Sharing a Mate Read online

  “That’s not true!” Kayla exclaimed. “All three of us love each other, both physically and emotionally. We’re all bonded to each other which means we all take pleasure in each other—there’s nothing wrong with that.”

  Sorin’s father completely ignored her. His gaze was fixed on his son. Sorin’s cheeks had gone a dull red with shame but he kept his chin high. Both sets of pale blue eyes locked together and neither father nor son would look away.

  “I had hoped to have at least one son to carry on our family name,” Sorin’s father said at last. “But it seems my hope was in vain.”

  “What are you going to do to me, Father?” Sorin spat. “Disown me? Call me before the Elders? Have me banished from the grotto as you did to Taurin? Well go ahead—do it! We have a ship parked just outside. Throw us out and we’ll simply fly away and never come back. Then you can pretend you never had any children at all—pretend you didn’t kill one son and drive the other one out of your life forever through intolerance and hate.”

  Sorin’s father didn’t answer—didn’t say a word. He simply stood there, grim-faced with his hands at his sides, clenching his fists. Or one fist anyway, Kayla saw. He seemed to be holding something in the other—something she couldn’t quite make out because his hand was hidden in shadows. But then he moved and…

  “A gun!” she shouted, forgetting that what she was yelling at was only a projection of a possible future. “Oh my God, he’s got a gun! Duck! Run! Get out of there!”

  At that moment, Sorin’s father raised the gun—no, it was a blaster, Kayla saw—and shot Sorin directly between the eyes. To Kayla’s horror, his head exploded in a horrible, bloody mess—vaporized to a fine red mist by the force of the beam that had hit him. Slowly, his body slumped and fell over, landing at Bron’s feet.

  Bron’s eyes went wide.

  “You son-of-a—” he began but that was as far as he got before Sorin’s father shot him too—right in the chest. A jagged, red hole opened where his heart and lungs should have been.

  For a moment, the Beast Kindred just looked down at himself in apparent disbelief. Then he fell to his knees and crumpled to the ground, his body falling on top of Sorin’s. Neither moved.

  Kayla on the bed was screaming—screaming and screaming and she couldn’t stop…couldn’t help it…wouldn’t stop…couldn’t bear to see this and yet couldn’t drag her eyes away. It was horrible…unbelievable.

  Sorin’s father looked at her but didn’t raise his blaster again. He only shook his head and closed the door almost gently, leaving her there with her two dead men, leaving her alone for the rest of her life as she screamed and screamed and screamed…

  “Kayla…baby, stop it—stop! It’s not real—it’s not real!” Bron was roaring at her and Kayla—the real Kayla—became aware that she was screaming every bit as loudly as her doppelganger on the bed.

  As the scene faded she put her hands over her eyes, her screams fading to deep, gut-wrenching sobs.

  “No!” she gasped, doubling over, unable to get out anything more than that. “No! No! No-no-no-no-no!”

  “We’re here—we’re not dead, sweetheart” Sorin joined in at last, though he sounded shaken. “We’re here—right here with you.”

  “Sorin is right—we’re here,” Bron rumbled. “And we’re both alive and just fine.”

  “Just fine? Speak for yourself, Brother,” Sorin muttered. “That was…horrible.”

  “You mean the fact that your Sire blew us both away just because he caught you sucking my shaft?” Bron demanded. “Yes, I’d say it was pretty fucking horrible.”

  Sorin bristled. “I don’t care what that damn scene showed—I would never get on my knees to another male that way! No self-respecting male would.”

  “Oh no?” There was a dangerous hint of a growl in Bron’s deep voice and a flash of fire in his golden eyes. “And what if I told you that I had done such a thing in the past. Then what would you say? Didn’t you hear me when I told you about how we dealt with the lack of females in my tribe?”

  “You’re lying,” Sorin said flatly. “You said the way you ‘helped each other’ was just a…” His cheeks grew red. “Just a handjob.”

  “I said that’s what it usually was. But I wasn’t opposed to using my mouth as well as my hand at times,” Bron shot back. “I would have done it for you if you’d ever asked. There were times before we met Kayla that I knew you wanted to ask but you didn’t dare.”

  “What? Never!” Sorin exclaimed. “I would never debase myself that way—or ask you to either!”

  “Liar,” Bron growled. “Both of us love and crave Kayla but you can’t deny that my touch brings you pleasure too, just as I won’t deny I enjoy yours.”

  “Think what you like, Sorin said coldly. “But don’t attribute your perverse desires to me.”

  “You sound exactly like your Sire!” Bron snarled. His voice was angry but there was real pain in his golden eyes. “The one who just blew your fucking head off and vaporized my guts—do you realize that?”

  “It’s not true, though—it didn’t actually happen,” Sorin protested.

  “But it could happen—it will happen if we try to stay together in this fucked-up trio,” Bron roared. “Which is why we have to end this, now!”

  “I couldn’t agree more, Brother,” Sorin spoke coldly—as coldly as his parents in the awful scenes they had witnessed. “From now on, we will no longer share Kayla between us.”

  “Agreed!” Bron growled and they both dropped Kayla’s hands at the same time.

  Kayla bowed her head and wrapped her arms around herself, shaking with grief. One thought ran through her brain over and over again.

  This is what I was afraid of—we should never have come here. Never, never, never but now it’s too late—too late! I’ve lost them. I’ve lost them both…

  Twenty-One

  “Wake, my dears—the dreaming is over.”

  Mother Pain’s voice seemed to bring Sorin back to himself. He blinked and looked around to see that they were all three, once again, in the Earth-like domicile. He and Bron were sitting on either side of the couch with Kayla between them but none of them were nearly as composed as they had been when they first sat down.

  There was an angry, hurt look on Bron’s strong features and Kayla had her face buried in her hands, sobbing quietly. Sorin couldn’t see his own face, of course, but he could feel the unhappy expression he was wearing—one he couldn’t seem to smooth away, no matter how hard he tried.

  “So you have decided to dissolve your pod after all.” Mother Pain was sitting in her flowered chair again and her face was grave.

  “Yes,” Bron growled.

  “I don’t see that we have any choice,” Sorin said stiffly. “If we stay together as we are now, your visions seem to indicate that we will die—or at the very least, suffer crippling emotional pain.”

  “My visions are always true…but you must be wary of how you interpret them, Warrior,” Mother Pain remarked. “However, it is not given to me to explain—only to show.” She sighed and stood up. “You may come with me now—by sacrificing your love for each other you have more than paid the price. I will allow you to pluck some of the Lust Blossoms from my garden to bring home and use as you please.”

  “So our pain was enough to pay your fucking price?” Bron demanded. “Is that it?”

  “Yes,” Mother Pain said coldly. “Are the three of you coming or not?”

  “We’ll come.” Sorin looked down at Kayla, who still had her face buried in her hands. He wanted to comfort her—to help her up. But that would involve asking Bron for help. And at the moment he was fairly certain the big Beast Kindred would as soon punch him as help him.

  He has a right to be angry, whispered a little voice in Sorin’s head. He made himself vulnerable—practically admitted he was willing to share Kayla and that he cared for you to. He offered you his heart and you threw it back in his face.

  But how could he have accepted what