15 Targeted (76 page)

“But why would he want such a thing?” Emily objected. “I mean, didn’t you say he’s Kindred himself?”

“
Dark
Kindred,” Rone corrected. “They had a whole other society ruled by a bunch of thinking machines called The Collective. I believe some of the Kindred from the Mother Ship had a hand in destroying them and freeing Z4, the Dark Kindred world, from their iron rule.”

“Well it sounds like they did the Dark Kindred a favor, then,” Emily protested. “What is Two so mad about?”

“I
think
he was pretty high up in the Dark Kindred society—maybe even directly linked to the Collective itself,” Rone said. “He must have felt that the Kindred ruined his home world and his race and he wanted to bring them down in retaliation. What better way than by ruining their future before it even got started?”

“Wow…” Emily shook her head. “That’s so…
Terminator
.”

Kate snickered. “Yeah, but Sarah Connor ran away from her terminator—you got bonded to yours.”

Emily laughed. “You’re right. Except Tragar isn’t a soulless robot bent on my destruction.”

“I was at first, you know,” Tragar said seriously. “Thank the Goddess I took time to study you and didn’t just take that bastard Two’s word that you were dangerous and worthy of termination.”

“If he hadn’t sent you after me, I’d be dead now,” Emily reminded him. “Either another assassin would have killed me or I would have gone through my
Tenrah
with no one to help me and died that way.”

“How
did
a
Khalla
wind up down on Earth, anyway?” Kate asked. “Rone tells me they’re extremely rare, even here on Rageron.”

“They are. And we have no idea how Emily got to your home world,” Tragar said.

“I
do
know I was adopted,” Emily put in. “But I don’t know who my birth parents are. My adopted mom told me I was orphaned when I was just a baby and that’s how they got me.”

“However you got to Earth, you were nearly killed there by Two’s orders,” Tragar growled. He curled one big hand into a fist. “I wish I could find him and make him pay.”

“I’d feel a lot better if he wasn’t still wandering around the universe too,” Emily admitted quietly. “But I know you can take care of me, sweetheart.” She smiled at him.

“Oh, Two is long gone now,” Kate said, patting Emily’s hand soothingly. “Dead weeks ago—so you don’t have to worry about him anymore. Commander Sylvan—the new Kindred High Chancellor—told me he personally saw his body.”

“He’s not dead,” Tragar said flatly. “Or if he is, his evil intensions live on. I received a call from one claiming to be his representative. He had all of Two’s codes and claimed he was acting on his direct orders. That was only a day ago.”

“Crap,” Kate muttered and Rone frowned.

“That’s disturbing. I’ll need to let Commander Sylvan know at once. In the mean time, I would keep a close watch on Emily.”

“Don’t worry.” Tragar put an arm around her shoulders protectively. “I won’t let her out of my site.”

“Even with you right beside her, it might not be safe,” Rone cautioned. “Don’t let her start her duties as
Khalla
until this matter is resolved.”

“Speaking of that, is it
really
set in stone that I have to go touring all around like some kind of rock star?” Emily put in. “I mean, even though I’ve changed a lot that really isn’t the kind of life I want for myself. I didn’t ask to be a
Khalla—
I just want to go back to my old life as a kindergarten teacher.”

“My
Khalla
,” Tragar said gently. “I don’t want to ruin your dreams but you look
completely
different from the female I stole away from Earth. Not just your hair and eyes—you’re taller as well. Considerably taller.”

“I’d put you at close to six foot,” Kate said, looking up at her appraisingly. “Normal for a Kindred—not so much for Earth unless you’re a Swedish supermodel.”

“Okay, so teaching may be out but I still have to talk to my family,” Emily said stubbornly. “I know I can convince my sister Anna of who I am and she can help me talk to our mom and dad. I can’t just let them think I was abducted and killed somewhere. That’s cruel.”

“We will go back to Earth to speak to your family,” Tragar promised, squeezing her comfortingly. “But we cannot go just yet. There is the fifteen day feast to get through in preparation for our joining ceremony.”

“What? Fifteen
days?”
To Emily it sounded like an eternity. She loved Tragar and she was very happy with the way things had turned out but she was homesick, damn it! And she didn’t want her family to have one more day of worry or one more sleepless night wondering what had happened to her.

“It’s tradition,” Tragar said firmly.

“Well, it’s a
stupid
tradition,” Emily snapped. “I don’t see why we have to wait fifteen days to get bonded or married or whatever it is! They were eager enough to marry me off to Daro before and I barely even knew him!”

“That was because you needed a chosen mate badly—you were about to enter the fourth stage of your
Tenrah,”
Tragar explained patiently. “But tradition states that in order to show reverence to the Goddess, a
Khalla
who has already bonded to a male must serve a fifteen day period of waiting in the Temple before her joining ceremony. Besides…” He frowned at her uncertainly. “Don’t you
want
to have a joining ceremony with me? It was my understanding that most females enjoy such things.”

Kate took Emily’s hand and squeezed it gently.

“It’s not that she doesn’t want a big wedding—she’s just missing her family. They’re probably worried sick right about now and she doesn’t want them to be in any more pain wondering what happened to her.”

Emily shot her new friend a grateful look.

“Thanks, Kate. You’re right—that’s it exactly.”

“Please don’t worry about your family,
Khalla,”
Rone said formally. “We’ll send a message to the Mother Ship asking them to contact your parents and sister at once. We’ll let them know you’ve been found and you’re well and happy.”

“Well…” Emily sighed. “I
guess
that will be okay. Thank you, Rone.” She looked at Kate hopefully. “And will you guys stay for the ceremony? I know I haven’t known you long but well…I kind of feel like I have. Like we’ve always been friends.” She blushed a little at the embarrassing admission but Kate just laughed.

“We
did
have kind of an instant connection, didn’t we? That happens sometimes with someone like me.”

“Kate has the Knowing,” Rone put in and Emily could hear the note of pride in his voice. “She has an affinity for people who are a little…different.”

Tragar raised an eyebrow. “Such as a Wulven Kindred like yourself? Tell me, if you don’t mind speaking of it, how long did it take her to tame your Beast? And weren’t you worried that you might hurt her during your first bonding? I know that Wulven can get a bit…wild in their fur-forms.”

“It wasn’t necessary for me to claim Kate in my fur-form,” Rone said, a bit stiffly, Emily thought. “Because of her gift she was able to get acquainted with my Beast without ever seeing me as a Changed one.”

“Really?” Both Tragar’s eyebrows went up now. “I didn’t even know that was possible. Does that not result in an incomplete bond?”

“Our bond is just fine,” Kate said calmly. “I got to know Rone’s Beast without ever having to meet him in person—he likes me a lot.”

Tragar frowned. “But I thought the Beast of a Wulven kind had to be fully tamed by the female he intended to mate—if you’ve never even met him face-to-face how—”

“A-hem.” Emily cleared her throat loudly. She didn’t know exactly what they were talking about but it seemed to be a sensitive topic. Time to change the subject. “So is that a yes? You’ll stay for my wedding…er, joining ceremony?”

Kate shot a glance at her man and Emily could tell they were having a private conversation through their link. Then the diminutive girl smiled and nodded.

“No problem. We can send Saber and Kaylee back to the Mother Ship and we’ll stay here with our ship in orbit around Rageron. Then we can take you back to Earth ourselves. How does that sound?”

“It sounds
wonderful.”
Impulsively, Emily leaned over the table to give her new friend a hug. “Thank you so much,” she whispered into Kate’s riot of red and gold curls. “If I can’t have my sister here, I’m glad I have you.”

“Well, you have to have
somebody
to talk wedding stuff with,” Kate said, returning the hug.

“I suppose I could ask Lit’aal to help too,” Emily said thoughtfully, sitting back. “But I have an idea she and Daro are going to be pretty busy planning their own joining ceremony.”

“Oh yeah, those two are thick as thieves.” Kate giggled. “You should see them…sneaking around and making eyes at each other. I think they’re still afraid to let everyone know how they feel because of that awful old Mother Chundra.”

“I know—she goes out and hand-picks the candidates for the
Khallas-to-be
but then if they don’t get chosen, she expects them to live a celibate life and never be with anyone ever again,” Emily exclaimed. “It’s completely unreasonable.”

“So I gathered from the way Daro and Lit’aal have been mooning over each other,” Kate said dryly. “That really is a ridiculous rule, though. Why
shouldn’t
he find somebody else if he doesn’t get picked by a
Khalla?”

“It’s not a direct ruling of the Goddess, I don’t think,” Rone remarked. “As for as I can see it is a tradition which has been in place for as long as Mother Chundra has been in power here at the Temple—which is nearly a hundred solar years.”

“Wow—she’s older than she looks,” Emily remarked.

“Speaking of the High Priestess, how is she taking all of this?” Tragar asked, frowning.

Rone shrugged. “As well as can be expected, I guess. She’s agreed not to interfere with the two of you but she point blank refuses to perform your joining ceremony.”

“Good!” Emily exclaimed. “I want someone I
like
to officiate. And someone who likes me.” She looked thoughtful. “Actually, Lit’aal is a priestess—maybe we can have
her
do it.”

“Great idea.” Kate smiled. “And then maybe you can use your influence as a bonded
Khalla
to make sure she gets to be with Daro. Maybe formally release him as your chosen mate and say that you’ve found another and you want him to find someone too.”

“What a good idea!” Emily exclaimed.

“Oh, I’m full of ‘em.” Kate picked up another of the pie-cakes. “Right now my main idea is to eat another one of these little things although it’s probably going straight to my hips.”

“I
like
your hips,” Rone murmured, giving her a hot glance.

“All right now.” Kate made a shooing motion though Emily could tell she was pleased with her mate’s flirting. “You’re acting like
we’re
the newly bonded people at the table. Emily and Tragar are the ones that ought to be eyeing each other’s hips…along with other things.”

“I certainly agree with you there,” Tragar murmured, his eyes half-lidded as he looked at Emily. “Have you had enough to eat, my
Khalla?
Perhaps you find yourself hungry for other things now?”