“You mean a male who doesn’t mind being bitten?” Kara laughed bitterly. “Right, I’ve been doing great at finding one of those so far. Why do you think Jason ran away? Even though I bit him by accident, he still didn’t like it.”
“Uh…” Kaleb looked uncomfortable but he didn’t push her away. Talking about biting was like talking about sex among Blood Kindred. It wasn’t something you discussed in polite company but Kara and her twin had always been frank with each other.
“Sorry,” she said, seeing that she had made him uncomfortable. “I didn’t mean—”
“No, no—it’s okay.” Kaleb shook his head dismissively. “Anyway, it’s good he left,” he said, frowning. “You can’t tell me you wanted to bond with a human.”
“Why not?” Kara demanded. “Kindred warriors bond with human females all the time. Our father did. Where would we be if Dad hadn’t found Mom?”
“Yeah, but that’s different. Human females are small and delicate. Human males are puny and weak—that Jacob couldn’t have defended you in a fight,” Kaleb said.
“His name was Jason and who says I need someone to defend me?” Kara demanded, glaring at her brother.
“Nobody. I’m just saying I’d feel better seeing you with a Kindred warrior—or at least someone who isn’t half a head shorter than you.”
“Who’s shorter than Kara?” rumbled a new voice.
Looking up from her argument with her twin, Kara saw their cousin, Daniel, striding over to meet them. He was the son of their Aunt Olivia and Uncle Baird, a Beast Kindred, and he looked like both of them. Tall, and broad shouldered as all Kindred males were, he had a wild mane of black hair streaked with blond and strangely compelling gold and silver ringed eyes. Kara thought she had never seen a more perfect mixture of two people since Olivia had blonde hair and silvery-gray eyes and Baird had black hair and gold eyes.
“The human Kara was dating is shorter than her,” Kaleb said, answering their cousin’s question.
Kara gave her twin a quick shake of her head. Daniel was the leader of their circle since he was the oldest and she liked and trusted her older cousin, but she didn’t want him to know any more about her secret shame than he already did.
But Daniel was already shaking his head sympathetically. He put a heavy hand on Kara’s shoulder.
“Did he break your heart, little Kara? Want me to teach him a lesson? I’ll go get War and Peace and the three of us will let him know he can’t mess with our kin.”
“No. Goddess!” Kara twitched her shoulders irritably, shrugging off her cousin’s hand. “Why are you all so over-protective of me? I can take care of myself! Getting dumped isn’t the end of the world—it’s just part of life.”
Which was true. It was the reason she had been dumped which really stung—and which she also really didn’t want to talk about in mixed company.
“Sorry.” Daniel shook his head. “Just trying to help, Kare-kare.”
Her childhood nickname drew a reluctant smile from Kara’s lips.
“All right, thanks,” she told her cousin. “I know you’re trying to be nice. I just…need to deal with this myself.”
“What are you doing out here anyway?” Kaleb asked Daniel. “Looking for us? Did our mother send you? Because she could have just bespoken one of us.”
“Nope—looking for War and Peace and Ziza,” Daniel answered, smiling. “War and Peace are supposed to be coming from Seeker-Finder training so of course Aunt Kat couldn’t bespeak them for fear of messing up their connection. And wherever the two of them are, Ziza can’t be far behind.”
“Are you supposed to get everyone rounded up for the family dinner?” Kaleb asked. Every Wednesday night their parents got together for a dinner in the largest suite, which was their Aunt Kat’s since she was mated to Twin Kindred—their Uncles Deep and Lock. For as far back as Kara could remember they had been eating together and sharing fellowship and fun—it was one of the reasons she was so close to her cousins and friends.
But Daniel was shaking his head.
“Nope—this week’s dinner got pushed to Thursday night. I’m supposed to tell everyone so they don’t all converge on Aunt Kat—she’s got a headache.”
“Oh, okay.” Kara felt a strange mixture of relief and disappointment. Part of her was glad she didn’t have to face her friends and family and explain about the break-up. But another part was sad that she would be away from her support system.
Of course, she always had Kaleb—she and her twin had never been separated, not even for a day. Kara couldn’t imagine going anywhere without him. They would probably have to mate siblings so they could all stay together on the Mother Ship and raise their kids together, the way their mothers, who were also twins, had done.
As if sensing her thought, Kaleb squeezed the hand which rested on his arm reassuringly.
Everything’s okay, that gesture said. Everything is going to be all right as long as we stick together.
Kara squeezed back gratefully. It was good to have a twin to count on. She felt sorry for only children like Daniel and their second cousin Ziza, who was the daughter of Aunt Lauren and Uncle Xairn. It must be awful having to go through life alone without someone always by your side to stick up for you.
“Well, consider us told,” Kaleb told Daniel. “I guess we’ll see you tomorrow night at Aunt Kat’s then.”
“See you.” Daniel smiled at them and reached out to give Kara’s shoulder a squeeze. “Hey, Kare-kare—it’s going to be okay. You’ll find a warrior who’s worthy of you—I just know it.”
Kara rolled her eyes.
“Now you sound like Shad when he’s being all mysterious and Shadow-twin-y.”
Shad was the brother of War and Peace and he was also the first one in their circle to be mated. He had found a girl on Earth named Harper and after a very brief courtship—so brief nobody even actually heard about it—he had gotten bonded and settled down. By all accounts he and his new bride were deliriously happy but they saw a bit less of him now that he was mated. Still, Kara hoped he would come to the family dinner on Thursday—he always seemed to know more about what was going on than anyone else somehow.
“Shad has his ways,” Daniel said, smiling mysteriously, showing white teeth, gleaming in the gloom of the artificial twilight. “But I have mine too—and I know the Goddess has someone for you, Kara. She has someone for everyone.”
“Everyone normal you mean.” Kara sighed and ran her mostly-healed tongue over her fangs again.
Daniel frowned.
“Kara—”
“Never mind.” She waved a hand at him and tugged with her other at Kaleb. “Come on—we need to get home. Mom and Dad will be worried.”
Despite being fully grown, the two of them still lived with their parents. Part of it was because the massive Mother Ship had begun to fill up with all the mated couples and part of it was because Kara just didn’t feel quite ready to leave the nest yet. She liked looking around the dinner table and seeing her family’s familiar faces. Her parents were in their mid and late forties now but they were still wildly in love—Kara couldn’t help wishing she could find such love for herself someday.