“Enough!” Turning, Truth’s uncle struck the young warrior in the face. He had to reach up to do it but he managed it just the same. Truth’s brother made no move to either deflect or avoid the blow. “That is for disrespecting your elders!” the older male declared.
“I meant no disrespect,” Truths’ brother said quietly. “I simply spoke the truth of my heart.”
“Then I will speak the truth of mine,” his mother said stiffly. “Once word gets out—and it will get out—that you are hosting your brother and his ‘mates’ no self respecting female within a thousand click radius will consent to be your bride.”
“It wouldn’t matter if I hosted the Father of Flight himself, no female would consent to be my bride anyway. Having Truth and his dear ones can’t make any difference there.” The bitterness was back in his voice and his deep turquoise eyes flashed with repressed anger.
“Fine—have it your own way. I can do nothing more with you.”
“Yes, Ama.” Truth’s brother bowed respectfully.
Apparently at a loss with what to do with her younger son, Truth’s mother turned to look at Truth instead.
“Truth…”she said softly. “It doesn’t have to be this way. I will give you one last chance. Will you abandon these ‘mates’ of yours and come be cleansed of your evil in the holy river? If you will, you may come back home and stay as long as you wish.” Her high voice suddenly became soft with emotion. “Think on it, son—though you are not my blood, I have raised you from a babe. I would not see you so corrupted.”
For a moment, Far’s heart was in his throat. He could feel the yearning in his brother’s heart—the wish to be accepted, to be loved by the only mother he had ever known. Who would he pick?
But after a short, tense silence, Truth shook his head.
“I do not need to think about it, Ama. I love you and all my Rai’ku family but my true people are the Kindred. My future is with Becca and Far. I will not abandon them, even for you.”
His mother’s eyes went from soft and entreating to hard and flinty in an instant.
“Very well,” she said stiffly. “Then though it pains me greatly, Truth, I must turn my back on you now and forevermore.” She turned abruptly in a whirl of flowing red sleeves and walked away as quickly as she had come.
Truth’s uncle stayed only a moment longer.
“I hope you feel pride in your actions—causing your own ama to disown you,” he said, glowering at Truth.
“Nothing has ever given me greater pain,” Truth said quietly and indeed, Far could feel the hurt coming from his twin—the unmatchable agony of having lost a parent’s love. “But I cannot change my mind. If you force me to choose between the Rai’ku way of life and the mates I love, I must choose my mates.”
His uncle shook his head. “Move your shuttle,” he growled, pointing a skinny finger at Truth. Then he also whirled around and left.
* * * * *
Becca watched the two of them go with a lump in her throat. She could feel Truth’s pain through their link and it made her want to cry for him—to shed tears he was obviously too stoic to shed himself.
He knew this would happen when he agreed to bring us here, she thought, looking up at the dark twin, who was watching the receding figures of his mother and uncle. And yet he brought us anyway. He defended us and chose us over his people, over his whole way of life. Because of Far and me, he’s no longer welcome in his own home.
Suddenly, she couldn’t stand it anymore. Though she had been trying to keep her distance from both twins, the pain spilling through her link with Truth was too much to bear.
“Oh, Truth, honey…” she whispered, turning to him. Standing on tiptoes, she threw her arms around his neck.
For a moment he was stiff against her, then he unbent a little and encircled her with his arms. “Rebecca,” he murmured into her hair. Then he looked up at Far. “Brother?”
The light twin had been hanging back uncertainly but now he came forward and embraced his brother with Becca between them.
“Truth,” he murmured. “I have never witnessed anything more courageous than what you just did.”
For a moment they all clung together and Becca enjoyed the warmth of being enveloped by both their large, male bodies. Then she began to be aware of a different kind of warmth—one that was growing between her legs and at the tips of her breasts. Her men began to smell good—really good. Too good. Their dark, masculine scent seemed to invade all her senses and suddenly she wanted to do much more than comfort Truth.
Or maybe you just want to comfort him in another way, a small voice suggested at the back of her head.
A mental image of the three of them entwined arose before her mind’s eye. She could see herself between her men—all of them naked and embracing. Could see Truth and Far coming together to fill her as one for a long, leisurely session of love and comfort sex…
No! That’s exactly what you don’t want to do! she told herself…but somehow the thought lacked conviction. And though she knew she ought to end this three-way embrace which was making her want her men so badly she could barely stand it, she was strangely reluctant to leave their arms.
“Mmm, Rebecca,” Truth’s voice rumbled in her ear. “You smell good…hot.”
“She does, Brother,” Far agreed, his deep voice soft and interested. “I think our lady is feeling the effects of our bond.”
“It…it’s only a partial bond,” Becca protested weakly.
“It doesn’t have to be,” Truth murmured. “Now more than ever I wish to tie the two of you to me. I—”
The sound of a throat clearing interrupted him.
Looking out of the tangle of arms that surrounded her, Becca saw that Truth’s younger brother was still just standing there, watching them. He had a mixture of curiosity and discomfort on his face that made her feel suddenly ashamed.
“Oh my goodness!” She wriggled out from between Truth and Far and tried to smooth down her hair. “I’m so sorry,” she apologized. “Uh, we haven’t been together that long but we can feel each other’s emotions and that scene with your mom just made Truth so unhappy and—” She broke off abruptly when she realized he was staring at her quizzically.
“Rebecca is simply trying to make apologies if we discomforted you, Garron,” Truth said, coming forward. He frowned. “Or is it G’ron now?”
His brother shook his head. “No, didn’t you hear what I told Ama? It’s still Garron and it is beginning to look like I always will be.” He regarded Becca with those startling turquoise eyes. “Please don’t think I was offended by what I saw, lady. I am half Kindred myself so I understand that there are…urges which cannot be denied. I only thought you might not wish to, uh, gratify them out here in the cold and snow.”
“Oh. Oh, of course not.” Becca could feel herself blushing. “I, um, we never…we just sort of…”
“We lost ourselves in one another,” Far said, coming to her rescue. “The bond we share is still new.” He looked at Becca. “And still fragile.”
Becca knew he was reminding her of the conversation with Kat he’d overheard and she looked away. They were going to have to talk about that soon but what was she going to say? What was she going to decide?
“If you’d like to walk with me, my lodge isn’t far from here,” Garron offered.
“That sounds wonderful,” Becca said gratefully. “It’s so cold here.”
“This is actually a very mild day.” Garron smiled at her. “You should come in winter—then it’s cold.”
Becca thought she had never been so grateful to make small talk about the weather.
“Oh?” she said, smiling back. “Tell me all about it, please! This is my first time on any planet but my home world, Earth.” Which was true since the whole trip to Orthanx had been entirely in her mind.
Too bad everything else you did wasn’t only in your mind, a snarky little voice whispered. Now you’ve got a partial bond and no idea what to do about it.
/> Becca pushed it to the back of her mind and concentrated on the conversation with Truth’s half-brother. I’ll think about it later, she told herself firmly. I can decide later.
Later.
Chapter Thirty-five
“Are you certain you’ll be all right?” Far looked at Becca anxiously.
“I’m fine—honestly. You boys go.” Becca made a shooing motion as though to speed them along. “The sooner you park the ship, the sooner you’ll be back. We want to start digging tomorrow, right?”
“The sooner the better,” Truth growled. He was still unhappy about the way things had turned out with his family. Unhappy but not surprised. After all, what had he expected? He knew how the Rai’ku felt about any kind of mate sharing. Had he not been witness to many duels to the death when two males wanted the same female? The idea of sharing was foreign to the possessive, animalistic nature of a Rai’ku. Foreign and disgusting.
At least his younger brother, Garron, was still willing to offer them hospitality. The two of them had always been close, growing up, for all that they were only half- brothers. Truth was grateful that Garron hadn’t disowned him and ostracized him as his second mother had done.
Oh, Ama… Just the memory of her face when she begged him to come home was enough to make his heart ache. Despite the abuse his father had subjected him to growing up, he loved her fiercely. Though she never tried to stop the beatings, she always had a kind hand and a gentle word for him the next morning. Sometimes, if his father had passed out and was no longer a threat, she would sneak to his room and pack snow on his face to stop the swelling.
She was the only mother he had ever known and now she was gone.
“Brother?”
Turning, Truth saw that Far was looking at him with a mixture of concern and compassion.
That’s right, he thought. I’m not alone in my head anymore. Everything I feel, he feels and vice versa.
What he felt coming from his twin right now was worry. Far knew how the scene with his second mother had affected him. Possibly he was concerned that Truth might still change his mind and leave him and Becca to fend for themselves while he chased after the Rai’ku’s ideal way of life.
That was what I was chasing my entire life, Truth thought. I wanted so badly to be one of them. I used to envy Garron his sky eyes and the promise they held. I knew I would never have a second nature or ride the winds in dr’gin form. But still I longed to belong somewhere—to fit in with someone and they were all I had.
Thank the Goddess he had found his true place—and the people he was really meant to be with. Even if he had been determined to have nothing to do with them at first—especially Far.
Truth had felt the surprise coming from Rebecca when he had announced that he and his twin were finally bonded. He didn’t blame her for feeling skeptical or uncertain given his past relationship with Far. The thing was, though, that it wasn’t just the intense near-bonding sex the three of them had shared that had brought him together with his twin. True, it had solidified the bond between them, but even before that he had secretly been leaning towards his long lost brother, whether he admitted it to himself or not.
It had probably started when Far and Rebecca had saved him from the demon—or maybe when she had kissed both of them, during the bonding lesson at Lady Kat’s suite. But Truth was certain his leaning toward his twin had been cemented when he watched Far comfort his younger self during their time in the Mindscape. It didn’t even matter that it wasn’t real and that they had never gone down to the planet Orthanx at all—Far’s reactions to his pain were genuine. His empathy and compassion had won Truth over and let him know that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with his brother and the female they both loved.
“Brother?” Far asked again and Truth realized he had been lost in thought.
“I’m fine,” he said firmly, nodding at his twin. “You do not need to worry about me, Brother. I won’t change my mind.”
“We know you won’t,” Becca said quietly. She stepped forward and stood on tiptoe to give him a light kiss on the lips.
Truth returned the kiss with pleasure, though it also brought a slightly painful, low level electrical tingle through his nerves since Becca was kissing only him and not touching his twin at the same time.
I can’t touch her anymore—not without him, he thought. In the past, such a thing would have upset him greatly. Now it brought a simple realization—he didn’t want Rebecca all to himself. Didn’t want to take her sexually if Far wasn’t also involved. It would be like trying to make love to her with only half of his body and he didn’t want that.
What he wanted was the three of them together on the large sleeping palate in the spare room, their limbs entangled and their hearts entwined as they pleasured each other until morning.
Well, that’s not going to happen tonight. At least, not unless you get a move on, he told himself grimly. They had to fly their shuttle to a non-consecrated landing spot—the Forgotten Hollow. Then he and Far would bring the equipment they needed on the small hovertracker back to Garron’s lodge. Tomorrow they would hopefully be able to locate and dig up the artifact Vashtar had given them coordinates to.
And then they would bring the cure back to the Mother Ship where the three of them could become fully bonded and live together as Twin Kindred and their bride should.
Truth was still a little leery about what was entailed in having full-on bonding sex with Far and Rebecca. But he trusted his twin now in a way he hadn’t before and he wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable touching him either. In fact, he wished he could go to Far now and give him a hug to reassure him. He still looked so worried and his anxiety tugged at Truth’s heart. But he wasn’t quite sure how to go about it—touching another male, even in such an innocent fashion—was still foreign to him. So he held back and simply watched as Rebecca kissed his brother.
“You two be careful out there,” she lectured and Truth could feel anxiety coming from her as well. “Are you sure you’ll be all right? It’s such a big forest—what if you get lost?”
Garron snorted laughter and then shook his head when Becca looked at him questioningly.
“Forgive me, lady. It’s just that Truth has been known for having the best sense of direction in our community since he was twelve cycles old. Anywhere you need to go in the elder wood, he can get you there.”
“And back again.” Truth gave his younger brother a small smile. “Remember when we were small, the time you got lost picking yum berries?”
“I was frightened to death but I remembered what you said—to find an elder tree with red roots and wait. And sure enough, you came and got me before it was time for evening fare.” Garron shook his head. “The other searchers were all grown males—looking down from the sky in their dr’gin forms, trying to find me. But you needed no such crutch—you just came right to me, Truth.”
Truth smiled. “I only had to follow the yum berry hulls you left like a trail. Speaking of which—do you have any of Ama’s yum berry jam? I was going to ask her for some myself while we were here but…” He trailed off, his throat feeling suddenly tight.
“I have plenty,” Garron said quickly. “You can have some at first fare tomorrow. Unless you want some now?”
Truth shook his head. “Save it. Far and I need to get this done and get back before it gets too dark.” He raised an eyebrow at his younger brother. “While we are gone, I charge you with the safety of our female, Garron. See that she comes to no harm.”
“I’ll be fine,” Rebecca protested but Truth’s younger brother answered seriously.
“I will guard her with my life. As long as the three of you are here on Pax, Rebecca’s safety will be my first priority.”
“Thank you.” Truth nodded. His younger brother had grown up to be a fine male—even if he wasn’t considered completely mature by the standards of the Rai’ku. Truth knew that he could be trusted to protect Becca which made him feel much better about leaving her. She had wanted
to come with them and the hovertracker was certainly big enough, but Truth didn’t expect them to get back before nightfall and he wasn’t at all certain their delicate Earth female could withstand the plummeting temperatures that came with the darkness on Pax. At least here in Garron’s lodge it was warm.
“Be careful,” Rebecca begged as she kissed him and Far once more. “Come back soon.”
“In just a few hours,” Far promised. He looked at Truth. “Right?”
Truth nodded. “Goddess willing, yes. And don’t worry, Rebecca, I’ll bring Far and myself back in one piece, I promise.”
Then he and Far left by the lodge’s front door, letting in a cold blast of air as they went.
* * * * *
“Well, let’s hope they don’t take too long.” Becca shivered and put her hands out to warm them at the fire which had green and blue flames for some reason. The fireplace was built right into the middle section of the boadab tree’s vast trunk which seemed to be the main support of Garron’s lodge.
When they had first approached the base of the massive, thick tree, Becca had been surprised to see no steps or ladder of any kind. She would have been content to wander around the base of it, looking to see if there was some other way to get up, but the native Rai’ku standing nearby were glaring at her—glaring at all of them, probably—but it felt like it was only her. The nasty name Truth’s mother had called her still echoed in her ears.
Wrex! Becca saw their noses wrinkle as they smelled the evidence of what she had done with Far and Truth and felt like they must all be thinking it. It made her feel like she ought to be wearing a scarlet letter sewn onto her clothes—not to mention extremely eager to get away from all those angry black eyes.
But before she could get too uncomfortable, Garron had climbed the steep trunk with apparent ease, moving with surprising grace and agility for such a large man.
“Never fear, lady—I’ll send down the cage,” Becca had heard him call. Shortly after, a small wooden elevator-looking box had been lowered to the ground on a system of rope pulleys. Becca and Far had gotten inside while Truth had climbed up after his brother in order to pull them up.