He owed her everything—she was the other half of his soul. And he couldn’t wait to see her, couldn’t wait to hold her close and claim her.
How often had he imagined this day? How often had he pictured meeting his bride, taking her in his arms and looking into her eyes for the first time? Baird thought about how soft her body would feel against his hard warrior’s muscles. How good it would be to breathe in her feminine fragrance and know she belonged only to him. Her lips would taste so sweet and when she gave herself to him, he would fill her for hours, covering her slighter body with his larger one and taking her until his scent was all over her and any male within a fifty mile radius would know to stay the hell away from her.
Yes, that was what he needed most of all. To be inside her, breeding her, bonding her to him forever. She was his and he would never let her go…
He became aware that Sylvan was talking again. Couldn’t the male ever just shut up? “What?” he asked in irritation.
“I said you need to remember this is still a new trade. It won’t be like it is for males who call brides from Tranquil Prime or Rageron or Twin Moons. This is unknown territory for the human females—they don’t know what to expect.”
“You seem to know a hell of a lot about calling a bride for a male who swore he’d never take one of his own,” Baird snapped. When he saw the pain in Sylvan’s ice blue eyes he regretted his hasty words. He shook his head apologetically. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
Sylvan shook his head and ran the tip of his tongue over the short, sharp fangs in his upper teeth. Baird knew it was a habit he had when distressed or unhappy and he further knew that those fangs would never grow unless Sylvan found a woman of his own. Not for the first time he wished things could be different for his half brother. Even before their father had died they had always been close—spending most of their time together since neither one was mated. Now Sylvan would be left alone.
“Sylvan—”
“Baird—” They began at the same time and Baird shook his head. “Shouldn’t have brought it up. Not my business.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Sylvan ran a hand through his spiky blond hair. “You know the vow I took.”
“Yeah and I know why. But what happened on Tranq Prime—”
“Is over and done with,” Sylvan snapped. “I don’t want to talk about that, Baird. Anymore than you want to talk about the time you spent with the Scourge.”
Baird clenched his hands into fists. It was true he hadn’t been able to tell anyone what they’d done to him. It was too horrible, too fresh. He pushed it away. Now wasn’t a good time to think of it. There was never going to be a good time to think of it.
“I’m just saying—now that I’m about to take a bride myself I want you to be as happy as I am,” he said, controlling the bad memories with an effort.
“I think I’ll wait a little while before I wish myself into your position.” Sylvan said dryly. “There’s your bride, Baird. And she doesn’t exactly look happy to be here.”
Baird’s head jerked up and he stared across the large room to the large double doors. How could he have missed her entrance? Now that he was attuned to her, Baird found that he couldn’t look anywhere else. Her sweet scent tickled his nose enticingly, the warm smell of her skin mixed with the floral odor of whatever she used to wash her hair and body. Her extremely luscious body, he saw with approval. The dreams hadn’t lied, she was curved in all the right places—it was easy to see with that little bit of nothing she had on.
“Gods.” His own voice sounded hoarse in his ears. The thin outfit that draped his bride was made of fragile, almost see-through black lace. Under it the ripe curves of her breasts and the tight points of her nipples were clearly visible. And the hem of the thing was barely low enough to cover the tender vee between her thighs.
Suddenly Baird became aware that he wasn’t the only male looking at his new bride—all eyes in the room seemed to be turned to her. It didn’t occur to him that she was the center of attention because she was being flanked by two large males and was struggling every step of the way. All he could see was that others were looking at the woman who was exclusively his.
A possessive growl rose in his throat as the claiming lust came over him. At the base of his cock, the mating fist came to life for the first time in his life, swelling with heat and need just for her.
Before he knew it, he was across the room, staring down the male draft officers.
“Get your fuckin’ hands off her.” His voice was a low menacing growl. The two officers released her at the same time and backed up nervously, eyeing Baird as though he might bite. A Beast Kindred in the grip of the claiming lust was no one to mess with. Baird didn’t spare them a second thought. Now that they were well away from the human woman—his woman—all his attention was focused on her.
Gods, she was so tiny, so perfect with her long tousled mane of golden hair and her big silvery-grey eyes. Baird longed to gather her into his arms and hold her. He reached out…Only to be restrained by Sylvan just before his fingers could close over her upper arm.
“Baird, control yourself!” the other male muttered in his ear. “Can’t you see you’re scaring her to death?”
“I’m not scaring her,” Baird protested.
But just then his bride’s eyes rolled up in her head and she fainted into a little heap of black lace and long, smooth limbs.
Chapter Three
My God! The dark man! Liv couldn’t believe he was real. Couldn’t believe he was here, obviously waiting just for her. She was being dragged, protesting all the way, into the HKR building in downtown Tampa, wearing her black lace nighty, with her heel throbbing and dripping blood from the shard of glass still embedded in it and all she could focus on was the huge man at the other end of the room. At least he cleans up nice, her mind chattered irrelevantly. But he isn’t a man—he’s a Kindred warrior. And admit it, Liv, didn’t you really know that all along? Even in the dreams?
In her dreams he’d always appeared dirty and disheveled, understandable considering that he seemed to be in some kind of prison undergoing torture on a regular basis. Now that she saw him in person he looked quite different.
He’d had a haircut for one thing. The shaggy black hair on his head had been tamed to a certain extent although it was still longer than the blond crew cut of the warrior beside him. And he was wearing a high-necked, deep crimson shirt that looked outstanding against his dusky tan skin. The shirt was made of some heavy, silky material that draped across the broad expanse of his chest, clinging with loving detail to each chiseled muscle group. It was tucked into a pair of black pants tight enough to prove that Kat had been right in her earlier assessment—the Kindred were hung like Clydesdales. Liv swallowed hard and tried not to think about that. High, shiny black boots that came to his knees completed the outfit, giving him a slightly military air.
Liv couldn’t help herself—she stared. She’d been dreaming of him for six months but nothing she’d seen in her dreams had even remotely prepared her for how incredibly freaking huge he was. Tampa was a favorite stop on the Pro Wrestling circuit and as a student she’d seen her fair share of big men with ridiculous stage names come through the ER. But this Kindred male, the dark man, made even the largest guys she’d seen look small in comparison. His shoulders were immensely broad, his arms bulged with muscle and each of his thighs was as thick as her waist. His hands with their long, strong, capable-looking fingers looked big enough to palm a basketball or span an octave with no problem.
Once she’d gone down his big body, her gaze naturally swept up again, stuttering along the way over that enormous bulge in his crotch. His mouth was a full, sensual red and he had unusual facial hair—long, closely clipped sideburns that marched down to the edge of his square jaw. A high forehead, arching black brows and the familiar amber eyes that were focused intently on her alone finished the visual tour. He was looking her over too, Liv realized, assessing her the same way she was
assessing him. And from the blazing look in his eyes he liked what he was seeing.
She could almost feel him touching her with that heated gaze. Undressing her was more like it. Her nipples hardened into tight little points and her sex suddenly felt wet and tingly for some reason when he glanced at her there. It was almost like his gaze was a laser beam, burning her everywhere he looked, forcing her body to react to him.
Then everything happened at once.
The dark man strode across the room. He seemed to saunter with a slow, lazy stride but somehow he was in front of her in under a second anyway. He growled like an animal, his voice too low to understand and suddenly the officers on either side of her dropped her arms and backed away, as though they’d suddenly been confronted with a wild beast.
Liv felt like she had, too. The look in those hot amber eyes went beyond desire—there was a consuming need to devour in their liquid gold depths and she was plainly what was on the menu. She stared up at him, unable to speak, almost unable to breathe. He looked utterly ferocious—beyond terrifying. And then he reached for her.
Liv’s brain went into overload and everything went black.
When she woke up, she was lying on one of the powder blue couches that were pushed against the perimeter of the large main room of the HKR. The whole building had a slightly institutional feel to it—kind of like being at the DMV. Only here you were standing in line to get an alien husband instead of a driver’s license. But she hadn’t been standing in line, Liz thought groggily. She’d what…fainted? Had a syncopal episode. Need to lie down with my legs higher than my head, she thought, her nursing training automatically kicking in. Then she realized she was lying down, but her head was propped up on something. Something warm and hard and solid was under her cheek and a musky, masculine scent that smelled both alien and totally familiar was filling her nose.
“Easy, Lilenta.” The deep voice from her dreams filled her ears and Liv told herself she had to be dreaming again. But was she dreaming the warm, spicy scent of his skin? Was she dreaming the long fingers that stroked strands of hair away from her cheek so tenderly? Suddenly she knew where she was and what was going on. And none of it was a dream.
The dark man! Liv sat up and jumped to her feet, staggering a few steps before his hand shot out to catch her. She backed away just before his fingers closed on her wrist.
“How long have I been out?” She couldn’t believe she’d fainted in the first place—what a horribly weak and girly thing to do! But it had been so shocking, seeing what she thought was a dream turned into hard, cold reality. Well he’s certainly hard but I’d say hot describes him better than cold, jabbered a little voice in her brain. As in hotter than any guy you’ve ever been with. Liv hated that little voice but she had to agree with it—the Kindred warrior certainly put Mitch in the shade.
“You collapsed.” There was a look of concern in his amber eyes. “How do you feel?”
“How do you think I feel? I’m here against my will in nothing but my underwear,” Liv threw at him.
“So I see.” Hot amber eyes raked her body again, making Liv flush when she realized she’d practically just given him permission to stare.
“Who are you?” she demanded, pulling her thin lace robe tightly around her. “And what have you been doing in my head?”
“The dreams you mean?” he asked, as though it was the most natural thing in the world for her to dream of him.
“Yes, of course,” Liv snapped. “What the hell are those all about?”
“I dreamed of you, too,” he said simply, ignoring her question in the most infuriating manner. “It was the only thing that kept me sane.”
“I…I…” Liv had no idea how to answer this bizarre statement but the standoff was broken suddenly by two familiar voices behind her.
“Liv!”
“Olivia!”
Sophia and Kat rushed up behind her, surrounding her protectively and glaring at the big warrior sitting on the too-small powder blue sofa.
“They wouldn’t let us in at first,” Sophia explained breathlessly, wrapping her arms around Liv in a trembling hug. “We had to go back and get our ID to prove who we were. We were in such a hurry to follow you we forgot it.”
Liv realized that her twin was still wearing her Sesame Street pjs, the ones she’d gotten as a gift the last Christmas they were in high school. They were old and worn but Grover and the Count and Cookie Monster still looked pretty fresh, grinning up from the ragged t-shirt and loose pajama pants. She gave a shaky laugh and hugged Sophia back.
“It’s okay. I’m okay now that you’re here.”
“Friends of yours? Nice of them to make it to our claiming ceremony.” The deep voice behind her made Liv whirl around. He was directly behind her, looming over her and nodding at Sophie and Kat as though they were at a wedding or something. Well it is a wedding, isn’t it? Or the next best thing to it, chimed in the little voice. Liv was beginning to wish she had an ice pick so she could dig it out once and for all. Then she realized that was a crazy thought—and yet, she was in a crazy situation. How else was she supposed to react?
“I’m her attorney, you asshole,” Kat lied with abandon before Liv could say anything.
“And there’s not going to be any ceremony,” Sophia added, speaking up even though she was usually a total wallflower around strange men. She turned to Kat. “Is there, Kat?”
“I’m afraid there is.” The big Kindred warrior had a neutral expression on his face but there was a warning rumble in his deep voice. “She’s my bride. I’m claiming her today.”
“Excuse me? Claiming her? Like she was a lost piece of luggage at the airport or something?” Kat demanded.
“She’s not lost anymore,” the big warrior said with certainty. “Now that I’ve found her she’s mine.”
“Liv doesn’t belong to you or anybody else,” Sophia hissed, glaring up at him and keeping her arms protectively around Liv. “She’s my sister—you can’t step in and take her away, just like that!”
“Actually, I’m afraid he can.” The new voice caused all of three of them to swivel their heads. Another Kindred warrior with blond, spiky hair and ice blue eyes was speaking. “You made a legally binding agreement when you enrolled in the draft,” he told Liv. “Not to mention just now when the officers picked you up and you signed the contract of claiming.”
“I what?” Liv demanded. “What are you talking about? I didn’t sign anything. Did I?”
The blond Kindred held out his hand and one of the Kindred officers put a thick sheaf of papers in it. “Does this look familiar?” he asked, holding it out to her.
Liv felt her heart sink. “But I thought I was just signing to verify my uh, identity. See, they showed me this picture—”
“Let me see that.” Kat snatched the papers away and began scanning through them rapidly. Liv and Sophia watched her hopefully but Liv could feel the hope in her chest turning to despair as Kat’s pretty face grew more and more blank. At last she looked up.
“Well?” Liv felt like someone had deposited a fist sized ball of ice in the pit of her stomach.
“Liv, honey—” Kat began and Sophia began to sob.
“I can’t believe this,” she gasped, tears pouring down her face. “Can’t believe that they can just drag you out of your house without even giving you time to change clothes and force you to go with some strange man. This is horrible!”
Liv felt numb. “No, Sophie, this is reality.” But her twin’s words seemed to have had a definite effect on the Kindred warrior who was claiming she was his.
“Did you do what she said?” he growled, glaring at the draft officers that had brought her in. “You dragged her in here without letting her change or say goodbye to her family?”
The two officers looked as sheepish as six foot six males could. “Standard operating procedure,” one of them mumbled defiantly. “Allowing the subject out of your sight, even for an instant, more than doubles the flight risk.”
r /> “She’s not a subject, you fuckin’ idiot,” growled the dark warrior, his amber eyes flashing. “She’s my bride. I don’t give a good goddamn what your SOP is, if I find you’ve hurt her in any way, you’ll both answer to me.”
“I’m so sorry,” the blond Kindred said awkwardly as the dark one raked the officers over the coals. “None of this was handled very well.” He put a hand tentatively on Sophia’s shoulder and she flinched away from him.
“Don’t touch me!” she flared, shooting him a deadly glare from narrowed green eyes.
The blond Kindred’s ice blue eyes widened, then narrowed as well. “Forgive me. I wasn’t aware you’d take a gesture of comfort as a threat.” The double set of fangs in his upper teeth seemed to sharpen alarmingly.
“Okay, everybody take it down a notch.” Kat raised her voice to be heard over the babble. She looked at Liv. “First the good news. It’s only for thirty days.”
“Only thirty days?” Sophia cried, still clinging to her. “That’s a long time to be abused and molested, Kat!”
“Nobody’s getting abused or molested,” the dark warrior growled.
“Oh really? So you have no interest in having sex with my sister?” Sophia demanded of him.
Liv felt her cheeks heat. “Sophie, please.”
The warrior’s eyes flashed. “Hell yes, I’m interested and I’m not gonna deny it. She’s mine—I need to claim her. Bond with her. Can’t do that without sex.”