Enhanced: Brides of the Kindred 12 (The Brides of the Kindred) Read Online Free Page B

wrongness that
originated somewhere in his gut. A warning that all was not well.
    “Forgive me, Chancellor,” he said. “But I
truly feel that even an hour of instruction on how to treat Earth females would
be beneficial. I met one of them on a medical barge orbiting Z4 and she seemed
to feel my appearance and actions would be terrifying to Mei-Li. If there is
any information I can gain that would keep that from happening—”
    “Mei-Li, is it?” The cruel smile stretched Chancellor Terex’s lips
again. “So now you know her name? Perhaps you’re having feelings for
her? Should I report that to your superior, the Mouth of the Collective?”
    Six felt his jaw clench.
    “I have no feelings for the female one way
or another. I simply wish for a smooth and stress-free Claiming.”
    The Chancellor’s blue eyes flashed red
again. “That is not my wish. In fact, the more attention you attract and
the bigger scene you make, the better.” He consulted a chronometer he had
strapped to his wrist. “It is almost noon down on your female’s part of the
Earth right now—which I assume you know is Tampa,
in the Florida
peninsula.”
    “Tampa?
Florida?” Six
shook his head. “I am not familiar with the geography of this planet.”
    “But you do know where to find her,
don’t you?” Terex demanded. “I thought all you Kindred idiots had some kind of
innate homing device when it came to finding your brides.”
    All you Kindred idiots? Six frowned. Why was the Chancellor speaking as if he was
not one of the Kindred? But he sensed it might be unwise to question the other
male.
    “I have an idea of where she might
be,” he said. “I’m sure that once I get close enough to catch her scent…”
Though he had never seen her in person, he had smelled her scent in the many
dreams they had shared. It was soft and delicate and very feminine. It bothered
him almost as much as the memory of those small, perfectly formed breasts
moving under her lace night dress.
    “Never mind,” Chancellor Terex snapped.
“I’ve been tracking her position for weeks now. I’ll send her coordinates over
as well. The sooner you find her and claim her, the better. As I said, it’s
noon there now. You should cause quite a stir dragging her away in the middle
of the day.”
    Six had no intention of dragging Mei-Li
anywhere but he sensed this wasn’t what Chancellor Terex wanted to hear.
    “All right,” he said simply, and nodded.
    “Good.” The High Chancellor sounded
somewhat mollified. “You will go and collect the Earth girl at once and
take her back to Zeaga Four. Understood?”
    “Understood.” Six nodded again.
    “Excellent. I am transmitting all the
information you requested now. Terex out.” The Chancellor nodded once more,
formally, and then the viewscreen went blank. At the same time, the shuttle’s
informations system beeped, indicating incoming data—the Claiming Agreement and
Rules and Mei-Li’s coordinates, no doubt.
    Six sank back in his pilot’s chair,
considering the strange exchange. Even though he was not conversant with
emotion, it was clear that the Chancellor Terex was displaying several
inappropriate feelings. He also seemed to have some strange ideas. He appeared
to want Six to rush down to Earth and make claiming the Earth female into a
huge incident. What did he stand to gain if Six did so?
    Another thing that bothered Six was the
fact that Chancellor Terex didn’t appear to care how Mei-Li felt about any of
this. In fact, he had been almost…gleeful, (was that the word?) when he’d
suggested that she would feel trapped on a foreign planet and frightened by the
male who claimed her. Why would he feel that way? It had always been Six’s
understanding that the other branches of the Kindred valued females and tried
to treat them gently and with reverence. How was it that Chancellor Terex had
told him to do the opposite?
    He shook his head. No, even without an
emotional reference to compare to, he was