Pursued (62 page)

“I
knew
it!” Liv nearly shouted.

“Dream sharing!” Sophie cried at the same time.

“You were dream-sharing!” the sisters said together.

Elise frowned. “What’s dream sharing?”

“It’s the first sign that you and your Kindred are meant to bond,” Kat explained. “You both dream of each other doing your day-to-day activities—or that’s how it’s supposed to go, anyway. It can take a lot of different forms.”

“I couldn’t stop painting pictures of Sylvan,” Sophie said. “I mean, he kept popping up in my art, no matter how I tried to leave him out.”

Lauren shrugged. “Don’t look at me—Xairn and I didn’t do that. I guess because he’s more Scourge than Kindred.”

“I did with my guys,” Kat said, looking serious for once. “I saw Deep take my pain on himself and believe me, it
wasn’t
pretty.”

“Baird told me the dreams he had of me were the only thing that kept him sane when he was captured by the AllFather,” Olivia said quietly. She looked at Elise. “So…did Merrick have any dreams of you during that time when you were apart?”

Elise frowned. “I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t think he slept very much—Draven was pushing him so hard to get the ship ready and he was also building a bomb on the side.” She gave a little laugh. “Nobody can say my man can’t multitask.”

“Kindred are good at all
kinds
of multitasking, believe me.” Kat gave her a wink. “But I bet you’re already finding that out for yourself.”

Elise blushed. “Yes, you could say that.” She shook her head. “So all the time I could have known that Merrick was alive and we would be able to re-bond if only I’d been brave enough to tell you about my dreams, Liv.”

“That’s okay, hon.” Olivia smiled at her. “You’re still getting used to having friends you can trust. Believe me, pretty soon you’ll be telling us
everything.
We don’t have any secrets here.”

“Oh yes we do—I have a big one.” Sophie beamed and flipped another waffle onto a plate already piled high with them.

“Well?” Kat put a hand on her hip. “What is it? Spill.”

“I got a call from Nadiah on First World and she’s sending us some new friends,” Sophie explained. “One of them is Lissa—the priestess girl I told you all about that I met on First World."

"You mean the one that was lost in the desert?" Liv asked.

Sophie nodded. "Uh-huh. They found her and she's doing fine. But that's not the best part—the other person coming aboard is one of the Touch Kindred."

“Really? A Touch Kindred?” Lauren frowned. “I thought they were banned from the Mother Ship.”

Sophie shrugged. “Apparently Rast told the Council they’ll have to deal with it—Rast is tied to his home planet so this Touch Kindred is acting as First World’s ambassador to the Mother Ship.”

“Hmm, I wonder how the Council likes
that?”
Kat murmured, raising an eyebrow.

“That’s not even the most exciting part, though.” Sophie smiled. “He and Lissa are going on a mission to the Ghana system and Lissa is going to pretend to be some kind of rich heiress. It’s all very hush-hush.”

“If it’s so hush-hush then why did Nadiah tell you all about it?” Liv asked skeptically.

Sophie sighed. “Because she wants us to help get Lissa ready. See, Lissa is this sweet subservient little priestess and Nadiah’s afraid she won’t be able to assert herself enough to make her act believable.”

“Lessons in self assertion—can do.” Kat smiled. “We’ll have her acting like the Queen of Sheba in no time.”

“Maybe they should ask
you
to go, Kat,” Lauren remarked. “You wouldn’t need any lessons at all.”

“Ha-ha.” Kat made a face at her friend. “Very funny.” Then she looked more closely at Lauren. “Hey, are you all right? You look like you got less sleep than Elise did and that’s saying something.”

Lauren frowned. “I’m fine, but Xairn was having bad dreams again last night. He woke me up shouting two or three times and I had a hard time getting back to sleep.”

“Oh no,” Liv said sympathetically. “Was he dreaming about your clone again?”

Lauren sighed and looked troubled. “I don’t know—he won’t say.” She blushed. “At least things are back on track in the bedroom, though.”

“Well, as long as
that’s
good, everything else will fall into place eventually,” Kat said consolingly.

“I think you’re right,” Lauren agreed. “I just hope he gets over whatever this is before the baby is born. I don’t need
two
people waking me up over and over in the middle of the night.”

“Amen to that,” Liv said fervently. “In fact—”

But her words were interrupted by Sylvan’s sudden entrance. “Excuse me, ladies,” he said formally, standing in the middle of the room with one hand behind his back. “I hope you don’t mind me interrupting your time together, but I need to speak to my mate.”

“Honey,” Sophia left the waffle iron and came out from behind the counter to go to him. “Is everything okay?” she asked. “Why didn’t you just bespeak me?”

“Because I wanted to do this in person—to see the look on your face when you found out.”

Sophie was suddenly white and trembling. “What? When I found out what?”

“I can’t tell you, so I’ll just show you…this.” Drawing his hand out from behind his back, Sylvan presented her with a small, perfectly formed blue flower.

“Oh! Oh, Sylvan!” Sophie’s face went from white to flushed in an instant. “A boy! We’re going to have a boy!”

“And a girl,” Sylvan said softly, and produced a second flower, this one just as perfectly and delicately formed, but a pale, lovely pink.

“Oh my God—twins!” Olivia was struggling to get off the couch. “Sophie’s going to have twins! Quick, somebody help me up so I can go hug her!”

Laughing, Elise did as she asked, hauling the very pregnant Liv to her feet so she could grab her sister for a big hug. She had to wait for a moment, though, because Sophia was enfolded in her husband’s arms, trembling with joy. Elise thought that both their eyes looked suspiciously wet and she couldn’t help feeling happy for them—clearly they were going to make wonderful parents to the two little sparks of life Sophie was carrying inside her.

“Oh, Sylvan,” Sophia whispered at last, when they finally broke apart. “Two of them—we’re so blessed!”

“Blessed beyond measure,” he agreed, grinning.

And then Olivia said, “Come here, you! My turn.” She hugged her sister and murmured, “I told you so! I
knew
you were pregnant.”

“I think I did too.” Sophie sniffed and wiped tears of joy from her eyes. “I was just so afraid to find out for sure. I’m glad I finally got the nerve to do the test though.”

“I am too.” Liv laughed. “I was nearly ready to come jab you with a needle myself if you waited much longer.”

Lauren joined the conversation and the three pregnant friends went on talking babies until Elise began to feel a little left out. Suddenly, someone hooked an arm through hers and she turned in surprise to see Kat standing there.

“Well,” she said with a sigh. “There’s going to be no living with them now. I’ve already been putting up with Liv’s weird cravings for seaweed and God knows what else and Lauren always wanting raw meat. Who
knows
what Sophie’s going to want?” She shook her head. “Well, whatever it is, I’m sure we’ll manage it somehow.”

“We?” Elise looked at her uncertainly.

“Oh yeah, doll.” Kat smiled at her affectionately. “You’ve been officially drafted into the non-pregnancy club. As of right now, you and I are the only members.” She gave Elise a mock glare. “You
are
in, aren’t you? You’re not going to bail on me and get knocked up too, are you?”

“Not right now,” Elise promised, smiling at her. “For right now, I just want to enjoy spending time with Merrick and working on our bond.”

Kat breathed a sigh of relief. “Whew, I’m so glad! I don’t know what I would have done if I was the only non-pregnant one around here.
Somebody
has to keep their sanity with all the baby hormones running around.”

“Well, I’m here for you.” Elise grinned at her. “Until I start hearing my biological clock ticking, anyway.”

“Put it on snooze,” Kat advised her. “And just so you know, we’re here for you too. Any time.”

“Thanks.” Elise smiled, feeling the warmth that good friends and a good relationship could bring. It was a new feeling, but one she wanted to keep for a long, long time.
And I think I will,
she told herself, looking around fondly at the other girls laughing and talking together.

The vault was broken and the past was out but somehow it hadn’t killed her—somehow, Elise wasn’t sure how—facing her past had made her stronger. She was no longer just skimming the surface of life. Now, for the first time in years, she was actually
living
it. And though the dark memories of the past still hurt sometimes, she had faith that she would make brighter, happier memories with Merrick and her new friends in the days to come.

Elise had finally come home.

END

Draven tossed from one side of his sumptuous
tyber
fur-lined mattress to other, his head whipping back and forth as a strangled moan rose from his lips.

“No…” he whispered, his face tight with pain.
“No!
I will not…I can not…”

“Master?” An imp who stood at the foot of his bed watched anxiously as Draven’s nightmare continued. “Master?” it said again and pawed lightly at an exposed foot. “Please, if you would just wake…”

At last the Hoard Master sat straight up in bed with a shout, his muscular chest heaving. His own voice woke him and he looked around the dim room, blinking and momentarily confused.

“Glorin, where are you? What have they done to—” His eyes caught the anxious imp and he stopped talking abruptly.

A dream. It was just another blasted dream!

The realization enraged Draven. He raked a hand through his black hair, his silver eyes blazing. By the seven hells—he was over a thousand years old and soulless. He should be free of such nocturnal nuisances!

“It’s that damn
skrillix
venom,” he growled to himself, wrapping a
planka
down coverlet around himself. “Never should have stuck myself with that damned thorn!”

He’d believed himself to be immune to the pain vine’s hideous effects, but ever since he’d exposed himself to it, the dreams had been his nightly visitors. Draven didn’t know why it affected him differently than others, but it did. Instead of instantly giving him terrible visions, the venom seemed content to work its way out of his system slowly, a little at a time. Which of course only prolonged the agony.

He didn’t like what the dreams showed him. They showed him…before. Never a good place to look, as far as Draven was concerned.

Sighing, he gave up the idea of more sleep for the night and got out of bed to wander nude, around the room. He enjoyed sleeping naked—mostly because his mattress and sheets were made of only the finest materials from worlds the Hoard had despoiled. It was quite satisfying, he found, to sleep on the skins of your enemies. It had a certain…poetic appeal.

But tonight he had other things besides sleep on his mind.

He supposed he could always go and oversee the work in the flight lab, but he didn’t really care about that anymore. Since that damned hybrid had escaped, the Kindred would know he was trying to duplicate wormhole technology and they would be prepared for any attack.

For any military attack, that is.

The thought stopped Draven dead in his tracks. After all, military attacks were so
crude,
so
simplistic.
And there were other ways to demoralize and defeat one’s enemies.

He frowned. The wormhole tech was blown, and for the moment, he was still bound to this planet, so he couldn’t do anything in person. What he needed was a secret weapon—one the Kindred had no idea about—one they would never suspect.

“You there.” He motioned to the imp who still stood stupidly beside his bed, waiting for orders.

“Yes, Master?” it squeaked, jumping as though he’d pinched its dirty grey hide.

“I need to speak to someone.” Draven settled naked on his live
kanna
couch, enjoying the touch of their silky pelts against his bare skin. The little animals, which were held together by a small but powerful force field, wriggled and squirmed beneath his muscular weight, adding to his enjoyment. “Get me the shadow-caster on the viewscreen,” he told the imp, nodding at the huge screen mounted over the couch. “The one we used to plant the sleeping gas in the hybrid’s ship.”

“Yes, Master. At once, Master.” The imp began putting through the call as quickly as possible. Draven had barely had time to pour himself some wine, pressed from the tears of sentient
globa
grapes, when the viewscreen flickered to life and a strange face was revealed.

“You called me, Hoard Master?” Violet eyes flicked over his naked body, taking in the muscular chest and the shadow of his heavy cock between his legs before returning to his face. “Whatever can you want this time of night?” Long, silver eyelashes fluttered coquettishly and the shadow-caster pushed a heavy length of pale pink hair behind one ear. Her skin was the palest ivory and living flowers sprouted from her fingertips.

“Interesting. A
Thespa
today, are you?” Draven drawled. “Very nice. I never would have known it was you. But then, I’ve never seen your true face, have I, my dear?”

“Never.” The shadow-caster’s features changed—her eyes turned glowing crimson and her hair shortened and darkened until it was a sleek purple cap molding to her head. Her skin was suddenly a pearly gray-green that would have looked beautiful under the light of an alien moon.

“And I suppose that’s the way you plan to keep it.” Draven smiled at her. “Never mind, I don’t need to see the real you—I just want to make use of your considerable talents.”

The shadow-caster raised one dark purple eyebrow at him. “You want information…or blood? Blood costs more.”