Cursed: Brides of the Kindred 13 (9 page)

He was smiling too, an expression that seemed to originate more in those deep blue eyes though the corner of his full mouth quirked up a little too.

“I thought we agreed not to talk about each other’s personal assets?”

“You mean your size?” Charlie giggled again. “Got news for you, cowboy—that’s not the only part of you that’s big.” She wiggled in his lap, rubbing against the growing lump she could feel under her ass. “Mmm, pants-python,” she murmured and then burst into another fit of giggles.

“Um…” Stavros shifted, his face growing red. “Charlotte—”

“Charlie!” she corrected him.

“Yes. Charlie, may I ask what exactly was in that medication you took? Was there some kind of drug that helps loosen inhibitions?”

“You mean something that would make me do
this?”
Tangling her fingers in the thick auburn hair at the nape of his neck, she dragged his head down and planted a kiss on his full lips.

* * * * *

Stavros stiffened against her at first, then his instincts too over and he kissed her back with passionate intensity. Careless of anything else, he crushed her to him, feeding on her sweet, pink lips, tasting her as he knew he had been wishing to do almost from the moment he heard her silky voice in his ear telling him not to move.

Gods, I shouldn’t be doing this! Shouldn’t be taking advantage…
He was reasonably certain the way she was acting had more to do with her medication than a sudden liking she might have taken to him. But she just felt so
right
in his arms—though her body was small compared to his, she was lush and ripe in all the right places. Her soft, full breasts crushed against his bare chest and the feel of her rounded bottom rubbing against his rock-hard shaft was almost more than he could bear. Her lips were sweet too, as kissably soft as he’d imagined and the tip of her tongue was dancing lightly inside his mouth, teasing him, provoking him to pull her closer, to kiss her harder…

Suddenly she stiffened in his arms and pulled back.

“Ouch!”

“What is it?” Stavros pulled back, panting and shamefaced. He shouldn’t have taken advantage of her that way. But somehow when she’d pressed herself against him he had lost all control. What was wrong with him?

“You bit me—hard!” she put a finger to her mouth and it came away bloody. She stared at it, wide-eyed. “Why did you do that?”

“An accident. Forgive me.” It was hard to talk since his fangs had grown suddenly so long and sharp. They throbbed from base to tip and when he dared to run the tip of his tongue over one sharp edge, he tasted a salty droplet and knew it was her blood.

There was another taste too—something only he could have detected. Subtly numbing and cooling at the same time, it tingled on his tongue.

Essence. Did I inject her? If so, how much did she get?

He knew he should examine her and offer to heal the wound his fangs had made but she was staring at him mistrustfully now and honestly, Stavros didn’t blame her. He wasn’t entirely sure he could trust himself at this moment. What was wrong with him, taking advantage of her that way? Clearly the medicine had incapacitated her. How could he look himself in the viewer again after acting in such a way with a helpless female?

“Forgive me,” he said, lifting her and placing her carefully back in the passenger side chair. “I…am not sure what came over me.”

“I…” She shook her head. “I don’t know either but I liked it—liked it a
hell
of a lot. Except for the biting, that is. You have to warn a girl if you’re gonna get kinky.”

“It was not my intention to get…kinky,” Stavros said stiffly. “If you’ll pardon me a moment, I think it should be safe to try and contact the Mother Ship now.”

“Sure…” She waved one hand expansively, the small injury apparently already forgotten. “Go for it. Just don’t get us shot at again.”

“The Dark Kindred usually fly their formations at intervals,” Stavros explained as he worked to establish a connection. “We just need to find a time when they’re not in the immediate air space of the Mother Ship and make a swift, direct approach.”

“Uh-huh, sounds good.” Her eyes were closing again—the medication she had taken was apparently still in effect. Stavros wondered uneasily what she would remember when it wore off and how she would feel about what had occurred between them? Well, he supposed he would find out later.

As the viewscreen finally popped into life and its cool glow filled the shuttle’s cabin, he wondered again if he had injected her with his essence. And what was he going to do if he had?

Chapter Seven

Charlie woke with the taste of blood in her mouth and the vague feeling that she’d been acting the fool, although
how
exactly her fuzzy brain refuse to explain. She groaned and blinked, trying to make the blurry room come into focus.
Am I in some kind of hospital? Is this a hospital bed? Why am I wearing a gown instead of my clothes? How did I get here?

“Oh look—she’s coming around,” an unfamiliar feminine voice said. Suddenly a redheaded girl was leaning over her. She was holding a baby with a shock of almost white hair in her arms. Though the baby appeared quite young, it gazed alertly at Charlie with odd, silvery-gray eyes. They reminded her of the color of mercury when you broke an old fashioned thermometer and the liquid metal came pouring out.

“Um,” she said, struggling to sit up.

“Just stay where you are—you’ve been through a lot.” Another anxious face peered at her—a girl with smooth, creamy brown skin and gorgeous green eyes. “Hi, I’m Becca.” She was holding a baby as well—this one had black hair and grayish-blue eyes.

“And I’m Mei-Li,” a third girl said. She was petite and had long, silky black hair that hung in a curtain around her face. Her dark almond-shaped eyes were filled with concern and for some reason, Charlie thought she looked familiar. The baby she held had blond hair and green eyes.

“What’s going on?” Charlie demanded, sitting up even though it made her head feel like it was going to split open. “Who are you people and why are you bringing me babies?”

“Oh! Oh no, doll—you’ve got it all wrong!” The redhead began to laugh. “We just wanted to check on you because we heard you were hurt.”

“And because we haven’t seen a new face around the Mother Ship for awhile,” the girl holding the black-haired baby said. “At least not since the stupid war started. I’m Becca, by the way.”

“And I’m Kat,” the redhead said. “And that’s Mei-Li.” She indicated the girl with long black hair. “She’s our newest addition to the Mother Ship—or she was until you showed up.”

“Okay…” Charlie looked at them warily. “That’s nice, I guess but it still doesn’t explain the babies.”

“Oh these little guys? They’re all mine.” The redhead smiled proudly. “Their fathers are away for a little while so I pressed Becca and Mei-Li here into baby sitting duty. Having triplets isn’t easy—I’ve only got one set of arms.”

“They’re adorable, aren’t they?” Becca cooed, tickling the black haired baby’s cheek until he gurgled. “Look, this one is Seeks War—because he’s always fighting with his brothers. Well, with that one, anyway.” She nodded at the baby with silver-white hair.

“And this one is Makes Peace, because he somehow manages to get between them and stop the fighting.” Mei-Li indicated the blond haired baby she was holding.

“Get it?” Kat asked grinning. “War and Peace. Cute, huh?”

“Um, I guess so.” Charlie nodded at the baby with liquid silver eyes. “And who’s that?”

“Oh that’s Shad. Short for Shadow.” Kat sighed and shrugged. “We tried to think of a more traditional Twin Kindred name but nothing else really seemed to fit him. So…Shad it is.”

“He’s cute,” Charlie said neutrally. Normally she loved babies but these weren’t exactly normal circumstances she found herself in. “So…all of you were abducted forced to come up here for a Claiming Period and you just stayed here?” she asked, looking at the three of them.

“I wouldn’t say abducted, exactly,” Kat protested.

“
I
would,” Mei-Li said quietly. “When Six came to get me, it started a media firestorm. That’s why we’re in this mess in the first place.”

“Don’t mind Mei-Li,” Becca said easily. “She thinks she’s the reason for the whole war.”

“Well I
am,”
Mei-Li said earnestly. “If my father hadn’t freaked out…and then later when I ignored the message from the Goddess…”

“You’re Senator Hastings’ daughter,” Charlie exclaimed. “I
knew
you looked familiar—your face has been plastered all over the TV for weeks!”

Mei-Li sighed unhappily. “Oh dear, that sounds like something my father would do. He loves me but he’s not above using me for his ‘cause.’”

“He started the EPB too—the Earth Protection Bureau,” Charlie told her. “I’m an EPB officer myself.”

“Really?” Kat’s eyes widened. “Aren’t they extremely anti-Kindred?”

“They are,” Charlie said, lifting her chin. “And so am I. That’s why I took the job.” It might be an unpopular opinion here on the Mother Ship but she’d be damned if she would hide how she felt.

“Wow—is that how you met Commander Stavros?” Becca asked. “You were trying to arrest him or something?”

“That’s about the long and the short of it,” Charlie admitted. “In fact, I
did
arrest him. Had him cuffed up and everything but he escaped.” She frowned, trying to remember exactly what had happened after Stavros had broken her bedposts and gotten away. Everything was still extremely fuzzy. “Then for some reason I guess he decided to bring me up here,” she said, shrugging. “Maybe he was retaliating—an eye for an eye or something like that.”

“I don’t think it was about retaliation—he said you were sick,” Kat said.

“We saw him bringing you in,” Becca added. “He was carrying you so carefully—wouldn’t let anyone else touch you.”

“He was
very
protective,” Mei-Li said, nodding. “And you should know that they have the best medicine up here on the Mother Ship. Whatever is wrong, they can fix it.”

“Fix it?” Charlie looked at them blankly. “I’m not sick. I’m just—”

“It’s very good to see you, Commander Stavros. I’m glad you were able to make it with no problems,” a man’s voice said just outside the door to her room.

“I wouldn’t exactly say
no
problems, Commander Sylvan,” Stavros’s voice replied. “What in the Seven Hells are the Dark Kindred doing in this sector?”

“That’s a long story—too long to tell you now although I promise you’ll hear all about it during our special briefing,” the other Kindred replied. “But before that, I know you’re very anxious to get your female examined.”

“She is not exactly my female but I do feel responsible for her,” Stavros said. “I brought her up here because of her severe pain and bleeding—though I could never find the wound or I would have tried to seal and heal it.”

“You would, hmm?” Commander Sylvan sounded like he might be raising his eyebrows. “It sounds to me as though you feel more than just ‘responsible’ for her, Commander Stavros. You and I both know a Blood Kindred only heals his bride.”

“I cannot take a bride for reasons that you must be aware of,” Stavros said stolidly. “But I do wish to take care of this female and heal her of her affliction.”

“Very well, I’ll examine her. Can you tell me first what the symptoms of her illness are?”

“A terrible stabbing, cramping pain in the lower abdomen/pelvis area,” Stavros said. “Accompanied by bleeding. She told me that this happens to her every lunar cycle and no medical personnel on Earth have been able to help her.”

When the men had started talking outside her door, all of the girls inside, including Charlie, had instinctively gone silent. Now Kat broke the quiet with a stifled giggle.

“Oh my God,” she whispered to Charlie. “Did I just hear him say he brought you up here because you were
on your period?”

Reluctantly, Charlie nodded. “Yeah, I guess so. I do have really bad ones from time to time but—”

“Can you tell me anything else?” the Kindred named Sylvan was asking.

“Just that the only thing that helps her during these attacks is medication which causes her to act completely out of character,” Stavros answered. “She was…under its influence while we were together in the shuttle, waiting for a safe passage to the Mother Ship. She was asleep when I brought her in but I am not certain if she will be completely, uh, lucid now or not.”

Charlie put her head in her hands and groaned softly. Suddenly all of the fuzzy details her brain had refused to reveal earlier were coming painfully clear. The way she had flirted with Stavros in the shuttle, begging to sit on his lap, cuddling up with him…
And kissing him! Don’t forget you laid a live one on him up there while you were snuggled up on his lap like he was Santa Clause or something,
whispered a sarcastic little voice in her head.