Stealing Her Heart: A Kindred Tales Novel (Brides of the Kindred)

by Evangeline Anderson

  Once they’re taken care of, I’ll find Chain and we’ll talk, she promised herself. Just talk, though. There’s no way I’m jumping into a long-term relationship right away. We need to get to know each other first—that’s the sensible thing to do.

  And having promised herself she would, in fact, do the sensible thing, Vicky relaxed and waited for the trip to be over.

  Chapter Forty-four

  “Well hello, doll! Fancy meeting you up here.”

  Kat’s voice surprised Vicky. She turned away from the exam room where Melli and Jodi were settled in two comfortable-looking Kindred hospital beds and saw her friend standing there.

  “Kat!” she exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

  “I live here,” Kat said dryly. “But if you mean what am I doing in the Med Center, I just sat with my friend Lizabeth for the past seven hours while she gave birth. Come see her twins!”

  “Oh, I don’t want to bother her!” Vicky protested but Kat shook her head.

  “Don’t worry—we won’t go in the room. We’ll just peek in at the doorway—she won’t mind. She likes you. And they’re gorgeous. You have to see them.”

  Vicky took one more look at her girls to be sure they were okay. Both of them were dozing comfortably due to the pain meds Commander Sylvan—who was also a doctor—had given them. Melli’s leg had been set—it wasn’t a bad break, just a greenstick fracture, thank goodness—and Jodi’s ankle was elevated on pillows and packed in cooling gel that looked like green Jell-O.

  The Kindred warriors who had come with Chain were still there, too. The Blood Kindred, Liosh, was sitting by Melli and holding her hand because she hadn’t wanted to let go of him. There was a look of devotion on his face that was unmistakable.

  Vicky couldn’t help remembering how gently he had cradled Melli and how he had promised not to leave her side for as long as she was in the Med Center. A smile twitched the corners of her mouth—it seemed her younger daughter had an admirer and a very devoted one at that.

  On the other side of the room, the Beast Kindred, Vorn, had his long legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles as he sat by Jodi. He was looking at her with a perplexed expression on his face as though he couldn’t quite figure her out.

  The two of them had been arguing right up until the moment the pain meds kicked in but when Jodi had started to quiet down, Vorn had drawn up a chair and settled himself beside her, arms crossed over his broad chest.

  He looked like a sentry keeping guard over a sleeping princess, Vicky couldn’t help thinking. It was clear nothing bad was going to happen while he and Liosh were on guard so she felt all right to leave the room.

  “What happened to your face?” Kat asked, apparently noticing for the first time when Vicky turned to face her. “And did Chainor get my message?”

  Vicky put up a hand to her face and winced when she touched the still-tender furrows the alien’s long claws had dug in the flesh of her cheek and the side of her neck. Liv, who had been at the Med Center when she came in, had shaken her head when she cleaned them out and muttered something about how Vicky had been extremely lucky the Varian hadn’t severed her jugular.

  “I got scratched by a Varian who came after the T’lix-Kruthe. And what message?” she asked.

  “You what?” Kat exclaimed. “Oh my God—they came back after you again? I’m so sorry, doll!”

  “It’s okay,” Vicky said steadily. “My house is completely wrecked but my daughters are okay and that’s all that matters. But what message did you mean?”

  “Oh, the message that you didn’t hate him for being an M-Switch,” Kat said, shaking her head. “I know I promised to tell him myself, but then almost the minute we got into the shuttle to go home, Lizabeth went into labor. So I’m afraid you and Chainor and everything else just flew right out of my head. I didn’t remember until the twins were delivered safe and sound that I was supposed to tell him how you felt about him, but I didn’t want to leave Lizabeth.

  “So I grabbed the first warrior I saw—which happened to be our pilot on the way down—and told him to go find Chainor and tell him how you felt. He and his friend went on the run to find him and that was the last I knew of it until I saw you standing there in the Med Center corridor. I hope that was okay?” She looked at Vicky uncertainly.

  “It’s fine, though I don’t know if he got the message,” Vicky said. “We’re supposed to talk some more later, once everyone is patched up. But it’s a good thing you sent those warriors down to Chain—between the three of them they killed all the Varians who had invaded my house and saved me and my daughters—and there were a lot of those lizard-looking bastards.” She shivered, remembering the hoard of aliens who had descended on her house.

  “Oh my God!” Kat put a hand to her mouth. “The Goddess must have had a hand in this,” she murmured. “She knew Chainor would need help and she sent it. I’m so glad you and your girls are okay.”

  “Me too.” Vicky put a hand to her head. “To tell you the truth, I still feel a little dazed. So much has happened in such a short time.”

  “No kidding!” Kat exclaimed. “Look—I can tell you’re tired. Do you want to just go lay down someplace?”

  “Well—” Vicky began but just then a tall, handsome Kindred who looked to be about Chain’s age stepped out into the hallway.

  “Oh, Lady Kat,” he said in a low voice. “There you are—Lizabeth’s been asking for you.”

  “Hello, Lone.” Kat smiled at him and then turned to Vicky. “This is Lizabeth’s husband, Lone that I was telling you about. Lone, this is my friend, Vicky.”

  “Nice to meet you and I hear congratulations are in order,” Vicky said, shaking his hand and smiling.

  “Yes. My beautiful mate just gave birth to two perfect sons.” Lone was beaming with pride. “Would you like to see them?”

  “Well, sure—if it won’t disturb Lizabeth,” Vicky said uncertainly. She remembered feeling disoriented and horribly tired after the two times she’d given birth but maybe the Kindred medical technology made the experience a lot less traumatic.

  “She won’t mind if you just stop in for a minute,” Lone assured her. “Come in.” And he led them into a cozy-looking maternity room where Lizabeth was propped up in bed and holding two sleeping babies—one with black hair and one with light blond fuzz on its little head.

  “Oh, they’re beautiful!” Vicky cooed as she looked at the little angels. “Look at their sweet little faces—you must be so proud.”

  “We are.” Lizabeth looked tired but not as horribly exhausted as Vicky remembered feeling after her daughters’ births. “And Lone here is fit to burst, I think,” she added, smiling up at her husband.

  “I could burst with pride,” he admitted, smiling as he stroked a strand of hair away from his wife’s forehead. “But how can I help it? I have a beautiful, brave, wonderful mate who’s given me the finest twin sons anyone ever saw. Of course I’m proud!”

  Kat laughed delightedly and Vicky smiled too as Lone and Lizabeth exchanged loving glances. She couldn’t help thinking what a happy and devoted couple they were, despite their obvious age difference. Lone was looking at Lizabeth as though she was his whole world—as though he couldn’t imagine his life without her.

  I’ve never had anyone look at me like that, she thought wistfully as she watched them. Kevin certainly hadn’t. Though to be fair, she didn’t think her ex had it in him to be as loving and devoted as these Kindred males obviously were with their wives.

  After admiring the babies a little more, she and Kat left the happy couple, promising to visit again later.

  Kat closed the door softly behind them and turned to Vicky.

  “Well, I think you can see why you and Chainor kind of flew out of my head. I’m so glad everything worked out even though I forgot, though.”

  “It certainly did.” Vicky smiled. “Those babies are perfect. But Lizabeth doesn’t seem nearly as wrung out as I remember feeling after having my kids.”

>   “Oh, the Kindred medical tech here is really wonderful,” Kat said. “They have a nearly zero infant and mother mortality rate. Labor is still rough but they have ways to speed it up and move it along and get the baby out without anybody being hurt. It’s really impressive.”

  “It sounds amazing,” Vicky said, impressed. “I just wonder—”

  “Ah, beautiful Victoria—there you are.”

  The voice behind her sent butterflies through her stomach and Vicky turned to see Chain striding towards her, a familiar crooked smile twitching one corner of his mouth.

  “I got your message,” he said to Kat, before she could ask him. “I wasn’t sure what it meant at first, but now I think I have an idea.”

  “Chain…” Vicky began but then he took her hand and looked into her eyes and she found that she didn’t know what to say next.

  “Can we talk now?” he murmured, looking at her intently. “I believe your daughters are taken care of and Liosh and Vorn have promised me they will stay and keep watch over Melli and Jodi until they are well.”

  “Well, sure—okay.” Vicky felt her stomach fluttering again. “Where…where do you want to talk?”

  “If you’d like to come with me, I have a guest suite not far from the Med Center,” Chain told her. “We can talk there.” He frowned. “And I can tend to your wounds.”

  “Oh…” Vicky put a hand to her cheek and winced again. “Liv cleaned them out for me—they’re not deep enough for stitches so they just have to heal on their own now.” She made a face. “Hopefully they won’t leave a scar.”

  “They most certainly will not scar your beautiful face,” Chain said firmly. “I’ll see to that myself. But it’s better to have privacy for that.”

  Vicky thought the wounds could probably heal on their own but she definitely wanted to talk to the big Kindred.

  But only talk, she reminded herself. I’m going to do the right, responsible thing and not rush headlong into any lifetime commitments. Right?

  Of course, right. But just as she thought it, she saw Kat smiling at her and Chain.

  “Well, it’s been a long day and I need to get back to my two hubbies and three sons,” she said to Vicky. “Luckily Lock is an excellent cook so at least they shouldn’t have starved even though I was gone all day.”

  “Oh, I’ll see you later then,” Vicky said. “Maybe we can meet for breakfast or something?”

  Kat laughed. “I doubt it, doll,” she said and winked at Vicky. “You and Chainor probably won’t be finished ‘talking’ yet, I wouldn’t think. But maybe we can do breakfast in a couple of days.”

  “What? What does that mean?” Vicky asked, bewildered.

  But Kat only laughed again.

  “See you later—much later,” she told Vicky and then turned to go down the corridor, still laughing.

  Chapter Forty-five

  Chain led her to his guest suite and made certain she was comfortable in front of the fireplace. He liked the way the warm, flickering light looked on her lovely face, though the deep scratches that bastard of a Varian had made on her skin would have to go. Luckily, he’d taken the serum which allowed all Kindred to heal their mates in the same way Blood Kindred did. So he would be able to heal Victoria—if she would let him—just as he had down on Earth when they had first met.

  “Wow, this is really nice.” Victoria looked around with an awed expression. “And you said this is just a guest suite? I mean, there’s a fireplace and everything.”

  “I think most of the living suites in the Mother Ship have them,” Chain told her. “The Kindred modified it with their Earth brides in mind. From what I’ve heard, Earth females find the flickering glow of a fire to be very romantic.”

  Victoria’s cheeks got rosy in the firelight.

  “Well, yes,” she said, smiling a little. “It is very romantic. And it’s a nice touch.” She looked longingly at the plush leather couch in front of the small fireplace. “I’d love to sit down and soak it in but I’m afraid if I do, I won’t ever get up again and I really want a shower.” She looked at Chain. “Would that be all right?”

  Chain had planned everything he was going to say to her but it could wait. Right now his female’s comfort was more important than anything else.

  “Of course,” he said, smiling. “Though maybe you’d rather take a relaxing bath instead? I have a bathing pool in my fresher.”

  “A bathing pool? That sounds wonderful.” She nodded gratefully. “Lead the way, please—I’d love to take a soak in the pool.”

  Chain led her into the fresher, which was much larger than the usual human “restroom” as they called it, and included a free-standing shower unit as well as the bathing pool, which was set into the floor and about as big around as a large hot tub. It was considerably deeper than a hot tub, though and he wondered with concern if Victoria could swim.

  “Here you are,” he said, indicating the steaming water. “You can control the temperature and water flow from here…” He showed her the controls.

  “Oh, thank you. I think I get it.” Victoria nodded.

  “It’s quite deep, though,” Chain told her, unable to help voicing his worry for her. “Tell me—can you swim?”

  “I can but I’m pretty tired right now. Maybe…” She bit her lush lower lip and looked at him uncertainly.

  “Yes?” Chain asked, looking at her intently. “Whatever it is, you can say it, Victoria.”

  “Well I just thought maybe you could…could come in with me?” she asked, looking up at him. “I mean, not as a, uh, sexual thing or anything,” she added quickly, her cheeks getting pink again. “Just as a safety measure. I wouldn’t want to fall asleep and go under, right? And you’ve had a rough night too—I figured you might like a soak as much as I would.”

  “You ‘figured’ right,” Chain said, smiling at her. His heart was pounding at the thought of being naked with his beautiful Victoria but he told himself that she had specified there would be no sex. He would be careful and respect her boundaries. Still, at least he would be allowed to see her beautiful body again.

  “Okay, good then.” Victoria smiled at him. “Let’s get in then, I guess.”

  Chain nodded. “Yes, let’s.”

  She turned her back modestly and began to undress and after a moment, Chain did the same. Boundaries, he reminded himself as he did so. No matter how much you want her, you must respect her boundaries.

  But Gods, it was going to be really hard to look at her beautiful naked body without touching her!

  * * * * *

  God, I can’t believe I asked him to take a bath with me! What happened to doing the sensible thing? Vicky asked herself as she pulled off her clothes with shaky hands. She’d only had on an old pair of jeans and a t-shirt so there wasn’t much to take off. She made a face of disgust as she saw the splatter of green alien goo on the back of the jeans. She was definitely going to have to wash those before she could put them on again.

  As soon as she was naked, she turned quickly for the pool, hoping to get in first before Chain could see her. Of course, he’d seen her completely naked that night on Priima Belle—seen her and done a whole lot more. But she had been really tipsy at the time and she was much more shy and retiring about her body when she was sober.

  Thank goodness the float dots are still in place, she thought as she looked down at her breasts, which were still riding high and proud. These things are great—I’m never taking them off! They—

  Her thoughts cut off abruptly when she turned and saw that Chain was already in the pool, waiting for her.

  “Oh, uh…” She laughed nervously and attempted to cover herself with her arms.

  “Are you shy to let me see you, beautiful Victoria?” he murmured, smiling up at her. “Don’t be—I love your luscious curves, my little Elite.”

  Oh, that’s right—he’s into plus-sized women, Vicky reminded herself. Still, she couldn’t help blushing as she lowered herself into the warm water and settled across the ba
thing pool from Chain.

  But once she was submerged to her chin in the steaming water, she found she couldn’t stay tense. The water felt silky against her body—as though it had some kind of skin conditioning treatment in it. Vicky found it incredibly relaxing and her muscles began to unknot for the first time in hours.

  “Mmm,” she moaned leaning her head against the side of the pool and not caring if the bottom of her hair was getting wet. “This feels so good.”

  “It’s very relaxing after a night of doing battle,” Chain agreed.

  Vicky laughed quietly.

  “Yes, I guess so. Though I wasn’t expecting to be fighting for my life on family movie night.”

  “I’m so sorry about what happened with the Varians.” Chain looked at her seriously. “I feel like it’s all my fault. And your domicile—”

  “Is a complete and total wreck,” Vicky said calmly. “But I’ll tell you what I told Kat—my girls are all right and that’s all that matters.” Summoning her courage, she crossed the bathing pool to stand in front of him. “You saved us tonight, Chain. Thank you for coming for me—thank you for saving me. You must have come the minute Kat’s message got to you.”

  He frowned. “No, actually—her message that you didn’t hate me for being an M-Switch didn’t come until I was already down on Earth. Vorn and Liosh followed me there and told me just as I was about to go get you.”

  “Really?” Vicky was confused. “But then, why did you come to me in the first place? Did you just…decide you wanted to see me again?”

  Chain shook his head.

  “Of course I did want to see you again—only I thought you had no wish to see me. I came because the Goddess told me to—told me through the T’lix-Kruthe.”

  “What? How?” Vicky looked at him with wide eyes—could he be serious?