She’d been trying to avoid them ever since their last joining—the one she’d agreed to in order to find her friend Sophie Waterhouse, who had been kidnapped by the Scourge. The evil race of red-eyed, gray-skinned bastards had attacked Earth a few years ago. Only the intervention of the Kindred warriors—a race of genetic traders from beyond the stars—had saved Kat’s home planet.
The Scourge had some kind of prophesy involving an Earth girl that they would stop at nothing to fulfill. At first they’d believed that Sophie’s sister, Olivia was their intended target. Then they centered on Sophie. Kat didn’t know who was going to be taken next, she was just glad that her friends were safe.
And speaking of Sophie and Liv, where were they? So far Kat had been focusing on her own still body, but now she looked around—if you could look without a head to turn or eyes to see with, that was. God, this was so freaking weird. She wondered again if she was dead. If so, wherever she was didn’t look much like her idea of Heaven.
The full-figured form which she recognized as her own was lying on one of the floating stretchers the Kindred kept for transporting the sick or wounded. The stretcher itself had been crammed into the back of a space shuttle and there was someone sitting beside her, holding her limp white hand. But it wasn’t Sophie or Liv.
Lock, she thought with dismay, watching the large male who was carefully cupping her hand in his. And sitting in the front of the shuttle, at the controls, was his brother, Deep.
Though they were twins, it was easy to tell the brothers apart. Twin Kindred always came in diametrically opposing pairs of light and dark.
The light twin, Lock, had sandy blond hair and eyes the color of melted chocolate. He also had a more optimistic view of life in general than his brother. Of the two of them, Kat found him much easier to tolerate. He was nicer than Deep, for one thing, and she could actually have a conversation with him that didn’t turn into an argument. His feelings were easier to deal with, too. Though Lock’s desire for her was loud inside her head, it was nothing like the deafening blast of lust she felt from his brother whenever he got too close.
Deep, the dark twin, had hair so black it almost had blue highlights and eyes the color of a night without stars. They seemed to burn when they looked at her, making Kat feel naked and vulnerable—feelings she didn’t care for a bit. She had enough body issues from having been plus-sized her entire life without an irritating alien male adding to them, thank-you-very-much. The big warrior had rubbed her the wrong way from the moment she’d met him—both literally and figuratively, since he couldn’t seem to keep his hands to himself when the three of them did a joining.
Of the brothers, Lock was shorter by about an inch. But since both of them were over six foot six and extremely muscular, it didn’t make much difference. They were both huge as far as Kat was concerned—physically, and emotionally.
She should know—she’d had the two of them tramping around inside her head for the better part of a month.
The constant tension of two other people’s powerful emotions churning inside her was incredibly tiring and the headache she’d gotten from their joining was beyond painful. Lately she’d been feeling like she couldn’t take it anymore. Not that she would ever commit suicide—Kat was a fighter and her grandma hadn’t raised her to quit. But the thought of hijacking one of the Kindred shuttles and folding space to put a couple of galaxies between herself and the annoying pair had begun to seem more and more attractive.
The only problem was, she didn’t know how to fly a shuttle and she couldn’t fold space without the help of the special Kindred technology. Besides, where would she go? Sophie had recently visited Tranq Prime, one of the other worlds the Kindred had initiated a genetic trade with, and she hadn’t liked it a bit. She’d come back with stories of roach pudding and clothes that were alive and inclined to play practical jokes that weren’t funny. Not to mention extremely snooty natives—at least the ones Sophie had met. No, Kat had no wish to visit Tranq Prime.
She didn’t want to go to Rageron either—a savage world filled with blue jungles and vicious predators—which was another Kindred trade planet. And as for Twin Moons—the home planet of Deep and Lock—she definitely didn’t want to go there. Because that was exactly where the twin warriors wanted to take her. Earlier, on the Kindred Mother ship, she’d caught a few snatches of thought from them that indicated they were homeward bound—and they wanted her to come with them.
Not on your life! Kat thought, watching from above as Lock held her hand and Deep steered the shuttle through the blackness of space. Once they got me there, I’d never get away from them. Talk about having the home field advantage!
But where exactly were they taking her now? As if in answer to her question, Lock spoke at last.
“Are we almost there, Brother? I fear her pulse is weaker than it was.”
“Going as fast as I can,” Deep growled, throwing an irked glance over his shoulder at his twin. “We just passed through the fold. Home should be just ahead.”
“Well, go faster.” Lock’s voice was urgent. “My touch doesn’t seem to be stabilizing her anymore. What if we lose her before we land?”
“We’re not going to lose her. We can’t—she isn’t ours to lose.” Deep spoke in a lazy drawl but his broad shoulders were bunched with tension as he hunched over the controls.
“I wish you’d stop pretending you don’t care.” Lock stroked Kat’s hand. “Maybe if you’d let her know how you really feel instead of always putting up a wall—”
“There it is.” Despite his earlier sarcasm, Deep sounded relieved. He pointed to the viewscreen where a round gold and green orb floated like a Christmas ornament in the blackness of space. “Twin Moons, dead ahead. We’re almost home, Brother.”
Twin Moons? No! Kat was aghast. How had she gotten on board a shuttle with these two and why had they been allowed to take her back to their home world? Where were Liv and Sophie when she needed them? The last thing she remembered was talking to her two best friends before everything went black. And now I wake up dead, on my way to the last place I ever wanted to go? Great, just great.
Kat didn’t know how she’d gotten into this mess but somebody was going to answer for it. Just as soon as she found out if she was really dead or only sleeping, that was.
As she had the last thought, her vision began to waver.
“Deep—hurry!” she heard Lock say as though from a great distance. “I can’t feel her pulse any more!”
“Maximum drive engaged. It’s not safe this close to the planetary atmosphere but what the hell,” Deep growled. The tiny green and gold orb began to grow in size, filling the viewscreen with a dizzying suddenness.
Kat’s strange, otherworldly vision was growing dimmer, but she could still hear what was going on.
A speaker crackled to life and an alien voice spoke loudly in the small cabin. It wasn’t speaking English—of that she was sure. But somehow she could understand it anyway. “Unidentified Kindred shuttle, this is Control. Be advised that your approach exceeds upper limits of safe velocity. Please throttle down at once.”
“No can do, Control,” Deep responded in the same language, his big hands tightening on the steering yoke. “We have a sick female here. Repeat, a sick Earth female dispatched from the Mother ship and she may be…” He cleared his throat and his voice dropped for a moment. “She may be dying.”
“Regardless of the circumstances, your vector of approach is too steep. I cannot allow—”
“Did you hear me?” Deep demanded, overriding the voice. “I said she may be dying. Requesting clearance to land directly in the Healing Garden.”
“Negative!” The voice sounded panicked now. “Clearance denied. Spacecraft are forbidden within consecrated grounds. The gardens are filled with pilgrims at this time of day. To even consider—”
“Then get them out of the Goddess-damned way!” Deep barked. “We’re coming in now.”
The shuttle tilted alarmingly and Kat�
�s vision came back with a jolt. She saw a patch of green rushing toward the viewscreen at alarming speed and had a blurry impression of tiny, Barbie doll-sized figures running to get out of the way. Then her gaze was dragged back to her own still form. Lock was working on her frantically, doing some Kindred version of CPR that looked exceedingly painful as he begged her under his breath to “Live, Kat. Please, live.”
“Almost there,” roared Deep. “Hold on, Brother. Keep her with us!”
“I’m trying!” Lock’s voice sounded close to despair. “But she’s so still. She’s not responding.”
“Fucking make her respond!” Deep ordered. “And be ready to run the moment we touch down. We’re taking her stretcher straight to the center of the garden. Directly to Mother L’rin herself.”
“Yes, all right.” Lock nodded frantically, still working on her. “Please, lady Kat, if you can just hold on a little bit longer…”
There was a jarring thump that rattled everything in the shuttle and Kat saw her body jerk. Then Deep was out of his flight harness and reaching for her. “Go, go go!” he barked, nodding at the opening which had somehow appeared at the back of the shuttle.
“Going!” Lock was still holding her hand as he pushed the floating stretcher toward the pinkish-gold sunlight pouring in through the opening. “Get the other side.”
“Got it.” Deep grabbed the stretcher with one hand and Kat’s arm with the other. “Goddess, she’s cold! And her lips are blue.”
“I know. I—”
But before she could hear what else Lock was going to say, Kat felt a huge jolt, as though she’d been struck by lightning. Suddenly she was no longer hovering above her own still body, but rushing toward it on a collision course.
Wait, she had time to think. This can’t be right. I can’t—
There was a flash of brilliant light and then…
Nothing.
Two
Mother L’rin was a stern, older woman whom Lock had met only once—years ago when he and Deep had been confirmed with their mentor F’lir as a finder/seeker team. Now she paced in front of Kat’s floating stretcher, her bare feet splashing in the golden waters of the holy stream that ran through the center of the Healing Gardens. Mother L’rin practiced holistic healing and drew her powers from nature and the Goddess of All Life. The gardens around them were filled with herbs and plants mixed with flowering bushes and trees, all in shades of pink and gold and pale green.
“I remember you two,” she said, nodding at them in her slow, unhurried fashion. “Two more opposite twins I never saw.”
“Never mind about us,” Deep almost snarled. He was pacing as well, striding up and down the pinkish-gold and green grass that had been allowed to run wild along the edge of the stream. “It’s Kat we’re here for. She’s in trouble.”
“Enough trouble for you to land your shuttle in the center of my garden, almost crushing some very devout pilgrims?” Mother L’rin raised one pink-tinged eyebrow at them. She was of the native stock of Twin Moons, with no Kindred blood at all, which explained the way she blended into her own garden.
“Yes,” Deep snapped back. “I gave them time to get out of the way.”
“Barely.” Her voice was mild but her pink and gold eyes flashed. “You must care for her deeply, this Kat.”
“Not really.” Deep shrugged, trying to look unconcerned. “But we have been charged with her safety. So—”
“Yes, we care,” Lock interrupted his brother. “We care very much. Both of us.” He squeezed Kat’s hand gently and shot Deep a warning look to keep his mouth shut. “Please, Mother L’rin,” he continued. “She’s already stopped breathing once. I’m not even sure what brought her back, but it could happen again at any time.”
Kat was breathing steadily now but Lock knew he would never forget the feeling of relief that had swept over him when he saw her draw that first, shallow gasp as they pushed the stretcher out of the shuttle. He still didn’t know why she’d come back to them from the brink of death, only that he was desperate to keep her.
“How did she come to be sick in the first place?” Mother L’rin looked at them. “What manner of illness is this?”
Lock took a deep breath—this was the hard part. “You may have heard that our mentor, F’lir, died a few cycles ago, Mother,” he said, inclining his head respectfully. “So Deep and I are without a focus. While aboard the Mother ship, we found ourselves in a desperate position—we needed to use our skills but we had no one to—”
“What my brother is trying to say is that we used Kat here as a focus,” Deep interrupted in a bored tone.
Mother L’rin’s golden-pink eyes widened. “You used a female as your focus? And an off-worlder at that—one who is alien to us? You had no idea of what a joining with you might do to her mind—to her body!”
“That is true.” Lock bowed his head, accepting her rebuke. “We were, as I said, in a desperate position but I know that is no excuse.”
“It most certainly is not.” Her eyes flashed angrily. “Males must join with males and females with females on the astral plane—anything else is sacrilege. You know that.”
Lock nodded. “We know,” he murmured in a low voice.
Mother L’rin came to stand at the head of the stretcher and placed her hands on either side of Kat’s shining mass of auburn hair. “Very well.” She took a deep breath. “What were her symptoms after your joining?”
“Well, the first time—” Deep began.
“The first time?” Mother L’rin’s head jerked up and she glared at him. “You used this poor female more than once?”
“We used her twice.” Deep lifted his chin arrogantly. “And the second time we cast a net from Earth all the way to Tranq Prime. It doesn’t matter that she’s female and we’re male—Kat’s an amazing focus. She has raw natural talent that—”
“That will die with her,” Mother L’rin interrupted him.
“What?” Lock’s heart fisted in his chest. “Please, Mother L’rin, no!”
“Can’t you save her?” Deep’s voice was harsh but he was paler than Lock had ever seen him. “Are you saying we brought her to you too late?”
“It was too late the first time you two decided to attempt blasphemy with this innocent child.” Mother L’rin stroked Kat’s silky hair tenderly. “An elite, too. One blessed by the Mother. Such a pity.”
“So she’s going to…to die?” Lock heard the break in his voice but he couldn’t help it. Gods, to think they’d killed the woman they loved! Oh Kat, I’m sorry. So very sorry… From his twin he could feel similar emotions to his own. But Deep’s sorrow was shaded with a guilt so intense it was almost despair. Again, Lock heard his twin thinking in a rare burst of mental empathy. I’ve done it again. Gods…
“I will do what I can,” Mother L’rin said, pulling Lock back from his brother’s thoughts. “But I make no promises—you deserve none.” She fixed them both with a disapproving glare. “As you know, the bonds between twin males and their female is twofold—there must be a soul bond as well as a physical bond. What you two have done is created an incomplete soul bond with this girl.”
“An incomplete bond?” Lock frowned. “I didn’t even know such a thing was possible.”
“It’s very rare. In fact, in all my years of healing I have only seen it happen once before.”
“So we’re not the first male seeker/finders to use a female as our focus,” Deep said. “What happened in the other case?”
“The girl died,” Mother L’rin said grimly. “I wasn’t able to save her.”
Lock sucked in a breath and Deep went pale again. “Mother L’rin, please…”
“Her spirit is fractured,” she continued. “Which is why she is hovering between this life and the next. You must complete the bond in order to have any hope of healing her.”
“How can we bond with an unconscious female?” Deep demanded. “That’s called rape and Lock and I don’t practice it.”
“I didn’
t say you should complete the physical bond.” The old woman’s eyes flashed again. “I know this is difficult to understand, warrior, as the soul bond and physical bond are usually formed at the same time during bonding sex. But it is possible to have one without the other—for a time, anyway.”
“What can we do?” Lock said eagerly. “Tell us, Mother, please.”
“Her spirit must be tethered to her body. But it must want to stay—you have to tempt it with pleasure, lure it back and heal it with your touch.”
“Not my touch.” Deep shook his head. “She’s reacted badly to my hands on her since her collapse.”
“That’s true,” Lock said reluctantly, thinking of the way Kat’s pulse had spiked after her collapse on the Kindred Mothership. “Her heartbeat increased abnormally and she moaned out loud—something about ‘too much’ when Deep put his hands on her.”
Mother L’rin frowned. “And were you touching her at the same time?”
Lock nodded. “I was. It was my touch that stabilized her the first time. But then, on our way here, it stopped working.”
“Because she needs you both. Do not dispute me, warrior,” she said when Deep opened his mouth to protest. “I know what I’m talking about. If you want to have any hope of healing this poor girl you and your brother so callously injured, you’ll listen and do exactly as I say.”
“All right.” Deep crossed his arms over his broad chest. “What can we do?”
“As I said, you must bind her spirit back to her body. It has to want to stay on this plane and be bonded to the two of you.”
Lock cleared his throat. “In that case…”
“In that case there’s no hope,” Deep finished for him. “Kat wants nothing to do with either of us. A fact I’ve been trying to make clear to you for over a month now, Brother,” he said to Lock.
Mother L’rin’s pinkish eyebrows shot up. “The three of you had an unwilling joining?”
“Kat only participated in the joining so that we could locate her friend—another Earth girl who was being held captive by the Scourge,” Deep said. “She never would have joined with us if need hadn’t forced her hand.”
Brides of the Kindred Volume One: Books 1-4 Page 89