Their Taydelaan (3 page)

large enough nor did it vibrate strongly enough to cause this sort of lingering feeling. She literally felt well and truly fucked.

“Good morning,” her sister said as Jade wandered sleepily into the

kitchen.

“Morning,” she mumbled, heading straight for the coffeepot. She

grabbed a mug off the shelf above and filled it to the brim with

steaming black nirvana. Hopefully the caffeine would wake her up

and stop her from saying anything stupid.

“You okay?” her sister asked, her voice laced with a good deal of

concern.

“Sure,” Jade managed to force out in a cheerful tone. When Kayla

narrowed her eyes in disbelief, Jade hoped she’d be satisfied with a half truth. “Just didn’t sleep very well. Miss my own bed.” Kayla

nodded slowly like she doubted her sister’s story, but fortunately she let the subject drop.

“Thank you for coming,” Kayla said quietly, and for half a

moment Jade’s brain misinterpreted the meaning of her words.

Coming? Yep, she’d done that all right. But then the actual meaning

of Kayla’s words finally registered, and Jade smiled softly.

“You’re my baby sister,” she said in a teasing tone. “Where else

would I be?”

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Rachel Clark

Kayla smiled and laid a hand over hers. “I know this hasn’t been

easy for you to understand, but they love me, and we all love our little girl, and well, it’s wonderful that you can share this special day with us.”

Jade nodded, trying desperately to hide her skepticism. “Our”

little girl? Sometimes Kayla spoke as if she truly was the child’s

mother, and as her older sister, Jade often felt the need to correct her.

But again she bit her tongue. Their relationship had been strained for a while now, and she missed the closeness they’d shared when they

were younger. If accepting her sister’s unusual relationship at face

value was the cost to having Kayla back in her life, then that’s the

price she would pay.

“So what happens at this ceremony?” she asked, trying to sound

interested instead of concerned.

“It’s sort of like a christening in a way, but not really a religious thing. More of an introduction and naming ceremony in front of our

friends and family.”

“How many people are you expecting?”

“Not many,” Kayla said as her eyes slid away from Jade. Her little

sister had never been able to lie to her, and Jade snorted in disbelief.

“That many, huh?”

Kayla had the good sense to look embarrassed and then gave her a

rough estimate. “About a hundred or so.”

Considering that Jade was Kayla’s only living family, that meant

most of the guests were either friends or from Jessica and David’s

families. Jade was about to prod for more information when the baby

monitor kicked in and a baby’s high-pitched squeal broke through.

“Sorry,” Kayla said, not looking sorry at all, “Jessica and David

are out, so I need to go change her.” Jade nodded her understanding

and watched as her sister headed out the door. There was another

advantage to a biological clock that was ticking toward the end—no

dirty diapers. Jade had never been the clucky type, so it had been easy to convince herself that she was fine without ever becoming a

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21

mommy. Even sweet little Emily with her big blue eyes and chubby

wrists hadn’t swayed her from her conviction.

She finished her coffee slowly, making sure Kayla had plenty of

time to change and dispose of any dirty diapers, and then wandered down the hallway to the nursery. Maybe she should’ve knocked, but

considering it was only her and Kayla and the baby in the house, she

felt fairly comfortable that she wouldn’t walk in on anything she

wasn’t supposed to see. Oh boy, had she been wrong.

“What the hell are you doing?” she asked before she could censor

her words. Kayla looked up, shock filling her features before she took a deep breath and spoke calmly.

“I’m feeding my daughter,” she said without taking her eyes away

from Jade’s face. She stared at her, almost daring her to show her

disapproval.

“Do Jessica and David know you’re doing that?” Jade asked in

disbelief. Until this moment she hadn’t realized just how delusional

her sister had become. But Kayla simply smiled, half laughed, and nodded. Still freaking out, Jade blurted another question. “H…how

are you doing that?”

Kayla smiled warmly and said, “Same way other mothers do it.”

“But you’re not her mother. You didn’t give birth to her.”

Kayla looked down at the child nursing at her breast and then

looked over to her sister with a sad smile. “She is my daughter. I

know that’s hard for you to believe, but it’s the truth.” She seemed thoughtful for a while and then looked at Jade apprehensively. “David and Jessica want me to explain it all to you.” She smiled as if she’d thought of something funny and then continued. “Jessica and David

just pulled up in the driveway. They want to be here as well.

Apparently,” she said with a smirk as if she were talking to someone

else in the room, “I’m liable to leave out some important details.”

* * * *

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Hours later, Jade’s mind still spun with worries. Her sister was

obviously delusional and her partners were feeding her fantasy. Hell, judging by the turnout at the naming ceremony, she’d fallen into a

cult of some kind. Many of the people present had appeared to be

trios not couples. And if that wasn’t weird enough, most of them had

children also.

The fact that Kayla’s fascination with science fiction was being

exploited and encouraged by a group of equally delusional people just made the whole thing a lot harder to deal with. Fuck, Jade had read

stories about cults like these, and none of them had been pleasant.

Once they sucked someone into their beliefs, it was damn near deadly

to pull them back out.

“Are you okay,” David asked as he sat in the seat beside her.

“Peachy,” she answered sarcastically. It probably wasn’t wise to

antagonize the man who thought he was an alien, but she couldn’t

seem to get her emotions under control. David reached over and took

her hand in his own.

“It wasn’t easy for Kayla to accept either, but we’ll help you

through it. Anything you want to know, you just need to ask.” Great,

the man was already trying to pull her into their delusional little

world. Annoyance rose strong and bitter in her throat.

“Sure,” she answered with a grin that probably looked more like

an aggressive show of teeth, “where’d you park the spaceship?”

David laughed and smiled happily. “Kayla said you had sarcasm

down to a fine art. I’m glad to say she didn’t exaggerate.” He laughed quietly to something only he understood and turned his smile back to

her. “Kayla also says that if you’d just pull the carrot from your ass you’d be a lot more comfortable.”

Jade didn’t smile. That was something that Kayla had been telling

her since the brat had grown old enough to sass her. There might only be five years between them, but their parents’ deaths so long ago

meant that Jade had been forced to grow up a lot faster than she

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23

would’ve liked. But Kayla had been barely thirteen, and someone

needed to be responsible for her well-being.

“I know you care for her,” she said to David, carefully trying to

choose her words, “but surely you can see how unfair it is to let her believe that Emily is her daughter.”

David looked slightly exasperated but smiled regardless. “I know

you don’t want to believe, but we are telling you the truth. Emily

really is the child of three parents, just like many of the others here.”

Jade glanced around the room filled with strangers milling about.

Everywhere she looked people stood laughing, socializing, enjoying

the party. Only Jade seemed to be the odd one out. “How about,”

David said, obviously not thrilled with the idea, “you suspend your

disbelief for one night and enjoy your time with Kayla. I know how

much she misses having you in her life.”

Tears prickled at the back of her eyes. She’d missed Kayla so

much over the last few years that the job that she loved and the home that she’d decorated exactly to her own tastes had both started to feel stale, boring, lonely. More than once she’d considered throwing it all away and following her sister to this less than major metropolis. But following her sister like a lost puppy had simply felt wrong, so she’d dragged herself through her day-to-day life and somewhat convinced

herself she was happy.

She nodded to David, and he smiled and wrapped an arm around

her shoulders. “Come on,” he said softly. “I know Kayla wants our

daughter to bond with her Aunt Jade.” Jade nodded and tried to be

happy even as her head screamed at her not to fall headfirst into

Kayla’s delusions.

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Chapter Four

“She’s here!” Zack said as soon as he stepped out of the car. His

Taydelaan’s essence niggled at his senses. Mitchell nodded his

agreement as they both clambered out of the car and headed into the

reception area. If they hadn’t wasted all day searching the city for the one woman who could complete them, they would’ve found her hours

ago. How lucky were they to find their Taydelaan at a Sesturian

Naming Ceremony?

Hope and anticipation were quickly replaced with disbelief as they

entered the main room and found their woman in the arms of another

man. Zack’s temper flared white hot, and the woman stiffened and

looked over her shoulder. He knew the exact moment she recognized

him, because her eyes widened, her heartbeat sped up, and her panties dampened. Good, at least he wasn’t going to have to beat the crap out of the man with his arm around her.

The man beside her dropped his arm and turned to see what

Mitchell and Zack’s Taydelaan saw. Zack finally recognized his old

friend and breathed a sigh of relief that David was happily married. It didn’t explain why he had his hands on Zack and Mitchell’s woman,

but it was a convenient way to finally learn her name.

“David,” he said through clenched teeth. He could feel the same

tension coming off Mitchell. Goddess help David if he was stupid

enough to get in their way. “Care to introduce us to your friend?”

David looked startled at first but quickly brightened when he glanced at the woman beside him.

“She’s the one?” he asked, pointing his thumb at the woman with

a wide grin plastered on his face.

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25

“Yup,” Mitchell growled.

“Zack, Mitchell, I’d like to introduce you to my sister-in-law,

Jade.”

That stopped Zack for a moment. Sister-in-law? Was their

Taydelaan Sesturian? But then the other possibility entered his head

and he breathed a sigh. The genetic scientists had assured them that

their Taydelaan was a human female, that’s why they’d spent the last

five Earth years on this backward planet searching for her.

“Kayla’s sister?” Mitchell asked in a rough voice. Zack could feel

his lover’s nervous energy. He wanted, no needed, to claim the

woman in front of them. Shit, Zack could even feel the enzyme

starting to produce in Mitchell’s body. If he’d ever doubted Jade was the one, it was well and truly settled now.

“That’s right,” his woman said as she crossed her arms and gave

him an aggressive look. He grinned at her attitude. His woman was

fire and ice, and he was going to love every moment of their time

together.

He could feel Mitchell’s caveman instincts roaring to the surface,

but it was the niggles of fear coming off Jade that had him moving to calm his lover. He slid his arm around Mitchell and held him tight

against his body, his hand running soothingly up and down his

partner’s side.

“It’s lovely to finally meet you,” Zack said as he held his hand out

for Jade to take. She looked at his outstretched arm but didn’t move to touch him.

“Finally?” she asked with an eyebrow raised to telegraph her

skepticism.

“You mean, you don’t recognize the men from your dreams?” He

grinned triumphantly as her eyes widened, but then she pulled the

reaction back under control, glanced over her shoulder, nodded as if

she’d been communicating with someone, and turned back to them.

“It was nice to meet you,” she said dismissively and turned to

leave. Mitchell practically growled beside him, and Zack gave a

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pleading look to David. After three months of sharing dreams with the woman, he already felt like she belonged with them, and to watch her

walk away like this was sending his thought processes into chaos. His confusion was nothing compared to the instincts driving Mitchell.

They’d both heard stories of forced matings. They hadn’t quite

believed the wild descriptions about the enzyme, but considering the

nearly out-of-control urges they were both feeling, the legends had to be true. Hell, at this rate one or both of them was going to do

something truly stupid, like throwing the woman over their shoulder and dragging her back to their home.

David was studying Mitchell closely, and he cast a worried glance