Bonded by Accident: A Kindred Tales Novel (Brides of the Kindred) Read online

  “You’re on the pill, aren’t you?” Crystal demanded.

  “Well…yes,” Brandi admitted reluctantly. Not that it did her much good since she never, ever found anyone who suited her to scratch her itch.

  “So see—you’re protected from his little swimmers. And you don’t have to worry about getting alien AIDS or anything,” Crystal went on. “Because Kindred don’t get those kinds of diseases.”

  “What?” Brandi frowned. “How do you know? What do you—”

  But just then they heard heavy footsteps climbing the front steps.

  “Oh my God!” Crystal whispered-giggled. “Here comes our first customer. Quick—grab a seat, Brandi!”

  The two of them scrambled to find an open seat, reminding Brandi of a frantic game of musical chairs when they were younger. She found herself sitting between a curvy blonde girl with gorgeous skin on one side and a tall African American woman with a perfect figure on the other. A new thought occurred to her—

  Suppose the Kindred customer—whoever he is—doesn’t even pick me? Suppose none of them do? Just look at these girls—they’re perfect. I mean, plenty of them are plus-sized but they all have gorgeous skin and hair and faces. Why would a Kindred pick me over any of them? And what if—

  The front door opened, cutting off her thoughts. And then the most enormous man she’d ever seen walked in and Brandi had to bite back a gasp.

  Her first thought was, Oh my God, he’s massive! He must be over seven feet tall! And his eyes…are they two different colors?

  And her second was, Where do I know him from? Why does he look so familiar?

  She had no answer for her question and then she had to stop looking because just then, the enormous Kindred turned and headed right for her.

  Chapter Three

  Slade was the first one in the door—not that there was a line or anything. In fact, he was the only male at the Pairing House this time of morning. Probably because the other Kindred were all still eating breakfast.

  But Slade was hungry for something else entirely.

  The minute he walked in, his eyes swept the room, looking for her—for the girl he had been dreaming of. Or at least, a Pairing Puppet who looked like her.

  When he saw her, he gave a little grunt of surprise. Seven Hells—it was hard to tell without a closer inspection but one of the puppets appeared to look exactly like the one he’d been dreaming about! It seemed like a pretty big coincidence but he was too horny to care.

  Slade walked over to take a closer look. She was one of the only ones without a book in her hands. Instead, she was just staring down at her lap and she seemed to be breathing kind of hard.

  It really was amazing how life-like these puppets were! Slade had only been to a puppet house once before, back when he was a fighter in the Blood Circuit and before he met and joined with Cinda. The trip had been a treat by a previous master—not the one he had killed—for his success in the arena. Slade had had his pick of the puppets but none of them had been nearly as beautiful or life-like as the one he was looking at now.

  Impressed with the expert craftsmanship, Slade put a finger under the girl’s chin to lift her face for a closer look. Big brown eyes rose to meet his—eyes a male could fall into and drown if he wasn’t careful, Slade thought. Just like in his dream, she had a cute little nose, soft, kissable lips, and thick, wavy brown hair that fell to the small of her back. Even better, she wasn’t stick-thin or so petite he was afraid he might break her. And her scent…Gods. He inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with her feminine fragrance. He hadn’t been this near a female in literally years—he’d forgotten how good a ripe female could smell.

  “Aren’t you just fucking gorgeous,” he murmured, stroking his fingers lightly over her long, silky brown hair. “Tell you what, sweetheart—how about if you stand up so I can see you better?”

  There was a flush on the girl’s cheeks and her eyes seemed to get even wider but she stood for him on command. She was wearing a pretty pink blouse made of some silky, stretchy material and a black skirt that came down to mid-thigh. The outfit seemed designed to minimize her hips and ass for some reason but Slade was glad to see that both were ample—as were her breasts.

  “Goddess, just look at you,” he breathed, walking in a circle around her, taking her in from all angles. “You’re exactly what I’ve been dreaming of, baby! Look at that gorgeous heart-shaped ass! You’ve got enough for a male to hold on to—fucking perfect!”

  He ran his hand over her ass as he spoke and the girl actually jumped and gave a little gasp. Slade couldn’t help admiring the realistic reactions. These Mother Ship Kindred craftsmen sure as hell knew what they were doing!

  Leaning forward, he pressed his face to the side of her neck, letting her silky hair brush his cheek, and inhaled deeply, drawing her sweet scent into his lungs. His shaft, already stiff in his trousers, now felt hard enough to fuck a hole through a plasti-steel wall.

  “Gods, sweetheart,” he growled softly in her little pink ear, “Can’t wait to taste that sweet little pussy of yours. Can’t wait to fuck you!”

  * * * * *

  Brandi felt like her heart was going to pound its way out of her chest at any moment.

  Oh God, was she really going through with this? Now would be the time to stop this charade. To say, “Oh, I’m so sorry—I’m just a tourist from Earth who wandered off from the tour group and I wound up someplace I don’t belong.”

  But somehow the words wouldn’t come out of her mouth. Because her heart wasn’t only beating hard with fear…it was beating hard with lust too.

  There was something about the massive Kindred…Brandi couldn’t put her finger on it but it drew her to him like a magnet. He was clearly at least ten years older than her and not conventionally handsome—there were lines on his face that spoke of a difficult life. Her Grandma Ida would have said he “had some city miles on him.”

  But he was huge and muscular and his eyes were amazing—the left one was brilliant green and the right one was pure melted gold. Brandi couldn’t get over the feeling that she knew him somehow but that was purely ridiculous. She would definitely remember if she’d met a seven-and-a-half-foot—tall giant with gorgeous, mismatched eyes.

  Still, the feeling persisted and it kept her mesmerized as the big Kindred had her stand so he could look her over from all angles. Brandi supposed she ought to feel like he was looking her over like a piece of meat and be upset about it. But somehow she wasn’t. Having the big Kindred admire her wasn’t like the feeling she got when her boss’s eyes crawled all over her at work. There was real appreciation in the gold and green gaze and unbridled admiration in the Kindred’s deep, growling voice when he called her “gorgeous” and “perfect.” It made her feel like a goddess.

  He also seemed to like the fact that she was plus-sized—which was a definite mark in his favor, Brandi thought. She got damn tired of being fat-shamed or even worse, compared to Crystal—who was skinny as a whip—and found wanting. But the massive Kindred hadn’t even looked twice at her cousin—he had made a bee-line straight for Brandi as though she was the only one he wanted.

  Speaking of Crystal, where was she? Cutting her eyes to the left, Brandi saw her cousin was just sitting there with wide eyes and a dropped jaw as she watched what was going on, not even pretending to be a Pairing Puppet now. Brandi certainly hoped the big Kindred didn’t notice what a bad actor Crystal was or they might both get busted and this would all be over before it began.

  Does that mean you want to go through with this? whispered an incredulous little voice in her head. Are you really going to do this, Brandi? He’s huge! What if he hurts you?

  But though there was urgency in the big Kindred’s voice when he talked about wanting her, there didn’t seem to be any violence in him. When he touched her, his big hands were gentle. Even though he thought she was a Pairing Puppet, Brandi didn’t think he’d hurt her.

  Plus, he was so big and his hands were warm and he smelled amaz