“I have to close.” She sighed and then brightened. “But I have a customer coming back that I think might really pan out. He’s interested in buying one of the Rolexes. A Yacht-Master edition I think.”
“Ooo…” Mimi leaned forward, her kindly face lighting up with interest. “And how much do those run?”
“He’s looking at one in the 70,000 dollar range.” Kate smiled. “Which means I can finally pay you all the back rent I owe.”
“Oh please…” Mimi made a shooing gesture. “You know I don’t care about that!”
“Yes, but I do,” Kate said stubbornly. “You’ve been so good to me, taking me home and letting me stay with you, even after I remembered about my mom’s house.”
“I’m glad you decided to come back to Tampa even after our little road trip.” Mimi smiled. “The apartment would have felt so lonely without you.”
“Well, there’s nothing for me in Mississippi.” Kate smiled back. “And a really good friend here in Tampa. My only friend.”
“Hey—you’ll meet new people. If you ever come out of your shell.” Mimi patted her hand gently. “I wish you could come to Pat’s party tonight. It’s going to be a hoot.”
“I bet.” Kate tried to paste a regretful look on her face but the truth was, she was more than glad to be missing the party Mimi was talking about. The good thing about Mimi was, she loved everybody. By the same token, the bad thing about Mimi was, she loved everybody.
Pat, who was throwing the party, had been over to their apartment once before. He was tall, balding, somewhere in his mid-thirties and seemed to be stuck in perpetual hippie mode. His entire wardrobe consisted of baggy, torn jeans and big tie-dyed t-shirts that couldn’t quite hide his hairy gut. He also had long, dirty fingernails and smoked pot that he grew himself in his own hydroponic garden. Kate would rather watch paint dry than go to a party at his house.
“Pat’s going to be upset you’re not there,” Mimi remarked, finishing the last of her noodles. “I think he likes you. Like, really likes you?”
“Oh, really?” Kate tried to keep her voice neutral but inside she was cringing. Now she was doubly glad she was working late tonight. Just the thought of Pat pawing at her with those big, hairy mitts and long, dirty fingernails made her feel queasy.
“Really.” Clearly Mimi wasn’t aware of the reaction she’d caused by mentioning Pat’s feelings, which was just as well.
“You know, Mimi…” Kate tried to find a nice way to say what had to be said. “When it comes to Pat, well…I really don’t feel ready to date anybody just yet.”
“Oh, of course.” Mimi put a hand to her mouth. “I’m so sorry, Kate—I swear I won’t say anything to encourage him. Are you…” Her voice dropped. “Are you still having those bad dreams?”
Kate took a last sip of her juice, trying to hide her confusion. She wished she hadn’t told Mimi about the dreams—the ones where a huge, muscular stranger with burning blue eyes was stalking her. But she’d apparently been thrashing around and crying out one night and Mimi had woken her up. The whole bad dream had come pouring out and now her friend knew everything.
Well, not quite everything. She only knew about the man Kate saw in her dreams. She didn’t know about the other thing—the Beast—as Kate had come to call it. It was somehow attached to the man but she didn’t know how. It snarled and snapped at her, its burning, silver eyes narrowed in menace and its knife-like teeth hungry for her blood.
It’s the Beast you really have to watch out for, whispered a little voice in her head. The man you could take down with a couple of well-placed shots. But the Beast…nothing’s bringing that monster down. Not once it sets its sights on you and decides you’re dinner. If that happens, you’re toast, Kate—as good as dead.
“Sometimes,” she admitted, feeling a cold chill run down her back at the thought. “But I’ll be okay. I’m just…not ready to date right now.”
“Of course not. And you don’t have to until you’re ready.” Mimi patted her arm comfortingly.
“Thanks Mimi. Did I ever tell you how sweet you are?” Kate grinned at her with genuine affection. “You’re like my guardian angel, you know that, girlfriend?”
“Aww…” Mimi’s narrow cheeks grew red. “Stop it.”
“I will not,” Kate said. “If you hadn’t found me when you did, I—”
Her voice died in her throat and a feeling of dread clutched at her heart like an icy fist.
“You what? Kate? Are you okay?” Mimi looked at her anxiously.
“I…I just…” Kate couldn’t form anything coherent to say. Across the busy, crowded food court a tall figure was standing, watching her. A tall, muscular man with dark hair and burning blue eyes.
The man from her dreams.
Kate felt like her heart was about to stop. Cold sweat broke out all over her body and suddenly she couldn’t get a deep enough breath to fill her lungs, even though she was gasping for air.
Him—it’s him! He’s coming to get me!
Her hands clenched into trembling fists and she started to see spots dancing in front of her eyes. God, was she going to black out?
No, can’t do that! Have to take control. Have to breathe!
“Kate? What is it? What are you staring at?” Mimi looked to see what had put the expression of horror on her friend’s face. But just as she turned her head, the tall man, who was head and shoulders above anyone else in the food court, somehow melted into the crowd and disappeared.
As soon as he left, Kate’s heart gave a little skip and started beating normally again. Her breathing slowed and her tense muscles began to relax.
“Nothing,” she said in a voice that trembled only a little. “It’s nothing. For a minute I thought I saw—”
“Saw what?” Mimi looked at her with genuine concern on her long face. “Seriously Kate—what? You looked white as a sheet. For a minute I thought you were going to faint or have a panic attack!”
“It was nothing.” Kate waved a hand, trying to dismiss the dark figure. “A figment of my imagination, that’s all.”
“Well…if you’re sure.” Mimi was clearly reluctant to let it go.
“I’m sure,” Kate said briskly. Standing, she grabbed her empty cup and Mimi’s tray. “Come on—break’s over. Time to get back to work. I have expensive watches to sell.”
“But—”
“And if I sell that Yacht-Master, we’ll have our own party!” Kate promised recklessly. “It’ll be amazing.”
“That sounds like fun.” Mimi seemed willing to let herself be distracted, at least for now. Kate breathed a sigh of relief. She dumped their trash in the can and they chatted lightly about possible party themes as they left the food court together. Of the tall, dark-haired man with blue eyes, there was no sign. Kate tried to tell herself he was just a figment of her imagination, brought on by Mimi’s mention of her dreams. But he’d seemed so real standing there, staring at her.
So real and so very, very dangerous.
Chapter Two
Rone watched her from the shadows of a nearby shop as she walked down the long, winding mall hallway. The shop was a purveyor of trendy Earth clothing with dim lighting and loud music blasting from its darkened interior. The harsh noise hurt his ears but Rone barely even noticed it. All of his attention was focused on the petite female with a riot of coppery curls. That was Kate all right—his sensitive Wulven nose confirmed what his heart had already known. His breath caught in his chest—Lalli! Gods, been looking for you for so long! Thought I’d lost you forever!
She’d disappeared right under his nose from the Holy Mountains on Rageron—leaving nothing but the white robe she’d been wearing. He’d searched everywhere, frantic with fear for her safety and had run himself ragged, unable to sleep at night as he imagined horrible things being done to her.
Rone’s mind kept showing him pictures of his beloved mate being tortured or raped and he couldn’t force the images away long enough to get a moment’s rest. What rig
ht had he to rest when his mate was missing? Every minute must be spent searching for her but he had searched entirely in vain, until a trip back to the Mother Ship and a meeting with Commander Sylvan had given him a clue of where she might have been taken…
“So she disappeared and left behind only the clothing she was wearing?” the Kindred leader had asked. He was the head of the Kindred Council and a very busy male but he was sympathetic to Rone’s plight, having apparently gone through something like it in the past.
“Yes, there was a strange humming sound and a flicker of light and then…then she was just…gone.” Rone had barely been able to swallow past the lump in his throat. He hadn’t allowed himself to weep after Kate disappeared and he wasn’t about to start now. He had no time for grieving—she was out there somewhere and he had to find her. Only then could he give in to emotion.
“The humming sound…the light flashing…It sounds exactly the way Sophia was taken back before we were joined,” Commander Sylvan had said, frowning.
“Oh?” Rone’s heart had leaped in his chest. “Are you certain? Do you think what happened to your mate might have happened to Kate as well?”
“The circumstances are similar but I don’t see how,” Sylvan said. “Sophia was taken by the Scourge using a molecular transfer beam they perfected.” His eyes had widened and he had snapped his fingers. “A beam I would wager is still aboard their FatherShip!”
“It still exists?” Rone asked. “But why wasn’t it destroyed after the Kindred finally defeated the AllFather?”
“It was not ours to destroy,” Sylvan had said gravely. “There is an heir—Xairn, the son of the AllFather, though he does not claim his race and has renounced his parentage. He wanted nothing to do with the Fathership but it was thought best to give him time to grieve and think before making any final decisions about it. So the Council ordered it to be towed out into deep orbit, which we did. It has been abandoned ever since. Its weapon systems were disabled, of course, but the equipment was left alone. It never occurred to me—to any of us—that someone might infiltrate it and try to use some of its resources. But maybe that is what happened to your mate.”
“Yes—yes!” Rone had clutched at the hope desperately. “Maybe someone stole Kate using this beam you were talking about—maybe she’s being held there, even now, waiting for me to rescue her!”
Sylvan had frowned again. “Gently, my friend—I do not wish to get your hopes up too high. And are you certain that Kate is waiting for you? Forgive me but didn’t you say that she seemed to have forgotten you somehow just before she disappeared?”
Rone had shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
“The blossoms she inhaled were Dream Blooms which cause a kind of temporary amnesia. But it will have worn off by now.”
“Very well. We will send a squadron of warriors with you this very day to the Fathership,” Sylvan had decided.
“We don’t have time to get a squad—we need to go now!” Rone had insisted. “Kate may be hurt…she might have been…been tortured or…” He shook his head, unable to go on.
Sympathy flashed in Sylvan’s pale blue eyes.
“My Brother, I know so very well the doubt and fear you are going through now. I too, have walked through that shadow and I would not wish it on anyone. But if someone is on the Fathership, using its abandoned equipment for nefarious purposes, it might not be safe to go alone. Come, I’ll call a squad right now and they can meet us at the Docking Bay. We will be there before you know it.”
So they had gathered a full squadron of heavily armed warriors and gone to the Fathership…only to find it abandoned.
“There is nothing here,” Sylvan said, when they had made a thorough search of the ship and ended back in the control area. “I am so sorry, my Brother.”
“Don’t be.” As they walked further into the navigation room, which was filled with delicate looking equipment, his Wulven senses had detected a familiar scent. Warm and fresh and incredibly faint yet he could smell it, still lingering like a ghost in the air. “Kate isn’t here,” he’d told Sylvan. “But she was. And look!”
Lying on the dirty metal floor was something blue—a tiny flower so crushed and withered Rone almost mistook it for a piece of discarded trash—something left behind by the now almost completely extinct Scourge. But there was another familiar scent coming from it—the sickly, sweet stench of the Dream Blooms—the ones Kate had been smelling just before she’d disappeared.
Stooping, he picked it up carefully.
“What is it? A flower?” Sylvan had bent forward to sniff the withered blossom but Rone yanked it out of reach.
“Careful! This is what stole Kate’s memory—it’s not safe to breathe its fragrance—not even in this state.”
“Then you’re right—your mate was here!” Sylvan exclaimed. “But where did she go from here? And who took her?”
“We believe it was Two, the Dark Kindred who wanted Emily dead,” Rone said in a low voice. “The trap Kate fell into was set for her in the first place—the priestess who was complicit in setting it up admitted as much, though she didn’t know who she was dealing with, only that he offered her vengeance.”
“So Kate sprang it by accident,” Sylvan remarked. “And was instantly transported here via the molecular transport beam.”
“Yes, but where is she now? And what’s being done to her?” Rone ground his teeth in frustration. “Gods, I’m going to go crazy if I can’t find her!”
“You’ll find her, my friend.” Sylvan had looked thoughtful. “I believe she may be even closer than you think. Come, let’s look at the coordinates the beam is set to.”
Rone’s eyes had widened. “You think they might have sent her back to Earth—back to her home planet?”
Sylvan looked troubled. “It’s possible. I think it depends on how much Two knows about you. If he knows you’re a Wulven…well, let us just say I wouldn’t want one of your kind tracking me and looking for vengeance. If I were Two and I took the wrong female—the bonded mate of a Wulven Kindred—by mistake, I would get rid of her. I would put her as far from me as I could because I wouldn’t want her trail leading back to me.”
Rone had gone to look at the molecular transfer beam’s settings.
“Sarasota, Florida, USA,” he read, frowning. “Do you think Kate could be there somewhere?”
“It’s worth a try,” Sylvan had said gravely. “It’s either that or try to track Two himself and I believe you have been unable to find a trace of him, correct?”
Rone had nodded heavily. The Dark Kindred who had been trying to kill Emily, the new Khalla who was also the daughter of the Kindred Goddess, had been uncannily good at covering his tracks. Rone hadn’t been able to get anywhere near him though he knew he must be out there somewhere…
“I’ll go to these coordinates and make a thorough search,” he had decided. “But the Goddess help me if she isn’t there, Sylvan. I don’t know what I’ll do…”
As it turned out, Kate wasn’t in Sarasota at the coordinates the transport beam had been set for, but the faintest possible trace of her scent had been. It hadn’t been easy but Rone had finally been able to follow her faint trail an hour north to Tampa, which was where she was living now. Living with a female roommate and working a job in this Earth establishment called a “mall” though Rone had no idea why.
He stared at her, as she moved purposefully past him, her head held high, her gaze watchful but confident. Her petite body was well covered—she wearing a long-sleeved blouse of plain black with a tan skirt that fell modestly to her knees. A tan, professional looking jacket that matched the skirt completed her look. Kate had never been one to bare her body—she was self-conscious for various reasons. Or she had been before they’d been mated and Rone had made her understand how beautiful and perfect she was to him.
After they’d been together a while, she’d begun to wear clothing that was a bit more revealing and even enjoyed teasing him which Rone fucking loved. The fla
sh of her thigh…the creamy inner curves of her breasts…all those sights meant for his eyes alone drove him to the edge. It had been a kind of game with them—a naughty little pastime that never got old.
Now, however, it appeared that Kate had reverted back to her modest pre-mated self. Her blouse was buttoned up showing not even a hint of cleavage and her skirt covered her completely without being too tight. Even so, Rone could see her lush curves through the concealing garments. A low groan rose in his throat but he swallowed it down. It had been so long and the hunger was rising in him—the intense desire that affected all mated Kindred but was especially strong in Wulvens. She was his mate—he needed her. But he couldn’t just go rushing in—not yet.
Wearily, he rubbed a hand over his unshaved jaw, feeling the scratch of stubble against his palm. He had to take this slow—had to figure out what was going on here before he talked to her.
Why was Kate here? And how could she just go back to her life here on Earth as if nothing had happened? As if they’d never met or been mated or loved each other so deeply it felt like every moment apart was an eternity? It couldn’t be that she still didn’t remember him—one of the priestesses who specialized in botany back on Rageron had assured him that the effects of the Dream Blooms would wear off in twenty-four to forty-eight hours. So what was going on?
“Kate? Lalli?” he sent tentatively through the link all Kindred males share with their mates but she seemed not to hear him.
Rone frowned. Their link had felt strange to him for the past six months—subtly wrong in a way he couldn’t put his finger on but which was undeniably there. He’d been calling and calling his mate and getting nothing in return but he’d simply assumed they were out of range. Well, maybe the building material this mall was made of was blocking them somehow—he had heard of such things and it would certainly explain why Kate hadn’t heard his mental call.