Devoured Read online

  “Wow,” Tess murmured, staring at the puppet. “You weren’t kidding.”

  “Of course not—the Kindred like women with some meat on their bones.” Di grinned. “So see—if push came to shove and you were accidentally seen, you’d blend right in.”

  “Thanks a lot,” Tess muttered. “I still can’t believe you brought me to a robot brothel to lie low.”

  “It’s a great hiding place,” Di protested. “And don’t think I didn’t check it out thoroughly before I brought you up here. I stayed here one night myself, just to make sure everything was okay.”

  “And?” Tess raised an eyebrow.

  “And it’s perfect, like I said. The perfect camouflage. Plenty to eat, a nice place to sleep—they changed the sheets after every, ah, encounter by the way, so you don’t have to worry about it not being clean. All you have to do is go hide in the kitchen if a warrior comes in looking for comfort. And if they come in the kitchen—which, by the way, doesn’t happen very often that I could see—just duck into the recharging room. It’s easy.”

  “Wow…” Tess looked at her admiringly. “You’ve really got this all planned out.”

  “I knew eventually you’d need a place to run to, to get away from Pierce,” Di said seriously. “Men like him are hard to throw off the scent. But this should do the trick.”

  “I agree.” Tess nodded slowly. “It’s a little—well, a lot weird—but it might just work.”

  “It has to.” Di looked suddenly serious. “You can’t go back to him, Tess, and you can’t let him find you. He’ll kill you this time. After what he did to poor Gus…”

  “I’m not going back.” Tess lifted her chin. “And like you said, this is the perfect camouflage—he’s never going to find me.” She sighed. “I just wish I hadn’t had to lie to my job about where I was going. I hope Mrs. Henshaw will be okay without me there to find her false teeth. She gets so upset when she loses them.”

  “You’re an angel, hon. I know the folks at Happy Rest are going to miss you. But Pierce knows you work there,” Di pointed out. “It would be the easiest thing in the world for him to wait out in the parking lot one night when you’re working a late shift and then—”

  “Stop!” Tess put up a hand. “Please, I don’t want to think about it. I have enough nightmares as it is.”

  “Sorry,” Di said sympathetically. “Are you really still having bad dreams?”

  “Not all bad.” Tess frowned. “And not all about Pierce either. Lately, I…never mind.”

  “Lately what?” Di probed.

  “Nothing. It’s just this weird dream I keep having but I can’t remember it when I wake up.”

  “Then how do you know it’s the same dream?”

  Tess shrugged. “I just know.”

  “It’s probably just stress.”

  “Probably,” Tess agreed. “Look, don’t you think you should be going? The hour of free time you gave your tour group to wander around the parklands is almost up.”

  “Oh, you’re right!” Di glanced at her watch. “It’s almost time to get them to the Sacred Grove.” She looked anxiously at Tess. “Will you be okay here? Think you can manage?”

  “I’ll…be fine.” Tess wished she could swallow the uneasy lump that had risen in her throat but she tried to smile like noting was wrong. “You just…go on.”

  “I’ll visit you on my next tour,” Di promised. “Just lay low for a while and take it easy. After a few weeks maybe we can figure something else out.” She nodded at the old fashioned bookshelf. “Maybe you can catch up on your reading.”

  “I guess I will.” Tess nodded and tried to smile. She hugged her friend tightly. “Thanks, Di. I can see you went to a lot of trouble to find this spot for me. I…I really appreciate it.”

  “Anytime, honey.” Di gave her a squeeze. “Okay, I’m going to scoot now. You just make yourself at home.”

  “I will.” Tess smiled and hugged her again. “Good bye.”

  “Good bye and good luck. See you on tomorrow’s tour.” Di gave her a swift kiss on the cheek. Then, after peeking through the crack in the door to make sure the coast was clear, she left.

  Tess looked around the kitchen and then sank down into one of the too-large chairs with a sigh. The thought of Goldilocks came back again.

  “Who’s been sitting in my chair…eating my food…sleeping in my bed?”

  “Me,” murmured Tess. “I will be. I guess I’m Goldilocks.” She sighed. “I just hope like hell the three bears don’t find me out…”

  Chapter Four

  “Are you certain about this? We’ve had false hopes before.” Sylvan leaned anxiously over the bed where the still form of Head Council Member Terex was resting. It was weeks now since the male had been injured in the fight against the demons who had briefly taken over the Unmated Males sections and though he had stirred once or twice, he had yet to regain full consciousness. Just recently Sylvan had put his sister-in-law, Olivia, in charge of watching Terex and she had reported that he had opened his eyes briefly and said a word.

  “I’m pretty sure he’s coming out of it,” Liv said confidently. “I told you, he looked right at me and spoke not fifteen minutes ago.”

  “What did he say again? Sophia didn’t catch that part when she relayed your message.” Sylvan checked Councilor Terex’s reflexes and noted that they were fine, though his skin seemed a little hot.

  “That’s the weird thing.” Olivia frowned. “He opened his eyes, looked at me and said, ‘Soon.’ Then he dropped off again and I couldn’t get anything else out of him. But he’s been restless ever since—like someone having a bad dream who’s trying to wake up.”

  “I hope you’re right.” Sylvan shook his head. “The Council is in serious unbalance without him. We need his deciding vote to make any headway with some of the issues we’ve been dealing with lately.”

  “Such as?” Liv cocked an eyebrow at him.

  Sylvan frowned. “It is Council business, Olivia. You know I cannot—”

  “Come on, now, Sylvan. You know I won’t tell anyone but Baird. And you already tell him everything anyway.”

  “Well…” Sylvan frowned and ran a hand through his short blond hair. “There has been some question about the draft—the way we call our brides.”

  “Yes, I know all about the draft—I was one of the ones who got drafted, remember?” Liv said dryly. “But what’s the problem? It seems to be working.”

  “Too well,” Sylvan said. “Now that the Scourge threat is taken care of, some of the governments of Earth are saying that the draft has served its purpose and the Kindred should move on and call brides from some other planet.”

  “What?” Liv demanded indignantly. “Of all the ungrateful… Who’s saying that?”

  “Someone from your own country, I’m afraid, as well as some others. But the unrest started in America.” Sylvan shrugged apologetically. “It seems that a very high ranking politician has a daughter who has been called as a bride and he doesn’t want to let her go. Apparently he had already made other plans for her future and he doesn’t want her moving to the Mother Ship and joining with one of our kind.”

  “Well tough titty!” Liv exclaimed.

  Sylvan shook his head.

  “I’m sorry but…tough what?”

  “Tough titty. It means too bad. If she joined the draft then she has to go when she’s called. You think I got a choice? Hell, I was dragged away from my house wearing nothing but my nighty. I was scared to death the first time I met Baird!”

  “Yes, I remember,” Sylvan said dryly. “And I further remember that my people saved the Earth from certain annihilation by the Scourge. Unfortunately, it seems that some of your elected officials have a much shorter memory.” He sighed. “It is almost exactly like what happened on Tranq Prime. Once the Kindred were not needed anymore, we were not wanted either, though we did nothing but good.”

  “Ridiculous.” Olivia was still fuming. “So what is the Council going to do? They’