Brides of the Kindred Volume One Read online

  “What?” He was already shrugging into the shirt but she stopped him with one hand on his arm. Looking closer, she saw the source of the red liquid. Blood—it was welling up from a cut on his side, somewhere under the waistband of his black flight pants.

  “What’s that?” she demanded, pointing to his side. “Why didn’t you tell me you were wounded?”

  The big warrior looked down as though noticing his wound for the first time. “A scratch. I got into several altercations on my way back to you. That’s the main reason I was late.”

  “It’s a lot more than a scratch. Let me see it.” When he started to refuse, Lauren made her voice strict. “I said let me see it.”

  “I would prefer that you didn’t,” he said stiffly. But she was already unbuckling his belt and pushing the black pants lower down his muscular abdomen and hips to see the extent of his injuries. Sure enough, there was a long, nasty gash running up from the front of his right hip to the curve of his back. Thankfully, it didn’t look deep but it was still oozing blood and Lauren was afraid it might become infected.

  “Wait right here,” she said. “I think I saw some kind of first aid kit thingy in the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”

  She grabbed the mini-suitcase she’d seen earlier—it was filled with what looked like bandages and bottles with alien script written on them—and brought it back to Xairn. He was still standing in the middle of the ship as still as a statue with a frown on his face.

  “Okay now,” Lauren said. “You’re going to have to help me with this because I don’t read Kindred.” She looked up at him. “Uh, do you?”

  “I am fluent in over two hundred languages and dialects. And yes, the Kindred common tongue is one of them,” he answered.

  Lauren let out a low whistle. “Wow! That’s amazing. Is that a Scourge thing?”

  He shook his head. “I have an aptitude for languages. To my knowledge, it is not common among my people. Perhaps…I may have inherited the ability from my mother.”

  “You’ve never talked about her before,” Lauren said softly. “Were you…very young when she died?”

  “I do not know if she is living or dead,” Xairn said stonily. “Only that my father took me from her soon after I was born.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I just assumed…”

  “It doesn’t matter.” He shook his head and then pointed to a green plasti-glass bottle with a strange looking stopper on it. “That is the disinfectant. You should use it first.”

  “Of course.” Lauren felt like she’d really put her foot in her mouth, asking about his mother. It was clear he didn’t want to talk about her or her fate—whatever it had been. She fiddled for a moment with the stopper on the bottle—and it came off in her hand. “Oh!” She looked at it in surprise. The stopper was attached to a long wand with a bulbous end. It was dripping with clear, viscous fluid. She looked up at Xairn. “So I guess I just…spread it on with this?”

  He nodded. “Yes.”

  Lauren shrugged. “Okay.” Carefully, she touched the bulbous end of the wand to the start of the long gash and began to paint the wound with the viscous liquid.

  Xairn drew in a hissing breath and all the muscles in his big body clenched at once.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry!” Lauren looked up at him. “Does it sting?”

  “It’s not pleasant but I will survive. Please continue—Slk is waiting for us.”

  “All right.” Lauren went back to painting the wound but as she went, she blew a soothing stream of cool air to try and ease the sting.

  Xairn looked down at her frowning. “What are you doing?”

  “Just trying to make it feel better.” Lauren looked up at him sheepishly. “Uh, my mom used to do it for me. She’d always blow on my cuts before she put the band aid on.” She shrugged. “It made it hurt less. Do you want me to stop?”

  A strange look came over his face and his voice was a little less remote when he answered. “No, that’s all right. You can continue if you want.”

  “Good.” Lauren smiled at him and went back to the business at hand. When she had the entire cut painted with disinfectant, she put the stopper back in the green bottle and rummaged around in the little suitcase for what looked like a roll of gauze. But as she was about to unroll it, Xairn held out a hand.

  “Give it to me.”

  Lauren frowned. “You can’t put it on yourself. This cut goes halfway up your back.”

  “I won’t try to but I need to activate the qui.”

  “The what?” Lauren frowned at the roll of gauze in her hand.

  “The qui. It means the Goddess of Mercy bandage.”

  “Does it have some kind of microchip in it or something?”

  “Hardly. Like most Kindred inventions, it’s actually a living organism. But it must be activated in order to work.” He held out his hand again and raised an eyebrow at her.

  Giving in to his unspoken request, Lauren handed him the roll.

  Xairn raised it to his mouth and whispered something in a foreign language. Then he pressed the roll to his forehead, both cheeks, and lips before handing it back to Lauren. “There. It should work now.”

  “What did you say to it?” Lauren asked, beginning to unroll the gauzy substance. No, not substance—animal, I guess. How weird.

  “The exact wording is ‘Drink of my blood and be nourished. My body is thine to heal as thou will. A gift for a gift. A life for a life.”

  “My body is thine,” Lauren murmured. “Hmm. I think I like that.” She had the right length of bandage that she wanted now but she wasn’t sure if it was permissible to cut it to fit. Maybe she should just wrap it around and around Xairn’s waist until it— The thought died in her mind to be replaced by wonder. As she watched, the qui shortened itself to the exact length she wanted. It broadened a little as well, becoming a little wider than the palm of her hand. “Well.” She stared at it a minute then shrugged and began to press it gently to Xairn’s side.

  She wasn’t sure how it would stay on—was there some kind of glue or tape she could use? But the qui adhered to his muscular side at once and stuck nicely without any help.

  Lauren was impressed. “That’s good. That’s really good,” she murmured, stroking her hand over his side to make sure the living bandage was smooth and evenly applied. “I wish the Kindred would share this with Earth.”

  “Actually it’s old technology. They have much more sophisticated healing methods now.” Xairn’s deep voice sounded strained. Lauren noticed that his big hands were curled into fists at his sides and he was positively trembling as she touched him. She frowned. Am I hurting him? “Are you okay?” she asked aloud.

  “Fine.” He gazed down at her, his eyes blazing. The look on his face was so intense she drew back a little.

  “Xairn?” she asked, trying to keep the unease out of her voice and not quite managing.

  He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them, the fire in their red-on-black depths seemed to have died down a little. “Forgive me but Slk is waiting. Thank you for tending to my wound but now we really must go.”

  “All right.” Lauren got to her feet and rubbed her aching knees. “That floor is hard. Let me just put the first aid kit back and we can go.”

  * * * * *

  Xairn refastened his flight pants as he watched her go, her curves still visible—at least to him—even through the voluminous silvery-blue garment he’d bought for her. It was much too large but he had wanted it that way. He didn’t want to be tempted by her, by the sight of her lovely body. But she might as well not be wearing anything at all as far as he was concerned. He kept remembering how she looked completely nude.

  Don’t think about it, he told himself fiercely. But he couldn’t help it.

  Just before they had left the Fathership and taken off for the Scourge home world, Lauren had dropped the cloak he had given her and offered herself to him. When he closed his eyes he could still see the curve of her hips, her full breasts tipped wi