold.

  “One of his Privy Council will be coming out to bring us in and announce us,” Obglod answered. “Ah—here he is