Devoured: Brides of the Kindred 11 (44 page)

“Oh, Garron…” She pressed her
cheek to his chest and stood there holding and being held by him, feeling
complete for the first time in her life.

“If this cave means so much to
you, I can always fly you up here again,” he pointed out, stroking her hair.
“We can make it a regular destination if you want.”

“That’s right.” She laughed
softly. “I’m bonded to a man who can fly. I feel like Mrs. Superman or
something.”

“I have no idea who that is…”
Garron shimmered again and the
dr’gin
reappeared.
“But I do know we need to go down and let
our friends and my brother know that we’re not dead.”

“All right.” Tess got on his
back and took a double handful of the white fur. “But I reserve the right to
come back here any time, just like you said. Only next time I’m bringing a
blanket or a roll of memory foam or something. This stone floor is hard on a
girl!”

There was a soft sound of what
might have been
dr’ginish
laughter
and then they were sweeping out of the cave, sliding through the rising air
currents and the morning sunshine to find the forest floor below.

Chapter
Forty-three

“I still can’t believe you’re okay!”
Becca gave her a spontaneous hug and Tess hugged her back, glad to be alive and
back with her new friend. “I mean it’s amazing. Just…amazing!”

“I guess it is.” Tess smiled.
When she had come floating down from the side of the mountain, riding on Garron’s
back, she’d thought Becca’s eyes would pop out of her head. But now that they
were all cleaned up and comfortably seated at a table in the HKR building in Asheville, Becca seemed to
be getting over her shock.

Tess was feeling much better
herself. They’d had lunch and a shower and Becca had given her a change of
clothes which looked much better than the worse-for-wear oversized sweat suit.
Now she and Garron were comfortably installed in one of the guest suites for
visiting Kindred here at the HKR building which was good, because she couldn’t
face going back to the cabin. Not after all the awful things she’d witnessed
there.

She wasn’t sure what she was
going to tell Di about what had happened at her uncle’s cabin, but she would
think of something. After all, she was going to see her friend tomorrow. She
and Garron were taking another road trip from Asheville
back to Tampa.
And this time she didn’t have to worry about Pierce following her.

Thinking of her ex-husband still
gave her a little chill. She supposed there might be questions about his
disappearance but since he was gone and there was no body to use for evidence,
she didn’t anticipate too much trouble. Truth and Far had promised to pull up
the stained carpet and burn it so she was hopeful she could keep mostly out of
any investigation that might occur.

“And you’re feeling all right?”
Becca asked and Tess realized she’d been spacing out for a moment, thinking of
her future plans.

“We’re fine—both of us,” Tess
assured her.

“More than fine.” Garron spoke
to Becca but his eyes were on Tess and their turquoise depths were hot. Tess
blushed and looked away.

“Uh, yes. I can see that,” Becca
said, smiling at him. “And it’s good to see you in your right mind.”

Garron nodded solemnly at her.
“Actually, since Tess brought me back to myself, I am in my ‘right mind’ as you
say in either form.”

“That’s amazing!” Becca gushed.
“And to think I thought Tess was crazy to go after you.”

“I knew Garron was in there,
just waiting to be let out,” Tess said, smiling and squeezing her lover’s hand.

“Actually, his name is now
G’ron,” Truth said, nodding at his brother. “According to the Rai’ku traditions
after a male’s first turning, he takes his adult name.”

“Um, okay—G’ron it is,” Becca
said. “It looks like you guys have had a hell of a night,” she said to Tess.
“But considering you’re still alive, I’d say it all worked out for the best.”

“Obviously.” Truth frowned. “But
I must know—how is it you didn’t devour Tess in your
D’fex
state, Brother? How did she pull you back from the brink of
madness?”

“Oh, well…” Tess could feel her
face getting hot and Garron’s cheeks were also dull red with embarrassment.
Luckily, he didn’t have to answer the question.

“How do you
think
, silly?” Becca demanded, looking at Truth. “They’re
bonded
. Aren’t you?” she asked Tess, who
nodded.

“We are,” Garron—or G’ron as
Tess supposed she ought to start calling him—said. “I am proud to claim Tess as
my mate and my bride. She is part of me.” He put a fist to his heart. “I owe
her everything and I love her with my entire being.”

“Oh, honey…” It was all Tess
could do to stop herself from jumping in his lap. She tried to restrain
herself, however, and just squeezed his hand instead.

He studied her palm, tracing the
scrapes she still had gently with one fingertip.

“It
occurs to me, lin’del, that while I apologized for the injuries I inflicted on
you, I never healed them.”

“Don’t
worry about that,”
Tess
sent back quickly. But she couldn’t suppress a shiver of excitement when she
remembered how pleasurable his healing could be. The soft feel of his mouth,
the warmth of his tongue as it glided over her flesh…
“I’ll be fine,”
she sent, trying to push the forbidden images away
while they were still sitting at the table in mixed company.

“You’ll
be fine
after
I heal you.”
To her surprise, Garron pulled her into his
lap and started kissing her right there at the table.

“Garron, er, G’ron,” she
protested, half laughing, half embarrassed. “We’re in public here.”

“You
think I care about that?”
he
growled through their link.
“And don’t
worry about calling me G’ron. Only on Pax do males change their names when they
make a first transition. I left that behind and I never want to go back to it.
I am content to stay here with you.”

“Mmm,
I’m feeling pretty content myself right now…”
Tess admitted, kissing him back.

“A-
hem.”

The sudden sound reminded her
that they weren’t the only people in the room and she looked up to see Becca
laughing at her.

“Come on, boys,” she said to
Truth and Far, taking their hands and rising from the table. “It looks to me
like the honeymoon period is still going on for these two. Let’s let them go
back to their suite and have a little more bonding time.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Tess
exclaimed, even as Garron got up from the table, holding her as easily as if
she was a doll. “We didn’t mean to be rude!”

“That’s okay.” Becca’s lovely
eyes gleamed with laughter. “I know how it is. After all, we’re still kind of
in the honeymoon phase ourselves, aren’t we, boys?” She gave Truth and Far a
smile which Far returned while Truth answered with a hungry growl.

“Well, if you’re sure…” Tess
said, even as Garron was starting to walk away with her. He paused for a
moment, impatiently, for her to talk to her friend.

“Positive,” Becca assured her.
“Besides, we’ve got a shuttle to catch. Are you guys going to stay here in the
guest quarters at the HKR for awhile?”

Tess nodded and made a face.
“For tonight, anyway. There’s no going back to the cabin. Not after
Pierce…well, not right now. Not sure what I’ll tell my friend Di when I go see
her.”

“So she’s getting better?” Becca
asked.

Tess smiled. “Much. So much that
she told me she didn’t want to see my face until I’d tied up any lose ends in Asheville.” She shrugged.
“But there isn’t much to tie up, really.”

“Okay. Well I know Sylvan is
still trying to get your ban from the Mother Ship revoked. There’s another
council meeting today and I’ll call you before you leave tomorrow to give you
the news.”

“All right.” Tess smiled but she
could feel Garron’s growing impatience through their link. “Look, we’d better
go.”

“Uh-huh.” Becca started laughing
again. “All right. Go on, then. Have fun.”

“We will,” Garron answered for
her. “Farewell, have a safe journey back to the Mother Ship.”

Before any of the others could
answer, he was striding swiftly away, taking Tess with him. She waved over his
broad shoulder and Becca, still laughing, waved back before she and her
husbands went to find the shuttle that would take them home.

“That was rude you know,” she
told Garron with mock severity even as he started to kiss her neck. “Very rude
to just pick me up and carry me off like some kind of a…of a caveman.”

“But
the cave was where we bonded
,”
he objected through their link.
“I
thought you
liked
the cave.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Tess
giggled and then moaned when he found a particularly sensitive spot on the side
of her neck.

“Then
what did you mean?”

“Never mind.” She gave up, not
caring about anything but being with him. “I’ll explain later. For now, just
take me to bed. I think I want a little more ‘bonding time’ as Becca put it.”

“My
pleasure, lin’del,”
he
growled softly through the link.
“And
soon it will be your pleasure too. I’ll see to that…”

Tess was sure that he would.

End

Epilogue
# 1

"So they're all bonded and
happy now?" Kat asked, taking another bite of strawberry delight cupcake.

"Perfectly. They couldn't
keep their hands off each other." Becca grinned, remembering how Garron
had carried Tess away almost in mid-sentence.

"I'm so glad." Sophie
smiled and wiped pink crumbs off her nephew, Daniel's rosebud mouth. He was
toddling everyplace now and he seemed to love Lauren's cupcakes as much as the
rest of them.

"We didn't get to know them
long but I'm glad they got together." Liv was holding her niece and
nephew, Kara and Kaleb, one in each arm. Both of them were looking up at her
with wide, wondering eyes. Kara's were ice blue like her father's and Kaleb's
were green like Sophie's. It was too soon to tell about hair, though—they both
still just had little blond wisps on the tops of their heads that hadn't grown
out yet.

"These guys are
adorable."
Becca tickled Kaleb's
cheek and he turned his wide green eyes on her. "Can I hold him?" she
asked.

Sophie laughed. "Help
yourself—just be sure you stay close to Liv when you do. I swear they scream
bloody murder if you even take them across the room from each other."

"I'll be careful."
Becca put down her cupcake and held out her arms for baby Kaleb. She noticed
that his gaze went immediately to his twin sister when she took him. But when
he saw that Kara was still within sight, he settled with a contented sigh into
her arms and gave her an adorable toothless grin.

"Awww," look at
that." Kat smiled. "He likes you."

"Yours are going to like me
too if they ever come out," Becca said teasingly. "Seriously, how
long until you're due?"

"I'm
past
due," Kat groaned and put a hand to her hugely swollen
stomach. "Seriously, they're
killing
me."

Liv frowned. "Is that
normal?"

"It is according to
Sylvan," Sophie said, feeding Daniel another little bite of pink icing
from her finger. "He says sometimes Kindred pregnancies can be prolonged
for thirteen months or even a little longer."

"Ugh, don't remind
me!" Kat exclaimed. "I'm
so
miserable.
If it wasn't for Lauren and her baked goods, I don't think I could go on
living."

"Where is Lauren,
anyway?" Liv asked. "She just dropped off the cupcakes and ran. I
hardly even got to see Ziza."

"Having a spa day with her
mom, the lucky
un-
pregnant
girl," Kat said. "Ugh, why has everyone had their babies but me? Why
must I be so eternally pregnant? I feel like I'm carrying triplets or something
in here."

"The tests would have shown
that—wouldn't it?" Sophie asked. "I mean, you only got two flowers
and they only heard two heartbeats, right?"

"I've been studying Kindred
obstetrics and it gets complicated with Twin Kindred pregnancies
sometimes," Liv said. "Sometimes there's a shadow twin."

Kat grew pale. "Don't talk
about that! That's bad luck when I'm still pregnant!"

"Sorry, Kat-woman,"
Liv said quickly. "Let's talk about something else—you never told us where
Tess and Garron are going to live, Becca."

"Well, I
think
they wanted to come back to the
Mother Ship," Becca said, tickling the baby's cheek again to see his toothless
little smile. "I know for sure they don't want to go back to the cabin
where Garron, er, ate Tess's ex."

"As in killed him or
actually ate him all up like the big bad wolf?" Kat asked.

"Ate him all up. Even his
gun, apparently," Becca said. "And Tess had to watch the whole thing.
She's over it now but she's not exactly anxious to return to the scene of the
crime."

"Can't say that I blame
her," Liv remarked.

"Well, they're bonded
now," Kat said comfortingly. "So I'm sure Chancellor Terex will
have
to lift the ban on Tess and let her
come back aboard."

"I don't know…" Sophie
looked troubled. "Sylvan is trying but he says that the Chancellor…doesn't
seem like himself lately."

"I wondered about
that," Liv said darkly. "He seemed so strange when he came out of
that coma."

"Well, I'm sure being in a
coma changes you," Becca said. "I just hope he'll change his mind
about Tess. I really like her."

"She seems like a
sweetheart and I know Truth would like to have his younger brother near,"
Liv remarked.

"Well, we'll know
soon," Sophie said. "I think Sylvan is talking to Chancellor Terex
right now."

"Fingers crossed,
everybody," Kat said. "But before you cross them, somebody hand me
another cupcake. Chocolate this time, okay?"