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  Like a shark which can smell just a few drops of blood miles away in the ocean, the demon could sense a possible host, even inside the noisy, busy Med Center.

  Slowly, he drifted in, scanning for the faint signal, following it unerringly to its source.

  There, lying on a sleeping platform was a male body. A Kindred too. Not as young as the male Truth, whom Ur had first picked for himself, but still hale and strong with many years of life left in it all the same. Best of all, Ur could sense no bond between this male and any female.

  It is perfect! But how could I have missed it?

  “…moved him from isolation to a private room,” a male Kindred was saying of the figure on the bed. “But we still don’t know if he’ll ever wake up.”

  “Such a shame,” a human female who looked to be a nurse replied. “A Council member too.”

  “Not just any Council member—the Head of the entire Council. He holds the Orb of Power and has the right to veto anything, even if the rest of the Council okays it. Rumor has it that it’s caused chaos in the upper ranks.”

  “Even worse! What was he doing leading the charge against the possessed males like that?”

  “Well, his mate died over a year ago and their bonding was never blessed with any children,” the male replied. “I suppose he felt he had nothing to lose.”

  That explains it! Probing deeper into the unconscious male’s mind, Ur felt the old, severed bond the two were talking about. The male used to be linked to a female and the remains of that bond had made him almost undetectable.

  But he was here now, unconscious and completely undefended. The more Ur looked at the warrior, the more he liked the new vessel. He was a Blood Kindred and the fangs he sported were appealing. Also it appeared that this particular host had much more than health and a strong body to offer.

  A Council member, did they say? The HEAD of the entire Kindred High Council? How interesting…

  It might take a while to get such a body up and moving again—especially if there had been some damage to the brain or nervous system. But Ur had plenty of time. After all, the longer he waited, the less the Kindred would suspect that anything was amiss.

  With an unheard cackle of pure, malevolent glee, the demon let his essence sink into the unconscious warrior.

  He would bide his time and when he finally came forth, the Kindred wouldn’t know what hit them.

  Read on for a preview of Brides of the Kindred 11: Devoured, coming in summer of 2014…

  Devoured

  Chapter One

  “Are you sure it’s safe?” Tess looked around the Human/Kindred Relations building, or the HKR, as the people who worked there called it. One of those people happened to be her good friend, Di, but what she was suggesting made Tess awfully nervous.

  “Safe?” Di raised one silver eyebrow at her sardonically. “Sure, hon—a hell of a lot safer than you are down here in Tampa.”

  “But what do I do once I—” One of the massive Kindred warriors walked by and Tess dropped her voice to a whisper before continuing. “What do I do once I get up there?”

  “Hide, of course. Until it’s safe to come back down here and move to Hawaii or China or the Moon or wherever you can think of that Pierce won’t follow you.”

  Tess closed her eyes for a moment. Don’t bother running, Princess, Pierce’s voice sneered in her head. You’re mine and I never let go of what’s mine.

  “There’s no place he won’t follow me,” she said in a low voice. “No place he won’t find me.”

  “Correction, hon—there is one place he can’t and won’t find you because he can’t get up there. And that’s the place you’re headed.”

  “But—”

  “No ‘buts,’” Diara insisted. “My next tour of the Mother Ship leaves in fifteen minutes and it’s a big one—big enough that nobody’s going to notice if we come back with one less tourist dying to check out the Kindred way of life.”

  “But I don’t know anything about them,” Tess protested. “I’m not even registered for the draft.”

  The draft was an agreement the governments of the world had with the Kindred that allowed males of their race to call brides from Earth. Being something like ninety-nine percent male because of a genetic mutation—supposedly the same mutation that made them all over six foot six and hugely muscular—meant they were always short of women.

  All unmarried women of a certain age were supposed to be signed up for the draft but Tess wasn’t because technically, she was still married. That was because Pierce wouldn’t sign the divorce papers no matter how often she sent them over.

  Instead, he just kept coming over to her apartment and talking about how he’d changed and he wanted her back. Tess had been down that road before so she had refused. But now it seemed he was done asking. The last time she’d sent the divorce papers she came home to find…

  Tess shook her head. She didn’t want to think about what she’d found inside her apartment. Just remembering made her feel like she might cry or throw up. Poor Gus…

  “You don’t have to know anything about the Kindred except they’re good guys and they don’t beat and imprison their women,” Di said, interrupting her morbid thoughts. “Unlike certain ex-husbands I could name.”

  “He’s not technically my ex since he won’t sign the papers,” Tess pointed out.

  “You wanted him out of your life badly enough to cough up for a divorce lawyer when you could barely afford to pay rent,” Di pointed out. “Just because Pierce is being an asshole about it—like he is about everything—doesn’t mean he gets to win. As far as I’m concerned, you two are splitsville.”

  Tess smiled at her friend and pressed her hand.

  “Thanks, Di. You know, you’re the only friend I’ve ever had that could see through him. He can act so charming when he wants to—he even had my mom fooled, right up until the end.”

  “You mean when he refused to let you go see her in the hospital?” Di shook her head. “Yeah, I see through him all right. Bullshit is bullshit, no matter how you try and dress it up.”

  “Thanks.” Tess pressed her hand again and wiped away a stray tear. Even though her mom had been gone for well over a year, it still hurt to think of her. Hurt to think she had died alone because Pierce was too crazy jealous to let Tess go see her in time.

  She turned her head for a minute to try and get control and saw her reflection in the shiny smoked glass window to her right. A short, plump girl with long dark hair and big brown eyes stared back at her. I’m nothing special to look at, she thought, swiping at her eyes and taking a deep breath. I mean, sure I have a pretty face but it’s on a plus-sized body. What is it Pierce sees in me? Why won’t he leave me alone?

  “Oh, sorry, hon! I shouldn’t have said that about your mom.” Di looked genuinely distraught. “Me and my big mouth.”

  “No, no—I’m fine. Just a little nervous,” Tess protested, trying to smile. “I mean, I don’t even know where I’m going to stay once I get up there.”

  “I do,” Di said firmly. “I know the perfect place for you. You’ll blend right in and no one will be the wiser.”

  “But what if I get caught? I don’t want to get you in trouble.”

  “What trouble?” Di shrugged. “If anybody finds out we’ll just say you got lost from the tour and wound up spending the night. Nobody has to know how long you’re up there.”

  “But what if Pierce comes looking for me? What if he figures out I’m up there and he comes up with a tour to find me?”

  Di put a hand on her hip. “Do you have any idea how long people wait to get on one of these tours now that the Mother Ship is finally accessible? Years. And once their name comes up, they have to be approved by the senior tour director. Which just happens to be…”

  “You,” Tess finished for her with a little smile.

  “Me,” Di agreed, patting her neat cap of silvery hair. “So guess who is never going to get approved to go up there.”

  “What