Unbound

  “She’ll be here in a minute,” Sophie said laughing. She turned to Brynn with a smile. “I hope you don’t mind but since you and your guy are staying aboard the Mother Ship, Liv and I wanted to introduce you to some of our other friends.”

  “We have a lot,” Olivia added. “It’s kind of like a Kindred wives club. We all get together once in a while for girl days.”

  As she spoke, more women started coming in through the front door of her suite.

  “Let me introduce you,” Sophie said. “That’s Lauren, the girl with the big tray of cupcakes—she runs a bakery here you’ll really want to visit. And there’s Frankie—her husband is a Switch Kindred which means they can jump into each other’s bodies…and that’s Elise—she and her hubby are usually out gallivanting around the universe but they’re back at the Mother Ship for a little while. And this is Kate—don’t get her confused with Kat. They both have red hair but Kate’s is curly and she’s itty bitty.” She smiled. “And that’s Mei-Li—her hubby was a Dark Kindred but he’s not anymore. And here’s…”

  She went on introducing people as more and more women crowded into the suite. Brynn was certain there was no way she’d be able to remember them all—there were almost twenty of them! But she nodded and smiled and everyone seemed extremely friendly. Apparently they’d all made their way to the Mother Ship one way or another and Olivia and Sophia had welcomed them all and made them feel at home.

  Brynn decided she liked them and liked being one of them. One of the brides of the Kindred, she thought and smiled to herself. She would have to tell Varin later. For now she was just happy being in her new home with her new mate and feeling safe and secure.

  And why shouldn’t she feel secure? Sovereign X'izith was dead and without him the Hive had no direction. They would probably die off since there was no longer an evil king to implant grubs in hapless girls and make more of them.

  Just the thought made her shudder and she pushed the mental images away. It was time to forget those awful thoughts—time to heal. Time to love and be loved now that she and Varin were safe here aboard the Mother Ship.

  And that was exactly what Brynn intended to do.

  Epilogue

  The sentient healer which had been wakened from hibernation by the alarm scent checked again on the healing cocoon. It hung, dark gray and throbbing, like a huge, malignant fruit, from the ceiling of the healing chamber in the center of the Hive’s ship. It pulsed slowly, fed upon Blood Honey and the special healing mixture the healer himself secreted into it from time to time.

  Within the layers of the cocoon something stirred. The healer twitched his antennae—perhaps the healing was nearly complete? It was time to check.

  Peeling back layer after dry, papery layer he uncovered the bulbous head of the Sovereign. One eye was blank and blind—an empty socket—but the other moved alertly and the mandibles clicked inquiringly.

  The healer clicked his own mandibles in return and secreted a healing paste which he regurgitated onto the blind eye socket. The eye would probably not recover full vision, although the limb the Sovereign had lost might be regrown in time.

  The abdomen had been the most delicate area to heal—luckily the reproductive organs were higher up, in the thorax, so most of the damage had been simply to the soft tissue. The breeding barb was intact but future implantations would probably be severely painful, due to the twisted scar tissue growing over the wounded abdomen.

  Such grave injuries would normally have spelled the end of a Sovereign of the Hive. But there were no royal grubs to take his place—and no leader capable of implanting females to form them either. Sovereign X'izith must be preserved, at least until he could implant a grub that would grow to take his place.

  The curving mandibles opened.

  “What…Where…?” Sovereign X'izith buzzed weakly.

  “You are in the Hive’s main ship, my Sovereign,” the healer hummed, replying to the half-formed question. “You are healing.”

  “And the ship itself?”

  “Hidden from the Kindred within the Blind while we wait for your orders, my Sovereign,” the healer answered promptly.

  “The girl…my Breeding Queen…”

  “Lost, I am afraid, my Sovereign.” The healer bowed his head. “According to your designated worker she and the Kindred retreated to the Kindred Mother Ship which is nearly impregnable.”

  “No!” The Sovereign gnashed his mandibles together angrily. “Do you know how long I searched to find her? To find one with the right DNA to become the host of the royal grubs? What am I to do now? How is my lineage to carry on? How can the Hive thrive and prosper when I am gone?”

  “As to that, my Sovereign, there is some good news.” The healer groomed the Sovereign’s blind eye gently, smearing the healing goop into the empty socket with his antenna.

  “What news could possibly compensate me for the loss of my Breeding Queen?” the Sovereign demanded. The cocoon shivered with his agitation.

  “Do you remember the small blue and green world the Kindred of the Mother Ship are protecting?” the healer asked.

  “Yes, of course—a world of fleshers, is it not?”

  “Yes, they call it “Earth.” While you have been healing, we sent some of our smaller drone scouts to test the inhabitants and sample the atmosphere.”

  “And? Do not keep me waiting!” Sovereign X'izith exclaimed peevishly.

  “My Sovereign…” The healer paused for dramatic effect. “We found one of the Earth females who has the correct DNA for breeding. Not only that, there are probably more like her—maybe even many more.”

  “For breeding common grubs, I take it,” X'izith grumbled. “What good is that to me? We need sentient workers to carry on the work of the Hive and we need a royal grub to become the new Sovereign after I am gone.”

  “My Sovereign, you do not understand. What I meant was, the Earth female has the correct DNA to host royal grubs! And we conjecture there are many more like her—we just have to find them. As there are seven billion fleshers on the planet and over half of them are female, our odds of finding more Breeding Queens for you are extremely good.”

  “What? Are you certain?” Sovereign X'izith’s antennae waved wildly in agitation.

  “Beyond certain, my Sovereign. Each and every one of the almost four billion females can conceivably play host to common grubs and many more may host the royal ones. It is an embarrassment of riches!”

  The healing cocoon rattled and shook with the Sovereign’s excitement.

  “Think of the possibilities! No longer will the royal grubs have to fight and consume each other to see which one will control the Hive! With many Breeding Queens, we could colonize—there could be multiple Hives throughout the universe!”

  “Truly it is an awesome thought,” the healer buzzed. “And my Sovereign—we have already found the perfect place to build a base while we wage war on the Kindred for control of the Earth. The fourth planet from the sun, the red one the Earthlings call “Mars” is cold and dry with perfect rock formations to tunnel into.”

  “We can construct a base and keep it hidden until we are ready to attack.” Sovereign X'izith clicked his mandibles eagerly. “But first, I must implant a new brood of royal grubs. We must abduct the suitable female you have found that I may implant them in her.” His high, buzzing laughter filled the room. “We need only snatch her when the Kindred are not looking.”

  “It shall be done, my Sovereign.” The healer bowed obsequiously, grooming his antennae. “The female shall be taken for implantation. That the Hive shall live forever.”

  “The Nameless Ones, Gods of Nothing, grant it shall be,” X'izith said, his blind eye flashing in the dim light. “That the Hive shall live forever.”

  The End…?

  Ha—nope, there’ s always another Kindred coming. Look for Kindred 20 later on this year. And if you've enjoyed this book, please take the time to leave a review where you bought this. Good reviews are like gold for an au
thor--they let other readers know it's okay to take a chance on a new book. Plus they give me the warm fuzzies. : ) Hugs and thanks for being an awesome reader! Evangeline

  And now for a taste of my brand new series, Cougarville, in which all the heroines are over 40 but rejuvenate back to their twenties. How is that possible? Well, it has to do with a little something called the Shifter Gene…read on to find out more and get a little taste of Cougarville book 1, Buck Naked. ; )

  Sadie Becker is starting a new life in the little town of Cougarville, North Carolina, far from her cheating ex. Having just turned forty, she longs for a quiet, peaceful place to live with no drama, no trauma, and no craziness.

  She moved to the wrong town…

  Cougarville Book 1

  Buck Naked

  Chapter One

  “This isn’t right. This can’t be happening. What the hell is going on?”

  Sadie Becker stood in front of the mirror on her fortieth birthday and stared at her reflection in disbelief.

  Her boobs were getting firmer.

  There was no doubt about it—it was true. She’d been noticing subtle differences ever since her divorce had been finalized about a week ago, but she’d put it down to the new diet and exercise routine. Now that her ex, Jeff, was out of her life, she was determined to start a whole new lifestyle. But no diet or exercise routine in the world completely erased stretch marks and molded your breasts back to where they’d been when you were in your twenties.

  “Just look at them,” Sadie muttered to herself. “They’re actually perky.”

  She wiped at the steam on the bathroom mirror and then decided she wasn’t getting a good enough look. What she needed was a full-length view. Luckily, there was an old fashioned, free standing mirror in her bedroom. The mirror had a carved wooden frame and claw feet which matched the rest of the antique furniture in the cabin she’d inherited.

  The heavy carved oak furniture wasn’t much to Sadie’s taste but she wasn’t complaining. The cabin with its outdated furnishings and decorations had been a Godsend—an inheritance from her mother who’d been dead for twenty years. Sadie hadn’t even known the cabin existed until after her divorce, when her mother’s lawyer had handed her the deed.

  She still missed her mom, even after all these years. She’d almost cried when she found out she had someplace to go. Someplace she wouldn’t have to see Jeff and his new, much younger girlfriend making a spectacle of themselves back in her hometown of Tampa. The only person she missed was her twin sister, Samantha—Sammie for short, but only to Sadie. No one else was allowed to call her by the cutsie nickname. But since Samantha was a busy trauma surgeon at Tampa General, it wasn’t like she had much time to hang out anyway.

  Speaking of Samantha, she ought to call her twin—it was her birthday too.

  I’ll call her in a minute, Sadie promised herself. First I need to figure out what in the world is going on with me.

  Wrapping herself in a towel, she padded from the bathroom to the bedroom and stopped in front of the ancient free-standing mirror. There wasn’t quite enough light in the dark bedroom and the bedside lamp only made more shadows. With a sigh, Sadie dragged the mirror, creaking and protesting, over to the window and opened the curtains.

  She wasn’t worried about anyone seeing her—the cabin was located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, about ten miles north of the tiny town of Cougarville, North Carolina. It was quiet and isolated with only one road going in and out and a single neighbor—a surly giant of a man named Mathis Blackwell who had wild, tangled black hair, a close clipped beard, and shoulders at least twice as broad as her own. Sadie had only seen him twice and both times he’d only grunted at her greeting and gone stumping off into the woods that separated his property from hers.

  At night she could faintly see firelight flickering from his cabin windows, which looked warm and cozy and reminded her that it was cooler here in the mountains than it had been back home in Tampa.

  No, this is my home now, Sadie reminded herself, frowning. Good old Cougarville.

  The actual name of the town she’d moved to was North Lewiston, though there wasn’t any South Lewiston that Sadie could see. Scrawled in looping graffiti on the green welcome sign that led into town were the words, Welcome to Cougarville!!! The name had apparently stuck since everyone she’d met since she’d gotten here had welcomed Sadie to Cougarville, rather than North Lewiston.

  Sadie was happy to be here—even if her new home was out in the sticks. In fact, she rather liked the solitude. It was different from the constant crawl of traffic on Dale Mabry highway in Tampa. Also, where else could she feel free to walk around naked if she wanted to and not worry about anyone seeing her? Couldn’t do that in the city!

  As if to prove the point to herself, Sadie dropped her baby blue bath towel, letting it puddle around her feet, and took a really good look at herself in the mirror.

  Sure enough, her breasts were definitely perky now. Perky like they hadn’t been since she’d breast-fed her twins almost twenty years ago. Graham and Anna—fraternal twins ran in Sadie’s family—had both gone off to college just a few months ago. Graham to MIT and Anna to Baylor, where she hoped to get into med school and become a doctor like her aunt Samantha. Sadie was immensely proud of both of them, though having two at the same time hadn’t been easy. How many times had she joked about her crazy twins giving her gray hair?

  Speaking of gray hair…Sadie leaned forward, frowning at her face in the mirror.

  “Where is it?” she muttered, turning her head from side to side. “Where’s my gray?”

  The silvery strands that had begun showing up in her long, dark brown hair around her mid thirties were somehow gone, even though she was certain they had been there the night before. She’d even gone to the one and only convenience store in town to pick up a box of dye, meaning to cover them as usual. But now, if her mirror was to be believed, there was nothing to cover.

  Not only that—her wrinkles were gone too! Or at least, they were fading. She could still see some tiny laugh-lines around her eyes but the really deep line—almost a furrow—that had crept up between her eyebrows over the years, was magically erased.

  What the… Sadie turned in front of the mirror, trying to see what else had changed. Well, for one thing the little pooch of her belly was nearly flat and the old pregnancy stretch marks had been smoothed away. Her ass looked higher and firmer too. And her thighs were cellulite-free!

  How could this be? How was it even possible?

  Sadie took a step back and weighed her breasts in her hands, checking to be sure she wasn’t dreaming or imagining it. Nope—as firm as could be. She’d always been a full C cup when she was younger, but after having her kids and breastfeeding both of them, that C had become more of a droopy D. Now she was back to where she’d been in college, before she met Jeff and let him talk his way into her panties one night, ending her dreams of being a high-powered attorney when she found out she was pregnant with the twins.

  What could be causing this? It was as if her body was magically reverting to where it had been in her early twenties. But that was impossible—right?

  Just then she became aware of a movement outside her window. There was so much wildlife here—deer and birds and squirrels. Just last night she’d been sure she heard a wolf howling and maybe some kind of wild cat screaming. It was—

  Sadie’s thought was cut off abruptly when she turned her head and saw it was no bird or squirrel looking in her window.

  Her surly neighbor, Mathis Blackwell, stood about fifty yards away by the line of trees that separated their properties. He had an armful of firewood and a surprised expression on his face as he stared at the extremely naked Sadie who was still juggling her boobs in her hands.

  “Oh my God! Oh, no!” she gasped, reaching down to grope blindly at the floor for her discarded towel. She wanted to look away from Mathis but for some reason, she found she couldn’t. Their eyes were locked together through the thin glass of he
r window as she scrabbled for the towel.

  At last she found the towel, but she was so freaked out she couldn’t seem to get it wrapped around her body again. Instead she clutched it to her chest, her heart pounding as she continued to lock eyes with her neighbor.

  Finally Mathis shook his head, like a man coming out of a dream, and gave her an awful scowl. Without a word—or another look—he turned and went stomping back to his side of the tree line, his broad shoulders hunched as though to ward off some kind of attack.

  Sadie snatched the curtains closed and sank down on the big, old fashioned bed with its carved wooden posts, nearly hyperventilating.

  God, what must he think of me? What did it look like I was doing? Nothing very nice, that was for sure! Ugh, how absolutely humiliating—to be caught by her nearest neighbor examining herself naked in the mirror and playing with her boobs!

  Your only neighbor, whispered a little voice in her head. And there’s nobody else around to hear you scream if he decides what he saw was some kind of invitation.

  Somehow, though, despite his wild appearance, Mathis didn’t strike her as the type to break into her cabin and hurt her. Not that knowing he probably wouldn’t try anything made her any less embarrassed. She still felt absolutely mortified to be caught in such a position, especially since she was usually a very modest person.

  What’s wrong with me? My body is going through some bizarre change, I’m walking around in front of the window naked, I couldn’t look away when he was looking at me…I feel like I’m going crazy!

  Sadie put a hand to her drumming heart, trying to still her rapid breathing. Okay. Everything was going to be okay. True, the thing with her neighbor seeing her naked was beyond awkward, but he didn’t seem to want to talk or be neighborly anyway. So maybe if she just avoided him for the rest of her life—