Sharing a Mate Read online

  “Gods, no!” The Blood Kindred looked horrified. “I thought I checked them over so carefully! Didn’t she say they were extremely venomous?”

  Kayla nodded, her throat tight.

  “And…and she said there was no cure.”

  “That can’t be right!” Sorin exclaimed. “There must be something we can do to help him! We can’t just…just lose him!”

  A bitter, sarcastic little voice in Kayla’s head suggested that the Blood Kindred hadn’t been nearly so concerned about losing his friend a moment ago but now wasn’t the time for that. Now they had to think of a way to save Bron.

  But there’s no antidote—Mother Pain said so, she thought. And she said a bite from a glass dragon would cause death within five minutes. What are we going to do?

  “Listen, daughter—you know what to do,” a strong, feminine voice suddenly spoke in her ear.

  “What?” Kayla looked around wildly. Was she having auditory hallucinations brought on by stress? Under the circumstances, it wouldn’t be surprising.

  “This is no hallucination, daughter,” the voice spoke in her ear again. Apparently Kayla was the only one who could hear it because Sorin wasn’t reacting to it at all. He was too busy patting Bron’s cheek and begging him to breathe, damnit, breathe.

  “What should I do?” she asked out loud, hoping that the voice could hear her.

  “Listen: I gave my children, the Blood Kindred, the ability to heal their mates with a bite,” the voice told her. “The Blood Kindred warrior must inject his essence into the Beast Kindred quickly or all will be lost. You must convince him to do it.”

  Then the voice and the warm, feminine presence which had come with it, was gone as abruptly as it had appeared. But now Kayla knew what to do.

  “Bite him,” she said to Sorin.

  “What?” He looked up at her blankly, his face a mask of misery and fear for Bron. “What are you talking about?”

  “Bite him—you have to bite him,” she repeated firmly. “You have to inject your essence into him and heal him—it’s the only way to save him.”

  Sorin frowned. “I cannot bite another male! Short of entering him with my shaft, that is the most overtly sexual thing I could do!”

  “I don’t give a damn!” Kayla exclaimed. “Bite him—do it now!”

  “It wouldn’t do him any good even if I tried,” Sorin protested. “A Blood Kindred can only heal his mate with his bite—not another male.”

  “Bron is your mate—we both are,” Kayla argued. “Don’t you remember we talked about forming a bond –at least a partial one—when the three of us were together the other night?”

  Sorin looked uncomfortable. “Well, I guess it’s possible we might have some slight connection,” he conceded at last.

  “It’s more than possible—it’s true!” Kayla exclaimed. “Look—he’s stopped breathing and his lips are turning blue. Please, Sorin—I know you don’t want to lose Bron anymore than I do. Bite him—please—at least try.”

  At last Sorin nodded.

  “All right, I’ll try. But I doubt it will help.”

  Baring his fangs, he took Bron’s muscular forearm in his hand and, lifting it to his mouth, bit down on the thick blue vein running just under the surface of the Beast Kindred’s tan skin.

  The effect was immediate.

  Bron took a ragged, gasping breath and his eyes, which had drifted closed, popped open and blazed to life.

  “What…” He choked, his deep voice hoarse. “What the fuck, Sorin?” he gasped at the Blood Kindred who still had his fangs buried in his friend’s arm. “What did you do to me? Feels like you gave me…a shot right to the shaft. I couldn’t breathe a minute ago and now I’m…” He coughed again. “Hard as a fucking rock.”

  Kayla found she was laughing and crying at the same time.

  “You saved him,” she said to Sorin, who had withdrawn his fangs and was smiling tentatively at the big Beast Kindred. “You did it, Sorin—your essence saved him!”

  “I don’t understand how but I think you’re right,” the Blood Kindred said slowly. “Still, we should get him to the med center as quickly as possible.”

  “And seal up that damn specimen bag,” Kayla said. “The glass dragon went back into it—I saw it. We don’t need it getting out again and biting anyone else.”

  “Agreed.” Sorin nodded. “You seal the bag and I’ll call for help.”

  “Wait,” Bron gripped his friend’s hand, keeping Sorin close to him. “Don’t…don’t go,” he said hoarsely. “Need…want…”

  “Of course, friend of my heart.” Sorin’s voice was gentler than it had been in a long time, Kayla thought as she got up and carefully sealed the specimen bag. “I won’t leave you. I’ll stay right here until the med center transport gets to us.” He looked up at Kayla. “Leelah, could you—?”

  “Already on it,” Kayla told him. Swiftly she grabbed a thin silver circlet of wire from its hook on the wall and jammed it down over her temples.

  The think-me would allow her to communicate mentally with anyone on the ship, much like a Kindred’s bond with his mate allowed him to talk to her with mind-to-mind communication.

  “Hello, Liv?” she said, speaking aloud as well as sending her thoughts for Sorin and Bron’s benefit. “This is Kayla. We’ve had an incident at the lab and we need transport for Bron to the med center STAT.”

  Looking down at the two friends, who were still clasping hands on the lab floor, she felt her heart overflow with emotions—fear, relief, disbelief, uncertainty…Was Bron really all right? Had Sorin really been able to heal him? And what would happen to the three of them now?

  She had no answers but she had one certainty—no matter what happened, they had to stay together—all three of them.

  Twenty-Four

  “Well, I have good news and bad news,” Commander Sylvan said, drawing up a chair to sit beside Bron’s bedside. He held a vid-chart in one hand and he was consulting it as he talked.

  “Bad news first,” Kayla said instantly. She and Sorin were standing, one on either side of the big Beast Kindred’s bed. They were holding Bron’s hands for moral support and for once it seemed that she didn’t have to be touching both of them to keep from being hurt. It seemed to be enough that the two warriors were touching each other skin-to-skin while she was touching one of them.

  “Well…they’re mixed together,” Sylvan said, frowning. He looked at Sorin. “The good news, Dr. Sorin, is that it appears that the, ahem, bite you gave Dr. Bron, has helped to neutralize some of the toxins in the glass dragon venom.” His cheeks went dark red as he spoke and Kayla realized that he was somewhat embarrassed. Which made sense—biting and injecting essence was an extremely sexual act for the Blood Kindred. So it was almost like Sorin was discussing his patient’s bedroom technique.

  Sorin seemed to pick up on it too.

  “I know it’s…unconventional for a male to bite another male,” he said steadily, his own face going red as well, though he kept his chin lifted high. “But it was the only way to save Bron’s life—I would do it again.”

  “You may have to,” Sylvan said seriously. “Because the bad news is, not all the venom has been neutralized and the toxins are still building up in Bron’s blood. He’s going to be very sick again in a day or so at the latest.”

  “Really?” Kayla felt her heart drop. “But we were so sure he was all right—he opened his eyes and perked up the minute Sorin bit him!”

  “His immune system isn’t strong enough to completely neutralize the toxins,” Sylvan said. “We see this sometimes with unmated males—things that a mated male could withstand or fight off, they succumb to. There are a lot of theories about it but the prevailing idea is that the soul bond a male forms with his mate helps strengthen him physically as well as emotionally.”

  “What if he was mated and bonded?” Sorin asked quietly. “Would he be able to neutralize the toxins then?”

  Sylvan nodded thoughtfully.

&nbs