Handling the Hybrid: A Kindred Tales Novel Read online

  “I know exactly what you mean, Brother.” Thorn clinked glasses with him, toasting the sentiment, and took a sip of his own ale. “But why would she think you’d be mad at her?”

  “I don’t know.” Vrox frowned into his glass. “Maybe…” He hesitated, not sure how to say what was on his mind. “Look, Brother,” he said, looking up at the other Kindred. “Your mate—your lady—is a Mistress of Yonnie Six too. So can I ask you…” He trailed off, shaking his head.

  “Ask me what?” Thorn prodded.

  Vrox shook his head again. “Nah—it’s a fucking personal question. I was just going to ask if she ever…if she…” But he couldn’t get it out.

  Thorn saved him the trouble. “If she ever ‘gives me the rod’? If she ever fucks me?” he asked matter-of-factly.

  “Well…yes.” Vrox cleared his throat. “Sorry, like I said, I know it’s a personal question.”

  “It is, but that’s all right. Yeah, my Mistress fucks me—about as often as I fuck her,” Thorn said casually, taking another sip of his own drink. “We like to trade off on who’s in charge in the bedchamber, if you know what I mean.”

  Vrox nearly choked on his Fireflower ale.

  “How can you be so fucking casual about it?” he demanded. “I mean, she actually bends you over and…”

  “Yeah, she does,” Thorn said. “Don’t get me wrong—it wasn’t always such a ‘casual’ thing between us. When she first bought me as a slave, I thought it was going to be torture—something I’d have to endure for the sake of my mission. I was undercover at the time,” he added, as an explanation. “But Neh’sa…” He shook his head, his blue and green eyes going soft as he spoke of his mate. “She made me want it—made me want to let her take me, if that makes any sense. She conquered my heart long before she conquered my body and now I’m just as happy to have her fill me as I am to fill her,” he finished and drained his glass. “Care for another?”

  “No, thanks.” Vrox shook his head. He was still trying to wrap his head around the idea that his new friend was so comfortable letting his female fuck him.

  “So is that the problem?” Thorn asked, as he poured a little more Fireflower ale into his own glass. “Your little Mistress fucked you and it messed things up between you?”

  “Yeah, she…she had to. I was supposed to be her slave and it was part of her Test of Mastery—to become a full-fledged Mistress,” Vrox said haltingly. “I didn’t think I could stand it at first but then…I don’t know…it turned into this incredible experience that I’m still trying to place in my mind. I’m not sure how I feel about it, to be honest.”

  “Well, are you sure how you feel about Tandy?” Thorn wanted to know.

  “Of course—I fucking love her. And I’d tell her so if she wasn’t acting like I might bite every time we get too close,” Vrox growled.

  “How did she feel about it—about taking you?” Thorn asked reasonably. “Did she want to?”

  “Well, no—but only because she knew I didn’t want her to,” Vrox explained. “I made it pretty clear from the get-go that I had no fucking interest in being penetrated. I heard so many horror stories about what goes on down on Yonnie Six—just wasn’t interested in going there, you know?”

  “So she had to penetrate you against your will—or so she believed,” Thorn said slowly, laying it out. “And the two of you haven’t had a chance to talk about it since?”

  “Well…no. Pretty much right after it happened we were separated and then I had to go save Dannen from getting his nuts chopped off. Talking about horror stories! He lived through one,” he said, shaking his head. “He still hasn’t told me everything that happened to him but I’m guessing it was pretty fucked-up. That’s one reason he won’t even talk to Tandy, though I’ve been asking him to give her a chance.”

  “You need to give him time,” Thorn advised. “It may be that he and your lady just can’t get along. In that case, you’re going to have to make a choice between them.”

  “Hell, I don’t want to do that—I don’t even know who I’d choose.” Vrox raked a hand through his hair. “Dannen and I have been partners nearly six years. I hate like the Seven Hells to leave him just because he can’t come to terms with the fact that Tandy was a Mistress.”

  “It sounds to me like you’ve already made your choice, Brother,” Thorn said dryly. “Look who you’re talking about leaving.”

  “Yeah…guess you’re right.” Vrox sighed. “You know, I’ll take another splash of that ale after all.”

  “Drink up.” Thorn poured more of the Fireflower ale into his glass. “But if you’ve chosen Tandy, then you need to make things right with her. You two need to talk about what happened between you—how you felt when she took you—and if you ever want to do it again.”

  “Do it again?” Vrox nearly spit out the mouthful of ale he’d just taken. He forced himself to swallow and nearly choked. “Why would I want her to do it again?”

  “The same reason you want to fuck her—the same reason anyone makes love,” Thorn said. “To be close to her—to show her you love her and trust her. Think about it Brother, there’s not a one of us Kindred under six foot six standard feet tall and most of us are bigger than that. Almost all of our females are smaller than us—way smaller. Think of the trust it takes for them to open themselves—to let themselves be vulnerable with us. We could break them in half with one hand.”

  “But I’d never hurt Tandy!” Vrox protested.

  “Of course you wouldn’t—anymore than I would hurt Neh’sa,” Thorn said. “I’m just saying, it takes a lot of courage for them to let us in. Can we really be any less brave than they are? Is it really so hard to let the female you love give you a little bit of what you give her all the time?”

  “I…guess I didn’t think of it like that.” Vrox shook his head. “It’s just…letting her do that to me, well, it messed with my mind. I felt all, I don’t know—fuzzy—after she did it. Like I was in some kind of trance and couldn’t wake up.”

  “You went into sub-space,” Thorn said. “It’s an altered state of consciousness you enter when you let yourself really submit. When you stop fighting the pain and the pleasure and you finally just let yourself give in completely and be owned and opened by your Mistress. I know—I’ve been there too.”

  Vrox shook his head. “Didn’t know there was a name for it. I’m glad to hear I wasn’t just going crazy.”

  “Nothing crazy about it.” Thorn shrugged. “It’s part of submission.”

  “Well, Tandy doesn’t only want to be the dominant one,” Vrox confided. “We, uh, talked about it the last night we were together. She’s pretty happy being submissive herself, come to that.”

  “Neh’sa likes to switch it up too,” Thorn said, nodding. “We both do. You might be like us—or you might decide to each stick to a role. It doesn’t matter as long as you’re together.”

  “That’s what’s so fucking frustrating—we’re not together and I don’t know why,” Vrox growled. “I love her so fucking much but I just…don’t know what to say to her.”

  “I think you need to try and talk about how she took you,” Thorn said thoughtfully. “You said she acts like you’re mad at her—maybe she thinks you are. After all, she did the one thing you told her you didn’t want. She doesn’t know that you didn’t hate it like you expected to. She can’t read your mind, Brother.”

  “I can’t read hers either. Like I said—females are fucking confusing. They’re like a big tangle of thoughts and feelings and I don’t even know where to start.”

  “Start by telling her you want to talk,” Thorn advised. “Then actually do talk about what happened. Let her know how you feel—that you’re not mad at her. Things will work themselves out if you can just communicate.”

  “Yeah.” Vrox nodded. “Yeah, maybe you’re right.”

  “I know I’m right.” Thorn slapped him on the back. “So what are you waiting for? Go talk to her.”

  “What—now?” Vrox fr