“Bond?” Now she was the one who sounded confused. “No, we don’t have any kind of bond. I mean, we take vows at the altar. We vow to stick together even in tough times and to love each other in sickness or in health.” She sniffed again. “I guess Chuck has been breaking those vows for a while now.”
“I guess so,” Vic murmured. He shook his head. “The reason I asked about bonds is that the Kindred form a soul-bond with their mates that allows them to communicate telepathically and feel each other’s feelings at times. It deepens their love and makes the idea of finding another mate unthinkable.”
“Well, it sounds like that’s just one more way your society is more advanced than we humans are,” Torri said dully. She swiped at her eyes. “I just can’t believe he’s been cheating on me for more than half our marriage and I was too stupid to figure it out!”
“Torri…” They were sitting together on the floor of the large clothes storage closet and now Vic cupped her cheek and tilted her face towards his. Looking into her eyes he murmured, “You are not stupid. You have a good and loving heart and you were deceived—that’s all.”
“I should have known something was going on. Not just after he dumped me in St. Elizabeth’s—even before that,” she said brokenly. “He pretended he was bowling every Friday night, when instead he was spending it with her. You know he even brought home a bowling trophy? I mean, who does that? Who takes a lie that far?”
She began to sob, covering her face with her hands as her shoulders shook.
Vic’s heart ached for her pain. He knew he probably shouldn’t allow himself to have these emotions but he couldn’t seem to stop them. Seeing Torri upset was almost more than he could bear. Not knowing what else he could do, he listened to the organic part of his brain which told him she needed comfort, and gathered her into his lap. Torri turned her face into his chest and Vic held her as she sobbed.
“I’m so sorry he hurt you, sweetheart,” he murmured into her long brown hair as he stroked her shaking shoulders. “So damn sorry.” He had never done this before—never held a female in such a way—but it felt so right he didn’t even question it. She needed comfort and so he gave it—it was as simple as that.
Torri sobbed in the darkness, curled against his chest for some time. Vic rubbed her back, holding her close to try and ease her pain the only way he could. Inside the new emotions continued to fill him. He didn’t only feel sorrow for her hurt—he was also filled with fury. He wished that he could kill her mate, who had hurt her so badly—in a way, as badly as the orderly O’Toole had tried to do.
Why were males so cruel to females here, he wondered? Was it some kind of genetic fault in human males that caused them to mistreat their females? How could anyone want to hurt someone as sweet and beautiful and delicate as the female in his arms?
I want to protect her from ever being hurt again, he realized. I want to stay by her side and keep her safe and make her happy.
But of course, that was impossible. Once his mission was completed and he had delivered his information to those aboard the Mother Ship, he would be put back into stasis to sleep until he was needed again. For the first time, he found himself regretting that facet of his existence, but there was nothing he could do about it.
Nothing but hold Torri close to his chest and stroke her hand and murmur soothing words to her in the dark, as she cried.
At last Torri straightened up and wiped at her eyes.
“Sorry to cry all over you.” Her soft voice was still slightly hoarse with tears. “I just…I knew my marriage was in trouble. I guess I just didn’t know how much trouble.”
“What we heard certainly was troubling,” Vic agreed carefully.
She gave a jagged little laugh.
“Yeah, finding out your husband has moved his mistress into your house and he’s plotting to steal your inheritance and leave you to rot in a mental institution the rest of your life, is about as troubling as it gets.” She sighed. “I want to look and see if there are any of my clothes left at all and then we should probably go.”
“Probably,” Vic agreed, but he didn’t want to stop holding her, so he didn’t move.
“What are you thinking?” Torri asked in a small voice. “Are you sorry you brought me out of St. Elizabeth’s with you? Now that you know what my own husband thinks of me?”
“Of course not!” Vic said, frowning down at her. “If you really want to know what I was thinking, it is that I know we need to go, but I don’t want to stop holding you,” he added gently, stroking her cheek. “I love your scent and the feel of your softness against me.”
“I really like the way you smell too,” Torri admitted, surprising him. “I don’t know what cologne you’re wearing, but it smells amazing. It makes me want to get close to you and never let go. Uh—I hope that’s not weird of me to say,” she added quickly.
“No, of course not,” Vic responded. But her words surprised him. Could it be that he was making his Bonding or Mating Scent for her? The scent which a Kindred’s body only made when it sensed he wanted to bond a female to him?
But that’s impossible—I didn’t even know I had a Bonding Scent. And even if I do, there’s no way I can bond anyone to me, he thought. Of course, his body was mostly organic and he did have a combination of Kindred DNA in his genetic make-up. So he supposed it was technically possible for him to make a Bonding Scent. But how could you form a soul bond with an artificial being—one which had been made instead of born? Did he even have a soul?
Vic didn’t know. And while the question had never bothered him before, it bothered him greatly now.
It doesn’t matter if you have a Bonding Scent and a soul or not, he reminded himself. You’re still going to end this mission like every other—returning to your hyperbaric stasis chamber to await the next time the Kindred need you to scout a hostile planet. So even if you could bond Torri to you, it would still be impossible to stay with her.
But there was no time to sit and ponder. They needed to get moving.
“Torri,” he murmured. “I know what your mate did hurts, but we must concentrate on warning the Mother Ship that the Scourge are on the way.”
“Is that their name? The evil aliens?” she asked, wiping her eyes. “I know you said you couldn’t remember it before.”
Vic nodded. “I wish we had some idea of how far away they are. Did they give you any indication in your previous dreams?”
Torri shook her head.
“No. The…the Evil One—the AllFather, I mean—just said he was coming.” Her voice shook a little. “I don’t like to think about it,” she admitted.
“I don’t blame you,” Vic said grimly. “The Scourge are not a pleasant subject. Come on,” he added gently, lifting her to her feet as he stood up himself. “Let’s see if we can find you anything to wear and we’ll leave this place.”
“Leave and never come back!” Her voice sounded a little stronger now and Vic sensed that anger was overtaking sorrow. That was good—she had a right to be angry for the awful way her mate had mistreated her.