Sharing a Mate Read online

  Eyes streaming with tears, Eela looked up at her brother.

  “You have killed us,” she whispered, her voice so filled with grief it hurt to listen to it. “You have killed us, Broud. We will never be one now.”

  It was a cry of anguish straight from the heart and it pierced Kayla to the bone.

  “Oh,” she whispered, blinking back tears. “Oh, Bron—your poor aunt!”

  “What happened to them?” Sorin asked softly, looking at the Beast Kindred.

  “The two of them—Gaird and Eela—had a joining ceremony. My father saw to that.” Bron sounded grim. “I guess it’s what they call a ‘shotgun wedding’ back on Earth.”

  “So he forced them to bond?” Sorin asked.

  Bron shook his head. “He forced them to have the joining ceremony but they were never able to properly bond. It was fucking awful—the two of them walked around like ghosts for the better part of a cycle. Then they…”

  He stopped abruptly and Kayla saw that his big hands were clenched into fists and his jaw was working.

  “They what, Bron?” she prompted gently.

  “They were found in their domicile, both of them dead,” he growled. “They had…taken poison, I think. They died with their arms wrapped around each other but there was a look of peace on both their faces. I think they thought it was the only way they could be with Yerx again.”

  “A look of peace on their faces? You weren’t allowed to see them, were you?” Kayla exclaimed. “How old were you when all this happened, anyway?”

  “I was about ten cycles old I guess.” Bron looked away. “And I saw them because I was the one who fucking found them. My mother sent me to ask them to eat Last Meal with them. They didn’t come when I called at their door so I went in and…”

  He broke off, his jaw clenching.

  “Brother, I’m so sorry,” Sorin said quietly. “Just as I never told you of my old pain, you never told me of this either.”

  “Well, it’s not exactly appropriate for light fucking dinner conversation, now is it?” Bron snarled.

  “Seeing all that must have been awful,” Kayla said gently. “I’m so sorry, Bron. I want to hug you but I need Sorin’s help.”

  She looked at the Blood Kindred who stepped forward with his arms outstretched but just then the scene switched again.

  Nineteen

  “Oh no. Oh, no, no, no.” Kayla only had to glance around the room they found themselves in for a second to know what was coming.

  “I am sorry, my dear,” came Mother Pain’s voice, which had been mostly silent while they viewed Bron’s past. “But as you have seen the pain of your warriors, so they too must see your past pain to understand your fear.”

  Kayla wanted to beg and plead to be taken out of the bad old memory she knew was coming. But she understood the truth of what Mother Pain said and the fairness of it too. She had seen some of the lowest points of Bron and Sorin’s life—it was only right they should see hers.

  “All right,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around herself. “All right, I understand.”

  “Kayla, are you well?” Bron asked, his deep voice still hoarse with emotion.

  “Is there anything we can do for you, sweetheart?” Sorin said.

  “Just…hold my hands.” Kayla put out a hand to each of them. Bron took her right and Sorin her left and she squeezed tight, trying to draw strength from them. “Just don’t let go,” she whispered. “Okay?”

  “Of course we’ll stay by you,” Bron rumbled. “But what’s going to happen?”

  Kayla only shook her head. “I can’t…can’t talk about it.”

  “What is this? An Earth domicile?” Sorin asked, looking around at the familiar living room with its old brown sofa and the cuckoo clock her mother had loved so much on the wall. “I recognize some of the wall hangings from your Auntie Feenie’s place.”

  “That’s because she took them when we cleaned out this house.” Kayla’s lips felt numb.

  “But why did you—? Bron began but just then the doorbell rang.

  “Coming…coming.” Her grandma, who had been dead for five years now, came bustling into the room, wiping her hands on an old-fashioned apron. She had been baking cookies in the kitchen. Kayla knew because she had been helping her. She and Shayla and Granny were having a girl’s day while her parents went Christmas shopping for her and her sister.

  As she watched, younger version of herself and her sister—only eight and ten—came out of the kitchen to peer curiously at the front door as Granny reached for the handle.

  Kayla wanted to grab the younger her and rush her away—tell her to go hide in bed until the worst was over so she wouldn’t have to see what she was about to see and hear what she was about to hear. But that was just it—the worst was never over. Could never be over and she had an idea she wouldn’t have been able to touch her younger self anyway. This was all a projection—a memory plucked with surgical precision from her mind by Mother Pain and brought back to life in horribly vivid color and detail.

  She watched, squeezing her guys’ hands hard, while Granny opened the door. Standing outside on the step, just under the festive string of red and green and blue Christmas lights, were two sober-looking police officers.

  Kayla saw her Granny blanch and her grip on the doorknob tightened.

  “Yes, officers?” Her voice came out in a dry croak. “How can I help you?”

  “Are you Mrs. Smith?” one of the officers asked.

  “No.” Granny shook her head. “But my son-in-law’s last name is Smith. I’m Evelyn Crofter. Is…is everything all right?”

  “Is your son-in-law Jaden Smith?” the first officer said, ignoring the question. “And his wife is Kiera Smith?”

  “Yes.” Granny’s knuckles tightened on the doorknob she was still gripping. “Is…is there a problem?”

  The officer took a deep breath. “Mrs. Crofter, maybe you’d better sit down. I’m afraid there’s been an accident…”

  Kayla watched as her Granny refused to sit and demanded to know what was going on. When the officers told her, she sank down in the doorway as though the strength had suddenly left her legs.

  “No.” Kayla heard her whisper of horror and disbelief, just as she had that day so many years ago. “Oh, Lord Jesus, no! Not my baby!”

  “What is it?” Sorin asked in a low voice. “What’s happening, Kayla. I could not hear what the officers said.”

  “My parents,” Kayla said numbly. “They were out shopping that day, looking for Christmas presents. They were driving on the freeway and there was this drunk driver…”

  She shook her head, unable to go on.

  “Oh, leelah,” Sorin murmured, putting an arm around her.

  “Small one,” Bron rumbled, putting an arm around her from the other side.

  Kayla felt a sob catch in her throat. “It was…just a few days before Christmas. I was only eight so I didn’t understand why…why Momma and Daddy weren’t coming home.” She tried to hold back her tears but they overflowed anyway. “Granny…raised us after that. And after she died, Auntie Feenie took over. But I’ve lost so many people.” She looked up at both of them. “I can’t lose you two, too. I can’t.”

  “You won’t, baby,” Bron promised her.

  “We’re here for you, no matter what,” Sorin said.

  “No matter what, Blood Kindred? No matter what?”

  The living room of Kayla’s old house disappeared and Mother Pain’s voice seemed to rise to almost a screech. Kayla winced and would have put her hands to her ears if she hadn’t been holding hands with Bron and Sorin.

  Suddenly the room or space or whatever they were standing in went dark—completely black so that Kayla couldn’t even have seen her hand in front of her eyes if she’d tried.

  They were standing in a void and she had no idea what was coming next.

  Twenty

  “Look well,” Mother Pain’s voice echoed in the darkness. “Watch what I am going to show you and