Sought...Book 3 in the Brides of the Kindred series (27 page)

“The Moons blossom,” Lock breathed
reverently. “So it
does
exist.”

“Not only does it exist, it’s our ticket out
of here.” Kat leaned down to sniff one pure white flower. “Mmm,
they smell good too.”

Deep started to respond and then he felt
Kat’s rush of relief. His fragile hope that she had learned to love
him as well as Lock crumbled in that instant.

She’s glad,
he thought, his mouth
twisting.
So glad we’ve found the blossoms. Because now we can
take them back to Mother L’rin and Kat can be rid of us forever.
Rid of
me.
He had no doubt that Kat would
have happily joined with Lock if he himself hadn’t been in the
picture. He’d lingered outside the bedroom door after seeing their
kiss for a moment, intending to go back in. And he knew what Kat
meant when she told Lock that he “came with a lot of baggage.”

More Earth vernacular,
he thought
bitterly.
Just another way of saying I’m not the one she
wants.

He’d fooled himself into thinking that she
cared for him—that she loved him as he had so stupidly allowed
himself to start loving her. But it wasn’t true—she couldn’t wait
to get the Moons blossom and leave—he could feel the impatience to
be away coming from her already.

It doesn’t matter anyway,
Deep told
himself grimly.
I’m no good for her—just look at my past. At
what happened to Miranda. I don’t want that to happen to Kat, even
if she doesn’t care for me. I couldn’t bear it if…
But he
couldn’t make himself finish the grim thought. Instead he watched
as his brother helped the woman they both loved gather the rare,
mystical blossoms. They were laughing as they did and Kat was
tickling Lock under the chin with one of the two-headed
flowers.

Lock is good for her,
Deep realized.
He’s
the one she ought to be with. Not me and
not both of us. Just
him
.
The concept
of one of them having a female without the other was so foreign to
him it was hard to contemplate, but he knew it was true.

It didn’t matter who he thought Kat belonged
with, though. They had the Moons blossoms—or
fifi
flowers,
as she called them. Mother L’rin would be able to brew a potion to
separate Kat from both of them.

By this time tomorrow we will be two and
one again instead of three,
Deep thought.
That’s a good
thing—good for all of us.
But though he tried, he could feel no
joy at the idea. All he felt was achingly empty.

Sophie turned on her side again and flipped
her pillow, hoping the new position would help her fall asleep. It
didn’t, though she was tired enough. She’d started her new part
time job at the elementary school aboard the Mother ship and the
little ones had just about worn her out.

Sylvan had told her she could just stay home
and concentrate on her art but Sophie had decided she needed an
occupation outside the home to keep from going crazy. Besides, she
adored kids and teaching them to paint and draw and use modeling
clay was great.

But it wasn’t her new job that was on her
mind now. Something else was keeping her restless and wakeful.

With a sigh, Sophie turned over again,
facing Sylvan’s broad, bare back. He was breathing deeply and she
knew he must have had a hard day at the med station. There had been
a big influx of wounded that day from a scrimmage with the Scourge
and he’d been going from morning until night with barely a
pause.

Sophie sighed softly. If only the thoughts
and images would leave her alone. If only—

“Sophia?” Sylvan turned over to face her,
his eyes glowing a faint blue in the dark. “Are you all right?”

“I’m sorry,” Sophie said contritely. “I
didn’t mean to wake you up. I know how tired you are.”

“It’s all right.” Reaching out, he cupped
her cheek gently. “I can tell you have something on your mind.”

“It’s nothing,” Sophie protested. “Go back
to sleep.”

“I’m awake now so you might as well talk.
Come on,
Talana.
Tell me what’s troubling you.”

Sophie sat up and ran a hand through her
hair. “It’s Lauren—I can’t get her out of my head. I keep imagining
what that horrible AllFather must be doing to her and I feel so
bad. I mean, that could have been
me.
It
would
have
been if you hadn’t found me in time.”

“Sophia…” Sylvan sat up beside her and drew
her close to his side. In the darkness he felt warm and solid and
his muscular arm around her shoulder was very comforting. “I know
you feel bad for your kin but you can’t dwell on it,” he said
softly, his deep voice rumbling through her. “There’s nothing we
can do at the moment—no way to trace her.”

“I wish Deep and Lock were here,” Sophie
said mournfully. “Maybe they could locate her doing their
seeker/finder thing.”

“That’s very doubtful if not completely
impossible,” Sylvan said. “They don’t have a properly trained focus
and without one, their only hope to find Lauren would be to join
with someone who knew her intimately. And you saw how that ended
for Kat.”

“That’s true.” Sophie nodded. “But it just
seems like there should be
something
else we can do.”

“You’re not the only one who thinks so,”
Sylvan said dryly. “Baird told me he got another call from the
detective the sister of your mother hired to find Lauren today. He
was angry when Baird put him off.”

“He was?” Sophie frowned and sat up. “But
why? What does he know?”

“I’m not sure.” Sylvan shook his head. “But
I don’t think we can keep evading his questions forever. The male
has good instincts—he seems certain that we know more than we’re
telling him.”

That reminded Sophie of something. “Sylvan,”
she said, looking up at him. “Speaking of keeping secrets, can I
ask you something?”

“Of course, anything.” He looked at her.
“But I hope you don’t think I’m keeping secrets from you.”

“No, I know you’re not—this isn’t about you.
It’s about Deep.”

“What about him?”

“Well, Kat seemed to think that there was
something he’d done in the past. Something…troubling. She didn’t
get a chance to give us any details but Liv and I were worried
about it.”

Sylvan sighed and raked a hand through his
spiky blond hair distractedly. “What you’re asking me,
Talana…
it’s a secret that really isn’t mine to tell.”

His actions put Sophie on high alert—she
almost never saw her cool, collected male so obviously agitated.
Whatever it was, it must have been bad!

“Please,” she pleaded. “This is Kat we’re
talking about—she’s my best friend in the world besides Liv. If
she’s in any kind of danger when she’s with Deep I need to
know.”

Sylvan was silent for a long moment,
apparently debating with himself. Then he shook his head. “I’m
sorry but I can’t reveal another warrior’s past—not even to you,
Talana.
Not when it concerns something this delicate.”

“Sylvan—”

“I
will
tell you that Kat is not in
any danger,” he said, interrupting her protest. “And that Deep
didn’t do anything wrong…though that’s not how he sees it.”

“Do you have any idea how frustrating this
is?” Sophie demanded. “You keep throwing out these little half
hints and then refusing to tell me the whole story.”

Sylvan looked serious. “The whole story, as
you put it, is a grim tale—not something I want to talk about in
the dead of night.”

“Not even with me here to keep you safe?”
Deciding to let the matter drop for now, Sophie snuggled against
him.

“There are other things I’d rather do with
you at night than talk.” He kissed her, taking her mouth in a way
that made her moan softly.

“Sylvan…” she protested. “About Deep—”

“I don’t want to talk about that. About
grief and sorrow and loss.” His deep voice was unexpectedly rough.
“Don’t you know I have dreams—nightmares—where I don’t reach you in
time? Where I break into the Scourge ship to find you
already…already gone?”

“Well, I’m not gone—I’m here with you.”
Sophie pressed closer to him. “You got to me in time—you saved me,
Sylvan.”

“No,
Talana,”
he rumbled, kissing her
again. “It was
you
who saved
me
. Without you I’d be
dead inside.”

“Hmmm,” she whispered, stroking his thigh.
“You feel pretty alive to me.”

“I’m going to get a whole lot livelier if
you keep that up,” he warned.

“That’s okay,” she murmured. “I don’t mind.
I…” But she couldn’t finish—Sylvan was licking a long, slow trail
down her neck.

Sophie’s heart began to race as his warm,
wet tongue caressed her sensitive skin. His big, hard body felt so
good against hers and his mating scent was rising, enveloping her
in pure lust. She tilted her head to one side, baring her throat.
“Do it, Sylvan—I want to feel you in me.”

“I never get tired of biting you,” Sylvan
growled softly, lifting her so that she was straddling his hips.
“Or kissing you…or tasting you…or
fucking
you.”

“Sylvan…” she whispered breathlessly as he
lifted the lacy hem of her nightie and parted her thighs. Hearing
dirty talk from him when he was usually so cool and logical never
failed to turn her on.

“Yes,
Talana?”
he murmured, sliding
the broad head of his shaft against her wet folds. “Was there
something you wanted?”

“Nothing but you.
God
,” she moaned as
he sank his fangs and his cock into her at the same time.
“Sylvan!”

“
I love it when you call my name while
I’m inside you,”
he sent through their link.
“Love the soft,
helpless little sounds you make when I take you.”

“
Take me harder…more!”
she begged.
And the part of her mind that wasn’t drowning in pleasure wondered
how he always knew exactly what she needed. All the troubling
thoughts that had been bothering her were swept away on the tide of
pleasure as he made her his once again.

But though Sophie knew she would sleep well
after their loving, she was also certain she would return to her
worries eventually. Lauren was still out there, somewhere and as
for Deep’s dark past…well, she would have to compare notes with Liv
and see if she’d gotten anything out of Baird.

Later…

“We’re here! And we brought the
fi-fi
flowers.” Kat presented the bouquet of blossoms triumphantly to
Mother L’rin.

“Have them, you do,” the old wise woman
acknowledged, nodding. She was sitting quietly in the middle of the
Healing Garden, doing something with a fluffy bunch of pink and
purple herbs. “And still you wish to use them?”

“Of…course we do.” Kat looked uncertainly at
Deep and Lock who were standing on either side of her. Well,
standing might be too strong a word—Deep was actually slouched
against a nearby tree studying his fingernails. “That is…I think
so.”

“My lady…” Lock gave her a pained look.
“Kat…I wish to say that the time Deep and I have spent bonded to
you—even partially—has been an experience I shall never forget.
Neither of us will,” he added, looking at Deep.

“How
could
we forget it? It’s been
one disaster after another from the start.” Deep spoke in a bored
tone. “But I suppose there’s no use rehashing it now that we’re
almost free.”

“Almost
free?”
Kat couldn’t help the
sharp pang of hurt and rejection that raced through her, though she
told herself it was ridiculous. “Is
that
how you feel?”

“Isn’t it how
you
feel?” he
countered, looking up to give her a smoldering glare.

“I…I don’t know.” Kat’s voice sank to a
whisper. “I just don’t know.”

She’d been overjoyed to find the Moons
blossom—ecstatic almost. But now she realized the reason for her
joy wasn’t that she was going to be parted from Deep and Lock—it
was because the lovely black and white flowers represented her
ticket home. In her mind, they had come to symbolize everything she
missed—Earth and Sophie and Liv and a culture where she spoke the
language and didn’t have to rely on a partially defective fuzzy
caterpillar to translate for her. Somehow that was all she’d been
thinking of when she gathered the
fi-fi
flowers—she’d
conveniently managed to forget that the sacred blossoms also meant
the end of her partial bond with the brothers.

“Strange that you don’t know how you feel
when it’s abundantly clear to
me,”
Deep snapped, breaking
her train of thought. “I felt your relief when we found the
blossoms. I’m sure Lock did too. Mother L’rin,” he said, turning to
the old woman. “We would be most grateful if you’d use these
blossoms to brew the potion that will separate Kat from my brother
and me.”

Mother L’rin shook her head. “Separate you
it will not. No potion such a thing can do.”

“What?” Kat said flatly. “I
really
hope my convo-pillar is acting up again. It sounded like you just
said the
fi-fi
flowers
won’t
break the soul
bond.”

“That they cannot do.”

“But you told me,” Kat cried. “You said if I
brought you the flowers—” She stopped abruptly. What
had
the
wise woman said? Had she ever really promised that the flowers
would break the soul bond? Or had Kat just inferred it because she
had been so eager to get away from Deep and Lock?

“Break the bond the flowers cannot,” Mother
L’rin said. “But ease your pain they will, as nothing else.”

“Ease her pain? What do you mean?” Lock
demanded. “Why should the lady Kat need special blossoms to ease
her pain?”

“Because come back, it will” the old woman
said calmly. “Half-bonded a female cannot be forever. But the
fifilalachuchu
blossoms her torment will ease—for a while,
at least.”