Page 48 of Kidnapped By the Beast (Beasts of the Kindred #11)

LEXI

The long-range shuttle’s legs hit the floor of the Docking Bay with a metallic thud, echoing through the cabin. Lexi’s hands tightened on the armrests, but she wasn’t bracing against the jolt of landing—she was bracing against the hollow ache in her chest.

“I guess this is it?” she asked, her voice breaking the long silence that had stretched like a canyon between them.

Brandt didn’t look at her. His profile was rigid, golden eyes fixed on the controls as if the glowing readouts required every ounce of his concentration.

“For now. I’ll want you to return to the lab in about a week so I can get a sample of the nectar to work with. The money—all thirty-six thousand dollar-credits—will be deposited in your bank account on Earth.”

The words landed like stones in her gut. Lexi’s throat tightened.

“So that’s it? You’re just paying me off?”

Her voice came out bitter, harsher than she’d meant, but she didn’t care.

“I’m sorry, Alexandra,” he rumbled, still staring straight ahead. “I’ve told you why I can’t be with you.”

“Yeah, right. Fine.” She grabbed her bag, her vision swimming with tears. “I guess I’ll see you in a week.”

Before he could respond, she stormed down the gangplank into the Docking Bay.

Voices echoed in the huge chamber filled with similar shuttles—boots striking the deck plates, ships hissing as they vented steam—but she ignored it all.

She walked fast, head down, until she reached the corridor that would take her to the civilian residential section.

There was only one place she wanted to be on the Mother Ship and it wasn’t anywhere near that asshole who had broken her heart.

By the time she stood outside Natalie’s suite, her chest felt so tight she could hardly breathe. She jabbed the door chime with more force than necessary, desperate to get inside.

The door slid open, and Natalie’s pretty face appeared—full cheeks, warm brown skin, and a crown of long braids falling to her shoulders. Her full figure was hugged by a soft green dress and her brown eyes widened in shock as soon as she saw Lexi.

“Lexi! Oh my God, what happened? You look terrible!”

Lexi didn’t answer. The tears she’d been fighting since the shuttle welled up hot and fast, and she crumpled.

“Oh, honey!” Natalie caught her instinctively, pulling her inside and into a fierce hug.

Lexi hugged her back, sobbing. She still couldn’t talk.

“Come in here, honey. Let’s get settled and you tell me everything.”

Natalie guided her forward. Her suite was warm and inviting—everything Lexi’s heart craved at that moment.

In front of the big, overstuffed couch where they settled, a firewall glowed, flames dancing blue and gold behind the glass.

Their soft crackle filled the room, casting shifting shadows over the low coffee table littered with books.

“Sit down, now.” Natalie eased her down onto the couch cushions.

They sank beneath Lexi’s weight, hugging her body with softness.

Natalie sat beside her, curling one arm around her shoulders.

“You’re shaking! Tell me what happened. I haven’t heard a word from you since you sent me that message saying you were taking the job with Dr. Brandt and leaving immediately. ”

Lexi pressed her face into her hands, ashamed but unable to hold it in anymore.

“Yeah, I never sent that message. Dr. Brandt basically decided to take me with him, whether I wanted to go or not.”

Natalie’s brown eyes grew wide.

“Oh my God, Lexi—are you saying he kidnapped you?”

“I guess you could say that.” Her jagged laugh came out sounding like a sob. “It seems like a million years ago now, though.”

“But what did he do? I mean, what happened? Tell me,” Natalie urged. “I need details!”

Lexi drew a ragged breath.

That first day when I went to interview for the job you set up with Dr. Brandt, he, uh, tested me and said I was exactly who he was looking for.

But he never gave me a choice. He said he needed me for his research, and then—then he took me away.

He didn’t even let me say goodbye! That message you got saying I was fine? That wasn’t me. He sent it.”

Natalie’s eyes went wide, her mouth falling open.

“Lexi! I knew that message felt wrong. I told V’rin it sounded fake—but I thought maybe I was just being paranoid. Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I never should have told you about that job. I just thought—you know, since he’s a Kindred scientist, he’d be safe.”

Lexi shook her head quickly.

“It’s not your fault. He took me to another planet—to Bio-Terius Centra.

Then he offered to pay me a lot to stay and cooperate.

I agreed at first because I thought it was just a research position.

But then—” She swallowed hard, her cheeks heating even as more tears slipped down her face. “Then he infected me.”

Natalie’s brows shot up. “He what?”

“With Bacillus Aurum. It’s this bacteria—it makes my breasts produce nectar. Golden nectar.” Lexi’s voice shook with embarrassment. “He…he used me to create it. For cancer research.”

Natalie reared back slightly, her hand pressed to her chest.

“Lexi, that’s…horrifying. You have to report him.”

“No!” Lexi clutched Natalie’s arm. “Don’t you understand? It’s for cancer. He said this could be the cure. You know I lost Grandma to breast cancer. He lost his wife too. That’s why—” She broke off.

Natalie’s eyes narrowed.

“That’s why what?”

Lexi bit her lip, but she couldn’t hold it in.

“That’s why he says he can’t be with me.”

“Wait—what? I thought you said he kidnapped you!”

“He did. But then I fell in love with him. He made me fall in love with him!” Lexi stated crying again. “And I thought he was falling for me too. But then he told me about his wife. After she died, he took a sacred vow and now he can never Bond another woman to him ever again.”

Natalie snorted, her expression fierce.

“That sounds like a load of horseshit to me.”

Before Lexi could answer, the door to the suite slid open.

V’rin, Natalie’s Blood Kindred husband, walked in, filling the doorway with his tall, muscular frame.

His pale blonde hair gleamed like spun silver in the firelight, and his ice-blue eyes swept the room, sharp and predatory.

His fangs flashed white as he bent to kiss Natalie, his big hands cupping her face.

Lexi looked away, feeling like an intruder, until V’rin finally noticed her.

“Oh—my apologies,” he said formally. “I didn’t realize we had company.”

“It’s just Lexi,” Natalie said. “Listen, is it true that a warrior who loses his wife has to take a vow to the Goddess never to have another?”

V’rin’s expression sobered instantly.

“Not all warriors take such a vow. But many do—if they even survive the loss.”

Lexi blinked.

“If they survive?”

V’rin nodded gravely, lowering himself into a chair opposite the couch. The firelight glinted off his pale hair.

“The Soul Bond between a Warrior and his mate is profound. When she dies, her loss tears him apart. Some warriors follow their lost mate into death within hours, their bodies giving out from grief. Others linger, but they are little more than shadows.”

Natalie pressed her hand to his, her pretty face stricken.

“Oh, honey—I didn’t know that! I don’t want you to die if I do!”

V’rin leaned close, cupping her cheek with his large hand.

“But I would want to die, my beloved,” he murmured, his voice low and fierce. “The very thought of losing you…” His ice blue eyes went dark with emotion. “I cannot even speak of it. Life without you would lose all color and savor. It would be gray shadows, nothing more.”

Lexi’s heart twisted as she watched them. Their love, their devotion—it was beautiful. And it made her feel more broken than ever.

She cleared her throat.

“Maybe I should go.”

“No, stay,” Natalie said quickly. “We’re not done yet.”

“But why would you ask me such a question?” V’rin asked his wife, frowning. “What put that thought in your head?”

Natalie looked at Lexi.

“Can I tell him?”

Lexi hesitated, but then nodded.

“Go ahead.”

So Natalie explained—how Lexi had been kidnapped, how Brandt had taken her to Bio-Terius Centra to get her infected with the Bacillus Aurum, and how he had claimed he couldn’t be with her because of his vow.

V’rin listened, his expression unreadable. Finally, he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

“If Dr. Brandt truly made such a vow before the Goddess, then yes—it is binding. To break it would be blasphemy. Such oaths are forever.”

Lexi’s throat closed.

“So…there’s no chance? Not ever?”

His gaze softened with pity.

“I am sorry—I know that is not what you wished to hear. But it is the truth.”

She nodded numbly, though her insides felt like shards of glass grinding together.

“No—it’s all right. Thank you. That clears things up a lot.”

But it didn’t clear anything up. It only crushed the tiny, fragile hope she’d been clinging to—the hope that maybe Brandt might change his mind and tell her he wanted her after all when she saw him in a week for their milking session.

But apparently he wasn’t lying. He wasn’t just pushing her away. His vow was real and it meant there was no hope.

Not now, not ever.