“It’snot just the bonding—that doesn’t explain my hair.” She put up a hand to touchher long, silky black locks. “The Goddess did this, Thrace—the Goddess of the Kindred.You know…” She looked up at him, suddenly shy. “I didn’t get a chance to tellyou but when I went to the Sacred Grove, I spoke to one of theirpriestesses—one called Nadiah. And…I know this sounds strange, but the Goddessspoke through her to me.”
“Notnearly as strange as hearing her speak to you right from the empty air,” Thracerumbled.
Trin’seyes widened. “The Goddess spoke to you too?”
Henodded. “After you left me on Yonnie Six. She said I would have help findingyou—that was right before Stavros and Charlotte and Rebecca and her two matesshowed up.” He frowned.
“Whatis it?” Trin asked, looking at his eyes in the viewer. “Did she say somethingelse?”
Thrace nodded.“She did—I’d forgotten about it until now. She, uh, wasn’t too happy that I letTwo live.”
“Shewasn’t?” Trin raised her eyebrows. “What did she want you to do about it?”
“Nothing—shejust said there would be problems in the future because I hadn’t killed him.”
“Whatkind of problems?” Trin asked, clearly worried.
Thrace shookhis head. “Don’t know. Although…” He furrowed his brow, thinking hard. “Two did show me something—some kind of avision about a female with two faces…it was strange. He said he’d put acontract out on her—set one of the Verrakon her trail.”
“Thewho?”
“Verrak. It’s anelite brotherhood of assassins—the most expensive and reliable in a thousandgalaxies. They’re absolutely deadly because they take a vow when they accept ajob—if their target doesn’t die, they’ll kill themselves. Makes for a hell of amotivator, you know?”
“Ugh—that’sawful.” Trin shivered. “But why wouldhe show you something like that?”
“Ithink he just wanted to gloat. He said something about how her child would be themother of a new race, part Havoc, part Kindred.”
“PartHavoc?” Trin raised an eyebrow. “And who exactlyis going to be the father of this newrace?”
“Well…”Thracecleared his throat a bit uncomfortably. “According to Two and the Seeing thatB’Rugh did for him, that would be our son—the child you and I are going to haveat some point.”
“Ourwhat?” Trin stared at him with anunreadable look on her face.
“Ourson,” he repeated. “That’s why Two was trying to tear us apart—so we wouldnever have a baby. Does the idea still bother you?”
Trinbit her lip.
“Only…onlybecause I know Havoc don’t usually raise their young. Doesn’t your race leaveand come back when your sons are six cycles old or so?”
“Trin…”He looked at her seriously. “It won’t be like that for us. I swear—I’ll never abandon you. You own me—remember?”
Shesmiled and he felt her relief coming through their renewed link.
“Ofcourse—how could I forget?” She nuzzled against him, smiling at him in theviewer. “As long as you’re with me, I’ll be overjoyed to have our child.”
“Baby…”No longer content with looking at her in the mirror, Thrace turned her around and cuppedher sweet face between his hands. “You don’t know how it makes me feel to hearyou say that. I love you so damn much.”
“Ido know how it makes you feel—I cansense it through our bond.” She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on themouth. “And I love you too,” she sentthrough the connection they now shared. The connection Thrace knew would last a lifetime.
Chapter Forty
“We’vesent scouts to Yonnie Six but there’s no sign of Two or of Lord X.” CommanderSylvan told Trin and Thracea few days later as they sat with some friends in his living area. “Six, theformer Dark Kindred warrior who now lives among us, speculated that they mighthave gone to a secret lab he knew of—one of Two’s old hiding places. He went tocheck it out although Mei-Li, his Earth bride, was very much against it.”
“She’spregnant so she couldn’t go with him,” Becca, who was there with Far and Truthsaid.
“Whatdid Six find out?” Stavros asked.
“Wedon’t know yet—he is supposed to report in to us at any time.” Sylvan sighedand looked at Thrace.“Can you remember anything else about the vision he showed you? It must beimportant if the information was given to him in a Seeing.”
Thraceshrugged unhappily. “I’ve told you every detail I could remember. I believe thegirl resides on Earth but what part of it, I don’t know. I do know theyounglings in her care called her ‘Brooks’ but I wasn’t sure if it was a nameor a title of respect.”
“It’sa fairly common last name,” Charlie, who was also there with Stavros said.
“Shemay be dead by now if Two set a member of the Verrak on her,” her mate said soberly. “They are utterlyrelentless.”
“Becausethey take a vow to kill their target or kill themselves if they fail,” Truthpointed out. “Anyone who took such a vow would be relentless—if they wanted tolive.”
“Idon’t get it,” Charlie said, frowning. “Are these Verrak a race of alien assassins from some horrible planet whereeveryone is trained to kill from birth or something?”
“Nothingso clear cut as that,” Far answered. “Or they would be much easier to spot. Infact, anyone, male or female, regardless of race or species may choose tojoin—if they make it through the rigorous training process.”
“Whathappens if they don’t?” Becca asked.
“Ibet I know.” Charlie drew a finger across her throat meaningfully.
“Yes,the penalty for failing the process at any point is death. As is the penaltyfor failure to assassinate a chosen target,” Far said. “In fact, some say thatonly those who wish to die would join the Verrakin the first place. They are warriors looking for a death worthy ofthem—whether by their own hand or another’s.” He frowned. “They usually takeonly the most dangerous targets. I wonder what it is about this female thatenticed a Verrak to take her contract?”
“Maybeshe’s special in some way,” Becca said. “You know, other than the whole,mother-of-the-new race kind of thing. What would be the benefits of aHavoc/Human/Kindred race anyway?”
“Longevityfor one,” Sylvan said thoughtfully. “The Havoc live much longer than we Kindreddo. And they can pass their prolonged life on to their mates.”
“Butthe Kindred are willing to bond withtheir mates and form a permanent union,” Thrace pointed out. “That’s notusual in my people at all—although it might be if they knew what they weremissing.” He looked at Trin and winked. She blushed and nudged his shoulderwith her own.
“Addingthe Kindred back into the mix might also enable dream sharing again which makesfinding the right mate much easier,” Far said.
“But…whatdo humans bring to the party?” Charlie asked. “We’re not big or strong orlong-lived compared to either the Havoc or the Kindred.”
“No,but your DNA meshes better with ours than any other trade partner we’ve everfound,” Sylvan said seriously. “Adding human genetic material will enable theother good traits to breed true and produce exceptionally healthy children.”
“Whatit boils down to is we have to find thatpoor girl Two put a hit on,” Charlie exclaimed. “After all, she might not be dead yet and it sounds like she’spretty important to the future of the Kindred race—if this Seeing is anythingto go by.”
“Itis,” Thraceassured her gravely. “The Lud’oms are able to See only three times in theirlives but their Seeings are incredibly accurate and very detailed. I’m inclinedto believe Two was telling the truth in his own twisted way.”
“Thenwe have to find her—but how?” Beccaasked. “I mean, it sounds like she was some kind of an elementary schoolteacher but we can’t go checking every single school on Earth!”