Healing the Broken: A Kindred Christmas Tale

  “She is merciful to her children,” Sazar said gravely. “She made me see that I was pushing you away because I was afraid to lose you…the way I lost my wife, Malinda.”

  “What…what happened to her?” Sarah asked softly. “I’m sorry to ask but—”

  “A blood vessel burst in her brain.” Sazar said the words quickly, wanting to get them out. “I believe you humans call it an aneurism. She was young and apparently healthy but such things can be invisible—hidden for years—until they finally…” He shook his head, unable for a moment to go on.

  “Oh, Sazar…I’m sorry.” The look on her lovely face eloquently expressed the sorrow he’d kept locked inside for so long. “So sorry…”

  “When you lose someone like that…so suddenly and for no apparent reason…” He looked up at her, his throat tight. “It makes you aware that we’re all living on borrowed time. That anyone you love can be taken at any moment. And that…is a difficult realization to live with.”

  “It's a really scary thought,” Sarah agreed softly. “But Sazar, you can’t live in fear.”

  “I know that now.” He nodded. “I know I pushed you away because I love you. The same reason I’ve been pushing Tsandor away.” He bowed his head. “You were right, Sarah—I have been a bad and neglectful father since Malinda died.”

  “You were grieving,” Sarah murmured and he felt her soft, small fingers carding through his hair soothingly. “At least you made certain he was in a safe environment with people who cared for him. And Sazar, it’s not too late. Tsandor still loves you—he still wants to be with you.”

  “I’m grateful it’s not too late to be part of my son’s life.” He looked up at her. “Please tell me it’s not too late to be part of yours too. Please forgive me for the wrong I did you, Sarah.”

  She nibbled her lip, uncertainly.

  “Are you asking me to come back to the Mother Ship and be your assistant again?”

  “No.” Sazar shook his head firmly and her face fell.

  “Oh, I just thought—”

  “Sarah, I’m asking you to come back to the Mother Ship and be my wife—my mate,” he said earnestly. “I know we haven’t known each other long but so much has happened between us. And the Goddess…”

  “The Goddess put us together,” Sarah murmured. “You know, Tsandor told me he had dreamed of me before he ever met me?”

  “Did he? It was his dream of you that let me know you were in trouble.” Sazar smiled. “I think the two of you already share a special bond. Will you come back with me and be a mother to Tsandor and a wife to me? Please, Ladara, say you will.”

  “Yes…” Sarah whispered the word but it had the intensity of a shout. Her eyes were shining and her lovely mouth was curved in a trembling smile. “Oh Sazar, yes!”

  “Ladara!” He rose from the ground and took her in his arms but to his surprise, Sarah pushed away from him. “What is it?” he asked anxiously. “You haven’t changed your mind?”

  “No, of course not!” She tried to laugh but it turned into a wince. “It’s just these…these damn Alquon nipple bands I’m still wearing. I’ve had them on for over twenty-four hours now and they’re killing me!”

  “Ah…” Sazar shook his head. “I have to confess, I didn’t even think of those. What a bastard I am, letting you leave the Mother Ship without helping you get them off.”

  “You can help me now,” Sarah murmured, looking up at him.

  Sazar felt his shaft harden in his flight leathers.

  “I’d be more than pleased to do that, sweetheart. But can you wait until we get up to the Mother Ship? I’d like to take you to my suite and take my time about it.”

  Sarah’s eyes went wide and her breathing quickened.

  “Yes,” she murmured. “Yes, I can wait. As long as we go right up.”

  “Immediately,” Sazar promised and opened the door of his small shuttle to help her inside.

  He was going to take his sweet little human back to the Mother Ship and claim her completely.

  And he intended to take his time.

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Sarah couldn’t believe it was possible to be so happy. She felt incredibly light and free and indescribably relieved that Sazar had saved her before Father Caleb had carried out his evil plan.

  He loves me—Sazar loves me! she thought and a deep joy welled up inside her—a fountain that would never run dry. Sazar loved her and she loved him. The misunderstandings were all cleared up and they would be a family, just as little Tsandor had hoped.

  She hummed contentedly in the shower as the warm water sluiced down her back. Yes, she’d just had a shower back at the Compound but Sarah had felt she needed another one. She wanted to wash the stink of The Brotherhood off her skin completely.

  The Alquon nipples jewelry was still painful but she knew soon Sazar would help her remove it and heal her of any harm it might have done.

  Just the thought of having him touch her and taste her again made her quiver inside. She’d been missing his touch in the time they’d been apart. And now that he had asked her to marry him—to become his mate as the Kindred said—she felt free to give in to temptation and do anything she wanted with him.

  And I want a lot, she thought to herself, humming as she scrubbed gently around her tender breasts and then down between her legs. Suddenly she felt extra wetness between her thighs and gasped.

  What the…?

  Looking down she saw that the clear Alquon stay-tight plug had finally dissolved.

  Well, I guess that’s a good thing, Sarah thought. She’d been wondering if it would ever melt away as the breeding attendant had promised. It seemed that twenty-four hours on Alquon was a longer time span than twenty-four hours on Earth.

  She was washing herself thoroughly when she heard a knock on the bathroom door.

  “Sarah? Are you all right?” Sazar’s deep voice asked. “I thought I heard you gasp.”

  Sarah finished rinsing and turned off the water. Wrapping herself in a towel, she went to open the door.

  “You heard that? Even over the sound of the shower?” she asked.

  He shrugged. “Sorry. I’m just…very attuned to you right now.”

  “It’s all right. I did gasp. Because, well…” Sarah bit her lip and decided to tell him. “Because the, uh, stay-tight thing the breeding attendant put in me just now dissolved in the shower.”

  “The what?” He frowned, then his gaze cleared. “Oh yes—the little clear plug that was supposed…” He cleared his throat. “Supposed to keep my seed inside you.”

  “It did, you know,” Sarah confessed in a small voice. “Until just now. I, uh, thought that was one reason you wanted to send me back to Earth. I thought you assumed I’d get pregnant and you didn’t want a baby. That happened with Sister Hope, Father Caleb’s secretary. He got her pregnant and then got…got rid of her.”

  “Sweetheart, no!” Sazar took her in his arms and hugged her hard. “No, I would never send you away to deal with a pregnancy on your own! In fact, it never even crossed my mind that you could be pregnant.”

  “It didn’t?” Sarah pushed back from the hug, frowning a little. “How could it not? I mean after the way we, you know, had sex and the fact that the stay-tight was keeping everything up, uh, inside me?”

  “I knew you couldn’t be pregnant because we hadn’t had bonding sex,” Sazar explained patiently.

  “What do you mean? Of course we had sex,” Sarah protested.

  “Yes and with some of the Kindred races making love and allowing the male to come inside you is enough for bonding sex. But not for Blood Kindred or for Pitch-Blood Kindred,” Sazar explained. “With our kind the male must bite the female at the moment of ejaculation and inject her with his essence—the same liquid, secreted from my fangs, that I used to heal you.”

  “Oh.” Sarah was surprised. “So I was worried for nothing.”

  “You didn’t know.” Sazar shook his head. “And I should have realized you
would be worried about such an eventuality. It was damn inconsiderate of me to let you go when you were thinking you might be carrying my child.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I was just so angry and upset I didn’t consider it—just as I didn’t remember the nipple jewelry.”

  “Well…you can make it up to me about the jewelry.” Sarah shifted uncomfortably. Though she had wrapped the large blue towel very loosely around her chest, the nipple bands were really beginning to ache.

  “It would be my pleasure, sweetheart.” Putting an arm around her, Sazar led her out into the living area and sat her on a long, overstuffed brown sofa opposite the crackling fire in the fireplace.

  Sarah felt her heart drumming in the cage of her ribs and her skin felt flushed all over. All this and he hadn’t even touched her yet! God, she had really missed him! Missed his big hands and warm mouth on her.

  And his fangs, she thought and shivered. Should she offer to let him drink from her again? It hadn’t been that long so he might not need the blood but somehow she wanted him to bite her.

  Maybe in a minute, she told herself. After he gets off the nipple bands.

  “Drop the towel, sweetheart,” Sazar commanded in a low growl. “Let me see what I can do.”

  Taking a deep breath, Sarah opened the dark blue towel, revealing her full breasts. The float dots were still working, making her breasts stand out as though they were being supported by a bustier and the gold and diamond nipple jewelry was still firmly in place.

  “Gods, your poor nipples,” Sazar murmured, cupping her breasts. “They’re very red.” He looked up at her. “I think I’m going to have to spend some time healing you, Sarah.”

  “That…that’s all right,” she whispered, almost tripping over the words in her eagerness. “I don’t mind. Just please…get the bands off me.”

  “Of course.” He ducked his head and took her right nipple into his mouth, sucking and laving the tight little bud, setting all of Sarah’s nerve endings on fire.

  “Oh…oh!” she gasped as the gold and diamond band wrapped around her tender peak finally came free. It hurt but felt good at the same time and her nipple was incredibly tender.

  Sazar pulled back and examined her bare breast.

  “Hmm…let me get some essence…” He opened his mouth and Sarah saw him run the tip of his tongue over the sharp edges of his fangs for a moment before leaning down to spread the healing essence they produced over her red and swollen peak.

  “Mmm,” she moaned softly. Feeling his essence heal her was hot but the sight of his fangs made her even hotter. She couldn’t help remembering how it had been to have him drink from her breast…how good it had felt when those sharp points slid into her tender flesh…Her pussy got wet just thinking about it and she had to squeeze her thighs together tightly.

  “Feels better now?” Sazar raised an eyebrow at her questioningly as he pulled back from her breast.

  “Yes,” Sarah whispered. “Much better. Thank you.”

  “Then I’ll do the other one.” He sucked the left nipple into his mouth and repeated the process, ending by healing her again. Then he sat back. “There, Ladara—all healed.”

  “Thank you. They…they don’t hurt at all, anymore.” Sarah smiled at him shyly. “But…what does ‘Ladara’ mean? I’ve been wanting to ask you ever since you started calling me that.”

  “Oh, well…” He cleared his throat and looked uncomfortable. “It’s a…nickname of sorts. A tern of endearment among my own kind.”

  “But what does it mean?” Sarah persisted. “Is it like sweetheart or baby or honey or what?”

  “Well actually it means sweet-blood,” Sazar explained a bit stiffly. “I’m sorry if that offends you and please know that while I love the flavor of your blood, that’s not all I love about you. I—”

  “I like it,” Sarah interrupted him. Reaching up, she carded her fingers through his thick black hair. “Sweet-blood. It’s…sweet.” She laughed.

  Sazar looked relieved. “I’m glad you don’t mind. I have heard of other Pitch-Bloods who mated with human women who were not so pleased to be nicknamed for the flavor of their blood.”

  “It doesn’t bother me,” Sarah assured him.

  She was still feeling hot and wet between her thighs from the way he’d healed her nipples and she wished she could think of a way to get him to do more…to bite her again…to make love to her.

  “Speaking of sweet blood,” she said, trying to sound casual. “You look kind of pale to me, Sazar. Do, uh, do you need a drink?”

  His eyebrows raised in surprise. “Are you offering? It hasn’t been that long since I took blood from you, you know.”

  “I know, but…you look like you could use some. And I don’t mind.”

  “I love the flavor of your blood,” he admitted. “And if I bit you more often I wouldn’t need to take as much at once time.”

  He could bite her every day as far as Sarah was concerned. But it was where he bit her that she was preoccupied with right now.

  “That would be fine with me,” she told Sazar. But when the big Kindred started to nuzzle her neck, sending a shiver down her spine, she knew he wasn’t aiming for where she wanted him.

  “Hey,” she said, still trying to sound casual. “Remember on Alquon Ultrea when you, uh, took blood from me here?”

  She traced her right nipple with one finger, shivering a little at the erotic feeling of touching herself in front of her lover. It was certainly something she wouldn’t have done before but now she felt free…and extremely hot and needy.

  Sazar’s pale eyes went half-lidded and flashed red for a moment.

  “Yes, of course I remember. Drinking from your breast was one of the most sensual experiences of my life.”

  “I…I liked it too,” Sarah admitted breathlessly. “Did…did you mean it when you told me you could call a vein anywhere on my body?”

  “It is one of my abilities as a Pitch-Blood,” he rumbled. “Do you want me to drink from your breast again?”

  “Not exactly. I mean, I love it but…” Sarah bit her lip, trying to think how to put her request. She wondered if it was kinky and wrong to want what she wanted. But kinky and wrong as defined by who? By The Brotherhood? The Prophet? They were out of her life forever—she was making her own rules now, she decided defiantly. She would do what she wanted.

  “What is it, Ladara?” Sazar murmured, sensing her hesitation. “What do you want to ask me?”

  “I just wondered…remember when you healed me between my, uh, my thighs?” She stumbled over the words but was determined to get them out. “When the, uh, pearl panties had been rubbing me too long?”

  “Of course I remember.” His voice was a soft, low growl. “Healing and tasting your sweet little pussy was one of the greatest pleasures of my life.”

  “Well could you…can you…” Sarah took a deep breath. “Can you call a vein and drink from me there?”

  Sazar’s dark eyebrows shot up again.

  “Are you certain you want that? It can be very uncomfortable for a female unless she is a Fated Mate to the Pitch-Blood who is drinking from her there.”

  “Fated mate?” Sarah frowned. “What’s that?”

  “Any Kindred can mate with any female when the Goddess brings them together,” Sazar explained. “But with the Pitch-Blood, there is a certain, special female with whom a perfect bond can be formed—complete unity.”

  “But how is that different from the bond a Kindred usually forms with his mate?” Sarah asked. Kat had told her a little about how it worked with Kindred and their mates, how they were able to pick up on each other’s feelings and send each other thoughts. It sounded amazing. But how much better could it be with a Fated Mate?

  Sazar took a deep breath and looked troubled.

  “A perfect bond means that death cannot part them. Basically, it ensures a long, healthy life for both and it ties them together in such a way that they will die at the same time when their end comes.”

&n
bsp; “So if you find your Fated Mate you don’t have to worry about losing her?” The way you lost Malinda? Sarah didn’t say it aloud but she knew both of them were thinking it.

  Sazar nodded. “But it’s extremely rare. Not one Pitch-Blood in a thousand finds his Fated Mate.”

  “And how can you tell if the girl you’re with is supposed to be your, uh Fated Mate?” Sarah asked.

  “By the way she reacts to your fangs piercing her in…sensitive areas,” Sazar said in a low voice. “A regular female will feel intense discomfort unless she is being stimulated during the feeding. The pleasure acts to drown out the pain of the bite. But a Fated Mate will feel the Blood Pleasure—the intense fulfillment of allowing her mate to bite her in such an intimate area—whether she is being stimulated or not.”

  Sarah thought of the intense sensations that had rolled through her when his fangs had pierced her breast before. But he’d been touching her at the time, stroking her pussy so she wouldn’t feel any pain. What would it feel like if she let him bite her there between her legs without touching or stroking her at the same time?

  “I want to try it,” she said abruptly. “But what happens if I’m not your Fated Mate?”

  “Then I will love you and cherish you forever,” he said softly. “And only drink from you in more conventional spots. Malinda was not my Fated Mate yet I loved her to distraction.” He closed his eyes for a moment. “Losing her almost killed me.”

  And wouldn’t it be wonderful if he could never have to worry about losing me? Sarah thought to herself. If I was his Fated Mate we would live a long life and die at the same time—guaranteed. That fear that he must have that I’ll go suddenly, the same way his first wife did, would be completely dispelled.

  Of course, she probably wasn’t his Fated Mate if the phenomenon was as rare as he said. But still, the idea of letting him bite her there continued to make her feel hot and shaky all over.

  “I want to try it,” she repeated. “Can we, Sazar?”

  His eyes were half-lidded again.

  “You have to ask me if I want to bite you? If I want to taste your sweet pussy again?”