I know because I dreamed it… Suddenly Brandi realized where she’d seen the big Kindred before and why she kept feeling like she knew him.
I saw him in my dreams, she remembered, feeling a shock almost as great as when Emmie had run to Slade. That’s why I felt like I knew him—I dreamed about him for a long time. Months and months…But he was in a dark hole—a place with bars in the windows.
How could she have forgotten such vivid dreams and why was she remembering them now? Brandi had no answer to either question—she only knew she was completely and thoroughly freaked out by the revelation that she had been dreaming of the big Kindred for months before she met him.
“I dreamed of you too, you know,” she suddenly heard his rough voice say in her head. “Only I thought you were a Pairing Puppet.”
“What are you doing?” Brandi put a hand to her temple. “Don’t…don’t do that.”’
“Sorry,” he growled. “Forgot you don’t like it when I use our link.”
“What link?” Brandi demanded. “How are you in my head?”
“What do you mean, Mommy?” Emmie was still snuggled contentedly in the crook of one of Slade’s massive arms. “What head? What’s going on?”
“Nothing sweetpea,” Brandi said quickly. “Come back to mommy now and leave the uh, nice man alone.”
“The Daddy-man,” Emmie corrected her firmly. “He’s tall like a tree and he gots one green eye and one yellow eye, just like in my dreams.”
“You have pretty eyes yourself, little one,” Slade remarked, smiling at her. “Looks to me like you got your mother’s eyes.”
“Yup, I got my mommy’s eyes but my daddy’s hair,” Emmie informed him. Her face fell. “But then daddy had to go away. I heard Grannie Ivy-Mae say he got sent down the river. Do you know what river that is? I looked and looked for it but I can never find it.”
Brandi felt her cheeks flushing hot with embarrassment. Great, as if she hadn’t already been shamed enough in front of him, now the huge, imposing Kindred would know that her ex was in prison. Just fabulous.
Slade frowned.
“No, I’m sorry little one—I don’t know what river that would be. Do you miss your father?”
“Lots,” Emmie confided. Then she brightened. “But now you’re here, Daddy-man! You came to be my second daddy, right?”
“Well…” Slade began, looking conflicted.
“I think that’s enough, Emmie,” Brandi said, reaching for her again. “Leave the nice man alone and come back to mommy.”
“Okay,” Emmie agreed. But first she threw her arms around Slade’s neck again and gave him another smacking, enthusiastic kiss. “Bye, Daddy-man,” she said as Brandi lifted her down and set her on the grassy ground.
“Go play a minute, okay?” she told Emmie. “Just stay right beside the trailer—don’t go too far.” She pointed a finger at her daughter. “And don’t go into the woods.”
This being Florida, there was a tangled green jungle of creepers, bushes and trees hanging with curtains of Spanish Moss just a few feet from the end of the trailer park. Brandi was always wary of letting her daughter play anywhere near that mess—there could be snakes and God-alone-knew what else out there. Several of the neighbors had lost small dogs and there were rumors of a pond with gators farther back in the swampy tangle.
“Okay.” Emmie wandered off but not too far—not exactly out of ear-shot, Brandi noticed, frowning. Picking up a stick, she began to poke at the small, muddy stream that flowed out of the overgrown forest. Clearly her daughter wanted to hear the “grown-up” things she and Slade might say to each other.
Turning back to the big Kindred she glared up at him.
“What are you doing here?” she hissed in a low voice. “You shouldn’t be here! How did you even find me?”
“Followed my nose,” Slade growled.
“What? What does that mean?” she demanded.
Wordlessly, he pulled something small and pink out of his trouser pocket.
With horror, Brandi recognized the lacy pink panties she’d been wearing the day before on her trip to the Mother Ship.
“How dare you!” She made a grab for the panties but the big Kindred pushed them back down into his pocket.
“Don’t think so. I might need to find you again.”
“Why?” Brandi demanded. “Because you’re angry with me? I’m sorry, all right. I didn’t mean to…mean to…”
She trailed off, looking behind her to see that Emmie was watching with wide eyes, completely engrossed in what she and Slade were saying.
“Emmie, go play!” she insisted.
“Yes, Mommy.” Her daughter moved about half a foot further away, still clearly listening.
“I know you don’t like it but if you want to keep our conversation from your little one, we’re going to have to use the link,” Slade said in her head.
“I…I don’t even know how,” Brandi protested.
“Like this—just think to me. I’ll hear the thoughts you send. I even hear the ones you don’t send,” he added dryly. “You’re really a projector.”
“I don’t know what that means,” Brandi sent back hesitantly.
“Means you end your thoughts really far. See—you’re getting it now,” he rumbled in her head. His mental voice, Brandi thought, was every bit as deep and rough as his actual voice.
“Yeah, mental voices mimic physical voices—or so I’ve heard. I’ve never been bonded before. Didn’t expect to be either,” Slade sent. Clearly he had caught her random thought, though she hadn’t even sent it to him on purpose.
“Sorry about that. I told you—you’re a projector.”
“Stop doing that!” Brandi exclaimed. “Stop…commenting on my thoughts and explain why you’re here.”
“I’m here because, like it or not, we’re fucking bonded,” he growled. “And we need to talk about it.”
“I don’t even know what that means,” Brandi snapped. “And I don’t want to, either! I just want you to leave me alone.”
“Hey, you started this, sweetheart. Remember?” His mismatched eyes were hard as he glared down at her. “I didn’t want to be bonded to anybody either. But you can’t run from this and you can’t hide from it. We’re bonded—at the very least I need to know your name. You know mine,” he pointed out.
“I’m Brandi—not that it’s any of your business,” Brandi sent stiffly.
She knew it was probably wrong to be rude to the big Kindred but she couldn’t help it. She was very conscious of what a stupid thing she’d done yesterday which had apparently affected him too and linked the two of them together in some way. The fact that she’s messed up both their lives made her feel guilty, which put her on the defensive, which made her angry.
“I’m already late for work—I don’t have time for this right now,” she told him.
Slade raised his eyebrows.
“From what I saw when I walked up, you’re not going anywhere, sweetheart. Not in that broken-down vehicle, anyway.” He jerked his head at her ancient Chevy which still had tendrils of smoke seeping out from under its hood.
“It’s fine,” Brandi lied. “It just needs a little tune up and it’ll be right as rain.”
“I don’t know all the Earth idioms yet but unless ‘right as rain’ means broken all to hell, I’m afraid you’re wrong. Why don’t you let me take a look at it?”
Without waiting for a reply, Slade walked over and lifted the hood, finding the hood-latch easily and raising the heavy metal covering as though it was light as a feather, although Brandi always had to struggle with it.
“Hey,” she protested, forgetting to use the annoying mental link as she followed him. “What do you think you’re doing? What do you know about Earth machines anyway? Are you some kind of mechanic?”
“No, I was a fighter in the Blood Circuit,” he said shortly. “But I’ve always been good with my hands.” He winked at her and one corner of his stern mouth curled up into a grin. “Guess
you found that out yesterday, sweetheart.”
Brandi felt her cheeks go hot.
“You…you…how dare you imply…”
“Imply what? That you snuck into the Pairing House and had hot, unprotected bonding sex with me yesterday? I don’t think I have to ‘imply’ that—it’s a fucking fact.”
Slade looked up from the smoking motor of her car and gave her a direct stare. Suddenly Brandi was overcome with the mental image of him on top of her, bending her double and ramming that huge shaft of his deep inside her while she cried and gasped and begged for more.
She bit her lip. Was that an actual memory or something Slade was sending her through this bizarre connection that had somehow developed between them?
“Little bit of both, sweetheart,” he growled in her head. “Did you enjoy it as much as I did?”
Her cheeks got even hotter and she had to drop her eyes, looking away from the big Kindred.
“Don’t talk about that!” she sent quickly through their link.
“Why not?” His mental voice was harsh. “It happened, didn’t it? And I’m sure as hell not the only one who made it happen—that’s on you, sweetheart.”
“I’m sorry, okay?” Brandi flared, glaring at him. “I didn’t mean to ruin your life or mine. It’s just been three years since I had sex and I was so damn hungry for a man to touch me, I just…”She trailed off, realizing how pathetic she sounded. “I just…wasn’t thinking,” she finished lamely.
“Hey…it’s all right. I understand being hungry for touch.”
Slade’s mental voice was surprisingly gentle. Brandi’s eyes flew up again but she found that he was staring intently into the guts of the Chevy’s engine instead of at her.
“Here’s your problem,” he said, reaching into the engine and adjusting a few things. “I think one of your hoses came loose.”
“What? You fixed it just like that?” Brandi couldn’t believe it.
He shrugged those massive shoulders of his, which were probably twice as broad as her own, and wiped his hands casually on the fabric of his white t-shirt, leaving black smudges.
“Can’t say until you try it.”
Sliding back behind the wheel, Brandi twisted the key in the ignition and said a silent prayer. With a coughing roar, the car started smoothly and began to purr. Best of all, there was no black smoke.
“That’s amazing!” She looked up at Slade. “It was like you just looked at it and knew what was wrong with it. How did you do that so quickly?”
He raised an eyebrow at her.
“Told you—I’m good with my hands.”
Brandi felt her cheeks get hot again at his double entendre and her gratitude abruptly turned to shame and irritation.
“Well, thank you,” she said shortly. Leaving the car running, she went to get Emmie, who was still watching wide-eyed from the far corner of the trailer. “Come on, sweetpea—it’s time to get you to school.”
Emmie looked at Slade eagerly.
“Is the Daddy-man coming with us?”
“No, honey, I’m afraid not.” Brandi carefully avoided the big Kindred’s eyes as she put her daughter back in the car and buckled her in.
“But why not?” Emmie wailed, her face crumpling in sudden grief. “I want the Daddy-man! I want the Daddy-man!”
Brandi stared at her daughter in consternation. This was turning into a full-blown tantrum and Emmie hadn’t had one of those in over a year. In fact, she had always been a remarkably well-behaved child, only rarely throwing fits, mostly when she was over-tired. But now she was about to shout the house down, as Grandma Ida would have said, over a strange man she had only just met.
Didn’t you shout the house down when you first met Slade too? whispered a nasty little voice in her head. I seem to recall plenty of screaming and shouting yesterday in the Puppet House.
Oh God… Shame washed over her and she wondered if the big Kindred had heard that random thought. She looked over her shoulder to see if he was watching her but he wasn’t there. Then she heard his deep, rumbling voice across from her, on the other side of Emmie.
“It’s all right, little one.” He had opened the back passenger door and was leaning in to look at the wailing four-year old. “Everything is going to be all right—I have to go away now but I’ll come see you later.”
Emmie’s sobs stopped abruptly.
“You promise?” She looked at Slade, her big brown eyes wet with tears. “Promise, Daddy-man?”
“Yes, I promise.” Gently, Slade brushed the tears from her cheeks with one big knuckle. “You just behave for your mother and learn a lot in school, all right? I heard you were the smartest in your class—the only one who can read yet. That’s really good.”
“Where did you hear that?” Emmie demanded.
Probably picked it out of my head earlier, Brandi thought, remembering how she’d been thinking how smart her daughter was and how she loved to read to her earlier.
“I didn’t ‘pick’ anything out of your head, sweetheart,” Slade sent. “You think so loudly it was like you were shouting at me from inside your domicile.”
“Okay, that’s enough,” Brandi said briskly. “Emmie, it’s time we got you to school. Daddy-man—” Damn, how could she have slipped up like that? “I mean, Mr. Slade, has to go back to work now.”
“Where does he work?” Emmie wanted to know. “And when is he coming back?” She looked anxiously at Slade. “Promise you won’t go down that river where my first daddy went—okay? I don’t want to lose you, too!”
“I won’t, little one.” There was surprising gentleness in his tone as he spoke to Emmie. “I work on the Kindred Mother Ship. Maybe someday you and your mother can come visit me there.”
“Goodie!” Emmie clapped her hands. “Sounds like fun! When can we go, Mommy?” she demanded, turning to Brandi. “Can we go as soon as you pick me up from after-care?”
“We’ll see,” said Brandi tightly. “But for now we really have to go, Emmie-bear. We’re going to be way, way late.”
“Okay. Bye, Daddie-man.” Emmie blew Slade a kiss as he shut the passenger door and he grinned at her and pretended to catch it.
Brandi tried not to show surprise at the little display. How had the big Kindred won her shy little daughter’s heart so quickly? Was it really just the dreams or was he good with kids or what?
“Never had any young ones of my own,” Slade informed her. “I always wanted some though.”
All right, enough was enough, Brandi decided. It was time to get out of here.
Pointedly not answering his remark, she bustled around to the driver’s side and was about to slip behind the wheel when suddenly Slade was right there, standing as tall as a tree in front of her. She stared up at him in surprise. How did such a big man move so fast?
“This isn’t over, you know,” he murmured in a low voice. “We need to talk about this, Brandi. We’re bonded—you can’t just ignore it.”
“I have to go,” she muttered, looking away. “I’m going to be really late for work and my boss is awful when I come in la…”
She trailed off when he cupped her chin in his big hand and lifted her face to his so she had to look him in the eye.
“I mean it,” he growled. “I’m letting you go for now but we will have to talk.”
“I…fine, I guess.” Brandi’s voice sounded breathless in her own ears and her heart was pounding at his warm, gentle touch. His scent was suddenly all around her, breathing out of his pores in a rush of smoke and leather and deep, male spice that made her nipples instantly hard and her pussy instantly wet.
What is that smell? she wondered hazily. Like some kind of a lust drug…
“No lust drug—it’s my bonding scent,” Slade sent through their link.
“Bonding scent, what’s that?” She looked up at him, feeling confused. Suddenly she wanted desperately to kiss him—to be held in those flexible steel-cable arms again. To feel his big, hard body against hers as the two of them got
lost in each other as they had yesterday…
“Maybe I’ll tell you next time we talk.”
There was a low, hungry growl in his metal voice that echoed her own need. Once more Brandi felt desire wash over her—an almost palpable hunger to touch him and be touched in turn by the big Kindred. Through the strange link they now shared, she could tell he was feeling the same way…hungry.
“You’d better go.” Slade dropped his hand and took a step back from her.
“I…I…” Brandi shook her head. What is wrong with me? One whiff of his cologne and I fall into some kind of a lust-coma? Come on, Brandi—snap out of it!
“We’ll talk later.” Slade crossed his massive arms over his broad chest and took another step away, taking his scent with him—mostly anyway. Brandi could still smell it wafting towards her on the light morning breeze and it was seriously making her want to jump his bones again.
“I don’t know that Earth idiom but if it means what I think it means, we’d better hold off until we talk some,” he sent through their link. “We already did that once and look where it got us.”
“Oh, you…” Feeling furious and embarrassed over her strange lapse of judgment, Brandi flung herself into the car and grabbed the wheel. As the ancient Chevy crunched over the loose gravel and dried leaves to the exit of the trailer park, she promised herself this would be the last time she met with the big Kindred.
But try as she might, she couldn’t get his words out of her head.
“We’re bonded, Brandi—you can’t ignore it…We’ll talk later.”
Somehow she had a feeling he meant them.
Chapter Seven
Slade sighed as he watched her drive off in the ancient, rusted Earth vehicle with its archaic combustion engine. Couldn’t she afford a better, more efficient form of transportation?
Eyeing the ramshackle aluminum construction of her domicile, he decided she probably couldn’t. The clothes she and her young one had been wearing hadn’t been of the best quality either, though they were neat and clean. Clearly Brandi was doing her best on a meager allotment. Seeing that—and watching the way she was so protective and loving with her daughter—gave him a very different picture of her.