Brides of the Kindred Volume One Read online

  Please just let me get through this, she prayed, her eyes squeezed shut. Please, please, please and I swear I’ll always ride a Take-me from now on. Or maybe I’ll just walk. Yes, walking is good…walking is great. I’ll never go anywhere again except on my own two feet. I—

  “Sophia? Sophia?”

  Gradually she became aware that Sylvan was calling her name and he sounded worried. Arms like warm steel cables were wrapped around her shoulders and a large, warm hand was stroking her hair.

  “Uh, Sylvan?” She dared to look up and this time their heads didn’t collide.

  “It’s all right,” he murmured, looking relieved that she’d answered him. “The tube has stopped. We’re there.”

  “We are?” She wanted to let go of him but her hands were fisted in the heavy, satin-like material of his pale blue uniform shirt and she couldn’t make her fingers unclench. “I…I’m sorry,” she muttered, pressing her cheek to his chest again. “Just give me a minute. That was kind of rough.”

  Sylvan, for his part, seemed contented to hold her for as long as she needed to be held. “It’s all right,” he rumbled, still stroking her hair. “I should have warned you better. I didn’t know tube travel would upset you so much.”

  “I…I’m not upset,” she protested but her voice sounded high and squeaky even in her own ears. “I was just surprised,” she added, trying to sound more normal.

  “We’re at the docking bay now.” His deep voice was gentle and soothing, like his hand in her hair. Sophie felt herself relaxing in stages but still she didn’t let go.

  “Oh yes, the docking bay.” Slowly she became aware that the tiny compartment was filled with a sharp, spicy scent. It was like nothing she had ever smelled before—wild and somehow completely masculine. Mmm, nice. Her nose twitched—it seemed to be coming from Sylvan. But when did he have time to put on cologne? “Are you wearing aftershave?” she asked dreamily.

  “Aftershave?” He sounded confused.

  “You know—cologne. Perfume. A scent you put on your skin to make you smell good. Don’t the Kindred have anything like that?”

  “No, we have a very enhanced sense of smell. We don’t like anything that covers up our natural scent.”

  “Then what smells so good?” She was rubbing her cheek against the warm, hard wall of his chest in a way that would have seemed terminally wrong and uncomfortable just a few minutes ago. Yet now it seemed perfectly natural and right. Why was that? And why didn’t she want to let him go? She could feel the hard ridge of his cock branding her belly, just as it had during the Luck Kiss but even that didn’t alarm her. Instead, she felt herself responding.

  Her nipples were suddenly tight and achy and the small pair of bikini underwear she had on under her green bridesmaid’s dress felt too tight. Their lace crotch seemed to rub against her in a way that was both irritating and pleasurable. She took another deep breath. “Mmm…smells like…I don’t know what, but incredible,” she murmured, still rubbing against him like a cat.

  Sylvan stiffened against her. “Sophia, you’re not acting like yourself. This scent…you say it smells extremely good?”

  “Yes, can’t you smell it? I—” She looked up as she spoke and saw that he was looking down at her again. There was a troubled look in his pale blue eyes, but it wasn’t his eyes that bothered her—it was his mouth.

  His fangs were out.

  Long and sharp and prominent, they gleamed in the dim light of the tube like daggers ready to pierce flesh. My flesh! she realized in a flash.

  “Oh!” She jumped away from him and would have fallen backwards out of the transport tube if he hadn’t caught her by the arm. “Let me go!” She pulled away from his hand and took another step back. Her kitten heels made clattering echoes in the vast open space of the docking bay.

  “What? What’s wrong?” Sylvan frowned at her as he unfolded himself from the small space and stepped out of the tube.

  “Y-your fangs.” Sophie pointed with a trembling finger.

  With a muffled curse he clapped a hand over his mouth. A look of painful concentration crossed his face and then he took his palm away from his lips and she saw that his fangs were back to their normal length. “Forgive me.” He spoke as though it hurt to get the words out. “I didn’t…didn’t realize…”

  “It’s okay.” She shifted uncomfortably, not sure what to do or say. It was clear she’d offended him by pointing out his fangs. Was it something like telling a human guy his fly was unzipped? Well what was I supposed to say? And anyway, it just slipped out—he looks so damn scary when they grow like that!

  Sylvan didn’t seem to know what to say either. Finally he turned on his heel. “Come on. We need to get to the shuttle.”

  Chapter Four

  “You’re so bad!” Liv slapped playfully at her new husband as he carried her into their suite and deposited her on the bed. “Making me leave the reception early—we barely got to cut the cake. Couldn’t you have waited a few more minutes?”

  “No.” Baird’s eyes glowed gold with lust. “Not after waiting a whole damn week. You really know how to torture a male. But that’s all right.” He gave her a hot grin. “Because I’m about to return the favor.”

  “What…what are you going to do?” Liv heard the breathless quality in her own voice but she couldn’t seem to help it—didn’t want to help it. All she wanted was the male in front of her.

  Baird leaned over the bed and lifted her chin to look into her eyes. “I’m going to bond you all over again,” he rumbled. “Gonna fill your sweet little cunt with my cock and fuck you all night long. So I hope you weren’t planning on going back to the party any time soon.”

  Liv’s breath caught in her throat. “I don’t want to go back,” she whispered.

  “Good.” He straightened up and crossed his arms over his broad chest. “That dress is special to you, right?”

  “Of course.” Liv ran a hand over the white lace. “It was my mother’s.”

  His eyes softened. “And you look beautiful in it, Lilenta. But you need to get out of it now.”

  It was an order, not a request and the low growling voice he used when he said it made Liv’s heart start beating a mile a minute. It reminded her of the way he’d spoken after she had gone to visit Jillian the first time—disobeying his orders and winding up in the unmated males’ territory. Baird had been forced to show his ownership of her in front of a whole group of warriors and afterwards he’d taken her back to his suite and commanded her to strip so that he could taste her. It was both an embarrassing memory and a hot one. And it made Liv all the more eager to do what he wanted now.

  But there was no reason he had to know that.

  Lifting her chin she looked him in the eye. “So you think now that we’re officially bonded you can tell me exactly what to do?”

  The look in his eyes was so hot it was molten. “What I’m telling you, Lilenta, is to take that damn dress off before I rip it off.” Leaning down, he grasped her shoulders and pulled her up for a heated kiss that left her panting and breathless.

  “Baird…” she protested, struggling weakly. She had never seen him quite so hungry before, even during the first time they’d made love.

  “I don’t think you understand exactly how much I need you, Olivia,” he growled softly, looking her in the eyes. “Up ‘til now I’ve been holding back because I didn’t want to scare you off at the last minute.”

  “What? Don’t be silly,” she protested. “You could never scare me off.”

  “Not now, I can’t.” He flashed her a hungry grin. “Because now you’re mine forever. And I need you, Lilenta. Need to be inside you for a long, long time tonight.” He kissed her again, running his big hands over her body, cupping her breasts and then moving down to press hard against her sex. “But before I do that, I want to taste you. So get naked now or I’m going to make you naked.”

  Liv’s heart was going crazy and her mouth was almost too dry to answer. She couldn’t believe that Ba