Free Devoured: Brides of the Kindred 11 by Evangeline Anderson

Pairing House.” Garron had to force the words out. It
shamed him deeply to admit he had been visiting such a place, even though among
the Kindred there was no stigma attached to it.
    But even more humiliating were the things
he had said and done with the girl when he thought she was a Pairing Puppet. I held her—took her in my arms and held her
close to my heart, body-to-body, he thought. Such contact was forbidden on
Pax, where he had been raised. The Rai’ku, did not believe in any kind of
physical contact between people unless it was a male and a female during
breeding time. They kept to themselves and did not touch one another, except to
clasp arms occasionally when sealing a bargain.
    And he had done more than just hold her.
He had rubbed his face over her skin, breathing in her sweet essence, marking
her for his own. Not only that but he had told her he wanted to taste her. The stigma attached to such
an act was unspeakable—the shame unfathomable. And he had not only admitted
that he wanted to do this, he had actually started to do it. He would have if she hadn’t jumped up and run from him. If
she hadn’t admitted—
    “I’m sorry,” the girl said, breaking his
train of thought. “I know I shouldn’t have been there. I was just…I had no
place else to hide. I had to get away from my—” She shook her head. “I’m
just…I’m really sorry.”
    Commander Sylvan frowned. “Perhaps you’d
better explain. Are you here because you’ve been dream sharing with a Kindred
warrior? Maybe you came to look for him?”
    For a moment the girl’s eyes widened and
Garron felt a strange sensation in the pit of his stomach. The girl in his
dream—the one he could never quite see. Could she be…? But then she shook her
head.
    “No…nothing like that.”
    “All right…” Sylvan cleared his throat.
“And Garron says you’ve been hiding in the Pairing House?” He looked at Garron.
“And you found this out when you…”
    “I went there to…to…” Garron could feel
his cheeks getting hot.
    “Never mind,” Commander Sylvan said
hastily. “There’s no need to answer that. In fact—”
    “Sylvan? Sweetheart?” Sylvan’s mate,
Sophia, suddenly appeared behind him. “Is everything okay?” she asked, looking
anxiously at Garron and the girl.
    “I’m not quite sure, talana.” Sylvan frowned. “Garron has brought this female—”
    “Oh, are you a friend of Garron’s?” Sophia
looked at the girl curiously.
    “No, not exactly.” The girl shook her
head, her dark hair flying. “I’m just…I was hiding but I didn’t mean to…to…”
    Sophia’s face grew concerned. “You look
kind of shaken up…?”
    “Tess,” the girl said softly. “And yes,
I’ve had better days.”
    “You poor thing. Come in and let me get
you a cup of tea. I have a few friends over—if you’re new to the Mother Ship
and want to meet some nice girls to hang out with.”
    “She’s not here to make friends with other
females,” Garron burst out, unable to stand it anymore. “She is a liar and a
criminal—hiding in a place she should not be and violating the trust of those
who visit there.”
    “I’m sorry.” The girl lifted her chin
defiantly but her eyes were suspiciously bright. “Like I told you, I had
nowhere else to go.”
    “Who’s this?” A new face suddenly appeared
at the doorway. Garron saw with a sinking heart it was Becca, his brother
Truth’s new bride. “Hey, what’s going on?” she demanded, her eyes flicking from
the shirtless Garron to the disheveled girl whose arm he still had locked in a
tight grip. “Who is she and what are you doing to her, Garron?”
    “Nothing.” Garron knew when he was
defeated. He liked Becca and valued her good opinion. There was no way he
wanted to stand here and explain that he’d been duped by the bewitchingly beautiful
human female while seeking a sexual release. He dropped the girl’s arm and
stepped back. “Nothing at all.”
    Sylvan shook his