Devoured

by Evangeline Anderson

  “But of all the Kindred, they are the ones who do not revere females. They don’t even worship the Goddess, do they?”

  “They worship only intelligence. Theirs is the religion of science and technology.” Truth sighed. “I don’t know how it’s even possible for one of them to dream share with a female at all. They have implants that allow them to circumvent all emotion, specifically to keep them from needing to bond. They—”

  “Wait a minute.” Garron held up a hand to stop him. “Go back. What did you say about the implants?”

  “That they keep the Dark Kindred from feeling. Anything, apparently. No joy, no sorrow, no anger—nothing.” Truth frowned. “Wait a minute, Brother. You’re not thinking—”

  “Why not?” Garron demanded. “We both know it’s emotion that brings the dr’gin to the surface. Emotion is what sets it free and allows the first transformation to occur. If I could deaden my feelings at will—every time I felt my dr’gin rising—my problem would be solved.”

  “But how will you get there? Zeaga Four is twenty thousand light years from Earth.”

  “Just because I’m not allowed aboard the Mother Ship doesn’t mean it can’t fold space for me,” Garron pointed out. “I just need a shuttle—I can borrow one from the HKR here in Asheville.”

  “You still haven’t been cleared to pilot one yet.”

  “Then talk to Commander Sylvan,” Garron said. “Have him clear me and get permission to fold space to Zeaga Four.”

  Truth frowned. “Commander Sylvan is very understanding but why would he go to so much trouble?”

  “Tell him that while I’m there I can see if I can find anything out about the male who is dream sharing with this Earth girl,” Garron said. “I won’t stir up trouble—I’ll just visit one of the medical barges orbiting the planet. But I might come back with some valuable information.”

  Truth nodded thoughtfully.

  “He may agree. I get the idea that his hands are tied by the Council so he can’t really send anyone from the Mother Ship. But you’re an independent agent—a transfer from another world who doesn’t really fall under any jurisdiction. You could easily gather information under the guise of getting help to control your dr’gin.”

  “Now you’re thinking!” Garron exclaimed. “Go talk to him, Truth. Right away if you can. Please, I can’t hold back the dr’gin much longer on my own. This could be the answer to all my problems.”

  “I hope so, Brother,” Truth said. “I truly do.” He frowned. “But what about your female? Zeaga Four is a dangerous place. Would you take her with you?”

  Garron frowned. “I do not like the idea of taking her into danger. I don’t wish to leave her but she might be safer here at the HKR building awaiting my return. If Commander Sylvan agrees to fold space for me, it shouldn’t take long to get to the medical barges around Zeaga Four and back again.”

  “You’ll have to decide what to do for yourself,” Truth said. “Wait a moment while I go find Commander Sylvan. I’ll Bespeak you with his answer.”

  “I’ll stay here in the HKR building,” Garron promised. “If all goes well, I’ll start for the Vega system today.”

  “I hope so. Truth out.” His brother’s image disappeared from the viewscreen just as Garron heard a soft knocking at the door.

  “Come,” he said.

  “Garron?” Tess poked her head around the door uncertainly. “Am I interrupting?”

  “Not at all. I just finished talking to my brother and we have a possible solution.” For the first time in days, Garron felt hopeful. “This could be it, Tess,” he said, taking her hands in his. “I could—” He stopped because something was obviously wrong. Her face was white and drawn and the bitter scent of sorrow and fear emanated from her. “Tess,” he murmured. “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s my friend, Di.” She took a deep breath, obviously trying to control her emotions.

  “What did she say?” Garron asked anxiously. He had only met the older female briefly but her loyalty and love for Tess had been clear.

  “She didn’t say anything.” Tess looked down at her feet, her long hair shielding her face like a curtain. “She…she’s in the hospital in the ICU.”

  “What?” Garron demanded. “What happened?”

  “Someone broke into her house and beat her…” Tess shivered. “Beat her with a baseball bat. That’s what they think it was, anyway. Whoever it was left her for…for dead. They don’t know if she’ll ever wake up again. It’s that bad.”

  Garron’s heart tightened in his chest at the hurt sound of her voice.

  “Tess,” he said, his voice coming out rough. “Lin’del…look at me.” He lifted her chin gently and pushed back her hair. Her lovely face was paper white and a single tear marked her cheek.

  “This is my fault,” she whispered. “We both know who did this. Garron, I have to go to her.”

  “No!” He cupped her cheek and looked at her anxiously. “Don’t you see, Tess? This is what he wants. She probably wouldn’t give him any information about where you’d gone so he found the perfect way to draw you back. The minute you step foot in the medical facility where your friend is being tended, he’ll have you. He’ll have both of us and, as you pointed out, he has the jurisdiction here.”

  “He won’t have you.” Tess lifted her chin. “I’ll go back alone. I need to be with Di.”

  “Is that what she would have wanted?” Garron demanded. “For you to put yourself straight back into his hands after all she’d risked to help you go free?”

  “No, but…” Her voice wavered. “She’s my best friend. I should be with her.”

  “And you will—if and when she wakes up. Right now all you could do would be to sit by her bedside and wait for him to drag you away from her,” Garron pointed out. “Don’t forget, Tess—I was dream sharing with you. I saw how manipulative he can be. He took you out of the HKR building in Tampa without anyone saying a thing about it—all because he molded the situation to look like what he wanted.”

  “Pierce is good at that,” she admitted reluctantly.

  “Don’t put yourself back in his power. Di wouldn’t have wanted that.” Garron sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Look, I have a possible solution to my problem. If you can just bear with me until I can get it fixed, then we can concentrate on finding a way to get you to your friend’s bedside without that bastard coming after you.”

  “Oh?” She brushed a tear off her cheek. “What are you going to do?”

  “If all goes well, I think I know of a place that can help me,” Garron said. “It will mean traveling to the fringes of a very dangerous planet but as long as we follow convention and stay off the planet’s surface, we should be fine.”

  Tess frowned. “We?”

  “Yes.” He nodded grimly. Before he’d been thinking of leaving her behind—just for a day or two under the watchful eyes of the Kindred stationed in Asheville. Now, however, her ex-mate had proven himself to be more than abusive—he was unquestionably murderous. Ruthlessly willing to do anything he had to in order to get Tess back. The only way to make sure she was completely safe was to take her with him—even if it meant going into danger. “Yes,” he said again, looking into her eyes. “I’m not taking any chances with you, lin’del. You’re going to come with me.”

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  It was the third time Tess had ridden in one of the Kindred shuttles that moved back and forth between Earth and the huge Mother Ship which orbited the moon, but this was by far the most comfortable journey. The ranking Kindred officer at the Asheville HKR had given them a long range shuttle since they intended to fold space. It was roomier and more luxurious than either the civilian transport she’d gone up to the Mother Ship in the first place or the small two person craft she’d been brought back down in.

  But the comfortable—albeit much too large—flight chair she was strapped into and all the complicated looking instruments on the driver’s side of the craft couldn’t hold her
attention for long. As Garron manipulated the ship up and out of Earth’s atmosphere, all she could think of was Di.

  Oh, Di, I’m so sorry. So sorry I put you in harm’s way!

  She could picture the scene in her mind—Pierce shouting and raging at first, demanding answers which her friend refused to give. Then his voice would drop to that dangerous, quiet tone—the almost whisper she knew meant a particularly bad beating was on the way.

  She could imagine him standing over Di holding a bloody baseball bat.

  “Where’s my wife, you whore? Where did you send her? Answer me or so help me God…”

  “Tess, stop.” A big warm hand on her knee drew her attention to Garron.

  “What?” She looked at him and realized he looked blurry. Then something warm and wet rolled down her cheek and she understood why. “Stop what?” she said again, brushing the tears from her eyes.

  “Stop torturing yourself,” he said softly. “Di wouldn’t have wanted it.”

  “I can’t help it,” she admitted in a low voice. “I just keep picturing it over and over and there’s nothing I can do—”

  “I can.” He looked at her intently. “I promise you this, Tess—there will be a reckoning. For your friend. For all the pain and torment he inflicted on you.” His eyes flashed suddenly in the dim cabin. “When we come back to Earth, I will see that he pays—over and over.”

  “No, Garron,” she protested. “You don’t have to—”

  “I want to. I must.” His voice was a low growl. “I will not call you ‘mine’ because I know how you feel about the idea of being claimed or owned. But I must and will protect and avenge you.”

  “I…” Tess didn’t know what to say. Knowing he felt so strongly about her left her nearly speechless. And though he wasn’t claiming her in so many words, he certainly was with his actions. His…how would it feel to be his? To be Garron’s? she mused. The idea gave her a flutter in her stomach because somehow she knew if she were to belong to him, he would also belong to her.

  “As for your ex-mate,” he went on. “For now, all you can do now is to keep safe and stay far away from him. Your friend would have wanted that.”

  “Well…” Tess tried to laugh but it came out as a broken little sob. “You’re certainly taking me far away. How far did you say? Ten thousand light years?”

  “Twenty,” Garron said grimly. “But the journey will be nearly instantaneous. We’re going to fold space—or rather, the Mother Ship will fold it for us.”

  “Okay, as long as we don’t come back home and everyone is dead from old age.”

  “No.” He shook his head. “That would be if we were traveling at or just below light speed.”

  “And everyone back on Earth would have aged much faster than us, right?” Tess asked.

  “Exactly. That is one reason why direct trajectory space travel is useless. The distances between the different stars and systems are so vast that even going at such a tremendous rate of speed, it would take us years to reach the nearest star. That’s why the Kindred developed the space folding technology—they never would have been able to find genetic trade partners if they were limited to their own solar system or even their own galaxy.”

  Tess nodded. “Okay, but—”

  Just then there was a small dinging noise which seemed to be coming from the large flat screen at the front of the instrument panel.

  “Incoming call,” Garron explained. “Probably from Truth.” He manipulated one of the controls and the viewscreen flickered to life. The image on its flat surface was the tall, blond Kindred who Garron had taken her to in the first place when he caught her in the Pairing House.

  “Garron,” he said, nodding shortly.

  “Commander Sylvan.” Garron returned the nod. “I thank you for facilitating this trip.”

  “You’re more than welcome, Garron, but I expect you to live up to your part of the bargain,” the blond Kindred said. “It has been years since there has been any contact between those of us aboard the Mother Ship and the Dark Kindred. Gather any information you can about their ways and practices.”

  “I will do my utmost,” Garron promised gravely. “Is anything known about which male the human girl is dream sharing with? Should I try to get specific information about him?”

  “All she seems to know is that he has one enhanced eye,” Sylvan said. “No names or any other specifics were apparent in her dream—at least, none that she told us.”

  Garron frowned. “It isn’t much to go on.”

  “I know. Which is why I mainly just want an overview. Now if you happen to run across more specific information, I would greatly appreciate it. Anything we could use to put the girl’s father’s mind at ease would be valuable.”

  “I’ll try.” Garron sounded uncertain. “But if what I’ve heard about the Dark Kindred is true, there isn’t much about them that would put anyone at ease.”

  “Zeaga Four is a grim and dangerous place,” Sylvan admitted. He frowned. “Which begs the question, why are you bringing your female with you there?”

  “Because as dangerous as Zeaga Four is, she is still safer with me,” Garron said. “Her ex-mate is intent on finding her. He is violent and abusive. I won’t leave her on the same planet as him while I fly off to another system.” His eyes glowed in the dimness of the cockpit.

  “All right. All right.” Sylvan held up his hands in a calming gesture. “I trust in your good judgment and your ability to take care of your female. And I’m certain she trusts you as well.”

  “I do,” Tess put in. She had been listening quietly up until now but it seemed like she had to say something. “I trust Garron completely.”

  “That’s good.” Sylvan nodded. “Then I take it the two of you have made up the differences you were having when Garron first brought you to me?”

  Tess thought of the night before, of Garron’s big hand between her thighs and his deep voice murmuring that he wanted to give her pleasure, that he wanted to hear her moan…

  “Yes.” Her voice came out in an embarrassed squeak and she felt her cheeks getting hot. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Yes, absolutely.”

  Sylvan smiled, showing two sets of short, sharp, double fangs.

  “That’s good. And now, before the Mother Ship folds space for you, I have someone else who wants to talk to you.”

  He stepped back and Becca came onscreen along with a tall Kindred with very short black hair. He looked a little like Garron in the face but his eyes were a pale gray instead of turquoise.

  “Hello, Truth,” Garron said, nodding at him. The other male nodded back but it was Becca who spoke.

  “Tess! It’s so good to see you again! I just wanted to say hi before you went flying off.”

  “That was nice of you.” Tess smiled at her. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to stay and get to know you better the other day.”

  “That was my fault,” Garron said shortly.

  “No it wasn’t,” Tess put a hand on his leg and turned back to Becca. “I know I’m not allowed aboard the Mother Ship but I hope you guys don’t think I’m some kind of terrorist or something.”

  “Of course not.” Becca made a shooing gesture. “And I don’t think you’ll be banned forever. Once you and Garron get bonded, they’ll have to let you come back aboard.”

  “Um…bonded?” Tess asked, looking at Garron. His eyes were glowing again and his cheeks had gone red.

  “Rebecca, I believe you’re overstepping,” Truth said quietly. “I do not believe that Garron and Tess have spoken of bonding yet.”

  “Oops!” Becca put a hand to her mouth. “I’m sorry! The two of you just look so cozy and right together. I just assumed…” She shook her head. “But I shouldn’t have. Sorry if I made things awkward.”

  “You didn’t,” Tess assured her although she was dying to find out exactly what “bonding” entailed now. Was it a Kindred thing? Though the interstellar warriors had been in orbit around the moon and calling brides from Ea
rth for years now, there was still a lot of secrecy around the actual process of becoming a Kindred bride. It was treated as something that was strictly on a need-to-know basis. And since she’d been married to Pierce and hadn’t even been registered in the draft, she certainly hadn’t needed to know. Until now.

  “Be careful on Zeaga Four,” Truth said, obviously changing the subject.

  “We’ll be fine,” Garron assured him. “We’re only going to visit one of the medical barges, after all. But since the Dark Kindred visit the barges regularly for enhancements, we should still be able to get plenty of information about their habits and practices.”

  “Just don’t let Tess out of your sight,” Truth warned. “The Enhanced Ones do not revere females as they should.”

  “I know, Brother. We must go now—I see the rift opening.” Garron nodded at the viewing area at the front of the ship which was located where a windshield would be in a car.

  Tess let her eyes follow his and what she saw nearly took her breath away. There was a huge gash in space—a violent, blood-red tear with a pitch black center like a malevolent eye.

  “Are…are we going into that?” she asked, pointing to it.

  “Looks really freaky, doesn’t it?” Becca asked sympathetically. “But don’t worry, it’s just the fold in space. It feels a little weird going through it but it doesn’t do any damage. Uh, unless you’re pregnant…” She let the last word hang in the air like a question.

  Tess shook her head quickly, feeling her cheeks get hot again.

  “Uh, no. Nope, no chance,” she assured Becca quickly.

  “Well, I didn’t think so since you had no idea what bonding was. But still…” Becca looked off-screen for a moment. “Okay, Sylvan is telling us to wrap it up. Folding space takes a massive amount of energy so you guys need to get going.”

  “Approaching the rift now.” Garron was already manipulating the controls.