Sought...Book 3 in the Brides of the Kindred series Read Free

us.” He squeezed Kat’s
hand gently and shot Deep a warning look to keep his mouth shut.
“Please, Mother L’rin,” he continued. “She’s already stopped
breathing once. I’m not even sure what brought her back, but it
could happen again at any time.”
    Kat was breathing steadily now but Lock knew
he would never forget the feeling of relief that had swept over him
when he saw her draw that first, shallow gasp as they pushed the
stretcher out of the shuttle. He still didn’t know why she’d come
back to them from the brink of death, only that he was desperate to
keep her.
    “How did she come to be sick in the first
place?” Mother L’rin looked at them. “What manner of illness is
this?”
    Lock took a deep breath—this was the hard
part. “You may have heard that our mentor, F’lir, died a few cycles
ago, Mother,” he said, inclining his head respectfully. “So Deep
and I are without a focus. While aboard the Mother ship, we found
ourselves in a desperate position—we needed to use our skills but
we had no one to—”
    “What my brother is trying to say is that we
used Kat here as a focus,” Deep interrupted in a bored tone.
    Mother L’rin’s golden-pink eyes widened.
“You used a female as your focus? And an off-worlder at that—one
who is alien to us? You had no idea of what a joining with you
might do to her mind—to her body!”
    “That is true.” Lock bowed his head,
accepting her rebuke. “We were, as I said, in a desperate position
but I know that is no excuse.”
    “It most certainly is not.” Her eyes flashed
angrily. “Males must join with males and females with females on
the astral plane—anything else is sacrilege. You know that.”
    Lock nodded. “We know,” he murmured in a low
voice.
    Mother L’rin came to stand at the head of
the stretcher and placed her hands on either side of Kat’s shining
mass of auburn hair. “Very well.” She took a deep breath. “What
were her symptoms after your joining?”
    “Well, the first time—” Deep began.
    “The first time?” Mother L’rin’s head jerked
up and she glared at him. “You used this poor female more than
once?”
    “We used her twice.” Deep lifted his chin
arrogantly. “And the second time we cast a net from Earth all the
way to Tranq Prime. It doesn’t matter that she’s female and we’re
male—Kat’s an amazing focus. She has raw natural talent that—”
    “That will die with her,” Mother L’rin
interrupted him.
    “What?” Lock’s heart fisted in his chest.
“Please, Mother L’rin, no!”
    “Can’t you save her?” Deep’s voice was harsh
but he was paler than Lock had ever seen him. “Are you saying we
brought her to you too late?”
    “It was too late the first time you two
decided to attempt blasphemy with this innocent child.” Mother
L’rin stroked Kat’s silky hair tenderly. “An elite, too. One
blessed by the Mother. Such a pity.”
    “So she’s going to…to die?” Lock heard the
break in his voice but he couldn’t help it. Gods, to think they’d
killed the woman they loved! Oh Kat, I’m sorry. So very
sorry… From his twin he could feel similar emotions to his own.
But Deep’s sorrow was shaded with a guilt so intense it was almost
despair. Again, Lock heard his twin thinking in a rare burst
of mental empathy. I’ve done it again. Gods…
    “I will do what I can,” Mother L’rin said,
pulling Lock back from his brother’s thoughts. “But I make no
promises—you deserve none.” She fixed them both with a disapproving
glare. “As you know, the bonds between twin males and their female
is twofold—there must be a soul bond as well as a physical bond.
What you two have done is created an incomplete soul bond with this
girl.”
    “An incomplete bond?” Lock frowned. “I
didn’t even know such a thing was possible.”
    “It’s very rare. In fact, in all my years of
healing I have only seen it happen once before.”
    “So we’re not the first