Brides of the Kindred Volume One Read online

  “Mom!” Lauren was horrified but to her surprise, Xairn didn’t give back an angry retort. Instead he bowed deeply from the waist. When he straightened up, he looked at her mother seriously.

  “Please believe me when I say I would rather die than harm your daughter,” he said in a low voice. “I vow to you that I will protect her with my life.”

  “Well!” Lauren’s mom seemed surprised at his response. “Um, thank you very much Mr. Xairn.”

  Lauren stifled a smile. “It’s just Xairn, mom. His people don’t have last names.” Walking up the steps, she took Xairn by the arm. His big body was tense—his muscles as tight and hard as iron. Was something wrong? Was he offended by her mom’s lack of trust? “We’ll see you tomorrow,” she told her mother firmly.

  “All right.” Reluctantly, her mother nodded. “I love you.”

  “Love you too.” Lauren smiled at her and nudged Xairn toward the door. “Come on—let’s get inside before the mosquitoes eat us alive.”

  He looked around alertly. “You have carnivorous beasts near this residence? Should I get a weapon?”

  Lauren laughed. “No, silly—mosquitoes are just bugs. They don’t hurt when they bite but they leave itchy red welts on your skin. So let’s go.”

  “Very well.” He nodded once more to her mother. “I bid you goodnight, mother of Lauren.”

  Her mother smiled faintly. “You can call me Abby, I suppose.”

  “Abby, then,” Xairn said. “Good night. And please don’t have any more fear for your daughter.”

  “I’ll try not to.” Lauren’s mom still sounded worried but at least she was headed for her car. “Good night.”

  “Good night.” Lauren waved at her. She waited until her mom had started the car and then tugged Xairn back into the condo and closed the door.

  She was finally back home but she had a feeling it was going to be a long, long time before things really got back to normal.

  Chapter Twenty

  “Your mother does not trust me.” Xairn crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at the simple white tile flooring.

  Lauren’s living space was small but attractively arranged. It had high ceilings and the walls were painted a pale, sunny yellow that made the space seem larger than it was. There was a small living area set off by a short blue couch, as one first stepped in the door. Diagonally across from the couch was a bed that looked to be a little smaller than the one they’d shared in Slk’s guest suite. Facing the bed and separated by a small archway was a tiny food prep area.

  The bathroom, which was at the far end of the living area, was the only room separated from the rest of the space by a door. Everything else was contained in one small area. Lauren had told him the arrangement was called an efficiency apartment. It was smaller than the bare metal rooms Xairn had kept aboard the Fathership, but warmer too. In fact, he liked it—or thought he would once he got used to it.

  “She’s just worried about me.” Lauren sat down on the side of the bed. As soon as they reached her living space she had changed into much more form fitting clothes than the garment Xairn had bought her in O’ah—jeans and a t-shirt, she called them. All Xairn knew was that the tight bottoms clung to her rounded ass and the soft, thin material of the top stretched across her full breasts in a most distracting way.

  “She has a right to be worried,” he murmured, trying not to see how the outlines of her nipples were faintly visible through the shirt.

  “She’ll be fine once I’ve been back home awhile.” She patted the spot beside her. “Come here.”

  Xairn looked at her warily. “Why?”

  Lauren sighed. “Because I want you beside me—near me. I love you, Xairn. People who love each other show it by being close and touching.”

  He frowned and settled carefully on the bed beside her. “You mean the way you and your mother were holding each other?”

  “Exactly.” Lauren scooted closer to him until she was leaning against his arm. She looked up at him. “You really never had anyone hug you?”

  Xairn looked down at his hands. “I…I had a nursemaid for a little while—just until I was able to fend for myself. Then my father took me from her. She used to hold me on her lap when I was very small.” He shook his head. “But there’s been no once since then. Not until you.”

  “Oh Xairn honey, how sad.” Lauren pressed closer to him. “Come here and let me hug you.”

  Awkwardly, Xairn lifted his arm and let her press against his side. He felt the softness of her body and smelled the warm scent of her skin—the scent that marked her as his. Gods, she felt good! Too good. “Lauren?” he said hesitantly but she only pressed closer.

  “Put your arms around me and hold me close,” she directed. Feeling helpless to disobey, Xairn did as she said. When he was holding her soft, warm body against his own Lauren sighed contentedly. “See, isn’t this nice? It’s good to be close. Warm. Comforting.”

  There were other words Xairn would have used to describe the sensation of her body pressed against his but ‘nice, warm, and comforting’ were not it. He’d been feeling strangely melancholy as he watched the interaction between Lauren and her mother but now his body came to life in another way. His secondary shaft stiffened in his flight pants and his skin prickled with pleasure and desire at her touch. Strangest of all, for some reason his eyes felt hot—just as they had when he was enraged and defending her back on O’ah.

  What’s happening to me? Am I going to lose control? He shifted uncomfortably on the bed and Lauren shifted with him. Somehow they wound up lying on the bed instead of sitting on it, with her draped over his left side.

  “Mmm.” Lauren snuggled closer. Her breasts pressed against the side of his chest and her knee brushed casually against the hard ridge of his shaft.

  Xairn stiffened but tried not to move. Clearly this was something Lauren wanted—to hold and be held by the one she loved. But Gods, how hard it was to fight his natural impulse to flip her over, tear off her clothes and take her! His fingers itched to cup her breasts and pinch her nipples and his shaft throbbed to be inside her, filling her sweet wet cunt with his cum—marking her, bonding her.

  I could tie her hands above her head with my belt—stretch her out to fully appreciate her beautiful body. Could tease her for hours until I finally took her. I want to hear her moaning my name as I fuck her, as I mark her as mine forever…No! He had to get hold of himself! Taking a deep breath, Xairn fought for control.

  “Relax,” Lauren murmured, her warm breath tickling his ear. “You’re tight as a wire, baby. Don’t you like snuggling with me?”

  “It’s very stimulating, this…snuggling,” Xairn admitted in a strangled voice.

  “Well, it’s supposed to be relaxing.” Humming contentedly, she slipped a hand into his shirt to stroke his chest. Her fingertips slid, cool and ticklish, over the raised letters of the brand the Judge of the Market had put on him. Xairn jumped. “I’m sorry.” She looked up at him. “Does this still hurt?”

  “No,” he said stiffly. “I am a fast healer.”

  “Your eyes…” She bit her lip. “For a minute they went back to their old color.”

  “Did they?” He shrugged. His eyes felt hot again in their sockets and he wondered if that had anything to do with it. “Don’t worry,” he told Lauren, who still looked concerned. “It wasn’t because it hurt when you touched me.”

  “It was hard for me to watch them do it,” she whispered. “To know you were being hurt for my sake and there was nothing I could do about it.”

  Xairn felt some of his tension melting at her soft words. “I didn’t mind,” he assured her softly.

  “Well, I did.” Leaning over him, Lauren unfastened his shirt and pulled it open, baring his chest. Her long black hair trailed over his skin, raising chillbumps along his arms and setting his nerves afire with need. “Xairn…” she murmured, looking up at him once more. “I wish I could have done this earlier, to take the pain away.” Gently, she pressed he