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  It’s probably nothing, he told himself. Just the release of tension that was building up for so long. And what a release it had been…

  They had made love several times, working themselves to a sweet exhaustion before Lauren had finally untied him and they had collapsed on the bed. Xairn reflected that it was extremely satisfying to finally consummate their love, to give in to the urges that had been tormenting both Lauren and himself for months now. He wondered that he hadn’t thought of taking the submissive role before but it simply hadn’t occurred to him. Male Scourge were always dominant. In fact, he wondered if one of his kind had ever allowed themselves to be subjugated by a female before. Probably not—such an action would have been seen as a sign of weakness in any male. But Xairn didn’t care as long as it allowed him to be with Lauren.

  It was ironic in a way—he was one of the last real Scourge and yet he was the first to bow to the dominance of a female. And I will do it again without hesitation, he thought, stroking Lauren’s cheek tenderly. Any male would be proud to call her mistress. Would be lucky to give himself to her during lovemaking.

  Of course, though their lovemaking had been amazing, it wasn’t bonding sex. Part of him—the savage, possessive Scourge part of his soul—still demanded that he take her completely, that he make her his beyond the shadow of a doubt. But Xairn found it easier to ignore that part now that the worst of his sexual thirst had been quenched.

  Besides, bonding sex with a Scourge meant pain—not just for Lauren but for any female who lay with a Scourge male. There were no full blooded Scourge females left and no other species was equipped to handle that size and thickness of a Scourge male’s primary and secondary shaft. The results of bonding sex with an Earth female would no doubt be severe agony and probably injury—even if he was gentle, which he was certain he couldn’t be. He knew his Scourge instincts well enough by now to know that as soon as the urge to bond took over, he would be incapable of tenderness during the act.

  He loved Lauren and didn’t want to hurt her. So though part of him would always feel incomplete, he refused to give in to his instinct to make her completely and totally his. It was better to remain as they were now rather than risk everything to fully possess her.

  Putting the idea of bonding to the side, Xairn felt a glow of contentment as he contemplated his future. Despite Slk’s dire predictions that his Scourge DNA would reassert itself, the human strain he had gotten from Lauren seemed to be holding up remarkably well, and Xairn was grateful for it. It was that small restraint which had allowed him to take the submissive rather than the traditional dominant role during their lovemaking. Without it, he knew he would have burst his bonds and taken Lauren to the bed for bonding sex without hesitation. His Scourge instincts were simply too strong to control without help. Help from the tiny bit of humanity he carried within him. His eyes still got hot and changed to their old color when he was under a great deal of stress, but other than that he looked like a human male and that was how he was content to stay.

  Lauren shifted, her long black hair whispering over his bare chest, and sighed softly. Xairn thought he saw a soft smile curve her lips and he smiled himself in answer. Now that they had finally found a way to be together without hurting her, he knew he would never leave. He and Lauren and Little One could stay together forever here on Earth, working in Lauren’s shop during the day and basking in the glow of their love at night. Together they were a family—something he had never really had and always longed for.

  Still thinking of the warm, perfect future than lay before them, Xairn dropped a final kiss on Lauren’s silky black hair and allowed himself to relax into sleep.

  “Ssson…my ssson…”

  The familiar voice was calling him, calling from a long way away and yet it was too close. Much closer than Xairn ever wanted to be to the owner of that hissing, evil voice again.

  “Xairn…” The voice called his name insistently. “Come to me, my ssson. I have sssomething I think you’ll want to sssee.”

  “Leave me alone!” he tried to shout but the words came out in a whisper. Suddenly he was standing in the great, dark throne room of the Fathership. Sitting on the throne, etched in poison green lines, was his father.

  The sight was a familiar one to him—something he had seen almost every day from birth. But there was something new this time. The AllFather’s booted feet rested on a large rectangular object which had been covered with a cloth. A box? No, a cage, Xairn was certain. He could hear something rustling around inside it and the cloth covering billowed, outlining the thick bars. For a moment he thought he saw the outline of a hand clasping one of the cruel iron rods, just beneath the cloth, but then it disappeared and he couldn’t be sure if he’d really seen it or not.

  “What do you want with me?” he asked his father. “I renounced you and my entire race. How did you even find me?”

  “You mean with your altered DNA?” The AllFather sneered derisively at his changed skin and eyes. “Yesss, excellent work, that. You look exactly like a human now…and you act like one too.”

  Xairn frowned. “If you called me here to mock me, I don’t care. I like the way I look now and Lauren likes it too. Not to mention the fact that my human DNA allows me to control the Scourge urges to injure and rape I inherited from you.”

  The crimson eyes burned. “I cannot believe you sssubverted your natural urgesss for the sssake of that female. A female too weak to withstand you in your true form isss no fit mate for my ssson.”

  “Be careful, Father. She is my female and I will hear no word spoken against her,” Xairn growled.

  “Your female, eh?” The AllFather laughed. “How dare you call her so when you haven’t placed a single mark of possession on her? Where is her brand? Where are her piercings and collar? Instead, you carry her brand on your chest as though she were the dominant and you the sssubmissive.”

  Xairn lifted his chin. “I am submissive to her and I am proud of it. I would rather call her Mistress and bend myself to her will for the rest of my life than dominate and hurt her even once.”

  His father made a noise of disgust at the back of his throat. “Truly you have become a weakling, my ssson. You ssswear eternal love for this female—you let her brand you with her name, you even take her DNA inside you. Yet you don’t even have the ssstrength to bond her to you. At any time ssshe could leave you and you could not ssstop her for you have no bond.”

  “You know as well as I do what bonding sex entails for our kind,” Xairn growled. “I won’t put Lauren through that. And what’s more, I am through discussing it with you. Goodbye.” He turned to go, although he had no idea how to get out of the strange dream, but the AllFather called him back.

  “Wait, my ssson. I didn’t call you here sssimply to ssspeak of your little female. I have sssomething here I think you’ll want to sssee.”

  “Whatever you have, I don’t want to see it,” Xairn said, but he couldn’t help turning his head.

  “Perhapsss I misspoke. I ssshould have sssaid I have sssomeone you might wish to sssee.” The AllFather leaned forward and patted the cloth-covered cage, his eyes glowing with evil glee. “Sssomeone you have been wishing to sssee for a very long time. Your entire life, in fact.”

  Xairn’s heart was suddenly in his throat. He turned back toward the cage, his hands curled into fists at his sides. “What have you done? Who do you have in there?”

  “Who do you think?” With a sudden move, the AllFather rose and yanked the black cloth from the cruel metal cage, revealing the occupant shivering within.

  Xairn’s legs gave way and he stumbled, coming down on his hands and knees before the cage. “No,” he whispered as the familiar green eyes looked into his own. “No. Oh, no…”

  “Oh yesss!” The AllFather began to laugh—a high, evil cackle that filled Xairn’s head like the tolling of a bell. He tried to get away from the sound, from the sight that met his eyes, but he couldn’t. He was trapped…trapped…

  * * * * *