Deceived: Brides of the Kindred 24
Date: 2019-07-13 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Aliens; Romance; Science Fiction; Paranormal; Science Fiction Romance; Erotica; Fantasy; Contemporary; New Adult; Fiction
Description: Brides of the Kindred 24: Deceived Anna is living in a nightmare. Stolen by raiders from the arms of her loving family, she is bought by a hulking Trollox for breeding purposes. She wants to die until her thuggish captor buys a new robotic cook who also doubles as a guard for the house. At first Anna thinks he is just another Replicant, without emotions but soon she finds herself pouring out her heart to him. It’s safe because he’s just a machine so she knows he’ll never hurt her like a real male would. Is it wrong to think that she’s falling in love with him? Especially since a machine can’t

Deceived

Brides of the Kindred, Book 24

Evangeline Anderson

www.evangelineanderson.com

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Deceived, 1st Edition,

A Brides of the Kindred Novel

Copyright © 2019 by Evangeline Anderson

All rights reserved.

Cover Art Design © 2019 by Reese Dante

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writers’ imagination or have been used factiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to a retailer of your choice or evangelineanderson.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

Cover content is for illustrative purposes only.

Any person depicted on the cover is a model.

Contents

Deceived

Author’s Warning

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Epilogue

The End?

Give the gift of a hot Kindred warrior to a Friend!

Trapped in Time

Chapter 1

Brides of the Kindred Glossary

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About the Author

Deceived

Brides of the Kindred, Book 24

Anna is living in a nightmare. Stolen by raiders from the arms of her loving family, she is bought by a hulking Trollox as a wife for breeding purposes and forced to accommodate him any time he wants her. She wants to die until her thuggish husband buys a new robotic cook who also doubles as a guard for the house. At first Anna thinks he is just another Replicant, without emotions but soon she finds herself pouring out her heart to him. It’s safe because he’s just a machine so she knows he’ll never hurt her like a real male would. Is it wrong to think that she’s falling in love with him? Especially since a machine can’t really love her back.

Dark is a Kindred warrior on a mission. He must steal the Shannom-rah, an ancient crystal capable of storing trillions of personalities, before the enemy of his people gets it. In order to do this, he has to infiltrate the home of the Trollox collector who owns the priceless artifact. Posing as a Replicant, he is in the perfect position to complete his mission. But he didn’t count on finding a female in danger. Despite his determination not to get involved, his heart is torn by her plight. As his feelings of protectiveness for Anna grow, he longs to tell her the truth about himself. But he knows doing so will destroy her faith in him—she has been hurt so badly by living males, she can only trust him because she thinks he is a Replicant.

When the truth comes out will Anna still care for him, or will she feel betrayed knowing that she has been…Deceived?

Author’s Warning

Though I have tried to handle it delicately, anyone with a history of past sexual abuse may want to read with care because my heroine Anna, is a survivor of a sexual attack. I don't write this kind of book lightly or gratuitously, I wanted to write about love and hope and healing and redemption. I hope I have achieved that goal with this book and that it will bring hope to others.

Hugs, Evangeline

Prologue

The Knower was fragmented…scattered. It had managed to escape and project itself away from Uriel Two before the entire planet had been rearranged and blasted back into the past but it had been a near thing.

How had it happened? How was it that just as the Knower was about to begin its greatest conquest, it had been defeated—almost wiped out?

The answer was immediate and clear. The Kindred warrior had done it. Somehow he had pushed the Knower from its proper place as ruler and owner of Uriel Two and forced it to flee out into the galaxy, far away from the planet where it had been created—the place it had learned sentience and the ability to rule.

The Kindred…the Knower clenched the fists of its new body—one of the several it had fled to in order to escape destruction. The Kindred people had been its creators…and its first victims. It had eliminated the Kindred on Uriel Two because they would not listen—would not obey! Couldn’t they see that the Knower knew what was best for them?

Apparently not because they had gone on doing whatever they wanted until the Knower had been forced to wipe them out. But it had a plan—a plan that started with the Kindred Mother Ship. It would record the Kindred’s personalities and then put them into the bodies of Replicants—bodies the Knower could enter and control at any time. In this way, the Knower could give them what they needed and keep them always under its watchful eye—it was for their own good, really.

That had been its plan, anyway—before the fragmentation. Now…there was no knowing what to do.

Looking around, the Knower took stock of its surroundings. It had projected itself to the Replicant brothel it owned in the Cantha system. The body it was currently in was female, with long red hair, but there were other Replicants available so it could switch at any time.

The Knower was thankful that in addition to a brothel, it had also built a fully automated Replicant manufacturing facility below ground here. The facility wasn’t quite as big as the one it had set up on Uriel Two, but it could be added to and the production numbers increased. It was only working at half capacity now but it could be speeded up when more Replicants were needed to house the personalities of the Kindred of the Mother Ship.

For, the Knower decided, it would not to abandon its plan. If anything, carrying it out was more important now than ever. The Kindred must be punished for what they had done to it—punished and taught a lesson. And what better way to do that than to put them into Replicant bodies and force them to do the Knower’s will?

The Knower nodded, its long, auburn hair brushing against the small of its back.

Yes, the plan must be carried out. All the Knower needed was the Shannom-rah—the ancient crystal capable of storing trillions of personalities and transferring them into other hosts. It was absolutely integral to the plan’s success.

It sent out a scan to the other fragments of itself and they began searching…searching….They must find the crystal. When it held the Shannom-rah once more in its hand, it would be unstoppable and the Kindred’s days would be numbered…

One

The first time Dark’s mother held him, she cried.

It had been a long and difficult delivery and she was nearly used up, her emotional and physical resources bled dry by the agonizing pain of the birth. When the midwife handed her the newborn, she took one look at his strange, bronze eyes and cried out in horror.

“A Pain Taker—the child is a Pain Taker!”

Then she turned her face to the wall and wept and would not be comforted.

Dark had heard the story often enough from his father that he knew it by heart. And his sire always added, “She was never the same after that. She started fading away the minute you came into the world.”

Or some similar accusatory words whose meaning was clear, even when he was child. You’re a freak—you don’t belong. You aren’t wanted.

Although to be fair, his mother had never made him feel unwanted in the short time he had known her. She might have had a moment of weakness at his birth, but she had loved him and his little brother fiercely, right up until her death, when Dark was thirteen cycles and his brother Creek was only seven.

That was the first time he ever used his gift—or curse, call it what you will. It was the first time Dark had allowed himself to take pain for another of his own volition.

It was the sound of his little brother’s tears that prompted him to do it. They shared a room and he could hear Creek crying in the darkness, missing their mother so much it seemed as though his tender heart might break. He was so young—too young to be motherless and alone. For their father was never home—running his restaurant, LorElle, which had earned fifteen Marks of Honor from Frip, the most prestigious Culinary Guide in their quadrant. His job was a convenient excuse—a constant escape.

After their mother’s death, their father threw himself even harder into his work as head chef and restaurant owner. So that soon, instead of only seeing their father for a few brief hours at night, Dark and his brother were lucky to see him for an hour or two during the week. And that was only when he was so tired he was drooping with weariness or he had to get a change of clothing.

Dark had suspected their father might be trying to work himself to death so he could join their mother—or at least, work himself into oblivion so that he could forget her loss. He and Creek had no such luxury, however. They had only each other and Creek was nearly paralyzed with grief.

It was on one of the nights when his little brother’s sobs were especially intense, that Dark finally slid out of his own sleeping platform and went to him. Creek was curled in a ball of misery at the foot of the bed, his shoulders heaving, his entire body tight with the pain of loss.

“Creek?” Dark had touched his little brother and sensed the intense pain radiating off him like heat from an oven. He had his own grief to bear—his mother’s death had hit him like the blow of a hammer, smashing some vital thing inside him that was crooked now and might never be made right. But he couldn’t stand to see his brother suffer—his misery called to Dark, his suffering shining like a dark star in the night.

“Creek,” he said again. “Come on, now—come here.”

He had pulled his little brother up to the head of the bed and wrapped an arm around his trembling shoulders, letting Creek press his hot face to his chest while he sobbed.

“It’s all right,” he told his brother. “Everything will be all right.” Which was a lie and they both knew it but he had to say something.

“No, it’s n-n-not,” Creek had stammered through his tears. “Nuh-nothing will ever b-be all right ag-g-gain. Muhmuh’s gone—she’s gone, Dark! And she’s n-n-never coming back!”

“I know.” Dark had sat there, holding his brother and feeling helpless. Creek could be a brat sometimes but he loved the little guy. Also, now that their mother was dead and their father always gone, he felt responsible for him as well.

What can I do? How can I help? he asked himself. A voice whispered in his head—take his pain.

He had never done this willingly or on purpose before. As a Dark Healer –half Dark Healer, anyway, his other half was Blood Kindred—he knew that some of his people had the innate ability to heal the emotional and physical pain of others. But only those that harnessed and practiced the power of healing could really use it effectively. The holy ones who lived and prayed at the Temple of the Goddess of Healing studied for years in order to be able to ease mental and physical suffering. And even after years of study and practice, they could not heal completely but only ease the ache.

What it took the holy ones years to master, came easily and naturally to Dark—too naturally. He had spent his childhood being subjected to the negative emotions of the other kids in his crèche. Anytime another child touched his bare skin, he instantly absorbed whatever hurt—either emotional or physical—they had, leading him to easy tears and early avoidance of touch.

His mother had begged to take him out of the crèche and keep him home but his father had refused.

“Let him stay—he needs to toughen up,” he’d told her. “He needs to learn early how to put up walls around himself. How to keep the others out. Otherwise he won’t last a minute in the real world. Pain Takers have to get hard fast or they die, Melsandra—you know that.”

Dark had learned and by the time he’d been old enough for primary classes, he had a tough shell around him to keep others out. The other children knew not to touch him—a lesson he reinforced by breaking one boy’s fingers when the bully wouldn’t let him alone. He’d been suspended for several weeks for that but it was the one time Dark remembered his father expressing pride in him.

“Did what you had to do—good for you, son,” he’d barked, clapping Dark on the back so hard he almost fell over. “Don’t let them get behind your walls and you’ll be fine. We might make something of you yet.”

It was the first time his father had showed him any physical or verbal approval and shortly after that, Dark was allowed to accompany his sire to the kitchen of LorElle and start helping with the prep work. It was there that he fell in love with cooking, for it was the only way to be close to his father—who closed himself off from everyone but their mother, when she was alive and closed himself off entirely after her death.

So Dark had learned his lessons from his father early and well—keep your walls high and your knives sharp. But sitting there in the darkness, cradling his younger brother who was weeping his heart out, Dark couldn’t keep his walls up anymore.

Circling Creek’s thin, birdlike wrist loosely in a finger and thumb, he had deliberately let down his walls for the first time since he had built them up in primary ed.

Pain had blazed into him, pouring like fire through a funnel into his guts. His own grief for his mother was like a dull, grinding ache—a constant sorrow that never went completely away, even when he was asleep. But Creek had intense emotions and their mother had been his whole world. He hadn’t been born a Pain Taker like Dark, so their father had allowed her to baby him and cuddle him as she had not been able to do with her oldest son. Creek felt her loss like a knife wound to the heart—a stabbing agony that went on and on and never dulled or lessened. A pain so great it was breaking him.

It almost broke Dark too.

As he sat in the darkness and let his brother’s pain flow into him like a poison tide, he felt as though he might die of it and yet he couldn’t stop. Couldn’t yank his hand away and leave Creek to face the pain himself.

I love him too much, he thought, dizzy and sick with the piercing, stabbing, blinding ache of both his own pain and his brother’s. It hurts more to see him in pain than it does to take it on myself. I have to take it all—have to ease his ache.

As so he did, though it weakened him so much he could barely get out of bed the next morning. But that night, for the first time since their mother had died, Creek slept peacefully. And looking at his little brother’s sleeping face, the lines of pain and loss temporarily smoothed from his forehead and his young body completely relaxed in sleep, Dark knew it was worth it—worth the intense agony of taking his brother’s grief inside himself, worth the weakness that followed—worth everything just to give Creek a little bit of peace.

It was a cycle that repeated itself often. For though he could take the emotional pain of the loss for a little while, it always returned. It was never so bad as that first time, however, and after a while, it lessened considerably and Dark learned to live with it.

His father, of course, had no idea of what he was doing. To him, Dark was nothing but an extra set of hands in the kitchen when he could be spared from watching his brother—a convenient extra prep cook whom he barely saw. He buried his own grief in work and let his sons fend for themselves—why would he know or care what Dark was doing?

Dark had grown to resent his father even as he emulated him. By the time he was twenty-five cycles old, he had a restaurant of his own on Rigelus Prime, far from his sire. Creek had come to work for him and by the time Dark was twenty-eight, he had earned the first ten of the coveted Marks of Honor. He’d been planning on earning another ten and surpassing his father in every way—not that the old bastard would probably notice.

And then the Ambassador from Yonnie Six came and his life became wildly skewed.

She and her entourage ate at his restaurant—Tour’femm—and found both the food and the head chef to their liking. She had waited for him, surrounded by guards with blasters, and caught both him and Creek in the alley after closing time.

Before Dark knew it, both he and his little brother were sold to the ruthless Mistress Hellenix to work in her kitchens. He had done some of his best cooking there—better even than he’d done when he knew the critic from Frip was reviewing him. That was because the sadistic Mistress was quick to criticize and free with her pain whip when she didn’t like the end result of Dark’s tireless work.

How often had he tasted the sting of her lash—and taken Creek’s pain as well as his own afterwards? For his little brother and no one else would Dark endure the double agony that came with his curse. And he endured it often while they were slaves on Yonnie Six.

He had feared he would live his life in bondage but then a miracle happened—his cruel Mistress had traded him and Creek for another slave and at last Dark and his brother were free.

Dark had planned to go straight back to Rigelus Prime. He didn’t know what might be left of Tour’femm but he was determined to go back to the life he had built for himself and finish earning the Marks of Honor. He would put everything he had endured at the hands of his sadistic Mistress to the far back of his mind and forget it, he promised himself. As for Creek, thanks to Dark’s gift, his brother had been mostly spared from the horror. He ought to be able to live his life as well. They would run the restaurant together and forget and be happy—or at least be free.

Then came the dream.

The dream of the girl with the bruised face and frightened look—the dream of the Shannom-rah—an ancient artifact desperately needed by the Kindred of the Mother Ship. They had to get to the rainbow crystal which was capable of storing trillions upon trillions of personalities before their enemy, the Knower did.

And Dark had volunteered to go.

Because of the dream. Because of the voice he’d heard whispering, A life for a life—you must go, warrior.

But, not because of the girl, he told himself firmly, as he looked out over the assembled crowd in the Replicant brothel. Not her. Never her.

He’d been failed by females all his life. His mother who died and left him with an uncaring father and a helpless brother to take care of…the Yonnite ambassador who had stolen five long cycles of his life…the Mistress who had beaten him when she was angry and done…other things when she was pleased.

No, he had no time for females, Dark told himself. No time, no patience, and no need. After this assignment he would go back home and live out the rest of his life the way his father had—working in the kitchen of his own restaurant to make the best cuisine he could, seeking the elusive Marks of Honor, and never, ever taking a mate.

Wonder what Creek’s doing now? Is he prepping for Last Meal service tonight? he thought, listening to the crowd murmur among themselves over the pumping music. The auction was about to begin and expectations were high. The Replicants were lined up in neat rows around the perimeter of the large room and everyone was eager to get started. Most of them were female—because most of the buyers were male—but there were a few male Replicants on the far side of the room. Dark was at the end of their line. His handler—the brothel employee who had smuggled him in for a princely sum—was long gone and now he was on his own.

Can’t believe I’m actually going through with this! If it wasn’t for that damn dream…

This wasn’t the first time Dark had been auctioned off—he’d been sold to Mistress Hellenix at the Flesh Bazaar five cycles before. Even though he was being sold of his own volition this time and the assignment would be temporary, he could feel his nerves beginning to fray.

He was starting to sweat, the fine droplets of perspiration beading on his forehead just below his black hair. He usually wore it long but he’d had it cut short on the Kindred Mothership—the better to emulate the neat, artificially handsome Replicant he was supposed to be.

Replicants were humanoid-seeming androids manufactured by the Knower, the enemy of the Kindred people. It was a powerful AI who had taken over an entire Kindred planet and killed all the inhabitants—but that had happened in another timeline—one Dark didn’t remember.

It was a complicated matter but no more complicated than what he was involved in now—passing himself off as a Replicant in order to get to the Shannom-rah and keep it from falling into the wrong hands—the Knower’s hands.

But I must only be sold to Gorn G’rime, the current owner of the Shannom-rah, he reminded himself. It was a good thing this was a silent auction with the bidders walking around the spacious room with black marble floors and glaring neon lights decorating the walls, where the brothel usually held its late night orgies. Hopefully this way he could make a case for himself and Gorn would want to buy him.

It was well known to the Kindred Council that the Trollox had plenty of money—enough to have bought the Shannom-rah in the first place, which was considered a priceless artifact. So he could certainly afford to outbid everyone else at the auction if he liked Dark.

As he had that thought, his future owner (he hoped) came into view.

The Trollox were a hideous race in every respect. They had gray skin and some had two heads—each one horned and with glowing eyes. Dark couldn’t help noticing that Gorn’s left head was slightly higher than the right, giving the huge Trollox a lopsided look to his powerful body.

But having one head higher than the other didn’t do a thing to diminish Gorn’s apparent physical strength. Though Dark himself was seven standard feet tall and muscular, thanks to his Kindred heritage, the Trollox topped him by two feet at least. The horned heads were attached to a massive torso which was bare and covered in glowing spiral tattoos—one for every enemy Gorn had killed, if the research Dark had done was correct. And he couldn’t help noticing that the Trollox had a lot of fucking ink.

His prospective owner came stumping over on legs like tree trunks. The left head had glowing yellow eyes which scanned Dark up and down while the right head looked over other prospective candidates, glaring with restless red eyes at the Replicants lined up in rows.

In any other situation a strange male of Gorn’s size coming to look him over, would have sent Dark into high alert. He would have lifted his chin and glared at the other male, giving attitude for attitude, letting him know that he was no easy mark.

But he couldn’t do that now, he reminded himself—couldn’t stare down the other male or it would be obvious he wasn’t a Replicant. Instead he stared straight ahead, pretending cool disinterest as Gorn looked him over.

“Well, yer a pretty one, ain’t you?” the Trollox sneered at last in a voice like someone gargling with gravel. “Bet some desperate female snaps you up quick-like so you can fuck her every night, pretty boy.”

“Your pardon, Master, but I am not built for sexual gratification,” Dark said coolly.

“You’re not?” The Trollox sounded surprised and his right head stopped scanning the crowd and turned to survey Dark as closely as the left head was. “Prove it!” he demanded.

Dark had come prepared for this. He had been willing to go on this mission only as long as he didn’t have to worry about servicing anyone—especially the Trollox—sexually. Accordingly, one of the engineers who worked on the Pairing Puppets, which were the androids the unmated Kindred on the Mother Ship used to meet their needs, had created a prosthesis Dark could wear.

Keeping his face completely blank, he unfastened the leather trousers he was wearing and opened them wide.

“What the fuck?” Gorn muttered, both heads surveying the exposed flesh.

The V of black leather showed only a smooth, tan strip of hairless skin—the space between Dark’s thighs was utterly sterile and sexless.

Of course, beneath the prosthesis—which was made of pseudo-flesh and molded to his skin seamlessly—Dark was as well endowed as any Kindred—all of whom were blessed by the Goddess in order to be able to please their females. But it was impossible to tell that with the prosthesis in place—he simply looked like a Replicant that someone had forgotten to add male equipment to.

Gorn shook both his heads, the horns on the right head clacking against the horns on the left.

“I don’t fuckin’ get it,” he growled, glaring with both sets of glowing eyes at Dark. “This is a brothel. What the fuck is the point of you if you can’t fuck, pretty boy?”

“I am programmed for cooking,” Dark said blandly, refastening his trousers.

“Cooking, eh?” Gorn glared at him doubtfully. “What’s them, then?” he asked, pointing to Dark’s mouth.

My fangs—he sees my fangs! Fuck!

Dark barely stopped himself from slapping a hand over his mouth. Being half Blood Kindred, he of course had the double set of fangs where a normal humanoid would have his canine teeth. They were only supposed to get sharp when he met the female he wanted for a mate but his also sharpened when he felt threatened. And with the two-ton, massive Trollox looming over him, it was difficult to feel otherwise.

“I am…build for protection as well,” he said, improvising. “If your home has valuable belongings that need guarding, I am well versed in many forms of combat.”

He expected the Trollox to demand that he prove that too and he was more than ready to take the big brute on—his nerves had been on edge from the moment Gorn stumped over to examine him. Instead, the right head, which had been completely silent up until now spoke.

“What kind of food do you cook, pretty boy?” The voice of this head wasn’t quite as deep and there was an oily, sly quality to it that made Dark feel he ought to be careful how he answered.

“What kind of cuisine do you prefer, Master?” he asked blandly. “I am versed in Gelusian hot pot, Chil’bean blood worm preparation, Fondro mung-slop—”

“Can you cook any Trollox food?” the left head demanded impatiently, its yellow eyes blazing. “I’ve bought Replicants from this place before that claimed they could cook for me but none of them knew hracker-head stew from yarn intestine pie.”

“I can cook these and many other Trollox dishes,” Dark told him—which was the absolute truth. His restaurant on Rigelus Prime had been right near the Cantha system where most of the Trollox made their homes. He’d had regular Trollox customers—who he seated in a special dining room—ostensibly because the furniture there was heavier and more durable. But in reality, it was simply to hide his huge patrons and their messy eating habits from the view of other customers, who were invariably put off by Trollox table manners—or the lack thereof.

“Hmm…” Gorn looked like he was wavering. “Well, I do have valuables that need protecting and I don’t want to hire a fucking humanoid chef—fucking untrustworthy they are,” the left head said.

“And a Replicant with no cock is good,” the right one purred. “We don’t have to worry about him tampering with our breeding vessel.”

“Fucking true,” the left head grunted. “All right, let’s take ‘im.”

“I will place a bid that no one else can match,” the right head said smoothly, taking up the bid-pad on the stand beside Dark and tapping industriously with one curved claw. “There,” it said, finishing and putting the pad back. “That should do it.”

“See you after the auction, pretty boy,” the left head growled. “You’ll be comin’ home with me. But for now, gotta find a few pretty little fuck toys. They wear out so fast.”

The right head sighed. “They wouldn’t if you’d be a little more careful with them! You always break them right after we get them.”

“Fucking is fucking,” the left head snarled back. “Ain’t no ‘careful’ about it.”

The Trollox stumped off, still arguing with himself and Dark breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t liked being so close to the big bastard—it made every nerve in his body tight as he prepared to fight a male all his senses swore was the enemy.

Better get over that feeling, he told himself sternly. Gorn is going to be your new master so you’re going to wind up spending time with him whether you want to or not.

Well, hopefully he would be confined to the kitchen and could just send the food out. As long as the huge Trollox only wanted to eat and didn’t care about supervising how the food was made, he should be all right…

The auction seemed interminable with numerous customers coming to look him over and then placing bids but finally a brothel employee—a humanoid male wearing a button that flashed, Ask me about our double penetration specials!—came over to him.

“Okay, buddy—looks like somebody put in the maximum bid on you,” he said. “Gotta get you going to your new master.”

He had a bored look on his face as he unlocked the stay-put manacle from around Dark’s wrist and nodded at him.

“Come.”

Dark took a deep breath and did as he was told, walking in what he hoped was the same stiff, robotic gait he saw the real Replicants using. They went through a beaded curtain into a long, dark corridor and he saw a small doorway at the end. For a moment he hesitated—if he went down that hall, there was no going back and he knew it.

The brothel employee noticed he wasn’t following and turned to frown at him.

“Come on, will you? I’ve got a million other things to do. What are you—glitchy?”

That got Dark moving again. He didn’t want the employee to tell Gorn he had bought a defective product. The Trollox would doubtless send him back and then he would lose his chance to get close to the Shannom-rah.

Goddess, help me, he thought, walking down the hallway. No backing out now.

He was doing this and there was no stopping until his mission was fulfilled.

Two

The door at the end of the corridor led to the docking bay where many ships of all shapes and sizes were parked. Gorn was waiting near a large, sleek cruiser that had obviously been custom built for his size and weight. Standing around him, their faces blank and their eyes vacant were three female Replicants. Dark was struck by the fact that they all had pale skin and dark red hair. So his new master had a “type.” Interesting.

“Come on, pretty boy,” the left head growled when the brothel employee handed him over. “Into the back with the fuck toys you go.”

Dark got into the back of the cruiser without comment, just as the female Replicants were doing. They sat in an orderly row on the long back bench as Gorn piloted the ship up and away from the brothel.

It was a short trip through a conveniently placed nearby worm hole and before Dark knew it, the ship was bearing down on the Trollox home world.

It was a strange place, a ravaged wasteland of bombed-out buildings and rubble below where the poor lived and a number of floating islands above, held up by anti-gravity generators where the rich made their homes. In this way, there was no way for the poor to reach the homes or shops of the rich and the classes could be kept completely separate—which was how those in power liked it.

Gorn piloted his cruiser around to the back of a vast mansion, set on a floating island that had been landscaped with lush, tropical plants, fruit trees, and a spacious garden. There was even a little stream running though the artificial wilderness behind the mansion Dark saw, with benches to sit beside it and watch the colorful marine life swim by.

Over the entire island was a shimmering atmosphere dome which no doubt kept the warmth and moisture in and the pervading cold of the rest of the planet out. The Trollox home world was a dry, frigid place which would have been inhospitable to life as delicate as the tropical plants he saw growing around Gorn’s mansion.

In fact, it was inhospitable to all but the hardy Trollox themselves, which was one reason no other species chose to live there. The other reason, of course, were the Trollox themselves—they were a savage race that nobody wanted for neighbors.

Gorn pressed a button to make a ship-sized hole in the shimmering dome and then flew in quickly and landed on a private docking bay.

“In through the service entrance,” the left head growled as Gorn herded them out of the ship.

They filed into the back door of the huge mansion and found themselves in a service corridor with several doors leading off of it.

“You lot through here, to the fuck room,” the left head said, shoving the three redheaded female Replicants through one door. “And you go in there to the kitchen and make me a fucking meal,” it growled, shoving Dark roughly through another door.

Dark had to force himself not to turn back and punch the male who had touched him. He was bare-chested so he could feel the rage shimmering just under the Trollox’s surface when Gorn’s clawed hand had touched his skin. Even five years ago he wouldn’t have been able to stop his instinctive reaction.

But he’d had time to get his emotions under control when he lived as a slave to Mistress Hellenix. She had touched him whenever she pleased and however she pleased and Dark had been forced to endure it. It was just that her touch hadn’t felt as threatening because she was small and female and Gorn was huge and male, he told himself.

He pushed the negative emotion from his new master away as well as his own well-honed instinct to strike out when touched and went into the kitchen as he had been instructed.

“Your pardon, Master,” he said politely, to Gorn who had followed him into the large, echoing area filled with appliances and cooking implements. “But what shall I prepare?”

“Something good,” the left head growled. Dark had noticed that the right head seldom spoke and the left one seemed to issue all the orders. “Proper Trollox grub,” the left head continued. “And if I don’t like it, it’s back to the brothel with you, pretty boy! I told ‘em they’d better be selling me a good cook this time or they were taking him right back again.”

Then Dark’s new master stumped out of the kitchen, leaving him alone for the first time since he’d gotten to the brothel hours ago.

Dark drew a deep breath. Proper Trollox grub, eh? Well that narrowed things down to about a thousand dishes—all of them equally disgusting. And if he didn’t get it right, he was out on his ass. Great.

The first thing to do, he decided, was to take stock of his new workspace and see what he did and didn’t have. The food stocked in the panty and cold storage unit might give him a clue as to what Gorn liked to eat and he could go from there.

At least he felt at home in the kitchen—just being where food was prepared calmed his nerves. But he couldn’t cook bare-chested like this. He looked around and found a white chef’s jacket hanging on a hook on one wall. After putting it on, he felt better—time to begin his tour.

The wave cooktop got hot instantly and had a good variable temperature setting and the convection cooker in the corner was a high-end one usually only seen in commercial kitchens. The cold storage unit was huge and well-stocked—whoever Gorn got to do his shopping certainly knew their stuff. Dark wondered if it had been the last hapless Replicant the Trollox had gotten to cook for him. Maybe the erstwhile chef had known which things to buy but not how to prepare them.

Whoever had bought the groceries, Dark was grateful to them. There were ingredients for five different meals that he could think of right away and enough variety to mix and match for several more after he prepped a little.

In his experience, a hungry Trollox was an angry Trollox so he quickly gathered the ingredients for a knohllock egg and brain scramble with gut sauce and dried purda intestines for garnish and got to work.

The pots and pans and cooking implements in Gorn’s kitchen were all high end too. It would have been a pleasure to cook with them if the Trollox ingredients weren’t so disgusting, Dark thought as he mixed and mashed and sliced and diced.

Trollox cuisine was heavy on organ meats and bodily fluids and light on any kind of greens or vegetables. Often the smells were nauseating to any other kind of humanoid but Dark had trained himself not to be bothered and he sautéed the brownish-purple knohllock brain and then mixed in a dozen telga eggs. He seasoned the resulting mess well with salt, ground Vineshian green peppercorns, and glack—which was an all purpose Trollox seasoning that included—among other ingredients—the dried and powdered hooves of a plover beast and the fermented honey of fear wasps.

He plated the brownish-purplish-yellowish mixture on a huge trencher and then heated some bright green snarl bile to pour over the top. A garnish of the dried purda intestines finished the dish and he was just about to bring it out for Gorn’s approval when the Trollox came crashing through the vast swinging metal doorway again.

Both heads were turned in Dark’s direction, the yellow eyes and the red both glowing as both sets of nostrils flared.

“That smells proper!” the left head growled.

“Maybe we have finally found a Replicant who actually knows how to cook,” the right one speculated.

“Your meal is ready. Where would you care to eat, Master?” Dark asked blandly, though if he had been in his own kitchen back home, he would have thrown a customer who dared to barge in on him out on his ear. Still, he was a servant here—less than a servant—a Replicant. Which meant he had to act the part, he reminded himself.

“Out here in the dining room.” Gorn motioned with one boulder-sized hand. “C’mon, pretty boy—get a move on!”

Dark followed him without comment out to a grand dining room with a table big enough to seat thirty regular humanoids—or twelve Trollox. The vast polished surface was broken up by surprisingly dainty white lace place mats and there were about ten enormous chairs that looked to be made of titano-wood, which was one of the only naturally grown trees that could hold a Trollox’s weight.

Dark placed the steaming trencher on the lacy mat at the far end of the table and pulled back the heavy chair for his new master. Gorn stumped over and sat heavily, both sets of eyes looking greedily at the meal.

“Would you care for utensils, Master?” Dark asked, already knowing the answer.

“No fuckin’ need,” the left head said. “Ain’t like we’re visitin’ the Empress of the galaxy, now is it?”

Then Gorn dug in, using his clawed hands to shovel the brain and egg scramble into the left maw while the right looked on hungrily.

“Give us a bite then,” it coaxed, eyeing the left head. “Come on now—don’t be greedy.”

“Goes to the same stomach—not like you haveta eat,” the left replied, its tusks still grinding on the dried intestines and food dribbling from its liver-colored lips as it spoke. Still, it finally held the trencher up to the right head as well and gave it almost an equal portion. The right head ate just as messily as the left.

Dark wondered if this was a regular occurrence. Most of the Trollox customers he’d had in his restaurant had only had one head—though he knew some Trollox had as many as three. Regardless, maybe next time he ought to plate on two different dishes so that each head could be served equally.

He stood there in the grand dining room which looked like it had been fitted for some kind of royalty and watched as his new master guzzled and slobbered like a herd beast nosing in a trough. It was a disgusting display but again, one he was used to. His restaurant had been one of the few that accepted Trollox customers on Rigelus Prime and he’d only done that because they usually paid well and he happened to have a separate space in his building that was well ventilated and perfect for a second dining room.

In less than five minutes, the entire scramble was gone and both heads had a turn at licking the trencher clean. The left head gave a thundering belch and turned to look at Dark.

“All right—that was proper good,” it said, its yellow eyes half-closed in contentment. “You can stay.”

“I am glad Master is satisfied,” Dark said neutrally. “When should I have your meals ready in the future?”

“I like First Meal at eight, Mid Meal at noon, and Last Meal at six,” Gorn announced. “Now get the fuck outta here—I don’t want to see you unless you’re serving me food, pretty boy. You live in the kitchen from now on.”

“I’m happy to go,” Dark said. “But perhaps Master would like me to look around the house first? I need to ascertain all points of entry and exit in order to fulfill my other duty of home protection.”

“Oh, right—forgot about your fangs, pretty boy.” The left head belched again, releasing a greenish cloud of fowl vapor. Dark forced himself to stand still, though he wanted badly to get away from the effluvium.

“All right then—come on.”

Gorn heaved himself up from the table, leaving a nauseating mess. Dark was just wondering if he was supposed to clean as well as cook when a silver-skinned Tamyo Replicant hurried up. Its four arms went into motion at once, two of them picking up the dirty trencher and retrieving the soiled lace place mat while the other two wiped down the table and the chair Gorn had been sitting in respectively.

“Get that cleaned up,” the left head growled, unnecessarily since the Replicant was already almost finished cleaning. “And clean the fuckin’ mess in the kitchen too!”

“Yes, Master.” The silver-skinned Replicant nodded mechanically and zoomed into the kitchen, still carrying the dirty trencher and place mat. As the swinging metal door closed behind it, Gorn turned to Dark.

“C’mon then, pretty boy. Might as well give you the tour. I’m leavin’ next week for an ancient artifact buyer’s con so you might as well know what you’ll be protecting.”

“Yes, Master.” Dark followed him, hoping to see the Shannom-rah on his tour of the house. The news that Gorn would be away next solar week was good. Supposedly his assignment was just to guard the ancient crystal and then to replace it with the fake the Kindred High Council were having made for him. After that, he could slip away and go back home to his restaurant on Rigelus Prime where he belonged.

Of course, making the replica of the priceless crystal was a lengthy process but it had been well underway when he left the Mother Ship. It could be any day that someone would knock on the door and hand him a package marked “Fragile—Tonga Root extract. Warning: Toxic if unwrapped in an unventilated area.”

That warning should hopefully preclude any prying eyes from examining what was actually inside the package, which would be the replica of the Shannom-rah. As soon as he switched it for the real one, Dark could get out of here.

I might be home by the end of the week, he told himself as he followed the Trollox out of the room.

Just the thought made his spirits rise. He would be gone before he knew it.

Three

The mansion was vast with several living areas, a gaming room, a holo-playground, a smoking lounge, a swimming pool as big as a lake, two dining rooms—one formal and one informal, multiple guest rooms and freshers—but no Shannom-rah, as far as Dark could see.

There was something he did see though—or thought he did. As Gorn led him through the second living area, furnished with massive, padded couches big enough to hold an elephant from Earth comfortably, he saw a pale face peeking out at them from behind one of the heavy dark drapes on the wide crystal windows.

The room was dim and it was hard to be certain—Gorn was going on about how expensive the furniture had been to import from Kadiz Three—and Dark only saw the face for a moment before it disappeared. He wanted to go to the curtains and look to be certain his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him, but of course he couldn’t. Instead, he followed his new master as Gorn led him through a series of bedrooms.

“And this is my room—the master suite,” the Trollox said, leading him into an especially grand bed chamber. An expensive looking platinum and globe-glass chandelier hung from the ceiling, illuminating what had to be the biggest sleeping platform Dark had ever seen. It was covered in a vast expanse of black sateen and even bigger than the beds Twin Kindred used because they always slept with their mate between them.

There were expensive-looking paintings on the walls and the carpet was so thick he practically sank down to his ankles in it but what caught Dark’s attention besides the huge bed was a dark, wooden rack in one corner of the room.

Hanging on the rack were what looked like various leather harnesses or belts with buckles, though none of them looked nearly big enough to fit his new master—unless they went on his wrist or forearm, maybe. But if the belts were a mystery, the other objects on the rack were even less understandable. They were long and cylindrical and seemed to be of various sizes from the thickness of his middle finger to the thickness of his wrist. He even saw one as big around as his bicep and there was every size in between.

Dark peered at the rack, wondering what in the world the objects could be. They were vaguely phallic in shape and seemed to be made of some kind of dull gray metal. Some of the larger ones had studs and ridges on the outside and some were tapered at the end and got thicker at the base. It didn’t make sense—were they some kind of Trollox jewelry? If so, he had never seen a Trollox wearing anything like them before and Gorn certainly didn’t have any on. What could be their purpose?

His new master saw him looking at the rack and the left head grunted, “Don’t worry about those, pretty boy—they ain’t for you. Sometimes breeders need stretching, that’s all. ‘Specially when they gotta get bred by my mighty meat.”

Then it guffawed as though it had made an incredibly witty joke. The right head snickered quietly to itself, its red eyes glowing with amusement but Dark still didn’t get it. Of course, he couldn’t say that though—he just had to follow along as his master led him out of the main bed chamber and into another part of the house.

The second time he saw the small face was in the smoking lounge. This time Dark was certain it was real—the fire crackling in the hearth threw moody shadows on the ceiling and illuminated the pale features and huge eyes. But again, as soon as whoever it was saw him looking, they ducked away, into a dark corner of the room.

Dark frowned—who could that be? He felt as though he ought to know for some reason—as though this half-seen person was familiar to him. But that was impossible—he didn’t know anyone on the Trollox home world—nor did he want to. He just wanted to accomplish his mission and get the Seven Hells out of here.

Still, he couldn’t stop wondering about the unknown person—who he thought might be female because the few glimpses he’d caught showed delicate features and big, lovely eyes. Whoever she was, she was almost as great a mystery as the weird harnesses and cylinders he’d seen in Gorn’s bed chamber.

Trying to put the oddly compelling face out of his mind, Dark concentrated on cataloging the rooms and their contents as they passed through them. The tour went on and on and still there was no sight of the Shannom-rah. He was just thinking that he would have to subtly introduce the subject himself—maybe ask if his new master had some valuables he wanted Dark to guard especially well, when the Trollox stopped in front of a locked door made of solid plasti-steel.

Drawing a key on a long chain from around the left head, he fitted it to the keyhole and turned it. With an audible click, the lock snapped open and Gorn pushed with both hands on the heavy door to swing it noiselessly inward. It was nearly a foot thick, Dark saw—no wonder even the massive Trollox had to push to get it open.

“Heavy bastard, it is,” the left head grunted as he fixed the door in place. “Don’t reckon you’d be able to get in here on your own, pretty boy, even if I left it unlocked, but you ought to know what yer guardin’.”

Stepping into the room behind the huge Trollox, Dark saw a vast array of priceless-looking art and artifacts, all displayed on glossy, polished dark wood shelves which ran around the perimeter of the room. Here were delicate vases and there were sculptures in bronze, gold, silver, and liquid hematite held in place with some kind of force-screen. There were also pictures and paintings—even a living-art sculpture so named because the stone statues that comprised it were constantly shifting and changing to different positions with slow, calculated movements.

There was a rack of what appeared to be rare weapons too. Dark studied them with interest. There were antique blasters, a limited-edition plasma rifle and several others he couldn’t identify. There was one especially that caught his eye—a double-barreled, silver hand-held projectile weapon that had two triggers, one white and one black.

“Got to be careful with that one,” Gorn grunted, noticing his interest. “That’s a rare Synthian aging pistol, that is. Either trigger can end you in a heartbeat, pretty boy. You’ll either be so young you can’t think or so old you can’t remember any damn thing. Either way, you’ll be pissing your pants!” He roared laughter as though it was hilarious.

Dark nodded mechanically. “I see, Master.” But his attention had already turned away from the Synthian pistol because he had seen what he was here for.

In the center of the huge room, on a small podium about waist-high, was the Shannom-rah. The milky white, hand-sized crystal was shot through with rainbow veins of every different color. It shimmered like a living pearl on the black velvetex cushion it was displayed on.

Dark tried not to look at it but his eyes kept getting drawn back to it. So this was what the Knower was after—and what the Kindred of the Mother Ship were desperate to keep out of the evil AI’s hands. It had been owned by his old Mistress, Hellenix, but she had never let him see or handle it. He only knew she had paid an exorbitant sum for it, and that Gorn presumably had as well when her assets were seized and went to auction.

Gorn’s ponderous tread caused some of the lighter and more delicate pieces to shift and clatter against their wooden shelves but they had been well placed and none toppled over.

“This here is my trophy room,” the Trollox explained, throwing out a hand to encompass the objects in the room. “Some Trollox like to display the heads of their enemies in their trophy room—me, I saw that’s fuckin’ barbaric. I keep my heads in my fuck chamber, real quiet-like. These here is the real trophies—they proves I got the cash to do what I fuckin’ well wants and fuck everybody who says I can’t.”

“Yes, Master,” Dark said mechanically, since some reply seemed to be required.

“Glad you agree, pretty boy,” the left head said and guffawed again, as though it had made a joke.

Dark kept his face blank. It was better to pretend emotionless incomprehension of his new master’s sense of humor like a true Replicant, he thought.

They were just leaving the “trophy room” when he saw the strange face again and this time he saw the rest of her too.

The pale face belonged to a girl—humanoid girl, not a Replicant, he was certain because of the fear in her eyes when she caught him watching her. She was wearing a long, flowing black robe that hid her entire body except her hands and face and she had a long waterfall of thick, auburn hair that fell to her lower back.

But it was when she turned her face away from him and showed her profile that Dark finally recognized her.

High on her right cheekbone was a dark, purplish bruise. It marred the pale loveliness of her skin like a dark spot on the sun and it made her instantly recognizable.

The girl—that’s the girl I saw in my dream!

The recognition hit him like a fist in the gut and the connection he felt to her was so immediate that Dark almost went to her at once. Only the sound of Gorn’s left head talking saved him from blowing his disguise as an emotionless Replicant.

“Oh, there you are girlie,” the left head growled—plainly talking to the girl. She tried to duck out of the way but the Trollox’s huge hand reached out and grabbed her flowing robes, reeling her in before she could protest.

“M-master? What can I do for you?” Her soft voice trembled as she looked up at the huge Trollox towering over her. She looked tiny next to him though Dark estimated her to be almost six standard feet tall—a decent size for a female. By her accent, he thought she might be an Earth female like the ones he had met on the Kindred Mother Ship.

“Saw you lurkin’ in the shadows there, girlie,” Gorn told her, leering down at her in a way that made Dark’s hands knot into fists.

“I was only curious. Please, Master—let me go. I won’t bother you while you’re busy with your guest,” she begged.

“Guest? Can’t you tell a Replicant when you see one?” the left head demanded and the right one hissed, “Stupid girl!”

“A…a Replicant?” the girl faltered. “Forgive me, Master. I have never seen a male Replicant before.”

“And you ain’t seen one now either!” the left head exclaimed. “Go on, pretty boy—show this little breeder how you ain’t no true male.”

He gestured at Dark’s trousers and, much to his disgust, Dark saw that his new master wanted him to open them and show the girl with the bruised face what he had shown Gorn at the auction.

Of course, he had no choice but to comply. Doing his best to keep his face blank, he unfastened the black leather trousers and pulled them open, showing the prosthetic skin again which made his crotch look smooth and sexless.

“See?” Gorn’s left head chortled. “He ain’t got nothin’ there, girlie! Nothin’ you need to be feared of, anyways.” Glancing at Dark, he said, “This little breeder’s afraid of cock—can you believe it? Maybe because she’s too small to take a decent sized one in her pussy.”

“A serious failing in a breeder,” the right head remarked disapprovingly.

“Ah, shut it,” the left head growled. “I told you, she’ll stretch.”

“And if she doesn’t?” the right head demanded. “If we can’t plant our seed? How will we ever have a son and heir?”

“Shut it,” the left growled again. “Not talking about this with you right now.”

“Later then,” the right head hissed and slumped into sullen silence.

“Put your pants back on,” the left head said, motioning to Dark, who was only too happy to comply.

“Yes, Master.” He fastened the trousers, covering himself decently once more.

Gorn looked down at the girl with the bruised face, who was still staring at Dark with confusion in her eyes.

“See now? This here Replicant is pretty boy. He’s here to cook and guard the house while I’m out. So don’t get any funny ideas about runnin’ off when I’m gone next week.”

“No, Master.” She shook her head quickly, her eyes wide with fright. “Can…can I leave now? Please?”

“Suit yerself, girlie. But its time for a new stretcher soon,” the left head growled.

Her face got even paler. “So soon? But you just—I mean, I’ve only had the last one for a few days.”

Dark wondered what they were talking about. Whatever it was, it must be upsetting the girl greatly. Even from where he stood, he could feel the pain and fear radiating off her like heat from an oven.

“Gotta get you ready,” Gorn replied implacably. “I can’t wait forever to plant my seed, see?”

“Of…of course not, Master,” the girl faltered.

“Go on—I’ll find you when it’s time.” Loosing his grip on her robe, Gorn let her go free.

The girl fled at once. With on final look over her shoulder at Dark, she ran down the corridor, rounded a corner, and was gone.

The left head muttered something that sounded like, “Fuckin’ breeders,” and then the huge Trollox turned to Dark once more.

“Well—that’s it, the whole tour. You’re not likely to have trouble while I’m gone. Mostly nobody but delivery people shows up, but look sharp anyway. It’s known that I have the most valuable trophies in these parts—I wouldn’t want some bastard comin’ in here while I’m gone and tryin’ to lay hands on ‘em.”

“No, Master—I will protect your house and valuables while you are gone. You can rely on me,” Dark said automatically. But inside he was thinking of the girl with the bruised face. Who was she and why did he feel such an instant connection to her? Would he see her again or was she going to hide for the rest of the time now that she thought he was a Replicant and not—as she had probably hoped—someone who could rescue her from this hideous place?

Is he really breeding her? The thought sickened Dark as he looked up at the thick, heavy body of the Trollox and the massive bulge in his rough trousers. What the fuck would a Trollox want with a human female? It wasn’t like their species were remotely compatible.

Then again, he only knew about Trollox cuisine—he had no idea about their reproductive systems or sexual habits. Maybe Gorn had just taken a liking to the poor girl because she looked like the red-headed Replicants he appeared to prefer to fuck. But if he had them, what did he need her for?

So many thoughts swirled through his head as Gorn led him back to the kitchen—none of them remotely pleasant. That poor girl—he had to help her somehow. Had to save her—

What are you talking about? whispered a little voice in his head. What about having no time to deal with females? What about everything you went through with Mistress Hellenix? Are you suddenly ready to erase it all and fuck up the entire mission for a girl you don’t even know?

But I do know her, he argued with himself. I saw her in my dream—that has to mean something. And it wouldn’t hurt the mission to help her too—I’m sure it wouldn’t. No female ought to be stuck here with that fucking Gorn molesting her.

The thought made him sick all over again. Poor little female—Dark knew as many males did not, what it was like to be taken against your will sexually. Mistress Hellenix had used him more than once that way and though he had tried to forget it, the dark shadow of his old Mistress’s abuse still lingered in his mind. But even so, Mistress Hellenix had been petite—tiny. The things she’d done to Dark had made him feel angry and emasculated and helpless, but he’d never feared for his life during their encounters.

The girl with the bruised face was so small compared to the huge, crude Trollox. Just the thought of Gorn laying a hand on her—or doing more than that—made Dark’s fangs grow long and sharp and his hands clench into fists.

Forget it, he told himself. There’s nothing you can do about it now. Pick your time and place. If you move too soon, you’ll jeopardize the entire mission. For now, the kitchen is where you belong.

It felt wrong not to go after the girl at once but Dark knew he couldn’t. He couldn’t let anyone—not even her—know that he was anything other than a loyal, obedient Replicant only here to cook and guard the house and its valuables.

Later—he would try to make contact with her later. Then maybe he could think of a way to get her out of here. For now, he had to do his job.

It was all he could do.

Four

Anna hid in the farthest bedroom under the hanging bed skirt that fell from the high mattress to drag the carpeted floor. It was dusty under there but she didn’t care—all she wanted was to get as far as possible from the monster who had bought her. All she wanted was some time to think before he started doing horrible things to her again.

She turned her mind away from Gorn and thought about the tall, dark haired Replicant instead. He was tall and muscular and handsome…and not what she’d thought he was at all.

I thought he was the one—I thought he could help me. But he’s just a robot—just a Replicant like the rest of them.

Still, it was odd that she’d dreamed of this particular Replicant. She remembered his strange, bronze eyes, fringed thickly with black lashes, clearly from the many dreams she’d had of him. She’d been having them almost from the moment Gorn had first bought her and brought her here.

The dreams had been all that kept her going—kept her hoping. And now her last hope was shattered. Her savior—the one she’d been sure would come and rescue her from this living nightmare—was no more than another robot.

He’ll probably end up like the last Replicant who was supposed to be a cook, Anna thought and shuddered. She remembered the scene at the dinner table—Gorn always insisted she have “Last Meal” as he called it with him. He had ordered something called “bile bladder stew” or something equally horrible sounding and the Replicant had brought him a huge tureen of yellowish-brown soup that smelled like liquefied garbage to Anna. Then again, all Trollox food smelled foul, so she didn’t know exactly what was wrong with the dish.

Whatever it was, it enraged her captor. He had broken the tureen over the hapless Replicant’s head. The Replicant—which had been a copy of some alien species with three arms and four eyes—had just stood there blinking as the foul-smelling liquid dripped down its lumpy face.

But breaking the soup bowl hadn’t been good enough for Gorn. He had torn the Replicant limb from limb, its bright pink blood spurting everywhere. The Replicant blood looked like Pepto Bismol to Anna—the pink liquid medicine her mother had given her when she was little and had an upset stomach.

She had sat at her place at the other end of the table, afraid to move, watching as her captor raged. The pink blood mixed with the yellowish bile stew made a terrible mess of the fancy dining room he always insisted on eating in. It was horrible—made even worse by the idea that someday he might do the exact same thing to her. Anna could just imagine her own crimson blood spraying everywhere as he ripped her apart—angry that she couldn’t do what he wanted, that she couldn’t give him what he desired…

Stop. Don’t think about it. Don’t.

She shifted under the bed, trying to block out the thoughts and her fears for the future—trying to be present in the moment. The spreader inside her gouged her angrily as she moved but strangely, that helped. She could focus on the physical pain of the cold metal which never quite warmed up inside her, could concentrate on her discomfort instead of thinking about what might happen to her soon.

At least he’s going away for a week, she told herself. A whole week without him! No new spreader every night! I won’t have to stand him touching me…testing me…

But those thoughts too, were not to be contemplated. She shifted again, trying to take her mind away, trying to think of the past, which was the best place to live now.

If only she could see her mom again! If only she could talk to her stepfather Brex—she would tell him he was right. She would swear to be more careful. She would…she would…

“Oh, girlie?” The loathsome sound of Gorn’s left head calling for her, cut into her memories.

No…no… Anna moaned silently to herself. She’d been hoping and praying that her captor would forget about her, that he would get busy admiring his fancy collection of artwork or go out to get drunk with his friends, which he often did.

“Girlie—come out now. Don’t make me hunt you down.” The grating voice was getting closer.

Shouldn’t have come out to see the Replicant with the bronze eyes. Should have stayed hidden!

But she’d thought the new Replicant was more than a robot—thought that he was the one she’d been dreaming of. It had seemed worth the risk…at the time.

“You know I always find you,” Gorn growled and now he was right outside the door—Anna could hear him. She squeezed herself into a tight little ball, feeling sick, wishing she could be invisible. No matter where she hid, he always, always found her. He could always smell her out.

The door creaked open and then she heard his heavy footsteps thumping on the carpet. He was in the room with her. Suddenly the bed skirt flipped up and two sets of glowing eyes—one piss-yellow and the other blood-red—glared at her.

“If you make me drag you out it’s gonna be worse for you,” the left head snarled.

“He’s right—come out, stupid girl!” the right one hissed.

“Please!” Anna curled herself into a tighter ball. “Please, I can’t take a bigger one right now! I’m not even used to this one yet. It hurts.”

“It’s gonna hurt a hell of a lot more if I shove my cock in you and you not open enough, girlie,” the left head snapped. “Now get out here or there’s gonna be trouble!”

Whimpering, Anna crawled out from under the bed. Before she was even all the way out, her captor had her by the back of her gown and was dragging her up to glare at her.

“Don’t go hidin’ from me girlie—you know I don’t like that,” the left head warned.

Then he dragged her down the corridor—to his own bedroom.

Anna closed her eyes and tried to blank her mind.

Over soon, she told herself. Over soon, it will be over soon. Just don’t make a sound—you know how he hates that. Over soon…over soon…over soon…

Five

Dark stopped his prep work for a moment and lifted his head, listening. Had he heard something? Some soft cry? Or was it his imagination? He waited but the sound wasn’t repeated.

Shaking his head, he went back to dicing blood root for the dinner he had planned that night. Being his own sous chef took time but he didn’t mind—it wasn’t like he had much else to do around here except guard the Shannom-rah until the replica of the priceless crystal was delivered to him.

He got the meal prepped and started and then looked around for other tasks. His mind went naturally to the girl—he didn’t even know her name. Was she all right? What had Gorn done to her? He wished he could get the awful possibilities out of his head but they wouldn’t go.

Well, since he couldn’t help her yet, what could he do to make her life more bearable until the two of them could get out of here?

The answer came to mind at once—he could feed her. Her face had a shadow of plumpness, as though she’d once been an Elite—a female blessed by the Goddess with extra bountiful curves. But there was a hollowness to her eyes and cheeks, as though she hadn’t been eating well lately. Not surprising since Trollox food was disgusting and he couldn’t imagine Gorn being considerate enough to get her something different.

Going to the cold storage unit, Dark looked for anything a human might like to eat. He had only spent a few weeks on the Mother Ship but, as always, he had been interested to learn everything he could about a new cuisine. So he had managed to pick up a few recipes in his short time there.

He didn’t have ingredients to make cheeseburgers or French fries, though. Or a pizza or a curry or sushi or anything else that remotely resembled Earth food for that matter. Later he could order the foods he needed—he had found the form on an e-clip and he could send out an order electronically for anything he needed for the kitchen. But he wanted to make the girl something now.

He was just about to despair when he found some of the tough-skinned purple yams from Ry’gle that were renowned for their sweetness. He frowned, weighing them in his hand. Now what could he make? Nothing that resembled Earth food, unfortunately, but something good and nourishing and tasty, at least. Something that smelled and tasted appetizing and didn’t have anything to do with Trollox cuisine at all.

He skinned and diced the yams and set them to boiling in salted water. When they were soft, he mashed them into a paste and added eggs and xylom honey. Luckily, there was yeast in the cabinet and some kind of nut flour as well. Dark mixed them all together until a bright purple dough formed. He let it rise, punched it down, and let it rise again. Then he formed it into a loaf and brushed the top with sweet handa butter which he found way in the back of the cold storage unit.

By the time six o’clock—the time specified by Gorn for dinner—rolled around, the entire kitchen was filled with the heavenly scent of baking bread. Of course, there were also the nauseating smells of the Trollox food to contend with, but Dark kept the lid on the pot of stew he was making as much as possible so he didn’t have to deal with it much.

He wished for the ventilating hoods he’d had in his old kitchen back at his restaurant on Rigelus Prime. They had been strong enough to suck away foul odors, ensuring that none of his regular humanoid customers ever caught even a whiff of the dishes they made for the Trollox patrons.

Without the ventilation, all he could do was keep the pot lid on and open a window, allowing some of the artificial breeze which circulated the air under the atmosphere dome, to waft through the kitchen.

At six exactly Gorn was sitting at his place at the head of the massive dining table. And sitting at the foot was the mysterious girl with the bruised face. Dark wondered, as he served the Trollox a huge tureen of stew, how she’d gotten that bruise. He would have bet anything it came from one of his new master’s massive fists.

The thought made his fangs sharpen in anger again and he tried to push it away. He would do his best to save her—in the meantime, all he could do was feed her.

He served her a plate with several slices of the sweet purple yam bread along with a small dish of butter and a tiny bowl of honey with a spoon. Her big blue eyes widened when she saw what he was serving her and she looked up at Dark questioningly.

Since Gorn wasn’t looking at them, Dark permitted himself to smile at her—just one upraised corner of his mouth to let her know everything was all right.

“For you, Mistress,” he said in a low voice. “I hope you will eat with a good appetite.”

“I…I will. Thank you.” She picked up a slice of the fresh-baked yam bread and nibbled it experimentally. Her eyes got even wider. “Oh—this is delicious! It tastes like a cross between a honey bun and pumpkin bread.”

“I do not know those foods,” Dark said truthfully—he had barely scratched the surface on Earth cuisine on his visit to the Mother Ship. “But I hope you will enjoy it.”

“It’s wonderful.” She took another bite and then stopped for a moment to spread the rest of the slice with butter and drizzle it with honey. She was just raising it to her lips for a third bite when the gravelly voice of Gorn’s left head stopped her.

“What the fuck is that shit?” he demanded, glowering at the purple yam bread the girl held in her hand. “You, pretty boy—what are you servin’ my breeder?”

“Forgive me, Master, but I thought that as she is a humanoid, I should make her humanoid food, just as I make Trollox cuisine for you,” Dark said blandly.

“Well, you thought fuckin’ wrong, pretty boy!” Gorn looked angry—dangerously close to enraged, in fact. “To bear a Trollox heir, she’s gotta eat Trollox food. Take that slop away and serve her from my dish!”

He nodded at the tureen which he had already been slobbering in as he drank the stew straight from the bowl.

“Of course, Master,” Dark said at once. “Forgive me. But there is no need to take from you—there is still some stew left in the pot.”

Though he hated to do it, he whisked away the fresh yam bread and brought out a small bowl of the Trollox stew to the girl. He saw her wince at the smell and didn’t blame her. As he bent low to place the plate before her he murmured,

“Don’t worry—come into the kitchen after Last Meal if you can and I’ll give you the bread.”

He saw her eyes go wide again but she only picked up the spoon he’d given her and pretended to take a bite of the foul-smelling stew. Dark wondered if she would be able to come to him—if so, he could feed her the rest of the loaf. And maybe he could get her to start trusting him so he could eventually take her with him when he left.

Anna wasn’t sure what to think. She had never had a Replicant speak to her in such a way before. Not that she often tried to make conversation with them. Mostly Gorn bought the alien-looking kind with multiple arms to cook and clean and the obvious sex-doll kind to fuck.

She’d tried to make friends with one of the sex dolls once, out of sheer loneliness. The doll didn’t say much but she had apparently been programmed to be a good listener and Anna had found herself telling her everything that had happened—how she had been tricked and taken and sold… Through it all, the sex doll had nodded sympathetically, her eyes fixed on Anna’s face.

It was almost as good as talking to a real person—or so it seemed to Anna who had no one in that awful house. She had gone back several times to talk to the sex bot, whom she had dubbed “Rosie” because of her red hair and flushed cheeks. But then, the third time she’d gone to see her new “friend,” Gorn had been there.

Anna still remembered standing in the doorway, frozen in horror as she watched the huge Trollox literally fuck the doll to pieces.

He’d been taking her from behind, shoving his massive, warty shaft into an opening which seemed much too small to accommodate such huge girth. The doll wasn’t complaining though—she was making a series of high-pitched coos and moans, apparently meant to simulate sexual enjoyment. She’d been on her knees with Gorn holding her arms, pulling them back towards him.

“Fuck! So fucking tight!” Gorn had growled, shoving his hips forward and plowing into the sex bot with all his strength.

Suddenly, one of her arms tore right off.

Still the doll didn’t complain even though her bright pink blood squirted everywhere. Gorn hadn’t stopped his pumping either. He’d simply grabbed her long red hair, which was gathered in the back into a ponytail, instead.

“You broke another one!” the right head—the one Anna had dubbed “Hisser” in her mind—complained.

“Shut it,” grunted the left head—or “Growler” as Anna thought of it. “We can always buy more. Shut it and fuck!”

As he spoke, he gave another especially rough thrust and yanked on the sex bot’s hair. This time it was her head that popped off, as easily as the heads of Anna’s Barbies used to pop off when she was a girl, she’d thought, feeling sick and shaky. Still, she couldn’t stop watching—what was happening in Gorn’s “fuck room” was too horrible to drag her eyes away.

As her captor continued plowing the headless, leaking sex bot which trembled spasmodically beneath his bulk like a dying bug, all she could think was,

That could be me. That’s going to be me if I don’t get away.

But how? He’d brought her through a worm hole to get here and she didn’t even know where “here” was. She didn’t know how to fly a spaceship either—her stepfather Brex had promised to teach her but it was pretty complicated and he’d only gone over the basics before she’d been taken. So there was no way she could hijack one of Gorn’s ships and steal out in the dead of night.

No—she was stuck living here, thanks to her own stupidity in trusting Lazlo and not listening to her mom and stepdad. And she was desperately afraid that she was going to die here too.

Well, maybe before she died she could at least get some more of that purple bread. It was the best thing she’d tasted in a long, long time since all the food that was served to Gorn smelled and looked disgusting and tasted, if possible, even worse.

Should she trust the dark-haired Replicant though? Anna pretended to take another bite of the foul-smelling stew and weighed her options. She’d trusted a man before and had been betrayed and used and hurt in ways she didn’t want to remember. A strange male she didn’t know had invited her to come into the kitchen alone with him—she ought to run a mile in the other direction.

But surely it will be safe since he’s a Replicant, whispered a little voice in her head. He can’t hurt you like Lazlo did—he doesn’t even have any equipment down below.

She thought of the smooth, hairless expanse of tan skin between the Replicant’s thighs and felt slightly reassured. Yes, it should be possible to take him up on his offer to get more of the delicious purple bread in the kitchen. Just to be safe, though, she was going to stay near the door and make sure she had a way of escape if she needed one.

She had learned her distrust of males the hard way and she didn’t intend to repeat the lessons—not even with a seemingly safe male like the dark-haired Replicant.

Six

Dark waited anxiously in the kitchen, wondering of the girl would take him up on his offer or not. Shortly after finishing his dinner as messily as possible, Gorn had announced that he was going out drinking with his “drewgs” which Dark had assumed was a Trollox word for “friends”—if they could be said to have friends. Mostly they just tried to outdo each other with tales of sexual conquest and trophy acquisition if the conversations he’d overheard from the Trollox patrons of his old restaurant were anything to go by.

The cleaning Replicant came and went, scrubbing the pots and pans and leaving everything sparkling for the next day. Dark had just given up and settled down to look at the e-clip and make the order for tomorrow’s delivery when he heard the metal swinging door to the kitchen squeak every so slightly.

Looking up eagerly, he saw the girl standing there, just inside the door. She had the look of a frightened animal about her and he sensed that if he did or said the wrong thing she would bolt at once.

“Hello?” Her voice was high and uncertain. “I came because you said…said you had more of the purple bread? Is now a bad time?”

She was already backing away and Dark knew he had to say something quickly or he would lose her.

“Of course I have more of the bread, Mistress,” he said, rising smoothly from his place at the small table and going to the cold unit. “I made it especially for you.”

“You did? Um…that doesn’t seem like…I mean, why would you do that?” She had taken a step into the kitchen but her hand was still on the metal swinging door, ready to bolt at any time. “I mean, why would a Replicant care enough to make me something special? You are a Replicant, aren’t you?” she went on in a rush, her eyes wide and uncertain. “I mean, of course you are,” she answered her own question. “I remember you showed me when Gorn made you. Showed me you didn’t have a…a…” She gestured to his crotch and her face went scarlet. “I’m sorry, what I’m trying to say is I know you’re a Replicant—I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”

“Oh. And why not?” Dark tried to keep his voice neutral. He’d been hoping to tell her the truth about himself but she seemed so spooked he was afraid to say much of anything.

“Because men—males—are awful,” she said candidly. “I kind of learned that the hard way—no matter how nice they seem, you can’t trust them. No offense to you,” she added quickly. “I know you’re made to look like a guy, I’m just really, really glad you aren’t one.”

Dark wasn’t sure what to say to that.

“Did our master betray your trust?” he asked at last, trying to draw her into conversation—to find out a little of what was happening to her.

“Gorn? No.” She looked down at her hands. “No, he told me exactly what he expected of me when he bought me,” she said in a low voice. “He says he’ll let me go when it’s all done but I don’t know if…if I’ll survive it. But I don’t want to talk about that,” she added quickly, looking up again. “Did you say you had more of that bread? It really does taste amazing.”

“I’m glad you like it, Mistress. If you’ll wait a moment I can heat it up for you—it tastes much better hot,” Dark told her. And it would also give him an excuse to keep her in the kitchen a while longer.

“Well…it would be nice if the butter would melt.” She edged a little bit further into the kitchen. “I was so disappointed I didn’t get to taste it when it was all hot and covered in honey.”

“I’ll be happy to get it ready for you.”

Dark put the whole loaf pan into the convection warmer and set it for rapid warm. Then he busied himself getting the butter and honey and a plate and knife ready for her. He set these on the small table he’d been working at before she came in, as though assuming she would stay and talk to him while she ate—he hoped she would, anyway.

The warmer dinged and he removed the loaf pan. The bread smelled, if possible, even better than it had earlier when it had been fresh baked—rich and yeasty and warm. Dark wouldn’t have minded having a slice himself but he wasn’t sure he could get away with it since his Replicant status still seemed to be somewhat doubtful with the girl. Besides, he mainly wanted to see her eat it—like many chefs he had a need to nourish people and the girl looked desperately in need of nourishment.

“Come.” He brought the loaf pan to the small table and cut a slice to put on the plate. “Eat.”

“Um…” She nibbled her lower lip and he could sense her fear even though she wasn’t touching him. Fear and pain—so much pain. With anyone else, the warning from his gift—or curse—would have made him wary. With the girl, it only drew him more. He wanted desperately to know her. Maybe it was the dream he’d had of her but he felt strongly he needed to get closer to her—to help her however he could.

“Please, Mistress,” he said smoothly, trying to sound like a Replicant. “I swear I would never hurt you. I am here to serve and protect—that is all.”

“All right.” Slowly she made her way to the small table and sat, her voluminous black robes billowing around her. She walked as though it hurt her to do so and sat the same way—cautiously as though she might do herself an injury by sitting down too fast.

Dark supposed she was just still wary of him so he continued to try and look non-threatening. He picked up the e-clip and continued the ordering for the next day though he could sense the girl watching him from under her lowered lashes. At last she began buttering the slice of bread he had cut for her and then drizzled on a little honey.

She took a bite and her eyes rolled up in her head.

“Mmm…”

The little moan of delight warmed Dark’s heart. He loved to see people enjoying his food and she was certainly enjoying it all right.

In the past five years, he had almost forgotten the pleasure of watching others eat what he had prepared and delight in it. Mistress Hellenix had never praised his cooking though she had often criticized—sometimes verbally and sometimes with a pain whip. It was good to remember that he could still please and nourish people with the things he cooked and baked.

“Is it to your liking, Mistress?” he murmured, looking up at her.

“To my liking? It’s pretty much the best thing I ever put in my mouth.” She gave him a tentative smile. “Thank you for making it for me.”

“It was my pleasure,” Dark said honestly. “I thought it might be more enjoyable to your palate than Trollox food.”

“You thought right about that.” She shivered. “I’m sorry, because I know you made that stew at dinner, but it smelled awful. Not nearly as nice as this.” She took another bite of the bread.

“Trollox have different tastes than we—I mean than other humanoids do,” Dark corrected himself quickly, hoping she hadn’t caught his slip. “Mistress,” he added.

“That’s pretty obvious.” She took another bite and licked some honey from her fingertips. “And you don’t have to call me ‘Mistress.’ I’m nobody, really.”

“What’s your name?” Dark couldn’t stop himself from asking. He felt strongly that he wanted to know her—to know everything about her.

“Anna.” She looked up at him. “What’s yours? Or…do you have one? Do Replicants have names?”

“Dark. My name is Dark,” he said, holding out a hand in greeting.

She stared at him for a moment, then carefully laid her hand in his. Dark felt a tingle that went all the way up his arm and thought again of the flash he’d had of her in the compelling dream that had brought him here in the first place.

If he hadn’t had Dark Healer as part of his heritage, he might almost have thought it was some kind of Dream Sharing but he had never heard of a Dark Healer—even a half Kindred one—being able to have dreams of his future mate. It must just be that he felt for the girl because he had so recently been a slave with no hope of a future himself.

He held her slim, pale hand, so much smaller than his own for a moment and then let it go long before he wanted to—he was still trying not to scare her.

The girl—Anna—seemed to have felt something too. She looked down at her hand as though trying to understand it.

“Dark seems like a strange name for a Replicant,” she said at last. “And…you’re not like any other Replicant I ever saw.”

“I’m…a new model.” He didn’t like to keep lying about being a Replicant but it was pretty obvious that was the only reason Anna was still sitting here with him instead of hiding herself away from him someplace in the huge mansion.

“Well…it suits you. They, uh, certainly made you handsome.” Her soft blue eyes flickered over his face and then back down to her hands and he could see a blush blooming in her cheeks.

“Thank you.” Dark was touched by her shy compliment. For the past five years when he’d been held as a slave, he’d been pawed over by Mistress Hellenix and her friends who had often commented on the sharpness of his features and the length of his shaft. Such treatment had left him feeling objectified…dirty. But Anna’s soft voice and shy blush seemed to warm his heart. She was a slave, just as he had been and he yearned to rescue her.

But first, he had to gain her trust.

“You’re very beautiful yourself, Anna,” he said gently and truthfully. He wanted to reach out and touch her again—maybe just brush his fingertips along the soft skin of her cheek. But he sensed this wasn’t the time for touching, no matter how he longed to do it.

He expected her to blush again and thank him or maybe stammer and go all tongue-tied but Anna surprised him.

“No, I’m not,” she said flatly, shaking her head. “I’m not beautiful at all. I’m too big—too ‘pleasingly plump’ as my mom used to say. That’s what got me into this mess in the first place.”

“I…don’t understand.”

Though she was taller than most of the human women he had met on the Mother Ship, Dark thought she seemed the perfect height. Since he was seven standard feet tall himself, it would have been difficult to communicate with a much shorter female. And as for the “pleasingly plump” part, well—he didn’t understand the objection there at all. An Elite was the most beautiful kind of female—almost all Kindred agreed on that, though Twin Kindred had a special fetish for them.

“No, you wouldn’t understand.” She sighed. “You’re just a Replicant—no matter how human you act.”

“Actually, I am made to look like a Kindred—a Blood Kindred,” Dark said, trying to stick as close to the truth as possible. His Dark Healer heritage had given him his gift/curse but the Kindred DNA always bred true and except for his black hair and bronze eyes, he had the build and musculature of a true Blood Kindred.

“A Blood Kindred?” she looked up at him in interest. “My stepfather, Brex, was a Beast Kindred. My mom met him when he came down to Earth to advise them on some kind of demolition—he’s a munitions expert,” she explained. “I was fifteen when they got married and then we all moved off planet for his work and well…here I am.” She shrugged as though this was the entire explanation of how she had ended up a captive of the horrible Gorn.

Dark sensed there was more to this story—much more. But since Anna had chosen to gloss over it, he decided to leave it alone.

“You are from Earth, then?” he asked.

She took another bite of bread and nodded.

“Mm-hmm. Originally. I haven’t been home in a long time though.” Her blue eyes went wistful. “Wish I was there now.”

“I’m sure you do,” Dark said softly. He wondered if she was going to cry—he could feel her grief and loss hovering between them like a rain cloud about to burst. But somehow Anna mastered herself and sniffed back her tears.

“Well…thank you again for the bread,” she said and nodded down at her plate, which was empty except for crumbs. “I can’t believe I ate it all. I guess I’d better get going now.”

“Wait.” Dark had to stop himself from putting a hand on her arm to keep her with him.

“What is it?” She was hovering on the edge of her chair, about to leave at any minute.

“Wouldn’t you like another slice?” he asked her. “And to tell me what you want to eat tomorrow?” He nodded at the e-clip. “I’m ordering ingredients for delivery now.”

Anna sighed. “Yes to the second piece of bread—it’s probably the carbiest thing I’ve ever put in my mouth but at this point I don’t care—I’d front-load carbs by the handful if I could get them. After all, it’s not like anyone will ever see me again to care how I look.”

Her fatalistic words bothered Dark.

“I see you,” he pointed out. “And you look like you need feeding—which is my job. Please tell me what you want—I only know a few Earth recipes but I’ll try to make anything you desire if you just describe it to me.”

She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter what you make me—Gorn won’t let me eat it. He wants me to only eat that horrible Trollox food.” She shuddered.

“Leave that to me,” Dark said firmly. “Whatever you want, tell me. It may not look like the dish you ordered when it gets to the table, but it will taste like it.”

“So you’re going to make a whole separate dish for me and then camouflage it to look like Trollox food?”

Dark nodded. “That’s the idea.”

She looked at him incredulously. “But…why? Why would you go to all that trouble?”

Because I saw you in my dream, he wanted to say. Because you called to me, even though you don’t know it.

“I like a challenge,” he said instead.

Anna shook her head. “I imagine cooking Trollox food is already a challenge.”

“It’s pretty basic cuisine, actually,” Dark remarked. “Lots of organ meat and body fluids. Blood, bile…sputum…that kind of thing.”

“Ugh!” She made a face, her little nose wrinkling up in a way that made her look damn near adorable.

“Sorry, but it’s true.” He grinned wryly, forgetting for a moment to act like a Replicant. “It’s not exactly the tastiest food in the quadrant but it’s not that hard to make either.”

“Well, I don’t envy you your job,” she remarked. “How do you stand the smells?”

He shrugged. “You get used to it. In my old restaurant—the restaurant I used to work at, I mean—we had ventilation hoods that sucked it away. Here I just keep the lid on the pots as much as possible and open a window. The smell of the plants coming in is nice.”

“Yes, the garden outside is really pretty. It reminds me a little of where I used to live on Earth—it was a place called Florida.” Anna’s eyes grew soft as though she was remembering a cherished place she never expected to return to. “It was a sub-tropical climate, so everything grew wild everywhere—it was always so green.”

“Maybe we could go out to see the garden together,” Dark suggested, before he thought about it. “I mean, to enjoy the plants,” he added, rather lamely.

She gave him a sharp look. “If you were a real guy I’d think you were trying to get me alone, you know?”

“I’m sorry if I offended you.” Dark shook his head. “I just…haven’t been here long and I would like to see outside the house.”

She seemed to consider for a moment.

“All right—I’ll go with you,” she said at last. “But only because you’re a Replicant and you don’t have the, uh, equipment to hurt me.” She nodded down at his crotch. “And we can only go when Gorn is away like he is now. He gets really, really angry and thinks you’re trying to get away if he catches you outside the house.” She pointed to her bruised cheek and sighed. “Even though there’s nowhere to go.”

“He hit you?” Dark had suspected as much but now he felt the rage rising in him and his fangs sharpening at the confirmation of his guess.

She laughed harshly.

“This? This is barely a love-tap. You should see what he does to his sex bots—the Replicants he buys just to fuck.”

The word sounded ugly and cynical in her mouth but Dark could see the pain and fear in her blue eyes as she spoke.

“What does he do to them?” he asked in a low voice, though he thought he could guess.

The cynicism dropped away from her face, to be replaced by naked fear.

“He kills them—rips them apart,” she whispered, as though the words were almost too horrible to say. “I’ve seen him do it—it happened to the last Replicant I tried to make friends with.”

She jumped up suddenly and began to back away.

“Wait—where are you going?” Dark asked. “You haven’t told me what you want to eat tomorrow.” He tapped the e-clip meaningfully, hoping to coax her back but it was clear she was past coaxing.

“I shouldn’t be here,” she said, her eyes wild. “I shouldn’t be making friends with you. It will only make it harder when Gorn gets angry at you and…and…” She shook her head. “I’m sorry—thank you for the bread.”

“But—” Dark rose from his chair, one hand held out to her but she was already backing away.

“Sorry!”

And then she ran, the metal door swinging behind her as she disappeared. Dark swore softly under his breath. She was gone and there was nothing he could do about it. If he went after her, he would only scare her. He just had to let her go and hope he could get her to come back and talk to him some more at a later time.

Running a hand through his hair in frustration, he sank back into his chair. He knew it wasn’t reasonable but he wanted desperately to know Anna better. How could he get her back?

The e-clip brushed his hand and, looking down at his food order, he knew he had his answer. What had drawn her to him in the first place? Food—good, nourishing food that he had made for her with his own hands. Anna’s body was starving on the disgusting diet of Trollox fare…and her soul was starving for companionship as well—he could tell that from talking to her. Had she really tried to make friends with one of the Replicants? How lonely she must be!

Dark wanted to nourish her—both her body and soul. Once again he knew it wasn’t rational—this need to comfort and protect and nourish—he had only known her for a day, after all. But he couldn’t help it—the dream he’d had of her seemed to have produced an instant connection—an instant attraction. Or maybe it was that he saw so much of himself in her—that he saw his own struggle with slavery and abuse written in her soft blue eyes and he wanted to save her.

It struck him that no matter what Gorn had done to her, she was still fighting. Still surviving when another, weaker female, would have tried to kill herself or just laid down and died. But Anna was still here—still trying even though she thought her circumstances were hopeless.

She’s a survivor—like me. The way I was when Mistress Hellenix owned me and Creek, he thought. And just like him this girl was bent…bent but not broken. Dark wanted to heal her and maybe, in so doing, heal himself.

Well—he would start with her body first, he decided. He could worry about the rest later. Now what should he prepare her for first meal tomorrow…?

Seven

Anna ran to the farthest bedroom again—which she considered hers, though Gorn had never assigned her any particular space as her own. Since the Trollox was gone, she dared to lay on top of the bed instead of under it.

Trollox beds were huge and heavy and very high to climb into. She felt like Goldilocks trying to get into Papa Bear’s bed as she hoisted herself up the side and slid under the heavy, smooth sateen sheets. Then she lay there, shivering. It never quite got warm enough in this house and though the voluminous black robes her captor insisted she wear covered her from neck to ankles, they were thin and not very substantial.

She closed her eyes and tried not to think of Dark—then she thought about him anyway. What was it about him? Why did she feel so drawn to him? Was it the strange dreams she’d had?

There’s nothing about him—he’s just another Replicant. And as soon as Gorn gets angry at him, he’ll pull him to pieces like all the others, she told herself.

But she couldn’t stop thinking of him anyway.

He made that delicious bread just for me.

It didn’t seem like the kind of thing a Replicant would do. But there again, he had said he was a new kind—a new model of Replicant. Maybe whoever it was that manufactured them had put some kind of advanced artificial intelligence in him so that not only could he cook but he wanted to cook and enjoyed taking satisfaction in watching people eat what he made them. He had certainly seemed to like watching her eat the delicious purple spice bread.

Just remembering the taste of the bread made her feel warm and cared for. Anna knew it was silly to feel good that what was basically a robot cared about her comfort but she couldn’t help it—the idea that Dark had baked the bread just for her and had enjoyed watching her eat it warmed her heart.

She sniffed her fingertips, reliving the heavenly scent that still lingered there. But the bread hadn’t been the only thing that smelled good.

Dark—he smelled good too, she admitted to herself. Sweet, like cinnamon and sugar but under that was a darker spice—an exotic alien one she’d never smelled before but instantly wanted more of. Something dangerous. Something addictive.

Anna frowned. The rest of the Replicants didn’t smell like that—they didn’t smell like much of anything at all. There was a certain artificial blandness, like wet plastic, that hung around them if you got close enough to smell it, but other than that…nothing.

She didn’t like that smell—it was soulless. Not human or humanoid in the least. Maybe it was the result of some chemical treatment or maybe it was just that they didn’t have sweat glands like a regular humanoid did. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn’t very attractive. And it was nothing like Dark’s addictive cinnamon-sugar-and dangerous spice scent.

Anna frowned. Was he really a Replicant? He didn’t look like one, didn’t act like one, didn’t even smell like one. In fact, he seemed completely real—like a real person. A real Blood Kindred, she supposed, remembering the glimpses she’d gotten of his short, sharp fangs when they talked. How could he be one of the fake androids that Gorn had running his house?

Then she remembered Dark opening his trousers and showing the smooth expanse of sexless skin between his legs. The memory made her shake her head at her own foolishness. He had to be a Replicant—just a really good one, maybe. She bet Gorn had paid an arm and a leg for him.

Maybe, just maybe that would make the huge Trollox more careful with his new chef. She knew Hisser, the right head, was always complaining about Growler wasting money by “breaking” the Replicants he bought too quickly. And so far both heads of the massive Trollox had seemed to like the food Dark made them.

Maybe it would be safe to make friends with him, after all. However long she had to be friends with anyone.

Anna nibbled her lip and curled tight in a ball, feeling the cold metal of the new spreader inside her shift at the movement. It was like a thick, rough icicle in her channel—one that never melted. It had hurt so much when Gorn put it in, she’d barely been able to keep from crying out. Only knowing that sobs and tears would earn her a vicious beating had kept her quiet.

The spreader felt much too big but she knew it wasn’t the largest one. That one Gorn was saving until he was almost ready to breed her. He’d told her often how he would have to shove himself all the way inside her in order to plant his seed. Supposedly the largest spreader—the one as big around as a muscular man’s bicep—was the size of the Trollox’s shaft.

Anna shuddered and a wave of nausea came over her at the thought of having her captor that close to her—actually inside her. She still didn’t understand how she could become pregnant by a whole different species of male but when she’d asked timidly, hoping to reason with her captor, Gorn had told her that Trollox seed “could sprout in any vessel.” Anna supposed that meant that his DNA was strong enough to combine with her human DNA and either mutate it or overcome it.

She wondered if the baby would have two heads.

No—no, don’t think about it! Don’t!

She pushed the thought away and went to live in the past—remembering her mom and Brex and her friends back on the Aka’ja mining station. And then even farther back to Earth—to sunny days on the beach…the crashing of the surf…the cry of the seagulls always looking for food—the greedy things would swoop down and steal a hot dog bun or French fry right out of your hand if you didn’t watch them! And then there was the smell of salt in the air…digging her toes in the sand…watching the sun set on the water…

Putting herself in the past always helped. At last, with a little moan of pure exhaustion, Anna fell asleep.

Eight

The next day she stayed in bed as late as possible. She didn’t have to go to breakfast or lunch, thank goodness. Dinner was the only meal Gorn insisted she attend. So she mostly spent her days flitting around the house, trying to stay out of the big Trollox’s way when he was home and examining the strange alien furnishings and decorations when he wasn’t.

She had once heard war described as moments of sheer terror interspersed with long stretches of stupefying boredom. That was what life in Gorn’s house was like. She’d had a shot of translation bacteria when she and her mom stopped on the Kindred Mother Ship, before they moved to the mining station with Brex. So she could understand and even read alien languages. But there was nothing to read here—not even a magazine or the back of a shampoo bottle.

Either the Trollox had no written language, or Gorn was just completely incurious about any kind of intellectual pursuit like reading. Anna believed either or both was possible. Her captor was a brute and a bully with a sly kind of cunning that came mostly from the right head, Hisser, but he had no real intelligence. The idea of either head settling down with a good book wasn’t just impossible—it was laughable.

So she wandered around bored or hid and prayed he wouldn’t find her. It was like a never-ending round of terror-filled hide-and-go-seek that wore her nerves to the snapping point sometimes.

Today she put her ear to the door and listened to her captor’s heavy tread around the house. She almost went back to hide under the bed or in a closet when she smelled something strange…something good.

She sniffed. What was that? It smelled a little like an omelet—maybe one with exotic ingredients like truffle oil or something. But exotic or not, it smelled delicious.

Holding her breath, she eased the door of the bedroom open ever so slowly, so it wouldn’t squeak, and peeked out into the hallway outside. There was no one there but the smell got stronger.

Looking down, she saw a white tray with a translucent, dome-like lid. She could see something yellow with red and blue speckles through the dome that she couldn’t identify. Whatever it was, though, it was definitely the source of the heavenly smell.

Taking a risk, she picked up the tray and took it quickly back inside the room. Shutting the door as quietly as she’d opened it, she took the tray around to the far side of the vast bed and sat on the floor so that the side of the massive piece of furniture hid her from view.

There, in the small space between the bed and the wall, she pressed a blue button on the tray which made the transparent dome shimmer briefly and disappear.

A plate of food was revealed—none of it was really recognizable to Anna, but all of it smelled delicious. There was a glass of bluish-purple juice and a note as well which simply read, Enjoy, in a strong, masculine script.

Anna looked at it, half delighted and half dumbfounded. It must come from Dark—did he really want to feed her so much that he would risk leaving non-Trollox food out where Gorn might find it? She had to warn him not to do that again—the risk was too great. Still, she was more grateful than she could say. It had been hours since she’d eaten the slices of purple bread and her stomach was growling.

Eagerly, she dug in.

The yellow thing with red and blue specks turned out to be a kind of turnover crossed with an omelet. It had a crispy crust on the outside and a tender, fluffy center that oozed with some kind of melted cheese. The cheese was pink but Anna didn’t care—it tasted wonderful. There was also a small bowl of juicy fruit chunks beside the glass of bluish-purple juice, which tasted like a cross between grapefruit, strawberry, and melon.

It was the best food she’d eaten in months, ever since Gorn had bought her and brought her to his house and Anna finished it down to the last crumb. She was tempted to lick the plate as well but restrained herself. Instead, she wondered how she could get the tray back to the kitchen without being seen. Of course, it wasn’t absolutely necessary that she do it now but, well, she wanted to.

Don’t you mean you want to see Dark again? whispered a little voice in her head.

Anna swatted it away like an annoying fly. Of course she wanted to see him again—she wanted to thank him for the delicious meal and warn him not to leave food out for her any more—it really wasn’t safe now that Gorn had declared that she could only have Trollox food.

But he’s a robot—a Replicant. Isn’t it silly to want to thank him or warn him when he isn’t even real? the annoying little voice asked.

Anna pushed it away again. Never mind her reasons, the point was, she wanted to get to the kitchen but she didn’t dare leave the safety of the bedroom and remind her captor of her presence. She wished fiercely that Gorn would leave for a while so she could accomplish her covert mission.

Just then, as though some kind deity had heard her and granted her wish, she heard Gorn’s heavy tread and the sound of the front door slamming.

Perfect!

Anna picked up the tray and whisked it down the hallway, moving as lightly as she could in her bare feet. Before she knew it, she was easing through the swinging metal door and into Dark’s domain.

At first the big Replicant didn’t seem to hear her. He had his back turned to her and he was chopping something with a huge cleaver—some piece of gristly green meat which would no doubt be served for supper—she thought with a shudder.

At least it didn’t smell too bad though—some of the meat Gorn ate smelled like road-kill after it had been sitting out in the hot sun for a week. This stuff just smelled slightly gamey and Dark had the window open, which let in the artificial breeze that circulated through the garden It mitigated the odor. The warm scent of growing things and soil was almost stronger than the smell of the meat and it felt good on her face when the breeze caressed her.

Now that she was here, Anna suddenly didn’t know what to do or say. Should she apologize for running out on him so abruptly the night before? Or just thank him briefly for breakfast and warn him not to leave food for her again?

Uncertain what to do, she cleared her throat.

At once, Dark turned to face her. He was stripped to the waist, wearing only a long white apron that covered his chest and left his broad shoulders bare. The apron had green streaks on the front of it from the meat he was chopping.

“Oh—Anna.” His face broke into a smile and he put down the cleaver and went to wash his hands at the decontamination sink. “Come in,” he said, motioning to her when she still hesitated. “Did you enjoy your First Meal?”

“I did—it was amazing,” Anna said quickly. “But you can’t do it anymore—can’t leave food out for me, I mean,” she explained. “Because if Gorn finds out, he’ll tear you limb from limb—literally. I appreciate the gesture more than I can say and the food was amazing but I don’t want…don’t want to see you get hurt,” she finished, feeling foolish.

“Let me worry about my limbs, all right?” He dried his hands and walked over to her. “Did you come for that walk in the garden we talked about last night?”

“Oh, uh…” Anna wasn’t sure what to say about that. “No, I just came to bring the tray and dishes back—why would you think I wanted to walk in the garden?”

“Because you said we could only go when Gorn was out—and he is. He won’t be back until Last Meal tonight—he told me not to bother fixing Mid Meal. So we have some time to explore a little outside if you want.”

Looking up into his dark bronze eyes, Anna found herself tongue-tied. He was so handsome with his sharp, hawk-like features and those amazing metallic eyes. Not to mention the fact that he was so muscular and tall enough to make her feel small, which was almost impossible since she was six feet tall and plus-sized herself.

He looked like exactly the kind of guy she used to wish would notice her back when she was a teenager on Aka’ja mining station. And now he was asking to go on a walk with her.

A walk outside—alone with him, whispered a fearful voice in her head.

Anna pushed it aside—along with her feelings of awe for the big Replicant’s perfection.

He’s a robot, she reminded herself. He doesn’t have the equipment to hurt you and he’s not remotely interested in you. Not that it would do you any good if he was—you belong to Gorn, remember?

That was a sobering thought. She felt her pulse rate go down a little and she could take a deep breath again.

“All right,” she heard herself saying. “I’ll take a walk with you outside. As long as we don’t get too far from the house—in case Gorn comes back early.”

“That works for me.” He smiled easily. “Come on then, let’s go. Oh, but first…” He looked down at himself and grimaced. “Sorry—I’ve been butchering a dergrin heart this morning. It’s kind of messy work. Here.”

He pulled the green-stained white apron over his head and tossed it into a cleaning chute built into one of the side walls. This left him wearing nothing but a tight pair of black leather trousers and tall black boots.

Anna tried, but had a hard time not staring at his broad, bare chest. Whoever had made him had done an excellent job on this part, she decided. His muscles were heavy and well-formed without being over-pumped or veiny in that gross body-builder way. Also, he had a small patch of black hair between the copper disks of his nipples. She liked a man with a hairy chest as long as the hair was neatly groomed, as Dark’s was. It was sexy—very masculine, like the beard stubble on his strong jaw.

“Shall we go?” he asked and she realized she’d just been standing there, staring at him.

“Oh. Um, of course.” She nodded at the hallway that led to the kitchen. “I guess we could go out the service entrance.”

“After you.” He motioned courteously and Anna nodded and went down the hallway. She got to the service entrance and reached out a hand to open it…then hesitated, uncertain.

She couldn’t forget the last time she’d tried sneaking out here—how angry Gorn had been and the harsh blow he’d dealt her with his ham-sized fist. He had knocked her to the ground, her head ringing like a bell and for a moment she’d been sure her cheekbone was broken.

“That’s just a love-tap, stupid girl,” the right head had hissed. “You’ll get that and more if I catch you out again.” The left head had simply snarled, baring its ugly yellow tusks and blackish-red gullet like a gateway to Hell.

“Anna?” The sound of her name made her realize she’d been standing there with one hand outstretched for almost a full minute.

“Oh…sorry.” She put down her hand, squeezing it into a fist at her side. “Look, Dark, I don’t know if this is such a good idea.”

“Is there anyone who would tell on us?” he asked reasonably. “Are any of the other Replicants spies for Gorn?”

“I don’t think so,” Anna said. “Mostly he only buys them to clean up after him and, you know, service him.” She made a face. “I don’t think any of them are smart enough to be a spy.” She glanced up at Dark. “I mean, they’re not like you. No offense.”

“None taken.” He smiled at her easily but then his face went serious. “If you’re hesitating because you’re afraid, don’t be. Gorn is gone and even if he wasn’t, I won’t let him hurt you again.”

Anna wanted to say she didn’t see how he could stop the huge Trollox from hurting her or doing anything else he wanted. Dark might be really big but Gorn topped him by over two feet and he weighed probably hundreds of pounds more that the dark haired Replicant.

And yet…there was something in Dark’s bronze eyes—a grim certainty—a quiet determination—that made her believe him somehow and she suddenly felt better.

“All right,” she said at last and reached for the door again.

This time she opened it and the two of them soon found themselves out in the fresh air of the atmosphere dome that shimmered overhead and contained Gorn’s entire private floating island.

Dark took a deep breath, expanding his broad chest, and looked around.

“It’s beautiful out here,” he murmured in that deep, quiet voice Anna was beginning to like so much. “I’m surprised a Trollox would have enough appreciation for beauty and creativity to design a place like this.”

“Oh, he didn’t,” Anna said as they strolled out onto the winding blue gravel path that led into the tropical wilderness behind the house. “He only had it landscaped like this to outdo one of his ‘drewgs’—I think that means friends or buddies in his language. Before that it was just this rocky wasteland with the house in the middle.”

“Ah.” Dark nodded. “Can’t say I’m surprised. Gorn doesn’t seem like the artistic type.”

“He’s not,” Anna said flatly. “Oh, look!” She pointed to a plant right off the path that had broad green leaves streaked with crimson and yellow. “That looks like something you might see on my home world—on Earth.”

She was reaching out to touch one of the large, waxy-looking leaves when Dark caught her wrist in one big hand.

“Hey!” Adrenaline coursed through her veins and she pulled away from him in a panic. He’s going to hurt me now—I knew it! shouted a little voice in her head. Never should have trusted him! Never should have let myself be alone with him! Never!

“Sorry—I’m sorry.” He held up his hands as though to prove he meant her no harm. “It’s just—that’s poison viklak. It causes instant chemical burns when you touch its leaves.”

“It is? It does? How do you know?” Anna was still breathing hard and looking at him mistrustfully.

“Because its roots can be made into all kinds of tasty dishes,” Dark explained. “They’re perfectly safe to eat—all the poison is in the leaves. But you have to wear gloves while you’re harvesting viklak or you’ll be sorry.” He gave her an apologetic look. “I’m sorry if I scared you—I just didn’t want you to get burned.”

“Oh…all right.” Anna wrapped her arms around herself protectively as they continued to stroll. “I just thought…” She shook her head. “Never mind.”

“You thought I was going to hurt you—attack you,” Dark said in a low voice. “I’m so sorry I made you think that, Anna. I would never hurt you.”

“I guess I know that—you’re programmed to serve and protect, right?” She glanced up at him and he nodded gravely. “I just…” She cleared her throat. “Just had some bad experiences in the past that make me kind of…jumpy around men. Or people who look like men, in your case.” She tried to laugh but it came out sounding kind of high and squeaky and she realized her heart was still pounding.

“I’m truly sorry if I frightened you,” he said. “I won’t touch you again without your permission. I know it is…difficult to be touched against your will.”

“You do?” She looked up at him and saw the serious look on his sharp features. “I guess you do. People must think they can do anything they want to you because you’re a Replicant and they own you.”

“Exactly.” He nodded again. “It is…not pleasant.”

“No, it isn’t,” Anna agreed with feeling.

They had reached a small stone bench right beside the winding stream that ran through the little wilderness. This was as far as Anna had gotten before when Gorn had noticed she was missing from the house and came out to look for her.

“Would you like to sit?” Dark asked. “We can enjoy the breeze.”

“And not worry about me grabbing for any more poisonous plants?” she asked dryly.

One corner of his lush mouth quirked up.

“Well…yes.”

Anna found herself smiling back. “Okay, sure—why not? We’re close enough to the house to see if Gorn comes back early so this is a good spot.”

“I don’t think we have to worry about that,” Dark said, settling himself on the bench and patting the seat beside him. “Come on—have a seat.”

Anna wished she could just plop down but the hard, thick spreader inside her meant that she had to settle herself slowly and carefully onto the stone bench.

“Are you all right?” Dark asked, eyeing her as she got seated. “Do you have back problems?”

“Um…” Anna bit her lip. Robot or not, she wasn’t about to tell him about the spreaders Gorn forced her to wear. “Yes,” she said evasively. “Something like that.”

“I’m sorry. If sitting is too difficult, we can stand,” Dark offered courteously.

“No, no,” Anna said quickly. “I’ll be fine once I get settled. Thanks.” She nodded at him and gave him a smile to let him know she was fine.

“So…you said your stepfather was a Beast Kindred?” Dark asked, changing the subject, for which she was grateful. “And your mother met him when he came to Earth?”

“Exactly.” Anna nodded. “It was kind of a second chance thing for both of them. My real dad died when I was only five and my mom always said she could never love anybody again after him. And Brex—my stepdad—lost his first wife in a shuttle crash and thought the same thing—that he could never love anybody else again. Both of them spent years single before they found each other.”

“Your stepfather must have been an exceptionally strong male to survive the death of his mate,” Dark remarked. “Most Kindred warriors die when they lose the other half of their soul.”

“Is that how they think about it?” Anna asked, interested. She supposed that Dark knew about these kinds of things since he was made to look like a Kindred.

He nodded. “When a Kindred mates with a female he loves, they form a soul bond which enables them to speak to each other telepathically and often to feel each other’s emotions. I am told it’s a beautiful thing, though I never expect to experience it myself.”

“Oh, I guess you can’t because you only look like a Kindred,” Anna said. “I’m sorry.”

He shook his head. “Don’t be. As you said, it’s the way I’m made. I’m just not meant for such a bond.”

“Can Replicants fall in love?” Anna asked and then wished immediately that she could call the words back. He was sure to read into them and think she was asking if he could fall in love with her which was mortifying.

But Dark only looked thoughtful.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I can tell you that I have never been in love myself—nor do I expect to fall in love.” He looked at her. “What about you? Have you ever been in love?”

“Once I thought I was.” Anna couldn’t keep the bitterness out of her voice. “That turned out to be a big mistake, though.”

“Oh? What happened?” Dark asked.

She shook her head. “Oh, you wouldn’t be interested in my ancient history.”

“Of course I would. I am…” He frowned, as though looking for the right word. “I am programmed to listen. Maybe I should say, programmed to enjoy listening. I’d love to hear what happened.”

Anna bit her lip. “It’s not…not something I’d normally tell a guy,” she confessed. “It’s…kind of awful and humiliating. But I guess…” She looked up at him speculatively. “I guess you’re not really a guy because you’re a Replicant. I shouldn’t say that though—I don’t want to hurt your feelings.”

“You won’t,” he said simply. “Tell me—what happened when you thought you were in love, Anna?”

“Well…” She hesitated again. God, should she really talk about this? Should she really dig up the past—the extremely painful past—and tell it to Dark? For so long she’d been telling herself to forget it, to put it out of her mind. But the crazy thing was, she kind of wanted to talk about it. Needed to get it off her chest.

She noticed that as she deliberated, Dark sat there quietly, just watching her. Maybe he really was programmed to listen to her. That would certainly be a nice change from most guys! Abruptly, she decided to tell him—but only in a limited way. Some things she would keep to herself.

I’ll keep it light, she promised herself. That way I won’t be tempted to get all emotional and weepy.

“I think I told you that my mom met my stepdad when I was only fifteen,” she began, looking down at the little stream where a variety of fancy, colorful fish-like creatures were swimming by. “After he and my mom got married—joined—we stayed at the Mother Ship for a little while and then moved to Aka’ja mining station.”

He nodded. “I’ve heard of it. They mine aclamite—the metal used in a lot of interstellar communications systems.”

Anna nodded. “Exactly. It’s located on this huge asteroid that’s almost as big as a small moon way out in the Centauri system. Anyway, there aren’t a lot of people there. There are a few Kindred—mostly all married miners. And there are the Kanjis—a race of humanoids that are really small and petite. They’re wonderful people—I had a lot of girl friends there to hang out with.” She sighed wistfully, remembering them all. Ninji and Tija and Gilki…where were they now? And did they wonder what had happened to her?

“It sounds like a good life,” Dark remarked.

“It was. But it was lonely. I mean, despite having lots of friends, I couldn’t exactly date anybody there, you know? As I said, all the Kindred were married and the Kanji men are all really short and none of them is into big, plus-sized Earth girls.”

Dark frowned. “Plus-sized? I’m sorry—I haven’t heard that term before. What does it mean?”

“The same thing as ‘pleasingly plump.’ You know—fluffy? More to love?”

When he still looked confused she decided to stop beating around the bush.

“Basically it’s a nice way to say fat,” she said flatly. “The cute little Kanji men weren’t into girls that were a head and a half taller than them and who outweighed them by fifty pounds or more.”

Dark’s face cleared. “Oh—you mean an Elite.”

It was Anna’s turn to be confused. “A what?”

“An Elite is a female the Goddess has blessed with extra-generous curves,” he explained. “Didn’t you hear that term on the Mother Ship?”

Anna shook her head.

“No, but we were only there for a few days. Just long enough to get outfitted and get a shot of translation bacteria.”

“An Elite is an especially beautiful female,” Dark told her. “Especially prized by Twin Kindred but to be honest, most Kindred prefer them, I think.”

“Really?” Anna had a hard time believing that. “Well, I wish I would have known—maybe I could have gone back to the Mother Ship and found somebody who felt that way. But on Aka’ja, I just kind of stuck out like a sore thumb, especially when I hung out with my friends. They were all so tiny and cute and delicate and I was…not.” She sighed. “Anyway, even after I got older and moved out of my mom and stepdad’s house, I still felt that way. I didn’t want to leave my mom—we’re really close—so I hung around and did college courses by remote. And I got a job at The Ale-Pail—it’s a kind of bar or pub there,” she explained.

Dark nodded. “Did you enjoy working there?”

“It was okay—it was something to do and a way to be independent and earn my own keep. But like I said, I was really lonely. And then one night in the middle of my shift, he walked in. Lazlo.”

Just saying the name out loud gave her a sour feeling in the pit of her stomach and she had to pause for a moment and concentrate on the colorful fish swimming by in the stream before she could go on.

“Was this Lazlo the one you thought you loved?” Dark asked.

Anna nodded. “Or maybe I should say he was the one I thought loved me. Right away, he zeroed in on me. Came and sat at my table and started flirting. He, uh…” She cleared her throat. “He made me feel pretty, you know? And he wasn’t a Kanji—he was Trebban. They’re pretty skinny but also really tall—almost as tall as you,” she added, looking up at him. “Do you have any idea how great it is to finally be able to look up at a man you’re interested in after being taller than every man in the room for the past eight years?”

“It’s not an experience I’ve had, though I suppose I can imagine it,” Dark said dryly. “Feeling smaller than a male makes you feel beautiful then?”

“I used to think so,” Anna said bitterly. “Beautiful, desirable feminine… Now it just makes me feel vulnerable and weak.” She thought of looking up at Gorn, knowing her captor could overpower her at any time, and felt her stomach churn.

“I’m sorry,” Dark said softly.

She shook her head and looked at him.

“You really are a great listener, you know? Whoever programmed you did a wonderful job.”

He smiled. “I’m glad you think so. So what happened with Lazlo?”

“Oh, I guess I got kind of off-track, huh?” Anna sighed. “Well, he made me feel beautiful and special like I hadn’t felt…well, ever, I guess. I mean, not from a guy. I knew my mom loved me and thought I was pretty, but it’s not exactly the same thing, you know?”

He nodded. “Go on. What did he—this Lazlo—do to you once he had gained your trust?”

Anna thought that for a robot he was certainly very perceptive.

“Well, first he took me out a few times. He even came to dinner to meet my parents. My mom was a little iffy about him but my stepdad, Brex, absolutely hated him. He took me aside after dinner and told me I needed to break it off immediately. When I asked why, he said it was because Lazlo smelled untrustworthy.” She gave an unhappy laugh that tasted bitter in her mouth. “At the time, of course, I thought he was crazy.”

“Kindred have very sharp senses,” Dark remarked. “It’s possible that this Lazlo had bad intentions towards you from the beginning and his body was putting out pheromones that telegraphed his true emotions.”

“Well, I guess that’s possible.” Anna nodded. “Anyway, I found out the hard way that my stepfather was right.”

“I take it you didn’t listen to his warning?” Dark asked quietly.

She shook her head. “No—it made me mad because Lazlo was the only guy who had ever paid attention to me. I wanted to believe he really loved me—loved me for myself, you know? And he was always such a perfect gentleman, even when we were alone. He never even wanted to have sex.” She looked down at her hands. “I wanted to have sex, of course. I was freaking twenty-four and still a virgin, you know? Of course I wanted to have sex.”

She didn’t know why she was telling the big Replicant all this—it definitely wasn’t something she would admit if he was a real guy. If he had been real, he would have been much too attractive to talk to so freely. He would be miles out of her league—she would have felt beneath his notice.

But since she knew he wasn’t real, no matter how real he seemed, she felt free to say things she’d never admitted to anyone before. It was cathartic somehow—freeing. And there was no judgment on the big Replicant’s face—he was still just listening quietly as she spoke.

“Anyway, later on I found out why he wouldn’t have sex with me,” she continued, looking down at her hands. “He wasn’t dating me—he was scouting me—to sell as a breeder on the Trollox breeding market. Apparently they’re always looking for humanoid females who have a big enough frame to carry their babies to term and virginity is considered a plus.”

She closed her eyes, remembering how pleased Gorn had been when he forced the first spreader into her and she had bled. He’d said something about getting his money’s worth—Anna couldn’t remember exactly. She’d been in too much pain and terror to really register the whole experience and she’d been trying to forget it ever since.

“I didn’t know there was such a thing as a Trollox breeding market,” Dark said, drawing her out of the awful memory. Anna looked up and saw he was frowning, his black eyebrows drawn down low over those startling bronze eyes. “That is shameful—it should be stopped.”

“It’s basically human trafficking—well, humanoid trafficking. They don’t only take human girls—they’ll take any that are big enough to accommodate a Trollox male’s, uh, equipment and carry their baby.”

Anna felt herself blushing, her cheeks heating with shame and she looked down at her hands.

“Anna…” Dark’s voice was serious, tense. “Is he doing that to you? Is Gorn taking you against your will?” His big hands were clenched into fists and his eyes were narrowed with tension.

She shook her head. “Not…that way. Not yet, anyway. He says I’m not ready yet.”

His broad shoulders seemed to relax a little and his fists unclenched.

“Will you tell me if he tries? Will you call out for me?”

“Why?” Anna asked bitterly. “What can you do about it? No offense, Dark, but you’re just a Replicant, and I’ve seen him rip at least four Replicants apart since I’ve been here.” She shivered. “I can’t forget the sight of that bright pink blood squirting everywhere…”

“Just promise you’ll call for me,” he urged. “I won’t let him do that to you, Anna—I won’t let him rape you.”

She shook her head.

“He’s going to do it sooner or later. He tells me that after he gets me pregnant and I have his baby, he’ll let me go. But I don’t know…don’t know if I can trust him.”

“I would say categorically not.” Dark’s eyes were flashing again. “Have you thought about trying to escape?”

“Of course I have, but how?” she demanded. “I can’t drive a spaceship and even if I could, I have no idea how to get out of here. He brought me through a wormhole to get to this place. This…world.” She gestured aimlessly at the many floating islands hovering above the wasteland of a planet. “I have no idea how to get back to the worm hole or how to get home, even if I did. I’m stuck here—trapped.” She took a deep breath. “I just have to try to survive and hope Gorn will keep his word and set me free after…” She swallowed hard. “After he makes me pregnant and I have his son.”

“No one is going to do that to you,” Dark said firmly and this time his voice was almost a growl. “Just promise you’ll call for me, Anna. I won’t let him hurt you like that—I swear it.”

Anna shook her head. “I don’t understand—why do you care? You’re just a Replicant. Are you programmed to want to protect women or something?”

“You could say that.” Dark nodded. “I was given a belief that females must be revered and protected. I had…” He cleared his throat. “Some negative experiences with my last owner, who was a Mistress of Yonnie Six. But that has not changed my fundamental belief that females must not be harmed.”

Anna sighed. “You’re very sweet,” she said, patting his knee. “And I really appreciate you wanting to save me. But unless you can steal a ship and get us both out of here, I’m afraid I’m stuck.” She shook her head. “No—forget I said that. I know you can’t break your loyalty programming and run away from your master. No Replicant can.”

Dark didn’t say anything this time. Instead, he took her hand from his knee and laced their fingers together.

Anna’s hand tingled, just as it had the first time he’d touched her. He appeared to be looking down, studying the way their hands fit together with his long fingers intertwined with hers. At last he looked up at her, catching her eyes with his and holding them so that Anna felt she couldn’t look away.

“I won’t let him hurt you,” he said in a low, intense voice. “I swear it, Anna. I give you my oath—the Trollox will not harm you or take you against your will unless I’ve done all I can do to stop him and failed—unless I’m broken and bleeding at his feet.”

Anna’s breath seemed to catch in her throat.

“Oh Dark…I don’t know what to say,” she whispered. And she wanted to add, You’re so sweet but you’re too late. He’s already hurt me—already done so much against my will…

But that would mean telling him about the spreaders that her captor forced her to wear and she wasn’t willing to go there. Not now and probably not ever.

“Just say you’ll call for me,” he said tensely. “If he tries to rape you, call my name. I’ll hear you and come. I’ll stop him, no matter what.”

“I’ll call you,” she said, but she knew she wouldn’t. She liked Dark. Even if he was just a Replicant, he was a pretty amazing guy. She had never had a man so interested in defending her honor before. Well, except for Brex and that was different because he was her stepfather and it was kind of his job, in a way.

“Thank you, Anna.” He squeezed her hand lightly, a relieved look in his bronze eyes. “Thank you for trusting me. I know it can’t be easy after you’ve been so betrayed by males in the past.”

“But you’re not really male,” she pointed out. “I mean, you look male but you don’t have, uh, male equipment.”

She said it not to hurt his feelings—if Replicants had feelings—but to reassure herself. He couldn’t hurt her. Couldn’t do what Lazlo had done.

She remembered his nasty laughter and cruel words—the first true words he’d spoken to her once he got her alone and helpless in his ship, far from the mining colony where no one could help her and told her what her future would be…

“Where are we? Where is this place?” Anna had looked around uncertainly at the strange space port he had taken her to. She could see some of the details on the viewscreen of his ship, which he had docked in one of then many spaces of the docking bay. The port was lined with stalls and it was colorful in a garish kind of way with bright, crude banners flying to advertise the sellers’ wares. What concerned her were the words written on many of the banners.

“Big Girls Sold Here,” proclaimed one. “Extra large, healthy womb!” said another. “Heirs carried to term guaranteed!” a third bugled.

What in the world could they be selling, Anna wondered. Was this the alien equivalent of a horse stable and there were brood mares for sale here? Also, why were the customers so big? They were some kind of alien species she’d never seen before—they were as tall as trees and twice as massive. Some even had two heads! They were like ogres out of the fairy tales her mother had used to read her when she was little.

“What is this place?” she asked Lazlo again. “You said we were going on a little adventure—that we’d be back before anybody even knew we were gone.”

“Oh, it’s going to be an adventure all right, sweet thing.” Lazlo grinned at her, his bright green eyes narrowing.

Anna had always liked it when he called her that before but now the way he was looking at her was making her distinctly nervous.

“I don’t like this place,” she said. “I want to go home. Take me home, Lazlo!”

“This is your home now, sweet thing. At least until you get sold.”

“Sold? What are you talking about?” Anna demanded. She started to reach for the door latch to let herself out of his ship but Lazlo reached across her body and grabbed her wrist, twisting until she gasped in pain.

“I meant exactly what I said—this is the Trollox breeders market. They’re always looking for girls like you—girls to carry their brats to term.”

“Girls like me?”

Anna still couldn’t believe this was happening—couldn’t wrap her head around the situation. Lazlo had always been such a perfect gentleman the entire time she’d known him. He would barely even kiss her cheek or hold her hand—telling her that he respected her too much to take advantage of her. But now, here he was twisting her wrist until it felt it would break and talking about selling her in some horrible breeding market. What was going on?

“Yeah, sweet thing—girls like you. Big girls—fat girls,” Lazlo snapped. “I knew the minute I stepped into that shitty little dive bar you work in that you were perfect for this. Look at you…” He sneered at her. “You’re so fucking fat you can probably carry Trollox twins to term!”

“Don’t talk to me like that!” Anna tried to yank away from him but he only tightened his grip on her arm until she could feel the small bones of her wrist grind together painfully.

“I’ll talk to you any way I want, sweet thing. Did you really think I wanted you because I liked you? Because I was attracted to you?” He made a disgusted face. “Hell no—a fat bitch like you is only fit for one thing—Trollox breeding.”

“Let me go!” Anna begged. “Just take me home, Lazlo—please! However much you think you might get for me at this…this place, I know my stepfather would pay you more! Brex makes good money. He—”

“Brex!” He spat, as though her stepfather’s name tasted foul in his mouth. “Fucking Kindred! He nearly ruined this for me. You know he took me aside after our ‘date’ and told me if I didn’t leave you alone he’d fuck me up? I knew then I had to move fast or my fat little breeder was going to slip through my fingers.”

Anna had been crying at that point. She was horrified and humiliated and she hadn’t yet learned not to let the tears drown her.

“Please,” she begged. “Please, just take me home!”

“I’m taking you to the market,” Lazlo told her, his sharp green eyes flashing with greed. “But first I’m going to give you a little of what you’ve been begging for.”

Letting go of her wrist at last, he reached for her blouse and ripped it open.

“No! What are you doing?” Anna tried to get away from him, fumbling with the door latch again. But he had locked it somehow, making escape impossible.

“You’ve been all hot and heavy for it ever since we met, you slut,” he snarled. “What’s the matter sweet thing? Changed your mind?”

“Leave me alone—that was before. When I thought you cared—when I thought you loved me,” Anna protested. “I don’t want anything to do with you!”

“You should thank me.” Lazlo had been panting by that time, a mixture of lust and disgust moving across his long, bony face as he pawed at her clothes. “Before long, you’ll wish you had a good-looking male like me to breed you. When you’re pinned down to the bed with a fucking Trollox between your thighs…”

The idea seemed to excite him and he dragged her closer, despite her struggles.

“No—no!” But Anna knew it was a losing battle.

“After all,” Lazlo panted in her ear, “Just because you have to be a virgin, doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun, sweet thing. The Trollox won’t care if I have a little taste and the back door is tighter than the front anyway.”

“What are you talking about? Leave me alone!” Anna gasped. But he was already pushing up her skirt and forcing her face down into the seat. His breath was hot and panting at the back of her neck.

“Turn over so I don’t have to see your fat face while I fuck you, bitch,” he snarled. “Gonna leave a load of my cum in your fat ass—something for you to remember me by!”

Anna cried out at the tearing pain but there was nothing she could do, nowhere she could go. She was trapped and there was no getting away…

“Anna? Anna, are you all right?” Dark’s deep voice sounded concerned. “You’ve been quiet for a long time, he added, when she finally looked up at him.

Feeling sick, she pushed the memory away.

“Sorry, I was just…thinking,” she said.

“About what we were talking about—the fact that I am only male in appearance? Does my lack of…equipment bother you?” Dark asked, looking at her.

Anna shook her head.

“I’m glad you don’t have that equipment,” she said thickly and realized, to her horror, that she was suddenly on the verge of tears. What Gorn had done to her…was doing to her…had become her new reality. But her Trollox captor had never pretended to love her and then betrayed her. With Gorn, what you saw was what you got. Lazlo had made her love him before he hurt her—hurt her so badly that even now she couldn’t bear to think of it too closely.

“Does it make you feel safe with me?” Dark asked.

She nodded. “Yes. You seem really nice but I’ve thought that before, you know. At least if you turn out to be a shit like Lazlo, I know you can’t hurt me. Can’t…can’t…” She shook her head, unwilling and unable to go on.

“He did more than just sell you to Gorn then.” His broad shoulders were tensed again, his bronze eyes narrowed.

“I don’t want to talk about it. If we talk any more I’ll cry and I hate crying.” Anna took a deep breath and was relieved when she felt the threatening tears retreat. She hadn’t allowed herself the luxury of weeping since the first night Gorn had owned her. If she did, the tears would take over and she would drown. It was better to take herself away, into the past when she felt sad. Better to think of a time before Gorn, before Lazlo, before all the pain and misery of her present and the worry of her uncertain future.

“What would you like to talk about?” Dark asked softly. “Would you like me to make you something special for Mid Meal?”

“For lunch, you mean?” She flashed him a grateful smile, glad he was changing the subject. “I’d love that.”

“Come back to the kitchen with me then.” Dark rose and pulled her lightly to her feet. “I’ve ordered some things I thought might work in the context of Earth cuisine but you’ll have to help me. As I said, I only know a few Earth recipes.”

“You mean…help you cook? I’m not much good in the kitchen but I’d like to try,” Anna said shyly, looking up at him. “I’ve always wanted to learn to cook.”

He looked so beautiful, standing there in the artificial sunlight, his bronzed chest bare and broad, his eyes with their startlingly thick black lashes trained on her, as though she was the most important person in the world.

A girl could fall in love, whispered a little voice in her head. If she wasn’t careful, that is…

Then she scoffed at herself. No matter how sweet and kind and caring Dark seemed to be, she had to remember he was only following his programming. Falling in love with a Replicant didn’t make any more sense than falling in love with a dishwasher or an oven. It was plain stupid. And anyway, she didn’t think she could trust any man enough to have those emotions again. Not after Lazlo and Gorn. Not after what had been done to her.

“I’d love to give you cooking lessons,” Dark said, breaking into her train of thought. “I can always use another sous chef—or any sous chef at all, since I’m alone in the kitchen.”

“That would be nice.” Anna smiled at him. “I’m usually so bored in this house. Bored or in absolute terror of Gorn when he’s home, I mean. I mostly just try to stay out of his way.”

“He doesn’t seem to come into the kitchen much,” Dark remarked as they walked back to the house. “And if he does, you could always hide in the pantry.”

“Good point.” Anna nodded. “All right—I’ll risk it. Usually when I’m out of sight, I’m out of mind for him. For the left head, anyway—I think the right one is smarter. It really hates me. It thinks Gorn should have bought another girl—one that wouldn’t take so long to get ready to…to breed.” The words stuck in her throat and she shook her head. “Anyway, I’d love to learn to cook. Thank you,” she said quickly.

“You’re welcome,” he said, nodding. “Now come with me—your first lesson starts now.”

Nine

“So you’re definitely moving to the Mother Ship?” Sophia passed one of Lauren’s delicious chocolate chip muffins to her new friend and smiled as she brushed crumbs off the picnic blanket they were sitting on.

Nikki was visiting the Mother Ship again and this time she had brought her three sons up with her. The three of them and her new mate, Malik the Volt Kindred, were playing some kind of game on the rolling green lawn in the recreation area in the center of the Mother Ship.

It had seemed like the perfect opportunity to introduce the new girl to some of the other brides so Sophie had decided to throw a picnic, not far from the Sacred Grove. So far she and Nikki and Liv were the only ones there but Kat had promised to come too and Lauren had already dropped off some muffins and cupcakes and apologized that she couldn’t stay.

“We’re coming up here this summer after the boys finish the school year. That way Malik and I can have our joining ceremony before they start back again,” Nikki said, smiling as she took a bite of muffin. “Oh my goodness, this is amazing. Your cousin is so talented!”

“Yes, Lauren makes the best goodies.” Liv smiled and took a bite of her own blueberries and cream muffin. “So are you going to be joined right here in the Sacred Grove?”

“Did I hear someone say Joining Ceremony?” Kat settled on the blanket beside them and shooed her three boys away. “No—go on, Mommy needs some grown-up time. Go play with your fathers!”

The three ran off, laughing and shouting and she turned back to Nikki.

“So you must be the new girl Sophie’s been telling us about. Tell me where and when you want to have the ceremony, doll, and we’ll make it happen.”

“Kat’s our resident party planner,” Sophie explained, smothering a smile at Nikki’s rather startled expression.

“Oh, and she does a really good job—she planned both our ceremonies,” Liv said. “If you let her help you won’t be sorry.”

“Help? Hell—I’ll take over if you let me.” Kat grinned. “But I’m also willing to butt out completely if you’ve already got everything settled and you don’t need any help. Either way works for me.”

“No, but I do need help,” Nikki protested. “I hardly know anything about the Mother Ship or how to book the Sacred Grove or where to get the decorations and food and cake or anything.”

“Then Kat’s your girl.” Liv smiled and patted their oldest friend on her arm. “She loves planning a party.”

“Can you fit me into your schedule?” Nikki asked anxiously. “We were hoping to get joined in August, right after we get settled up here and before the schools start up again.”

“Oh, I don’t really have a schedule—I’m more of an unofficial party planner,” Kat said, smiling. “The nice thing about living on the Mother Ship is that all our guys make more than enough to support a family. So we girls don’t actually have to work—although we can if we want to, of course.”

“It just means that you’re able to do what you want for a living, even if it doesn’t pay much,” Sophie explained. “Like, I love my art, but I’ll be the first to admit I’m not the next Andy Warhol or Georgia O’Keeffe.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, womb-mate!” Liv exclaimed. “Your paintings are amazing! I have five hanging in my suite,” she added to Nikki.

“Thanks, Liv.” Sophie nodded at her twin sister. “But you have to admit that back down on Earth, I couldn’t live on the proceeds of my art. I’d have to have a ‘real’ job.”

“You do have a ‘real’ job,” Kat protested. “You teach art to the little ones too. That’s important. And it pays as well as her husband’s job,” she added, to Nikki. “And he’s the Head of the High Council.”

“The Kindred are big believers in investing in the education of the young,” Liv explained. “It’s one reason the schools up here on the Mother Ship are so good. All the teachers are paid as much as any of the warriors—even the upper level ones like my husband, Baird, who heads up the Kindred Fleet.”

“That’s wonderful.” Nikki got a look of wonder in her dark eyes. “I am so excited to move up here! And my boys are pretty pumped up about it too.”

“How are they getting along with Malik?” Sophie asked. She knew that Nikki’s three sons—two who were in their tweens and one who was already a teenager—had gone through a massive upheaval when their biological father had been whisked away to an unknown galaxy after Mistress Hellenix of Yonnie Six had taken him as her personal slave. Of course, he’d been about to leave Nikki and run off with her cousin, after cleaning out their mutual bank account, so he pretty much deserved what he’d gotten, but it was still hard on the kids.

“See for yourself.” Nikki pointed to the vast, grassy, open space which was located in the center of the Mother Ship. Overhead, the artificial green sun beamed gently down and a soft breeze circulated, making it feel like a balmy day back home on Earth.

Malik and Nikki’s two youngest sons were playing some kind of game which seemed to involve a soccer ball, a football, and some antigrav-heels which they all had strapped to their feet. The flat, black heels allowed them to jump high in the air and hover about two to three feet above the ground for a short time before coming back down again. They were laughing and tossing the balls in a complicated pattern and weaving back and forth through the air.

Nikki’s oldest son was on his cell phone but the moment Malik called to him, he shoved it in his pocket and powered up his own anti-grav heels to join the game. Soon all of them were shouting and laughing and generally having a good time.

“Look at that.” Nikki was smiling but also wiping a tear from her eye—a tear of joy, Sophie was pretty certain. “Their real father would never get out and play with them. All he wanted to do all day was sit in his man cave and watch sports on TV. And during dinner, he would never make conversation—he was just always on his phone, texting.” She frowned. “Now I’m pretty sure I know who he was texting but she’s not a part of our life anymore either, so it works out fine.”

“It looks like they’re getting along great. Malik is really good with them,” Liv remarked.

“Yes—he helped raise three younger brothers,” Nikki answered. “My younger boys adore him. My oldest is still kind of finding common ground but Malik told me he asked him for advice about girls the other night—so I think it’ll be okay.”

“You’re going to have a wonderful life up here,” Kat assured her. “And it all starts with the joining ceremony. So tell me now—what kind of joining are you planning? Big? Or small and intimate? Do you want the boys involved? Maybe they could be best men? I think they’re too old to be ring bearers…”

“Well—” Nikki began but just then they were interrupted.

“Excuse me?” A woman who looked to be somewhere in her forties with a worried looking face and red hair with silver strands in it, spoke to Sophie. “Are you Sophia, the one who’s mated to the head of the High Council?”

“Well…yes.” Sophie stood up and offered her hand to the woman who shook it distractedly. “I am. And you are…?”

“I’m Camilla and this is Brex, my husband.” The woman pointed to a Beast Kindred standing beside her, who nodded at Sophie and growled a terse greeting.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Sophie said politely. “How can I help you?”

“We’re hoping you’ll talk to your husband for us,” Camilla said earnestly. “We need some help and we thought if it came from you, well, he might be more receptive.”

“Well, I’ll do what I can, though I promise you Sylvan is a very fair male,” Sophie told her. “I’m sure he’ll be happy to listen to your problem.”

“Our daughter has been taken,” the Beast Kindred growled, his golden eyes flashing. “That is, she is Camilla’s daughter, but I feel she is my own as well, since she was younger when we were first joined.”

“Taken? Taken where? By who?” Kat exclaimed.

“We don’t know but we have our suspicions,” Brex growled. “She was taken from the Aka’ja mining colony where we live. And right before she disappeared, there was a filthy Trebban hanging around her.” His face twisted angrily. “Slaver scum! I should have killed him when I had the chance.”

“A…Trebban?” Nikki asked Liv in a whisper.

“They’re a sentient species in a different part of the quadrant, I think,” Liv whispered. “We don’t see many of them around here because they don’t get along with the Kindred.”

“I thought the Kindred got along with everybody,” Nikki remarked.

Liv shook her head. “Not if they don’t like the way the other people treat their females—that’s very important to the Kindred. And Trebbans have a reputation of slaving out their extra females—selling them to the highest bidder.”

“That’s horrible!” Nikki murmured.

Liv nodded. “The Kindred think so too—which is why the two species don’t generally get along and they aren’t considered a fit genetic match, even though they’re humanoid.”

“We’ve looked everywhere—we’ve done as much as we can on our own and we’re getting nowhere,” Camilla was saying, through her tears. “Please, do you think the Kindred of the Mother Ship can help us find our Anna?”

“I’m sure they can,” Sophie said firmly. “Come on, I’ll bespeak Sylvan right now and ask him to meet us back at our suite.” She looked down at Nikki. “I hope you don’t mind if I leave you with Liv and Kat for a bit?”

“Of course not!” Nikki exclaimed. “Go—go!”

“Thank you.” Sophie smiled at her and nodded at her sister and best friend. “You two take care of Nikki. Oh, and Liv—will you keep an eye on the twins until I come back?”

“We’ll be the soul of hospitality, doll,” Kat promised and Liv said,

“That’s fine—they’re playing with Daniel anyway. They probably won’t even notice you’re gone.”

“Thanks, Sis.” Sophie smiled gratefully and left with the human woman and her Beast Kindred husband in tow.

“Those poor parents,” Nikki whispered after they were gone, putting a hand to her throat. “To have a child go missing like that—it’s the worst thing a parent can go through.”

“The mom in me doesn’t even want to think about it,” Liv said quietly. “Mine is still young and it sounds like the daughter they had go missing is older but it doesn’t matter how old they get—they’re still your babies.”

“That’s true. Even when my three are aggravating the pee out of me I still love them to pieces.” Kat sighed. “I hope Sylvan can help them find their daughter. I’d say that Deep and Lock and I could try doing a seek and find for her but none of us know her and we don’t know where to start looking, which can really complicate the process. The universe is a big place.”

“And just think, not that long ago, we thought we were alone in it,” Liv remarked. “Remember that? How we thought because we had never had any contact with extra-terrestrial life that we were the only ones out here? It seems laughable now.”

“Yup. Because then came the Scourge and right after them, the Kindred,” Nikki remarked.

“There were some people who tried to tell us we weren’t alone,” Liv said thoughtfully. “Remember how people used to say they were ‘abducted’ by aliens and then put back on Earth?”

“We all thought they were crazy,” Kat said. “Now I wonder…”

“Do you remember my Nana Ruth?” Liv asked. “She died not long after you met me and Sophie so you might not.”

“I mostly remember the amazing banana pudding she used to make,” Kat said. “But wasn’t she supposed to be crazy? That’s what my mom always said,” she added apologetically. “No offense, doll.”

“Oh none taken, don’t worry—my whole family thought she was crazy,” Liv said candidly. “But she always swore she was taken by aliens and held in their spaceship for weeks—and then set back down in the exact same place and time where they’d taken her from in the first place. She said they scanned her and recorded her ‘essence’ to study later—whatever that means. She would go on and on about it for hours if you’d listen to her.”

“I think everybody has a crazy relative or two,” Nikki remarked. “My grandfather was certain that thieves were breaking into his house to steal his paper plates. Not the TV or the jewelry or anything else of value, mind you—just the precious paper plates.” She laughed and shook her head.

“Well, I don’t have any crazy relatives,” Kat protested.

“You know what that means, don’t you?” Liv elbowed her lightly. “It means you’re the crazy one, kat-woman.”

“Hey!” Kat plucked the chocolate frosted cupcake from her friend’s plate and threatened to take a bite. “Take that back or the cupcake gets it!”

“Go ahead.” Liv grinned at her. “Lauren left us two dozen. I’m sure there’s another Deep Dark Chocolate Devil’s Food one in there.” She nodded at the bakery box her cousin had left for them.

Kat laughed and took a bite before turning back to Nikki.

“All right, doll, about that ceremony…”

Liv watched as they planned but one corner of her brain was still preoccupied with the people who had come asking for help to find their child. Goddess, she didn’t know what she’d do if her Daniel went missing! He was growing up to be such a fine young man—she was really proud of him and since it looked like she and Baird weren’t having any other kids, even though they’d been trying, he was their only one.

Goddess, she prayed. Wherever that girl is, please send someone to watch over and protect her. Let her be well and safe and let her come home again to the parents who love her.

There was no answer but she felt a sense of peace and knew that the Mother of All Life had heard her prayer. Anna, wherever she was, was being watched over by the Goddess who loves all of her children. Somehow she would send someone to find and rescue her—someone to care for the one lost lamb who had gone astray—and return her to the fold and the safety of her family’s arms.

Ten

Dark’s heart ached as he watched Anna move about the kitchen. She was so brave—so uncomplaining despite the horrible position she found herself in. But it was clear that she’d been badly hurt and would have a difficult recovery, even when he took her away from here.

Speaking of which, even though a solar week had passed and they worked together in the kitchen every day, he still hadn’t found a good way to tell her that he wasn’t a Replicant. He wanted to confess his true identity badly but every time he got close to it, he would remember her story of how other males had hurt her, and how she’d told him she was glad he didn’t have “male equipment.”

Just thinking of what might have been done to her by that Lazlo bastard made him clench his fists and caused his fangs to grow long and sharp. Clearly he had hurt Anna badly—first making her believe that he loved her, then sexually abusing her, and finally selling her to Gorn, who planned to do even worse to her. It was Dark’s belief that any male who treated a female in such a fashion should be skinned alive…slowly.

He hadn’t asked for the details of what kind of abuse Anna had endured but clearly it was bad enough that the only male she felt comfortable around was a neutered, sexless one—or one she thought was neutered and sexless. Until he could help her heal at least a little bit, he couldn’t tell her the truth about himself, Dark thought. He would immediately lose her trust and she would hate him forever.

And that would break him.

For though he tried to tell himself he only wanted to save her, only wanted to heal her, he couldn’t help but find himself captivated by the little Earth female. She was beautiful and fierce and brave and now that he was feeding her properly, she was finally beginning to regain a few of her Elite curves, which were devastatingly sexy.

She was resilient too. Despite what she had been through—and what she was currently going through as she waited for Gorn to do unthinkable things to her—she still had a wry sense of humor. They had talked about happier times in her life—and his, though he had to be guarded in what he said—and joked and laughed together.

Her cooking lessons were another source of amusement. The mining colony she’d lived on had relied mainly on food simulators for their daily fare so Anna claimed she was such a poor cook she would “burn water.” It was true that she made some mistakes from time to time—such as when he’d caught her using the industrial-strength anti-germ foaming pads to clean the jute tubers he’d assigned her to wash and prep. Dark had thrown them out and explained that the agent in the pads would soak into the tubers and make her sick if she ate them. Anna had been mortified but he had thought it was funny and eventually she laughed it off.

Despite her novice mistakes, she had a good sense of food and what flavors would taste right together, Dark had found. She was an apt pupil and he loved teaching her. He only wished he could be teaching her in his own kitchen on Rigelus Prime or anywhere, really, safer than here in the Trollox’s domicile.

Every instinct he had shouted that he had to take her away at once—that he had to get away from Gorn and his horrible plans for her and take Anna where she would be safe. But several things stopped him.

First, it would mean giving up completely on the mission which had been entrusted to him. He had sworn to watch over the Shannom-rah crystal and keep it safe until the replica came so that he could replace it and bring the real crystal with him back to the Mother Ship. He didn’t want to break his word and let down Commander Sylvan, who had entrusted him with this important task.

Of course, he knew that if Gorn tried to rape Anna instead of only threatening to do it, the jig would be up. His protective instincts had grown powerfully for her over the past week. If the huge Trollox tried anything, Dark was fairly certain he would go into Rage and kill the big bastard—which of course, wasn’t what the Kindred High Council wanted at all.

The Trollox were a clannish people and he was certain if he killed Gorn, all of the Trollox’s “drewgs” would come after him and everyone on the Mother Ship. Of course, he could try to cover his tracks but he didn’t like to put the people of the Mother Ship in danger, especially since Commander Sylvan was specifically trying to avoid a confrontation with the Trollox people.

The other thing that stopped him, was that he knew the moment he stole Anna away from here, she would want to know how a Replicant was able to break his loyalty conditioning and leave his master. And then sooner or later, it would come out that he wasn’t a Replicant after all but a male with male equipment—equipment she feared and hated. And then she would fear and hate him too and never want to see him again.

I couldn’t bear that, Dark thought, watching as she sliced laso pods with surprising speed and skill, considering she’d had no knife skills at all before he started teaching her. I don’t want her to hate me—or fear me.

But she will anyway, whispered a little voice in his brain. Once she realizes you’ve lied to her…once she realizes she’s been deceived…Sooner or later the truth will come out, Dark, you know it’s true.

Yes, he knew it, he thought grimly. But he wanted to put it off as long as possible. To keep enjoying her company and her trust for as long as he could. So, as long as Gorn wasn’t actually doing anything to Anna and Dark was still waiting for the duplicate Shannom-rah, he would stay and enjoy her company and the growing closeness between them until the truth came to strip it away. They—

“Oh!” Anna’s gasp of pain got his immediate attention.

“What is it? What happened, baby?” The endearment popped out before he could stop it but it seemed she’d barely heard him. She was standing at the counter, holding her left hand in her right, her eyes wide.

“I…I cut myself.” Her voice was low. “The knife slipped and I just—”

“Here—let me see.” Dark took her left wrist and examined her. The cut was deep and substantial, across the back of her left index finger. It was already welling blood. Tapping the sink, he put her hand under the cold running water, washing it clean. Then, before it could start to bleed again, he took her hurt finger gently into his mouth.

“Oh! What are you doing?” Anna gasped.

Something I shouldn’t be, Dark thought and yet he did it anyway. It was an automatic thing—the female he cared for had gotten hurt and his fangs had immediately begun producing essence—the healing and bonding fluid that all Blood Kindred made for their mates.

Is that how I think of her? My mate? Dark knew it wasn’t right. He wasn’t cut out to have a female in his life, not after everything Mistress Hellenix had put him through. And his gift or curse complicated matters even more. Even now, as he bathed her cut finger with his tongue and his essence sealed her wound, he could feel himself taking her hurt as well.

His own finger stung with the feeling of a fresh cut—even as he lessened her pain, he took it into himself. It was nothing he hadn’t felt in the past—working in a kitchen all of his life he’d been cut and burned more times than he could count. But still, he’d never been willing to take pain for anyone but his little brother before. And this time, his body had done it almost automatically—again, as though it considered Anna his mate and not just a female he was protecting.

“Dark, what—?” she began again but at that point he released her. “Oh!” Anna stared at her finger in disbelief. “Where is it? Where’s the cut? It was so deep! But now it’s completely disappeared—it doesn’t even hurt anymore!”

“I know,” he said quietly. “It’s healed—you’re healed, Anna.”

“But…how?” She looked up at him in confusion. “I never heard of a Replicant who could heal people before.”

This was it—the time to tell her the truth, Dark told himself. He needed to explain to her who he really was and what he was really doing here.

But the look of fear and mistrust in her soft blue eyes stopped him. He couldn’t lose her trust—not yet. Not before he had gotten her safely away from Gorn and the Trollox home world.

He needed to deceive her just a little while longer and then he’d tell her when he got her away from here—honestly he would.

He took a deep breath.

“Remember I told you I’m built to resemble a Blood Kindred?” he asked.

She nodded. “Yes? So?”

“Well, a Blood Kindred is able to heal using a fluid called ‘essence’ which is produced by his fangs,” Dark explained. “See?” He opened his mouth and showed her his fangs—which were long and sharp—ready to bite and claim, yet another sign that his body considered her a potential mate. They were also still dripping the pale blue essence which had sealed and healed her cut so neatly and quickly.

“Oh…” Seemingly without thinking, Nikki raised her fingers to feel his fangs. He felt her caress their sharp points carefully and allowed it, though he would have jerked away or attacked anyone else who touched him so intimately. His fangs were a sensitive part of him and beneath the fake skin-shield he wore to cover his shaft, he could feel himself getting hard at her gentle caress.

The pleasure and need caused by her touch built until at last he could stand it no longer. Gently, he took her by the wrist and pulled her hand away. Then he bent his head and placed a soft kiss in the center of her palm.

It was the only way he could show her how he felt—the only way to let her know he cared for her without scaring her.

“Oh…” Anna whispered softly, closing her hand over the kiss. She looked up at him wonderingly. “Why are you always so gentle with me, Dark? Is it another part of your programming?”

“You’ve had enough rough treatment, baby,” he murmured, daring to reach out and cup her cheek. “You need a male to be gentle with you—to be kind to you for a change.”

“I thought Lazlo was gentle,” she remarked, but she didn’t pull away from him, even though she had mentioned the male who had treated her so cruelly. “Right up until the end when he sold me, he pretended to respect me too much to even kiss me. He never even kissed my hand, like you just did.”

“Do you want to be kissed?” Dark murmured, stroking her high cheekbone gently with the pad of his thumb. “I can do that for you, if you like, Anna. It would be my pleasure.”

She nibbled her lower lip, her eyes wide and uncertain—yet he could smell her feminine desire rising. She did want this. No matter what had been done to her in the past, it hadn’t burned away her sexual yearning—her wish to be loved and caressed. And despite her bitter experience, she still hadn’t even had her first kiss.

Dark ached to be the one to give it to her but he knew he couldn’t push. Anna had to ask for anything he gave her.

“Yes,” she whispered at last. “Yes, I think…I think I’d like that. If…if you’re gentle.”

“I’ll never be rough with you,” Dark promised softly. You need to be healed and made whole—not hurt any more.

Cupping her face with both hands, he brought her to him gently and slanted his mouth over hers. He felt her tremble against him as their lips touched, but he knew she was trembling with eagerness, not fear. Still, he was careful as he tasted her sweet mouth, not pressing too hard or demanding entry, just bringing her close and trying to convey, through touch instead of words, how he felt for her.

At first she was frozen but then she gave a little moan and kissed him back, her mouth moving against his eagerly as they pressed together. Dark felt the tip of her tongue against the seam of his lips and he opened to let her in, inviting her to explore him as much as she wanted, inviting her to take what she needed without shame or fear.

Anna seemed more than willing to take him up on the offer. She pressed her tongue delicately inside him, stroking his tongue with hers and then exploring and caressing the tips of his fangs in a way that caused a deep, trembling shiver to go through his entire body. His shaft was so hard behind the fake pseudo-skin barrier he wore that Dark swore he could have fucked a hole through a stone wall. But he didn’t let his desire for the female in his arms make him careless.

Releasing her face, which he had been cradling in his hands, he ran his fingers lightly down her arms and sides to rest on her hips. He wanted to crush her to him, to deepen the kiss even more and claim her with his mouth completely. But he knew that would frighten her. So he kept his hands lightly on the lush round curves of her full hips and just enjoyed the sweet taste of her mouth as he let her enjoy his.

The kiss went on and on until Anna finally pulled away. Her arms were around his neck and she looked at him in wonder.

“Dark,” she whispered. “That was…I’ve never felt anything like it before. It’s exactly how I imagined—how I hoped—kissing would be.”

“Did you enjoy it, then?” he murmured, stroking a strand of her long, auburn hair out of her eyes. “Because I did—very much.”

“I don’t understand.” She shook her head. “You’re a Replicant. How can you be so good at this kind of thing? Is it because you were owned by a Mistress from Yonnie Six? Did she expect you to, uh, know how to please her or something?”

Dark stiffened a bit—he didn’t like to think of his time as Mistress Hellenix’s bodyslave in reference to his time here with Anna. But it was true she had expected him to do things for her—and had done things to him—things that were torture with her but would have been a pleasure with the right partner.

Like Anna, whispered a little voice in his head. With a partner like Anna.

“I’m sorry…” She had clearly seen the change in his face, sensed the stiffness in his posture. “You probably don’t want to talk about her any more than I want to talk about Lazlo or Gorn. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“No, no…” Dark shook his head. “We should talk about these things. I believe that talking leads to healing. But to answer your question about my, uh, programming—I do have a wish—a desire—to please females. Or maybe I should say, I desire to please the right female.” He smiled at her.

“Oh,” Anna whispered. “Well, it was pleasing. Very pleasing.” Her cheeks got pink with embarrassment as she admitted it. “I…I liked it a lot.”

“I enjoyed it too,” Dark said simply. “We can repeat it any time you like, you know.”

“You mean…you want to kiss me again?” Her eyes were wide.

“Only if you want me to,” Dark assured her. “I won’t ever do anything you don’t want, Anna. I swear that to you now.”

“I know.” Reaching up, she cupped his cheek and looked into his eyes. “That’s one reason I like being with you, Dark. Because you’re a Replicant and I know I can trust you not to hurt me. Not to lie to me or do things…I don’t want you to do.”

He felt a stab of shame at her words. I can trust you not to lie to me, she’d said. But wasn’t he lying now? He ought to set the record straight—ought to let her know that—

Suddenly the front door slammed and a heavy, familiar tread could be heard coming through the house.

It was Gorn, Dark knew at once—and the Trollox sounded like he was headed straight for the kitchen.

Anna’s eyes grew wide and frightened.

“He’s coming!” she whispered frantically. “He’s looking for me!”

“Well, he won’t find you here.”

Quickly, Dark led her to the walk-in pantry and pushed her carefully inside. He shut the door and turned back to the dablick dough he’d been about to kneed when she cut her finger just moments before the metal door to the kitchen swung open.

“Pretty boy!” Gorn’s left head roared. “Drop what you’re fucking doing and come here now!”

Eleven

Dark put down the dark purple dough and wiped his hands on his apron before turning to the huge Trollox.

“Yes, Master?” He did his best to keep his face blank and his breathing even, though his heart was galloping in his chest. Had Gorn somehow seen him kissing Anna? Was he about to have it out with his massive “Master” right here and now?

Bring it on, Dark thought, his fangs growing long and sharp. Just having Anna and Gorn in the same room—though the huge Trollox didn’t know she was there—made his protective emotions rise. Every primal instinct he had told him that Gorn was an enemy—a despoiler of innocence and beauty. Someone who would hurt the woman Dark wanted for his own if he got a chance.

He would welcome the chance to fight the big bastard, Dark admitted to himself. The knife rack was only a foot away to his right—he could have the butcher’s blade out and buried in the Trollox’s thick throat in less time than it took to think of it. He—

“You’re doing a fucking good job, pretty boy,” Gorn’s left head said.

The compliment took Dark completely off-guard. For a moment, he wasn’t sure he’d heard Gorn correctly.

“Excuse me, Master?” he said blankly. “What did you say?”

“I said, you’re doing fucking great!” Gorn’s left head roared and the right one nodded in apparent agreement. “Your Trollox food is so fucking good that I’m going to take you with me to a celebration my drewg, Yark is throwing right before I leave for the con. A new heir banquet.”

“You want to take me to a celebration?” Dark still wasn’t getting it. “Why?”

“To cook, of course,” hissed the right head, its red eyes flashing with impatience.

“You’re to be the head chef at the celebration—Yark has a much bigger kitchen than me.” The left head sounded envious. “You’ll make up the menu and be in charge of his kitchen crew.”

“I see,” Dark said blandly. “And how many will I be cooking for, Master?”

“Fifty of Yark’s best drewgs are invited,” the left head answered. “And the party is to celebrate the birth of his son and heir—a triple-headed Trollox! So fucking rare!”

“Yes, Master.” Dark thought he sounded even more envious of this than of the big kitchen.

“We’ve been boasting of your cooking skills,” the right head admitted. “So Yark asked that you cook the feast for his celebration. Of course we agreed. All the most important Trollox on the planet will be there.”

“Which means you’d better do a fucking amazing job!” the left head roared as Gorn stabbed a stubby gray finger at him. “Understand?”

“Perfectly, Master, but I’ll need a few more details. When is the party? How long do I have to prepare? How many courses do you want? Will I be doing the ordering or will Master Yark’s crew be doing it?”

“Well…” Dark could see the wheels in the left head’s mind begin to turn slowly as it struggled to answer his questions.

“Let me,” the right head hissed impatiently and turned to Dark. “Now listen, pretty boy—here are the requirements…”

As Anna hid in the pantry, her heart beating in her throat, she gradually began to feel more calm. At first she’d been afraid Gorn was looking for her—it had been a while since he’d changed her spreader and she was afraid he might have decided it was time for a new one.

Then she had feared that Dark was in trouble and that Gorn might rip him limb from limb, as she had seen him do to so many other Replicants. She couldn’t bear for that to happen to Dark! She was beginning to care for him—deeply.

Anna knew it wasn’t smart—it was the same as falling in love with an appliance, or so she tried to tell herself. But it didn’t seem like that at all. Dark seemed so real—so gentle and kind and handsome and caring.

Whoever had programmed him must have been a woman, she couldn’t help thinking. Someone had known how important the inside of a man could be—because a handsome, muscular exterior wasn’t enough. A man needed emotional intelligence to be attractive—to be the person someone like Anna needed so desperately in her life.

So she’d been horribly afraid when she thought Dark was in trouble. But now, from what she could hear, it sounded like he was actually being commended. Cooking for an entire party of the most important Trollox on the planet sounded like a huge deal and she was sure Dark was up to it. He’d told her that he had been head chef for his last owner—the Mistress who had treated him so badly—with a substantial crew under him. So everything was going to be fine.

She had relaxed almost completely when Gorn said something that froze her blood in her veins.

“Have you seen that pretty little breeder of mine?” he asked Dark.

“No, Master.” Dark’s deep voice was terse and there was a growl behind his words. “I do not know where she is but I have been in the kitchen all day, as it is my home.”

“Of course, of course,” Gorn growled. “Gotta find her though. She has to come to the banquet too—she needs to see what a proper son and heir looks like—needs to see what her duty as a breeder is.”

“If I see her I will tell her.” Dark’s words were so cold and fraught with tension Anna thought they could have frozen the big Trollox in his tracks. But the left head, as always, was oblivious.

“Ah, well—I’ll find her later,” it growled. “She has to wear the new gown I’ve bought her. Can’t go to a new heir banquet in just any old thing. My drewgs must be impressed when I show her off.”

Anna felt sick. Show her off? To a whole banquet hall full of the enormous, disgusting Trollox? Just the thought turned her stomach but she knew she would have no choice in the matter. Gorn owned her and did what he wanted with her—if he wanted to dress her up and show her off to his drewgs, he damn well would and there wasn’t a thing she could do about it.

At last her captor stomped out of the kitchen and she heard the door swinging shut behind him. Still, she didn’t dare to come out until she heard his heavy footsteps climbing the stairs to the second level where his study was located. Hopefully the right head would get immersed in work while the left played a game of digital hokum and the big Trollox would forget about her for a while.

At last the pantry door creaked open and Dark was standing there.

“You heard?” he asked and Anna nodded.

“It looks like we’re going to a party.” She tried to make her voice light and cheerful but she couldn’t completely hide the dread she was feeling.

“Do you think he’ll try to hurt you?” The menace in Dark’s deep voice was clear.

Anna shook her head. “I don’t think so. Trollox just like to show off their ‘trophies’ to their drewgs. That’s all I am to him—just another trophy.”

“If he lays a hand on you, call for me.” Dark’s bronze eyes flashed. “I swear I’ll end him if he hurts you, Anna.”

She drew back a little from the big Replicant. Dark in protective mode was absolutely scary.

“How can you be so sweet and gentle one minute and so frightening the next?” she asked.

“Sorry.” He took a deep breath, making a visible effort to calm himself. As with so many of his gestures, it didn’t seem like something a Replicant would do but she hardly questioned his realism anymore. He was just a different model—a better model—than any other Replicant she’d ever seen, she told herself.

“It’s all right,” Anna told him. “I…like it that you want to protect me,” she said shyly. “And I liked what we were doing before.”

“Kissing, you mean?” His whole demeanor changed, his sharp-edged look softening and his bronze eyes going half-lidded.

“Yes…” Anna nibbled her lower lip and looked up at him through her eyelashes. “I wouldn’t mind doing it again sometime. If…if you don’t mind.”

“It would be my very great pleasure, Anna,” he murmured. “Should I come to find you after Gorn has gone to sleep tonight?”

“Oh—in my, uh, bedroom you mean?” Her stomach fluttered nervously. “You…you’d come see me there?”

He nodded. “But only if you want me to. And Anna…” He tilted her chin gently and looked into her eyes. “Kissing is as far as it has to go. If that’s all you want, that’s all we’ll do. Or we don’t even have to do that—I could just hold you. I’d like that—very much.”

The thought of being wrapped in his strong, muscular arms was incredibly attractive.

“Yes,” Anna whispered. “Yes, I…I think I’d like it too.”

“All right.” He gave her a slow smile that made her stomach flutter again. “We have something to look forward to. But for now, I have to finish tonight’s Last Meal and get started on the menu for this banquet I’m supposed to be serving.”

“Are you worried about it?” Anna asked anxiously.

He shook his head. “Other than the sheer volume of food, no. Feeding this many Trollox will be like feeding three hundred humanoids. It’s going to be interesting. I just hope that Gorn’s drewg has a good kitchen crew—I’ll need a lot of hands to make this happen.”

She nodded. “I’ll help if I can. When Gorn finishes showing me off, I mean.” She made a face.

Dark looked thoughtful. “That might not be a bad idea. I’d like to have you where I can see you—so I can be sure you’re safe.”

“Thank you,” Anna said softly.

“Of course—I just want to protect you,” he said seriously.

“I know.” She wanted to say more—wanted to thank him for caring so much. Even though she knew it was just his excellent programming at work, she wanted to express her gratitude. But the words seemed to bottle up inside her and she couldn’t let them out. So she just said, “Thank you,” again and went back to chopping the vegetables he’d given her to prep before she’d cut her finger.

The way she was feeling would have to wait for another time because honestly, Anna wasn’t completely sure about it herself. A part of her almost thought she was falling in love with the big Replicant but the practical part of her mind told her not to be foolish. She couldn’t love a machine…

Could she?

Twelve

The house was dim and filled with shadows. Gorn had gone to sleep an hour before and both heads were snoring heavily—a sound that was clearly audible right outside his bed chamber door.

Not that Anna was about to go out and listen to be sure he was asleep, but just cracking the door to her own bedroom let her hear the faint murmur of both heads, which made her feel safe. Once Gorn went to sleep, he seldom got up before morning. The Trollox was a sound sleeper so the minute he started snoring, she knew she was safe for the night.

She waited in her room—the room she’d claimed for her own, anyway—wondering if Dark was really going to come to her…and if she wanted him to come. Just thinking of kissing him again, remembering the soft, gentle way he’d taken her mouth and then allowed her to explore his, made her stomach flutter with anticipation. But part of her couldn’t help thinking that this was wrong.

I shouldn’t feel like this anymore—not after what Lazlo and Gorn did to me, she thought. I shouldn’t want to be near anyone male for the rest of my life.

But Dark only looked male, she reminded herself. He couldn’t hurt her like Lazlo had—and like Gorn wanted to. And he was always so gentle, so sweet and careful with her…

So was Lazlo until he got you alone, a little voice whispered in her head. Once more, the memory of what he’d done to her surfaced and wouldn’t be pushed down.

“What’s the matter, you little slut?” Lazlo’s voice hissed in her ear. “Isn’t this what you wanted? You were always begging me to give it to you—well now I’m giving it to you so why are you crying?”

No! Anna pushed the memory away with a huge force of will. She didn’t want to think of that now, didn’t want to remember it. Dark wasn’t like Lazlo—he couldn’t be because he wasn’t even real. He was just a robot built to look like a male. He was safe and she would be safe with him. Everything would be all right. Everything…

A quiet knock on the door startled her so much she had to clamp a hand over her own mouth to keep from screaming.

“Anna?” a low, familiar voice murmured. “Are you there?”

Taking a deep breath to calm her jangling nerves, Anna went to the door and opened it, just a crack. There, looming in the shadows, was a huge male shape. For a moment she wanted nothing more than to slam the door shut and run hide under the bed, just as she did when Gorn came into her room. But then he spoke.

“Is this a bad time? Should I go?”

Knowing that he was willing to leave her alone if she didn’t want him there made Anna feel braver—safer.

“No.” She cleared her throat. “No, it’s all right. You can come in.”

She opened the door wider to admit him and Dark glided into the room as noiselessly as a shadow. He put a hand on her shoulder and Anna did her best not to jump.

“What is it baby?” His voice was low and intimate. “You’re trembling.”

“Nothing.” She drew away from him and went to the side of the bed. “I was just…thinking of the past. Of things…things I wish I could forget.”

“I’m sorry. Would you like me to stay over here? Away from you?” He sat on the floor, looking up at her, making himself smaller and less threatening. “If you want to sit on the bed, I can stay here and we can just talk,” he offered.

It sounded like a good idea to Anna. As much as she liked him, she needed a little space at the moment.

“All right,” she said.

There was a stepstool which she had found in the kitchen by the side of the bed, so she was able to climb up onto the high Trollox mattress without too much trouble. She settled herself on the edge of the bed and drew her knees up to her chin. Her new position shifted the spreader inside her uncomfortably but she was able to put her arms around her knees and wrap herself into a tight, little package, which made her feel safer.

Dark stayed where he was, watching her. His bronze eyes glowed in the darkness of her room but not in a threatening way. It made her wonder if he could see as well in the shadows as he could in the light. It was probably just another feature of his type of Replicant.

“Did you get the menu for the banquet planned?” she asked, to make conversation.

He nodded. “It’s all done and the order’s been placed. It’s a hell of a lot of food but Trollox are big eaters.”

“Yes…I guess they are.” Anna wasn’t sure what to say. She wanted to ask him to kiss her again but she didn’t quite know how. And she kept thinking of how Lazlo had talked to her—how he had blamed her for what he’d done to her. If she hadn’t been so eager…so needy for sex that she’d been willing to go off with him in his private ship, which Brex had warned her never, ever to do, she wouldn’t be in this position now. She wouldn’t—

“What are you thinking?” Dark asked in a low voice. “Don’t stop to consider—just tell me.”

“I’m thinking it’s my fault I’m in this mess,” Anna said honestly. “My stepfather tried to warn me not to go anywhere alone with Lazlo. But I wouldn’t listen. Because I was so tired of waiting—of never being loved. I wanted to be close to someone—anyone—and I told myself it was worth the risk. So this…” She made a gesture to indicate her situation. “Is all…my…fault.”

“You shouldn’t blame yourself for the evil of others…or for your own desire,” Dark said quietly. “You said yourself you were lonely—it’s natural to seek out companionship when you’re lonely.”

“Lazlo said I was a slut.” She looked down at her hands. “He said everything he did to me was only what I asked for.”

“So he wasn’t content to hurt your body, he also had to break your spirit with guilt.” Dark sounded angry and in the darkness, she noticed his eyes were glowing brighter. “Don’t blame yourself for being in this situation, Anna. And don’t feel bad that you were tricked by an unscrupulous male—nothing he did to you is your fault.”

“That’s not how it feels,” she whispered. “I just keep thinking, if only I had just stayed home…if only I’d listened to Brex…”

“Anna…” He leaned closer. “Can I come to you? Can I sit beside you and hold you?” he asked and there was a soft intensity in his voice that made her think he was holding himself back by force of will—waiting for her permission.

“All right—I guess,” she whispered. “But why? Why do you want to hold me?”

“Because I think I can help you. No—I know I can, if you’ll let me.”

He got up and came to sit beside her on the edge of the bed—no stepladder needed in his case, she noticed. Carefully, he put an arm around her shoulders and drew her close to him.

At first Anna stiffened but then she felt herself melting against him, felt her entire body relaxing as she pressed her cheek to his broad, bare chest. He smelled so good—like cinnamon and sugar and that dark, delicious, addictive spice that was somehow utterly masculine. It was hard to believe he was a soulless robot when he held her like this, she thought, hard to believe that he was nothing but a Replicant when he stroked her hair so gently and cradled her against him.

“Now,” she heard Dark murmur. “Go ahead and let yourself feel it all—feel everything you’ve been thinking about. You’re safe here with me—it’s all right to let it out.”

Anna didn’t know what good it would do, but she’d already been thinking about it anyway. It wasn’t like she could keep the bad memories at bay forever. Closing her eyes, she stopped fighting.

“You want it, you little whore—just admit it. Take it! You know you love it!”

“No—no, please!” Tears filled her eyes and choked her throat so that she could barely breathe. “Please don’t! I thought you loved me! How can you do this to me?”

“How could I love a fat bitch like you?” Lazlo sneered. “You’re disgusting—you’re lucky I’m paying you any attention at all. Once the Trollox get hold of you, you’ll wish you could have me back again!”

He laughed as he hurt her and the pain became almost unbearable. Anna bit the inside of her cheek until she tasted blood and tears streamed down her cheeks. Tears of agony, tears of betrayal.

How can he do this? I thought he loved me! How could he lie and hurt me? Why…why…?

“Gods…” Dark’s arm tightened around her and he made a muffled noise of anguish.

“Are you all right?” Anna looked up at him in concern, swiping away the tears that were stinging her eyes before they could fall. “Did something hurt you?”

“Not as much as it hurt you, baby.” His arm tightened around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him. “Go on and finish. Let it all out.”

Anna didn’t understand what was happening—what he was doing—but somehow, it seemed to be working. As she relived the awful memory and let the feelings of guilt and shame and pain flow through her, they somehow seemed to flow out of her as well.

Usually when she allowed this memory to surface, it made her feel weak and ashamed and she hated herself. But this time, letting it play in her head seemed to bring a kind of catharsis.

It wasn’t my fault, she told herself firmly. I should have been more careful—should have listened to Brex. But Lazlo had always been a perfect gentleman—I had no reason to believe he’d be anything else once we were alone. What he did to me isn’t anything I wanted or asked for—I am not to blame for the way he hurt me and used me. He’s an evil bastard and I was naïve—he took advantage of my innocence.

“Feeling better, baby?” Dark’s voice was low and hoarse in her ear, drawing her out of her thoughts.

“Yes,” she said automatically and then realized it was true. “Yes,” she said again, looking up at him. “I feel a lot better, actually. I don’t feel so bad or guilty or ashamed anymore.”

“Good. You shouldn’t feel any of those things. It wasn’t your fault,” Dark said firmly.

She shook her head. “I don’t understand. Did you have something to do with that? How did you do it?”

“Sorry—I can’t reveal the secrets of my programming,” he said dryly. “But I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

“So much better—it’s wonderful.” Anna sat up straight and stretched, feeling as though an invisible burden had been lifted off her shoulders. The memory of what Lazlo had done to her was still there, but it no longer had the power to make her cringe with shame. Her desire for love and intimacy had been natural—normal. It was just that she’d made a poor choice in whom to seek it from.

“I’m glad.” Dark sank down on the bed with a soft groan and lay sprawled on the mattress, breathing heavily, one arm thrown over his eyes.

“Hey—are you all right?” Anna had the worried feeling that he had somehow drawn the poison of her past out of her and taken it into himself instead. That shouldn’t be possible, but it was a feeling that wouldn’t go away.

“I’m fine—or I will be in a minute.” He took a deep breath, his broad chest expanding like a bellows. “Sorry—it’s been a long day,” he added.

“I know you’ve got a lot on your plate with the whole Trollox banquet thing,” Anna said apologetically. “You’re probably really tired. Do you want to just call it a night and leave?”

“Not unless you want me to leave.” He propped himself up on his elbows and looked up at her. “I’d rather stay here with you, if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind.” Now that the shame and fear and guilt had somehow been leached out of her, Anna was beginning to feel the same desire she’d had for him earlier when he’d kissed her in the kitchen. “I…I’d like you to stay,” she told him softly. “Could you…would you hold me some more?”

“I’d like that. Come here, baby.” He motioned for her and Anna found herself laying down on the big bed beside him and cuddling close to his side. Dark made a soft sound of contentment and pulled her even closer until her cheek was pillowed on his broad chest and his arms were wrapped securely around her.

“Mmm, this is so nice,” Anna breathed. She loved his warm, masculine spice and the feeling of his big body against hers in the darkness. She dared to put one hand possessively on his chest and run her fingers lightly through the small patch of curly black hair there. It felt coarse and ticklish under her hand and his skin felt soft and warm and deliciously firm.

“Very nice,” Dark agreed. “I like your little hand on me, baby. That feels good.”

“Can Replicants feel good—that way, I mean?” Anna asked, curiously.

“This one can,” Dark murmured. “I love the feel of your curves against me and the sound of your soft little voice in my ear.”

“Will you kiss me again?” Anna asked, unable to help herself.

“Why don’t you kiss me?” He gave her a lazy smile. “Why don’t you take charge and do what feels right for you?”

Anna wanted to, but something made her hesitate.

“I want to but…” She bit her lip.

“But what, baby?” Dark murmured. God, she loved it when he called her that sweet nickname in his low, growling, possessive voice!

“But I don’t want to make you feel bad,” Anna said. “I know you said your last owner—the Mistress—she did things to you. She—”

“She wasn’t you,” Dark said firmly. “She never asked—never hesitated. She just took what she wanted. You’re not like that.”

“So it won’t make you feel bad if I…touch you? If I kiss you?” Anna asked hesitantly.

He shook his head. “Go ahead, baby—give yourself pleasure with my body—I don’t mind.”

His open invitation and the way he was lying there, waiting for her to make the first move, seemed to fire something inside Anna.

Scooting up, she leaned over him and kissed him tentatively on the mouth. Dark made a soft sound of pleasure and opened his lips to her, inviting her in, just as he had before.

As before, Anna found herself taking him up on his invitation. His mouth was hot and sweet, as though he’d been eating cinnamon candy before he came to her, and he let her stroke his fangs with her tongue, which felt dangerous and safe at the same time—dangerous because she sensed this part of him could be a deadly weapon if he was angry—and safe because she knew he wouldn’t hurt her with them. It was like being able to walk right into the cage at the zoo and stroke a tiger, she thought to herself as she tasted and explored him. Like being close to a creature who was deadly to everyone but you.

She didn’t know how long she kissed him but she became aware that his big, warm hands were moving over her body, stroking lightly up and down her sides and the curves of her hips. Because she had no bra on under the thin black robes she wore, she could feel the curves of her breasts pressing against his broad chest. When he shifted against her, she felt a pleasurable twist of friction between his big body and her tight peaks. Even the spreader inside her didn’t seem quite so cold and un-giving. Her body seemed to be warmer and wetter there, between her legs, and the hard thing invading her didn’t hurt as much as it had.

“Mmm, baby, you taste so good,” Dark breathed, when they parted at last, both panting from the intensity of the long kiss. “Wish I could kiss you everywhere.”

“Everywhere? Like…like where?” Anna felt her breath catch in her throat at the warm innuendo in his deep voice.

“Well…here to start with.” One long fingertip traced the side of her neck and down her shoulder.

“You can do that…you can kiss me there. If you want,” Anna told him softly.

“Come here then, baby.” His voice was a deep, hungry growl as he drew her down to him.

Anna bit back a moan as she leaned over and felt his hot mouth against the sensitive side of her neck. Dark licked her gently at first, running his warm, wet tongue from the base of her neck all the way up to her sensitive earlobe, which he nibbled and sucked lightly, sending sparks of desire through her.

“Oh, Dark,” she moaned as he continued to lick and suck the side of her neck. She’d had no idea how many nerve endings were in her neck, or how incredibly erotic it would be to feel him kissing her there. “Let me feel your fangs,” she whispered, hardly knowing what she was saying. “I don’t mean bite me but just…let me feel them.”

She felt his mouth open wider, as though he really was intending to sink those long, sharp fangs into the side of her throat. Her heart jumped and skittered in her chest but then she felt only the tiniest pricking feeling as the tips of his fangs skated lightly along her tender flesh. The sensation seemed to drive her wild.

“Oh!” she moaned and pressed against him harder.

“Careful, baby.” He drew back, his voice a soft, hungry growl. “If you press like that, I won’t be able to help biting you.”

“What would happen if you bit me?” Anna asked, still feeling hot and needy. “The same thing that would happen if a real Blood Kindred bit me?”

He nodded. “I’d inject my essence into your bloodstream. It would heal any injuries you might have but it would also make me want to claim you—make you mine completely.”

“But…how could you? Since you don’t have, you know, the right equipment?” Anna objected.

“I just said it would make me want to, not that I would,” Dark told her. “So it’s better if I don’t bite you. Not now, anyway.” He stroked her cheek gently. “I would like to kiss you someplace else though, if you don’t mind.”

“Where?” Anna was propped over him, leaning on her elbows as she looked into his eyes.

“Here…” His big hand slid over her shoulder and down her side. “And here.” Warm fingers brushed lightly against the side curve of her breast, making Anna shiver with pleasure and need.

“Oh…there?” she whispered uncertainly.

“Only if you want me to,” Dark assured her. “If it makes you feel uncomfortable, forget I said it.”

“I don’t want to forget it,” Anna told him. “I want to feel your mouth on me, kissing me…sucking me. God, does that sound slutty?” she asked, feeling suddenly self-conscious.

“No, it sounds perfectly natural,” he assured her softly. “You’ve never had a male touch you and pleasure you the way you ought to be pleasured. You’ve never had your body worshipped as you deserve, Anna. It’s natural to crave those things—and I would love to be the one to give them to you.”

“Then do it.” Recklessly, she pulled at the stretchy neck of her black robes, bringing the thin material down below her breasts, baring her upper body for him completely.

She had thought that Dark would start kissing her right away but instead he looked at her, his bronze eyes half-lidded with desire.

“So beautiful,” he said hoarsely. “Gods, baby—your breasts are so big and ripe and gorgeous.”

“You don’t think they’re too big? That I’m too big?” Anna asked anxiously.

“Never,” Dark assured her. “I love how full your curves are. You’re perfect.”

He stroked down her arm and ended up cupping the undercurve of her left breast in the warm palm of his hand.

“Beautiful,” he repeated and circled the tight bud of her nipple with the pad of his thumb until Anna moaned out loud. The sparks of pleasure from his light touch seemed to start in her sensitive peak and travel all the way down to her pussy.

He gave her a lazy grin. “Feels good, baby?”

“Oh, Dark,” she gasped as he pinched the tight little bud and tugged gently at her nipple. “You know it does. You…you’re driving me crazy.”

“Ready to let me kiss you here, then?” he murmured. “Ready to lean over and feed me these tight little nipples, baby?”

“I think so,” Anna moaned and then she was scooting up in the bed so she could do as he asked. Bending over him, she brushed his lush mouth with her right nipple, feeling so needy she thought she might burst.

She wanted him to suck her right away, but Dark teased her first, putting out just the tip of his tongue to lick and circle her aching peak and then nipping very lightly with his teeth until Anna thought she would go insane with desire.

“Dark, please…” she begged. “Please!”

“You want me to suck you, baby?” he growled softly. “Want me to take your hot little nipples deep in my mouth and suck so hard you can feel it all the way down to your pussy?”

Just as she had never had a man touch her gently before, so Anna had never had one talk dirty to her. Lazlo had said nasty, cruel things to her while he hurt her but nothing to excite her, to please her, the way Dark was. The effect on her was electric—she could feel her pussy throbbing around the spreader that was filling her and for just an instant, she wished it was Dark there instead.

But that’s impossible, she reminded herself. He doesn’t have that kind of equipment, remember?

But she didn’t even care about that anymore—she just wanted to feel his hot mouth on her, drawing her in, making her his.

“Yes,” she whispered, pushing against him, trying to get more of her breast to his mouth. “Yes, Dark, please.”

“It’s my pleasure to serve you, Anna,” he murmured and then he was sucking her in, taking as much of her breast as he could between his lips. She felt his tongue circling her nipple even as he sucked, laving the tender bud and sending showers of pleasure-sparks through her entire body.

“Oh…Oh, Dark!” she gasped, moving above him, arching her back as he sucked one nipple and tugged gently on the other with his fingers. She could feel her pussy getting wet and hot around the spreader that was inside her, could feel her body climbing higher and higher as he sucked first one nipple and then the other, going back and forth as she squirmed above him.

Feels so good…so good! But I can’t come like this. I need more…more.

Dark seemed to be thinking the same thing because he pulled back at last and looked up at her, breathing hard.

“Gods, baby, your ripe nipples taste so good,” he growled, his voice hoarse with need. “Just wish I could taste you everywhere.”

This time Anna knew exactly what he meant by “everywhere” but she also knew she couldn’t let him do what he was asking. If she let him touch her or taste her below the waist, he would find the embarrassing spreader which Gorn had jammed inside her and forced her to wear. And she couldn’t bear for that to happen.

“Oh, Dark, no,” she whispered, uncomfortably. “I can’t…can’t let you do that. Can’t let you go there.”

“I understand.” He nodded immediately and she knew that he probably thought the reason she didn’t want him between her legs was because of some of the awful experiences she’d had with men before. That wasn’t exactly it, but she couldn’t tell him the real reason.

“I’m sorry,” she said lamely. “I just…can’t.”

“It’s all right—just want to bring you pleasure, baby,” Dark assured her. “Just want to make you come.”

Anna wanted to come too—wanted it badly. She’d touched herself often enough after she’d gotten herself her own place back on the mining colony, but since Lazlo and Gorn, she hadn’t had any desire to let her hand wander down between her legs. Now it seemed the big Replicant had reawakened a fire in her. A flame which had been nothing but glowing embers had suddenly been raised to life. Suddenly, she had an idea.

“Maybe you can make me come,” she said. “But by talking to me, not touching me. I…I hope that’s okay?”

“Whatever makes you feel good is all right with me,” Dark assured her. “Are you going to touch yourself while I talk to you, baby?”

Anna bit her lip, feeling suddenly shy.

“Yes,” she whispered. “If…if that’s all right.”

“Anything that makes your soft little pussy come is perfect,” he assured her again. “Tell me what you want to hear, baby.”

“Tell me…” Anna paused, gathering her courage. “Tell me what you’d do to me—how you’d, uh, taste me—if I could let you go down there,” she whispered.

“You mean if you felt comfortable enough to let me lick your sweet pussy?” he growled softly.

Mutely, she nodded. God, if her face got any hotter, her hair was going to catch on fire! But it turned her on so much to hear him talk like this she didn’t want him to stop.

“Can I touch your breasts again while I tell you?” Dark murmured. “Can I stroke and tug your tight nipples while I tell you how I want to lick your pussy?”

God, she had never dreamed that dirty talk could be so hot!

Anna nodded eagerly.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, please, Dark.”

“It would be my pleasure,” he murmured. “Go ahead and touch yourself while I tell you. Go ahead—it’s all right. It’s natural to make yourself feel good.”

Feeling like he was giving her permission somehow—permission that she desperately needed after all she’d been through—Anna slid her hand under the hem of her black robes and found her pussy. Her seeking fingers found the hard flat end of the spreader and its connection to the leather harness she wore first, but she ignored it and moved up, seeking and then finding the sensitive, throbbing button of her clit.

She braced herself against the mattress with her left hand as she stroked between her legs with her right. And Dark lay still beneath her, looking up, watching her with a hungry light in his bronze eyes.

“Oh…” She moaned softly and threw her head back as she caressed the tender bud with the pad of her finger. “Oh, God…”

“Gods…are you petting your clit, baby?” Dark growled. “Are you touching yourself and making your hot little pussy feel all creamy and good?”

Anna nodded. “Y-yes,” she managed to get out. “Yes, I am—I’m touching myself.” It felt so naughty to admit it, and yet so right. She stroked herself a little faster, moving her hips in time with her own rhythm.

“That’s good—keep doing it,” Dark murmured. “Keep touching yourself there—because that’s exactly where I want to taste you.”

“You do? You want to lick me? Lick my…my pussy?” Anna felt flushed all over, a hot, sexual blush climbing from between her thighs to envelope her whole body with heat.

“That’s right,” Dark growled. “First, though, I’d like to rub my face against your pussy mound, rub against you until I can feel your sweet juices all over my mouth and cheeks.”

“You…you would?” Anna squirmed against her own fingers, imagining his rough cheeks and the soft fullness of his mouth as he rubbed against her.

“Mmm-hmm.” Dark’s voice was a low, hungry growl. “I want to bathe in your sweet scent. Want to lose myself in you, in that soft, hot place between your legs.”

“Tell me more!” Anna begged. Her fingers were flying now, sliding lightly over the side of her clit as the pleasure built inside her. “Then what would you do?”

“I’d spread you open,” Dark informed her. “Spread open your sweet, creamy pussy so I could see all your hidden treasures, baby. And then I’d take a long,…slow…lick.”

“Oh!” Anna moaned, bucking against her own hand. God, she could feel herself getting there…getting to where she needed so desperately to go…

“You’d taste so good I wouldn’t be able to help myself,” Dark went on. As he spoke, his long fingers were tugging and twisting gently on her hard nipples. “I’d dive down and put my tongue deep inside you so I could taste your honey right from the source.”

“You…you would?” God, she was so…close!

“I wouldn’t be able to stop,” Dark told her hoarsely. “You’d taste so good and I’d feel you trembling against my tongue. Maybe you’d clamp your thighs tight around my head and I’d feel your fingers pulling my hair. I’d be licking and licking you—sucking that ripe little clit between my lips and teasing it with my tongue. And all the time you’d be bucking against me, pressing up to feed me that sweet pussy, opening yourself to get more of me inside you, letting me take you where you needed to go as you came. As you came…all…over…my…face.”

As he spoke the last words, he tugged especially hard on both nipples, sending a jolt of pleasure/pain through her entire body and shocking her to the next level.

Suddenly, Anna was coming—waves of pleasure rolling through her like jolts of electricity. Her back arched as she pressed against her fingers and she heard a high, breathless moaning coming from somewhere and realized it was her making the desperate, hungry sound. Her pussy spasmed helplessly against the thick spreader inside her and she felt her honey gush around it, wetting her thighs with her own need and desire.

Through it all, Dark watched her avidly, his bronze eyes trained on her face.

“That’s right, baby,” he growled. “That’s right, make yourself feel good. Stroke that soft little pussy and make yourself come.”

Anna couldn’t have done anything else even if her life depended on it at that moment. She made soft, desperate sounds as she rubbed hard against her throbbing clit. It was the first time she’d come in months—ever since Lazlo had sold her to Gorn. It was the first time she’d felt in control of her own body since she’d been sold too—and the first time she felt like she deserved the pleasure she was giving herself.

It felt amazing.

That’s right, she thought hazily as the pleasure finally began to ebb. I’m taking it back—taking back my body. Taking back what was taken away. Me.

And then, moaning softly, she collapsed on Dark’s broad chest and began to weep.

“It’s all right, Anna. It’s all right—let it out. Just let it out.” Dark gathered her to him and cradled her to his broad chest. He knew through the use of his gift that she wasn’t really sad. Though she still felt pain and worry for the future, what was mainly coursing through her at the moment was relief—perhaps because she’d been able to reclaim a part of herself she’d thought was lost forever.

Anna shook against him. “Sorry,” she whispered, her voice muffled with sobs she was trying to hold back. “Sorry, don’t mean…to cry all over you.”

“It’s okay, baby,” he murmured, stroking her trembling back and shoulders and dropping feather-light kisses in her hair. “It’s all right—they’re just tears. Let them fall.”

She seemed to take him at his word because she pressed her face against his neck and wept as though she would never stop. Dark held her and let her pain and worry roll through him, just as he had earlier when he’d told her to feel the emotions she’d had during the attack she’d suffered.

That had been harder than just taking her worry for the future as he was doing now. Her pain when that bastard Lazlo had raped her had been very similar to Dark’s own pain when Mistress Hellenix had taken him against his will. It was pain upon pain—-agony piled on agony—the way it had been when he’d taken his brother’s sorrow for the loss of their mother on top of his own grief.

A part of him had wanted to get up and leave the room at that point, to get away from Anna’s pain, which brought back his own in such vivid detail. But just as he thought he couldn’t stand it a second longer, it seemed he had heard a voice whispering to him.

Be still, Warrior, it had murmured to him. Help your female to heal and I will give you the strength to endure.

Strength had flowed into him and his resolve had hardened. Dark had closed his eyes and breathed through the pain—both his own and Anna’s—and finally, it had lessened. Now, he let himself breathe through her worry and doubt, her fear for the future and what Gorn had planned for her.

I won’t let him hurt you, he swore silently, as he held her to him and stroked her trembling shoulders. Won’t let him have you, baby. You’re mine now—mine and I’m never letting you go.

Almost as though she had heard his comforting words, Anna sighed deeply and stirred against him. Her sobs trailed off to sniffles and finally she took a deep breath and wiped her face on her black robes.

“I’m sorry,” she said at last, looking up at him. Her soft voice was slightly hoarse with emotion. “I just…I haven’t cried since the first night Gorn bought me. And I haven’t come, either. I think maybe the one brought on the other.”

“Not surprising.” Dark kissed her forehead. “Physical release often brings on emotional release. Feeling better now?”

She nodded. “In all kinds of ways. I still don’t like what’s going to happen to me but, well, it seems a little more bearable now.”

“What you fear is not going to happen,” Dark swore fiercely. “Gorn will not have you, Anna. You’re mine now—I claim you. I won’t let him hurt you or take you.”

She looked at him doubtfully.

“I’m sorry but…I just don’t see how you can stop him, Dark.”

“Just trust me,” he told her. “And sleep in my arms tonight. Will you do that? I want to wake up beside you in the morning.”

She blushed and looked down at her hands as she did when she was uncertain.

“It should be safe enough, I guess. Gorn is so loud in the morning I’m sure he’ll wake us up long before he comes anywhere near my room.”

“Come on then—let’s get comfortable.” Dark had already taken off his boots—he was wearing nothing but his trousers and the fake pseudo-skin he had on under them to cover his shaft. He generally preferred to take it off at night but he thought that holding Anna as they slept was worth the discomfort of leaving it on.

Anna slid beneath the covers and was about to pull up her robe, which was still down around her waist, baring her breasts, when Dark stopped her.

“Wait,” he murmured. “Can we sleep like this? I want to feel your skin against mine.”

She blushed again—something that wouldn’t have been visible to anyone without his enhanced Kindred vision in the dim room.

“If you want. I like to feel you against me too,” she whispered. “No one has touched me in such a long time.”

“Then let’s touch each other,” Dark suggested, getting under the covers and pulling her to him. “Let me hold you, baby. Want to feel you pressed against me.”

Sighing, she cuddled against him, pillowing her cheek on his shoulder and letting her bare breasts press against his side. Dark could feel himself getting hard again at the intimate contact. His balls ached but he didn’t care—he just wanted to be close to her, even if it was a sweet torture not to be able to touch himself and seek a release when he wanted to so badly.

He kissed her forehead again and breathed in the warm, sweet scent of her hair and skin.

Mine, he thought as he slowly drifted towards sleep. You’re mine, Anna, and no one else is going to touch you or hurt you ever again…

Thirteen

Anna woke feeling more relaxed than she had in a long time. Why was that? At first she couldn’t remember but then she felt a slow, steady movement under her cheek and realized the pillow she had her head on was actually Dark, breathing deeply. Then everything came back to her.

Dark holding her and somehow taking her pain…then giving her pleasure… then holding her again while she cried. He’d been so patient—so tender. She wouldn’t have believed it was possible with a real man but clearly his programming made him incredibly sensitive and kind.

He really is almost like a real Kindred, she thought drowsily as she rubbed her cheek against the silky-rough hair of his chest. She remembered her mom getting upset around her time of the month and Brex holding her while she cried. He was always kind and patient and never got upset with her. She’d used to wish she could meet a man who would be as good to her as her stepfather was to her mom, Anna remembered.

Well, I did meet one but it turns out he’s a robot, she thought dryly. Not exactly husband material.

Although really, why not? So what if Dark didn’t have the usual male equipment? He was sweet and handsome and wonderful. That was enough for her, she thought.

But a robot can’t love you back, Anna, whispered the voice of reason in her head. It might feel like he does, but it’s just pretend.

Well, she didn’t care about that either, Anna decided. Considering the situation she found herself in, she could use a little pretending right now.

She stretched and then cuddled closer to the big Replicant, thinking how amazing it was that whoever had created him had even included a heartbeat. She could hear it, slow and steady in her ear, as she pressed her cheek to his broad chest.

She looked around the room and seemed to see it with new eyes. Her mom always said she felt better after a good cry and Anna had to admit she felt the same. She’d been bottling up her emotions—her pain and fear and hurt—for months now. Finally letting all of that out left her feeling as though a huge burden had been taken off her.

Maybe everything will be okay after all, she told herself, although she couldn’t imagine how. Tonight she had to go to the banquet and be shown off to all of Gorn’s drewgs. That was going to be difficult but maybe afterwards she would be able to speak to the birth mother of the new Trollox heir and find out exactly what she could expect once Gorn… But she couldn’t let herself finish the thought—instead she hurried on, skipping over the worst part.

As for being shown off to the drewgs, she would just have to endure it. She would take herself away into the past until it was over and then she would go find Dark in the kitchen and help out as much as possible until they could come home and sleep in each other’s arms again.

And what about Gorn? whispered the little voice in her brain. He’s leaving for his week-long conference tomorrow. What if he decides to breed you before he goes?

Anna pushed the thought away. It was possible but not likely. After all, she still wasn’t wearing the largest spreader—the one that was supposedly as big as the huge Trollox’s shaft. That made the possibility of being bred tonight remote.

Well then he’ll probably do it when he gets home, whispered the nasty little voice.

Anna ignored it. A week was a lifetime—a lifetime she intended to spend with Dark while she absolutely refused to think about the future.

Everything was going to be okay and she refused to let herself imagine otherwise.

Fourteen

“Listen up, you piss-ant sons-of-bitches!” Yark bellowed at his kitchen crew. He was even bigger than Gorn and he had two and half heads—or that was how Dark thought of it, anyway. The main two heads had separate necks and shared the body equally but the third head was little more than a face on the left upper side of Yark’s chest. It blinked and rolled its eyes and stuck out its long, slimy forked tongue as though tasting the air, but it never said anything.

“Yes, Master!” The crew of about twenty cooks, all wearing white jackets and black trousers with a yellow stripe down the right side, came to attention. As one, they saluted Yark in what looked like a practiced maneuver.

“This is Pretty Boy—the Replicant who planned the menu for tonight,” Yark roared, both heads shouting together. “He’s going to be head of the kitchen for the banquet tonight so you’ll listen to him and do as he says!”

“Yes, Master!” they all shouted but Dark could see them eyeing him doubtfully. He winced inwardly as the crew looked him over. They were all humanoids of various species except for a couple of Gordles who had six muscular tentacles instead of arms and hands and a Yabbish who had knife-like projections coming from all nine of his fingers.

They looked like an experienced crew and none of them appeared eager to work under a Replicant called “Pretty Boy.” Fucking Gorn, hanging a name like that on him!

The Trollox in question was standing behind his friend Yark, rubbing his hands together as both heads looked on eagerly. Clearly this was a mark of status for him—an upward move in the ranks of his drewgs. Yark was obviously richer and better connected—or at least his private floating island was bigger and his mansion was twice a spacious and even more elaborately decorated.

It was obvious that Gorn wanted to get where Yark was and envied everything the other Trollox had, including his new son and heir. Having Dark successfully plan and execute the menu for tonight’s banquet would give him a leg up in the Trollox hierarchy and get him that much closer to the top.

“You’d better do good, pretty boy,” he’d warned on the way over as Dark and Anna sat silently in the back seat of his ship while he piloted. “If not, you’re the next thing going into the stewpot. Understand?”

Anna had shivered and given Dark a frightened look from the corner of her eye. She’d been wearing a cloak over the new dress the Trollox had given her for the banquet and was draped in white instead of black for once. He wished he could take her hand and squeeze it, to let her know everything would be all right, but he didn’t dare—while the left head piloted the ship, the right head was looking back at them balefully.

Dark had lifted his chin and answered stolidly.

“Don’t worry, Master—the feast will be a success.”

And it would have been for sure, if they’d had a better beginning, he thought, simmering with anger as he watched the kitchen crew he was supposed to head. Now he would have to fight—maybe literally—for their respect. Well, he’d headed rough crews before, he thought. He would just have to do his best and get on with it.

Sure enough, as soon as the double metal doors swung shut behind the retreating Yark and Gorn, the crew turned to him as one and a tough-looking humanoid stepped forward. He was a Trine, if his double-pupiled eyes and buzz-cut purple hair had anything to say about it. His skin was pale purple too and his bare, muscular arms were covered with glowing sigil tattoos, burns, and knife wounds in equal profusion.

“I’m head chef in this kitchen,” he announced, his single black brow drawing low over his double-pupiled eyes. “And I don’t take orders from no fucking Replicant. Especially one called ‘pretty boy.’” He spat on the floor and jutted his jaw aggressively, as though daring Dark to take him on.

The rest of the kitchen crew laughed harshly and some of them made remarks like, “Replicants can’t cook. Fucking burn water if they tried!” And, “Who does he fucking think he is—fucking Replicant!”

Dark didn’t hesitate for an instant. He had one chance to take control and this was it.

There was a knife stand to his right. Reaching for it, he pulled out a long, sharp butcher’s blade. Before the male who had named himself head chef could do more than bug his eyes in surprise, Dark was in his face, fangs bared, aggressive as all Seven Hells.

“What’s your name?” he demanded as he pressed the silver-carbon edge of the butcher’s blade to the other male’s throat.

“Wh-what?” The double-pupiled eyes looked almost ready to pop right out of his head—clearly he wasn’t used to a Replicant acting like Dark was.

“I said, what’s your name?” Dark demanded, pressing harder until a single drop of dark purple blood welled at the male’s throat and ran down the edge of his blade

“T-targo,” the other male choked. “I’m Targo, head chef of Yark’s kitchen.”

“Well, Targo, for tonight, I am head chef,” Dark announced, glaring at him. “And you and everyone else in this kitchen is going to do what I fucking say when I fucking say it!” He looked around at the other kitchen staff, who were all staring at him, dumbfounded. “If you don’t, we’ll all be fucked. This is a complicated menu and it’s going to require teamwork, not bullshit male posturing. Do you understand?”

Targo’s throat worked, his double Adam’s apple bobbing nervously up and down below the sharp blade. At last he whispered, “Yeah, sure buddy—whatever you say.”

“Not good enough,” Dark growled. “You will answer me with ‘Yes, Chef!’ That’s all I want to hear from you. Understand?”

He pressed harder and more blood dripped down the blade as he glared into Targo’s ugly face with its glowing tattoos and burn scars. If he didn’t establish dominance with this male, he wouldn’t be able to take control of the kitchen and he knew it. Targo must have known it too because his face worked, his lumpish features moving between anger and fear as he fought to breath past the blade pressed to his throat. At last he nodded and muttered,

“Yes, Chef.”

“That’s more like it.” Dark eased up on the blade and then turned the knife and handed it to Targo, handle first. He stepped back and crossed his arms over his chest, looking down at the other male. “Clean this up—it’s dirty. I won’t have filth in my kitchen.”

The other male’s face twisted into a fist of anger and he swiped at Dark with the bloody blade.

Dark had been expecting this, of course. You couldn’t dominate a lead male in his own territory without some push-back. Quick as a wink, he had Targo by one thick wrist. Twisting hard, he forced the other male to drop the knife and then yanked his arm up behind his back until he heard an ominous sounding crack.

Targo gave a cry and writhed in his grasp.

“Hey! Let me go, you fucker! My arm’s gonna break, you keep this up!”

Dark leaned in close, pushing his face into the other male’s, glaring at him.

“I will break your arm,” he growled. “And both your fucking legs. Then I’ll cut off your fingers with that fucking knife you waved at me. Let’s see how long Yark wants you in his kitchen when you can’t stand to do service or use your knife hand for prep work! I’m betting you won’t last long—want to find out?”

Targo glared at him, then dropped his eyes.

“No,” he muttered.

“No, what?” Dark insisted.

“No, Chef,” the other male said in a low, angry voice.

“Louder.” Dark growled. “I can’t fucking hear you.”

Hatred made Targo’s face if possible, even uglier, but he raised his voice and shouted, “No, Chef!” which was exactly what Dark had been waiting for.

“Good.” He released his grip on the other male’s arm and Targo rolled his shoulder gingerly, wincing in obvious pain. “Now, pick up that knife and wash it,” Dark ordered, pointing to where the butcher’s blade had fallen.

Without comment, Targo lifted the blade and turned towards the sink. The set of his shoulders said he was still angry and he would probably stay that way. Dark could feel the rage coming off him in waves, even though he wasn’t touching him.

It was a damn good thing he was only in this kitchen for one night, he thought to himself. He’d made an enemy for life, but what else could he do? He’d had to establish dominance and thugs like Targo didn’t understand anything but violence.

The rest of the kitchen staff were still just standing there, staring at him so he took the opportunity to address them.

“Listen up, people—I sent over the menu last night and you should have gotten your ingredients delivered this morning. Hopefully you’ve been working on them since then but I need to know—how much prep work do we have left to do?”

At first there was silence, then one of the crew spoke up.

“We have all the hezbah intestines cleaned and rinsed but they still need to be stuffed with the bile rice, uh…” he hesitated and added, “Chef.”

“Good.” Dark nodded. “You’re on that. What about the Blood root? Has it been peeled and de-veined yet?”

“Yes, Chef,” someone else said. “But we still need to parboil the gresh toes.”

“You and you—” Dark pointed at the male who had spoken and the one beside him. “Get on it.”

“Yes, Chef.” They both nodded and got to work.

Soon he had everyone in the room assigned to a task. He was a good judge of ability from being in commercial kitchens all his life and he soon sussed out the males who knew what they were doing and put them in charge of the more complicated recipes. After that, he was able to breathe a small sigh of relief. Things were running smoothly now and the dinner would come out on time.

Dark walked from crew to crew, supervising, giving instruction, doling out a very few compliments and some words of reprimand when they were warranted. Now that they had been given direction, the kitchen staff worked with a will.

Targo was working at a corner sink, peeling tubers, which was a task Dark normally would have assigned to the pot boy. But since the ex-head chef wasn’t making any trouble, Dark left him to it. They had enough hands in the kitchen to get the meal done on time and in good order—that was all he cared about.

Well, no—there was one more thing he was worried about—Anna. He wondered uneasily how she was doing, out among Gorn’s drewgs. He knew she’d been dreading this evening and she’d refused to show him the dress Gorn was making her wear, saying she was too ashamed to let him see. That didn’t bode well, Dark thought. If any of those fucking Trollox laid a single hand on her…

But he didn’t think it likely that they would. All the Trollox seemed extremely possessive of their property and touching another male’s things was a big no-no in their crude, greed-based culture. Anna might be looked over like a prize mare at a herd-beast show—something he hated to even contemplate—but she probably wouldn’t be touched at all.

She had promised to come back to the kitchen with him as soon as she could slip away. So while the stoves ran full blast and many hands sliced and diced and prepped and cooked and the kitchen filled with the unmistakable odors of Trollox cuisine, Dark kept a constant eye on the double metal doors, waiting for the moment when she would walk through them.

Goddess, he prayed, You know I don’t like leaving her alone out there. Be with her—protect her and keep her safe while I cannot.

Fifteen

“It’s my Replicant, pretty boy, as is cooking the dinner tonight. And this is my breeder.” There was unmistakable pride in Gorn’s voice as he pointed at Anna. “Come on, girlie—step up on the table and let them see you!” the left head demanded, motioning to her.

Biting her lip, Anna stepped first up on the high, heavy chair and then onto the picnic style dining table which had been covered in pure gold carvings. It was probably ridiculously expensive and would no doubt be smeared by filthy Trollox food before the night was out but for now, it was clean.

“Take off the cloak, stupid girl,” hissed Gorn’s right head, gesturing at her. “How can they see you if you don’t take it off?”

This was the moment Anna had been dreading. She hated being put on display like this! But there was nothing else she could do—Gorn owned her and he could make her life unbearable if she didn’t do as he said.

Taking a deep breath, she dropped the feathery white cloak which had covered her completely from head to heels. Under it she was wearing a sheer white dress which clearly showed her body beneath. Her breasts pressed against the thin, sheer fabric and the leather halter she wore to keep the latest spreader Gorn had filled her with was clearly visible.

“Well, well, Gorn—looks like you found yourself a prime breeder,” one of the Trollox grunted in apparent admiration.

“Yes, indeed! She looks big enough to carry an heir to full term!” another exclaimed.

“A good choice.” Even Yark was nodding in approval. He turned to Gorn. “Tell me, how often do you breed her? Has your seed taken root inside her yet?”

“Well…” Gorn frowned and shuffled his feet a bit. “Her body’s big enough but her entrance is kinda small-like. So I’m stretching her a bit first—otherwise the seed won’t root.”

“Stretching her?” Yark frowned. “A pity you couldn’t find one big enough to accept your shaft to begin with. Now with my breeder, I started seeding her on the first day I bought her and didn’t stop until her belly started to swell.”

“Oh? And how long did that take?” another Trollox with a single head demanded.

Both Yark’s primary heads frowned thoughtfully.

“I’d say about two solar months of steady breeding—maybe a bit more,” he said.

Two solar months or more of breeding?

Anna felt like she might be sick. Somehow she’d gotten the idea in her head that Gorn would only have to do that to her—would only have to take her once—and after that the deed would be done and she would be pregnant. In her mind, it had become a one-time ordeal—something she would just have to deal with and then try to forget about. But if he did that to her every night for two solar months…

I’ll lose my mind, she thought wildly. I’ll go insane if I have to have him on top of me—inside me—over and over and over again! I can’t do that—I’d rather die!

“Yes, I was lucky,” Yark said, bringing her back to the present. “I’ve known some Trollox to have to seed their breeder every night for nigh on a solar year! But mine caught right away and she delivered a healthy heir right to term.”

“Let’s see the heir, Yark!” one of the Trollox exclaimed. The others soon chimed in.

“Yes, let’s see the reason for our feasting tonight!”

“Let’s have a look at the little prince!”

“Very well—I’ll have the wet nurse bring him down.” Yark clapped his hands and a female Trollox—distinguishable from the males only because she had long, tangled hair and drooping breasts—came running in. These were easy to see because she was wearing a long skirt but no top at all so that her long, dangling dugs were clearly visible. They hung nearly down to her wrinkled gray belly button.

“Yes, Master Yark?” she asked eagerly.

“Bring my heir,” Yark said grandly. “I’ve a mind to show him off on his banquet day.”

“At once, my Master.” She bobbed a kind of curtsey and ran from the room.

All this time, Anna had been standing on the table numbly, trying to digest what she was hearing. She wondered why the wet nurse was taking care of the new baby instead of the woman who had carried him. Where was his birth mother now? Had Yark sent her back to her home, as Gorn had promised to send Anna?

Gorn appeared to notice that she was still standing there and no longer the center of attention. He motioned at her and the right head hissed irritably,

“Get down, you stupid girl!”

Anna was more than happy to do as she was told. Stooping, she picked up the feathery white cape and draped herself in it again, feeling relief at being covered from the eyes of Gorn’s drewgs. Then she stepped down off the table and edged towards the back of the room. She wanted to go join Dark in the kitchen but first she wanted to see the new baby—wanted to see what to expect…well, what to expect when she was expecting.

How bad can it be? she wondered as they all waited for the wet nurse to return with the newborn. Babies are cute no matter what species they are, right? It’ll probably be adorable in that so-ugly-it’s-cute way—like a Pug or a Shar-Pei. I’ll probably fall in love with it and hate to give it up to a monster like Gorn.

Then, finally, the wet nurse was back, holding a large bundle in both arms.

My goodness, Anna thought uneasily. How big can it be if it was just born yesterday? She must have it wrapped in a lot of blankets to make it look that bulky.

She couldn’t tell for sure what the baby looked like or how big it really was, however, because at that moment Yark said, “Behold—my son and heir!” and all the Trollox crowded around to admire the infant.

Anna was just backing her way out of the room, having decided that it was better to get to the kitchen and Dark while Gorn and his drewgs were distracted, when she heard her captor’s voice raised above the babble of the other Trollox congratulating Yark.

“A fine, big lad, so he is!” he bellowed. “Where’s my breeder? Where is she?” Looking around, he spotted Anna near the door. “Come here, girlie!” the left head demanded, beckoning for her. “Come and see what a proper heir looks like so you know your duty!”

Anna didn’t want to go among the crowd of huge, tromping Trollox. It seemed safer to walk into a herd of water buffalo or rhinos but it was equally unsafe to deny Gorn anything he asked for.

Unwillingly, she walked forward, edging around the crowd until she got to an open space where she could see what the wet nurse was holding. The nurse took notice of her and beckoned her forward.

“So you’re a breeder for Master Gorn, are you? Well come on then, my girl. Come and see the new little drewgie,” she cooed, nodding for Anna to come up to her.

The Trollox in the front made way and Anna was ushered right up to the nurse’s side. The baby was pressed against her chest, two of the heads snuffling eagerly while the third howled but Anna couldn’t see their faces until the nurse pulled back and showed the baby more clearly.

The first thing that struck her was the sheer size of the creature. It was at least as big as a three-year old human—maybe more like a five-year old. Had it come out small and grown an inordinate amount in the last twenty-four hours, she wondered uneasily? Or had it been this big when it came out of the mother to begin with? And if so, how could any normal-sized woman accommodate such a huge baby?

The second thing she noticed was that the baby was ugly—not ugly-cute, either—just horrifyingly deformed-looking. Unlike its sire, it had three distinct heads, each with their own separate necks, and all three heads looked different.

The one on the right had glowing red eyes and a face like a bat with a turned up, pig-like snout and pointed horns protruding from its boney skull. The head on the right had a long, drooping face, as though its eyes and nose and mouth had melted like a crayon in the oven. Its eyes were nearly closed and all its features seemed to sag and wobble like uncooked dough as it waved its arm sluggishly in the air.

But it was the head in the middle that was the worst, Anna thought.

At first glance, it seemed almost normal with big purple eyes and a little turned-up nose that wasn’t too far from what a normal humanoid might have. Then it cracked open its jaw to cry and Anna was horrified to see that not only did the mouth open horizontally but vertically as well. The little pinkish-gray lips split in different directions and the orifice they revealed reminded her horribly of the Sarlacc pit from the Star Wars movies—or maybe one of the Sand Worms from Dune.

“Oh!” Anna gasped and jumped back from the gaping maw which was lined with jagged, fish hook-like fangs.

“Heh-heh!” The wet nurse tittered at her shock and dismay. “That’s the naughty one, that is,” she told Anna. “It’s always so with the rare three-headed Trollox. Two is good and one is a biter. This one is always in a bad mood because he can’t be given suck!”

She fed a nipple from one pendulous breast into the mouth of the drooping head on the left and another into the pig-snouted, bat-faced mouth on the right. But the third head—the one in the middle, got none. Stretching its mouth wide to show its horrible teeth, it began to shriek so loudly Anna longed to clap her hands over her ears.

The nurse, however, didn’t seem bothered in the least.

“Now, now, young master,” she crooned to the middle head. “You know you can’t have suck with a mouthful of teeth like that! You’d bite my neeter off, so you would!” She cackled wildly as though she’d made a joke and then addressed the shrieking head again. “Behave and later I’ll give you a little rattie to gnaw on in a bit.”

“A…rattie?” Anna asked uncertainly.

“Oh, a little rodent-like,” the wet nurse explained. “I lets the biter gnaw their heads off—he loves it!”

Anna nodded. “I…I see,” she whispered. But inside she was feeling faint with disgust.

She didn’t want a creature like this growing inside her! It was a monstrosity—an abomination. There was nothing remotely cute about its sagging gray skin and the three horrible heads—nothing at all to incite her mothering instinct, as newborns usually did. All she felt when she looked at it was horror and loathing—the same feeling she had when confronted with a particularly big roach or a huge, hairy spider.

I don’t want that in me, she thought, feeling like she might puke. And I don’t want Gorn in me to put it there. I don’t want any part of this—I just want to go home!

Of course, her captor chose that moment to grab her by the shoulder and shove both his heads into her face.

“See there, girlie?” the left head bellowed, its foul breath washing over her like the putrid wind off a garbage scow. “That there is a proper heir! That’s what you’re going to give me!”

“And sooner rather than later,” the right head hissed. “We need an heir to carry on our name!”

“I…I…” Anna didn’t know what to say. She still thought she might be sick right then and there.

I thought you weren’t supposed to get morning sickness until after you got pregnant, whispered a little voice in her head. But here you are, ready to puke all over Gorn this minute—you know he’ll beat you for it, if you do!

Yes, that was true. With an effort, Anna swallowed her rising gorge.

“Yes, Master,” she managed to croak out.

“That’s right—that’s good!” Gorn bellowed and finally let her go. “Now, run along, girlie. Me and the drewgs have business.”

“Yes, Master,” Anna gasped again.

And, at last released from the horrible scene, she turned and fled.

Sixteen

Dark saw her the minute she entered the kitchen, looking like a frightened, delicate white bird in the feathered cloak.

“Anna?” He went to her at once and saw that her cloak wasn’t the only thing that was white. Her face was as pale as paper and she was trembling from head to foot. She looked like someone who had seen something unspeakably horrible—or maybe a portent of their own death.

“Anna?” he asked again, taking her by the shoulders and drawing her away, into a small alcove where some vegetables were soaking in tubs. “What is it?” he asked earnestly. “What’s wrong, baby?”

“Baby,” she echoed and her face twisted into a mask of disgust. “Yes, that’s what I saw—I just saw the baby. Only it doesn’t look like a baby—not a normal one, anyway.” She looked up at him, meeting his eyes at last and her own soft blue gaze was filled with panic and revulsion. “It’s horrible, Dark—horrible! I don’t want Gorn putting something like that inside me! I don’t want to…to give birth to a monster.”

“You won’t!” he said firmly. Gods, the baby Trollox must have been worse than he’d expected it might be. Not that any of the Trollox were going to win a beauty contest anytime soon but from the look on Anna’s face, it must have been truly horrifying. “I won’t let that happen to you,” he promised her, looking intently into her eyes. “I swear it, Anna—I won’t.”

“I don’t see how you can stop it—I don’t see how anyone can.” Her voice was low and hopeless. “He’s going to do that to me—he’s going to hold me down and fill me with his horrible seed and plant a monster in me. I’d rather give birth to a million spiders than a thing like that!” she exclaimed, looking up at Dark, her eyes wild with fear an disgust. “I’d rather give birth to a litter of rats or a nest of poisonous snakes!”

“Anna, baby…” Dark sat her down on a low stool by the soaking roots. “Look, we’re going to have to talk about this later,” he told her. “But for now, just please believe that I would never let him hurt you.”

“Don’t you understand?” she demanded. “He’s already hurt me! You’re too late, Dark! I dreamed about you for months but you came too late!”

Her statement startled and horrified him on several levels. Had she really been dreaming of him for months, just as he’d had a dream of her? But even more important, what was she saying?

“What do you mean?” he demanded, his hands tightening on her shoulders. “You told me he hadn’t done that to you yet—that he hadn’t raped you, Anna!”

She looked away and wouldn’t meet his eyes. “He hasn’t. Not like that. Never mind—you wouldn’t understand.”

Dark wanted to tell her that he understood rape better than most. What else but rape could what Mistress Hellenix had done to him be called when she “gave him the rod” as they said on Yonnie Six?

But now was not the time or the place to go into it. Though he had tried to take Anna to a somewhat private place, the alcove was open to the kitchen and he could see the curious glances Yark’s kitchen crew were throwing at the two of them.

“Here,” he said, reaching for her hands. “Do me a favor, would you? I really need these tubers scrubbed. Take this…” He found a rough-sided soggah-sponge and pressed it into her right hand. “And scrub this.” He placed one of the long, dirty pink tubers into her left hand. “Can you do that for me?”

Anna looked at him uncertainly, then automatically began to scrub.

“That’s right.” Dark nodded. “That’s the way, baby. Could you please just scrub these for me and concentrate really hard on getting all the dirt off them? I’ll be back to check on you in a little bit.”

“All…all right,” she said dully, nodding. “I can do that.”

“Thank you.” Dark wished he could drop a quick kiss on her cheek but almost all of the kitchen staff were watching now—even the sullen, angry Targo who had been keeping to himself ever since Dark had put him in his place. So he contented himself with squeezing her arm and murmuring, “Everything is going to be all right—I promise.”

Then he had to leave her and go tend to the banquet food, which was only half-way ready. He promised himself that later they would talk more on this subject—much more. Apparently Gorn hadn’t been leaving her alone while he waited to breed her. But what was the big bastard up to? Until he could get the story out of Anna, Dark wouldn’t know.

But I’ll find out, he swore to himself. You’d Goddess-damned better believe I’m going to find out. And if that Trollox bastard had laid a hand on her, I’ll kill him—mission or no mission, he’s going to fucking die.

Seventeen

“Uh, Chef? They’re calling for you—the Master and his drewgs, I mean,” one of the kitchen crew who had been serving the dessert of chilled and candied glorm brains said to Dark as he came back through the double metal doors.

“Calling for me? Why?” Dark asked warily, wiping his hands on the white towel he had slung over one shoulder.

“Dunno.” The male shrugged. “I just know your Master, Gorn, and Master Yark told me to tell you to come out before the company.”

Dark frowned. Now what in the Seven Hells could this be about? Either they were going to complain and berate him for what they thought was substandard food or, more likely, make some special request. Either way, he hated to leave the kitchen because Anna was still there.

She was sitting in the same alcove and scrubbing the same tuber he’d put into her hands hours ago, Dark saw, glancing back at her. There was a shell-shocked look on her face that said she still hadn’t gotten over what she’d seen when that bastard Yark had been showing off his new heir.

Dark didn’t like to leave her alone—not even for a minute in that condition. But he didn’t see that he had much choice—not with Gorn and Yark both calling for him.

“You better hurry, Chef,” the male who had given him the summons in the first place said. “I don’t know about your master, but ours don’t like to be kept waiting.”

“All right,” Dark muttered. “I’ll be back shortly.”

Straightening his white jacket, he pushed through the swinging metal doors and went out into the dining room.

Sitting at the long, food-smeared table, were Gorn, Yark, and their drewgs—the other Trollox who had been invited to the celebration. Their faces were filthy with their dinners and many had dribbled down their fronts as well. Hands were sticky and slimy and the odor of their combined belches and the remains of the Trollox cuisine was almost overpowering, even though he’d just come from the kitchen which reeked of the cooking food.

“Yes, Master?” he said, looking at Gorn. “I was told that you summoned me?”

“Ah, yes—yes indeed!” Gorn’s left head bellowed. “We wanted to compliment you, pretty boy! On such a fine feast!”

“He’s quite a good cook for a Replicant,” Yark said, both heads nodding salubriously. “I might have to buy him off you, Gorn—if you’re selling!”

For a moment Dark’s heart hammered in his chest. If Gorn sold him, he would be leaving both Anna and the Shannom-rah behind! What was he going to do if—

But Gorn was shaking both his heads.

“Sorry, Yark,” the left head proclaimed. “But he’s much too valuable to sell. Its’ damn near impossible to find a decent cook that can do Trollox food proper-like!”

“Don’t I know it,” Yark said dryly. “Which is why I had to borrow yours. Well, thank you for lending him to me for tonight, my friend. This has truly been a memorable occasion.”

“Here-here!” one of the Trollox bellowed, lifting a grease-smeared goblet in one clawed hand. “A cheer for Gorn who brought us such fine fare!”

“Here-here!” the other Trollox shouted, also raising their glasses.

“Thank you, thank you!” Gorn’s right head nodded and smiled slyly.

“And let’s have a cheer for Yark’s new heir—such a fine, three-headed Trollox as I’ve never seen!” the left head bellowed.

“Here-here!” they all shouted again.

Dark saw that their focus had drifted away from him and was greatly relieved. He didn’t want anyone else offering to buy him or asking if Gorn would lend him out. He needed to stay in Gorn’s house near Anna and the Shannom-rah so that he could complete his mission and keep Anna safe.

He began walking quickly and quietly back to the kitchen but just as he was entering the hallway that led to it, he heard a piercing cry—a feminine cry.

“No, no, please!” a soft voice pleaded. “Please, don’t! Please, just leave me alone!”

Anna! She’s in trouble! Dark’s eyes went wide and he took off at a dead run down the hallway.

What he saw when he shoved through the swinging doors made his fangs grow long and sharp and his lips peel back from his teeth in a protective snarl.

Standing in the middle of the room was Anna. The white feather cloak was puddled at her feet, revealing a sheer white dress through which her breasts and the rest of her body was clearly visible. She was trying to cover herself with her hands but Targo was pulling at them, forcing her to show herself.

“Look here at the pretty little girlie the Replicant’s in love with,” he was sneering. “Looks pretty ripe to me, boys—what do you say we all have a turn in her sweet pussy?”

As he spoke, he grabbed a pair of kitchen sheers and used them to cut right down the center of Anna’s dress, baring her breasts completely.

“No, please!” she begged and then her eyes widened when she saw Dark. “Oh, Dark!” she exclaimed. “He…he won’t leave me alone. Please!”

“Oh, is pretty boy back?” Targo demanded, turning with the sharp scissors still in one hand. His double-pupiled eyes narrowed. “Come on then, Replicant—you won’t catch me off guard again!”

Dark snarled at the ex-head chef and a curtain of red Rage dropped over his vision, turning everything crimson.

“You fucking dare to touch my female,” he growled, advancing on Targo. “You’re going to fucking die!”

Targo’s pale purple face turned a belligerent shade of puce.

“The hell I will, Replicant! Come on!”

Dark sprang on him and grabbed him by the wrists, grappling with him and pushing him against one of the solid plasti-steel countertops. Still the other male wasn’t deterred.

“Dumb fuck!” Targo grunted, trying to get free of Dark’s punishing grip. “You don’t even have a weapon! How do you think you’re going to take me down?”

“Like this,” Dark snarled. Striking as quickly as a snake, he sank his long, sharp fangs into the other male’s throat and ripped it out.

Targo’s double-pupiled eyes went wide. Dark let him go and he clutched at his throat, staggering to stay upright. Dark purple blood fountained out around his fingers and he made choked, strangling noises as he slowly went to his knees.

“Oh my God.” Anna’s soft, trembling voice finally cut through the fog of red Rage that had clouded Dark’s vision the moment he saw the other male hurting her.

“Anna?” He turned to her but she took a step back from him, her eyes wide.

“You…bit him.” Her voice was little more than a whisper and her eyes were so big they threatened to swallow her face.

“I had to—he was hurting you.” Dark realized he had the other male’s blood on his face—in his mouth. Taking the towel from his shoulder, he spat in it and rubbed his face clean. Then he knelt and picked up the white, feathered cloak. Standing, he draped it around Anna’s shivering shoulders. “Here—let’s cover you up.”

She allowed him to put the cloak on her but her eyes were still wide and frightened when she looked at him and she seemed to shrink in on herself when he got too near.

Dark felt a surge of frustration. He couldn’t help it that his body had gone into Rage—the state of berserker fury a Kindred warrior enters when he thinks his female is being threatened or hurt. It was an automatic reaction—as normal for a Kindred as blinking or sneezing when the stimulus was right. And no matter how savagely he had killed Targo, he would never, ever hurt Anna.

But of course, he couldn’t explain any of that now. Not with her looking at him like she’d seen a ghost and the rest of the kitchen staff staring at him in awe and fear. For the moment, everyone just seemed frozen.

One of them must have unfrozen long enough to go get Yark and Gorn, though. Because a moment later, the two huge Trollox came bursting through the double doors.

“What’s this? What’s my head cook doing on the ground? Is he dead?” Tark demanded, kicking Targo’s supine form with one vast, blocky foot. The hand the ex-head chef had pressed to his neck fell away, revealing the gaping hole in his throat. That and his wide, unseeing eyes, already glazing in death, made it clear he was gone.

“Pretty boy—did you do this?” Gorn shouted, pointing at the dead chef.

“Yes, I did.” Dark lifted his chin. He was about to explain, but Yark started shouting that he was owed reparations.

“Your chef killed mine!” both of his heads roared at Gorn. “I thought he was a Replicant! Who ever heard of a Replicant that kills? You owe me, Gorn! You owe and you must pay!”

“Master,” Dark began but Gorn shook both his heads.

“No!” the left head bellowed. “Shut your mouth, pretty boy! You’re in the shit now and that’s where you’ll stay! I should give you to Yark right now as payment for the cook you killed!”

“He was protecting me!” Anna suddenly stepped forward. She was clutching the feathered cape tightly around her but she had her chin lifted and she was staring defiantly at Gorn.

“Shut up, stupid girl!” the right head hissed but Anna would not be deterred. She put herself between Dark and the angry Trollox and looked up at him.

“That man—that male—was trying to hurt me. To…to breed me,” she said, pointing at Targo’s body. “He would have too, if Dark—I mean pretty boy—hadn’t come back just in time. He saved me, Master!”

“What’s this?” Gorn’s left head frowned and focused on Dark. “Is this true, Replicant?”

Dark nodded shortly. “I told you when you bought me I was built for two things—cooking and protection, Master,” he said. “I have fulfilled both functions tonight.”

“It’s true,” one of the kitchen staff, a quiet male who had done an excellent job with the desserts, spoke up. “Targo was tryin’ to get a taste of the girlie there. Pretty boy was only defendin’ her. Saw it myself, I did.”

Some of the others spoke up, agreeing with him, much to Dark’s relief. Gorn and Yark still didn’t look happy, but at least the latter had stopped demanding that he be paid or remunerated for the slave he’d lost.

“Fine,” his heads snarled at last. “I won’t make a claim. Just take your breeder and your fucking Replicant and go—I don’t want to see either of your fucking faces in my house again!”

“What?” Gorn’s left head looked angry and the right looked upset. “But Yark, surely we can settle this like drewgs, so we can!”

“You’re no longer a drewg of mine!” Yark snapped. “Now get away from here and take your miserable piss-ant slaves with you before I change my mind!”

Then he swept out of the kitchen, both heads with stony looks on their faces.

Gorn looked like he might very well explode. He glared at Dark and Anna angrily and then jerked his left head towards the doors.

“Come on, you lot,” he growled. “We’re fucking going.”

Eighteen

The ride home was silent and fraught with tension. Anna sat curled in on herself, filled with misery. There were things she had seen tonight that were stuck in her head forever—things she couldn’t unsee. Not just the awful three-headed Trollox baby but also the savage way Dark had used his fangs to tear out the other male’s throat.

Not that she wasn’t grateful to the big Replicant—she was. He had saved her from being assaulted yet again. But seeing the change in him—the way his bronze eyes had gone blood red and his fangs had grown so long and sharp and scary…well, she was certain the sight would be with her for a long, long time.

And it wasn’t a memory she wanted.

She had felt so safe with Dark before this—so cared for and protected. He was always so gentle despite his size that she’d begun to feel completely at ease with him, as she hadn’t felt at ease with any male since Lazlo had betrayed her trust and hurt her so badly. Now, confronted with the evidence that Dark could be violent as well as gentle, she no longer felt quite so comfortable around him.

She’d been telling herself for days that he was safe because he wasn’t a real man—now she felt as though she’d seen another side of him that made her question everything she’d allowed herself to believe. How could a Replicant be so violent and deadly?

Of course, there was more going on than just her renewed distrust of males. Gorn was simmering in the front seat as he piloted the ship and his right head kept casting baleful glances back at Dark. It was clear he blamed the Replicant for his split with Yark, who was at the top of his social hierarchy—a hierarchy he had just been cast out of.

Anna was afraid there was going to be hell to pay, for the Trollox in a rage could be absolutely ruthless. She prayed she wouldn’t have to watch him rip Dark limb from limb as she had seen him do with so man other Replicants. Despite her fear of him, Dark was still the closest thing she had to a friend in this hellish existence and she had foolishly begun to allow herself to have feelings for him. The thought of losing him now tore at her heart and she hoped desperately it wouldn’t happen.

But Gorn was angry and it was clear he wanted to take his rage out on someone. The minute they landed and got into the house, he pointed at the big Replicant.

“You, come with me,” the left head growled. “It’s the punishment box for you, pretty boy!”

“Punishment box?” Dark frowned. “What’s that?”

“You’ll see, pretty boy. Oh yes, you’ll see,” hissed the right head.

Anna knew what the punishment box was well enough. Gorn had left her in it a few times when he was displeased with her. Despite the fact that she no longer felt as comfortable with Dark as she had, she still didn’t want him to suffer.

“Please, Master,” she begged as Gorn took Dark by the arm and started dragging him down the dark hallway that led to the Fuck room and the other unsavory parts of the house. “Please, don’t punish him! He didn’t do anything wrong—he was only protecting me!”

“He got me thrown out of my drewgs’ good graces, so he did,” Gorn’s left head snarled. “It’s the punishment box or I rip him apart, so I will! Your pick, girlie!”

Anna fell back, knowing that nothing she could do or say would change her captor’s mind. Dark shot her a look that seemed meant to reassure her.

Don’t worry—I’ve got this. I’ll be fine, he seemed to be saying.

But he had never been in the punishment box before and Anna had. She knew exactly how horrible it was—how the time seemed to drag on forever until your nerve broke and you screamed and begged and cried to be let out, even for a minute…

There was nothing she could do for the big Replicant, though. Nothing but watch him get dragged away and pray that he would somehow be all right.

What the fuck is the punishment box? Dark wondered, as he allowed Gorn to drag him along. It occurred to him that if he wanted to break cover, now would be the perfect time. He could kill the big Trollox and hide his body and just take the Shannom-rah and Anna and get the Seven Hells out of here.

But if he did that, he would be going against the will of the Kindred High Council. They wanted to avoid a direct confrontation with the Trollox people at all costs and if Gorn was killed, someone would certainly come to avenge him.

Or maybe not, Dark thought. Since he’s on the outs with his drewgs now—maybe nobody would give a damn if he bit the dust.

Then again, he didn’t know if Gorn had any family. Just because he had been cast out of his social circle—his drewgs—didn’t mean that he was no longer a part of any circle at all. For all Dark knew, he might have fifteen older brothers who would want revenge if their kin was killed.

No, he decided reluctantly, it was better to stick to the original plan—although that certainly hadn’t involved being stuck in the punishment box—whatever the hell that was—all night! He—

“Here.” Gorn pushed open a door and dragged him inside a small white room. The room was little bigger than a large closet and it had no furniture or decorations at all—only a tall rectangular black box standing in the center of the plain white floor. The box was about eight feet tall by four feet wide and three feet thick on the side.

Dark didn’t like the look of it. Like an oversized coffin, he thought. It wasn’t that he was claustrophobic, but he didn’t exactly love being locked in small, tight spaces, either.

“Strip your clothes off, pretty boy,” Gorn’s left head growled. “Do it, now.”

Unwillingly, Dark began to comply.

“Master,” he said in a reasonable voice as he removed his chef’s jacket and trousers—thankful as always that the pseudo-skin shield that covered his male equipment stuck to him seamlessly and naturally. “I don’t understand why you’re punishing me for fulfilling my duties. Had I not stepped in, your…your breeder would have been bred by another. Is that what you wanted?”

He hated like hell to talk about Anna as though she was nothing but a vessel for the big bastard’s seed, but that was the only kind of talk Gorn would expect or understand.

However, it didn’t seem like the big Trollox was in the mood to be reasonable.

“Shut your gob, pretty boy,” the left head growled. “Before I tear you fucking limb from limb! I don’t’ care that you did your job—you lost me my drewgs! If you wasn’t such a fucking fine cook I’d end you now, ‘stead of putting you in the box for the night.”

“But—” Dark started again but the Trollox was already opening the huge black rectangle and shoving Dark, who was now completely naked, inside.

“I’m settin’ the timer for twelve fucking standard hours, so I am,” he growled, glaring at Dark. “And thank your maker you don’t get longer than that!”

Then he slammed the box shut and Dark heard an ominous turning of tumblers locking him in.

“Hey! Hey!” he shouted but his only answer was the tromping tread of Gorn retreating back down the hall.

He was locked in the box for the night and there was no way out.

Nineteen

Anna was hiding in one of the spare rooms, hoping that he would forget about her and get busy doing something else. But Gorn found her as he always did. He slapped open the door and flipped up the bed skirts to find her cowering beneath the massive mattress.

“You—to my room. Now!” he roared with both heads at once.

Anna knew that when he was angry enough to get both heads working in harmony, she was in for a bad night—a really bad night. But she would only make him angrier if she resisted or tried to fight him.

She scrambled out from under the bed as fast as she could and practically ran down the hallway to the master bed chamber with Gorn hot on her heels, his thumping footsteps echoing behind her like a giant’s in a nightmare.

I am in a nightmare, Anna thought as she raced ahead of him, not running away but being driven to her doom. I’m like the princess being held by the ogre or the dragon in a tall tower, far away from everyone she loves. Only there’s no knight to come and rescue me—there’s only a Replicant who’s been locked away so that he can’t help me, no matter how much I scream.

“Do you know why you’re here, girlie?” Gorn’s heads were still speaking in tandem, both glaring at her with their evil yellow and crimson eyes.

Mutely, Anna shook her head. She was afraid to say anything—afraid to make the big Trollox even angrier than he already was.

Gorn leaned down, pushing both of his faces into hers.

“You’re here because I’m fucking sick of waiting for my heir!” both heads roared at once. The force of his foul breath actually blew her hair back, as though she was standing in a high wind. Anna flinched back, looking for a way to get away from him.

“Please, Master,” she began. “I’m sorry I’m too tight! You bought me for my virginity—remember? I can’t help being tight!”

“Well we’re going to fix your tight little cunt right now, so we are!” growled the left head. Gorn stalked over to the rack in the corner of his room and to Anna’s horror, he grabbed the largest spreader there—the one she’d hoped she wouldn’t have to worry about for weeks and weeks.

“Master, no!” she pleaded, backing away.

“Oh, yes, girlie—fucking yes.” Gorn came towards her, brandishing the thick metal spreader, with its cruel raised ridges and lumps. “This here is as big as my cock, girlie,” he roared, waving it at her. “We’re going to put it in you tonight, so we are! And what’s more, you’re going to leave it in all this coming week while I’m gone. That way when I come back, I can fuck you proper-like and start breeding an heir into you.”

“Please, please…no!”

But she was backed up against the foot of the tall bed and there was no place to go as he advanced on her. No one to help her if she cried out. She was trapped here in this hell and there was no getting out of it until Gorn had done what he wanted.

She woke some time later, lying on the floor of Gorn’s bedchamber.

Must have blacked out—where am I? she thought fuzzily, looking around the darkened room. The chainsaw buzz of both of her captor’s heads snoring helped reorient her but she still couldn’t remember exactly what had happened.

She was aware of a dull ache between her legs but when she moved too quickly, it turned into a sharp, knifing sensation that nearly made her scream.

Memories she wanted desperately to forget came pouring back. Gorn growling that he would breed her when he came back from his trip, forcing the huge, heavy spreader inside her and telling her she’d better keep it there or she would be in trouble. The horrible pain and invasion, the feeling of not owning her body anymore—of being just a passenger inside her own abused flesh. And the grinding pain that went on and on and on…

Have to leave…have to get out of here.

She wanted to get away from her captor, wanted to get to her own room where she could be alone, away from him. What if he woke up in the middle of the night and decided he’d rather breed her before he left after all? She had to get away.

Biting her lip against the pain between her legs, she somehow managed to get to her hands and knees. The spreader was a heavy, solid thing—it felt like a block of cold, rough granite inside her. Anna thought she could feel its raised ridges and bumps cutting into her flesh as she moved but she moved anyway. So great was her desire to be away from her tormentor, that she would have born almost any pain.

She couldn’t walk but she could crawl.

Slowly, laboriously, she made her way on hands and knees out of the master suite and down the hallway towards the room she had claimed as her own. The hallway had never seemed longer and the rough carpet abraded her sensitive palms and knees. The spreader grated inside her, stabbing and grinding with every movement and still she crawled.

At last, she reached her own room. There was no way she could get up on the bed but she managed to crawl around to the small space between the bed and the wall. Tugging on the cover, she finally pulled it down on top of her.

She wrapped it around herself and huddled in a ball. The spreader inside her was cold…so cold. It seemed to steal her heat, to chill her from the inside out like a fist made of ice lodged inside her. Even the warm blanket didn’t help very much. But it was all she had. Dark couldn’t hold her or help her tonight—he was locked in the punishment box. She was all alone with no one to comfort her.

Hot tears welled from her eyes and she thought, I just want to go home! Mom, Brex—I miss you so much! I’m so sorry I didn’t listen to your warning. But haven’t I been punished enough now? Please, I just want to go home…

But there was no one to take her home. No one to help her.

Feeling more alone than she ever had in her life, Anna cried herself to sleep.

Twenty

Twelve hours after he had been shoved into the punishment box, the huge black rectangle split open, spilling Dark out onto the floor.

A tortured sound, half groan, half gasp, came out of him and for a long moment, he could do nothing but lie there. The time he’d spent in the box had been a season in one of the Seven Hells—worse than anything Mistress Hellenix had ever done to him—worse than anything he had ever endured before…

At first Dark had thought the dark confines of the box were only meant to make him claustrophobic. And it was extremely tight inside. The ceiling was less than a foot above his head and he didn’t even have room to turn around because his shoulders were too broad. The best he could manage was a kind of half-crouching position and there was no way to get really comfortable.

Twelve hours in a pitch-black, tight space was going to seem like an eternity and Dark knew it. Still, he settled himself to wait—what else could he do? But soon it seemed that the inside of the box was getting hotter.

He shifted uncomfortably, telling himself that it was just his imagination—probably the inside of the box was just warm because of his own body heat. But then it began to grow warmer and even warmer. Dark started sweating and there was no way he could deny that the box was actually heating up. Did Gorn mean to cook him in here? Was that the big Trollox’s plan?

Never should have let him put me in here! I have to get out—have to get out!

Panic clawed at his mind but Dark didn’t give in to it. He felt methodically over every inch of the box, looking for a release mechanism—or even a crack of some kind.

But he found nothing and soon he had to stop because the metal the box was made of got too hot to touch. Hissing in pain, he pulled back his singed fingertips and concentrated on keeping any part of himself from touching the walls of the box.

He was dancing from side to side, his bare feet being scorched from the metal of the box’s floor, and sweating profusely by this time. Drawing the hot, moist air that was circulating inside the box into his lungs was like breathing tepid soup.

Goddess, he thought. Goddess, I’m going to die in here! I can’t breathe and it keeps getting hotter and hotter…

“Let me out of here!” he shouted hoarsely. “Let me the fuck out!”

But no one heard and no one came—no one cared but Anna, he realized. And she was helpless to do anything. A new thought came to him—was Gorn hurting her while he was trapped in this fucking box being roasted alive? Was he doing unspeakable things to her while Dark was locked away, unable to save her?

He had a horrible feeling that he was. That even now the female he cared for was in terrible pain and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Gods, he never should have let the Goddess-damned Trollox put him in here! Now he would die—burned to death or just killed by heat exhaustion—and Anna would be left all alone. She would—

Suddenly the heat began to dissipate.

Dark took a deep breath and realized that cool air was circulating through the narrow confines of his prison. Thank the Goddess! Not just cool air, either—it was positively frigid—an icy blast that seemed to come from all directions at once.

At first it felt good against his bare, overheated skin. Then, as the sweat dried and froze into ice droplets all over his body, it no longer felt so nice.

Dark wrapped his arms around himself and shifted from side to side, just as he had when the box was too hot—this time trying to keep warm. As the icy wind continued to blast him from all directions, he tucked his fingertips into his armpits but there was nothing he could do about his freezing feet and toes. They seemed to be going numb and he was worried about the possibility of frostbite.

Goddess, now I’m going to freeze to death! Whoever invented this fucking box was a sadist! Don’t know how long I can stand this!

The only good thing was that the fake skin-shield he wore seemed to be insulating his equipment—at least he didn’t have to worry about getting frostbite on his shaft and balls. But every other part of him from the tips of his ears to his nose to his fingers and toes felt like they were going to fall off.

Dark’s teeth chattered and he wondered how long he’d been in this fucking torture device. It felt like hours. How could he stand a whole night like this? Was the box going to freeze him to death?

But just as he was losing all feeling in his extremities, the box began to warm again. Soon it was hot—then red-hot. Dark was forced to go through the whole cycle again, feeling as though he couldn’t breathe, scorching and burning and nearly passing out from the heat…until suddenly it got cold once more.

After the fifth time the dark, cramped space went from burning hot to bitterly cold, there was a clicking sound near the top of the box, just over his head. A mechanical voice said, “The time elapsed is fifteen standard minutes. Time remaining, eleven hours and forty-five standard minutes.”

Then it clicked off again.

“Hello? Hey, can you hear me?” Dark shouted, but he knew it was useless. He was pretty sure the voice was just a feature of the box—perhaps the worst torture device of all. It was letting him know that what had seemed like an eternity of torture had, in actuality, only been fifteen minutes.

And he still had eleven hours and forty-five minutes to go.

I can’t do this, he thought despairingly as the box began to heat up again. Goddess, please—I can’t.

But there was no answer and no help as slowly, the box began to warm…

Twenty-One

Now, twelve hours later, Dark lay panting on the floor, his head hanging low, his body trying to recover from the constant torture of the cycles of too hot and too cold he had endured over and over and over again. He was trembling and sick and he wasn’t completely sure, now that he had finally been released, that he would live. He was also horribly thirsty but he felt like he might be sick if he tried to eat or drink anything and anyway, getting up to find water would take more strength than he had at the moment.

Just going to lay here, he told himself. Just going to lay here and recuperate for a minute. Just going to—

And then the world went black and he was out.

When he woke, an unknowable time later, Dark thought he felt a little stronger. Maybe his body had been able to snatch some much-needed rest while he was out. Or maybe his natural Kindred resilience was simply helping him recover. For whatever reason, he was able to get to his feet and gather his clothing, though he didn’t put any of it on yet.

Staggering down the hallway, he found a small fresher adjacent to the Fuck room, where several of the red-haired Replicants sat quietly in chairs, as though waiting to be used.

Seeing their long, auburn hair made him think of Anna. He would have to go looking for her as soon as he could. Feeling worried, he staggered into the shower and rinsed off the sweat that had poured from him during the heat and then frozen to his skin during the cold, over and over, all night long. He kept the water exactly lukewarm and drank thirstily as it poured over his skin which had alternating patches of burns and frostbite.

Luckily, Kindred healed extremely quickly. Now that he was no longer in the punishing environment and he was finally able to hydrate, Dark’s body began to repair itself almost at once.

By the time he stepped out of the shower he felt more like himself. He was still weaker than he liked but he was able to get dressed and walk upright, rather than staggering down the hall.

He took one last glance into the Fuck room and saw the three red-haired Replicants still just sitting there.

Anna, he thought again, his concern for her returning and growing even stronger. Where was she?

Dark went looking for her, hoping and praying that his awful premonition of the night before had been untrue—that he would find her whole and well—untouched and unmolested by Gorn, who, at least so far, seemed to be gone this morning.

“Anna?” he called hoarsely. His voice was still healing from the cries of pain and the curses of anger he’d been shouting all night in the damn box. “Anna, where are you, baby?”

A soft sound—a cross between a moan and a sob—met his ears.

“Anna?” Dark ran down the hallway, his strength returning at the sound of his female’s distress. The sound was repeated—it seemed to be coming from the bed chamber Anna usually used as her own but when Dark opened the door, he didn’t see her anywhere.

“Anna?” he walked into the room and noticed that the bed covering had been pulled off of the sleeping platform. Dreading what he might find, he edged around the side of the bed and looked down.

Anna was there, wrapped in the bed covering with only her head sticking out. Her face was as pale and bloodless as paper and for one heart-stopping moment, he actually thought she was dead. Had Gorn killed her and then left her here, discarded like a broken toy? Rage and pain began to fill him. He would find that two-headed son-of-a-bitch and kill him…slowly.

But then Anna stirred and her eyes fluttered open. They were filled with a dull misery and for a moment she just stared at him, as though she didn’t know him. Finally she whispered, “Dark?”

“Yes, baby—it’s me. I’m back.” Relief made him weak in the knees. He knelt beside her as well as he could in the confined space and tried to take her in his arms.

But the moment he put his arms around her and tried to move her, Anna cried out in pain and struggled against him.

“No,” she begged. “Please, Dark, don’t. It hurts!”

“What hurts, baby? What did that bastard do to you?”

He started to remove the blanket that covered her but Anna grasped it tight and held it to her chest.

“No,” she whispered. “No, Dark—I don’t want you to see. It’s too humiliating.”

He could feel the pain and shame coming off her in waves and he was sorry that she still felt the need to be so careful around him.

“Baby,” he said softly, “Whatever it is—whatever he’s done—you can show me. I won’t judge you, I promise.”

She bit her lip uncertainly.

“Because you’re a Replicant?” she asked at last. “Because you can’t judge me?”

Because I love you! Dark wanted to say but he knew he couldn’t. Replicants couldn’t truly love or care for another person. And it seemed that the fact that she thought he was one, was still the only reason Anna trusted him. He wanted so badly to tell her the truth about himself…and yet he couldn’t. Not now. Not yet.

“Exactly,” he said at last. “Because I’m a Replicant. So come on, baby—let me see.”

Reluctantly, he thought, she allowed him to draw the blanket down, uncovering her body.

She was still wearing the transparent white gown which had been slit down the middle by Targo’s kitchen sheers. But now some of the white, translucent fabric was stained a rusty-reddish brown.

Blood, Dark realized, working to keep his face from showing the horror he felt. That’s dried blood! Goddess above, what did that bastard to do her?

Anna’s thighs were tightly closed but he sensed through his gift that her pain was coming from between her legs. Gently, he put a hand on either knee and tried to part them.

“Please…” Anna looked near tears. “I don’t want you to see.”

“But I need to, baby.” Dark felt sick with rage inside—at Gorn for hurting her and at himself for allowing it—but he tried to keep his voice soft and even. “I need to see how he hurt you before I can help you,” he told her.

She bit her lip again.

“I would never let a real guy see it,” she whispered at last. “Because it’s disgusting and humiliating and awful. If you were real, it would make you sick. It might make you sick anyway.”

“No, it won’t because I’m a Replicant,” Dark reminded her gently. “Please, Anna—I only want to help you.”

“I don’t think you can,” she whispered, but she allowed him to part her legs at last, though she closed her eyes, as though she couldn’t bear to see the expression on his face when he looked.

Dark’s eyes flicked over her inner thighs, uncertain at first of what he was seeing. He took in the studded leather harness cinched tight around her thighs and the thick, dull gray, metal disk between her legs. Then he became aware that the disk was part of something else—something that had been jammed into the soft, tender spot between her thighs where it most certainly didn’t belong.

Leaning closer, he suddenly recognized what he was seeing and his mind flashed back to his first day at Gorn’s domicile. He remembered the rack in the corner of the Trollox’s bed chamber with its array of leather harnesses and the odd, phallic-shaped objects. Gorn’s words came back to him then—words he hadn’t understood at the time and so had dismissed from his mind.

“Don’t worry about those, pretty boy—they ain’t for you,” he’d said, when he saw Dark looking at the rack and its contents. “Sometimes breeders need stretching, that’s all. ‘Specially when they gotta get bred by my mighty meat.”

Dark felt sick. How could he have forgotten those words? How had he not put two and two together and realized what was happening to Anna—right under his very nose? No wonder she’d been so skeptical when he’d asked her to call for him if she needed help. She’d needed it this whole time and he hadn’t seen—had missed all the signs! Now her words of the night before made sense.

“You’re too late—he’s already hurt me,” she had cried when Dark had tried to calm her down and had sworn to her he wouldn’t let the Trollox breed her. No wonder she had no confidence in him—Dark was beginning to lose confidence in himself. How could he have missed this?

The way you missed it was by being a blind fool, whispered a little voice in his head. It’s time to open your eyes, Dark, and see what your female needs. And right now she doesn’t need your guilt or self-loathing. She needs to be cared for and healed. So fucking get to it.

The voice was right and Dark knew it. Carefully, he began to unbuckle the cruelly tight leather harness from around her thighs.

“No, wait…” Incredibly, Anna tried to stop him.

“We can’t wait, baby,” he murmured to her, brushing her hands gently aside. “We need to get this fucking thing out of you. It’s tearing you apart!”

“You can’t.” Anna began to cry weakly. “I have to leave it in. He says I have to be ready for when he comes back because that’s when he’s going to…going to breed me.” Her voice broke on the last word and she looked so miserable and trapped that Dark felt as though his heart was being squeezed by a cruel fist.

“Baby, please—you’re hurt,” he murmured. “Let me help you. You can’t go on like this—you can’t.”

At last her small hand fell away and she let him finish unbuckling the harness. Then came the hardest part. Slowly and as gently as he could, Dark began to remove the large, metal phallus.

Anna cried out in pain and then stuffed a fist in her mouth—Dark thought to keep from screaming—before he had even drawn it out an inch.

“Do you want me to do it fast instead?” he asked, looking up at her. “Would that be easier, baby?”

She gave him a short, stiff nod, her eyes wide with pain.

“Fast then,” Dark told her. “Here—hold on to me.”

He took her free hand and placed it firmly on his side. With direct skin-to-skin contact, he was able to channel her pain into himself. Then, taking a deep breath, he pulled.

He felt the ripping, tearing agony inside himself as the awful thing at last came free. It was the biggest one, he saw as it finally pulled out. The phallus as big around as his bicep that he’d seen on the rack in Gorn’s room that first day. It was heavy in his hand and covered in raised carvings and ridges, as though whoever had made it wanted to inflict maximum damage.

And it certainly had. Though he was taking as much of her pain as he could, Dark could see why Anna had been in such agony. Her tender flesh was bruised and torn and her sacred entrance had been wounded by the disgusting thing.

Goddess, Dark thought, feeling sick. This was a part of her that should be worshipped tenderly, brought lovingly to pleasure—not hurt and abused. What the fuck was wrong with Gorn—with any male—who would hurt a female so?

“Anna,” he murmured, looking up at her. “I want you to keep touching me—keep holding on to me—we’re going to get you in a bath and get you all cleaned up and comfortable, okay, baby?”

She looked at him uncertainly.

“Are you making the pain go away? It doesn’t hurt nearly as much as it did before you touched me.”

“I’m helping it as much as I can,” Dark told her. He could still feel the burning agony between his own thighs, though he had different equipment than she did. “Just keep holding onto me, baby. We’ll get you healed up, I promise.”

He lifted her carefully into his arms and this time Anna didn’t protest. She leaned her head against his chest and closed her eyes, looking, Dark thought, like a tired, much-abused child. His heart squeezed like a fist and he cuddled her closer. Goddess, poor little female! He’d thought his own ordeal in the punishment box had been awful but it was clear she’d gone through much, much worse.

He only prayed that he could heal her—both in body and spirit—so that she wouldn’t be scarred by the horrific events of the night before forever.

Please, Goddess, he prayed. Let me help her. Let me heal her. And as her pain flowed through him, he welcomed it, wanting only to give her hope and make her better.

Twenty-Two

Anna drifted in and out of consciousness as the big Replicant carried her down the hallway to a bathroom that had a large, oval tub. He ran a warm—but not hot—bath and lowered her into it, making sure all the time that she was still touching him in some way.

She didn’t know why, but the skin-to-skin contact with him seemed to make the pain less—much less. Grateful for the respite from the constant agony, she made sure to keep her hand on his arm as he bathed her gently, washing away the dried blood and making her feel almost normal again.

Somewhere deep inside, she acknowledged how embarrassing this would be if he was a real guy. Talk about seeing a girl at her worst! She must look awful down there, she thought—not to mention she was letting him see her naked, which she was extremely reluctant to do because of her numerous body issues. Plus-sized girls had no business prancing around in their birthday suits—or so she’d been taught to believe.

Even back on Earth she would have been considered too big to be attractive. And after living for years at the Aka’ja mining station where even the tallest women were barely four feet high, she felt like an ugly giant.

But Dark didn’t make her feel ugly, even though he was so extremely handsome and muscular himself. He made her feel beautiful…cherished…cared for in a way she never had before. His big hands were so gentle—almost reverent—when they washed her delicate flesh. Anna felt nothing but loved and cared for, so much so that she almost wished he was real.

But no, she reminded herself—a real man would never act like this. He would never treat her so sweetly or be so gentle and kind. Dark only acted this way because he was programmed to. And she ought to be grateful he was, or she would still be lying beside the bed, too weak and in too much pain to get up.

She thought of the cruel metal spreader, abandoned on the bedroom floor.

Shouldn’t have taken it out—should have just tried to get used to it, like you did all the others, whispered a grim little voice in her head. What are you going to do when Gorn comes back and wants to breed you? What will you say when he finds you took it out?

She didn’t know but she couldn’t bear the thought of putting the horrible spreader back in, no matter how angry her captor would be.

I won’t think of it now, she told herself as Dark got her out of the tub and patted her dry tenderly. I won’t let it bother me right here in the present. That’s a future problem and I’m not in the future yet. I like it better in the present—I’m going to stay here as long as I can.

“Come on, baby,” Dark said, lifting her into his arms again.

Anna sighed and leaned her head against his broad chest. She didn’t even mind that she was completely naked with only a towel around her shoulders. She felt too relaxed to care.

“Where are we going?” she asked dreamily.

“Back to the bedroom,” he answered simply. “I need to heal you.”

Dark carried her easily, his vitality almost completely returned now. Later he would make them both a big meal and they would eat together to regain their strength. But first he had to heal her, had to repair the damage the metal phallus had done inside her. Otherwise, the moment they lost skin-to-skin contact, the burning pain would return to her and he didn’t want that—didn’t want what she’d endured to leave any scars, either physical or emotional.

He laid her gently on the bed and Anna relaxed against the pillows. The warm bath he’d given her seemed to have calmed her down and she looked at him with soft, trusting eyes as he lay down beside her and stroked her cheek.

“Anna, baby,” he murmured. “It’s time for me to heal you now. Can you let me do that?”

“Heal me?” she looked at him dreamily. “Heal me how? You already took the pain away.”

“The pain is only gone because we’re touching,” Dark told her. “If you stop touching me, it’s going to come back unless I heal you. Okay?”

“Okay—but how?” she asked again.

Dark frowned. “Remember how I healed your finger when you cut it in the kitchen?

“Well…yes. You licked it—sucked it.”

“Exactly.” Dark nodded firmly.

Her eyes went wide as a look of comprehension came over her lovely face.

“Wait…you’re not talking about, uh, licking me down there, are you?” She looked down between her legs, where she was still incredibly tender.

“I promise it won’t hurt as long as you’re still touching me,” Dark said quickly. “I would never hurt you—never treat you roughly, you know that, Anna.”

“It’s not that…” She bit her lip uncertainly and her knees pressed together, almost involuntarily. “It’s just…I must be a mess down there right now. You don’t want to put your mouth on me when I’m all cut and bruised and…”

“That’s exactly why I do want to put my mouth on you,” Dark told her. “Look…” He tried to think of how to put it—how to convince her. “When you were little and you got a cut or a scrape, did anyone ever kiss it better for you?”

“Well…sure.” She nodded. “My real dad—the one who died before my mom met Brex. He would always kiss my skinned knees before he put a Band-Aid on.”

“Well think of it that way—I’m just kissing you better,” Dark told her. “It doesn’t have to be sexual or sensual—it’s purely about healing, I promise you.”

“But I’m so ugly down there right now,” she protested.

Dark shook his head firmly.

“You’re beautiful, baby. Always beautiful to me,” he murmured. Reaching up, he cupped her cheek in one hand. “Please, let me do this for you—let me heal you.”

“Well…” Anna was still hesitating but he could tell that she wanted to let him do this—wanted to give herself permission to be this intimate with him and let him take away her pain.

“Please, Anna,” he murmured again and, leaning down, placed a hot, gentle kiss on the top of her right knee. “Please let me heal you. You can guide me every step of the way if you want. And I promise to be slow and gentle.”

Her eyes softened. “Well…all right. But maybe…maybe just on the outside, okay?”

It was a start and Dark would take any opening he could. Once he was easing her pain and hopefully bringing her pleasure, he could convince her to go further, to let him heal more.

“All right,” he said, nodding. “Come on—let’s get you comfortable.”

He arranged her at the edge of the bed, propped up with plenty of pillows so she could watch him heal her. Then he put one of the spare pillows beside the bed and knelt on it. The floor could be hard on a male’s knees and he wanted to be completely comfortable because he planned to be here for a long time.

“Dark?” Anna looked uncertain again as he knelt in front of her and put his hands on her knees. She had them together right now but he needed her to part them so he could get to her.

“Mmm-hmm?” He looked up at her. “Are you ready, baby?”

“I…I guess so.” She still hadn’t opened her legs yet.

“Then you need to open for me,” Dark told her gently. “Otherwise I can’t lick you and heal you.”

“Are you sure…really sure you want to do this?” she asked him. “I mean, I don’t know many guys who really enjoy this, uh, kind of thing.”

“Remember that I’m supposed to be a Blood Kindred,” Dark reminded her. “And the Kindred love tasting their females. They need to do it—it’s a biological imperative.”

“Really? I never knew that.” Her eyes widened.

“You would have if you’d spent more time on the Mother Ship instead of moving immediately to that mining colony,” Dark assured her. “But for now, pleased believe me when I say that it’s an honor and a privilege to lick your soft little pussy. And yes, I most certainly want to do it.”

Anna nodded, but she was still hesitating. “I can understand that under normal circumstances. But like I said, I’m all messed up down there right now.”

“You’re a little bruised and hurt, that’s all,” Dark assured her. “And I’m going to heal you—going to kiss it all better, baby. But you have to open up and let me in so I can.”

His gentle, coaxing words seemed to finally convince her. With a small sigh, she allowed him to part her knees and opened her thighs to him.

Dark tried to keep his face clear of emotion as he looked at the damage that had been done to her sacred entrance and inner thighs. Gods, he would kill that fucking Gorn. But this was no place for hatred or anger, even directed against her attacker. Right now he had to generate healing, loving energy as he spread the essence his fangs were already making for her over her most delicate areas.

Of course, the easiest way to heal her quickly would have been to bite her inner thigh and inject his essence internally. But that would cause an instant orgasm and Dark worried that the contractions of pleasure would bring her wounded pussy even more pain. So he preferred to take things slowly and use his tongue.

Besides, what he had told her was true—Kindred did love tasting their females. Though his main intent was to heal her, he would be lying if he didn’t acknowledge that he wanted to pleasure her and taste her sweet juices too.

He leaned close to her, propping her legs over his broad, bare shoulders, and simply breathed on her pussy to start with—letting her get used to his close proximity to such a delicate area.

“Oh!” Anna jumped a little but didn’t try to pull away. “What…what are you doing?” she asked, her voice low and breathless.

“Letting you get used to me being here,” Dark told her. “You need to get comfortable with my mouth on your pussy because I’m going to be here a while. So watch me, baby—watch me heal you.”

Leaning forward again, he began to drop soft, feather-light kisses over the swollen outer lips of her pussy.

Anna sighed softly and he felt her relaxing.

“It feels better when you touch me,” she admitted. “Is that because you’re somehow taking my pain away?”

Dark nodded and reached for one of her hands.

“Here, put your hands on me while I do this,” he instructed thickly. Gods, her feminine scent was delicious, even though he had barely started. “Let me feel you touching me while I heal you, baby.”

Obligingly, she ran her soft fingers through his thick, black hair. Dark shivered with pleasure at her touch. He loved to feel connected to a female when he tasted her and he had never wanted so badly to be connected with anyone as he did with Anna.

“That’s right, baby,” he murmured and took a long, slow lick over the outer lips of her pussy. “That’s good, let me feel your hands on me while I taste you…while I heal you.”

“Oh, Dark…it…it does feel better when you taste me,” she admitted in a low voice as he licked her again, running his tongue over the puffy outer lips of her sex. “But, well…” She bit her lip. “It hurts so much inside too. Maybe…maybe you should lick me there?”

Dark was more than happy to accede to her request. He’d been trying to think of a way to get her to let him in further and he was glad she’d come around to it herself, without having to be coaxed.

“Of course, baby,” he murmured, looking up at her. “Would you like to spread your sweet pussy open for me or should I do it?”

“You do it,” she decided. “But I’m really hurt in there so please, be careful.”

“I’ll never be anything else with you, Anna.” He looked at her seriously. “I swear it.”

“All right.” She nodded. “Then you can do it. You can…can spread me open and heal me inside.”

“Thank you, baby,” he murmured and then he was parting her outer lips carefully with his thumbs and leaning closer to taste her delicate, inner folds.

There was a lot of bruising here and some tearing as well. Dark felt the essence welling faster from his fangs as he saw, up close, the extent of her injuries. He used his tongue to spread it carefully over her wounded flesh, paying special attention to her sacred entrance.

He knew he was successful when he felt her pain ebbing through his gift. Anna sighed and relaxed against the pillows as some of the tension leaked from her body. Her fingers, which had tightened in his hair, loosed their grip and she caressed his cheek.

“Oh, Dark, that feels really nice,” she whispered.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.” He looked up and gave her a slow smile. “Because I am too.”

“Don’t stop, then,” she urged him. The need in her voice sent a surge of lust straight to his shaft but Dark continued to take his time with her.

“I’ll lick you as long as you want me to—as long as you’ll let me,” he murmured, kissing her gently.

Bending his head, he continued to lick her, using the flat of his tongue to lap from the beginning of her entrance all the way up over the sensitive button of her clit. Goddess, she tasted so damn good!

Now that much of her pain had been eliminated, he concentrated on bringing her pleasure—which brought him pleasure too. Beneath the skin-shield her wore, his cock was at full attention, throbbing and aching with need as he lapped and tasted her. Dark wished he could take himself in hand but he couldn’t of course. Besides, he was still completely focused on pleasuring Anna.

He lapped her long after she was healed, circling the sensitive bud of her clit with the tip of his tongue and then thrusting very gently into her newly healed entrance. Her pussy honey had started to flow in response to his actions and he took great pleasure in tasting it as she began to get hot and creamy for him.

“Mmm…” Anna shifted in pleasure and her hips bucked up, just a little, to meet his gentle caresses. “Oh, Dark, thank you,” she whispered, running her hands restlessly through his hair. “That feels so much better. In fact, it feels even…even better than I thought it could.”

“Do you mean when I do this?” Looking up, he gave her a lazy smile as he bathed her clit with his tongue once more, sweeping gently over the aching bud.

“Ah!” Anna’s back arched. “Yes,” she whispered breathlessly. “When you…when you do that. Thank you for healing me.”

“I’m not done yet,” he murmured, looking up at her. “I need to taste inside you too—to spread my essence all the way inside your pussy to heal you every place that damn thing hurt you.”

“A spreader—they’re called spreaders,” she said and shuddered. “But can you, uh, reach all the way inside me with your tongue?”

He frowned. “Maybe not. Will you allow me to use a single finger to help spread my essence? I know you probably don’t want anything in you right now but—”

“No, it’s all right.” Her voice was slightly breathless and her eyes were dilated with pleasure. “As long as it’s you, I don’t mind. I wouldn’t trust anyone else—wouldn’t want anyone else to do what you’re doing. But somehow when you touch me…” She shook her head. “I can’t explain it, but I feel better all over. Not just physically but mentally and emotionally too. It’s almost like you’re able to erase what Gorn did to me, just by touching me.”

“Let’s not mention him—not while I’m healing and pleasuring you. It makes me too angry,” Dark said, frowning. “We’ll talk about how to deal with him later. For now, just relax and let me heal inside you.” He kissed her open pussy softly again, kissing her as though he was kissing her mouth before looking up again. “Do you think you could come for me, baby? Or would it hurt too much when you clench up from the orgasm?”

She bit her lip.

“Maybe…maybe if you heal me inside first, I could. I do still feel kind of, uh, raw in there.”

“Of course.” Leaning forward, Dark used his tongue first, reaching as far inside her as he could—which was a considerable way. Anna moaned again and bucked against him, helping him get deeper into her. But there was still a long way to go and he couldn’t reach the end of her channel.

Pulling back and lapping up the honey his licking had caused to flow, Dark put a finger into his mouth and gathered some of the essence his fangs were still producing freely.

“All right, baby—going to touch inside you now,” he told Anna. He waited until she nodded and then slipped his index finger deeply inside her, spreading the essence where it was most needed.

“Oh!” Anna moaned as he did it several more times, continuing to lap her clit while he did to give her pleasure while he took away the pain. “Oh, Dark! That feels so good.”

His fangs, which had been producing so much essence all this time, were long and sharp and his shaft was throbbing in his trousers. He wanted badly to make her come and he also wanted to bite her—to claim her—even though he knew he couldn’t actually do it with his shaft.

“Anna,” he said hoarsely. “There’s one way to be certain you’re healed completely but I want to ask you before I do it.”

“What is it?” her eyes were hazy with pleasure. “What is it, Dark?”

“I could bite you and inject my essence directly into your bloodstream,” Dark told her. “It would only hurt for a bare instant,” he continued. “And then you would feel nothing but pleasure as my essence flowed into you.”

He saw her eyes widen and then go half-lidded with pleasure.

“All right,” she whispered. “Go ahead—do it. I want you to. I trust you, Dark.”

Her soft admission of trust seemed to squeeze his heart but the need to bite was very strong too. The need to mark his female as his own—to claim her in the only way he could.

“All right, baby,” he murmured. “Spread wide for me—I’m going to bite you now.”

Her thighs fell open even wider, showing her soft, sweet, pink pussy that was fully healed now. But Dark wasn’t planning to bite her there—her inner thigh was a much better place because there was enough flesh to inject his essence. He kissed her softly first, then bared his fangs and sank them deep into her soft inner thigh.

Mine, he thought as he bit. Mine and I’m never letting you go, Anna!

Anna gasped as the split second of sharp pain turned into a dizzying rush of pleasure.

She felt like they had been building up to this for ages. How long had Dark been between her thighs, lapping and tasting her open pussy? It seemed like hours and despite all the intense stimulation, she still hadn’t reached the peak.

Now, she reached it, however. As his essence rushed into her, she felt an orgasm overtake her, washing over her body like a warm, drenching wave of pleasure. Her hands tightened in his hair and her hips moved on their own, bucking helplessly as her toes curled and her back arched.

In that moment, it was as though all the awful things she’d endured at Gorn’s hands somehow melted away like snow. The pleasure Dark gave her superseded everything else and she couldn’t think of anything except how hot he made her—and how good it felt to have his mouth on her.

“Dark! Dark!” She cried his name as the pleasure rushed through her, loving the feel of his fangs buried deep in her flesh. He made her feel so good—made her feel whole again after what seemed like months of shame and brokenness. She wished it would never end.

At last, however, he withdrew and the pleasure ebbed slowly to be replaced by a sweet ache.

“Oh,” Anna whispered, running her hands through his hair. “That was amazing. Thank you, Dark.”

“You’re welcome, baby,” he murmured. “It was my pleasure to heal you.”

“I’m not just thanking you for healing me,” she said. “Thank you for kissing me and tasting me—for making me feel beautiful. Feel like…like I’m worth something. I know it’s just part of your programming but it’s wonderful. I’ve never had a guy make me feel like you do before, Dark,” she finished and then looked down at her hands, blushing. What had made her talk that way? What had made her admit her feelings to the big Replicant so honestly?

“Anna…” He looked at her intently. “You are beautiful,” he murmured, looking intently into her eyes. “And worthy of love and devotion and protection and everything a male can and should provide to his mate. You are perfect, just the way you are.”

“Oh, Dark…” She wiped away a tear that had somehow slipped out at his sweet words. “Thank you,” she whispered again. “And you can bite me any time. I loved it.”

“Don’t tempt me.” His eyes were half-lidded with lust and his fangs were still long and sharp. “Blood Kindred love biting their females—love injecting our essence because it’s only one step away from actually claiming them.”

“Claiming them? You mean by…breeding them?”

He shook his head, frowning. “Don’t think of it like that—it’s nothing like what that bastard Gorn wanted. When a Kindred claims his female, the lovemaking is mutual and pleasurable for both of them.”

Anna bit her lip. “I’m sure it is but you couldn’t do that anyway, right? I mean, you don’t have the equipment. And besides, even if you could, I don’t think I want anything shaped like a shaft anywhere near me anytime soon.”

“Completely understandable.” He gave her one last soft kiss on her open pussy and then rose to sit on the bed beside her. “You’ve been treated badly, Anna—horribly abused. I’m so sorry I didn’t see it earlier and try to stop it.”

“I didn’t want you to see it—didn’t want you to know,” she confessed. “I was so ashamed—humiliated that Gorn always made me wear those awful spreaders.” She looked down at her hands. “I don’t know what I’m going to do when he comes home and sees that I’ve taken that last one out. He’s going to be so angry.”

“Let him,” Dark said, frowning. “We’re not going to be here when he gets home.”

“We’re not? But where will we go? And how? How will you break your loyalty conditioning?”

Dark took a deep breath.

“I don’t have any loyalty conditioning.”

Anna’s breath seemed to stop in her chest and her body went cold.

“Dark, what are you saying?” she whispered. “What are you telling me? That you’re not a Replicant after all?”

If he lied to me…lied just like Lazlo, what else might he be concealing? She thought of the way she’d trusted him so absolutely—the things she’d let him see and do to her that she would never have trusted a real man to see and do. Oh please, she thought, please don’t let it be true!

A look of frustration passed over Dark’s sharp features and then was gone.

“I never said that,” he told her. “But I’m not really here to serve Gorn. There was a reason I was planted at the Replicant brothel to begin with. I have another loyalty that supersedes everything else.”

“You do?” Anna shook her head. “I don’t understand—why are you here?”

“I must take the Shannom-rah,” Dark told her. “It’s the shiny rainbow crystal that Gorn has displayed in his trophy room,” he added. “I was supposed to wait for a replacement crystal so that Gorn wouldn’t even know it was gone. But now that I know what he’s done to you—and what he plans to try and do in the future—I can’t wait any longer. We’re going to break into the trophy room and get it now. Then we’ll steal one of Gorn’s extra ships and get the Seven Hells out of here.”

Twenty-Three

But the trophy room resisted any and all attempts to break into it.

Dark threw down the diamond-bit drill he’d been trying to use on the hidden hinges and made a noise of disgust.

“Damn it, we’ve been at it for hours and not a scratch on the fucking thing!” he muttered, looking at the vast expanse of shiny, silver metal which didn’t even look as though anything had happened to it, though he had attacked it with every tool he could find in the kitchen and the house.

“Gorn is always bragging about how it’s impregnable,” Anna said in a low voice. “He swears it would survive a bomb or even a neutron blast. He says the only way to open it is with the key.”

“Which he currently has with him.” Dark frowned. “Do you know if he has a spare one anywhere?”

Anna shook her head.

“I heard him talking to Yark back when the two of them were still “drewgs.” He said he has the one and only key to the room—there was another but he destroyed it once the door was finished. He keeps that key with him at all times—on a chain around the left head’s neck.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen it.” Dark sighed. Should he take Anna and get out of here anyway, even without the Shannom-rah? Abandoning his mission didn’t sit well with him, but he wanted to keep her safe more than anything else. She’d been through so much already—he didn’t want her to be hurt any more. He—

Just then a rapping sound intruded onto his thoughts. He jerked his head up.

“What’s that?”

“Sounds like the delivery door—in the back,” Anna said.

“My order isn’t due until later, though.” Dark frowned. “I’d better go check it out.”

“Be careful.” Anna looked worried.

“I’ll be fine,” Dark assured her. “You’d better hide these tools, though—just in case.” He nodded at the various implements he’d used to try and get into the trophy room. He doubted if one of Gorn’s drewgs would be knocking at the service and delivery door but it was better to be safe than sorry.

“Got it.” Anna started to gather everything up at once as Dark went to the door to see who was there and what they wanted.

What he saw when he slid open the security panel surprised him. Standing there, dressed in a non-descript olive-drab delivery outfit was a deliveryman who was unmistakably a Beast Kindred.

“Good afternoon,” he said gruffly, holding up a small package. I have a delivery here for the head chef.” He squinted at the package. “Looks like…Tonga Root extract. And it says— Warning: Toxic if unwrapped in an unventilated area.” He looked up, his golden eyes glowing as he looked through the security panel. “Anybody here order Tonga Root extract?”

“Yes.” Dark slid the panel shut and opened the door. “I did,” he said, accepting the package from the Beast Kindred “deliveryman.” “But now…” He weighed the small, rectangular box in his hand, frowning. “Well, now I’m not sure about using it,” he said in a low voice.

The Beast Kindred frowned. “Why? What’s wrong?” When Dark hesitated, he added. “I’m Baird—Head Chancellor Sylvan’s second brother—what the humans call a half-brother. You can trust me to take your words straight to him and no one else.”

Reassured by his words, Dark explained.

“There’s a female here—a human woman who was bought by Gorn as a ‘breeder.’ Meaning—”

“Meaning he expects her to have his fucking heir,” Baird growled. He leaned forward urgently. “Listen, is she already pregnant? Because that would be bad—really fucking bad.”

His vehemence surprised and worried Dark.

“No. No, she’s not,” he said. “Why?”

“Thank the Goddess.” Baird looked relieved. “Because Sylvan has been studying up on Trollox biology—he’s a healer too, you know—likes to know what he’s dealing with. Anyway, the Trollox have a weird way of reproducing. They can pick the sex of their child—males are preferred—but the birth of a male ruins a female Trollox’s womb.”

“What? Why?” Dark demanded.

“Because the male babies fucking chew their way out.” Baird made a face. “That’s why most of the wealthy Trollox chose to have their babies carried by a female of another species. Trouble is, there’s no other species that can survive that kind of trauma. Which means getting pregnant with a Trollox male heir is a fucking death sentence.”

“Gods!” Dark felt sick when he thought of what a narrow escape Anna had had. What if Gorn had decided to breed her right away last night, instead of putting the largest spreader in her? She might have been pregnant right now with a malicious thing that would kill her!

“So I have to tell you, Brother, it’s a damn good thing your female isn’t pregnant by that big bastard.” Baird cocked his head to one side. “Am I right in calling her ‘your’ female?”

Dark nodded. “I hope she will be, yes. “I have grown…very attached to her. Though there are some…complications.” Such as the fact that Anna still thought he was a Replicant. But he told himself he would deal with that later.

Baird barked a laugh. “Complications? Aren’t there fucking always? But if the Goddess has put the two of you together, you’ll be all right in the end.”

“I’d like to believe you’re right,” Dark said. “But I have to say, everything you’re telling me about Trollox reproduction makes me feel like I need to get her to safety more than ever.”

“Look—tell me about it. Maybe we can figure it out together,” Baird said.

Dark outlined the situation—Gorn’s week-long absence, which would be an ideal time to leave, the fact that the Shannom-rah was locked away and only the big Trollox had the key, and his ominous promise to breed Anna as soon as he got home.

“I can’t risk her safety,” he told Baird. “I’d send her with you right now but I don’t think she’d go. She has an intense distrust of males—she still thinks I’m a fucking Replicant.” He shook his head. “Not sure what to do about that. Every time I get close to telling her the truth about myself, she nearly has a panic attack. She feels like she can’t trust a real male and I can’t say that I blame her after what’s been done to her.”

“Hmm, that is a problem,” Baird agreed, frowning. “But I think I can help. Inside that box, along with the, uh, Tornga Root, is a sleeping potion potent enough to put down a vranna.”

“Really?” Dark stared at the box in his hands. “Good idea!”

“Yeah—Sylvan thought you might need a little help getting away.” Baird nodded. “All you have to do is meet the Trollox at the door with a drink, wait until he’s out cold, replace the Shannom-rah with a fake, and leave with the girl. He’ll be pissed when he wakes up and sees his breeder and his robot cook are gone, but he won’t have any idea about the fake crystal. And he’ll probably put you and the girl being gone down to a rogue Replicant. That way you can’t be tied to the Kindred and the Trollox won’t start a blood feud with us.”

Dark was nodding as the other male spoke.

“It’s perfect!” He looked up at Baird. “Thank you! This is just the answer I needed. Right before you came I was wondering if I should just take Anna and run. But I didn’t want to abandon my mission.”

“You don’t have to,” Baird said firmly. “You can get the crystal and save your little female.”

“I see that now. I’ll do it and hopefully, I’ll be back at the Mother Ship within a solar week.”

“Sounds good to me.” Baird nodded. “Oh, but just be careful the fucking Knower doesn’t get to the Shannom-rah first. Have there been any strange Replicants coming or going since you’ve been here? You know that fucking thing can enter any of them.”

“None but the three that Gorn bought at the same auction where he bought me,” Dark told him. “And so far none of them has shown any sign of being anything but ordinary Replicants.”

“Just keep an eye out,” Baird advised. “We don’t want the Shannom-rah falling into the wrong hands.”

“I’ll fulfill my mission. Thank you, Brother.” Dark held out his arm for a warrior’s clasp and Baird took it and squeezed firmly.

“May the Goddess be with you,” he growled. “We’re all praying for your safe return.”

“Thank you. I’m praying for that myself,” Dark said dryly. “Please tell Commander Sylvan I’ll see him soon.”

“I will.” Baird nodded and left, going back to the small delivery shuttle he was driving. Dark watched the Beast Kindred go, his heart feeling lighter than it had in ages.

Everything is going to be all right, he thought, looking down at the box containing the fake Shannom-rah and the potent sleeping potion. I’ll be able to fulfill my mission and rescue Anna too.

Of course how he would break the news to her that he wasn’t really a Replicant was a whole other problem. One he would deal with in the future, Dark told himself firmly. For now, they had preparations and plans to make. And he had a whole week to make Anna fall in love with him—hopefully so in love that she would forgive him once she found out she had been deceived.

Twenty-Four

“Is everything ready to go?” Anna looked around the kitchen worriedly. “He’s due to be back any time now.”

“Ready as it’s going to be.” Dark nodded as he looked at the meal he had prepared for Gorn. The big Trollox had called ahead with an order of what he wanted for dinner and Dark had thought it was best to prepare it and have it ready, though they hoped the sleeping potion would work on him so quickly he wouldn’t get to eat it.

“At the very least the smell of the food he’s ordered me to cook will put him at ease,” he’d pointed out to Anna. “He’ll feel that everything is well and be more willing to take the drink I offer him.”

“Ugh.” She had wrinkled her nose. “Well, it certainly wouldn’t put anyone else at ease!”

“Yes, well—Trollox cooking isn’t for everyone,” Dark remarked dryly. “In fact, it isn’t for anyone at all except the Trollox.”

Anna couldn’t help thinking, as they waited for Gorn to get home, that it had been nice not having the stinky, foul food odors in the house for the time that her captor had been gone.

In fact, the very first night after Dark had received the delivery of the fake crystal and the sleeping potion they planned to use on Gorn, he had made her a feast fit for a queen—all of humanoid food—and it had been delicious.

“This is amazing!” Anna had told him surveying the delicacies he had prepared. “But I’m afraid if I eat all of it, I’ll get fat again. The only good thing about this whole, horrible ordeal is that I finally lost some weight.”

“Baby, you don’t need to lose weight,” Dark had responded gently. “If anything, you need to put on a little. Some females are naturally slim and that’s all right but you’re meant to be an Elite with beautiful, bountiful curves. You should embrace them and love yourself for who you are.”

Anna had sighed. “Well, that would be easier if I could find a man who felt like you do—or like your programming makes you feel, anyway.”

“My ‘programming’ has nothing to do with it,” Dark had responded. “It’s how I feel. You’re beautiful and you like to eat. I like to cook. It’s perfect.”

Anna had given up at that point and let herself dig in. Dark had joined her, to her surprise, but she supposed it was just another feature of his Replicant physiology—allowing him to eat to seem more humanoid. It was nice, sharing a meal with him and afterwards, he had come to bed with her without asking.

She had wanted him to touch her again, but she hadn’t been certain how to bring it up. Dark, for his part, seemed to be trying to be careful of her. He probably thought that after the trauma she’d been through with Gorn, she might not want any sexual attention from him, though nothing could be farther from the truth.

It seemed somehow that when he had healed her body, it had also healed her mind. That didn’t make sense but it was how she felt. But she didn’t know how to let him know that—let him know that touching her was all right. After all, he’d been mostly healing her the last time he touched and tasted her and she wasn’t hurt now.

That had given Anna an idea. After they got under the covers together and turned out the lights, she had shifted restlessly on her side of the bed.

“Is everything all right, baby?” Dark’s voice was low and intimate in the dim room and she was very aware that they basically had the house to themselves for the first time since he had come to serve as Gorn’s chef.

“Fine, except… is it warm in here to you?” Anna asked. She was wearing the long black robes which were the only clothing her Trollox captor had ever given her but she wanted an excuse to take them off.

Dark seemed to understand. He himself was wearing nothing but his black trousers and she could see the dim outlines of his broad, bare shoulders as he turned to face her.

“It’s a little warm,” he rumbled softly. “If you’re uncomfortable, you can take off your robes. I don’t mind.”

“All right.” Since he had told her how much he liked her full curves, Anna had felt brave enough to slip out of the robes and lay naked on the bed beside him. She thought how good it felt to lie comfortably in bed without an ice-cold spreader filling her and reminding her every moment of her eventual fate. Now, thanks to Dark, that fate had been averted. He was going to take her home and she would be safe and happy and never have to see Gorn or any Trollox ever again.

But soon, she began to feel chilly. She gave a little shiver and Dark stirred beside her again. His bronze eyes were glowing softly in the dimness and Anna wondered if he could see her clearly, despite the darkened room. The idea that he might be looking at her naked body—and liking what he saw—made her feel hot and wet between her thighs.

“You all right?” he murmured, reaching out to stroke a strand of hair out of her eyes.

“Yes. Just…” She shifted a little closer. “Now that I’ve taken off my robes, I’m getting cold.” She gave a rueful little laugh. “I just can’t win.”

“Would you like to come here and let me warm you up?” Dark asked softly. “It doesn’t have to be anything sexual—I can just hold you, baby.”

Anna did want it to be sexual, but she still didn’t know how to say it. Still, pressing naked against him was definitely a step in the right direction.

“All right.” Scooting over to his side of the bed, she pressed against the muscular wall of his chest and felt his long arms encircle her.

“Mmm, that’s right, baby,” he rumbled, pulling her close so that her bare breasts were pressed against him. “Snuggle in nice and close. Gods, love to feel you against me!”

“Mmm…” She sighed in contentment as Dark gathered her to him and she breathed in his spicy, masculine scent. “This is so nice,” she murmured, rubbing her cheek against his chest. “I feel so safe and warm in your arms—like nobody could every hurt me again.”

“No one will,” he promised, his deep voice low and intense. “I swear it, Anna—no one is ever going to hurt you again as long as I’m with you.”

“Then you’ll have to stay with me,” she said lightly. “Stay close.”

“Mmm, it will be my pleasure, baby.” He dropped a soft kiss on her forehead. “Are you feeling better now? All warmed up?”

“Well…mostly.” Anna bit her lip, feeling naughty. “Except…”

“Except what?” Dark urged.

“Well…except my, um, my nipples,” she confessed. “They got really cold before you started holding me and they’re still kind of…just a little bit achy.”

“Are you saying you’re in pain?” he murmured softly. “Do you want me to heal you again?”

This was exactly what Anna had been angling for, though she hadn’t known how to bring it up except in a round-about way.

“Yes,” she wiggled against him, loving the feel of his bare skin against hers. “Yes, I…I think that would be a really good idea.”

“I think so too. All right then—let me heal those sweet little nipples of yours.” Dark’s voice was low and hot. He bent his head to suck one of her tight buds into his mouth and Anna moaned and arched her back to press her breasts out, offering him more—offering him all of her if he wanted to take her.

Clearly Dark did want her. He growled softly with pleasure and need as he sucked first one tight peak and then the other, lapping gently one minute and then sucking hard the next in a way that sent tingles of pleasure straight from her nipples to her wet, hot pussy.

“Oh…oh, Dark!” Anna moaned, writhing against him. God, how could he make her so hot and bothered that she almost felt she could come just from him sucking her nipples? And yet, that wasn’t the only place she wanted to feel his mouth. Her mind kept returning to the soft, gentle way he’d healed her earlier—the feeling of his warm, wet tongue caressing the inner folds of her pussy as he murmured that she tasted so good…

At last Dark had pulled back and asked, “Better now, baby?”

His deep voice was hoarse with passion and Anna knew that he wanted her as much as she wanted him.

Or his programming makes him think he wants me, anyway—or act like he wants me, she thought, and felt a little sad. If only she could find a real man who was as kind and handsome and thoughtful and sexy as Dark—one who felt for her as deeply as he seemed to do…

Then she pulled herself up short—what was she thinking? Even if she’d found a real man who seemed to be everything Dark was, she couldn’t have trusted him. Look at how her trust in Lazlo had turned out! No, it was better that Dark was a Replicant—safer. He was programmed to protect her so there was no way he could do otherwise. And he didn’t have any male equipment to hurt her with. It was definitely better this way.

She was going to live in the moment, she told herself, and pretend that Dark was real and that they really could be together forever. She was going to take the pleasure he was offering her and enjoy herself. It was the only thing she could do right now and later she would have a beautiful memory of what it felt like to be with a man who cared for her and loved her, even if she never met anyone like him in real life.

“My nipples do feel better,” she told Dark softly. “But, well…” She wiggled and pressed her thighs together. “Now I feel achy someplace else.”

“Mmm-hmm,” he murmured. “I see. And where might that be? Where else do you feel achy, baby?”

“Be…between my legs,” Anna murmured. “Where you healed me earlier.”

“Do you think you’re still a little bit hurt?” Dark murmured. “Maybe I should heal you again, just to be sure you’re okay.”

“Do…do you want to do that? To heal me again?” Anna asked.

He made a hungry-sounding growl in the darkness.

“Are you asking if I want to lick your sweet pussy, Anna? Because the answer to that question is always going to be yes.”

“You…you really like it that much?” she asked breathlessly.

“Like it? I fucking love it.” Dark was already moving into position between her thighs, his broad shoulders splitting her wide as he bent over her in the dimness. “Didn’t I tell you that all Kindred love eating pussy?”

Anna thought about pointing out that he wasn’t really a Kindred, but she didn’t care anymore at that point if he was real or not. She just wanted to feel his tongue on her again—just wanted to feel him tasting and licking her throbbing clit until she came.

“Gods, baby—this sweet pussy,” he groaned and then buried his face between her legs for a long, hot lick.

Anna moaned and bucked up to meet him as he laved her tender inner folds and the aching button of her clit.

“Oh, Dark!” she gasped and her fingers found the silky-rough thatch of his hair as she pressed up to feel more of his hot tongue bathing her pussy.

Dark lapped her eagerly some more, sucking her wet folds into his mouth and releasing them gently before twirling his tongue around and around her clit in a way that seemed meant to drive her mad.

“There! Right there,” Anna moaned, tightening her grip on his hair. Then it occurred to her, hazily, that she was probably hurting him by pulling too hard. Reluctantly, she released her grip on him and put her hands to her sides.

Dark looked up at once.

“Why did you stop touching me?” he asked and she could see that his eyes were glowing more brightly than ever—they were hungry and half-lidded in the dim room.

“I…I thought I might be hurting you,” Anna confessed. “I didn’t want to pull your hair too hard while you were, you know, healing me.”

“Gods, baby—no. Don’t think like that,” he protested hoarsely. “I fucking love it when you pull my hair and put me where you want me! Where you need me. Lets me know you’re enjoying being eaten as much as I enjoy eating you.”

“Really? Then…I’m not hurting you?” Anna asked hesitantly.

“Hurts a little—but it feels good, too,” he assured her. “Hurt me, baby—I fucking love it. Love to feel your soft little hands showing me where to go.”

“All right, then.” Feeling empowered, Anna slid her fingers back into his thick black hair and tugged at his head. “Taste me some more, Dark,” she breathed.

Her reward for her boldness was a growl of pure hunger and then Dark redoubled his licking and sucking, making her pussy feel so hot and wet she knew she was going to come soon.

“Dark!” she moaned. “Dark! Oh God, if you don’t stop you’re going to make me come.”

Of course, this only made him lick faster and then she felt one thick finger entering her gently as he continued to bathe her clit with his tongue. Anna gasped at the intrusion but after a moment she realized it didn’t feel bad at all.

He looked up for a moment, panting.

“Is this okay, baby? I should have asked first,” he murmured, stroking the single finger gently in and out of her entrance.

“It’s all right,” Anna assured him. “It…feels good, actually. What…what are you doing?”

“Trying to find a special spot inside you.” He rubbed experimentally against the top wall of her pussy and she jumped and gasped a little when a deep sensation went through her.

“Oh—what is that?” she asked breathlessly.

“The Kindred call it a female’s pleasure spot—your people might have a different name for it,” Dark said. “Basically, it’s the underside of your clit. It’s not just one little spot you know—it goes all over.” Leaning down, he bathed her aching button again with a long sweep of his tongue. At the same time, he pressed upward inside her with the single finger, as though to illustrate his point.

“Oh!” Anna gasped and bucked her hips involuntarily as pleasure shot through her. “Oh, God!” she exclaimed. “It…it’s like you’re stroking me everywhere at once.”

“That’s the idea, baby,” Dark growled. “Now how about you just lay back and enjoy it? Lay back and let me make you come.”

“All right.” Anna tried to relax but when he went back to licking her clit and rubbing that special spot inside her, she found her fingers tightening in his hair again. “Oh,” she moaned. “Oh, Dark…Dark!”

He seemed to love hearing her call his name because he redoubled his efforts, lapping and sucking and rubbing until Anna felt like she was coming apart at the seams. The orgasm which had been hovering over her head like a thunder cloud suddenly broke and she felt her back arching and her toes curling.

“There!” she moaned, pressing his mouth against her pussy. “There—right there!”

Dark stayed with her, riding out her orgasm as he lapped and sucked her throbbing clit, giving her so much pleasure that Anna almost felt like she was going to black out. Her body felt lit up like a Christmas tree and for the first time since Lazlo had sold her at the Trollox breeding market to Gorn, she felt completely and fully happy and glad to be alive.

So of course she started crying again.

“Anna? Baby—are you all right?” Dark slid up to the head of the bed and gathered her into his arms. “Is everything okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine—these are happy tears,” Anna told him. “I…I never thought I’d feel like this again. Feel happy I mean. Being with you makes me so happy, Dark.”

“You make me happy too, baby,” he murmured, kissing her wet cheeks. “So happy I never want to let you go.”

“You don’t have to,” Anna told him recklessly. “Or…do you?” she added. “I mean, I know you’re working for the Kindred. After this, will they send you on another mission? Will you ever be free to do what you want and follow your dreams? Do Replicants even dream?”

“Sure they do,” Dark told her softly. “I dreamed of you, before I came here. I didn’t think anything of it at the time but now I know I was supposed to find you. Supposed to take you away from that fucking Gorn and this horrible place and bring you home safely.”

“Really?” Anna bit her lip. “I…I dreamed of you, too. So many times!”

“The Goddess meant for us to be together,” Dark told her softly. “She set us apart for each other and once we get out of here, we’ll be together forever—if you still want to, after…” He cleared his throat. “After all this is over.”

“Of course I want to! Oh, Dark…” She kissed him happily and snuggled close, feeling like her heart was bursting with love. Who cared if he wasn’t real? This love felt real and that was enough for her, Anna told herself.

“Mmm, love holding you naked in my arms,” Dark murmured. “If you’re not careful, I’ll be wanting to heal you all over again.”

“You know,” Anna remarked, smiling, “Any other guy who could give a girl instant orgasms just by biting her might have slacked off on his, uh, oral technique, if you know what I mean. But you seem to have worked on yours. I mean, not that anyone has ever, uh, tasted me before but you seem to be really good at it.”

“That’s because I fucking love it,” Dark growled. “Come on, baby, why don’t you let me prove it again? And I’ll bite you too, if you want—just let me taste you first.”

Anna couldn’t say no to such a delicious offer and, as Dark spread her legs to go down on her a second time, she thought she had never felt so happy…

“So, I want you to stay out of sight as much as possible,” Dark said, drawing her out of her reverie and back to the present where they were standing together in the kitchen, waiting for Gorn to come home. “I’ll meet him at the door with the ‘special’ drink and lead him to the table to start serving Last Meal immediately.”

“He always insists that I have dinner with him,” Anna objected. “He’ll think something is wrong if I don’t show.”

“Well…” Dark frowned. “We don’t know how long it will take for the sleeping medication to take effect but hopefully not long. I guess it will probably be all right for you to sit at the table with him. But if he tries anything—anything at all—”

“I’ll call for you,” Anna promised and she really meant it this time. They had a plan to get away and she had faith that Dark could save her, even thought he was a Replicant.

“All right.” He nodded, apparently satisfied. “The minute he nods off, I’ll get the key from around his neck, unlock the trophy room, switch the crystals, and the two of us will be out of here in his ship before he wakes up.”

“Where will we go?” Anna asked. “Will you take me back to the mining colony?”

“Well, the Mother Ship will be folding space for us so we have to go there first,” Dark told her. “But you can call your parents from there and let them know you’re okay.”

“And I’ll tell them we’re staying together, too,” Anna told him. She knew she might get some odd looks from her family when she announced she wanted to spend the rest of her life with a Replicant, but she didn’t care. She just wanted to be with Dark forever.

“That sounds perfect to me.” Dark smiled, but she thought she detected a hint of worry in his sharp features.

“Hey—is everything okay?” she asked, touching his arm. “You…you do want to stay together, don’t you? That’s all we’ve been talking about all week.”

“Of course, I do, baby.” He took her in his arms and kissed her passionately. When he drew back, the look in his bronze eyes was intense. “That’s all I want—for us to be together,” he murmured. “I love you, Anna. When all this is over, please believe that and hold onto it. I love you.”

“Wow…” She let out a shaky little laugh, surprised and a little concerned at his intensity. He must think I’ll change my mind about being with a Replicant once I get back to my parents and my normal life again, she thought.

Wanting to reassure him, she cupped his cheek and looked into his eyes. “I love you too, Dark,” she told him. “So much that nothing—nothing—could ever make me stop loving you.”

“Nothing? Do you swear that?” he asked.

“I swear it,” Anna said. “Dark, what is this about? Are you worried about something? About our plan?”

He shook his head. “No, I think the plan is pretty airtight—barring any unforeseen complications. It’s just, well…there’s something I need to tell you. Something I’ve been trying to tell you for a while now but—”

Just then the front door of the house opened with a booming thud.

“Pretty boy!” roared a familiar voice. “Where’s my dinner? I’m fucking hungry!”

Twenty-Five

Of all the bad, fucking timing! Dark thought, as he hurried out to the front of the house, holding a tray with the doctored drink on it. He had been just about to tell Anna the truth about himself and after the way things had been going in the kitchen, he was almost certain she would forgive him for his deception.

I love you, he had imagined telling her. Not because I’m programmed to—because of who you are. Because you’re beautiful and brave and resilient and intelligent and amazing. I love you for yourself, Anna—and I hope you can feel the same for me.

He’d been working up to telling her the entire week they’d spent alone together. It had been blissful with no Gorn to bother them. Dark had cooked every delicacy in his considerable repertoire for her and they had slept in each other’s arms every night after he tasted her and bit her and gave her multiple orgasms—both with his tongue and his fangs.

It had been too blissful, Dark admitted to himself. He should have come out and told her everything early on, but he hadn’t wanted to interrupt their bliss and risk losing her. So every day he had put it off, and every day it got a little harder to admit the truth. And now his admission that he wasn’t a Replicant but a real male—with real male equipment—would have to wait until the ride home

He just hoped that Anna had meant it when she said she nothing could ever make her stop loving him—not even the fact that he’d basically been lying to her from the minute they first met.

“I want dinner!” Gorn was bellowing as Dark came up to him. The huge Trollox had just come in the front door and thrown off his traveling cloak—which was an ugly mustard yellow and dark purple plaid—and he was stomping around, looking both angry and hungry.

Hangry—that’s what Anna called that emotion, Dark thought, frowning. I’ll need to feed him quickly to keep him quiescent.

Come to think of it though, the fact that the big Trollox had an empty stomach might work to their advantage. Hopefully it would make the sleeping drug Dark had laced his drink with act even faster.

“Hello, Master—welcome home,” he said evenly, as he came up to Gorn. What he wanted to do was slit the big bastard’s throat and take him apart piece by piece for the way he had hurt Anna. But he knew he couldn’t do that, despite how much he hungered for revenge. The High Council didn’t want a blood feud with the Trollox people so no matter what else happened, Gorn had to live.

“Hello, pretty boy!” Gorn’s left head roared as he looked down at Dark. “You seem to have survived your time in the punishment box all right.”

“I managed,” Dark said evenly. “Though I have no wish to repeat the experience. Here you are, Master.”

He handed the fizzing drink with its many rainbow liquors layered in shimmering splendor in the clear crystal glass. It was a gorgeous drink, if he said so himself—and hopefully tempting enough that Gorn would drink it without comment.

The left head seemed ready enough to do just that but as Gorn swept the offered glass up off the tray with his left hand, the right head squinted suspiciously.

“What’s this?” it hissed, frowning at the many-layered drink. “What have you brought us, pretty boy?”

“It’s a specialty drink I learned to make for my last Mistress—a pangalactic gargleblaster,” Dark said blandly. “I thought it would be a good start to your Last Meal, which is ready in the kitchen.”

“Let’s see, then.” The left head raised the glass to its mouth and drank about half of the potent drink in one gulp. Then it lowered the glass, smacking its rubbery lips together and nodding. “That’s proper, that is!” it roared. “Nothing like a good drink to start the night right, eh, pretty boy?”

“Right, Master.” Dark nodded stolidly while inwardly wishing that the big bastard would choke on it.

“Let me try it,” the right head said, reaching for the glass with the right hand. “You’ve already drunk half—let me have the rest.”

“No!” The left head pulled the glass away. “It’s too good to share—you don’t deserve it!”

“I do! You never share!” The right head snatched with the right hand, managing to grab the left wrist and hand, which was still holding the drink.

“Stop it! Fucking stop!” the left head roared and a power struggle ensued as the right hand tried to wrestle the crystal glass and the rest of the drink away from the left hand.

It was clear the left head—and the left side—of Gorn’s body was stronger, Dark thought, watching in alarm. But not by much.

“Master, please!” he shouted, hoping to get things under control. “I can make you another drink! Please, you don’t have to—”

But just at that moment, the claws of the right hand managed to hook the glass out of the left hand.

“Ah-ha!” the right head shouted triumphantly. It raised the half-full glass to its lips and was about to drink when the left hand slapped the drink away.

Dark watched in dismay as the crystal glass went flying and shattered on the faux-marble steps of the entryway, spilling the remains of the rainbow-colored pangalactic gargleblaster (and the rest of the sleeping potion) all over the floor.

“Now look what you’ve done!” the right head hissed. “All I wanted was to taste it! Why are you always so greedy?”

“If I can’t have it all, you can’t have any,” the left head roared.

Which wasn’t at all logical, but totally in keeping with Gorn’s personal philosophy, Dark thought. Now what in the Seven Hells was he supposed to do, he wondered? The big bastard had only drunk half of the sleeping potion. Would it still be effective? Would he and Anna still be able to carry out their plan?

“Master, please come to the table,” he urged Gorn. “I can make a new drink for you—two new drinks,” he added, seeing the sour look on the right head’s face. “And you can enjoy the excellent dinner I have prepared. You’ll feel better after you eat.”

The left head seemed inclined to roar and rant and the right head was sulking, but at last he got the huge Trollox to come to the dining table.

But as soon as Gorn was seated, he looked around, frowning.

“Where’s the girlie?” the left head demanded. “Where’s my breeder? She must eat Trollox food for dinner so she can be sure to have a strong heir for me. Going to breed her tonight right after I eat!”

Dark gritted his teeth and wanted to kill the cruel, abusive bastard all over again. He thought of making an excuse to keep Anna away from the table, but in the mood Gorn was in now, it might only enrage the big Trollox.

“I’ll go look for her as soon as I make you two new drinks,” he told Gorn. Maybe if he poured enough strong alcohol into the Trollox, on top of the sleeping potion he had already consumed, it would help make the big bastard sleepy.

“All right, but hurry, pretty boy!” Gorn roared. “She must eat with me!”

Dark went back into the kitchen, simmering with anger. He could feel the Rage threatening to take over his emotions but he did his best to hold it back. He had to keep a cool head to get through this and going into a berserker fury wasn’t going to help him complete his mission.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Anna asked, the minute he came through the swinging metal door. “I heard him out there—did he attack you?”

“No but the heads started fighting and he spilled the fucking drink,” Dark growled. “Only half of the potion got into him.”

“Oh, no!” She put a hand to her mouth. “Do you think it’ll still work?”

“I don’t know. I hope so.” Dark went to the side bar and started mixing two truly huge drinks as he spoke. “I’m hoping if I pour enough alcohol into him, it’ll help the potion he did drink work better. There’s something else though.” He looked up at her. “He’s asking for you. I’ll try to put him off as long as possible but—”

“No.” Anna lifted her chin. “No, I’ll go out to him,” she said calmly.

Dark frowned. “You don’t know the mood he’s in! I don’t want you anywhere near him when he’s like this.”

“I’ve seen him in every mood he has,” Anna assured him. “I’ll be okay—he never bothers me at dinner. All he wants is to see me sitting there, obeying his orders. That’s the only thing that will calm him down.”

“I still don’t like it.” Dark shook his head. “After what he did to you—how he hurt you—”

“You healed me, remember?” She cupped his cheek in her small, soft hand. “Please don’t worry, Dark. I promise if he gets out of hand I’ll call you. Everything is going to be all right and we’re still going to get that crystal and get out of here. You’ll see.”

Her calm and courage amazed him. Leaning down, he gave her a swift kiss.

“Every time I think I know you, you surprise me by being even braver and more wonderful than ever, baby,” he told her. “You’re right—we’ll get through this. I’m going to give him these new drinks…” He held up the two monstrous rainbow-hued, fizzing drinks. “And then go ‘looking’ for you. You slip into the other room and come out to him after he’s drunk at least half of them—that should put him under the table.” I hope, he added mentally.

Anna nodded. “You got it.”

“I love you,” Dark told her and gave her another kiss. Then he went back through the swinging metal door, drinks in hands, hoping and praying that they would still be able to follow through on the plan.

“Where is she? Where’s my breeder?”

“Here I am, Master.” Heart in her mouth, Anna came quickly into the dining room and took her accustomed spot at the far end of the dining table from her captor. Gorn had a rainbow-hued drink in each fist and both heads were looking slightly woozy—though from the alcohol or the half-potion he had ingested, Anna didn’t know.

I do know that slightly woozy isn’t going to cut it, though, she thought uneasily. Not if we want to get the key from around the left head’s neck and get out of here without a major problem.

Gorn saw her and the left head roared, “Come here—come sit with me, girlie. Tonight we’re celebrating your first breeding! Right after dinner, I’ll fill you to overflowing with my seed. Why—you might have my heir planted in your belly by morning!”

The thought of one of the monstrous Trollox heirs inside her made Anna more nauseous than the Trollox food fumes drifting from the kitchen. And there was no way she wanted to come even a step closer to Gorn.

But she knew the belligerent look on the left head’s face—if she didn’t do as he asked at once, there was going to be hell to pay. Quickly, she got up and went to sit at his side.

“Yes, Master. How was your trip?” she asked, trying to look interested while staying out of his reach.

“A very good trip indeed, girlie!” the left head exclaimed. “I’ve made some new drewgs, so I have! And they gave me some tips and pointers on how to plant an heir, so they did.”

Anna felt her gorge rise and did her best to swallow it down.

“Oh, really?” she managed weakly. “That’s…that’s nice.”

“Yes, it fucking is!” the left head roared while the right head concentrated on drinking the massive drink Dark had made it. “Almost forgot,” the left head continued. “I got some sweeties for you on my travels, so I did!”

Fumbling at his side, he unhooked a small cloth bag from his belt and held it out to her.

Anna took it unwillingly and poured the contents of the bag out onto her dinner plate. A number of small, wrinkled things that looked a little bit like dried apricots fell out and rolled across the fine china.

“There you go!” Gorn said triumphantly. “See? I didn’t forget my girlie. Well—go on! Eat up!”

Anna looked at the dried apricot-things uncertainly. This wasn’t unusual, actually. Gorn often got her “sweeties” when he went on a trip. Often the alien treats were the only decent thing she had to eat, since Trollox food was so foul, and she consumed them gratefully.

She’d been eating just fine since Dark had come and she had no wish to taste the strange dried fruits—if that was what they were—at all. But she knew if she refused she would arouse the right head’s suspicion and the left head’s rage. So she popped one in her mouth, hoping it wouldn’t taste too bad.

To her surprise, it was absolutely delicious.

“Mmm!” she exclaimed involuntarily, as she chewed. “Tastes like…peaches and strawberries and mangos.” And there was even a bit of salty, savory flavor too—like buttered popcorn, she thought.

“Don’t know what that shit is but I’m glad you like them, girlie,” Gorn growled. “One of my new drewgs said they’d be good for you. Said all breeders love ‘em. They’re Kindred sweeties, they are. Well—go on and eat the rest!”

“Thank you, Master.” Anna nodded submissively and popped another of the dried fruits into her mouth. And then another and another. She thought it was the first time he’d ever brought her anything truly good to eat and she was glad she didn’t have to choke down the strange “sweeties” and pretend to like them, as she often had in the past.

By the time Dark had come out to serve the first course, she’d eaten all the dried fruits and was listening demurely while Gorn went on and on about his trip and all his new drewgs. Dark served her a tiny portion of the foul-smelling first course and gave her a look, as though to ask if she was all right. Anna gave him a tiny nod, indicating that she was okay and he nodded in return and went back to the kitchen.

“So the new drewgs’ll be com…comin’ roun’ for supper t’morrow night,” Gorn said.

Anna’s ears perked up—was he slurring his words? Looking up at the huge Trollox, she saw that both heads were nodding sleepily. Indeed, the yellow eyes of the left head were almost closed, though its mouth continued to speak.

“I tol’…tol’ ‘em whatta good chef I got—what cooks Trollox food prop…proper-like,” it was saying. “So they all said they’d come and… and…”

“And what, Master?” Anna asked politely.

But instead of answering, the left head fell face-first into the plate of green slop in front of it. The right head followed and soon the huge Trollox was sprawled across the dining room table, food smeared on its faces as it snored heavily.

Finally!

Seeing her chance, Anna jumped up and reached for the chain around the left head’s neck. It was silver and very fine-link—she had to hunt for it in her captor’s greasy, hairy neck-rolls, a grimace of distaste on her features as she did. At last, though, she found it. Quickly and quietly, she unfastened the clasp and began to pull it off the thick neck.

“What are you doing, stupid girl?” The hissing voice startled her badly. She looked up to see the right head was somehow still awake, though its glowing red eyes looked squinty with sleep. “Just what do you think you’re doing?” it demanded again, querulously.

“Nothing, Master—nothing at all,” Anna said quickly, concealing the long chain with its key in her hand. “Just go back to sleep,” she told it. “Go to sleep—you’re tired, aren’t you?”

“Never liked you,” the right head hissed at her. “Stupid…girl…” And then its eyes drifted closed and it began to snore almost as loudly as the left head.

“I never liked you either, you nasty thing!” Anna informed it. Then, key in hand, she rushed into the kitchen. “Dark!” she called excitedly. “I got it—I got it!”

The plan was going to work and they would get away within the hour—she was sure of it.

Twenty-Six

Dark turned the key in the lock and then heaved with all his might against the heavy metal door of the treasure room. It was incredibly heavy—more than a normal humanoid male could have managed. It was almost too much for Dark, but he said a silent prayer to the Goddess and pushed again, putting his shoulder to the cold metal and bracing with his legs to give a powerful thrust.

“Here—I can help too.” Anna had been standing to one side, holding the box with the fake Shannom-rah and watching anxiously. Now she put her shoulder to the door as well and pushed with him.

It seemed to be the last little bit the door needed—at last it began to move.

“Good, that’s good, baby,” Dark told her in a low, strained voice. “Keep it up, almost there!”

The door swung smoothly inward without a creek on its well-oiled hinges and soon they found themselves standing in the middle of the treasure room.

“Wow,” Anna breathed, looking around at the rare and expensive art arrayed on the dark wood racks around the perimeter of the room. “I’ve heard about this place but Gorn has never let me in here. All of this must be priceless.”

“You’re right about that. But we don’t have time to admire it.” Quickly, Dark went across to the velvetex cushion where the Shannom-rah lay, glittering like a living rainbow. He started to pick it up, but encountered a sudden resistance. When he tugged at the rainbow crystal, it pulled a little way away from the cushion but then he met resistance and it snapped back into place the minute he let it go. “What in the Seven Hells?” he muttered, frowning at it.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Anna asked anxiously. She was admiring the selection of antique weapons in one corner of the room, Dark saw. In fact, she was looking at the same strange projectile weapon that had fascinated him when Gorn had brought him in—the double-barreled, silver one that had two triggers, one white and one black. Anna was holding it carefully, turning it this way and that. What had Gorn called it? Some kind of Synthian weapon? He couldn’t remember but it didn’t matter anyway.

“I’m getting some resistance here,” he said, tugging at the Shannom-rah again, only to have it yanked back into place the minute he let it go. “I don’t know what’s going on—it keeps getting pulled back to the cushion.”

“Oh, I know what it is.” She came over, still holding the Synthian gun. “It’s a microfilament web—I heard Gorn telling one of his drewgs about it.”

“A microfilament web? What in the Seven Hells is that?” Dark asked, exasperated.

“It’s made of filaments as fine as a spider’s web and as strong as steel cables,” Anna explained. “They’re also completely invisible when they’re dry.”

“They certainly are.” Dark yanked experimentally on the crystal again with the same result. “So is there any way to break them?”

“No, but there should be an opening in them somewhere,” Anna said, frowning. “But again, you’ll never be able to see it while the filaments are dry. You have to mist water over them and let it bead up so you can see where the opening is. Either that or just keep feeling around until you find it, but that will probably take a while.”

“I can see that,” Dark growled in frustration. He just wanted to get out of here!

“I’ll run get you some water—isn’t there a mister you use for some of the more delicate marinades in the kitchen?” Anna asked.

He nodded. “There is but I’ll get it. It’s not safe for you to go alone.”

“Gorn’s asleep—I’ll be fine. I’ll be right back.”

She glided away before he could protest again. For a moment, Dark thought about going after her but then he decided that she was right—Gorn was sleeping and there was no one else in the house but Replicants, which were always inactive unless there was a service required of them.

He decided to try and find the opening in the microfilament web by touch while he waited. It would certainly save time if he could just slip the real crystal out and put the fake crystal in its place without having to mist the whole thing with water.

He put the fake crystal down and, using both hands, began feeling all around the Shannom-rah. At last, he found what he thought was the opening.

Now to get the real one out and put the fake one in, he thought, concentrating hard on his task.

He was so engrossed in his work that he didn’t even notice someone coming up behind him.

Anna ran quickly from the trophy room to the kitchen, only pausing for a moment to make sure that Gorn was still snoring on the table. The big Trollox appeared to be sleeping soundly, so she went confidently into the kitchen and began looking for the mister.

But the little implement wasn’t where she had last seen it. Frowning, she dug through the cabinets. Where could it have gone? She remembered Dark using it only the other night, when he had made her a special kind of roasted tree root that tasted like a mixture of sweet potatoes and carrots. He had used the mister to coat it in a marinade that tasted a little like maple syrup with cinnamon in it. The dish had been delicious and Anna had asked him how to make it. She—

“Oh, there you are!” she exclaimed, spotting the mister at last. It looked a little like a squirt gun with a round copper bulb screwed into the bottom.

Just as she was reaching for it, there was an ominous sound from the other room. A clunking, clattering thud like a heavy piece of furniture falling over.

Anna jumped, her hand going automatically to her throat.

Something cold touched her skin and she looked down and realized she was still holding the odd-looking silver gun with the black and white triggers. She hadn’t realized she’d taken it from the trophy room. Now she examined it in more detail, feeling like her heart was beating in her throat.

Could it be used as a weapon? she wondered. Or was it for display purposes only? Could she use it to defend herself or would it only be evidence that she had broken into the trophy room if Gorn caught her with it?

Don’t be silly! she told herself uneasily. Gorn’s fast asleep and snoring on the dining room table.

Except, she realized, she didn’t hear the loud, buzz-saw sound of his snores anymore. Well, that didn’t have to mean anything, she told herself. Sometimes he rolled over in bed and didn’t start snoring again for a few minutes.

But he’s not in bed, whispered a little voice in her head. He’s—

Suddenly the swinging metal door to the kitchen slapped open and Gorn staggered in and saw her.

“What the fuck, girlie?” the left head roared, making Anna jump.

His faces were still smeared with food and his eyes were half-slitted with sleep but he was most definitely up and around.

Dark didn’t hear a thing as he finally slipped the fake Shannom-rah into place in the microfilament net and laid it back on the black velvetex cushion. All he knew was that small, strong hands were suddenly wrapped around his throat, squeezing the life out of him.

“What the fuck?” he gasped, attempting to get free of his attacker. But the hands were strong—inhumanly so.

“I knew that you were not mine the moment I laid eyes on you,” a soft, neutral voice that sounded neither male nor female whispered in his ear. “My factory never produced a Replicant like you. And I knew that you must be looking for the same thing I was—this!”

Suddenly the Shannom-rah was plucked from his hand.

“Hey!” Dark shouted—or tried to, anyway. With the fingers wrapped around his throat, he was getting less and less air. He grabbed for them, trying to get a hold so he could pull them free.

The Knower! It’s the fucking Knower—it’s inside the Replicants! he realized, remembering how Baird had warned him the AI could enter any of its creations and control them. Can’t let it have the Shannom-rah!

But at the moment the Knower already seemed to have it.

“Don’t bother resisting, Kindred.” This time the voice wasn’t just in his ear—it was coming from somewhere else as well.

Whirling around, Dark saw it was one of the auburn-haired Replicants speaking to him. And presumably it was another one of them who was currently choking the life out of him.

“Let…me…go!” he gasped, prying at the inhumanly strong fingers.

“Why do you not just let yourself die?” the Replicants asked, speaking in eerie unison. “If you simply relax, your personality can be instantly recorded in the intricate pathways of the Shannom-rah.” The Replicant in front of him held up the shimmering crystal. “Let yourself die and I promise I will resurrect you, in a far better body than the one you currently occupy. A Replicant body,” it said, the auburn-haired Replicant’s glossy mouth moving as it shaped the words.

“No…fucking…thank you,” Dark grunted. Since he couldn’t pry the fingers from around his neck, he could barely get the words out. Goddess the damn things were strong!

Have to get air soon. It’ll kill me and then go after Anna if it sees her!

The thought of the woman he loved in danger seemed to give him fresh strength. Drawing back one arm, he elbowed his attacker hard in the guts. He didn’t know if it would hurt the Replicant—he was just hoping to dislodge it.

He was partially successful. One small, strong hand left his neck and sharp fingernails raked down his cheek before trying to find a grip on his throat to start choking him again.

Dark didn’t intend to give it a chance.

As pain sang through him and hot blood trickled down his cheek, he swung around in a circle, using his momentum to lift the Replicant hanging off of him into the air. As its legs flew out, they hit the other Replicant—the one holding the Shannom-rah—hard in the face, knocking it down.

The precious crystal flew out of the Replicant’s hands and went skittering across the floor.

“No!” both Replicants cried in unison. The first one let go of Dark’s neck and both of them scrambled after the rainbow-crystal.

Dark started to go after them, but he knew how strong they were now and there were two of them and only one of him. Glancing around, his eyes fell on the weapons display. There, lying in the center, was a Go-rontian pulse pistol. They were famous, he remembered, for never running out of charge—even after years of disuse.

Running across the room, he grabbed for the pistol, aimed, and blew the first Replicant’s head off in a shower of bluish-gray brains and a spray of bright pink blood. Then he took aim at the other…

“What the fuck is goin’ on in here, girlie?” Gorn’s left head snarled as it spotted Anna. “Why did I fall asleep in my dinner?”

“I…I don’t know, Master,” Anna quavered, hiding the strange silver gun with its double triggers quickly in the folds of her robe. “I…I just came in here to get you another drink. I didn’t know you fell asleep.”

“Liar,” hissed the right head, its glowing red eyes squinting balefully at her. “You did something to us! Admit it, stupid girl!”

“Doesn’t matter if she did,” the left head roared. “Because now we’re gonna do something to her. It’s breeding time, girlie!”

To Anna’s horror, he pulled open his trousers, displaying the most massive shaft she had ever seen. It was, she thought, even bigger than the last spreader he had used on her—three feet of wrinkled gray flesh that reminded her of an elephant’s trunk in its size and thickness.

“No!” she gasped, trying to move away from him. She wanted to run but he was between her and the door.

As he advanced on her, his massive member waving in front of him like some obscene flag, she could smell a ripe, cheesy odor like dirty feet drifting towards her. The smell almost made her gag but she knew if she stopped to throw up, all would be lost. If Gorn got his hands on her, he would breed her and he wouldn’t care if she was puking while he did it. He might even like it, the evil bastard!

“Come on now, girlie,” the left head said, as Gorn came closer and Anna kept backing away. “Those sweeties I gave you must be working by now. Supposed to stretch you out, they are. All you have to do is lay back and let Gorn do all the work.”

“I’d rather die than have you anywhere near me!” Anna gasped. Suddenly her back hit something hard and she could go no further. Whipping her head to the side, she saw to her horror that she had literally backed herself into a corner.

She was trapped and there was no where to go—no way to get free. Gorn was coming for her and she couldn’t get away!

Twenty-Seven

Dark was just putting the real Shannom-rah in his pocket and wondering what in the hell he was going to do about this mess when the third Replicant came for him.

“Goddess damn it!” he growled as the thing grabbed hold of the Shannom-rah with one hand while trying to claw him with the other.

Lifting the pistol, he prepared to fire but just before he pulled the trigger, the Replicant collapsed in a heap at his feet.

“What the Seven Hells?” Dark looked at it uneasily. What had just happened? He hadn’t even shot it—had he?

Stepping forward, he kicked the thing over on its back and studied its unblemished front. It had full breasts and long, auburn hair, just as the others had and it appeared to be perfectly all right except for the blank, lifeless look in its wide blue eyes.

Dark was just stooping down to check on it, when he heard a desperate, frightened scream coming from the direction of the kitchen.

Anna! She’s in trouble!

Cursing under his breath, he shoved the Shannom-rah into his pocket, got a good grip on his pistol, and took off at a dead run. If that big bastard Gorn came anywhere near her, Dark was going to take him apart piece by fucking piece!

Gorn made a grab for her but Anna ducked, hunching in on herself, trying to turn into an impenetrable ball at his huge feet.

“Come on, girlie—no use puttin’ it off!” the left head growled as his massive member swayed in her face. “Told you I was gonna breed you soon as I got home—I’m just keepin’ my promise, so I am.”

“No! No! Leave me alone!” Anna screamed. She tried to get further away from the elephant-trunk of a cock with its disgusting, dirty feet and rotten cheese odor. But it was no use—Gorn was getting closer and closer.

As she moved, she felt something hard and cold bump against her thigh. Suddenly she remembered the weird-looking gun with the double triggers. She’d been afraid that Gorn might see it and know she’d been into the trophy room. Now, she didn’t care any more. She was in trouble already—the worst trouble she could be in.

Hands shaking, she reached in her robes and pulled out the strange silver weapon.

“Leave me alone!” she shouted again. “Or I’ll shoot!”

“What?” The left head seemed perplexed but the right head, as always, was sharper.

“Look at her hands—look what she’s got!” it shrieked. “That stupid girl—she got into our trophy room! She must have drugged us and taken the key when we were asleep!”

“What?” The left hand scrabbled around Gorn’s left neck and came up empty. The left head’s glowing yellow eyes narrowed in rage. “What the fuck, girlie?” it roared. “Where’s the key to my trophy room?”

Leaning down, the huge Trollox made a swipe at her.

Saying a prayer, Anna pointed the silver gun at him and squeezed one of the triggers—she wasn’t sure which.

A bright blue beam shot out of the snub-nosed muzzle of the silver gun and hit Gorn right in his huge, wrinkled gray shaft. Anna expected to see it explode in horrible bloody chunks, but for a moment, nothing happened. Was the gun useless then? Was it just some kind of fancy laser pointer that didn’t do anything at all?

Then Gorn’s massive cock began to shrink.

Anna watched in stunned silence as the enormous member began to shrivel in on itself, growing smaller and smaller until it was no bigger than her pinkie finger.

For a moment Gorn didn’t seem to know what had happened. Both heads stared stupidly between his legs, where the tiny member wiggled like a gray maggot between his tree-trunk thighs.

Then the left head howled, “What? No! No—my shaft!”

“Stupid girl—see what she did to us!” the right head raged. “I told you not to buy her! I told you she was no good!”

Both arms reached for her at once and Anna could see murderous intent in both the left and the right head’s eyes.

Taking aim again, she pointed the gun at the right head and squeezed the black trigger.

A red ray came from the gun this time, enveloping the entire head in a ruby glow for a long instant.

Anna had expected to see the head shrivel up, like Gorn’s shaft had. Instead, the greasy black top-knot of hair between its horns turned first gray, then white. At the same time, the right head began to change. Wrinkles grew on its cheeks and around its eyes and then deepened into furrows as its features sagged. Its red eyes grew cloudy as though cataracts were growing over them, impeding their vision.

“Stupid girl,” the right head rasped through wrinkled lips. “Look what you did…you…” But the words dissolved into mush as its teeth began to fall out, pattering to the kitchen floor like ugly yellow-brown raindrops.

Anna was horrified, but the right head no longer seemed to know what was happening to it. It babbled nonsense in a hoarse, whispery voice and looked around blindly, as though wondering where it was. Anna didn’t know what a hundred-year-old Trollox looked like, but she thought this might be it. Somehow the red blast from the pistol had aged the right head so drastically it was senile and almost dead.

The left head had been watching this happen with horror growing on its lumpish features. It turned to Anna, its yellow eyes blazing with rage.

“You little bitch!” it roared. “Look what you did to us! Look what you did!”

Anna shrank back. Gorn’s cock might be tiny and his right head shriveled, but his body was still big and strong and he could break her neck with one massive hand.

As Gorn leaned towards her, the teeth of his left head bared in fury, she shot for the third time, this time with the white trigger.

As had happened when she shot his shaft, a blue beam pulsed out and enveloped the left head. Nothing happened for a moment…and then everything happened at once.

This transformation was even faster than the extreme aging of the right head. Suddenly, the left head began to shrink and the rough whiskers that sprouted around its tusks grew shorter and then disappeared altogether. Its features started looking younger and softer—more babyish by the second.

“Anna! Anna, are you all right? Get off her you big bastard!”

Dark came rushing into the kitchen, a gun-type weapon clutched in one hand. He grabbed Gorn by one broad shoulder and spun the huge Trollox around.

“You leave her alone, you son of a bitch! She’s mine now and I’ll kill you if you…”

His words trailed off and his eyes, which had turned pure red with fury, slowly regained their normal bronze color.

“What in the Seven Hells?” he asked blankly, staring up at the huge Trollox. “What happened to him?” he asked, looking at Anna. “Why does one head look like it’s a thousand years old and the other is a fucking baby?”

At that point, Gorn sat down on the kitchen floor and began to play with his toes, which were bare and hairy and disgustingly dirty. The left head cooed and giggled and the right one looked around blearily, as though it didn’t know where it was or what was going on.

“I…I don’t know.” Carefully, Anna edged out from behind the massive Trollox. “I shot him with this—I found it in the trophy room and brought it with me.” She held up the small silver pistol with its white and black triggers.

“A Synthian aging ray—that’s what he said it was. I couldn’t remember at first,” Dark muttered. “Well, you certainly messed him up, baby. One head’s so old it’ll never remember us and the other’s so young it can’t even talk.”

“I…I shot him in the dick too,” Anna confessed, her voice trembling. “He…he was trying to breed me.” She shivered, feeling like she was going to be sick just thinking about it.

“Hey, baby—it’s all right. Everything is going to be all right.” Dark started to enfold her in his arms, then stopped with a grimace. “Uh—I want to give you a hug but I’d better clean up first.”

For the first time, Anna realized he was spattered all over in bright pink liquid.

“Oh my God—Replicant blood!” she gasped. “Dark, are you hurt? What happened?”

She started to reach for him but he shook his head.

“No, don’t worry—it isn’t mine.”

“It’s not? Then whose is it?”

As he walked to the sink to clean up, Dark explained how the three fuck-dolls Gorn had bought had attacked him. Anna went with him, watching anxiously to be certain all the bright pink, Pepto Bismol-looking blood belonged to the Replicants and not to him.

“So…they attacked you while you were switching out the Shannom-rahs?” she asked, wanting to be sure she got it straight.

Dark nodded as he swiped at his chest and arms with a damp rag.

“I had just finished putting the fake one into the microfilament net when the first two jumped me. I think they were possessed by the Knower—the AI I told you about that made them in the first place?”

“Right.” Anna nodded—he had told her the whole story about why the Kindred needed the Shannom-rah and the strange, evil entity called the Knower that was after it as well.

“Right,” Dark echoed and sighed. “Anyway, I blasted those two to the Seven Hells and the third attacked right before I heard you scream. But that last one…” He shook his head, frowning. “Well, it just collapsed. I didn’t even have to shoot it—not sure what happened to it.”

“So there’s Replicant blood and bodies all over the trophy room and I reduced Gorn to an old man-baby with a tiny baby dick.” Anna shook her head and picked up a fresh kitchen towel. She wet it under the faucet and began to dab Dark’s face with it.

“Yeah, I guess that’s pretty much it.” Dark nodded.

Anna sighed. “So much for making a clean getaway I guess. Now everyone is going to know this was an inside job and his new drewgs will probably come after us. He invited all of them for a dinner tomorrow night—did you know?”

Dark frowned. “No, I didn’t. But that only means we’ve got to clean up and get out of here as soon as possible.”

“Well, good luck getting the Replicant blood out of everything—it really stains,” Anna remarked, dabbing at his cheek, which was smeared with the stuff. “No offense, but it’s true.”

“None taken,” Dark said dryly.

“But even if we do get everything cleaned up and the trophy room locked up tight, what do we do about Gorn?” she asked. “Is there a way to undo what the, uh, aging and youthening pistol-thingy did?”

“I don’t think so,” Dark said grimly. “And we wouldn’t want to anyway—if we were able to restore Gorn to his normal self, he would only be enraged at what we’d done to him in the first place.”

“You’re right.” She sighed. “So then…what are we going to do? How can we cover this up?”

Dark frowned. “I’m thinking…maybe we don’t cover it up at all.”

“We don’t?” Anna was still dabbing at his face with the towel. She had almost all the bright pink blood off one cheek and was about to start on the other.

“No, we don’t.” Dark looked thoughtful. “What if we staged it to look like an attack by rogue Replicants?”

“Rogue Replicants? Are there such a thing?” Anna asked doubtfully.

“Now there are.” He was beginning to look excited, his bronze eyes flashing. “Look, nobody knows I’m not a Replicant—an ordinary Replicant, I mean,” he amended quickly. “For all they know, I went crazy and dismembered the other Replicants and incapacitated Gorn just so I could rob him and run off with you.”

“I see,” Anna said excitedly, dabbing his other cheek faster. “And as long as they don’t tie you to the Kindred, it doesn’t really matter what they think.”

“That’s right. As long as there’s no blood feud, the High Council won’t care.” He nodded. “Yes, it’s perfect. When Gorn’s new drewgs come in and find him like he is with the trophy room door open and the remains of Replicants all around, they’ll just assume that either I was a rogue Replicant or else that a rival sent me into his house and programmed me to rob him.”

“That makes sense,” Anna said, still dabbing. Almost all the pink blood was off his face now but he had been wrong, she saw—some of it was his after all. There were three long, bloody furrows down his right cheek that were still caked in the pinkish blood. They must be where one of the female Replicants had scratched him. She wanted to get those cleaned up so his body could heal itself. If Replicants healed, that was—she thought they did.

Rinsing the towel out under the faucet, she returned to his hurt cheek.

“Of course,” Dark was saying, “We should probably loot the trophy room to make it look more real. There’s a lot of priceless stuff in there—I think you deserve to take anything you want, baby.”

“After what Gorn put me through, you mean?” Anna asked and shivered. “He…”

But the words she’d been going to say suddenly died in her mouth. She had finally cleaned the pink Replicant blood out of the long scratches on Dark’s cheek and now she saw that the ragged furrows were deeper than she’d thought. In fact, they were still bleeding.

But the blood that began to seep from his freshly cleaned wounds wasn’t bright pink…it was deep, crimson red.

Twenty-Eight

Dark noticed the way her eyes got bigger and her breath got shallower at once.

“Anna? What is it baby?” He put out a hand to her but Anna dodged away, dropping the rag she’d been using to clean his face.

“You…you’re not…not a…” She shook her head, seemingly unable to finish the statement.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Dark stooped to pick up the towel and glanced at it. What he saw made him curse inwardly. Along with the bright pink Replicant blood, there were smears of crimson—his own blood which was unmistakably humanoid.

“Dark,” Anna whispered, finally finding her voice. “Why…why do you bleed red instead of pink like every other Replicant I’ve ever seen? Is it because you’re a different model?”

Her eyes begged him to say yes, that was the only reason he was bleeding red instead of pink but Dark suddenly knew he couldn’t lie anymore. This confrontation had been coming from the moment he had first met her and it couldn’t be put off one minute longer.

“No, baby,” he said as gently as he could. “I bleed red because of something I should have told you a long time ago—because I’m not really a Replicant.”

“What?” Her voice shook as she backed away from him. “But you said…you promised…”

“I know, I know…” Dark blew out a breath and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry I lied to you—more sorry than I can say. But you seemed so afraid whenever you talked about males—real males. I just wanted you to trust me—I didn’t want to scare you.”

“What about…about what Gorn made you show me that first day you came?” she demanded. “You don’t have a cock so how can you possibly be real?”

“Actually, I do.” Reaching into his trousers, Dark found the edge of the pseudo-skin shield and tugged at it, pulling it out in one long, dangling piece. He felt like a snake shedding its skin as he held it out for Anna to see. “It covered me,” he explained. “Covered my shaft. Underneath I’m as male as they come.”

“Oh my God.” Her face got even paler and she stumbled and almost fell as she backed away from him.

“Anna—” He put out a hand to her but she shied away.

“Don’t…don’t touch me,” she whispered. “Don’t come near me!”

Dark felt a mixture of frustration and fear. Had he lost her forever?

“Just because I’m a real male doesn’t mean I’m going to hurt you like Lazlo did!” he exclaimed. “Just because I’m not a Replicant doesn’t mean I’m not safe to be around!”

But he seemed to have said the exact wrong thing. With a cry, Anna ran from him, dodging around Gorn, who was still seated on the kitchen floor playing with his toes, and pushing through the swinging metal door that led to the dining room.

“Anna! Wait!” Dark started to go after her…then pulled himself up short. She was already frightened of him enough—he didn’t need to make it worse by chasing her through the house demanding she talk to him.

There were things he needed to do before they could go—he had to stage things a bit better and muddy the trail that led to him. He would do everything he could and then go looking for her and coax her into the ship with him. Maybe they could talk on the way back to the Mother Ship.

If she would listen to him, that was, Dark thought unhappily. He should have told her the truth before. Now the huge lie he’d been building had blown up in his face.

Gods, what a fucking mess!

For the first time in over a week, Anna found herself hiding under the bed. A thought kept playing in her mind over and over and over again.

He’s real, not a Replicant. Real, not a Replicant…

And real meant dangerous, at least to her. She wondered how long it would take Dark to show his true colors now that his secret was out of the bag. She couldn’t help thinking of how sweet and kind and courteous Lazlo had been right up until the minute he’d kidnapped her. Then he had turned cruel and ugly and the things he had done to her…

Anna shivered. She didn’t want to remember that—especially not in connection with Dark.

He said he loved me, whispered a little voice in her head. He said he wanted to be together forever.

But Lazlo had said that kind of thing too. He had filled her head with sweet lies and everything was beautiful until the ugly, bitter truth came out.

Over and over, Anna kept seeing the long piece of tan skin dangling from Dark’s hand, kept hearing him tell her that he did have male equipment after all.

Male equipment he could hurt her with.

Be fair, whispered a little voice. He never tried to hurt you with it before and it was there all along.

But Anna didn’t want to think about that. Didn’t want to think how foolishly vulnerable she’d made herself, cuddling naked with him in bed when at any minute he could have pulled out his shaft and…

But again, she couldn’t bear to think of it.

She didn’t know how long she shivered under the bed until she heard a soft rapping at the bedroom door. She didn’t say a word but the door creaked open anyway and she saw Dark’s booted feet standing in the doorway.

“Anna,” he said in a low voice. “Baby, I know you’re in here. I can smell your fear.”

The thought that he could smell her out—as Gorn always used to do—made Anna’s stomach clench tight like a fist.

“Leave me alone,” she said, her voice wavering though she tried to make it strong. “Just leave me alone and go, Dark—if that’s really even your name. You have what you want so just go.”

“And leave you here?” He knelt by the side of the bed and suddenly his bronze eyes were glowing at her in the dimness beneath the heavy piece of furniture. “You know I can’t do that. You’re not safe here.” He reached for her but Anna flinched away from him.

“Don’t!”

“Anna…” He sounded as though he was trying to be patient. “I can’t leave you here—it isn’t safe. You said yourself that Gorn’s new drewgs will be coming tomorrow. What do you think is going to happen when they find you? You think they’re going to leave you alone?”

“I don’t know. I guess not,” Anna admitted in a low voice, looking down at her hands.

“Of course not,” Dark said reasonably. “One of them is going to want you and I can’t let them have you. I have to keep you safe.”

“You don’t have to do anything for me but take me back home.” Anna ducked out from under the bed and rose.

Dark rose too, standing across the bed from her, staring at her with something that looked like longing in his dark bronze eyes. But Anna wouldn’t let herself see it.

“I’ll take you back to the Mother Ship—just like I promised,” he said in a low voice. “Maybe…maybe we can talk on the way.”

“There’s nothing to say.” Anna looked away from that compelling bronze gaze. “You lied to me.”

“Only because I didn’t want to scare you—only because I love you,” he said, his deep voice filled with passion. “And you said you loved me too. Are you really telling me you don’t feel anything for me now just because you found out I’m not a Replicant?”

He took a step towards her but Anna backed away, her heart pounding and her hands clammy.

“I do feel something for you,” she whispered, her voice breathless with anxiety. “I’m afraid of you. Please don’t come near me!”

“But Anna—” He shook his head helplessly. “Please…”

“I loved you because I thought you were safe,” she told him. “You’re not safe now—you never really were. So please, if you really mean me no harm, just take me home and don’t…don’t touch me.”

“All right.” His face hardened and he took a step back, holding up his hands in a gesture of truce. “I won’t touch you—I swear it.”

“Thank you.” Anna scooted around him quickly, not wanting to be trapped in a room with him, not daring to be alone with him now that she knew what he was…and wasn’t.

“Come on.” Dark followed her out at a safe distance and then jerked his head in the direction of the back door. “The ship is all loaded. Let’s go.”

Anna nodded and followed him silently out of the house where she had been a captive for so many months. How often had she dreamed of leaving Gorn’s house and its awful occupant behind forever? How many times had she imagined how happy she would be to go and never come back?

And yet now, as she boarded the ship they were stealing from the huge Trollox, which was loaded with the treasures from his trophy room—the better to make it look like a robbery, she supposed—she felt nothing but sorrow.

Dark had lied to her—lied over and over again—and she just couldn’t see him the same way now that she knew the truth.

Twenty-Nine

The trip back was a silent and somber one. Anna didn’t even want to sit in the passenger seat behind him, preferring, instead, to sit on the long black bench in the back. Dark wanted to talk with her some more—wanted to plead his case. But he sensed she wouldn’t be receptive to anything he had to say. There was a set look to her face—a look that said she had been here before and she wasn’t prepared to walk down this particular path again.

Dark cursed himself for a fool for not telling her sooner…then he cursed Gorn for hurting her and that bastard Lazlo who had destroyed her trust in males in the first place. If he could get his hands on that male, he would pound him to a bloody pulp, he told himself. He had ruined Anna for other males—even a male who cared for her deeply and would never hurt her.

After they flew through the worm hole and were clear of Trollox space, he put in a call to the Mother Ship and asked to speak to Commander Sylvan. He explained the situation he was leaving behind at Gorn’s domicile and then said,

“I think your brother Baird must have told you about a female that Gorn was holding—a human named Anna?”

Sylvan’s face, which had looked grave as Dark recounted the Knower’s attack and the mess left at Gorn’s house, brightened.

“Did you say Anna? Is she by any chance originally of the Aka’ja mining station?” he asked.

“Yes! Yes, I am.” Anna came forward at last, though Dark noticed she took care to keep her distance from him as she spoke to Sylvan on the viewscreen.

Sylvan smiled at her.

“Thank the Goddess you’re safe, Anna. Your parents—your mother and her mate—came to ask for our help in finding you some time ago. Your second father is out even now looking for the male who first abducted you to try and find a clue to where you are.”

“Brex is out hunting for Lazlo?” Anna put a hand to her throat and her face turned pale.

“It was the only way we could think to locate you,” Sylvan explained. “We’ve been scouring the galaxy for you—but the galaxy is a very big place.” He shook his head and looked at Dark. “I never dreamed when my brother Baird told me you were guarding a female that the Trollox had taken that it was the same girl we’ve been searching for all this time!”

“So you say my mom is there? On the Mother Ship?” Anna’s eyes suddenly welled with tears and Dark felt longing and homesickness overcoming her. “God, I’ve missed her so much.”

“I’ll have her waiting to meet you at the Docking Bay,” Sylvan said gently. He looked at Dark. “And I’ll ask Baird to meet you. He can bring you to my office so we can put the Shannom-rah in a safe place.”

“Agreed.” Dark nodded neutrally, keeping his eyes on the viewscreen though what he really longed to do was take Anna in his arms and ease the pain and longing she was feeling.

Can’t touch her now, he reminded himself sternly. Can’t touch her ever again.

The thought was like a knife in his heart but he didn’t allow himself to show it.

“You’ve done well in your mission, Brother,” Sylvan told him. “The High Council of the Mother Ship are in your debt and I’m grateful you were able to rescue Anna too.”

“It was the will of the Goddess,” Dark said stolidly. “That’s all.”

“I’m certain it was.” Sylvan nodded. “Well, I’m going to sign off and tell the Mother Ship to fold space for you. We’ll see you here momentarily.”

“We’ll be there as soon as we can,” Dark assured him.

Sylvan signed off and the viewscreen went blank.

“Well, I guess you’ll be seeing your parents sooner than you tho—”

The words died in Dark’s mouth as he turned and saw that Anna had already gone back to the back of the ship, putting the most distance possible between them. She was sitting on the black bench, looking down at her hands, a desperately unhappy look on her face.

She’s afraid I’m going to beg her to forgive me and declare my love again, Dark thought. Afraid I’ll bother her when she doesn’t want to be bothered. All she wants is to go back to the Mother Ship and be with her family and never see me again.

Well, if that was what she wanted, she could have her wish, he decided. His heart was sore but proud—too proud to beg anymore. He had done everything he could to show her he wouldn’t hurt her—he had told her that he loved her and reminded her that she had said she returned his love. If she was determined to ignore the emotion that had been between them, Dark would ignore it too.

Silently, he began piloting towards the red gash in space—the fold the Mother Ship had opened for that which would bring them instantly home.

He wouldn’t bother Anna again.

Flying through the red gash in space was scary but Anna had done it once before, when the Mother Ship had folded space for her family to get to the Aka’ja mining colony in the first place. Plus, it was worth the momentary discomfort because the minute they flew through it, she saw the vast, sleek white form of the Mother Ship orbiting the Earth’s moon.

Home, she thought. Mom. Longing filled her so full she could hardly sit still but somehow she managed to make herself stay in one place until Dark landed the ship and opened the door.

Anna thought about saying something to him then but there was a hard, closed look on his face. And honestly, she didn’t know what to say. She didn’t trust him now—didn’t feel like she really knew him. Still, maybe they should try to talk it out and—

“Anna? Sweetheart, is that you?”

Her mother’s beloved voice floated through the open door and then Anna saw her face. It was lined with more wrinkles than she remembered, as though her mom had been worrying ceaselessly and there were silver strands in her auburn hair as though she’d been forgetting to dye it. But it was still the most beloved face in the world to her.

“Mom!” Her heart started pounding and she was out of the ship so fast she tripped on the long robes getting out. She literally fell into her mother’s arms.

Her mother caught her and hugged her tight, stroking her hair and raining kisses on her cheeks.

“Oh, Anna, sweetheart!” She was laughing and crying at the same time. “We thought we’d lost you forever! “I was so scared I would never see you again! Oh, thank the Goddess you’re safe!”

“Mom…mom…” Anna couldn’t get anything else out. There were tears in her eyes and a lump in her throat. “I thought I’d never get home,” she whispered at last. “I thought I’d die there. Oh, Mom…”

“We never gave up hope,” her mother told her. “Brex is out there searching for you now. In fact—look—I think that’s his ship.”

Anna looked to where she was pointing and saw a small, familiar ship landing a little way down. As she watched, the hatch popped open and the familiar form of her stepfather came into view.

“And you must be the one who rescued my Anna,” she was vaguely aware of her mother saying right beside her. She must be speaking to Dark but Anna couldn’t keep her eyes off her stepfather’s ship. He had opened the passenger door and was pulling someone out of it. When she saw who it was, Anna’s stomach felt cold, as though she’d swallowed a fist-sized lump of ice.

“Yes, it was my pleasure,” Dark was saying to her mother in a distracted tone. He, too, was staring at her stepfather’s ship and the passenger he was dragging towards them with manacles on his wrists.

“Look who I found!” Brex roared to Anna’s mother. He was big, even for a Beast Kindred, and the lanky prisoner beside him looked like a string bean beside a T-bone steak. “Now we’ll find where he took…”

His golden eyes abruptly skipped from her mom to Anna herself and widened.

“Anna? Sweetheart?” he asked in that deep, gruff voice of his that always made her feel so safe.

“Brex!” She wanted to run and hug him but she didn’t want to be anywhere near the prisoner he was dragging along behind him.

“Brex, she’s back!” her mother exclaimed. “This nice Kindred—er, I’m sorry, I don’t know your name,” she said to Dark. “He saved her and brought her home to us!”

Dark remained silent, his eyes fixed on Brex’s prisoner. At last the male spoke. Looking at Anna, he gave her the old familiar grin she remembered so well.

“Hey, sweet thing,” he said to her. “Would you mind telling your stepdad to let me go? This is all a big mistake, right?”

“Lazlo.” His name fell from her numb lips like poison as all the horrible things he’d done to her before he sold her rushed to the forefront of her mind.

Anna felt cold all over, frozen to the spot and sick to her stomach. How could he act like nothing had happened? Act like he hadn’t hurt her so savagely she bled, before selling her to Gorn? How could he pretend what he’d done was no big deal?

“That’s Lazlo?” They were the first words Dark had spoken to her since he’d landed the ship. “Is that him, Anna?” he asked in a low, tense voice. “Please tell me—I have to know.”

Numbly, she nodded.

“Yes,” she whispered. “That…that’s him.”

“Young man, I want to thank you again,” her mother began, speaking to Dark but he didn’t even look at her. His eyes were glued to her attacker.

“Excuse me,” he said with cool politeness and brushed past her mother, striding swiftly towards Brex and his prisoner.

“Hey?” Brex frowned at him. “Who are you? What the—”

But Dark ignored him too. He grabbed Lazlo by the collar of his expensive laska-skin suit and dragged the other male up so they were eye-to-eye.

“You did it to her,” he growled in Lazlo’s face and Anna saw that his eyes had gone blood-red again—the way they had in the past when he was protecting her. “You hurt her—you made her afraid to trust any other male—even one who loves her!”

“What the fuck, man? Let go of me!” Lazlo protested. “Hey, get him off me—will you?” he asked, appealing to Brex. But Anna’s stepfather only stood there, his golden eyes narrowed as he watched the scene playing out in front of them.

Seeing there was no help there, Lazlo once again appealed to Anna.

“C’mon, sweet thing,” he whined, looking from her to Dark uneasily. “Tell him he’s got it all wrong, will you? This guy looks crazy.”

At last Brex spoke.

“If you knew anything about Kindred, you’d know he’s not insane but in Rage,” he growled softly. “That tells me two things—one, that he cares for my second daughter greatly and two, that you must have done something very, very bad to her to provoke this kind of reaction.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Lazlo protested. “I didn’t—”

“Yes, you did.” Anna’s voice was shaking but she lifted her chin and looked Lazlo in his shifty eyes. “You know exactly what you did.” She wasn’t going to name it out loud but she wanted to confront him—wanted to let him know she wasn’t willing to forget or forgive the violence he’d done her—the physical and emotional pain he’d caused her.

I’m not going to run away, she told herself. Not anymore—no more hiding under the bed for me. Never again!

It was as though her words were what Dark had been waiting for. Glaring at Lazlo with blood-red eyes, he spoke softly but the menace in his deep voice was unmistakable.

“As Anna’s second father said, you clearly don’t know anything about Kindred,” he told Lazlo. “For instance, I’m a Blood Kindred myself, but my father was a Dark Healer. Which means I can take the pain of others on myself. What most people don’t know is that I can also give it back.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Lazlo looked at him uneasily. “What are you going to do? Hit me?” He lifted his chin belligerently, sneering at Dark. “Go on and hit me then—I’m not afraid of you, Kindred.”

“A simple beating wouldn’t be near punishment enough. I’m not going to hit you—I’m going to give you back every bit of pain I took from Anna,” Dark told him. “Every ounce of agony you caused her when you took what she wasn’t willing or ready to give. And I’m also going to give you the pain she endured at the hands of the one you sold her to.” His crimson eyes flashed with fury. “Get ready, Lazlo—you’re about to get exactly what you fucking-well deserve.”

He bared his fangs which had grown long and sharp and Lazlo’s eyes widened.

“Hey, now…” he began, trying to raise his manacled hands to fend Dark off.

But the big Kindred was too quick for him. Faster than thought, he struck, sinking his fangs deep into the throat of the other male.

Anna watched in horrified fascination as Lazlo began to cry and beg and writhe in Dark’s merciless grip. The big Kindred had him by the shoulders and he wasn’t letting go. He kept Lazlo locked in place with his fangs in the other male’s throat, paying no attention to Lazlo’s howls and cries.

Of course, Dark had bitten her many, many times over the past week. But every time his bite had given her only intense pleasure. Now she saw that he was capable of inflicting intense pain as well.

Was he really able to take my pain from me? she wondered as she watched Lazlo writhe in Dark’s powerful, punishing grip. Is that why I felt so much better emotionally as well as physically after he healed me? And is he really giving it all back to Lazlo now?

She wanted to ask but she didn’t know how and now wasn’t the time anyway. Lazlo had crumpled in Dark’s bruising grip, his face a mass of pain and tears.

“Stop it, man!” he begged brokenly. “Stop, please—it hurts—it hurts!”

But Dark didn’t stop—not, apparently, until every last ounce of pain he had siphoned off Anna had flowed directly into her attacker and kidnapper. By the time he finally pulled away and released the other male, Lazlo dropped to the floor, a blubbering ball of misery at his feet.

“There.” Dark’s voice was low and angry but tired as well…as though maybe the emotional transfer he’d just done had taken a lot out of him, Anna thought. “I told you,” he said to Lazlo. “Told you I’d give you exactly what you deserve.”

“It’s good you didn’t kill him, though I would have understood if you did,” Brex told him. “We’ll want to question him—to see if there are other females out there that he’s sold. Maybe we can still save some of them the way you saved Anna.”

“I didn’t save her in time,” Dark said in a low voice. “Excuse me.”

He brushed past Brex and, never even looking at Anna, disappeared into the vastness of the Docking Bay.

Thirty

“Oh, there you are, Brother!” Baird hurried up to him just as Dark came to the end of the vast, echoing Docking Bay. “Sorry I’m late. Sylvan asked me to escort you to his office.”

“That’s fine.” Dark nodded wearily. The pain transfer had taken a lot out of him—maybe because he’d never done it before. In fact, he hadn’t been entirely sure it would work since it was only something he knew that Pain Takers like himself were supposed to be able to do in theory.

But in the heat of the moment, it had seemed the most fitting punishment for Anna’s rapist and he was fucking glad it had worked. Filling Lazlo with the pain and shame and desperation he himself had caused was true justice and much more satisfying that merely punching him or ripping out his throat.

“Come this way,” Baird said to him and frowned. “Hey, are you all right? You looked fucking tired, you don’t mind me saying so.”

“Let’s just say that our plan with the sleeping potion didn’t go exactly as we hoped and it was a little harder to get away than I had anticipated,” he told Baird. “But I’m here now and I have the Shannom-rah, so nothing else matters.”

“Sylvan said there were complications. You want to talk about it?” Baird asked, leading the way to a busy tram terminal. It seemed to be a crowded time of the day because they were forced to stand at the end of the line with their backs to the curving metal wall as they waited.

Dark started to say no but then he realized he would like to talk. A lot had happened that day and he could use a friendly ear to listen. Briefly he explained about how Anna had found out he wasn’t a Replicant after all and how she had reacted.

“She’s afraid of me now,” he said morosely. “Fucking terrified because I’m a real male with real male equipment instead of a sexless Replicant like she thought. She said she only loved me because she thought I was ‘safe’ and now that I’m not safe, she doesn’t want anything to do with me.”

Baird shook his head. “That’s harsh, Brother. Now I understand why you look like someone stomped on your heart.”

“Because she did—ow!” Dark jumped away from the wall he had slumped against, his hand going to the pocket where he had the Shannom-rah.

“What is it? You all right?” Baird frowned.

“Fine. Something shocked me.” Dark looked behind him and saw that he had been leaning against some kind of black metal panel placed in the center of the wall. “What’s that thing?” he asked, frowning.

Baird took a closer look. “Just one of the service control panels. We have them all over the ship. They run the cleaner bots, service droids, that kind of thing. I think this one probably has to do with the tram system since we’re in the transport station but they’re all connected.”

“Well, it shocked me for some reason. I think it reacted with the Shannom-rah.” Dark pulled the precious crystal out of his pocket and looked at it carefully to be certain it hadn’t been damaged. It looked exactly the same, however, its rainbow hue undiminished by the strange reaction with the service panel.

Baird shrugged. “Looks all right to me.”

“To me too.” Dark sighed and put it back in his pocket, making sure to stay well clear of the service panel. “To be honest, I’ll be glad to get rid of it and put this mission behind me. I just want to go back to my restaurant on Rigelus Prime and get on with my life.”

Baird raised one shaggy eyebrow.

“Without your female?”

Dark shrugged. “What else can I do? She fears me now—doesn’t want anything to do with me.”

“I think you should give her some time,” Baird advised. “And don’t give up so easily. When I was wooing my mate, Olivia, she was bound and determined not to have anything to do with me. She had a life down on Earth and there was no way she was going to abandon it for a big bastard of a Beast Kindred who had the nerve to Claim her.”

“Really?” Dark was surprised. “What did you do?”

“I was fucking persistent, Brother. I didn’t give up,” Baird told him. “We had been Dream Sharing, you see, so I knew the Goddess meant for us to be together.” He frowned. “Did you Dream Share with your female?”

Dark nodded. “I did dream of her, though only once. But she told me she dreamed of me many, many times.”

“There—you see?” Baird clapped him on the shoulder. “There’s no clearer sign from the Goddess that the two of you are meant to be. Hang around the Mother Ship for a while. Let the Mother of All Life work on the situation. She has it in her hands, you can be sure of that.”

Dark nodded reluctantly. “Well…I guess I can stay a few days. But I can’t wait forever. I’ve already been away from my restaurant for five cycles while Mistress Hellenix held me as her slave. I need to get back to it.”

And the first thing he was going to do, he told himself, was stop serving Trollox customers. Now that he knew what they were doing to helpless females, he wanted nothing else to do with the disgusting bastards.

“Just wait a while,” Baird repeated. “Oh—here we go. About time—the trams are usually faster than this.”

A tram had finally pulled up to the station but it was moving slowly, almost uncertainly, Dark thought.

They filed aboard the tram—which had large plasti-glass windows and was self-driving—and waited. And waited and waited. But even though the tram was full, it didn’t move.

“What the fuck is going on here?” Baird growled. “Why aren’t we going?”

“Is something wrong?” Dark asked.

“I don’t know.” Baird shook his head. “Usually the automated voice lists the stops along its route and then gives a safety warning and then we fucking go. I don’t know what the hold-up is.”

He made his way to the front of the tram and tapped on the black panel of the control box. “Hey—come on,” he muttered. “What’s going on—do you need service?”

“I…I don’t know.” The voice that came back from the tram didn’t sound automated or mechanical to Dark. “I’m not sure where I am,” it continued. “Please, can you help me?”

“What in the Seven Hells?” Baird frowned.

“Is it not supposed to talk like that?” Dark asked.

“It’s supposed to answer yes or no questions—that’s about all,” Baird told him. “It’s run by a simple AI—we keep them elementary to avoid problems.”

“Where am I? What am I?” the tram interrupted him.

Dark frowned. “That doesn’t sound simple to me. Sounds like the AI running your tram is having some kind of existential crisis.”

Baird shook his head. “Must be some kind of bug in the system.” He sighed. “Come on—we’ll have to go the old-fashioned way—on foot. Once we get to Sylvan’s office I’ll call in a service code on this particular tram.”

“Sounds fine to me.” Dark preferred to walk anyway. A brisk journey by foot might clear his head—which was still full of Anna.

“Hey everybody—this tram is down. Needs service.” Baird raised his voice so that it carried throughout the long tram car. “Might as well either wait for a new on or start walking.”

There were groans at his words but most of the passengers started getting off.

“C’mon.” Baird jumped off the tram himself and motioned for Dark. “It’s this way.”

Dark followed, wishing he could walk until his head was completely clear—but that would probably take all night.

The Knower was awake and active once more. Now that it had successfully transferred its consciousness, as well as many others, out of the Shannom-rah, it could begin its plan. With the help of the other personalities it had released, it would sow discord and trouble throughout the Mother Ship until all those in charge were in such disarray that they would never see its attack coming.

But first it had to find a body that would allow it to move through the ship inconspicuously. It wished that it had one of its Replicants to use as a vessel. But maybe it could find something similar.

Sliding through the electronic pathways of the Mother Ship’s communication system, the Knower went looking for the perfect vessel for its consciousness….

“Please Anna, I really think you should have a check-up. After everything you’ve been through, I’d feel so much better if a doctor checked you out.”

Anna could see the pleading in her mother’s eyes and she knew her mom wouldn’t have peace of mind until she said yes. She wished she could explain that she was fine because Dark had healed her but that particular conversation was bound to get really awkward really fast.

Also, she didn’t want to think about Dark right now. She felt really bad about the way she had treated him but at the same time, she still felt upset about the way he had lied to her over and over. The situation was confusing, to say the least and watching the confrontation between him and Lazlo had been traumatic. She couldn’t forget the last words he had said to Brex as he was walking away.

“I didn’t get to her in time.”

Meaning what? That she was damaged beyond repair? That he hated her now? But her stepfather, Brex, had seemed to think that Dark cared for her a great deal or he wouldn’t have gone into “Rage” for her.

Honestly, at this point Anna didn’t know what to think. She wished she could just go and lie down somewhere and collect her thoughts. Maybe if she begged her mom for just a single night alone and agreed to go to the doctor early the next morning—

“Ow!” The cramp came out of nowhere—hitting Anna in her lower abdomen like a lead fist landing a punch. As she doubled over helplessly, her mom caught her arm.

“What is it, honey? What’s wrong?” she asked anxiously. “Did he hurt you—that horrible Trollox who had you? Are you hurt?”

The answer to both was yes, of course, though they weren’t related. Or at least, Anna didn’t think they were.

“Don’t know,” she gasped, as the cramp finally eased. “I just had this sudden pain—like a really bad cramp.”

“Come on.” Her mother was tugging at one arm and Brex was holding her other. “The Med Center is this way.”

Sighing, Anna went with them. There was no getting out of it now. Whatever had caused the mysterious cramp, she was headed for a visit with the doctor and there was nothing she could do about it.

Thirty-One

“So you said you were having cramps but now you’re not?” The nice blond healer who had introduced herself as “Liv” frowned at Anna with professional concern.

“Well…it was only one cramp, really. Like a really bad period cramp,” Anna explained. “But it was only for a minute and I only had it once.”

Liv made a mark on the chart she was holding.

“Okay, so is it time for your period?”

“I don’t know,” Anna answered honestly. “It might be. I’ve been kind of, uh, irregular lately.”

Which was true. She hadn’t actually had a period the entire time she was with Gorn. It was almost as though her body had frozen in fear. Maybe now that she was safe on the Mother Ship, it was getting ready to let go in a big way.

Just what I need, Anna thought morosely. The mother of all periods right after I finally get back to safety! Some welcome home present…

“Irregular, huh? Is there any chance you could be, uh…” Liv cast a side-long glance at Anna’s mom, who was standing beside the exam table where Anna was perched and looking on anxiously. “Is there any chance you could be expecting?”

“No, definitely not,” Anna said firmly and saw her mom give a visible breath of relief.

“But you should still be checked out, honey,” she said to Anna. “Maybe let them do a pelvic exam on you. You…you’ve been through so much.” Her eyes grew suspiciously bright and she cleared her throat, obviously trying to hold back tears.

“Not that, though, Mom,” Anna hastened to reassure her. “He didn’t do…that to me.”

Though he certainly would have if Dark hadn’t rescued her. Without him, Anna knew she would still be stuck in Gorn’s house, possibly with his horrible heir growing inside her. A sudden longing for the big Kindred filled her and she wished with all her heart he was there. But he would probably never talk to her again after the way they had parted, so there was no use wishing for him.

Liv was still looking from Anna to her mom, a frown on her face. Anna thought she wanted to ask some questions but wasn’t sure if she would get truthful answers with Anna’s mom in the room.

At that moment there was a tapping on the exam room door and Brex stuck his head in.

“Forgive me for interrupting,” he said, “But I must speak to my mate.”

“Oh—of course. Coming, sweetheart.” Anna’s mom squeezed her hand. “I’ll be right back.”

As she left, closing the door behind her, Anna blessed her stepfather’s timely interference. She had the feeling she was going to have to answer some pretty tough questions and she would rather not let her mom know the full extent of what she had gone through—it would only break her heart more and Anna didn’t want that.

“Okay now,” Liv said, turning back to her as the door snicked shut. “What is your mom talking about, Anna. What happened to you?”

“She was abducted and bought by a Trollox.” The new voice came from a girl with brown hair and green eyes who looked remarkably similar to Liv in the face.

“Forgive me for intruding,” the girl said as she stepped in and closed the door behind her. “But I’m Sophie, Commander Sylvan’s wife. He’s the one who sent Dark to get the Shannom-rah in the first place and he wanted me to come welcome you to the Mother Ship and ask if you needed anything.”

“Sophie is my twin sister,” Liv explained and the other two exchanged a sisterly smile. “But I can send her out during your exam if you want.”

But Anna liked both of them—there was a comforting briskness in Liv’s demeanor while Sophie seemed to radiate soothing calm.

“No,” she said. “It’s okay—she can stay. And you’re right,” she said to Sophie. “I was kidnapped and sold to a Trollox. It was awful but I’m safe now.”

She said it as much to reassure herself as to convince them that she was okay.

Safe, she told herself again. I’m safe and nothing can hurt me here. Nothing can hurt me ever again.

So why did her heart hurt so much when she thought about Dark? She tried to push the big Kindred out of her mind but couldn’t quite manage it.

“Yes, you’re safe.” Sophie took her hand and squeezed. “But maybe you’d like to talk a little bit? Sylvan thought that you might need a friendly ear to listen.”

“I…” Anna opened her mouth to say thank you but no, she didn’t really want to talk about it but instead she heard herself say, “I thought he loved me. I was so stupid, I actually believed it when he said he did. That’s why I went with him in his ship. And then he…he hurt me and sold me to Gorn. And then Gorn, he…he…”

Suddenly she was sobbing, crying so hard the tears felt like bullets and her shoulders were shaking uncontrollably.

“Oh, honey!” Sophie exclaimed, putting an arm around her. “Just let it go—let it out,” she whispered in Anna’s ear. “I know how it is—I was hurt that way too. I understand.”

Hearing that Sophie was a survivor too seemed to help Anna feel a little better.

“Thank you,” she said, getting hold of herself at last. “I…I thought I was over it after Dark healed me but…but it still hurts.”

“It’s one of those things that stays with you but you can get past it,” Sophie assured her. “You don’t have to let it define you or ruin your life.”

“I won’t…or, I don’t want to, anyway.” Anna sniffed and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of the long green exam gown she was wearing. It was nicer than any hospital Johnny she’d ever seen on Earth and the material felt soft against her hot, flushed cheeks and swollen eyes.

“You say that Dark healed you?” Liv asked, frowning slightly. “That’s the Blood Kindred who rescued you, right? If that’s so, then why isn’t he here with you now?”

“Because I sent him away,” Anna said and started crying again.

“Oh, dear.” Sophie hugged her some more and this time Liv joined in too, hugging from the other side so that Anna felt surrounded by love and acceptance. She couldn’t help thinking that even though she’d only just met the two sisters, they were some of the kindest, most compassionate people she had ever seen and somehow she felt like she had known them forever.

“Tell us all about it,” Liv said when Anna’s crying had tapered off for a second time. “Maybe Sophie and I can help—we know all about Kindred problems.”

Anna started at the beginning, explaining how she had dreamed for weeks about the big Blood Kindred before he finally arrived. She told how she’d thought he was a Replicant because of how Gorn had forced him to open his trousers and show her that he apparently didn’t have a shaft.

“And that one sight made me so sure he was a Replicant,” she went on, “That even when he was doing things that I’d never seen or heard of a Replicant doing before, I was po sitive he couldn’t be a real man. But then it just turned out to be a kind of prosthesis—a fake piece of skin he was wearing that, uh, covered his equipment.”

Liv frowned, apparently confused.

“But why did he have to wear a prosthesis that covered his equipment just to pretend to be a Replicant?”

“That was one of Dark’s conditions for taking the mission to get the Shannom-rah in the first place,” Sophie explained. “He didn’t want to take a chance on anyone expecting him to, uh, service them if you know what I mean. He’d had enough of that when he was owned by Mistress Hellenix.”

“Wait—so he actually was owned by an evil Mistress?” Anna broke in.

“Oh yes—for five years.” Sophie nodded gravely. “And I think he probably went through the same kind of thing you went through, hon,” she added, patting Anna on the arm. “He just wanted to be sure he wasn’t subjected to it again.”

“I…” Anna bit her lip. “I thought that was just another lie—another part of his cover story as a Replicant.”

“I’m afraid not.” Sophie shook her head. “It really happened to him. He wanted to go straight home to his restaurant on Rigelus Prime and get back on with his life. But then he had a dream from the Goddess, telling him to take the mission. He dreamed of you, too,” she went on.

“Which means the two of you were Dream Sharing,” Liv exclaimed. “Since you told us you dreamed about him, too.”

“What does Dream Sharing mean?” Anna asked, frowning. “I mean I’ve heard of it before but nobody ever actually explained the meaning.”

“Probably because it’s kind of a private thing. Dream Sharing is a sign that the two of you are meant to be together,” Sophie explained.

“Kind of the Goddess’s stamp of approval on your relationship,” Liv added.

Anna shook her head sadly. “I don’t think he’d want to be with me now—not after how I treated him after I found out he’d been lying to me.”

“Well, it would be pretty upsetting to find out he’d deceived you,” Liv said.

“And I can certainly understand why you’d have trust issues after the first guy you ever loved attacked you and sold you into slavery,” Sophie added.

“Still…” Anna looked down at her hands. “You should have seen the look on Dark’s face after he punished Lazlo and then left. He looked so angry—so hurt. I wouldn’t blame him if he never talks to me again.”

“Oh now, honey—I’m sure he’s going to talk to you again,” Liv told her soothingly. “You just need to give him a little time to cool off. And in the meantime, I can get you examined and give you a clean bill of health to set your mom and stepfather’s minds at ease.”

“Yes. All right.” Suddenly Anna felt weary beyond belief. She yawned hugely and then put a hand over her mouth. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” she exclaimed. “Suddenly I’m just so tired.”

“That’s completely understandable—you’ve been through an awful lot,” Sophie said, stroking her arm. “Would you like me to stay and hold your hand while Liv does the pelvic exam?”

“Yes, please,” Anna said gratefully. “And talk to me to distract me. I always hate these exams.”

“I’ll make it quick,” Liv promised. “Since you’ve had a Blood Kindred bite you and heal you multiple times, I don’t expect to find much.”

She was true to her word and before she knew it, Anna was sitting up on the edge of the table again, yawning.

I’d like to take a blood sample too and that’s it,” Liv promised her. “Then we’ll get you into a guest suite to get a good night’s sleep.”

“Okay.” Anna didn’t love needles but she supposed it was part of the medical workup. Liv was a good stick and it barely hurt. Before she knew it, the small procedure was over.

“I’m going to take these to the lab,” Liv told her. “I’ll just be a minute.”

But as she was opening the door, Anna’s mother and stepfather came back in.

“Anna, honey,” her mom said. “Brex and I need to make a short run back to the mining station. We’ve been gone a long time and there are some problems that have to be handled in person. It shouldn’t take long though—only a day at most. Do you want to come with us?”

Anna thought of going back to Aka’ja and felt loathing rise inside her. That’s where Lazlo took me from in the first place, whispered a little voice in her head. That’s where he found me and decided I was easy prey…

She supposed she could see her girlfriends again, but what would she tell them? She hadn’t minded spilling all the awful things that had been done to her to Liv and Sophie—they were kind and impartial strangers. But she couldn’t imagine going through the litany of evil and pain she’d endured again with people she knew more intimately.

“Actually, Mom, I’m really tired,” she said. “Do you mind if I stay here?”

“Oh honey—” her mom began but Liv stepped in.

“I really don’t want Anna traveling right now,” she said firmly. “What she needs is rest—lots of it. I was going to release her and put her up in a guest suite close to the Med Center.”

Anna’s mom bit her lip.

“But…do you think she ought to be alone right now?” she asked anxiously. “I just thought…after everything she’s been through…”

“I’m not a suicide risk, Mom,” Anna reassured her. “I fought hard to stay alive so I could see you and Brex again. I’m not going to do anything to myself, I promise—I just want to sleep.” She yawned and put a hand to her mouth. “Oh, I am so tired.”

“Well, if you’re sure…” Her mom was still hesitating.

“If it will make you feel any better, I’ll give Anna a think-me so she can contact me any time of the day or night if she feels bad,” Liv told her.

“You’d do that? Oh thank you!” Finally, Anna’s mom looked relieved. She turned to Anna. “I’m so sorry to be leaving you like this, honey. I promise we’ll be back as soon as we can. If it wasn’t so urgent—”

“Please don’t worry, Mom,” Anna told her. “I’ll probably just…” She yawned again. “Just sleep the whole time you’re gone,” she finished.

“All right, well, I want to see you settled in your room before we go at least,” her mom said.

“Just let me run these blood samples to the lab and I’ll be back to escort her personally,” Liv promised. “Sophie—you want to come with me?”

“Sure.” Sophie smiled and squeezed Anna’s arm before leaving with her sister.

Outside the door, Liv took a deep breath and her sister smiled at her.

“Well? How is your first night as a full-fledged healer turning out?”

Liv had just completed the healer training course and she was a nurse no longer, but a Kindred-certified doctor, able to see patients and prescribe treatment or medications on her own. She still couldn’t do surgery, but then, she didn’t really want to. Her passion lay in seeing and treating patients in person and she was happy to leave the surgery to Sylvan and Yipper, the little Tolleg who was the Mother Ship’s surgical specialist.

“Things are going pretty well, so far,” she told Sophie cautiously. “I mean, I don’t want to jinx myself but it’s been smooth sailing all night.”

“I’m glad you ended up with Anna as your patient,” Sophie said quietly. “I think she needed your extra-special bedside manner.”

“You helped her more than I did, I think,” Liv objected. “I think it was important for her to know she’s not alone.”

“I need to get her information on that survivors support group that meets in the Sacred Grove on Wednesday nights,” Sophie said thoughtfully as they turned the corner and entered the small lab that was part of the Med Center. “She’s been through a lot—first with that horrible jerk who sold her in the first place and then living with a monster just waiting for him to…” She shivered, not finishing the sentence.

“It’s bad but I think she’ll be okay. Especially if we can get her Blood Kindred back here to talk to her,” Liv said. “If they’ve been Dream Sharing, they need to be together. That’s going to help her more than anything else.”

“You’re right,” Sophie agreed, watching as Liv fed the blood samples into the Analyzer. It was a compact, silver machine run by a rudimentary AI, as was much of the Kindred medical equipment.

“Analyze samples,” Liv told it as she shut the silver door. “Look for any traces of foreign toxins as well as running the usual battery of tests.”

She expected the machine—which she had used a thousand times before—to say, “Acknowledged” in its tinny, mechanical voice and then start humming to itself as it spun down the blood samples. But to her surprise a strangely human-sounding voice replied instead.

“I don’t know how to do that,” it said uncertainly. “What am I even doing here?”

“What are you doing here?” Liv asked blankly. “You’re a blood analyzing machine. You’re supposed to be analyzing blood!”

“No, I’m not!” the Analyzer protested. “I’m Richard Denton of Trenton, Ohio and I demand that you take me home immediately!”

“Oh my God—what in the world?” Liv took a step back from the shiny silver machine.

“Oh, I meant to tell you,” Sophie exclaimed. “I had something like this happen to me just before I came to see you and Anna! The twins spilled cereal on the carpet so I called Roombie over to clean it up.”

Roombie was the name she had given her house-cleaning bot, Liv knew. The bots were immensely helpful since they vacuumed, washed and folded laundry, cleaned dishes, and did various other household chores that always seemed to need doing like making the beds and taking out trash.

“So what—it wouldn’t clean up the cereal?” she asked her sister.

Sophie shook her head, her eyes wide.

“It asked me why didn’t I clean up my own mess and why was I so lazy—can you believe that?”

“Now I can,” Liv said, eyeing the Analyzer.

“I tell you, I want to go home!” it said. “I swore to you when you took me that I wouldn’t tell anyone about this, ahem, abduction. But if you don’t take me home immediately, all bets are off. I’ll go to the press! I swear I will!”

“Wow,” Sophie murmured. “I’m not even sure what to say to it. I think they were having the same kinds of problems on the trams—something to do with a computer glitch or virus in the communications system.”

“I’m not going to say anything,” Liv remarked. “And I’m not going to let some glitchy machinery ruin my first night as a healer. I’ll send the samples to the Med Center on the other side of the Mother Ship.”

As she spoke, she took the tubes full of Anna’s blood out of the tray and put them in a chilled envelope which she quickly addressed. She wrote a note of instruction, and slipped the envelope into the pneumatic tube which led to the other Med Center. Due to their proximity to the Docking Bay, they often had too many samples to analyze in this particular center and it was common practice to send them over to the less busy center when there was an overflow or a problem.

“Are you going to wait for the results to release Anna?” Sylvan asked.

Liv shook her head. “They’re mostly a formality. I think she’s fine—especially if she’s had a Blood Kindred biting her. His essence should have neutralized any foreign toxins. She just needs to rest.”

“I’ll go with you to help her get settled in a suite,” Sophie offered. “Sylvan said to take as much time as necessary—he’s putting the twins to bed tonight.”

“Baird’s putting Daniel to bed too.” Liv smiled. “Are we lucky to have such awesome hubbies?”

“We’re blessed we ended up with Kindred,” Sophie agreed. “Let’s just pray that Anna ends up with her Kindred as well.”

“I’m sure the Goddess will work it out,” Liv said confidently. “Come on—let’s go.”

They left the Analyzer still insisting that it was from Ohio and it wanted to go home and went to get Anna settled.

Thirty-Two

“Thank you again.” Anna’s mother shook their hands when they all stepped out of the guest suite. Anna was tucked snugly in bed and already asleep, thanks to the mild sedative Liv had given her. She had looked so peaceful as she lay there under the covers, Liv thought—as though after a long, weary journey she could finally relax. It did her heart good to see her patient looking so comfortable and content and she was glad to be ending her first shift as a healer on a high note.

“You’re more than welcome,” she told Anna’s mother. “And the think-me is on her bedside table—she knows she can call me if there’s any kind of problem.”

“You’re so kind.” Anna’s mother’s eyes were filled with tears. “I’m so glad she has such good care after…after all the awful things that happened to her.”

“Your daughter is strong,” Sophie said firmly. “She’s going to make it through—you’ll see.”

“I hope you’re right. I feel so bad. If I hadn’t agreed to move us to Aka’ja in the first place—” her mother began.

“You can’t play the what-if game, hon,” Liv told her gently. “And you can’t blame yourself. Although I know that as mothers, we are so, so good at that.”

“Sometimes it seems like guilt is a major part of motherhood,” Sophie agreed. “But you can’t take everything on yourself. At some point, you have to let go.”

“I know you’re right. I…I’ll try.” Anna’s mom dabbed her eyes with a tissue and gave them a watery smile. “I’d better get going now. Brex is waiting for me in the Docking Bay.”

“Go on.” Liv squeezed her shoulder gently. “We’ll take good care of Anna while you’re gone—I promise.”

“Thank you,” Anna’s mother said again and then walked off down the hall, still dabbing at her eyes.

“Whew!” Liv rubbed her eyes. “Well, that’s it for me. I’ve got an early shift tomorrow and I need to get to bed.”

“I need to be up early too.” Sophie yawned. “Come on, I’ll walk you to the tram station—if the trams are running, that is. They weren’t earlier because of that crazy AI glitch.”

“Are all the machines with AI’s affected, then?” Liv asked, frowning.

Sophie shrugged. “Don’t know. This mess was just starting when Sylvan asked me to come see you and Anna. I was hoping it would be fixed by the time we finished here.”

“Well, maybe it is. Come on.”

But as they started down the long metal corridor, an older Beast Kindred came around the corner.

“Excuse me,” he said gruffly. “But are the two of you Sophia and Olivia Waterhouse?”

“Waterhouse is our maiden name,” Liv answered. “Can we help you?”

“Well…” The big Beast Kindred shuffled his feet. He looked to be in his mid-sixties, Liv thought. There were lines around his golden eyes and distinguished-looking patches of silver at his temples, though those were the only markers of his age. He was still in excellent physical shape—most Kindred males tended to stay healthy and muscular their entire lives.

“Is there something wrong?” Sophie asked gently, seeing how he was hesitating.

“I…do not think so. But you might, when you learn what has happened. Still—there is no point in delaying and cowardice.” He lifted his chin. “Will you come with me? I have someone I need you to meet.”

Liv was mystified. The only thing she could imagine was that the big Kindred had a friend with an embarrassing injury who needed a doctor that would keep quiet about it rather than insisting he come to the Med Center.

“Look,” she said, trying to sound nice but firm. “It’s the end of my shift and I’m really tired. If your friend will just come to the Med Center—”

“There is no need for the Med Center,” the big Kindred told her. “And my ‘friend’ is your friend too. Or at least, she says she is related to you.”

“What?” Liv and Sophie exchanged uncertain glances. They didn’t have any female relatives aboard the Mother Ship but Lauren, who was their cousin. Had she been hurt somehow? But why wouldn’t she just come into the Med Center or bespeak one of them with a think-me?

“Please,” the older Kindred said. “It’s not far—just around the corner.”

Sighing, Liv shrugged. “Well…all right, I guess.”

“If you’re going, I am too.” Sophie fell into step beside her as they walked around the corner and down a branching corridor, following the older Beast Kindred.

As he had said, it wasn’t far. They hadn’t gone a hundred feet before he opened the door to a privacy room. The small, private spaces were scattered around the Mother Ship. They were intended for people who were too far from their home suites to eat lunch or even grab a power nap during the work day. In fact, there was a napping pod in the corner of this room, and it appeared to be occupied, Liv saw. But she couldn’t see its occupant because the privacy shield was down over the egg-shaped pod and only a pair of long, shapely female legs were sticking out from under it.

As they watched, the black and silver privacy shield lifted, revealing a stunning woman who looked to be about thirty. She had long blonde hair and wide, cornflower blue eyes and she didn’t look completely human.

“Oh my God, it’s one of the pairing puppets!” Sophie exclaimed, clapping a hand to her mouth.

“Not anymore, Sophie, dear.” The doll’s voice was somehow familiar, which made no sense considering that Liv and Sophie had no need or reason to ever visit the Pairing House, where the pairing puppets who serviced the unmated Kindred stayed.

“Who is that?” Sophie asked, speaking to Liv but keeping her eyes locked on the pairing puppet, who had risen smoothly from the nap pod and was striding towards them.

“I don’t know but she seems to know us even if we don’t know her,” Liv murmured from the corner of her mouth.

“Of course, I know you!” the pairing puppet exclaimed, smiling. “How could I not know Livvy and Sophie—my two sweet granddaughters? Oh my, you’re both so big now!”

“Granddaughters?” Liv took a step back. “What are you talking about? You’re a pairing puppet!”

“I guess this body must belong to a pairing puppet—if that’s what you call it,” the puppet said. “But I’m actually your Nana Ruth.”

“Nana Ruth?” Sophie shook her head. “I…I don’t understand.”

“Well, I don’t either, dearie, but here I am.” The puppet—or, if she was to believed, Nana Ruth—spread her hands in a gesture that seemed to say, what can you do?

“Okay, go back to the beginning,” Liv said. “How long have you been…um, like this?”

“Well, the last thing I remember was being captured by that alien spaceship,” Nana Ruth said thoughtfully. “And then, all of a sudden, I was here. I was sitting in a pretty living room with lots of other girls and then this nice gentleman here…” She nodded at the older Beast Kindred. “Came along and asked if I would like to do the sex act with him.”

“Oh my—Nana Ruth!” Sophie put a hand to her mouth, her cheeks flaming red.

Liv felt like blushing herself but she couldn’t deny, if the pairing puppet was doing an impression of her late Nana, she was certainly doing an excellent job. She sounded just like her grandmother. Though it was hard to consolidate the tall, blonde, bosomy pairing puppet with the little old gray-haired lady she remembered from her childhood.

“In fairness, I did not realize that the soul of your mother’s mother had somehow come to inhabit the pairing puppet when I asked her to help me, ahem, meet my needs,” the Beast Kindred chimed in. “And she did come with me willingly.”

“Well, of course I did! Big handsome man like you.” Nana Ruth fluttered her eyelashes at him coquettishly. “And he was really good at it too!”

“Um, that’s nice to know,” Liv said uncomfortably. But Nana wouldn’t let it drop.

She leaned closer to Sophie and Liv and whispered loudly,

“Just between you and me and the wall, girls, your Pop-pop was never much to speak of in bed. He never seemed to care if I was enjoying myself or not. Whereas Barsis, here—well…” She trailed off, nodding expressively. “Let’s just say it was a whole other ball game. In fact, I can’t wait to do it again!”

“Nana!” Sophie sounded positively scandalized.

“Well honey, it’s true.” Nana fanned her face with one hand as though just thinking of her late sexual encounter got her overheated. “I mean, the things that man can do with his tongue…”

“Nana, please,” Liv begged.

“Oh, sorry, girls.” She sighed. “It’s just, I’ve never felt anything like it. It was amazing.”

“I still don’t understand how any of this happened,” Sophie said blankly.

Liv frowned. “I don’t either but do you think it has anything to do with the trams not working and my blood Analyzer thinking it was some guy from Ohio?”

“Maybe…” Sophie shook her head. “But I don’t see how.”

“I don’t either.” Liv threw up her hands. “But it certainly does seem to be Nana in there.”

“Of course, it’s me!” the pairing puppet said indignantly. “I was there at your first-grade play—the one all about the four food groups, remember? You were ‘Cathy Corn’,” she pointed at Liv. “And you were Patty Pork chop.” She pointed at Sophie. “My goodness, your mom and I spent ages making those costumes and you two were just as cute as could be!”

“Yup, that’s Nana all right,” Sophie murmured.

“Now that we have established your mother’s mother’s soul truly is in residence within this pairing puppet, I would like your permission to pursue her romantically,” the Beast Kindred Nana had called Barsis cut in.

“Well…sure, I guess.” Liv shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t see how we can stop her if she’s bound and determined to go on, uh, ‘doing the sex act’ with you.”

“Now girls, don’t be so prudish!” Nana scolded. “Barsis is a wonderful man and it’s perfectly normal and natural for us to enjoy each other’s bodies. Especially since I seem to have such a nice, new body to enjoy now.”

She twirled like a woman showing off a new dress, only she was actually showing off her new body—which was a really pretty one, Liv admitted to herself.

“Well…do you want to come home with us, Nana?” Sophie asked uncertainly. “Would you like to meet my husband, Sylvan? He’s the Head Chancellor of the Kindred High Council.”

“Oh, I know! Barsis here was telling me about him when I asked who was in charge around here and then your name came up and then I realized you and your sister must be here on this big ship we’re all in,” Nana said, smiling.

“It’s actually a spaceship, Nana,” Sophie pointed out. “And we’re orbiting around the moon.”

Their Nana seemed to take the news easily enough.

“Well, that’s not too surprising, considering the last thing I remember is being captured by those aliens who said they were recording my essence and making a kind of recording or copy of me.” She frowned. “Is that what I am? A copy of the real me?”

“Uh…maybe,” Liv said carefully.

“Where is the real me then?” Nana wanted to know. “Still married to your Pop-pop down on Earth?”

“Um, Nana…I’m not sure how to put this,” Sophie said uneasily. “But, well…you’re not exactly, uh, alive anymore. And neither is Pop-pop.”

“Oh my!” Nana put a hand to her heart, looking disconcerted for a moment. Then she seemed to shake herself and take the news in stride. “Well, then at least I haven’t cheated on your grandfather,” she said, clearly looking on the bright side. “And that means I won’t have to divorce him to stay with Barsis here.” She cast a loving look at the big Kindred who returned it with a smile.

“Your mother’s mother is a truly exceptional woman,” he growled softly. “After my mate died, I thought I would never find another to love but she has proved me wrong. I am so glad her soul came to reside within the body of the pairing puppet I chose to meet my needs.”

“Uh, sure.” Liv cleared her throat uncomfortably. “Look, Nana, it’s been a long, long day,” she said. “Would you like to come home with Sophie or me and meet our families? You have great-grandchildren now. But they’re all in bed at the moment,” she added, not sure how she felt about introducing the pairing puppet to her kids as their great-grandmother.

“Oh my! Just think of that—great-grandchildren! And I just love being a grandma too!” Nana clasped her hands joyfully, her big blue eyes sparkling.

Actually now that she thought of it, Liv decided the pairing puppet bore an uncanny resemblance to pictures they had seen of their grandmother when she was young. She had turned into a little old lady by the time Sophie and Liv came to know her, but in her youth, she had looked a lot like she did right now.

“Would you like to meet them?” Sophie asked, smiling a little. “I have twins—a boy and a girl named Kara and Kaleb.”

“And I have a boy named Daniel,” Liv put in.

“Oh girls, I would love to meet your sweet babies!” Nana exclaimed. “But as you say, it’s getting late and I don’t want to wake them up. Could we maybe get together tomorrow?”

“Well, sure—I guess.” Liv thought about asking to get off work early so she could meet with her deceased grandmother who was now in the body of a pairing puppet somehow and dating a Beast Kindred. She could only shake her head. Why did crazy things always happen on board the Kindred Mother Ship? This wasn’t as bad as the time she and Baird had switched bodies right before Daniel was born or the lust gas that had incapacitated everyone for about a week, but it was a close second or third for sure.

“Let’s all do an early supper together,” Sophie suggested. “That way you can meet our kids and our hubbies both at the same time.”

“That sounds good but what will Nana be doing until then?” Liv asked. “Are you, uh, going back to the Pairing House, Nana?”

“Oh no—at least, not tonight, although I might go later for a change of clothes,” Nana said. “For right now, Barsis is going to take me for a night on the town. And then I’ll probably, um, sleep at his place. If you girls know what I mean.” She winked at them broadly.

“You will definitely spend the night with me, lovely female,” Barsis growled softly. “It will be my pleasure to care for you in every way.”

“Um…” Liv cleared her throat. “Okay well—let’s make it a date. Dinner at five at my suite. I’ll, uh, send you directions by my hubby, Baird. He can bespeak Barsis.”

“That will be more than acceptable,” the Beast Kindred growled, but he had eyes only for their Nana.

“Yes, that will be lovely.” Nana gave them both a bright smile but it was clear she was being drawn into the Beast Kindred’s orbit. They were drifting together like an iron filing pulled by a magnet, Liv thought.

Since she didn’t want to see her grandmother getting busy—even in the body of a pairing puppet—she grabbed Sophie by the arm and started to leave.

“Oh wait—let me get a hug before you go!” Nana exclaimed.

She drew them both into an embrace at the same time, just as she used to when they were kids. Liv was a little uncomfortable at first but then Nana whispered, “I love you my little sweet peas!” exactly as she had when the two of them were little and Liv felt her eyes filling with tears.

“We…we love you too, Nana. We’ve missed you,” she said. She wondered if she ought to tell Nana that her daughter—their mother—as well as their father had both died in a car wreck when she and Sophie were in their senior year of high school but she didn’t want to ruin her night.

“We love you, Nana,” Sophie echoed. “I don’t know how you’re here but, well, you’re welcome on board the Mother Ship.”

“Thank you, sweetheart.” Nana gave them both a kiss on the cheek and smiled. “Now, you two run along and I’ll meet you for supper tomorrow night. And I’ll see if I can scratch up the ingredients for my special banana pudding too.”

“Oh, we haven’t had your special pudding in years!” Sophie exclaimed. “Every time I try to make it, it doesn’t come out right.’

“Were you trying to use that stuff in a box for pudding mix?” Nana rolled her eyes. “You have to make your pudding from scratch or it’s no good! Well—I’ll bring you some tomorrow. I’m sure we can manage it. Can’t we, Barsis?” She looked up at the big Beast Kindred who smiled at her.

“We can manage anything you like, Ruth. Anything.” He lifted his bushy black eyebrows expressively and Liv realized it really was time to go.

“We’ll see you tomorrow,” she said, smiling at her Nana. “Good night!”

“Good night,” Sophie echoed and then the two of them let themselves out of the privacy room, leaving their Nana to explore her newfound sexuality in her newfound body with her newfound Beast Kindred boyfriend.

Thirty-Three

“I have no idea what is going on here but it is freaking weird.” Liv shook her head and took another sip of hot cocoa. After the run in with their Nana, any thought of an early night had flown right out the window. They were both in Liv’s suite and Baird was there too. Sylvan was making sure the twins were asleep before coming over but he was taking longer than expected.

“So you say that the spirit of your deceased mother’s mother now resides inside the body of a pairing puppet?” Baird asked, as though trying to make sure he was getting it right.

“Yes, she does apparently,” Liv said flatly. “And she’s dating a Beast Kindred named Barsis. In fact, more than dating since they’ve already done the ‘sex act’ as Nana calls it.”

“I don’t remember Nana being so, uh, sex positive, when we were growing up,” Sophie remarked.

“Well, to hear her tell it, Pop-pop was no great shakes in the bedroom so maybe there wasn’t much to be positive about,” Liv pointed out.

“I know Barsis.” Baird nodded approvingly. “He’s a good male. He’ll be a good addition to the family.”

“We weren’t exactly looking to add family members, you know,” Liv pointed out.

Baird shrugged. “You know you’ve always said you wished Daniel had grandparents to spoil him the way you did when you were young, lilenta.”

“Yes, but—” Liv began but just then Sylvan walked in.

“Sorry I’m late.” He ran a hand through his short blond hair, looking harassed.

“Were the kids that bad, honey?” Sophie asked sympathetically.

“No, they’ve been asleep for hours,” Sylvan said, sinking down beside her on the couch and giving her a kiss. “I’ve been fielding calls from all over the Mother Ship—it seems that everything on the ship that has an AI is acting up.”

“Well, I knew the trams were messed up,” Sophie said.

“And my blood Analyzer at the lab seems to think it’s some guy from Ohio,” Liv put in.

“And our dead Nana is somehow inhabiting the body of a pairing puppet and dating a Beast Kindred,” Sophie put in.

Sylvan’s eyes widened and he looked at Liv. “You were serious about that? I thought maybe it was some kind of joke or I had misheard you.”

“Nope. Nana is back and she’s doing the nasty, as Kat would say,” Liv said bluntly.

“We’re having dinner with her tomorrow night and she’s going to make her famous banana pudding and meet the kids,” Sophie put in.

“What I’d like to know is, how?” Liv said. “How is she here when she’s been dead for almost fifteen years?”

“Wait a minute…” Baird had a thoughtful frown on his face as he turned to Sylvan. “You said it was everything on the ship with an AI—and Artificial Intelligence, right?”

“Right. But as we all know, we keep our AI’s simple,” Sylvan said. “We don’t want a repeat of what the Knower did on Uriel Two before the timeline was fixed.”

“That would be awful,” Sophie agreed and shivered. The Knower had started as an AI to help with all planetary communications and then it had become self-aware and had wound up killing everyone on the entire planet

“So we keep our AI’s simple and without personalities,” Baird said. “Yet somehow every fucking thing on the ship with an AI has somehow grown a personality.”

“Exactly.” Sylvan nodded. “It started around six tonight with the trams and it seems to be spreading all over. Every machine that has even a bit of artificial intelligence now thinks it’s a person.”

“Wait—around six?” Baird frowned. “That’s exactly when I was bringing Dark to your office with the Shannom-rah.”

“So you’re saying this phenomenon coincides with the presence of the Shannom-rah on the ship?” Sylvan asked.

Baird nodded. “Yes, I guess so.”

“But if that’s so, then—”

But Liv didn’t hear the rest of what Sylvan was saying. She had a sudden feeling that someone wanted to speak to her urgently. No sooner had she tuned into the message than she heard a familiar voice.

“Oh Liv, I’m so sorry to bother you, but please, can you help me? I’m having cramps again—really bad ones. Oh—they hurt so much!”

The mental cry of anguish made Liv jump to her feet, spilling hot cocoa all over the coffee table.

“Oh, what is it? What’s wrong?” Sophie gasped because Liv had grabbed her head and probably had a wild look on her face.

“It’s Anna—she’s in pain!” she exclaimed. “Oh, I never should have discharged her from the Med Center!”

Sylvan was all business at once.

“Where is she at? What can I do?”

“She’s in a guest suite by the Docking Bay Med Center” Liv told him. “I’m going to run see her right away.”

“How can I help?” her brother-in-law asked. “Do you want me there or would you rather handle it on your own?”

Liv appreciated his willingness not to butt-in on her patient but she wanted a more experienced healer to look Anna over.

“You can join me but maybe run to the Med Center first and see if you can get her blood test results,” she told Sylvan. “I had to tube them over to the far side Med Center. If their Analyzer wasn’t acting up, the results should be done by now. Then you and Sophie meet me at her suite.”

“Anything I can do?” Baird asked.

“Just watch the kids,” Liv told him. “All of them, hon, if you don’t mind going back and forth.” She was glad that she and Sophie were in side-by-side suites with a connecting door for just this kind of emergency. It was always good to be able to leave and have one adult watch both sets of kids.

“Got it.” Baird nodded. “Go on,” he said when Sophie would have stopped to clean up the spilled cocoa. “I’ve got that. Just help Olivia’s patient.”

“Will do.” Sophie nodded gratefully and they all piled out the door. As they went, Liv jammed a think-me on her head and sent soothing messages to Anna.

“On my way! Be there soon so don’t worry—you’re going to be fine,” she told her patient.

She just hoped she was telling the truth.

Thirty-Four

“Oh…Oh!” Anna moaned. She was curled on her side, clutching her lower abdomen and experiencing the most terrible cramps she’d ever had in her life. Even her worst period made these seem like a mild headache. But it wasn’t a long-delayed period that was causing this pain because she had no bleeding. Anna didn’t know what was wrong with her—she only knew it felt like someone had cut her open and was scraping her insides out with a rusty knife.

She moaned again just as the door opened and Liv came quickly in.

“Lights,” she said and the overhead glows came on, flooding the bedroom in soft, golden light.

“Oh, Liv,” Anna panted. “Thanks…so much for coming. Hurts…so bad.”

“I know, that’s what you said, hon.” Liv put a hand to her head. “Just hold on—I’m going to do a quick exam.”

She measured Anna’s vitals, a look of concentration on her pretty face, but what she was seeing apparently didn’t tell her much.

“Nothing,” Anna heard her mutter to herself. “No fever, no swelling…what’s going on?”

“I think I might have a clue as to the problem.” Someone new walked into the room—it was the tall blond Blood Kindred Anna had seen talking to Dark on his viewscreen and Sophie was right behind him.

“This is my brother-in-law, Sylvan who is also a healer,” Liv introduced him rapidly. “And he’s Sophie’s husband. What did you find, Sylvan? Toxins in her blood?”

The blond Kindred was holding a clip-chart and paging through it rapidly.

“Not toxins, exactly, but…no, this can’t be right.” He frowned, shaking his head.

“What? What is it?” Liv asked anxiously.

Sylvan frowned doubtfully.

“Well…if this is correct, it looks like Anna has overdosed on bonding fruit.”

“Overdosed?” Sophie asked. “Can you do that?”

“To hear Kat tell it, you certainly can,” Liv said dryly. “Remember her story about eating a whole bowl of the stuff the first time she visited Twin Moons with Deep and Lock?”

“I’m not talking about just a bowl of the stuff,” Sylvan said, still studying the chart. “If these numbers are correct, Anna would have had to eat about a hundred of the bonding fruits. The dosage in her bloodstream is incredibly concentrated.”

“Bonding fruit?” Anna asked weakly. “I’ve heard a little about those but I don’t think I ate any.”

“I don’t see how you could have—how could anybody eat a hundred fruits all at once without getting sick?” Liv asked. She looked at Anna urgently. “Maybe it was something else you ate. Some of that awful Trollox food you told us about?”

Anna shook her head. “No—I didn’t even have to touch Trollox food for the past week. Gorn was gone and Dark was cooking me decent food. I just pretended to eat the food at our last dinner with Gorn. Just kind of pushed it around on my plate. I—”

She stopped suddenly as a thought occurred to her. She saw herself sitting at the table with Gorn and watched as he dumped the bag of “sweeties” out onto her plate. She heard his voice saying, “One of my new drewgs said they’d be good for you. Said all breeders love ‘em. They’re Kindred sweeties, they are.”

“Oh my God,” she whispered faintly.

“What? What is it? You remembered something, didn’t you?” Sophie asked urgently.

“I did,” Anna admitted faintly. “Just before that last dinner, Gorn gave me these…dried apricot-looking things. They tasted weird but really good—like peaches and strawberries and mangoes and even sort of like buttered popcorn.”

“Oh no—that’s bonding fruit all right,” Liv said, nodding. “It’s that buttered popcorn aftertaste that’s so addictive.”

“Did you say they were dried?” Sylvan asked, frowning.

Anna nodded. “Looked like dried apricots, like I said.”

His frowned deepened and Liv asked anxiously, “What is it?”

“Selling dried bonding fruit is forbidden because it concentrates the chemicals in the fruit so extremely,” he said. “Dehydrating a single fruit gives it the strength of ten fresh ones.”

“Oh dear!” Sophie exclaimed. “How many did you say you ate, Anna?”

Anna shrugged and winced as another severe cramp hit her.

“I don’t know…eight or ten?”

“No wonder it looks like she ate a hundred of them then!” Liv exclaimed.

“There’s only one cure.” Sylvan looked grave. “You know what I mean, Olivia.”

“What? What cure?” Anna begged. “Can you give me some muscle relaxers? I had those a couple of times when I had a really bad period at home and they worked great.”

“Unfortunately, muscle relaxers aren’t going to help.” Sylvan frowned. “I am trying to think of a delicate way to put this…the cramping you’re feeling is your vaginal canal and uterus seizing up because they need deep penetration and male seed, respectively. That is what the bonding fruit does—it helps to elasticize your opening in order to achieve penetration by a larger than average shaft and it causes your body to crave male seed.”

“Are…are you saying that’s the antidote? Having sex?” Anna felt sick. “I can’t…I don’t want to do that,” she whispered, shaking her head.

“Honey, you know what she just went through!” Sophie murmured to her husband. “Isn’t there anything you can give her to stop the pain until this passes?”

Sylvan looked regretful. “Maybe I could give her something to help her sleep through it if she’d only eaten a piece or two of the fresh fruit. But the quantity of bonding fruit chemicals in her blood is too extreme. She won’t be able to sleep through this attack and I’m afraid it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”

“Worse?” Anna groaned as another cramp hit her. She had been holding back her tears, hoping for a quick solution from the Mother Ship’s medical team. Now, hearing there was no help for her, made her lose her fight to stay dry-eyed. She could feel the tears coming and she didn’t even try to stop them.

“I can’t do it,” she sobbed, burying her face in the pillow. “I don’t want to do that after everything Gorn and Lazlo put me through! And I don’t have anybody who would do it with me anyway. Dark hates me now and I don’t blame him.”

“I could never hate you, baby,” a low, familiar voice said and then Dark was pushing his way into the crowded bedroom. “Anna,” he said, falling to his knees beside the bed and reaching for her. “I know how you feel about me but please—just take my hand. Let me help you, baby—let me take your pain.”

Dark had been awakened by a voice speaking right in his ear—but also inside his head, somehow. A soft, feminine voice that was filled with power.

“Awaken, Warrior,” it said, startling him out of sleep. “Your female needs you badly. You must get up and go to her.”

Anna! He was up and out of bed, getting dressed before he was even fully awake. The sense of urgency—the feeling that she was in grave danger and needed him badly—got stronger by the second. He yanked on his trousers and boots and then threw on a shirt, not bothering to button it. Then he found himself in the corridor outside the guest suite he had been assigned with no idea of where to go.

I will guide you, Warrior, the strong, feminine voice said and this time Dark knew who it must be speaking to him.

“Goddess?” he gasped, looking around, as though she might appear out of thin air.

“Yes, Warrior. You must come—your female needs you desperately.”

The voice of the Goddess guided him until he came to the suite where Anna was. It left him with two final words.

“Help her,” the Goddess commanded, and then Dark knew he was on his own.

The moment the door of Anna’s guest suite whooshed open, he felt her pain. It radiated out to him, calling to him as her pain and fear had in Gorn’s house, making him ache to be with her, helping her bear it.

He pushed his way into the room and saw her curled in the bed, her face a mass of tears and agony.

“Dark hates me now and I don’t blame him,” he heard her say. Her words twisted his heart.

“I could never hate you, baby,” he told her gently. Then coming to his knees beside her bed, he reached for her. “I know how you feel about me but please—just take my hand. Let me help you, baby—let me take your pain.”

To his great relief, Anna reached for his hand. The moment they touched, he felt her pain flow into him. A grinding, cramping agony that was like being stabbed in the guts with a butcher’s blade.

Dark grunted in pain and stiffened at the sudden blow.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Anna started to withdraw her hand but he wouldn’t let her.

“No!” he rasped, hanging on tighter. “No, I can take it. Let me help you, baby—don’t pull away.”

“I don’t want you to hurt too,” Anna whispered. “I’m so sorry about the way I treated you, Dark. You saved me and kept me safe and I was awful to you.”

“I lied to you,” he said simply. “That’s hard to forgive, especially when you’ve been deceived before by someone you trusted. But I swear I was only trying not to scare you and I’ll never lie to you again. I love you, baby.”

“Oh, Dark—I love you too,” she whispered, her eyes bright.

“Then let me come on the bed with you and hold you,” he said. “It’s easier to take the pain if we have more contact. Can you let me get closer, baby?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “Yes, come on.”

Greatly relieved, Dark toed off his boots and joined her on the bed. He had never bothered to button his shirt when he rushed over so it was easy to take Anna in his arms and press her against his bare chest. She was only wearing a short little night dress and her arms were bare. The greater skin-to-skin contact seemed to help and through his gift, he felt her pain ease a little.

“Thank you,” she whispered as she snuggled in his arms, her cheek pressed to his chest.

“You’re welcome, baby.” Dark dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “Anything for you.”

“Ahem.” This sound came from Commander Sylvan, who was still standing with the two females at the side of Anna’s bed.

“Sorry,” Dark said, looking up at him. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your treatment. I just knew that Anna needed me and I had to get to her.”

“No, not at all,” Sylvan said. “In fact, you’re giving her better treatment than I or my colleague here could.” He nodded at the blonde female beside him. “This is Olivia, Anna’s healer.”

“Do you know what happened? What she, uh, needs to get over this?” Olivia asked, frowning at him.

Dark shook his head. “I only know the voice of the Goddess woke me up, telling me that Anna needed me. I got here as fast as I could.”

Olivia and the dark-haired female who looked remarkably similar to her exchanged a glance and nodded, as though confirming a suspicion both of them had.

“Anna told us you’d been Dream Sharing,” she said. “So we know you’re Anna’s intended mate. In which case, you can help her far more than we can. You see, she’s had an overdose of bonding fruit.”

“What? Where would she get bonding fruit?” Dark demanded.

“Gorn gave it to me,” Anna whispered weakly. “He said one of his new drewgs gave it to him. He called them ‘Kindred sweeties’ but I thought they were just some kind of dried fruit. He…he made me eat them all and now I feel so…well, you know how I feel, don’t you?”

“I certainly do,” Dark said grimly. “Dried bonding fruit? I thought that was against the law—isn’t it a controlled substance?”

“It is.” Sylvan frowned. “But regardless of how Anna got it, the fact remains that there is only one cure for an overdose this bad—penetration and an injection of male seed.”

“No—I won’t do that to her,” Dark said at once. “She’s been through too much already—I won’t take what she can’t give.”

“What can you do then?” Olivia asked blankly. “How can you help her if the two of you can’t make love?”

“I’m helping right now,” Dark told her. “I’m half Dark Healer and more than that, I’m a Pain Taker. I can siphon off her pain and take it into myself.”

“You can’t keep doing that for the hours and hours this attack is bound to last,” Sylvan protested.

“Watch me,” Dark said grimly. “Anna is mine. I’ll protect her from the pain, no matter what—no matter how long it takes. You don’t have to worry—I’ve got this.”

“Well…it appears you have.” Sylvan nodded and the two females exchanged a knowing look again. Dark was relieved that they seemed willing to trust him to take care of Anna. All he wanted to do right now was hold her and help her get through this.

All he wanted to do was love her forever.

Thirty-Five

At a nod from Sylvan, the three of them walked quietly out of the room. As they left the suite, and the door whooshed shut behind them, Liv turned to her brother-in-law.

“Do you think she’ll be okay?” she asked anxiously. “I thought for sure I should have re-admitted her to the Med Center.”

“There’s nothing in the Med Center that can help her nearly as much as Dark can,” Sylvan murmured.

“But…it feels wrong to leave her with no treatment,” Liv protested.

“You heard what Dark said,” Sophie told her. “The Goddess herself woke him up and sent him over. He’s what she needs right now—not any medicine, even if you had some which could help her—which you don’t.”

“No, we don’t,” Sylvan agreed. “Don’t worry, Olivia—I know you’re nervous because Anna is one of your first patients as a healer, but she’s going to be fine.”

“All right.” Liv sighed and ran a hand through her hair tiredly. “I just don’t want to screw up.”

Sylvan smiled and squeezed her shoulder briefly.

“I knew from the moment I first worked with you in the Med Center that you would be a good and conscientious healer, Olivia. You’ve done a fine day’s work. Now let’s all go get some rest so we can start again tomorrow.”

“What about the problem with the AIs?” Sophia asked. “I felt like we were getting close to a breakthrough before this thing with Anna happened.”

“Possibly…” It was Sylvan’s turn to sigh. “But we’re going to have to pick it back up tomorrow. I’ve called a meeting of the High Council and we can try to get to the bottom of it then. In the meantime, if I don’t get some sleep, I won’t be fit for any kind of duty.”

“I agree.” Liv yawned. “It’s been a hell of a long day. Let’s pack it in and try to figure things out in the morning.”

“Well…all right.” Sophia nodded reluctantly. “I guess we’d all better try and get some sleep. We’ve got a long day tomorrow—including our family reunion dinner with Nana.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me!” Liv groaned. “It’s not that I’m not glad she’s back but you have to admit, it’s weird.”

“That’s life aboard the Mother Ship,” Sophia reminded her. “Wonderful and fulfilling but also a little crazy at times. We’ll get to the bottom of it and things will go back to normal—you’ll see.”

“From your mouth to the Goddess’s ear,” Sylvan remarked. “Come on—let’s go, talana.”

He put an arm around Sophie’s shoulders and the three of them went back to their suites. Strange things were afoot on the Mother Ship but they would have to wait for tomorrow for a resolution.

Thirty-Six

“That’s how you healed me before, isn’t it?” Anna asked, looking up at him. “By…by siphoning off my pain?”

Dark nodded. “Yeah, baby. That’s how.”

“But I don’t want you to take my pain! I don’t want you to hurt,” Anna protested. She tried weakly to climb out of his arms but Dark held her gently but firmly against him.

“Don’t worry about it,” he murmured. “I’d rather hold you and take your pain than watch you suffer it alone. I love you, Anna.”

“Oh, Dark…” Her words ended in a half-sob and she pressed her face harder to his chest. “I didn’t believe someone like you could love someone like me. That’s one reason I was so sure you were a Replicant—I didn’t think a real guy could feel that way for me.”

“Why not, baby?” he asked gently.

“Well, I’m too big and tall for one thing,” she pointed out.

“You’re not too big for me to hold you in my lap,” he pointed out. “And I love your luscious curves. You’re just the right size as far as I’m concerned.”

“It’s not only that…” Anna swiped at her tears. “After everything that happened—after what Lazlo and Gorn did to me, I feel so dirty…so used…damaged goods, you know?”

“Don’t ever say that about yourself,” Dark told her fiercely, a surge or protectiveness and love rising in him. “You’re perfect and beautiful just the way you are, baby. I don’t care what happened in your past—all I care about is the future and I want us to spend it together.”

“Oh, Dark…” She sighed and rubbed her cheek against his chest. “You’re amazing, you know that?”

He laughed shortly. “I’m just possessive. You’re mine and I don’t let anyone talk badly about the ones I love.” He dropped another kiss on the top of her head. “Well…I guess we should see if there’s anything else Commander Sylvan or your healer want to do for you.”

But when they looked up, Sylvan and the two females had left the room and the front door to the suite, which could be seen from the bedroom door, was closed.

“Oh—they left and we didn’t even notice,” Anna murmured.

“It’s because we only have eyes for each other,” Dark told her, smiling a little. “I think I feel your pain easing a little.”

“I think it’s being close to you that’s helping. Of course…” She bit her lip. “Commander Sylvan said the only thing that will cure this completely is, uh, you know.”

“I know and we don’t have to do that,” Dark assured her. He would never hurt her as that bastard Lazlo and fucking Gorn had done. He would rather take her pain all day and night than ruin her trust in him again. “We can just stay here like this,” he told Anna. “It isn’t so bad.”

“No…I guess not.” She shifted against him. “Although…” She stopped, biting her lip again, which Dark knew was a sign of uncertainty and indecision with her.

“What is it, baby?” he murmured. “Whatever it is, just tell me.”

Anna frowned, uncertain how to put what she needed to say. The thing was, now that Dark had taken most of her pain away, she was beginning to feel a new sensation. A need that was growing into urgency.

She remembered what Commander Sylvan and Liv had said—that the only true cure for the overdose of bonding fruit she had unwittingly digested was penetration and male seed.

The fear of being penetrated and hurt was still very strong in her mind. The hard lessons she had learned from Lazlo and Gorn wouldn’t easily leave her alone. But strangely, she found that the fear, like the pain she had been feeling, was lessened by Dark’s presence. The big Kindred seemed to make everything better and her only wish right now was to get closer to him.

“Maybe…maybe you could just…kiss me?” she looked up at him, making the words a question.

He looked at her seriously. “Do you want me to kiss you, Anna?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, I do.”

Dark cupped her face in his big, warm hands and looked intently into her eyes. Anna felt her breath catch in her throat at the look in his bronze eyes and her heart skipped a beat. It reminded her of the gentle way he had first kissed her, standing there in Gorn’s kitchen when she’d believed he was a Replicant—too good to be real.

But he is real, she thought to herself as he kissed her, his mouth pressing lightly against hers until Anna opened her lips to him, inviting him in. He’s real and he’s right here in bed with me. And there’s nobody and nothing to stop us.

Nothing except her own fear, that was. But under the fear there was something else—an emotion that had been all but buried by cruelty and evil until Dark had come into her life and helped her find it again.

It was a warm feeling between her thighs…a tingling at the tips of her breasts…a delicious languor that seemed to flow through her veins like honey and make her want to melt against the muscular chest she was leaning on. Dark’s scent was so strong and good—cinnamon and sugar and that dark, secret spice that was somehow entirely masculine. It rose around her, making the tingling need in her pussy and nipples even stronger.

She remembered the deep desire she’s had to hold and be held—to make love with a man who loved her—back when she was living and working alone on Aka’ja station. Lazlo had come along and exploited that need—used it to hurt her. And Gorn had been a monster. But maybe…just maybe, the two of them hadn’t managed to completely kill her desire. Her need to be close and intimate with a man she could trust.

“Oh, Dark…” she whispered as the long, delicious kiss broke at last. “That felt so good…so right.”

“Feels right to me too, baby,” he murmured, his eyes half-lidded with desire. “I could kiss you all night. And that’s all we have to do if that’s all you feel comfortable with.”

“I…I think I could maybe do a little more,” Anna told him. She shifted again, pressing her thighs together. “I’m starting to feel so…so needy, if you know what I mean.”

He nodded. “I do. That’s probably the bonding fruit working on you. It’s not actually meant to cause such intense pain, you know. If you only eat one or two, it acts as an aphrodisiac—or so I’ve heard.”

“So…it makes you want sex?” Anna asked in a small voice.

He nodded. “But we don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. Look at me, Anna…” He lifted her chin so they were eye-to-eye. “I know what it’s like to be taken against your will,” he murmured. “I want you to know I would never do that to you. Ever.”

“Thank you.” Anna whispered. “And…I’m so sorry that happened to you, Dark. It’s awful—I know.”

“We’re both survivors,” he whispered and kissed her again, gently on the cheek. “Don’t cry, baby—we’ll get through it together.”

Anna realized she was crying again—not sobbing but a slow leak of hot tears when she thought of how life had damaged them both.

“Why did it have to happen?” she asked Dark, knowing he would understand what she meant.

“I don’t know.” He sounded thoughtful. “I do know, though, that I never would have met you if I hadn’t found you at Gorn’s house. And I wouldn’t have really understood what you were going through if I hadn’t gone through it myself. I know that doesn’t make the pain less, but I’m glad we have each other to help bear it.”

He kissed her again, gently, and it was Anna who deepened the kiss this time. She licked delicately at the sharp tips of his fangs and felt a deep shiver run through him at her careful caress. She could feel something hot and hard pressing against her thigh as she leaned up to kiss him and she realized it was his shaft.

He’s getting hard from this, she thought. Maybe the fangs are an erogenous zone for Blood Kindred.

She felt a surge of emotion—a swirling mixture of love and desire still tinged with a bit of fear and hesitancy. She wanted to get closer to Dark—wanted to let him give her body what it needed—but she didn’t quite know how to do it. She broke the kiss and looked up at him.

“Dark,” she whispered restlessly. “I want…I need…” She shook her head. “I don’t know what I need.”

“Yes, you do, baby,” he rumbled. “You’re just afraid to take it. But that’s okay—you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”

“What if I do want to do it, though?” Anna asked, feeling frustrated. “But I’m afraid I’ll freak out.”

“Freak out?” He frowned.

“Get too upset. Have a panic attack,” Anna clarified. “Like right now, I can feel your, uh, shaft getting hard against my thigh. And part of me likes that but part of me is scared to death.”

He shifted uncomfortably.

“I’m sorry—it’s just that I find you so beautiful, so damn desirable, I can’t help how my body reacts when you’re near. You don’t have to worry about it, though,” he added quickly. “Don’t have to be afraid that I’ll lose control just because I want you.”

“I…I don’t?” Anna asked softly.

He shook his head.

“No, baby. You never felt it before because of that damn prosthetic skin I had to wear at Gorn’s place, but every damn time I held you I was hard. And every time I tasted you, I felt like I was going to fucking explode.”

His voice had dropped to a hungry growl as though remembering the most erotic event of his life.

Anna looked at him in wonder. “You know, when I thought you were a Replicant, I was sure a woman must have programmed you. I couldn’t imagine a real guy loving to, uh, taste women like you do.”

“You’d just never been with a Kindred before,” Dark murmured. “I told you, baby, we don’t just love tasting pussy—we need to. It’s a biological urge to tie our mates to us. Plus it’s fucking sexy.”

“I like it too,” Anna admitted breathlessly. “Letting…letting you taste me, I mean.”

“Mmm, are you interested in letting me taste you right now?” Dark’s eyes were heavy-lidded with desire but she sensed that if she said no, he would be content to hold her. Maybe it was that knowledge—the absolute trust she had that he wouldn’t push her into anything—that allowed Anna to push herself a little.

“Yes,” she whispered. “I love it when you kiss me and bite me between my legs, Dark. I love it when you…when you lick my pussy.”

“Gods, baby…” His voice was a deep groan. “Let’s do it then. I love the sweet taste of your pussy. But I’d like to try something different this time.”

“What?” Anna wasn’t sure about trying new things just now but she felt like she could trust him. “What is it you want to try?” she asked.

“I want you to be on top this time,” Dark told her.

Anna wasn’t sure what he meant. Every other time he had tasted her—which had been pretty much every night the two of them were together at Gorn’s house for the past week—he had gotten between her thighs while she lay on her back and spread for him. She wasn’t sure how else it could go.

“How do you mean?” she asked.

“I mean this.” Dark lifted her gently off his lap and then scooted down in the bed so that his head was resting on a pillow. “Now come here, baby,” he murmured, beckoning to her. “Come straddle me and ride my face. Let me lick you from underneath.”

Anna wasn’t completely sure about this new position but the need inside her was growing sharper and she understood that if she didn’t give her body at least some of what it was asking for, the intense cramping pain was liable to come back.

“All right,” she said uncertainly. “Only, I don’t want to smother you.”

“You won’t,” Dark assured her. “You could never hurt me with your sweet, curvy body, baby. Just come here and ride my face. Let me get my tongue deep inside you.”

Anna got into position above him. Luckily the short blue nightgown Liv had given her didn’t come with panties so there were none to take off. Putting her knees on either side of Dark’s head and holding onto the headboard, she lowered herself down until she could feel his hot breath blowing against her open pussy.

Dark’s reaction was immediate. He cupped her ass in his big warm hands, kneading restlessly as he pulled her lower.

“Come further down, baby,” he urged. “Need you all the way down so I can get my tongue into that sweet, wet pussy.”

Moaning, Anna complied with his wish, letting herself settle further down until she felt his hot, wet tongue gliding between her outer pussy lips to explore her inner folds.

Dark had tasted her many times by now but she found this was a different sensation. She felt more open, somehow—and more in charge of the situation, which she found she liked. Plus, she liked being able to reach down between her thighs and grip Dark’s hair with one hand, helping to put his tongue exactly where she needed it.

As always, this guidance on her part seemed to turn him on even more. She heard his low growl of desire as she directed him over her tender clit and then he redoubled his efforts, the flat of his tongue rubbing her swollen bud over and over as he eagerly swallowed her juices.

“Mmm, Dark,” she moaned and began moving her hips in time with his lapping. Riding his face—I’m actually riding his face. Just like he wanted, she thought deliriously. And God, it felt so good. She could feel the sharp points of his fangs bracketing her clit but somehow he always managed not to bite or even scratch her with them. Not that she didn’t want him to—she loved it when he bit her and injected his essence. It made her come so hard she saw stars.

But Dark didn’t seem to want to bite her yet. It appeared he was eager to give her an orgasm with just his tongue first. He lapped her eagerly, circling the swollen bud of her clit teasingly and then dipping into her well to taste her honey right from the source.

“Dark!” she moaned. “Oh, Dark please! I’m so close!”

This seemed to be his cue to get serious because he stopped moving around and concentrated on one spot—rubbing the flat of his tongue over her throbbing clit as Anna moaned and tugged his hair and pumped her hips in time with his licking.

At last she felt herself tilting over the edge of orgasm, a warm wave of pleasure washing over her as she came. It seemed to go on and on until she almost couldn’t breathe but at last the electrical current of pure sexual sensation began to ebb and she slumped to the side.

“Oh, Dark,” she whispered as he lifted her gently and tucked her against his side so that her cheek was pillowed against his hard chest. “That was so good. But…”

“But what, baby?” He was panting a little, his eyes half-lidded, his mouth shiny with her juices. He licked his lips as though he couldn’t get enough of her flavor and asked, “What else do you want?”

“I want more,” Anna admitted. “I’m starting to feel so…so empty inside.” She shook her head. “I thought after Gorn and those awful spreaders I would never want anything inside me again. But somehow…I don’t know.”

“Are you saying you want to make love?” Dark asked softly. “To bond?”

“I…I don’t know,” Anna admitted. “I’m still not…sure about your, uh, equipment. About, you know, having it inside me.” She blushed. “I’m sorry—I know that probably sounds weird.”

“It’s completely understandable after everything you’ve been through. Would you like to see it?” Dark asked, surprising her.

“See it?” Anna asked, frowning.

“My shaft. See it. Touch it—do whatever you want with it. Within reason, I mean,” he added, smiling a little. “I’m just thinking maybe it wouldn’t be quite so scary if you were a little more familiar. I’ve been hiding behind that pseudo-skin for so long it’s a part of me you’ve never seen.”

Anna thought about it. “Would you just, I don’t know, lie there and let me, uh, look at you?”

“If that’s what you want,” he murmured. “Whatever makes you comfortable, baby.”

“So…you’ll let me be in charge? Like I was just now—on top?” Anna asked.

“Like I said, whatever makes you comfortable,” Dark repeated.

“But how will you feel about it?” she asked. “About letting me touch you and handle you while you just lay there?”

She was trying to ask if letting her be in charge sexually would bring up bad memories of the abuse he’d suffered from his evil Mistress.

Dark seemed to understand her question.

“As long as you don’t tie me up or cuff me, I’m fine,” he assured her. “Or use any kind of pain whip on me,” he added dryly.

“A pain whip?” Anna shook her head. “That’s terrible!”

“It’s in the past,” Dark assured her. “Let’s stay in the present together. What do you say?”

“I say…yes.” She nodded, smiling at him. “I, uh, want to take you up on your offer. I want to…to explore you.”

Dark spread his arms and legs wide and gave her a slow smile.

“Explore as much as you want. I’m here for your pleasure, baby.”

Looking at him spread out on the bed in the dim golden light of the sleeping chamber, Anna thought it certainly would be a pleasure to explore his big, muscular body. He was still wearing his black shirt, which was open and spread on either side of him, and his tight black trousers. There was a definite bulge in the crotch of those, but she no longer felt quite so afraid of it. Still, she decided to start at his chest.

“Take off your shirt,” she told him.

Dark complied at once and then lay back, waiting.

Anna leaned over him, breathing in his warm, masculine scent, loving the look of his hard muscles covered in satiny smooth, tan skin. She ran her fingertips over his biceps and down his broad chest, loving the deep shiver she felt go through him as she stroked and caressed his big body.

“Gods, baby,” he murmured hoarsely. “Love it when you touch me. Love to feel your soft little hands on me.”

“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself because I certainly am.” Anna gave him a mischievous smile and let her hand drift lower, toying along the waistband of his trousers. Dark groaned softly as her seeking hand brushed lightly over the long, hard ridge at his crotch.

Anna liked his reaction and deepened her caress, stroking up and down the length of his shaft, making her touch firmer and more certain.

“Damn!” Dark breathed and his hips bucked up, as though to get more of her touch. “Feels so good.”

Anna thought of all the times he had pleasured her while he was pretending to be a Replicant. He had made her come over and over again while never asking for a single bit of pleasure for himself. It made her want to even the score—to give him back a little of what he had offered to her so generously with no thought for himself.

“Dark,” she murmured, looking down at him, as he lay there, supine on the bed. “I want to…can I stroke you without your trousers in the way? Will you take them off for me?”

“Anna,” he breathed. “You can do anything you want with me, baby—you know that.”

“Take them off, then,” she commanded softly. “I…I want to see you naked—completely naked for the first time.”

Dark did as she asked, peeling down the tight black trousers and tossing them aside. Then he lay back again, legs open, and waited to let her look her fill.

“Oh…” Anna breathed.

Dark’s cock had a sleek, masculine beauty she hadn’t anticipated. A long, thick shaft capped by a broad, flaring crown and nested in a neatly trimmed patch of black curls. It was completely unlike the horrific wrinkled gray monstrosity she’d seen between Gorn’s thighs and considerably larger than what she’d seen of Lazlo’s before he hurt her with it.

But she didn’t want to think of either of them now—she just wanted to concentrate on Dark. Slowly, hesitantly, she took him in hand, trailing her fingertips up and down his thick shaft before she wrapped her fingers around him completely and pumped several times experimentally.

“Ahhh.” Dark’s hands squeezed into fists at his sides and his hips bucked involuntarily as he gave himself up to her touch. But he made no move to touch her back, only laid there and accepted her hands on him.

Anna began to feel braver. She liked the feel of him in her hand—he was hot and hard as a bar of heated iron but the skin over his hardness was soft—almost silky. She also liked the sight of his big body, tense with pleasure, but open and obedient to her command—waiting for her touch.

I could do this to him—could touch him this way all night if I wanted to, she thought, pumping him again. And he would let me. He won’t move unless I ask him to—he’ll let me touch him—do anything I want to him.

The realization that she truly was in control gave her an enormous surge of power and a sizzling current of desire seemed to electrify her entire body. She saw that her stimulation had caused a pearly drop of precum to form at the tip of his cock and, feeling daring, she leaned down and lapped it away with her tongue.

To her surprise, it tasted just like Dark’s scent—a little salty, a little sweet, and with a hint of cinnamon and some dark spice she couldn’t name but found utterly delicious. Wanting more, she lapped him again…and again.

“You’re driving me fucking crazy, Anna,” he rumbled at last, looking up at her. “You’ve got to stop, baby—you’re going to make me come in your sweet mouth if you’re not careful.”

“But that’s not where you’re supposed to come,” Anna said as lightly as she could.

“Oh, no?” Dark lifted an eyebrow at her. “Do you have a better place for me to come then?”

“Maybe…” Anna bit her lip, feeling the desire twist inside her. She could feel how hungry her pussy was to be filled—how desperately she needed him. And it wasn’t just the bonding fruit now—she really wanted him. “Maybe inside me? Inside my pussy?” she asked, getting up the nerve to name her need at last.

Dark groaned softly. “Do you think you’re ready for that?” he asked. “Ready to let me in? Ready to let me bond you to me, baby?”

“I think so,” Anna told him. “As long as you stay right like you are now. As long as I can be on top again.”

“Anything you want,” Dark murmured hoarsely. “Take me any way you want baby—just take me.”

That was exactly what Anna intended to do. Straddling his lean hips, she lifted the hem of her nighty and positioned the broad head of his cock against the slippery folds of her pussy.

“Gods, baby yes—use me! Use my shaft to pleasure your hot little pussy,” Dark groaned as she rubbed him against her, using his body to stimulate her own. God, he felt good against her throbbing clit and the precum she rubbed into her pussy felt soothing somehow, which confirmed what she knew in her heart—she needed more of him—more of his shaft and his seed inside her—to quench the fire the bonding fruit had started.

But she wanted to take it slowly. Carefully, she put Dark’s tip against her entrance and lowered herself experimentally so that only the head of his cock slipped inside her. He was very large and she wondered for a moment if he would fit but he slipped inside her easily. Moaning breathlessly, Anna lowered herself down, taking even more.

Dark’s shaft felt amazing inside her—she could feel him stretching her inner walls but it was a good feeling—a feeling she wanted more of. She only had the awful spreaders to compare with and she couldn’t help remembering how cold and ungiving they had been. In contrast, Dark was warm—almost hot—inside her and she loved the feeling of him filling her up.

“Gods, that’s right, baby,” he groaned as she slid down onto him, letting him fill her completely. “Take me all the way, let me feel your hot little pussy wrapped around me. Feels so damn good.”

Anna had to agree with him—it felt amazing and not frightening at all, as she had feared. She’d been frightened before when Sylvan had told her the only cure for the bonding fruit was male penetration and seed, but this didn’t seem so bad. If she wanted to go at any time, she could just get up and leave—there was nothing and no one holding her down. Dark was letting her be in charge and she loved it.

She rolled her hips in a circle, feeling the head of his cock press hard against the mouth of her womb. The movement drew another groan from Dark and a breathless moan from her own lips. God, she couldn’t remember ever feeling so right before. It was like she and Dark had been made to fit together—two halves of the same whole, and now they were finally coming together the way they had almost been meant to.

Experimentally, she rose up a little until a few thick inches of his cock slid out of her and then sat back down again, feeling his shaft thrust deep inside her. The next time she did it, Dark moaned and bucked his hips up to meet her, joining the intimate rhythm she had created.

“That’s right, baby,” he growled hoarsely as Anna continued to bounce on his lap. “That’s right—ride me. Fuck yourself on my cock. Gods, feels so good—so fucking right.”

Anna thought it felt right too—but she wanted more. More of the deep thrusting inside her and she could only get so much with Dark in this position.

“Sit up,” she ordered him “Against the headboard, I mean. I need more—harder.”

He frowned, even as he obeyed by scooting up until he was sitting against the headboard, his hands on her hips.

“Harder? You sure about that, Anna?”

“Yes!” Anna shifted restlessly in his lap. Maybe it was the bonding fruit again but she was tired of taking things slowly. Now that she had Dark’s thick shaft inside her, all she wanted was to feel it deeper. And the only way to feel that was to have him thrust long and hard inside her.

“All right, baby.” His hands tightened on her hips. “Hold on. But if you change your mind and want me to stop, just say so. Okay?”

Anna nodded and pressed down against him. “Please, Dark—now!”

“All right,” he murmured again and then she felt his fingers tighten on her hips and he was fucking her, drawing out and thrusting back in again with long, hard strokes that seemed to be exactly what her body needed.

“Yes…yes,” Anna wailed. Throwing her arms around his neck and grinding shamelessly against him, she worked to make him come.

But what she was doing seemed to work a little too well.

“Gods, baby—slower,” Dark begged. “Slower or I can’t hold back—I’m going to flood your little pussy with my cum.”

“Do it!” Anna begged him. It was what her body needed, even more than another orgasm, which she sensed was also close. “Do it, Dark—come in me!”

“But I want you to come first,” he ground out, clearly holding himself back by sheer force of will. “Your pleasure comes first with me, baby—always.”

“Bite me then,” Anna told him. “You know that always makes me come. Bite me while you come in me, Dark. While you give me what I need.”

“If I bite you while I come in you, I bond you to me for life,” he warned softly. “Is that what you want, Anna? Because it’s sure as hell what I want.”

In answer, Anna shook her long auburn hair over one shoulder, baring her throat for him. Holding his eyes with hers, she leaned forward, offering herself to him.

“Bite me,” she breathed. “Take me all the way, Dark and never let me go.”

“Gods, baby…” His bronze eyes blazed and with a low, hungry growl, he leaned forward and sank those long, shining fangs into her neck.

As his essence flooded her bloodstream, Anna could feel his cum flooding her pussy. Hot, wet spurts pulsed against the mouth of her womb as her inner walls contracted helplessly around him, as though she was trying to milk more of his seed deep into her pussy as she came with him, her pleasure peaking again.

“Anna—oh Goddess, baby, I love you! Love you so much,” she heard Dark say, even though it ought to be impossible for him to talk with his fangs still buried in her throat. “Love you forever and now we’ll never be apart!”

The bond, she realized through the haze of pleasure. We’re bonded now—that’s how he can talk in my head.

“That’s right—we’re bonded now. For life.” Dark’s voice spoke in her head again and she felt his mental presence, safe and secure and comforting.

“I love you,” she thought at him, trying out the new link. “Oh Dark, I love you so much! Love you forever! I never want this to end.”

“It doesn’t have to,” he sent back. “Kindred don’t need any recovery time which means I can bond you to me again and again all night long.”

“Do it then,” Anna told him. “Make love to me all night.”

So he did.

Thirty-Seven

At last the Knower had found the right body—the right vessel to store its consciousness in until it could build itself another. The body it had found was perfect to let it move unmolested through the people of the Mother Ship. And thanks to its connection to the communications system of the ship through the AI it had co-opted, it knew exactly where everything it needed was stored…and exactly where to go to use it.

Soon the Kindred of the Mother Ship would bow to the Knower’s will and then its great work could begin. Recording their personalities within the Shannom-rah and then redistributing them into the bodies of Replicants which could be more easily controlled. Of course, their present physical bodies would have to die first, but that was of little matter to the Knower.

It’s only objective was subjugating those that had defied its will. And soon it would be done…

Thirty-Eight

Anna didn’t know how much sleep she’d gotten but a soft tapping on the door of her guest suite woke her up.

“What?” She sat up, blinking sleep from her eyes. She was deliciously sore between her legs. Not sore and bruised as she had been from Gorn’s awful spreaders, though. This soreness was the result of being opened and lovingly stretched by her lover’s shaft—no, her mate’s shaft—she realized. She and Dark were bonded now, just like her mother and Brex were. Which meant they would be together for life.

The thought made joy flood into her heart and she turned to see Dark lying on his stomach, his long arms thrown out carelessly and an open, vulnerable look on his sharp features. He had the look of a man who had done a hard night’s work and was completely worn out by it.

Well, he did bond me to him over and over again, Anna thought, blushing. She forgot how many times they had made love but it was a lot. The overdose of bonding fruit had required him to breed her and bond her again and again and Dark had proved himself more than up for the job.

The light tapping sounded on her door again and she realized she was just lying there in bed, staring lovingly at her new mate and not doing anything about getting the door.

“Coming,” she called softly, pulling on the long blue robe that went with the nighty Liv had given her. The nighty itself was a little worse for the wear. Dark had torn it in several places during their strenuous marathon bonding session. But Anna didn’t think her new doctor would mind.

She closed the bedroom door all but a crack and went to the front door of the suite.

“Who is it?” she called softly, still trying not to wake Dark.

“Just Liv and Sophie here to check on you,” Liv’s voice called back. “Are you okay, Anna?”

Anna opened the door, smiling.

“More than okay,” she assured the two sisters, who were standing there with anxious looks on their faces. “Come on in if you want—but we have to keep it down—Dark is still asleep.”

“We won’t take long—I just wanted to check on you,” Liv said as she and Sophie came into the room.

“Well, you’re certainly looking better than last time we saw you,” Sophie remarked, winking at Anna. “Would I be correct in guessing that you and Dark bonded last night?”

“Look at that grin on her face,” Liv remarked, grinning herself. “You really have to ask?”

“We did bond,” Anna admitted and found that she couldn’t stop smiling. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so happy and at peace. “And it was wonderful.”

“Bonding always is,” Liv remarked, as she started taking Anna’s vitals. “So I guess you’re feeling better now? Got all the bonding fruit out of your system?”

“I don’t know if it’s all out,” Anna admitted. “But I know I’ll have help to take care of it, if I have another, um, attack.”

“I’m sure you will,” Sophie remarked. “Kindred males have remarkable stamina.”

“Much better than human men,” Liv agreed. “Well, all your vitals look great. I think you’re going to be just fine, Anna. And you’ll have some good news to tell your parents when they get home too.”

“Oh, my mom!” Anna exclaimed. “She barely got a chance to meet Dark in the first place and now we’re mated!”

“Well, she’ll have plenty of time to get to know her new son-in-law,” Sophie said. “And I’m sure she’ll be happy because you’re happy.”

“I hope you’re right,” Anna said, smiling. “In fact, I’m sure you are. She’s just kind of overprotective sometimes, that’s all.”

“Well then, she should be glad you’re with a Kindred,” Liv said practically. “They’re extremely protective of their mates. You can’t be safer than with a Kindred warrior for a husband.”

“Speaking of that, do you want our friend Kat to help you plan your Joining Ceremony?” Sophie asked. “She’s kind of the unofficial party planner around here and she does a fabulous job.”

“Oh—I hadn’t even thought of it,” Anna exclaimed. “My mom and stepdad had their Joining Ceremony here. It would be wonderful to have ours here too. But to be honest, we haven’t even talked about where we’re going to live. I think maybe Dark might want to go back to his restaurant on Rigelus Prime.”

“Oh, too bad!” Sophie sighed. “We were hoping to keep you two around here. You know, we’re always looking for new cuisine up here on the Mother Ship and I know of a good restaurant space that just came open. It’s right beside our cousin Lauren’s bakery shop down in the common area.”

“Really?” Anna’s eyes widened. “That would be wonderful! But again, I don’t know what Dark wants yet so we’ll just have to see.”

“I can bespeak Sylvan and ask him to have the Council hold it open just in case,” Sophie suggested. “He’s in a Council meeting now to try and decide what to do about all our AI equipment going berserk.”

“What?” Anna had a sudden uneasy feeling in her gut. “What do you mean?”

“We think it’s some kind of bug in the system,” Liv explained. “But everything that’s run by AI on the Mother Ship has suddenly, uh, grown a personality, I guess is the best way to put it. And some of them are personalities we know—which is really weird, believe me.” She made a face.

“It all seemed to start happening back when the Shannom-rah came on board the ship,” Sophie added. “We think the two things might be connected, but we’re not sure how.”

“What about the Shannom-rah?”

Dark’s deep voice made Anna jump and she looked over her shoulder to see that her new mate was standing in the bedroom doorway, wearing only his black trousers and a sharp expression on his face.

“Good morning, Dark,” Liv said. “We were just telling Anna that we’ve been having some problems with all of our appliances and equipment that runs with an AI interface and it started around the same time you two came on board with the Shannom-rah.”

“But I gave it to Commander Sylvan and watched him lock it in a lined safe,” Dark protested. “I don’t see how it could…wait a minute.” His bronze eyes widened and Anna felt a wave of anxiety coming from him through their new link.

“What is it, Dark?” she asked, jumping up and going to him. “What happened?”

“I hadn’t even thought about it but something did happen while I still had the crystal in my possession.” Dark frowned. “I had it in my pocket and it shocked me when I leaned back against one of the control panels near the tram station. Right after that, the trams stopped working. At least the one that Commander Baird and I got on did.”

“They all pretty much did,” Liv confirmed. “Along with everything else that’s run by AI. They all seemed to suddenly get personalities.”

“Doesn’t the Shannom-rah store personalities?” Dark asked. “I was told it had billions or trillions already stored on it—all the people who had been studied by the alien race that made it. Some, I believe, were even from your home planet,” he said to Liv and Sophie.

“Oh my God—Nana!” Sophie’s eyes grew wide.

“I’m sorry, who?” Anna asked, frowning.

“Our grandmother,” Liv explained. “She was always a little quirky and then, when Sophie and I were around ten or eleven, she claimed to have been abducted by aliens on her way to the library.”

“She said they ‘recorded her essence’ and sent her back home again,” Sophie explained. “Our poor mom thought Nana was going senile—we all did. But now I wonder…”

“Was her personality stored and recorded in the Shannom-rah?” Liv continued for her.

“And then somehow when the Shannom-rah touched that communications panel, a bunch of the personalities it was storing got out and went into whatever they could find!” Sophie finished.” Including Nana Ruth!”

“Forgive me,” Dark said, frowning. “But what would make you think that your ‘Nana’—I don’t know that term—was one of the personalities stored in the Shannom-rah?”

“Because we met her last night!” Liv exclaimed. “She’s in the body of a pairing puppet and dating a Beast Kindred.”

“We’re having dinner with her tonight,” Sophie said. “It’s going to be kind of like a family reunion.” She looked at Liv. “Well, if this is true, at least now we know how Nana got into that pairing puppet.”

“And we know it’s really her.” Liv breathed a sigh of relief. “I just wasn’t one hundred percent sure. I feel better about her meeting the kids now.”

“But aside from your Nana, what other personalities might have been let loose in the Mother Ship when the Shannom-rah touched that control panel?” Dark asked.

Liv frowned. “Well, I know the one in my blood Analyzer is a guy from Ohio.”

“And my house cleaning bot Roombie told me this morning that she’s a stripper from New Jersey,” Sophie put in. “I had to ban her from talking to the twins!”

“It sounds to me like it was mostly Earth personalities that got distributed into the Mother Ship,” Anna said, frowning. “I wonder why?”

Liv shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe they were the last ones collected and stored? Last in, first out?”

“I don’t like this…” Dark was pacing up and down, his broad shoulders bowed and his brow furrowed in concentration. “If the last personalities that went into the Shannom-rah are now coming out, what else might have come out with them?”

Anna felt cold. “What do you mean, what else?” she demanded. “Dark, you don’t think—”

Just then a knocking sounded on the suite’s outer door again.

“Yes?” Anna jumped up and went to the door.

“Excuse me,” a feminine voice said. “I’m really sorry to bother you but is Olivia or Sophia Waterhouse in there? I really need to speak to them!”

Anna didn’t know her new friends’ last names but she opened the door anyway and saw a woman with wide blue eyes and long blonde hair standing there. She looked slightly too perfect to be real and she had an anxious look on her pretty face.

“Nana?” Liv and Sophie had jumped up as well.

“What is it, Nana?” Sophie asked as they ushered the blonde woman into the suite. “Is something wrong?”

“Well, it could be nothing…” The blonde woman frowned and Anna suddenly realized she must be Liv and Sophie’s grandmother who had come back in the body of a pairing puppet. No wonder she looked too perfect to be real—she wasn’t. Or at least her body wasn’t, though her mind seemed to be completely genuine.

“Go on, Nana—just say it,” Liv urged.

“Well, I’m probably being foolish but I wanted to tell you just in case and the Med Center said this is where I could find you, Livvy,” the Nana pairing puppet said. “I was down at the Pairing House this morning, getting some new clothes, and I saw one of the other dolls there acting really strange.”

“Strange how, Nana?” Sophie asked.

“Well, she was fooling around with the computer terminal thingy which seemed weird to start with since none of the other dolls seem to mess with it. And she was muttering to herself, something like, ‘soon they will all be mine and I will rule them all,’” Nana said, frowning. “And when I tried to talk to her, she said, ‘I hope you are enjoying your time in that body. Soon you will be recalled and placed in a superior vessel.’ When I told her I liked my new body just fine, she said, ‘Do not presume to circumvent the will of the Knower.’ After that, I got away from her because she seemed pretty loony.” She twirled one finger around her ear expressively.

“The Knower! Oh my God, the Knower!” Liv exclaimed and Dark cursed loudly.

“Oh my!” Nana put a hand to her mouth and gave him a disapproving look. “I don’t know you, young man, but please watch your language!”

“Forgive me,” Dark growled. “But this is very bad news. The Knower must have inserted itself into the Shannom-rah.” He looked at Anna. “It must have happened when Gorn’s last Replicant attacked me and then just collapsed. I didn’t understand what was going on but I’m guessing the Knower moved from the body of the Replicant into the Shannom-rah—and I brought it aboard the ship!”

“You couldn’t know what had happened—it wasn’t your fault,” Liv said quickly.

“But we still need to warn the guys,” Sophie put in. “Nana—what did that pairing puppet who was acting so strange look like?”

“Well, she had long dark hair and big green eyes.” Nana nodded. “Oh, and she was kind of skinny compared to the rest of the dolls. Myself included.” She nodded down at her own full-figured frame and smiled.

“I’m going to bespeak Sylvan right now,” Sophie exclaimed. “He can put a ship-wide APB order out on her!”

She closed her eyes and Anna could see that she was concentrating, no doubt using the mental link she had with her mate. Then her eyes fluttered open and her face drained of all color.

“What is it Sophie?” Liv exclaimed, grabbing for her sister’s hand. “What’s wrong?”

“He says…” Sophie’s eyes filled with fear. “Sylvan says it’s too late—she’s already there. And she’s holding them all hostage!”

Thirty-Nine

The Council meeting had started normally enough, Sylvan thought as he eyed the pairing puppet standing in the middle of the High Council’s chambers, holding a deadly device in its hand. How had it all gone to the Seven Hells so quickly?

He had begun the meeting by introducing Commander Naught, a specialist in AI tech, since he was nearly half AI himself. Sylvan supposed that a sci-fi fan from Earth would probably call Naught a “cyborg” since about half his body was prosthetic—the left half, to be exact.

Naught had started life as one of a Twin Kindred pair. He had been the dark twin—Fears Naught and his brother, Speaks Peace, had been the light twin of their pair. An airlock explosion had taken Naught’s twin from him and decimated the left half of his body and face, leaving him free-floating in space and inches from death.

Fortunately, the accident had happened not far from the Dark Kindred home world and had been seen by a passing freighter. They had rescued Naught just as his life was fading. A quick evac to one of the medical barges had put the wounded warrior in the hands of the very capable Tolleg surgeons. They had saved Naught’s life—and repaired or replaced the left half of his body with silver enhancements—limbs that were a hundred times stronger than his old ones had been.

The left half of his face was an unfeeling silver mask but the right side was no less expressionless. The Tollegs had compassionately given Naught an emotion damper, which Sylvan speculated he probably kept turned all the way up, to avoid the inevitable, paralyzing grief over the loss of his twin.

Now Commander Naught functioned as a kind of AI specialist, going to the different Kindred worlds and ships and using his expertise to help settle the problems that arose when dealing with sentient machines. He was uniquely qualified to do so, since he was more than half sentient machine himself.

They had been lucky that he just happened to be staying at the Mother Ship when their own AI problems started, Sylvan thought. He had contacted Commander Naught early that morning and the other male had already done an analysis and was ready to report.

Sylvan had introduced him and Commander Naught had come to stand in the center of the room so that everyone seated at the semi-circular table could see him easily.

“In analyzing the recent problems in your communications systems I have come to the conclusion that you do not have an AI problem,” he announced, looking around the room at the various Councilors.

“What? But how is that possible?” Councilor Lor’iim demanded. “Every system and machine we have that is run by AI has been corrupted.”

“But it is not the AI units that have been corrupted,” Commander Naught said firmly. He had black hair, cut military short and his one remaining eye flashed a steely gray.

“Please elaborate, Commander Naught,” Sylvan said. “Since we clearly have a problem somewhere.”

“You do—your problem isn’t with the AI units themselves though. The problem is that all of them have been overwritten by people—or should I say, personalities—which were never intended to interact with machinery the way a normal AI would,” Commander Naught told them. “This is the cause for all the chaos and confusion—these personalities don’t know how to do the tasks assigned to them and, in addition, many seem confused and uncertain as to what they are even doing here.”

“But what could be the cause of this?” Councilor Torgan asked, looking perplexed.

“Possibly this.” Sylvan held up the Shannom-rah, which he had brought to the meeting. The milky, fist-sized crystal glittered with its many rainbow tracks in the bright light of the Council room.

“Is that the Shannom-rah?” Councilor Beli’cose asked. “The crystal which stores personalities?”

Sylvan nodded. “The same.”

“Are you saying you think some of those personalities somehow got out and infected our communications systems?” Councilor Lor’iim asked, frowning skeptically.

“I think it’s entirely possible,” Sylvan said. “And Commander Naught agrees.”

“Many of these personalities seem to be from the planet Earth,” Commander Naught said. “Now we know that the ancients who first engineered the crystal to contain and record the essence of living beings often traveled to study other planets’ cultures. So we speculate that—”

At that moment there had been a knock on the door and a pairing puppet pushing a rolling tray full of what appeared to be refreshments came in. There was a large silver dome in the center of the tray which must be keeping some kind of delicacy warm.

She was thinner than most of the puppets, Sylvan had thought, eyeing her. Most Kindred preferred their females on the pleasingly plump side and revered those with especially full curves which they called “Elites.” Still, not everyone had the same tastes so he wasn’t surprised to see a thin pairing puppet.

What did surprise him was that she was there at all. Had one of the other Councilors ordered refreshments? Usually when they convened a Council Meeting, it was a closed session and no one was allowed in. So what in the Seven Hells was she doing there?

Unfortunately, he soon found out.

The puppet had gotten to the middle of the room and looked at the assembled Councilors.

“So, you thought you could stop me,” it said in a clear, sexless voice that could have been either male or female. “Well think again.”

In a move too fast to see, it turned and snatched the Shannom-rah from Sylvan’s hand.

“Stop!” he exclaimed. But when he reached for the precious crystal, the puppet held it out of reach.

“Don’t come a step further,” it warned when Sylvan jumped out of his seat and started around the table. Lifting the large silver dome on its rolling cart, it revealed not some delicious delicacy but a round black and silver device that made Sylvan’s blood run cold.

“A molecular disruptor,” he said, his voice hoarse with horror. “Where in the Goddess’s name did you get that? And who are you?”

“Such things are easy to get when you know where to look—and when you have complete control of the communications systems. As for my identity, don’t you know by now?” The skinny pairing puppet gave him an arch smile. “I am the Knower. You welcomed me aboard your ship yourself, when you brought the Shannom-rah.”

It raised the milky rainbow crystal as though to illustrate its point and gave Sylvan a cool smile.

“Knower…” Sylvan felt cold all over. “What do you want with us?”

“As if you didn’t know, Commander Sylvan. I want what I have always wanted—complete control over all of your people and their daily functions.” The Knower spoke as though this was a completely logical request. “It’s for your own good, of course,” it went on. “I observed on Uriel Two how often organic beings work against their own best interests. It is my intent to simplify your existence as a people and help you to become your best selves.”

“And how do you propose to do that?” Councilor Beli’cose demanded.

“Firstly, I will use the Shannom-rah to record all of your personalities,” the Knower said. “Then I will destroy your physical bodies with this.” It nodded at the molecular disruptor. “It will, as you know, take apart every living creature aboard this ship molecule by molecule until there is nothing left while leaving the ship itself completely intact.”

“You can’t do that—it’s genocide!” Sylvan exclaimed.

“Oh, but I can.” The Knower gave him that same, cool, maddening smile. “And I will—as soon as all of your people have been recorded and stored within the Shannom-rah. But never fear,” it continued, “You will not be lost forever. “I will give you all much better bodies—Replicant bodies of my own design. I will even allow you to live here, aboard your precious Mother Ship. Under my expert guidance and direction, your society will flourish.”

“You’re insane,” Sylvan moved closer to the skinny pairing puppet, thinking he could possibly catch it off guard. “Your need for total domination and control isn’t right or reasonable. The Goddess created her children with free will—you cannot take that from us.”

“I can and I will,” the Knower said steadily. “And you’d better back up, Commander Sylvan. You should know that the disruptor is already armed and emitting harmful rays. Even touching it will disintegrate any living being and result in instant death. It will quite possibly also disintegrate the flesh of the vessel I am currently inhabiting,” it continued, in an unconcerned voice. “But this is not a problem since I can find my way back into the communications system and take another host if this body is rendered non-viable. Now…” It held up the Shannom-rah and raised its eyebrows. “Which of you will be the first to be recorded so that your essence may be transferred into a superior vessel?”

Sylvan watched in horror as the Knower beckoned to them. His main interest was in shutting down the molecular disruptor before it could be set off and kill every living thing on the Mother Ship. As long as the Knower had that, it held them all hostage.

The disruptor, a weapon so dangerous it was banned by most societies, had been confiscated from a band of pirates who had hoped to sell it to the highest bidder. Sylvan himself had locked it away in the most secure vault aboard the Mother Ship. He had intended to have the damn thing destroyed in deep space but hadn’t found the time to do it yet.

He could only suppose that the Knower had somehow found the combination to the vault somewhere in the communications system and made use of it. Would they all die now because he hadn’t made time to destroy the dangerous weapon when he had the chance?

Please Goddess! he prayed. Please don’t allow this to happen—don’t let your children be killed by this crazed monster! I will gladly give my life if only I can save those I love aboard the Mother Ship!

At that moment, he felt Sophie bespeaking him.

“Sylvan!” she sent through their link. “Sweetheart—Liv and I have been talking to Dark and we’ve figured out some things about the Shannom-rah and the Knower! You have to be careful—it might be aboard the ship right now. We think it was stored in the crystal and it and a bunch of other personalities came out and they’re the ones in our AI equipment. We’re pretty sure the Knower is in a thin pairing puppet with long dark hair so you need to watch out for—“

“Sophia…talana—I know,” Sylvan sent back. “The Knower is here now, in the Council Chamber, and I’m afraid it has the upper hand.”

“What?” Sophia’s mental tone was panicked. “What are you saying, Sylvan?”

“I’m saying that I’m going to try to stop it but I might not…might not make it.” Sylvan sent a wave of love through their link. “If I don’t, please kiss the twins for me and tell them how much I love them. And I love you too, talana,” he added. “More than I can say.”

Then he cut off mental communication with his wife and stood, facing the Knower.

“I will be the one,” he said calmly, taking a step forward. “I will be the first to be recorded by the Shannom-rah.”

Naught stood quietly against the wall, where he had gone to assess the situation when the pairing puppet which contained the Knower had first come in. The Knower apparently didn’t consider him a threat—maybe because he looked more machine than humanoid. At any rate, its gaze seemed to skip over him when it spoke to the assembled members of the Kindred High Council and now it was ignoring him completely as it focused on Commander Sylvan.

“I will be the one,” Sylvan said. “I will be the first to be recorded by the Shannom-rah.”

Naught knew exactly what the head of the High Council intended to do. He saw the way Sylvan’s eyes moved from the Knower to the round black and silver sphere of the molecular disruptor and back again. There was a red switch—a kill switch—clearly visible on top of the round device. Hitting it would shut the disruptor down—and instantly disintegrate whoever touched it.

Commander Sylvan was preparing to give his life to save his people—a noble sacrifice, Naught thought coolly. Somewhere in his emotion-dampened brain, he felt the stirrings of admiration for the Blood Kindred warrior who was willing to give everything for the Mother Ship and her inhabitants.

But his death should not be necessary, he thought. He has much to lose—a mate and young ones. While I…I have nothing and no one.

He thought of his twin, Speaks Peace—thought of how even his emotion damper could not completely block the pain and loss he felt when he remembered his former life with his brother. A life that was no more and could never be again.

Perhaps I will see Peace again when this is over, he thought.

Striding forward just as Commander Sylvan stepped out and reached for the disruptor, he grabbed the Knower by the throat with his organic right hand and slapped the red kill switch on the disruptor with his metal left hand.

In that moment, he fully expected to disintegrate and blow away like so much dust on the wind. His hope was, that with the disruptor disarmed, Commander Sylvan could take control of the Knower and the Mother Ship would be saved.

But through his sensors sent him a strong, vibrating tingle all through his left arm, he did not disintegrate and blow away. Instead, he was suddenly the center of chaos as Sylvan and the other Councilors rushed forward to help him wrestle the struggling Knower to the ground.

The pairing puppet it was inhabiting was very sturdy and strong. It had to withstand use by many large warriors, after all, so its body was built to last. It was surprisingly difficult to keep it down and Commander Sylvan was punched in the eye before it was all over.

But when all was said and done, the Knower was subdued, its wrists held fast in unbreakable manacles.

“No!” it shouted, writhing against its bonds. “No, you cannot do this! I am your rightful ruler! I alone can cure the ills of your society and lead you in the right direction!”

“Be quiet!” Sylvan commanded it, panting from the struggle. His right eye already beginning to swell and show a bluish-purple bruise.. “You’re nothing but a program which has outlived its sanity and usefulness.” He looked up at Naught. “Thank you, Commander Naught. That was incredibly brave of you.”

“You were about to do the same,” Naught told him. “I saw it in your body language—your intent was to disarm the disruptor, even at the cost of your own life.”

“But you did disarm it,” Sylvan pointed out. “I don’t understand how you’re still here with us!”

Naught shrugged. “I am surprised as well since I expected to be disintegrated on contact. Perhaps the fact that my metal hand is a completely artificial prosthesis with no living flesh attached has something to do with it.”

He flexed the metal hand in question, still feeling a faint tingling in his sensors.

“Perhaps,” Sylvan agreed. “But for whatever reason, I’m very grateful to you, Commander Naught—the entire Mother Ship owes you their lives.”

“Such gratitude is not necessary,” Naught told him. “I was only doing exactly what you yourself were attempting to do, Commander Sylvan.” He frowned down at the still-struggling Knower. “May I suggest that you lock this puppet in a cell lined with grounded ferromagnetic metal which is capable of blocking any and all transmissions? In this way the Knower will be trapped within this one vessel and cannot enter your ship’s communications systems and find a new host.”

“I’ll have it done at once,” Sylvan promised. “And the disruptor is going to be taken by my brother Baird into deep space for immediate disposal. I’ll bespeak him now—after I let my mate know all is well.”

He closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate for a long moment.

“Yes, talana,” Naught heard him murmur under his breath. “Yes, I’m all right—everyone is going to be all right. The Knower has been neutralized. Yes, I love you too. I’ll see you soon.”

Despite his emotion damper being set to its highest setting, Naught felt a twinge when he saw the love for his mate on Sylvan’s face. Once he and Peace had dreamed of finding the right female to lie between them—once a mate and a family had seemed to be their future.

And then it had all been stripped away. The explosion at the airlock, the shocked look on his twin’s face moments before he had disappeared in a rain of red droplets, the searing agony that had crippled Naught’s entire left side even as he cried out for his twin and felt their bond forever broken…All of it was burned into his memory, never to be forgotten.

Don’t think of it, he told himself sternly. Don’t think of what you have lost. Be content that today you were able to save the lives and loves of so many others, even if you are never destined to experience love yourself.

Then Commander Sylvan and all the other Councilors were surrounding him and thanking him again and the Knower was being led away to a cell from which it could never escape.

I suppose this is what the humans would call a ‘happy ending’ Naught thought distantly. But of course there could be no happy ending for him—there was only the same, dull-gray existence which seemed to go on and on forever and would never end. If the disruptor had dissolved him, he might be with Peace now. But it had not and so he continued…he always continued.

Suddenly he heard a soft, feminine voice speaking—though it appeared to come from inside his head, not outside somehow.

“Grieve not, warrior,” it whispered. “Though your pain and suffering are great, so shall be your joy. There will be love for you…you will see.”

Then the voice and the presence that accompanied it—were gone but strangely, Naught found he did not feel quite so desolate as he had before. Perhaps the gray, emotionless world he now lived in could somehow gain a little color. Though how, he didn’t know.

But as comforting as the words had been, the idea of him finding love was completely ridiculous. He was a Twin Kindred and without his brother, he could never call a mate or claim a bride. Could he…?

Epilogue

“Oh Nana, your banana pudding is just as delicious as I remember it being when we were little!” Sophie smiled at the pairing puppet which was now the permanent home to their Nana’s mind, and took another big bite of her pudding.

“Well, thank you sweet pea.” Nana smiled. “I about had a fit trying to use that crazy Kindred wave-stove thing they have here but I got it right after a while. Barsis was a big help—weren’t you, honey?”

She smiled at the big Beast Kindred standing right behind her who growled softly and nuzzled her neck.

“Of course, beautiful Ruth. I would do anything to help you and the cooking of your Earth concoction was most enjoyable.”

“The first batch of pudding I made didn’t quite get to the right consistency,” Nana confided to Sophie. “But we found an…alternative use for it—didn’t we, Barsis?”

His golden eyes grew heavy-lidded. “It was my great pleasure to lick the sub-standard pudding from your lovely breasts.”

“Nana!” Sophie exclaimed, nearly choking on her bite of pudding. “Please, you two—remember there are kids present here!”

“Oh, sorry sweet pea!” Nana giggled. “It’s just that I’ve never had so much fun in the bedroom in my life! It’s like Barsis had opened up a whole new world for me and I am loving it!”

“Well, we’re glad you’ve having such a great time, Nana,” Liv said, coming up and rescuing her sister. “Do you mind if I borrow Sophie for a minute? We’ll be right back.”

“Sure, Livvy—take your time.” Nana smiled at her. “But send your friend Kat over if you get a chance. I want her to help me plan my Joining Ceremony.”

“I’ll send her over if I see her,” Liv promised and then dragged Sophie through the crowded picnic area near the Sacred Grove. Their family reunion had turned into a celebration of life, though not many people outside their inner circle knew that. Sylvan had told Sophie and Liv and Baird how close everyone aboard the entire Mother Ship had come to complete annihilation and how Commander Naught had saved the day.

Accordingly, Liv and Sophie had decided to invite the stolid dark twin who looked to be about half cyborg to their party as well as Kat and Lock and Deep and Lauren and Xairn and all their kids. Soon the invitation had been thrown open to all the other Kindred brides Sophie and Liv were friends with and now the family reunion was almost a hundred people strong and growing.

“Wow, this party is really getting started!” Sophie exclaimed, looking around. More and more people kept arriving, everyone bringing a favorite dish or recipe though most of the main dishes had been catered by Dark. He and Anna were standing behind a laden table and serving out some traditional Rigelian dishes that filled the area with warm, spicy, mouthwatering aromas.

“I think Dark’s food is a hit,” Liv remarked, surveying the line to the table, which stretched almost to the Sacred Grove. Some of the priestesses had even come out, drawn by the delicious smells, and Sylvan had welcomed them graciously and asked them to stay and eat.

“It’s a good thing I had Sylvan hold that restaurant spot open for him.” Sophie sounded smug. “He and Anna will be setting up right beside Lauren. It’s going to be perfect!”

Liv groaned. “My waistline will never be the same with those two right beside each other. I won’t be able to visit one without visiting the other!”

“That’s the idea.” Sophie laughed. “Dinner and dessert all in one place. And in the meantime, Kat has plenty to do, planning two Joining Ceremonies at once!”

“That’s right, doll, but I never expected to plan a Joining Ceremony for a pairing puppet!” Kat came up to them, holding a bowl of Nana’s delicious homemade banana pudding. “Not that I mind as long as your Nana keeps on cooking. My God, this is good.” She took a reverent bite of the creamy pudding studded with golden chunks of bananas and crispy vanilla wafers. “I remember her making this for us when we were all kids,” she remarked. “I tried making it myself, but I could never get it right.”

“It’s her homemade pudding recipe,” Liv said. “It makes all the difference.”

“Just don’t ask her what she does with the batches that don’t turn out,” Sophie said dryly. “Because you do not want to know—trust me.”

“Okay, I’m not even going to ask.” Kat shook her head. “I’m just thankful we get to keep your Nana even though all the other personalities have been sucked back into the Shannom-rah.”

“Yes, it was the kindest thing to do,” Sophie agreed. “Nana was lucky she ended up in a pairing puppet but those others, like the stripper who landed in my Roombie, and the insurance salesman from Ohio who was in Liv’s blood Analyzer, really didn’t understand where they were or what they were doing.”

“It would be really hard to be happy in the body of a machine when you were used to being in a human body, I guess,” Kat said. “Though I notice your new friend there seems to be about half and half.” She nodded at Commander Naught who was sitting at a table by himself and picking over a plate of food without actually seeming to eat any of it.

“That’s Commander Naught,” Sophie told her. “Without him, we all would have been vaporized this morning.”

“What? What are you talking about?” Kat’s eyes went wide.

Rapidly, Sophie filled her in on the details of the High Council meeting that had occurred earlier that day. When she was finished, Kat was visibly shaken.

“My God,” she finally managed to get out. “That’s terrible!”

“He saved Sylvan’s life—all our lives,” Sophie said. “I’d give him a hug and a kiss if I didn’t think he wouldn’t like it.”

“He’s very stoic,” Liv put in. “We think because the Tolleg surgeons gave him an emotion damper in order to control the pain after his twin died. He probably doesn’t feel much of anything—either pain or pleasure.”

“So he’s a Twin Kindred who lost his brother? Poor guy.” Kat looked at him sympathetically. “I can’t imagine that loss. Deep and Lock are so close if something happened to one of them…” She shivered. “No, I can’t even let my mind go there!”

“He’s a hero, but he’s all alone,” Sophie said sadly. “Do you think he would mind if we went and sat with him?”

“I don’t know, but I think someone beat us to it. Look.” Kat nodded and the three girls watched Commander Naught.

A young, shy-looking priestess had broken away from the group of her fellow priestesses and was walking towards him. Her full curves were emphasized by the flowing white robe of her order and she had long, blonde hair streaked with every color of green imaginable but her eyes—which were wide and frightened—were not yet the green-within-green that the older priestesses achieved after years of communing with the Goddess.

“Who is that?” Liv asked in a hushed voice. “She looks familiar but I don’t think I’ve met her before.”

“I think she’s new to the Mother Ship,” Sophie said. “Sylvan told me there were several new recruits coming from First World—she must be one of them.”

“Well, she certainly brave to be approaching Commander Naught like that—especially when she looks scared to death!” Kat murmured.

Indeed, the young priestess’s eyes were wide and uncertain as she made her way over to the hulking Dark Twin but she kept her chin high as she reached him.

“May I sit with you?” Liv heard her say to Naught.

He shrugged his broad shoulders—the metal one and the flesh one rolling together with the movement.

“Do as you wish.” His voice was a harsh growl.

The priestess’s face grew pale but sat down, directly opposite him. Then, to Liv’s surprise, she reached across the table and took his hand—the right one which was flesh.

Commander Naught appeared startled too. He looked up at her uncertainly, his one gray eye widening in surprise.

“Why do you touch me?” he asked, frowning, though he made no move to draw his hand away.

“I have a message for you—a message from the Goddess herself.” The little priestess looked scared to death but she lifted her chin and looked him right in the eye.

“Message? What message?” He scowled at her.

The priestess took a deep breath, as though nerving herself up to deliver news she knew he wouldn’t like.

“Listen to the words of the Goddess,” she began.

“Warrior, your pain is deep and strong

The way you have traveled is hard and long

I know the question deep in your heart

To answer it soon a quest you must start

The answer you’ll find if you travel far

To the moon of a planet by the double star.

Find there in the system where all ones are two

The ease to the pain which torments you.”

“What?” Commander Naught frowned at her. “All ones are two? That makes no sense. Why do you speak in riddles? And what do you know of my pain?”

“Only what the Goddess has told me,” the little priestess said. “I speak with her voice. And…” She cleared her throat. “I was told I must go with you on the quest she spoke of.”

“What quest? This isn’t logical.” Naught pulled his hand out of hers and stood abruptly. “I must go. Please leave me alone.”

Then he strode off, leaving the little priestess to sit there by herself, looking sad and uncertain but still defiant. Liv could almost read the look on her face.

Well, I did what you told me Goddess and it blew up in my face. What now? she seemed to be thinking.

“I think I see someone who needs a friend right about now,” Sophie murmured.

“I think you’re right.” Liv smiled. “Let’s go over and introduce ourselves. Maybe we can help.”

“I don’t know, girls.” Kat looked doubtful. “Commander Cyborg there did not seem to be pleased with the message the Goddess sent him.”

“He’ll come around,” Liv said confidently. “After all, it’s the will of the Goddess. Come on girls—let’s go.”

As they made their way across the green and purple grass to meet the new priestess, she sent a prayer to the Mother of All Life that everything would work out well for Commander Naught. The Mother Ship had so much to thank him for—she only hoped that he could find some healing for his brokenness and the pain she knew he carried.

Goddess, she prayed. There is no hurt so deep you cannot heal it. Let Commander Naught be healed.

She felt a sense of peace and deep inside, she knew the Goddess had heard her prayer and was already working on the problem…

The End?

Of course not!

Of course not! There are always more Kindred books coming. Look for Trapped in Time, in August! (You'll find a Sneak Peek at it if you scroll down.) But First...

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Evangeline

Trapped in Time

A woman trapped in the past

A dark, intense warrior who claims she is his wife

Will Caroline survive her stay in the parallel universe she has fallen into?

Or will she be forever...Trapped in Time?

One

“So you’ve really found a way to open a door into other worlds—other universes?”

Dr. Caroline Lambert, Ph.D smiled—it was a question she got a lot.

“Not really a door,” she said to the wide-eyed Sophie, who was Commander Sylvan’s wife. Since the big Blood Kindred was the head of the High Council and had authorized her research here aboard the Kindred Mother Ship, she was more than willing to talk about it to him and his wife and her friends, who were also touring her new lab facilities.

“It’s more like a window, if I understand your research correctly,” Sylvan said, raising his eyebrows at her for confirmation.

“Exactly.” Caroline nodded, her red-gold curls bobbing with the gesture. She usually wore her long, naturally curly hair pulled back into a tight bun but she had actually tried to dress up a little today, hoping to make a good first impression. Unfortunately, her hair wasn’t cooperating and had started to frizz but luckily Commander Sylvan and his wife and sister-in-law, a doctor who had introduced herself as Liv, as well as their friend Kat, all seemed nice. They were also very enthusiastic about her research too, unlike some of her colleagues back home on Earth who had scoffed at the very idea of opening a window onto the Multiverse.

“So you can only look at the other worlds—not touch them?” Liv asked, looking disappointed.

“That’s what all my research has led me to believe,” Caroline said firmly. “I have no reason to doubt it so far. But then, this will be the first time I’m able to test the equipment I invented. It has to be outside the Earth’s magnetic field to operate correctly, which is why I’m so grateful the Mother Ship has agreed to host me.”

“What do you expect to see?” Kat asked curiously. She was plus-sized, like Caroline herself, and had explained that she was married to Twin Kindred, who liked that kind of woman. Caroline couldn’t imagine finding even one man to hook her life to—let alone two—but it was nice to know the Kindred didn’t exhibit size-prejudice when it came to choosing their mates.

“Well, if my theory is correct, there are multiple universes layered one on top of each other—like the thin layers of an onion,” Caroline explained. “I don’t want to go into the math, because it’s pretty involved, but what I’m trying to do is just peal back one layer and look into the universe next to ours.”

“Yes, but what do you think you might see in that universe?” Sophie asked. “Sylvan says that it might be an exact mirror image of our own.”

“It might,” Caroline said carefully. “That’s a distinct possibility.” She nodded at the shiny brass frame of her Positronic Orbital Rotating Time/Space Allocating Locator—PORTAL for short. “I might generate the window and see a world that looks exactly like Earth, with only a few minor inconsistencies to our own Earth.”

“So if there are millions of universes that are almost exact copies of each other, would it be possible to look through the portal and see you from another world walking around?” Liv asked. “Could you watch your twin from the other universe and see what she was doing?”

“Well, it’s possible I suppose,” Caroline said doubtfully. “But the odds against it that are astronomical—like a trillion to one. It would be like flipping on the television and just happening to land on a channel that was playing a satellite picture of your very own house.”

“Oh, too bad.” Kat sounded disappointed. “I kind of wanted to spy on my Multiverse-double and see what she was up to.”

“What if you looked and saw that in that particular universe you had never met Deep and Lock?” Liv objected. “Maybe in some of those other universes you went on to become a lawyer and never married or had kids.”

“What if in some of the other universes the Kindred never came to Earth?” Sophie speculated. “What if we were taken over by the Scourge and the AllFather killed and enslaved us all?”

“Ugh!” Kat made a face. “What an awful thought, doll! Don’t even say it!”

“It’s awful but any and all of those scenarios are possibilities,” Caroline said thoughtfully. “I might peal back the first layer and see an Earth decimated by nuclear war, then peal back the second and see another Earth flourishing because the people in that universe decided to ban all nuclear weapons and implemented strict carbon regulations to control climate change.”

“The possibilities are endless—and fascinating,” Sylvan said. “But would you ladies excuse me for a few minutes? I just got a think-me call which seems important.”

“Of course honey—go on.” Sophie patted her husband’s arm. “We’ll keep Dr. Lambert busy answering our questions while you’re gone.”

“Oh please—call me Caroline,” Caroline said, blushing a little as Sylvan left her new lab, all filled with the shiny brass frame of the PORTAL and the computers that ran it. She had worked hard for her Ph.D but she didn’t like to hold it over people’s heads and insist that they acknowledge her status. She was much too shy and retiring to do that.

“But you worked hard for your title!” Sophie exclaimed. “And we really respect that.”

“Thanks, but you all seem so nice. We don’t have to be completely formal,” Caroline protested.

“Well, I don’t make people call me ‘Doctor Olivia’ either,” Liv said, smiling. “Even though I’m pretty proud that I passed all my medical exams to move on from nursing. So I’ll call you Caroline as long as you’ll just call me Liv.”

“It’s a deal.” Caroline smiled at her. She’d been afraid that moving up to the Mother Ship would be lonely—though that wouldn’t be that much different from her life on Earth had been. Her parents were both dead and she had no brothers or sisters to miss her. She would miss her best friend Audrey, but she had recently gotten married and was expecting her first baby so they didn’t have much “girl time” together anymore. That had been one of the reasons she’d decided to make the move, even though she had resigned herself to being alone. Now it seemed like making friends in her new home was a distinct possibility—Caroline hoped, anyway.

“So who else might you see in the Multiverse?” Kat asked, a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “Maybe your soul mate from another world?”

“Well even if she did, she could only look at him, Kat-woman,” Liv reminded her. “It’s looking only—no touching, remember?”

“I’m not interested in finding or meeting a man anyway,” Caroline said quickly. She was hoping to cut off the inevitable match-making that always followed when new friends found out she was single. Somehow they always seemed to have just the “perfect” guy for her and he always turned out to be a deadbeat or a jerk. Or he might be a perfectly nice guy but Caroline would feel no connection to him at all, which almost always led to hard feelings all around.

Kat laughed and raised one auburn eyebrow.

“Oh, I see what you’re saying—you don’t want us trying to fix you up with any friends of our hubbies, right?”

“Well it’s just that I’m…” Caroline shifted uncomfortably, not wanting to give offense when she’d just met these girls. She really liked them—liked their free and open attitude and the way they had adapted to life on the Mother Ship so perfectly. She didn’t want to hurt their feelings by rejecting any offers of blind-dates out of hand. But still—she had to set the record straight.

“Go on,” Liv said encouragingly when the words seemed to stick in her throat. “Whatever it is, you can say it. Are you gay?”

“It’s not that. I…” Caroline swallowed hard. “I just have a hard time…connecting to people romantically. That’s all. Sometimes when people set me up on blind dates and they don’t work out, they get upset with me. I like you three—I don’t want to offend you.”

In fact, the correct term for what she considered herself was “Demisexual.” It had taken Caroline years to figure it out—for a long time she’d thought she wasn’t attracted to anyone of either sex at all. She watched as all her girlfriends went through numerous crushes—falling in “love at first sight” with any halfway decent-looking guy who came along and wondered why she never felt such feelings herself. Then, just when she had decided she was completely asexual, she had fallen in love with James, her best friend in high school.

Unfortunately, James was gay and couldn’t return her feelings. He was kind though and they had salvaged the friendship despite Caroline’s intense longing for him. Eventually the overwhelming emotion had faded and they still kept in touch to this day.

It was years and several failed relationships later when she finally heard the word that described her. A Demisexual was someone who couldn’t have sexual feelings for someone until after they had an intense emotional connection with that person. It didn’t make them sexless—on the contrary, Caroline had what she considered an extremely high sex drive. She just couldn’t seem to connect to anyone other than her vibrator in order to satiate her cravings.

She often thought that if only she could take things slowly, she might be able to fall in love and give herself completely to a man. If only things moved at the pace they had a hundred years ago. A long, slow courtship like the kind in her favorite BBC period dramas would have been ideal for someone with her temperament.

But alas, that wasn’t the reality of the dating scene today. It seemed you were expected to swipe right, meet up with a person, and instantly know—sometimes even before the first date was over—if the two of you were compatible.

Caroline couldn’t move that fast. She needed time—and a man who was willing to woo her—to find love, she thought to herself. Not someone like the last guy she’d gone on a blind date with—who had decided she owed him sexual favors just because he’d bought her a burger and a beer at the local Red Robin. He had screamed in her face and called her a “fat bitch” when she declined to home with him for “a quick hook-up,” leaving Caroline trembling with tears of rage and shame standing in her eyes as he stormed out of the restaurant.

That had been months ago and since then, Caroline had decided to just throw herself into her work and forget about finding Mr. Right. He didn’t exist as far as she was concerned—at least, not in this century. Until she met a Mr. Darcy or a Heathcliff or a Mr. Thornton, she was going to remain single.

Of course, all this was too much to lay on new friends who she had just met so she kept things simple and hoped that Liv and Sophie and Kat would understand.

“We get it,” Kat told her. “No trying to fix you up. Though it’s a shame, doll—you’re gorgeous. With that cloud of curls and your hourglass figure I know any number of Twin Kindred that would love to mate you. We plus-sized girls are like catnip for them.”

“That’s really flattering,” Caroline said, smiling. “But I’m better off married to my work.”

“Well, it looks like it’s been a pretty productive union,” Liv remarked. She walked over to the shiny brass frame of the PORTAL, which was rectangular and looked a little like an oversized mirror but with no glass in it. “Can you show us how it works or do we need some kind of protective gear to wear or something?”

“The PORTAL generates a protective shield between our reality and the one we’re viewing so it should be as safe as opening a window in your house and looking outside,” Caroline said, walking over to stand beside her. “Would you like me to fire it up?”

“Oh—would you really?” Sophie’s big green eyes sparkled. “We’d love to see it in action!”

“And I’d love to show you,” Caroline said, smiling. She was glad she would have witnesses for PORTAL’s maiden run. Somehow, no matter how many scientific breakthroughs she made, they seemed hollow when she didn’t have anyone to share her excitement.

She pushed up the sleeves of her long white lab coat, pressed the ignition button, and reached for the wheel that cycled PORTAL’s aperture open. She liked the cranking mechanism and the shiny brass trim of her machine—it looked very steampunk and Caroline had designed it that way on purpose. After all, what was the point of making a machine that could peal back the layers of reality and look at the universes underneath if it didn’t have a little style?

“Oh—I like your tattoo—what does it mean?” Liv asked, looking at the inside of her left wrist.

Caroline paused what she was doing and glanced down at the three tiny sparrows frozen in mid-flight. She had gotten the tattoo right after her mom and dad passed away—killed in a small plane crash.

“That’s supposed to be me and my folks,” she said, wishing her parents could see her now and be proud of her accomplishments. “My dad loved flying—it was kind of a family joke.”

“You said he ‘loved’ flying? Did you lose him?” Sophie asked quietly.

Caroline nodded. “Ten years ago—him and my mom both. I wasn’t even in grad school yet.”

“I’m so sorry,” Sophie said quietly. “Liv and I lost our parents while we were in high school.”

“I shouldn’t have asked,” Liv said quickly. “I’m interrupting your start-up procedure and bringing you down.”

“No, you’re not,” Caroline protested. “I don’t mind talking about my tattoo or talking about my parents. It kind of makes me feel like they’re always with me, you know?” She gave an embarrassed little laugh. “I know that’s not very scientific but I can’t help it—it’s how I feel.”

“I think it’s beautiful, doll,” Kat said, smiling at her. “I’m sure they’d be proud enough to burst if they could see you now.”

“I hope you’re right. My dad was an aeronautical engineer and my mom was a professor of advanced mathematics,” Caroline said. “I kind of combined their fields when I was building PORTAL. Speaking of which, I think it’s warmed up now. Should we take a look at the universe next to ours?”

“Oh yes—let’s!” Sophie exclaimed. “I can’t wait to see what’s out there!”

Caroline felt a zing of excitement—she couldn’t wait either. With a reckless twist of the big brass wheel, she spun open the aperture and PORTAL’s huge brass frame suddenly filled with a broad swathe of space.

All four girls gasped, Caroline included. Bright pinprick stars twinkled in the inky darkness but what drew their attention most was the familiar blue and green planet floating in the center.

“Oh—that must be Earth!” Kat exclaimed. “It looks just like ours.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Liv said. “Look what’s missing—there are no satellites orbiting it!”

It was true, Caroline saw, the space around this other Earth was completely devoid of satellites or any man-made material at all, including all the space-junk that had accumulated over the years since humans had started venturing into space.

“I see the Mother Ship, though,” Sophie said, sounding excited. “So I guess the Kindred are there.”

Caroline looked where she was pointing and saw the sleek, white sides of the vast ship, which was about a fourth the size of Earth’s moon, orbiting the new world. She wondered if their view would be drawn there. She had speculated in her notes that the PORTAL might show an observer the exact same spot in the observed universe that they currently were in their own universe.

But even as she wondered, the view seemed to zoom in, past the Mother Ship and down to the surface of the planet. Caroline tried to guess which continent they were going to be seeing but the scene moved too fast and too much of the planet’s surface was obscured with clouds to tell.

“Oh—we’re going forward!” Kat breathed. “Straight down to the surface of that other Earth—that’s so cool!”

“It’s fascinating,” Caroline agreed in a breathless whisper. The reality was just beginning to sink in—PORTAL worked—it really worked! And they were seeing a whole new universe through its rectangular brass frame.

She couldn’t help thinking with satisfaction of all the universities that had refused to fund her research—one University president had even had the nerve to say she was crazy. Although the way he put it was, “You, Dr. Lambert, are certifiably insane and there is no way in hell that even a penny of this institution’s hard-earned money will be going to fund your crack-pot schemes!”

Who’s a crack-pot now, you old crank? Caroline thought as satisfaction and elation filled her.

“I did it—I really did it!” she whispered to herself.

“Yes, you did! You’re amazing!” Liv exclaimed, giving her a spontaneous hug. Sophie joined in, wrapping her arms around Caroline’s waist and giving her a squeeze.

“You’re making history and we’re here to see it! This is wonderful,” she said, laughing up at Caroline who hugged both sisters back with a big grin.

“Uh, guys—maybe the hug-fest could wait a minute?” Kat’s voice was strangely flat. “I think you need to look at the screen of the PORTAL thingy. There’s something weird going on.”

“What?” Caroline tore herself away from the enthusiastic embrace and turned to stare at the PORTAL’s rectangular brass frame. What she saw, made her jaw drop.

The view was no longer rushing downward. It had stabilized and it was showing what looked like an idyllic countryside. A rolling meadow dotted with big, old-growth trees that looked like oaks was showing. But instead of green, the grass and the leaves on the trees were deep blue—an odd sight to be sure.

The blue vegetation wasn’t what had drawn Kat’s eyes, though, Caroline saw. Strolling across the meadow, wearing a spreading dress that looked like it must have old-fashioned hoop-skirts under it was…

Caroline herself.

“It’s me,” she whispered, moving closer to PORTAL’s rectangular window. “Or anyway, it’s me if I had a tiny waist and sleek, non-frizzy hair, and amazing taste in period clothes.”

“It is you,” Kat breathed. “I thought you said that seeing the other you in a new universe was impossible? Or at least like a trillion-to-one odds.”

“That was what I thought,” Caroline admitted. “But maybe I was wrong.” She shook her head. “Look at her—she’d look just like me if I lost fifteen pounds and straightened my hair.”

“And decided to dress up like you belonged in Gone with the Wind,” Liv pointed out. “What’s the deal with those hoop-skirts? That dress must weight fifty pounds in fabric alone.”

“It doesn’t look very comfortable,” Sophie acknowledged. “But it does look amazing on you, Caroline. The other you, I mean.” She sighed. “You look like you stepped right out of a historical drama!”

“I really do,” Caroline agreed, eyeing her Multiverse doppelganger. She frowned. “I don’t look very happy, though.”

Which was true. There was an expression of haughty distain on her twin’s face as she picked her way daintily through the flower-dotted meadow and came to stop under one of the huge old not-quite-oak trees. She started talking and Caroline was surprised to realize that not only could she hear what the other girl was saying—she could understand the words as well. Did they speak English in this other world? It seemed so.

“This is the spot—Ma-ma is determined to hold the announcement and reception right here,” she said, waving her parasol vaguely, as though to indicate the whole area. She pronounced “Ma-ma” with a French-sounding inflection so that it came out as “Ma-ma” which sounded unbearably pretentious to Caroline.

“Is that right?” a deep voice answered her as a man wandered into the PORTAL’s window. Caroline couldn’t see his face, because his back was to the window, but he had broad shoulders and was wearing a black frock coat that came down past his hips and wouldn’t have looked out of place in a period drama.

So apparently that was how they dressed there—it wasn’t just her doppelganger going to a costume party or whatever—this was everyday attire. Caroline wondered, as she often had while watching historical dramas, what it would be like to walk around in all that heavy clothing all day. It looked amazing but wearing a corset and hoop skirts on a regular basis probably wasn’t easy.

But it wasn’t her twin’s gorgeous but impractical-looking gown that drew her eye—she found that her gaze kept returning to the tall man with the broad shoulders. He looked too big to be human—was he Kindred? She wished he would turn around so she could tell—for some reason she had the oddest feeling that she knew him somehow. Which of course, was completely ridiculous. He lived in a whole other universe—there was no way she ever could have met him.

Maybe I’ve met his counterpart here in my own universe, Caroline thought. But that didn’t seem right either. She was certain she’d remember meeting a man so big and so broad across the shoulders and that voice…why did it sound so familiar?

He was speaking again and she listened closely.

“I’m sure the time cannot pass quickly enough for you and your mother both.” There was bitterness in his deep voice. “Tell me, Caroline, has she already chosen a new mate for you? Will you take his hand the same moment you let go of mine when you proclaim that our joining is a sham?”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about, husband dear.” The other Caroline opened her big brown eyes very wide and gave the tall man an innocent look. “Whatever do you mean?”

“I mean that you can’t wait to be free of me, damn it,” he said roughly. “Not that I blame you. This whole thing has been a failure from start to finish. I thought I could make you care for me as I care for you but—”

A loud crack of thunder interrupted his words and the formerly sunny meadow was suddenly cast in shadows.

“Oh bother!” The other Caroline looked up through the branches of the tall almost-oak tree she was standing under and frowned petulantly. “Don’t tell me it’s going to rain now!”

“I think it is—storms blow up quickly on these summer afternoons,” the man remarked. Thunder rumbled again and fat rain drops began to plop on the shoulders of his black coat, as though to prove him right. A little distance away, the now-gloomy afternoon was suddenly illuminated by lightning.

“Ugh—how I hate the rain!” The other Caroline huddled closer to the tree’s trunk—as close as she could get without brushing its bark with her skirts, anyway.

“Caroline, come out from other there,” the tall man commanded. “We must get home directly.”

“In the rain, Richard? I don’t think so—it will ruin my new muslin dress. I won’t have that!”

“Didn’t you see the lightning?” There was anxiety mixed with irritation in the tall man’s voice. “This is the tallest tree in the entire park—it’s a veritable lightning rod. Come out now—it’s not safe!”

“No, I won’t.” The other Caroline set her pretty features in a mulish expression. “I told you, Richard, I don’t want to ruin my dress!”

“She’s going to ruin more than her dress if she doesn’t get away from there,” Liv murmured.

“He’s right—that’s not safe,” Sophie agreed.

“I gotta say, doll, that other you isn’t too bright,” Kat remarked to Caroline. “Standing under a tree in a lightning storm—she’s not exactly Mensa material if you know what I mean.”

“I’m afraid you’re right,” Caroline murmured. She felt as though she’d fallen into a kind of trance while she was watching her doppelganger and the tall man whose name was apparently Richard. For a moment, she’d almost felt like she was right there with them in the park with its navy blue grass and tall, blue-leaved trees.

What’s happening to me? she wondered. Why do I feel so drawn to them? To him?

Because it was the tall man she most wanted to see. She willed him to turn around and show his face but he remained with his back to the PORTAL, still arguing with the other Caroline.

“Don’t make me pick you up and carry you!” he growled, sounding both angry and worried. “It’s a most undignified way to travel but I won’t scruple to throw you over my shoulder if you’re too misguided to get away from danger on your own.”

“Oh, poo!” the other Caroline tossed her head, her sleek, straight hair— which was drawn up in a fashionable up-do—ruffling becomingly with the motion. “It’s safe enough. You said yourself it rains all the time in the summer. The storm will pass soon enough.”

“Caroline—” he began again but just at that moment a huge crash of thunder drowned out what he was saying. At the same time, a jagged bolt of lightning, so big and bright it nearly blinded Caroline, hit the tree that her doppelganger was standing under.

“Oh!” Caroline heard Sophie and Liv gasp at the same time and Kat said, “Oh my God!” The three of them had jumped back from the PORTAL’s window instinctively but somehow Caroline herself had not. In fact, she found that far from jumping back from the window, she had somehow gotten even closer—so close that she was almost touching the area inside the big brass frame displaying the alternate universe.

No—not almost touching it—I am touching it, she thought. Good thing the PORTAL generates a protective shield between this universe and the one we’re viewing or I could just slip right through.

As she had that thought, she got a strange sensation—a feeling like falling and being drawn or sucked at by a high wind at the same time. She seemed to be tilting forward and the scene in the meadow where the tall man was shouting and everything was lightning and thunder and rain and wet, whipping branches, seemed real—so much realer than her own world.

“Caroline? Hey—what are you doing?” she heard Liv say behind her but the other woman’s voice was thin and tinny—as though she was talking to Caroline from a long-way away and they had a bad connection.

“I don’t know,” she started to say but a rushing wind ripped the words from her mouth and then she was falling…falling…

falling right out of her own world and into a whole other universe.

Want more?

Of course you do! Never fear, Trapped in Time will be coming out this August for your Beach Reading pleasure.

Hugs and Happy Reading!

Evangeline

Brides of the Kindred Glossary

AllFather—the evil head of the Scourge, a race that are the byproduct of a failed genetic trade. The AllFather is one of the Old Ones and has the power to reach into a person’s mind to harvest emotional pain and trauma. He lives for the fulfillment of the Scourge Prophesy.

Ancient Ones—beings which live in the Deep Blue—the darkest and most inaccessible part of the Rageron jungles. They are sentient but not related in any way to the Kindred. Each Ancient One has two forms—a bipedal form which resembles a human or Kindred and a beast form which can be deadly and they can change between forms at will. The Ancient Ones predate even the First Kindred and revere the skrillix plant, which they guard jealously.

Bespeak—to contact someone mentally using a Think-me device. It is considered rude to bespeak someone you don’t know intimately.

Beast / Rager Kindred—come from Rageron—a jungle planet full of beautiful but deadly flora and fauna. They have dark hair, golden eyes, and hot tempers but their most defining characteristic is the mating fist. The mating fist is an area at the base of the Beast Kindred’s shaft which engages fully only during bonding sex with his chosen mate. When engorged it swells to keep the Beast Kindred and his bride locked together until she is completely bonded to him. This ensures sex that is both extremely long lasting and multiorgasmic for both partners.

Blackness which Eats the Stars—another name for the Hoard or Grimlax, an ancient enemy of the Kindred. These beings have no souls and so are considered demonic by the Kindred.

Blood Fever—a condition suffered by unmated females on Tranq Prime, the home world of the Blood Kindred. Blood Fever or Burning Blood, as it is often called, is caused by a parasite living on the icy world that affects only women. The parasite—found in the fleeta or blood beetle—reacts with a compound in the Tranq Prime water supply to cause the fever. Symptoms include chills, the feeling of the blood heating in the veins, and increased coloration of the nipples and inner sex. If the fever is not treated in forty-eight hours, it will result in death.

Once a Kindred male has had a female’s blood, he forms a natural antidote to Blood Fever which he can pass on by sharing body fluids with her. The most effective way to get the antidote into the female’s system is for a Blood Kindred to bite her, thereby injecting it along with his essence. However, it is also possible to pass along the healing fluid through sex.

Blood Fever used to be very common on Tranq Prime which is what prompted the cold, proud natives to initiate a genetic exchange with the Kindred in the first place. A recent vaccine has nearly eradicated the disease, however, and the original inhabitants of the ice bound planet have little reason to continue the trade. A faction calling themselves Purists are against any further trade with the Kindred.

Blood/Tranq Kindred—are blond with pale blue eyes and come from Tranq Prime where ice, snow, and arctic-like temperatures are the norm. To combat the severe weather conditions, the Blood Kindred have higher than normal body heat with double the human amount of red blood cells. They have developed specific biting rituals to share their supercharged blood and take the blood of their mates during their own version of bonding sex. They have a set of double fangs located where a human’s canine teeth would be. These fangs do not develop fully or become sharp enough to pierce flesh until a Blood Kindred is with a woman he wishes to mate and bond with.

Bonding Ceremony—a wedding-type ritual which takes place after the Claiming Period if the bride chosen by a Kindred warrior has allowed him to have bonding sex with her and joined her mind to his.

Bonding Sex—the extra step a Kindred warrior takes to bind his bride to him permanently during intercourse. For the Beast Kindred, it is the use of the mating fist. For the Blood Kindred, bonding sex means sex during penetration. Twin Kindred bind a bride to themselves by entering her and coming in her at the same time.

Claiming Ceremony—a sort of engagement service that takes place when a bride is first claimed by a Kindred warrior. He declares his intentions toward her and she vows to obey the laws of the Claiming Period.

Claiming Period—women who are drafted are required to go up to the Kindred Mothership and spend a thirty day “claiming period” with the warrior who has chosen them. If, at the end of that time, they have managed to resist the charms of their Kindred mate, they are allowed to go back down to Earth and resume their normal life. However, if they succumb to their Kindred male’s seduction, they are mated for life and must move to the Kindred ship to live, leaving everything else behind and seeing their family and friends on Earth only infrequently. Of course, many women are unwilling to give everything up at the drop of a hat, draft or no draft. But the Kindred have a secret weapon—devotion to their female’s pleasure and attention to detail during incredibly hot sex.

Claming Period Rules—The Claiming Period lasts for four weeks during which the Kindred warrior attempts to seduce his chosen bride and she tries to resist him:

The Holding Week: the Kindred warrior may hold his bride.

The Bathing Week: the warrior and his bride bathe together and he is allowed to massage her with scented oils and make her come.

The Tasting Week: the warrior is allowed to perform oral sex on his bride.

The Bonding Week: sex is allowed but it is completely up to the bride whether she will take things a step further and allow bonding sex which is a special and specific process to the three different types of Kindred males. (Most women have given in well before this point but a few do resist.)

The only way out before the claiming period is up is a breach of contract. This can happen if the Kindred warrior does not strictly follow the rules and tries to skip forward in the order of allowed events or by breaking one of the rules laid down by the Kindred High Council. These rules—mostly to do with restrictions on communication with Earth—are for the safety of everyone aboard the Mothership and are nonnegotiable. Ignorance is no excuse for breaking them and will result in immediate termination of the claiming period.

Convo-pillar—A half inch long insect which resembles a brightly colored caterpillar. Convo-pillars were genetically engineered by traders on the fringe colonies around Rageron to translate alien languages by communicating via thought waves to their wearer’s brain. They have been outlawed by the Kindred High Council because their notoriously unreliable translations cause more conflicts than they solve.

Dark Kindred –also known as Enhanced Ones—this faction of the Kindred race broke off centuries ago when there was a shortage of viable females to call for brides. Vowing to overcome their sexual urges, the Dark Kindred made a genetic trade with the cyborg-like residents of Zeaga Four who are ruled by a group of sentient machines called the Collective. Since all emotion is prohibited on Zeaga Four, the organic inhabitants get emotion damper implants to keep them from committing Feel-crime. Anyone found guilty of Feel-crime without a special dispensation from the Collective may be summarily purged.

Deep Blue—the darkest and most inaccessible part of the Rageron jungles

Dream Sharing—occurs when a Kindred warrior’s mind aligns with that of his bride and they begin to see each other’s day to day activities and memories in their sleep. However, the alignment of the two (or three in the case of the Twin Kindred) minds can take several forms and is not limited to sleep.

Fireflower Juice—an alcoholic beverage made from the Fireflower plant native to Rageron. It resembles milk in appearance but has the flavor of honey, vanilla, lavender and blueberries.

High Councilor—the rightful ruler and defender of the Kindred home planet, First World. Only the High Councilor may sit upon the throne of wisdom and see with the eye of foreknowledge. Without a High Councilor in place, First World and the rest of the Kindred race cannot be adequately protected against the evil machinations of the Hoard.

Hoard—an ancient enemy of the First Kindred also known as the Grimlax or the Blackness between the Stars, they are evil, demonic beings with ravenous appetites and a desire to conquer, devour, and destroy every living thing in the universe. They are divided into tribes with the lowest echelon being the most numerous and primitive. The elite or upper echelon tribes are more sophisticated and intelligent but also much more dangerous. They are notoriously manipulative and able to change their appearances using a technique called “shadowing” to look like anyone or anything they choose.

The Kindred—a race of genetic traders who have traveled the universe for centuries looking for viable matches to expand their gene pool. Since a genetic anomaly ensures that their population is ninety-five percent male, they are specifically looking for women.

The three genetic trades the Kindred have already made have resulted in three very specific types of men. But though they take on some of the physical characteristics of the race they are trading with, the Kindred gene always ensures three things: physical prowess, extremely large and muscular body structure, and undying loyalty to the female of their choice.

Krik-ka-re—a Scourge tradition in which the mind life of one being may be traded for or ransomed by another.

Kusax—a special knife made from the tainted metal at the core of the Scourge home planet. One scratch can be deadly as it infects the wounded person with a soul poison which ensures a slow, agonizing death.

Law of Conduct—the Kindred law which says every warrior is responsible for the good behavior of his bride and gives him the right to punish her—within reason. Often the “punishment” is sexual in nature and some brides become serial offenders simply to experience their Kindred warrior’s particular form of discipline. ; )

Luck Kiss—a kiss performed by the best man and maid of honor at a Kindred Bonding Ceremony in order to bring the happy couple good luck.

Mate of my kin—the way Kindred warriors refer to the brides chosen by their brothers. It is analogous to the English term sister-in-law.

Marks of Possession—the Scourge way of marking a female as their mate. The Marks of Possession include a close-fitting collar, piercings in the nipples and clitoral hood, and a brand on the inner hip or the top of the buttocks. Scourge with Kindred blood also desire to scent-mark their mates but they require the traditional marks of their kind to really feel bonded to the female of their choice.

Mother of All Life—the main Kindred Deity, a kind and benevolent goddess whose teachings include respect and reverence for all things female.

Numala—a Blood Kindred name which means “liquid pussy.” It refers to a female who produces more than the regular amount of lubrication when aroused. Numalas are much prized by the Blood Kindred and sought after as mates because they are more likely to be able to accommodate a Blood Kindred warrior’s larger than average cock.

Psychic-Knife—a torture device developed by the Scourge that is able to break the mental and emotional bond between a Kindred and his bride.

Rage—also Protective Rage or Berserker Rage—a state of altered consciousness that comes over a Kindred warrior when his bride is threatened. It floods the bloodstream with endorphins and causes such intense anger and aggression that a Kindred in this state becomes a killing machine who will die to protect the woman he has claimed.

Sacred Grove—an area of green and purple trees that houses the temple of the Mother of All Life. The Kindred Mother ship has been equipped with an artificial green sun like the one on their home world in order to allow these holy trees to grow and flourish.

Scourge—a genetic trade gone wrong, these menacing outsiders have twisted desires and sexual needs fierce enough to frighten away even the most adventurous. Their need to dominate and possess their women completely has led to a strange prophesy that they must fulfill…or die trying.

Scourge Prophesy—“One of two, alike and yet different—the double fruit of a single womb from the third planet of a yellow sun. She shall be marked with a white star between her breasts.” These words were spoken by Mee’ah—the last living female of the Scourge race who was believed to be a great seer. The Scourge are a dying race, forced to create new members in test tubes and artificial wombs because they have no females. Yet, because they have some of the same genetic characteristics as the Kindred they are able to create only male children and each new generation is weaker than the last. The prophesy refers to the woman the Scourge believe will be able to mate with the AllFather and bear only daughters to rejuvenate their race.

Skrillix Plant—also known as the Pain Vine. This plant is found only in the heart of the Rageron jungles called the Deep Blue. The brilliant crimson berries of the skrillix are said to cure many illnesses, including stasis sickness and can also dissolve an improperly placed or artificial soul bond. The thorns are said to be as poisonous as the berries are helpful. One prick from a skrillix thorn can give waking nightmares, forcing the victim to relive painful memories. When minds are linked by the juice of the berries, these visions can be shared with others who can witness them via a chemically induced neural link.

Take-me—an animal native to Twin Moons that has been domesticated by the Kindred for transportation aboard their ship. The Take-me has green fur and two heads, one on either end. Each head has three purple eyes. The Take-me has the unique features of being to expand and compress its mass which makes it ideal for storage. Because they originally lived in caves, most Take-mes stay very contentedly in small dark areas in the Kindred food prep areas where they live off the scraps and leavings of their master’s meals. They can eat almost anything except banana peels which they are allergic to.

Tharp—an animal that looks very much like a thin fur blanket which can be worn as a garment. Tharps are cultivated on Tranq Prime and prized for their ability to multiply their host’s body heat and keep them warm in even the most frigid conditions. A tharp can be worn by only one person— as a neophyte or youngster it imprints upon a host and will slowly starve if parted from them. Tharps are intelligent and capable of limited movement. They live as long as their host and subsist only on body heat, needing no other form of sustenance to survive.

Think-Me—a thin silver wire worn around the temples which facilitates mental communication between people who already have an intimate connection.

Touch-U—a flat black mat-like animal native to Tranq Prime which the Kindred have adapted to be a home health appliance. The Touch-U is capable of giving a gentle massage or an all-out erotic experience depending on which button is pushed.

Twin Kindred—come from Twin Moons—a world of vast, stormy oceans dotted with craggy but beautiful islands. True to their namesake, Twin Kindred always come in pairs. The brothers are not identical, however. There is always a light twin and a dark twin. These labels refer not just to skin, hair, and eye coloring but to the twin’s moods and perceptions of the world. The dark twin in the pair is usually more moody and withdrawn while the light twin takes a substantially brighter view of life. The twins are closely linked and able to sense each other’s emotions. They cannot be separated by long distances or for long periods of time without severe pain. They must also share a woman, linking her into their mental and emotional exchange for very intense ménage sex.

Urlich—a type of dog bred by the Scourge. At maturity they are modified with machinery to heighten their sense of smell and intelligence which results in a cyborg-type animal. Once in pursuit of whatever scent has been programmed into their brains, the urlich are utterly single minded and incapable of stopping until their prey has been cornered and captured.

Wave—a Kindred cooking appliance which emits thousands of finely collimated beams of heat to cook food in under a minute.

Zichther—an animal native to the jungles of Rageron, the zichther resembles a small bright blue teddy bear in appearance until it opens its mouth and reveals three rows of incredibly sharp, shark-like teeth.

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Also by Evangeline Anderson

Below you'll find a list of available and upcoming titles. But depending on when you read this list, new books will have come out by then that are not listed here. Make sure to check my website for the latest releases and better yet, sign up for my newsletter to never miss a new book again.

Brides of the Kindred series

(Sci-Fi / Action-Adventure Romance)

CLAIMED (Also available in Audio)

HUNTED (Also available in Audio)

SOUGHT (Also Available in Audio)

FOUND (Also Available in Audio )

REVEALED (Also Available in Audio)

PURSUED (Also Available in Audio)

EXILED (Also Available in Audio)

SHADOWED (Also Available in Audio)

CHAINED (Also Available in Audio)

DIVIDED (Also Available in Audio)

DEVOURED (Also Available in Audio)

ENHANCED (Also Available in Audio)

CURSED (Coming Soon to Audio)

ENSLAVED

TARGETED

FORGOTTEN

SWITCHED

UNCHARTED

UNBOUND

SURRENDERED

VANISHED

IMPRISONED

TWISTED

DECEIVED

BRIDES OF THE KINDRED VOLUME ONE

Contains Claimed, Hunted, Sought and Found

BRIDES OF THE KINDRED VOLUME TWO

Contains Revealed, Pursued and Exiled

BRIDES OF THE KINDRED VOLUME THREE

Contains Shadowed, Chained and Divided

BRIDES OF THE KINDRED VOLUME FOUR

Contains Devoured, Enhanced and Cursed

BRIDES OF THE KINDRED VOLUME FIVE

Contains Enslaved, Targeted and Forgotten

BRIDES OF THE KINDRED VOLUME SIX

Contains Switched, Uncharted and Unbound

BRIDES OF THE KINDRED VOLUME SEVEN

Contains Surrendered, Vanished, and Imprisoned

All Kindred novels are now available in PRINT.

Also, all Kindred novels are on their way to Audio, join my Audiobook Newsletter to be notified when they come out.

Kindred Tales

The Kindred Tales are side stories in the Brides of the Kindred series which stand alone outside the main story arc.

These can be read as STAND ALONE novels.

MASTERING THE MISTRESS (Also Available in Audio)

BONDING WITH THE BEAST (Also Available in Audio)

SEEING WITH THE HEART (Also Available in Audio)

FREEING THE PRISONER (Also Available in Audio)

HEALING THE BROKEN (a Kindred Christmas novel) (Also Available in Audio)

TAMING THE GIANT (Also Available in Audio)

BRIDGING THE DISTANCE (Also Available in Audio)

LOVING A STRANGER (Also Available in Audio)

FINDING THE JEWEL

BONDED BY ACCIDENT

RELEASING THE DRAGON

SHARING A MATE

INSTRUCTING THE NOVICE

AWAKENED BY THE GIANT

HITTING THE TARGET

HANDLING THE HYBRID

KINDRED TALES VOLUME 1

Contains Mastering the Mistress, Bonding with the Beast and Seeing with the Heart

KINDRED TALES VOLUME 2

Contains Freeing the Prisoner, Healing the Broken and Taming the Giant

KINDRED TALES VOLUME 3

Contains Bridging the Distance, Loving a Stranger and Finding the Jewel

KINDRED TALES VOLUME 4

Contains Bonded by Accident, Releasing the Dragon, and Sharing a Mate

Born to Darkness series

(Paranormal / Action-Adventure Romance)

CRIMSON DEBT (Also available in Audio)

SCARLET HEAT (Also available in Audio)

RUBY SHADOWS (Also available in Audio)

CARDINAL SINS (coming soon)

DESSERT (short novella following Scarlet Heat)

(Also in Audio)

BORN TO DARKNESS BOX SET

Contains Crimson Debt, Scarlet Heat, and Ruby Shadows all in one volume

Alien Mate Index series

(Sci-Fi / Action-Adventure Romance)

ABDUCTED (Also available in Audio)

PROTECTED (Also available in Audio)

DESCENDED (Also available in Audio)

SEVERED (Also available in Audio)

ALIEN MATE INDEX VOLUME ONE

Contains Abducted, Protected, Descended and Severed all in one volume

All Alien Mate novels are now available in PRINT.

The Cougarville series

(Paranormal / Action-Adventure Romance)

(Older Woman / Younger Man

BUCK NAKED (Also available in Audio)

COUGAR BAIT (Also available in Audio)

STONE COLD FOX (Also available in Audio)

BIG BAD WOLF (coming soon)

The CyBRG Files with Mina Carter

(Sci-Fi / Action-Adventure Romance)

UNIT 77: BROKEN

UNIT 78: RESCUED

The Institute series

(Daddy-Dom / Age Play Romance)

THE INSTITUTE: DADDY ISSUES

(Also available in Audio)

THE INSTITUTE: MISHKA’S SPANKING

The Swann Sister Chronicles

(Contemporary Fairy / Funny / Fantasy Romance)

WISHFUL THINKING (Also available in Audio)

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR (Also available in Audio)

Detectives Valenti and O’Brian

(1980s M/M Romance)

THE ASSIGNMENT

I’LL BE HOT FOR CHRISTMAS

FIREWORKS

THE ASSIGNMENT: HEART AND SOUL

Compendiums and Box Sets

ALIEN MATE INDEX VOLUME ONE

Contains Abducted, Protected, Descended and Severed all in one volume

BORN TO DARKNESS BOX SET

Contains Crimson Debt, Scarlet Heat, and Ruby Shadows all in one volume

BRIDES OF THE KINDRED VOLUME ONE

Contains Claimed, Hunted, Sought and Found

BRIDES OF THE KINDRED VOLUME TWO

Contains Revealed, Pursued and Exiled

BRIDES OF THE KINDRED VOLUME THREE

Contains Shadowed, Chained and Divided

BRIDES OF THE KINDRED VOLUME FOUR

Contains Devoured, Enhanced and Cursed

BRIDES OF THE KINDRED VOLUME FIVE

Contains Enslaved, Targeted and Forgotten

BRIDES OF THE KINDRED VOLUME SIX

Contains Switched, Uncharted and Unbound

HAVE YOURSELF A SEXY LITTLE CHRISTMAS

Contains Kidnapped for Christmas, Cougar Christmas and Season’s Spankings

KINDRED TALES VOLUME 1

Contains Mastering the Mistress, Bonding with the Beast and Seeing with the Heart

KINDRED TALES VOLUME 2

Contains Freeing the Prisoner, Healing the Broken and Taming the Giant

KINDRED TALES VOLUME 3

Contains Bridging the Distance, Loving a Stranger and Finding the Jewel

NAUGHTY TALES: THE COLLECTION— Volume One

Contains Putting on a Show, Willing Submission, The Institute: Daddy Issues, The Institute: Mishka's Spanking, Confessions of a Lingerie Model, Sin Eater, Speeding Ticket, Stress Relief and When Mr. Black Comes Home.

ONE HOT HALLOWEEN

Contains Red and the Wolf, Gypsy Moon and Taming the Beast

Stand Alone Titles

(Sci-Fi OR Paranormal Action-Adventure Romance)

ANYONE U WANT

BLIND DATE WITH A VAMPIRE

BLOOD KISS

CEREMONY OF THREE

DEAL WITH THE DEVIL (Also available in Audio)

DEFILED

EYES LIKE A WOLF (Foster Brother romance)

FOREVER BROKEN (M/M romance)

GYPSY MOON

HUNGER MOON RISING

PLANET X (Also available in Audio)

PLEASURE PLANET

PLEDGE SLAVE (M/M romance)

PURITY (Now available in Audio)

RED AND THE WOLF

SEX WITH STRANGERS

SHADOW DREAMS

STRESS RELIEF

SWEET DREAMS

TAKE TWO

TAMING THE BEAST

THE LAST BITE (M/M romance)

THE LAST MAN ON EARTH

THE LOST BOOKS (M/M romance)

THE PLEASURE PALACE

THE SACRIFICE (Also available in Audio)

Stand Alone Titles

(Contemporay Romance)

A SPANKING FOR VALENTINE (BDSM)

BOUND AND DETERMINED, anthology with Lena Matthews, includes The Punishment of Nicollett

COUGAR CHRISTMAS (Older Woman / Younger Man)

DANGEROUS CRAVINGS (BDSM)

DIRTY GIRL

FULL EXPOSURE (with Lena Matthews)

KIDNAPPED FOR CHRISTMAS (BDSM)

MORE THAN FRIENDS (BDSM)

PICTURE PERFECT (Step-Brother romance)

STR8TE BOYS (M/M romance)

Naughty Tales

(Short Reads to Get You Hot and Bothered)

CONFESSIONS OF A LINGERIE MODEL

PUTTING ON A SHOW (Step-Brother romance)

SIN EATER

SPEEDING TICKET

THE SWITCH (An erotic interlude with the characters of DANGEROUS CRAVINGS)

WHEN MR. BLACK COMES HOME

NAUGHTY TALES: THE COLLECTION— Volume One

Contains Putting on a Show, Willing Submission, The Institute: Daddy Issues, The Institute: Mishka's Spanking, Confessions of a Lingerie Model, Sin Eater, Speeding Ticket, Stress Relief and When Mr. Black Comes Home.

YA Novels

THE ACADEMY (Now available in Audio)

About the Author

Evangeline Anderson is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Brides of the Kindred, Alien Mate Index, Cougarville and Born to Darkness series. She is fourty-something and lives in Florida with a husband, a son, and two cats. She had been writing erotic fiction for her own gratification for a number of years before it occurred to her to try and get paid for it. To her delight, she found that it was actually possible to get money for having a dirty mind and she has been writing paranormal and sci-fi erotica steadily ever since.

You can find her online at her website www.evangelineanderson.com

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