Instructing the Novice Read online

  “But if you had, you wouldn’t have had to heal me and we never would have gotten fully and properly bonded,” Lizabeth pointed out.

  “True.” He put an arm around her and drew her in for a gentle kiss. “And if we hadn’t gone to the Tower in the first place, I never would have been your ‘Novice’ and started a partial bond.”

  “About that,” Lizabeth said firmly, sitting up from the sweet embrace. “It’s about time you stopped being my assistant, Lone. We both know you’re ready to practice law on your own.”

  “What?” He looked stricken and she felt his concern through their link. “Are you going to get rid of me now just because we’re bonded and you don’t think it’s appropriate to have a romantic relationship with your assistant?”

  “Well, it’s not appropriate,” Lizabeth pointed out briskly. “But…” She leaned forward and kissed him. “It’s perfectly fine to have a relationship with your partner. I’m not getting rid of you, Lone—I’m promoting you. We’re going to be equal partners now, Councilor Stands Alone.”

  “Oh!” He put a hand to his heart and smiled in relief. Kat and Liv laughed and Sylvan smiled as well.

  “It sounds like the two of you have everything worked out,” he remarked. “I’m going to let you go but I want to see Councilor Paige back here in a few days for some prenatal tests.”

  “I’ll get her scheduled,” Liv said, grinning. “Come on, Kat—let’s leave these two love birds alone while I pull up the schedule.”

  They left Lizabeth and Lone, who couldn’t seem to stop staring into each other’s eyes and smiling. As she looked into Lone’s deep gray eyes, Lizabeth began to feel the familiar tingle of desire and she felt an answering wave of heat from Lone.

  “I appreciate the promotion you know,” he murmured, stroking her cheek. “But I hope I can still be your Novice sometimes, Mistress. You know how I love to serve you.”

  “Yes, I know,” Lizabeth said, smiling at him. “And in fact, I’m feeling in need of some ‘service’ right now.”

  “Then let’s go back to our suite,” Lone suggested. Standing, he swung her up into his arms.

  “Oh, Lone!” she gasped in surprise, but didn’t ask him to put her down. She knew by now he was plenty strong enough to carry her all over the place and in fact, she actually enjoyed it.

  “Sorry, but I think it’s time you instructed your Novice on how best to meet your needs, Mistress,” he growled softly.

  Lizabeth felt a wave of desire wash over her as she put her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a breathless kiss. She thought again of how blessed and happy she was and how lucky she and Lone were to have each other and the two new lives growing inside her.

  Truly the Goddess had blessed them. And now, there was nothing she would rather do than spend the rest of the afternoon and evening Instructing her Novice.

  The End?

  Of course not! There are always more Kindred Tales coming. Those of you who follow me on Facebook may remember that I posted a while back and offered two plots for my readers' consideration. The first one was for Instructing the Novice—an older woman/younger man romance. The second was for another Giant Kindred book, about a Jor'gen Kindred who is a scientist who clones a human woman and falls in love with her. I asked which book readers wanted and most of them replied, "Both!" So I wrote both, lol. You just read the first one, now read on for a taste of my next book, AWAKENED BY THE GIANT—a Kindred Tale of the Jor'gen Kindred, coming out in February.

  Hugs and Happy Reading!

  Evangeline

  Before you go, if you've enjoyed reading Instructing the Novice, please consider leaving a short review. Good reviews are worth their weight in gold to an author. They let other readers know it's okay to take a chance on a new series. Plus they give me the warm fuzzies. Thanks for being an awesome reader!

  : ) Evangeline

  Awakened by the Giant

  A Kindred Tale of the Jor'gen Kindred

  AVAILABLE FEBRUARY 2019

  A Giant Kindred devoted to science Clones a beautiful woman to learn from her But what Maddy teaches Calden is how to love And love is forbidden—punishable by Death Can they escape now that Maddy has been...Awakened by the Giant?

  Meet the Jor’gen Kindred. After leaving the main Mother Ship centuries ago to make a genetic trade with a massive race of people, they are thirty percent bigger than their ancestors. Which makes them 9 feet tall—giants to regular sized humanoids. Hundreds of years after the genetic trade which made them so huge, the Jor’gen Kindred have no more females and are seeking a new people to trade with— all but Calden.

  Believing he doesn't need a female in his life to be happy, Calden moves to the Mentat Space Station to devote his life to biological research through cloning. The Station is ruled by a harsh taskmaster—an AI called FATHER who forbids any females. But Calden doesn't care, as long as he is allowed to clone and study as many specimens as he wants. Then one day, the recovery droids find something new—the remains of a sentient human female and the ship she crashed in. Consumed by scientific curiosity, Calden gets special permission to make a clone of the dead woman...but he has no idea he'll fall in love with her.

  Madeline Harris has no idea what's going on. She wakes up in a vat of green goo with her memories fractured, surrounded by the big, scary Mentats of the Station. Then a giant comes to save her. It doesn't take much for her to fall for Calden but she doesn't realize that the station is a hostile place for women...or that she could be in big trouble if the AI, FATHER, discovers how very much Calden cares for her in return.

  Will they escape the Mentat Station in time to save Maddy's life? And will she ever forgive Calden for keeping deadly secrets from her? You'll have to read Awakened by the Giant to find out...

  One

  “Welcome, Calden. Thank you for coming to see FATHER. What guidance do you seek today?”

  Calden of the Jor’gen Kindred shifted on the slightly-too-small stool which sat in the middle of the scanning booth. Everything aboard the Mentat station was too small for him but since he was over three meters tall, it wasn’t surprising. In the five years he had been living and working there, he had gotten used to accommodating himself to the smaller living quarters and furnishings. It was worth a bit of discomfort to do the work he loved.

  The Jor’gen Kindred were a branch of the Kindred who had bonded themselves, against the High Council’s will, to a race of people who were thirty percent larger than most other humanoid races. They had lost touch with their Kindred brothers and then, as the High Council had predicted, they ran out of females to bond with. Because of a genetic anomaly, any joining with a Kindred warrior produced only sons, 99% of the time, which meant that the Kindred were always on the move, looking for new brides.

  When the Jor’gen Kindred ran out of females, they built a Mother Ship and went in search of new females to bond with them. Their leader, Bram, was certain that the Goddess—the Mother of All Life whom all Kindred worship—would lead them in the right direction.

  Calden had disagreed. He was an atheist and a scientist and he cared nothing for religion or wild hopes and dreams—or for females for that matter. He could happily live without a mate and so had taken a shuttle and had gone to live and work at the Mentat science station, a place where logic and reason were valued above all else. He had also taken the seed of a bonding fruit plant—a requirement for any Jor’gen Kindred who decided to leave the Mother Ship.

  “I will never use this, you know,” he had objected when Ren, the science officer and his good friend, had given it to him on his departure. “You know how the Mentats are—you know the rules aboard the station where I’m going to work.”

  “Nevertheless, you must take it,” Ren had insisted. “Bram wants to be certain that any warrior who leaves the Mother Ship has the means to bond with a chosen female if he meets one. And since we are so much larger than most of the people we can bond with, the bonding fruit is a necessity.”

  “I will ta