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  And then Olivia ruined it by tapping the big male on the shoulder and breaking their kiss.

  “Detective Rast,” she said, frowning. “Is that you? What are you doing?”

  The male pulled away from Nadiah and as quickly as the luck kiss had begun, it was over.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Olivia repeated. “Why are you even at my sister’s wedding?”

  “I don’t know.” He scowled at Olivia in a very unfriendly way. “I just came up here to interview Commander Sylvan and Commander Baird. But before I knew it, I was being forced into this ridiculous get-up and pushed into the damn wedding.”

  “This ‘ridiculous get-up’ happens to be the native costume of my planet,” Sylvan said mildly, as he and Sophie joined the conversation. “Though I don’t know why you’re wearing it instead of my good friend, Merrik, who was supposed to be here to perform the kiss.”

  “I don’t know either,” the big male protested. “Ask that guy.” He pointed at Deep, who was standing with Lock and Kat at the far end of the sacred grove, talking to some of the other wedding guests. “He’s the one who made me wear a fur skirt and these damn matching boots. And he’s the one who told me to just stand here until the, uh, the ‘luck kiss’ thing. Which I guess is what we just did?” He turned to Nadiah, one eyebrow arched in question.

  Nadia had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. “Yes, that was the luck kiss. But…are you saying you’re not a Kindred?”

  “He’s human,” Sylvan assured her. Then seeing the disappointed look in her eyes, he put a hand on Nadiah’s shoulder comfortingly. “Sorry, daughter of my mother’s sister.”

  “Oh, this is all my fault.” Sophie bit her lip. “I’m so sorry, Detective Rast. I knew you were coming up here today but then it just completely slipped my mind. Deep and Lock must have thought you were Sylvan’s old friend who was supposed to come in time for the ceremony.”

  “Don’t worry, Talana, there’s no real harm done.” Sylvan put an arm around his new bride and hugged her consolingly. “After all, even though he wasn’t meant to be in the ceremony, Detective Rast certainly did credit to our traditions.”

  “I’ll say.” Olivia laughed. “After a kiss like that, there’s no way you could have anything but good luck in your marriage.”

  The tall male’s cheeks went dark red with embarrassment but he held his head high. “About that,” he said to Nadiah in a low voice. “I’m sorry. I don’t know…I’m not sure what came over me. If I hurt you—”

  “You didn’t,” she said quickly, crossing her arms over her chest. A human. He’s just a human—not a Kindred at all. But how is that possible? I was so sure. So sure…

  Detective Rast cleared his throat. “All right then. Good.” He turned away from her to face Sylvan. “I can see it’s your wedding day and you’re somewhat, ah, preoccupied, but I still have a few questions I’d like to ask about Lauren. I know you believe her to be safe but she’s still missing and her mother is very upset.”

  “Of course she is,” Baird rumbled, coming up to put an arm around Olivia. “But why don’t you let me handle the questions, Detective? I’ll be happy to tell you anything I can—you’ll have full Kindred cooperation.”

  “I’ll come with you and tell you everything I can too,” Olivia offered. “We want to see Lauren get home safely as much as you do.”

  At the mention of the missing girl’s name, Nadiah began to have a strange feeling. It started as a tingling in her fingertips and spread up her arms to encompass her entire head and face. Oh my Goddess…what is it? What’s wrong? The others were still talking about Lauren and every time they mentioned her name, the feeling grew stronger. Then Nadiah remembered something her grandmamam had told her when she came of age.

  ‘You may have an al’lei my child,’ she’d said when she was explaining about the manifestation of Nadiah’s powers. ‘A waking dream. They’re very rare but not unheard of among those with the Sight. If an al’lei comes upon you, don’t try to fight it. Let the power flow through you. Speak the words that come to you and hold nothing back.’

  Lauren couldn’t have held back if she wanted to. A vision rose before her eyes, blotting out the sacred grove and everyone in it. Suddenly she saw a narrow, crooked alley wrapped in violet shadows. A girl was there, a human girl with smooth, light brown skin and warm amber eyes and she was following another female who was leading her…leading her…

  “Into danger,” Nadiah heard herself speak the words aloud but somehow the voice that came from her throat was not her own. It was deeper and filled with authority. It tolled like a bell in the sacred grove. All conversation stopped and every eye was on her but she couldn’t stop.

  “I see her,” she went on in the strange, sonorous voice. “Lauren—the missing one. The chosen of the Scourge. She with the star between her breasts. He has taken her to O’ah where the purple darkness never recedes.”

  “What…Nadiah, what are you saying?” She heard Sophie ask in a small, trembling voice. “Why are you talking like that?”

  Nadiah couldn’t answer—the al’lei wasn’t over yet. “He has tried to safeguard her but another has deceived her,” she went on, still seeing Lauren before her eyes. “She is in danger…so much danger. If he does not return to her soon it will be too late. Too late…too late…” The vision faded as suddenly as it had come, leaving her feeling weak and lightheaded. “Goddess!” she whispered in her own voice. The world went gray and swam around her and then her knees gave out and she collapsed.

  Strong arms caught her and someone held her protectively. “Are you all right, uh…”

  “Nadiah,” Sophie said. “Her name is Nadiah.”

  “Are you all right, Nadiah?” the deep voice repeated.

  Her eyes fluttered open and she saw that the human called Rast was holding her. He was looking down at her anxiously, a worried expression in his truegreen eyes.

  No, not truegreen, Nadiah reminded herself with a spasm of regret. Just green. He looks Kindred but he isn’t, not really. And despite the intense heat she’d felt from him during the luck kiss, only a Kindred warrior would be able to challenge her blood bond.

  “What happened?” she asked weakly. The events of the past minute were strangely fuzzy in her mind.

  “That’s what we’d like to know,” Olivia said.

  “You started speaking in a weird voice and then you fainted,” Sophie told her. “You were talking about Lauren. Saying she was in danger.”

  “Omigoddess!” Suddenly the vision rushed back. Nadiah put a hand to her head. “I saw her, Sophie! I saw Lauren. She was wearing blue and red and she was following a female who was leading her into danger.”

  “Danger? What kind of danger?” The human was staring down at her with a disbelieving frown on his face. “Are you trying to say you’re psychic or some kind of bullshit like that?”

  Nadiah frowned back. “I have the Sight,” she said stiffly. “Although it’s never manifested quite so strongly before.”

  He arched an eyebrow at her incredulously. “And you expect us to believe you suddenly saw Lauren, wherever she is?”

  “I did see her.” Nadiah struggled to get out of his arms. “Don’t look at me like that. And put me down.”

  “With pleasure.” He sat her on her feet and crossed his arms over his broad, bare chest. “You should know something, lady—I worked long enough at the PD to see this kind of thing a lot. People lose a kid and they get desperate. Desperate enough to call in some fake who claims to be able to locate their child through ‘astral projection’ or some shit like that. But you know what? It never pans out. It just gives them false hope.”

  “She’s not trying to give you any ‘false hope.’” Sophie put herself between Nadiah and the human detective and glared at him angrily. “She’s just telling you what she saw. Nadiah has a gift.”

  “She saw you coming,” Olivia put in, joining ranks with her twin sister. “She even knew the color of your eyes. Although