Revealed (30 page)

“Oh!” Nadiah gasped breathlessly as his cum jetted out in hard, hot spurts, covering both their hands and bathing Rast’s flat belly as well. “Oh,” she murmured. “It’s so
hot.
And you’re still hard.”

“Uh, yeah. Sometimes it takes a little while to go down.” Rast shifted uncomfortably. To tell the truth, he’d barely taken the edge off his lust and could probably go several more times if she wanted to. But he’d learned from experience that his peculiar gift—the fact that he needed almost no recovery time after coming—wasn’t always welcome to the opposite sex. In fact, his ex had hated it.

But far from being upset, Nadiah’s eyes were shining with excitement. She turned to Rast eagerly. “Can we do it again?”

“Sure.” He grinned at her. “As many times as you want, sweetheart. But first, I think it’s your turn—I want to taste you again.”

“Only if I can taste you too.” Nadiah looked at him shyly. “Do you think…could we taste each other at the same time?”

Rast felt a surge of lust pulse through his cock. God, he loved this woman! She was such a mixture of innocence and raw, hungry sexuality it made him crazy.

“Of course we can,” he murmured. “I’ll show you how in a minute. Just let me get cleaned up.”

“I’ll get you something.” Nadiah started to hop off the bed but he stopped her for a moment.

“Wait,” he commanded. “Let me look at you just for a minute.”

She looked up at him questioningly. “What? Is everything all right?”

“Everything’s more than all right.” Rast searched her lovely face, memorizing the delicate lines and feminine angles. “You have beautiful eyes, you know that?” he murmured. “I don’t even have a name for that color blue—I don’t think there’s anything like it anywhere on Earth.”

“Oh, Rast…” She looked down, blushing, but he lifted her chin.

“I’m serious,” he told her. “They’re beautiful. But I can’t wait to change their color. I can’t wait to look at you and know you’re mine forever and no one can take you away from me.”

Her lovely eyes filled with tears for a moment. “You can know that
now
. I’m sure my parents will never want me back on Tranq Prime. But even if they did I wouldn’t go. I’m yours and you’re mine—we belong together.”

“Together forever,” Rast agreed, kissing her. The soft brush of her lips against his enflamed him all over again. “God, you taste sweet,” he growled. “Everywhere.”

“I like the way you taste too.” Nadiah’s voice had gone breathy and soft again. “Rast, please, I want you. Let’s make each other come again.”

They did.

Sylvan waited anxiously for the small ship to dock. Solar flares from the Earth’s sun had made communication patchy at best and he hadn’t been able to get any details about what had happened on Tranq Prime. He did know two things for sure, however: one, Rast had somehow won the challenge because Nadiah was with him. And two, Rast has been true to his word—Nadiah’s eyes were the same dark blue they had always been.

Sylvan was glad to see that Rast had kept his promise. He hadn’t been greatly impressed with most of the human males he’d met and–
No,
he told himself, frowning.
Have to stop thinking of him like that. After seeing the final results on his blood test—

“Oh, look, they’ve landed!” Beside him, Sophia was nearly jumping up and down with excitement. Sylvan was glad to see her looking happy for once. Ever since the fertility tests he had run on the both of them had come back with the unhappy verdict of Tander’s Syndrome, she’d been quiet and sad. And the strange, morbid outcome of her visit to the sacred grove hadn’t helped a bit.

Sylvan wished, as he often had, that the priestesses would speak plain truth instead of couching their prophecies in riddles and enigmas. If he could, he would have gone to the sacred grove himself to demand an explanation. But in this case, it wouldn’t have done any good since the one who had made the prophecy was dead, and all the rest of the priestesses were in mourning and would be for the next solar month.

They would see no one during this time and everyone else aboard the ship was ordered to avoid seeing them as well, to preserve their modesty. As a sign of their mourning for the high priestess, all of them would shave their hair and wear no clothing at all until the time of sadness had passed. It was a good thing the artificial green sun warmed the sacred grove, Sylvan thought. If they attempted to observe such a custom on Tranq Prime they would have all frozen to death in a matter of minutes.

“Here they come! Oh, Nadiah!” Sophia couldn’t hold herself back anymore. As the hatch of the little ship opened, she ran forward and wrapped her arms around his kinswoman exuberantly.

Nadiah hugged her back and seemed to be laughing and crying at the same time. “I’m free,” Sylvan heard her tell Sophia. “I’m free—Rast won my freedom for me.”

“I knew he would!” Sophia smiled at the tall male who was climbing out of the ship after Nadiah. He smiled back, nodding. “I knew you could do it,” Sophia told him.

And I know
why
he could do it,
Sylvan thought to himself grimly.
What I don’t know is how in the universe he wound up on Earth in the first place.

Nadiah and Sophia seemed intent on catching up on all the details of the journey and blood challenge but Rast came right up to Sylvan, a determined look on his face.

“I have something to say to you,” he told Sylvan, his eyes flashing.

“I have something to tell you as well,” Sylvan said quietly. “And I think you should hear it before you speak further. In fact, I think it would be best if we went someplace private.”

Rast shook his head. “Sorry to be rude, Sylvan, but I’m going first and what I’ve got to say can be said right out in the open.” He took a deep breath and looked Sylvan in the eyes. “Nadiah and I are deeply in love and we’re going to be married. Now, I know you don’t like me for her because I’m human—”

“But, you’re not,” Sylvan said.

“But I went through the blood challenge and I feel I won the right to—excuse me?” Rast frowned. Apparently Sylvan’s words were finally sinking in. “What did you say? I’m not what?”

“I said, you’re
not human
,” Sylvan repeated, frowning. “Do you understand?”

“No.” Rast looked both confused and angry. “
Of course
I don’t understand. What the hell are you talking about?”

“Yes, what
are
you talking about?” Nadiah came up behind them with a worried look on her face. Sophia trailed behind her anxiously.

Sylvan sighed. “Do you see why I wanted to speak about this in private? Come on, let’s at least leave the docking bay.”

“No.” Rast planted his feet squarely and crossed his arms over his chest. “No, I want an explanation
now.
You can’t just come up and tell me something like that and expect me to wait to hear the rest. So come on, Sylvan, spit it out.”

Sylvan spread his hands. “Very well, if you wish to give up the privilege of confidentiality we can talk here. To be blunt, the deep analysis of your blood test shows that you’re not human. Oh, you have human traits on the surface—it’s almost as if someone engineered your DNA to appear strictly Earth-like to the casual observer. But more in-depth testing proves that your human façade is literally only skin deep.”

“Only skin deep, huh?” Rast frowned angrily. “Well then what the hell
am
I?’

“You’re Kindred,” Sylvan told him, hoping he wouldn’t be upset by the news.

“Kindred? I knew it!” Nadiah’s eyes were shining. “I
felt
it from the very first.”

“It’s true Rast is Kindred,” Sylvan said, trying to choose his words carefully. “But he’s no species of Kindred I’ve ever seen before.”

“But I thought you said he looked like a First Kindred,” Sophia said. “Isn’t that why everyone mistook him for
Merrick
at our ceremony? Nobody knew
Merrick
was a hybrid because Sylvan never thought to tell them so they just assumed because Rast had the truegreen eyes—”

“
Merrick
’s hybrid status is a sensitive subject with him,” Sylvan interrupted, frowning. “As for Rast’s heredity, he
is
closer to the First Kindred than anything else. He is close…but not an exact match.”

“Well, what the hell
am
I then?” Rast demanded, repeating his question.

“I don’t know yet,” Sylvan said evenly. “But I would like a chance to find out before you bond my kinswoman—my cousin, as you say—to you for life.”

“You’re too late for that—we’re already bonded.” Rast’s eyes flashed like green fire. “I took over the blood bond she has with that Y’dex asshole.”

“Yes, but the bond is not sealed,” Sylvan said. “I can tell because Nadiah’s eyes are still the same color.”

Nadiah blushed but lifted her chin defiantly. “I don’t care what you say, Sylvan and I don’t care if Rast is human or Kindred or a Hyperion shadow-caster. I
love
him. He saved my life—did you know that? You warned him not to touch me, not to bond with me but the bond I had with Y’dex was too strong. If Rast hadn’t taken the severed end of it into his own heart, I would have died. In fact, I
did
die for a minute—I saw Grandmaman in a dark tunnel with a bright, white light at the end of it.”

“Wait a minute…” Sophia grabbed her arm. “You actually saw your dead grandmother? What did she say?”

“Yes, what
did
she say?” Rast demanded. “And how come you didn’t tell me about it?”

Nadiah looked down. “I guess I had…other things on my mind.” She glanced at Rast rapidly and blushed. “Anyway, I don’t remember it very clearly. Mostly I think she said it wasn’t my time to go. Oh, and she said she loved me.”

Sylvan felt his heart clench like a fist. To think that Nadiah had come so close to going to the Goddess! To think she had almost
died
because of his directions to Rast… “Forgive me, Nadiah,” he said hoarsely. “I knew the blood bond was strong but I thought the chance that breaking it would hurt you was remote. I only spoke of such dangers to warn Rast off.”

“Well, it nearly worked.” Rast’s eyes were suspiciously bright and he swallowed convulsively. “I’m telling you, when she went limp in my arms and stopped breathing…” He shook his head. “Look, the point is, I fought for her and won her. I hate to sound like a goddamn cave man but she’s
mine.”

“And I agree with your claim wholeheartedly,” Sylvan said quietly. “I’m only asking for a little more time to run a few more tests on you before you claim her.”

“But I don’t
want
to wait!” Nadiah declared. “I feel like I’ve been waiting my whole life while I was tied to that stupid Y’dex! I want to join with—uh, marry, Rast
now.
In fact…” She took Rast by one muscular arm. “We’re going straight to the sacred grove and you can’t stop us.”

“Oh no, you can’t go there now!” Sophia exclaimed. “Nobody can—the priestesses are all naked and bald.”

Rast’s eyebrows shot up. “They’re
what?”

“They’re in mourning,” Sylvan explained. “The high priestess has gone to be with the Mother of All Life.”

“Meaning?” Clearly Rast still didn’t understand.

“Meaning she’s dead.” Sophia bit her lip and Sylvan felt a flood of sorrow and guilt coming through their mental link. He wished she would stop blaming herself.

“It’s all right,
Talana,”
he said softly, putting an arm around her shoulders and drawing her close. “Everything is going to be fine. And for the last time, the death of the high priestess
wasn’t
your fault.”

“What?” Nadiah exclaimed. “How could the high priestess dying be
Sophia’s
fault?”

Sophia sighed. “Because I…look, Nadiah, do you mind if we talk about this later? Maybe with all the girls together? There’s something very difficult I have to say and I’d rather just say it once.”

Nadiah’s face was filled with curiosity but she nodded immediately. “Of course. And I won’t say a word to anyone.”

“I know you won’t.” Sophia smiled at her gratefully. “I’m sorry you have to wait to get married but at least this way we’ll have some time to plan a truly fabulous wedding.” She laughed. “Kat and Liv are going to be so jealous—you’ll be jumping ahead of their joining ceremony and baby shower. Lauren will have to make the next cake for
you.”

“I don’t want to upset anyone,” Nadiah said, sounding anxious. “I’m just, well, I’m extremely eager to be joined to Rast.”

“Not half as eager as
I
am,” Rast growled, giving her a possessive look. “Are you sure we can’t just go down to Earth and find a Justice of the Peace?”

“And be joined without a priestess to officiate?” Nadiah frowned. “We can if you like, Rast, but I have to be honest, I won’t
really
feel legally joined to you unless we have the ceremony performed by a priestess.”

He sighed deeply and Sylvan noticed a troubled look on his face. “All right, we’ll wait. I just…don’t want to lose you. And I don’t like the fact that this damn ship is crowded with males—unmarried ones, especially.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about any unmated males bothering Nadiah,” Sylvan said dryly. “I can smell your scent all over her and I’m sure every other male within a five mile radius can too.”