Healing the Broken: A Kindred Christmas Tale Read online

  “She is merciful to her children,” Sazar said gravely. “She made me see that I was pushing you away because I was afraid to lose you…the way I lost my wife, Malinda.”

  “What…what happened to her?” Sarah asked softly. “I’m sorry to ask but—”

  “A blood vessel burst in her brain.” Sazar said the words quickly, wanting to get them out. “I believe you humans call it an aneurism. She was young and apparently healthy but such things can be invisible—hidden for years—until they finally…” He shook his head, unable for a moment to go on.

  “Oh, Sazar…I’m sorry.” The look on her lovely face eloquently expressed the sorrow he’d kept locked inside for so long. “So sorry…”

  “When you lose someone like that…so suddenly and for no apparent reason…” He looked up at her, his throat tight. “It makes you aware that we’re all living on borrowed time. That anyone you love can be taken at any moment. And that…is a difficult realization to live with.”

  “It's a really scary thought,” Sarah agreed softly. “But Sazar, you can’t live in fear.”

  “I know that now.” He nodded. “I know I pushed you away because I love you. The same reason I’ve been pushing Tsandor away.” He bowed his head. “You were right, Sarah—I have been a bad and neglectful father since Malinda died.”

  “You were grieving,” Sarah murmured and he felt her soft, small fingers carding through his hair soothingly. “At least you made certain he was in a safe environment with people who cared for him. And Sazar, it’s not too late. Tsandor still loves you—he still wants to be with you.”

  “I’m grateful it’s not too late to be part of my son’s life.” He looked up at her. “Please tell me it’s not too late to be part of yours too. Please forgive me for the wrong I did you, Sarah.”

  She nibbled her lip, uncertainly.

  “Are you asking me to come back to the Mother Ship and be your assistant again?”

  “No.” Sazar shook his head firmly and her face fell.

  “Oh, I just thought—”

  “Sarah, I’m asking you to come back to the Mother Ship and be my wife—my mate,” he said earnestly. “I know we haven’t known each other long but so much has happened between us. And the Goddess…”

  “The Goddess put us together,” Sarah murmured. “You know, Tsandor told me he had dreamed of me before he ever met me?”

  “Did he? It was his dream of you that let me know you were in trouble.” Sazar smiled. “I think the two of you already share a special bond. Will you come back with me and be a mother to Tsandor and a wife to me? Please, Ladara, say you will.”

  “Yes…” Sarah whispered the word but it had the intensity of a shout. Her eyes were shining and her lovely mouth was curved in a trembling smile. “Oh Sazar, yes!”

  “Ladara!” He rose from the ground and took her in his arms but to his surprise, Sarah pushed away from him. “What is it?” he asked anxiously. “You haven’t changed your mind?”

  “No, of course not!” She tried to laugh but it turned into a wince. “It’s just these…these damn Alquon nipple bands I’m still wearing. I’ve had them on for over twenty-four hours now and they’re killing me!”

  “Ah…” Sazar shook his head. “I have to confess, I didn’t even think of those. What a bastard I am, letting you leave the Mother Ship without helping you get them off.”

  “You can help me now,” Sarah murmured, looking up at him.

  Sazar felt his shaft harden in his flight leathers.

  “I’d be more than pleased to do that, sweetheart. But can you wait until we get up to the Mother Ship? I’d like to take you to my suite and take my time about it.”

  Sarah’s eyes went wide and her breathing quickened.

  “Yes,” she murmured. “Yes, I can wait. As long as we go right up.”

  “Immediately,” Sazar promised and opened the door of his small shuttle to help her inside.

  He was going to take his sweet little human back to the Mother Ship and claim her completely.

  And he intended to take his time.

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Sarah couldn’t believe it was possible to be so happy. She felt incredibly light and free and indescribably relieved that Sazar had saved her before Father Caleb had carried out his evil plan.

  He loves me—Sazar loves me! she thought and a deep joy welled up inside her—a fountain that would never run dry. Sazar loved her and she loved him. The misunderstandings were all cleared up and they would be a family, just as little Tsandor had hoped.

  She hummed contentedly in the shower as the warm water sluiced down her back. Yes, she’d just had a shower back at the Compound but Sarah had felt she needed another one. She wanted to wash the stink of The Brotherhood off her skin completely.

  The Alquon nipples jewelry was still painful but she knew soon Sazar would help her remove it and heal her of any harm it might have done.

  Just the thought of having him touch her and taste her again made her quiver inside. She’d been missing his touch in the time they’d been apart. And now that he had asked her to marry him—to become his mate as the Kindred said—she felt free to give in to temptation and do anything she wanted with him.

  And I want a lot, she thought to herself, humming as she scrubbed gently around her tender breasts and then down between her legs. Suddenly she felt extra wetness between her thighs and gasped.

  What the…?

  Looking down she saw that the clear Alquon stay-tight plug had finally dissolved.

  Well, I guess that’s a good thing, Sarah thought. She’d been wondering if it would ever melt away as the breeding attendant had promised. It seemed that twenty-four hours on Alquon was a longer time span than twenty-four hours on Earth.

  She was washing herself thoroughly when she heard a knock on the bathroom door.

  “Sarah? Are you all right?” Sazar’s deep voice asked. “I thought I heard you gasp.”

  Sarah finished rinsing and turned off the water. Wrapping herself in a towel, she went to open the door.

  “You heard that? Even over the sound of the shower?” she asked.

  He shrugged. “Sorry. I’m just…very attuned to you right now.”

  “It’s all right. I did gasp. Because, well…” Sarah bit her lip and decided to tell him. “Because the, uh, stay-tight thing the breeding attendant put in me just now dissolved in the shower.”

  “The what?” He frowned, then his gaze cleared. “Oh yes—the little clear plug that was supposed…” He cleared his throat. “Supposed to keep my seed inside you.”

  “It did, you know,” Sarah confessed in a small voice. “Until just now. I, uh, thought that was one reason you wanted to send me back to Earth. I thought you assumed I’d get pregnant and you didn’t want a baby. That happened with Sister Hope, Father Caleb’s secretary. He got her pregnant and then got…got rid of her.”

  “Sweetheart, no!” Sazar took her in his arms and hugged her hard. “No, I would never send you away to deal with a pregnancy on your own! In fact, it never even crossed my mind that you could be pregnant.”

  “It didn’t?” Sarah pushed back from the hug, frowning a little. “How could it not? I mean after the way we, you know, had sex and the fact that the stay-tight was keeping everything up, uh, inside me?”

  “I knew you couldn’t be pregnant because we hadn’t had bonding sex,” Sazar explained patiently.

  “What do you mean? Of course we had sex,” Sarah protested.

  “Yes and with some of the Kindred races making love and allowing the male to come inside you is enough for bonding sex. But not for Blood Kindred or for Pitch-Blood Kindred,” Sazar explained. “With our kind the male must bite the female at the moment of ejaculation and inject her with his essence—the same liquid, secreted from my fangs, that I used to heal you.”

  “Oh.” Sarah was surprised. “So I was worried for nothing.”

  “You didn’t know.” Sazar shook his head. “And I should have realized you