Brides of the Kindred Volume One Read online

  “Umm.” Kat really didn’t know how to answer that. But the way they spoke seemed strange. Was her convo-pillar not working? “I’m Kat O’Conner and I’m new to Twin Moons,” she said, smiling uncertainly at both of them. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

  “Already we have seen you,” Large Tasty said, nodding pleasantly.

  “You have?” Kat frowned. “When?”

  “In the light of morning, as the sun rose up, the day to greet,” his brother answered for him. “We rose our eyes to the window and see a star wrapped in shadows.”

  “Huh?” Okay, her convo-pillar definitely wasn’t doing its job—this conversation was becoming more and more incomprehensible but Kat didn’t know how to end it.

  “It was you, my lady,” the light twin, or Large, as she was beginning to think of him said. “Your sheet like a cobweb to cover the curves of a goddess.”

  Suddenly, Kat got it. Oh no! No wonder they look familiar—they were two of the guys who waved at me this morning when I was only wearing a sheet. She began to feel intensely uncomfortable and not just because of what Large and Rigid were talking about. The strange prickling sensation she’d had earlier in her nipples and pussy was back and this time it was multiplied.

  Shifting uncomfortably, she blurted, “Well, I’m glad you enjoyed the show but I didn’t do it on purpose. I mean, I didn’t know you could see through the sheet with the sun shining on me that way.”

  Large frowned but then nodded, as though understanding her. “But though you showing curves of luscious tastiness without intention, still the seeing of an elite was a thing more beautiful than skies aflame by burning sun.”

  Clearly it was a compliment so Kat nodded politely and murmured a soft, “Thank you.” She really wanted to get away from this embarrassing predicament and find out what was going on with her tingling body parts, but when she turned to leave, Rigid took her hand.

  “The Goddess has blessed you with enough delicious to burn a male with desire,” he rumbled, his green eyes blazing into hers. “Good thing, come with us. Please enjoy evening entertainment of our tongues on every scrumptious curve.”

  “Huh?” Kat tried to pull away but the dark twin was gripping her hand too tightly and refused to let go. “Look,” she said carefully. “I don’t think we understand each other very well, but I am not going to have sex with you and your brother. Is that clear?”

  “Fine lady.” The light twin took her other hand and stared earnestly into her eyes. “Forgive this brother of mine. His tongue is rough like a boot to the rear. His meaning is this—you go with us and discover the joys of meat?”

  “Meat?” Kat said doubtfully. Maybe they were just asking her out to eat. Not that she wanted to go anywhere with this weird tingling sensation going on in the most sensitive parts of her body. Still, she felt she ought to be polite. “Uh, well, I do enjoy meat. The only thing I’ve had to eat so far on Twin Moons is fruit.”

  “Bonding fruit.” Suddenly Rigid pulled her close and pressed his face to her neck. Kat tried to push him away but he held her tight, inhaling deeply. To her dismay, the heated lump she felt pressed against her thigh proved that he really lived up to his name.

  “Hey, let me go!” she gasped, pushing at his broad chest. It reminded her of the way Deep had scented her when they first met but this was different—strange. She couldn’t explain it but it felt utterly and completely wrong to have someone who wasn’t Deep or Lock touching her. Especially this intimately.

  “Hands off, you son of a bitch,” a deep, familiar voice behind her growled. “This female is spoken for.”

  “Deep?” Kat turned her head and saw him standing there, his black eyes blazing with barely controlled fury. “Oh, thank God! Help me—they won’t let me go!”

  “That’s because you just agreed to spend the night with them, teasing their cocks with your talented tongue.”

  “I said what?” Kat gasped as Deep pulled her away from the very irritated Rigid. “I did not! They just asked me if I liked eating meat and I said that yes, I did enjoy it.”

  “Is that what you heard them say?” Deep frowned as he hustled her away through the crowd.

  “Well, not in so many words,” Kat said, trying to keep up with him. “I mean, it was more like, uh…” She tried to think of exactly how Large had put it. “Something about discovering the joys of meat.”

  Deep raised one black eyebrow at her as he dragged her along. “You mean the pleasures of the flesh?”

  “Oh my God!” Kat shook her head. “But I had no idea that was what they meant. Look, could you please slow down? I—” She stopped abruptly as she tripped over someone’s foot and nearly fell. Only Deep’s grip on her hand saved her, but her stumble pushed them both into a silvery fountain which was spouting some kind of pale green alcoholic beverage. Kat only got a few drops on her dress but the entire front of Deep’s shirt was thoroughly drenched.

  Cursing, he straightened up and plucked at the sodden mess. He was wearing the same kind of shirt Kat had found in the chest that morning and the tiny little feather designs that decorated the front of it dripped with alcohol.

  “I’m sorry,” Kat said. “I didn’t mean to trip but if you hadn’t been dragging me along so fast—”

  “Come on.” Grabbing her hand, he began pulling her through the crowd again. Kat expected that he was taking her back to Lock but she saw no sign of the light twin as they pushed through the people milling around the large room.

  “Where are we going?” she demanded when Deep started pulling her up a broad spiral staircase that led to the upper levels.

  “Away from unmated males for one thing,” he snarled, throwing a glance at her over his broad shoulder. “You smell entirely too luscious for your own good.”

  “I do?” Kat wanted to stop and sniff herself but she wasn’t at all sure that she would be able to smell what was clearly so apparent to Deep’s sensitive Kindred nose. She concentrated on climbing the spiral staircase which was beginning to seem never ending. Deep had already pulled her past several upper levels and showed no signs of stopping. With each step she felt more and more sensitive and irritated between her thighs and she was beginning to have the urgent feeling that she needed to go somewhere private and do something about it, even though she wasn’t entirely sure what she could do. “How…how much further are we going?” she asked, trying not to sound out of breath.

  Deep ignored her breathless question. “How did you even understand enough of the language to talk to those two without translation bacteria?” he demanded in a low voice, looking back at her.

  “Piper gave me a convo-pillar,” Kat gasped. His pace was so relentless it was like being on the stairclimber at the gym set on maximum. “She…she had one too but hers worked… better than mine. I could…could barely understand what they were saying.”

  “A convo-pillar?” He threw a glance over his shoulder. “You know those are illegal on most Kindred colonies?”

  “No, of course I didn’t.” Kat felt a stab of panic. “Why? Do they cause some kind of disease or infection?”

  Deep barked out a laugh. “Nothing like that. But they’re notoriously unreliable. The Kindred High Council determined they cause more problems than they solve.” He pulled her higher and higher until finally the never ending staircase came to an abrupt halt in a narrow hallway. At the end of it was a small, plain wooden door. “In here,” he growled, pulling Kat through it unceremoniously.

  It turned out to be another restroom but one far less elaborate than the ladies room down in the main gallery. There were a few sinks with small 3-D viewers mounted above them and some blowers that she assumed must be for drying hands. And, to her intense relief, she could see a row of small, round curtained-off areas which must be the Twin Moons equivalent of bathroom stalls. The strange sensations in her body had increased until she was dying for some private time.

  “Um,” she said, edging toward the row of round curtains. “I had a lot to drink earlier so I’