He stepped to the open doorway and shimmered as he had before. Suddenly Mr. Kittles was back, his whiskers twitching. The rabbit bowed low again and then hopped down the steps and into the dim alley where he disappeared into the violet gloom.
* * * * *
Xairn finally reached the edge of the splicing district, his lungs burning in his chest. The plasti-glass tube he was in ended abruptly and his forward momentum almost took him over the edge. He gripped the sides of the tube tightly and looked down into the purple gloom hundreds of feet below, searching desperately for an air-cab or a cloud cushion which would have been the fastest way down. But neither was apparent.
He cursed softly in his native tongue. There was no time to wait around, hoping for quick transportation. Lauren was in danger. Even now she might be—Xairn cut off that train of thought ruthlessly. He couldn’t think about what might be happening to her. Not if he didn’t want to go completely mad. He would have to climb down the long, latticed tube support system and hope he got to her in time.
“Should have told her more,” he muttered to himself as he swung out onto the ledge and gripped the first slippery metal rung tightly. He felt for a lower rung with his foot and found it, his boot scraping against it loudly in the empty air. “Should have told her what goes on in this damn city.”
Yes, he should have told her more. Should have told her the reason she shouldn’t go outside the ship. Most of all, he should have told her the reason she shouldn’t bargain or trade with anyone. But he hadn’t wanted to frighten her. Hadn’t wanted to tell her that the splicing sheds weren’t the worst place a visitor to O’ah could end up if they weren’t careful.
“Be careful, Lauren,” he begged under his breath as he began the long, dizzying descent. Not for the first time, he wished he had a telepathic link with her, like the Kindred had with their brides. It would be so convenient to be able to contact her mind-to-mind. Of course that kind of intimacy only came with bonding and he knew no female as beautiful and perfect as Lauren would want to bond with a Scourge. Especially not one with such twisted urges…
Stop it. Stop thinking about it and concentrate on climbing. One wrong move and you’ll be splattered like a bug on the pavement. Who will help Lauren then? Who will save her from that bastard, the Spider?
Xairn knew the answer to that question—no one. He had brought Lauren to a strange and dangerous planet lightyears from her home and she had come with him willingly and trustingly. Because he had promised to keep her safe. When he had made that promise, Xairn had thought the worst thing he’d have to protect her from was himself. The dark desires she woke in him made him fearful and wary of getting too close to the tempting little female. But the things Spider would do to her…
Don’t think about it. Just climb!
Xairn tried to take his own advice but it was hard. So damn hard when he knew she was in terrible danger and there was nothing he could do to help her.
Be safe, Lauren, he thought, wishing he could send the thought across space and somehow reach her. Be safe and whatever you do, stay inside the ship!
Chapter Four
“Good, you’re finally here.” A Kindred warrior with coal black hair and eyes dragged Rast out of the transport tube. “I’m Deep, Lock’s brother. Cutting things a little close, aren’t you?”
Rast was so dizzy from the jerky motion of the tube he was seeing double for a moment. “What are you talking about?” he growled, frowning at the warrior. “I came on the day we agreed on.”
“Yes but these things always take time to prepare for, no matter how ‘simple and elegant’ they’re supposed to be. But that’s how it goes when it comes to Earth females.” The warrior called Deep sounded like he was complaining but there was a fond smile on his face as he spoke. “Well, come on—you’re here now and that’s what counts. But you can’t wear that.”
Rast frowned down at the conservative black pants and gray sports jacket he was wearing. “Excuse the hell out of me. I didn’t realize seeing Commander Sylvan was such a formal occasion or I would have brought my tux.”
Deep shook his head. “That wouldn’t be appropriate attire either. Didn’t anyone tell you the males are all wearing the native costume of Tranq Prime?”
Rast was getting more and more irritated. “No. I don’t know what the hell the ‘native costume’ is and I don’t have one with me either. So I guess I’ll have to see him as is.”
“And ruin everything? I don’t think so.” Deep glared at him. “Lucky for you, I have an extra tharp and some boots Sylvan said should fit you on hand. Come to the changing area and hurry—we don’t have long to get to the sacred grove.”
Before Rast could protest, the large Kindred had turned and was leading the way through a park-like expanse of green and purple grass. They appeared to be headed toward a sheltered area filled with well tended trees where presumably Commander Sylvan was waiting. It was irritating in the extreme, but it seemed there was little choice but to follow him.
* * * * *
“Oh my God, Sophie—he’s here.” Kat rushed back into the changing area bubbling with excitement.
“Who’s here?” Olivia asked. “Sylvan’s friend?”
Kat nodded. “Lock just bespoke me. He got him off the shuttle and sent him through the transport tube to Deep. He’s getting dressed right now.”
“Thank God!” Sophie looked relieved. “But the ceremony’s about to start. Will he be ready in time?”
“Don’t worry about that,” Kat said. “Deep says he’ll shove him in a tharp and sneak him into line right beside Baird and no one will even notice. Because all eyes will be on you, my darling gorgeous Sophie.”
Sophie smiled and Nadiah, who had been standing quietly in the corner of the changing tent thought that she really did look radiantly lovely.
“So you were right,” Olivia said, turning to her with a friendly smile. “He did make it here on time.”
“I knew he would,” Nadiah said quietly.
Olivia arched an eyebrow at Kat. “And are his eyes green like Nadiah, uh, forsaw?”
“Hang on, I’ll ask.” Kat put a hand to her temple and closed her eyes briefly. Clearly she was using the mental link all Kindred brides got when they bonded to their males to communicate with one of her mates. She opened her eyes after a second. “Yup. Lock says his eyes are truegreen—the color of the First Kindred males. The ones who started out on the Kindred home world before they made any genetic trades.”
“Wasn’t Sylvan and Baird’s father a First Kindred?” Olivia asked.
Sophie nodded. “I’m pretty sure he was. It’s too bad he died before we got to know our guys.” She turned to Nadiah. “You really predicted that perfectly—I’m impressed.”
“Thank you.” Nadiah beamed. Her grandmamam had told her there would be skeptics if she revealed her powers and she had been right. It was nice to feel vindicated.
“So is he one of the First Kindred?” Kat asked curiously. “I mean, could you see that when you, uh, forsaw him?”
Nadiah frowned. “The Sight can be tricky—it’s not like someone injecting a huge dose of information into your head. I see things—mostly in dreams or visions—and I have to interpret them. But I did get a glimpse of his standing before the throne of the Mother of All Life wearing the ceremonial robes of the First Kindred.”
“That doesn’t prove anything,” Olivia objected. “He was just there on a pilgrimage.”
Nadiah shrugged. “I can only tell you what I saw. And the only other glimpse I got was of me kissing him.”
“The luck kiss.” Sophie smiled sentimentally. “It seems like just yesterday I was scared to death about having to perform it with Sylvan.”
“Well, I’m not scared.” Nadiah gave her a grin. “I’ve been looking forward to my first Kindred kiss since I was a little girl. I promise you, Sophie, I’ll make sure your union to Sylvan starts off with a bang.”
“I know you will.” Sophie gave her a hug and then cocked
her head. “Oh my God, the music’s starting. How do I look?”
“Gorgeous.” Nadiah hugged her carefully, trying not to disarrange the transparent white panel she wore over her face which the other Earth girls had called a veil. It was a beautiful and interesting custom—one she was determined to emulate in her own bonding ceremony.
And who knows, she thought as they lined up behind Sophie and began the slow procession out to the sacred grove. Maybe I’ll be meeting—and kissing— my future mate in the next few minutes.
Of course she knew that was nonsense. The blood bond between herself and Yo-dah was practically unbreakable. Her parents had seen to that. Still, a warrior who genuinely cared for her might be able to challenge the bond…
Humming softly along with the lovely Earth music, Nadiah followed her friend out of the changing tent.
Chapter Five
“Well…that wasn’t so bad,” Lauren murmured after Blix finally left. She shut and locked the door carefully, checking it twice to make sure it was secure, before shaking out some of the clothes in the pile.
She had to admit they were a vast improvement over the silver muumuu. There was a tight-fitting blouse with long flowing sleeves in a shimmery see-through pale blue that felt as soft as silk. It fit Lauren so exactly she wondered how Blix could know her size. Probably picked it right out of my head like everything else. The idea made her frown but Lauren pushed it away. If the worst thing that came out of her meeting with the alien mind reader was a new set of clothes she supposed she couldn’t complain.
The only problem she could see with the blouse was that it was revealing—very revealing. Her full breasts and tight nipples were clearly visible through its shimmery fabric. Just as she was thinking there was no way she could wear it out in the open, she saw a solution. The next piece of clothing she unfolded was a red sash. It was about the width of her palm but so long she was able to wrap it around her several times and still knot it on one side. It looked a little strange when she was done—kind of like the wrapping on a kimono—but it was better than showing God and everybody her boobs.
The skirt that went with the blue blouse and red sash was deep cobalt. Lauren caught her breath at the lovely color and was pleased to see that it was completely opaque. It fit just above her hips and fell to her ankles in a snug but comfortable sheathe. There was a long slit up one side that showed most of her left leg when she walked but Lauren shifted it over so it didn’t reveal as much as felt satisfied with the result.
The only problem now was shoes—she didn’t have any. In fact, she’d been barefoot for weeks, ever since the AllFather had first kidnapped her and taken her aboard his Fathership. Lauren wasn’t wild about the idea of going barefoot on an alien planet—who knew what she might pick up out there? But when she looked down again, she saw something she must have missed the first time. A pair of deep blue slippers with crimson soles was lying where she’d put the pile of clothes. Lauren tried them on and found that they fit perfectly and were deliciously comfortable.
She went to look at herself in the bathroom viewer and was pleased with what she saw. “Sooo much better than that ugly silver muumuu,” she murmured, running her fingers through her long black hair. She wished she had a little lipstick to brighten up her face but other than that, she looked ready for a night on the town—well, a strange alien town, anyway.
Which led to a dilemma—should she leave the ship and trade a few food cubes to Blix or should she stay tucked inside the spaceship as Xairn had instructed?
On one hand she had promised to stay inside. But on the other hand, he had promised to be back in one day. Lauren didn’t want to let herself think that something had happened to him—the very idea put a lump in her throat and not just because she’d be stranded on a distant planet without him. As fierce and moody as he was, Xairn had become very dear to her. She felt safe in his arms and wanted to help him work through his troubled past. Not to mention that when he looked at her with that burning red-on-black gaze she felt hot and cold all over and wanted…what did she want from him? Lauren wasn’t quite sure but she did know she didn’t want to lose him.
Right now, though, she had to be practical. What if she was on her own now? Marooned on a distant planet in a galaxy light years from Earth. What was she supposed to do? How would she survive when the food cubes ran out? There were hundreds of them but not a lifetime supply. And besides, did she really want to live the rest of her life cooped up in the small silver spaceship?
When she thought about it that way, there was no choice. “I’ll do it,” Lauren said out loud. The sound of her own voice seemed to give her courage. Lifting her chin, she went to the cabinet and began sorting rapidly through the cubes, looking for the ones that had the little squiggle that indicated worm based cuisine. When she had a handful she tucked them into the pocket of the skirt. Then, taking a deep breath and gripping the stunner Xairn had left her firmly in one hand, she unlatched the door and went out.
She hadn’t gone two steps, her crimson soled slippers soundless on the stones of the alley, when a girl with deep orange skin and strangely tilted eyes suddenly appeared before her.
Lauren gasped and held up the stunner. “Stay back, I’m armed!”
“I’m Vlanka. Don’t be scared—Spider sent me.” The girl smiled, revealing blue teeth. Instead of hair she had two large, fleshy tentacles with purple tips growing out of either side of her head. They twitched and moved, seeming to have a life of their own—reminding Lauren of an elephant’s trunk. Other than that and the coloring of her skin and teeth, she looked more or less humanoid and seemed to speak English as well as Blix had. She was also wearing the same kind of outfit Lauren had on, right down to the blue shoes with red soles.
“You mean Blix?” Lauren asked, still keeping the stunner level with the girl’s midsection.
Vlanka shrugged. “If you want. Around here we mostly just call him Spider. He said you’d be out. Sent me to bring you to him.”
Lauren frowned. “I thought his, uh, booth or stall or whatever was just around the corner.”
“It is.” The girl smiled mysteriously. “But you got to know which corner to go around. First though, you’re wearing your tok all wrong.”
“My what?” Lauren asked but the girl was already rearranging the red sash Lauren had wrapped around herself so carefully. She used both her hands and her hair trunks, as Lauren was beginning to think of them, for the job. Lauren couldn’t help noticing that she had seven fingers on each hand, tipped with long purple nails. Several of them were missing joints, however, and ended in stubs instead of nails. Lauren wondered if Vlanka had lost them in some kind of accident.
At last the alien girl stood back to admire her handiwork. “There. Better.”
“Hey,” Lauren protested, looking down at herself. The long red sash now crisscrossed between her breasts and tied at her waist in an elaborate knot. Unfortunately, the new configuration left her breasts exposed through the sheer pale blue top. “I can’t go out in public like this,” she said, trying to pull the sides of the sash over enough to at least cover her nipples. She was only partially successful.
“You got to,” Vlanka said implacably. “That’s the only way to wear a tok in the trade.”
“A what in the where?” Lauren asked but Vlanka was surveying her with a frown.
“You got this wrong too.” She twitched the long cobalt skirt around until the long slit was directly up the front, flashing a lot more of her crotch than Lauren was comfortable with. But before she could protest again, Vlanka said, “Come on. Spider’s waiting.”
Taking her by the hand, she pulled Lauren down the alleyway toward the busy marketplace beyond.
Chapter Six
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Rast said, looking down at himself. The black haired warrior named Deep had made him strip down to his skin. Then he’d given Rast nothing to replace his clothes but a furry green kilt-thing to wrap around his waist and green fur boots to match.
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Deep raised an eyebrow at him. “You don’t like it?”
“Of course I don’t fucking like it,” Rast growled. “I look like a reject from a Conan movie.”
“Too bad.” Deep clapped in on his bare back. “Because the ceremony’s starting and I promised my female I’d have you dressed and in line in time to participate.”
“What do you mean? What am I supposed to do?”
But Deep was already leading the way out of the changing tent and around the side of the grove of green and purple trees Rast had seen earlier. He felt beyond strange in the weird alien outfit but at least there didn’t seem to be many people in the immediate vicinity to witness his shame.
Taking a deep breath, Rast decided to try and go with it. It pissed him off to no end that he had to change into some strange get-up in order to even talk to Commander Sylvan but he supposed it must be part of the Kindred culture. It was bizarre but he would have done stranger things than wearing a furry green kilt and matching boots in order to solve this case and bring Lauren home safely to her grieving mother.
He followed Deep, who was stalking around the side of the grove of trees purposefully. The warm scent of growing things almost made Rast forget he was inside a spaceship and the artificial green sun hanging overhead beamed down on his bare shoulders in a way that was strangely soothing. Again he was overcome by the oddest feeling. Not déjà vu exactly. More like…homecoming. As though he belonged here somehow. As though—
“Here we are,” Deep hissed, breaking into his musings. “We’re just going to slip in the side here.”
Rast nodded and followed him through a narrow path in the green and purple trees. He felt like he had as a kid, playing Cowboys and Indians, stalking silently through the trees to ambush…
Brides of the Kindred Volume One Page 130