Cursed: Brides of the Kindred 13 Read Free

trying to get herself together.
    “That’s not my priority—you are. Kindred.”
    “The male might come back at any moment,” he said, turning his head to try and look at her.
    “After the way you ran him off? I don’t think so—eyes front!” Charlie jammed the gun against the side of his neck though she had to reach up to do it.
    “The female is very upset and in need of comfort,” he protested.
    “I’ll call for back-up and have them send someone to calm her down and chase after him,” Charlie snapped. Then she felt immediately irritated for explaining herself to the big warrior. “Come on now—move!” She thumped his wide back with her gun, nudging him forward. God, he was built like a tank! His shoulders were fully twice as broad as hers and he had to be six foot seven or eight if he was an inch.
    She couldn’t be sure but in the glow of the arc sodium lamps overhead, his hair, which he wore in a club at the back of his neck, looked to be dark auburn. Hmm, never seen a red headed Kindred before. She wondered if he was a special breed. He had tattoos too—thick black curving lines that started at the nape of his neck and crawled down into the collar of his shirt. When Charlie stared at them, trying to make them out, the pattern seemed to shift like snakes.
    “Where are you taking me?” he growled. He was moving in the right direction but not fast enough to suit her.
    “To my car for starters. That’s all you need to know for now.” She thumped him again. "Hurry up."
    He was silent but his shoulders were tight. She could tell by the tension in his big body he was thinking of running.
    “Don’t do it.” Charlie poked him in the ribs again with the muzzle of her Glock. “My daddy taught me to hunt when I was twelve. Used to take me out to spend the night in the deer blind, waiting for some buck to wander by. And let me tell you, buddy, you’re a hell of a lot bigger target than a lot of the game I brought down.”
    Some of the tension leaked out of the big form and the Kindred continued plodding towards her car.
    “Besides,” Charlie continued. “You’d never get those cuffs off by yourself. They’re pretty tight, aren’t they? No way to drive a car or a space ship with those on. And after a while, blood loss and nerve damage set in. Better stay with the person who has the key.” She patted her pocket with her free hand, making her keys jingle. “Right?”
    “You make a compelling argument,” he rumbled. “But I still do not see why you have to apprehend me. Despite the fact that our people are at war, I am not your enemy.”
    “Oh no? Then what were you doing skulking around at night like a skunk in the garden?” Charlie demanded. “Just out playing vigilante, making sure nobody got raped or stabbed behind the bar for the hell of it?”
    “I did not set out to interfere,” he protested. “But I couldn’t stand by while the female was attacked. I was actually trying to get—”
    “Trying to get where?” Charlie poked him again. “Go on—you can say it.
You were trying to get to the HKR building and contact the Mother Ship, weren’t you?”
    “They have an urgent message for me,” he growled reluctantly. “If I could just speak to my superior—”
    “He’d what—give you instructions on where to plant a bomb or how to sabotage the local military base?”
    “Of course not.” He was sounding exasperated again. “Give my people some credit. We are not terrorists—we are honorable males. No Kindred would do such a thing.”
    “I don’t know what you’d do and I’m not about to give you a chance to find out.”
    They had reached the car at last and Charlie was grateful. She’d had about enough conversation with the big warrior. It was time to bring him in to the EPB headquarters—which was actually just a makeshift area inside the local precinct—for processing.
    She had to stand on tiptoes to get her fingers on the top of his head and fold him down into the