Eyes streaming with tears, Eela looked up at her brother.
“You have killed us,” she whispered, her voice so filled with grief it hurt to listen to it. “You have killed us, Broud. We will never be one now.”
It was a cry of anguish straight from the heart and it pierced Kayla to the bone.
“Oh,” she whispered, blinking back tears. “Oh, Bron—your poor aunt!”
“What happened to them?” Sorin asked softly, looking at the Beast Kindred.
“The two of them—Gaird and Eela—had a joining ceremony. My father saw to that.” Bron sounded grim. “I guess it’s what they call a ‘shotgun wedding’ back on Earth.”
“So he forced them to bond?” Sorin asked.
Bron shook his head. “He forced them to have the joining ceremony but they were never able to properly bond. It was fucking awful—the two of them walked around like ghosts for the better part of a cycle. Then they…”
He stopped abruptly and Kayla saw that his big hands were clenched into fists and his jaw was working.
“They what, Bron?” she prompted gently.
“They were found in their domicile, both of them dead,” he growled. “They had…taken poison, I think. They died with their arms wrapped around each other but there was a look of peace on both their faces. I think they thought it was the only way they could be with Yerx again.”
“A look of peace on their faces? You weren’t allowed to see them, were you?” Kayla exclaimed. “How old were you when all this happened, anyway?”
“I was about ten cycles old I guess.” Bron looked away. “And I saw them because I was the one who fucking found them. My mother sent me to ask them to eat Last Meal with them. They didn’t come when I called at their door so I went in and…”
He broke off, his jaw clenching.
“Brother, I’m so sorry,” Sorin said quietly. “Just as I never told you of my old pain, you never told me of this either.”
“Well, it’s not exactly appropriate for light fucking dinner conversation, now is it?” Bron snarled.
“Seeing all that must have been awful,” Kayla said gently. “I’m so sorry, Bron. I want to hug you but I need Sorin’s help.”
She looked at the Blood Kindred who stepped forward with his arms outstretched but just then the scene switched again.
Nineteen
“Oh no. Oh, no, no, no.” Kayla only had to glance around the room they found themselves in for a second to know what was coming.
“I am sorry, my dear,” came Mother Pain’s voice, which had been mostly silent while they viewed Bron’s past. “But as you have seen the pain of your warriors, so they too must see your past pain to understand your fear.”
Kayla wanted to beg and plead to be taken out of the bad old memory she knew was coming. But she understood the truth of what Mother Pain said and the fairness of it too. She had seen some of the lowest points of Bron and Sorin’s life—it was only right they should see hers.
“All right,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around herself. “All right, I understand.”
“Kayla, are you well?” Bron asked, his deep voice still hoarse with emotion.
“Is there anything we can do for you, sweetheart?” Sorin said.
“Just…hold my hands.” Kayla put out a hand to each of them. Bron took her right and Sorin her left and she squeezed tight, trying to draw strength from them. “Just don’t let go,” she whispered. “Okay?”
“Of course we’ll stay by you,” Bron rumbled. “But what’s going to happen?”
Kayla only shook her head. “I can’t…can’t talk about it.”
“What is this? An Earth domicile?” Sorin asked, looking around at the familiar living room with its old brown sofa and the cuckoo clock her mother had loved so much on the wall. “I recognize some of the wall hangings from your Auntie Feenie’s place.”
“That’s because she took them when we cleaned out this house.” Kayla’s lips felt numb.
“But why did you—? Bron began but just then the doorbell rang.
“Coming…coming.” Her grandma, who had been dead for five years now, came bustling into the room, wiping her hands on an old-fashioned apron. She had been baking cookies in the kitchen. Kayla knew because she had been helping her. She and Shayla and Granny were having a girl’s day while her parents went Christmas shopping for her and her sister.
As she watched, younger version of herself and her sister—only eight and ten—came out of the kitchen to peer curiously at the front door as Granny reached for the handle.
Kayla wanted to grab the younger her and rush her away—tell her to go hide in bed until the worst was over so she wouldn’t have to see what she was about to see and hear what she was about to hear. But that was just it—the worst was never over. Could never be over and she had an idea she wouldn’t have been able to touch her younger self anyway. This was all a projection—a memory plucked with surgical precision from her mind by Mother Pain and brought back to life in horribly vivid color and detail.
She watched, squeezing her guys’ hands hard, while Granny opened the door. Standing outside on the step, just under the festive string of red and green and blue Christmas lights, were two sober-looking police officers.
Kayla saw her Granny blanch and her grip on the doorknob tightened.
“Yes, officers?” Her voice came out in a dry croak. “How can I help you?”
“Are you Mrs. Smith?” one of the officers asked.
“No.” Granny shook her head. “But my son-in-law’s last name is Smith. I’m Evelyn Crofter. Is…is everything all right?”
“Is your son-in-law Jaden Smith?” the first officer said, ignoring the question. “And his wife is Kiera Smith?”
“Yes.” Granny’s knuckles tightened on the doorknob she was still gripping. “Is…is there a problem?”
The officer took a deep breath. “Mrs. Crofter, maybe you’d better sit down. I’m afraid there’s been an accident…”
Kayla watched as her Granny refused to sit and demanded to know what was going on. When the officers told her, she sank down in the doorway as though the strength had suddenly left her legs.
“No.” Kayla heard her whisper of horror and disbelief, just as she had that day so many years ago. “Oh, Lord Jesus, no! Not my baby!”
“What is it?” Sorin asked in a low voice. “What’s happening, Kayla. I could not hear what the officers said.”
“My parents,” Kayla said numbly. “They were out shopping that day, looking for Christmas presents. They were driving on the freeway and there was this drunk driver…”
She shook her head, unable to go on.
“Oh, leelah,” Sorin murmured, putting an arm around her.
“Small one,” Bron rumbled, putting an arm around her from the other side.
Kayla felt a sob catch in her throat. “It was…just a few days before Christmas. I was only eight so I didn’t understand why…why Momma and Daddy weren’t coming home.” She tried to hold back her tears but they overflowed anyway. “Granny…raised us after that. And after she died, Auntie Feenie took over. But I’ve lost so many people.” She looked up at both of them. “I can’t lose you two, too. I can’t.”
“You won’t, baby,” Bron promised her.
“We’re here for you, no matter what,” Sorin said.
“No matter what, Blood Kindred? No matter what?”
The living room of Kayla’s old house disappeared and Mother Pain’s voice seemed to rise to almost a screech. Kayla winced and would have put her hands to her ears if she hadn’t been holding hands with Bron and Sorin.
Suddenly the room or space or whatever they were standing in went dark—completely black so that Kayla couldn’t even have seen her hand in front of her eyes if she’d tried.
They were standing in a void and she had no idea what was coming next.
Twenty
“Look well,” Mother Pain’s voice echoed in the darkness. “Watch what I am going to show you and
know that at least one of these events will come to pass in the near future while the three of you remain together.”
A clear space lighted up in front of them and this time Kayla saw Bron as he was now. He was back on Rageron with Kayla on one side and Sorin on the other. The three of them were standing in front of his father, who was still a big, powerful male. Only the streaks of pure silver in his hair and beard showed that he was older than he had been in the first scene she had watched, with Bron’s aunt and her two lovers.
“What are you saying to me?” he growled at Bron—or the projection of Bron, anyway. “Do you dare to come here and tell me this? That you are in a in a perverted relationship—that you are sharing a mate with that…that Blood Kindred?”
He spat the words as though they were a curse, his eyes narrowed as he glared at Sorin.
“Yes.” Bron lifted his chin and stared his father in the eyes. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. I love both Sorin and Kayla and they are both my mates. And yes, Sorin and I share Kayla between us. It doesn’t make me less than Sorin to share with him—it makes me equal in our love of Kayla and each other. She dreamed of us both, just as Yerx and Gaird both dreamed of Eela.”
“How dare you mention my sister and her fucking twisted situation?” Broud demanded, glaring at him. “How dare you come here and tell me this after you saw first- hand what happened to her when you were young?”
“It is because of her that I came—in part, anyway,” Bron told him. “What you did to her was wrong—it colored my whole life and nearly made me miss out on my two true mates. I don’t want to lie to you—I want you to know the truth.” He took a deep breath. “I guess I was hoping you’d mellowed some, Father—that you could understand my situation. I’ve found the friend of my heart and the love of my life at the same time—I don’t want to give either of them up.”
“The only thing I understand is that you’ve come before me and admitted a fucking perversion and you seem to think I should be proud of you for it!” growled Broud.
“Father, I only thought—”
“If you were still a member of this tribe I’d have you put to death.” Broud interrupted. “But since you’re not, all I can do is banish you.” He pointed at Bron. “Go and take you mates with you! You are no longer my son. I disown you and disavow all knowledge of you. Your name will be wiped from the tablets of our ancestors and your initials will be scratched off the sacred tree. When you die—which I pray may be soon—your spirit will not be welcome here or anywhere on Rageron. I will never see you again.”
“But…” Bron’s strong features seemed to crumple. “But, Father…”
“Go! And never call me that again.” Broud pointed angrily.
With sagging shoulders, Bron turned. Sorin and Kayla put their arms around him and they walked away, leaving his unforgiving father behind. The look of misery and pain on the big Beast Kindred’s face was clear.
“Gods!” The exclamation came from the real Bron, who was watching with a set jaw. His big hand squeezed Kayla’s so hard it hurt.
“Are you truly surprised, Brother?” Sorin asked softly. “Could you think that such a meeting would go any other way?”
“I don’t know.” Bron shook his head. “I guess I fucking thought he might have mellowed some. But he’s still the same hard, cold son-of-a-bitch he ever was.” He looked at Sorin. “I know one thing though—I don’t want to be anything like him. I don’t want to cut myself off from something…someone…or two someones, I guess in this case, that are so important to me.”
Kayla’s heart caught in her throat.
“Does that mean you’re beginning to change your views on…sharing?” she asked, almost afraid to hope.
“I don’t know what it means,” Bron said evasively. “I just know I don’t want to lose you…either of you.”
“I feel the same,” Kayla said fervently. They both turned to Sorin.
“Brother?” Bron said quietly.
The Blood Kindred shifted uncomfortably.
“I—” he began.
“Attend!” Mother Pain’s voice echoed in the small space they seemed to be in as the projection of Bron and his father faded to darkness. “There is more and worse to come.”
“Worse than being disavowed by my Sire and cast from my tribe?” Bron growled. “What the fuck, lady?”
“Watch,” the disembodied voice commanded sternly. And then the darkness lit up again.
Kayla was in the scene this time and she was standing in the lab the three of them shared aboard the Mother Ship. She was wearing her favorite lab coat—the one with Dr. Smith stitched over the left pocket—that her sister had given her as a going away present when she first came to live and work on the Mother Ship.
She was at her work station, as though she was about to look at a new specimen in the microscope. In her hand she held a large, brilliant crimson flower with a black stem and an iridescent sheen to its glossy petals. But instead of working she was…
Weeping. Weeping as though her heart would break. As though it had already broken and the jagged shards of it were stabbing her from inside.
“Why are you crying, leelah?” Sorin murmured.
“I…I don’t know.” A lump rose in Kayla’s throat as she watched herself cry. What was wrong with her in this scene? What awful thing had made her mourn as though her very soul was broken?
“Listen—she’s saying something,” Bron rumbled.
The Kayla in the scene had her hands over her face now and her words were muffled but clearly understandable.
“I can’t believe they’re gone,” she was saying as she rocked back and forth, her grief almost too great to contain. “I’ll be alone forever—I can never love anyone again. I can’t believe I lost them. I can’t believe they’re gone…”
“No!” Kayla gasped, squeezing her guys’ hands tight. “No, stop this,” she begged Mother Pain. “Please don’t say this will happen—don’t say I lose them. Don’t say Bron and Sorin die—if they die, I want to die too!”
“Be silent, girl,” Mother Pain’s voice said and the scene abruptly faded.
“But is this true?” Sorin demanded. “Are you saying Bron and I will die?”
“I have said no such thing,” Mother Pain said coolly. “Remember I said at least one—possibly more—of these scenarios would come to pass. I did not say which ones will come true for that depends on your pod and the decisions you make together…or apart.”
“But—” Bron began but Mother Pain interrupted him.
“I have but one more possible future to show you,” she said. “Be still and see what may be.”
The darkness lit again to show the last scene and Kayla, who still had tears running down her cheeks, had to force herself to watch it.
Bron was in the scene again and this time, so was Sorin. They were back in the cave again, on Tranq Prime, Kayla thought. Bron was standing at the foot of a bed and the Blood Kindred was kneeling in front of him. Kayla was lying on the bed just watching the two of them with a half-lidded look of desire on her face.
“Are you sure you want to do this here?” Bron was asking with a frown.
“Here more than anywhere,” Sorin raised his hands and began unfastening the Beast Kindred’s trousers. “They drove my brother and his lover out into the cold for love and ruined the life of the female who loved them both—I want to show my love to you and Kayla here, to honor his memory.”
“Well, you won’t get any complaint from me,” Bron rumbled as Sorin got his trousers open and pulled out his long, thick shaft. “But what does our lady think of this little…tribute of yours?”
Both of them turned towards Kayla who waved at them with one hand.
“Go on, guys,” she murmured, her voice a throaty purr. “You know I think you’re beautiful together. It makes me so wet to watch the two of you love each other.”
“We’re just getting warmed up for you, leelah,” Sorin murmured, his voice thick with lust. “Soon we’ll
hold you between us and bond you to us all over again. But first I want to show the friend of my heart what I think of him—how I care for him.”
“Sorin…” Bron reached down to cup his friend’s face, love shining in his golden eyes. “I feel the same for you, friend of my heart,” he murmured. And I’ll gladly take whatever you want to give. Only be fucking careful of your fangs,” he added with a grin.
Sorin gave him a lazy grin in reply.
“I can be careful when I need to—just ask Kayla.”
“He’s extremely good at kissing, uh, delicate areas without using his fangs,” Kayla confirmed from the bed. “Go on, Bron—you don’t have to be afraid to let Sorin show you how he feels. Let me watch him pleasure you.”
Bron gave her a lazy grin that matched Sorin’s own.
“Why, Brother, I do believe our lady wants to watch while you take me in your mouth.”
“You’re damn right, I want to watch,” Kayla told them. She pulled up her silky nightgown to expose herself. With a slow, lazy touch she began to stroke her bare pussy. “It’s sexy as hell when the two of you love each other. Makes me even hotter for both of you,” she purred.
“Gods, look at that wet little pussy,” Bron groaned. “I think we’re making our lady hot for us, Sorin.”
“In that case, let’s not delay any longer,” Sorin murmured. Grasping Bron’s thick shaft in his hand, he leaned forward to plant a hot, open-mouthed kiss on the broad head…
But just before he could, the stone door of the room smashed inward with a resounding crash. Standing in the doorway was a man who could only be Sorin’s father, Kayla thought. He had the same pale eyes as Sorin and his facial features had the same, sharp cast.
“Father!” Sorin jerked back from Bron and the Beast Kindred started hastily stuffing his thick shaft back in his trousers. Kayla pulled down her nightgown quickly and sat up as fast as she could.
“I feared this kind of perversion was going on between you and this ‘friend of your heart’ when you told me the two of you were sharing a female.” Sorin’s father spoke calmly and coldly but his pale blue eyes were filled with icy rage. “You use her as an excuse, do you not? A pretense that you are in a semi-normal relationship when in actuality you are bedding the Beast Kindred exclusively. Or…” A sneer of disgust overspread his features. “More likely letting him bed you.”
Sharing a Mate Page 21