Enticed by the Satyr (Kindred Tales)

“I’m only sorry we didn’t get here sooner,” Talon muttered, as he ushered Mia and Kaylee into the back of a sleek, silver shuttle.

Then he climbed in the front and started the craft. Mia watched out the side window as they lifted off, into space. Hank had come out of the house and he was shouting and shaking his fist at them angrily.

The last thing she saw was her husband’s angry red face growing smaller and smaller like a dot of blood in the corner of her eye, until at last he disappeared completely and the Earth fell away, leaving them in the blackness of space.

5

The Kindred shuttle moved incredibly fast. Before she knew it, Mia could see the moon growing in the viewscreen at the front of the shuttle—only she seemed to see two of it.

“Two moons,” she whispered, still feeling dazed. “Shouldn’t there be just one?”

“Of course there’s only one.” Kaylee was still weeping, her arm clutched protectively around Mia’s shoulder. “What are you saying, honey? You’re not making sense!”

“I see two of everything,” Mia tried to explain. Her split lip was swollen and puffy, making it hard to talk. “Two of you, two moons, two everything.”

“She’s having double vision!” Kaylee called up to the front seat, where Talon was driving. “Oh, and one of her eyes looks funny,” she added, staring anxiously at Mia’s wounded face.

“I’ll call ahead and have a doctor waiting,” Talon promised. He began pressing some glowing buttons on the incredibly complicated looking console in front of him and then Mia heard him speaking in a low, urgent voice.

“You…came for me,” she whispered, switching her attention back to Kaylee. “Why?”

“I should have come sooner!” Kaylee’s eyes filled with fresh tears. “I thought you’d be all right for a month, at least, while Talon and I did our Claiming period! I was coming today to ask if you’d come up to the Mother Ship and be my maid of honor for the wedding!”

“Hank never would have let me,” Mia whispered. “He made me quit everything—the high school, the church. Even cancelled all my students. Then he was going to sell my Granny’s piano. And I…I think I snapped.” She looked up at Kaylee, feeling more alert now. “I told him how I really felt about him for the first time in our marriage, Kaylee. That’s what made him so angry.”

“That bastard!” Kaylee dashed angry tears away from her eyes. “I should have known that he’d do something horrible without someone to stop him! I wish Talon would have punched him out instead of just shoving him!”

“I was afraid if I started punching, I wouldn’t be able to stop,” Talon growled from the pilot’s chair. Clearly he had finished making his call. “Seeing a male hurt a helpless female like that was making me go into Rage, even though I am not mated to her.”

“That’s because you know I love her,” Kaylee said, smiling through her tears at her huge Kindred husband. She looked back at Mia. “I’m so sorry I didn’t come sooner! But you’re safe now, Mia—you don’t ever have to go back to him. You’re going to stay on the Kindred Mother Ship with me for the rest of your life and never see that bastard again!”

Mia looked at her uncertainly.

“But…I thought the only way you could stay on the Mother Ship is if you were married to one of the warriors or you had a job up there?” she asked faintly. That was what they said on the news, anyway. Otherwise lots of people would probably be wanting to migrate to the huge Kindred ship where living conditions were said to be ideal.

“You have a job!” Kaylee grinned at her. “I’m the new Vocal Music Director for the Mother Ship and I’m going to be starting a chorus. More than one, actually—a men’s chorus, a women’s chorus—a mixed one that anyone can join—even one for the kids! And how can I do all that without an accompanist?”

Mia looked at her hopefully.

“Really? You think they’ll let me stay?”

“Of course they will because I need you! Won’t they, honey?” Kaylee looked at Talon anxiously.

“My Commanding Officer is Commander Baird, who’s the half brother of Commander Sylvan, Head of the Kindred High Council,” Talon said, glancing over his shoulder. “I’m certain when I explain the circumstances, they’ll find a place for you, Mia.”

“Oh, thank you!” Mia whispered fervently. For years and years she’d been repressing the longing to get away from her abusive marriage. Because what good would it do to let herself feel how miserable she really was with Hank when she could never leave him?

But now that she finally had hope, she could feel emotions she’d pushed down for years rushing over her. Filling her so full, she thought she might burst.

“I never want to see him again,” she said in a low, passionate voice. “As long as I live, I never, ever want to lay eyes on that man again!”