Devoured

  “You…” She looked up at Garron in disbelieve. “You did this? You cleaned?”

  “Yes.” He looked worried. “Did you not want me to? The…mess in your food prep area seemed to bother you greatly. I wanted to help.”

  Tess shook her head in wonder. She knew there were guys in the world who cooked and cleaned and generally helped out around the house. But knowing there was such a man and actually meeting one were two different things. Pierce had done absolutely nothing to help—considering anything to do with keeping up the house women’s work. And now Garron, without even being asked, had cleaned up a really nasty mess, just because he could tell it bothered her.

  “Wow,” she said at last, looking at him. “Thank you. Just…thank you.”

  “I know we’re leaving here and not coming back,” he said. “But I thought…your last memory of where you lived shouldn’t be a bad one.”

  “Thank you,” Tess said again. She sighed. “I am glad I can remember it this way instead…the other. This apartment has been a good place for me—on the whole.” Of course, after years of marriage to Pierce, anyplace away from him would have been good. But still, she had grown fond of her little nest in the few months that she’d lived there.

  “We’d better go,” Garron said.

  Tess nodded. “You’re right.”

  They walked out and she gave it one last look before flipping off the lights and locking the front door. Then she left it behind—probably forever. Because she couldn’t imagine any scenario where it would be safe to come back to Tampa once she had gone.

  Behind her, in the bathroom, the towel with its one bloody handprint lay forgotten…

  Chapter Thirteen

  Tess’s friend, Di, was crying when they got back to her small vehicle.

  “Di? Honey, are you okay?” Tess sounded deeply concerned as she slid into the passenger side after Garron had folded himself into the back.

  “I’m fine. Sorry…” The older Earth woman sniffed and blotted her eyes with a small cloth. “I just got a phone call while the two of you were up there.”

  “And?” Tess still sounded worried.

  “Uncle Jackson…” Di sniffed again deeply. “He finally passed. Just about an hour ago according to the nurse on call.”

  “Oh, no! I’m so sorry.” Tess looked like she might cry too. “I should have been there with him—I was always his favorite nurse.”

  “You had to leave Happy Rest for a good reason. Uncle Jack would have understood.” Di blew her nose and sighed. “We’ve known this was coming for awhile. Ever since the cancer spread…”

  “I know.” Tess looked away. “It’s just…no matter how much you try to prepare, you’re never really prepared. You know?”

  “I know. And you’re right.” Di straightened up. “Anyway, it’s given me an idea. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it earlier.”

  “Think of what?” Tess looked puzzled.

  Di smiled brightly and blotted her eyes again.

  “I know where you can run to.”

  “Where?” Tess didn’t sound too hopeful. Garron wasn’t surprised. He knew from his childhood that living with a man like Pierce—a man like his father—could suck the joy and optimism out of anyone.

  “Uncle Jackson had a cabin outside of Asheville, North Carolina. He lived there until the cancer got bad and he had to come down here to Tampa so I could look after him,” Di said. “It’s perfect—remote and private and best of all, it’s mine but it’s not in my name yet.”

  “So there’s no paper trail to trace it to you…and to connect you to me.” Tess was beginning to sound cautiously optimistic. “That does sound good. But I’ll need a way to get up there. If I try to take my car I’ll be stopped before I can get out of Tampa—Pierce will see to that.” She frowned. “Maybe I should take a bus…”

  “No, no—he can trace the ticket.” Di shook her head. “No, you can take Uncle Jack’s truck. It’s ugly and old but it should make it.”

  “Is it an automatic? Because I don’t know how to drive a stick—”

  “I can share the driving,” Garron said quietly. “If this truck you’re talking about operates like the vehicle we are in now, it should be exceedingly simple to manage.”

  “Um…” Tess turned to look at him, wincing as the motion no doubt pulled at her hurt back. “That’s really nice of you, Garron but…I don’t know what to say. I don’t…still don’t understand why you came down here in the first place. I mean I know you said you wanted to protect me but I don’t understand why you want to.”

  “I…dreamed of you.” It was surprisingly hard to admit but he could think of no other way to explain. “I saw what that bastard Pierce did to you in the parking area of the HKR building. I…could not sit by and do nothing when I knew you were in danger. I had to come for you. After all—your predicament was my fault.”

  Tess sighed. “Not really. Pierce was an abusive asshole a long time before you came on the scene. And I didn’t blame you for being mad at me up there on the Mother Ship. I did give you…” Her cheeks went red and she looked down. “I did give you the, uh, wrong impression.”

  “That was no excuse for what I did,” Garron protested. “I should have waited, should have listened to your story. If I hadn’t been so blinded by anger…” He cleared his throat and shook his head. “The point is, you are in this dilemma because of me. Therefore, I will not leave you until you’re safe. My honor as a Kindred and a warrior demands it.”

  “That’s really sweet of you but I’m going on the run from my ex-husband who happens to be a pretty good detective, even if he is a bastard. So I don’t know about taking you along for the ride. I mean, you’re not exactly inconspicuous.” Her eyes flicked up and down, as though sizing him up. “You’re what…six foot seven or eight? And with those eyes…”

  “What’s wrong with my eyes?” Garron asked, frowning.

  “Nothing.” Her cheeks got red again and she cleared her throat. “Except they’re freaking inhumanly gorgeous. I just…I mean, you stand out in a crowd.”

  Garron’s hands curled into fists, causing the torn flesh to throb sharply.

  “I’m not leaving you.” He looked at Tess. “I cannot. If you won’t let me accompany you, then I must find your ex-mate and challenge him to a Y’grin.”

  “A what?” She looked at him blankly.

  “A fight to the death,” Garron clarified.

  “What, like a duel?” Di looked incredulous. “Look, big boy, it’s nice of you to want to protect Tess but you can’t do that. Pierce is a cop—he has a gun and he’d just shoot you and then say it was because you were menacing him in the line of duty or something.”

  “And even if he did agree to fight you, you’d be put away for life for killing a policeman,” Tess said. “No, I just have to go—have to get out of his way. I can’t stay here in Tampa.”

  “You can come back with me to the Mother Ship,” Garron said. “The ban they placed on you was a misunderstanding. We just need some time to bring the matter before the Kindred High Council and get it straightened out.”

  “Time is what you don’t have,” Di said flatly. “Tess needs to be on the road tonight. The sooner the better.”

  “Di is right.” Tess nodded. “I appreciate the invite but I can’t wait around to see if the Kindred Council will let me back up on the ship or not. Not with Pierce looking for me—which he will be the minute he gets home and finds me gone.”

  “Then we’ll go to this cabin—together,” Garron emphasized. “In the mean time, your friend can make a call to my brother using the viewscreen in the HKR building. As soon as she calls and lets us know we have clearance, we’ll find the nearest Human/Kindred Relations center and take a shuttle back up to the Mother Ship.”

  “I…” Tess shook her head. “I don’t know. I mean, it sounds good but honestly, I barely know you. Why would I go with you?”

  “So I can protect you, as I said before.” Garron couldn’t believe she
would even ask. It seemed perfectly clear to him that they should stay together—perfectly clear that he couldn’t let her go or leave her alone when she was in such danger. “You say you don’t know me,” he murmured, looking into her eyes. “But I don’t believe that’s completely true.”

  “What…” She shifted uncomfortably. “What do you mean?”

  “I dreamed of you,” Garron said softly, still holding her eyes with his own. “And even before that dream I had others—dreams of a female with dark eyes who was hiding so I could never quite see her. I think that female was you, Tess.” He looked at her intently. “Can you honestly say you had no dreams of me?”

  “I…” Tess seemed about to deny it but then she stopped and bit her lip. “I have had some dreams,” she admitted in a low voice. “I could never quite remember them when I woke up but I did know I was dreaming about the same person—the same man—over and over again.”

  “So that’s it? You’re meant to be together because you’re dreaming about each other in a round-about kind of way?” Di sounded skeptical. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s romantic and all but—”

  “It’s called dream sharing,” Garron said, still keeping his eyes locked with Tess’s. “Among the Kindred it is considered…significant.”

  He didn’t mention that he had never heard of it himself until Becca and her friends had told him about it. Right now he just needed a reason to get Tess to trust him, to let him stay by her side. He had to protect her, had to be with her in case that bastard Pierce sought her out.

  I’ll kill him, he thought. Kill him if he touches her again…if he even gets near her…

  But in order to protect her, he had to be with her. He just hoped that Tess could understand that they needed to stay together.

  She frowned. “I want to be clear about something up front—I’m not looking for any kind of relationship. I think it’s obvious I’m getting out of a pretty rough one and I just…need time to heal.” She lifted one shoulder ruefully, indicating her back. “In more than one way.”

  Garron nodded gravely. “I have no expectations or demands. In fact, I have taken a vow to remain true to the memory of another. I only ask that you let me stay by your side and protect you—my honor demands it.”

  “For how long?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

  “Until I know you’re safe and that you’ll never be in danger again.” Until that bastard of an ex-mate of yours is dead. He didn’t say it out loud but Tess must have seen it in his eyes.

  “Pierce is dangerous, you know,” she said quietly. “He carries a gun and he knows how to use it. He’s also crazy jealous and he thinks I belong to him. You could be risking your life just being with me.”

  “A risk I am more than willing to take,” Garron assured her. He let his voice drop to a low growl. “And I can be dangerous too, when I choose.”

  Tess shivered and looked away. “I believe you. Okay, we’ll go together.”

  “Good.” Garron felt a fist of tension loosen in his chest. He could stay by her side and protect her. He still didn’t know why it was so crucial—didn’t understand why the little Earth female was so vitally important to him—but he didn’t care. Though he still intended to be true to Nella’s memory, the fact was that, at least for now, their fates were entwined and he needed to be with her. Needed to keep her safe and be certain that bastard could never hurt her again.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Who was the call from?” Becca asked, looking up as Truth walked into the bedroom she shared with him and Far. She yawned. “And what were they doing calling so early, anyway? It’s not even time to get up yet.”

  The dark twin frowned.

  “It was no one I know—but apparently she is a friend of Garron’s. Or at least an acquaintance.”

  “She?” Far asked. He was sitting to Becca’s left in the large, three person bed they all shared. Truth’s place was always on the right and Becca was happy to be in the middle. “Since when does your brother know anyone down on Earth?”

  “Since he went down there.” Truth sounded grim.

  “Since he what?” Becca had been leaning back against a stack of pillows, relaxing, but now she sat straight up in bed. “When did this happen?”

  “Earlier tonight. According to this person who called me—I think her name was Ki or Di or something of the sort—he went after the girl he had deported earlier from the Mother Ship.”

  “Who—Tess?” Becca asked. “I liked her a lot but I didn’t think Garron did.”

  “I don’t think he knew he did until he had a dream about her,” Truth murmured.

  “Dream sharing?” Far cocked an eyebrow.

  “It seems so.” Truth nodded.

  “So why aren’t they up here now instead of back down on Earth?” Far asked.

  Truth frowned. “Unfortunately, Garron’s grievance against the female was taken seriously and she was banned from the Mother Ship. But she is in trouble down on Earth and he is staying with her to protect her until it can be cleared up. In the mean time, he has asked me to address the High Council and get her ban revoked.”

  “Will they do that?” Becca asked.

  The dark twin shrugged. “I do not see why not. I’m going to ask Sylvan to support me in this and if he recommends that the female be allowed to come back on the grounds that she is a potential mate, I don’t know why the other Council Members would disagree.”

  “What about the head of the Council—Chancellor Terex?” Far said. “Isn’t he back now? Don’t you have to get permission from him personally?”

  “I suppose. But from what I’ve heard from Sylvan he usually goes along with the general wishes of the Council.” Truth sighed and sank down in bed on Becca’s right side. “I’m still concerned though.”

  “About what?” Becca asked gently. “It sounds like an open and shut case—once the Council hears that Garron and Tess are dream sharing, I don’t see how they can refuse to let them come back up to the Mother Ship.”

  “It’s not that.” Truth shook his head and ran a hand over his face wearily. “It’s Garron. He came to me about a week ago, wanting to talk about Kindred urges and…other things.”

  “Which is why we sent him to the Pairing House in the first place,” Far said.

  “What—you’re the ones that sent him?” Becca looked back and forth between them. “What urges? And what other things? How come you two didn’t tell me?”

  Far shrugged. “It wasn’t our secret to tell, Becca. Garron was shamed enough as it was and he values your good opinion.”

  Becca put a hand on her hip. “Please! As if I would think less of the man for having a sex drive.”

  Truth sighed. “I still do not think you understand the stigma attached to some of the things we consider normal here on the Mother Ship. Wanting to hold your female close, body to body, is considered abnormal unless you are doing it during mating. And the other things a Kindred desires to do to his female…”

  “You mean like tasting her?” Far asked softly.

  “Yes. Exactly.” Truth gave Becca a long look. “Even now it feels…forbidden.”

  Becca felt a little shiver run down her spine as she remembered how he had nearly lost control the first time he had gone down on her.

  “Oh?” she asked a little breathlessly. “That, uh, doesn’t seem to stop you.” It was becoming a running joke between the three of them that the dark twin would rather taste her pussy than do just about anything else. He was always eager to get between her legs to the point where Far jokingly complained that they were going to have to start setting a limit on how many orgasms Truth could give her before it was his turn.

  “It’s because it feels forbidden that Truth wants it so much,” Far said quietly.

  “I do not just want it…it is a need.” Truth’s eyes blazed into hers, making Becca squirm beneath his intense gaze. “I have come to understand this as I grow to know my Kindred heritage—a warrior’s desire to taste his lady goe
s far beyond the simple inclination to make her happy.”

  “It does?” Becca asked.

  Truth nodded and Far said, “It’s a craving—so deep and vast there is no fighting it.”

  “Even if you are taught your entire life it is wrong,” Truth murmured. “As I know from experience. It is, as I said, a need.”

  “A need which Garron is doubtless feeling as well,” Far said.

  “But along with sexual desire comes other problems—at least for one like Garron who is half Rai’ku.” Truth looked troubled. “His name day—the traditional time for a first turning—is coming up.”

  “Yes, but at least he hasn’t turned so far. He talked to me about wishing he had declared himself O’ahn,” Becca said.

  “Just because a male makes that declaration does not mean it is true. In Garron’s case, I very much fear it is not,” Truth said. “He told me that he felt his dr’gin stirring within him—making itself known at last.”

  “He did? Well, what does that mean?” Becca asked, beginning to feel worried herself.

  “It may mean danger for anyone around him—anyone close to him.” Truth sighed. “I know he told you what happens when a dr’gin emerges for the first time. During a male’s first turning he may expect to kill and eat at least one and possibly more people before he finds the female he wants to mate with. Only after he feeds can he change back to his other, more rational form.”

  “So he can turn back to his regular self the moment he, um, eats somebody up?” Becca asked.

  Truth nodded. “But only briefly. That is why it is so important for him to breed the female his dr’gin has chosen immediately—as soon as he turns back.”

  “But what if she’s not the one he wanted before he transformed?” Becca asked, remembering her talk with Garron back on Pax. He had been fearful that his dr’gin would kill the girl he loved and he would wind up mated to someone he didn’t care for at all.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Truth said. “The dr’gin within him makes the final choice and he must abide by it—she must too.”