Taming Two Warriors (Kindred Tales)

Melli didn’t mind admitting she was jealous. She wanted what Jodi had—if only she could get it. If only Liosh—

“I know something that will make you smile,” Jodi told her, interrupting her thoughts.

“Oh? What’s that?” Melli asked.

“You don’t have to drop your classes at USF now,” Jodi told her. “And you never have to worry about running into Amanda Brannigan ever again.”

“What?” Melli exclaimed. “Did something happen to her?” She was certain that Liosh hadn’t done anything to awful Amanda. He had expressed the wish several times that she could be punished but as a Kindred, he simply couldn’t hurt a woman.

“As a matter of fact, I happened to her.” Jodi’s green eyes flashed. “I had a little help with it, but basically I got the Tolleg surgeon aboard the Mother Ship to make me a gene therapy treatment to change her smell.”

“Uh…what?” Melli raised her eyebrows in confusion. “I’m not following.”

“She stinks!” Jodi exclaimed, grinning. “She smells as nasty and rotten on the outside as she actually is on the inside now. The last I heard she lost her job and has been banned from her housing on campus. I think she’s moving back home with her mom—I bet that’s going to be a fragrant family reunion.” She laughed.

“Wow…” Melli wasn’t quite sure what to say.

She tried not to let hate invade her life—it only kept you from healing if you did that. Still, there was no denying that just the sight of Amanda Brannigan triggered her—sent her back to that dark place she’d been in after Jason Sykes had raped her.

She had considered just dropping her Sociology class, but since Amanda always seemed to find her and torment her all around campus, she hadn’t thought that would be enough. She’d been planning to drop her classes and stay away from school for her own mental health—now it seemed she didn’t have to.

“Jodi, you did all that for me?” she managed at last.

“Hey, nobody hurts my little sister and gets away with it.” Jodi’s eyes flashed. “Nobody! So don’t drop your classes, Melli—I want to see you around campus.”

“I’ll be there,” Melli promised. She sighed. “I’m just not sure if Liosh will be there with me.”

“What?” Jodi frowned. “How can you say that? I thought you two were in love.”

“I thought so too…” Melli looked down at her hands. “Jodi,” she said, wondering how to lead up to the topic delicately. “Um, do you know if Vorn and Liosh ever, you know, talk?”

“What? Of course they talk—they’re best friends. Hey, do you want some tea while we go over this? I know it always makes you feel better and I just learned how to work the Kindred kitchen appliances. You wouldn’t believe how fast you can make things,” Jodi said, jumping up.

She and Vorn were newly installed in a couples’ suite aboard the Mother Ship and she was thoroughly enjoying trying out all the new Kindred technology.

“No, no tea. Not now—maybe in a minute.” Melli put up a hand to pull her back down. “I meant, does Liosh ever talk to Vorn about me?”

“Why would they talk about you?” Jodi asked, a puzzled look on her face as she sank back down onto the massive overstuffed couch beside Melli. All the furniture was built to Kindred proportions, which made Melli feel like a little girl when she sat on it.

“I don’t know…” She shook her head. “It’s just that, well…things are different between Liosh and me now. He doesn’t…” She looked down at her hands. “He doesn’t touch me like he used to. And, um, you know how Kindred like to, uh, taste their women?” She looked at Jodi meaningfully, hoping her big sister would understand and not demand further explanation.

Thankfully, Jodi picked up what she was saying at once.

“Oh my God, yes. Vorn is crazy for that. Half the time I can’t get his head out from under my skirt long enough to have a decent conversation!” She giggled. “Sorry, that’s probably TMI. But it’s like he’s ravenous or something.”

“Liosh was like that too. Before…before the second attack,” Melli said in a low voice. “But now…” She shook her head. “Now he doesn’t seem to…to want me anymore.”

“Oh, honey!” Jodi was instantly concerned. “You must be mistaken,” she told Melli. “Once a Kindred singles you out as his fated mate, he doesn’t just lose interest in you!”

“Well, it seems like Liosh has,” Melli said. “He still holds me and cuddles me if I ask him to, but he hasn’t made a single move on me, uh, sexually since we got here to the Mother Ship. It’s been almost a week, Jodi, and I’m going crazy.”

“What about your problem?” Jodi asked. “The vaginismus?”

“We were getting through that,” Melli said earnestly. “Liosh was healing me with his, uh, essence. You know, the blue fluid Blood Kindred make with their fangs?”