Sharing a Mate Read online

  “Watch,” the voice commanded. “See the root of the fear which lingers in the heart.”

  Then she was quiet but Kayla had another flash—an image of that same, huge praying-mantis looking creature leaning forward and watching them from some unseen vantage point with a hungry light in its wide, alien black eyes.

  “What are we supposed to do here?” Bron growled impatiently, turning around in place.

  “She said to just watch,” Kayla said. “She—”

  “Hush—do you hear them?” Sorin put up a hand for silence and after a moment, Kayla did hear something—voices speaking in low, passionate tones. Then one of the corners of the room which had been in shadow up until now lit up and two figures were visible.

  Both were young men—young Kindred, she thought—Blood Kindred if their blond hair and pale blue eyes were any indication. They were speaking in hushed, urgent tones and holding hands as they looked into each other’s eyes.

  “We can’t go on like this, Taurin, you know we can’t,” one said to the other. “It’s forbidden. You know what they’ll do if they catch us! We don’t even have Lurina here to act as a buffer between us.”

  “I know! But I can’t stay away from you, Lurell,” the other whispered passionately. “My heart cries out for yours. I need you.”

  The other male—the taller of the two—gave a low, amused chuckle and reached down to palm the hard shaft that was straining against his friend’s trousers.

  “I think your heart isn’t the only thing that cries for me,” he murmured, stroking gently.

  “Gods help me—I can’t resist you!” Taurin grabbed the other male by the nape of his neck and pulled him in for a rough, luscious kiss.

  “What is this?” Bron muttered in a low voice, though somehow Kayla doubted the two men they were watching could hear them. This scene felt like something that had already happened somehow—something they were supposed to watch that was being brought back from the past for some reason. She looked to one side and saw that Sorin was standing there transfixed, his pale eyes wide and his jaw clenched.

  “What is it, Sorin, honey?” she asked with concern. “Who are these people—do you know them?”

  “They are my older brother Taurin and…” Sorin swallowed hard. “And his lover. One of them, anyway. They were both to be joined to a female of their own age—Lurina—but their lust for each other was as great or greater as their lust for her.”

  “What?” Bron demanded. “You never told me you had a brother!”

  “I don’t,” Sorin whispered. His throat worked convulsively as he swallowed hard. “Not anymore. Not for a long time.”

  “But what—” Kayla began but just then a door opened and an elegant-looking middle aged woman stood there. She had upswept hair the same pale silver-blonde as Sorin’s.

  “Taurin,” she said. “Last meal is on the table and—”

  Then she appeared to see what was going on and stopped abruptly, her hand going to her mouth.

  “No,” she breathed. “No!”

  The two young men, who had been completely involved in their passionate embrace, heard her and their blond heads jerked up simultaneously.

  “Mother!” Taurin’s gasp was full of horror and guilt. “It’s not…we weren’t…”

  “Don’t try to lie to me, Taurin.” The shock left her face to be replaced by a grim, cold anger. “Your father and I feared this might be going on when you asked to share a mate. The two of you spend much too much time together. Half the time Lurina isn’t even with you.”

  “Lurina loves us both—she wants us to be happy together,” Taurin said.

  “But we’ll stop!” the other male—Lurell—exclaimed. “We’ll never see each other without her again.”

  “I’m afraid it’s too late for that,” Sorin’s mother said, looking at her older son coldly. “This is what comes of Three touching as One. Your father must be told, Taurin. And after that, the Elders will decide what is to be done with you.”

  “But we…we were only kissing,” Taurin begged. “No more than that, I swear, Mother. And you know what the Elders will say—what sentence they will pass. Please, Mother—do not condemn your own son this way!”

  “You are no son of mine,” the blond woman said and Kayla thought that if her words were visible there would have been icicles hanging off them. Then she closed the door and left the two young men staring at each other in panic and pain.

  Then the scene faded and Taurin and Lurell disappeared. The corner of the room was in shadows again and Kayla felt like her heart was in her throat.

  “What… what happened to them?” she whispered, turning to Sorin who was still just standing there like a statue.

  “See for yourselves,” Mother Pain’s voice hissed in their ears.

  The shadowed corner lit up again and this time they saw a large stone full of people. At the head of that crowd were Taurin and Lurell, both bound, with their hands tied behind their backs. There was a girl with pale blonde hair standing beside them. Her face was hidden in her hands—her slim shoulders shaking with sobs.

  She must be Lurina, Kayla thought, her heart going out to the girl. Poor girl—to lose both her men this way! She must be heartbroken. But what are they going to do to them?

  Her question was soon answered.

  As she and Bron and Sorin watched like silent spectators, a huge stone door was opened which clearly led to the outside. Kayla saw harsh sunlight shining into the huge cave—sunlight that was bouncing off a bleak and barren landscape covered in snow and ice. An icy wind whipped through the cavern, with a high, hollow, howling noise, making everyone shiver.

  Suddenly a voice boomed out.

  “It is the judgment of the Elders,” it said, “that these two males—Lurell Silverfield and Taurin Winterblade shall be cast out of the grotto for the unnatural acts which they have committed together in the sight of those who testified against them.”

  “No!” Lurina cried, her voice high with despair. “No, please!” She reached for Taurin and Lurell but two older people, presumably her parents, came up and dragged her away from them.

  “Oh my God!” Kayla whispered, looking at Sorin. “Did…did your parents testify against their own son?”

  “They did.” Sorin spoke woodenly and his face looked like it was carved from stone, showing no emotion. But then Kayla saw a teenager of maybe fourteen or fifteen standing at the edge of the crowd. He looked like a much younger version of the Blood Kindred warrior she knew and there were tears standing in his ice blue eyes. As the young men were shoved out the door and into the cold, the teenaged Sorin turned away, his breath hitching in his throat, his face crumpling in pain. Then he ran, as though he was trying to get away from the sight of his brother being put out into the cold—ran and disappeared down a long, dark corridor until they couldn’t see him anymore.

  That’s how he still feels inside, Kayla thought, looking up at the Blood Kindred. He’s just a little more able to hide it now. But this pain never healed—and the fear is still there too. Mother Pain was right.

  “How could they do that?” she asked, as she watched the other members of the grotto—Sorin’s parents included—shut the heavy stone door, leaving the two young men outside to freeze. “It must be ten below out there and your brother and his, er, boyfriend aren’t even wearing coats or hats or anything!”

  “That is why being cast from the grotto is a sentence of death.” Sorin’s voice was low and bleak. “They found them frozen in the snow the next day. They were…holding each other as though to try and comfort…” He shook his head, clearly unable to go on.

  “That’s harsh, Brother.” Bron’s deep voice was gentle.

  “I didn’t know the people of Tranq Prime were so homophobic,” Kayla whispered.

  Sorin shrugged. “Not all are, but in my home grotto to love another male was death. That is why they do not favor two males sharing one female—they fear that Three touching as One will lead to the two males taking p