Brides of the Kindred Volume One Read online

Lifting his head, he scented the air. The faint, sweet smells of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry wafted to him on the warm evening breeze. They were barely there and he was sure a human couldn’t have smelled them. But his heightened Scourge senses detected them at once. He had been wandering in circles—Lauren’s shop was somewhere very near.

  He turned down an alley between two buildings, following his nose, when a sudden soft cry of distress caught his attention. Xairn stopped, frowning, and looked around. There it was again—a sound like an animal in pain. But he had seen no animals in the immediate vicinity of Lauren’s shop. None but the mangy black canine that had begged at their table during lunch.

  I don’t have time for this. I need to speak to Lauren. But he turned toward the sound anyway, following the cries that seemed to be getting weaker and weaker even as he listened.

  He found the animal not far from the place they’d had lunch. He couldn’t remember the name of the restaurant but it didn’t matter anyway. There was a large, green metal trash receptacle around back of the building and the black dog was crouched behind it.

  Xairn knelt on the grimy pavement, oblivious to the dirt staining the knees of his trousers and the rank odors assaulting his nose. The female dog was crouched in a ball, wedged as far back as she could go behind the trash receptacle. She was curled up around something he couldn’t see and panting harshly, as though in pain. Every time she shifted the high, painful cry he had followed was drawn from her.

  “Here girl. It’s all right, I won’t hurt you,” Xairn murmured in a low, coaxing voice. Kneeling lower, he reached for her, trying to draw her out from behind the dirty bin. The dog snapped at him weakly and gave a warning growl. Clearly she didn’t trust him and Xairn didn’t blame her. She was obviously wounded—probably she’d been struck by a passing vehicle—and he was a stranger.

  He supposed he could shift the trash receptacle—it looked quite large and heavy but he was much stronger than a human. It would be the work of a moment to get it out of the way. But she was injured and it would be cruel to make her run from her position of safety. Still, he couldn’t just leave her to die—could he?

  That’s exactly what I should do, he thought darkly, sitting back on his haunches as he stared at the wounded dog. What am I doing, trying to save an injured animal when I ought to be on my way out of here, away from Lauren forever?

  Suddenly the dog let out another cry—a long, liquid howl of pain that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Forgetting his resolve to leave, Xairn put his shoulder to the far side of the green receptacle and pushed. He was careful not to move too quickly—he didn’t want the wounded canine to feel cornered, he just needed a little more room to get to her.

  But he needn’t have worried about the dog trying to run. As he exposed her hiding place she gave one last painful whimper and went still. Xairn reached for her anyway but her still-warm body was limp under his hand. He was too late—she was dead.

  He sat back again, surprised at the rush of emotion that overcame him. The moment when Sanja had died came back with a painful clarity that took his breath away. The way the light in her beautiful brown eyes had been extinguished, the dead weight of her body in his arms as she obeyed his final command…it was all so fresh and painful. Again he felt his eye stinging, though no tears came. He had none left. Not after that horrible day.

  Well, there was nothing more he could do here. He was about to stand up and leave the filthy place when a new movement caught his eye. Was the dog still alive after all? Crouching down, he watched as a small bundle of black fur detached itself from the animal’s side and struggled out onto the pavement.

  A tiny black puppy no bigger than the palm of his hand came into view, and Xairn understood. This was the reason the female had snapped at him and also why she’d been curled into a protective ball. She’d been shielding her young, trying to protect her little one from what she perceived as a threat. She had died trying to keep her baby safe—protecting it to the last.

  The puppy fell over then staggered to its feet unsteadily. Its eyes were open but it still looked very young to Xairn. It turned and nudged the limp body of its mother, crying pitifully. When the black dog didn’t move, the puppy pawed at it anxiously. The helpless, hopeless gesture seemed to do something to Xairn’s heart.

  “She’s gone, little one,” he said roughly. “Gone where you cannot follow. I’m sorry I couldn’t help her.”

  The puppy turned to the sound of his voice and wobbled over to him unsteadily. Xairn started to put out a hand to it…and then withdrew. What business did he have with such a tiny, weak thing? He was Scourge through and through—he had proved it himself this afternoon with Lauren. His urges pushed him towards violence, not compassion. Inside his head he seemed to hear the voice of his father hissing, “Only the ssstrong deserve to sssurvive.” He should go now and leave the tiny thing to its fate—that was the Scourge way, was it not?

  Then the puppy nudged his knee with its nose and gave a small yip. When Xairn looked down, he saw it staring up at him hopefully with big brown eyes just like Sanja’s. It pawed at him gently and yipped again as if to say, “Well? Aren’t you going to pick me up?”

  Somewhere inside his heart a knot that had been tightening suddenly loosened. Reaching down, he scooped up the puppy and held it to his chest.

  “It’s all right, little one,” he murmured into the silky black fur as the puppy reached up to nuzzle against his neck. “Your mother is gone but I’ll take care of you.”

  * * * * *

  Lauren looked up the moment the door to her condo opened. Xairn was standing there with a haggard look on his face and something cradled in his arms.

  “It was my fault,” she said, jumping up and running over to him. “All mine. I shouldn’t have pushed you that way, shouldn’t have tempted you. I’m so sorry—”

  He took a step backward, his eyes widening with surprise. “You’re not angry with me?”

  “No, if anything I’m angry with myself.” Lauren put a hand to her head. “You asked me not to push you but I did it anyway. I’m so sorry, Xairn I just wanted…just wanted to be close to you. But I didn’t mean to make you, uh, lose control.”

  “The fault was not yours.” He shook his head, frowning. “It was all mine. I can’t control my Scourge nature, my urges are too dominant even with the human DNA I got from you. I…I came to tell you that, Lauren. That I can’t trust myself with you so I need to go.”

  “No, don’t go!” she exclaimed, grabbing his arm. The thing he was holding, which had looked at first like a scrap of black fabric in the dim light, shook itself and made a sleepy, inquiring sound. “What’s that?” Lauren asked, almost surprised enough to forget her anxiety.

  “A puppy.” He sighed. “I know I’m no good for it—any more than I am for you. But its mother—the black dog you fed at lunch—died after being struck by a car. I’m sorry but I had to take it. I…was unable to leave it behind.”

  “Of course you couldn’t leave it!” Lauren tried to take the puppy from his arms but it growled and snapped at her finger with tiny white milk teeth. Then it nuzzled closer to Xairn and leaned up to lick at his cheek. “Oh my.” She laughed. “Looks like this is a one person puppy and I’m not the one. He’s bonded with you already, Xairn.”

  “It’s a she,” he said wearily, sitting down on the couch as he cradled the puppy in his arms. “And she does appear to have poor taste in masters.”

  “No, she doesn’t.” Laurens sat beside him, careful not to touch, and looked earnestly into his eyes. “Please don’t go, Xairn. We can work through this—I know it.”

  “How can I work through what I almost did to you?” he demanded. “I had you pinned to the table, Lauren. I was about to rape you—do you understand that?”

  Lauren felt a rush of heat go through her at the memory of being pinned and helpless beneath his big body but she pushed it away. Surely what had almost happened between them shouldn’t turn her on, so she refus