Hunted

  “Then let them sssee usss. We will be hiding in plain sssight.”

  Xairn shook his head. “What do you mean?”

  “Never mind. I have made arrangementsss for all contingenciesss—that isss all you need to know.”

  “I still don’t understand why we don’t try to take them now,” Xairn argued. “I can have the urlich focus on his scent instead—it must be the one that confused them in the beginning when two of the pack were certain they had her. The lead bitch has a marker in her tooth. One bite and—”

  The AllFather shook his head. “Leave them. I want the girl to bond herself to the warrior who guardsss her—or at least givesss him her fragile human heart—before she is taken. That way her pain will be much greater when ssshe is ripped from him. And my pleasure in taking her will be multiplied a hundred fold.”

  The greedy anticipation in those glowing red eyes was obvious. Xairn kept his face carefully blank. Though the AllFather preferred to feed on the psychic pain of his victims, he was not above devouring physical and sexual pain as well. He, like all Scourge, was a natural sadist—it was in his very DNA to cause harm, to demand submission.

  Xairn had never taken a female against her will, though he knew he had those tendencies locked within himself—a brutal legacy from his father. But he had seen too many of the AllFather’s victims, broken and empty, to wish to perpetrate such an act. He had no desires of the carnal nature and only prayed that nothing ever awakened his own dark appetites. That no female ever excited him to such acts of perversity and lust. It would be kinder if the girl was taken sooner, before she forms a bond, he thought. Kinder, yes—but against his father’s wishes.

  “We will wait for the girl,” the AllFather intoned, breaking his train of thought.

  “Then I will remove the urlich. Their pods should still be functional. If they are not, I can use the transfer beam.”

  “No. Let them ssstay until the girl goesss. They must familiarize themselves with the warrior’s ssscent as well—I want it burned into their brainsss. We may have need of them later.”

  “Very well. I will wait.”

  “Yesss, we will wait. But not all pleasuresss must be delayed. Come forward, my ssson. I believe you were expecting a punishment?”

  His heart sank but Xairn squared his shoulders and lifted his chin. “I was.”

  The AllFather clicked his tongue against his teeth. “Alwaysss so brave to begin with. Let us sssee how long it takesss to break you. Come.”

  Nothing to do but bear it. Try to get through it. It was a familiar litany, one that had been with him from his bitter, barren childhood.

  Xairn knelt before the metal throne, trying to shield his mind. There was only one thing he cared about, one thing that kept him from despair and madness in his hellish existence aboard the Fathership. It was a small spark of warmth, barely enough to heat the cold corridors of his heart, yet he was desperate to keep it from the AllFather’s greedy, seeking grasp. So far he had managed to keep his secret, but how long could he continue? Each time the AllFather probed him, he got closer to that small, hidden corner Xairn fought so desperately to protect. How long until it was uncovered, the contents rifled and destroyed?

  “Now then…” The AllFather positioned himself, his scabrous fingertips pressing lightly against Xairn’s skull. His touch was corpse-cold and wholly repulsive. No wonder the Earth girls he’d tried to mate with had gone mad long before he killed them. The touch of his father’s hands made even Xairn shiver and he had been enduring it since birth.

  The worst thing was, the AllFather had no need of physical contact in order to scan his subjects—he only touched Xairn because he knew it made the whole experience even worse and harder to bear. Someday I’ll touch him in a way he finds hard to bear—Xairn cut off that line of thought abruptly. It would never do to let his father hear him think such treasonous things even though the AllFather surely knew Xairn hated him. Knew and didn’t give a damn.

  The feeling of icy fingers rifling through his memories was both familiar and repugnant. As usual the AllFather lingered over past pains and sorrows, polishing them lovingly until they gleamed like precious jewels with edges sharp enough to draw blood.

  Being torn from my nurse and told I would never see her again. She was kind to me—the only one who ever was. A Kindred bride the AllFather captured. Yet when I was old enough to be on my own he took her from me and drove her mad. Seeing her later locked in a cage like an animal, her eyes unseeing even when I called her name over and over, begging her to look at me…

  Living like a beast beneath the metal throne—given only scraps to eat for days at a time, no safe place to call my own. Kicked with hard boots, stepped on and trampled if I got in the way, spat on, beaten. I learned the true meaning of hatred then and have known it ever since…

  The pet lizard I found on the home world when we visited—it was black with purple edged scales. I never had a pet before and father let me keep it for weeks, lavishing it with affection before he crushed it beneath his boot while I wept and begged him not to. The sound of his laughter as he watched my tears and feasted on my pain…

  The excruciating flow of memories went on and on, each one blindingly intense and horribly real—almost as though it had just happened. The AllFather liked to keep the pain he inflicted sharp and intact, to allow instant access to the mental suffering he fed from so greedily. Xairn often thought that his father had conceived him not because he wanted an heir, but because he wanted a constant source of nourishment—a deep well of agony that would never run dry.

  He tried to endure, but in the end Xairn lost his composure. It was the question of his true mother that broke him—as it almost always did. “Who was ssshe?” whispered the AllFather in his mind. “And what did I do to her when I was done using her body, done ravaging her mind? Ssshe loved you, you know—cared for you as only a mother can care for her child. Ssshe wept and raved when I took you from her. Begged to be allowed to hold you just once more…”

  The mental image of a woman with tears in her eyes—eyes unlike the glowing red on black of Xairn and his father—filled his mind. Though her skin had been the pale, pearlescent gray of all Scourge, his mother’s eyes had been green—a deep, beautiful green. In his vision they swam with tears as she begged to be allowed to keep her child—to keep Xairn…

  It wasn’t until there were tears in Xairn’s own eyes that the AllFather finally stopped and withdrew his icy presence from Xairn’s mind.

  “Ssstill weak. You always break for that vision.” The AllFather’s voice was contemptuous.

  “What did you do to her? Does she still live?” Xairn had never dared to ask the question before, but this time it seemed drawn from his lips.

  The red eyes buried far back in the shadowy cloak glared. “That I ssshall leave to your vivid imagination. Now go.” The AllFather waved one skeletal hand dismissively. “I am sssated for now.”

  “Yes, Father.” Xairn nodded stoically and rose to stand tall and proud before his father’s throne. The emotional pain he felt must not be echoed by physical weakness. And despite the torture he had managed to keep his secret. The hidden part of his heart was still just that—hidden. A victory, he thought ruefully, blinking tears from his eyes. A small one but I can call it my own.

  Turning, he walked down the long, broad steps that led to the metal throne and made his way from the AllFather’s presence with what dignity he could. Gods above, how he hated the soulless bastard and longed for his death!

  He knew it was a foolish wish. His father spoke of Xairn succeeding him but he didn’t believe it would ever really happen. The AllFather would be there forever—the malignant dark sun he was doomed to orbit for his entire existence.

  For how could one who was not truly alive, die?

  But I will see to the girl, he thought grimly. He has no right to inflict such agony again. After all the many he captured and tortured, looking for just the right DNA sequence to fulfill the prophesy. She shall
be taken before she is bonded to the warrior—

  that much I can do.

  Whether he wished to defy his father out of spite or mercy for the suffering of a fellow being, he did not know. He only knew he was tired of folding beneath the AllFather’s will. Tired enough to defy the ageless, living corpse who sat upon the metal throne and fed greedily on the pain of others.

  Even though it might cost him his life.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Liv was sore. Deliciously sore. She was tender in places she hadn’t even known existed and sensitive all over, as though her entire body had become one big erogenous zone. God, who knew that Baird had a kinky side? Her new husband had been an animal the night before—in a good way, of course.

  She looked at him fondly. Baird was breathing deeply, his big body completely relaxed on the other side of their large bed. It was no wonder he was worn out after everything he’d put them both through the night before!

  Liv had to admit, the whole “you’ve been a bad girl and now you have to be punished” scenario had never done much for her in the past. The one time her old fiancé, Mitch, had tried it she’d burst out laughing, which completely ruined the mood. Poor Mitch, he just hadn’t had the physical presence or the emotional intensity to pull off anything even remotely resembling domination play.

  But Baird…he had it. God, did he have it. Liv shivered as she remembered the hot, dangerous gleam in his golden eyes. The hungry, possessive way he’d taken her. Just thinking about it made her feel weak in the knees. She’d heard all the old jokes about how sex got boring and stale after marriage but somehow she didn’t think that was going to be a problem. Not as long as Baird kept surprising her with his kinky side. Yum.

  Leaning over, she gave him a quick kiss on his rough cheek. Kindred didn’t seem to get as hairy as human men—thank God, since Liv had seen some guys at the beach who looked like walking fur coats—ugh. But the big warriors did still need to shave their faces occasionally. Not that they used a razor to do it—they had a domesticated animal that actually nibbled their beards away in a matter of seconds. It looked a little too much like the face-hugger from the Alien movies for Liv’s taste, but it never seemed to hurt Baird and he claimed it was completely painless. She hadn’t quite gotten up the nerve to use it on her legs yet but maybe someday in the near future…

  Her stomach growled, reminding her that she’d barely eaten anything the day before. And who knew how many calories she’d burned during their marathon sex session? What she needed was a big, splurgy breakfast—the kind she and Sophie and Kat used to make every Saturday morning. Liv smiled. Think I’ll surprise Baird with some blueberry pancakes. It had taken her awhile to learn how to make them on the wave—the Kindred version of a stove—without burning them to a crisp, but Liv thought she had the hang of it now.

  Careful not to wake Baird, she slid out of bed and put on a red silk robe which was all that was left of a really nice lingerie set she’d gotten at her wedding shower. Sadly, Baird had ripped the matching red lace teddy right off her, ruining it completely—although Liv had to admit she hadn’t minded a bit at the time.

  Walking a little gingerly, she made her way to the back door of the suite. Before she started the pancakes, she wanted to make sure the morning klava had been delivered. It was a Kindred drink that tasted, to Liv anyway, like spicy herbal tea with a hint of lavender thrown in. It was immensely popular, so much so that the Kindred had built a special greenhouse aboard their ship to grow the flowers it was made from. Every morning the new buds were picked and simmered to perfection and the resulting brew was delivered door to door to those that signed up to receive it.

  But though it tasted like herbal tea, Liv had learned to take the Kindred breakfast drink in small quantities. In caffeine content it was more like the concentrated Cuban coffee served in Tampa where she’d grown up than the Sleepy Time she and Sophie liked to sip before bed. Drinking more than a very small amount of klava left her wired the entire day.

  Pressing the door switch, she leaned out to look for the steaming metal cylinder of klava. She saw it at once, but there was something else against outside the suite that caught her eye—or rather someone.

  Kat was slumped against the wall, still wearing the dress she’d worn to the wedding. The silky, sapphire blue material was creased and rumpled and a lot worse for the wear.

  Liv couldn’t help noticing that Kat was looking a lot worse for the wear herself. Her cheek was pressed against the curving silver wall and her long auburn hair was in tangles around her shoulders. Her delicate features were pinched, even in sleep, as though she was having a bad or disturbing dream.

  “Kat?” Liv stared at her in concern. What was her friend still doing here? Why wasn’t she back on Earth where she belonged?

  “Liv?” Kat’s eyes fluttered open and she blinked uncertainly. “Oh thank God! Are you finally finished with your tantric alien sex?”

  “Uh, for now.” Liv bent to pick up the cylinder of klava and then offered her friend a hand up. “Come on, come inside. Why didn’t you knock earlier?”

  “They told me I couldn’t. They said a Beast Kindred can’t be interrupted under any circumstances when he’s doing the bonding nasty with his bride.” Kat took her hand.

  “Who in the world is they?” Liv asked, giving her a pull.

  Kat winced as she got to her feet. “Deep and Lock—Baird and Sylvan’s step brothers. Er—second brothers, I mean.”

  Liv remembered seeing the way the Twin Kindred had been eyeing her friend at the wedding and smiled. “Uh-huh. And what exactly were you doing discussing bonding sex with those two?”

  “They were the ones talking to me about it, and you can wipe that smirk off your face right now,” Kat snapped in a very un-Kat like display of temper.

  “Sorry.” Liv ushered her into the food prep area and sat the steaming metal cylinder of klava on the counter. “Didn’t mean to make you angry.”

  “No, I’m the one who’s sorry.” Kat made a face and rubbed her forehead. “It’s just this damn headache I have—it won’t go away. And those two feel so loudly I can hardly hear myself think.”

  “They what? Kat, what are you talking about?” Liv was beginning to be really worried about her. “Come on, hon, I think you’d better sit down.”

  “No,” Kat gripped her hand, a troubled look on her face. “You’re the one who should sit down, Liv. I’m so sorry. I keep babbling on because I don’t know how to say what I need to say.”

  A cold finger of fear traced its way down Liv’s spine. “What do you need to say?”

  “Okay, now first let me tell you that they’re all right—at least they were the last time I saw them,” Kat said rapidly. “But Sophie and Sylvan’s shuttle crashed and they’re lost somewhere in the Blue Ridge Mountains.”

  “What?” It felt like a shriek leaving her throat but what came out was more like a strangled whisper.

  “You heard me,” Kat said grimly. “They’re lost. But they’re not hurt and they have each other. And the last I saw, Sylvan was doing his damndest to protect Sophie.”

  “The last you saw? How did you see them? Did you contact Sophie by Think-me?”

  Kat frowned. “You know I’m not allowed to use one of those. My mind isn’t linked to a Kindred’s.” She made a face. “Well, not in the traditional way, anyway. I mean, not…look, never mind how I did it. The point is I was able to see them even though we couldn’t communicate.”

  “You…you said he was trying to protect her. Protect her from what?” Liv whispered through numb lips.

  Kat looked unhappy. “I don’t know exactly. But whatever it was, Lock and Deep seemed to think that Sylvan could handle it. And the way he looked…” She shivered. “Believe me, anything with half a brain would have left him the hell alone. His eyes were red and his fangs were out—”

  “The rage was on him, then.”

  They both turned to see Baird standing in the doorway with a frown on his face. He was wea
ring the smiley face boxers Liv had bought him as a joke, but somehow even the sight of her gigantic husband in bright yellow silk smilies didn’t lighten her mood.

  “Baird,” she said. “Sophie and Sylvan are—”

  “I know. I heard.” Baird looked at Kat. “Did Deep or Lock try to bespeak Sylvan?”

  Kat nodded. “Of course. That was the first thing they tried. But the Scourge—”

  “Have put up some kind of a mental block around Earth.”

  This voice came from a different doorway—the one leading to the back entrance. Liv turned her head to see two large males crowded together, one with black hair and black eyes and the other with dark blond hair and brown eyes.

  “Forgive the intrusion,” Lock said courteously, making an abbreviated bow. “The door was open and we heard voices so we assumed it was safe to come in.”

  “Is that right?” Kat’s grip suddenly tightened on Liv’s hand until she yelped in pain.

  “Ow, Kat! What the—?”

  “You shouldn’t be here.” Kat was glaring at Baird’s second brothers like she wanted to burn a hole right through them with her eyes.

  “We have as much right to be here as you.” Deep growled, his black eyes flashing as he glared back at Kat.

  Liv looked between them uncertainly. Boy, if looks could kill… What in the world had happened between the three of them to cause this level of hostility? The entire food prep area was suddenly charged with tension, as though someone had set a bomb that was timed to blow at any minute.

  “Sylvan is our second brother,” Deep continued. “We have as much interest in his safety as you do in Sophia’s.”

  “Not enough to let me talk to Liv last night instead of waiting all this time,” Kat shot back. She looked at Liv. “I wanted to tell you earlier but Lock and Deep said I shouldn’t interrupt you.”