“And I’m Becca,” Becca said, smiling. “Oh, and this goddess bringing us a plate of scrumptious goodies is Lauren.” She nodded at a woman with creamy brown skin and the most striking amber eyes Tess had ever seen. She was coming in from the front hallway area and carrying a huge tray loaded with cupcakes, brownies, donuts, and other delicious looking baked goods. After a week spent living on alien food, the sweets made Tess’s mouth water.
“Hi, Lauren, where did you come from?” Olivia said.
“Just dropped by to say hi,” Lauren remarked. She frowned. “Hey, Sophie, is there something going on? As I was coming up to your suite, one of the lower ranking guards was right behind me. He said something about an urgent message for Sylvan.”
“Oh, who knows?” Sophie threw up her hands. “Ever since he’s gotten on the Council it seems like everything is urgent. It’s probably nothing.”
“Well, if you say so.” Lauren still looked uneasy.
“We see the baked goods but where’s the baby?” Liv asked, gesturing to the tray in her hands. “I’m dying to see her again—she’s adorable.”
“Aziza’s just down for a nap so I can’t stay long.” Lauren smiled and deposited the huge tray on the coffee table in front of the very pregnant Kat. “I just wanted to run these by because I heard Kat was dying for something sweet.”
“When is she not?” Liv said dryly. “But seriously, Lauren, you’re supposed to be still recovering from having the baby. You shouldn’t be up and around and baking everything in sight.”
“I love it,” Lauren said. “Besides, it gives Xairn an excuse to bond with Ziza. He was scared to death he would break her at first—he would barely touch her.”
“Oh, seriously? That’s too bad!” Sophie said.
“Yes, well, that didn’t last long.” Lauren grinned. “The first time she cried while I was up to my elbows in cake flour, he had to pick her up. Once he realized that he wasn’t going to drop her, he started falling completely in love with her.”
“And I bet she loves her daddy too,” Kat said, laughing.
“Let’s just say she already knows she’s got him twisted around her little finger,” Lauren said. “Not that Xairn minds—that man is absolutely foolish about Ziza.”
“I just bet.” Liv sounded a bit wistful. “I love the way Baird is with Daniel but I can’t help wishing I might have a girl next—even though I know the odds are way against it.”
“Never mind womb mate—you can borrow Kara anytime you want,” Sophie said comfortingly. “But only if you’re willing to take Kaleb too. He cries anytime they’re separated.”
“You guys, I think Tess is feeling a little left out,” Becca said gently, interrupting.
“Oh, sorry doll!” Kat exclaimed. “We’ve all just known each other forever and any time we get together it becomes a total gab fest. Just have a seat and grab a…ooh, Lauren—are those éclairs?”
“Fresh and homemade,” Lauren said proudly. “I’m thinking of selling them in the shop. Let me know what you think of them.”
“No problem!” Kat pounced on the gooey treat and took a big bite. Her eyes rolled up in her head and she moaned in apparent ecstasy. “Mmmm…”
Tess couldn’t help it—she started laughing.
“Are you guys always like this?”
“They pretty much are,” Becca confided. “I haven’t known them as long as they’ve known each other but they took me in like a little lost lamb.”
“Well we had to, Becca,” Kat protested, around a mouthful of éclair. “After all, it was my fault you ate that big slice of horny cake at my wedding that got you into trouble with Truth and Far in the first place.”
“My men—I’m mated to Twin Kindred, or I will be as soon as we plan our joining ceremony,” Becca explained to the puzzled Tess. “As a matter of fact, Garron is Truth’s half brother.”
“He is?” Tess put a hand to her throat. “Then…he has a twin somewhere?” The big warrior was so intense she didn’t know how any girl would handle two guys like him at the same time.
“Oh, no!” Becca exclaimed. “No, Garron isn’t a Twin Kindred—he’s half Kindred and half Rai’ku.”
“Half what? I’m sorry—I’ve only heard of Beast and Blood and Twin Kindred,” Tess said. “I didn’t know there were other kinds.”
“Most people don’t. And the Rai’ku aren’t really a branch of the Kindred because the Kindred High Council has refused to do a formal trade with them,” Becca explained. “That’s because they…” She frowned. “Well, let’s just say that maybe it’s a good thing you and Garron aren’t together.”
“Why? Would he hurt me?” Tess remembered the rage in the big Kindred’s jewel-like eyes. He’d looked every bit as angry as Pierce got—positively enraged when he’d learned he had been telling his secrets to a real girl and not just a Pairing Puppet. And yet, though he had grabbed her by the arm, he hadn’t squeezed or pinched or bruised her as her ex had so often done. And he hadn’t hit her, not even when he looked mad enough to punch a hole in the wall.
“Oh no, of course not! Garron is a good guy,” Becca said at once. “But that being said, he may still be dangerous. Or his Rai’ku half might be. We’re just not entirely sure he’s O’ahn. I mean, we think so but—”
“Not sure he’s what?” Tess asked. “Sorry, but this is kind of confusing.”
“I thought so too when I went to Pax,” Becca said. “That’s the Rai’ku home world,” she explained. “And it’s not exactly a nice place to visit.”
“Oh? Why not?” Tess reached for a cupcake—a luscious looking chocolate one. Everyone else was eating and talking and no one seemed to mind that she and Becca were having their own little conversation.
“Well, it’s freezing for one thing.” Becca took a cupcake too—a vanilla one with pink frosting, and began pealing back the paper. “And the inhabitants are judgmental assholes for another. Oops.” She put a hand to her lips. “Sorry for the potty mouth. Would you believe I was going to be a nun before I got mixed up with my guys?”
“Really?” Tess took a bite of cupcake which seemed to melt in her mouth. “Mmm. This is delicious!”
“Uh-huh—Lauren’s like some kind of a baking wizard. But back to the Rai’ku. You know the first time I met my mother-in-law—well, Truth’s step mother, anyway—she called me a whore?”
Tess nearly choked on cupcake crumbs.
“What? Right to your face? Why?”
“She could smell that Truth and Far and I had…” Becca cleared her throat delicately. “Had been together. The Rai’ku have this incredibly sensitive sense of smell—even better than a regular Kindred’s.”
“I can smell how hot and wet you’re getting. Can’t wait to taste your honey right from the source,” Garron’s deep voice growled in her head. Tess felt her cheeks getting hot at the memory.
“Wow, that’s…amazing,” she said weakly, taking another bite of cupcake.
“They’re extremely repressed people,” Becca said, taking a bite of her own cupcake. “And this is coming to you from a former almost-nun who was raised very strict Catholic. Seriously, the Rai’ku make the sisters in my order look like party girls.”
“How so?” Even though she knew she would never see the big Kindred again, Tess found herself fascinated by the subject of Garron’s home world.
“Well, they don’t touch each other for one thing. I mean, not at all. They don’t even hug their children.” Becca’s lovely eyes widened. “Can you imagine that?”
“That’s awful,” Tess murmured. No wonder he was so upset and kept claiming we’d done ‘forbidden’ things. If they don’t even touch each other, hugging must be a big no-no where he comes from.
“It’s just not a nice place at all.” Becca sighed. “Luckily, I never have to go back since Truth and Far and I aren’t welcome there any more. Not that I’d want to be. But enough about me…” She nodded at Tess. “What about you? What were you doing hiding out in the Pairing House?”<
br />
“And what’s it like in there?” Kat chimed in, joining their conversation. “I’ve always kind of wondered.”
“It’s pretty boring, actually,” Tess said honestly. “Although they do have some good books since all the girls—the Pairing Puppets—pretend to read while they’re waiting for, uh clients, I guess you’d call them. I got to reread Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights while I was there—there was nothing else to do.”
“So you just kind of…blended in?” Kat still sounded skeptical.
“I hid whenever I heard any ‘clients’ come in,” Tess explained. “It wasn’t hard.” She didn’t like to say too much about her experience at the Pairing House or why she had been there because she didn’t want to get her friend Di in trouble.
“But why were you there in the first place?” Liv wanted to know. She and Sophie and Lauren were suddenly all looking at Tess. “I mean, there have to be better places to hide.”
“Not where he couldn’t find me,” Tess said in a low voice. She thought of Pierce, of the mean way his green eyes would narrow just before he hit her. Of the way he always had to “punish” her for any infraction—real or imaginary.
“He?” Becca frowned. “He, who?”
“I…” Tess shook her head, realizing she’d been letting herself get a little too comfortable with her new friends. “I shouldn’t have said that. I just—”
“Excuse me, ladies.” The tall blond Kindred Garron had brought her to see—the one Tess was pretty sure must be married to the brown haired Sophie—was suddenly at her side.
“Oh, Commander Sylvan,” Becca said, looking around. “I didn’t hear you come up. Do you want a cupcake? Lauren just brought a fresh batch and they’re amazing.”
“I’m afraid I’m not here for refreshments.” The look on the blond Kindred’s face was grave and it was directed at Tess. Suddenly, she felt like the cupcake she’d eaten was made of lead.
“Is…is everything all right?” she asked. “I mean, am I in trouble?”
“I’m afraid so,” he said quietly. “Forgive me, but I’m going to have to ask you to come with me.”
Chapter Nine
“She’s being extradited back to Earth. You don’t have to worry about seeing her again.”
Commander Sylvan’s words rang in his head over and over again as Garron paced up and down the short length of his room. He never had to see her again. He ought to be happy—overjoyed—ecstatic.
So why did he feel like someone had dipped his heart in lead instead?
Stop being an idiot, he commanded himself angrily. She was hiding in the Pairing House under false pretenses. She pretended to be a Puppet and learned all your darkest secrets and then no doubt repeated them to Becca and all her friends. It’s a mortifying situation—you ought to be glad it was resolved so quickly.
But though he tried to be glad, he couldn’t. He kept seeing the frightened look in the girl’s eyes when she backed away from him—almost as though she feared he might strike her. As if he would ever strike a female! The very idea was reprehensible to him—no matter how angry he was.
I made her fear me, he thought, sinking down on the side of the bed and burying his head in his hands. I didn’t mean to do that.
Of course she feared you—you shouted and raved at her when you found out what she really was—that she wasn’t a Puppet, a little voice in his head pointed out. But is that what’s really bothering you, Garron? Maybe what’s upsetting you is the way things were before you knew what she was…before you knew she was real.
Garron tried to push the little voice away. Of course he should have known better than to think she was a Pairing Puppet. Her reactions to him—the way she was so clearly nervous about his desires—should have tipped him off. But he had allowed himself to be blinded by her delicious scent. The scent that even now, still lingered in his small room.
Not only that, she had somehow succeeded in calming the burning in his blood. As soon as he got close to her—the very moment he touched her soft skin—he had felt the urgent demands of the beast lying dormant within him begin to fade. It was almost as though she had been able to tame the dr’gin he was certain lived in him. Even though he didn’t know her, the beast within had responded to her gentle touch…
“Stop,” Garron muttered to himself. “Just stop now. It’s late and she’s gone. She’s nothing to you.”
All of that was true but most importantly, the girl wasn’t Nella. He shouldn’t even be thinking about her—not when he had vowed to remain true to the memory of his lost love.
“Forget about her and get some sleep,” he advised himself.
He let himself fall back on the bed and turned over, burying his face in the blue coverlet to try and get some rest.
That was a mistake.
The girl’s sweet, feminine scent was still strong, clinging to the coverlet like a secret perfume meant only for him. Garron couldn’t help himself—he took a deep breath, inhaling her essence as though it was a drug.
Gods! His cock was instantly hard, throbbing against the tight confines of his black flight leathers for release. His blood, which had been cooled by her touch, began to heat again with desire. Though he tried not to, Garron couldn’t help remembering how the girl had felt in his arms.
She’d been so supple and curvy—warm and soft and rounded and she’d fit perfectly against him. When their bodies had lined up, he’d been able to feel the soft crush of her ripe breasts against him and the roundness of her hips and pelvis pressed to his. Gods, he’d loved her lovely, full figure! The feel of her against him, the way she had relaxed into his arms when he held her…and then later, when he had pressed his face to her chest, the way she had stroked his hair…
I should have known she was real right then, he admitted to himself. No Pairing Puppet would have done such a thing. There had been real tenderness in her gesture. A wish to comfort and caress that couldn’t be faked by any machine, no matter how cunningly it was crafted.
Stop it! Garron rolled over on his back and threw an arm over his eyes. Just stop…you have to forget about her now. She’s gone back to Earth. And she was some kind of criminal if what Sylvan says was right. You’re better off rid of her. Remember Nella—remember your vow to honor her memory!
He tried to shut out the memory of holding the girl and breathing her scent and instead concentrate on the other things Commander Sylvan had told him.
“Apparently she’s wanted by the local police department—the authorities who keep peace down on Earth,” Sylvan had said. “I received a call on the viewscreen from one of them—a Detective Pierce Hughes. He said that Tess was wanted for some crimes she’d committed in Tampa, Florida.”
“Did he say what crimes?” Garron had been unable to help asking.
Sylvan had shaken his head. “No and I didn’t ask. But no doubt that’s the reason she was hiding here in the Pairing House—to escape prosecution back on Earth. She’s been deported now and she’s banned from the Mother Ship so don’t worry, Garron—she’s never coming back.”
“Thank you,” Garron had said. “I…appreciate your actions, Commander Sylvan.”
“I’m glad someone does.” Sylvan had sighed.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Sophia was most upset with me about the matter. She said that Tess didn’t strike her as any kind of criminal and that she’d said something about hiding from someone on the Mother Ship because it was the only place she couldn’t be found.”
“Hiding? From who?” Garron’s heart had begun beating faster for some reason.
“Who knows?” Sylvan shrugged. “I assume from the Earth authorities. Anyway, she’s going back to Tampa within the hour. So rest assured you will never have to see her again.”
“Thank you,” Garron had said again. Sylvan had taken his leave and Garron had been left alone in his room to think…or to try not to think ever since.
This is ridiculous. I need to sleep. I can’t keep thinking ab
out the girl. About…Tess, Garron told himself firmly. He rolled over again, burying his face in a pillow she hadn’t used and tried to get to sleep.
Instead he kept remembering how she’d looked in those tiny little undergarments. Her skin had been so pale and creamy against the black, shiny fabric. And when he’d kissed his way down her trembling belly to the crotch of her panties…
Garron groaned and rolled on his back again. Was he never going to get her out of his mind? She was probably gone by now—on her way back to Earth. And good riddance—she was a common criminal. Running from the law on her own planet after having committed who knew what horrible crimes.
But though he tried to picture her doing despicable acts that ought to be punished, all he could see was the full figured Earth girl spread out on his bed. All he could remember was her sweet, feminine scent and the way she’d gotten so hot and wet when he told her exactly what he wanted to do to her.
She was afraid too, though, he remembered. Afraid but aroused at the same time. Why?
Her scent had told him about both her arousal and her fear and Garron’s nose never lied to him. Had she been nervous about the forbidden sexual act he had wanted to perform on her? Even now the idea of spreading her creamy thighs and licking her plump pussy made his shaft rock hard. Or had she been fearful of something else? He flashed on the small white scar he’d found on her thigh. It had looked deliberate. Who had put that there? Why was she afraid? And why couldn’t he stop thinking of her and remember his vow to Nella?
At last, though the questions continued to circle his brain, he found himself growing tired. No, not just tired—weary…exhausted. It had been an extremely trying day. He had to get some rest. He shucked off his leather trousers and tried to get more comfortable.
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