Brides of the Kindred(135)

Liv did as he said, giving in to him completely, letting him take her where she needed to go—where they both needed to go so badly. She only wished it could go on forever.

But though it lasted longer than any sexual experience in her life, the bonding was finally over. Baird withdrew from her slowly and carefully and Liv curled herself against his side, resting her cheek against his broad bare chest. She sighed with contentment as she felt his strong arms settle around her and hold her tight.

“That was amazing.”

“It was perfect.” Baird stroked her hair away from her face. “Exactly what I’ve been dreaming of from the first minute I saw you.”

“You mean from the first dream-sharing?” Liv looked up at him. “When you were…when the Scourge had you?” She wasn’t sure if mentioning the enemy would bother him but Baird still looked perfectly calm.

“Yeah. And it’s okay, Lilenta. We can talk about it.”

“What happened?” she asked cautiously. “I mean, how did you stand it?”

Baird’s eyes were shadowed. “It wasn’t easy. The krik-ka`re was every bit as bad as I thought it would be.”

“You didn’t have to do that, you know.” Liv looked at him earnestly. “Didn’t have to trade yourself for me.”

“I wanted to.” He stroked her cheek. “I was glad to, Lilenta.”

“But what you went though…what you endured for me—”

“None of it matters now,” he cut her off firmly. “It was rough, sure. But even though I let all my shields down I still had you, somewhere in the back of my head. Your scent, your taste, the color of your eyes. Even though he tried to twist it, the AllFather couldn’t take that away from me. It kept me sane no matter how bad things got.”

“But how did you get away?”

He sighed and shifted to a more comfortable position. “The details are kind of hazy. I remember the AllFather telling me the Scourge had something special—a little surprise he called it—for my brothers on the moon. He took me with him, I think because he wanted to taste my pain when I saw how he was decimating my fellow warriors when there was nothing I could do about it.”

“But you did do something about it,” Liv pointed out.

Baird grinned. “Yeah, I did. I waited until he and that son of his—the one with the red and black eyes—both left the shuttle to confer with their commanders. I couldn’t do much at that point but the AllFather had left me the ability to pilot.”

“Sylvan said he does that sometimes. Leaves prisoners with useful abilities so that he can…can use them and feed on their pain at the same time.” Liv shivered.

“Well in this case I’m glad he did. I knew I had to act fast because when he came back he was going to make me pull the trigger on my own kind—make me blast the other Kindred warriors who were fighting on the moon. I couldn’t let him do that—couldn’t let him force me to kill my brothers.” A look of hatred and determination passed over his face as he relived the scene.

“Of course you couldn’t,” Liv murmured with a shudder. Baird might be able to recover from torture but the shame of murdering his brothers in arms would have killed him for certain—even if he hadn’t wanted to do it.

“I took the ship around to the worst of the fighting and landed her. It was hard to make my body work—it didn’t want to without the AllFather’s say so. But somehow I managed it. I couldn’t talk but I went to the hatch and waved. Some of the other warriors saw me and got the idea. A bunch of them piled in and we got away.”

“You saved a lot of lives,” Liv told him softly.

Baird kissed her. “That wasn’t really what I was thinking about, though. I was concentrating on the idea of seeing you again. I…didn’t want to die without looking in your eyes one more time.”

“Oh, Baird.” Liv threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in the side of his throat. “I was so afraid. You just sat there and stared and I couldn’t make you respond to me. And Sylvan had told me not to hope too much…Sylvan!” She sat up. “Oh my God, he has no idea. And he was so worried about you. Baird, you should tell him.”

“Why don’t you tell him yourself? Bebo…” Baird snapped his fingers and the little blue teddy bear creature came waddling up. It made little grunting noises of delight when Baird scratched it between the ears. “Yeah, I’m glad to see you again too,” Baird murmured, smiling. “Good boy. Now fetch the Think-me.”

Bebo scurried away and came back with the thin metal wire circlet held loosely in his mouth. Baird took it, patted his head, and handed it to Liv. Or tried to hand it, anyway.