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Bard also enjoyed trying new foods with her, when they went out to restaurants. He had even bought Makenna some cooking ingredients and taught her how to use the Kindred appliances—mostly through signs, since her broken Standard didn’t help much—and she had made him several very tasty meals. This had been her idea, not his—she was a domestic little thing and really seemed to enjoy it.
Yes, this last week had been a little slice of heaven, he admitted to himself. He had known a joy he had thought he’d lost after Rilla died.
But the joy wasn’t his to keep because Makenna wasn’t his to keep.
“I have to let her go,” he said in a low voice. “It’s not right to tie her vibrant young life to mine. You know yourself, Sylvan, that a soul-bond can only stretch so far. I would probably die before her and leave her all alone at the most vulnerable part of her old age. I can’t do that to her—it isn’t right!”
The soul-bond a Kindred formed with his mate when they had bonding sex usually worked to keep the two of them healthy and well for the length of their lives. Kindred were a long-lived species and the bond—if it wasn’t stretched by too much of an age gap—would help any female a Kindred warrior married to live as long as he did.
However, in the case of extreme age-gaps, the soul-bond couldn’t help as much. Which meant that one or the other of them was likely to outlive the other—which was a terrible burden to bear, as Bard well knew.
“She’s too young for me, Sylvan,” he said, getting up to pace before the fireplace in his living area. “Too young by nearly half. I have to let go of her.”
“Very well.” Sylvan nodded solemnly. “There’s a shuttle headed to First World within the hour. It just has to stop at Rageron for supplies, and then it’s going straight on.”
“An hour?” Bard felt his throat get thick. He knew he had to let go of Makenna, but he had thought he’d have more time to say goodbye to her than that.
Well, maybe it’s better this way, he thought, trying to push down the anguish he felt at the idea of losing the curvy little female. A clean break. And no more time to do any last-minute damage.
He could just imagine Makenna pleading with him to “heal” her one more time and then he could see himself losing his willpower and not sending her away…
“Is that all right?” Sylvan asked, raising his eyebrows.
Bard nodded.
“An hour will be fine. I’ll get her packed.”
“Don’t worry too much about clothes,” Sylvan told him. “All the priestesses wear white robes. I’m sure they’ll give one to Makenna as well.”
“I’ll send them with her just the same,” Bard said gruffly. “No point in them going to waste and I’ve got no use for them.”
“Well, do whatever you think is best.” Sylvan shrugged and then rose from the chair he’d been sitting in. “I need to get going, Bard. If you’ll take Makenna to the Docking Bay, I’ll let the cargo shuttle know they’re going to have a passenger.”
“All right. Thank you, Commander.” Bard nodded formally.
Sylvan offered his forearm for a warrior’s clasp.
“I can tell this is difficult for you, Bard. I wish you had met a female you felt you could bond with.”
“I wish so, too.” Bard’s throat was tight as he clasped the other male’s arm. “But I don’t think it’s in the cards for me to be mated again, you know?”
Sylvan nodded, sympathy clear in his ice-blue eyes.
“I’ll call that cargo shuttle and let them know you’re coming,” he told Bard, and then he left the suite.
Bard sighed and ran both hands through his hair.
He had no idea that Makenna had been watching during the whole conversation and that she had understood nearly every word.
24
Makenna knew she shouldn’t have done it. She shouldn’t have tried to take advantage of Bard in his sleep. But the fact was, she was getting desperate.
Though the way he tasted and kissed her helped some, what she needed was his shaft in her pussy, filling her with his seed. But Bard continued to refuse her and now she was becoming over-ripe.
Just that morning, she’d begun to feel The Emptiness—the terrible ache inside that meant she needed to be filled. It had woken her with its intensity and, in her desperation, Makenna had done the only thing she could think to do—she had mounted the big warrior and attempted to take his thick shaft into her pussy.
It was an act she bitterly regretted now, because it seemed that Bard was going to send her away because of it.
And he’s not just sending me away—he’s sending me to a planet filled with only women! she thought. There will be no one there to help me through my ripening!
