Hidden Rage: Kindred Tales

“You came out of Dragon to save me, didn’t you?” she asked gently.

“To save you and to heal him,” the Drake told her. “We can heal wounds if we are quick enough.”

“But Dragon’s father had a, uh, a Drake inside him too, didn’t he?” Bobbi asked. “Why couldn’t he heal himself like you healed Dragon?”

“Too many wounds, too fast.” The Drake sounded sad, she thought. “And his mate had been killed, too. He would not have wished to live.”

“I see…” Bobbi stroked him some more. “So the Drake inside Dragon’s father loved Dragon’s mother the way…”

“The way I cherish you, little one,” the Drake rumbled in her head. “You awakened me. I was only semi-conscious until you came into Dragon’s life. When he found you, I knew we had found the female we must love and care for and protect and possess all our lives.”

“Oh…” Bobbi whispered. “But how did you know?” she asked, stroking the great head with its curving, graceful lines once more.

“A Drake always knows,” the Drake told her. “We know even before our outer self knows.”

The “outer self” being Dragon, Bobbi supposed.

“Thank you for saving me,” she murmured. “And for saving Dragon, too.”

“I will always protect you, little one. I will always love you.” The Drake nuzzled her, very gently.

Bobbi felt like her heart might overflow. She could feel the Drake’s sincerity and she thought she had never had such a pure love directed at her in her life. Well, except maybe her mom—mothers loved you unconditionally, but almost nobody else did. But that was what she felt coming from Dragon’s Drake—unconditional love and a desire to protect her against anything or anyone who would threaten her.

Leaning down, she wrapped her arms around the Drake’s neck and he lifted his head and pressed closer to her. Bobbi, who had done some riding when she was younger, thought it was like hugging a very soft, very warm horse.

“Uh, Bobbi—what are you doing?” Keelah’s soft voice, both frightened and incredulous, made Bobbi realize she’d forgotten her friend entirely.

“It’s all right,” she said, smiling at Keelah. “He’s a friend. He’s the dragon, er, the Drake who lives inside Dragon. He only wants to keep me safe.”

“I can see that he likes you a lot,” Keelah said. “But what about me? Is he going to…to eat me or hurt me like he did Komendant Vizlar and Rep. Zerlix?” Her voice trembled and she was still curled in a ball at the far end of the couch.

“Oh no, of course not!” Bobbi exclaimed. She looked at the Drake. “You won’t hurt my friend Keelah, will you?”

“I would never hurt her unless she tried to hurt you,” the Drake assured her.

“There—he just told me he would never hurt you,” Bobbi told Keelah, stroking the Drake some more. “He only killed the Komendant and his Advisor and Zerlix because they were trying to hurt me.”

“What about Rep. Wheezler, though?” Keelah asked.

Bobbi asked the Drake Keelah’s question, since he seemed to communicate only with her.

“He was willing to let others hurt you,” the Drake replied. “And he was hurtful to females, which is wrong and bad.”

Bobbi was just about to relay this answer when the front door burst open and the sound of footsteps could be heard in the front hallway. Was it Saurian customers, come to try the collection of Pleasure Girls? Bobbi stiffened, waiting to see who might come around the corner and the Drake turned his head on its long neck and gave a low, menacing growl as he prepared to protect her.

But to Bobbi’s surprise, it wasn’t Saurian males at all who appeared in the large front room of the pleasure house—it was Commander Sylvan and his brother, Commander Baird, followed by several other Kindred warriors she didn’t know.

The Kindred of the Mother Ship had finally come for her.

64

“Dr. McClelland, I’m so glad we’ve finally found you!” Commander Sylvan exclaimed. Then a frown of confusion creased his brow. “But why do you have a Drake with you?”

The Drake, for his part, began to growl and also to grow and Bobbi had to quickly stand on the couch so that she could look over him.

“No, no!” she told him quickly, tapping his hide to get his attention. “No, Drake, listen to me—look at me!”

The Drake’s enormous head swiveled on his long neck and he regarded her intently with one burning golden eye.

“These men are friends,” Bobbi told him, pointing to Commander Sylvan and Commander Baird and the rest of the warriors. “They’re Kindred—just like Dragon is. In fact, maybe you’d better let Dragon come out now. I’m sure he’d like to meet some of his people,” she said, as tactfully as she could.

It seemed to her that there was much less chance of mayhem if she had the big Kindred at her side, rather than the huge Drake that lived inside him.