Forgotten (10 page)

“
What are those?” She
gestured at the rings. “I mean that stone—I work in a jewelry store
but I’ve never seen anything like it.”

He looked up at her, his piercing blue eyes
troubled.

“
You really don’t know?”
Before she could answer he sighed. “Of course you don’t. These are
your wedding band and the engagement ring I gave you when I first
asked you to be my bride. The stone is a Rigellian Emerald. Very
rare and expensive but it reminded me of your eyes. You loved it.
You said…” He looked down at his big hands, lying open in his lap.
“You said, ‘Any girl can have a diamond. But who else has a stone
that exactly matches their eyes?’”

“
Look, I’m sorry…” Kate
shifted uneasily. “Really sorry that I can’t remember any of that.
But I just can’t, okay? I’m not doing it on purpose to hurt you—I
really just
don’t remember.”

“
It’s all right. Forgive
me—I should not have spoken of it.” He sighed. “Do you have any
antiseptic wash? This wound must be cleaned before my body can heal
it.” He nodded down at the bullet hole, still oozing blood, which
had gone through his outer triceps area.

“
I have some hydrogen
peroxide here.” Kate held up the brown bottle. “It might sting a
little but it should do the trick.”

“
All right.” He held
perfectly still and let her pour the liquid on the bullet wound. It
was small and neat at the front of his arm where the bullet had
entered, but much larger where it had exited. Still, it didn’t seem
to have hit any bones or tendons or blood vessels. Kate thought
that all in all the big Kindred had been really lucky she was
panicking when she pulled the trigger. She was usually a much
better shot than this.

Speaking of panic, she still felt the
overwhelming fear wanting to rise in her throat when she got close
to him. But she gave herself a stern talking-to, reminding herself
that Rone wasn’t here to hurt her, and managed to damp it down. It
helped that he held as still as a statue while she treated him and
didn’t try to touch her in any way—Kate was grateful for that.

“
All right,” she said at
last, when the peroxide stopped foaming. “I think that’s it. I’ll
just clean this up…” She took a pad of paper towels and blotted
gently at the ragged wound. It seemed to have stopped bleeding, she
saw with satisfaction. “Looking good,” she told him. “Let me just
get a few of these gauze bandages…”

“
No need.” He looked down
at his arm and Kate did the same. What she saw, made her gasp.
Before her eyes, the wounded flesh was growing together—healing at
an amazing rate. The bullet hole in his arm got smaller and smaller
until there was nothing left on either side but a small, white scar
on his smooth, olive skin.

“
Wow!” Kate murmured in
wonder. Without thinking, she reached out to touch the place where
the bullet wound had so recently been.

But the minute her fingertips touched his
bare skin, she felt the panic set in. Her pulse started to race and
her throat closed up until she couldn’t breathe.

With a ragged gasp, she jumped away, curling
her fingers into a fist as though she’d been shocked or burned.

“
What is it?” Rone looked
at her with obvious concern. Kate could see the wish in his eyes to
go to her but to his credit, he must have realized that would only
make things worse so he stayed where he was.

“
I…I touched you.” Kate
put a hand to her heart, trying to still the drumming. “I…I don’t
know why I feel like that when I touch you. Like…like I’m having a
freaking
panic attack.”

“
I don’t know either.” He
shook his head somberly. “Maybe someone on the Mother Ship will,
though.”

“
The Mother Ship?” She
frowned. “As in, the
Kindred
Mother Ship that orbits the moon? Why would I go
there?”

“
To find out why your
amnesia is lasting so much longer than it should,” Rone said
patiently. “The Dream Blooms—”

“
Back up.” Kate made a
motion with one hand. “You said something about that back in your
car but I didn’t understand it. What are Dream Blooms and what do
they have to do with what happened to me?”

Rone took a deep breath. “It’s a very long
story but the gist of it is you fell into a trap meant for another.
You breathed in the fragrance of the Dream Blooms, which were
planted in the wedding bouquet of a friend of yours, and you
immediately seemed to forget me. At least, when I reached for you,
you drew away. Then you were taken—abducted in a split second by a
molecular transfer beam. It takes only living tissue and leaves
everything else behind. All that remained was the clothing you’d
been wearing and these…” He lifted the two rings which lay against
his chest and gripped them tight in one big fist. “I’ve been
searching for you ever since, certain you were dead or being
tortured somewhere…”

“
I’m so sorry.” Kate
shrugged helplessly. “But six months is about how long I’ve been
here in Florida. My friend Mimi found me naked in a park in
Sarasota—about an hour south of here. She let me move in with her
and then I got a job and things just began to seem…well,
normal
I
guess.”

“
Normal.” He gave a hollow
laugh and scrubbed one big hand over his face. His palm made a
whispering sound over his whiskers. “Gods, how can this be normal?
You not knowing me…not remembering anything about our life
together…”

“
I can’t help that. I told
you,” Kate said sharply. “And I wish you’d stop talking about all
these memories we made and things we did—it makes me uncomfortable.
It’s weird to hear about when I feel like I just met you for the
first time when you jumped me in that hallway at the mall two hours
ago.”

“
I did not ‘jump you’,”
the big Kindred said with dignity. “I wanted to find a quiet place
to speak to you alone. I thought you might be being watched—thought
the ones who had stolen you away were using you to bait a trap of
some kind. I tried to speak to you through our mind link but you
didn’t hear me—maybe because of the building materials the mall is
made from. So I had no choice but to try and speak to you
privately.”

“
Wait a minute…” Kate
couldn’t let some of this pass. “Okay, I understand you thought I
might be in danger or there some kind of trap but what was that
other thing you said? You tried to talk to me through
what
kind of
link?”

“
The mental link that all
bonded Kindred share with their mates,” Rone said patiently.
“Listen…” He closed his mouth and narrowed his eyes, obviously
concentrating hard as he stared at her. Clearly he was trying to
communicate to her and just as clearly, nothing was
happening.

After a long moment of this Kate shook her
head.

“
Look, I don’t know what
you’re trying to do but if it’s some kind of telepathy thing, it’s
not working. I don’t hear a thing.”

For the first time since she’d met him and
began to believe his story, Rone looked completely stricken.

“
Truly?” he asked
hoarsely, staring at her. “You heard
nothing?”

Kate shook her head. “Was I supposed
to?”

“
Yes! Yes, of course…” He
took a deep breath. “You try. Think something at me as hard as you
can—don’t hold back.”

Kate did as he commanded,
though it seemed sort of foolish to her. Looking straight at him,
she thought, “
This is weird. I don’t even
know what I’m supposed to be thinking. But anyway, hi, I
guess.”

After a moment, the big Kindred shook his
head and a look of despair came into his blue eyes.

“
Gods,” he muttered
hoarsely. “Our bond—it’s gone.
Broken.
Or else buried so deeply it
might as well be broken. How could this happen?”

“
Um…I don’t understand,”
Kate said. “What bond?”

“
Every Kindred male forms
a mental and emotional connection with his bride when he bonds her
to him. Ours was very strong, even if it
was
incomplete. I would have sworn
that nothing but death could break it.”

Kate was tired of apologizing for something
she could do nothing about.

“
I don’t know what to
say,” she said. “Um, would you like some coffee or tea?”

He shook his head. “No. I
want nothing. Nothing except you,
Lalli.
”

There it was—that word again. The nickname
that made her so uncomfortable for some reason. As if the intense
way he was looking at her wasn’t making her uncomfortable enough.
His piercing blue eyes looked like they could burn a hole right
through her.

“
Well, I…” Kate shifted
uneasily.

Just then the apartment door bust open and
she heard Mimi rush in, shouting her name.

“
Kate—Kate? Are you
here?”

Kate ran out of the kitchen to meet her
roommate. “I’m here. I’m fine,” she said, putting her hands on the
other woman’s arms. She didn’t want Mimi to see Rone just yet.

“
Oh, Kate!” Mimi hugged
her tightly, her tall, gangly frame trembling against Kate’s much
smaller one. “The police said there was an attempted robbery and
you’d been abducted! By this huge man with dark hair and blue eyes
and they said there was no way he would take you back home but
something just seemed to tell me I should look here and…Oh, Kate,
I’m so glad you’re all right!”

“
I’m fine,” Kate tried to
reassure her. “Really, I am.”

“
But they said the man
that took you was really
dangerous
. How did you get
away?”

“
Well…” Kate began, trying
to think how to explain.

“
Hello.” Rone came around
the corner suddenly and Kate felt her friend stiffen in her
arms.

“
Oh my God,” Mimi said
faintly. “It’s him—it has to be! He matches all the
descriptions.”

“
It’s all right,” Kate
tried to reassure her. “I mean,
he’s
all right. And he didn’t
exactly
abduct me. He
just sort of…took me out of the mall. While I was unconscious.” She
sighed. “Okay, he kind of abducted me. But he seems to have a good
reason for it.”

“
I am Kate’s mate—her
husband,” the big Kindred said quietly, looking intently at Mimi,
who was still clutching Kate tightly.

“
Her
what?”
Mimi eyed him
skeptically.

“
I can see you need proof
for which I don’t blame you.” Rone dug the small coin-sized
projector out of the pocket of his tight leather trousers and
pressed the tiny button. At once, the holo of him and Kate in their
wedding clothes popped up.

“
Oh my God—that’s you!”
Mimi exclaimed, looking at Kate. “And look at that gorgeous
gown!”

“
It was Vera’s Wang,” Rone
said seriously.

“
It was
what?”
Mimi
giggled.
“
Do you
mean
a
Vera Wang?
It was a Vera Wang gown?”

“
Yes, forgive me.
Apparently it’s a very famous Earth designer. Kate thought it was
too expensive but I wanted her to have her Joining Ceremony exactly
as she had always imagined it.”

“
Oh…” Mimi pressed a hand
to her chest. “That’s so
romantic.”

“
It was a beautiful day.
The happiest of my life,” Rone said quietly. “And here’s one from
our honeymoon…” He flipped through the images, showing them to Mimi
who exclaimed over them eagerly. He was keeping half an eye on
Kate—she could feel him watching her—as he showed the images. She
wondered if he was hoping that seeing them again would jog
something loose but it was no good—she still couldn’t remember a
thing.

At last Rone put the small projector away
and looked at Mimi.

“
I have been searching for
Kate for these past six solar months,
he said seriously. “I understand you found her and sheltered her
all this time—for that I am beyond grateful.”

“
Oh, well…” Mimi smiled
shyly at Rone. “I was just doing what any decent person would
do.”

“
That’s not true, Mimi,”
Kate said. “Anyone else would have probably had the crazy naked
girl locked up in the funny farm or at least just dropped me off at
the Salvation Army as somebody else’s problem.”

“
Stop it…” Mimi was
blushing now.

“
You protected my mate and
gave her shelter and clothing and food when another might have
turned her away or taken advantage of her,” Rone said seriously.
“For that, I am deeply in your debt. Kate is everything to me—she
is my heart.” He thumped his broad, bare chest. “I’ve been half out
of my mind with worry and fear. Thank you for all you did for her.”
He held out his arms to Mimi who stepped forward
uncertainly.

“
Oh, uh…”

“
Thank you,” Rone said
again and his deep voice throbbed with sincerity. He took Mimi in
his arms and gave her a hug, then kissed her solemnly on each
cheek.

“
Oh my…” Mimi was blushing
scarlet. Kate couldn’t help noticing that her tall friend looked
almost petite in the big Kindred’s arms and she felt a stab of
something like jealousy at the sight of him embracing
her.