Twisted: Brides of the Kindred 23

by Evangeline Anderson

  “No, we’re not—it’s simply a greeting between Kindred,” Malik told her. “A term of respect and friendship.”

  “Oh…” Nicole sighed. “I wish my boys, who are actually brothers, would get along half as well.”

  “Do they fight a lot?” Malik asked, frowning.

  “Like cats and dogs—er, those are domestic pets on Earth that often don’t get along,” she explained, obviously catching his uncertain look. “The two youngest do, anyway—they’re twins but sometimes it seems like they hate each other. The oldest one, Jude, well…” She shook her head, looking deeply troubled. “He’s gotten off on the wrong path somehow and I can’t get him back. His father’s no help—Gary won’t do a damn thing with the boys except bark at them when they get so loud he can’t hear the game on TV. And I just worry so much that they—” She broke off abruptly.

  “That they what?” Malik asked, frowning. “What were you going to say, Nicole?”

  “I’m sorry.” She made a dismissive gesture with one hand. “I shouldn’t be going on and on about my parenting problems to you. I know there is nothing more boring than somebody else’s kids.” She tried to laugh but it came out sounding wounded and unhappy.

  “Of course I’m interested,” Malik told her—and he was. He wanted to know all about her—to understand what made her so different from the woman she looked so much like. “Please,” he said, “Go on.”

  “Oh, it’s just that they need a father’s influence more than ever right now—the twins are twelve and Jude is fifteen—so of course, this is when Gary decided to leave me.”

  “You have spoken of this before but I still don’t quite understand it,” Malik confessed. “Among Kindred, the male and female form an unbreakable soul-bond which renders them incapable of leaving one another.”

  “So, there’s no divorce on your world? Or, I mean—there wasn’t before the, uh, Knower AI thing took over and wiped everyone out?” Nicole asked, raising an eyebrow in apparent surprise.

  Malik shook his head. “No. The only parting of a couple the Goddess had put together was death.” As he spoke, he felt the old sadness come over him. “That is what happened to my parents—even before the Knower decimated our world, my father died when I was young, only fifteen cycles old. He left my mother and three little brothers—none older than five cycles at the time.”

  “Oh, that’s terrible!” Nicole exclaimed. “I’m so sorry, Malik! What did you do?”

  “I helped my mother as best I could.” He lifted his chin, remembering those long, hard cycles. “I stayed with her until my youngest brother was the age I was when my father died and the other two were grown and out of the house. After that she told me to go and find my own life. I had never even been involved with a female or thought of Claiming a mate until then—how could I when she and my brothers needed me?”

  “And did you? Find your own life, I mean?” Nicole asked. Clearly she was as interested in his life as he was in hers.

  Malik nodded. “I was out piloting a test craft when the Day of Reckoning came on my home world—on Uriel Two. I tried to get back, but the Knower had already erected a kill-field around the entire planet. No one could get in or out. At first we didn’t know what it was doing but then…then it started broadcasting images…”

  He clenched his hands into fists, remembering the awful things he had seen on the viewscreen of the ship he’d been in, orbiting helplessly just outside the kill-field, unable to get to his family…unable to save them…

  “What images?” Nicole almost whispered but he could tell from her face that she had mostly guessed.

  “The Knower released a kind of nerve gas,” Malik said flatly. “The gas was actually a byproduct of a manufacturing process in several plants that it ran—it ran everything before the end.” He laughed bitterly. “Anyway, instead of disposing of the gas, the Knower had been storing it for cycles, getting ready to take over. The gas caused immediate, agonizing death for anyone who breathed it in. Which was…everyone trapped on the planet.”

  He closed his eyes briefly, remembering the faces contorted in pain, the screams and cries, the begging and pleading on the viewscreen… All followed quickly by silence and death. The many faces—some he recognized and many he did not—all twisted in their final agony with staring, vacant eyes. And then the final message from the Knower.

  “Uriel Two is mine now. Organic life forms are no longer welcome. Any attempt to invade this space will be met with swift and fatal retaliation.”

  And that was that. His mother and brothers and everyone else he had loved and worked with and cared for was gone in the blink of an eye. Just…gone.

  “I couldn’t save them,” he whispered to himself. “I tried to get to them but I was locked out. I couldn’t save them…”

  Suddenly he was surprised by arms enfolding his waist and a warm, soft body being pressed to his own. Looking down, he realized that Nicole was hugging him.

  “Mistress? I mean, Nicole?” he asked uncertainly. Her head only came up to his sternum but she was doing her best to enfold him in her embrace.

  “Malik, I’m so sorry. What you went through—all the people you lost. I don’t think I really understood earlier, but it’s terrible!” There were tears in her eyes when she looked up at him.

  Tears for him, Malik realized.

  For a moment, he could hardly believe it. The real Mistress Hellenix would never have shed a single tear for him—even if she’d cared to listen to his past trauma, which she most assuredly had not.

  “Thank you,” he said, not sure what else to say.

  “Come down here.” Nicole sniffed. “So I can hug you properly.”

  Still bemused by her unexpected compassion, Malik leaned down so that she could put her arms around his neck. Their height difference made prolonged hugging difficult but since this was the ship docking area, there was a wooden box filled with some kind of engine parts nearby. Malik lifted her gently so that her feet were resting on the lid of the box and he was only a little taller than her.

  Then he simply held her. Or rather, let her hold him.

  It was an extraordinary feeling, having her soft body pressed to his as she offered him comfort as no one had since the awful time of his planet’s takeover ten cycles before. How often had he felt alone—as though no other living creature in the universe cared for his pain? How empty and long the cycles had been.

  But now here was a female who cared—who offered him compassion and sympathy, her heart overflowing with tenderness and aching for his pain so much that she cried for him.

  Malik felt something break inside him. He crushed her to him and buried his face in her long, silky black hair, breathing in her warm scent and taking the comfort she offered without reservation or remorse.

  “Thank you,” he murmured hoarsely, at last pulling away. “No one has ever…cared before. I do not understand why you do. But, well…thank you.”

  “Of course I care! What you must have gone through, seeing that…knowing you couldn’t help…” Nicole shook her head and cupped his cheek in one soft little hand. “I can’t even imagine it.”

  “I try not to think about it,” Malik admitted. “Besides, if my plans go as I hope they will on Uriel Two, I will be able to erase all of it.”

  “You will?” She frowned. “How are you going to do that?”

  “It has to do with the device the Time Warden gave me.” Malik looked around. “I’d rather not talk about it here, if you don’t mind. Even with the privacy bubble in place, I don’t feel safe telling you. Can we discuss it on the ship, once we’re away from here?”

  “Oh, of course. I’m sorry,” she exclaimed. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

  “You didn’t.” Malik smiled at her and stroked a strand of hair away from her face. “In fact, you make me feel more comfortable and cared for than I have in years. Thank you for that, Nicole.”

  “You…you’re welcome.” Suddenly she was blushing and pulling away fro
m him, as though embarrassed by their closeness. “Um, if you ever need to talk any more about it, I’ll be more than happy to listen.”

  “I will accept your invitation and extend the same one to you,” Malik told her gravely. “If you want to talk about your sons or your domestic troubles with your cheating mate, I am more than happy to listen. And to give advice, if you want it.”

  She gave a short, unhappy laugh. “Mistress Hellenix had advice too—she wanted me to put a pain collar on Gary and shock him into submission.”

  “Well, yes—that is pretty much her solution to everything,” Malik agreed dryly.

  He wasn’t surprised that his old Mistress would advocate corporal punishment for a straying male—pain was her wheelhouse, after all.

  “As for advice about your mate, all I can say is that he is a fool to leave a female as lovely and compassionate as you,” he said.

  “Oh…thank you.” Nicole blushed again, which made her lovely face glow.

  Malik had the urge to draw her close and kiss her and had to force himself to hold back. He had no right to touch her, to reach out to her as she had reached out to him—they were still “Mistress and slave” to anyone who might be watching. And besides, he was trying not to start something he knew he couldn’t finish.

  “But I was actually talking more about your sons,” he went on. “If you need any advice, I did raise three little brothers. And I like to think I know what goes on in the male mind,” he added, giving her a self-deprecating smile.

  Nicole smiled back. “It would be nice to get an inside view of that, I admit. Sometimes I look at them and wonder what in the world they’re thinking and why they’re acting like they are. I’m just baffled.”

  “You’re right when you say they need a male’s influence,” Malik said seriously. “A boy needs an older male to look up to and emulate.”

  “Which is why I have no idea what I’m going to do once Gary leaves us. Not that he’s exactly involved now. We probably won’t even miss him.” Nicole shook her head and sighed. “Look, let’s forget about it for now. We have a lot to do before I get home and have to deal with all this again.”

  “You’re right about that,” Malik said seriously. “The Banquet of Pain is tomorrow night—we need to get you ready. And you have to practice Mistress Hellenix’s speech.”

  “Oh, does she have a speech already prepared?” Nicole sounded vastly relieved. “I had no idea what I was going to say. I don’t know anything about torture devices or using them to train slaves.”

  “Don’t worry—it’s a short speech,” Malik assured her. “You just have to give it and then demonstrate one of the new punishment devices on me for the crowd and then you’ll be free to sit down.”

  “Wait—I have to demonstrate one on you? You mean I have to hurt you?” Nicole frowned stubbornly. “I don’t like that, Malik! I won’t do it.”

  He frowned back. “You have to.”

  “No.” Nicole crossed her arms over her full breasts. “I won’t. You’ve been hurt enough—I can’t even imagine the awful things Mistress Hellenix has done to you. I won’t add to your trauma.”

  Malik shook his head. Giving her the self-confidence to say “no” and demand her own way was certainly having some repercussions but he couldn’t help admiring her spirit.

  “I tell you what, we’ll talk about it later,” he said, tabling the disagreement, at least for now. “Right now, it’s getting late and we have a lot to do before you’re ready for tomorrow night’s banquet.”

  “All right, later. As long as we’re clear that I won’t hurt you,” Nicole said. Then she yawned. “God, I don’t know when I’ve been so tired. What a crazy day!”

  Considering that she’d been whisked halfway across the universe and landed in his cruel Mistress’s life with no forewarning and had thereafter been attacked, threatened, and poisoned, Malik could certainly see her point. He had been intending to have her go over the speech some tonight but he could see that she was weary and suddenly all he wanted was to take care of her.

  “Come, Mistress,” he said, lifting her gently from the crate she was standing on and cradling her in his arms. “Before we do anything else, you need to get some rest.”

  “But you don’t…don’t have to carry me,” she protested around another yawn.

  “I want to, Mistress.” He held her close to his chest, relishing her softness against him. Gods, how often had he longed to be close to Mistress Hellenix like this? To hold her and care for her—but she would never have let him, he knew without even asking. And her awful personality kept him from trying to persuade her. The closest they ever got to cuddling was when she used him as a pillow in bed.

  Malik hoped his new Mistress would consent to use him that way as well. Nicole seemed so shy but he could scent her feminine desire when they got close. Of course, there was no point in getting romantically involved but what harm could a little physical closeness be?

  None, he told himself. And if I can hold her close all night, it might comfort us both.

  He just hoped Nicole would agree.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Nikki sighed in contentment when the big Kindred deposited her gently in the middle of the big red mattress in the center of the BDSM bedroom. He proceeded to remove the high heeled shoes and then, to her surprise, he began giving her a foot massage.

  “Um…you don’t…don’t have to do that,” she protested and then groaned. “Oh God—it feels amazing though.”

  “I am just treating you as I do the real Mistress Hellenix,” he murmured. “I think it’s better if we keep up routines, to avoid suspicion in the other slaves, don’t you?”

  Nikki thought about protesting that she didn’t see how the other slaves would know they weren’t following the usual routines since they weren’t here to see her and Malik interacting. But his big, warm hands on her tired arches felt too good to protest. Besides, after he had shared his harrowing past with her, she felt much closer to the big Kindred than she would have believed possible after such a short acquaintance.

  “All right,” she murmured sleepily. “Go ahead and do…do whatever it is you do for Mistress Hellenix, then.”

  “With pleasure, Mistress,” the big Kindred growled softly. He continued rubbing her feet for a while but just as Nikki thought she was going to drift off to sleep, he stopped and left the vast bed. When he came back, he began pulling up her dress.

  “Hey, what—?” she began, sitting up. She was suddenly feeling much more awake.

  “I need to take off your gown and get you into your night clothing,” Malik explained patiently. “As I always do, Mistress,” he added pointedly.

  “Oh, um…okay.” Nikki thought she would probably have to get over him seeing her naked at some point but she still felt shy about it. “Could we, uh, at least turn down the lights a little first though?” she asked.

  Malik frowned. “Are you ashamed of your beautiful body, Nicole? You have no need, I assure you.”

  “That’s not what Gary would say. He called me ‘extra-extra-large.’” Nikki made a face. “Not that he’s exactly on the skinny side himself.”

  “I told you—you are an Elite. A female the Goddess has blessed with bountiful curves.” Malik spoke patiently. “You are beautiful in every way. But if it makes you feel a little easier, I will dim the lights.” Looking up, he said, “Lights dim,” in an authoritative voice.

  At once the light in the BDSM bedroom dimmed to a faint golden glow, like candle light. The instruments of torture and discipline were indistinct humps in the darkness and everything was cast in shadow.

  “Thank you,” Nikki said gratefully. “I feel, uh, much more comfortable now.”

  “Good. Then allow me to get you ready for bed, Mistress.”

  Malik tugged at her dress again and this time Nikki allowed him to pull it over her head. She started to cover herself with her arms but Malik pulled them gently away.

  “No, Mistress, let me see you. You’re so be
autiful—both inside and out,” he murmured.

  Blushing, Nikki let him look at her bare breasts as he slowly pulled a small, lacy gown over her head. It was a lot like the one she’d worn earlier, after the rejuvenation treatments and like that other garment, this one didn’t seem to want to come up and cover her breasts.

  “Is this how all her clothes are?” she asked, tugging at the black lace to try and bring it higher.

  “What do you mean?” Malik looked confused.

  “I mean so…so revealing.” Nikki gave up the fight and looked down at her breasts, which were more than half exposed by the black lace. When she let the night gown fall where it wanted to, the soft leading edge of the lace came only halfway up her nipples, leaving her tight buds and the tops of her breasts mostly exposed.

  “My Mistress has never believed in hiding her beauty,” Malik told her. “Her preference is to flaunt her loveliness everywhere she goes.”

  “I can tell,” Nikki muttered. “I don’t suppose there are any panties to go with this outfit?” she added hopefully.

  Malik raised an eyebrow at her.

  “Why would you want panties? They will only get in the way of the oral pleasure I am going to give you.”

  “Oh, um…” Nikki bit her lip and felt as though her entire body was blushing. “You don’t have to…I mean, I don’t think it would be a good idea to do that, Malik.”

  “Why? I thought you wanted to follow the usual bedtime routine?” he said, frowning. “Do you dislike getting your pussy tasted, Nicole?”

  “I…to be honest I haven’t had it done enough to tell you one way or the other,” she admitted. “But I just feel like…like it’s going too far. I don’t think we, uh, know each other well enough to do that yet. And besides, after this is all over I’ll go back to my life and you’ll go back to yours. It’s really not a good idea to be starting something, you know?”

  Malik nodded thoughtfully.

  “I agree. Our lives will diverge, most likely never to meet again. But I feel I must point out that you need to at least get used to letting me kiss your pussy. It is a sign of respect that I will have to pay you during all public functions—including the Banquet of Pain tomorrow night.”