Free Devoured: Brides of the Kindred 11 by Evangeline Anderson Page A

head. “I still don’t
understand. What is it you want me to do, Garron?”
    “I…I…” Garron shook his head, feeling
foolish and impotent. “I just don’t think she should be allowed to live…where
she’s been living. She ought to be sent back down to Earth.”
    “Oh? Where have you been living?” Becca
looked at the girl with evident interest.
    “I…” The girl shot him a glance and shook her
head. “Maybe I’d better not say.”
    “Maybe you should come in for a cup of
tea. Or do you want some coffee?” Sophia and Becca were already reaching out to
pull the girl into the suite.
    Garron felt himself dying inside as he
watched her enter Commander Sylvan’s suite. He knew how females talked among
each other. Now everyone whose good opinion he valued would know his darkest,
most secret desires.
    “Garron?” Becca was looking at him now.
“Do you want some coffee? It’s nothing at all like the chii you gave me on Pax but it’s still pretty darn good.”
    “Apologies but no, Becca. I…must go,” he
growled. “Now.”
    Without another word he turned and left,
cursing the fate that had led him to pick the little Earth female and make her
privy to all his most perverted fantasies. What had possessed him to act and
speak as he had? And how could he ever look anyone on the Mother Ship in the
eyes again?
    It’s
exactly what you deserve, whispered the little
voice in his head—the voice of his guilt. You
swore to always love and cherish Nella’s memory and look what you did—or tried
to do. Have you no shame? No regard for the memory of the one you swore you
loved?
    The voice was right and Garron knew it.
    “Forgive me, Nella,”he whispered, running a hand through his hair. “I will take this
as a warning. I swear I will never forget you or betray your memory again.”

 
    * * * * *
    “Um, did you know you have your dress on
backwards?” the girl with long brown hair and green eyes asked as she led Tess
into a plush living area scattered with oversized, overstuffed furniture.
    There were two other girls sitting on the
couch. One had blond hair and silvery gray eyes and the other had red hair much
brighter than Tess’s and was clearly pregnant. In fact, she looked ready to pop
at any time.
    “I think it’s inside out too,” the other
girl, who the Kindred warrior had called Becca, said. She had creamy mocha skin
and the most gorgeous face but her best feature had to be her eyes which were
kind and understanding.
    “Probably.” Tess gave a shaky laugh. “I
was uh, kind of in a hurry to get it back on.”
    “And why did you have it off in the first
place?” The pregnant redhead raised an eyebrow at her and gave her a sardonic
little grin. “As if we couldn’t guess. See, Becca? I told you Garron would find
some lucky girl. With those eyes of his, there’s no way he could stay single
for long.”
    “Um, it’s not actually like that,” Tess
said. “I mean, I didn’t even know his name until just now. You said it’s
Garron?”
    “What?” the blonde girl exclaimed. “Didn’t
know his name? Then what were the two of you doing?”
    “Nothing!” Tess assured them hastily. “I
mean, we would have but I admitted I wasn’t a Pairing Puppet before things got
too hot and heavy.” She sighed unhappily. “He was still really angry with me though. Not that I blame him, I guess…”
    “Back up…slow down…” The pregnant redhead
made a “time out” gesture. “You were pretending to be a Pairing Puppet?”
    Tess felt her whole face get hot with
mortification.
    “Well, yes, but I wasn’t, uh, performing Pairing Puppet activities, if you know what I
mean. I was just hiding out at the Pairing House and your friend, uh Garron,
thought I was one of the puppets and picked me by mistake. I didn’t want to
blow my cover so I went with him…” She shook her head. “I never really intended
to…to do anything with him.”
    “But you did anyway?” Becca asked gently.
“It’s okay,