Sharing a Mate

by Evangeline Anderson

  “That’s not true!” Kayla exclaimed. “All three of us love each other, both physically and emotionally. We’re all bonded to each other which means we all take pleasure in each other—there’s nothing wrong with that.”

  Sorin’s father completely ignored her. His gaze was fixed on his son. Sorin’s cheeks had gone a dull red with shame but he kept his chin high. Both sets of pale blue eyes locked together and neither father nor son would look away.

  “I had hoped to have at least one son to carry on our family name,” Sorin’s father said at last. “But it seems my hope was in vain.”

  “What are you going to do to me, Father?” Sorin spat. “Disown me? Call me before the Elders? Have me banished from the grotto as you did to Taurin? Well go ahead—do it! We have a ship parked just outside. Throw us out and we’ll simply fly away and never come back. Then you can pretend you never had any children at all—pretend you didn’t kill one son and drive the other one out of your life forever through intolerance and hate.”

  Sorin’s father didn’t answer—didn’t say a word. He simply stood there, grim-faced with his hands at his sides, clenching his fists. Or one fist anyway, Kayla saw. He seemed to be holding something in the other—something she couldn’t quite make out because his hand was hidden in shadows. But then he moved and…

  “A gun!” she shouted, forgetting that what she was yelling at was only a projection of a possible future. “Oh my God, he’s got a gun! Duck! Run! Get out of there!”

  At that moment, Sorin’s father raised the gun—no, it was a blaster, Kayla saw—and shot Sorin directly between the eyes. To Kayla’s horror, his head exploded in a horrible, bloody mess—vaporized to a fine red mist by the force of the beam that had hit him. Slowly, his body slumped and fell over, landing at Bron’s feet.

  Bron’s eyes went wide.

  “You son-of-a—” he began but that was as far as he got before Sorin’s father shot him too—right in the chest. A jagged, red hole opened where his heart and lungs should have been.

  For a moment, the Beast Kindred just looked down at himself in apparent disbelief. Then he fell to his knees and crumpled to the ground, his body falling on top of Sorin’s. Neither moved.

  Kayla on the bed was screaming—screaming and screaming and she couldn’t stop…couldn’t help it…wouldn’t stop…couldn’t bear to see this and yet couldn’t drag her eyes away. It was horrible…unbelievable.

  Sorin’s father looked at her but didn’t raise his blaster again. He only shook his head and closed the door almost gently, leaving her there with her two dead men, leaving her alone for the rest of her life as she screamed and screamed and screamed…

  “Kayla…baby, stop it—stop! It’s not real—it’s not real!” Bron was roaring at her and Kayla—the real Kayla—became aware that she was screaming every bit as loudly as her doppelganger on the bed.

  As the scene faded she put her hands over her eyes, her screams fading to deep, gut-wrenching sobs.

  “No!” she gasped, doubling over, unable to get out anything more than that. “No! No! No-no-no-no-no!”

  “We’re here—we’re not dead, sweetheart” Sorin joined in at last, though he sounded shaken. “We’re here—right here with you.”

  “Sorin is right—we’re here,” Bron rumbled. “And we’re both alive and just fine.”

  “Just fine? Speak for yourself, Brother,” Sorin muttered. “That was…horrible.”

  “You mean the fact that your Sire blew us both away just because he caught you sucking my shaft?” Bron demanded. “Yes, I’d say it was pretty fucking horrible.”

  Sorin bristled. “I don’t care what that damn scene showed—I would never get on my knees to another male that way! No self-respecting male would.”

  “Oh no?” There was a dangerous hint of a growl in Bron’s deep voice and a flash of fire in his golden eyes. “And what if I told you that I had done such a thing in the past. Then what would you say? Didn’t you hear me when I told you about how we dealt with the lack of females in my tribe?”

  “You’re lying,” Sorin said flatly. “You said the way you ‘helped each other’ was just a…” His cheeks grew red. “Just a handjob.”

  “I said that’s what it usually was. But I wasn’t opposed to using my mouth as well as my hand at times,” Bron shot back. “I would have done it for you if you’d ever asked. There were times before we met Kayla that I knew you wanted to ask but you didn’t dare.”

  “What? Never!” Sorin exclaimed. “I would never debase myself that way—or ask you to either!”

  “Liar,” Bron growled. “Both of us love and crave Kayla but you can’t deny that my touch brings you pleasure too, just as I won’t deny I enjoy yours.”

  “Think what you like, Sorin said coldly. “But don’t attribute your perverse desires to me.”

  “You sound exactly like your Sire!” Bron snarled. His voice was angry but there was real pain in his golden eyes. “The one who just blew your fucking head off and vaporized my guts—do you realize that?”

  “It’s not true, though—it didn’t actually happen,” Sorin protested.

  “But it could happen—it will happen if we try to stay together in this fucked-up trio,” Bron roared. “Which is why we have to end this, now!”

  “I couldn’t agree more, Brother,” Sorin spoke coldly—as coldly as his parents in the awful scenes they had witnessed. “From now on, we will no longer share Kayla between us.”

  “Agreed!” Bron growled and they both dropped Kayla’s hands at the same time.

  Kayla bowed her head and wrapped her arms around herself, shaking with grief. One thought ran through her brain over and over again.

  This is what I was afraid of—we should never have come here. Never, never, never but now it’s too late—too late! I’ve lost them. I’ve lost them both…

  Twenty-One

  “Wake, my dears—the dreaming is over.”

  Mother Pain’s voice seemed to bring Sorin back to himself. He blinked and looked around to see that they were all three, once again, in the Earth-like domicile. He and Bron were sitting on either side of the couch with Kayla between them but none of them were nearly as composed as they had been when they first sat down.

  There was an angry, hurt look on Bron’s strong features and Kayla had her face buried in her hands, sobbing quietly. Sorin couldn’t see his own face, of course, but he could feel the unhappy expression he was wearing—one he couldn’t seem to smooth away, no matter how hard he tried.

  “So you have decided to dissolve your pod after all.” Mother Pain was sitting in her flowered chair again and her face was grave.

  “Yes,” Bron growled.

  “I don’t see that we have any choice,” Sorin said stiffly. “If we stay together as we are now, your visions seem to indicate that we will die—or at the very least, suffer crippling emotional pain.”

  “My visions are always true…but you must be wary of how you interpret them, Warrior,” Mother Pain remarked. “However, it is not given to me to explain—only to show.” She sighed and stood up. “You may come with me now—by sacrificing your love for each other you have more than paid the price. I will allow you to pluck some of the Lust Blossoms from my garden to bring home and use as you please.”

  “So our pain was enough to pay your fucking price?” Bron demanded. “Is that it?”

  “Yes,” Mother Pain said coldly. “Are the three of you coming or not?”

  “We’ll come.” Sorin looked down at Kayla, who still had her face buried in her hands. He wanted to comfort her—to help her up. But that would involve asking Bron for help. And at the moment he was fairly certain the big Beast Kindred would as soon punch him as help him.

  He has a right to be angry, whispered a little voice in Sorin’s head. He made himself vulnerable—practically admitted he was willing to share Kayla and that he cared for you to. He offered you his heart and you threw it back in his face.

  But how could he have accepted what
Bron had been saying? How could he admit that he took pleasure in being near his friend, just as he took pleasure in being with Kayla? That wasn’t right—wasn’t normal. And if Mother Pain’s visions had any truth to them—and all the stories he had read in his searches of her seemed to indicate they did—it could be deadly.

  No, Sorin told himself regretfully. As painful as it is, it’s better if the three of us go our separate ways.

  “Kayla,” he said quietly. “It’s time to get up now. Come on—we have to get what we came for.”

  “What we came for?” She looked up at him and Bron, who was standing there scowling with his arms crossed over his broad chest. “You mean the Lust Blossoms so we can make an antidote? Well, good—I can’t wait to take it.” She stood unsteadily and though Sorin and Bron held out a hand to steady her at the same time, she shied away from both of them. “I can’t wait to take it,” she repeated, glaring at them both. “But not so I can choose between the two of you—so I can be free of you both!”

  Then she brushed past them and headed for the door, never looking back at either one of them.

  “Well this is a fucked-up mess,” Bron growled as both he and Sorin watched Kayla walk away. He didn’t know when he’d felt so fucking angry…or so fucking hurt in his life.

  Sorin’s words kept replaying over and over in his head…“Think what you like, but don’t attribute your perverse desires to me.”

  Is that how he really feels? Bron wondered as he looked at the Blood Kindred who had been the friend of his heart for so long. Does he want no part of me at all…and no part of a relationship with me and Kayla?

  Do you want a relationship with Sorin and Kayla? whispered a little voice in his head. What about the way Beast Kindred aren’t supposed to share?

  Bron didn’t have an answer for that but he did know that watching the scenes from his childhood had brought home to him how very wrong his Sire had been to act the way he had. His Aunt Eela would still be alive and happy with her mates if Broud hadn’t been so determined to make her walk the straight and narrow.

  Also, though Bron had tried to convince himself that sharing Kayla with another male would send him into Rage or make him feel less of a true male, it just didn’t seem to be true. Last night when he and Sorin had held their lady between them, both filling her over and over again, it had been a beautiful experience that brought the three of them closer. One he was even now longing to repeat.

  Not that we ever will, he thought, glaring resentfully at Sorin. Since he can’t get over his fucking self long enough to see there are two other people in this with him.

  Not anymore, there weren’t, though. Kayla had just announced her desire to get away from both of them. And who could fucking blame her? They had dissolved their relationship based on the crazy, frightening things they’d seen. Bron didn’t know if the fucked-up visions they had been shown would come true or not but he didn’t think they should just take the word of a spooky alien female none of them had even heard of a day ago and let it rule their lives.

  Except we are, aren’t we? he thought unhappily as he followed Sorin and Kayla out of the house. I guess this is it for the three of us…and for my friendship with Sorin, The minute we get the Lust Blossoms and get back to the ship, we’ll probably never go near each other again.

  Well, after they made the antidote, anyway, so Kayla could drink it and get away from them. Then the three of them could go their separate ways and try to forget they had ever known each other.

  Bron couldn’t think of any future worse or more miserable than that…but it appeared to be coming true and there was nothing he could do about it.

  “Behold, the Lust Blossoms.” Mother Pain pointed to an especially vivid section of the garden which held a riot of red flowers about as big as Kayla’s outstretched palm. They had black stems and leaves but there was an iridescent glow to their waxy petals that drew the eye—like a rainbow over the deep red hue. Their center was a deep blue that was almost black.

  “They’re beautiful,” Kayla said dully.

  “I’ll get some.” Sorin drew a micro-collapsing collection kit out of one of his pockets and expanded it until he had a sealable specimen collecting bag and safety gloves ready. Pulling on the gloves, he knelt by the patch of large, red blossoms. Looking up at Mother Pain he asked, “Is there anything we need to know about these before I take them aboard the ship? Will handling them or breathing in their fragrance cause another, er, lust attack?”

  Mother Pain shook her head.

  “By themselves they are harmless—their fragrance produces only a mild aphrodisiac effect. It is only when the blossoms are distilled that their potency becomes greatly and, in some cases, dangerously enhanced.”

  “All right, thank you.” Sorin nodded and began plucking the flowers and storing them in the specimen bag.

  As he worked, Kayla noticed a tiny, iridescent creature about as long as her pinky finger dart out from between the black stems of the plants. She stooped to examine it, fascinated by the way it seemed to be entirely see-through with a rainbow sheen to its clear skin.

  Though her heart was broken, she couldn’t stop her natural curiosity about an alien creature—that was, after all—the reason she’d become a xenobiologist in the first place. She leaned closer and peered at the little animal, which reminded her a little of a tiny reptile with its long, pointed snout and long, snaky body with four, short, lizard-like legs. She could see right through it, she realized—its beating heart and pumping lungs were clearly on display. It was like a living X-ray.

  She would have expected it to run away when she got close but instead it reared up and hissed at her, its open mouth revealing tiny, needle-sharp fangs.

  “I would not get too close, my dear,” Mother Pain said dryly. “That is a glass dragon and they are among the most deadly creatures on the entirety of Carnal Four. One bite can kill a grown male in under five minutes.”

  “Really?” Kayla drew back cautiously. “Is it venomous?”

  “Extremely. The venom they inject is a paralytic—it acts on the extremities first and then moves inward to paralyze the heart and lungs. Death comes quickly after that.”

  “Why do you keep something so poisonous in your fucking garden, then?” Bron demanded, frowning.

  “Because nothing here is as dangerous as I am,” Mother Pain said.

  Again Kayla had the vision of a huge Praying Mantis looming over the three of them. Then she blinked and it was gone.

  That’s what she really is, she thought bitterly. Some kind of predator. Only she doesn’t kill her prey—she wounds them and feeds off their pain. We must have been like an all-you-can-eat buffet for her!

  “You are wrong about me, my dear.” Mother Pain’s voice was surprisingly gentle as she looked at Kayla.

  “What are you talking about—I didn’t say anything!” Kayla protested.

  “I only show what it is given to show me. And remember, not everything I see and show comes true. It is up to you which of the visions I showed you becomes reality. Sometimes in trying to prevent a future, you bring it to pass.”

  “You’ve shown us fucking enough,” Bron growled. “Enough to—” But he broke off abruptly and looked away. The pain in his golden eyes was almost palpable. For a moment Kayla wanted to go to him and comfort him but she couldn’t do that without Sorin—none of them could do anything without the other two. And since her guys now wanted nothing to do with each other, she could have nothing to do with either of them.

  We’re stuck, she thought bitterly. Trapped by the past and the future both. And there’s not a damn thing we can do about it.

  “I think I have enough.” Sorin’s voice brought her out of her bitter reflections and she looked up to see the Blood Kindred sealing the collection bag. “We can go,” he said shortly. “We’ll be home before we know it.”

  “Home,” Bron muttered, still looking away. “Fucking great.”

  Kayla said nothing at all. She simply rose and fo
llowed her guys down the hill.

  Except they’re not my guys—not anymore, she thought.

  As they turned to go, the huge Victorian mansion and the gardens surrounding it faded away to nothing, leaving only the barren rounded top of the hill and the gray, stunted vegetation that covered it.

  Kayla stared for a minute. The bleak scene felt like looking into her soul. Empty… dead…abandoned…

  Gone, she thought. All gone.

  Then she turned and trudged down the hill, back to the waiting shuttle which would take her back to a loveless, lonely life aboard the Mother Ship.

  Twenty-Two

  To her great relief, Kayla didn’t have any flare-ups from the lust virus still active in her blood on the way back home. She didn’t know how she could have dealt with them if she had, considering that Bron and Sorin weren’t talking to each other and she wasn’t talking to either of them. But luck was with her and she was able to get back to the Mother Ship without incident.

  After the shuttle touched down in the Docking Bay, the three of them sat there silently for a moment. Kayla wondered if this was how people who had gone through a divorce acted when they were together. Silent…staring…nothing to say.

  At last Sorin stirred and sighed.

  “I need to go report to Commander Sylvan and debrief him and the Council about our journey.”

  “He’ll expect me there as well,” Bron said heavily.

  “If we’re both going before the Council I hope we can keep any…personal elements out of our report,” Sorin said.

  Bron gave the Blood Kindred an unfriendly look.

  “You think I can’t be fucking professional just because we’re not friends anymore? Give me some credit.”