Freeing the Prisoner Read online

  “Please!” Dani begged. “Please, Ky—stop. I…” She became aware that she was crying. “I can’t love you if you kill him. I can’t.”

  Slowly, Kyron seemed to come back to himself. The anger cleared from his face to be replaced by something like confusion and his eyes lost their red glare.

  “Dani?” he asked in a low voice. “Oh Goddess, Dani…what have I done? I’m so sorry…”

  “Never mind apologies,” the huge Kindred with the mismatched eyes growled. “It’s time to get the fuck out of here!”

  He grabbed Dani with one hand and Ky with the other and dragged them towards the empty end of the rounded courtyard.

  At least, Dani had thought it was empty. As they got closer, she saw a shimmering in the air which made her dizzy.

  “Elise, baby, get the hopper ready for lift off,” the huge Kindred growled. “We need to get out of here fucking fast.”

  The tiny female with long brown hair nodded and made a motion with her hand. Suddenly, a doorway opened in mid-air. It looked like magic—as Warro and Tornk’s deaths had looked like magic, Dani thought—but it was probably just more Kindred technology.

  The small woman went through the door and then the huge Kindred pushed Jontu and Lavi through as well.

  “No!” It was a little more than a whisper but Dani still recognized her father’s voice. He was on his knees but still alive, one hand reaching out to her. “No, Dani,” he gasped. “No, you can’t…can’t leave me.”

  “I have to, Papa.” Dani felt the tears which had gathered in her eyes spilling over her cheeks in a hot flood. “I’m sorry but I can’t stay here. I have to go.”

  And then the big Kindred was pushing both her and Kyron through the doorway which had opened in the air and her father’s face was gone…gone forever.

  Because Dani knew that whatever else happened, she was never coming back.

  Chapter Twenty

  I broke my vow. Broke it all to fucking hell. Ky buckled himself into his seat aboard Merrick’s star-hopper and buried his face in his hands. The Rage had left him as suddenly as it had come when he heard Dani’s voice begging him not to kill her father…when he had seen the tears in her lovely dark eyes.

  But though the red curtain of fury had left his vision, it was only to let him see clearly what he had done. He had used his Touch sense as a weapon. Not only that, he had used it to kill.

  I’ll never be welcome aboard the Mother Ship again—not that I blame those who would keep me out. How can a male who breaks his vow to both the Council and the Goddess be trusted?

  It wasn’t just the loss of his place aboard the Mother Ship that worried him though—it was the loss of his place in Dani’s heart. He had seen the horror in her eyes—the disbelief when he’d started to slide his whisper talons between her father’s ribs, and he didn’t blame her—didn’t blame her one fucking bit.

  I’m the lowest of the low, Ky told himself. One death—Tornk’s—might have been necessary. But to kill again after that and then to try yet again…

  He felt sick at the thought—at the memory, still tinged with bloody red. He could still feel how easy it had been to kill—the smooth way his talons had slipped inside the flesh of his victims.

  Was this why it was forbidden for a Touch Kindred to use his Touch sense as a weapon? Because it was so easy—too easy—to kill with just a thought? Would he want to do it again? Would anyone be safe around him or would everyone—even those he loved—even Dani—be at risk now that he had let the monster inside him out?

  Such thoughts drove out everything else, even the fact that they were safe in the ship and Merrick was setting the coordinates for home.

  What home? I have no home…not anymore. And what will happen to Dani? How could I have done this to her? I’ve taken her from her home planet and now I have no place to offer her to stay. Not that she probably wants to stay with me after what I did…

  His thoughts ran in an endless loop and Ky couldn’t shut them out, no matter how hard he tried.

  * * * * *

  The doorway in the air turned out to lead into a small but comfortable ship. Apparently it belonged to the huge Kindred with mismatched eyes—Merrick—and the small woman—Elise—who was his mate. She wore opaque clothes like a commoner and trousers like a male but it was clear she was neither. She welcomed them warmly aboard and instructed them on how to strap into their safety harnesses.

  After the small ship cleared Goshan space, Dani breathed a little easier. She thanked their new hosts very much for helping to rescue herself and Lavi and Jontu.

  “I don’t know what we would have done if you hadn’t come for us,” she told Merrick and Elise. “Lavi and I were about to be given to evil and abusive males.”

  “I’m so glad we got to you in time,” Elise said, coming back to the rear or the seating area to squeeze Dani’s hand. “Now here—take these,” she added, handing out large, pink capsules to Dani and Lavi and Jontu.

  “What are they?” Dani asked, examining the strange pink object in her palm.

  “Translation bacteria,” Elise explained. “They’ll help you understand what everyone is saying when we get to the Mother Ship.”

  Dani thanked her again and swallowed the pink capsule with a drink of water. Then she made polite small talk with Elise since Lavi and Jontu seemed too wrapped up in each other to talk.

  Through it all, Ky was strangely silent. He sat strapped into one of the safety harnesses in the back row of seats and stared with vacant eyes at the floor.

  Dani didn’t know what to say to him. To be honest, she didn’t know what to feel about him. She knew what had happened in the little courtyard. Ky had used his Touch sense as a weapon—something he had sworn to her and to himself that he would never do.

  The fact that he had killed both Tornk and Warro without even laying a hand on them was frightening. It made her think all over again of the stories Yana used to tell of evil sha-gras who could come in the night and bewitch you without even touching you.

  But Ky isn’t like that, she argued with herself uneasily. He’s kind and sweet and generous and brave. He only used his Touch sense that way because he had to—because there was no other way. Councilor Tornk would have killed me otherwise. Killed me or taken me away and changed the color of my eyes, whether I wanted him to or not.

  The thought made her shiver and she wished again that Ky would talk to her—that he would say something—anything…

  “Ky,” she said hesitantly, turning to him. But just then Merrick announced,

  “We’re here.”

  “What?” Dani looked up in surprise. “Where? Where are we?”

  “The Mother Ship.” Elise pointed at the view screen which showed a vast white ship orbiting a small planetoid. Could that be Earth’s moon?

  “But we…we just got started, didn’t we?” Dani asked in confusion. “I thought…thought we had to go through a fold in space and—”

  “That’s true with other ships,” Merrick rumbled, grinning. “But my hopper has a built in worm hole generator. Means the Goshans won’t be able to track us—no trail to follow. Just there to here in the blink of an eye. I even took a couple hops in between just to be safe.”

  “Oh. Well…what do we do now?” Dani honestly didn’t know. In her previous fantasies, Ky had taken her aboard the Mother Ship and shown her around her new home. But the big Kindred was white-faced and silent, still not saying a word.

  She felt lost without him—confused and tied in knots and uncertain about what the future held. Lavi and Jontu looked worried as well but at least they had each other. With Ky not talking to her, Dani felt all alone and not at all sure of what the future held.

  Elise must have seen the look on her face because she smiled and reached back to squeeze Dani’s hand.

  “Now we get you acquainted with some new friends,” she told her. Turning to Merrick, she nudged him with one elbow. “Better call Commander Sylvan, honey. And ask him to send Sophie and Liv a
nd anybody else who wants to come. We need the whole welcoming committee to make everybody feel at home.”

  “You got it, baby.” Merrick put in a call and soon the viewscreen was filled with the picture of a stern-looking Kindred with ice-blue eyes and short blond hair.

  “Merrick!” The Kindred, whom Dani supposed must be Commander Sylvan, looked surprised. “Are you back so soon? Did you find anything?”

  “You forget, Brother, my ship has capabilities beyond others and I don’t need the Mother Ship’s help to fold space.” Merrick grinned. “As it turns out, I found your missing pilot and a few other people besides.”

  “Commander Kyron is safe?” A look of relief came over Commander Sylvan’s face. “Thank the Goddess! We feared him lost or dead!”

  “I might as well be dead.”

  Ky’s voice was so unexpected that Dani jumped.

  “Ky—” she began but he was already unbuckling his harness and pushing his way to the front of the ship.

  “Kyron,” Commander Sylvan said. “It’s good to see you. Welcome back to the Mother Ship.”

  “You won’t want to welcome me aboard when you know what I have done, Commander.” Ky’s voice was low and harsh and the look on his face was one of self-hatred. It frightened Dani to see it. “I have broken my vow,” he told his commanding officer. “I have used my Touch sense as a weapon—not just to wound but to kill. Twice.”

  “Hey, now,” Merrick objected, frowning. “You did what you had to do, Brother.” He looked at Sylvan’s image on the viewscreen. “His female was in danger and there was no other way to save her. And I’m pretty sure he was in Rage at the time.”

  “None of that matters,” Ky insisted. “The fact is that I broke my vow. I should not be allowed back aboard the Mother Ship.”

  “Commander Kyron, please.” Sylvan made a motion for silence with one hand. “I understand that you have broken your vow but tell me this: do you feel you are a danger to yourself or others right now?”

  “I…don’t know,” Ky said bleakly. “You know what may happen when a Touch Kindred goes bad, Commander Sylvan. I don’t want to kill anyone else but it was so easy to do it in the first place. So easy…”

  Sylvan frowned. “I want you aboard the Mother Ship and in my office for a thorough examination, Kyron. Now.”

  “Excuse me, Commander Sylvan,” Elise put in. “But we have some other people aboard as well. The Princess Dannella and her sister, Princess Lavi and her mate-to-be, Courtier Jontu. May they have permission to come aboard the Mother Ship?”

  “Of course.” Sylvan’s face softened somewhat. “Kyron, is this the bride-to-be you were telling me about?”

  “She was.”

  Was? How can he say “was?” Ky's words struck terror and hurt into Dani’s heart—and he wouldn’t even look at her as he spoke them!

  “Ky—” She unbuckled her harness and reached for him but just then Merrick spoke.

  “Everybody back in your seats please. We’re about to land in the docking bay.”

  Dani sat back down and Ky did too but he still wouldn’t look at her and he was completely silent when she tried to speak to him. She was dimly aware of Elise murmuring something to Commander Sylvan, asking for friends to meet them and a change of clothes but she couldn’t pay much attention—she was too hurt and worried.

  Did Ky really not love her anymore? And if so, what was she going to do?

  Chapter Twenty-one

  “Now tell me in detail what happened. And hold out your arm—I must draw your blood for an analysis.”

  Kyron held out his arm numbly. It surprised him somewhat that Sylvan had met him, not in his capacity as Ky’s commanding officer, but as a doctor instead. He was taking his time, checking Ky from head to toe as though the murders he had committed were a medical problem instead of a moral one.

  “I used my Touch sense to kill,” he said dully. “I killed two males and was about to kill another when the shouts of my female—well, she was my female—stopped me. There is nothing more to say.”

  “Bullshit,” Merrick, who had come along to Sylvan’s office, objected angrily. “There’s a hell of a lot more to say!” He looked at Sylvan. “The first male Kyron dropped was holding his female at knife-point, threatening to cut her throat. The second was threatening her little sister.”

  Sylvan nodded thoughtfully as he finished drawing the blood and injected it into a small centrifuge type machine.

  “And the third?”

  “Kyron didn’t kill him,” Merrick said, frowning.

  “I tried to—I would have if Dani hadn’t stopped me,” Ky said bleakly. “I wanted to kill them all…it would have been so easy.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “The third male was her father.”

  “The male who kept Ky chained in a cell and ordered him beaten and starved,” Merrick put in. “Also the male who was giving away his daughters to bastards who were going to beat and rape them. So even if Ky had killed him—which he didn’t—it would have been nothing but justice.”

  “All right, old friend. I can see that you feel for Kyron.” Sylvan nodded gravely.

  “I just don’t want to see him kicked off the ship for doing nothing but defending his female,” Merrick growled. “I’ve been there, Sylvan—hell, you have too! When the Rage comes on you, there’s not a damn thing you can do.”

  “Agreed.” Sylvan nodded distractedly and frowned at the small machine he’d put Ky’s blood into. “These results are…strange.” He looked up. “Did you eat or drink anything out of the ordinary while you were gone?”

  Ky shrugged. “Didn’t eat or drink much at all on Goshan Prime. I probably would have died of thirst if Dani hadn’t come into my cell and given me food and water.”

  “What about on the Hive planet?” Merrick asked. “You were stuck there for a while before I found you—what did you live on there?”

  Ky shook his head. “Well, all my stores were lost when the Goshans blew up my ship so there was nothing to eat. And nothing to drink either except this little stream of water that came from the mouth of the Hive’s lair.”

  “You drank liquid that had flowed through their lair?” Sylvan looked at him sharply.

  “I didn’t want to, but…” Ky shrugged again. “There was nothing else, Commander. I thought it would be better to risk it rather than dying of thirst.”

  “I understand,” Sylvan said, still frowning. He looked at Merrick. “Do you think you could go back to the Hive world and get me a sample of the water Commander Kyron is talking about? I’d like to analyze it and compare it with the anomalies I see in his blood.”

  “You think the Hive water could have something to do with what happened on Goshan Prime?” Merrick raised an eyebrow.

  “It’s possible. Of course the Rage coming on when a female is threatened could also play a roll.” Sylvan looked thoughtful. “I just want to be certain I have all the pieces of the puzzle.”

  “You got it.” Merrick nodded. “Elise and I will go right away.”

  “Thank you—the sooner the better,” Sylvan said. “Because even with the water to analyze, it’s going to take some time to sort this all through.” He looked at Ky. “For now, I think we’re finished.”

  “All right.” Kyron held his wrists out in front of him. “I’m ready to go to the detention center.”

  “I’m not sending you to be locked up,” Sylvan said gently. “I don’t believe you’re dangerous, Kyron. “At least, not unless your female is threatened.”

  “She’s not my female anymore,” Ky said dully. “Why would she want to be after what I did?”

  “I think you’re underestimating your lady, Brother,” Merrick growled. “I saw the way she looked at you. She might be a little scared and confused right now but she’ll come around. Just talk to her.”

  But Ky couldn’t imagine facing Dani again—he couldn’t stop remembering the look on her face when she’d begged him not to kill her father. Of course she didn’t want to see him again�
�she couldn’t trust him, just as he couldn’t trust himself.

  “I can see you don’t feel ready for that yet,” Sylvan said, looking at him intently. “But when you do, just know that my mate, Sophia, and her sister will be taking good care of your female. What did you say her name was again?”

  “Dannella—Dani,” Ky muttered. Goddess, now that he’d lost her just saying her name hurt.

  “A beautiful name,” Sylvan said, nodding. “Please don’t worry about her. Dannella and her sister and her sister’s mate will be well taken care of.”

  “Thank you,” Ky said, and meant it. Even if Dani never wanted to see him again, at least he didn’t need to fear for her well-being. He was grateful for that.

  Dani, he thought. I’m so sorry. I hope someday you can forgive me but I understand if you can't.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Dani was startled by a knock on the door of the guest suite where she was staying. For a moment her heart flew up into her throat and she hoped it might be Kyron.

  Hurrying to the door, she rushed to throw it open…only to see Olivia, one of her new friends aboard the Mother Ship standing there with a smile on her face. She and her sister, Sophia, had greeted them when Dani and Lavi and Jontu had first disembarked from Merrick’s space hopper.

  Lavi and Jontu had gone to live together in a couple’s suite on the other side of the ship, leaving Dani feeling completely alone. But one or the other of the Kindred brides who had met them in the docking bay had come by every day, sometimes just to talk and sometimes to take her on tours of the ship. It was a huge place—bigger than forty palaces put together, Dani thought—but she was slowly getting used to it, despite having to wear the strange, opaque clothing which was considered proper here.

  If only Ky had been with her, she felt she could’ve been happy here. But the big Kindred was conspicuous by his absence and every day that went by without seeing him made Dani miss him more. So when she opened the door and didn’t see him standing there, her heart sank.