Sought...Book 3 in the Brides of the Kindred series (37 page)

“Guys?” she whispered as Deep and Lock
turned around as well.

“Get back.” Deep pushed her behind him and
then he and Lock joined ranks, standing shoulder to shoulder to
create an impenetrable wall between her and the threat. “What do
you want?” Deep said, his voice a low, threatening growl.

“I could ask the same thing of you,” the
Scourge returned. “What are you doing here on my home planet
without invitation?”

“We didn’t realize we had to wait to be
invited,” Deep said sarcastically.

“That’s no answer.” The Scourge sounded
agitated now.

“And you’re not going to get one,” Deep
snapped back.

“We’re not here to harm anyone,” Lock said,
obviously trying to smooth the situation over. “Just let us leave
and we won’t bother you again, I swear.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Peeking around
Lock’s elbow, Kat saw the Scourge warrior wave his weapon
menacingly. “Drop your weapons on the floor and march single file
into the medical wing. Now.”

“What makes you think we’ll comply?” Deep
demanded. “There are two of us and only one of you. Even if you
shoot one, the other will still kill you.”

“You will comply because I won’t be aiming
for you,” the Scourge said quietly. “I will set my sights on your
female and I promise I
will
wound or kill her before either
of you can kill me.”

“You son-of-a-bitch!” Deep snarled, taking a
step forward. Lock put a hand on his arm.

“Deep, I don’t think we have any
choice.”

“Listen to your friend,” the Scourge
advised. He frowned. “I do not like to make such dire threats. I
wouldn’t if I could be sure of you.”

“Sure of what? Because you can be
damn
sure we’ll carve you to pieces if you so much as
touch
our Kat.” Deep sounded like he was going into
rage
and Lock put a hand on his brother’s arm again.

“Deep, please.” He spoke to the Scourge.
“What do you want from us? What’s your name?”

The Scourge gave them a level look. “I am
called Xairn. And for now I just want to talk.”

“You want to talk? Then talk,” Deep growled.
“I don’t see why we have to be disarmed to hear what you have to
say.”

“Because my father is here in the Complex as
well.” The Scourge raised an eyebrow at them. “Perhaps you know
him—the AllFather?”

Deep swore loudly and Lock said,

“Of course we know of him. What is he doing
here?”

A grim look passed over Xairn’s face.
“Gathering power—soon he will be too strong to stop. If you wish to
leave this planet alive you need to listen to me.”

“We’re listening,” Lock assured him. “What
do you want to say?”

“Only this—I need your help to leave this
place safely and I am willing to offer you mine in return if you’ll
trust me.”

“Trust a Scourge? Not likely,” Deep spat.
“As if—”

“I think we should trust him,” Kat said,
stepping out from behind the brothers.

“Are you out of your mind?” Deep demanded.
“Don’t you recognize this male? He’s the same one we saw attacking
Sophia during our last joining.”

“I recognize him, all right,” Kat said
evenly. “And I remember what we all saw. But I’ve talked to Sophie
about what happened aboard his ship—he didn’t want to kill her. He
was going to set her free.”

“If you’re speaking of the human female with
the green eyes, that is true,” Xairn said, nodding.

“That’s her,” Kat said. “She’s like a sister
to me.” She took a deep breath. “Look, we’re really just here to
use your psychic-knife thingy—we’re not trying to start any
trouble.”

Xairn raised his eyebrows in obvious
surprise. “You wish to sever the bond between you?”

Deep scowled. “We were…wrongly and
accidentally bonded. This is the only way to sever the bond.”

Xairn nodded slowly. “I see. Well, if you
actually
want
the connection dissolved…”

“We do,” Kat said, throwing a glance at
Deep. “Very much.”

Xairn shrugged. “You may use the
psychic-knife if you wish—it is nothing to me. But my father may be
here at any moment. He is in his
Souda
now, gathering
strength and power. As soon as he feels strong enough he will be
here—it may be several hours or a much shorter time before he
appears. I cannot tell you for certain.”

Lock had a worried look on his face but he
spoke calmly. “This is insane. We can leave and come back later—or
possibly rethink the entire thing. But if the AllFather is on this
planet, we need to go
now.”

“Deep is right,” Kat said, nodding. “As much
as we want to be free of each other, staying here is crazy.”

Xairn frowned. “But you haven’t achieved
what you came here for.”

“He’s right about that in more ways than
one,” Deep growled at Lock. “Or are you forgetting the secondary
mission Olivia set for you, Brother?”

“Secondary mission?” Xairn looked wary. “Why
else are you here?”

“We are also here to try and gather
information about a missing human female—one we are certain was
taken by your father for nefarious reasons,” Lock said. “Perhaps
you know of her? Lauren Jakes?”

The effect on Xairn couldn’t have been more
profound if Lock had shoved a double barreled shotgun into his gut
and pulled the trigger. “Lauren? You’re looking for
Lauren?”
He looked shocked at first, but then his voice dropped to a low,
menacing growl and he seemed to grow bigger somehow. It reminded
Kat of how Sylvan had looked when he went into
rage
while
protecting Sophie. “Lauren is mine. She’s
mine,”
Xairn
snarled. “And I do
not
intend to surrender her to
anyone.”

“So you
do
have her.” Lock’s voice
was mild but his eyes were hard.

“You bastard.” Deep glared at the Scourge.
“What have you done to the poor girl? Or maybe I should ask if
there’s anything you
haven’t
done. Is she even still
alive?”

Xairn’s red-on-black eyes flashed crimson.
“Of course she is! Do you think me some kind of a monster?”

“Actually, we do,” Deep said. “We know
exactly how you Scourge treat your females.”

Xairn lifted his chin. “Not me. I have never
touched a female in anger—this I swear.”

“What about lust?” Deep raised an eyebrow.
“Ever touched a female that way?”

Xairn looked suddenly ill at ease. “I…do not
act on those emotions. I do not engage in the practices of my
father and the rest of my people.”

“We’ll believe it when we see it.” Deep’s
black eyes narrowed. “Where is Lauren now?”

Xairn bristled. “Someplace safe.”

“Can we see her?” Kat asked. “I mean, can
I
see her? I’m no threat,” she went on softly, meeting his
strange, burning eyes. “And I think if we could hear from Lauren
herself that you haven’t hurt her, it would make it a lot easier
for us to trust you.”

Xairn looked at her appraisingly. “I suppose
it couldn’t hurt to let another female speak to Lauren. But I will
not tolerate another male near her.” He glared at Deep and Lock and
then nodded at Kat. “Come with me.”

She stepped forward to meet him, only to
feel an iron grip locked around her upper arm. “Like hell, she
will.” Deep pulled her back behind him.

“Deep!” she protested angrily but he ignored
her.

“We feel the same way about Kat that you do
about Lauren,” he told Xairn, his voice a low growl. “If she goes,
we go. It’s as simple as that.”

Xairn frowned. “I suppose that is fair. But
do
not
attempt to take Lauren from me. I have sworn that I
will see her safely back to her planet but until then, I refuse to
give her up to anyone.”

“Even your father?” Lock said softly.

Xairn’s eyes flashed crimson and his hands
clenched into massive fists. “Especially him. Why do you think I
need your help? He has four massive vat-grown guards with him. If
they should catch us leaving I could only defend Lauren until I
died. After that my father…” He shook his head. “I will not speak
of it.”

“Come on.” Kat shook free of Deep’s grip and
gave him a glare which he returned with a blank expression. “Let’s
go.”

It took a little maneuvering as to who was
going to go first and who would have what weapon pointed at whom,
but finally they entered the set of double metal doors at the end
of the lab and found themselves in a long hallway made up of
several glassed in rooms on either side.

Huddled in one of the rooms, wrapped in a
long black cloak, was a beautiful girl with creamy mocha skin and
striking amber eyes. Kat recognized her at once from the pictures
Sophie and Liv had showed her.

“Lauren!” She ran to the glass wall of the
room at once. “It’s really you!”

Hesitantly, the girl came forward. “Do I
know you?” Her voice was muffled but understandable through the
thick glass.

“No, but I know
you
. Or I know of
you, anyway.” Kat turned to Xairn. “Please let me in to talk to
her. I’m not armed—you can pat me down if you want.”

“No, he can’t!” Deep’s black eyes flashed
possessively. “He won’t touch you or I swear to the Goddess—”

“I will take her word that she isn’t armed,”
Xairn interrupted coolly. “And I will allow her into the cell with
Lauren. She has been missing human companionship. Perhaps seeing
another of her kind will make her feel better.”

“Thank you.” Kat stood by impatiently while
he opened the door to the cell and then stepped in at once.
“Lauren,” she said gently, taking a step forward and extending her
hand. “It’s all right—I’m a friend.”

“I just can’t believe…after all this time…”
Lauren stepped forward slowly. Hesitantly, she took Kat’s offered
hand. “Are you real?” she whispered, squeezing her fingers. “Are
you
really
real?”

Kat smiled at her. “Last time I looked I
was. Large as life and twice as natural.”

Tears began to stream down Lauren’s face.
“I’m sorry,” she sobbed, blotting her eyes on the black cloak she
wore. “I just…I just…”

“Hey, it’s all right. It’s okay.”
Impulsively, Kat pulled her in for a hug. Lauren trembled and cried
against her and Kat didn’t blame her a bit.
God only knows what
this poor girl has been through.
Finally the sobs slowed and
then tapered off to sniffs and hiccups.

“S-sorry,” Lauren said, pulling away.
“Didn’t mean to cry all over you.”

“It’s fine,” Kat assured her. “I’m sure if
our positions were reversed I would have done the same thing. I’m
Kat, by the way. I’m a friend of your cousins, Olivia and Sophia
Waterhouse.”

Lauren frowned. “Who? I don’t have any
cousins.”

“Yes, you do. Your mom tracked them down and
didn’t want to tell you until she was sure they wanted to do the
whole family reunion thing. And they do, by the way—they can’t wait
to meet you.”

Lauren looked dazed. “Wow…I don’t know what
to say—I’ve always wished I had more family. I’d love to meet them
too. I’d love to meet
anyone
on Earth right now.”

“Oh, they’re not on Earth—they’re on the
Mother ship. Both of them are mated to Kindred warriors,” Kat
explained.

Lauren’s amber eyes flickered to Deep and
Lock, standing on either side of Xairn outside the glass cell. “And
you are too? Is one of those guys your husband…uh, mate?”

Kat felt a pang of sorrow but she pushed it
away and gave Lauren a smile. “Nah. Well—we
do
have a kind
of connection but it’s not complete. And we’re going to get rid of
it.” She eyed Deep. “Irreconcilable differences, you know?”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Lauren
murmured.

“What about you?” Kat asked, trying to
phrase the question delicately. “How has, uh, Xairn been treating
you? All right?”

“He’s been a perfect gentleman,” Lauren said
quietly. “I know what you’re probably thinking about why they took
me and it’s partly true. The AllFather wants to…wants to…” She
shook her head. “I can’t think about what he wants to do. It’s too
awful. But Xairn has promised to protect me from him and take me
home.”

“Do you believe he really will?” Kat asked
in a low voice she was pretty certain couldn’t be heard through the
thick glass. “Look, it’s okay—you can tell me the truth. The guys
I’m with are armed—we’ll keep you safe.”

Lauren got a stubborn look in her amber
eyes. “I know how it must sound—like I have the worst case of
Stockholm syndrome in history. But honestly, Xairn has never hurt
me and I
do
trust him. He’s very repressed—I mean, wouldn’t
you
be if you had his father for a dad? And I get the idea
he went through some pretty bad things in his childhood, though he
won’t talk about it much.”

Kat nodded noncommittally. “Sounds like he
has major issues.”

“He does. Seriously though, he’s one of the
good guys. Even though he’s one of the bad guys—if you know what I
mean.”

Searching her eyes once more, Kat and found
nothing there but sincerity. She nodded. “Yeah, I know. But this
whole idea of him taking you home…don’t you think it would be
better if you came with us instead? We’re going straight back to
the Mother ship and from there it’s a hop, skip, and a jump to
Earth.”

Lauren bit her lip. “Probably… But I don’t
exactly know how…”

“How to talk to him about it? Leave it to
me.” Kat put an arm around her shoulders. “Right now, we’ve got to
get out of here before we can start dividing up the carpool. Come
on.”

“Okay.” Lauren nodded.

“Good.” Kat turned and rapped briefly on the
glass. Xairn opened the door and she and Lauren stepped out. “Hey,
guys, it’s okay. He’s all right,” she said, nodding at the big
Scourge. “Lauren says he’s a perfect gentleman.”

“I am a what?” A look of incomprehension
creased Xairn’s stern features.

“It means you’ve never taken advantage of
her,” Kat said tactfully. “Or hurt her.”