Chapter Twenty-three
“So you’re going to the Scourge home world?” Sophie’s green eyes were as wide as saucers.
“Apparently.” Kat took a scoop of the ultra-premium vanilla bean ice cream and plopped it unceremoniously onto the homemade chocolate chip cookie. Then she jammed another cookie on top and sighed. “If Baird can get us permission from the council.”
“He got it.” Olivia came into the food prep area and lifted her nose. “Mmm, you can smell those cookies all the way down the corridor.”
“Liv! These were supposed to be a surprise,” Sophie protested. “We’re making you homemade chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches but we’re not nearly done yet. These have to go into the freezer for at least an hour before…”
“Before what?” Olivia said, around a mouthful of cookie and ice cream. Her eyes rolled up in her head and she moaned, “Soooo good!”
Despite her inner turmoil, Kat couldn’t help laughing. “I swear, she’s getting worse all the time! Liv, honey, I don’t want to hurt your feelings but you need to ease up on the sweets or you and I will be able to swap clothes after the baby is born.”
“Uh-uh.” Liv shook her head and grabbed a napkin to wipe her chin. “That’s one of the nice things about carrying a Kindred baby—you don’t have to worry about weight gain.”
“You don’t?” Kat frowned. “Who told you that?”
“Sylvan,” Sophie said promptly. “He says when an Earth woman is carrying a Kindred fetus, she requires so many extra calories that she could live on Krispy Kreme donuts and Godiva truffles and not gain an ounce—the real problem is to keep yourself from losing too much weight.”
“Seriously?” Kat could scarcely believe it. But it was true that though she ate from morning until night, Liv didn’t appear to have gained a single pound. Which was really kind of unfair when you thought about it.
“Uh-huh.” Liv nodded and took another bite of the drippy ice cream sandwich. “Of course I try to get plenty of fruits and veggies too. But I’m not holding back on the stuff I like, either.” She turned to Sophie. “And these are heavenly. Thank you so much!”
“Well, you did say you were craving something sweet.” Sophie gave her a one armed hug since she was holding a dripping ice cream scoop in the other hand.
“When am I not?” Olivia laughed and nodded at the plate. “Well, go on you two—might as well dig in. I can’t eat them all but I might be tempted to try if you don’t help out.”
“Oh, all right.” With a sigh, Sophie put down her scoop and picked up a sandwich. “But you’re supposed to freeze them first.” She looked at Kat. “Have one. You better get them quick before Baird and Sylvan get home—Baird has a sweet tooth almost as bad as Liv’s.”
Kat shook her head. “You two go ahead. I’m not hungry.”
“Oh no.” Sophie put down her cookie at once and gave Kat a worried look. “Are you sick again? Did the pain come back?”
“And how did it go away in the first place?” Olivia demanded. “Was it that wise woman they took you to see or what? Now that you’re home and we’re finally all together again you have to spill.”
“I’m fine,” Kat told them, more or less truthfully. “I’m a little weak but there’s no pain.” Not yet, anyway. But she didn’t say that aloud—no point in worrying her friends when there was nothing they could do about it. “As for how the pain went away in the first place…well, remember that I told you Deep did something you’d never guess?”
Liv and Sophie gave each other a look she couldn’t interpret. “We remember, all right,” Liv said. “But neither Sophie or I could get anything about it out of Baird of Sylvan.”
Kat frowned. “Baird and Sylvan? How would they know?”
“I don’t know but they do—only they won’t tell us,” Sophie said. “Sylvan said he couldn’t reveal the past of another warrior or something like that.”
“Baird said the same thing,” Olivia chimed in.
Kat shook her head. “Well, it’s nice that they’re so trustworthy, but I really don’t see how either one of then could know that Deep took my pain.”
“What?” Liv asked just as Sophie said,
“He took your what?”
“He took my pain,” Kat repeated. She went on to tell her two best friends about the dream she’d had of Deep being whipped in the cave and how Mother L’rin had showed her that it was real. “So you see,” she ended in a low voice. “He’s the reason my head doesn’t hurt anymore.”
“I don’t think it’s your head we have to be concerned with right now. It’s your heart.” Liv put down her sandwich and wiped her fingers on a napkin before putting an arm around Kat. “Am I right, Kat-woman?”
“I d-don’t know.” Kat brushed at her eyes angrily. “I’m sorry—I don’t know why I let him affect me like this. He’s such a bastard.”
“He does put the ass in asshole,” Liv agreed calmly. “But it sounds like he’s not all bad.”
“He’s the reason we’re going to the Scourge home world in the first place,” Kat said, sniffing. “He doesn’t want to be bonded to me—not even partially bonded. We’re supposed to find some machine the Scourge invented called ‘the psychic knife’ to cut ourselves apart.”
“What a jerk!” Sophie said indignantly. “Don’t you listen to him, Kat. Any guy would be lucky to have you!”
“Speaking of other guys, how does Lock feel about all this?” Olivia asked. “It seems to me that he’s always in the middle of you two—that can’t be easy for him.”
“I don’t know.” Kat shook her head. “We didn’t talk on the trip back home at all. None of us. But…I’m pretty sure the two of them were fighting after our argument on Twin Moons.”
“Really? How could you tell?” Liv looked interested.
“I’d say Deep’s face was a pretty good indication. He looks like he slammed head-first into a concrete wall. And the knuckles on Lock’s right hand are all cut and bruised.”
“A fist fight?” Liv shook her head. “Really? Because I was under the impression that Twin Kindred never strike each other—under any circumstances. I think it hurts them just as much to hit their twin as it does to be hit…like they share the pain they inflict or something like that. That’s what Baird told me, anyway.”
“Well, I’d say they made an exception to the no-knuckle-sandwich-between-brothers rule,” Kat said dryly but she couldn’t help being troubled. “I guess…I guess they were fighting over me.”
“Lock loves you, doesn’t he?” Sophie said sympathetically.
Kat nodded. “And I could love him too if—”
“If Deep wasn’t in the way,” Olivia finished for her.
But Kat shook her head. “No, that’s not what I was going to say. I could love Lock—hell, I could love both of them if there was any chance of my love being returned.”
“But what about having their emotions in your head all the time?” Sophie asked. “I thought you hated that.”
Kat thought of the warm, happy feelings she’d gotten from both brothers just moments before they were captured by the natives. “It’s not so bad when they’re in a good mood. But Deep…”
“Is never in a good mood,” both Liv and Sophie said.
Kat nodded sadly. “You know, for awhile there back on Twin Moons, I really thought we were almost on the same page. I found out what Deep had done for me and then we talked and it seemed like the three of us were getting really close. Especially after—” She broke off abruptly, blushing.
“After what?” Sophie and Liv demanded together. “Come on, Kat—give.”
“Oh God, you guys, do I really have to say it?” Kat looked at them, pleading with her eyes. “You’re married women now—or practically married. You get enough hot sex of your own without hearing about my measly sex life.”
“Are you kidding me? We might get hot sex but you my friend are getting some genuine ménage a trois action,” Liv said. “Or are you?”
Kat sighed. “Well…kinda.”
“Kinda? What does that mean?” Sophie frowned. “When I think how you two pried out the details of how Sylvan healed me and marked me in that cabin…”
“All right, all right…” Kat held up her hands in a gesture of defeat. “I’ll tell all. But you can’t laugh.”
“Why would we laugh?” Sophie grabbed the platter of oozing cookie sandwiches. “Come on, let’s move this into the living room.”
“Before I start,” Kat said, once they were comfortably settled on the large leather couch. “I want to get one thing straight—what was it that you guys thought Baird and Sylvan knew about Deep before I told you about how he took my pain?”
“We told you—we’ don’t know,” Liv said and she and Sophie gave each other an uneasy look.
“It’s something about Deep’s past,” Sophie said. “Something really bad, I think. Sylvan said you aren’t in any danger from him though, if that’s any consolation.”
“Not much.” Kat’s stomach did a flip. “God, I wonder what it was? And even if Deep won’t tell me, why doesn’t Lock?”
Sophie shrugged. “Who knows? Why didn’t he tell you about how Deep had taken your pain?”
“Baird says there’s a huge stigma among the Kindred in being involved in a tragedy involving a potential mate,” Olivia said.
“A potential mate? And tragedy? That’s the word he used?” Kat raised an eyebrow.
“Yup.” Liv nodded. “It’s like a blot on their character—a shame they can never live down. Maybe Lock is ashamed to tell you about whatever it is.”
“Maybe,” Kat said thoughtfully. “Or maybe Deep won’t let him.” She sighed. “He never has wanted to let me in—not even a little bit. He blocks me constantly.”
“Well, you won’t have to put up with it for much longer,” Sophie said comfortingly. “But…do you really think it’s safe, going to the Scourge home world?”
“Baird says it’s completely deserted,” Liv said. “There was this big battle there about fifty years ago and the Kindred annihilated almost everyone living there—which were all men, by the way, since the Scourge have no females. The few that were left packed up and flew off in the Fathership. They’ve been growing more warriors in these huge, disgusting vats ever since but they can’t have any babies naturally because they have no women.”
“I wonder if that has anything to do with that weird prophesy they’re always talking about?” Sophie said in a low voice. “And with cousin Lauren. You don’t think she’s…they took her to…to…uh, replenish their race, do you? I mean, because when they had me in that ship they were talking about…about breeding and—” She broke off, clearly too upset to finish.
Olivia shivered and gave her sister a comforting hug. “I know it was awful, Sophie but it’s over now. And as for what they want with Lauren, maybe Kat can find out. That’s the excuse Baird used to the Council,” she explained turning to Kat. “You guys are going to hunt for traces of Lauren and also see if you can get any more information on the Scourge prophesy.”
“So we’re on a fact finding mission that just happens to double as a psychic soul-divorce,” Kat said dryly. “Lovely.”
“It’s better than being tied to a man who doesn’t love you,” Sophie said, straightening up. “You know that, Kat.”
“Yes, I know.” Kat sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “I thought about that a lot while we were on Twin Moons. Mostly because of, you know, my mom and dad.”
“They…weren’t very happy together, were they?” Sophie asked tactfully.
“Our house was a war zone,” Kat said flatly. “They were always screaming insults at each other, throwing things…hitting each other. That’s why I was always over at your house.” She shook her head. “I swore to myself that I would never be with a man I didn’t love with my whole heart, who loved me the same way. I can’t be with someone I’m constantly fighting with—someone who doesn’t want me.”
“Of course you can’t,” Sophie exclaimed. “Just wait until they cut you lose, Kat, and find some other nice Kindred. Try a Blood Kindred like Sylvan—they’re wonderful.”
“I would have to put in a vote for a Beast Kindred,” Olivia said, grinning. “Not only are they the best lovers, they’re the best cooks too. Baird has been making me something new every night.”
“Better than his first attempt at pizza, I hope?” Kat said, trying to smile.
Liv grinned. “Much better. Baird’s come a long way from the days when he thought fruit cocktail was a good topping option.”
Kat sighed. “They sound great and both of your husbands are wonderful men…”
“I hear a ‘but’ coming,” Sophie murmured.
“But, I’m just not interested.” Kat sighed and put her head in her hands. “I don’t know, maybe when this is all over with I’ll just go back to Earth and try to find a regular human guy. One who doesn’t force me to feel his painful emotions all the time, one without a tortured secret past, one who doesn’t freaking have to have his brother in bed with him to have sex.”
Liv snorted. “Uh, sorry Kat but that came out sounding really wrong.”
Kat waved a hand. “You know what I mean. It’s not sexual—not between them, anyway. But they seriously can’t touch me unless the other one is too, or it hurts them.”
Sophie shook her head. “That’s so weird.”
“Weirder than being bitten every single time you have sex?” Liv said, frowning. “Weirder than any of the other stuff that goes with being a Kindred bride?”
“Well, I guess not,” Sophie said, shrugging. “But you have to admit, it’s not what we’re used to.”
“Different isn’t always bad,” Liv said. “And love comes in all shapes and sizes. Maybe Deep is afraid to let himself love you, Kat. Maybe because of whatever it was that happened he feels unworthy of your love.”
Kat frowned. “He did say something about me being unattainable—like the moon or the stars or something like that.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “But then he went right back to being a jerk.”
“He went back into his protective shell,” Olivia said. “I’m telling you, Kat—I bet he loves you just as much as Lock does—in his own way.”
“Yeah? Well he could have fooled me,” Kat said sarcastically. “He can’t wait to get rid of our bond. He…” she trailed off, shaking her head. She was feeling weaker and weaker as she spoke but she didn’t want to show it.
“He what?” Sophie asked.
Kat sighed wearily. Need to get out of here and go lie down. “He—”
Just then the holo link buzzed, interrupting her.
“Oh, hang on a minute. Hold that thought,” Sophie said. She ran to the link and hit the accept button. Immediately a winking blue dot appeared about a foot above the black cube of the holo link. It slowly expanded to show the stern features of a Blood Kindred warrior.
“Excuse me, mate of my commander,” he said formally, nodding at Sophie—a gesture which looked odd since only his head was being projected. “Communications officer Bastian here. Forgive me for interrupting you at home but I’m afraid there is a planet to ship call coming in for you from Earth in the viewing room.”
“Oh?” Olivia came to stand beside her sister. “Who is it?”
“A human male by the name of Detective Adam Rast. He claims to have spoken to both your mates before, but now he wishes to speak to you as well.” He nodded at Liv and Sophie, including them both.
“Well, you can tell him to just—” Liv began.
“Wait!” Sophie put a hand on her twin’s arm. “He’s the one searching for Lauren. We’ll take it,” she told the communications officer. “We’ll be in the viewing room in five minutes.”
“Very well. I will inform him.” The holo head nodded again and then winked out.
“Why did you do that?” Olivia demanded, frowning. “What can we possibly tell him?”
“The truth.” Sophie’s face was paper-pale but she looked determined. “It’s not fair to do anything else.”
“Sophie, we can’t just—”
“Look, girls, you two are going to have to work this out between you. I’m beat.” Kat rose carefully, trying not to let them see how weak she was. She hoped neither of her friends noticed how white her knuckles were as she gripped the arm of the couch for support.
“You’re going?” Sophie asked. “But you haven’t even told us the dirty details of your time on Twin Moons yet.”
“And you’re folding space for the Scourge home world tomorrow morning,” Liv added.
“Sorry girls.” Kat tried to laugh but it came out as more of a croak and she had to turn it into a cough. “Looks like you’ll have to grill me later.”
“Kat, are you sure you’re okay?” Liv looked at her critically. “I mean, you still don’t seem like yourself.”
“Of course she doesn’t,” Sophie jumped to her defense. “Her soul is still tangled up with Deep and Lock’s. She won’t be back to her old self until she gets all that straightened out. Right, Kat?”
“Right.” Kat nodded. God, she was so tired. Have to get out of here. “And as anyone knows, a good night’s sleep is really important before getting a soul-divorce. So I’m going to hit the hay.”
Sophie gave her a hug. “We’ll be there to see you off, tomorrow,” she promised.
“You don’t have to do that,” Kat protested. “I’m sure we’re leaving at some ungodly hour.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Olivia hugged her too. “We wouldn’t miss it.”
I hope I don’t miss it either! Hope I’m not too weak to get there. Or in too much pain… The beginnings of a headache were throbbing behind her eyes ominously. Kat tried to smile. “Okay, you win. I’ll see you both tomorrow.”
It took every ounce of strength she could muster to stand straight and walk out the door as though nothing was wrong. But somehow she managed. She even managed to get to her own suite without falling over. Once there, however, she collapsed on the bed and put a hand over her eyes.
Oh God, the pain…The rusty iron spike was back, digging into her brain just behind her eyes. Kat knew she ought to call for help but the only two people who could help her were Deep and Lock.
And after the scene the three of them had been through on Twin Moons, she knew she would rather die than ask. We’re getting our divorce tomorrow, she told herself, gritting her teeth. Surely I can make it until then…She hoped.