Found (29 page)

“I’ve done a little research,” Nadiah
admitted, smiling. It had been her ambition to be mated to a
Kindred warrior—especially a Blood Kindred—from the time she was a
little girl. Of course, her parents would be horrified at the
thought of her polluting her pure blood lines by joining with a
Kindred but Nadiah didn’t care. The huge, virile warriors were her
ideal and even if they hadn’t been, anyone would have been better
than the skinny, sniveling Yo-dah her parents had promised her
to.

“Research, huh?” Sophia grinned. “Well then,
go back to sleep and try to dream about your ‘research’ and the
perfect Kindred warrior who’s going to sweep you off your
feet.”

“All right.” Nadiah snuggled back into bed
and sighed. “Good night, Sophie.”

“Good night, sleep tight.” Sophia smiled as
she left the room, closing the door gently behind her.

Nadiah closed her eyes and tried not to dwell
on the disturbing vision that had disrupted her sleep.
Please
Goddess,
she prayed silently.
Be with that girl. Protect her
or at least let her torment be swiftly over. And please help me to
prevent this from happening again. If you have given me this gift
for a reason, please help me to use it wisely.

She felt a sense of peace after she prayed,
as though the Goddess of All Life was listening. But sleep still
eluded her. Turning on her side, she tried to picture the perfect
Blood Kindred warrior. He would be tall and strong and he would
sweep her off her feet and go with her to Tranq Prime to challenge
the blood bond between herself and her betrothed. Then he would
take her back with him to the Mother ship and they would live
happily ever after in mated bliss just like Sophia and Sylvan.

But somehow, no matter how hard she tried to
picture her perfect Kindred, he was always wearing the face of that
annoying Detective Rast.

Nadiah fell asleep frowning but at least she
had no more dreams.

“Good morning.” Nadiah smiled as Sylvan came
into the dining area. She and Sophia were already up and enjoying a
traditional Earth breakfast. Well, traditional to Sophia’s part of
Earth, anyway. Apparently different regions of the planet had
different cuisines.

Nadiah wasn’t a big fan of the yellow fluffy
stuff the mate of her kin had called scrambled eggs—they had a
strange texture. But there were thin crispy slices of something
called bacon that were salty and delicious. Also, there was a warm,
crunchy kind of bread with sweet, sticky berry spread on it that
was wonderful.

But best of all, in Nadiah’s opinion, was the
bright orange juice squeezed from a fruit—it tasted like liquid
sunshine, tart and sweet and utterly delicious. Sophia had offered
her white liquid called ‘milk’ as well, but Nadiah had turned it
down. She’d already been warned by Baird that it came from a skin
bag between a large Earth animal’s legs. Apparently, the bag was
squeezed and the white fluid came jetting out. Ugh! It sounded
every bit as disgusting as
fleeta
pudding to Nadiah, who had
never been fond of her native dish.

“Good morning.” Sylvan smiled at them both.
He kissed Sophia on the cheek and Nadiah on the top of her head
before seating himself at the table. “I see you two are finally
up.”

“What do you mean ‘finally up?’” Sophia
protested. “I’ve been up for ages making you this yummy breakfast.
Where were you, anyway?”

“In the viewing room,” Sylvan said, pouring
himself a tall glass of the orange juice. “I had a very interesting
call to attend to.”

“Oh, was it that annoying Detective Rast?”
Sophia asked eagerly. “Did you give him a piece of your mind?”

Nadiah frowned. “How would you do that? With
some kind of telepathy?”

“No, it just means to tell someone off,”
Sophia explained. She looked at Sylvan. “So did you? Tell him
off?”

“I didn’t get a chance,” Sylvan said mildly.
“He wasn’t the one who called.” He looked at Nadiah. “It was your
parents. And they were
very
unhappy. Is it true you left
your home on the day you and Yo-dah were to be mated?”

“Well…yes.” Suddenly the orange juice tasted
sour and flat. Nadiah put down her glass and sighed. “But Sylvan,
if you could
see
him. He’s just so skinny and scrawny and
whiny and…and so
not Kindred.”

“You have a blood bond with him though.”
Sylvan gave her a stern look. “That is not a commitment to be taken
lightly.”

“Surely you’re not telling her to go back
home and marry a man she doesn’t love?” Sophia scooted closer to
Nadiah and put an arm around her shoulders. “I mean, they betrothed
her to this guy when she was a little girl—she didn’t even have any
choice in the matter.”

“That is how things are done on my planet,”
Sylvan said, frowning. “I was betrothed to Feenah. We didn’t have a
blood bond but the engagement between us was sacred. If she had not
broken it, I would have mated her.”

“And you would have been miserable the rest
of your life,” Sophia shot back.

“Sophia’s right,” Nadiah toyed with the
strange silver eating utensil Sophia had called a ‘fork.’ “I don’t
see why I should go home and be mated to Yo-dah when
you
didn’t have to mate with Feenah.”

Sylvan sighed. “I didn’t say you had to go
back to Tranq Prime—not right away, anyway. But I did have to
promise your parents I was watching out for you. And you
will
have to go home eventually, you know. The blood bond
will compel you.”

“I’m not going until I find a Kindred male
capable of challenging the bond,” Nadiah said stubbornly. “If I go
back alone they’ll tie me down and
force
me to say the
sacred vows. Then I’ll be stuck on that ball of ice having a bunch
of scrawny babies with Yo-dah’s ugly face on them.”

Sophia looked like she was trying not to
laugh. “Then let’s hope you find someone who can challenge the bond
soon.”

Sylvan sighed. “I give up. Do as you please
as long as you stay safe and retain your virtue.”

“
Sylvan!”
Sophia looked shocked. “You
can’t tell her that she has to…to do that. A woman’s body is her
own to do with as she pleases.”

“Not on Tranq Prime. And not my kin.” Sylvan
glowered. “I won’t have it said I couldn’t protect Nadiah’s
virtue.”

“Relax, Sylvan, no one has to protect me,”
Nadiah said quickly. “And don’t worry—I have no intention of doing
anything rash. I’ll go intact to my mate to be—whoever he is—or I
won’t go at all.”

Sophia shook her head. “I had no idea you
guys had such primitive ideas on Tranq Prime. But whatever makes
you happy.”

“What makes me happy is making sure that
Nadiah is safe,” Sylvan said. “And furthermore—”

A small chime from the holo-link cut him off.
Sophia hurried to answer it and a small blue dot above the unit
quickly expanded to form the shape of a Kindred warrior’s head.
“Pardon me, Commander Sylvan,” he said formally, nodding at Sylvan.
“But there is another call for you in the viewing room and the
caller requests that your kin should come as well.”

Nadiah groaned. “Omigoddess. I
knew
they wouldn’t leave me alone. Now they’ll be calling all the time,
telling me to come back to Tranq Prime.” She looked at the
disembodied blue head hovering above the holo-link. “Please inform
my parents that I will come home when I am ready and not before.
And I
don’t
wish to speak to them.”

“Forgive me, kin of Commander Sylvan, but the
caller is not related to you.” The warrior nodded at her
respectfully. “It is a human calling from the HKR building on
Earth. He says his name is Detective Rast.”

“Detective Rast?” Sophia frowned. “Why is
he
calling
us?”

“I don’t know.” Sylvan frowned. “But let’s go
find out.”

Leaving the half-eaten breakfast on the
table, the three of them hurried down the curving metal corridor to
the viewing room where all off-ship communication took place.

Nadiah wasn’t a bit surprised to see that the
human detective didn’t look any happier than the last time she had
spoken to him. If anything he looked angrier. The moment she and
Sylvan and Sophia stepped into sight of the big viewscreen mounted
on the viewing room wall, he started firing questions at her.

“Is this the girl you saw?” he demanded. A
picture flashed up on the viewscreen. The girl has Lauren’s same
warm brown skin tones but other than that, she bore little
resemblance to Sophia and Olivia’s cousin when viewed face-on.
Still, Nadiah recognized her at once.

“Yes,” she said as the picture was replaced
by an angry looking Detective Rast. “That’s her.”

“All right. Where were you last night?” he
asked, glaring at her with those startling green eyes. “Were you
anywhere near Sarasota?”

“Nadiah has been here on the Kindred Mother
ship since she came for my joining ceremony, detective,” Sylvan
said, frowning.

“I’d like to hear her answer for herself, if
you don’t mind,” Rast snapped.

“I have no problem with answering your
question.” Nadiah put a hand on her hip. “As Sylvan said, I’ve been
here aboard the ship. Why do you ask?”

“Can anyone verify your whereabouts?” he
demanded, ignoring her question.

“Sylvan and I both can.” Sophia crossed her
arms over her chest. “She’s been staying in our suite with us.”

Rast frowned. “She could have gotten out
during the night, when the two of you were sleeping.”

“No, she couldn’t,” Sophia snapped. “She had
a nightmare last night and Sylvan and I were up with her.”

Nadiah’s cheeks burned. She knew Sophia was
just trying to defend her but the way she talked it sounded like
Nadiah was a baby who needed to be protected and coddled.

“A nightmare, huh?” Rast glared at her. “What
was it this time? Another vision? A prophesy?”

“I saw the same girl that I saw in my
previous vision, if you must know,” Nadiah said coldly. “The one
who looks like Lauren. She was…” She swallowed hard, remembering
the horrible images the vision had shown her.

“She was what?” Rast sounded almost eager.
“What? Where was she? Tell me!”

“Why do you want to know what I saw?” Nadiah
demanded. “You don’t believe in my gift.”

“I want to know because a girl matching your
description disappeared last night.” Rast poked a finger at her.
“And I want to know exactly how
you’re
involved.”

“Wait a moment, Detective. What are you
implying?” Sylvan took a step forward, frowning at the human. “You
think Nadiah would have something to do with abducting a helpless
girl?”

Rast ran a hand through his thick light brown
hair in obvious frustration. “How else would she know the girl was
going to be taken?”

“She knows because of her gift—because of the
Sight,” Sophia said, putting an arm around Nadiah’s shoulders.

“I don’t believe that,” Rast said stubbornly.
“There must be some other reason—some way she knew.” He looked at
Nadiah. “Admit it—you had something to do with this.”

“Be careful what you accuse my kin of.”
Sylvan’s voice had deepened to a menacing growl. “Nadiah is closely
related to me—she is what you would call my cousin. I can vouch for
her honor and tell you that she would never be involved in an
abduction.”

“And she would certainly never have anything
to do with torture!” Sophia put in.

“Torture?” A muscle in Rast’s jaw twitched.
“Who said anything about torture?”

“That’s what I saw.” Nadiah felt sick. “In my
dream—my vision. He was hurting her…torturing her.”

“He? He who?” Rast demanded.

“The AllFather,” Sylvan said. “The overlord
of the Scourge. Tell me, Detective, did you happen to find the
girl’s clothing all in a pile as you did in Lauren’s case?”

“We did.” Rast frowned. “But we assumed that
whoever had taken her took the time to undress her first.”

“I don’t think so.” Nadiah shook her head.
“She was taken the same way Lauren was—with the Scourge molecular
transfer beam. That’s how he got her.”

“And why are you so determined that Nadiah
had anything to do with it?” Sophia asked. “The last time she
talked about her vision, you mocked her because of what she
saw.”

Rast looked uncomfortable. “The details she
mentioned…they checked out. The girl disappeared from the place she
talked about.”

“What place?” Nadiah asked, truly mystified.
“I didn’t see anyplace in particular. I just saw giants
kissing.”

Rast cleared his throat. “Maybe…maybe you’d
better come down here. I’ll show you what I mean.”

For some reason Nadiah’s heart started
racing. “Down to Earth? Right now?”

“After the things you accused her of?” Sylvan
frowned at Rast. “I don’t think so.”

Rast frowned back. “Look, if you and your
wife will vouch for her, I’ll take your word that Nadiah isn’t
connected to this. But I need her to look at something. To see the
spot where Tabitha disappeared.”

“Tabitha?” Nadiah asked, raising an
eyebrow.

“The girl who was taken.” Rast ran a hand
through his hair. “Her parents are frantic.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to refuse but
at the mention of the girl’s parents, Nadiah felt something loosen
inside her. She lifted her chin. “I’ll come. But only if you give
your word to treat me with respect. I don’t care if you believe in
my gift or not but I won’t be verbally abused by you or
anyone.”

“Fair enough.” Rast nodded shortly. “I’ll
meet you at the HKR building in half an hour.”

Sylvan frowned. “I have not given my consent
for this.”

Sophia shook her head. “Honestly, Sylvan,
when did you turn into such a caveman? Nadiah can go if she wants
to.”

“Not if she’s heading into danger.” Sylvan
leveled a stare at Detective Rast. “See that you treat my kin with
the respect and courtesy she deserves, Detective, or you’ll have me
to answer to.”