Sharing a Mate Read online

  “Okay,” she said, still confused. “But these web-spinners…you milk them to make butter? How do you milk an insect?”

  “Oh no—we catch them and pull off the legs—after we kill them of course,” Sorin answered. “The legs are tough but their bodies are surprisingly soft and full of fat and flavor.”

  “So they mash them up into a paste and thin it out some with some kind of juice—I forget what,” Bron said, frowning.

  “Tazzen berry juice,” Sorin told him. “That’s why the web-spinner butter is such a perfect compliment to the Tazzen berry tarts.”

  He held out the plate of pastries, now drizzled with the gray butter—Spider butter, Kayla thought with a shiver—and offered some to her.

  Kayla took a deep breath. Way back when she’d first made the decision to move to the Mother Ship, she had sworn to herself she would be open to new experiences. She had vowed to take risks and try everything that didn’t seem likely to kill her, even if she didn’t think she would like it. There was no point in moving to an alien spaceship, she told herself, if she didn’t embrace the culture of her new people completely.

  “All right,” she said, smiling at both of them. “I want to try some of both your meals and then I’m going to pick something for myself.”

  “Here—try the marrow stew first.” Bron held out a spoonful of the purple broth with some orange and yellow chunks in it. It smelled spicy and a little strange, but Kayla liked spicy food. Gamely, she opened her mouth and let Bron pop the bite in.

  Immediately a variety of rich and complex flavors and textures exploded across her tongue.

  “Mmm…mmm.” Kayla nodded as she chewed. “Tastes a little like a Thai green curry had a baby with some eggplant parmesan,” she decided at last. “I like the soft chunks in there but the squishy ones are kind of odd.”

  “That’s the marrow,” Bron said happily. “My tribe back on Rageron goes on a Krukle hunt at least once a cycle. It’s a big beast—bigger than your Earth elephant—but dark blue all over. We kill it and roast the bones in a pit for forty days and nights before we scrape out the marrow.”

  “So, not one of those easy-to-make thirty minutes or less meals I like to cook,” Kayla said, grinning a little. “Anything that takes forty days and nights to make better be damn amazing when you’re through.”

  “It is,” Bron assured her. “Here, try a bite of the blood-bread. It comes from the Krukle too—we use every part of the animal.”

  Kayla nibbled a bit of the black bread and found it surprisingly good. Like really sour sourdough, she thought and nodded at Bron.

  “I like it!”

  “Try a tart now,” Sorin urged.

  This was a little more difficult for Kayla. She could more easily deal with eating blood and marrow than the idea of eating mashed up spiders. Still, she reminded herself of her vow and took a bite.

  The pastry itself was delicate and flaky with a sweet-tart filling not unlike cherry pie if someone had added lots of cinnamon and a dash of salt to it. The web-spinner butter was surprising because it wasn’t sweet at all. Instead it had a rich, silky texture that seemed to melt on her tongue and leave a delicate, lingering aftertaste of something she couldn’t quite name but which was strangely delicious.

  “Wow,” she said, taking another bite. “That’s…just…wow.”

  “My mother used to make them,” Sorin told her. “Only on special occasions though—she said it was too much trouble to make them all the time. I still remember her sending me out to kill a web-spinner for the butter when I was only seven or eight cycles old.”

  “She sent you out to kill fist-sized spiders when you were seven?” Kayla shivered. “That’s awful!”

  “You forget, small one, that both Tranq Prime and Rageron are more savage worlds than your own home planet is,” Bron told her. “In my tribe, we have our manhood hunt at twelve cycles.”

  “We do as well on Tranq Prime,” Sorin said. “Though we are hunting vranna in the frozen cold and Bron’s people hunt the xenox in their tropical jungles.”

  “I’ve heard of vrannas,” Kayla said. “Aren’t they these big turquoise and purple polar-bear looking things?”

  “Considerably bigger than a polar bear, but yes.” Sorin nodded.

  “But what is a xenox?” Kayla asked.

  “It’s kind of like a cross between a grizzly bear and a bobcat,” Bron put in. “If you kill it, you’re a man in the tribe from then on.”

  “What if you don’t?” she said, frowning.

  “Well, then, you’re dead.” Bron shrugged. “It happens from time to time but not as often as you’d think.”

  “That’s awful!” Kayla exclaimed. “I wouldn’t want any son of mine to hunt either one of those animals.”

  “Well it’s not exactly a tradition we can keep up aboard the Mother Ship,” Sorin said dryly. “Where would we keep all the xenoxes and vrannas?”

  “And where would we hunt them even if we kept them?” Bron remarked. “In the common area by the Sacred Grove? I don’t think the priestesses would like that much.” He barked a laugh.

  “All right, well thanks for letting me try your food, guys—now I’m going to get something from my home world to eat.”

  Kayla searched through the cabinet until she found a little pile of Earth food cubes that were clearly labeled in the Kindred script. Luckily, the translation bacteria which she’d gotten when first coming aboard the Mother Ship allowed her to both speak and read alien languages she wouldn’t otherwise understand. Though there were always a few words that didn’t quite translate, the bacteria still made traveling to new worlds a hell of a lot easier than it would have been otherwise.

  At last she found what she’d been hoping for and popped the cube into the rehydrator.

  A minute later the little machine dinged and Kayla pulled out a plate piled high with bacon, scrambled eggs, and a fluffy stack of buttermilk pancakes. There was even fresh fruit, orange juice, and a little jug of syrup on the side.

  “Potcakes!” Bron exclaimed enthusiastically. “I didn’t know we had those in there.”

  “It’s pancakes and you can have a bite if you want,” Kayla said, smiling. When they were visiting on Earth, IHOP was pretty much Bron’s favorite place to eat other than her Auntie Feenie’s home cooking.

  They all sat at the table eating and talking and it almost felt like any other weekend trip the three of them might take together to collect new samples on an alien world. But Kayla felt a new closeness to both of them as she sat between them—a new bond, however tenuous—seemed to have formed. The three of them finished each other’s sentences and laughed at each other’s jokes and everything felt perfect—as though they were three parts of the same person.

  “I wonder if this is how Twin Kindred and their mates feel?” Kayla said thoughtfully after Bron had started a sentence, Sorin had continued it, and she had finished it—all without any effort on their part.

  “What do you mean?” Bron’s dark face suddenly wore a guarded expression.

  “Yes, what are you talking about?” Sorin asked, frowning. “The three of us are not bonded.”

  “I know that. But I’ve never felt this….this attuned to each other.” Kayla waved a hand, trying to explain. “I know it’s crazy but I almost feel like…like we did bond in some way last night. Not like a traditional Kindred bond,” she hastened to say. “But there’s something there. I feel so close to both of you right now.”

  “Maybe because we held you between us last night,” Sorin murmured.

  “And filled your sweet pussy and ass with our shafts and our seed,” Bron rumbled.

  Kayla could feel herself blushing.

  “I know bonding is different for different kinds of Kindred,” she said. “But one main component of it is filling your mate and, uh, shooting your seed inside her. Correct?”

  “Always.” Sorin nodded thoughtfully. “With some kinds of Kindred, that’s all it takes to form a bond, though with others, it ta
kes more.”

  “I would have to have my mating fist inside you while I came in your pussy to claim you,” Bron remarked, his golden eyes half-lidded at the thought.

  “And I would need to bite you with my fangs and inject my essence into you as I came inside you to bond you to me,” Sorin remarked. His pale blue eyes, also, were half-lidded with desire, Kayla thought.

  She was beginning to feel very warm sitting there between the two big, male bodies and she couldn’t help but think of how well the three of them had fit together the night before. But she wanted to continue the discussion.

  “So think of it,” she said, trying to keep her voice level. “Filling your mate with your seed is a big component of bonding for Kindred and both of you, uh…” She cleared her throat, feeling embarrassed and hot at the same time. “…filled me with your seed multiple times last night.”

  “Ten or twelve at least,” Sorin admitted. “I couldn’t resist your silky, tight pussy, sweetheart. You kept milking more out of me—even in your sleep.”

  “Thirteen,” Bron said, grinning. “Your sweet little ass is incredibly tight, baby.”

  “Well, thank you,” Kayla smiled and tried not to blush. “But my point is, don’t you think we might have formed some kind of a three-way bond last night?”

  “I suppose it’s possible,” Sorin said thoughtfully “The three of us certainly seem to be very in sync with each other this morning.”

  “But, Kayla, if you’re hoping for something beyond friendship that will last for the three of us long-term…” Bron shook his head. “I’m afraid that’s impossible.”

  “Why?” Kayla demanded. “We care about each other, don’t we? You two are best friends and I love you both. So why does it have to be impossible?”

  Both Kindred spoke at once.

  “Because we—”

  “We can’t just—”

  “No—forget it.” Kayla raised both hands in a gesture for quiet. “Forget I asked. Forget I ever said anything at all.” She took a deep breath. “We shouldn’t even be talking about ourselves anyway. We need to be planning our next step and talking about Mother Pain.”

  The strange name seemed to cast a pall over the bright little food-prep area, as though the sun had gone behind a cloud. To Kayla it felt like an opportunity had past—one that might not come again. The strange feeling made her sad but there was nothing she could do about it. Damn it, if only Kindred warriors weren’t so stubborn!

  “Sorin?” Bron asked, his voice a subdued rumble. “You were the one doing the research while I plotted the course. What did you find?”

  “Not much, other than the coordinates of her home,” Sorin admitted. “People seem to be almost afraid to talk about her. Any threads of conversation I found that mentioned her name ended abruptly. I do get the idea that she’s generally feared, though not exactly hated.”

  “What?” Kayla frowned. “What does that mean?”

  “People who talk about her at all—and there aren’t many of them—seem to think that she’s tough but fair in some way.” Sorin shook his head. “Or I could just be reading into things. All the references to her are oblique and round-about.”

  “Tough on who? Fair to who?” Kayla demanded.

  “To the people who seek her help,” Sorin said. “The…supplicants who come to her hoping she can solve a problem that can’t be solved any other way.”

  “Y’ax did say she always asked for a sacrifice,” Bron said, sounding thoughtful.

  “Something you don’t want to give, I believe is how he put it,” Sorin said. “But what could that be?”

  “I guess we’ll find out.” Kayla got up. “Move you two, let’s clear the table and get going. I want to get this over with.”

  “I have the coordinates in the nav-com,” Bron said, getting up from the table as well. “It won’t take long to get to her domicile.”

  “There’s one more thing,” Sorin said, also rising as the three of them started to dispose of the dirty dishes. “In the coordinates on the disk Y’ax gave us was a single line of text—‘Beware illusions for nothing is as it seems with Mother Pain. You will see your own version of reality.’ So I think all of us should be extra careful about trusting our senses while we’re on this mission. Don’t just assume what you see it real—ask the other two what they see as well.”

  “In other words, stick together,” Kayla said, nodding.

  “Sounds like good advice. But don’t worry, we’ve got each other and we’ll keep close. As close as can be.” Bron put an arm around both of them at once and pulled all of them into a three-way hug.

  “I don’t know about being this close but we’ll be all right as long as we’re together.” Kayla smiled and hugged them both back, loving the closeness of their little huddle—their three-person club—and wishing it could be like this forever. Standing on tiptoes, she kissed Sorin gently on the mouth and then turned to kiss Bron as well.

  They both kissed her back hungrily and she had a sudden idea.

  “Wait,” she said when she could feel they were about to break the hug. “Bron, you kiss Sorin too.”

  “All right.” Shrugging, the big Beast Kindred gave his best friend a hearty kiss on the cheek.

  “No, not like that,” Kayla protested. “Kiss him on the mouth—the way you just kissed me. Kiss each other the way you both kissed me.”

  Bron raised an eyebrow. “I don’t mind but I don’t think Sorin will go for it. Brother?” he asked as he and Kayla both looked at the Blood Kindred.

  “I don’t know about this…” Sorin looked immediately discomforted but Kayla was not going to be deterred. She had a feeling as she had the other night that this was important—that she needed to bring the two of them together, closer than they had ever been before—in order to bring all three of them into sync.

  “Do it,” she insisted, looking at both of them. “Please, guys? We’re about to go into danger here—we need to all be together, all be strong in our love for each other.” She frowned at the Blood Kindred. “Why is it okay to show your love for me by kissing me but wrong to let Bron kiss you?” she demanded. “Don’t you care for him? Isn’t he the friend of your heart?”

  “Of course he is.” Sorin sighed. “All right, leelah, if it means so much to you, I’ll let Bron kiss me.”

  “Don’t do me any favors, Brother,” the Beast Kindred rumbled. “I don’t care to kiss someone who’s afraid to kiss back.”

  The implied challenge lit up Sorin’s ice-blue eyes, making them blaze.

  “I’m not afraid.”

  “Come on, then,” Bron growled. Leaning forward, he took the Blood Kindred’s mouth in a harsh kiss. Sorin met him, clearly determined not to be outdone, and the two of them clashed together in a rough, luscious display that nearly took Kayla’s breath away.

  When the two Kindred pulled back, Sorin was panting and Bron was bleeding from his lower lip.

  “Think you scratched me with your fangs, Brother,” he growled, reaching up to dab at the bright droplet of crimson that welled from his lip. “Ouch—fucking hurts.”

  “I…did I?” Sorin’s eyes widened and for a moment Kayla couldn’t understand what was wrong. Then she remembered that a Blood Kindred’s fangs didn’t get sharp enough to pierce flesh until he found the one he wanted to mate with forever.

  Or in this case, maybe the ones, she couldn’t help thinking.

  “You did,” Bron said, matter-of-factly. “Fangs as sharp as fucking razors. I would have been more careful if I’d known they’d be so sharp.”

  “Kayla is here with us,” Sorin pointed out, sounding as though he was speaking to himself as much as to them. “I was just kissing her too—my fangs must have been sharp for that reason.”

  “They were sharp when you kissed me—I could feel them,” Kayla acknowledged. But inside she was beginning to wonder again about a possible preliminary bond between the three of them. After all, as Bron had pointed out earlier, if the three of them were bonded, it w
ouldn’t just be that he and Sorin were both mated to her—it would mean that the two males were also mated to each other. Which was apparently a big problem for both of them.

  But not for me, she thought. Watching her two guys kiss had taken her breath away and made her throb between her legs. Their pure, masculine beauty made her ache.

  “You both love each other and I love you both,” she said, addressing the unspoken uncertainty that hung over them now. “We’re together and that’s how we need to stay to get through this mess.”

  Sorin’s face cleared and he nodded.

  “Agreed,” he murmured.

  “Agreed,” Bron rumbled, nodding. “Come, Brother—let’s get the ship ready for take-off.”

  “I hope I, er, didn’t hurt your lip too much with…with my fangs.” Sorin still sounded a little uncertain.

  “Not nearly as much as I’ll hurt yours with my fist if we don’t get moving!” Bron pounded him genially on the back and grinned, which drew an answering grin from his friend.

  “All right—let’s run the preflight sequence.”

  Kayla watched the two of them go, laughing and joking as always and thought again how perfect they were together—and how perfect they were with her.

  “Please,” she whispered under her breath, praying though she didn’t know who she was praying to. “Please let us get out of this in one piece. And please let us somehow stay together. All three of us. Forever.”

  Fifteen

  “Well, this is it,” Sorin announced as the three of them disembarked and Bron made sure their shuttle was securely locked against interlopers. “It should be right over the top of that hill.”

  He pointed to a featureless gray hill that stood in the center of a flat gray field under a cloudy gray sky.

  “Why is everything so colorless here?” Bron growled, looking around with a frown. “The whole rest of the planet is fucking psychedelic and then we come here and it’s like…”