Brides of the Kindred Volume One Read online

Xairn nodded. “I have no choice.”

  “It’s a trap,” she told him. “You know it is, Xairn. A trap to draw us out.”

  “Which is why you’re not coming with me.” He was already out of bed and dressing. Lauren couldn’t help noticing that he was ignoring all the human clothes her mother had bought him and pulling on his old black leather flight pants instead.

  “But—”

  “He wants you, Lauren.” Xairn pointed a finger at her. “He thinks I’ll come back to his side and reveal your location if he uses my…her for bait. Maybe he even hopes I’ll bring you back with me. But that is not going to happen. You’re staying here, safe with Little One while I go take care of this matter.”

  “Stay here while you walk into danger? I don’t think so!” Lauren frowned indignantly. “I’m coming with you.”

  Xairn shook his head. “That is exactly what he wants. Don’t you see? The girls who have been taken—”

  “Girls? As in more than one?”

  He nodded rapidly. “Yes, I saw on the flatscreen that another was taken recently and she had hair just like yours. I didn’t want to say anything but those girls both had something that made them similar to you. He’s trying to find you and I can’t let him. I have to save my mother and stop him once and for all.”

  “But you’ll be killed!” Lauren protested. “There are hundreds of those horrible vat-grown Frankenstein things up there. Not to mention the fact that your father has all those weird powers—”

  “Like the power to get inside a person’s head and read their thoughts? The power to make someone do as he tells them, whether they want to or not?” Xairn said quietly.

  “I…yes,” Lauren said in a small voice. “Xairn—”

  “I have those abilities now, too,” he reminded her gently. “And they’re growing. I’m not sure but I think being close to you is making them grow. Our lovemaking has caused my power to expand somehow.”

  “But baby, your father has had them for years. He knows how to use them. He—”

  “I’m going,” he cut her off. Then his voice dropped to a more gentle register. “Lauren, please, try to understand—she’s my mother. I have to save her. You love your own mother very much—you know you’d do the same for her.”

  When he put it that way, Lauren knew she had to let him go. But still, she couldn’t help the fear that filled her throat—like a wad of dry cotton that made it impossible to swallow.

  “Please.” Xairn held out his hand. “Give me the ring, Lauren. The ship won’t work without it.”

  She fingered the slim, silver O-ring which had come to mean so much to her. It said he loved her, that he would stay with her and try to work things out. And we did work things out! We finally found a way to stay together! And now he’s asking for it back—leaving. Oh, it’s not fair. Please, God, so not fair…

  “I know it’s not fair.” Xairn drew her suddenly into a desperately tight hug. Holding her close, he pressed his face to her hair and inhaled, as though he wanted to take her scent with him. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I love you but I have to go.”

  Lauren felt the tears coming but she struggled to hold them back. He was determined to do this and there nothing she could say would stop him. At least she could be as brave as he was about it. “All right,” she said, trying to keep her voice from trembling. “But…but don’t go alone.”

  Xairn pulled back and looked at her, frowning. “And who exactly am I supposed to take with me? I told you, Lauren, I won’t let you put yourself in danger by coming.”

  “Not me.” She sniffed. “You’re right—I wouldn’t be much use to you in a fight. But what about Deep and Lock or some of the other Kindred? You helped them when we all escaped from your home world. Don’t they owe you one?”

  “Owe me one?” He shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. We fought on the same side on my home world because we had no choice. But the Scourge and the Kindred are enemies. I can’t ask them to help.”

  “Then I will.” Lauren struggled out of his embrace and began getting dressed herself. “I’m going down to the HKR building right now to place a call to the Mother ship. I can’t let you go up there without backup. I don’t care what you say—they owe you some help. And they strike me as the kind of people who always pay their debts.”

  Xairn frowned and then sighed. “All right. I don’t expect anything will come of it but I’ll wait a little while if it will make you feel better. Tell them I’ll be in orbit around the dark side of the moon. But if they don’t come soon, I’m going in alone.”

  “Don’t do that, please! I’m sure I can convince them.” Lauren pulled on her clothes hastily and stuffed her feet into a pair of shoes. “Please, baby.”

  “I told you I’d wait a little while.” He held out his hand again. “The ring?”

  Fighting back tears, Lauren worked the silver O-ring off her finger and placed it in the center of his broad palm. Then she lost the battle with her emotions. Throwing herself against his chest, she locked her arms around his neck and sobbed.

  “I love you, Xairn. Please be careful. Please come back to me—swear you will.”

  He held her tight and she felt his big form tremble and knew he was crying too. “I will,” he whispered, his voice hoarse with sorrow. “I swear it, Lauren, I will come back to you. I will.”

  Chapter Thirty-five

  “So he’s going up there alone unless someone will help him.” Lauren’s voice was choked with sobs and from what she could see on the viewscreen, it looked to Kat like she’d gotten dressed in the dark. Her blouse was inside out and her hair was wild. But that was to be expected when your man went off on a suicide mission, she supposed.

  “Oh Lauren,” she said, wishing the other girl was up on the Mother ship so she could put her arms around her and comfort her. “I’m so sorry.”

  “I’m sorry too.” Lauren blotted her eyes with her inside out sleeve. “I know this is a horrible thing to ask you but I didn’t know who else to turn to.”

  “You did the right thing, calling us.” Deep stepped up behind Kat and Lock joined him. “We will answer the call for help and come to the aid of our brother.”

  “What brother? Who are you talking about and why did you call us?” Baird and Sylvan suddenly crowded into the viewing room, followed by Sophia and Liv. “What’s going on?”

  “Xairn is going to confront his father—er, the AllFather right now at the Fathership,” Kat explained, feeling numb. “He’s going alone unless he gets some help.”

  “He is not going alone,” Deep said. “I’m going with him.”

  “As am I.” Lock nodded.

  “Going to the Fathership with only a few warriors is a suicide mission,” Baird objected, frowning. “I know you helped each other on the Scourge home world, Deep, but just because this Scourge has chosen to sacrifice himself is no reason for you and Lock to join him.”

  Deep shook his head. “You don’t understand. I have to help him—I was ordered to do so.”

  “Ordered?” Sylvan raised one blond eyebrow. “By who?”

  “By the Goddess.” Deep spoke in a low voice as he met each male’s eyes in turn. “You all know that I was on the brink of death—in fact, I was dead—during the last joining that Kat and Lock and I participated in before we were bonded. But what I haven’t told any of you—not even Kat—was how I was saved.”

  “Are you saying the Goddess herself rescued you?” Baird asked, frowning.

  Deep nodded. “My spirit was caught in the AllFather’s grip and I knew I would never be able to return to my body. I was ready to die and then…she saved me. While I was in her presence she told me she had a special interest in Xairn. She said a war was coming—a conflict with the AllFather that would make all our battles up until now seem insignificant.”

  “And you think this is what she was talking about?” Sylvan asked. “This confrontation that Xairn is going into with the AllFather?”

  Deep nodded again. “Her exact wor