Brides of the Kindred Volume One Read online

“But Detective—”

  “No more!” His words were almost a shout and Nadiah jumped at his angry tone. “Look, I’m sorry.” Rast stepped back and pinched the bridge of his nose, as though trying to drive back a headache. “I’m sorry but I don’t have any more time to indulge your fantasies.”

  “My fantasies?” Nadiah stared at him in disbelief. “You think I like seeing the things I’ve seen lately? You think I enjoy knowing that he’s going to kill again and the only male who might possibly be able to help won’t listen to me?”

  “You do need help.” Rast gave her a pitying look. “But not the kind I can give you. Go home, Nadiah. Back to the Mother ship or wherever.”

  Nadiah crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not leaving until you listen to me.”

  “I’ve listened as much as I have time for.” Rast looked suddenly drained. “Now I have to go tell Tabitha’s parents that she’s never coming home. That she’s dead. All right?”

  Nadiah wanted to say more but it was clear he wasn’t going to listen. Inside she seethed with impatience and irritation. How could he be so dense? Why was he so set against believing anything she saw with her gift? But as angry as she was, she refused to lower herself any further. Slapping him last time had been a mistake—it only dragged her down to his level. “Fine,” she said tightly. “I’m leaving. Call me when the next girl is taken. Maybe then you’ll believe me.”

  Rast gave her a long look and then shook his head. “You’re fucking gorgeous, you know? It’s too damn bad all that pretty has to come with crazy attached to it.”

  “Why, you—” Nadiah couldn’t think of anything bad enough to call him—not in English, anyway. She let loose a string of curse words in her native language that made his piercing green eyes widen in surprise.

  “I’m guessing that wasn’t a blessing,” he said dryly. “Unfortunately, I don’t have time to stick around for the translation. Goodbye, Nadiah. Take care of yourself.”

  Filled with helpless rage, Nadiah watched him walk out the door of the HKR building. Damn him, why was he so willfully blind? So determined not to believe?

  Her hands curled into fists at her sides. Well, he was gone. Now there was nothing she could do but wait for the prophecy to come true and pray for the AllFather’s next victim.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Luckily for Lauren, her condo at Pelican Point was located less than a mile from Saint Armand’s Circle. The weather was nice—in the mid seventies—so Lauren decided to walk.

  By the time she got to the Sweet Spot and let herself in, she was almost regretting the decision. Even in the so called “winter” the humidity in Florida was nothing to sneeze at and she was overheated from her short trek from the condo to the shop.

  Since it was still fairly early in the morning, the Circle was mostly deserted with only a few shops occupied by their respective salespeople. Despite herself, Lauren shivered as she let herself into the darkened building. It was too much like the day she’d been abducted by the AllFather for her liking. Maybe she shouldn’t have left Xairn behind, after all. But if she’d let him come with her, the day would have been one long endless stretch of sexual frustration for both of them, and Lauren needed a breather from all that tension.

  Get over it, girl, she told herself sternly. Just do what you have to do. This shop isn’t going to run itself.

  To prove to herself that she wasn’t afraid and everything was all right, she went straight to the employee bathroom. “See?” she told her reflection as she stood in the exact same spot she’d been abducted from. “Everything is just fine.”

  Suddenly a face appeared beside her own in the mirror. “Sure it is,” someone growled in her ear and then she was grabbed from behind.

  * * * * *

  Xairn wished he hadn’t waited so long before deciding to follow her. After learning about the missing girl who looked disturbingly like Lauren, even the quiet, affluent streets leading up to the shopping area where she worked looked dark and menacing. Though she’d left well before him, he could still smell her sweet, fresh scent lingering in the air. He followed it easily, telling himself not to worry, that everything was fine. But still, he couldn’t shake the sense of unease that had settled over him.

  “Never should have let her go to work without me in the first place,” he growled to himself, walking a little faster. “It’s the male’s place to provide for his female, not the other way around.” Not that he minded her working, but he ought to help in any way he could. From the moment they’d come to Lauren’s home planet all he had done was take from her. That was wrong. He needed to give back, to repay her generosity. To—

  A muffled scream reached his ears.

  Lauren! He would know her voice anywhere. But her shop was still far away. Gods, let me get to her in time! Please!

  Xairn put his head down and ran.

  * * * * *

  Lauren went crazy.

  Kicking and screaming, she fought for her life, trying her damndest to get away from her assailant. All she could think was that the AllFather had sent someone after her. He might not be able to transport her with his molecular beam because of her altered DNA, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t get someone else to grab her and take her back to his horrible ship.

  “I’m not going back!” she shouted, flailing wildly. “You hear me? Never!”

  As suddenly as they had grabbed her, the arms released her. “Jesus, Lauren, take it easy!” said a vaguely familiar voice. “It’s just me.”

  “What…? Who…?” Lauren was panting with exertion, her eyes filled with tears of rage and fear.

  “It’s me, babe. Lorenzo.”

  She turned to see her old assistant standing there, hands up in a “don’t shoot” gesture. It seemed like a lifetime ago that she’d seen him but he still looked the same. With his sleek blond hair and tan good looks he could easily have been a model. He stood around six foot one and Lauren had used to consider him quite tall before she met Xairn. Now he looked puny by comparison.

  “God, Lorenzo!” She blotted her eyes hastily on her sleeve and tried to pull herself together. “Why did you grab me like that? Didn’t you know I was abducted?”

  “Yeah, your mom said something like that when she stopped by. The police asked me some questions too.” He shrugged. “It’s a good thing for me I got lucky the night before. The girl I brought home from The Green Iguana was still with me in my apartment when you got snatched. So don’t worry, it’s all good.”

  Lauren stared at him in disbelief. “No it is not ‘all good.’ You have no idea what I went though, how frightened I was. You can’t go grabbing someone from behind like that—especially someone who went through what I did.”

  “Sorry,” he said, looking completely unrepentant. “But you’re back now, right? So all’s well that ends well and all that shit.”

  “Fine.” Lauren ran a hand though her hair. Obviously she wasn’t getting through to him. “I guess so, if you want to look at it that way. Why are you here, though? Did my mom tell you I was back?”

  “Nope.” He shrugged. “I’m just here for my regular shift. I’ve been coming in every day, turning on the lights and the AC, making sure everybody knows we’re still open.” He grinned. “Aren’t you glad I was here to hold down the fort while you were gone?”

  Lauren nearly groaned. On the way over she’d been thinking about all the bills which had accumulated while she’d been gone. Her one consolation had been that the electric bill at the Sweet Spot—which was always pretty big—should be next to nothing since she’d been gone so long. Now Lorenzo was telling her he’d been running the lights and air conditioners for hours every single day, ensuring that her electric bill would be as big as always without any profits to help pay it.

  “Why did you do that?” she asked, shaking her head. “Why open the shop when we had nothing to sell?”

  “Well because…” Lorenzo looked hurt. “You didn’t want everyone to think we went out of business, did yo