Marked as Their Mate (Twin Kindred #5)

Chapter 1

CASSIE

“Don’t do this, Sskarth—please, I’m begging you! Don’t let them put me outside the city gates!”

Cassie faced her husband, her hands clasped over her pounding heart, her eyes filled with tears of pure panic.

All around her, the Visskous hissed their disapproval.

They were a cold-blooded people—literally, since the inhabitants of Visslick Prime were lizard-like both in appearance and in biology.

She’d thought that Sskarth was so handsome and exotic when she met him on the Kindred Mother Ship. He had a sleek, slim body with a swimmer’s build and his purple scales flashed with iridescent brilliance when the light caught them just right.

He had thought that Cassie was exotic too, apparently—a prize to be won and brought back to his home world for display. The Visskous were a jealous people and there was nothing they liked more than having something exclusive that everyone else would admire and envy.

At first, Cassie had been a trophy wife—a human female from another galaxy—so unusual and unique that every other male envied Sskarth.

He had a mate unlike any other woman on the planet and everything about her was considered odd and exciting.

From the “silk” she grew from the top of her head to the pale, scaleless skin that covered her curvy frame, it seemed that every Visskous male who saw her wanted her.

That had been nice…for a while. Before coming to work on the Mother Ship and meeting Sskarth—who was visiting to establish trade relations with the Kindred—she’d been married for twenty years to a husband who didn’t appreciate her.

Mitchell, her ex, had been a total misogynist who had believed a woman’s job was having babies and making sandwiches.

It had taken Cassie ten years to realize what a jerk he was and then ten more years after that to finally get away from him.

She waited until her last son was in college and then she filed for divorce and applied for a job on board the Kindred Mother Ship on the same day.

If only she would have stayed there, she wouldn’t be in this position now, she thought, looking around at the bad-tempered lizard people, all flicking their forked tongues at her and hissing their displeasure and disapproval.

She might even have found a nice Kindred warrior to settle down with.

Even though she was past 40 by then, there were still Kindred who might have been interested.

But then Sskarth came into the picture. He wooed her with his extravagant wealth and promises that they would “live in a city of crystal spires together and love until the end of time.” After years spent with a taciturn asshole like Mitch, Cassie’s head had been completely turned by the overwhelming romance and what she now understood was love bombing of the alien male.

She had agreed to join with Sskarth and go live with him on Visslick Prime.

And now she was regretting it because she was about to be put outside the gorgeous Crystal City to die.

“Please Sskarth!” she begged again. “I’m your mate! You can’t just put me outside the walls because I’m not a Visskous!”

“But how do we know you won’t catch the disease and spread it?

” one of the lizard women demanded, giving her a hard stare through her slitted eyes.

She was distinguishable from the males only by the limp, leathery crest of skin that started at her forehead and ran down the middle of her skull like a flaccid Mohawk.

“What makes you think I’d catch it or spread it?” Cassie asked in exasperation. “I’m not even Visskous—I probably can’t even get it.”

“Then you won’t mind living outside the city gates with the Infected,” the woman hissed, her forked tongue flickering in satisfaction. “Since you don’t think you’d be affected by the Rotting Disease.”

“I never said that!” Cassie protested, horrified. “Just because I might not be susceptible to the disease, doesn’t mean I want to be exposed to it!”

Or torn apart by the Infected, she thought but didn’t say because the thought was too horrible to speak aloud.

The Rotting Disease—also known as “The Hunger”—had first appeared on Visslick Prime a little over a year ago.

It started with a whitening of the eyes—a kind of film grew over the pupils and irises of the victims, giving them a dead-eyed stare that was horrible to behold.

Next came the red streaks around the mouth and nose that looked almost like blood—hence the name “blood sign” as the Visskous had dubbed it.

After that, the Hunger appeared—a ravenous, gnawing desire for living flesh, gnawed right off the bone.

Once that happened—once the victim took his or her first bite of living flesh from a victim—it was all over.

They became a mindless zombie-type creature—a walking corpse wandering aimlessly in search of living victims to cannibalize.

Gradually their flesh became affected, rotting off their bones, but they kept on going, searching for their next feeding ground—their next mindless meal.

Cassie didn’t think she’d be affected by The Hunger…but she didn’t want to find out for sure. And she also didn’t want to become a meal for the Infected.

“Please,” she begged again, appealing to Sskarth. “I’m your wife—your mate—you swore to protect me and keep me safe and close to you. It was part of our Joining ceremony vows!”

Her Visskous husband shrugged—an oddly snake-like gesture.

“That was then—it’s been five years since we Joined. I think it’s about time we parted, Cassandra, my dear.”

“But not like this!” she begged. “Don’t put me out for the Infected—let me try to send a message back to the Mother Ship. The Kindred will come get me—I worked for them. They won’t abandon me.”

Unlike the worthless, slimy lizard husband she’d Joined with, the Kindred were loyal to their women.

He sighed, his forked tongue flickering from his lipless mouth.

“Alas, my dear, the interstellar communications array is broken and the closest one is in Sshiboleth, which was overrun months ago. We cannot call for help. All we can do is stay behind the city walls and wait for the Infected to die off. But as you know, food and water are limited.”

“And precious resources shouldn’t be wasted on ugly, scaleless off-worlders,” hissed the female Visskous. She looked Cassie up and down contemptuously. “Especially those who can’t even regulate their body temperature anymore!”

Cassie turned on her husband.

“What? You told her about my hot flashes?”

She’d been having them for several months now—the miserable symptoms of perimenopause that she couldn’t do anything about since the Visskous had no human medicine to give her to regulate her hormones.

She would have gone back to the Mother Ship for treatment, but by that time the outbreak was in full swing with the Rotting Disease sweeping over the entire planet.

The Infected had overrun the airfields and spaceports, so there was no way to get out.

Unfortunately, it turned out that being unable to regulate your body temperature was considered a sign of poor breeding on Visslick Prime. The first time she’d woken up beside Sskarth covered in sweat, he’d hissed in disgust as though she’d peed the bed.

After that, he no longer slept in the same bed with her—or even the same bedroom.

Not that Cassie minded—by that time she had fallen completely out of love with her Visskous husband—if she’d ever really been in love in the first place.

Also, sleeping beside him was like sleeping beside a scaly lump of living ice.

The Visskous were naturally cold-blooded, which meant cuddling with one was extremely unpleasant—a fact Cassie had learned only after she’d gotten Joined to Sskarth and moved to his home planet.

And apparently, the feeling was mutual. Sskarth always complained about how hot she was—how her body temperature was abnormally high.

Now that she was having hot flashes, he hated being near her at all.

He also said she “smelled” which was rich, considering that he and the other lizard-like Visskous always stunk unpleasantly like the reptile house at the zoo to Cassie.

She wondered now why she had stuck it out for so long—why she had stayed stubbornly on Visslick Prime when she ought to have dissolved her union with Sskarth and called the Mother Ship for a transport home ages ago.

Maybe she didn’t want to admit defeat—or to give up on another marriage.

Her ex, Mitch, had made her feel horrible when she divorced him, claiming she was evil and cruel for “deserting him and the kids,” even though all the kids were away at college by the time she finally left.

Now Cassie wished she’d been a little less stubborn. She was stuck on an alien planet, light years from home during a zombie outbreak and her husband was about to put her outside the safety of the city walls to be eaten by the Infected all because she was going through perimenopause.

It seemed equal parts surreal and unfair, but it was going to be her fate if she couldn’t convince Sskarth to keep her safe.

“You understand, darling,” he said now, giving her that charming little, “I’m so sorry’ half-smile that had won her heart five years ago.

“The resources here have been collected by my people for my people—they don’t want to waste them on an off-worlder.

Especially a defective one who can’t lay eggs. ”

“You knew I couldn’t lay eggs for you when you married me!” Cassie exclaimed angrily. “I told you I was past that part of my life—and that I was biologically incapable of actually laying an egg—and you said you didn’t mind.”

“And I didn’t…but now I do. Because once the Infected all die off, we’ll have to repopulate the planet.

How can I do that unless I have a young, fertile mate who can lay me a large clutch of eggs?

” Sskarth put his arm around the female Visskous who had been glaring at Cassie and pulled her close. “A mate like Sskilla, here.”

Suddenly, it all made sense. Her dog of a lizard-man husband had been cheating on her with this little hussy with the purple fringe!

Cassie felt a hot flash of anger…followed by a cold wash of despair. There was no way he was going to speak up for her now—no way he would try to save her. Not when he already had another mate lined up who was hot to bear him lots of young—or “lay him a large clutch of eggs,” as he put it.

“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to go.” One of the guards stepped forward and took her by the arm.

“He’s right, unfortunately.” Sskarth made a sad face, as though he’d just found out the entertainment vid he wanted to watch was going to be delayed or the gortha steak he’d ordered had been overcooked.

“There’s just no place for a washed up, has-been human who’s losing her fertility in the New World Order that’s coming,” he said.

“But…but you promised—you swore during our Joining ceremony—” Cassie began desperately.

“All vows taken in happier times must be declared null and void during this time of trauma, I’m afraid,” Sskarth cut in smoothly. “You understand, darling—extenuating circumstances and all that.”

“But—” Cassie began again, but she was already being dragged away by the guard who had grabbed her arm.

“Hey, let me go!” She fought and twisted, trying to get free. If only she could escape her captors, she could run and hide somewhere. They’d already started rationing food in the Crystal City, but she was sure she could find enough to eat to survive until she could contact the Kindred somehow.

However, it wasn’t to be. A second guard joined the first, grabbing her other arm and the two of them marched her to the gates of the city.

The Crystal City had a triple-locking gate with three different sections to ensure that no Infected could enter.

Even if they had managed to get past the three locking sections, they would have been stopped by the slippery, crystal wall that surrounded the entire city complex.

It was a hundred feet tall, rising to the sky in glittering splendor—the best defense anyone could wish for against the brainless, ravenous Infected, who couldn’t figure out how to turn a doorknob, let alone scale a steep crystal monolith.

Which was why I thought I’d be safe! Cassie thought desperately as they airlocks whooshed open one by one and the guards dragged her through the three, interlocking gates. Even when the sickness overran the entire planet, I was sure I’d be safe in Crystal City!

How wrong she had been. She shouldn’t have been fearing the zombie hordes but her own cheating bastard of a lizard-man husband all along.

Sskarth hadn’t been a bit reluctant to part with her—on the contrary, she’d gotten the definite feeling that he was happy to get rid of her so neatly so he could be with his lizard mistress.

And then they reached the last airlock and all other thoughts were wiped from her mind as the guards waited until the gate was barely open and thrust her through it.

The minute she was on the other side, they shut the gate again. It closed with a hiss of air being re-pressurized and Cassie realized something horrible.

She was on her own and no one was coming to save her.