Bonded by Accident Read online

  I know because I dreamed it… Suddenly Brandi realized where she’d seen the big Kindred before and why she kept feeling like she knew him.

  I saw him in my dreams, she remembered, feeling a shock almost as great as when Emmie had run to Slade. That’s why I felt like I knew him—I dreamed about him for a long time. Months and months…But he was in a dark hole—a place with bars in the windows.

  How could she have forgotten such vivid dreams and why was she remembering them now? Brandi had no answer to either question—she only knew she was completely and thoroughly freaked out by the revelation that she had been dreaming of the big Kindred for months before she met him.

  “I dreamed of you too, you know,” she suddenly heard his rough voice say in her head. “Only I thought you were a Pairing Puppet.”

  “What are you doing?” Brandi put a hand to her temple. “Don’t…don’t do that.”’

  “Sorry,” he growled. “Forgot you don’t like it when I use our link.”

  “What link?” Brandi demanded. “How are you in my head?”

  “What do you mean, Mommy?” Emmie was still snuggled contentedly in the crook of one of Slade’s massive arms. “What head? What’s going on?”

  “Nothing sweetpea,” Brandi said quickly. “Come back to mommy now and leave the uh, nice man alone.”

  “The Daddy-man,” Emmie corrected her firmly. “He’s tall like a tree and he gots one green eye and one yellow eye, just like in my dreams.”

  “You have pretty eyes yourself, little one,” Slade remarked, smiling at her. “Looks to me like you got your mother’s eyes.”

  “Yup, I got my mommy’s eyes but my daddy’s hair,” Emmie informed him. Her face fell. “But then daddy had to go away. I heard Grannie Ivy-Mae say he got sent down the river. Do you know what river that is? I looked and looked for it but I can never find it.”

  Brandi felt her cheeks flushing hot with embarrassment. Great, as if she hadn’t already been shamed enough in front of him, now the huge, imposing Kindred would know that her ex was in prison. Just fabulous.

  Slade frowned.

  “No, I’m sorry little one—I don’t know what river that would be. Do you miss your father?”

  “Lots,” Emmie confided. Then she brightened. “But now you’re here, Daddy-man! You came to be my second daddy, right?”

  “Well…” Slade began, looking conflicted.

  “I think that’s enough, Emmie,” Brandi said, reaching for her again. “Leave the nice man alone and come back to mommy.”

  “Okay,” Emmie agreed. But first she threw her arms around Slade’s neck again and gave him another smacking, enthusiastic kiss. “Bye, Daddy-man,” she said as Brandi lifted her down and set her on the grassy ground.

  “Go play a minute, okay?” she told Emmie. “Just stay right beside the trailer—don’t go too far.” She pointed a finger at her daughter. “And don’t go into the woods.”

  This being Florida, there was a tangled green jungle of creepers, bushes and trees hanging with curtains of Spanish Moss just a few feet from the end of the trailer park. Brandi was always wary of letting her daughter play anywhere near that mess—there could be snakes and God-alone-knew what else out there. Several of the neighbors had lost small dogs and there were rumors of a pond with gators farther back in the swampy tangle.

  “Okay.” Emmie wandered off but not too far—not exactly out of ear-shot, Brandi noticed, frowning. Picking up a stick, she began to poke at the small, muddy stream that flowed out of the overgrown forest. Clearly her daughter wanted to hear the “grown-up” things she and Slade might say to each other.

  Turning back to the big Kindred she glared up at him.

  “What are you doing here?” she hissed in a low voice. “You shouldn’t be here! How did you even find me?”

  “Followed my nose,” Slade growled.

  “What? What does that mean?” she demanded.

  Wordlessly, he pulled something small and pink out of his trouser pocket.

  With horror, Brandi recognized the lacy pink panties she’d been wearing the day before on her trip to the Mother Ship.

  “How dare you!” She made a grab for the panties but the big Kindred pushed them back down into his pocket.

  “Don’t think so. I might need to find you again.”

  “Why?” Brandi demanded. “Because you’re angry with me? I’m sorry, all right. I didn’t mean to…mean to…”

  She trailed off, looking behind her to see that Emmie was watching with wide eyes, completely engrossed in what she and Slade were saying.

  “Emmie, go play!” she insisted.

  “Yes, Mommy.” Her daughter moved about half a foot further away, still clearly listening.

  “I know you don’t like it but if you want to keep our conversation from your little one, we’re going to have to use the link,” Slade said in her head.

  “I…I don’t even know how,” Brandi protested.

  “Like this—just think to me. I’ll hear the thoughts you send. I even hear the ones you don’t send,” he added dryly. “You’re really a projector.”

  “I don’t know what that means,” Brandi sent back hesitantly.

  “Means you end your thoughts really far. See—you’re getting it now,” he rumbled in her head. His mental voice, Brandi thought, was every bit as deep and rough as his actual voice.

  “Yeah, mental voices mimic physical voices—or so I’ve heard. I’ve never been bonded before. Didn’t expect to be either,” Slade sent. Clearly he had caught her random thought, though she hadn’t even sent it to him on purpose.

  “Sorry about that. I told you—you’re a projector.”

  “Stop doing that!” Brandi exclaimed. “Stop…commenting on my thoughts and explain why you’re here.”

  “I’m here because, like it or not, we’re fucking bonded,” he growled. “And we need to talk about it.”

  “I don’t even know what that means,” Brandi snapped. “And I don’t want to, either! I just want you to leave me alone.”

  “Hey, you started this, sweetheart. Remember?” His mismatched eyes were hard as he glared down at her. “I didn’t want to be bonded to anybody either. But you can’t run from this and you can’t hide from it. We’re bonded—at the very least I need to know your name. You know mine,” he pointed out.

  “I’m Brandi—not that it’s any of your business,” Brandi sent stiffly.

  She knew it was probably wrong to be rude to the big Kindred but she couldn’t help it. She was very conscious of what a stupid thing she’d done yesterday which had apparently affected him too and linked the two of them together in some way. The fact that she’s messed up both their lives made her feel guilty, which put her on the defensive, which made her angry.

  “I’m already late for work—I don’t have time for this right now,” she told him.

  Slade raised his eyebrows.

  “From what I saw when I walked up, you’re not going anywhere, sweetheart. Not in that broken-down vehicle, anyway.” He jerked his head at her ancient Chevy which still had tendrils of smoke seeping out from under its hood.

  “It’s fine,” Brandi lied. “It just needs a little tune up and it’ll be right as rain.”

  “I don’t know all the Earth idioms yet but unless ‘right as rain’ means broken all to hell, I’m afraid you’re wrong. Why don’t you let me take a look at it?”

  Without waiting for a reply, Slade walked over and lifted the hood, finding the hood-latch easily and raising the heavy metal covering as though it was light as a feather, although Brandi always had to struggle with it.

  “Hey,” she protested, forgetting to use the annoying mental link as she followed him. “What do you think you’re doing? What do you know about Earth machines anyway? Are you some kind of mechanic?”

  “No, I was a fighter in the Blood Circuit,” he said shortly. “But I’ve always been good with my hands.” He winked at her and one corner of his stern mouth curled up into a grin. “Guess