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Melli sat bolt-upright on the loveseat where she’d been lounging.
“Cheating on him? But Jodi, that’s so unlike you! I thought you said after Dad left Mom that you’d never cheat—that it was the lowest, most despicable thing anyone could do to the person they loved. Also, who are you cheating with?”
“Who do you think? Vorn, of course,” Jodi sent back. “And I’m not really cheating, only sort of cheating. I mean, technically Vorn has never touched me—well, not under my clothes, anyway.”
This was almost too much for Melli to take in. The fact that her steady, buttoned-down and straight-laced older sister was cheating—or sort of cheating—on her fiancé was shocking enough. But what she really couldn’t get over was who Jodi was doing the cheating with.
“But…but I thought you and Vorn hated each other?” she sent, feeling completely bewildered. “The last time I saw you and him together, I remember thinking that if looks could kill, the two of you would be stone-cold dead!”
“I know…” Jodi sent a mental sigh. “It’s…complicated. It turns out that I was mad at him because he was making his Mating Scent for me without knowing it which was driving me crazy and which made me make, uh, scents for him and we were locked in a kind of circular thing and… Anyway, like I said, it’s complicated.”
“Oh, is Vorn making his Mating Scent for you?” Melli asked. “Then the two of you must be meant to be together. I know because Liosh is making his Mating Scent for me.”
“So the two of you are together now?” Jodi didn’t sound very surprised. “Is he treating you right?” she asked, with her characteristic big-sister protectiveness.
“Better than all right,” Melli assured her. “He’s so patient and caring and all around wonderful I…Jodi, I want to spend the rest of my life with him.”
“That’s wonderful, Melli. I’m really happy for you.” Jodi’s love and joy for her little sister’s contentment were clear in the mental link. “But, well…how are you handling, you know, the sex part of it? Did the dilators work?”
“Unfortunately not,” Melli sent. “But Liosh is being very slow and patient. See, Blood Kindred make this stuff called essence with their fangs that can help when their mate is hurt. I don’t want to get into details because it’s kind of embarrassing, but he thinks he can, uh, heal me. And if not, there’s this other stuff called ‘bonding fruit’ on the Mother Ship that we can use. So I’m hopeful we’ll be able to bond soon—and then we’ll never be apart.”
“I’m so glad you finally found your Mr. Right, Melli,” Jodi sent warmly. “I’ll be sending good thoughts your way that the healing works, whatever it is.” Another mental sigh. “I just wish things were so straight-forward on my end.”
“Vorn is making his Mating Scent for you—how much more straight-forward can it be?” Melli asked. “The fact that his body has the, uh, hots for you means you’re the one woman in the universe he’s meant to be with.”
“I’m not sure it’s that simple,” Jodi sent pensively. “See, I think he’s only making it because I remind him of women from his original tribe back on his home world. In which case, it’s just a case of mistaken-identity. His body has mistaken mine for a hometown girl he can mate with—that’s all.”
“I don’t think that’s all there is to it,” Melli objected. “From what Liosh says, the Kindred Goddess picks just the right woman for every Kindred warrior and they don’t start making the Mating Scent until they meet her.”
“Maybe…” But Jodi still didn’t sound convinced. “But I can’t help thinking that what Vorn and I have is just, you know, completely physical. If we didn’t have the hots for each other so bad, we’d have nothing in common.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” Melli sent firmly. “You two are a lot alike, Jodi. You’re both stubborn and hard-headed and fiercely determined to get whatever you set your sights on. He might be an alien from another planet but it seems to me like he was tailor-made for you—the same way Liosh was for me.”
“Well, even if that’s true—and I’m not convinced it is—Vorn knows that what we have is strictly temporary. It’s only until James gets back into town and can, uh, help me out,” Jodi sent. “I mean, we even agreed on rules so what we’re doing won’t really be cheating. And we both know that after the Kindred patch the hole in their security system, I’ll be getting married to James and he’ll be going back to the Mother Ship.”
“But why does it have to be that way?” Melli demanded. “Look, I’ve never said anything about it before, but I don’t like James, Jodi. I don’t like him and I don’t think Mom likes him either. He doesn’t treat you right—doesn’t respect you like he should. And he doesn’t seem to put your happiness first.”
