Turning his head this way and that, Storn scented the rest of the area. There were many other scents lingering in the air—it was, after all, a busy party. But after a moment, he smelled another scent which seemed to be entwined with Mia’s.
This scent was sour and masculine but more distinctively, it was pure human, with no traces of Kindred mixed into it at all.
A human male, he thought, following the scent trail, which led down the corridor and around the corner. Walking close beside Mia. And whoever he was, he frightened her.
Indeed, by the time he got around the bend in the corridor, the scent of her desire had faded completely to be replaced entirely by fear. Whoever this human male had been, Mia feared him desperately.
Storn began to get a bad feeling about this—a very bad feeling indeed. There was only one human male he could think of who would cause this reaction in Mia. It must be her ex-mate—the male who had beaten and abused her for so many years. The one whose marks she had worn when he had first met her in the parklands.
But how could he get up here? Storn asked himself. He knew that groups of human tourists came up all the time—it was part of the Kindred’s PR campaign to make the Earthlings feel more comfortable about the Bride Draft which had been instated so that Unmated Kindred males could call human brides. But he had been assured that the Mother Ship had strict vetting policies in place and no one who posed a threat could come up. So how had Mia’s former mate come here? And more importantly—where would he take her?
He’ll try to take her home—back to Earth, Storn thought to himself. He won’t dare to do anything to her here aboard the Mother Ship—he’ll want to get her alone where no one can hear her scream.
The thought made his blood run cold—Gods, he hoped he was wrong! But as he followed the two distinctive scents through the Mother Ship, they did seem to be leading him to the Docking Bay.
He almost lost the trail for a while in the busy transport hub and had to sniff around, wasting precious time, to get it back. But finally he picked it up again and kept following it.
He didn’t lose the scent again until he was actually in the Docking Bay. It ended in an empty parking space—one that was meant for the larger transport shuttles which didn’t go into deep space but only ferried people from Earth to the Mother Ship and back again.
As he stood there, sniffing around, a loud voice behind him said,
“Excuse me, Brother—would you mind moving? We have another load of humans coming in and you’re right where the shuttle needs to land.”
Storn turned and saw that the speaker was one of the Twin Kindred—the type of Kindred who had to share a female in order to feel complete. This must be the Dark Twin of the two, because he had dark hair and eyes and a stern expression on his chiseled features.
“Excuse me,” he said, stepping away. “Can you tell me, did another shuttle filled with humans just leave from here?”
“Of course they did. Been coming and going all night,” the Dark Twin growled. “It’s this fucking PR campaign to let the humans tour the Mother Ship so they know we’re not a threat to them. Though why we have to celebrate this bizarre human holiday where everyone dresses up like someone or something else is beyond me!” He looked Storn up and down. “Speaking of which, that’s some costume you’ve got on. Fucking crazy-looking.”
“Oh come on now, Brother,” a new voice said. “It’s not so bad—I think it’s a lot of fun. Especially handing out sweets to the little ones.”
Turning, Storn saw what must be the Light Twin of the pair. He had light brown hair and hazel eyes, much like Mia’s, Storn thought, his heart twisting in his chest.
“Please,” he said to the two Twin Kindred. “Did you happen to notice a curvy little human female wearing a green dress getting on the last shuttle that left for Earth? She might have been with a human male who was wearing some kind of disguise.”
“Wearing a disguise? Brother, you just described every single human I’ve seen tonight,” the Dark Twin said, frowning. “Sorry—can’t help you.”
“Yes, we can,” the Light Twin protested. “I remember seeing a little human female with a green dress. It was, uh, cut both low and high,” he added.
“Yes, that’s her! With hair and eyes the same color as your own!” Storn exclaimed.
“I remember that dress more than her hair and eyes, I’m ashamed to say,” the Light Twin said. “But yes, I believe so. She was with a male who had on a red and gold mask that was shaped like the head of a Drake as I recall.”