Forgotten Read online

  “All right.” She’d nodded. “She can stay with me. But mind you think about letting her tame your Beast some time in the future—when she’s regained her feelings for you again.”

  “I hope that will be soon.” Rone had sighed. “I’m so in love with her, Tante—I never stopped. But I’m having to build her trust in me from the very beginning. It’s a very delicate time right now. So please…just keep things light between you while she stays with you. All right?”

  “All right, all right,” the old woman had said. “I won’t put my nose where it doesn’t belong. You bring Kate here to me and I’ll watch over her while you change.”

  “Thank you.” Rone had felt a surge of relief. He loved his Tante Corii—she was his only living relative. But she could be really stubborn at times…

  Now as he introduced her to Kate, he hoped she would remember her promise. So far, at least, she seemed to be on her best behavior…

  “It’s so good to see you again!” she told Kate, giving her a big hug.

  Kate hugged back, an uncertain look on her face.

  “I, uh, know that I knew you in the past but I’m afraid I don’t remember you right now. My memories…”

  “I know all about that, never you mind.” Tante Corii smiled at her. “Why don’t you just come along into the domicile and we can all have a nice hot cup of chuurah tea before Rone goes off to the Howlund to change?”

  “Actually…” Rone shifted from foot to foot, looking in the direction of the forest which was filled with silvery green and blue trees. “I’d really like to go now. I’m sorry, Tante but can I visit with you after?”

  “Of course. A male’s got to do what a male’s got to do.” Tante patted his arm and smiled. “Just you go on and don’t worry about a thing. Kate and I are going to get to know each other all over again.”

  “Thank you.” Rone gave her a grateful smile and a peck on the cheek. Already he could feel his Beast rumbling inside him, demanding to be let out, to roam free, to hunt and kill or breed—whichever he permitted. It had been too long since he took his fur-form—too long since he’d allowed the other half of himself room to breathe. But he took a moment to kiss Kate as well—gently on the lips.

  “I love you,” he murmured, looking into her eyes. “I swear I’ll be back tomorrow morning. Just promise me you’ll stay here, safe inside with Tante Corii.”

  “I promise.” Kate looked up at him, an anxious expression in her pale green eyes. “But…will it be safe for you?”

  Tante Corii gave an amused laugh.

  “My goodness child—he’ll be in his fur-form! There’s nothing on the Goddess’s green planet that can hurt him in that form.”

  “Well that’s good to know, anyway.” Kate smiled at him and Rone was warmed to see the concern she felt for him in her lovely eyes.

  She’s coming back to me, little by little, he thought. Soon I’ll win her love again and we can be like we were before. And even if she never gets her memories back, we can make new ones together. We’ll have another joining ceremony—another wedding—whatever she wants. We’ll be a team again and the first thing we’re going to do is hunt down that son-of-a-bitch Dark Kindred, Two and make him pay for wiping Kate’s memories in the first place. After that, we’ll be free to do as we want…living our lives on the Finder, traveling the universe and loving each other every day, rebuilding the perfect life we lost…

  It was a wonderful thought—a perfect plan for their future together. Rone was certain they had turned the corner and were on the right track—nothing could pull them apart now.

  Nothing.

  * * * * *

  “What does it mean, his ‘fur-form’?” Kate asked, when she and the old lady were inside the little hut which was covered in some kind of flowering blue vine. They were seated at a table which appeared to have been grown rather than made—at least, all four of its legs seemed to be rooted in the floor which was carpeted by some kind of dense, purple moss that felt heavenly on her feet when she took of her shoes.

  “Well that’s just what Wulvan males call it when their Beast comes out.” Tante Corii poured her a steaming cup of aromatic tea into a long, thin drinking vessel that looked like a champagne flute and a coffee mug had mated and produced a baby.

  “So…they don’t actually turn into an animal? Or some kind of hairy werewolf-type creature?” Kate wanted to know.

  “Oh gracious, child—no!” Tante Corii laughed good naturedly. “Now mind you, they used to before the Kindred came along and started intermarrying with the Wulven. They used to turn into a ravening, wild, four-legged creature with huge lamp-like eyes and fangs as long as your finger. But the Kindred genes are strong and they bred most of that out in a few generations. Now when a Wulven male takes his ‘fur-form’ he mostly just gets a little harrier and his eyes turn silver.”

  “Really? That’s it?” Kate was slightly disappointed. After all Rone’s dire talk about his big, bad Beast, she’d been imagining at the very least, a character out of the Beauty and the Beast fairytale and at worse, some kind of wolfman.

  Tante Corii gave her a level look.

  “Believe me, child—that’s enough. For when the Beast comes out, a male Wulven doesn’t just change outwardly—he changes inwardly as well. The good and decent and civilized part of him is gone—just gone. And all that’s left is a monster in male form—one who has only two interests.”

  “Breeding or feeding, right?” Kate said in a low voice.

  “That’s right, I’m afraid.” Tante Corii sighed. “But you know, that isn’t to say the Beast is evil or worthless—it’s just a personification of the most simple and direct drives that live in all of us. They’re just especially strong in males, that’s all.”

  “Rone told me that before I lost my memories I wanted to…wanted to try and tame his Beast,” Kate said, looking down at her tea-flute or whatever the weird drinking vessel was called.

  “That you did, child. You confided as much to me the last time the two of you were here.” The old woman got up from the table for a moment. When she came back, she had an ancient, worn volume in one hand, bound in blue leather. “Here.” She slid the text in front of Kate. “You asked me to get you that.”

  “What is it?” Kate stroked a finger over the leather spine of the book curiously. It was strangely smooth, as though hundreds of hands had touched it over the generations.

  “The Landii-Katrum—the Volume of Submission.” Tante Corii tapped the blue leather with one crooked finger. “In there are explicit instructions on how to get your male’s Beast to breed you rather than feeding on you.”

  “My God. Is that really a problem? I mean, does it happen often that the girl gets eaten instead of, uh, bred?”

  The old woman shrugged. “It happens from time to time but mostly when the match is wrong for some reason or the female doesn’t truly love the male she’s trying to tame. The Beast can sense things—it sniffs out true intentions and if true love and caring aren’t present in the female’s heart, it can smell that in her scent. That’s when things tend to turn, well…bloody.”

  Kate shivered. “Ugh! Well I guess you don’t have many gold-diggers on G’nera, huh?” Then, seeing the confused expression on Tante Corii’s face she explained. “Someone who only wants to get married—uh, joined—for wealth or power.”

  The old lady’s face cleared. “Oh. Well no, we don’t. Any male’s Beast would smell such duplicity. And usually, it isn’t a problem—almost all Beasts are more interested in breeding than feeding when they catch their chosen female’s scent.”

  “I would think it would never be a problem at all, if you only marry for love here,” Kate said thoughtfully.

  “Well, there have been a few tragic instances where a female was forced into a joining by her family…we even have an old legend about it. The story of Trane and Jalla.”

  “Trane and Jalla? Who were they?”

  “It is an ancient tale—one that took place before the Kindre