Dark and Light (A Kindred Tales Duet)

Like most Kindred, Raze found the notion of divorce strange and alien. When a Kindred warrior Claimed a female, he bonded her to him for life and the two of them were only parted by death.

Well, that was how it worked for most Kindred warriors, anyway, he reminded himself bitterly. As a hybrid, he himself was very unlikely to be able to form a bond with anyone. Not that he had ever tried. The Drake Kindred—his mother’s people—reviled him because he didn’t have pure blood and no Drake had manifested at his manhood ceremony, so there was no finding a possible mate there.

The Beast Kindred—his father’s people—were more accepting. But he could see the pity on their faces when they saw his mismatched eyes and realized that he was forever locked out of what every Kindred warrior longed for—finding the mate the Goddess had set aside only for him and living out his life with her.

Of course, some hybrids were able to bond with females, but it was rare and unusual and much more likely to occur if they didn’t have the genetic mutation which caused their eyes to be two different colors. Which Raze had, of course.

Which is why there’s no point in thinking about how beautiful Lucia is or how engaging her little ones are, he told himself sternly. This little family could never be his, no matter how strongly attracted to Lucia he was.

It was a lonely existence, knowing he would probably never find a mate or father children of his own, but Raze tried to make the best of it. Right now, he told himself that at least he could try to make friends with Lucia and help her as best he could by fixing her vehicle. His leave was almost over, but he could extend it for as long as it took to care for the kittens. Maybe in that time he could build a relationship with the curvy little Earth female as well.

“Well…” Lucia sighed. “It’s been nice meeting you, Raze. But I’m afraid we need to get the kids to bed. Since my car is broken down, I’m going to have to get up really early and take my mom to work before I can drop the kids off at school and then get the car back to her and take the bus to my own job.” She rubbed her forehead as though just thinking of all that made her tired.

Raze frowned.

“That seems like a lot of trouble. Why don’t I just give you a ride tomorrow? I need to go to your work anyway, to see what’s wrong with your vehicle and I don’t mind taking your young ones to their places of education first.”

“Oh, I don’t know…” Lucia bit her lip uncertainly. She looked like she wanted to accept his offer but wasn’t quite sure she should, Raze thought.

Her mother also seemed uncertain about the arrangement.

“Lucia,” she said urgently and then followed it up in rapid Spanish.

It was one of the languages that Raze had studied before taking his leave on Earth. As a Kindred with a natural aptitude for foreign tongues, he had picked up all the Earth languages he had studied with relative ease. But he had found Spanish considerably easier than English to learn because everything sounded like it was spelled.

“Look, my darling,” Lucia’s mother said to her in Spanish. “I don’t think this is safe. You barely know this man and he is so big! He could break you in half with his little finger!”

“He could but he’s not going to,” Lucia argued, also in Spanish. “Look at how gentle he is with the kittens! And Lady likes him. You know she can always tell when a man is bad or good. Besides, he’s Kindred. They don’t hurt women.”

“I have heard good things about the Kindred and how they treat their women like queens,” her mother admitted, grudgingly, Raze thought. “But you only just met him!”

“I know but I have a good feeling about him,” Lucia told her.

“A good feeling?” Her mother frowned and put a hand on her hip. “Like the good feelings you had about Tony?”

“Mom, that’s not fair.” Lucia frowned. “I was young and stupid. You tried to warn me but I didn’t listen.”

“Like I’m trying to warn you now!” her mother insisted. “This man is too big, Lucia! And you’re so small. Plus, he’s offering to take the babies to school—I don’t know how I feel about that! What if he has a wreck? You know he’s probably not used to driving down here—especially in Tampa traffic during rush hour!”

“I have driven on Edoris Prime without any problems,” Raze informed them, also speaking in Spanish. He ignored their wide eyes and went on. “On that planet, there is air traffic and ground traffic to contend with, as well as underground tracks for shuttle-trams that occasionally surface at intersections. So the traffic is coming at you from all directions at once. But I never had a ‘wreck,’ as you call it,” he finished, speaking to Lucia’s mother.