“Then let me teach you.”
“What?”
Lauren reached out to cup his face again and was relieved when he didn’t pull away. “Of course you don’t know how to touch or be touched,” she said softly, looking into his eyes. “Not after the way you were raised. So I’m going to teach you.” She stroked his cheek. “And I promise you, baby, we can go as slow as you want.”
He squeezed his eyes shut. “But what if I lose control? If I hurt you, I could never forgive myself. I would want to die.”
“You’re not going to hurt me,” Lauren insisted. “You keep talking about the ways of your people but you’ve got some of me in you now, too. Look at yourself, Xairn—you don’t have to be afraid. Surely the human DNA you got from me will help control your Scourge impulses—don’t you think?”
He opened his eyes and frowned. “I hadn’t considered that. Maybe…maybe you’re right.” He looked so hopeful and uncertain that Lauren wanted to hug him and hold him close but somehow she restrained herself.
“Of course I’m right,” she said firmly. “For now, lets just get home and everything will be fine.”
“I hope so.” He shook his head. “I truly do, though I’m afraid this will end badly. I know I should have the strength to leave you—”
“Don’t you dare!” Lauren glared at him. “Don’t even think about it.”
A small, sad smile crossed his lips. “Let me finish my thought, please. I was going to say that I know I should leave you but I can’t.” He gave her a piercing look. “I can’t.”
“Good.” Lauren stroked his cheek. “And don’t worry, Xairn, whatever issues you have, we’ll work through them together. I promise.”
Xairn nodded and sighed. Hesitantly, he reached up to brush his hand over her shoulder. “Thank you, Lauren. For accepting me as I am.”
“Thank you for protecting me,” she said quietly. “For taking the pain that should have been mine. For leaving your home and everything you’ve ever known to come with me.” Leaning forward, she pressed her mouth to his in a careful, chaste kiss. “I love you,” she whispered against his lips.
She felt his big frame tremble and then he returned her kiss tentatively, his mouth moving over hers with a shy uncertainty that nearly broke her heart. “I…I love you as well, Lauren.” His voice was hoarse with emotion and she wondered if she was the only woman he had ever said those words to. Almost certainly she was. God how she wanted to pull him close and comfort him, to show him that everything was going to be all right! To prove to him that he could trust himself as she trusted him. But she sensed now wasn’t the time for that.
“Good,” she said lightly, pulling away with a smile. “Then let’s go home.”
Chapter Seventeen
The AllFather tapped his skeletal fingers against the arm of his black metal throne. It was etched in burning lines of poisonous green, made of the same tainted metal he employed in his nutrient slime. Much of his power was derived from this small reminder of his home world but most of it was inside him, gathered in the empty barren wasteland that should have held his heart.
Where can they be? Where will he take her? He frowned. Why, to her home of course—to that insignificant planet of hers, that is where she will wish to go. But how can I find them in their altered genetic states? How? What weakness can I exploit to bring them back?
Then again, why should he bother? His peak was past and would not return again for many years. He couldn’t breed the girl as he had originally intended. The prophesy was voided—all hope for the regeneration of the Scourge race was lost.
May you be damned, my son. I will bring you back if only for revenge.
But when he considered it, he realized that revenge was not the only reason he had to call his errant son back to the Fathership. He had felt…changes in Xairn during their last encounter. His son was maturing—coming into his own sexually as a Scourge male at last. For years the AllFather had doubted it would ever happen, but the human female had acted as a trigger, undoing years of repression and releasing the beast within.
And with the advent of his growing sexual energy, Xairn’s personal power would grow as well. He might even come to rival the AllFather himself, in time. Power like that could not be ignored. It must be dealt with and soon. But how?
The altered DNA would keep him from finding and linking to Xairn—if the alteration held. But Scourge genes were strong—as virulent as weeds in a garden which grew high and fast, choking the other plants and flowers around them. Such genes might be masked for a little while but violent emotions should bring them forth again. But how to evoke those emotions when he didn’t know exactly where his son was and couldn’t get through the Kindred’s security net around the planet to search for him?