Forgotten (5 page)

Stooping, he picked it up carefully.

“
What is it? A flower?”
Sylvan had bent forward to sniff the withered blossom but Rone
yanked it out of reach.

“
Careful! This is what
stole Kate’s memory—it’s not safe to breathe its fragrance—not even
in this state.”

“
Then you’re right—your
mate was here!” Sylvan exclaimed. “But where did she go from here?
And who took her?”

“
We believe it was Two,
the Dark Kindred who wanted Emily dead,” Rone said in a low voice.
“The trap Kate fell into was set for her in the first place—the
priestess who was complicit in setting it up admitted as much,
though she didn’t know who she was dealing with, only that he
offered her vengeance.”

“
So Kate sprang it by
accident,” Sylvan remarked. “And was instantly transported here via
the molecular transport beam.”

“
Yes, but where is she
now? And what’s being done to her?” Rone ground his teeth in
frustration. “Gods, I’m going to go
crazy
if I can’t find
her!”

“
You’ll find her, my
friend.” Sylvan had looked thoughtful. “I believe she may be even
closer than you think. Come, let’s look at the coordinates the beam
is set to.”

Rone’s eyes had widened. “You think they
might have sent her back to Earth—back to her home planet?”

Sylvan looked troubled.
“It’s possible. I think it depends on how much Two knows about you.
If he knows you’re a Wulven…well, let us just say
I
wouldn’t want one of
your kind tracking me and looking for vengeance. If I were Two and
I took the wrong female—the bonded mate of a Wulven Kindred—by
mistake, I would get rid of her. I would put her as far from me as
I could because I wouldn’t want her trail leading back to
me.”

Rone had gone to look at the molecular
transfer beam’s settings.

“
Sarasota, Florida, USA,”
he read, frowning. “Do you think Kate could be there
somewhere?”

“
It’s worth a try,” Sylvan
had said gravely. “It’s either that or try to track Two himself and
I believe you have been unable to find a trace of him,
correct?”

Rone had nodded heavily. The Dark Kindred
who had been trying to kill Emily, the new Khalla who was also the
daughter of the Kindred Goddess, had been uncannily good at
covering his tracks. Rone hadn’t been able to get anywhere near him
though he knew he must be out there somewhere…

“
I’ll go to these
coordinates and make a thorough search,” he had decided. “But the
Goddess help me if she isn’t there, Sylvan. I don’t know what I’ll
do…”

As it turned out,
Kate
wasn’t
in
Sarasota at the coordinates the transport beam had been set for,
but the faintest possible trace of her scent
had
been. It hadn’t been easy but
Rone had finally been able to follow her faint trail an hour north
to Tampa, which was where she was living now. Living with a female
roommate and working a job in this Earth establishment called a
“mall” though Rone had no idea why.

He stared at her, as she moved purposefully
past him, her head held high, her gaze watchful but confident. Her
petite body was well covered—she wearing a long-sleeved blouse of
plain black with a tan skirt that fell modestly to her knees. A
tan, professional looking jacket that matched the skirt completed
her look. Kate had never been one to bare her body—she was
self-conscious for various reasons. Or she had been before they’d
been mated and Rone had made her understand how beautiful and
perfect she was to him.

After they’d been together
a while, she’d begun to wear clothing that was a bit more revealing
and even enjoyed teasing him which Rone fucking
loved
. The flash of her thigh…the
creamy inner curves of her breasts…all those sights meant for his
eyes alone drove him to the edge. It had been a kind of game with
them—a naughty little pastime that never got old.

Now, however, it appeared
that Kate had reverted back to her modest pre-mated self. Her
blouse was buttoned up showing not even a hint of cleavage and her
skirt covered her completely without being too tight. Even so, Rone
could see her lush curves through the concealing garments. A low
groan rose in his throat but he swallowed it down. It had been so
long and the
hunger
was rising in him—the intense desire that affected all mated
Kindred but was especially strong in Wulvens. She was his
mate—he
needed
her. But he couldn’t just go rushing in—not yet.

Wearily, he rubbed a hand over his unshaved
jaw, feeling the scratch of stubble against his palm. He had to
take this slow—had to figure out what was going on here before he
talked to her.

Why was Kate here? And how could she just go
back to her life here on Earth as if nothing had happened? As if
they’d never met or been mated or loved each other so deeply it
felt like every moment apart was an eternity? It couldn’t be that
she still didn’t remember him—one of the priestesses who
specialized in botany back on Rageron had assured him that the
effects of the Dream Blooms would wear off in twenty-four to
forty-eight hours. So what was going on?

“
Kate? Lalli?”
he sent tentatively through the link all Kindred
males share with their mates but she seemed not to hear
him.

Rone frowned. Their link had felt strange to
him for the past six months—subtly wrong in a way he couldn’t put
his finger on but which was undeniably there. He’d been calling and
calling his mate and getting nothing in return but he’d simply
assumed they were out of range. Well, maybe the building material
this mall was made of was blocking them somehow—he had heard of
such things and it would certainly explain why Kate hadn’t heard
his mental call.

Something else occurred to Rone—maybe she
was still being watched. Maybe Two had put her here as a kind of
bait and she knew she was being monitored. Could that be possible?
He wasn’t sure and he hadn’t sensed any menacing presence around
her but maybe it was so. At any rate, it was easier to believe than
thinking that she had forgotten him completely.

He would have to proceed with caution—try to
get her alone so they could speak in private. And he would be on
the alert. If anyone was watching…if they threatened her at
all…Rone felt his hands curl into fists and inside him, his Beast
woke and growled menacingly. It didn’t really understand what was
happening—it only knew that Rone was upset which upset it as
well.

Rone sighed. If only he could make the other
half of himself understand what was going on—if only he could
enlist its help! But that was impossible because his Beast had
never truly been tamed by Kate. Despite her protests to the
contrary, Rone had judged her too frail and tiny to withstand that
particular trial-by-fire. She had never seen him in his fur-form…or
mated with him when his Beast was out.

That was how Rone wanted
it—she was his
Lalli,
his little one, and she must be protected, even from
him—
especially
from him. Instead, they had been able to use her gift—her
Knowing—to allow her to meet his Beast in a round-about way. The
result was though it liked Kate well enough, the Beast had never
really adopted her into the pack or acknowledged her as its
Mistress. It was not truly tamed to her hand
,
w
hich
Rone now regretted.

If someone really
was
menacing Kate and it
came to a fight, he would be unable to unleash the most powerful
weapon he had. Due to their incomplete bonding, his Beast could not
be trusted around her. When filled with the Blood Lust, it might
kill her as well as whatever enemy was attacking. He could do a
partial change but it wasn’t nearly as effective as a full
shift.

Rone squared his shoulders. Whatever came,
he would just have to be ready. He would rescue Kate and take her
away from here, back to their ship where he could examine her and
make certain she was all right. After that, he wanted to hold
her—to feel her small body safe in his arms and know that she was
really and truly well and whole and his again.

He would love her so
tenderly, he promised himself—he would spend hours between her
thighs tasting her just the way she loved it—drinking her juices
and lapping her sweet pussy until she moaned and cried and called
his name. Within him, the
hunger
stirred again. Gods, how he needed
her!

He swore to the Goddess, as he ducked out of
the dark shop and began to trail her from a distance, that once he
got her back, he would never let her go.

Chapter Three

Kate was almost to Mayors, the jewelry store
where she worked, when the sudden urge to pee hit her. Damn it—she
should know better than to drink those freaking shakes on her
break! But they were pretty filling and a lot less empty calories
than grabbing a corn dog or a big plate of noodles which Mimi
preferred.

The main restrooms were
back in the food court but luckily, there was a small, winding
hallway—more of a service corridor, really—down at her end of the
mall, just past the jewelry store where she worked. It was mostly
storage areas and closets filled with janitorial equipment but
there was also a tiny employee bathroom at the very end of it. Kate
didn’t really like going down there—it was kind of creepy,
especially in the evening if the mall wasn’t very busy—like
tonight. But it
did
come in handy in a pinch.

She cast a glance to her left, looking over
the waist-high railing that ran around the top floor. It was a long
drop down to the first level. She didn’t like heights—it made her
wish that her store was located at the ground floor instead. The
top floor of the mall, where she was walking, was nearly deserted.
There was more activity down below, however.

She could see the play area from here with
some scattered moms sitting around the perimeter chatting while
their kids ran around like crazy things playing tag in the enclosed
area. The indoor playground had been sponsored by Busch Gardens and
had been decorated to look like a giant zoo with an immense plastic
elephant, a kangaroo with a pouch big enough to climb in, a lion
that roared when you pulled his tail, and a zebra to crawl on and
“ride.”

Kate watched the kids
playing for a moment, imaging how it would be to have children of
her own. Of course, that would never be unless she found Mr. Right
and settled down. Ha—as if that was ever going to happen! Long term
relationships never lasted for her. She was too weird—the Knowing
made her different and even guys who didn’t have the slightest bit
of sensitivity to unseen things seemed to sense it. Plus, when they
found out she could read them by touching their skin, they became a
whole lot less interested in touching
her
. And even if she
could
have found a guy
who didn’t mind having his secrets revealed every time they made
skin-to-skin contact, there was the little matter of her
scars…

Kate shrugged her shoulders irritably. The
scars in question ran the length of her spine, just between her
shoulder blades. The tissue there was tight and unyielding, making
her itch sometimes.

The itch made her
self-conscious—as though everyone could see the ugly scars beneath
her clothes. Which was silly. She ought to be over it by now—her
scars were part of her, like her red hair and green eyes—like the
Knowing. Besides, she was always careful to dress appropriately and
keep her back covered. Nobody would ever catch her out on the beach
in a bikini, even if she
did
live in Florida now.

She came to the long, narrow corridor,
started to go down it …and stopped. Was it her imagination or was
it darker down here than usual? Were some of the overhead lights
burned out or was management just cutting them back to save money?
It seemed like a ridiculous gesture in such a huge, expensive mall
but Kate had known them to do stupid, petty things in the hope of
saving a few pennies before. For whatever the reason, the service
corridor certainly seemed dimmer and spookier than usual.

For a moment she debated
going back to the main restroom but she only had ten minutes left
on her break and it was a long walk back to the food court.
Besides—what was there to be afraid of?
A
lot,
whispered a voice in her head and she
flashed on the tall man with glowing blue eyes.

But that had probably been
just her imagination working. She hadn’t slept well last
night—mostly because of the damn dreams she kept having. Probably
her subconscious mind had just turned some random guy into her own
personal boogieman and played a little trick on her because she was
so tried. She
was
armed, after all. The comforting weight of the Glock under
her arm made her lift her chin and step confidently down the dim
hallway.

She used the bathroom and washed her hands
without incident and in plenty of time to get back to work.

“
See?”
she muttered to herself as she swung open the door. “You were
scared for nothing. There’s nobody he—”

The words died in her
throat as a huge, menacing man stepped out from the shadows where
he had plainly been waiting for her. He was wearing tight black
leather trousers, a wife beater t-shirt, and a black leather
jacket. She recognized him from the brief glimpse she’d had in the
food court. It was the man from her dreams again. So her
subconscious
hadn’t
been making him up.