Brides of the Kindred(6)
“You know the thing that really freaks me out?” Sophie dropped the blueberries into the batter, stirring as she talked. “The fact that nobody ever decides to leave and go back to their old life after that initial thirty day period is up. You can’t tell me the Kindred always know exactly which woman is going to be their soul mate for life when they pick a bride.”
Kat shrugged and started cracking eggs into a large mixing bowl. “Maybe they brainwash you once you get up to their ship. Maybe it’s filled with all kinds of sex toys and pleasure rooms and it’s so good you just can’t say no.”
“Or maybe they trick you into having sex in the first place—like they slip you a roofie,” Sophie said darkly. “And when you wake up it’s like, ‘Oh, sorry—we did the deed and now you’re mine for life. Hope you don’t mind moving to a galaxy far, far away and having sixteen pound alien babies the rest of your natural.”
Liv gripped her glass full of OJ tightly. This certainly wasn’t the first time they’d speculated about the Kindred when they got together on a girls’ day but for some reason her nerves were so on edge she felt like she might scream if she had to listen to another word. Just then the doorbell chimed faintly and she breathed a sigh of relief—finally a distraction.
“I’ll get it!” She was already halfway to the door when Sophia objected.
“Liv, you’re hardly decent! That outfit almost shows your panties.”
“I’m fine,” Liv called back, pulling the short black lace robe that went with her baby doll nighty more tightly around her. “It’s probably just Mrs. Jensen from next door. She’s always wanting to borrow something—eggs, sugar, you name it.”
She threw open the door expecting to see the kind and wrinkled face of her next door neighbor and instead was treated to the sight of two perfectly huge males in black uniforms.
“I…I…Who are you?” Liv gasped, barely able to get the words out.
“H/K officers Trex and Locan at your service,” the one on the right rumbled and both of them made stiff, abbreviated bows. “We’re here for Miss Olivia Lauren Waterhouse.” He held up a digital picture and Liv recognized her own face staring back from the holo sheet. “This is you—correct?”
“I…yes, that’s me,” she said weakly, meaning both the picture and the name.
“And can you sign this document, verifying that it is so?” He held out a thick sheaf of papers with legal looking words on them along with a pen. Liv signed automatically where he indicated.
“All right, but I—” she began as the guard snatched back the papers and stuffed them into his uniform pocket.
“Excellent. Subject confirms identity,” said the one on the left, as though he was making some kind of official report. “Preparing to escort subject to the HKR building at once.” As one, both huge officers stepped forward and each took one of her elbows. The glass full of orange juice dropped from her fingers and shattered on the tile of the foyer like a bomb, spraying glass shards and sticky juice everywhere. One shard pieced her heel when she took a step back but Liv barely noticed the sharp little pain.
“Now wait just a minute,” she protested, aware that both Sophia and Kat had crowded into the doorway behind her. “What are you saying? Where are you taking me? And can’t I change first?”
“Negative. Flight risk is incurred if the subject is allowed to linger on the premises for any reason,” barked the one on the right.
“But I haven’t done anything. Let me go!” Liv struggled against them but it was like she was being held in pincers of iron on either side.
Kat and Sophie were suddenly there in front of the huge males, blocking their exit. It was like two Toy Poodles facing off Great Danes but neither woman budged even when the officer on the right glared at them in a menacing way.
“Where exactly do you think you’re taking Miss Waterhouse?” Kat demanded, her blue eyes flashing. “And on what grounds?”
“Please step aside, Ma’am,” said the officer on the left with mechanical courtesy. “We are simply fulfilling the orders on the papers we have just served to Miss Waterhouse. And we’re taking her to the Human/Kindred Relations building for her claiming ceremony.”
“Her what?” Sophia exclaimed, her green eyes wide with distress.
“Her claiming ceremony, where she will meet the Kindred warrior who has chosen her as a bride,” the other officer explained patiently. “Miss Olivia Waterhouse has been drafted.”