“I’ll get him there.” A look of grim determination came over the light Kindred’s face. “I can do it.”
Lexi wondered if he could. His brother looked like he weighed a considerable amount—all of it muscle. And Gaze was staggering with weakness—though what was making him weak, she still didn’t know. Maybe he was simply hungry—she knew for a fact that these Down Market slave sellers didn’t feed their captives anything. They considered it a waste of money, since most of the males were only going to be sold for a few credits.
Of course she had vastly overpaid for these two, but she didn’t care. To her mind, a life was worth more than any amount of credit. Besides, her Great Aunt had left her more money than she could ever spend in one lifetime.
“Can you manage?” she asked anxiously, as Gaze got an arm around his brother and hauled the other man to his feet.
“I can…manage,” he assured her, but his voice was low and tight with strain.
“Here—let me try to help.”
There was no way Lexi could get her own shoulder under that of the dark Kindred’s—it was too far above her own. But she looped an arm around his waist and was able to help a little as they began dragging him down the street.
Getting the mostly unconscious Kindred through the Down Market district was no easy task. It made her glad of the muscle and upper body strength she’d gotten from years of kneading dough—she needed all of it and yet, she wasn’t doing even half of the hard work. Gaze was the one bearing the brunt of the burden and Lexi wasn’t sure how he was doing it. When she glanced across at him, she saw that his face was pale and there was a trembling sneer of effort twisting his sharp, handsome features. But still he kept going doggedly on, refusing to stop until, at last, they reached the hovercoach.
The coach was completely automatic and theft-proof. All Lexi had to do was place her hand on its sleek silver side and it shimmered and a door formed as the metal polymer its hull was made of parted for her.
Luckily, it was both big and roomy inside with long Thackian leather benches running down the length of it on either side and a wet bar at the back. Lexi had been thinking of getting rid of it and getting something smaller—it was too big and ostentatious and she never had cause to use it as her Great Aunt had, since she never went to any fancy parties. But she was glad now, as she and Gaze somehow managed to load Bound into the coach, that she had put off replacing the big vehicle. It was exactly what she needed for transporting a sick Kindred.
No, two sick Kindred, she thought, eyeing Gaze as he collapsed inside, gasping for breath as they finally got his brother, Bound, situated.
Somehow, she had ended up on the far end of one bench with the dark brother’s head in her lap—though how it had happened, she wasn’t quite sure. Gaze was on the ultra-plush carpeted floor beside her, his head in his hands as he tried to get his breath back.
She had never been so close to a male before—let alone two of them—and they were both so big. Also, as close as they all were, she couldn’t help but notice their scent.
Most of the males she rescued reeked—they carried the unmistakable stink of filth and sweat and body odor—a most unpleasant miasma that Lexi found revolting. She had assumed, therefore, that all males smelled bad. But Bound and Gaze didn’t—not at all. To the contrary, they smelled rather good. More than good, if she was honest with herself, Lexi thought with surprise.
Bound was exuding a dark, spicy scent that made her think of the forest and Gaze, who was sitting beside her, had a warm, rich scent that reminded her of forsun bread baking. And under both of these scents, was an unmistakably masculine spice, different from anything Lexi had ever smelled before.
Strangely, the scents of the two males didn’t clash—instead, they seemed to twine together making an almost irresistible fragrance that invaded her senses and made her feel slightly dizzy. For some reason, their combined smells made Lexi tingle in places she’d never even noticed much before.
But that was ridiculous, wasn’t it?
Of course it was, she told herself. She pushed the silly ideas out of her head and turned to see that Gaze was still panting as he tried to regain his breath after the monumental task of dragging his brother into the hovercoach.
“Are you thirsty?” Lexi asked him anxiously as the hovercoach closed and began to glide smoothly away from the Down Market district. “This coach has a wet bar—though I don’t usually allow any of the males I rescue to drink,” she added, frowning.