Forgotten (13 page)

* * * * *

“
Well…the good news is we
didn’t find any tumors or masses or abnormalities of any kind,” the
blond Kindred doctor said.

“
I think I hear a ‘but’
coming up,” Kate said. She was sitting on the gurney attached to
the complex scanning machine which seemed to consist of a vast,
round glass bubble filled with swirling colored vapors. Sylvan had
explained that the vapors “read” the brain waves and formed
pictures of the anatomy at the same time.

Even more interesting, he had told her the
colored vapors were sentient creatures the Kindred had discovered
on one of their many missions to find new genetic trade partners.
Of course, they couldn’t form a trade with beings so very unlike
themselves, but the sentient vaporous gasses were intelligent and
extremely curious. Many had agreed to come with the Kindred in
exchange for a constant flow of new information and stimulation. It
was a symbiotic relationship on both sides and it made for a much
more comfortable scan than the ones she’d endured back on
Earth.

Kate vividly remembered the grinding and
clanking of the MRI machines she’d been subjected to when she was
younger, as well as the tight, confined space she’d been shoved
into. It was a claustrophobic’s worst nightmare—being shut up in a
tight, dark tube while your ears were assaulted by a noise as loud
as a freight train bearing down on you.

The Kindred’s scanner was nothing like
that—the sentient vapors made a soft, musical humming that was very
soothing and the space inside the scanner was light and airy. All
Kate had to do was lie still inside the vast glass ball, watch the
swirling colors go by, and listen to their gentle music. It was so
relaxing she had almost fallen asleep and she was rather sorry when
it was over.

In fact, the only thing she didn’t like
about the whole experience was that the hospital gown she had to
wear opened at the back. She was always self-conscious when she had
to wear anything that showed her scars so she’d done her best to
wrap the gown around herself, hiding almost everything.

Now she was sitting alertly on the edge of
the gurney, waiting to hear what was wrong with her. But according
to Doctor Sylvan the answer was…nothing.

“
So?” she said again when
he didn’t answer immediately. “You didn’t find any tumors but
what’s the bad news?”

“
Well, that’s both the
good news and the bad news. Believe it or not, a brain tumor isn’t
a bad thing to us—we have very advanced surgical techniques to
treat even the most stubborn growth.” Sylvan sighed. “Finding a
mass in your brain would have explained everything and it would
have been an easy fix—for us, anyway.” He shrugged. “We knew it was
a long shot but it was necessary to rule out even the possibility
of a physical abnormality before looking for other
answers.”

“
So if there’s no physical
problem wrong with my brain, what’s causing my memory loss? And the
way…” Kate cleared her throat uneasily, glad that Rone was in the
other room, outside the glass wall between the scanner and the
control area. “And the way I feel when I get too close to Rone?”
she finished, in a low voice. “Is it those, flowers he says I
sniffed?”

Sylvan spread his hands. “We don’t know.
We’re analyzing the Dream Blooms you smelled which started this in
the first place. Hopefully we’ll find some answers there. In the
meantime, you don’t have to hang around here. You’re free to get
dressed and go back to your suite to wait.”

“
Um…okay, but I don’t know
where that is,” Kate pointed out.

“
Of course you don’t—I’m
sorry.” Sylvan shook his head. “Forgive me for forgetting you don’t
know your way around the Mother Ship anymore.”

“
Is Sophia still around?”
Kate asked hopefully. “Maybe she could show me.”

“
I’m afraid she had to go
pick up our twins from the day care,” Sylvan said gently. “But Rone
can show you the way, I’m sure.”

“
Right, of course,” Kate
said tightly. She wrapped her arms around herself and squeezed,
trying to calm her nerves. Although she knew the big Kindred was
supposed to be her husband, she still didn’t want to spend any more
time alone with him than she had to. That panicky feeling she got
when he was too close was
so
uncomfortable.

Sylvan seemed to know what she was thinking
because he leaned down and looked at her directly.

“
I don’t understand the
reason you feel the way you do when you’re around Rone, Kate, but
I
do
know that he
loves you with his whole heart. He would die before he would hurt
you.”

“
I know that.” Kate
shifted again. Of course she knew
cognitively
he wouldn’t hurt her.
But when every nerve in her body was on high alert and every
instinct was shouting that she was in
danger,
that she had to
run,
it was hard to
remember that she was actually okay.

“
You’ll be all right.”
Sylvan patted her shoulder reassuringly. “We’ll get to the bottom
of this—I promise.”

“
Okay. Thanks, I guess.
Um…how is Rone taking it?” She looked at the tall figure of the
Kindred warrior on the other side of the glass again. To her
discomfort, she saw that he was looking back at her. Hastily, Kate
dropped her eyes.

“
He’s worried,” Sylvan
said candidly. “But I think it’s better if you speak to him
directly. I’ll send him in and blank the window so you can
dress.”

“
Oh, uh…” Kate wanted to
tell him not to but then she realized it would look like she was
avoiding the big Kindred. “Okay,” she ended weakly.

Sylvan nodded and walked out the door of the
scan room. For a moment Kate could see him speaking to Rone and
then the glass connecting window went black and the tall Kindred
with the piercing blue eyes came in.

“
Hello. How was the scan?”
He was holding the bundle of clothing she’d taken off earlier, when
she was getting into the hospital gown. He started to hand it to
her, then placed it on the gurney beside her instead.

“
Fine. Not bad at all.”
Kate could feel her gut twisting at his proximity but she tried to
keep her face impassive. “Nothing like the MRIs I had when I was a
kid.”

“
I’m glad it didn’t bother
you.” He looked at her legs, dangling far above the ground as she
sat perched on the side of the gurney. “Would you like some help to
get down?”

Kate thought of the way her heart had nearly
burst when his big, warm hand covered hers back at the mall.

“
No, thank you,” she said
quickly. “I can manage myself—I’m used to being short.”

“
But—”

Before he could finish, she had hopped off
the table on her own. The action caused her gown to gape open in
the back and she snatched it quickly closed again. When she looked
up, she saw that Rone had his hand on a step-stool with a long
silver handle on one side.

“
I was going to offer you
this,” he said. “I know you don’t want to take my hand.”

“
Sorry.” Kate bit her lip.
“I just…I know you’re not, uh, going to hurt me but this
feeling
I get whenever
you’re close…”

“
I understand.” His face
was a stony mask but she thought she could see the hurt beneath
it.

Kate sighed. “Crap. I’m
really sorry,
honestly
.” She looked at her pile of clothes. “And I hate to say this
but would you mind turning around while I change? I’m a really
private person and I don’t think…I mean, even if we were married
I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have let you see me naked. At least, not
all the way.”

“
Why? Because of your
scars?” He raised an eyebrow at her.

Kate flushed and her hand went instinctively
to her back.

“
What do you know about
that? I don’t…”

“
I’ve seen them, Kate.
They’re beautiful,” he said quietly. “Everything about you is
beautiful to me.”

“
Not…not those. The
surgery…”

She’d had scoliosis as a child—a curvature
of the spine so severe it would have been life threatening without
treatment. The problem had eventually been corrected but the
multiple spinal surgeries she’d gone through as a girl had left
their mark on her.

The twisted white scars
that ran from the nape of her neck down to the small of her back
made her feel vulnerable and ugly so Kate was always careful to
keep them covered. She didn’t care if she
had
been married to the big
Kindred—she was certain she would never have voluntarily shown him
her scars—would never have allowed herself to be that vulnerable
with
anyone
.

“
I don’t believe you,” she
said flatly, staring into his piercing blue eyes. “I would never
let you see those—even if we
were
married for three years.”

“
I have seen them,” he
rumbled softly. “Touched them…kissed them.”

“
You…you wouldn’t.” The
thought of him putting his mouth to that part of her was slightly
horrifying. “Why would you want to—”

“
To show you how beautiful
you are,
Lalli.
And I used to lick you there—to soften the tightness and ease
the ache. The compounds in my saliva are healing to my mate. You
always said it made you feel better…looser.” There was a pleading
in his eyes that was hard to look at.

“
No!” Kate recoiled from
him involuntarily. “I can’t…can’t believe I would ever let you do
that!”

He sighed. “It took me years to convince you
I wanted to. Years to teach you how truly beautiful you are.”

“
I don’t…I can’t…” Kate
shook her head. “Stop talking to me about the past…about a past I
don’t even remember!”

He looked stricken. “I’m sorry. I just
thought—”

“
Well, you thought wrong,”
Kate snapped. “Look, could you please just turn around so I can
dress? You may have seen me naked but I don’t remember that either
and it makes me
really
uncomfortable to have some guy I don’t know watch me
change.”

The hurt in his eyes was unmistakable this
time but he turned silently, giving her his broad, muscular back.
Kate changed as quickly as possible, putting back on the jeans and
long-sleeved blouse she’d changed into before going with him to the
Mother Ship. She had packed a change in a bag too but she wasn’t
sure where it was—maybe still back in the small car-shuttle he’d
brought her in.

“
I’m finished,” she said
at last, smoothing the long, curly tendrils of her hair away from
her face.

Rone didn’t turn around. “Fine. Then let’s
go to the suite.” He strode out of the scan area, his long legs
eating up the ground quickly. Kate had to scramble to keep up with
him.

“
Are we going to sleep? I
mean, it
is
pretty late.” Kate looked up at him anxiously as she trotted
to keep up with his long strides. They were walking down what
seemed like a maze of interconnecting metal corridors. She usually
had a good sense of direction but this was really confusing—she
wondered if she’d really known her way around the big ship back
before she lost her memory.

“
Don’t worry.” Rone spared
her a glance. “I will take the couch and you can have the sleeping
platform to yourself. In fact, you can have the whole suite to
yourself for a while. I need to run an…” He sighed deeply.
“An
errand
at the
center of the ship before I can rest.”

“
What kind of errand?”
Kate asked, wondering why she cared. Maybe it was the way he said
it. The inflection in his deep voice made it sound like something
he had to do, but was dreading greatly.

“
I need to speak to a
priestess in the Sacred Grove,” he said shortly.

“
But—” Before Kate could
ask anything else, they turned into a new corridor and he stopped
in front of a plain metal sliding door.

“
Here we are.” He passed
his palm over a flat black panel before the door and it whooshed
open silently. Rone nodded her inside. “Go on—everything you need
is in the suite. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

Before Kate could protest further, he turned
his back and strode off down the metal corridor, not looking back
once.

Chapter
Nine

“
Tell me why you are here,
Warrior.” The priestess who was attending him had the green
streaked hair and green-within-green eyes of her kind. She was
younger than most and had a compassionate way about her, for which
Rone was grateful. Some of the older priestesses could be stern and
unsympathetic. He supposed most of them had seen much too deeply
into the hearts and minds of too many males. Doubtless that would
make anyone cynical, after a while.

“
My mate has forgotten
me,” he said, deciding to cut to the heart of the issue. “Our bond
is broken—or if not broken, then completely buried. I am nothing to
her now—less than nothing for she fears and shuns me.”

The priestess frowned. “This is a very
strange statement. Explain.”

Rone opened his mouth but she shook her
head.