Tears rose to her eyes and she couldn’t force them back down. She let out a low, broken sob, her shoulders shaking in abject misery.
My life isn’t supposed to be like this! This isn’t how it was supposed to go at all!
“Excuse me, My Lady. Are you well?”
The deep rumbling voice was coming from above her—far above. Wiping her streaming eyes, Lorelei looked up to see the tallest guy she’d ever seen looming over her. It was hard to estimate when she was sitting and he was standing but she thought he had to be at least six foot seven or eight and not a skinny 6’8” either. He was muscular in all the right places with shoulders twice as broad as her own.
“Um…what?” she asked uncertainly, wondering how a guy who looked like him had ended up at the wrong end of town in her crappy apartment complex.
“I said, are you well, My Lady?” He had dark blond hair, intensely blue eyes, and the longest eyelashes she’d ever seen on a man. He was wearing tight black leather trousers, high black leather boots, and a long-sleeved, emerald-green shirt made of some heavy satiny material.
There was no mistaking it, Lorelei realized—he had to be a Kindred.
“I…I’m fine,” she told him. “Just having kind of a crappy day.” Suddenly she wondered how long the handsome Kindred stranger had been watching her. Had he seen her chasing after her car like an idiot? Had he watched her fall down and then seen her get fired too? Her cheeks began to heat in a blush—she sure hoped not!
“You don’t look fine.” He pointed at her bloody knees. “You appear to have injured yourself.”
So maybe he hadn’t seen her trip and fall. That, at least, was a relief.
“Thanks but I’ll be okay,” Lorelei told him. “It’s just a scratch.”
He still looked doubtful but appeared to let the matter drop.
“Forgive me for interrupting your, uh, crappy day,” he said with complete sincerity. “But are you Lorelei Daniels?”
“Oh my God. Yes…yes, I am.” Lorelei’s heart, which had sunk all the way down to her toes, was suddenly pounding so loudly she was afraid the handsome blond warrior would hear it. Suddenly she knew what this was all about.
He’s here to claim me—to tell me I’m supposed to be his wife, she thought and a shiver of excitement mixed with fear rushed through her. Oh my God, I can’t believe it! Me—a Kindred bride!
Like every other unmarried woman in the world, she had signed up for the Kindred Bride draft but she’d never thought her number would come up. It was just a gamble you took—like buying a lottery ticket—only you never expected to win anything.
Looks like you won yourself a huge, handsome warrior—how’s that for a grand prize? whispered a little voice in her brain.
It sounded amazing to Lorelei—although also kind of frightening.
“You’re a Kindred warrior here to claim me, aren’t you?” she asked the big male. She started to get up off the curb and he held out a hand, gallantly assisting her. Just touching his big, warm hand, so much larger than hers, made her tingle.
“Miss Daniels—” he began but Lorelei couldn’t seem to stop herself. Finally her lousy day was looking up!
“What kind of Kindred are you?” she asked him, her heart still thudding in her chest. “You don’t have golden eyes so you can’t be a Beast Kindred and I don’t see any fangs like the Blood Kindred have. But maybe they’re hidden? Are…are you going to bite me?”
She kind of hoped he would—when she’d fantasized about being claimed by a Kindred as a teenager, she’d always hoped she would get a Blood Kindred. They were almost like vampires—very sexy.
“Are we going to live aboard the Mother Ship together?” she asked. “Have you been dreaming about me? I heard that was a thing that happens with Kindred sometimes—that they dream of the woman they’re going to claim.”
“I’m sorry, My Lady…Miss Daniels, but I’m not actually here to claim you.” The Kindred cleared his throat awkwardly. “I’m, uh, here to ask for your help—in a professional capacity only.”
“Not here to…Oh. Oh, of course. I’m sorry.”
For the second or third—or was it the fourth time that morning—Lorelei’s heart fell with a nearly audible thud.
“Wow… Awkward.” She tried to laugh but it came out as more of a croak. “I’m sorry, I never should have thought that someone like…like you would want to…to…uh…” She trailed off, unable to finish.
Never should have thought that someone like him would want someone like you, whispered a little voice in her head. Just look at him, Lorelei—he’s gorgeous with that square jaw and those piercing blue eyes. And he’s muscular everywhere—I bet his muscles have muscles. And here you go asking him if he’s been dreaming about you. How stupid can you be?
Pretty damn stupid, apparently. God, she wanted to sink through the ground in mortification.
“I’m not here to claim you,” he repeated. “But I am here to hire you. If you’ll agree to my proposal, that is.”
“Hire me?” Lorelei frowned up at him as the words sank in. Was this a job interview all of a sudden? “Hire me for what?” she asked, frowning suspiciously. “All I’m qualified to do is sell skinny-minny clothes to skinny-minny women who have less body fat than a piece of beef jerky. So I doubt I’m the one you want, whatever you’re looking for.”
“Really?” He frowned in apparent confusion. “Then…you don’t have an advanced degree in Artificial Intelligence Psychology with a minor in Human/AI interface?”
“Well…yes. Yes, I do,” she said slowly. “But how do you know that about me? Who are you, anyway?”
“I am Bound-Tight of the Twin Kindred.” He put a hand over his heart and bowed in a courtly gesture that made Lorelei’s pulse speed up despite telling herself it was ridiculous. “And I’ve been studying you and dozens more like you but you’re the one I want—the only person I believe can help me.”
“Help you do what?” Lorelei asked blankly. “And if you’re a Twin Kindred, then where’s your twin?”
“That is what I need your help with, Miss Daniels.” His incredibly deep blue eyes looked earnestly into hers. “You see, my brother, Torn-Deep, has been kidnapped and modified. I need your help to get him back.”
Chapter Two
Bound watched anxiously as the lovely Elite female he had chosen to approach weighed his words. Would she help him? Goddess, if she refused him, what would he do? He was convinced she was the only one who perfectly encapsulated exactly what he needed in order to recover Torn.
“If you have a moment I can tell you more about my offer,” he said hopefully. “It pays very, very well.”
“Wait…” She frowned up at him, suspicion filling her warm, chocolate brown eyes. “You say you’re a Twin Kindred—are you trying to pay me to, uh, get kinky with you and your brother? Because I am not that kind of girl. One man at a time, thank you very much.”
Her words pierced him to the core. She was so lovely with her lush, full curves and her long wavy hair that looked brown in shadow and deep auburn in the sunlight. Her big, dark eyes set off her pale skin perfectly. She was exactly the kind of Elite female he and his brother would have been privileged to call.
Bound reminded himself sternly he wasn’t on Earth to search for a mate. His only objective now was recovering his brother. Then and only then could they think about calling a female to lie between them and bond with both of them.
If there was enough left of Torn to bond with anyone, that was.
“I promise you, I have no interest in you sexually, My Lady,” he said earnestly. “But I do urgently need your services. Will you hear what I have to say?”
The little Elite sighed deeply.
“Well, since I don’t have to be to work until never o’clock, sure—why not? Come on…” She motioned up the block to the apartment buildings. “Come on in and tell me all about it.”
“Thank you, My Lady.” Bound felt a surge of relief. She would at least listen. And hope
fully she would agree to come with him and help. He tried hard to keep his mind on the matter at hand and not watch the swaying of her full hips as they walked. Gods, she was beautiful! He had chosen well—if she agreed to his proposal.
Bound sent a quick prayer to the Goddess that she would and followed the little Elite as she opened the door to her domicile and ushered him in.
* * * * *
Lorelei knew it wasn’t smart to let a strange man into her apartment five minutes after she’d met him, but the Kindred were known to be good guys and feminists at heart. She didn’t believe the big warrior meant her any harm and she trusted her own gut instincts.
Like the instinct that made you think you were the girl of his dreams? asked a jeering little voice in her brain. God, how stupid can you be, Lorelei?
But what was she supposed to think? She’d only ever heard of Kindred warriors coming down to Earth to claim brides—none that she knew of came down to hire people with advanced, obsolete degrees for who knew what reason.
“I have no interest in you sexually,” he’d said. Ouch. Way to hurt a girl. But then, she had just accused him of wanting her to get freaky with him and his brother. Maybe she deserved it.
“Make yourself at home,” she told him as she pressed the unlock sequence and the door swung open. She was relieved that it worked—she was late on her rent too, although not as late as with her car payments. Maybe it would be a good idea to take some of her more essential possessions with her the next time she left, in case she was locked out when she came back.
“Thank you.” The big Kindred looked around her tiny apartment. It was clean, if a bit cluttered. There was a laundry basket full of clothes on the couch but at least they were clean clothes—she just hadn’t gotten around to folding them yet.
“Here.” Lorelei moved the basket and patted the sagging black leather cushion, indicating that the big Kindred—what had he called himself? Bound, that was it—indicating that Bound should have a seat on the couch.
“Thank you,” he said, folding his large frame somewhat awkwardly onto the human-sized piece of furniture. He was so big he made everything in her apartment look miniature. “Will you sit and talk with me?”
“In a minute,” Lorelei told him. “I need to find the First Aid kit.” She motioned to her skinned knees and grimaced.
She found the kit in the bathroom, behind a stack of towels, and brought it and a warm, damp washcloth back out into the living room. Seating herself on the loveseat opposite him, she made a motion with one hand as she dabbed her oozing knees with the washcloth with the other.
“All right, I’m listening. What do you want with me and my degree, which is totally useless? At least here on Earth,” she added wryly.
“It’s not useless—it will be extremely useful and valuable if you will agree to come with me.” He leaned forward eagerly, elbows resting on his knees.
“How?” Lorelei asked. “You said something about rescuing your brother who had been, uh, modified? Was he kidnapped by Skynet or what?” Catching his uncertain expression she waved her last remark away. “I mean, was he taken by some kind of sentient computer system?”
“In a manner of speaking.” He looked down at his hands. “Torn and I were on a mission to the Gamulon system around six months ago. We were at Kiva station—it’s known to be a haven for pirates and slavers but we badly needed supplies and we’re always together to watch each other’s backs. Only this time…I didn’t watch well enough.”
His handsome face twisted with misery and guilt and Lorelei felt her heart go out to him.
“What happened?” she asked gently.
“He…” Bound took a deep breath. “He was taken by V’radors while I was haggling with a merchant for a part we needed. It happened so quickly I only had time to turn the moment I heard him cry out. They were already dragging him out the door, which they barred against me. By the time I got through it…” His shrugged, his broad shoulders sagging. “He was gone.”
“V’radors?” Lorelei shook her head. “What or who are they?”
“A species who specialize in mech-droid enhancements and sentient species trafficking,” he said grimly. “They’re known to snatch a likely candidate and modify him or her to be the perfect slave—then they sell them off to the highest bidder.”
“Ouch,” Lorelei muttered. “That’s awful.” She couldn’t help thinking that life had been a lot simpler when humans had believed they were alone in the universe. Still, there was no going back now. “So you believe your brother has been, ah, modified?” she asked. “Modified how?”
“The V’radors will have added cybernetic parts to his body—possibly added a microchip to his nervous system or introduced nanobots to his bloodstream, depending on their purpose. As to what they have turned him into…” Bound shook his head. “He could be anything from a body-slave to a gladiator, fit only to fight in the Blood Ring for the rest of his days.”
“Wow…so they’ve actually messed with his mind and altered his body structure too?” Lorelei was fascinated. “They basically turned him into a kind of cyborg, huh?”
“Unfortunately, yes.” Bound looked more troubled than ever. “But it’s my hope we can turn him back to his normal, organic self. There is a surgeon aboard the Mother Ship—a Tolleg named Yipper—who specializes in adding and removing enhancements. He thinks he can help, depending on how extensive the modifications are.”
“Okay, well…” Lorelei spread her hands. “If you’re going to just get all his, uh, cyborg parts removed, what do you need me for?”
“Because we can’t remove them at once—we need to get him to the Mother Ship, which may be no easy task,” Bound said. “I need someone who can speak to the AI part of him as well as the part which is still a normal male.” He sighed and raked a hand over his short blond hair. “I fear my brother is more machine than man right now, you see.”
“Okay, I can understand that,” Lorelei said, nodding. “So…you need me to come with you to bring him home?”
“I do.” He nodded. “But…it’s a bit more complicated than that, My Lady.”
“How do you mean, ‘more complicated?’” Lorelei frowned. “What’s the catch?”
“In order to get him I need a female to help,” Bound told her. “I have word that he’s coming up for auction on Femalah—that’s an artificial moon which orbits Terrin Four. Do you know of it?”
“Um, no. Sorry.” Lorelei shrugged apologetically.
“It’s a world where females are dominant,” Bound explained. “The fact that they are selling Torn there gives me hope, at least, that he has been trained and modified to be a pleasure slave rather than an assassin or a gladiator. But even so, he may not know me.” He frowned darkly. “He may not even know himself. I’ll need your help to get him back to the Mother Ship where the surgeon can begin to undo the body-mods and hopefully reverse any neurological changes that have been made to him.”
“I guess I could do that,” Lorelei said carefully. “But do you mind if I ask why you chose me to help you with this? There are other people who have the same degree I do. Not a ton of them but you said you looked over a lot of them. Why choose me?”
“I looked at many different candidates and searched through hundreds of bios up on the Mother Ship, which has an extensive database,” Bound told her. “But only you fit exactly the specifications I need to help rescue my brother.”
“Which are?” Lorelei frowned.
“Firstly, you’re a single female with no romantic attachments. Aren’t you?” He frowned, suddenly looking worried. “The bios were several months old. So if you’ve found a mate—”
“Found a mate? You mean gotten engaged or married?” Lorelei laughed. “Hardly. The last guy I went out with conveniently ‘forgot’ his wallet and then proceeded to get sloppy drunk and vomited on my shoes before he passed out on the bathroom floor of the club we went to.” She sighed. “Hardly marriage material. But still—you said earlier that you, uh, have
no intention of claiming me and no, um, interest in me sexually.” She could feel her cheeks getting hot as she spoke but she pressed on. “So why do you care if I’m single or not?”
“Simply because it will be easier for you to act your part if you are not attached to any other male,” Bound explained. “And…” he sighed. “I also chose you because you’re an Elite. I knew that would appeal to my brother and I hoped it would help him connect with you and make it easier for you to bring him back to himself.”
“An elite?” Lorelei raised an eyebrow at him. “An elite what? I graduated with a 4.0 but I didn’t get any special title for it or anything.”
“I’m not referring to your degree.” Bound cleared his throat. “At the risk of sounding indelicate, I am speaking of your, ah…” He cleared his throat. “Of your body type.”
“My body type?” Lorelei still wasn’t understanding him. “I’m sorry, what do you mean by that?”
“In our society—Twin Kindred society—a female with full, abundant curves is known as an Elite.” Bound made the shape of an hourglass in the air with his hands. “Forgive me for picking you for such a superficial reason but you are the epitome of female beauty and my brother, well, he has a weakness for Elites.” He shrugged. “We both do, I suppose.”
“So…let me get this straight,” Lorelei said flatly. “You specifically wanted me because I’m plus-sized?”
“Plus-sized?” He frowned.
“You know—fluffy…more to love…pleasantly plump…full-figured.” Lorelei made a motion with one hand. “I could go on but you get the idea—right?”
“Oh, yes!” The confusion cleared from his chiseled features and he smiled at her. “Exactly. The fact that you’re single and you’re likely to be extremely appealing to my brother as well as your advanced and specific degree are all the things that led me to you.” He raised an eyebrow. “I hope you’re not offended by that?”
“Well, it’s a little sexist, I guess,” Lorelei said grudgingly. “But also flattering in a strange kind of way. Having a preference for plus-sized girls isn’t exactly the norm here on Earth—in my country, anyway.”