Brides of the Kindred Volume One: Books 1-4

by Evangeline Anderson

  Kat’s heart clenched in her chest. “Up until recently I would have said I absolutely didn’t want to be with the two of you,” she said quietly. “But—”

  “But now you’ve had a change of heart and you’ve decided you want to be with us forever?” Deep said sarcastically.

  “I didn’t say that,” Kat protested.

  “Of course you didn’t. “Because that’s not what you want. We’re not what you want.”

  “Deep,” Lock said warningly, stepping toward his brother.

  Kat waved him back. “No, let’s try and talk this out. Deep,” she said softly, taking a step toward the dark twin. “Why are you acting this way? After how we talked in the cave, I thought…”

  “I thought a few things myself.” Deep’s hot glare turned suddenly cool and distant. “All of them wrong. But as I was saying, there is a way to break the soul bond and let the three of us go back to living our normal lives.”

  “Of what do you speak?” Mother L’rin demanded.

  Deep frowned down at her. “The Scourge. They developed a way to break bonds between warriors and their mates. The psychic knife, they called it—a machine they developed on their home world.”

  Lock stared at him, obviously appalled. “You can’t be serious. That machine, as you call it, was a torture device.”

  “Why shouldn’t I be serious?” Deep demanded. “The breaking of an incomplete bond wouldn’t hurt any of us. I’ll admit the machine was invented for diabolical purposes, but why shouldn’t we use it to our advantage?”

  “Maybe because it’s on the Scourge home world?” Lock raised an eyebrow at his brother but Deep was not so easily deterred.

  “Please, Brother, their planet is a deadworld now. Since the last battle of Berrni nothing lives there and no one goes there—the entire place is abandoned. We could walk in, break the bond, and fly off-planet and no one would ever be the wiser.”

  “The Goddess would know.” Mother L’rin rounded on Deep, waving a crooked finger in his face. “Sacrilege you speak of.”

  Deep frowned. “No, what’s sacrilege is bonding an unwilling female to you.” He looked at Kat. “Wouldn’t you agree?”

  Kat’s chest was tight but she lifted her chin and looked him in the eyes. “Yes,” she said, nodding stiffly. “I would.”

  “Good, then it’s settled.” Deep clapped his hands together once, in a motion of finality. “We’ll go at once.”

  “Not without permission from the Kindred High Council, we won’t.” Lock glared at his brother. “Or have you forgotten that it’s a forbidden zone?”

  “We’ll find a way around that,” Deep said casually. “You know Baird has friends on the Council.”

  “But what about lady Kat’s pain?” Lock demanded. “Or don’t you care about that, anymore?”

  “Of course I care.” Deep’s voice was suddenly gruff. He turned to Mother L’rin. “How long will it take you to brew that potion?”

  “No potion will I make for you!” Mother L’rin threw the bouquet of black and white blossoms on the ground and trampled them into the dirt with her tiny feet.

  “Hey, wait!” Kat protested. “We went to a lot of trouble to get those! And anyway, I thought they were sacred!”

  “Sacred they are. But better they should be crushed than used by such as you. Blasphemers!” She spat at Deep’s booted feet. “If pain your lady has, ease her yourself.” Then she stalked off into the tall pink and gold grass muttering angrily.

  Kat felt her heart sink. “Wait! Please, Mother L’rin,” she called and started to go after her.

  “She’s just going to tell you that the only solution is to let Lock and I bond you to us forever,” Deep said. “Is that really what you want to hear?”

  Kat stopped. “No,” she said, giving him a cool look. “No, most definitely not.”

  “I didn’t think so.” He smiled but it wasn’t a happy expression. “So it’s settled. We’ll head straight back to the Mother ship and get permission to go to the Scourge home world where we can break our annoying little bond. We’ll be free of each other before you know it.”

  “Wonderful,” Kat said flatly. “As easy as one, two, three.”

  “Exactly.” Deep nodded. “And if your pain comes back, just tell Lock or I. We’ll take care of you.”

  “You’re too kind,” Kat said, glaring at him. “But I feel fine—better than fine, actually. Great. Especially now that I know I’ll be getting away from you.”

  Turning, she stalked away. Tears were rising in her eyes again and she didn’t want to cry in front of either of the brothers. Especially not Deep—the heartless bastard.

  “Why did you do that?” Lock’s voice was soft and desolate. When he looked at Deep, the hurt in his brown eyes was almost too much to bear. Deep wanted to shield himself against his brother’s suffering, but he didn’t deserve not to feel it. Instead of closing himself off, he opened himself to the painful emotion.

  “I did what was best for her,” he said evenly. “You know that’s true, Lock.”

  “No, you did what was best for you.” Lock’s pain turned suddenly to rage. He rounded on Deep, his hands clenched into fists, his eyes blazing. “Because you always do what’s best for you. And because you think if you push her away first, she won’t have a chance to hurt you.”

  “She’s had her chance,” Deep said in a low voice. “Don’t worry about that, Brother.”

  “Well, I haven’t had mine!” Lunging forward, Lock punched him on the jaw.

  Deep saw it coming but he didn’t back away or try to defend himself. He took the punch full on. And the next and the next, until his face was as bloody and numb as his heart.

  Finally Lock stopped and stood there panting. His hands hung limply by his sides, the knuckles blood-spattered and raw. The blows had hurt him as much as Deep—the echoes of their shared pain, both emotional and physical—flooded the closed loop between them.

  Deep wiped blood from his lower lip and winced. “Are you finished? Or do you want to hit me some more?” It was the first time since they were children that Lock had struck him. He was hurt but not surprised—not really. I had it coming.

  Lock looked down at his hands, examining his bloody knuckles with dead eyes. “No…I’m done.”

  “Good.” Deep straightened his shoulders and sighed. “Let me get some gel packs on my face before it swells while you go find Kat. If we hike fast and the tide is right, we can be folding space before the sun sets.”

  “If we hurry,” Lock repeated dully. “Because the faster we get back, the faster you can get us separated from the only woman I’ve ever really loved. The only woman either one of us has ever really loved.”

  Deep raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you forgetting Miranda?”

  “We shared a few dreams with her,” Lock said wearily. “Not our lives—not like Kat.”

  “So she doesn’t count because we never actually got to meet her in person?” Deep demanded.

  Lock looked up at him wearily. “What happened to Miranda was terrible, Brother. It was a grief deeper than anything I have ever felt—until now.” He sighed. “But Miranda is gone and Kat…she’s right here. She’s lovely and intelligent and perfect in every way. So of course you have to drive her away.”

  Deep looked his brother in the eyes. “If you truly love her, then you’ll help me in this. I’m no good for her, Lock—for any female. I’ll poison her life if we get too close.”

  “Just the way you’ve poisoned mine.” Lock ran a hand through his hair and blew out a breath. “I wish I could cut the tie between us. Not just between the two of us and Kat—between you and me. I wish…I wish we weren’t brothers.” He glared at Deep. “I’d rather be dead than spend one more day as your twin.”

  Despite his outward composure, Deep’s breath caught in his throat. He knew his brother—Lock never spoke unkindly and he never lied. If he said a thing, it was true from the bottom of his heart. “Brother…” he said uncertainly.

&nb
sp; “Don’t call me that.” Lock threw him one last glance over his shoulder before he walked away. “Not anymore.”

  Deep watched him go, his heart aching in his chest. He was only doing what he had to do, but it still hurt. It’s for the best though, he told himself. For Kat. For all of us.

  But seeing misery in the set of his brother’s hunched shoulders, and feeling the echo of both his pain and Kat’s, it was hard to believe.

  Twenty-Three

  “So you’re going to the Scourge home world?” Sophie’s green eyes were as wide as saucers.

  “Apparently.” Kat took a scoop of the ultra-premium vanilla bean ice cream and plopped it unceremoniously onto the homemade chocolate chip cookie. Then she jammed another cookie on top and sighed. “If Baird can get us permission from the council.”

  “He got it.” Olivia came into the food prep area and lifted her nose. “Mmm, you can smell those cookies all the way down the corridor.”

  “Liv! These were supposed to be a surprise,” Sophie protested. “We’re making you homemade chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches but we’re not nearly done yet. These have to go into the freezer for at least an hour before…”

  “Before what?” Olivia said, around a mouthful of cookie and ice cream. Her eyes rolled up in her head and she moaned, “Soooo good!”

  Despite her inner turmoil, Kat couldn’t help laughing. “I swear, she’s getting worse all the time! Liv, honey, I don’t want to hurt your feelings but you need to ease up on the sweets or you and I will be able to swap clothes after the baby is born.”

  “Uh-uh.” Liv shook her head and grabbed a napkin to wipe her chin. “That’s one of the nice things about carrying a Kindred baby—you don’t have to worry about weight gain.”

  “You don’t?” Kat frowned. “Who told you that?”

  “Sylvan,” Sophie said promptly. “He says when an Earth woman is carrying a Kindred fetus, she requires so many extra calories that she could live on Krispy Kreme donuts and Godiva truffles and not gain an ounce—the real problem is to keep yourself from losing too much weight.”

  “Seriously?” Kat could scarcely believe it. But it was true that though she ate from morning until night, Liv didn’t appear to have gained a single pound. Which was really kind of unfair when you thought about it.

  “Uh-huh.” Liv nodded and took another bite of the drippy ice cream sandwich. “Of course I try to get plenty of fruits and veggies too. But I’m not holding back on the stuff I like, either.” She turned to Sophie. “And these are heavenly. Thank you so much!”

  “Well, you did say you were craving something sweet.” Sophie gave her a one armed hug since she was holding a dripping ice cream scoop in the other hand.

  “When am I not?” Olivia laughed and nodded at the plate. “Well, go on you two—might as well dig in. I can’t eat them all but I might be tempted to try if you don’t help out.”

  “Oh, all right.” With a sigh, Sophie put down her scoop and picked up a sandwich. “But you’re supposed to freeze them first.” She looked at Kat. “Have one. You better get them quick before Baird and Sylvan get home—Baird has a sweet tooth almost as bad as Liv’s.”

  Kat shook her head. “You two go ahead. I’m not hungry.”

  “Oh no.” Sophie put down her cookie at once and gave Kat a worried look. “Are you sick again? Did the pain come back?”

  “And how did it go away in the first place?” Olivia demanded. “Was it that wise woman they took you to see or what? Now that you’re home and we’re finally all together again you have to spill.”

  “I’m fine,” Kat told them, more or less truthfully. “I’m a little weak but there’s no pain.” Not yet, anyway. But she didn’t say that aloud—no point in worrying her friends when there was nothing they could do about it. “As for how the pain went away in the first place…well, remember that I told you Deep did something you’d never guess?”

  Liv and Sophie gave each other a look she couldn’t interpret. “We remember, all right,” Liv said. “But neither Sophie or I could get anything about it out of Baird of Sylvan.”

  Kat frowned. “Baird and Sylvan? How would they know?”

  “I don’t know but they do—only they won’t tell us,” Sophie said. “Sylvan said he couldn’t reveal the past of another warrior or something like that.”

  “Baird said the same thing,” Olivia chimed in.

  Kat shook her head. “Well, it’s nice that they’re so trustworthy, but I really don’t see how either one of then could know that Deep took my pain.”

  “What?” Liv asked just as Sophie said,

  “He took your what?”

  “He took my pain,” Kat repeated. She went on to tell her two best friends about the dream she’d had of Deep being whipped in the cave and how Mother L’rin had showed her that it was real. “So you see,” she ended in a low voice. “He’s the reason my head doesn’t hurt anymore.”

  “I don’t think it’s your head we have to be concerned with right now. It’s your heart.” Liv put down her sandwich and wiped her fingers on a napkin before putting an arm around Kat. “Am I right, Kat-woman?”

  “I d-don’t know.” Kat brushed at her eyes angrily. “I’m sorry—I don’t know why I let him affect me like this. He’s such a bastard.”

  “He does put the ass in asshole,” Liv agreed calmly. “But it sounds like he’s not all bad.”

  “He’s the reason we’re going to the Scourge home world in the first place,” Kat said, sniffing. “He doesn’t want to be bonded to me—not even partially bonded. We’re supposed to find some machine the Scourge invented called ‘the psychic knife’ to cut ourselves apart.”

  “What a jerk!” Sophie said indignantly. “Don’t you listen to him, Kat. Any guy would be lucky to have you!”

  “Speaking of other guys, how does Lock feel about all this?” Olivia asked. “It seems to me that he’s always in the middle of you two—that can’t be easy for him.”

  “I don’t know.” Kat shook her head. “We didn’t talk on the trip back home at all. None of us. But…I’m pretty sure the two of them were fighting after our argument on Twin Moons.”

  “Really? How could you tell?” Liv looked interested.

  “I’d say Deep’s face was a pretty good indication. He looks like he slammed head-first into a concrete wall. And the knuckles on Lock’s right hand are all cut and bruised.”

  “A fist fight?” Liv shook her head. “Really? Because I was under the impression that Twin Kindred never strike each other—under any circumstances. I think it hurts them just as much to hit their twin as it does to be hit…like they share the pain they inflict or something like that. That’s what Baird told me, anyway.”

  “Well, I’d say they made an exception to the no-knuckle-sandwich-between-brothers rule,” Kat said dryly but she couldn’t help being troubled. “I guess…I guess they were fighting over me.”

  “Lock loves you, doesn’t he?” Sophie said sympathetically.

  Kat nodded. “And I could love him too if—”

  “If Deep wasn’t in the way,” Olivia finished for her.

  But Kat shook her head. “No, that’s not what I was going to say. I could love Lock—hell, I could love both of them if there was any chance of my love being returned.”

  “But what about having their emotions in your head all the time?” Sophie asked. “I thought you hated that.”

  Kat thought of the warm, happy feelings she’d gotten from both brothers just moments before they were captured by the natives. “It’s not so bad when they’re in a good mood. But Deep…”

  “Is never in a good mood,” both Liv and Sophie said.

  Kat nodded sadly. “You know, for awhile there back on Twin Moons, I really thought we were almost on the same page. I found out what Deep had done for me and then we talked and it seemed like the three of us were getting really close. Especially after—” She broke off abruptly, blushing.

  “After what?” Sophie and Liv demanded toge
ther. “Come on, Kat—give.”

  “Oh God, you guys, do I really have to say it?” Kat looked at them, pleading with her eyes. “You’re married women now—or practically married. You get enough hot sex of your own without hearing about my measly sex life.”

  “Are you kidding me? We might get hot sex but you my friend are getting some genuine ménage a trois action,” Liv said. “Or are you?”

  Kat sighed. “Well…kinda.”

  “Kinda? What does that mean?” Sophie frowned. “When I think how you two pried out the details of how Sylvan healed me and marked me in that cabin…”

  “All right, all right…” Kat held up her hands in a gesture of defeat. “I’ll tell all. But you can’t laugh.”

  “Why would we laugh?” Sophie grabbed the platter of oozing cookie sandwiches. “Come on, let’s move this into the living room.”

  “Before I start,” Kat said, once they were comfortably settled on the large leather couch. “I want to get one thing straight—what was it that you guys thought Baird and Sylvan knew about Deep before I told you about how he took my pain?”

  “We told you—we’ don’t know,” Liv said and she and Sophie gave each other an uneasy look.

  “It’s something about Deep’s past,” Sophie said. “Something really bad, I think. Sylvan said you aren’t in any danger from him though, if that’s any consolation.”

  “Not much.” Kat’s stomach did a flip. “God, I wonder what it was? And even if Deep won’t tell me, why doesn’t Lock?”

  Sophie shrugged. “Who knows? Why didn’t he tell you about how Deep had taken your pain?”

  “Baird says there’s a huge stigma among the Kindred in being involved in a tragedy involving a potential mate,” Olivia said.

  “A potential mate? And tragedy? That’s the word he used?” Kat raised an eyebrow.

  “Yup.” Liv nodded. “It’s like a blot on their character—a shame they can never live down. Maybe Lock is ashamed to tell you about whatever it is.”

  “Maybe,” Kat said thoughtfully. “Or maybe Deep won’t let him.” She sighed. “He never has wanted to let me in—not even a little bit. He blocks me constantly.”