Sought...Book 3 in the Brides of the Kindred series (19 page)

“Okay.” Kat nodded. The strange sounding
flower must be the only way to break the soul bond between herself
and Lock and Deep. “Uh, where can I find it?” she asked, as they
left the cave and walked back to the meadow with the golden
brook.

“Find what?” Deep and Lock came forward.
Clearly they had been waiting for Kat to come back.

“Some kind of rare flower.” Kat found she
could barely look at Deep. Why had he taken her pain? Was it out of
pride? A sense of responsibility? She knew that a Kindred warrior
took his oath to protect any female in his care very seriously.
Could that be why Deep had submitted to the vicious beating for
her? She wanted to ask him about it—to thank him for what he’d
done. But one glance at the scowl on his dark face told her now
wasn’t the time.

“The
fifilalachuchu
blossom,” Mother
L’rin said firmly, pulling her thoughts back to the present.

“You mean the Moons blossom? But those are
just a legend,” Lock protested.

The old woman shook her head. “In some
legends, truth lies. Find it on the continent you will.”

“The continent?” Deep raised one eyebrow at
her. “You want us to cross the golden strait in search of a
mythical flower that only blooms when both full moons are in the
sky?”

Mother L’rin marched up to him and poked him
in the chest with one knarled finger. “At once you
must.”

Though she was so tiny she barely reached
his waist, Deep took a step back and nodded respectfully. “All
right, all right. As you say, Mother.”

“Very good. Enough time have I wasted with
you.” She nodded at her giant, silent assistant. “Doby, come.”

“Yes, Mother.” He shambled after her. Before
long, both the tiny figure and the huge one had disappeared into
the long pink and green grasses that lined the far side of the
stream.

“Well.” Lock looked somewhat nonplussed. “It
seems we have a quest to fulfill.”

Deep snorted. “It seems so. Though what she
expects us to find on the continent besides filth and ignorance, I
have no idea.”

“You heard her—she said to find the Moons
blossom.” Lock straightened his shoulders. “We’d best get going if
we want to make arrangements to leave immediately.”

“Immediately?” Kat asked, startled. “As in
tonight
?”

“If we can,” Lock said grimly. “You heard
Mother L’rin—she said we had to go at once. It may be a matter of
life and death.” He looked at Kat. “What did she tell you?”

“A lot of things.” Kat studied the ground,
afraid that if she looked up she would catch Deep’s eyes and see
the silver whip reflected in their midnight depths.

“What did she say about
you?”
Deep’s
voice was harsh. “Are you completely well? All healed?”

Kat thought of what the wise woman had told
her. That if she didn’t touch at least one of the brothers—or
preferably both—her pain and weakness would come back. She opened
her mouth to tell them…but somehow she just couldn’t. Not after the
fight they’d had. How could she ask them to touch her when she
refused to bond with them? It seemed rude and wrong—like she was
using them. Besides, she had her pride. She didn’t want to sound
like she was begging.

“Are you well, my lady?” Lock said and she
realized she’d been silent too long.

“I’m fine.” She shrugged, trying to sound
unconcerned. “What you two did for me cured me. So…thank you.”

Deep raised one black eyebrow. “So you
admit
the soul bond was necessary. You’re not so quick to
call us liars now, hmm?”

A sharp retort rose to Kat’s lips but she
bit it back when she remembered what he’d done for her. Mother
L’rin’s voice echoed in her head.
“Himself he hates.”
Lifting her chin, she looked at Deep. “I’m sorry if what I said
hurt you,” she said, staring unflinchingly into his angry eyes.
“But it looks like we’re stuck together a little while longer. So
I’d like to offer a truce—no more fighting. No more backbiting. No
more hurting each other. Deal?”

He raised an eyebrow. “For the duration of
our little ‘quest’ as Lock puts it?”

Kat nodded. “Yes. Will you agree?”

Deep shrugged, a look of apparent unconcern
on his face. “If you like. Though fighting with you is much more
amusing than fighting with Lock.”

“None of us ought to be fighting,” Lock said
in a low voice. “We’re going to need to stick together when we get
to the continent—if we ever want to get off of it again, that
is.”

That sounded ominous to Kat.
Like we’re
going to the dark side of the moon or something. It’s all on the
same planet—how bad can the ‘continent’ be?

She was afraid she was going to find
out.

“Kat! You look wonderful!” Liv was so glad
to see her friend’s face on the viewscreen she nearly
squeed
with joy. Beside her, Sophie was practically hopping up and down
with excitement.

“Kat-woman! We miss you so much!”

“I miss you guys too. You have no
idea
how much.”

“I’m so sorry we let you go alone,” Sophie
said breathlessly. “We didn’t want to but pregnant women can’t go
through folded space.”

Kat looked startled. “So
you’re
pregnant too?”

“No, no.” Sophie shook her head rapidly.
“But at the time I thought I might be. Because Sylvan and I had
been…you know, practically every spare minute and my period was
late.”

“Well don’t worry about it, I forgive you.”
Kat smiled at both of them.

“But you’re okay?” Liv asked her. “You’re
managing, right?”

Kat made a shooing gesture. “Don’t worry
about me, girls. There’s nothing on Earth I can’t handle if I put
my mind to it. Or on Twin Moons, either.”

“You look good,” Liv said, not quite
truthfully. Honestly she thought Kat looked tired and not quite
herself. But at least she was up and about instead of passed out on
the floor—which was the state she’d been in the last time they’d
seen her.

“How do you feel?” Sophie wanted to
know.

“Better than I did,” Kat said. “But still
not a hundred percent. The headache is gone at least.”

“That’s a start,” Liv said firmly. “So when
are you coming home? Just say the word and Baird will get them to
fold space.”

Kat grimaced. “If it was up to me I’d be
there
yesterday
but…unfortunately, I can’t come back for a
little while yet. There’s something I have to do—have to get—before
I can leave Twin Moons.”

“What?” Liv and Sophie chorused
together.

Kat laughed. “It always cracks me up when
you guys do that—say the same thing at the same time. Well, it’s
kind of a long story…”

“And we’ve got nothing but time,” Liv said.
“C’mon, Kat—spill.”

Kat sighed and raked a hand through her long
auburn hair. “God, how do I put this without sounding crazy…?”

“Don’t worry about the crazy part—that’s a
given when it comes to the Kindred,” Sophie ordered. “Just
talk.”

“Fine.” Kat took a deep breath. “Apparently
joining with Lock and Deep the way I did, to act as their focus,
‘fractured my spirit.’ And the only cure for a fractured spirit is
to form a soul bond with a willing Kindred…or two. So…”

“Oh my God!” Sophie clapped a hand over her
mouth.

“You mean you’re
bonded
to Lock and
Deep?” Liv demanded.

“Not entirely,” Kat said quickly. “Only
about halfway, if that makes any sense.”

“Not a bit,” Liv said. “But go on.”

“Well, with Twin Kindred the bond comes in
two halves—the soul bond which is kind of a spiritual
connection—and the physical bond. Which is what you get when you
have bonding sex.” Kat made a face. “And girls, you would not
believe
how the Twin Kindred do it.”

“One at a time?” Sophie guessed.

“One in the front and one in the back,” Liv
said.

Kat shook her head. “Nope. I met a new
friend here by the name of Piper who comes from Houston. And as
Piper so charmingly put it, they put ‘two poles in the same
hole.’”

“No!” Both Liv and Sophie were aghast.
“Jillian never told me that,” Liv protested.

Kat shrugged. “Well, it’s true.”

“But that’s barbaric,” Sophie protested.
“Unless they have…do they have really tiny equipment?”

“From what I’ve seen and felt, they’re every
bit as
endowed
as all the other Kindred warriors,” Kat said
dryly. “Remember how we used to joke that all Kindred were hung
like Clydesdales?”

“Oh
no
.” Sophie looked horrified.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” Kat said,
apparently worried by the way they were looking at her. “They have
this stuff called bonding fruit that, uh, makes you more
flexible
in certain areas. If you know what I mean.”

“And that’s supposed to make it okay?” Liv
demanded.

“I don’t know about ‘okay,’ but supposedly
it keeps the whole
process
from hurting.” Kat’s cheeks were
pink. “Not that I want to find out first hand.”

“Kat, that’s awful! You can’t let them do
that to you. You have to get away from them!” Liv leaned forward,
wishing she could reach through the viewscreen and drag her friend
to safety.

“That’s what I’m trying to do,” Kat
protested. “But first we have to find this rare flower—it only
grows in a certain part of Twin Moons.”

“Seriously?” Liv raised an eyebrow at her.
“You can’t come home because you and Lock and Deep are going to go
flower picking
together?”

“We
have
to. It’s the only way to
dissolve the bond.” Kat sighed. “We’re going to bring it back to
Mother L’rin and she’s going to make some kind of special bond
breaking medicine or something.”

“Well,” Sophie said doubtfully. “I guess if
that’s the only way you can get free of them…”

“It
is.”
Kat ran a hand through her
hair. “Look, I told you it sounded crazy, didn’t I? But I have no
choice. And I swear as soon as I get the stupid bond dissolved I’ll
be on my way back.”

“Well, if you have to, you have to.” Sophie
sighed philosophically. “Just try not to take too long. You
do
realize I can’t plan my wedding without you.”

“Or my baby shower,” Liv put in.

Kat shook a finger at them. “You’d better
not!”

“Of course not.” Liv smiled. “So how are
things otherwise? Are Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee behaving
themselves?”

Kat shook her head. “I just don’t know. Lock
is a sweetheart, as always. But Deep…well, Deep is Deep. And I mean
that both literally and figuratively.”

Sophie frowned. “Meaning what—that you two
are still fighting?”

“We have what you could call an uneasy truce
right now,” Kat said. She looked behind her and then leaned closer
to the viewscreen and lowered her voice. “But I found something out
about him. Something he did—”

“Kat,” a deep male voice said from somewhere
off screen. “The ship leaves very soon. You need to hurry.”

“Just a minute!” Kat looked harassed. “We
have to leave on the flower hunt tonight and the guys are waiting
outside the shuttle so I can talk to you two privately. But I guess
they’re getting impatient.”

“Forget about them,” Liv said. “Tell us what
you found out. Is he an axe murderer? A gigolo?”

“No,” Sophie cut in. “She said it was
something he
did.
What did he do, Kat? Was it awful?”

“Kat!” said the deep male voice again. “We
have to go
now.”

Kat sighed. “Sorry, I guess I’ll have to
tell you later. But believe me, you will
never
guess in a
million years. Love you both.” She blew kisses at the viewscreen
and Liv and Sophie did the same.

“Kat, just tell us—” Liv started to say but
then the viewscreen went blank as their friend’s picture flickered
out.

“Crap!” Sophie sounded disappointed. “What
do you suppose she was about to say? What did Deep do?”

“I have no idea.” Liv frowned. “But knowing
him, I’m guessing it wasn’t random acts of kindness. I just hope
Kat will be okay.”

Sophie looked troubled. “I hope so too.”

Liv gave her twin a comforting hug. “I’m
sure she’ll be home soon and then we can get the scoop directly
from the source.”

“I guess.” Sophie didn’t sound convinced.
“But I think I’ll ask Sylvan what he knows about Deep…just in
case.”

Liv nodded thoughtfully. “I’m going to grill
Baird too. And we can compare notes later.”

She just hoped she didn’t find out anything
too awful about the dark twin’s past. If Kat was already halfway
bonded to him, there was no telling what might happen to their
friend.

“So we’re actually going to sail to this
continent place on a
boat?”
Kat eyed the green wooden boat
with the pale pink sail doubtfully. It looked very picturesque
rocking on the golden water—but not very safe. And despite living
in Florida all her life, Kat had never learned to like sailing—she
was always afraid she’d fall off whatever boat she was on, into
shark-infested waters. “Why can’t we take the shuttle?” she asked
Lock. “We could just fly there, find the
fi-fi
flower, and
be back in a couple of hours.”

“It isn’t permitted to take advanced
technology to the continent, my lady,” he said, shaking his head.
“The natives who live there are very superstitious. They might take
it for black magic and want to kill us for offending their
gods.”

“Wait a minute—there are
natives?”
Kat’s heart skipped a beat.

“Angry,
hostile
natives.” Deep, who
had been loading their gear spoke up.

“Not if you don’t antagonize them,” Lock
said quickly. “And honestly, there aren’t that many of them.
Hopefully we’ll be able to avoid them all together.”

Kat shook her head. “I don’t understand.
Twin Moons seems like such a civilized place. How can you have a
whole continent of superstitious savages?”