“But it wasn’t just Ur—he was in Two’s body when it happened,” Charlie pointed out. “What if the two of you formed some kind of…I don’t know…some kind of mental connection somehow when that happened?”
“I suppose that’s possible.” Stav sounded thoughtful. “Though it still isn’t pleasant.”
“Has he been doing awful things that you have to watch?” Charlie asked sympathetically. Two was a horrible person—if the word “person” could even be applied to him. Nothing he would do could surprise her.
“Well, up until now I’ve only been catching glimpses. But just now I watched him drug some poor female’s wine.”
“He drugged her? With what? Could you tell?”
Stavros frowned. “I think it was passion berries.”
“Passion berries? What the hell is that?” Charlie felt cold all over. As a cop down on Earth working in a college town, she’d dealt with her share of date rape cases. Though the idea of Two trying to roofie someone didn’t sit quite right with her. He struck her as being completely asexual—totally evil, of course—but sex didn’t seem to be part of his makeup at all. “Is it some kind of aphrodisiac?” she asked. “Like that bonding fruit the wives with Twin Kindred eat to uh, help ease the way?”
“Passion berries are similar to bonding fruit but much more deadly.” Stav sounded grim. “The saying goes, one sip makes you cold, the next sip makes you hot and the third sip makes you dead.”
“My God. So Two was trying to kill her?” That actually fit more with the profile she had of him in her head.
“I don’t think so. You see, the third sip isn’t always deadly—not if you have the antidote at hand.”
“And did he?” Charlie demanded. Though she had no idea who this girl was, she was feeling more and more worried about her. Of course, she would feel worried about anyone who found themselves at the mercy of Two—mainly because the sick bastard had no mercy.
“The antidote is not a compound or elixir which can be administered orally,” Stav said dryly. “The only cure for a third sip of passion berry wine is penetration and insemination.”
“What?” Charlie stared at him. “So in order to survive after drinking that third drink she has to let him…”
“Have sex with her and fill her with his seed. Yes.” Stav nodded gravely. “Otherwise she will suffer an excruciating death.”
“That’s horrible!” Charlie ran a hand through her hair distractedly. “That poor girl! So now she had to let Two…Ugh!” She shivered. “You know, I never thought he was the type to do anything like this. Anything sexual I mean. Horrible and murderous and disgusting, yes but sexual…not so much.”
“He didn’t do it for himself—he drugged her for the creature he was working for,” Stav said. “A Lud’om, I think. At least, he looked like one.”
“What’s a Lud’om? No, never mind.” Charlie raised her hand to stop him answering. “First tell me if that poor girl is all right.”
“I think she is.” Stav frowned. “Another male came in and stopped her from drinking too much of the drugged wine. She only took the first sip.”
“Thank God!” Charlie nearly sagged with relief—she really felt for this unknown girl, whoever she was. “But…what will the first sip do to her? Will it hurt her?”
“She’ll have some side effects but nothing that will kill her,” Stav assured her.
“So who saved her? Another Lud…Ludo…whatever it was?”
“No…he looked like a Kindred. But he spoke to Two of his home world on Xander Prime. So he must be Havoc.”
“Really? Havoc?” Charlie was intrigued. When she and Stav had gone undercover at the couple’s resort, J’lorgon’s Mind, he had pretended to be a Havoc because they were genetic cousins to the Kindred. As far as she knew, the two kinds of males were almost exactly alike in every way except the Havoc didn’t call brides like the Kindred or bond with them. Though of course, for the purpose of their cover, they had pretended that Stav was one of the rare few who had, in fact, found a bride. Charlie, of course, had been that bride—a deception that had become a reality once they fell in love.
“The Havoc seemed to be taking care of the girl fairly well.” Stav frowned. “But Two distracted him long enough for others to interfere. The last I saw, the two of them were surrounded.”
“Oh, no!” Charlie put a hand to her mouth. “Do you think they’ll be okay? Can we help them?”
“I don’t see how.” Stav shook his head. “Even if we could fold space to their exact spot, I have a feeling the fight is already over.” He sighed. “At least the Havoc male seemed to know what he was doing. And I could tell he would protect the female with his own life if necessary.”
“Just like a Kindred would,” Charlie murmured. Though she had once considered the alien race her enemies, Stavros had changed her mind with his love and devotion as well as his willingness to sacrifice himself for others. He was truly noble—and that wasn’t a word she could apply to hardly anyone else she knew.
“Just like a Kindred,” her lover agreed, smiling a little. “We love our females to distraction and we would die to keep them safe.”
“I know you would, sweetheart.” Charlie stroked his hair again and leaned down to give him a lingering kiss. “So…they were a couple, then?”
He frowned. “I don’t think so. Two said something else to him at the end…something about him being protective of her even though she didn’t allow him to penetrate her. Very strange.”
“Well, aren’t there some cultures that don’t allow that?” Charlie asked. Her new friend Kat and several of the other Kindred wives had told her tales of Yonnie Six, the planet where the females were superior and the males were all sex slaves.
Stav nodded. “That’s true. But until he said that, I assumed the girl was from Earth somehow. Now it’s clear she can’t be.”
“Why would you assume that?” Charlie asked.
“She has the same brown skin tones that Lauren and Becca have,” he explained. “It’s lovely but I thought it was only found on Earth.”
“Hmmm, I don’t know.” Charlie frowned. “Well, whoever she is and wherever she’s from, I hope she’s okay. Although I think it’s kind of sad that he loves her enough to risk his life for her and she won’t let him…you know.”
“Penetrate her?” Stav raised an eyebrow at her and bared his double set of fangs meaningfully. As a Blood Kindred, he looked a little like a vampire and like a vampire, he loved to bite. But the Blood Kindred didn’t really drink blood—they bit to inject their essence—the pale blue liquid secreted by their fangs. The essence helped bind their mates to them and it could also facilitate healing if a Blood Kindred’s bride was ill.
It also caused multiple orgasms, as Charlie knew from delicious experience.
Suddenly she felt the need to have Stavros in her—to feel both his fangs and his shaft deep inside her, filling her with himself in every possible way. But she felt a little awkward about asking. After all, he’d just endured a weird mental connection with the Dark Kindred who had almost killed him. It seemed like he needed comfort right now…not sex.
She shifted uncertainly and felt the sharp stab of a muscle cramp in her inner thigh.
“Ow!” she gasped, stepping back from Stav. “Damn it, that hurts!”
“What? What’s wrong?” Stavros was instantly worried. He had spent most of his life feeling the pain of others and though being freed from that curse was a blessing for the most part, it still seemed to bother him when he couldn’t tell exactly what was wrong with Charlie the minute anything hurt her.
“Oh, just my thigh.” She sighed and started to stretch it out. “I tried some new machine at the Exercise Arena today.” Which was what the Kindred called their on-ship gyms. “Must have pulled something because it hurts like H E double hockey sticks when I move a certain way.”
“It hurts like what?” Stav looked more concerned than ever. “I have seen the Earth sport Hockey. Does it feel like someone is beating you with those curving sticks they use?”
“No.” Charlie had to keep herself from laughing. “I didn’t mean it that way. It’s a nice way to say it hurts like hell—that’s all. It’s bound to get better after I stretch it out some.” She moved her leg again experimentally and winced. “But for now it’s still sore.”