Pursued Read online

  “Of course you do,” Kat said dryly. “Having amazing bonding sex all night long can have that effect on a girl.”

  Elise gave a satisfied sigh. “If I’d known it could be that wonderful and that we would get our bond back, I would have tried the bonding fruit a long time ago.”

  “Well, maybe you weren’t quite ready,” Liv said tactfully. “And besides, how could you know?”

  “I couldn’t, I guess.” Elise smiled. “It just goes to prove that dreams do come true sometimes.” She shivered. “Kind of like those weird dreams I had about Merrick back when I thought he was gone.”

  “Wait a minute—what?” Olivia looked at her intently. “Say that again, Elise. What exactly did you dream?”

  “Well…” Looking around, Elise saw that all eyes were fixed on her. “I just dreamed about him doing…what he was doing, I guess. You know, he was being held captive by that horrible Draven person, and I saw him…saw him torturing Merrick. But I also saw Merrick working, building the part for the ship Draven wanted so badly.”

  “The wormhole generator, yes, Baird told me.” Liv nodded eagerly. “Go on.”

  “And I saw him dead.” Elise swallowed a lump in her throat. “Or I thought I did, anyway. He was horribly wounded and he was just lying there…”

  “Okay, so tell me this…” There was a suppressed excitement in Olivia’s silvery grey eyes Elise didn’t understand. “What was Merrick doing all that time, during the three days you spent in the med center?”

  “Well…” Elise frowned. “As a matter of fact, I haven’t thought about it until now but we talked about it some and I think he was pretty much doing the things I dreamed about. Even the last dream was true—he told me he came really close to death but he was brought back just for me.”

  “I knew it!” Liv nearly shouted.

  “Dream sharing!” Sophie cried at the same time.

  “You were dream-sharing!” the sisters said together.

  Elise frowned. “What’s dream sharing?”

  “It’s the first sign that you and your Kindred are meant to bond,” Kat explained. “You both dream of each other doing your day-to-day activities—or that’s how it’s supposed to go, anyway. It can take a lot of different forms.”

  “I couldn’t stop painting pictures of Sylvan,” Sophie said. “I mean, he kept popping up in my art, no matter how I tried to leave him out.”

  Lauren shrugged. “Don’t look at me—Xairn and I didn’t do that. I guess because he’s more Scourge than Kindred.”

  “I did with my guys,” Kat said, looking serious for once. “I saw Deep take my pain on himself and believe me, it wasn’t pretty.”

  “Baird told me the dreams he had of me were the only thing that kept him sane when he was captured by the AllFather,” Olivia said quietly. She looked at Elise. “So…did Merrick have any dreams of you during that time when you were apart?”

  Elise frowned. “I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t think he slept very much—Draven was pushing him so hard to get the ship ready and he was also building a bomb on the side.” She gave a little laugh. “Nobody can say my man can’t multitask.”

  “Kindred are good at all kinds of multitasking, believe me.” Kat gave her a wink. “But I bet you’re already finding that out for yourself.”

  Elise blushed. “Yes, you could say that.” She shook her head. “So all the time I could have known that Merrick was alive and we would be able to re-bond if only I’d been brave enough to tell you about my dreams, Liv.”

  “That’s okay, hon.” Olivia smiled at her. “You’re still getting used to having friends you can trust. Believe me, pretty soon you’ll be telling us everything. We don’t have any secrets here.”

  “Oh yes we do—I have a big one.” Sophie beamed and flipped another waffle onto a plate already piled high with them.

  “Well?” Kat put a hand on her hip. “What is it? Spill.”

  “I got a call from Nadiah on First World and she’s sending us some new friends,” Sophie explained. “One of them is Lissa—the priestess girl I told you all about that I met on First World."

  "You mean the one that was lost in the desert?" Liv asked.

  Sophie nodded. "Uh-huh. They found her and she's doing fine. But that's not the best part—the other person coming aboard is one of the Touch Kindred."

  “Really? A Touch Kindred?” Lauren frowned. “I thought they were banned from the Mother Ship.”

  Sophie shrugged. “Apparently Rast told the Council they’ll have to deal with it—Rast is tied to his home planet so this Touch Kindred is acting as First World’s ambassador to the Mother Ship.”

  “Hmm, I wonder how the Council likes that?” Kat murmured, raising an eyebrow.

  “That’s not even the most exciting part, though.” Sophie smiled. “He and Lissa are going on a mission to the Ghana system and Lissa is going to pretend to be some kind of rich heiress. It’s all very hush-hush.”

  “If it’s so hush-hush then why did Nadiah tell you all about it?” Liv asked skeptically.

  Sophie sighed. “Because she wants us to help get Lissa ready. See, Lissa is this sweet subservient little priestess and Nadiah’s afraid she won’t be able to assert herself enough to make her act believable.”

  “Lessons in self assertion—can do.” Kat smiled. “We’ll have her acting like the Queen of Sheba in no time.”

  “Maybe they should ask you to go, Kat,” Lauren remarked. “You wouldn’t need any lessons at all.”

  “Ha-ha.” Kat made a face at her friend. “Very funny.” Then she looked more closely at Lauren. “Hey, are you all right? You look like you got less sleep than Elise did and that’s saying something.”

  Lauren frowned. “I’m fine, but Xairn was having bad dreams again last night. He woke me up shouting two or three times and I had a hard time getting back to sleep.”

  “Oh no,” Liv said sympathetically. “Was he dreaming about your clone again?”

  Lauren sighed and looked troubled. “I don’t know—he won’t say.” She blushed. “At least things are back on track in the bedroom, though.”

  “Well, as long as that’s good, everything else will fall into place eventually,” Kat said consolingly.

  “I think you’re right,” Lauren agreed. “I just hope he gets over whatever this is before the baby is born. I don’t need two people waking me up over and over in the middle of the night.”

  “Amen to that,” Liv said fervently. “In fact—”

  But her words were interrupted by Sylvan’s sudden entrance. “Excuse me, ladies,” he said formally, standing in the middle of the room with one hand behind his back. “I hope you don’t mind me interrupting your time together, but I need to speak to my mate.”

  “Honey,” Sophia left the waffle iron and came out from behind the counter to go to him. “Is everything okay?” she asked. “Why didn’t you just bespeak me?”

  “Because I wanted to do this in person—to see the look on your face when you found out.”

  Sophie was suddenly white and trembling. “What? When I found out what?”

  “I can’t tell you, so I’ll just show you…this.” Drawing his hand out from behind his back, Sylvan presented her with a small, perfectly formed blue flower.

  “Oh! Oh, Sylvan!” Sophie’s face went from white to flushed in an instant. “A boy! We’re going to have a boy!”

  “And a girl,” Sylvan said softly, and produced a second flower, this one just as perfectly and delicately formed, but a pale, lovely pink.

  “Oh my God—twins!” Olivia was struggling to get off the couch. “Sophie’s going to have twins! Quick, somebody help me up so I can go hug her!”

  Laughing, Elise did as she asked, hauling the very pregnant Liv to her feet so she could grab her sister for a big hug. She had to wait for a moment, though, because Sophia was enfolded in her husband’s arms, trembling with joy. Elise thought that both their eyes looked suspiciously wet and she couldn’t help feeling happy for them—cle