Sought...Book 3 in the Brides of the Kindred series

SMASHWORDS EDITION

* * * * *

PUBLISHED BY:

Evangeline Anderson on Smashwords

Brides of the Kindred

Book 3:Sought

Copyright © 2011 by Evangeline Anderson

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal
enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to
other people. If you would like to share this book with another
person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you
share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it,
or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return
to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for
respecting the author's work.

Author’s Note #1—
You’ve all
probably heard more than you want to about e-book piracy but I have
to say something about it here. I recently reduced my hours at my
regular job to almost nothing in order to have more time to write.
That means I’m making almost my entire living from my
books—especially the Kindred books which I am writing and
publishing on my own.

Please people, don’t steal the books. Don’t
download them illegally and give them away for free to others. Most
especially don’t go on e-bay and try to sell them. (Yes, some
people actually have the nerve.) I want to believe all my readers
are good people. I know none of them would come to my house and
take something that didn’t belong to them. But when someone
illegally downloads my e-books or sells them for a profit when they
don’t own the copyright, it’s the same as coming into my house and
taking a gallon of milk out of my fridge.

I keep the prices on my Kindred books low so
no one will have to steal them. So please don’t. And if you see
anyone who is, please send me a link at
[email protected]
and let
me know about it. E-book piracy is a real and growing threat. If it
isn’t stopped authors like me won’t be able to make a living doing
what we love the most—writing hot new books to share with you, our
readers.

Thank you so much for your kindness and
honesty.

Author’s Note #2—
You’ve
probably already figured this out but this is the third book in the
Brides of the Kindred series. I recommend that you read Claimed,
the first book in the series, and Hunted, the second book, before
attempting to dive into Sought.

Hugs and Happy Reading to you all!

Evangeline Anderson

Kat O’Conner was either dying or flying—she
couldn’t tell which.

All she knew was that she was hovering above
her own body, looking down, and what she saw didn’t look good—not
good at all.

My God, I’m a mess!

Her long, auburn hair was a tangled snarl
around her head and there were deep purple shadows under her eyes,
which were closed at the moment. There was a troubled look on her
face even in sleep—if it
was
sleep. Kat looked closer,
trying to see if her chest was rising and falling, but it was
difficult to tell because someone had covered her with blankets.
She tried to check her own pulse, but when she reached for herself,
she found that she had no hands, arms, or fingers to reach
with.

Just like when I joined with Lock and
Deep, when we were hunting for Sophie.
It had been an
exhilarating sensation—the feeling of being a swift, invisible bird
able to flit from place to place in space instantly. But she wasn’t
joined with them now—she could tell. Because, for once in the past
several weeks, she wasn’t full to overflowing with their
overwhelming emotions. And
overwhelming
was the right
word.

Anybody who says men don’t have feelings
is full of crap,
Kat thought ruefully as she studied the scene
below her. Locks Tight and Stabs Deep, the Twin Kindred warriors
who had gotten her into this mess in the first place, had plenty of
feelings—enough to make her feel like she was drowning in a sea of
emotion whenever they got too close to her. And lately,
anywhere
was too close, at least as far as Kat was
concerned.

She’d been trying to avoid them ever since
their last joining—the one she’d agreed to in order to find her
friend Sophie Waterhouse, who had been kidnapped by the Scourge.
The evil race of red-eyed, gray-skinned bastards had attacked Earth
a few years ago. Only the intervention of the Kindred warriors—a
race of genetic traders from beyond the stars—had saved Kat’s home
planet.

The Scourge had some kind of prophesy
involving an Earth girl that they would stop at nothing to fulfill.
At first they’d believed that Sophie’s sister, Olivia was their
intended target. Then they centered on Sophie. Kat didn’t know who
was going to be taken next, she was just glad that her friends were
safe.

And speaking of Sophie and Liv, where were
they? So far Kat had been focusing on her own still body, but now
she looked around—if you could look without a head to turn or eyes
to see with, that was. God, this was so freaking
weird
. She
wondered again if she was dead. If so, wherever she was didn’t look
much like her idea of Heaven.

The full-figured form which she recognized
as her own was lying on one of the floating stretchers the Kindred
kept for transporting the sick or wounded. The stretcher itself had
been crammed into the back of a space shuttle and there was someone
sitting beside her, holding her limp white hand. But it wasn’t
Sophie or Liv.

Lock,
she thought with dismay,
watching the large male who was carefully cupping her hand in his.
And sitting in the front of the shuttle, at the controls, was his
brother, Deep.

Though they were twins, it was easy to tell
the brothers apart. Twin Kindred always came in diametrically
opposing pairs of light and dark.

The light twin, Lock, had sandy blond hair
and eyes the color of melted chocolate. He also had a more
optimistic view of life in general than his brother. Of the two of
them, Kat found him much easier to tolerate. He was nicer than
Deep, for one thing, and she could actually have a conversation
with him that didn’t turn into an argument. His feelings were
easier to deal with, too. Though Lock’s desire for her was loud
inside her head, it was nothing like the deafening blast of
lust
she felt from his brother whenever he got too
close.

Deep, the dark twin, had hair so black it
almost had blue highlights and eyes the color of a night without
stars. They seemed to burn when they looked at her, making Kat feel
naked and vulnerable—feelings she didn’t care for a bit. She had
enough body issues from having been plus-sized her entire life
without an irritating alien male adding to them,
thank-you-very-much. The big warrior had rubbed her the wrong way
from the moment she’d met him—both literally and figuratively,
since he couldn’t seem to keep his hands to himself when the three
of them did a joining.

Of the brothers, Lock was shorter by about
an inch. But since both of them were over six foot six and
extremely muscular, it didn’t make much difference. They were both
huge as far as Kat was concerned—physically, and emotionally.

She should know—she’d had the two of them
tramping around inside her head for the better part of a month.

The constant tension of two other people’s
powerful emotions churning inside her was incredibly tiring and the
headache she’d gotten from their joining was beyond painful. Lately
she’d been feeling like she couldn’t take it anymore. Not that she
would ever commit suicide—Kat was a fighter and her grandma hadn’t
raised her to quit. But the thought of hijacking one of the Kindred
shuttles and folding space to put a couple of galaxies between
herself and the annoying pair had begun to seem more and more
attractive.

The only problem was, she didn’t know how to
fly a shuttle and she couldn’t fold space without the help of the
special Kindred technology. Besides, where would she go? Sophie had
recently visited Tranq Prime, one of the other worlds the Kindred
had initiated a genetic trade with, and she hadn’t liked it a bit.
She’d come back with stories of roach pudding and clothes that were
alive and inclined to play practical jokes that weren’t funny. Not
to mention extremely snooty natives—at least the ones Sophie had
met. No, Kat had no wish to visit Tranq Prime.

She didn’t want to go to Rageron either—a
savage world filled with blue jungles and vicious predators—which
was another Kindred trade planet. And as for Twin Moons—the home
planet of Deep and Lock—she
definitely
didn’t want to go
there. Because that was exactly where the twin warriors wanted to
take her. Earlier, on the Kindred Mother ship, she’d caught a few
snatches of thought from them that indicated they were homeward
bound—and they wanted
her
to come with them.

Not on your life!
Kat thought,
watching from above as Lock held her hand and Deep steered the
shuttle through the blackness of space.
Once they got me there,
I’d
never
get away from them. Talk about
having the home field advantage!

But where exactly were they taking her now?
As if in answer to her question, Lock spoke at last.

“Are we almost there, Brother? I fear her
pulse is weaker than it was.”

“Going as fast as I can,” Deep growled,
throwing an irked glance over his shoulder at his twin. “We just
passed through the fold. Home should be just ahead.”

“Well, go faster.” Lock’s voice was urgent.
“My touch doesn’t seem to be stabilizing her anymore. What if we
lose her before we land?”

“We’re not going to lose her. We can’t—she
isn’t
ours
to lose.” Deep spoke in a lazy drawl but his
broad shoulders were bunched with tension as he hunched over the
controls.

“I wish you’d stop pretending you don’t
care.” Lock stroked Kat’s hand. “Maybe if you’d let her know how
you really feel instead of always putting up a wall—”

“There it is.” Despite his earlier sarcasm,
Deep sounded relieved. He pointed to the viewscreen where a round
gold and green orb floated like a Christmas ornament in the
blackness of space. “Twin Moons, dead ahead. We’re almost home,
Brother.”

Twin Moons? No!
Kat was aghast.
How
had she gotten on board a shuttle with these two and
why
had they been allowed to take her back to their home
world? Where were Liv and Sophie when she needed them? The last
thing she remembered was talking to her two best friends before
everything went black.
And now I wake up dead, on my way to the
last place I ever wanted to go? Great, just
great
.

Kat didn’t know how she’d gotten into this
mess but
somebody
was going to answer for it. Just as soon
as she found out if she was really dead or only sleeping, that
was.

As she had the last thought, her vision
began to waver.

“Deep—hurry!” she heard Lock say as though
from a great distance. “I can’t feel her pulse any more!”

“Maximum drive engaged. It’s not safe this
close to the planetary atmosphere but what the hell,” Deep growled.
The tiny green and gold orb began to grow in size, filling the
viewscreen with a dizzying suddenness.

Kat’s strange, otherworldly vision was
growing dimmer, but she could still hear what was going on.

A speaker crackled to life and an alien
voice spoke loudly in the small cabin. It wasn’t speaking
English—of that she was sure. But somehow she could understand it
anyway. “Unidentified Kindred shuttle, this is Control. Be advised
that your approach exceeds upper limits of safe velocity. Please
throttle down at once.”

“No can do, Control,” Deep responded in the
same language, his big hands tightening on the steering yoke. “We
have a sick female here. Repeat, a sick Earth female dispatched
from the Mother ship and she may be…” He cleared his throat and his
voice dropped for a moment. “She may be dying.”

“Regardless of the circumstances, your
vector of approach is too steep. I cannot allow—”

“Did you hear me?” Deep demanded, overriding
the voice. “I said she may be
dying.
Requesting clearance to
land directly in the Healing Garden.”

“Negative!” The voice sounded panicked now.
“Clearance denied. Spacecraft are forbidden within consecrated
grounds. The gardens are filled with pilgrims at this time of day.
To even consider—”

“Then get them out of the Goddess-damned
way!” Deep barked. “We’re coming in
now.”

The shuttle tilted alarmingly and Kat’s
vision came back with a jolt. She saw a patch of green rushing
toward the viewscreen at alarming speed and had a blurry impression
of tiny, Barbie doll-sized figures running to get out of the way.
Then her gaze was dragged back to her own still form. Lock was
working on her frantically, doing some Kindred version of CPR that
looked exceedingly painful as he begged her under his breath to
“Live, Kat. Please,
live.”