Devoured: Brides of the Kindred 11 (13 page)

“Thank you,” Tess said again. She sighed.
“I
am
glad I can remember it this way
instead…the other. This apartment has been a good place for me—on the whole.”
Of course, after years of marriage to Pierce, anyplace away from him would have
been good. But still, she had grown fond of her little nest in the few months
that she’d lived there.

“We’d better go,” Garron said.

Tess nodded. “You’re right.”

They walked out and she gave it one last
look before flipping off the lights and locking the front door. Then she left
it behind—probably forever. Because she couldn’t imagine any scenario where it
would be safe to come back to Tampa
once she had gone.

Behind her, in the bathroom, the towel
with its one bloody handprint lay forgotten…

Chapter
Thirteen

Tess’s friend, Di, was crying when they
got back to her small vehicle.

“Di? Honey, are you okay?” Tess sounded
deeply concerned as she slid into the passenger side after Garron had folded
himself into the back.

“I’m fine. Sorry…” The older Earth woman
sniffed and blotted her eyes with a small cloth. “I just got a phone call while
the two of you were up there.”

“And?” Tess still sounded worried.

“Uncle Jackson…” Di sniffed again deeply.
“He finally passed. Just about an hour ago according to the nurse on call.”

“Oh, no! I’m so sorry.” Tess looked like
she might cry too. “I should have been there with him—I was always his favorite
nurse.”

“You had to leave Happy Rest for a good
reason. Uncle Jack would have understood.” Di blew her nose and sighed. “We’ve
known this was coming for awhile. Ever since the cancer spread…”

“I know.” Tess looked away. “It’s just…no
matter how much you try to prepare, you’re never really prepared. You know?”

“I know. And you’re right.” Di
straightened up. “Anyway, it’s given me an idea. I don’t know why I didn’t
think of it earlier.”

“Think of what?” Tess looked puzzled.

Di smiled brightly and blotted her eyes
again.

“I know where you can run to.”

“Where?” Tess didn’t sound too hopeful.
Garron wasn’t surprised. He knew from his childhood that living with a man like
Pierce—a man like his father—could suck the joy and optimism out of anyone.

“Uncle Jackson had a cabin outside of Asheville, North
Carolina. He lived there until the cancer got bad and
he had to come down here to Tampa
so I could look after him,” Di said. “It’s perfect—remote and private and best
of all, it’s mine but it’s not in my name yet.”

“So there’s no paper trail to trace it to
you…and to connect you to me.” Tess was beginning to sound cautiously
optimistic. “That
does
sound good.
But I’ll need a way to get up there. If I try to take my car I’ll be stopped
before I can get out of Tampa—Pierce
will see to that.” She frowned. “Maybe I should take a bus…”

“No, no—he can trace the ticket.” Di shook
her head. “No, you can take Uncle Jack’s truck. It’s ugly and old but it should
make it.”

“Is it an automatic? Because I don’t know
how to drive a stick—”

“I can share the driving,” Garron said
quietly. “If this truck you’re talking about operates like the vehicle we are in
now, it should be exceedingly simple to manage.”

“Um…” Tess turned to look at him, wincing
as the motion no doubt pulled at her hurt back. “That’s really nice of you,
Garron but…I don’t know what to say. I don’t…still don’t understand why you
came down here in the first place. I mean I know you said you wanted to protect
me but I don’t understand
why
you
want to.”

“I…dreamed of you.” It was surprisingly
hard to admit but he could think of no other way to explain. “I saw what that
bastard Pierce did to you in the parking area of the HKR building. I…could not
sit by and do nothing when I knew you were in danger. I
had
to come for you. After all—your predicament was my fault.”

Tess sighed. “Not really. Pierce was an
abusive asshole a long time before you came on the scene. And I didn’t blame
you for being mad at me up there on the Mother Ship. I did give you…” Her
cheeks went red and she looked down. “I did give you the, uh,
wrong
impression.”

“That was no excuse for what I did,”
Garron protested. “I should have waited, should have listened to your story. If
I hadn’t been so blinded by anger…” He cleared his throat and shook his head.
“The point is, you are in this dilemma because of me. Therefore, I will not
leave you until you’re safe. My honor as a Kindred and a warrior demands it.”

“That’s really sweet of you but I’m going
on the run from my ex-husband who happens to be a pretty good detective, even
if he is a bastard. So I don’t know about taking you along for the ride. I
mean, you’re not exactly
inconspicuous.”
Her
eyes flicked up and down, as though sizing him up. “You’re what…six foot seven
or eight? And with those eyes…”

“What’s wrong with my eyes?” Garron asked,
frowning.

“Nothing.” Her cheeks got red again and
she cleared her throat. “Except they’re freaking inhumanly gorgeous. I just…I
mean, you stand out in a crowd.”

Garron’s hands curled into fists, causing
the torn flesh to throb sharply.

“I’m
not
leaving you.” He looked at Tess. “I
cannot.
If you won’t let me accompany you, then I must find your ex-mate and
challenge him to a
Y’grin.”

“A what?” She looked at him blankly.

“A fight to the death,” Garron clarified.

“What, like a duel?” Di looked
incredulous. “Look, big boy, it’s nice of you to want to protect Tess but you
can’t do that. Pierce is a cop—he has a gun and he’d just shoot you and then
say it was because you were menacing him in the line of duty or something.”

“And even if he
did
agree to fight you, you’d be put away for life for killing a
policeman,” Tess said. “No, I just have to go—have to get out of his way. I
can’t stay here in Tampa.”

“You can come back with me to the Mother
Ship,” Garron said. “The ban they placed on you was a misunderstanding. We just
need some time to bring the matter before the Kindred High Council and get it
straightened out.”

“Time is what you
don’t
have,” Di said flatly. “Tess needs to be on the road tonight.
The sooner the better.”

“Di is right.” Tess nodded. “I appreciate
the invite but I can’t wait around to see if the Kindred Council will let me
back up on the ship or not. Not with Pierce looking for me—which he will be the
minute he gets home and finds me gone.”

“Then we’ll go to this cabin—
together,”
Garron emphasized. “In the
mean time, your friend can make a call to my brother using the viewscreen in
the HKR building. As soon as she calls and lets us know we have clearance,
we’ll find the nearest Human/Kindred Relations center and take a shuttle back
up to the Mother Ship.”

“I…” Tess shook her head. “I don’t know. I
mean, it sounds good but honestly, I barely know you. Why would I go with you?”

“So I can protect you, as I said before.”
Garron couldn’t believe she would even ask. It seemed perfectly clear to him
that they should stay together—perfectly clear that he couldn’t let her go or
leave her alone when she was in such danger. “You say you don’t know me,” he
murmured, looking into her eyes. “But I don’t believe that’s completely true.”

“What…” She shifted uncomfortably. “What
do you mean?”

“I dreamed of you,” Garron said softly,
still holding her eyes with his own. “And even before that dream I had
others—dreams of a female with dark eyes who was hiding so I could never quite
see her. I think that female was you, Tess.” He looked at her intently. “Can
you honestly say you had no dreams of me?”

“I…” Tess seemed about to deny it but then
she stopped and bit her lip. “I
have
had some dreams,” she admitted in a low voice. “I could never quite remember
them when I woke up but I
did
know I
was dreaming about the same person—the same man—over and over again.”

“So that’s it? You’re meant to be together
because you’re dreaming about each other in a round-about kind of way?” Di
sounded skeptical. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s romantic and all but—”

“It’s called dream sharing,” Garron said,
still keeping his eyes locked with Tess’s. “Among the Kindred it is
considered…significant.”

He didn’t mention that he had never heard
of it himself until Becca and her friends had told him about it. Right now he
just needed a reason to get Tess to trust him, to let him stay by her side. He
had to protect her, had to be with her in case that bastard Pierce sought her
out.

I’ll
kill him,
he thought.
Kill him if he touches her again…if he even
gets near her…

But in order to protect her, he had to be with
her. He just hoped that Tess could understand that they needed to stay
together.

She frowned. “I want to be clear about
something up front—I’m not looking for any kind of relationship. I think it’s
obvious I’m getting out of a pretty rough one and I just…need time to heal.”
She lifted one shoulder ruefully, indicating her back. “In more than one way.”

Garron nodded gravely. “I have no
expectations or demands. In fact, I have taken a vow to remain true to the
memory of another. I only ask that you let me stay by your side and protect
you—my honor demands it.”

“For how long?” she asked, raising an
eyebrow at him.

“Until I know you’re safe and that you’ll
never be in danger again.”
Until that
bastard of an ex-mate of yours is dead.
He didn’t say it out loud but Tess
must have seen it in his eyes.

“Pierce is dangerous, you know,” she said
quietly. “He carries a gun and he knows how to use it. He’s also crazy jealous
and he thinks I belong to him. You could be risking your life just being with
me.”

“A risk I am more than willing to take,”
Garron assured her. He let his voice drop to a low growl. “And I can be
dangerous too, when I choose.”

Tess shivered and looked away. “I believe
you. Okay, we’ll go together.”

“Good.” Garron felt a fist of tension
loosen in his chest. He could stay by her side and protect her. He still didn’t
know why it was so crucial—didn’t understand why the little Earth female was so
vitally important to him—but he didn’t care. Though he still intended to be
true to Nella’s memory, the fact was that, at least for now, their fates were
entwined and he needed to be with her. Needed to keep her safe and be certain
that bastard could never hurt her again.

Chapter
Fourteen

“Who was the call from?” Becca asked,
looking up as Truth walked into the bedroom she shared with him and Far. She
yawned. “And what were they doing calling so early, anyway? It’s not even time
to get up yet.”

The dark twin frowned.

“It was no one I know—but apparently she
is a friend of Garron’s. Or at least an acquaintance.”

“She?” Far asked. He was sitting to
Becca’s left in the large, three person bed they all shared. Truth’s place was
always on the right and Becca was happy to be in the middle. “Since when does
your brother know anyone down on Earth?”

“Since he went down there.” Truth sounded
grim.

“Since he
what?”
Becca had been leaning back against a stack of pillows,
relaxing, but now she sat straight up in bed. “When did this happen?”

“Earlier tonight. According to this person
who called me—I think her name was Ki or Di or something of the sort—he went
after the girl he had deported earlier from the Mother Ship.”

“Who—Tess?” Becca asked. “I liked her a
lot but I didn’t think Garron did.”

“I don’t think he knew he did until he had
a dream about her,” Truth murmured.

“Dream sharing?” Far cocked an eyebrow.

“It seems so.” Truth nodded.

“So why aren’t they up here now instead of
back down on Earth?” Far asked.

Truth frowned. “Unfortunately, Garron’s
grievance against the female was taken seriously and she was banned from the
Mother Ship. But she is in trouble down on Earth and he is staying with her to
protect her until it can be cleared up. In the mean time, he has asked me to
address the High Council and get her ban revoked.”

“Will they do that?” Becca asked.

The dark twin shrugged. “I do not see why
not. I’m going to ask Sylvan to support me in this and if he recommends that
the female be allowed to come back on the grounds that she is a potential mate,
I don’t know why the other Council Members would disagree.”

“What about the head of the
Council—Chancellor Terex?” Far said. “Isn’t he back now? Don’t you have to get
permission from him personally?”

“I suppose. But from what I’ve heard from
Sylvan he usually goes along with the general wishes of the Council.” Truth
sighed and sank down in bed on Becca’s right side. “I’m still concerned
though.”

“About what?” Becca asked gently. “It
sounds like an open and shut case—once the Council hears that Garron and Tess
are dream sharing, I don’t see how they can refuse to let them come back up to
the Mother Ship.”

“It’s not that.” Truth shook his head and
ran a hand over his face wearily. “It’s Garron. He came to me about a week ago,
wanting to talk about Kindred urges and…other things.”

“Which is why we sent him to the Pairing
House in the first place,” Far said.

“What—you’re the ones that sent him?”
Becca looked back and forth between them. “What urges? And what other things?
How come you two didn’t tell me?”

Far shrugged. “It wasn’t our secret to
tell, Becca. Garron was shamed enough as it was and he values your good
opinion.”

Becca put a hand on her hip. “Please! As
if I would think less of the man for having a
sex drive.”

Truth sighed. “I still do not think you understand
the stigma attached to some of the things we consider normal here on the Mother
Ship. Wanting to hold your female close, body to body, is considered abnormal
unless you are doing it during mating. And the other things a Kindred desires
to do to his female…”

“You mean like tasting her?” Far asked
softly.

“Yes. Exactly.” Truth gave Becca a long
look. “Even now it feels…forbidden.”

Becca felt a little shiver run down her
spine as she remembered how he had nearly lost control the first time he had gone
down on her.

“Oh?” she asked a little breathlessly.
“That, uh, doesn’t seem to stop you.” It was becoming a running joke between
the three of them that the dark twin would rather taste her pussy than do just
about anything else. He was always eager to get between her legs to the point
where Far jokingly complained that they were going to have to start setting a
limit on how many orgasms Truth could give her before it was his turn.

“It’s
because
it feels forbidden that Truth wants it so much,” Far said quietly.

“I do not just want it…it is a
need.”
Truth’s eyes blazed into hers,
making Becca squirm beneath his intense gaze. “I have come to understand this
as I grow to know my Kindred heritage—a warrior’s desire to taste his lady goes
far beyond the simple inclination to make her happy.”

“It does?” Becca asked.

Truth nodded and Far said, “It’s a
craving—so deep and vast there is no fighting it.”

“Even if you are taught your entire life
it is wrong,” Truth murmured. “As I know from experience. It is, as I said, a
need.”

“A need which Garron is doubtless feeling
as well,” Far said.

“But along with sexual desire comes other
problems—at least for one like Garron who is half Rai’ku.” Truth looked
troubled. “His name day—the traditional time for a first turning—is coming up.”

“Yes, but at least he hasn’t turned so
far. He talked to me about wishing he had declared himself
O’ahn,”
Becca said.

“Just because a male makes that
declaration does not mean it is true. In Garron’s case, I very much fear it is
not,” Truth said. “He told me that he felt his
dr’gin
stirring within him—making itself known at last.”

“He did? Well, what does that mean?” Becca
asked, beginning to feel worried herself.

“It may mean danger for anyone around
him—anyone close to him.” Truth sighed. “I know he told you what happens when a
dr’gin
emerges for the first time.
During a male’s first turning he may expect to kill and eat at least one and
possibly more people before he finds the female he wants to mate with. Only
after he feeds can he change back to his other, more rational form.”

“So he can turn back to his regular self
the moment he, um, eats somebody up?” Becca asked.

Truth nodded. “But only briefly. That is
why it is so important for him to breed the female his
dr’gin
has chosen immediately—as soon as he turns back.”

“But what if she’s not the one he wanted
before he transformed?” Becca asked, remembering her talk with Garron back on
Pax. He had been fearful that his
dr’gin
would
kill the girl he loved and he would wind up mated to someone he didn’t care for
at all.

“It doesn’t matter,” Truth said. “The
dr’gin
within him makes the final choice
and he must abide by it—she must too.”

“But what if the girl he just devoured
while he was in
dr’gin
form was her
best friend or her sister and she just watched him eat her up?” Becca
protested.

She kept remembering the long, lithe
beasts made of scales and feathers she had
seen on Pax.
Dr’gins
reminded her a
little of the stylized papier-mâché dragons you saw during the Chinese New Year
if they had somehow come to life. Their graceful bodies whipped through the air
as sinuous as snakes, seeming to break all the laws of physics with their
perfect movements. They also had long sharp talons and spiked tails—not to
mention huge, leonine heads with knife-like teeth and long, red tongues. She
couldn’t imagine watching something so deadly kill someone she loved and then
be expected to mate with the male who kept it inside him a minute later. It
would be unthinkable.

“That
would
make for a very awkward mating,” Far remarked.

“It is more than awkward—it is often quite
savage,” Truth said in a low voice. “The act of mating—of breeding his
female—is what brings the two halves of a Rai’ku male together. When she
accepts him she is accepting both the male and his
dr’gin
with all of its untamed, voracious appetites.”

“That’s awful,” Becca exclaimed. “So she
watches him kill someone she loves or at least knows, and then she has to have
sex—really
rough
sex—with him
immediately afterwards?”

“The male does not hurt her on purpose,”
Truth objected. “Well, unless the person or persons he ate in
dr’gin
form has a cruel or sadistic
personality. That is yet another reason why females are preferred as sacrifices
during a first turning. They generally have milder temperaments, which keeps
the savagery of the first breeding at least somewhat in check.”

“I know all of this is commonplace on Pax
but I must agree with Becca that it seems…extremely harsh. Is the female
allowed to back out of the relationship at all?” Far asked.

“Never.” Truth shook his head firmly. “You
forget, Brother, we are talking about Pax here where females are severely
undervalued. Any female refusing to mate with the male whose
dr’gin
had chosen her would likely be
jaeled
to death by the entire village.”

“
Jaeled?
What’s that?” Becca asked.

“The
jael
is a hard, heavy nut that grows on the
jaelos
bush on Pax,” Truth explained. “It has sharp, stiff, poisonous spines
growing out of it on one side. The entire village will take the
jaels
and cast them at the offending female
until she dies either from blood loss or a fractured skull. Even if she doesn’t
die of those things, she will still succumb eventually—the poison in the spines
will begin to eat away at her flesh until she collapses and no one will help
her.”

“Sounds like a savage and brutal
punishment simply for not wishing to mate with someone,” Far said frowning.

“It is,” Truth said. “But it’s necessary.”

“What?” Becca said angrily. “How can you
say
that? What a load of misogynistic
crap!”

Truth shook his head. “I can understand
why it sounds that way to an outsider but it is not so, Rebecca. A newly
transformed male who has just transitioned from
dr’gin
form back to his normal form is in a very precarious
position. If he is not able to mate with the female his
dr’gin
has chosen for him, he will revert
back
to
dr’gin
form and
become a
D’fex—
a rogue
dr’gin.
He will lose himself completely
in his animal form, his mind will be gone, and he will know nothing but hunger
and the urge to hunt.”

“That sounds bad,” Becca admitted
reluctantly.

“It is,” Truth said grimly. “A
D’fex
is a
dr’gin
stuck forever in that first, mindless form. And he already
has a taste for sentient flesh so the village is his primary target. Many will
lose their lives before he can be killed—and all because he didn’t mate when he
had the chance.”

“But say everything goes well
and the newly transformed male
does
mate
in time,” Far said. “After that first transformation, a Rai’ku can think just
as well in his
dr’gin
form as he can
in his other shape—correct?”

Truth nodded. “Exactly.”

“But they’re still so big and
scary. Do they change back and forth around their females? Do they ever injure
their females when they’re in
dr’gin
form?”
Becca asked.

Truth shook his head. “Almost
never. Whether a
dr’gin
is savage or
tender depends upon the temperament of the male whose other half he is. As a
matter of fact, it is said that some are
more
gentle in their
dr’gin
form. They are
more…what is the Earth word…?” He frowned. “Oh yes—more
cuddly.”

“Cuddly?
Really?” Becca shook her
head. She just couldn’t imagine wanting to cuddle with something as big and
strong as a grizzly bear that looked like a cross between a dragon from Chinese
folklore and a lion.

“Yes, really,” Truth said as
though it wasn’t surprising at all. “You know how cold it gets on Pax—they have
been known to keep their mates from freezing to death if they get caught away
from shelter for the night.”

“Well…” Becca said hesitantly.
“Speaking as a female, I guess if hugging in your
normal
form was completely taboo, you’d take what you could get.
Even if it meant cuddling with a monster.”

“I know how they must have
seemed to you while we are on Pax but as long as they mate in time to retain
their cognitive abilities, they truly are not monsters,” Truth said. “In fact,
there are many positives to having a
dr’gin
within.”

“Such as?” Far asked, raising an
eyebrow.

“Rai’ku males are said to have
healing in their tongues while in their
dr’gin
form,” the dark twin continued.

“What does
that
mean?” Becca asked.

“They are able to cure their
female’s wounds by licking them—much as a Blood Kindred is able to do,” Truth
said. “Some say this ability was developed in case they scratched their mates
with their poisonous talons.”