Now, after two years together on the ‘HKR Crew’ as the rest of the PD called their unit, they were more than partners—they were best friends. They spent most of their free time together—going to concerts or movies or just relaxing at home. They would order a pizza or one of them would cook a favorite dish for the other from their home world.
Stone called this their “cultural cuisine exchange program” which cracked Cassie up. It had surprised her to find out he knew how to cook but Stone had assured her it was an important skill for a Kindred warrior.
“When I Claim the female the Goddess has chosen for me, I’ll need to be able to cook for her and serve her what she likes to eat,” he had told her. “My mother taught me to cook as soon as I was old enough to stand in the food-prep area beside her, banging a tonsa fork on a volcanic cooking rock.”
Whoever he cooked for would be one lucky girl, Cassie thought, though the idea of Stone going off and marrying some strange woman always gave her a hollow feeling in her chest. She selfishly hoped he wouldn’t find the one the “Goddess had chosen for him” anytime soon. After all, how could her partner and best friend come over for movie night or go out with her to concerts if he had a wife?
Answer: he couldn’t. But so far it wasn’t a problem because of all the women that threw themselves at him—and there were plenty—he had never shown the slightest interest in a single one. So they were safe for now.
But because she knew Stone so well, Cassie could tell when something was bothering him. And right now the silence coming from the other side of the shuttle-car spoke volumes to her.
“Hey, partner?” Reaching over, she put a comforting hand on his knee. “You all right? You’re awfully quiet over there.”
“I am just thinking.” Stone’s deep voice was a troubled-sounding rumble. He looked up at her from the dispatch he was still studying. “The perpetrator cannot be a Kindred. It is simply not in the realm of possibility.”
“Why, Mr. Spock—would that be illogical?” Though Stone looked nothing like the famous Vulcan—well, maybe a little around the eyebrows—Cassie liked to tease him that, when he got serious, Stone talked like him.
But the big Kindred didn’t even crack a smile. If anything, his expression became even more troubled.
“You know it would be. No Kindred would ever hurt a female—let alone kill one. It would be sacrilege.”
“Sacrilege?” Cassie arched an eyebrow as she whipped around a semi that was bumbling along in the slow lane. “Isn’t that a pretty strong word?”
“Not at all.” Stone shook his head. “I don’t think you understand how deeply we Kindred feel about protecting our females.”
“After working dozens of Rage-kills with you, you think I don’t get it?” Cassie said flatly. “You guys think women are special because they’re so scarce in your society—which is nice. Honestly, I understand.”
“No, you don’t.” He sighed and ran a hand through his thick, dark blond hair, somehow managing to make it look sexy-messy rather than completely messed up. “You see,” he began, “We believe that there is a little bit of the Goddess in every female—a small spark of divinity that makes her worthy of devotion and worship. The idea of any male harming or killing a female, well…” He shook his head. “It turns my stomach. I would rather die myself that hurt a female—especially one I loved.”
“Wow…” Cassie shot him a sidelong glance. Stone was often quiet to the point of being taciturn and sometimes displayed so little emotion he seemed almost like a robot. But every once in a while her partner surprised her by opening up and sharing a new side of himself she hadn’t even known was there. This was definitely one of those times.
“I suppose it’s difficult for you to understand because human males murder human females all the time.” His face twisted as he spoke the words, as though they tasted bitter. “But among my people, for a male to hurt or kill a female is…it’s unthinkable. Revolting. Blasphemous.”
“I’m sorry, Stone.” Cassie squeezed his knee again, trying to be comforting. “Look, we don’t know for certain that the Kindred last seen with the victim is the killer. Maybe it’s some kind of misunderstanding—an accidental death or something. We won’t know until we look at the crime scene.”
“I hope you’re right.” Stone’s deep voice was grim. “Because if this is an actual murder of a female by a Kindred warrior…” He shook his head, apparently at a loss for words.
“It’ll be okay,” Cassie told him. “We’ll figure it out, all right?”
Stone nodded, but the troubled look refused to leave his face. If anything, it grew.
Four
Stone appreciated that his partner was trying to make him feel better, but honestly, her soft hand on his knee was more of a reminder of what he couldn’t have than a comfort.
He had loved Cassandra from the moment they met. Well, honestly, from before they met. He had dreamed of her for weeks before making the move from the Mother Ship to Earth and the first minute he saw her, he had recognized her as the female of his dreams.
So he had been bitterly disappointed to learn that she was, at that time, Joined to another.
“Why, Goddess?” he remembered asking when he had met her mate—a puny, unworthy male who thought of nothing but himself and often said cruel things to her to make her cry. “Why would you let me love a female who has already been Claimed? And by a male so deeply unworthy of her?”
Stone hadn’t known about the unworthy part on their first meeting, of course, but he had learned it during his first visit to their domicile. Cassandra and her then-mate, Keith, had engaged in a verbal conflict in their food prep area while he was in the fresher, washing his hands.
Humans always underestimated the sharpness of Kindred hearing. Even over the running water, he’d been able to hear their words. Keith had been angry about the fact that Cassandra had invited Stone to their domicile in the first place. Angry and jealous, it seemed, if his words were anything to go by.
“You want to fuck him, don’t deny it!” he’d snarled at Cassandra. “I see the way you look at him. I know what you want! You act like butter wouldn’t melt in your mouth but inside you’re a slut—just a fat slut!”
“Baby, please…” Cassandra’s voice had been shaking—on the edge of tears. “How many times do I have to tell you, I don’t look at him like that? Stone is just my partner—that’s all! I don’t feel anything but friendship for him—I could never love him the way I love you.”
Her words had been like a spike to Stone’s heart. Though he had promised himself he would leave her strictly alone as long as she was another male’s mate, he had hoped that Cassandra at least found him somewhat attractive. To hear that she didn’t—that she felt nothing for him—was a blow.
Of course, part of him realized that she was just trying to appease her jealous husband, but her words were burned into his brain anyway, making him doubt himself. He had assumed after all the dreams he’d had of her, that he and Cassandra were Dream Sharing and would eventually come together somehow—maybe years and years down the road if her husband died. But hearing her speak that way—saying she felt only friendship for him—made Stone realize that she’d never said anything about having a dream of him.
Maybe the Dream Sharing was one-sided, he speculated. It was extremely rare, but it did occasionally happen. Maybe he was doomed to live a life of unrequited love, devoted to a female who could never return his feelings.
For a while, he had wavered, wondering if he ought to return to the Mother Ship and put the pain of loss behind him. But he had made a mistake—he’d stayed long enough for his dream longings to turn into true love.
He had been keeping Cassandra at an arm’s length for months, holding onto his heart, grimly aware that once given, it could never be regained. But then came the painful dissolution of her marriage to Keith and it was clear that she needed someone to help her get through it. Her parents lived in another state and didn’t approve of the divorce
because of their religion and her little sister was on the other side of the Earth doing an internship in London. Her best friend, Lindsey, was on a cruise with her own husband.
That left Stone. Though he knew it would be difficult to be so near to the female he wanted and could never have, he had gone to her domicile the night after the divorce was final with a bottle of the best Fireflower Juice he could purchase.
Cassandra had let him in and thanked him for coming in a dull, colorless voice that hurt to hear. Stone, for his part, had no idea what to say in such a situation. Divorce was something the Kindred never went through. If you lost a mate in the Kindred culture, it was only by death—never voluntarily.
He had sat with Cassandra on her couch and poured them both a tall glass of the chilled Fireflower Juice, which had the appearance of the Earth beverage milk but the potency of 100 proof alcohol.
After downing a glass, his partner had seemed to unravel right before his eyes.
“It’s my fault,” she said, looking up at Stone with tears in her big, brown eyes. “I didn’t try hard enough to make it work.”
“It seemed to me that you were trying,” he’d said carefully. “You seemed to be, anyway—the times I observed the two of you together. I…” He shook his head helplessly. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what to say to you, Cassandra. My people don’t get ‘divorced’ from each other. Once mated, we stay together for life.”
“I know.” She sighed and looked down at her hands. “The Kindred are better at everything—from technology to relationships.”
“Our ‘relationship’ might be only friendship, but I still want to know how to comfort you,” Stone had told her. “Please tell me the right things to say and do and I will say and do them.”
For some reason, this made her laugh. It was a sad little sound but there was some genuine humor in it, which lifted Stone’s heart.
“Well, if you’re going to be my supportive girlfriend tonight, you started out right,” she informed him. “Bringing a bottle of alcohol—really strong, good alcohol—is always a great start.”
“I am glad I have started correctly,” Stone told her. “Please help me continue.”
“Well, the next step is to tell me that I’m too good for Keith and that he was a jerk and that I’m beautiful and I’ll find someone better,” Cassandra listed rapidly on her fingers.
“You are too good for him,” Stone said indignantly. “He was a puny, insignificant male unworthy of your love and affection. And, Cassandra…” He leaned closer to her, lifting her chin so that their eyes met. “You are beautiful,” he murmured. “And you will find a male who is worthy of you someday—I know it.”
“Oh…” Her heart had been pounding so loudly Stone could hear it and her pupils suddenly dilated with what appeared to him, at least, to be desire. Her scent changed too—going from muted and dull to devastatingly feminine in an instant. In other words, her body reacted to his—Stone was sure of it.
If he had kissed her then, he might have won her—might have moved past what he had heard the humans call “the zone of friendship” and into a deeper relationship.
But her cell phone had chosen that moment to ring and it had been the Captain, calling them in to investigate a homicide.
The moment had passed and with it the opportunity to be more than Cassandra’s friend and partner. She had been careful about putting distance between them for some time after that evening and had only gradually warmed back up to him.
Stone, for his part, was cautious about what he said and how he acted. Clearly he had crossed the line with Cassandra that evening and since he would rather be in her life than out of it, he had accepted the only thing she offered—friendship. And any time he thought about trying to go further, he remembered the words he’d overheard her saying to Keith—telling him that she could never think of Stone as anything but a friend—and stopped himself.
Stone sighed, looking down again at the small, feminine hand on his knee. He had heard Cassandra refer to herself as a “curvy girl” or “plus sized” on occasion, which seemed to be a bad thing, here on Earth. But she was simply what the Twin Kindred called an “Elite”—a female the Goddess had blessed with extra-generous curves. And she was still so much smaller than him that he felt he had to be careful around her. Her little hand looked like a child’s compared to his own when he took it in his.
Cassandra didn’t try to pull her hand away. Instead she shot him a sympathetic look and squeezed his fingers.
“Still worried? Look, I’m sure we’ll find out it was either a human perp or some kind of accidental death. It’s like you said—Kindred warriors don’t kill women, human men kill women.”
“I hope you’re right.” Stone gave her little hand an answering squeeze and then made himself let it go, though he would have been happy to hold it all evening. There was an easy physical affection between himself and Cassandra now that they had settled into their roles as best friends and partners—they sat close together and she often patted his cheek or rubbed his shoulders if she thought he was tense. She even fell asleep with her head against his arm during their “movie nights” sometimes.
But Stone was careful not to push it—not to get greedy when it came to touching her. If he’d had his way, he would have run his hands and mouth over every inch of her lush body, but he was well aware that Cassandra didn’t feel that way for him. So he carefully monitored how much he touched her, not wanting to make her uncomfortable and drive her away.
He wished, not for the first time, that the Goddess had sent him to a female who could return his love. But if it was his fate to live his life in an unrequited relationship, well, then he would do it.
Because he couldn’t imagine his existence without Cassandra—he didn’t even want to try.
Five
They got to the Bayshore address before the ambulance or the crime scene crew, which was nice for a change, Cassie thought. They didn’t have to warn any EMTs not to track through the crime scene.
She wondered if the owner of the house who’d called the homicide in had bothered to call an ambulance at all or if she’d just asked for the police. If that was the case, the vic must be really obviously dead with no chance at all for resuscitation.
To their left, the long stretch of unbroken sidewalk unspooled and beyond that Cassie could see the blue-gray waters of Tampa Bay. The mansion—because it really was a mansion—towered over them impressively with its perfect view of the water.
“Well, here we go,” she said to Stone, who only grunted in reply. He was back to being his silent self after opening up in the car. Cassie hoped for his sake that they weren’t going to find out the perp really was a Kindred. The idea seemed to bother her partner in a way none of the other homicides they’d worked had.
The owner met them at the front door, dancing from foot to foot in apparent agitation. She was a blonde girl dressed in expensive yoga pants and a t-shirt with a designer label that probably cost as much as one of Cassie’s car payments. She looked to be in her early twenties—too young to own the huge mansion they were in. Maybe a college student home on break, Cassie speculated.
“Hello, ma’am,” Stone began. “We are—”
“Are you the police? Please say you’re the police!” the girl interrupted him in a high, anxious voice. “I called ages ago. Oh my God, please hurry!”
“We came as soon as we got the call,” Cassie said, frowning. “We understand there’s been a homicide here?”
“Shhh! Don’t say it so loud!” The girl looked around as though someone might be watching. Actually, someone probably was—a lot of someones. Bayshore was a busy street with people biking and walking and skating up and down the long sidewalk day and night. There was even a business at the far end of it called Bikes and Blades on Bayshore that rented skates and bikes to people. It was a very popular exercise location.
“Can we come in?” Cassie asked, raising an eyebrow, since the girl was still blocking the doorway with her
skinny ass.
“Oh, yes! Yes, of course—right. Come in, come in!” The girl stepped back and gestured them frantically inside.
Her eyes widened when she saw Stone’s immense size—he had been standing several steps down when Cassie rang the doorbell. But once he was on the level with her and the girl, he dwarfed them both.
“You’re a Kindred, too, right?” she asked in a small, trembling voice, looking up at him and taking a careful step away.
Cassie frowned. This was not the usual reaction her partner drew from the opposite sex. Most women were all over him in a matter of minutes but this girl seemed frightened—her eyes were wide and her breathing was shallow as she looked up at Stone, who towered over her.
“I am, yes,” he said quietly.
“What do you mean by ‘a Kindred too’?” Cassie asked her.
“The other guy—the one who rented the house to film porn—he was a Kindred,” the girl said. “But a different kind—the ones with gold eyes and black hair—you know.”
“A Beast Kindred?” Stone asked.
“Yes—yes, that’s the one! That’s even his name. ‘The Kindred Beast,’” the girl said, making air quotes with her fingers. “That’s what he calls himself,”
“Where did he go? Is he still here?” Cassie asked.
“Oh, no!” The girl shook her head rapidly. “He left after he…” Her face twisted. “After he killed her.”
“You need to show us where the victim is,” Stone said urgently. “How do you know she’s really dead? Maybe she needs medical attention.”
“Did you call an ambulance?” Cassie asked.
“No, because she’s dead. She’s really, really dead!” And the girl burst into tears.
Playing Their Parts: A Kindred Tales Novel Page 2
