Switched: Brides of the Kindred 17 (39 page)

“
What
exactly
do
you mean by that?”
Kerov’s voice was ominously soft inside her head.
“Tell me what
happened.
Everything
that happened.”

“
Well to begin with—”

“
Kerov? Is that you?” A voice from the doorway of the small
house made Frankie jerk her head up.

Standing in the
lighted doorway was a Kindred couple Frankie recognized from the
picture on Kerov’s wall back at his domicile. They were good
looking and appeared to be in their late thirties or early forties.
The woman was tall and had green eyes and green streaks in her
wheat blonde hair. The man, who looked like an older version of
Kerov, stood straight and tall, his broad shoulders almost filling
the doorway. He had the same pale gray eyes ringed in inky black
that had so disturbed Frankie before she got to know Kerov.

“
Wow,”
she
sent mentally.
“Are those your parents? They don’t look old enough to have a
son your age.”

“
They are actually in their mid sixties. Kindred age
slowly.”

“
Kerov?” the Kindred woman said again, stepping forward. “Son,
what are you doing standing outside talking to
yourself?”

“
He’s not talking to himself—are you, son?” Kerov’s father had
a knowing look on his face as he turned to Kerov’s mother. “Don’t
you see, Melisand? It’s happened just as I said it would—our son
has finally found the female he is fated to be mated to. He’s
Switched.”

“
Shh! Lower your voice, Tarkov!” Kerov’s mother looked around
anxiously even though the other small houses in the sleeping
neighborhood were all quiet and dark. “Don’t say such things
outside.” She motioned at Frankie. “Come in—come in!”

Frankie came inside
quickly, well aware that they didn’t want Kerov’s secret getting
out. Once they were all inside the house, Kerov’s mother closed the
door quickly and then stood back to inspect her.

“
Let me look at you,” she said, smiling hopefully. “Is it
true? Have you actually Switched with our son?”

“
I
have. I mean, we have—Switched that is,” Frankie said, lifting her
chin. “But it wasn’t on purpose or anything—it was an accident. And
I’m Frankie, by the way.”

“
Frankie?” Kerov’s father frowned. “That’s not a Tarsian name.
Tell me, future mate of my son, where do you hail from?”

“
Whoa,”
Frankie thought at Kerov.
“Future mate of my son? What’s that all
about.”

“
Ignore them.”
Kerov sounded embarrassed.
“I think my mother is just excited because she hopes
you will give her little ones to be a second mother to.”

“
You mean like a grandmother? She wants you to have kids? She’s
as bad as my mom,”
Frankie sent. Then she realized that Kerov’s parents were
still waiting patiently for her to answer.

“
I’m from Earth,” she said to them. “But it’s not…not like
that between Kerov and me. I mean, we only Switched by
accident.”

“
The Goddess does not put anyone together by accident, my
dear.” Frankie’s mother smiled at her. “I assure you, if she
allowed you to Switch bodies with each other, then she means for
you to be bonded.”

“
But we’re not completely Switched,” Frankie protested. “It’s
only a…what did Kerov call it—an
incomplete
Switch. In fact, he’s here with me right now, only
I’m the one in control of his body.” She shrugged. “It’s really
weird.”

“
No, it’s perfectly natural for your first Switch,” Kerov’s
father assured her. “That is often how it happens. It is how it
happened for us.” He smiled fondly at Kerov’s mother who returned
his loving expression.

“
Wait a minute—they Switch? They are Jumpers?”
Kerov demanded inside her
head.

“
I
can tell by the look on your face that Kerov is saying something,”
Kerov’s mother said. “Would you like to tell us what it
is?”

“
I
think he’s surprised that you two are able to Switch,” Frankie
said. “And I am too, actually. I thought it was completely illegal
here.”

“
Oh, it is.” Kerov’s father nodded soberly. “Which is why we
kept it a secret, even from our son.”

“
We knew—we hoped—the day would come when he would Switch with
a girl himself,” his mother said. “He has too much pure Kindred DNA
not to. But until it happened, we couldn’t say anything. And now it
has
finally
happened.” She stepped
forward and took Frankie’s hands. “Oh, I’m
so
happy to meet you, future mate of my son! I’m sure
you’re a lovely girl!”

“
Well, I don’t look anything like a Tarsian,” Frankie said
carefully. “But I do okay on my own planet. So…” She cleared her
throat. “You two have been, uh Switching for years now?”

“
Of course.” Kerov’s father looked lovingly at Kerov’s mother.
“Do you remember the first time I Jumped into your body,
Melisand?”

She laughed flirtatiously. “How could I forget? I had just
taken a bath and I was naked and looking in the viewer at myself.
And then, suddenly, you were there—seeing
everything
.”

“
I
knew from that moment that I had to have you,” Kerov’s father
murmured, putting an arm around her. “When I saw your beautiful
body on display…”

“
Ugh!”
Kerov
exclaimed involuntarily inside Frankie’s head.
“Tell them to
stop—please!”

“
Um, I don’t think Kerov wants to hear about your love life,”
Frankie said apologetically. “You know, it’s kind of weird hearing
about your parents being, uh, intimate with each other.” She could
feel herself blushing as she said it and she hoped she wasn’t
offending them. But she could certainly understand how Kerov
felt—she wouldn’t want to hear about her own parents getting busy
either.

To her surprise,
Kerov’s father smiled and his mother laughed.

“
That’s all right, my dear—we quite understand,” she said.
“But let Kerov tell us himself.”

Frankie raised her
hands. “How?”

“
Close your eyes a moment,” Kerov’s father instructed.
“Imagine you are holding a ball made of pure white light. This ball
we will call ‘control.’ Right now, you hold it completely. But if
you can give it to Kerov, he should be able to use his mouth, at
least.”

“
Though I doubt he’ll be able to use his other faculties. That
won’t be possible until you’re actually bonded,” his mother
said.

“
But we’re not going to be bonded—we barely know each other,”
Frankie protested before she thought about it. “Uh, I mean…” she
shifted uncomfortably. “I just don’t want you to be, you know,
disappointed. Thinking that I’m the love of your son’s life when
actually nothing could be further from the truth.”

“
Nothing could be further from the truth? Is that how you
really feel?”
Kerov asked quietly when she finally stopped babbling, feeling
miserably embarrassed.

“
I
just…don’t want them to get their hopes up—that’s all. I mean, we
already established I’m not your type,”
Frankie sent back defensively.

“
No,
you
established that.”
Kerov seemed to shake himself mentally.
“Never mind—let’s do as
my Sire says. Try and picture yourself giving the ball of light—the
control—to me.”

“
All right.”
Taking a deep breath, Frankie closed her eyes. She imagined
herself in a dark room, holding a large, luminous ball in her
hands—kind of like a basketball made of light. Then she imagined
Kerov standing in front of her with his broad shoulders and
piercing gray eyes.
“Here you go,”
she said formally, handing him the ball.

“
Thank you,” Kerov said and to Frankie’s surprise, she heard
his voice coming out of her mouth.

No—it’s his mouth. I was just borrowing it,
she reminded
herself.

“
Mother, Sire, it’s me,” Kerov said and though she felt his
lips move and his throat vibrate, the words weren’t hers. It was
almost as strange as being trapped in her own body with him at the
controls.

“
Very good. We hear you, my Son,” Kerov’s mother said,
smiling. “And remember, if Frankie wishes to speak again, simply
visualize yourself giving back the ball of light and control and
allow her to have her say.”

“
I
think she’s said enough,” Kerov growled and Frankie could feel his
anger and hurt radiating against her like heat from a heap of
glowing embers. Was he really that upset about her telling his
parents they weren’t together? Well what was she supposed to do?
Lie?

“
Come now, son—don’t treat your future mate with disrespect.”
Kerov’s father gave him a disapproving look.

“
Frankie told you,” Kerov said harshly. “She’s
not
my mate and has no wish to become so.
So could the two of you please not speak so of her anymore? I
believe you’re making her uncomfortable.”

“
What’s making me uncomfortable is the way you’re being a
jerk,”
Frankie
shot at him.
“I’m
doing the best I can for you here—I got you here to your parents’
house and they’re supposed to be able to help. So let’s ask them
for help!”

“
Frankie wants to know if you can help us,” Kerov said to his
parents. “Both of us are thoroughly sick of being stuck in each
other’s bodies and we have been ruining each other’s lives.” He
cleared his throat. “Most recently I had an altercation with both
Frankie’s ex-mate as well as her family.”

“
What?”
Frankie demanded.
“Dios—what happened?”

“
What happened at the banquet?” he shot back. “You never told
me.”

“
Let me talk out loud and maybe I will,”
Frankie snapped.
“I gave you the ball and now you’re
refusing to share—you’re being a real dick!”

“
Fine,” he muttered stiffly. “But there is no need to refer to
me in that way. Here.”

Once more, Frankie
saw both of them standing in a dark room. This time Kerov was
holding the light basketball. He passed it to her without a word,
tossing it lightly. Frankie caught it without thinking.

“
All right—you have control,”
he sent.
“Now what happened at the banquet?”

Frankie cleared her
throat.

“
Well first of all, you could have warned me that the entire
feast was freaking meat. You know I’m a vegetarian.”

“
Now toss the ball back, Frankie,” Kerov’s mother interrupted.
“If you can get into the habit of tossing the ball back and forth
as you speak, both of you can be heard at once.”

“
All right.” Frankie tossed the ball back and Kerov caught
it.

“
Yes, I know you’re vegetarian,”
he said grimly. “I have learned it the hard way
several times over. Most recently when I evacuated the contents of
your stomach all over your
abuela’s
front lawn.”

“
You threw up
again?”
Frankie asked. “I did too! I, uh…” She coughed. “I sort of
blew chunks in front of the Brigadier guy.”

“
What?”
Kerov
roared. “You vomited in front of
Brigadier Tlox?”

“
I
couldn’t help it!” Frankie protested, catching the ball as he
tossed it back. “He fed me slugs
.
Really bad ones—the kind that Kindred can’t digest without
getting sick. Belly slugs, I think they were called.”

“
What?” Kerov’s father or Sire as he called him, interrupted.
“Kerov’s Superior gave him
belii
slugs?”

“
Yes—and he was really sneaky about it,” Frankie said. “He
disguised them as chocolate chip ice cream. I ate almost the whole
bowl before I realized what they were.”

“
But
belii
slugs
are poisonous to Kindred.” Kerov’s father looked concerned. “Why
would his superior give him such a thing?”

“
To catch him Switching,” Frankie said grimly. “He said that
they caused a Kindred to show if he was a Jumper and if he was
currently Switched with another person.”

“
Do they? I had not heard that,” Kerov’s mother
said.

Frankie nodded. “They do—they cause you to sweat this awful
green slime. Only Kerov’s best friend Jorn saved me by telling the
Brigadier the reason I was sweating was because I was wearing
another man’s—uh male’s—
chunnel
and the slugs were reacting to that.”

“
You wore another male’s
chunnel?”
Kerov’s father exclaimed, his brows
knitting.

“
Not by choice,” Kerov protested when Frankie tossed him the
ball. “We were going to a formal banquet and Frankie had forgotten
to bring my own
chunnel
from
my domicile. I had no choice.”