Claimed Page 6

  “It’s okay. The damn table is just ice cold and I’m practically sitting on it bare ass. That’s all.”

  “My apologies,” Sylvan said smoothly as he dug in one of the wall storage units for the materials he needed. “This will only take a moment, I promise.”

  “Uh, okay.” She was watching him dubiously, as though unsure of what was about to happen. Baird thought of reassuring her that Sylvan was a first class medic but somehow he didn’t think words from him would make her feel better. There was one way he could help her though—she was still shivering from the cold. Without saying a word he unsnapped his shirt and shrugged it off, baring his upper body.

  “Hey, whoa—what are you doing?” Olivia was looking at him with wide eyes as though he was about to pounce on her. Did she really think so little of him to believe that he would try to take advantage of her when she was injured and helpless? Baird felt his heart fist in his chest.

  “Only this,” he said gruffly, draping the crimson shirt around her shivering bare shoulders.

  “Oh…uh, thanks.” She was staring at him now, as though she’d never seen a male before. Baird looked down at himself to see if there was something wrong. He had spent a full hour in the bathing pool that morning preparing but was it possible he had spilled something on himself before getting dressed to claim her? The broad planes of his muscular chest looked all right to him—his dusky tan skin was marked by the whitish scars left by the AllFather’s torture but a Kindred warrior always wore such marks with pride. There was a small patch of black hair between the two flat copper disks of his nipples and a trail of it led down his corded abdomen into the black uniform pants he was wearing. Truly there was nothing to stare at—so why was she still staring?

  “Is there a problem?” he asked at last. “You don’t like the way I look?”

  “Uh, no, I…You look fine. Just fine.” Olivia looked down at her hands, her fair skin blushing a deep embarrassed red.

  “What’s wrong then?”

  “Nothing.” But her beautiful silvery eyes were still flickering up to his bare chest and back down to her hands as though she couldn’t quite look away.

  Baird resisted the urge to tilt her chin up so she would have to meet his eyes directly. Why did she keep looking at him? He looked down at his chest again. Maybe she preferred smooth skin only? If so she was out of luck, only Tranq Kindred grew no body hair. “What’s wrong, Lilenta?” he asked her earnestly. “Is there somethin’ you want me to change?”

  “No, it’s nothing you can change. You’re just so…” She made a helpless little motion with one hand. “You’re just so big. And…and muscular.”

  Baird frowned. “Sorry about that—a warrior has to keep his body in top physical shape.”

  “No, don’t apologize.” She shook her head. “I’ve just…never gone out with such a big guy before. It’s kind of, uh, overwhelming.”

  Baird wisely resisted the urge to point out that they were doing much more than “going out” as she put it. Instead he remembered Sylvan’s words in the Human/Kindred Relations building. His half brother had warned him that his new bride might fear him because he was so much bigger than the puny human males she knew—apparently he had been right.

  “Olivia,” he murmured, bending down to be closer to her. “I know I’m bigger than the males you’re used to but I want you to know that my size and strength will never be used against you. I live to protect you now—I would never hurt you.”

  She looked up, her silver-grey eyes flashing defiance. “Even if I deny you? Even if I won’t…won’t give you what you want?”

  Baird sighed. What had he done to earn this level of enmity from her? If it hadn’t been for the long months of dream-sharing he might almost have been tempted to think he had the wrong woman. But no, there was no mistaking her sweet scent. Olivia was the one, she just didn’t want to admit it.

  “Yes,” he said softly, looking into her eyes. “Even if you won’t give me what I want. What I need. Because make no mistake about it, Lilenta, I need you, need to touch and taste and kiss your soft, sweet body the way I need my next breath. But if you want to make me wait, well…” He shrugged even though his heart was heavy. “That’s your choice.”

  Her eyes went wide and they stared at each other for a long moment. Baird could feel the heat rising in her again, just as it had when he held her in his lap on the journey up to the ship but all her body language said she wouldn’t welcome his advances. What could he do to get through her barriers?

  “All done.” It was Sylvan who broke the uncomfortable silence that had grown between them. For once Baird was grateful that his half-brother was a talkative male.

  “All done?” Olivia looked down at her hurt foot in disbelief. “But…I didn’t feel anything.”

  “I know. I numbed the area before removing the glass.” Sylvan smiled at her and held up a small, clear vacuum tube with a small shiny speck floating in its null-grav center. “Thanks for distracting her,” he said to Baird, as though the whole scenario had been pre-planned. “It made it a lot easier to heal her without hurting her.”

  “Heal me?” Incredulously, Olivia looked at the bottom of her foot. “Hey, I’m not bleeding anymore. In fact…” She examined herself more closely. “I don’t even see any break in the skin at all.”

  Sylvan nodded. “I told you—I healed you.”

  “But…but how?” Olivia looked upset. “I wanted to see! You Kindred are so secretive and that was one thing I was looking forward to, actually seeing alien medical technology.”

  “Sorry.” Sylvan shrugged. “If you’re really that interested you can observe in one of our wellness centers.”

  She nodded eagerly. “I’d like that. When?”

  “Not until after our claiming period is over,” Baird rumbled, scooping her off the table and holding her close to his chest. “For now we need to get to my suite.”

  “But, my things…” She looked upset. “My sister Sophia is supposed to be bringing them to the HKR building. Will I still be able to get them?”

  Baird frowned. Now that she was well and in his arms again all he wanted was to get her back to his suite. The sooner they were alone together, the better as far as he was concerned. She needed time for his scent to work on her, time to realize they belonged together. “We’ll have someone pick them up,” he promised.

  Sylvan nodded. “I’ll go back for them myself, mate of my kin,” he said formally to Olivia. “You and Baird just get settled in his suite and don’t worry about anything.”

  “Mate of my kin, huh?” She gave him a crooked smile. “I, uh, guess that’s your version of ‘sister-in-law’ huh?”

  “It’s what we call the bride of our siblings,” Baird told her. “And since you’re my bride—”

  “You say that the same way you’d say I was your property,” she interrupted him, frowning. “Like I’m some kind of chattel to be bought and sold.”

  “Didn’t mean it like that,” he protested but she was already wriggling in his arms to get down.

  “I can walk now,” she reminded him. “Do you mind?”

  Baird did mind, very much. He’d been hoping to hold her for as long as he could, had been planning to take the longest route possible to his suite in order to be close to her for longer in fact. But seeing the angry look in her beautiful eyes, he decided the wisest thing was probably to set her down, which he did.

  Chapter Seven

  Liv tried not to wince as the hard cold metal floor met her bare feet again. She had the feeling Baird hadn’t wanted to put her down but that was just too damn bad. She’d already made up her mind that until she was contractually obligated to touch him, she wasn’t going anywhere near the big Kindred warrior. Being close to him felt dangerous somehow, as though she might lose control of herself if she wasn’t careful. Of course that was silly, there was no way she was going to lose it and jump his bones even if he did look freaking amazing with his shirt off.

  Just thinking ab
out that made her feel like blushing. God, she’d really made a fool out of herself when he took off the crimson shirt that was still draped over her shoulders. Had her tongue been hanging out? She wouldn’t have been surprised if it had been. She’d felt like an idiot but she hadn’t been able to stop staring.

  Even now she caught herself sneaking glances at his bare chest as they walked down the long metal corridor. He was amazingly cut and obviously in incredible shape. In fact he looked so good it made her wonder why he was so anxious to be with her.

  She had a pretty face, that was true. But her hips had gotten way too big in the last semester of nursing school due to too much junk food and not enough exercise as she crammed for exam after exam. And as for her thighs, well, Liv didn’t even want to think about how they must look in the little black nighty she was wearing. So why was a guy who looked like he could be a freaking Chippendale’s dancer so hot to get in her panties? Maybe I should just let him see me naked and get it over with. He might be willing to send me home on the next shuttle or space ship or whatever.

  But from the looks Baird was still giving her, the only place he wanted to send her was straight to his bed. His hot amber gaze made her shiver despite the heavy, silky material of his shirt. And speaking of the shirt, his scent was all over it—the same spicy male musk she’d noticed when she was sitting on his lap on the journey up to the Kindred ship. Why did it make her feel dizzy to inhale that intoxicating fragrance? Why did it make her resolve not to let him touch her seem silly and pointless? No nookie unless you want a permanent zip code change, she reminded herself firmly. Just tell him to keep his hands to himself and his python in his pants.

  To try and distract herself from the huge half naked warrior who was still eyeing her like a starving wolf might look at a lamb chop, Liv tried to concentrate on the ship’s interior. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to concentrate on—just a seemingly endless metal corridor with doors branching off on either side at regular intervals. To be honest the utilitarian aspect of the alien ship kind of disappointed her. It looked like every single science fiction movie she’d ever seen—not that there had been that many of them. Sophia was a closet Trekkie and Kat was a confirmed Lord of the Rings fantasy freak but Liv preferred to keep both feet planted firmly on the ground, thank you very much. So how had an eminently practical girl like herself wound up in this crazy position? She had the sudden urge to grab Baird by the arm and demand, “why me?”

  “Why you, what?” He was looking at her, one black eyebrow raised high and Liv realized to her mortification that she had spoken her question aloud. On second thought though, she decided to go with it.

  “Why me?” she said, stopping in the middle of the empty metal corridor and putting her hands on her hips. “Why did you pick me when there are a billion other Earth girls you could have had? I mean, look at you…” She gestured at his bare, muscular torso while trying not to stare.

  Baird looked at her in obvious confusion. “What are you talking about?”

  Liv frowned. “I’m talking about the fact that you have an, uh, amazing body. You’re in such good shape on Earth you’d be gay because there’s no way a straight guy could look like you. I mean…” Suddenly she realized she was babbling and also staring again. Pretty soon she’d be drooling like a dog about to get a really juicy bone. That thought made her eyes drop from his bare chest to the immense bulge in his black pants and she could feel a hot blush creeping up her cheeks. God, she had to get hold of herself here! “I guess I’m just saying that you could do better—you could probably have a supermodel if you wanted to. So maybe you should just, uh, let me go and look for somebody more your type.”

  “You’re my type.” He stepped forward and took her hands in his. “From the moment our minds first aligned I knew you were the only woman in this world or any other for me, Olivia,” he rumbled softly. “I don’t want anyone but you. Watching you and sharing your life through my dreams was the only thing that kept me from going crazy those six months before we met.”

  “Yes, but why me? Why did you pick me to, uh, align with when you could have had anyone?” Liv persisted. She was trying to keep her cool despite the way his big hands enveloping her much smaller ones was making her heart race.

  Baird looked surprised. “I didn’t pick you—not consciously. We aligned because we’re right together. Because you’re the one I need and I’m the one you need, even if you don’t want to admit it. It’s the way it always happens with Kindred. We just know.”

  Liv wondered if it was some kind of genetic mutation that allowed the Kindred to share dreams with the women of their choice—their subconscious choice, anyway, since Baird claimed he hadn’t purposefully singled her out in any way. Or maybe they had some kind of weird telepathy. But for whatever reason it seemed like he was stuck on her. So much for pointing out that he could have had a supermodel—he appeared to want a plain old nursing student instead. She sighed.

  “All right but don’t blame me if you’re disappointed in the near future,” she said, trying to pull her hands out of his. “What you see is what you get and I warn you, I haven’t exactly been hitting the gym religiously the last few months.”

  “Look at me, Olivia,” he demanded and to her irritation Liv found herself obeying him.

  “What?”

  “You’re the one I want. The one I need,” Baird said. The hot longing in his deep growling voice sent a shiver through her. “And you’re beautiful. Soft, curved in all the right places and you smell so good. So sweet and delicious.”

  Liv frowned. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t even have time for a shower before those two goons grabbed me.”

  He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. I want you so badly I can’t see straight. Hell, I’d take you up against the damn wall right now if you’d let me.” His eyes blazed down at her, making her heart drum against her ribs.

  “I…” Liv shook her head, backing away from him. But he still held her hands in an unbreakable grip. “You…you can’t,” she finally managed to say. “You’re not allowed.”

  Baird gave her a wolfish grin and dropped her hands. “Not yet anyway. Come on—my suite’s just around this next curve in the hall.”

  Heart drumming in her ears, Liv followed him on legs that felt like they might give way at any minute. Dear God she was in deep trouble here. And what exactly had he meant by “not yet?”

  Suddenly she wished that she’d read the fine print on the contract she’d signed and not just relied on Kat to interpret it for her. All she really knew was that they had to sleep in the same bed and eat at the same table every day and night and he wasn’t allowed to touch her in a sexual way during the first week. Don’t forget you have to start bathing with him during the second week, whispered the little voice in her head. Just the thought of that gave her the shivers again.

  So what exactly happened in weeks three and four? What was he allowed to do? How was he allowed to touch her? She knew it was up to her whether she let him have bonding sex with her or not but she still didn’t know exactly what that entailed. Also, what about regular sex? Was he allowed to do that to her? And when? And where? And how?

  Head spinning with questions, Liv made a mental note to get a copy of the contract she’d signed and go over it with a fine toothed comb. She needed to know what she’d gotten into if she was ever going to find a way to get out of it again.

  “Here we are.” Baird’s deep voice startled her out of her internal daze and Liv looked up to see that he was gesturing to a plain silver door. As he motioned it slid inwards with a soft swoosh revealing a dark space of indeterminate size.

  Liv looked up at him nervously. “This is it?”

  He nodded. “The back entrance, anyway. Brought you this way so no other male could see you.” He eyed her hungrily again and Liv pulled his dark crimson shirt closer around her body, as though it could shield her from the desire in his eyes.

  “Uh, looks nice,” she said, making n
o move to go in. The dark room or rooms he was indicating were suddenly looking pretty scary. She had the feeling that if she was in a horror movie right now the people in the audience would be screaming “Don’t go in there!” at the top of their lungs.

  “Well?” Baird gestured again, obviously waiting for her to precede him but still Liv hung back.

  “Uh…I think I forgot something on the ship,” she said, backing away. “Do you mind if I go get it?”

  “You didn’t bring anything to forget.” There was a definite hint of impatience in the deep, growling voice. “Are you coming in or not?”

  “I choose not.” Liv shook her head. “I just…I don’t think so. No thanks.”

  Baird looked at her with obvious disbelief. “You have to come in—this is where I live. Where else would you stay?”

  “Um—well, do you guys have guest rooms or anything like that? I mean, it’s a big ship so you must have someplace else, right?” Liv was feeling more and more nervous and it wasn’t just the fact that he was big and dangerous and scary looking. She had a feeling that if she went into his suite, that she might not come out again as the same person. That somehow being near him twenty-four/seven for the next month would change her, make her lose control.

  “Olivia, you can’t stay in the guest quarters. You’re my bride and this is our claiming period.” The big warrior was practically growling with impatience. “What’s the problem?”

  “How can you ask me that?” she flared at him, crossing her arms protectively over her chest. “You stand there staring at me like I’m an antelope and you’re a really hungry lion and you’ve told me about twelve times how you can’t wait to get me in bed, or up against the wall, or anywhere at all for that matter. And now you want to know why I’m scared to go into a dark room and be alone with you? What do you think I am—crazy?”