Claimed

  It was true that he’d never had an interest in the tiny, fragile female creatures that made up half the sentient life on this planet. Mostly because they were completely unlike the glacial women of Tranq Prime with their pure white hair and eyes so pale they were almost colorless. Sylvan could still remember Feenah looking at him with those beautiful clear eyes like the finest crystal. Looking at him and saying, I’m sorry, Sylvan. It can never be…

  Sylvan shook off the painful memory and turned his attention back to Olivia’s sister noting that she was nothing like the tall, pale beauties that had always drawn his eye. She was all lush curves and her rich chestnut brown hair was much darker than the hair of the Tranq Prime females. Not to mention the fact that she was so tiny the top of her head would barely come up to his chin. At the moment she was struggling to get through the glass door with an enormous brown cardboard box in her arms and the exertion had turned her cheeks a rosy pink that was most becoming with her large green eyes.

  She appeared to be having trouble so Sylvan ran to help her. “Here, let me,” he said, trying to take the box from her small hands.

  “Oh, thanks. I—” She looked up and her eyes hardened. “Oh, it’s you.” Wrenching the box away from him, she banged through the door herself and shoved past him to enter the building.

  Wonderful—she was still mad at him. Sylvan had no idea what he had done to earn her enmity but for whatever reason it seemed like Olivia’s beautiful sister really hated him. “Yes, it’s me,” he said, following her as she marched up to the front desk. “My name is Sylvan, by the way, I’m Baird’s half brother. And Olivia mentioned your name but I seem to have forgotten it.”

  “Isn’t that a shame.” She nodded at the human behind the counter as she placed the massive cardboard box on the desk. “This needs to get to my sister, Olivia Waterhouse, immediately. She was abducted, uh, claimed by a Kindred warrior earlier today.”

  “Yes, Ma’am.” The human attendant nodded. “You’ll need to give it to the Kindred representative who came to pick it up.”

  “Kindred representative?” Olivia’s sister frowned as Sylvan cleared his throat behind her.

  “That would be me.”

  “You?” She whirled to face him. “What do you have to do with it?”

  Sylvan frowned. “Olivia wanted her things. I volunteered to come get them for her so Baird wouldn’t have to. They need to spend time alone together right now—every minute he has with her is precious.”

  “Oh right. So he can seduce her and convince her to bond with him.” She shot him an icy glare and picked up the box again. “Fine. I guess you can take the box to her. She ought to have plenty of time to go through it since I know for a fact she has no interest in spending the rest of her life on an alien ship with a complete stranger.”

  Sylvan smiled, deliberately showing her his fangs. “I think I can promise you with absolute certainty that they won’t be strangers for long.”

  Her large eyes filled with doubt for a moment and then she lifted her chin. “You’re lying. Liv wouldn’t give in that easily. She knows how much I need her here.”

  Sylvan frowned at her absolute certainty. “Did you ever consider the idea that maybe Baird needs her too?”

  “Oh, right,” she scoffed. “He really needs her to scratch his itch. Why can’t he just find a…a hooker somewhere to take the edge off instead of bothering Liv?” Her cheeks were pink again, whether from anger or embarrassment, Sylvan couldn’t tell.

  “If you’re referring to sex, that isn’t all this is about,” he told her. “Olivia is his bride—his bond mate. She is literally the only woman in the universe for him. Besides, he needs her to make him whole again after what he’s been through.”

  A look of unwilling interest came into her light green eyes. “Oh? And what exactly has he been through that justifies him trying to steal my sister away for the rest of her life?”

  “Why don’t we sit?” Sylvan indicated one of the drab grey couches that lined the walls. “Your box looks heavy. Do you mind if I ask what’s in it?”

  “No weapons if that’s what you’re thinking.” She sat on the edge of the couch he’d pointed out and put the box on the floor.

  “I’m supposed to check for them but I’ll take your word for it,” Sylvan said gravely as he settled carefully on the flimsy human furniture beside her. “Not that your human weapons are much good against us.”

  She eyed him warily. “Somehow I don’t find that very surprising. You’re all so big.”

  Sylvan nodded. “Our home world and most of the other planets we’ve initiated genetic trade with have a much heavier gravity than you’re used to here. You have to have a powerful physique to survive there.”

  “I guess I’d be toast then. I’m not exactly in super good shape.” She ran a hand through her thick, wavy hair in an unconsciously sensuous gesture and Sylvan felt his fangs sharpen again.

  “Your shape looks fine to me,” he murmured, giving her a slight smile.

  She blushed and looked down at her hands, apparently unwilling to acknowledge the compliment. For his part Sylvan couldn’t understand why he had given it. It was foolish to make sexual overtures, no matter how mild, to a female that he had no interest in or intention of claiming.

  “Uh…” She cleared her throat. “So tell me what this horrible trauma is that forced your brother to steal away my sister.”

  “I can only tell you what little I know. Baird still hasn’t divulged any…details.” Sylvan shifted in his seat, turning to face her. Now that they were sitting side by side he noticed her light, feminine fragrance which was extremely attractive. “But first, please tell me your name. I really would like to know it.”

  “Sophia.” She looked up at him at last. “But my friends call me Sophie.”

  Sylvan smiled, being careful not to show his fangs this time. “I hope to someday call you that but I think I’d better stick to Sophia for now.”

  She sighed. “Look, I’m sorry I was nasty to you earlier. I know you’re not exactly to blame for what’s happened and you’re just doing what you do, making a genetic trade or whatever. It’s just that…my sister is my best friend and I can’t stand the thought of never seeing her again.”

  “You’ll still see her,” Sylvan objected. “Kindred brides are allowed to return to their home planet on most of the major holidays.”

  “Great, so I get to see her for Christmas and Thanksgiving? Two or three days out of the year? Thanks a lot!” Sophia leaned forward and looked at him. “Let me tell you something—Liv and I have never gone a whole day without speaking to each other in our lives. Even when we were babies my mom said we would cry and cry if you took one of us out of the room, away from the other one. And after our parents died, we got even closer. So please try to understand. I love her—she’s all I have left and I just can’t lose her like this.”

  Sylvan nodded gravely. “I can see your point. There is a similar bond between Baird and myself. We have the same father and we’ve saved each other’s lives many times in battle. I would be sad to only see him a few days of the year.”

  “So you get it.” She touched his knee lightly for emphasis and Sylvan felt his shaft harden in response. “How would you feel if I was threatening to take your brother and best friend away from you for basically the rest of his life?” she asked earnestly.

  “I wouldn’t like it.” Sylvan shifted uncomfortably, hoping she couldn’t see the evidence of her effect on him in his tight black uniform pants. “I guess the only way around your dilemma is for you to be claimed by a warrior yourself. Then you could see your sister every day on our ship.”

  “Oh…oh, no!” Her rosy cheeks paled and she sat back away from him as though he might bite. In fact, that was exactly what Sylvan was longing to do—he wanted to sink his double set of fangs into the tender white flesh of her throat and hear her moan his name as he injected his essence. Feel her slender limbs wrapped around his own when he—No! He pushed the foolish tho
ught away at once. What was wrong with him today?

  Normally he was cold and emotionless as a Tranq Kindred ought to be but suddenly he was having all kinds of troublesome feelings. It must be a byproduct of being around a couple in their claiming period, he decided. Baird had been emitting clouds of pheromones, his mating scent filling the air in order to attract Olivia to him and she had been reacting to his scent by releasing a more subtle fragrance of her own although Sylvan didn’t think she knew it. Yes, that must be it. His own body had become attuned to the chemical signals in the air around him for most of the day and now he was reacting to this attractive human female because of it.

  Trying to control himself, Sylvan looked her in the eye. “You sound frightened. Let me assure you that if you were claimed by a Kindred male no harm would befall you. We treasure our brides above everything else in the universe—even our own lives.”

  “Yes, I’ve heard how you treat the women you take.” Sophia’s voice was still fearful and from the look on her face, someone had been filling her head with slander and rumors.

  “Is that right?” Sylvan leaned forward. “Tell me, Sophia, what exactly have you heard?”

  She lifted her chin. “What I’ve mostly heard is about the way you…uh, mate.”

  “The way we make love?” Sylvan hadn’t expected this. He knew that the humans sometimes found his people to be frightening because of the size difference and he’d been ready to refute any ridiculous rumors she might have heard of physical abuse but what problem could she possibly have with the way Kindred males loved their women?

  “Uh, yeah.” She blushed again and nodded.

  “What have you heard?” Sylvan really wanted to know. A Kindred male loved his woman to distraction and was unfailingly loyal, if incredibly possessive. He would protect his bride at all costs, no matter the danger to himself. And the desire to pleasure a woman and make her come was part of a Kindred male’s genetic makeup because a satisfied mate was a faithful mate. What fault could the humans possibly find with any of that?

  “I’ve heard…heard that the Twin Kindred always share a woman.”

  Sylvan nodded. “Yes, that’s true. It’s complicated to explain but they’re unable to reproduce with the seed of only one male. So a pair of them always claim a single female. Does that seem strange to you?”

  “Uh…more kinky than strange.” She was looking down at her fingers which she was twisting together in her lap. “That’s not all though. They say that the, uh, Beast Kindred, like the one that took Liv—your brother, I mean—I’ve heard they, uh, practice some kind of weird tantric sex thing that lasts practically forever.”

  Sylvan shrugged. “First time bonding sex with any Kindred male is a lengthy experience. In order to bind a woman to us we need to take her for hours, filling her over and over to mark her as our own. But it’s true that the Beast Kindred can take slightly longer due to their unique anatomy.”

  “Unique anatomy?” she echoed. Her eyes flickered down to the crotch of his black uniform pants and her cheeks went pink with embarrassment as she looked hastily away.

  “They recover very rapidly from any sexual encounter—so much so that they don’t need any recovery time between one encounter and the next.”

  Her eyes widened. “So they’re capable of multiple orgasms?”

  Sylvan nodded. “They also have what’s called a mating fist. It’s a swelling at the base of the shaft that only the Beast Kindred have. What happens is—”

  She put up a hand to stop him. “That’s enough, really. You don’t…don’t have to go into detail.”

  “All right.” He shrugged. “So what have you heard about my branch of the Kindred?”

  “The Blood Kindred?” She nibbled her full bottom lip for a moment as though trying to decide how to phrase her answer. “I’ve heard you bite,” she said at last, very softly. “That you drink your mate’s blood while you…”

  “While we fuck them?” Sylvan asked roughly.

  Sophia winced at the crude word and he was sorry he’d said it. “Forgive me for putting it so bluntly but to be perfectly honest, that was what good bonding sex is. It’s fucking. When the urge to claim his mate comes over a Kindred male nothing can deter him. It’s a rough, messy, passionate experience that can’t be controlled.”

  She looked up at him, her beautiful pale green eyes wide. “Yes but does it hurt?”

  “All really intense pleasure has a tiny kernel of pain in it, don’t you think?” Sylvan asked. “But if you’re asking if we deliberately savage our brides, the answer is no. By the time a Kindred male finally sinks his shaft into his female she’s as ready as he can possibly make her to receive him.”

  She licked her lips. “I, uh, actually I meant, does it hurt when you…when you bite someone?”

  Sylvan sighed. “To be honest, I don’t know if it would hurt them. Some say it’s a sharp pain, quickly over and others say it enhances their pleasure—probably because they’re in the throes of bonding. But…” He shrugged. “I can’t tell you from first hand experience because I’ve never had bonding sex with anyone.”

  “Oh.” She looked down at her hands and then glanced back up into his eyes. “Did you…do you want to?”

  Sylvan closed his eyes for a moment and saw Feenah shaking her head, regret filling her beautiful crystal clear eyes. Inside his chest, his heart clenched like a fist. “I have vowed never to take a bride.”

  Sophia bit her lip. “I’m sorry if I upset you by asking something too personal.”

  He shook his head. “No, it’s all right, you’re not to blame. I had good reason to take my vow, that’s all.”

  “Well, we kind of got off track, anyway.” She straightened up and folded her hands neatly in her lap. “You were going to tell me why your brother needed my sister so badly? Some traumatic event he’d been through?”

  “Ah, yes.” Sylvan blew out a breath and drummed his fingers on the arm of the couch. What was the best way to put it? He decided to be blunt and not sugar coat the truth. “Up until four days ago my half-brother, Baird, was a prisoner of war, held captive on the Scourge Fathership that is still in deep orbit around your moon.”

  “He what?” Sophia’s large eyes grew positively huge.

  Sylvan nodded. “I’m afraid it’s true. He was captured during some defensive maneuvers and they held him for six of your Earth months.” An image of his half-brother with his shirt off flashed before his eyes—Baird’s muscular torso marked with dozens of cruel white scars. “He, ah, won’t talk about it much but I imagine they tortured him.”

  “My God.” Sophia put a hand to her mouth. “Are you saying he just got out of some kind of prison camp where he was tortured and the first thing he did was to claim Olivia as his bride?”

  Sylvan shrugged. “I also thought it might be too early but he said he needed her.”

  “He needed her? What about Liv’s needs?” she demanded. “Like her need not to be with a ginormous alien who’s probably suffering from post traumatic stress disorder? I mean, what if he has some kind of black-out and thinks she’s the enemy and attacks her?”

  Sylvan frowned. “That would never happen—there’s no way he could ever mistake her for anyone else. She’s his bride—her scent is burned in his brain.”

  She looked at him in disbelief. “So you’re saying that because he knows what she smells like he won’t have a psychotic episode and go after her? Forgive me if I’m less than reassured.”

  Sylvan sighed. Wonderful, now she was angry again—and after they had been getting along so well. He’d almost come to consider her a friend of sorts and now she was shouting at him. What was wrong with these Earth females?

  “Look,” he tried to explain. “With all Kindred but especially Ragers—Beast Kindred as you call them—the sense of smell is highly developed. It’s one way we recognize our brides and warn other males away from our females.”

  “I’ve heard enough.” She stood up from the couch, putting her hands on her
hips and glaring down at him. “I want to see her. I want to see Liv.”

  He shook his head. “I’m afraid that’s impossible. She’s in the middle of her claiming period right now—she and Baird need to be alone.”

  “Alone so he can attack her?”

  “He’s not going to attack her. Please understand, Sophia, no Kindred would ever hurt his bride. It’s physically impossible.”

  “I don’t believe you.” She bit her lip, her beautiful pale green eyes troubled. “Please, isn’t there any way you can take me to her or at least let me talk to her?”

  The obvious pain in her eyes moved him. For a moment he wanted to gather her into his arms and soothe her but he was sure she wouldn’t welcome such a gesture. “I wish I could,” he said gently. “But I’m afraid it isn’t allowed. What I can promise you is that you’ll see her when the thirty day bonding period is over. As the bonded mate of a Kindred warrior she’s allowed a few days to get her affairs in order before she moves permanently to the ship.”

  Her eyes flashed. “That’s if she bonds with your brother. And I know she won’t.”

  Sylvan ran a hand through his short, spiky hair in frustration. “We appear to be back where we started.”

  Sophia stood. “You started it, I’ll finish it. I’m leaving but don’t think this is over, Sylvan. I don’t see how you can legally keep me from seeing my sister to make sure she’s okay and you better believe I’m going to look into it.”

  “Fine.” He spread his hands “Do that. Just know that it’s not my law. It’s the ruling of the Kindred High Council.”

  “I don’t care whose law it is, I’m going to fight it.” Sophia pointed a finger at him. “And if there’s one scratch on my sister, if your brother so much as looks at her wrong, I promise I will make you and him and everyone else I can find in your family sorry.”

  Turning, she marched toward the door of the HKR building, leaving the large cardboard box at his feet and a stunned look on his face. Watching her hips sway in the tight blue pants she wore, Sylvan felt his fangs sharpening and his shaft getting hard once more.