Delivered by the Defender (Kindred Tales)

His first impulse was to avoid her the next day—to try and find some other case to work on and not see her until he had to for that damned Pet Parade.

Coward! whispered the little voice. If she’s nothing special and you don’t care about her, why are you avoiding her? I thought what you had with Selena was just a business arrangement, and yet you’re running away from her as though she was the gatekeeper to the Seven Hells!

Valen felt a surge of shame—the little voice was right. He was acting like a coward. He couldn’t let himself run from the little Elite. In fact, it would be much better if he spent time with her, to prove to himself that there was nothing special between them.

I’ve barely known her a day—I’ve been bewitched by her full curves and those big brown eyes of hers, he told himself. I bet if I spend more time with her, the spell will be broken. I’ll find some intolerable fault in her and realize that my initial attraction was foolish and ill-considered.

He felt firmly that this must be true. In order to break Selena’s spell over him, he ought to spend more time with her—not less. In fact, he decided, he would take her on a tour of Ma’shorka Centra tomorrow. They would visit all the destinations he’d wanted to see, but had avoided in the past, because he disliked being the only male there without a mate.

They would make a day of it and by the time they returned to his domicile that evening, he would know for certain there was nothing special about the curvy little Elite.

Valen was sure of it.

35

“Good morning, little Mistress! Are you ready for your First Meal?”

The cheery voice of Pashmeena woke Selena from a deep sleep. So deep, in fact, that for a moment she didn’t know where she was. Then she opened her eyes and the jumbled events of the past day slowly returned to her.

I’m on Ma’shorka Centra but not in the Ambassador’s mansion with Jess, because she had to go back to Earth and see about her sister. I’m with Valen and he’s pretending to be my Master.

Her cheeks went red when she remembered all that having the huge Kindred as her “Master” entailed. The way he had touched her and bitten her and made her come…

And then the way he got so angry and cold and distant afterwards, she thought sadly. Well, at least she’d made some memories she would never forget, she thought with a sigh. And at least he’d taken that damn harness off. Her nipples were still tender from the intense suction, even though the big Kindred had healed them so gently the night before…

Just the memory of that—of Valen sucking and licking her stiff peaks while he fingered her pussy—was enough to make her feel hot and bothered all over again. She wished she could get herself off and ease some of the tension, but there was no way—not with Pashmeena bustling around, laying out breakfast dishes on a small tray-table.

“Now then, my lady, if you’ll just sit up and lean back against the headboard, I’ve got your First Meal all ready for you,” the Ma’shorkan housemaid said, smiling.

“Okay. Thank you.” Selena sat up and, clutching the sheet to her chest for modesty’s sake, scooted back until she was leaning against the padded headboard.

“There you are! Now, here we go—you eat up,” Pashmeena instructed, placing the tray table across Selena’s lap.

“It smells delicious,” Selena said, looking down at the contents of the tray. “Er…what is it, though?”

“Well here you have some strips of fried porken root…” Pashmeena pointed to the long, thin strips on one of the plates. They were reddish brown, a foot long, and about as wide as Selena’s hand. They smelled smoky and looked, she thought, like monstrous pieces of chewy bacon.

“And what’s this other stuff?” she asked, pointing to another plate. It looked a little like scrambled eggs, but it was bright green.

“Those are verken eggs,” Pashmeena told her. “You take a big scoop of them and roll them up in the porken root and eat it all together. It’s delicious—try it my lady.”

“I will. I thought they looked like eggs,” Selena exclaimed. She scooped some of the fluffy, bright green eggs onto one of the broad bacon-like strips and rolled it up. It was delicious—crispy and smoky and creamy all at once—though she did have to pinch the other end of it closed, to keep the eggs from squirting out the bottom.

“Don’t forget to try your sweet mush.” Pashmeena pointed to the small bowl of navy-blue stuff on the far end of the tray. “And drink your yaba tea—it’s good for your health.”

The blue mush was, indeed, sweet and nutty but the bright orange tea was bitter and astringent. But when Selena poured a bit of the bolden berry cream, which was meant for the mush, into her teacup, it calmed the flavor down some and made for a refreshing drink which woke her up.