Delivered by the Defender (Kindred Tales)

“Valen, help!” she gasped, turning to see him standing there glaring. His eyes had gone from piercing blue to blood red and the look he was giving the Ma’shorkan would have frightened anyone. But the man frowned and puffed up his chest.

“Who says I have to?” he demanded. “I found her running around, off her leash—by rights, she’s mine.”

“I said get your hands off,” the big Kindred repeated, in a low, menacing growl. “Before I rip your fucking throat out!”

He bared his fangs, letting the Ma’shorkan man see how long and sharp they were, and took a step forward.

Apparently this sight was too much for the Ma’shorkan. His eyes widened in fear and he took a step back.

“All right, all right—she’s yours!” He dropped Selena’s wrist and scrambled away, nearly slipping in the sand in his haste to get as far from the angry Kindred as possible.

Selena didn’t blame him—Valen looked positively terrifying with his bared fangs and burning red eyes. He was so scary, she took a step away from him herself.

“Don’t…go…anywhere,” Valen bit out. His voice was hoarse, as though he was trying to keep himself from running after the fleeing Ma’shorkan. He turned to glare at her. “If you leave my side, you’ll just get snatched again. Didn’t I tell you it wasn’t safe for you to go to the waste receptacle alone?”

“You…you only said you’d better come with me.” Selena could hear the tremor in her voice. “I didn’t know—I didn’t think anyone would…would try to grab me in public like that!”

“Of course he fucking tried to grab you—he wanted your luscious curves for himself! And to the Ma’shorkans’, Dependent Females are no better than property or pets,” Valen snarled. He still looked really angry, Selena thought uneasily.

“Then why didn’t you come with me? Or at least come save me as soon as he grabbed me?” she demanded.

“I wanted to teach you a lesson about wandering away—maybe you’ll think twice about it next time,” he snarled, glaring at her.

“I’m sorry I didn’t listen,” Selena said contritely. “But I’m not used to a society where a man can just grab women in public. Look, could you please put your fangs away? You’re scaring me, Valen. And why are your eyes all red?”

“Are they?” He blinked and put a hand to his eyes for a moment. Then he took a deep breath, as though he was trying to calm down. He took several more before looking up. “Forgive me, I was prepared to step in at any moment when that male started talking to you, but I didn’t think he would actually try anything. When I saw him trying to drag you away, I…Goddess, I think I went into Rage.”

“Rage?” Selena frowned. This was a term she hadn’t heard before, despite her time aboard the Mother Ship.

He shook his head.

“Never mind. The main thing is, you’re all right.” He looked at her and Selena was relieved to see that his eyes were their normal, piercing blue again. “Just don’t wander off again,” he said, frowning. “Am I understood?”

“Yes, Master,” Selena said. “But don’t assume I need to learn a lesson the hard way, all right? If you’d explained to me why I shouldn’t go off without you, I wouldn’t have done it—you know?”

“I know it now.” He nodded. “Forgive me, little one. I didn’t mean for things to get so out of hand.”

“Well, I guess it could have been worse. Would…would you really have ripped his throat out?” she couldn’t help asking, in a small voice.

“If he’d harmed you in any way, I don’t think I could have stopped myself.” He shook his head. “Gods, what’s wrong with me? Come, let’s move on from this place.”

He put an arm around her shoulders again and they walked on in silence.

38

Selena hoped the nasty incident hadn’t ruined their beach day. She couldn’t ever remember having so much fun since she was a kid—maybe because having a stern and caring Master to look up to allowed her to let the responsible, adult side of herself go for a little while.

She was about to say something about that to Valen, when something out in the ocean caught her eye.

“Oh, what’s that? Is he riding something?” she exclaimed, pointing.

Far out in the clear blue-green water, a Ma’shorkan man appeared to be skimming along the surface of the ocean. At first, Selena thought he was doing some kind of a trick or maybe the Ma’shokan equivalent of surfing. But when she squinted, she saw that he was holding what looked like long reins in his hands and tugging them this way and that.

“Oh, that’s a glave rider,” Valen explained. “They live on islands far out on the ocean so they can be near their beasts.”

“What’s a glave?” Selena asked. “Is it some kind of fish?”