Sought(84)

Kat shook her head. “Well, it’s nice that they’re so trustworthy, but I really don’t see how either one of then could know that Deep took my pain.”

“What?” Liv asked just as Sophie said,

“He took your what?”

“He took my pain,” Kat repeated. She went on to tell her two best friends about the dream she’d had of Deep being whipped in the cave and how Mother L’rin had showed her that it was real. “So you see,” she ended in a low voice. “He’s the reason my head doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“I don’t think it’s your head we have to be concerned with right now. It’s your heart.” Liv put down her sandwich and wiped her fingers on a napkin before putting an arm around Kat. “Am I right, Kat-woman?”

“I d-don’t know.” Kat brushed at her eyes angrily. “I’m sorry—I don’t know why I let him affect me like this. He’s such a bastard.”

“He does put the ass in asshole,” Liv agreed calmly. “But it sounds like he’s not all bad.”

“He’s the reason we’re going to the Scourge home world in the first place,” Kat said, sniffing. “He doesn’t want to be bonded to me—not even partially bonded. We’re supposed to find some machine the Scourge invented called ‘the psychic knife’ to cut ourselves apart.”

“What a jerk!” Sophie said indignantly. “Don’t you listen to him, Kat. Any guy would be lucky to have you!”

“Speaking of other guys, how does Lock feel about all this?” Olivia asked. “It seems to me that he’s always in the middle of you two—that can’t be easy for him.”

“I don’t know.” Kat shook her head. “We didn’t talk on the trip back home at all. None of us. But…I’m pretty sure the two of them were fighting after our argument on Twin Moons.”

“Really? How could you tell?” Liv looked interested.

“I’d say Deep’s face was a pretty good indication. He looks like he slammed head-first into a concrete wall. And the knuckles on Lock’s right hand are all cut and bruised.”

“A fist fight?” Liv shook her head. “Really? Because I was under the impression that Twin Kindred never strike each other—under any circumstances. I think it hurts them just as much to hit their twin as it does to be hit…like they share the pain they inflict or something like that. That’s what Baird told me, anyway.”

“Well, I’d say they made an exception to the no-knuckle-sandwich-between-brothers rule,” Kat said dryly but she couldn’t help being troubled. “I guess…I guess they were fighting over me.”

“Lock loves you, doesn’t he?” Sophie said sympathetically.

Kat nodded. “And I could love him too if—”

“If Deep wasn’t in the way,” Olivia finished for her.

But Kat shook her head. “No, that’s not what I was going to say. I could love Lock—hell, I could love both of them if there was any chance of my love being returned.”

“But what about having their emotions in your head all the time?” Sophie asked. “I thought you hated that.”

Kat thought of the warm, happy feelings she’d gotten from both brothers just moments before they were captured by the natives. “It’s not so bad when they’re in a good mood. But Deep…”

“Is never in a good mood,” both Liv and Sophie said.

Kat nodded sadly. “You know, for awhile there back on Twin Moons, I really thought we were almost on the same page. I found out what Deep had done for me and then we talked and it seemed like the three of us were getting really close. Especially after—” She broke off abruptly, blushing.

“After what?” Sophie and Liv demanded together. “Come on, Kat—give.”

“Oh God, you guys, do I really have to say it?” Kat looked at them, pleading with her eyes. “You’re married women now—or practically married. You get enough hot sex of your own without hearing about my measly sex life.”

“Are you kidding me? We might get hot sex but you my friend are getting some genuine ménage a trois action,” Liv said. “Or are you?”

Kat sighed. “Well…kinda.”

“Kinda? What does that mean?” Sophie frowned. “When I think how you two pried out the details of how Sylvan healed me and marked me in that cabin…”

“All right, all right…” Kat held up her hands in a gesture of defeat. “I’ll tell all. But you can’t laugh.”