Chapter Nine
“Tell me why you are here, Warrior.” The priestess who was attending him had the green streaked hair and green-within-green eyes of her kind. She was younger than most and had a compassionate way about her, for which Rone was grateful. Some of the older priestesses could be stern and unsympathetic. He supposed most of them had seen much too deeply into the hearts and minds of too many males. Doubtless that would make anyone cynical, after a while.
“My mate has forgotten me,” he said, deciding to cut to the heart of the issue. “Our bond is broken—or if not broken, then completely buried. I am nothing to her now—less than nothing for she fears and shuns me.”
The priestess frowned. “This is a very strange statement. Explain.”
Rone opened his mouth but she shook her head.
“No, wait—better that I simply Look Into you. I will understand more completely that way.”
Rone didn’t like this but he had been expecting it. He sank to his knees before the priestess without complaint and looked up into her green-on-green eyes.
“Now, Warrior, open your mind and let me in.”
Lightly, she placed her fingertips against his temples and then he was flooded with the strange sensation of someone else rifling through the contents of his brain.
The priestess had a light touch—he would give her that. But it was still very uncomfortable to have someone else sifting through his memories like sand, as though they were looking for shells at the seaside. The process seemed to go on forever but at last the priestess pulled away.
“Ah, the pain,” she moaned softly, putting a hand to her heart. “First the agony of losing the one you loved more than your own life and not knowing if she was alive or dead. Then the anguish of finding her only to discover that she has lost her memory and her love for you. It overwhelming.”
“I’m sorry!” Rone looked up at her anxiously. “I fear my sorrow has been too much for you to bear.”
“No—no. Give me a moment. I will be all right.” The priestess steadied herself and took a deep breath. “The experience was just…intense.”
“It’s almost more than I can bear myself,” Rone admitted in a low voice. “I love her so much, your holiness. And she…she doesn’t even know me. Nor does she wish to. She fears me.”
“She fears the Beast within you,” the priestess said. “She senses the threat it poses for it was never tamed to her hand.”
“That’s true,” Rone acknowledged heavily. “I thought she was too small and fragile and…and I was afraid I would hurt her in my fur-form.” He looked at the priestess earnestly. “You have to understand, I would rather cut off my right hand than hurt or frighten her. I…could not bear the thought of my Beast savaging her.”
“She is stronger than you think,” the priestess said. “If you are granted the chance to renew your bond, you must not hold back again. She must tame your Beast.”
“No!” Rone shook his head. “Never—I can’t risk that.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Not that it looks likely I’ll get a chance. I told you, she wants nothing to do with me.”
“You must have patience,” the priestess told him. “The Goddess is working in this situation, Warrior. I swear to you that her hand is on both you and your mate.”
“I will try to be patient, even though I don’t understand why this is happening,” Rone said. “But council isn’t the only reason I came to you. There’s also the problem of my…my…”
“Go on.” The priestess looked at him serenely. “You may speak anything you wish to me, Warrior. I will not be offended.”
“My hunger, all right?” Rone burst out. “I haven’t touched my mate in six solar months and even now that I’ve found her, I still can’t touch her. I ache every time I see her—her soft, pink lips…her long, beautiful hair…her curvy body… I need to hold her and touch her and taste her so badly but I can’t.” He put his head down, embarrassed at his outburst. But he hadn’t been able to help it—everything had just come rushing out. “Please,” he begged in a low, ragged voice. “Can you… will you cool my blood, your holiness?”
“I feel your pain deeply, Warrior,” she said quietly. “And yet the hunger of a Wulven runs deeper and stronger than the ordinary lust of any other Kindred male. Still, I will do what I can to damp the fire that burns you, body and soul. I pray it will be enough.”
“It will have to be,” Rone muttered, thinking again of the way Kate flinched away from him every time he came near her. “I don’t know what else to do…what else to try.”
“Simply talk to her. Woo her as you did when you first met her,” the priestess suggested.
Rone sighed raggedly. “Yes, but when I first met her, she didn’t fear me. She sensed my Beast and she knew it was dangerous, but she wasn’t afraid of me—in fact, she was one of the only people I’d met on Earth who wasn’t. She was fearless and she wouldn’t leave me alone until she found out what I was. In the process…we fell in love.”
“You will have that love again,” the priestess promised. “Although you may have to sacrifice much to find it.”
“Anything,” Rone promised hoarsely. “I would give anything to hold Kate in my arms again. To kiss her…to touch and taste and love her. To worship her as she deserves to be worshiped.”
“A very strong vow and one you will certainly be called upon to keep,” the priestess murmured. “Now calm yourself and let me do what I can to ease your ache.” She pressed cool fingertips to his temples once more and prayed softly.
“Oh, Goddess, we do not know why this warrior must endure the pain and sorrow that have been given to him to bear. But we know that you love all of your children and that you are close to the broken in spirit. Please, guide this warrior towards the path of understanding and heal him. Cool his blood and allow him to endure whatever may come.”
Rone felt a soothing calm wash over his soul—as though someone had poured cool water over his aching brain and quenched some of the fire around his burning heart.
“Thank you,” he whispered hoarsely as the priestess withdrew her fingertips. “Thank you for your help.”
She looked at him, obviously troubled.
“I fear it will not last for long. But I hope that it will be long enough for you to break at least some of the barriers that stand between you and your mate. Go in peace, Warrior.”
She backed away, disappearing with a rustle into the purple and green branches of the sacred trees that filled the grove. Rone watched her go, grateful for her intervention.
Just then, he thought he heard another rustling behind him but when he turned his head, there was no one there. Well, it was probably just another priestess, helping someone else. It was time he got back to the suite he shared with Kate and tried to get some sleep. As if he could sleep knowing she was in the same suite with him while he was unable to hold or touch her.
Oh Kate, he thought sadly, getting to his feet. Oh, Lalli—miss you so much. Need to hold you in my arms and feel your soft little body curled against mine. Need to love you and protect you and taste your sweet honey until you moan and cry for more, until you beg for my tongue inside you as you used to do…
But there was no use thinking such things. For now, at least, he and Kate were estranged. Maybe tomorrow when the lab analysis of the Dream Blooms was complete they would have some answers. In the meantime, he needed to be patient, as the priestess had said and just bide his time.
He just hoped the burning in his blood didn’t return before they solved this problem. If the hunger returned before he and Kate were reconciled, he didn’t know what he would do.
* * * * *
Kate turned over on her side and stared out into the darkened room. She was alone in the big bed—Rone had insisted on taking the couch in the living area, even though Kate had pointed out she would fit on it much better than he would. But he had absolutely refused, saying she should have the bedroom to herself.
Maybe he thought it would be too painful to sleep alone in a bed he remembers sharing with me. Of course, she had no such memories. So here she was, feeling tiny and alone in the huge bed while he was sleeping in the other room.
As if I’d want him in bed with me! Kate told herself. The panic reaction would probably be so bad she wouldn’t get a minute of sleep. And yet…somehow she wished it wasn’t so. Wished she didn’t feel too frightened of him to at least be near him.
She turned over restlessly, pressing her face into the pillow. There was a warm scent on the case—a dark, masculine spice that reminded her of fur and leather and some kind of fresh cut wood—cedar maybe. What was that? Was it Rone’s scent? He’d said something about how they had forgotten to change the sheets the last time they were in the Mother Ship together. But that had apparently been more than six months ago. Could his scent linger that long? Or was she specially attuned to it somehow?
Kate didn’t have any answers. She turned over again, her mind going back to the scene she’d watched in the Sacred Grove that evening. After Rone had left, she had felt compelled to follow him—at a safe distance, of course. She’d been a little afraid of losing her way but though her memory of the ship was still nonexistent, her sense of direction had finally kicked in. She’d gotten to the center of the ship where the holy green and purple trees grew and had hidden herself among them and watched as Rone consulted with one of the priestesses.
Kate had been shocked and concerned by what she had seen. Clearly when the priestess “Looked Into” him, it had been a very invasive and uncomfortable experience. Yet Rone had been willing to endure it, for her. And it wasn’t just what he had gone through…some of his words still rang in her head and wouldn’t leave her alone.
“I would give anything to hold Kate in my arms again. To kiss her…to touch and taste and love her. To worship her as she deserves to be worshiped,” he had told the priestess and Kate had heard the sincerity in his deep voice.
He loves me, she thought, tossing restlessly again. Really loves me. And I can’t even stand to be near him.
It made her feel so guilty she could hardly lie still and the guilt, in turn, made her feel defensive and angry. She hadn’t asked to lose her memory or be stolen away from the man she supposedly loved. Just as she hadn’t asked to have a huge, handsome Kindred husband she couldn’t remember show up out of the blue, wanting to resume their relationship where they’d left off even though she couldn’t recall ever seeing him before. A husband she couldn’t even bear to touch because of the panic she felt when she was near him. It was all like some cruel, elaborate prank someone was pulling on her and there was nothing she could do about it.
But that wasn’t the only thing that was bothering her. She wondered about something else Rone had said too. About his Beast…and about the hunger. What was he talking about when he asked the priestess to cool his blood? And what was the hunger anyway? What was he hungry for?
You, whispered a little voice in her head that sounded like the Knowing. He’s hungry for you, Kate. The Beast is always hungry.
Kate shivered and curled up in a ball in the center of the bed. What did it all mean? And would she ever feel safe enough around the big Kindred to find out?
She didn’t know but she pressed her face to the pillow again and breathed in his scent. For some reason, that helped.
Lulled by the warm smells of fur and leather and fresh cut cedar, Kate finally drifted to sleep.