Switched: Brides of the Kindred 17 (50 page)

“
All right.” As strange as
it seemed, Kerov found he wanted to unburden himself to the other
male. And after all, it wasn’t like he would ever see him again, he
reasoned. After he left the Mother Ship, he was never coming back
so he would never see anyone aboard it again. Feeling reassured at
that thought, he began to talk…

“…
so I completely lost
control of myself and did things that we had not agreed on before
hand,” he found himself explaining to Rone some time later. “I
didn’t mean to but I just…”

“
Just couldn’t help
yourself?” Rone finished for him softly.

“
Exactly.” Kerov sighed.
“You have to understand—there is no one like Frankie on my home
planet. There the Kindred have interbred with the Tarsians and
though the Kindred male genes breed true, the females are rare and
have taken on Tarsian characteristics for the most
part.”

“
Which are?” Rone raised
one black eyebrow.

“
They’re thin—extremely
so—with narrow hips and almost no posterior to speak of,” Kerov
described a narrow inverted V with his hands. “It’s not that
they’re not pretty but, well…there’s not much to hold on to. And of
course, we aren’t
allowed
to hold on to it. All sexual encounters are
mandated by the State.”

“
You live in a place where
the government controls who you have sex with?” Rone gave a long,
low whistle. “I don’t envy you that, my friend.”

“
Not only that but the
Ministry of Matching makes certain to match only incompatible
partners who have almost zero likelihood of falling in love,” Kerov
told him. “It’s believed that allowing romantic feelings to blossom
between partners will deter us from doing our jobs
properly.”

“
Fucking barbaric,” Rone
growled, frowning. “So for your whole life you’ve been matched with
females you had nothing in common with and didn’t particularly
like.”

“
That about sums it up.”
Kerov nodded. “My last partner was pretty enough—though she was
extremely thin. But she hated me and honestly, I wasn’t fond of her
either. I dreaded our State-mandated sexual relations.”

“
And then, after years of
that, you suddenly meet Frankie. And she’s not only a female you
can care about, she has physical attributes you find attractive
too—am I right?” Rone asked.

Kerov nodded again.
“Exactly! I was angry with her at first—well, she basically
hijacked my body because of the Switch. But the more I got to know
her, the more I liked and respected her. And then when I was
Switched into
her
body and I saw how she was shaped…” He shook his head,
remembering Frankie’s luscious body.

“
She’s different from what
you’re used to, I take it?” Rone asked.

“
Extremely. She has
curves.”
Kerov described
a full hourglass shape in the air with his hands this time. “Gods,
she’s fucking
gorgeous.
Her ass…” He shook his head. “I shouldn’t talk
about her this way—it’s not respectful. But her ass is
amazing.
So full and
ripe…” He sighed sadly. “Not that I’ll ever get to touch her
again.”

“
But you did get to touch
her once,” Rone pointed out.

“
Because the priestess in
the Sacred Grove mandated it,” Kerov said. “She told us it was the
only way to Switch back into our own bodies.”

“
And clearly it worked.
But what did you do that offended her so much? You said you lost
control?”

“
I did.” Kerov hung his
head. “I…used my belt on her.”

“
You struck her?” Rone’s
eyebrows shot up in shock.

“
No, no—I didn’t strike
her. I would never do that!” Kerov protested quickly. “Not that
what I did was much better.” He felt a surge of self-loathing as
she spoke.

“
What did you do with the
belt?” Rone asked quietly.

“
I used it to tie her—to
hold her in place…hold her open so that I could have complete
access to her,” Kerov admitted. “You see, on my home world of
Tarsia, we are not allowed to, er,
taste
our females.”

“
You aren’t?” Rone gave
him a look of pure disbelief mingled with pity. “Gods—you poor
bastard! How do you stand it?”

Kerov was a little taken aback at his new
friend’s reaction.

“
We just…don’t do it. It’s
considered sick—depraved,” he explained. “But it isn’t like the
State is denying us food or water or some other essential
need.”

“
That’s
exactly
what it’s like,”
Rone said. “Look, as a Wulven Kindred, I have a biological
imperative to taste my female often—only by giving her pleasure am
I able to hold my inner Beast in check. But every Kindred male, no
matter what his lineage or race, has the Goddess-given need to
taste his female. Denying a male that right is like starving a part
of him.”

Kerov frowned. “Are you certain about
that?”

“
Hell yes, I’m certain!”
Rone exclaimed. “No
wonder
you went a little crazy when you finally had the
female you could love in your arms and were finally allowed to
taste her.” He held up a finger. “I’m not saying it excuses what
you did—it’s not right to tie a female down or ignore her wishes to
stop, even in the heat of the moment. But you were probably like a
male who’d been starving all of his life suddenly presented with a
delicious feast.”

“
I suppose—” Kerov began
but Rone held up a hand to stop him.

“
Forgive me, but…do you
hear that?”

They had wandered away
from the main docking bay and into a small service corridor that
connected it to other areas. Kerov stood still and strained his
ears but he heard nothing. Wulven Kindred really
must
have incredibly
sharp senses, he thought.

“
Wait—there it is again!”
Rone ran a few feet down the corridor and Kerov followed him. After
a moment, he heard it—a faint, muffled shouting but it was coming
from a voice so hoarse he couldn’t make out any words at
all.

“
Goddess—I know that
voice!” Rone sniffed deeply and lowered his head, like a tracking
animal on a scent. After a moment, he came to a supply closet. He
tried the handle but it wouldn’t budge. “Locked!”

The muffled shouting began again. This time,
Kerov thought it sounded familiar.

“
Is that…”

“
Help me break it!” Rone
already had his shoulder to the door. Kerov joined him and in a
minute they had forced the closet door open to reveal…

“
Commander Sylvan!” Rone
exclaimed. “I thought it sounded like you! What in the Seven Hells
are you doing here?”

“
No time…” Sylvan’s voice
was hoarse and ragged and he was propped against a supply cupboard.
His arms flopped uselessly and he seemed to be unable to stand.
There was a dull silver band strapped tightly around his temples.
“Can’t move…Two drugged me,” he rasped.

“
Two? Two what?” Kerov
asked but Rone’s eyes widened in apparent understanding.

“
Gods! He’s here aboard
the ship?”

“
He’s trying…trying
to…he…” Sylvan made an effort to move and only succeeded in sitting
up for a moment before slumping down again. “Take this damn thing
off my head—thought blocker—have to warn…warn Sophia.”

“
Warn her of what?” Rone
was already kneeling down, working to get the metal band which was
twisted cruelly tight off of Sylvan’s forehead and
temples.

“
I don’t understand this,”
Kerov growled, frowning at them. “How can you be here looking like
this, Commander Sylvan, when I just saw you not half an ahrn ago in
one of the main corridors. What happened to you?”

“
That wasn’t me, you saw,”
Sylvan rasped. Rone had loosened the metal band and somehow Sylvan
managed to raise his hand and bat it away. The flash of the white
bandage around his thumb caught Kerov’s eye and suddenly he
remembered thinking there was something different about the
commander when he’d seen him earlier.

His thumb—it wasn’t
bandaged when I saw him earlier
.
And it wasn’t when I saw him down at the HKR
building either. But he
was
wearing the bandage when we talked on the
viewscreen and again when he met my shuttle in the docking bay.
What in the Seven Hells is going on?

“
Who did I see if it
wasn’t you, Commander?” he demanded, staring down at the supine
Sylvan.

“
Two—the Dark Kindred.”
Sylvan opened his eyes—clearly he’d been concentrating on a metal
communication, probably with his mate. But now he looked from Kerov
to Rone and back again. “You have to warn them—he looks…looks just
like me,” he told Rone. “Like Kate’s dream said—beware my twin.
Twin is…is danger…” He had a sudden fit of coughing and Rone leaned
down and pounded him on the back.

“
It’s all right—we’ll
catch him. Do you want me to get you some water?”

“
No!” Sylvan’s eyes
widened. “No water—no one should drink anything until Two is
stopped.”

“
What? Why?” Kerov asked,
puzzled.

“
Because that’s what he’s
planning—to infect the water supply. Gods, we may already be too
late! Hurry—we have to warn the Council!”

Chapter Twenty-four

Terex frowned as he stepped from the shuttle
he had flown to pilot Elaina back to the HKR building back on
Earth. She was a beautiful woman—slightly older than all the
girlish Earth females he often saw being called to the Mother Ship
as brides, but no less lovely for that. In fact, Terex thought her
maturity and quiet grace made her more attractive than any female
he could remember seeing in a long time.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t gotten to talk to
her much on the ride back to Earth. She’d been sunk into pensive
silence, her beautiful eyes bright with unshed tears.

Terex had ached for her, although he didn’t
know why. He wanted to comfort her somehow, even though he didn’t
know what pained her.

Well, what did it matter? The human female’s
pain was none of his business. He shook himself, trying to get rid
of the foolish emotion. His lovely mate had been dead for years now
and his love had died with her. Besides, he was too old to concern
himself with matters of the heart—calling a bride was a young
male’s game. For now, it was better to immerse himself in work and
try to forget the troubling emotions Elaina had somehow raised in
him.

In fact, he had some unfinished work he
needed to attend to right now, he remembered. Some proposals to the
Council that he was supposed to be going through. But they were on
his work tablet in the Council chamber. He would get them now and
see if they could drive the distracting images of Elaina from his
mind.

As he entered the Council chamber, he was
surprised to see Commander Sylvan bent over the main workstation.
He was scanning furiously and muttering to himself in a way unlike
his usual calm personality.

“
Commander Sylvan?” Terex
asked, frowning. “Are you well? Is there a problem?”

“
Yes, there’s a problem,”
Sylvan snarled, his usually calm face twisted into a mask of
frustrated fury. “I can’t find the blasted
codes!”

“
The codes? Codes for
what?” Terex asked. He had never seen Sylvan so upset—what was
going on?

“
The codes for the
damned
water
processing chamber, of course,” Sylvan snarled. “I tried
going down there but it’s locked up tighter than a Synthian virgin
on her joining night! If I can’t get the codes, I need another
member of the fucking Council to help me open it so—” He stopped
his rant abruptly and stared at Terex. “Wait a minute—I
know
you.”

“
Of course you know me.
I’m Terex—your predecessor as head of the Council.” Terex was
completely unnerved now. Had the male lost his senses? There was a
light gleaming in Sylvan’s pale blue eyes that was strange and
unsettling—almost manic. And the way he was looking at
Terex…

“
Ah yes—Terex—of course!
You’re my predecessor in more than one way, you know,” Sylvan said,
smiling so widely that his fangs gleamed. “You hosted Ur the
demon—did you not?”

“
Hosted him?” Terex spat.
“More like he took over my body when I was unconscious and
helpless. Why would you bring that up now?”

“
Because…” He began
advancing on Terex, grinning maniacally. “I hosted him too. Oh, not
in
this
form, of
course—in the one I had before it.”

“
What in the Seven Hells
are you talking about?” Terex demanded, but he was afraid that he
already knew. He could tell the signs of possession—of a body being
controlled by one who was not its rightful owner. Hadn’t he been in
that same position himself? Something or someone was definitely
controlling Commander Sylvan. And the only other male he knew who
had hosted the demon from the Black Planet, the same one which had
controlled his own body was… “Two,” he growled hoarsely.

“
Ah—you finally got my
little hint.” The male who was inhabiting Sylvan’s body grinned.
“Yes, it’s Two. And I’ve come to finally collect on the little debt
you Kindred of the Mother Ship owe me. It’s not much—just the fact
that you ruined my entire society and destroyed the Collective,
which I served my entire life.”