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  “Hey, it’s all right. It’s all right now.” Varin put his arms around her, drawing her close to his broad, bare chest. His spicy, familiar scent comforted her and for a moment Brynn pressed her face against the hard planes of his chest and just let herself get lost in the big Kindred. She felt so safe in his arms…so warm…

  But what feels good to you is probably causing him almost unbearable pain, a little voice in her head pointed out.

  Abruptly, she pulled away.

  “Hey—what’s wrong?” Varin frowned. “Where are you going?”

  “Nowhere. I just…I didn’t want to hurt you. You’ve already risked so much for me.” She nibbled her lower lip. “It’s not fair to ask you to bear so much pain just so I can be comforted.”

  “I’ve told you before I don’t care about the pain,” he growled. “But as it happens, touching your skin—touching you—doesn’t pain me any more. I got rid of my obedience band.” He grinned wryly. “Just another little side adventure on my way to finding you.”

  “You did? How?” She looked down at his left hand where the thick black band had been, just above his wrist. The hand was gloved now and it looked somewhat strange under the brown leather, but true enough, she didn’t see any black band. “I thought it was part of you.”

  “Not any more,” he said, but didn’t answer her question.

  “But how—”

  “It doesn’t matter how,” Varin growled. “The point is, if you need comfort, don’t let the worry that you’re hurting me stop you, because you aren’t. Just come here.”

  He held out his arms and Brynn flowed into them again and pressed her face against his chest. He felt so good—like safety and home. Her cheek was against the part of his chest where her name was written, claiming him as hers, and she could hear his strong heart drumming a soothing rhythm in her ear.

  But then she began to feel…strange. Restless. The tips of her breasts ached and the spot between her thighs—her pussy—throbbed with sudden need. Brynn opened her eyes, trying to understand what she was feeling, and saw that everything was tinged in red. What was happening to her?

  Suddenly she heard Sovereign X'izith’s hissing voice in her head again… “The Blood Honey will make you crave male fluids while forcing your body into a state of hyper-desire. In this way you will welcome my barb between your legs when I seek to breed you, rather than fighting…”

  But I don’t want that! Brynn felt panic stab through her as she thought of his breeding barb…and then of the hard silver club in the deflowering throne. I don’t want anything in me there ever again!

  “Goddess, little one,” Varin murmured, stroking her trembling shoulders. “You’re burning up—do you have a fever?”

  Abruptly, she pushed away from him.

  “I…I don’t know.” She looked down at her hands. “I…maybe I should bathe. I have…I’m still all sticky from that awful stuff the insects sprayed on me.”

  “You and me both.” If Varin noticed how abruptly she’d distanced herself, he didn’t mention it this time. Maybe he could feel her worry through the bond he had to her.

  Or maybe he can feel my heat—the heat brought on by the Blood Honey, Brynn thought miserably and felt sticky and dirty and disgusting all over again—and not just because of the droplets the insects had sprayed on her. This need the Honey had inspired in her was unclean—unnatural. She felt filthy from it but somehow she couldn’t stop the feelings welling up inside her. She needed to scrub them away.

  A little voice spoke up inside her head. Scrubbing the droplets off your skin will scrub away the desire too.

  The little voice spoke with such confidence that Brynn felt a surge of hope. Suddenly she was sure it must be right.

  “I really need to bathe,” she repeated urgently.

  “There’s a fresher right across the hall.” He nodded at the doorway of the room. “You go first and take your time—I’ll clean up afterwards.”

  “All right. Thank you.” Brynn clambered off the high side of the bed, feeling weak and dizzy. The edges of her vision were still clouded with red and her breasts and pussy still throbbed with need—much to her embarrassment and shame. But she had to say something else before she left him. “Varin,” she said, looking up at the big Kindred, who was watching her quietly with an unreadable expression in his bronze eyes. “Thank you for coming to get me—for saving me. You didn’t have to.”

  “Of course I did,” he rumbled. “I’m still yours, Mistress. Just because the whole of the planet we both called home is gone, it doesn’t change that fact. I belong to you and I’ll always come for you. Always keep you from harm.” His mouth twisted. “Or try to, anyway.”

  Brynn didn’t know what to say to that.

  “You’re not my slave anymore, Varin,” she reminded him in a small voice.

  “You think not?” He raised an eyebrow at her. “There are more things that bind me to you than your name written over my heart and the slave chip in my spine, Brynn.”

  A wash of red suddenly filled her sight and her pussy throbbed so strongly she could barely stand it. Lust swamped her and she longed to go to him, to spread her legs for him then and there and beg him to thrust his shaft deep inside her, to fill her with his cream…

  She was actually taking a step towards him when she realized what she was doing.

  “Acting like a slut!” her mother had said. And the Sisters whispered in her memory about how no proper lady would ever do forbidden things with a male. But more than any of that, what stopped her from going to him was the awful memory of the silver club in the deflowering throne. The way it had pierced her sex and the horrible pain it had caused thrusting inside her.

  Never again—I never want that again! she told herself.

  Abruptly, she turned and ran from the room, seeking the sanctuary of the fresher, trying to get away both from Varin, and the frightening, forbidden desires the Blood Honey raised in her.

  * * * * *

  Varin watched her go, not saying a word. He felt the maelstrom of emotions inside her and though he didn’t understand all of them, he didn’t blame her for running away. After all, he might have saved her from the Hive before that bastard X'izith had been able to get his fucking barb inside her, but that didn’t erase the horror of what she’d seen there. Or the evil that had been done in the dungeon by the deflowering throne.

  Gods! Varin clenched his fists tightly, thinking of how her innocence had been ripped from her as he watched, helpless to stop it. Should have saved her from that! Should have known it was coming…taken her away somewhere…

  But where? And more to the point, where were they going to go now? Varin was acutely aware of how little time he had left on his slave chip. If he didn’t get it changed soon, he would die.

  Have to make a decision soon, he told himself. But he wanted Brynn to be involved in the decision making process. Whichever way they chose to go would affect both their lives drastically—hers more than his if he couldn’t get a new chip in time.

  I have to make certain she’s provided for—that she’s not left helpless if something happens to me, he thought grimly. Have to be sure she’s all right, even if I’m not here to protect her.

  Unbidden, the image of her throwing herself into his lap down in the dungeon, after her deflowering, came to mind. He remembered her words, “I love you, Varin!” and the way she had kissed him so desperately before they were torn apart. Did she still feel that way? Had she ever? Or had it just been a last, desperate action on her part because she thought they were never going to see each other again?

  He had always been devoted to her, of course…had loved her for so long Brynn felt like a piece of his own soul—he wasn’t a whole male without her. Some might sneer at his feelings for her and attribute them all to the way he had been bonded to her when she was just an infant. A one-way bond—or so it was supposed to be—with him feeling love and affection and protectiveness for a high-born female who would never love him back. But Bryn