Brides of the Kindred Volume One Read online

  “No more than one of your Earth standard days,” he promised, nodding. “Two at the very most.”

  That had been three days ago…

  Lauren frowned moodily and looked out the front viewscreen at the busy alien marketplace. Though she didn’t want to admit it to herself, it wasn’t boredom that was really bothering her.

  It was fear.

  What if something happened to him? What if he’s dead or hurt somewhere with no one to help him? What if he never comes back?

  She tried to push the troubling questions to the back of her mind, but she could no longer manage it. Xairn was gone and she was all alone on an alien planet a hundred lightyears from home.

  What was she going to do?

  There was plenty of food, at least. The Kindred ship was stocked with tiny food cubes which expanded into a full sized meal when they were put in the rehydrator. Xairn had showed her how to work the microwave-like machine before he left and Lauren estimated there were hundreds of the sugar-cube sized meals stored neatly in a cabinet at the back of the ship.

  True, some of them were pretty strange—she’d rehydrated one which contained what looked like a writhing nest of worms. Lauren had thrown it away—she didn’t like to waste food but there was no way she was eating anything alive. Just thinking of it made her feel queasy. But the other meals seemed edible enough and the portions were so large she could often eat an entire day off a single cube—probably because they were intended for huge Kindred warriors and not Earth females.

  “So at least I won’t starve to death,” she muttered, staring out the viewscreen some more. She wished Xairn had parked a little closer to the entrance of the alley. The light in O’ah was a dim, dusky violet which never got much brighter than twilight on Earth. She could make out shapes in the weak, purplish light but it was hard to tell for sure what the alien inhabitants of the city looked like. Lauren wondered if they were humanoid at all or something completely different—huge insects maybe. Or amphibians or reptile-like creatures with claws or beaks or—

  “Stop it Lauren,” she told herself firmly. “You’re just giving yourself the heebie-jeebies. So just stop right n—”

  Before she could finish the sentence something hopped right in front of the viewscreen. Lauren let out a startled squeak and nearly fell backwards off the black leather seat she was sitting on. “What the—?”

  There it was again. The thing hopped up, obviously tying to get her attention on purpose. With one more hop, it finally managed to scramble onto the nose section of the silver Kindred ship. Then it stood up and waved its hands in the air…only they were more like…

  “Paws,” Lauren murmured to herself. She pressed a hand to her chest. Her heart was beating like a drum because she’d been certain at first that she was being attacked. But now she wasn’t so sure.

  The alien hopping and waving in front of the viewscreen didn’t look the least bit menacing. In fact what he looked like was a very large…

  “Bunny rabbit.” Lauren finished the thought aloud. “Oh my God, he’s the spitting image of Mr. Kittles!”

  Mr. Kittles had been the brown and white lop eared bunny her mom had bought her for her twelfth birthday. He’d been Lauren’s favorite pet and had slept in her bed every night. Extremely intelligent for a bunny, Mr. Kittles had learned to use a litter box just like a cat and had begged for carrots on his hind legs like a dog. Lauren had been heartbroken when he’d gotten out of the house and been run over by a careless driver in a huge SUV when she was seventeen. And now, here he was again—almost ten years later and a hundred thousand light years away…how was it possible?

  “Well, he’s not exactly like Mr. Kittles,” Lauren murmured doubtfully. Which was true. For one thing, Mr. Kittles had never worn clothes and this bunny—or the alien who looked like a bunny—was. His short, furry frame was draped in a shimmering purple cape and he wore soft brown boots on his hind feet. He was still waving frantically as though he wanted her to let him inside.

  Lauren was tempted to do just that from sheer boredom but she remembered Xairn’s warning and decided against it. “Sorry, little fellah,” she said, watching the caped and booted bunny hop around like crazy. “No can do. No matter how cute you look, you might be bad news and I can’t take the risk.”

  No sooner had the words left her mouth than an earsplitting roar shook the ship. Lauren had the speakers on the viewscreen turned down but even so, she covered her ears and winced. What the hell was that?

  The answer wasn’t long in coming. Suddenly the narrow entrance to the alley was filled with an enormous red reptilian face. It had fierce white eyes outlined in black and a square snout, reminding Lauren of the stylized paper dragons that appeared around the Chinese New Year.

  The bunny rabbit’s huge brown eyes suddenly widened with fear and it hopped up and down even more frantically. Its whiskers trembled and it seemed to be mouthing a plea at the viewscreen.

  The dragon-like creature saw it and roared again, its jaws gaping open to reveal rows and rows of jagged pale blue teeth. It was a tight squeeze but it began pushing its massive head into the alley. A forked tongue licked out of its mouth and slithered over the rabbit’s right boot before cinching tight. With a jerk of its head, the dragon lifted the terrified rabbit into the air and for a moment it seemed certain that it was going to eat the helpless little creature right before Lauren’s horrified eyes.

  Then, at the last minute, the boot came off and the rabbit fell back onto the Kindred ship with a hollow thump. The scrap of brown leather disappeared into the dragon’s gaping maw and it roared angrily when it found its prey had eluded it. The tongue snaked out again…

  But by this time Lauren had already slapped a palm over the door release mechanism and was beckoning for the frightened rabbit-thing to come in. “Hurry!” she urged, waving at it. “Come on—get in here quick!”

  She had no idea if the rabbit could understand her or not but it seemed to comprehend her gestures. Barely eluding the seeking tongue again, it slid across the slick silver surface of the Kindred ship and right into her arms.

  Lauren pulled it tight to her chest and slammed the door just as the forked black tongue was curling toward her. The very tip of one fork caught in the ship’s door and was amputated in a gout of slimy black blood as the silver panel shut. It fell to the floor with a wet smack and lay twitching at Lauren’s feet like a snake that’s been cut in half but doesn’t have the sense to die.

  “Ugh!” Lauren took a step back, still clutching the bunny creature to her chest. From the pained roaring outside the ship, the dragon was even more upset than she was. She wondered uneasily if it could force its way into the alley and get her. Would the Kindred ship protect her from something with the size and strength of an angry T-rex?

  “Don’t worry.” The piping little voice from between her breasts startled her and when Lauren looked down, she realized she was still hugging the bunny tight—like a little girl clutching a stuffed animal.

  “Wh…what?” she managed to stutter. “Who…how…who are you and how can you speak English?”

  The rabbit shook itself free of her and hopped down. Then is shimmered and suddenly began to glow and grow.

  Lauren watched in horrified amazement as it doubled and then trebled in height and mass until it was a pillar of brilliant light higher than her head. She blinked, trying to get used to the bright glow but almost at once the light solidified into the shape of a blond man wearing a purple cape, black pants and brown boots.

  He was tall—almost as tall as Xairn though not quite so broad in the shoulders. Still, he was large and muscular enough to be a threat and Lauren took a step back when he raised his head. His eyes were a pale, silvery-purple and they gleamed strangely when smiled at her.

  “Hello, Lauren,” he said. “Welcome to O’ah.”

  * * * * *

  Deep in the bowls of the splicing district, Xairn raised his bloody head.

  He’d spent more time than he liked looki