Sharing a Mate Read online

  If only I could keep them both.

  But that was the worst, most shameful idea of all. It shouldn’t even have entered his head.

  Though once it was there, Sorin found it very…very hard to get rid of it.

  Don’t want to fucking lose him—either of them, Bron thought as he watched Sorin pace in front of the couch while the two of them waited for Kayla.

  Sorin was the best friend he’d ever had—the kind of brother he’d wished for as a child growing up in the Hursk Tribe on Rageron.

  The Hursk were a violent tribe with a long tradition of infighting and feuding. Bron had grown up in a house full of anger and shouting—of punches and blows. He had been ridiculed by his father and older brothers for his love of learning, and most of all for his interest in science.

  Only his mother had encouraged him in his interests. It was she who had sent him off-world to attend secondary schools that emphasized academics instead of blood sports—she who taught him a man was defined by his interests and his intellect—not by how hard he could punch or how many enemies he could kill in battle.

  Bron had cried like a baby the night she died. And then he had taken himself to the Mother Ship to start a new life…and that was where he’d found Sorin—a friend of his heart sent by the Goddess herself.

  He loved the Blood Kindred for his quiet grace and dry wit and above all, his devotion to logic. As he watched him pace, Bron reflected that Sorin reminded him of a falcon with his hawk-like profile and sleek, silver-blond hair. He walked with his arms clasped behind his back, his broad shoulders tense. He wasn’t quite as muscular as Bron but then, not many were.

  The Blood Kindred was more lean and lanky than broad and bulky but he carried himself well in a fight and Bron couldn’t think of anyone else he’d rather have at his back in battle. Sorin never wasted a move—he was as fast as lightning and just as deadly when he struck. The enemy didn’t even see him coming before he killed them—Sorin was just that quick.

  He was also the opposite of everything Bron had been raised with. Instead of blustering and loud, he was quiet and soft-spoken. Instead of always spoiling for a fight, Sorin was cool under pressure. His logic was impeccable and his sarcasm could flay a male to the bone—Bron admired him immensely.

  But he also wanted Kayla intensely, just as he knew Sorin did. He ached for her when he remembered her soft lips around the head of his cock and the way her warm, brown breasts had filled his hands while she sucked Sorin. And it had been fucking hot to watch his best friend stroke and fondle those same breasts while Kayla had sucked his own shaft.

  Too bad we can’t share her, whispered a voice in his head but Bron pushed it away. Sharing a female made a male look weak—made him willing to act like one of those hapless males caught by the Yonnie Six Mistresses who did whatever they were told.

  A true male never shares a female with another, growled a voice in his head that sounded very like his father, Broud. It was a universally acknowledged truth in their tribe. Which meant that no matter how much he wanted Kayla, he must never think of sharing her with his friend.

  Put away the wanting, Bron told himself, as he had from the beginning. Hopefully she won’t have to choose one of us. If the Goddess is good, she’ll be one of the rare females who only had the one single reaction to that fucking lust chemical. Maybe we can just put what happened in the lab behind us and go back to the way things were before.

  But he had an uneasy feeling in his gut that wasn’t going to happen…

  Three

  Kayla blotted her box braids dry and wrapped herself in a pink silk robe Auntie Feenie had given her for Christmas last year.

  It’s almost Christmas again, she thought dully. Last year this time I was just getting to know Bron and Sorin and thinking what great guys they were.

  Well, she still thought they were great guys but she could imagine what they thought of her now. After what she’d done…the way she’d put their hands on her breasts and begged to suck them and swallowed all they gave her…

  Just the thought made her feel sick. She’d acted like some kind of porn actress begging for their seed.

  “Forget my PhD in xenobiology, just cast me in Cum Sluts Two, a Double Mouthful and I can have a whole new career,” she muttered bitterly as she belted the robe. The pink silky material clung to her damp skin but Kayla didn’t care. After the way she’d acted, dressing provocatively around her two best friends was kind of an afterthought. If she wanted them to think she was a good, respectable girl who didn’t double-team her coworkers, well…that ship had sailed.

  Besides, she wasn’t going to talk to them for very long. Obviously after what had happened, the three of them couldn’t work together any longer so this was going to be a good-bye-have-a-nice-life speech. After that, she would start searching for a job on Earth and leave the Mother Ship behind forever.

  Outside in her small living area she heard the deep rumble of male voices. Once it had been a sound that delighted her. She loved spending time with her guys and hearing them laugh and talk together was a pleasure. She had never met any two Kindred more in sync than Bron and Sorin except maybe Twin Kindred. But they were born to be together and share a mate—Beast and Blood Kindred most definitely were not.

  They’re not my guys any longer, Kayla reminded herself sadly. Time to go and say goodbye.

  She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. She’d been avoiding them for days and now it was time to face the music.

  I just hope I can do this without crying. Be strong, Kayla—you’ve got this.

  Lifting her chin, she opened the bathroom door and stepped out into the living area. Bron and Sorin had been arguing about something—probably about whether they should break down the bathroom door and see what was taking her so long. But the moment she came out in a puff of fragrant steam, they both stopped in mid-sentence and stared at her.

  Sorin spoke first.

  “Hello, Kayla,” he said quietly. “We’ve been worried about you. How are you doing?”

  “You mean after the way I acted the last time we saw each other? The way I begged the two of you to touch me and let me…let me suck you?” Kayla demanded. She wasn’t going to avoid the issue, she told herself. Wasn’t going to dance around it. She was a grown-ass woman and she took responsibility for her actions.

  “Surely you know that wasn’t your fault,” Bron rumbled softly.

  “I did it, didn’t I?” She lifted her chin. “If you’re here to slut-shame me, don’t bother. I’ve been shaming myself ever since it happened. I don’t know why I did what I did but—”

  “Kayla, no one’s here to shame you! Why would you think that?” Sorin interrupted. He gave her an intense look. “And surely you know why it happened? You’ve been reading the communications Bron and I have been sending, haven’t you?”

  Kayla bit her lip. Actually, she had been actively avoiding any contact with the outside world—especially the electronic communications and face-vids from her guys. She’d deleted every one without opening any of them.

  “Well…no,” she admitted at last. “I was too upset. I just haven’t been myself since…since the lab.”

  Bron and Sorin exchanged an incredulous look and Sorin sat down on the couch beside his friend. Leaning forward, he rested his elbows on his knees.

  “You mean you don’t know about any of it?” he demanded. “The terrorist? The Xi-46? The Great Needing? None of it?”

  “What? What are you talking about?” Kayla demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. “What needing? What terrorist? And what’s Xi-46?”

  “There’s a half-Kindred named Zar’ren—apparently the High Council’s been tracking him for a while because he holds a grudge against the Mother Ship and his own kind,” Bron rumbled. “He’s the terrorist.”

  “He somehow managed to get an aphrodisiac-type compound placed in the cleaning fluid that the service droids use to clean the vents,” Sorin continued his friend’s thought. “At a pre-set tim