Chapter Thirty-five
Sylvan didn’t know why he did it, but after getting Sophie safely strapped in he sealed the hole in the side of the artificial asteroid before disengaging from the enemy ship. Should have just let the bastard suck vacuum and die—if he’s not dead already, he thought as the last of the sealant compound adhered to the Scourge ship’s rocky outer surface . But Sophia’s tender heart and soft plea had stopped him. How she could be so forgiving was beyond Sylvan—he was still deep in rage and ready to kill anyone who so much as looked at her the wrong way.
“Sylvan,” she whispered faintly, her teeth chattering. “I’m c-cold. Do you have a b-blanket?”
“I have something better than that.” Reaching down, he found something soft and warm and handed it to her.
“My tharp! MM2!” Sophia cuddled under the moss green tharp which folded itself around her affectionately. Almost at once her shivering stopped. “I never thought I’d be so glad to see you again,” she told it. Then she looked up at Sylvan. “Thank you for bringing it.”
“I almost didn’t bother to get it but I thought you might need it to warm you,” he said shortly. “How do you feel?”
“Better. Much better. Well…”
“Yes?” Sylvan asked anxiously.
“It’s just that…I guess now that everything’s over I’m starting to feel the, uh, Blood Fever more. My, um…parts of me are feeling really sensitive right now,” she admitted in a low voice.
Sylvan nodded. “The effects of the fever. But don’t worry—I started a compound here in the ship’s lab, using my essence and the Blood Fever vaccine as the basis.” He nodded to the back of the small ship where a counter was filled with delicate looking but surprisingly tough equipment. “I did it while I waited for Kat and Lock and Deep to locate you.”
“You did?” Her eyes widened. “They did? But…Kat said she didn’t want anything else to do with them.”
“Apparently she changed her mind so they could help find you. It was…” Sylvan pressed a hand to his eyes briefly, trying not to think of the horrible uncertainty—wondering if she was dead or alive, if he would ever see her again… “It was the longest two hours of my life, waiting to hear where you were. I had to do something to keep from going mad and I knew if… when I found you that you’d need the cure.”
Sophie frowned. “So this cure—this antidote you’ve concocted—I just take a shot and the Blood Fever will be gone? And then you and I, our lives, everything—will just go back to normal?”
Sylvan nodded. “Yes, thank the Mother. And it’s not even a shot— I know how much you hate needles or anything sharp so I formulated it as an emulsion you can take by mouth. I need to get some glucose mixture to dissolve it in but they’ll have that at the med station on the Mother ship so—”
“I don’t want it.”
“What?” He frowned. “I assure you, Sophia, it’s perfectly safe.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt that. But I’m through playing it safe with you.” She leaned forward as far as her straps would allow and placed a hand on his knee. “I want you to bite me, Sylvan. Bite me and…and do whatever else you have to do.” Her cheeks turned pink but her eyes never left his. “ That’s how I want you to cure me.”
Sylvan opened his mouth to answer but just then he caught sight of himself in the shiny, reflective surface of the blank viewscreen. Red eyes and fully extended fangs greeted him—the visage of a male still deep in rage . He tried to force his fangs to retract but they wouldn’t. Though he had rescued Sophia, the possessive need that had been raised in him by her abduction refused to die. With a sinking heart, he felt his blood burning again, the desire for her growing like a fire that threatened to blaze out of control and consume everything in its path.
I can’t take her in such a state. Can’t trust myself not to hurt her, to scare her. Besides, in order to heal her, he would have to bond her. Once he did that there would be no going back—no escape for her from his fangs, which she feared so. Because if he took her, if he allowed himself to fill her with his cock and pierce her with his fangs even once , he would never be able to stop. He would need her under him, open for him every night for the rest of their lives.
“No,” he growled, flipping on the viewscreen so that it showed the blackness of space instead of his own grotesque and frightening countenance. “I won’t do that.”
“Is it your vow holding you back? Because I release you of it,” she said softly. “I…I don’t want you to be foresworn of me anymore.”
“I appreciate that but it doesn’t make any difference,” Sylvan said stiffly. Gods, couldn’t she see how difficult this was for him? He hated to keep refusing her but it was for her own damn good.
Setting the coordinates, he turned the ship toward Tranq Prime. He wasn’t taking her back to his native planet, however. He’d had enough of his relatives to last a life time and besides, he wanted her back on board the Mother ship where he could care for her properly. The Kindred High Council were just going to have to understand.
“Sylvan—” she began, but he was already punching in a call to Baird.
“Brother.” Baird’s golden eyes were wary when he appeared on the screen. When he saw Sophia wrapped in the moss green tharp, he looked cautiously relieved. “She’s all right?” he demanded in a low voice. “She’ll live?”
“I’m fine,” Sophia answered before Sylvan could speak. “Just fine.”
Baird’s dark face broke into a grin of pure joy. “ Lilenta,” he shouted over his shoulder. “She’s all right!”
“Oh, thank God! Thank God.” Olivia came running, appearing abruptly in their line of vision. Her eyes were red and her long blonde hair looked like she’d been running both hands through it in agitation. “Sophie, are you okay?” She looked at Sophia anxiously. “Really and truly? Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m okay—really and truly, wombmate.” Sophia smiled at her twin. “I’m fine.”
“She’s not fine,” Sylvan corrected sternly. “She still has Blood Fever and needs to take the antidote I made for her from my essence. I need a glucose mixture to dissolve it in—Olivia, you know where it’s kept in the med station, don’t you?”
Olivia nodded eagerly. “I’ll have it waiting for you in your suite.”
“Good.” Sylvan nodded. “And Baird, get ready to fold space. We’re coming home.”
Baird grinned. “I was hoping you’d say that. In fact, I already got permission to create the fold. Had to call in a hell of a lot of favors but it’s ready and waiting for you.”
“Thank you, Brother.” Sylvan felt an immense sense of relief that they weren’t going to have to wait for the fold to appear. He needed to get Sophia back to the Mother ship and healed quickly so that he himself could visit the sacred grove. Another trip to the priestess to cool his burning blood was definitely in order. Even now he could smell Sophia’s sweet scent and the outline of her naked body under the soft green tharp was almost more temptation than he could bear.
“Fly straight and true, Brother,” Baird said, interrupting his thoughts. “Come home to us safely.”
“We’re coming,” Sylvan promised. He started to cut off the communication but Sophia spoke up quickly.
“Liv, I need to talk to you. Bespeak me as soon as we come out of the fold—all right?”
“Of course,” Olivia promised. Something seemed to pass between them—something Sylvan couldn’t quite catch. He frowned, but it was probably just a twin thing. Deep and Lock often did the same thing—communicating with nothing more than a look or a touch.
“We’ll see you soon,” he said and cut the link. Immediately the viewscreen showed Tranq Prime racing toward them. Hovering in space above the grayish white sphere was a deep red wound in space—the fold. “Hold on,” he told Sophia. “We’re going through.”
“Good.” She gave him a warm smile that tugged at his heart. “I want to go home.”
* * * * *
“ Sophie, are you there?” Liv’s voice popped into her mind the minute the small ship exited the fold.
“ I’m here,” Sophie sent back at once. “God, Liv, you have no idea how good it is to hear you. To be home again.”
Olivia laughed delightedly, a warm sound that echoed in Sophie’s heart as well as her head. “Hard to believe you left barely a day ago.”
“ Well it seems like a lot longer than a day, believe me,” Sophie sent back grimly. “You won’t believe everything I have to tell you. But for right now I just need a favor.”
“ Name it. Anything,” came the immediate reply.
“ Thanks.” Sophia smiled. “I just need you to hold off on getting that glucose stuff for a little while.”
Liv’s mental tone changed from agreeable to stern. “What? No way, Sophie. You’re sick—you need to take the antidote Sylvan made you. In fact, I’m in the lab
getting the glucose right now.”
“ I don’t need the antidote—that’s not the only way to cure Blood Fever,” Sophie argued. Look, how much do you know about it?”
“ I know that it’s fatal if you don’t treat it within forty-eight hours.”
“ And I’ve had it less than eight. Come on, Liv, just look it up.”
“ Hang on.” There was a short silence and Sophie pictured her sister tapping away on the info unit at the med lab. In a very short time her voice was back in Sophie’s head. “So you want him to cure you the traditional way? Do you know what that involves?”
“ I know,” Sophie sent. In the past the idea of letting Sylvan sink his fangs into her had freaked her out. But the memory of her time with the Scourge and the things she had vowed to herself was still fresh in her mind. “I’ve just been through hell, Liv,” she told her sister quietly. “I thought I was going to die and you know what I realized? I haven’t really let myself live. ”
“ Sophie—”
“ I’ve been so busy dwelling on the past, I haven’t allowed myself to enjoy the present or look forward to the future,” Sophia continued. “And I haven’t let myself love because loving someone means pain.”
“ That’s doubly true in this case,” Olivia sent dryly . “Remember Sylvan’s fangs.”
“ I remember,” Sophia sent calmly. “They’re out right now. But you know what? I’m not afraid of them anymore. I’m not afraid of him or of letting myself love him. I want him, Liv. And I don’t care if it hurts.”
“ Sophie, you’ve just been through a lot. Maybe you should take some time to consider—”
“ Do you remember when you told me you had to get to the place where you were more afraid of losing Baird than of letting him bond you?”
There was a long silence and then Olivia said, “Yes. Yes, I remember.”
“ Well I’m at that point with Sylvan now,” Sophie told her. “I want him and I know he wants me. Only he’s afraid to do anything about it—afraid he’ll hurt me.”
“ I’m a little afraid of that myself,” Liv sent. “I’ve never seen him look so scary as when you called on the viewscreen a little while ago. Those red eyes. And his fangs look so sharp .”
“ That’s because he needs me,” Sophie sent simply. “As badly as I need him. I just have to convince him to…to take me.”
Olivia sent a mental sigh. “All right—I trust your judgment. So what do you want me to do?”
“ Stall him. Meet us at the suite and tell him you’re out of glucose on this side of the ship and you’ll have to send for some more. Or better yet, offer to go get some yourself. Just say anything that will keep him in the suite with me while you ‘locate’ another supply.”
“ My, my, my. Aren’t we devious?” Liv’s mental voice was filled with admiration. “Okay, I can do that.”
“ Thanks, Liv. I owe you one.”
“ I’ll be sure you pay up later. Because you know Kat and I are going to want all the juicy details.”
“ How is Kat? Sylvan said she went back to Deep and Lock in order to locate me. Is she all right?”
“ I haven’t talked to her. According to Lock she’s resting in her suite. Apparently she left him and Deep as soon as she was able to, after they, uh, located you. Of course the minute she wakes up we’ll want to talk. We should get together later on tonight.”
“ We’ll see.” Sophie cast a sidelong look at Sylvan who was currently busy landing the ship. Besides the obvious signs of rage —the red eyes and extended fangs—there was a strained look on his face. She remembered what he had said to her before… My blood was burning. And I had no way to quench the flames. His blood was burning now, she was certain of it. He was on edge from wanting her—needing her. There would never be a better time to convince him to bond her to him. She just hoped she could manage it.
“ What do you mean, ‘We’ll see?’” Liv demanded.
“ I mean this might take a while. I think you know what I mean—or you should, anyway.”
“ Oh.” Liv laughed. “Of course, what was I thinking? Especially if you, uh, succeed in your little mission.”
“ I’ll succeed, all right,” Sophie promised her. “I’m not letting him out of that suite until he bites me. And does…everything else he has to in order to bond us together.”
Liv laughed again. “Okay, forget tonight. Kat and I will see you next week.” Her voice was suddenly sober. “Just be careful, Sophie. I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“ I do. For the first time since Burke hurt me, I know what I want—what I need— and I’m not backing down now . I’m not missing another chance to be with the man I love,” she told her sister.
“ Okay, okay—you’ve convinced me. I’m behind you one hundred percent.”
“ Thank you,” Sophie sent.
She just hoped she could convince Sylvan as well.