“Will you? How can you? Taking away choices makes no one happy. If you’ll excuse me. I’m going to my rooms. Mickey? You wanted to talk?” There was pleading in the girl’s eyes when she looked at the younger of Rand’s sisters.
They were becoming friends, then, as the girl’s mother had indicated. That was good; as they were sisters-in-law now. And with the way the girls’ lives had changed so rapidly, having an ally who understood would be immeasurable.
“Of course. Rand...” Mickey stood and stared at her brother for a moment. “Well...never mind. Let’s go, Ji. Goodbye, Rathan. Try not to cause too much trouble, will you?”
Mallory followed her sister out moments later, with the information that she was to find Emily and discuss some matters with her and Joselyn.
Rathan turned to the wolf, finally able to speak freely.
“I see the girl wants nothing to do with you. I fared little better.” Rathan was now free to voice the concerns he held. Rand, he knew, would hold his counsel and could offer sound advice.
“Fair enough.” Rand’s words held derision. “I’m not sure I want anything to do with a female like her either.”
Both knew he lied. Lupoiux wanted their mates from the moment they first laid eyes upon them. Rand was going insane with desire for that young female of his.
“Still. You are mated. She’s yours.”
“So what’s the next step in your plan?” Rand leaned forward, his expression dark. “Take her? Go where? To the demon realm? Wouldn’t the brother follow you? Potentially getting himself killed—which would kill my cousin as well. I can’t allow that to happen.”
“I am considering taking her to Relaklonos, but I am not sure the results and the time it would take her to get past it are worth that action. She is the type of female, I think, who requires a male to finesse her. She is determined. This quest of hers is one she feels passionately about. Her female Kind do need medical care. You know as well as I do how fragile they are. And now that your sisters and cousins are Dardaptoan, they will need the same. She fears for her daughter’s well-being at the birth of your pups now as well. It is overwhelming her, I think. How can I deny her from doing what she must? It may mean life or death for her, your mate or sisters or cousins.”
Both males were silent for a moment until Rand spoke. “What needs to be done?”
“That is something I must discuss with my female. I will send a message to my peoples’ head healer. It may be that we need to collaborate with multiple Kinds to protect the females we care for so greatly. Because I will not stand back and watch my gamata be harmed, nor my new daughter—even at her male’s hands. Ever.”
42
Kindara accepted the hug from Aureliana and resisted the urge to cling to her best friend like a big coward.
“You ok?” Aureliana asked.
“I don’t know.” Kindara shook her head. There would be things she’d discuss with the other female after her brother Aodhan was gone. “We’ll talk later. We have other things to discuss.”
“Security on your project from now on.” Aodhan sat at the desk that the king often occupied. As one of his top advisers, Aodhan helped Rydere manage the Dardaptoan people. He had volunteered a few years ago to help Kindara find what she needed to help their people, but the last thing she wanted to do was deal with him right now.
“You choose, but no less than two guards at all times.”
“I’m not arguing. I want Aureliana and Belnus.” She named the male Dardaptoan who often accompanied Barlaam on research trips. Belnus was young—only around two hundred—but he had a keen understanding of sciences and medicine, though he was not a healer. He was also strong and foreboding with dark features and an attitude much like her brother’s. Intimidating. That had come in handy before.
“Done. Although I wish you would take someone besides Auri.”
Kindara fought the urge to snap at him. Dardaptoan males would never believe that the females were as strong as they—and in most cases, they were right, but Aureliana was an exception. She was of the Adrastos house, same as her brother, and that house was renowned for their warrior spirit.
Aureliana exhibited that spirit and had trained herself to be as fierce as any of her male relatives. “It’s Auri and Belnus or no one, Aodhan. I will need people with me who understand what we are doing, who can pull double duty if needed. Auri and Bel can both pitch in with the experiments in the field. I’m also taking Bronwen. She is young but so skilled.” One of the best Healers that Kindara had ever seen. Ever taught. If anyone could help her find the answers to what curses their Kind faced, it would be Bronwen. She had a list of other names, but those would wait until after she had a stronger game plan in place.
“Consider them yours for the duration. Provided Theo will let his sister go.” Aodhan frowned. “We were lucky with Cormac’s Rajni—we all know that.”
“But we gained something else from the attack.” Kindara thought back to the hours of research she’d spent while studying her sister-in-law’s newly changed blood. “Joselyn carried some strong antibodies. That’s what helped her. If we could duplicate those antibodies in a form older Dardaptoans could use, we may actually have a start. Mallory gave me a sample a few days before I left. She’s got the antibodies, too. I’m assuming Emily and Mickey do as well. I was planning to see, but we got a lead on that witch.”
“Mallory mentioned it. She wants to help as much as she can.” Aodhan’s face darkened. “Are they worse off as Dardaptoan than they were as humans? Would human females have more medical options, you suppose?”
Kindara hesitated. Every Dardaptoan male she had ever known obsessed over the health of their Rajnis. Aodhan was no exception. “I don’t know. I’m going to do all that I can to answer this. We are so far behind the other Kinds medically. I will change that. Somehow.”
Somehow—around raising a demon babe and trying to handle that babe’s wicked Incubi father.
“Any resources you need, we will get it, Kinney. One way or another.” Aodhan’s vow was more potent for the quiet sincerity behind it.
“Dahn Emily has pledged all the resources of Taniss Industries as well.” The sick irony was not wasted on Kindara. “They’ve years of research in medicines.”
“We’ll use it, no matter how distasteful.” Aodhan’s disgust was as deep as Kindara’s and evident on his face. “We’ll do what we must.”
“Yes, we will. Whatever we must.”
Kindara would need to do more studies and more experiments on the Dardaptoan females. Compare their results to those of the newly turned Taniss females. It would be nice if she could also get some human Taniss samples somehow as well. That was something she would have to discuss with Dahn Emily.
Jade, perhaps. Then Kindara would be able to study the closest biological relative of Joselyn. See if there were possible DNA markers for the antibody Joselyn and her cousins possessed. She believed Mickey and Mallory had a younger sister, too.
Her mind was filled with various tasks as she walked back to her chambers. The demon featured little in her thoughts; by focusing on her people’s plight, maybe she could forget him.
Not likely.
He was curled up on her bed in her private suite, waiting for her when she stepped inside. Only years of experience in high stress situations had kept her from screaming before she’d recognized him.
There was a demon king in her bed, staring at her—with hunger in his black eyes. Damn him. “Get out of my suite.”
“But they expected me to stay among the humans on the fifth floor. Clear across the hotel. As far from you as possible. That was unacceptable.” The demon sat, moving with a lazy grace that did little to hide the dangerous nature of his soul. Or the hunger in his eyes. Heat infused her senses. Lust. Damn him, damn him, damn him. “Did your meeting go well? You look stressed.”
Was that how the demon thought it would be? Him pretending to be a solicitous and caring mate. Asking her how her day had been as if nothing had
happened between them? Kindara wanted to strangle the beast right where he still lay. “Of course, I’m stressed. I’ve been abducted, seduced, impregnated, and on top of that, I am charged with saving my entire Kind from extinction.”
She spent every moment with him wanting to scream. Not even Iavius had heated her the way the demon did. With Iavius, life had been laughter.
With this demon, every moment was fire. Passion.
“Tell me what you are searching for. Is it drugs? Medications? Salves and oils? Potions? My people have a complex medical system. It has evolved over hundreds of thousands of years. I have sent word to one of my siblings to begin compiling the information for you. Joru is a bit of a scholar, though he helps lead my armies. We have lands rich with herbs that do not grow here in this wasteland the humans have made of Gaia. We already know that no race or species is immune to the power of my horns. Even yours. My new daughter mentioned painkillers; does your head still pain you? Maybe you can reproduce the mesmus. Reproduce some of our other offerings.”
“She’s not your daughter, demon.” Kindara hesitated as she started to see possibilities. Her Kind had no painkillers. Yet his ability to subdue her mind had freed her from any pain. She could not afford to overlook his offer of assistance. Her entire Kind depended on her to make the best choices for them now. “What will you gain from helping me?”
“Besides helping ensure you survive birthing our spawn? Rand’s pups? Besides aiding the Taniss family, protecting Mallory and the others? I think you underestimate my desire to protect them. They are as dear to me as my own niece, my own sister Danae, even. It’s almost as great as my desire to protect you.” His hands slipped around her waist, and he pulled her toward him. The smell of him had her lungs clenching. Heat and male mixed with a spice of some sort.
Demon spice.
So damned alluring her mouth went dry, then watered in an instant. He cuddled her head against his chest. Long male fingers began parting her hair. He rubbed her scalp slowly, the movements designed to lull her. He whispered the words above her. “Let me help you, pet. This does not have to be your burden alone. I am a strong demon warrior and King. Let me shoulder some of this load for you.”
Kindara found herself nodding before she really thought about it. Somehow, he kept getting her to agree to things without thought. That…that could prove far too dangerous. She had to guard herself against him. Somehow.
When all she wanted to do was curl up around him in her own bed—and sleep. Just have his arms around her, keeping the world at bay for a little while. Damn him.
She had to figure out what these strange gamata bonds growing between them actually meant. “I’m to leave tomorrow. Finish the journey I started. Head to Denver…I’ve made contact with another witch there—through a connection of Jierra this time. She has information I need.”
“I will accompany you.”
“I already have a guard, thank you. Two of them.”
“Still, you go nowhere without me. Inside this building is one thing, but out there...I am the high king of an entire realm, pet. You carry the next one. You are far too great a prize for me to risk you. From the moment I claimed you as gamata, you became the queen of a realm that is still mostly at war with itself. You must be protected.”
No. No, no, no. That was never going to happen. “I am no queen.”
“But you are. In every way, to me—and to the Demon Kind that I rule over.”
“No. I am a healer. My Kind needs me. I…don’t want to be queen of the demons. I have a choice, too. I will have this babe and be his mother, but you and I—we are not mates. And we never will be. I have to do this for my people. I have to.”
Thirty years. She’d worked for this for thirty years. She couldn’t just change everything because of the demon.
Or the babe.
“Show me what you need. And I will get it for you.”
Kindara just wished it was that simple.
“I need to know what is so different about Joselyn and her cousins. I need to know why we can’t create medications that work. I need ways around this. What I don’t need is to be abducted while in the middle of my search.”
His grin was unrepentant. “But I can help you with all of those things.”
“Don’t you have to return to wherever it is you came from? The three hells, perhaps?”
“Eventually, I must return to my court. I have neglected my duties for nearly five weeks now, with all that has happened with the Tanisses. I have a cousin, Phelius. He is the highest healer in the demon world. He should be at my castle by now. He has done extensive histories of all our medical knowledge and has been researching medicines and herbs and healing ways of the demons for centuries. Have you studied Demonkind at all?”
Dear Goddess, the sheer amount of research that demon would have collected…it was enough to have hope stirring. “No. We were told to avoid you all. Only the Predatoi dealt with demons.”
“Well, that will change starting tomorrow. You can deal with me anytime you wish. I will go with you to see this witch. And then…you will come with me to my world. Speak to Phelius, learn what you can. Then make a plan. And know that I will help and aid you in all ways that I can.” He stretched out over her bed. Held out a hand and beckoned, looking hard and hot and dangerous and…damn him. “Now…I’m very hungry for you, pet.”
“So order a pizza. And get the hell out of here. Don’t come back.” She didn’t want pizza. She wanted demon, Goddess help her.
“Don’t be like that. Come…feed your demon. He’ll let you drink from him in return.” He snagged her wrist and pulled her into temptation.
Goddess help her, Kindara didn’t stop him. Not even for one moment.
Not at all.
Then she drank before falling asleep with his hard, hot arms around her, holding her tight.
43
They were going to prove stubborn. Kindara knew it with one look at her brother and his little buddies. Aodhan and Rydere and Cormac were vehemently opposed to what she had just proposed.
"It may be our only hope," Kindara told them bluntly. "We're running out of time. Jierra will have twins in less than four months. I need to find something to help her survive."
Cormac flinched. He adored her daughter. Everyone knew that. "What in the three hells do you think you'll find in the demon world?"
Kindara crossed her arms over her chest. She had to appear confident instead of full of desperate hope. Or these three stooges would never agree to it.
Not that it mattered; she strongly suspected that the demon would simply open a portal opening and take her straight to his world if she asked.
But getting an appropriate team together, with experienced members, depended on this very conversation. She knew exactly who she wanted.
She was going to stack the deck as much as she possibly could—her daughter's life could depend on it. "The demon used his mesmus on me when he had me."
Her brother let loose with a vicious round of curses. Kindara just waited.
Barlaam and Thadd were at her back. Her team. Always.
Finally, Rydere looked at her. "Did he force you to feed him?"
Kindara shook her head. "What happened between the demon and me is private; but he did not force me. I wasn't coerced in any way."
"Mesmus is illegal for demons to use now," Rydere said. "Yet this demon used it on you?"
"He's the demon high king," Barlaam pointed out. "He makes the laws. Doesn't mean he has to enforce them. You know, like that law on our own books about abducting innocent females?"
Kindara smirked at the three guilty males. Then she sobered. "Nothing of this world. That's what the legends say. Well, the mesmus worked on me. When a Lupoiux injured me."
It took a few moments, but she described what had happened with the attack. "The demon slaughtered the wolf almost instantly. But he used mesmus on me because of the concussion. I slept. When I woke several hours later, the concussion was completely gone. I wasn't
in any pain after that."
Aodhan was the first to speak. "You're saying that his demon horns make a chemical that—"
"Took away the pain."
She waited as the enormity of that sank in. "The demon king postulated that medicines and herbs and magic from his world may be our way around the curses. He's contacted the head healers of his world. They are gathering to speak with me now. And he's granted permission for a team of Dardaptoans to take samples of all the herbs and plants we can find."
"I'm cautiously optimistic," Barlaam added. "There is something to what she says. The demon has offered samples of the mesmus and his Incubi blood for me to study. I've begun preliminaries. He does have antibodies in his blood that I have seen before."
Kindara looked at Barlaam in surprise. She hadn't realized that. "Where?"
"In Aodhan's female. In her, the quantity is significant. There are also signs that it is in her cousin Jade as well. She gave a sample earlier. The demon has agreed to meet with me in an hour to discuss it."
"Demon antibodies won't hurt my female?" Aodhan asked, concern on his far-too-handsome face.
Barlaam shook his head. "I don't believe so. But they might explain why she had an easier conversion than her sister and cousins. You said she took to drinking rather quickly?"
"Almost instantly."
"Like she had drank before?" Kindara asked. Aodhan nodded. "She has. Mallory was injured before, nine years ago. The demon told me that he was the one to first find her. To keep her alive that day, with his blood. Her twin was too far away to get to her. And then there were others outside that parking lot. They were waiting for Emily. Had the demon not been there that day, they would have found Mickey and Joselyn. He loves Mallory and her cousins and sisters a great deal.”
Aodhan's eyes closed. "Thank the Goddess."
"I didn't know this," Cormac said. "Do you believe this story?"
Did she? Kindara nodded. "I don't think he lied. With what Barlaam has just said, it makes sense to me. Mallory's conversion was a bit easier for her because she had already been exposed to strong blood of one of the Kinds. But I need to study everything more."
Bound To The Demon Page 16
