“Oh, er…hello.” James had looked at the big Kindred uncertainly. “I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced.”
“The name’s Vorn,” Vorn said, still glaring. “Nice to meet you. I’m the one who’s been protecting and caring for your female while you ran off without even seeing to her needs first.”
“What?” James stared at Vorn blankly. Then he looked at Jodi. “Darling, he’s still here? I rather thought he’d be gone by now.”
“Don’t worry—I’m leaving today,” Vorn said, again before Jodi could speak. “The security net around the Earth is fixed now. So there’s no need for me to stay where I’m not wanted.”
He glared pointedly at Jodi who frowned fiercely back—she did not need for the big Kindred to make a scene, damn it! Not when she was trying to find the courage to admit what she’d done with him to James.
“It’s good to have you back, honey,” she said to her fiancé, giving him a peck on the cheek. “How was your trip?”
“Oh, most illuminating.” James laughed his fruity laugh. “I wish you could have been there, Darling. My research was quite well received. And we went to the most marvelous Thai place—flavors you simply can’t imagine. I do believe it was the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth.”
“Well, we all know what you won’t put in your mouth,” Vorn growled, still glaring at him.
“Excuse me?” James looked at him in obvious bewilderment. “What are you talking about? You don’t even know me.”
“I know enough to know you don’t deserve Jodi.” Vorn’s anger was obvious. “You’re not even willing to meet her needs.”
“What needs?” James demanded. He looked at Jodi in bewilderment. “What is this big idiot talking about?”
“You better watch who you’re calling an idiot.” Vorn loomed over him, his big hands balled into fists at his sides.
“Vorn, please!” Jodi put a hand on his broad chest and felt the anger thrumming through him like an electrical current. “Now is not the time!”
“When is the time, then, baby?” Vorn growled, looking at her. “There is no more time—I’m about to leave. Are you really not going to come with me?”
“What? Why ever would Jodi go with you?” James frowned. “You’re nothing but a bodyguard—and one who has overstayed his welcome. I think you’d better go now.”
“I’ll leave,” Vorn growled. “But not until Jodi gives me an answer.” He looked at her pointedly. “Come with me now or we’ll never see each other again. Well, Jodi?”
“Jodi?” James echoed, and also stared at her.
At that moment Jodi wished the earth would open up and swallow her. She had meant to tell James what she and Vorn had done but not like this! And how dare the big Kindred give her an ultimatum? Also, the idea of Vorn leaving and the two of them never seeing each other again tugged at her heart, making her feel almost sick with indecision.
He’s right—I can’t stand it if we never see each other again! But on the other hand, I can’t just leave James the way Dad left Mom! What am I going to do?
She opened her mouth, not sure what was going to come out, and at that moment her cell phone chimed.
Oh, thank God!
Jodi grabbed for it like a drowning woman reaching for a lifeline.
“Darling, I hardly think now is the time to answer your phone,” James remarked, but Jodi was already staring at the screen.
“It’s Melli,” she said, sudden concern stabbing at her heart. “But she never calls—she always texts. What’s going on?”
Before either man could answer, she accepted the call and brought the phone to her ear.
Melli was sobbing.
“Melli? Melli—oh my God, Melli—what’s wrong?”
Jodi’s heart was pounding. The last time she’d gotten a call like this from her little sister had been right after the awful events of Melli’s Junior Prom. She had called crying and begging Jodi to come get her but not to tell Mom and Dad anything.
“Melli?” she said again. “Please, honey, try and talk to me. Tell me what’s wrong?”
What she got back was a garbled mass of words so jumbled only a sister could have understood. Luckily, Jodi was good at decoding Melli’s hysteria.
“What do you mean Liosh killed someone and the police are taking him away?” she asked blankly.
Vorn was instantly on high alert.
“What? Where? Where are they taking him?”
“Shhhh!” Jodi shushed him furiously, waving a hand in his face as she tried to make out Melli’s next words.
“I s-said he d-didn’t k-ku-kill just anybody. He k-killed Jason Suh-sykes!” Her little sister’s voice shook and wavered on the name of her attacker.
Jodi felt her stomach roll. Suddenly things began to make sense. She had heard of how extremely protective Kindred could be of their females. If Melli had told Liosh that bastard Jason had attacked her, it wasn’t surprising that Liosh had gone after him. Though she couldn’t imagine the seemingly mild-mannered Blood Kindred killing anyone.
She put a hand over the phone and looked at Vorn, who looked ready to pull his hair out as he waited to hear what was going on.
“Apparently Melli and Liosh ran into the guy who, uh, hurt her in high school and Liosh went after him. Somebody called the police and now it’s a big mess.”
He nodded, his golden eyes glowing.
“Not surprising. Liosh probably went into Rage when he saw the bastard who hurt his female.”
Jodi nodded distractedly and went back to her sister.
“Take a deep breath,” she told Melli. “I’m sure he didn’t really kill him. Everyone is probably over-reacting.”
“Amanda Brannigan is here telling the police that he killed Jason on purpose,” Melli sobbed. “I can’t get them to listen to me when I tell them he was trying to…to hurt me again. And Liosh had blood all o-over h-his f-face!”
She was dissolving into incoherence again and Jodi knew she had to get some information fast.
“Where are you?” she demanded. “I’m coming to get you right now.” She looked at the big Kindred, who nodded grimly. “And Vorn will go after Liosh. Everything is going to be all right—you’ll see, Melli. I promise.”
As soon as she hung up, James started talking.
“Darling, what is going on?” he demanded. “What was your little sister blathering on about? And where do you think you’re going?” he added, frowning as Jodi grabbed her purse and keys. “I believe we were in the middle of a very serious discussion!”
“It’ll have to wait, James,” Jodi snapped. She looked at Vorn. “We’d better take separate vehicles. I need to get Melli and it sounds like Liosh got taken to the police station.”
He nodded grimly.
“Where are we going?”
Jodi gave him the address and then ran to her car, leaving James to stand there gaping.
But as she and Vorn raced to their respective vehicles, neither one of them noticed the shadowed figure hiding around the side of the duplex or heard the soft hissing whisper as a forked tongue flickered out to taste the air.
Thirty-Eight
“I can’t believe this. I can’t believe the police wouldn’t let Liosh go! Now he’s going to go to prison forever and it’s all my fault!” Melli slumped on her big sister’s couch and put her head in her hands.
“Honey, no! It’s not your fault at all!” Jodi put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed reassuringly. “And nobody is taking Liosh to prison. You know the Kindred have diplomatic immunity! Also, they passed that law a while back saying they couldn’t be prosecuted for hurting a man who was attacking their mate.”
“But I’m not Liosh’s mate—not yet!” Melli protested. “And they wouldn’t even believe Jason Sykes was attacking me—thanks to Amanda Brannigan.” She curled her hands into fists. “When I think that she was the one who set him on me in the first place! And then she was telling the police lies about how she and Jason were just talkin
g and all of a sudden Liosh came out of nowhere and attacked him! That isn’t what happened at all!”
“She’s a piece of work, all right,” Jodi said grimly. “But you know that you and I both testified that Sykes was attacking you and that he’d done it before and Liosh told them the same thing once he, er, calmed down.” She cleared her throat, obviously trying not to think of the big Kindred all covered in Jason’s blood. “So it’s three against one.”
“But Amanda is so good at lying and making everyone believe it!” Melli exclaimed. “It was like that in high school too—the minute she started a rumor everybody took it as the gospel truth. She already had half the policemen convinced before we even made a statement!”
“You have to try and relax,” Jodi told her firmly. “Vorn is calling that lawyer from the Mother Ship—the one who helped get the law passed that Kindred couldn’t be sued or prosecuted for protecting their females in the first place. She’s going to come down here and get Liosh set free—you’ll see.”
“I hope so.” Melli shook her head, her eyes still blurred with tears.
Everything had happened so fast and no matter what Jodi said, she was sure it was her fault. She never should have believed Amanda’s fake tale of woe about wanting to make amends. And she certainly never should have followed her off into a dark part of the campus. But how could she have possibly known that the other girl would have such a horrible surprise in store? Who could have guessed that Amanda had been behind the attack that had happened in high school the whole time?
Not that Jason wasn’t also to blame—he was a horrible person. Well, had been a horrible person, Melli amended to herself. There was no way he had survived what Liosh had done to him. From what she had seen when the police dragged the big Kindred off him—and it had taken seven of them to do it—Jason was officially gonesville.
Of course he deserved it, but the killing had been savage. Melli was still having a hard time wrapping her mind around the idea that the gentle, tender Liosh, who was always so careful not to hurt her in any way, had turned into a brutal killing machine and ripped another man’s throat out with his teeth. Well, technically with his fangs, but still…
But Vorn had explained, at the police station, that Liosh had gone into Rage—a state of berserker fury that came over Kindred warriors when they saw their females being threatened. According to Vorn, something would have been wrong if Liosh didn’t go into Rage when he saw Melli being attacked—it was just another proof that he loved her and intended to take her for his bride.
Melli was glad the Beast Kindred had explained everything to her but it didn’t seem to matter how many times he explained to the police, they just weren’t listening.
“Let’s hope the lawyer from the Mother Ship will help,” she said dully. But what if she couldn’t? What if the police still refused to listen and Liosh was sent away for life? What if—
A crash in the kitchen swept the gloomy thoughts out of her mind. She jerked her head up and so did Jodi. The two sisters exchanged glances and Melli couldn’t help remembering what had happened the last time they’d been together and heard a strange noise in the other room. They had been at her mom’s house for a family movie night. And then—
Another crash sounded, interrupting her thoughts.
“What do you suppose that is?” James asked, frowning.
He was the only one in the room who wasn’t crying. In fact, he had a cool look of disinterest on his face, as though whatever was happening in the kitchen was much more entertaining than sitting here watching Melli cry while Jodi comforted her.
“Do you think a raccoon or something somehow got it?” he said to Jodi, as he went towards the kitchen.
“James, don’t!” Melli and Jodi exclaimed at the same time, but he was already pushing open the door that led to the small kitchen and dining nook.
The minute he opened it, a scaly green hand with seven fingers shot out and grabbed his wrist. Melli screamed and Jodi jumped to her feet.
“Fight it, James—we have to get out of here!” she shouted.
But James was standing there like a idiot, staring at the hand around his wrist like he didn’t understand.
And of course, by that time it was too late. The lizard-like Varians came pouring into the living area, holding those deadly little weapons that looked like ballpoint pens but which could cut a hole the size of a trashcan lid in anything, as Melli remembered with a shiver.
She and Jodi gripped each other, fright filling them.
Oh my God, Melli thought. But they’re gone—aren’t they all supposed to be gone? How did they get through the new security net? Or have they been here all along, just waiting for Jodi and me to be without our Kindred protectors?
“Take them,” one of the Varians, who seemed to be the leader hissed. “Thessse are the femalesss we are looking for.”
“What about the male?” the one holding James asked.
The leader shrugged. “We have no quarrel with him.” He peered at James. “Unlesss you intend to cause a ruckusss when we take the femalesss?”
“What? Me cause a ruckus? Certainly not!” James held up his free hand in a “don’t shoot” gesture. “Take them—take them both. Just leave me alone.”
“James!” Jodi looked at her fiancé, clearly aghast.
“Sorry, Darling but really, what can I do?” he asked, shrugging at her. “They’re armed aliens. And we’re completely outnumbered.”
“What you could do is fight for me!” Jodi said fiercely. “That’s what Vorn would do!”
“Well, Vorn isn’t here right now,” James snapped. “But I’ll be sure to let him know you send your regards when next I see him.”
Even through her fear, Melli could scarcely believe her big sister’s fiancé was being such a coward! Not only that, he was being really nasty too—acting like he wasn’t sorry a bit that she and Jodi were about to be abducted by aliens that looked like a cross between an iguana and an alligator.
Jodi seemed to feel the same way Melli did—or else maybe the way James was acting was bringing some long-buried emotions up to the surface because she suddenly rounded on her fiancé.
“I cheated on you, you know,” she spat at James. “Not nearly as much as I wanted to but I most definitely cheated while you were gone.”
“Yes, I surmised as much from our earlier conversation,” James said dryly. “That’s quite all right, Darling—I spent every night of my conference with a very attractive female colleague myself. She’s so much more intellectually gifted than you.”
“What?” Jodi gasped. “But I only sort of cheated and only because I couldn’t help it. I mean, not at first, anyway. What excuse do you have?”
He shrugged again.
“Do I need an excuse? Dianne and I spend every conference together. I guess you could say it’s sort of our thing.”
“Your thing? How long as this been going on?” Jodi demanded. “Weeks? Months?”
“Years, Darling, and before you ask, no, I had no notion of stopping once we were wed. I didn’t think I should have to give up all the little pleasures in life simply because I had finally consented to make an honest woman of you.”
For a moment Jodi seemed at a loss for what to say. Finally, she said,
“I just hope you satisfied that skank Dianne better than you did me. Do you know I never once had an orgasm with you? I had to finish myself off after you went to sleep every time!”
At last she seemed to have struck a nerve. James’ face went red , then white.
“The reason I couldn’t ‘satisfy’ you was because of your perverted sexual appetites,” he spat. “Spanking and bondage and all that other filth. You disgust me, Jodi—you and your twisted sexual needs.”
“You uptight little asshole!” Jodi snarled. “Just because I’m not a prude who insists on only having sex in the missionary position with the lights out does not make me perverted. Lots of people enjoy alternative sexual practices!”
“Lots of s
ick people, you mean,” James hissed.
“Why you…” Apparently at a total loss for words this time, Jodi took off the large diamond engagement ring she’d been wearing for the past few years and threw it at him. It bounced off James’ skinny chest and tinkled on the floor. “The wedding is off. I never want to see you again!” she shouted.
James made a mock sad face.
“Well, I don’t suppose you ever will, Darling—considering that you’re being abducted by aliens.”
Melli couldn’t believe he was being so cold.
“What’s wrong with you?” she demanded. “Didn’t you ever love Jodi at all?”
“Well, what is love, anyway?” James began philosophically. “If one consults the writings of Aristotle and Plato—”
“Enough of thisss,” the leader of the Varians hissed. “We have no more time. Bring the femalesss to the sship.”
“Let us go! Let go!” Jodi shouted, struggling as two Varian soldiers came to grip both her and Melli by the shoulders.
“We don’t have the T’lix Kruthe,” Melli told them. “It’s up on the Kindred Mother ship. There’s no way we can get it for you.”
“Of thisss, I am aware,” the Varian leader hissed. “We have not come to get the ssacred artifact. We have come to exact revenge.”
“Exact revenge?” Jodi’s normally strong voice shook. “What…what does that mean?”
“It meansss that ssince you cannot produce the T’lix Kruthe, you sshall pay the price for it,” the leader hissed. He nodded at his soldiers. “Take them away!”
Thirty-Nine
“What do you mean, they’re gone?” Vorn demanded, glaring down at the skinny little asshole who was Jodi’s fiancé.
They’d been hours at the police station with Liosh being held just because he had done what any Kindred would do by defending his female. Despite his diplomatic immunity, the human peacekeepers had refused to release the Blood Kindred until Lizabeth Paige, the famed human attorney who ran the Kindred’s legal defense, came down from the Mother Ship and basically forced them to let him go.
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