Brides of the Kindred Volume One Read online

  A wedding.

  Rast stared blankly at the assembled group of people. Yup, no doubt about it, for some reason he was about to take part in a Kindred wedding. The groom was Commander Sylvan and his best man was Commander Baird. Both of them were dressed in the same fur kilt and boots outfit that Rast was wearing but the bride—one of Lauren’s cousins—was wearing a traditional white lace wedding gown and her bridesmaids were wearing simple pale gold sheaths.

  It was obvious what was going on, but not why he was being made to take part in it. “Hey,” he whispered to Deep, who was already pushing him into line beside Commander Baird. “I think there’s been some kind of mistake.”

  “No mistake,” Deep growled softly. “Just stand there and shut your mouth. You don’t have to do a damn thing until the luck kiss.”

  “The what?”

  But Deep had already faded back into the trees, leaving Rast to watch as a beaming Commander Sylvan said his vows to his bride in front of a very stern-looking priestess.

  He looked around uncertainly. Should he just stand there and do nothing? He didn’t want to make a scene and, regardless of how strange the situation was, he was a nice enough guy not to want to ruin someone else’s big day. But what was it that the dark Kindred had been saying about a kiss? Was he supposed to kiss someone? And if so, who?

  Rast looked speculatively at the two bridesmaids standing across from him. One was Lauren’s other cousin—he recognized her from the conversations they’d had on the viewscreen. The other was a tall, slender girl with long, pale blonde hair that flowed over her shoulders like a golden shawl. She had sharp, clever features and bright blue eyes which were currently fixed directly on him.

  Why is she staring at me? Rast thought uneasily. He returned her look, giving her a challenging gaze in return. But instead of dropping her eyes and blushing like most girls would have done, the blonde bridesmaid stared back. A teasing little smile curved the corners of her lush mouth and Rast couldn’t help thinking she had the softest, pinkest looking lips he’d ever seen.

  The rest of her wasn’t bad either. She might be slender, but she had curves where it counted. The pale gold dress clung to her lovingly, making it apparent she was all woman. He raised his eyes to her face again and saw her arching an eyebrow at him. Obviously she’d seen him checking her out. Rast felt his cheeks burning—he’d been ogling her like a horny teenager. But he refused to look away. Instead he looked into her eyes, taking their staring contest to the next level.

  He willed her to drop her gaze but the blonde girl clearly wasn’t one to back down from a challenge. Rast wasn’t either. Though it was uncomfortably intimate to look into a stranger’s eyes for such a long time, he held her gaze unflinchingly.

  He was dimly aware that the priestess performing the ceremony was saying something that sounded final. Then, from the corner of his eye, he saw Commander Sylvan lift his bride’s veil and kiss her passionately. Funny, he hadn’t seemed like the type for such effusive public displays of affection, but Rast supposed allowances had to be made considering it was his wedding day. And also—

  But his train of thought was cut off abruptly when the blonde girl came toward him. Rast thought she was finally going to say something now that the ceremony seemed to be wrapping up.

  Instead, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.

  He was so surprised that at first he couldn’t do a thing. Then his heart thudded in his chest and his body took over.

  Rast wrapped his arms around her, crushed her to him, and kissed her back.

  She felt warm and soft against him, the curves of her breasts pressing against his bare chest. And her lips tasted like cherries—not artificial cherry lip gloss but real ripe cherries—sweet and succulent and completely irresistible. And her scent…God, he’d never smelled anything like it in his life. Warm and sweet and devastatingly feminine, it seemed to go straight to his cock, which was rock hard against her thigh.

  Rast was really tall—every bit as massive as the Kindred warriors that surrounded them. But the girl in his arms was tall, too. He liked that—liked that for once in his life he didn’t have to stoop over to get a good kiss. And the way she was running her fingers through his hair and scratching his bare shoulders was driving him fucking crazy.

  Despite the fact that he always kept a rigidly tight rein on himself, he was rapidly losing control. He wanted the girl in his arms. Wanted her with an intensity and single minded need that he’d never felt before in his life.

  She broke the kiss for a moment to look into his eyes. “I knew it,” she whispered in a low, lovely voice that made his cock throb with need. “I knew it would be like this from the moment I saw you.”

  Rast didn’t know what she was talking about but by this time he didn’t care. He only knew that she had him so aroused he felt like he could fuck a hole through a concrete wall.

  “I want you,” he growled, looking into those gorgeous, deep blue eyes again. “Now.” Then he took her mouth again, possessively. He didn’t care that she was a complete stranger. Didn’t care that he didn’t even know her name and they were surrounded by people. He wanted to lower her to the ground and have her here and now in the green and purple grass and damn the consequences.

  But just as he was about to put his lascivious thoughts into action, someone tapped him on the shoulder. Rast ignored them so whoever it was tapped again, this time much more insistently.

  “Detective Rast?” a vaguely familiar voice said. “Is that you? What are you doing?”

  * * * * *

  This is it—he’s here, Nadiah had thought excitedly the minute Deep shoved the Kindred with the truegreen eyes into line beside Baird. He looked exactly as she had forseen him.

  He had a warrior’s build with a muscular chest and arms and well developed legs that did the tharp he was wearing justice. His thick, golden-brown hair was tousled, as though he’d been carelessly running his fingers through it and his eyes were a shade of green so deep it was almost black. Around his iris was a thinner line of pale green that gave his gaze an intensity so powerful it was very difficult to meet his eyes.

  But meet them she did, and she refused to drop her gaze even when he frowned at her. She sensed that this was a male she could never back down from—not if she wanted to win and keep his respect. So she lifted her chin and stared harder even though the way he was looking at her made her nipples feel tight and achy and the vee between her legs hot and wet. Goddess but he looked so primal standing there wearing nothing but the short tharp and boots. The big muscles of his arms and thighs were bunched tight with tension—tension she was causing, Nadiah could tell.

  Maybe he’s the one, she couldn’t help thinking. Maybe he’ll challenge the blood bond and set me free. Looking at this male she was certain that if he made a challenge he would win it. There was a fierce determination about him that told her he didn’t back down for anyone.

  When it was finally time for the luck kiss her heart was pounding so hard she could barely breathe. But Nadiah was determined not to show how nervous she was. It was the female’s responsibility to go to the male and she didn’t intend to mess up her part in the ceremony. Taking a deep breath, she swept forward and wrapped her arms around his muscular neck. A look of surprise filled his truegreen eyes and then she kissed him hard on the mouth.

  At first she was afraid he wasn’t going to respond. He stood absolutely rigid—doing what appeared to be the galaxy’s best statue impersonation. Then, suddenly he came to life.

  Nadiah gasped in surprise as he bent her over his arms and plundered her mouth, kissing with a passion that belied his stoic outer appearance. His arms around her felt like warm, flexible iron and when his tongue demanded entrance to her mouth, she parted her lips with no hesitation at all.

  Goddess, she was melting…burning…being utterly consumed in the heat of passion. It was exactly as she had always known her first kiss from a Kindred male would be. The instant heat between them, the sudden