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  Baird stroked her hair away from her face. “I promise I’ll do everything in my power to relax you before I get on my knees before you, Lilenta. Your pleasure will be my first priority.”

  Liv knew from experience he was telling the truth. After all, he made her come again and again night after night and never asked for a thing for himself. For all she knew he had the worst case of blue balls in history but he never said a word about it. All he seemed to care about was pleasing her, making her come and holding her as he did it—just as he was now. God, if he doesn’t let go of me soon I’ll be letting him to do it right here, right now and screw the conference he’s supposed to attend. She felt the familiar surge of frustration. Why couldn’t she just say no to him? Why did he affect her so much?

  “I guess you won’t stop this time,” she heard herself saying. The words were meant to be bitter but they came out breathless instead. “If I…when I ask you to…to finish it.”

  Baird nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving hers. “I promised not to bond you during our bathing week but when I come back all bets are off. Sorry, Lilenta, but I need you too damn much. Need to be able to hold you and protect you. So yes, if you ask for it, I’m damn well going to give it to you.”

  “Baird…” She didn’t know what to say. None of her arguments worked on him. “I…” She shook her head helplessly. “You’re going to be late.”

  “Damn it.” He let her go to look at the chronometer on his wrist and Liv sank back down on the bed.

  “I guess I’ll see you when I get back. Should I even bother to wear clothes?”

  “Lilenta…” He dropped to his knees before her and took her hands. “Please, it doesn’t have to be like this.”

  Liv lifted her chin. “Yes, it does. I told you before, I’m not giving up without a fight. Now go. I’ll see you later.”

  He sighed. “I’ll be thinking of you every moment I’m away. Be well and be safe, Lilenta.” He cupped her cheek and kissed her once more—this time a gentle brush of lips on lips—before rising.

  Liv sighed as she watched him leave and heard the front door of the suite hiss shut behind him. God, what was she going to do? She was trapped and the worst thing was, no matter how much she tried not to, she couldn’t help feeling for Baird just as he said. Couldn’t help the shiver of lustful fear that ran through her when she imagined him down on his knees before her, his face buried between her thighs…

  Stop it, she scolded herself. You finally have some time to yourself so use it. Try and find a way out of this before it’s too late.

  Getting off the bed on legs that were still wobbly from his kisses, she went to do just that.

  Two hours later she had to admit that there didn’t appear to be anything in Baird’s personal library about getting out of a claiming contract. Other than breach of contract—which apparently almost never happened—most brides called by Kindred warriors stayed with the male who had called them for the rest of their lives.

  “And they all lived happily ever after,” Liv muttered in disgust, shutting the last book that seemed to have any relevance to her situation. Baird kept a lot of his files on minidisks but, like humans, the Kindred had a fondness for handheld books. Of course, when one opened a Kindred book it showed moving pictures of whatever the text was about so it wasn’t exactly the same as an antique paper book from Earth. But it was still nice to be able to hold it instead of reading it off a computer screen.

  With a sigh, Liv took off the translator which looked like a pair of wire rimmed glasses with green lenses. They were lightweight and made especially for a human sized head which was nice. If they’d been made on the Kindred scale she never could have kept them from slipping off. When she opened a book, the text was changed by the interface of the translator to her brain and the words on the page appeared in English instead of the strange spiky symbols that the Kindred used as their universal language.

  Liv was just deciding to take a long soak in the bathing pool since she couldn’t think of anything else to do when the holo link buzzed. Frowning, she folded the translator glasses and walked over to take the call. Was it Baird calling to tell her something he’d forgotten? Or maybe Sylvan, looking for his brother?

  The link wasn’t that different from the holo enabled PC she and Sophie had at their apartment back on Earth but Liv knew from experience that it wouldn’t call anyone off the Kindred ship. She’d tried numerous times and with increasing frustration after Sophie’s cryptic letter until Baird had caught her at it. He’d explained that the link wasn’t made to reach further than the ship so her attempts to contact her sister were futile. Liv hadn’t bothered with it after that because she didn’t know anyone besides Baird and Sylvan on board.

  Or do I? The name flashing in the call box at the bottom of the small, square unit that projected 3D images of the caller’s head looked vaguely familiar. Jillian Holms…Jillian Holms. Oh my God! It was the head cheerleader from her high school days—the very one Kat had been talking about on the fateful morning Liv had been drafted and claimed by Baird. Hastily she hit the accept button, hoping Jillian was still there.

  She was. Before Liv’s eyes a winking blue dot appeared about a foot above the black cube of the holo link and slowly expanded to show Jillian’s perfect features and flawless skin. There was a reason she’d been voted homecoming queen three years in a row and as she twitched her bouncy honey blonde curls over one shoulder, Liv was reminded why.

  “Liv? Livvy, is that you?” the floating head asked, gazing at her.

  “Uh, yeah. Yes, it’s me.” Liv suddenly wished she’d taken time to do her hair instead of just putting it back in a pony tail.

  “Oh goody!” Jillian squealed, grinning. “I saw your name on the new bride roster and I was so hoping it would be you. It’s so nice to see a familiar face.”

  “Likewise.” Liv grinned at her, deciding she didn’t care about her hair. It was true that she and Jillian had never been on much more than a nodding basis in high school but that didn’t matter now. She was another human and she was here, on board the ship. Liv felt a surge of excitement.

  “You look wonderful,” Jillian gushed. “Just amazing. I’m so glad to see you again.”

  “You look pretty fantastic yourself,” Liv said truthfully.

  “Oh, please.” Jillian tossed her hair again. “I guess being bonded to two of the sweetest guys in the universe just agrees with me.”

  “Oh, that’s right—you got Twin Kindred, didn’t you?” Liv remembered Kat’s bowlegged impression of the aftereffects of sex with two huge warriors at once and had to smother a smile.

  “Uh-huh. Thinks Hard and Sees Much—don’t they have great names? They’re literal translations of their abilities and personalities. It’s a Twin Moons thing. But I just call them Grumpy and Happy—like from the seven dwarves, you know? They’re both just amazingly wonderful and I love them to death.” Jillian grinned. “So how about you? Who are you bonded to?”

  “Uh…” Liv didn’t exactly want to admit that she wasn’t truly bonded. “I’m, uh…my guy is a Rager. A Beast Kindred.”

  “Ooo!” Jillian shivered. “Omigod, is he an animal in the sack? They say sex with a Beast Kindred is so intense it leaves you sore for like, days afterwards.”

  “Really?” Liv raised an eyebrow at her, feeling slightly irritated. “Because that’s what I heard about the Twin Kindred.”

  “Well, I mean, it can be a little difficult at first. Especially if you’re not used to, uh, taking two guys at once. And they’re both so big.” Jillian blushed and giggled. “Look, you know I love to dish but this isn’t the way to do it. We need to get together and have some girl talk. What do you say?”

  “Sure, I’d love to,” Liv said, thinking that maybe she could get Baird to finally take her out of the suite if she had an excuse to go somewhere. He could hardly deny her a visit with an old high school friend, could he?

  “Great,” Jillian said brightly. “I’ll send my coordinates to your