Chapter Sixteen
“Kat! You look wonderful!” Liv was so glad to see her friend’s face on the viewscreen she nearly squeed with joy. Beside her, Sophie was practically hopping up and down with excitement.
“Kat-woman! We miss you so much!”
“I miss you guys too. You have no idea how much.”
“I’m so sorry we let you go alone,” Sophie said breathlessly. “We didn’t want to but pregnant women can’t go through folded space.”
Kat looked startled. “So you’re pregnant too?”
“No, no.” Sophie shook her head rapidly. “But at the time I thought I might be. Because Sylvan and I had been…you know, practically every spare minute and my period was late.”
“Well don’t worry about it, I forgive you.” Kat smiled at both of them.
“But you’re okay?” Liv asked her. “You’re managing, right?”
Kat made a shooing gesture. “Don’t worry about me, girls. There’s nothing on Earth I can’t handle if I put my mind to it. Or on Twin Moons, either.”
“You look good,” Liv said, not quite truthfully. Honestly she thought Kat looked tired and not quite herself. But at least she was up and about instead of passed out on the floor—which was the state she’d been in the last time they’d seen her.
“How do you feel?” Sophie wanted to know.
“Better than I did,” Kat said. “But still not a hundred percent. The headache is gone at least.”
“That’s a start,” Liv said firmly. “So when are you coming home? Just say the word and Baird will get them to fold space.”
Kat grimaced. “If it was up to me I’d be there yesterday but…unfortunately, I can’t come back for a little while yet. There’s something I have to do—have to get—before I can leave Twin Moons.”
“What?” Liv and Sophie chorused together.
Kat laughed. “It always cracks me up when you guys do that—say the same thing at the same time. Well, it’s kind of a long story…”
“And we’ve got nothing but time,” Liv said. “C’mon, Kat—spill.”
Kat sighed and raked a hand through her long auburn hair. “God, how do I put this without sounding crazy…?”
“Don’t worry about the crazy part—that’s a given when it comes to the Kindred,” Sophie ordered. “Just talk.”
“Fine.” Kat took a deep breath. “Apparently joining with Lock and Deep the way I did, to act as their focus, ‘fractured my spirit.’ And the only cure for a fractured spirit is to form a soul bond with a willing Kindred…or two. So…”
“Oh my God!” Sophie clapped a hand over her mouth.
“You mean you’re bonded to Lock and Deep?” Liv demanded.
“Not entirely,” Kat said quickly. “Only about halfway, if that makes any sense.”
“Not a bit,” Liv said. “But go on.”
“Well, with Twin Kindred the bond comes in two halves—the soul bond which is kind of a spiritual connection—and the physical bond. Which is what you get when you have bonding sex.” Kat made a face. “And girls, you would not believe how the Twin Kindred do it.”
“One at a time?” Sophie guessed.
“One in the front and one in the back,” Liv said.
Kat shook her head. “Nope. I met a new friend here by the name of Piper who comes from Houston. And as Piper so charmingly put it, they put ‘two poles in the same hole.’”
“No!” Both Liv and Sophie were aghast. “Jillian never told me that,” Liv protested.
Kat shrugged. “Well, it’s true.”
“But that’s barbaric,” Sophie protested. “Unless they have…do they have really tiny equipment?”
“From what I’ve seen and felt, they’re every bit as endowed as all the other Kindred warriors,” Kat said dryly. “Remember how we used to joke that all Kindred were hung like Clydesdales?”
“Oh no.” Sophie looked horrified.
“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” Kat said, apparently worried by the way they were looking at her. “They have this stuff called bonding fruit that, uh, makes you more flexible in certain areas. If you know what I mean.”
“And that’s supposed to make it okay?” Liv demanded.
“I don’t know about ‘okay,’ but supposedly it keeps the whole process from hurting.” Kat’s cheeks were pink. “Not that I want to find out first hand.”
“Kat, that’s awful! You can’t let them do that to you. You have to get away from them!” Liv leaned forward, wishing she could reach through the viewscreen and drag her friend to safety.
“That’s what I’m trying to do,” Kat protested. “But first we have to find this rare flower—it only grows in a certain part of Twin Moons.”
“Seriously?” Liv raised an eyebrow at her. “You can’t come home because you and Lock and Deep are going to go flower picking together?”
“We have to. It’s the only way to dissolve the bond.” Kat sighed. “We’re going to bring it back to Mother L’rin and she’s going to make some kind of special bond breaking medicine or something.”
“Well,” Sophie said doubtfully. “I guess if that’s the only way you can get free of them…”
“It is.” Kat ran a hand through her hair. “Look, I told you it sounded crazy, didn’t I? But I have no choice. And I swear as soon as I get the stupid bond dissolved I’ll be on my way back.”
“Well, if you have to, you have to.” Sophie sighed philosophically. “Just try not to take too long. You do realize I can’t plan my wedding without you.”
“Or my baby shower,” Liv put in.
Kat shook a finger at them. “You’d better not!”
“Of course not.” Liv smiled. “So how are things otherwise? Are Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee behaving themselves?”
Kat shook her head. “I just don’t know. Lock is a sweetheart, as always. But Deep…well, Deep is Deep. And I mean that both literally and figuratively.”
Sophie frowned. “Meaning what—that you two are still fighting?”
“We have what you could call an uneasy truce right now,” Kat said. She looked behind her and then leaned closer to the viewscreen and lowered her voice. “But I found something out about him. Something he did—”
“Kat,” a deep male voice said from somewhere off screen. “The ship leaves very soon. You need to hurry.”
“Just a minute!” Kat looked harassed. “We have to leave on the flower hunt tonight and the guys are waiting outside the shuttle so I can talk to you two privately. But I guess they’re getting impatient.”
“Forget about them,” Liv said. “Tell us what you found out. Is he an axe murderer? A gigolo?”
“No,” Sophie cut in. “She said it was something he did. What did he do, Kat? Was it awful?”
“Kat!” said the deep male voice again. “We have to go now.”
Kat sighed. “Sorry, I guess I’ll have to tell you later. But believe me, you will never guess in a million years. Love you both.” She blew kisses at the viewscreen and Liv and Sophie did the same.
“Kat, just tell us—” Liv started to say but then the viewscreen went blank as their friend’s picture flickered out.
“Crap!” Sophie sounded disappointed. “What do you suppose she was about to say? What did Deep do?”
“I have no idea.” Liv frowned. “But knowing him, I’m guessing it wasn’t random acts of kindness. I just hope Kat will be okay.”
Sophie looked troubled. “I hope so too.”
Liv gave her twin a comforting hug. “I’m sure she’ll be home soon and then we can get the scoop directly from the source.”
“I guess.” Sophie didn’t sound convinced. “But I think I’ll ask Sylvan what he knows about Deep…just in case.”
Liv nodded thoughtfully. “I’m going to grill Baird too. And we can compare notes later.”
She just hoped she didn’t find out anything too awful about the dark twin’s past. If Kat was already halfway bonded to him, there was no telling what might happen to their friend.