Galactic Inferno Mel Teshco Book 2 in the Alien Hunger series. Ally Grayson believes she’s the last person on Earth after aliens arrived, bringing with them a deadly virus that wiped out most of mankind. Somehow surviving the annihilation, she hides in a Sydney house with her dog, Bonnie. She knows she has to leave before the “eyes in the sky” detect her and have her captured, but she never expects an alien to save her and Bonnie from the jaws of a ravenous, feral dog. Never expects to be drawn to Renate, the alien male who seems more human than any man she’s ever known. She fights an attraction she can’t win, and soon enough she’s in his arms, under his hard, amazing body. Except their unearthly desire might not be enough to keep them together when Renate’s alien comrades close in.
GALACTIC INFERNO Mel Teshco
Mel Teshco
Prologue She came to slowly, the scent of death assailing her senses even before she heard the whine of a dog. She opened her eyes to the canine’s fuzzy black and white face, its head coming closer still as its warm tongue slid across her cheek in a long, wet lick. She swiped away the sticky saliva and half-sat, peering around the room. Her heart stopped, the blood draining from her face as her eyes jerked wide. She opened her mouth in a silent scream. Oh dear god, no. Two beautiful children lay dead either side of her, their lips blue and their little bodies stiff and yellow. She scrabbled backward until she hit a wall. “No.” She shook her head, swallowing past a thick lump in her throat. The little boy and girl—hers?—were dead. What happened? And what was she doing here with them? Bloody hell. Why can’t I remember anything? She sucked in a breath as the room slowly spun around her and she flushed hot and then cold. She tucked her feet close, clasping her knees to her chest as she pressed against the wall. The dog sat on its haunches, watching her with its head tilted to the side. And that’s when she saw the pages and pages of crayon drawings littering the floor all around them. Had she been trying to keep the children occupied? She climbed to her feet, swaying for a moment and forcing herself not to black out. Not to retch. One of the pictures lay face up, a child’s awkward, stick-like drawing of a man and a woman. Written beneath in an adult’s hand were the words Ally and Luke. Luke? Who was he? She swallowed hard. Had he left them here to die? Another picture showed a cartoonish dog. Beneath the image was the name Bonnie. She turned back to the dog and rasped, “Bonnie.” The animal trotted over, tail pluming through the air. She stroked the dog’s head, taking meager comfort from Bonnie’s dispassionate doggy expression. She scanned the room, noting the two buckets against the far wall that held water, another two filled with dry dog biscuits. They’d expected to be down here for a while? A set of stairs led upward to another floor, where a door was partially cracked open.
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“I’ve…I’ve got to get out of here,” she breathed. She ran up the stairs and Bonnie followed hot on her heels. Ally was only too glad of the company when she pushed the door open all the way—to find the body of a man lying face down, as though he’d been running from someone. Something? “Luke,” she whispered. Somehow she knew this man was the one and same in the drawing. The same man who’d left them for dead.
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Chapter One Ally Grayson stared in the mirror at her snarled, dark burgundy hair, feeling strangely bereft of emotion, an outsider looking in on the horror of someone else’s life. Her glossy, long locks had once been her best asset. Not anymore. Without the convenience of running water and with the apocalyptic ash and grit constantly in the air, it had become high maintenance and impractical. She didn’t need to be halfway pretty anymore. In fact, far better to look repulsive than attract alien attention. Ally lifted the scissors and snipped. Tears etched relentless tracks down her cheeks as clumps of red-brown hair dropped to the off-white tiles, as though blood on bone. Dear lord. She tightened her hold on the scissors until her knuckles shone white. She’d been living a hell on earth, grief an indigestible ball in her gut—and it’d taken a haircut for the weeping to start? She swallowed hard. One day she’d give into the rage, the raw grief, the anguish that constantly ripped and gouged with long black nails into her defenses, her sanity. But not now. Please…not now. If she gave into the self-pity, she just mightn’t find the will to keep going. Tossing the scissors into the vanity sink, she dragged a hand through the choppy, wispy layers of her short hair even as she pushed back a whole lot of fresh, unwanted pain. Scrubbing away her tears with the backs of her hands, she drew in a breath and turned away from the mess on the floor, the mess of her thoughts, before she stalked into the darkened lounge room. Pulling aside the heavy brocade curtain, she peered through the grimy bay window. Though dark, ominous clouds were piling on the horizon, the midday sun blazed directly outside, streaming through the branches of a jacaranda tree in full, amethyst bloom and glinting against the windshields of stationary, dusty cars on the deserted street. She shivered, despite the sweltering day that caused rivulets of sweat to run down her spine and stick her white tee against her back. Never had she felt more alone. Her gaze lifted heavenward, searching for the alien aircraft that’d begun sweeping the area only yesterday. Thankfully, the sky appeared empty aside from a couple of crows wheeling high overhead. If being totally alone was something out of her worst nightmares, then being captured by the very bastards who’d decimated the planet would most certainly be her worst kind of suffering.
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She’d had brief, intermittent memory flashes of the televised news announcing alien arrival and the virus they’d brought with them. A virus that felled people where they stood, turning their skin an awful yellow and their lips blue. Not unlike the two children in the cellar that she’d come to remember as her stepchildren. The man in the house, her ex-husband. She squeezed her eyes shut as a shaft of pain ripped outward from her heart and into her head, before fading to a dull ache behind her temples. Why she’d been spared was never far from her mind, especially since her memories had started to return. Her flashbacks had gained momentum recently, like a car careening downhill without brakes, flashbacks that skipped back and forth in time with no rhyme or reason. In some ways she wished the recollections had stayed buried and forgotten. At least then she’d have nothing to compare this terrible existence with, have nothing to miss. Her hands fisted on the fabric. She might have been spared from the virus, but she’d sooner take her own life than allow even a single alien to find her…to take her. Freedom was her primary goal, survival of secondary importance. She’d been hiding in this house for weeks, months even. But time had ceased to have meaning, ceased to matter. There was no longer an alarm clock to wake her up for an important client meeting. No adoring husband and children to rush home to and take into her arms. No. Nothing. But she had to move on, find another safe house with a fully stocked pantry and bottled water. God only knew she was running low. Besides which, some sixth sense told her she needed to leave ASAP. She’d learned to trust her instincts. Except…somewhere along the way this house had become her home, her sanctuary away from the once bloated and rotting corpses outside covered with flies and putrefying the air. Away from the dog packs with a powerful taste for human flesh, their muzzles bloodied as they gorged on human remains. Perverse really, since her beloved Bonnie had been the one and only thing to keep her sane. She unknotted her hands and released the curtain. It swished shut before she turned and called the large, fluffy dog of indeterminate breed. “Bonnie, come.” Bonnie clambered to her feet and trotted over, her pink tongue lolling, her liquid brown eyes expressing her devotion as she sat just shy of Ally’s booted feet. Ally absently ran a hand over the dog’s silky black and white head. “It’s time we left here, girl.” Not just because of their dwindling food supplies. Staying too long in the one house meant the threat of being discovered would be that much higher. She had to keep on the move and stay clear of the eyes in the sky.
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Bonnie heaved a doggy sigh, as if in agreement. And Ally’s lips twitched in perhaps the first smile she’d managed in far too long. “Glad I have your approval.” She gathered up the bulging backpack crammed with essentials. A medical kit, a change of clothes, toilet paper, canned food for them both, bowls, matches, a flashlight, batteries, a sharp knife wrapped in a towel and the last two bottles of water. Bonnie followed at her heels, as if totally cognizant of the decision made. Ally paused, taking in the darkened lounge room. Comfortable, easy-to-clean sofas, a baby grand, a plasma and Xbox spoke volumes about the house once belonging to a young family—a mother and father along with their son and two daughters. A floorboard creaked beneath her booted feet as she stepped toward the apricot feature wall that overflowed with portraits. Lifting a hand, she ran a finger along the gold frame of one family shot. Her vision blurred and swam. She could barely make out the smiling faces and blonde good looks of the people who’d lived there—and who no longer existed. She sucked in a shuddering breath. Just the same as her family, these people were long gone. Dead. Wiped out by the same virus that had seemingly taken the life of every single human on the planet. Everyone but me. Fingers interlacing behind her head, she closed her eyes for a moment, willing back composure. She couldn’t lose it now, not with those asshole aliens lurking in the skies. Damn it! The bastards hadn’t even needed to lift a finger to destroy her kind. Clever, really. And cowardly right to their core. Hatred for them welled up inside, burning through her veins until she felt fevered and ill. She walked a dangerous line harboring such emotions. Too much hatred could push her over the edge, see her do something stupid and really mess things up. Just enough hatred kept her strong, kept her going, like a slow release fuel. Yes, she wanted to survive, but she wanted desperately to keep her freedom, to keep on going with the fragile hope other humans lived too. She snagged the dog leash off the front door handle and clipped it on to Bonnie’s collar. On the rare moments they ventured outside, Ally made sure they were inseparable. She swallowed. She was too scared to let loose her one friend left in the world. She’d never cope if Bonnie disappeared too. Just like everyone else she’d ever loved. “Bonnie, sit.” Ally opened the door a crack. No movement, no odd sounds. And yet… She drew in a steadying breath. All the running and hiding, the uncertainty was getting to her.
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In the distance a gray, smoky haze indicated some of the city fires were still raging. She shivered a little. Already much of Sydney had been reduced to ash. She only hoped the outer suburbs would stay clear of the intercity infernos. Perhaps the steadily building clouds would dump enough rain to put out the fires. “Let’s go, Bonnie.” Ally half-crouched as she jogged through the front yard and out through the olivegreen painted wire gate, Bonnie’s shaggy tail waving through the air as she loped easily alongside. Alert to any sound, any movement, she kept close to the buildings as she slowed to a walk, severely tempted to drive one of the many cars sitting in any number of garages, keys already in the ignition. Except the roads were cluttered with vehicles of all descriptions, most of them containing more than forgotten keys inside. She shook her head. She wouldn’t risk drawing attention to herself from the sky patrol. At least on foot she made barely a sound. A loud crack sounded somewhere behind her, as if something—someone?—had trod on a stick or a broken fragment of glass. She stilled. Her pulse jerked crazily. She wanted almost desperately to slink into the nearest house. But that was madness. If the aliens had even a vague idea of where she’d been hiding, she needed to get much farther away. Bonnie whined uncertainly. The hairs on the back of Ally’s nape prickled. She sucked in a horrified breath and slowly turned around. Alien. For a moment, one infinitesimal beat, she froze, as if a mouse in the presence of a cobra. Dear Lord, he’s beautiful. And unlike any alien she’d ever imagined. He was almost human. But not. He was bare-chested and huge. Big shoulders, dark brown hair shorn close to his scalp and a primal yearning in his brilliant, unnatural green stare that caused goose bumps to prickle all over her body and her nipples to tighten unwillingly beneath her tee shirt. She sucked in a horrified, yet awestruck breath as her stare dropped low. Pants made from a stretchy, glove-like material rode low on his hips to hug the bulging arousal of his cock. He wanted her. Over my dead body. And yet, something carnal clenched hard within even before she tore her eyes away with a vicious curse, forcing her body to spin around, her legs to move fast. Shit. It was like pulling away an oversized pin from a powerful magnet—almost impossible. But as though released from a force field, she was suddenly sprinting for all she was worth, dodging abandoned cars and motorbikes, leaping over an upturned shopping trolley and a fallen tree limb, her heavy backpack bouncing between her 9
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shoulder blades. Bonnie seemed to sense her fear as she raced alongside, her ears flat to her skull. Ally was breathing hard as she rounded a corner hardware store, sharp chunks of glass glinting on the pavement from its partly shattered storefront window. She didn’t pause. The alien wouldn’t be far behind. Oh, God. A block of apartments loomed ahead, the courtyard gate swinging a little in the breeze. She pushed her legs harder, lungs burning for oxygen. Racing through the gate and the paved courtyard, she sent a prayer heavenward that at least one of the ground apartment front doors weren’t locked. She’d discovered that many front doors were left ajar or unlocked, dying homeowners clearly not all that concerned for their safety. Both doors were closed. She swung to the door of apartment two and fumbled with its door handle. It was locked. “Crap.” Heart hammering, she glanced behind her. A sudden breeze jerked the gate open then shut and skittered some paper and debris along the street. No sign of the alien. Jerking around, she dashed to the other apartment. The door knob twisted easily under her hands. She stepped into the apartment with Bonnie at her heels, slamming the door behind them and sliding its two deadbolts into place. Panting and heart still racing, she took in the musty smelling room. Closed blinds sealed out most of the sunlight and shadows loomed long and dark before her. Lounge room, dining and kitchen in one, she realized as her eyes adjusted to the gloom. A shabby old sofa sat in front of a little box television on a glass cabinet. A kitchen counter of indeterminate color hugged the far wall, an old stove and a tiny refrigerator at either end. Next to the refrigerator an opened doorway revealed a small bedroom. Partially opened blinds allowed in a crack of light and she could just make out a mussed bed, a side table with its top drawer jutting out. She shivered. Though there was no sign or rotting scent of a deceased body, something didn’t feel right about this place. She’d stay here only as long as she needed to before she travelled farther afield, to the very outskirts of Sydney. Bonnie growled long and low in her throat, her hackles rising. Ally touched the dog’s head, fingers gently stroking. “It’s okay,” she murmured. She had to keep Bonnie quiet at all cost. “The alien is outside…somewhere. We’re safe for now.” But they weren’t. That same instinct for survival was even now jarring her senses, making her heart pound and sending blood pumping through her body. They might have evaded the alien, but they weren’t alone.
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A ferocious snarl erupted from inside the bedroom. She gasped when a brindlecolored dog emerged in the opened doorway. Even in the gloom she could see the animal was emaciated, its ribcage protruding along with the notches of its spine. The dog took a step forward, its growl deepening, threatening. Bonnie whimpered, clearly sensing the starving dog was about to attack. Hunting to survive. She glanced at the pantry, imagining all the canned dog meat she’d undoubtedly find. She looked back at the front door and mentally shook her head. She wasn’t going back outside, not for anything. She’d take her chances with the dog. Bonnie strained against the leash as Ally maneuvered away from the front door, edging toward a dusty round table and four chairs even as the dog stalked forward, teeth bared and hunger all but emanating from him. What breed was it? Staffordshire bull terrier? Pit bull? She couldn’t be certain. But by the look of its thick skull and strong jaw it was a fighting machine—starved or not. Fuck. Moving around the table, she realized just how much trouble she really was in. Her stomach lurched, fear ratcheting up to a whole new level. Beside the bedroom door lay a half-gnawed human skull. The dog abruptly charged. And Ally watched as if in slow motion, frozen inside and unable to move. Bonnie leaped forward, jerking the leash from her hand and meeting the other dog halfway. The dogs crashed to the floor with canine teeth sinking deep. Bonnie, no! The rich scent of blood tainted the air when she forced her limbs to move. Taking hold of the nearest chair and stumbling forward, she brought it down with all her strength on to the attacking dog’s back. The chair fell apart in her hands. The dog didn’t flinch. Bonnie snapped, twisting and squirming to shake the other dog free. It wasn’t going anywhere. No time to retrieve the knife in her back pack. “Get off her!” The cracking, high pitch of her voice sounded like a stranger’s. Halfsobbing, she retrieved a broken chair leg as her new weapon of choice and had raised it high—when the bedroom window shattered. She jerked around. The piece of chair fell from her grasp. The alien picked himself up from the floor littered with glass and the block-out blinds he’d taken down with him. Sunlight poured into the room, almost dazzling after the darkness. In just a few long strides he moved to the fighting dogs. His big hands took hold of the brindle’s snout, top and bottom. She looked away. The dog yelped. Bones snapped. The sounds of fighting ceased.
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She turned back as the alien placed the dead dog on the floor and closed its eyes with an outspread hand. In his native, alien tongue he spoke lyrical words to the dead animal. A eulogy? Bonnie trotted over to her, whimpering. Ally ran a hand over the dog’s bloodmatted coat, checking for injuries and beyond relieved to find none. “You’ll be okay,” she whispered, voice breaking. She glanced up at the alien. Despite the hatred for his kind coursing through her blood, for the moment at least, running from this man—alien—who’d saved Bonnie had become the last thing on her mind. He straightened, his long body unfolding with the grace of an athlete. She bit her lower lip. Up close he was even more beautiful, and much taller than she’d first thought. At five-eight she was no short piece of ass, but she would easily tuck right under his arm. Don’t be a fool. He killed your people. He’ll kill you too! Yet even as hatred for the alien warred with her body’s perverse attraction to him, another malicious voice reminded her of her plainness. Illogical at this point of time, nevertheless it was an insecurity she had come to acknowledge was deeply ingrained. She raked a shaky hand over her short, practical hair, feeling sweaty, dirty and unkempt. His eyes narrowed. “I’m sorry. I had no choice but to destroy the dog.” He spoke English? He was sorry? She jerked out a nod. “I know.” She wasn’t sure if the virus changed the composition of the blood or something, but once a dog tasted human flesh—it was like a human on crack. They became ravenous for more. She sucked in a steadying breath, using all her willpower to become neutral, assess the situation and gather her thoughts. “Who are you? What do you want from me?” Talking to someone other than Bonnie took on a surreal quality, as if she was speaking through layers and layers of consciousness and hearing the words from a great distance. His eyes flashed, the possessive need in his stare sapping her willpower, her hatred, and making her burn all over. He lifted an outstretched hand. “My name is Renate Mearwon. And I want you.”
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Chapter Two Ally shook her head at his words, snapping out of her moment of insanity. “You sick, murdering bastard!” Something shifted behind his eyes. Hurt? Guilt? Shame? Impossible. He and his alien friends had done nothing to stop the virus sweeping the earth like a giant, biological tsunami. “I’m not yours,” she croaked, backing away a step. “And whatever voodoo mind control you’re trying to pull on me—stop it now.” Renate cocked a dark brow, the gesture all too human. “Not even a ‘thank you’ for saving your life?” Her breath hissed at his audacity. Yes, he’d saved her. But his kind had taken away everyone she’d ever known, everyone she could have known. “You don’t deny using some form of mind control?” “No.” She closed her eyes for a second, feeling weak. And all too vulnerable. It made too much sense. She’d felt the pull toward him, experienced the emotional transition from horrible dread and fear to unspeakable attraction, a transition that was far and beyond anything normal or rational. “Just a small influence,” Renate added, voice almost gentle. “I felt your fear. You didn’t need to be further traumatized at the very sight of me.” “How is it you know English?” “We had much time to study Earth’s languages on the journey here.” She sank to the floor, knees no longer able to support her. Shrugging off her backpack, she slung an arm around Bonnie. “It’s like something out of a horror movie,” she whispered starkly. Thunder rumbled outside, a sudden wind whooshing through the broken window. Renate looked up, nostrils flaring as though he was scenting the weather. “The storm is close.” His stare rested briefly on the dog he’d killed before swinging back to her. “We can’t stay here.” We? If the alien thought for one minute she was going to meekly follow him, obey his every command, he was sadly mistaken. The loneliness eating at her from the inside out was far preferable to being some alien’s puppet. Wasn’t it? A louder rumble caused Bonnie to whine. Ally stroked the dog’s soft ears, sharing her pain. God, how nice would it be—really—just to talk to someone else. “She hates 13
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storms. Hates thunder.” Her eyes narrowed. “But we’re not going anywhere with you. Not going anywhere near your UFO.” He frowned, as though taken aback by her objections. Did his mind control not work so well on her, then? “The mother ship will stay above the storm for the night. I was simply going to suggest finding shelter in another earth building.” Ally rested her chin on Bonnie’s soft head. The half-eaten human skull and the other dog’s prone body wasn’t something she wanted to be sharing a room with for the night—she’d seen more than enough death already. But she had a feeling this alien perceived other ravenous dogs would be attracted to the scent of a fresh kill. She let out a shaky sigh, hardly able to believe she was agreeing to his suggestion. “Okay. But after the storm, we part ways.” He nodded. “If that is your wish.” She frowned. He thinks I’ll change my mind. Pushing onto her feet, she discovered her still shaky legs were reluctant to support her. She needn’t have worried. In two strides Renate was before her. He swung her backpack on to a broad shoulder then scooped her effortlessly into his arms. “Bonnie?” she croaked. Dear lord. Was her dog all that concerned her now? No. Survival mode had kicked in. She needed the distraction of Bonnie to keep from admitting how good it felt to be in the alien’s arms, how protected and secure. It was undoubtedly another illusion, further mind control to bend her to his will. She despised aliens, with good reason. So why am I not putting up a struggle? Seemed she was defenseless, after all. He placed the end of the leash into one of her hands and Bonnie shadowed them as he strode to the door with Ally silent in his arms. He threw open the deadbolts and kicked open the door before he briefly scanned the sky. Seconds later he strode down the entryway steps, through the gate and across the street. Wind gusted and eddied around them, the dark clouds moving overhead and all but blocking out the mid-afternoon sunlight. The storm was going to be a doozy. For some reason the thought didn’t frighten her. Oh, hell. She was all but surrendering to Renate’s heat and the safety of his big, strong arms. And he smelled divine, clean and fresh like a tropical breeze mingling with the salty overtones of the ocean. He picked up pace as he headed toward the corner hardware store. Once there, he placed her carefully on the pavement where it was clear of glass and debris. He shrugged off the backpack and placed it beside her. “What are you doing?” she asked, blanking out the play of muscles across his shoulders and back as he tried the steel door’s handle. It didn’t budge. He frowned a little. “I want to get you inside before the storm hits.” 14
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She struggled to her feet. The ground lurched around her. She dropped back on her ass, breath hissing, then swiped a hand over her fever-hot brow, though her teeth chattered as though it was freezing cold. Renate dropped on his haunches before her, his hands curling over her shoulders. “Stay put. Try to relax. I think you’re experiencing some level of shock. We’ll hole up in this building before nightfall. There should be some provisions. Food, water. And hopefully some blankets to keep you warm.” One of his hands moved to cup under her chin, drawing her gaze back to his. “Okay?” The wind dropped as thunder rumbled overhead. Spits of rain hit her face, hinting at an imminent downpour. Bonnie licked one of Ally’s arms and whined. She managed a nod, reminding herself she’d seek shelter with this alien just until the storm passed. No longer. Renate’s clasp tightened fractionally as he smiled. Moments later he retrieved her backpack and, holding it like a shield to the remnants of the storefront window, he propelled it forward. Glass splintered and shattered to the ground, loud in the thick silence broken only by the increased rumblings overhead. She closed her eyes, breathing deep of the scent of rain in the air—just as the dark skies unleashed its fury. She gasped at the icy sting of rain that poured thick and fast. But she didn’t move. Her eyes widened as Renate appeared through the wet curtain like a muscled gladiator materializing into an ancient Roman arena. He lifted her into his arms and strode back to the store, stepping over the window casing and careful to avoid the rain-slicked glass either side. Bonnie leaped after them, whimpering. Despite the warmth of Renate’s hard body, Ally shivered. After the heat of the day, the chill of the deluge seeped bone deep. And yet…somehow she felt better than she had in a long time… Safer. Hail began to pepper the store’s tin roof like discordant, noisy drumming as Renate paused in the deepening shadows and placed her onto her feet. Dropping the backpack on the floor, he curled an arm around her waist to support her. His breath was warm on her ear when he leaned close so she could hear him above the din. “You’ll be safe here while I see if I can find anything useful in this mess.” She turned her head in response, ignoring the fluttering of her heart at being so close. “There’s a…a waterproof flashlight in my backpack.” He rummaged in her backpack as she sagged on her backside to the floor. It would be late afternoon at best and yet the dark clouds outside made it look like night. Teeth chattering, she cuddled into Bonnie, trying desperately to keep warm even as she took comfort from her canine friend. Renate flicked on the flashlight, the powerful beam cutting through the gloom. He crouched beside her, keeping the light away from her eyes. Studying her for a moment,
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his eyes unreadable, his free hand lifted, his fingertips moving gently across her brow and down one side of her face. He bent low. “Let’s get you warm, hmm?” He straightened, all fluid muscle and grace. His voice had been calm, but she’d sensed the urgency beneath. She frowned. Why did he care? Was this his way of gaining her trust, building her confidence? Before he—his kind—ripped her whole world apart again. The flashlight’s illumination moved away, arcing up and down as Renate methodically scanned each ransacked shelf for something of use. She took a deep, shuddering breath. With Renate no longer close, her true emotions clamored once more to take hold, to pierce her heart with their savagery. She exhaled, close to tears. Lord help her, right then she wanted Renate to stop those emotions, to manipulate her mind until something close to peace transcended. But then a memory closed in, crystalline sharp.
***** Sydney was clear and sunny, the windows of the tall buildings gleaming. Ally’s high heels clacked on the sidewalk, a happy beat. She smiled, absorbing the pulse of the city, the frenetic pace. She might have been born and raised on a dairy farm in the country, but she was a city girl now through and through. Nine weeks ago she’d been promoted to advertising director, a coveted position that suited her to a T. She excelled at her work, at being a team leader. And though she kept long hours, Luke Sinclair, her attorney fiancé, kept similar work hours. She’d been blessed in every way. A great job, an adoring, handsome fiancé and two stepchildren who’d come to accept her as part of their lives. Her gait faltered, a shiver sliding up and down her spine like a premonition of doom. Her smile dissolved. And a short distance away, she saw Luke move on to his feet from the metal scrolled café seat where he’d been waiting for her to share lunch. He waved, catching her attention, his groomed blond hair oddly rumpled. She forced a smile and waved back, pushing aside the ugly presentiment as she picked up pace then moved gratefully into the arms of her charcoal-suited husband. “Hey, beautiful,” he murmured. “Is everything all right?” Ally nodded, this once not feeling any delight at his pet name that made her feel special and so much prettier than any mirror revealed. “Fine, I think.” He pulled back and at his questioning look she said thoughtfully, “Perhaps a case of pre-wedding nerves.” He cupped her face. “Sweetheart, the wedding is tomorrow. I hear it’s only natural for a bride to get a few jitters beforehand.” She smiled. “Yes. You’re right. I’m being silly.”
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His hazel eyes narrowed a little. “Just don’t tell me you’re planning on leaving me at the altar.” “Luke! No!” His face relaxed back into a smile and he pushed a lock of her loose hair behind an ear. “I know you won’t. Of course you won’t. We belong together.”
***** The warm hand on her shoulder brought her back to the present with a start. Renate peered down at her, flashlight on the floor beside him, his brow furrowed. “Are you okay?” The drumming hail outside had softened into heavy rain, his words now much more audible. She sat up, away from Bonnie’s relative warmth, the dog curled up asleep on the cardboard. And all the while she tried not to be affected by the alien’s concern, by his sculpted body so close. Warmth unfurled within even as she rubbed at her chilled arms, and she had to wonder if he attributed her peaked nipples to the cold. Bloody hell. What was wrong with her? Even with her less than adequate memories, she knew she must have loved Luke. She wouldn’t have married the man if she hadn’t. And yet here I am responding to another man as if he’s—what? The last man on the planet? No! Not a man. Alien. Don’t ever forget it. “I’m fine.” She jerked away, hating him, but hating herself more when she immediately yearned for his touch. “Just fine.” “You remembered something, didn’t you?” he asked gently. She turned back, the movement stiff and slow, reluctant. She looked up. “I did. But I think it was from some time ago. It’s only been recently that I’ve started to recall things. I think the shock of what…what happened,” she shivered, as much from recalling parts of the horrific time as any chill in the air, “caused some sort of memory loss.” “The virus wipes the past of any who survive it,” he explained. “Though it seems, at least with humans, all memories eventually return.” How did he know? Were other humans alive? She put a stopper on the hope fairly bursting for release. And somehow her query came out steady, normal. “I’m not the only survivor?” His eyes regarded her with an intensity that would have made most women squirm. She lifted her chin. Perhaps she wasn’t most women? Something flared in his eyes before his lashes swept half-mast, hiding the emotion. “No. My kings have an earth woman. All her memories have returned.” Her mouth dropped open. There were other survivors, just like her!
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“But I saw women dying all around me,” she whispered. Those were the memories she wished really had stayed forgotten. His lashes flicked apart and his brilliant gaze caught hers. All her horror drained away. Thank you. She could get used to this cocooning of her mind. Perhaps that was his plan? “Very few earth women survived,” he conceded gruffly. “But some did.” She shook her head, clearing away the thoughts tumbling one on top of the other until they threatened to choke her. “I didn’t know.” Then what he’d said fully registered. “You said—kings? This earth woman is…is she with more than one alien?” “Yes.” His expression was as fathomless as the ocean. “Although we are a possessive race, we have been left with no choice but to share.” He shrugged. “I believe the women won’t have reason to complain.” Her eyes narrowed. Anger built. Her memories might be vague but she knew without doubt she was a one-man woman. “Let’s say for one moment I chose to stay with you, what would happen to me?” His eyes glittered like diamonds. “You would have me—along with four other alien males of worth.” Her belly dipped then twisted into knots before realization set in. He didn’t intend to give her up. He never had. The bastard! Serious anger kicked in. “No.” She glared up at him, unable to hold back the venom inside. “No friggin’ way. It’s one man for me or no man at all.” His eyes fairly glowed as he murmured, “To be so lucky.” And then blessed relief as her whole body relaxed, her mind emptied of all anguish. Mind control, again, she realized vaguely, unable—unwilling—to fight against it this time. He held out a hand and she took it without hesitation. I should despise this man…alien. But even as the thought formed, it melted away and she allowed him to pull her to her feet as though an obedient child—an extremely cold, obedient child. He could take away mental discomfort, but clearly not anything physical. His stare swept over her, assessing. “Take off your clothes.” She glowered even as her traitorous body stirred into life at the inconceivable thrill. “I’ll never willingly fuck you or any other alien.” He stared back. His mouth twitched. And even in the semi-dark she could see the mirth building behind his eyes. A laugh burst from his mouth, the sound warming her from the inside out. “When we have sex, my sweet, it’ll be consensual or not at all.” When?
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She released the breath she didn’t even know she’d been holding. “I’ll be leaving as soon as the storm passes. There’ll be nothing more between us than small talk. That’s a promise.” His laughter died a quick death as somberness filled out the creases at either side of his mouth. “Don’t make promises you don’t intend to keep.” She stared at him, disbelieving. Of all the conceited, arrogant men she’d ever met… He raked a hand through his short hair on a sigh. “Perhaps you’re right to want to leave. When the virus wiped out all the women on our planet, it caused many of the Carèche men to go crazy with lust.” Ally forgot about the wretched cold, forgot about everything to do with sex. “Your planet has no women now?” He nodded, expressionless. But somehow she knew he was holding back a whole lot of hurt and loss. “That is correct. Just the same as your planet no longer has men.” Oh, god. Even now it seemed so inconceivable. Like a nightmare she couldn’t awaken from. The hard planes of his face softened. “There is plenty of time for questions later. For now, let’s get you dry and warm.” And here she’d imagined he wanted her. She lifted robotic arms, stupidly offended, despite herself. Clearly some insecurities bit deep. She’d never been any raving beauty and now with her hacked-off hair and grubby appearance she really must be one of the last women on the planet for Renate or any man to be halfway interested in her. She stood mutely, her eyes open but not really seeing as he peeled the sodden tee over her head. His breath whooshed at her unrestrained breasts with their immediately hardening nipples. “Beautiful,” he murmured. Her stare widened. She searched his expression and saw a whole world of desire. And she was glad. Wonderfully, ridiculously glad. Just once she wanted to forget all the recently returned memories, the doubts and pitiful insecurities scrambling inside her head as though a freight train without direction. He stooped low, his blunt-ended fingers unbuckling her boots. Her footwear looked more like something a man would wear to a building site than anything close to the feminine and sexy heels she used to wear. That’ll nip his lustful thoughts right to kingdom come. His warm fingers encircled her ankle. She lifted her foot and clasped his downturned head for balance. Without missing a beat, he tugged first one boot and sock off, then the other before looking up, his stare hot. And in that moment in time, all hate for the alien male dissolved. Hate couldn’t take part in something that made her feel so…sexy. Beautiful. Wanton. She gritted her teeth. Yet more mind control?
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She dropped her hold on his head and closed her eyes for a moment to the madness consuming her. Had she been alone for so long now she’d been made susceptible to the aching, carnal need inside? He straightened, his deft fingers unbuttoning her denim shorts. She drew in a long breath, wanting only to lean into his muscled heat, absorb it. But the heat wave from his burning stare as he pulled down her shorts, then hooked his thumbs into her panties, was all the warmth she needed. Insecurities be damned! He might well have resisted the pleasures of the flesh with the men of his species, but she realized now, he most certainly wasn’t immune to her…to an earth woman. He took his time divesting her of her panties and she stepped out of the fabric bunched at her feet on trembling legs. Ice-cold wind belched through the hole that’d once been a window and she shivered almost uncontrollably as he retrieved the flashlight and shone it over a wooden pallet covered with ripped cardboard, a sleeping bag on top. “This was all I could find,” he apologized. “But it will keep us off the floor.” “Us? We’re sharing the sleeping bag?” “Body heat,” he explained. As her eyes dropped to the unmistakable bulge of his crotch, he said hoarsely, “My body can’t lie, but I’ve said you’ll be safe with me. And you will be. Unless you choose otherwise.” She jerked out a nod. Whether she trusted him or not—and somehow, foolishly, she did—she’d die of frostbite if she didn’t hurry the hell up. Seconds later she climbed into the fleecy warmth of the sleeping bag. Behind her, Renate slung her clothes over some shelving to dry, and then bent to roll his pants past his thighs and calves. Stepping free, he exposed his huge, aroused cock that looked about ready to burst at the seams. Oh, dear lord. It seemed these males were human in every way except for their humongous size. Face heating, she rolled to her side, averting her gaze. But seconds later he slid into the sleeping bag beside her, his all-too-naked, powerful body taking up the remaining space and more. He turned toward her, pulling her naked back and butt against him. “I’ll keep you warm, kitten,” he said hoarsely. “Now sleep. It’s going to be a long night.” Sleep? Not in a million years. Not with you wrapped around me and the press of your hard, hot cock against my skin. It was the last thought she had before the delicious cocoon of warmth pulled her weary body into a deep, dreamless sleep… She drifted awake ever so slowly, savoring the almost forgotten intimacy, the utter peacefulness of being in the arms of her husband. It’d been way too long since she’d woken beside him, his arms wrapped around her as if he’d never let her go. She rolled over, snuggling into his body, her eyes still closed as she pressed her face into his masculine heat. “Mm. Luke, you smell good,” she mumbled. 20
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“Luke?” She jerked awake at the foreign male voice, eyes springing apart as the truth slammed into her like a lead ball. He wasn’t Luke. This was not her bed—it wasn’t even a bed. And this was no early morning to be filled making love with her husband. Oh, hell no! Here. Now. This was her reality. Renate’s eyes drilled into hers, anger and fierce need all rolled into one. Then he flipped her on to her back, his body moving to cover hers. A half growl rumbled from his chest, the back of his open mouth revealing razor sharp canines that weren’t even remotely human. “You think of this Luke when you lie with me?” She swallowed, throat dry. “Luke was my husband. I…loved him.” Didn’t I? Surely this alien understood love? Perceived her loss? Apparently not. Renate’s face was a mask of raw possessiveness. He pinned her hands above her head, her struggles all but useless as he growled, “Then I’ll make you forget your love for him.” “You can’t,” she breathed. So why did her heart stutter with excitement? Why did the blood rush to her face and heat her pussy? Why did she want to kiss his sexy, kissable lips? “I can. And I will. You’re my mate now.” A muscle flickered in his jaw. “Mine.” Her eyes burned, vision distorting with unshed tears. But it was from passion as much as loathing and for that she despised herself as much as him. In a voice that rasped with emotion she asked, “And yet you’re willing to share me with four others?” Something primal flashed in his stare. And she realized then—he wouldn’t be sharing her with anyone. Not anytime soon. He ground his cock against the lightly haired mound of her pussy, causing her to gasp and squirm in both horror and unmistakable delight. When his mouth took possession of hers, his lips hard and demanding, she fought him at first, a mental fight as much as physical. She bit into his lip, her teeth piercing his soft flesh. He reared back. Shell shocked? She angled her chin. “What happened to consensual or not at all?” “That hasn’t changed,” he growled. “I feel the passion you struggle to contain.” He used one hand to restrain her arms, the other to swipe at the blood smearing his lip. “But your resistance ebbs fast.” She glowered, ignoring the sculpted lines of his golden chest and his tight abs, ignoring the feel of his rearing cock with his heavy testicles beneath. She shook her head. “Your mind control makes me weak.” 21
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His free hand moved to cup one of her breasts, his thumb and forefinger rolling the stiff nipple harder still. “Except I’m not using mind control. I haven’t since I asked you to undress.” Oh, shit. Somehow she believed him. Especially when he moved rhythmically over her body, a slow dance that replicated the act itself without penetration. The head of his cock slid along her clit and up over her pussy, then back down again, up and down, forward and back. He sucked her earlobe into his mouth, his hot breath sending ripples of need through her every cell. She closed her eyes, dredging up all the horrors she’d lived through in an attempt to keep the insatiable hunger at bay. It didn’t work. Her body absorbed his touch as parched ground did rain. And god help her, she wanted this, wanted him. Wanted nothing more than to live in the moment and enjoy the now. And perhaps create a new, amazing memory to override all the bad ones. Her body began to move of its own accord, her repressed emotions unraveling at his touch, his voice, at the friction of their bodies. And then his hand released her arms and he was pressing kisses along her jaw and collarbone, the tips of her breasts. She writhed, gasping, her fingers suddenly in his short hair, clutching at him even as he continued his journey ever downward, the sleeping bag sliding along with him, exposing them to the cold. His lips branded the skin along her taut belly, his tongue swirling around her navel before dipping inside. Her breath shuddered. Her pulse jerked. Had she ever known how hypersensitive that area was? He looked up, his stare glowing and filled with passion, with promise. The next instant his hands clasped her inner thighs and he spread her wide. His head dipped. She jumped, teeth gritted at the exquisite touch of his hot tongue on her hard, sensitive clit. Luke hadn’t enjoyed giving oral sex. Their sex antics had encompassed a more missionary flavor. Not unlike the boring and predictable routines of their life. She squeezed her eyes shut. Where had that dangerous thought—that memory— come from? But then all contemplation dissolved as flames of pleasure licked at her clitoris and spread through her body, Renate drawing the hard nub of her clit between his lips and suckling hard, his tongue lashing at the bundle of nerves. “Ohhh…fuck.” Her hips jerked at the sudden climax, the involuntary spasm pushing her cunt even closer to his mouth and undoubtedly giving Renate an extra burst of pussy flavor. His expression brimmed with satisfaction as he tasted her again and again. When at last he drew back, he replaced his mouth with one of his big hands that immediately began massaging and stimulating her pussy all over again. “You’re so damn wet,” he growled. “So ready for my cock to slide right in.”
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She gasped for breath and his expression was all male triumph as he drawled, “Just say the word.” Her hips bucked as the pressure of his fingers intensified. She reached out a tentative hand, touching the thick bulge of his cock. “You’re too big,” she breathed “You couldn’t possibly fit.” His free hand took hold of hers, pressing her questing touch closer still to his arousal. “Say the word and I’ll show you just how perfectly we do fit,” he said hoarsely. She whimpered, wanting him with a desperation that was almost painful. “I do want you,” she groaned. “But only you. No one else.” His cock jumped beneath her hand and she stared up at his savage, yet almost vulnerable expression, willing him to agree and somehow knowing that his word— once given—wouldn’t be broken. “That’s not possible,” he growled. “You ask too much.” “Yet I ask for even more.” At his silence she said in a rush, “No more mind control—ever.” She was barely thinking straight but knew without doubt he was at his most susceptible now, the perfect time to use what feminine wiles she had. “I want to be joined with you—no one else—and with all my thoughts my own.” She slid a hand between his thighs, biting back a wanton groan at the heat and hardness she found. “Renate. Please. Say yes.”
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Chapter Three Renate leaned forward. His nostrils flared. “Yes.” She sucked in a breath. He’d agreed! But at what cost? She pushed a sudden attack of conscience aside. She had to think about herself, think what was best for her, for Bonnie. Not this alien who meant nothing to her. Nothing? Yeah, right. But then she was tucking her legs around his hips, aligning her pussy to his cock. In this moment she wouldn’t think on the fact she was fucking the enemy. All doubts and insecurities were set aside so that she could remember what is was to be alive. One of his hands clasped the base of his erection and he massaged the slippery flesh of her cunt with the head of his cock, stimulating her already sensitized nerve endings. She clamped her legs around him and pinned him with a hot glare. “No more teasing!” Please! He nodded, the cords of his neck standing out in sharp relief. “As you wish.” In one long stroke he drove into her slick heat, pushing the breath from her lungs and the voice from her throat. But she couldn’t have breathed, couldn’t have spoken even if she’d wanted. And then when he pulled out and thrust all the way back in, she couldn’t even think. Until some kind of shockwave hit deep in her womb and flashed along her every cell, a fiery charge of pleasure that left her reeling for one beat, then two. On the third she was climaxing hard, almost brutally, swept high and far until she wondered for one brief, incredulous moment if she was traveling along some other plane of being. “Yes.” Her voice returned on a strangled hiss of breath. He paused, holding back as if drinking in her rapture, the clenching of her cunt muscles. Then with a guttural groan he pushed deep inside her, his strokes long and fierce and unrelenting. His face clenched, skin pulling tight over sculpted cheekbones. A muscle jerked to life in his jaw and he let go, releasing his seed with a guttural moan. They stayed joined together for long moments, holding each other’s stares and breathing hard. She swallowed. “I don’t remember much from my past, but I’m certain sex has never been like this. Ever.” With anyone. 24
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He disengaged from her wet heat before shifting his weight off her. Lying on his side he drew her close. His stare was fathomless, yet somehow she perceived the conflicting undercurrents of his emotions. He nodded, voice husky as he said, “That goes for me too, kitten.” God, how much difference a day could make. She basked in the afterglow of their lovemaking, of knowing their union had been something beyond special. For both of them. With Renate’s strong arms wrapped around her, she felt a peace, a belonging she knew she’d never experienced with anyone before. It was as though a part of her had been missing, a part that was now returned. What, it takes a virus to wipe out almost all of humanity for you to find your soul mate? Guilt slid like a toxin through her radiance, dimming joy. Bloody hell. She couldn’t keep harboring such terrible thoughts. Like a cancer, they’d eat her alive. Though memories of the past hit her when she least expected, she wanted—needed—to look toward the future if she had even half a chance for a happily ever after. A future she’d never have believed was conceivable. God only knew the days since she’d woken with no memory at all had been a special kind of hell on earth. She breathed slowly and deeply, her thoughts drifting as she snuggled into the warmth of the sleeping bag, of the man beside her. The rain had stopped, and through the broken window she could see the dull haze of an orange sunset, signaling the day’s end. The storm had passed. She’d leave…soon. Minutes later, Renate’s breathing was strong and even, the sound of sleep. It seemed even powerful beings needed their rest. Her lips curled into a smile and her eyes slid closed.
***** She forced a smile at the elderly man beside her, whose breath smelled of garlic and cigars as he droned on about his investment portfolio and how much money he’d made the last financial year. She glanced at her husband sitting on her other side, hoping he’d take the hint and rescue her. But Luke’s interest had long ago been captured by Felicia, the very blonde, very attractive CEO of some important organization or another. Ally’s smile turned into a grimace. Clearly he found the other woman a much more fascinating and attractive dinner companion. Oh how she wished for something more than the scraps she’d been handed in the beauty department. Perhaps she wouldn’t be in this mess now, married for all of four months and the spark between her and Luke already faded to barely a glimmer.
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She tapped Luke’s designer-suited shoulder even as the old man leaned closer still and continued his self-important oration. Her husband twisted around with a faint frown. “Yes?” “Honey, I have a stinking headache. Would you mind—?” “Of course! You do look pale. Why didn’t you say so earlier?” He smiled a smile that reeked of satisfaction instead of concern. “I’ll call Anton and get him to drive you home.” She stared into his guileless hazel eyes. “Right. Thanks.” He leaned forward, pressing a quick kiss to her brow. And with his gaze already drifting to his voluptuous dinner companion, he murmured, “Don’t wait up.”
***** She jerked awake with a gasp, her skin clammy and heart thudding. She sat upright, pressing a hand to her forehead and only half-aware of the brightness of the morning outside that’d long ago chased away any chill in the air. Oh, god. Was that how her husband, the supposed love of her life, had treated her? Was that why something in her subconscious had been so ready to leave it all behind? Needed to leave it all behind? Bonnie’s tail thumped on the floor beside her, her black and white head lifting. Deciding her mistress wasn’t about to combust with emotion, she dropped her head back on to the floor, her eyes closing. If only my life were that simple. She started at little at Renate’s sudden touch. Shadows of sleep, of her past, faded as his large hand moved up and down her spine, soothing her—even as something delicious built and built, a desire to replicate what she’d experienced the night before. No. Last night she’d succumbed to some kind of sexual madness, a desperate yearning to be with someone else after so long alone. That. Was. All. His hand moved around to her front, beneath the tender swell of a breast. She froze. The pads of his fingertips skimmed over her nipple. She shivered involuntarily, arching just a little. She heard his faint groan a nanosecond before he circled around the puckered base of her nipple, then suddenly plucked. The mewl of need was all her own as fragile nerve endings burst into life. She arched right into the palm of his hand, wanting more. Much more. You hate aliens, remember? a little voice whispered. Ally stiffened. The sleeping bag rustled as Renate shifted forward. At her front, his hand trailed downward from her breasts. At her back, his lips were warm and his tongue wet as he pressed open-mouthed kisses halfway along her spine and then headed south.
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She bowed into his touch, trembling with need and defying the voice of reason. When his tongue swirled at the indent on the small of her back, she gasped at the shudders of sensation rippling deep into her belly and ever outward. His hand stilled between her thighs, cradling the outer folds of her pussy with its crisp, dark hairs. Damn, what I’d do for the luxury of a wax…a Brazilian. With a throaty growl Renate parted her labia. When he strummed her clit, all selfconscious thought fled and sensation descended, reawakening a burning desire that demanded to be sated. And suddenly making love to this alien was imperative, suddenly being joined to him felt all too right, the connection with him all too real. She twisted to face him, their sleeping bag bunching around them. She cupped his smooth face in her hands, drowning in the possessive glint in his stare. Her head lowered slowly, their gazes holding. Then her mouth sank onto his, flesh on flesh, lips scraping lips, their tongues meeting and dueling. She closed her eyes for a moment, giving into the sensation of lust rippling through her like an ever building wave. When her eyelashes flicked open she was halfway on top of him. And as their mouths parted and he reclined all the way back, she moved astride him, feeling so gloriously alive and yet so small and delicate to his largeness, his power. But it was a feeling of rightness, a feminine knowing that with him she would always be safe, protected. Her sigh came out on a quivering breath at the smooth bunching of his torso muscles beneath her thighs, at his adept hands cupping her butt and guiding her over his quickly thickening cock. God, it was so liberating to be naked and astride him while the green of his slumberous eyes awakened into the animalistic glow of a predator’s stare, hungry and shameless with need. Holding the base of his cock, she parted her thighs and lowered herself toward his thick staff, her cunt muscles clenching the second his cock nudged her silky-wet heat. She threw her head back—“Oh, god,”—and sank slowly on to his shaft, inch by glorious inch, muscles gripping him the whole way down. His breath abruptly whooshed as her pussy swallowed his cock right to its very base. She looked down at him, snaring his gaze. His eyes fairly burned and she smiled a wicked smile then arched her back and began to rhythmically move up and down, her breasts swaying, her wanton juices lubricating his cock. And then his outspread hands were on her hips and he was meeting her thrust for thrust, faster and harder. Just when she thought she’d fall from the precipice of sanity, his hands tilted her hips downward so that she ground against his cock, her clit sliding along his shaft. When the head of his cock hammered into her G-spot, he paused.
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She whimpered frustration, so very close. And he’d deliberately stopped at that point! She stared at him, aware he’d read in her expression something between entreaty, anger and shameless lust. He looked triumphant, knowing. Her breath abruptly hitched. Her eyes widened then squeezed shut. She cried out, jerking back as an electric charge blasted directly into the sensitized flesh deep inside and zapped every nerve ending she had into life. What the hell? Spasm after spasm rocked her from the inside out, pure voltages of pleasure that had her come like a bomb detonated, falling to pieces around him and making her only half aware of his release as he came in great, shooting spurts. His eyes glazed. He cried out her name, baring his razor-sharp back teeth. She slumped forward, the force of her climax leaving her sated but also drained. “You did that—that electric jolt thing?” she finally asked, voice breathless. His smile betrayed his satisfaction. “Apparently it’s something your human males lacked.” “You could say that.” She squirmed a little, aware his cock was already hardening inside her. It seemed endurance was yet another thing her male counterparts lacked. She closed her eyes, so very tempted to go for round three. Renate’s sudden bark of laughter was rich with humor and deep satisfaction. “As much as I want to indulge, my greedy little kitten, your human body can only take so much.” Her face heated. She couldn’t ever forget he could tap into her emotions. “Yes. Of course. I…I guess I should clean myself up. All I can smell is sex.” “And that’s a bad thing?” he drawled, one dark brow raised. She giggled, giving into her see-sawing emotions, the surreal sense of hysteria. “I don’t suppose anyone is going to call in and notice—” Her breath caught at the serious mask settling into place over his face. Her voice cracked. “Will they?” “If the other males should happen to come near, you will experience something we call trans-alien hypersensitivity. Their thoughts are centered on you now, and the closer they get to you the more heightened their awareness of you—and you of them.” His nostrils flared, hands curling into fists. “And the easier they will find you.” He cared enough to want her as his alone? She swallowed back a whole load of hope and grasped practicalities as though a life preserver in a churning sea of emotion. “This hypersensitivity…is that what helps you to exploit my mind?”
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“To a degree. Although many would argue it’s your emotions we manipulate. We feel what you feel.” He shrugged. “And if you’re terrified, angry, ashamed…we can absorb the worst of it.” Bonnie clambered to her paws before stretching her forelegs out in front for all she was worth. She trotted over to them as Ally retrieved her clothes. “Then I have to make sure your alien ‘friends’ never find me.” Denim shorts halfway up her thighs, Ally paused, throwing him a look of dawning comprehension. “This hypersensitivity is what I felt with you, wasn’t it? Even before I saw you I had this unsettling feeling I wasn’t alone.” He nodded and stood. Her mouth watered. His tall body was built like an athlete’s, rolling in tough, sinewy muscle. Everything was hard… She looked away and concentrated on securing her shorts’ button. As he tugged his pants up his thighs and over his cock, she dragged her tee over her head, her breasts. God, she’d never been this aware of anyone. Aware of a man’s body, her own body. It was as though every one of her senses were heightened—no, consumed at the very sight and touch of him. Bonnie sat, her eyes moving from Ally to Renate and then back again. She whined, and Ally crouched low. Bonnie went straight into her arms. “You’re hungry, aren’t you, girl? I’ll get your bowl and food—” “Allow me.” Renate riffled through her backpack before he discovered the bowl then pulled out a large can, its label revealing a picture of a happy pooch. He handed them to her and she pulled back the can’s ring pull and poured the contents into the bowl. Bonnie gulped the meaty chunks whole, and there was a smile in Renate’s voice as he said, “You will need to eat too and keep up your strength. I found some liquid I think you human’s drink in a busted-up machine.” “A vending machine?” “Vending machine,” he repeated, his expression becoming even more amused. He went to obtain whatever was left inside the vending machine, and she couldn’t help but admire his easy, graceful stride as he moved through the shop, the long muscles in his back shifting and flexing with his every movement. Poetry in motion. She snapped her eyes away. What is wrong with me? Yes, they had a connection that went beyond unearthly, but the reality was, he was an alien, one she barely knew. She’d evidently fallen for the wrong man once already, with Luke. And she shouldn’t forget, she’d be leaving here soon…alone. Just her and Bonnie. She pressed a hand between her breasts. The thought had cut like a knife. Sharp. Painful. Irrefutable.
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He returned with some cans of cola and three packets of crisps as she busied herself by pouring a little of the bottled water into Bonnie’s freshly licked-clean bowl. Get a grip. I’ve gone through a hell of a lot worse than leaving behind the man I just fucked. She accepted the cola with a remarkably steady hand and cracked it open, taking a long sip. The shockingly sweet, warm effervescence slid down her throat. She closed her eyes with a long sigh. Renate’s husky chuckle caused her eyelids to flutter apart. He gestured to the packet of crisps. “Please, try one of those next. I like watching you partake.” She grinned and tore the packet of barbecue crisps open. “Only if you try one too?” He put his hand into the proffered packet and pulled one free, frowning at its bland appearance. Then he took a bite, grimacing. “Perhaps it’s an acquired taste.” She bit into one, sighing with utter bliss as the smoky, salty flavor hit, reanimating her taste buds. “How can you say that? These are the bomb.” “The bomb?” She shrugged. “It’s a saying. Slang. It means something is really cool.” At his raised eyebrow, she added, “Really great.” “Ah. You’re the bomb to me, kitten.” She suppressed a smile even as her eyes burned a little, her throat thick as emotion threatened. She couldn’t help but wonder if he had any idea how saying as much meant to her, especially with her shorn hair and bedraggled looks. Couldn’t help but wonder if he knew how the thought of leaving him had just become that much harder. Clearing her throat, she threw one of the crisps to Bonnie. The dog caught it midair, crunched it once and then swallowed. With a wobbly smile Ally asked, “So what do you eat on your planet then?” “Everything we consume is in its natural state. Even our hot food is cooked by a plant called a sylak. It uses naturally occurring electromagnetic waves to bake its food.” It felt surprisingly good to talk about a neutral, safe topic. “So, you don’t use fire, electricity?” He shrugged. “Though we have many times greater technology and knowledge than your earth people, we respect the health of our planet and keep to the old ways where we can. As for fire, it is rarely used on Carèche. Our three suns keep the night away and most of the land is unbearably hot, with many deserts.” Bonnie abruptly growled. She raced toward the broken window and leaped outside. Above the frenzy of her barking, Ally heard the approaching whine of a UFO. She stared, for a moment too shocked to react. Oh god, no. “Bonnie!” Before she’d even moved, Renate had shouldered the backpack and held out his hand. “We have to leave.” She shook her head, heart fairly bursting from her chest. “Not without my dog.”
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His jaw hardened fractionally, but he relented with a nod. “There’s a door near the vending machine. Head that way. I’ll get your dog.” She swallowed. “Okay.” Her breath caught. Please hurry. Standing beside the back roller door, which would once have been the service entrance used for unloading goods, Ally heard another dog bark somewhere in the distance. She shivered. Please let the other dog distract the aliens from Bonnie. After what felt like hours, and would have been a few minutes at best, Renate returned with Bonnie. Her tongue lolled, her tail wagging as if she’d done her very best to please her mistress. Ally twined her arms around her doggy friend. “You know you have to stay with me at all times.” Renate waited for her to re-gather her composure. She’d wasted valuable time and yet he seemed to sense her need for reassurance. When he handed her the leash, she whispered, “Thank you.” He nodded understanding before turning his attention to the roller door. Unlocking its circular latch, he carefully rolled it upward and peered outside, into the heat wave of mid-morning. The whine of the UFO was still close and he turned to her, frowning. “We need to get out of here now. The mother ship is getting closer. The promised males on board will be able to pinpoint where you are through their trans-alien hypersensitivity if they get any closer.” Oh crap. His nostrils flared, and he searched her face. “Are you feeling something from them?” She stared back. “Nothing.” “Good.” One of his hands took hold of hers, his fingers squeezing reassurance. “Let’s go.”
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Chapter Four Renate felt the tension coil between his shoulders, in his gut. The feeling was much like the springs of a trampoline he’d seen on television, which human children had once used. Once used. He glanced over at Ally, wishing they could have met in any other circumstance. How she must hate him for what he and his kind had done to her race—if unwittingly. And now that he’d promised not to use mind manipulation, he had to trust that whatever she felt for him, would come to feel for him, would have to be enough. Yes, they were destined mates, but she was…different. She’d not succumbed so easily to him. Not until she’d been ready and willing. Somehow it made him desire her all the more. Made the promise that he’d not let the other alien males touch her that much easier to keep. Shame struck him in the guts like a sledge hammer. When it came down to it, he was a selfish bastard, looking out for his own self-interests instead of the good of his race. But in the end, wasn’t love the only thing that really mattered? And since Ally hadn’t left when the storm died out, maybe…just maybe, she was beginning to feel something for him too. He moved cautiously outside, pushing back the thousand and one thoughts plaguing him to focus on the reality of their situation. If he wasn’t more careful, their capture would be imminent. He glanced back at Ally, who was gripping his hand and following behind with a now subdued Bonnie walking alongside. He swallowed. He couldn’t allow that to happen, couldn’t let her fall in his alien comrades’ hands. Not now. In fact, he just might kill any male who touched her. Get a grip. Right then, the strange earth saying had merit. He looked skyward. Though the smoke had made the air outside a little hazy, the sun’s glint on the mother ship as it slowly revolved in the sky and turned back toward them was all too obvious. Bloody hell. He turned to Ally, surprised by her courage as she forced a smile. His belly twisted almost painfully. “You ready?” And at her nod, “Run!” He didn’t let go of her hand as they raced along the street, rounding corners, dodging stationary cars and even a couple of buses. But all too soon he could hear Ally’s gasping breaths, was aware of her slowing steps, her struggle to keep going.
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When he scooped her into his arms, she clung to Bonnie’s leash as tightly as she did to his shoulders. She was almost sobbing in his ear as he charged even faster down the different streets, deliberately scouting out the more densely housed estates to better lose themselves in. Smoke filled his lungs. Ally wheezed out a cough. He frowned. Although fresh air would be appreciated right then, the denser and thicker smog gave them a much more effective concealment. He paused only when he came to a narrow street, lined with huge old gum trees and dilapidated houses with handkerchief-sized yards. In front of a wooden, single garage that jutted out almost to the street, he placed Ally carefully on her feet. “We’ve lost them.” For now. He didn’t tell her that if they’d been seen, they would never have gotten away. Or perhaps they had been seen, and his alien brothers were even now deciding what to do about his defection. He had no doubt Ezra, one of the alien’s three kings, would have quite a bit to say, and not in a positive light. He held Ally’s hands as she swayed for a moment, looking like innocence itself. His heart clamped tight. He knew all too well many of the horrors she would have witnessed. But she was a survivor in more than just the physical sense. Beneath her insecurities beat the heart of a proud warrior. He brushed back a longer strand of her hair, which seemed out of place against the rest of her brutally short, reddish dark mane. She was so beautiful. So courageous and strong. And she was…his. Undeniably. Categorically. His. She just didn’t know it yet. “I…I cut it myself,” she admitted in a small voice. She frowned a little. “It used to be really long and quite…quite beautiful. But without running water to wash it and keep it clean, it seemed silly really—” Leaning forward, he pressed his mouth against hers, sucking on her lower lip and running his tongue across the fleshy, too-kissable pad. He pulled back, his breathing ragged. “You’re perfect.” Her beautiful gray-green eyes widened. “You really mean that, don’t you.” It wasn’t a question, but somehow he felt compelled to answer. “We’re made for each other. Everything about you turns me on. Your face. Your body. Your heart. Your soul.” She grinned then. “The way my breasts fill your hands like your cock fills my—” He kissed her again then, and they broke into gasping-for-breath laughs as a weird hysteria gripped them both. A hysteria that was edged with fervor and need.
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Ally pulled back with a gasp at a sudden noise above their heads. Renate glanced up at the pair of birds—pigeons?—that had taken flight. A ginger cat peered over the eaves of the garage roof, staring at them with big, hungry yellow eyes. Bonnie strained against the leash and Renate said sternly, “No.” The dog sat back on her haunches, beseeching them with a whining noise that let them know she was willing and eager for a chase. But Ally was busy murmuring to the cat, which was pushing its broad orange head into Ally’s outstretched hand, purring loudly and ignoring the dog so far below. “Isn’t he a beautiful boy?” she praised. “And so friendly.” Renate felt a silly grin stretch his lips. If he was the cat he’d be begging for attention too. “The cat likes you.” Ally turned. Looking up at him, her smile lit up her sooty, dirty face like a highwattage light bulb in a darkened room. “Dogs and cats don’t often get along. And cats are…well, they’re aloof but not stupid. This one is probably hoping for something to eat.” Her head tilted to the side as she considered him. “Does your planet have cats?” “No. Zadmets are probably the closest thing we have to them, except they’re bigger, about half the size of Bonnie. Their fur is coarser and a mottled red and brown—most of our animals are different shades of red to blend in with our deserts.” “Did you keep one as a pet?” He shook his head, smiling at the thought. “Only a fool would try.” “Oh?” “Zadmets have massive claws housing dozens of naturally occurring shock cells. When their claws retract they’re harmless, unsheathed they’re deadly.” “Wow. Your planet sounds amazing. Dangerous…but definitely amazing.” Nostalgia for his home world swept through him. Would he ever see his planet again? His apparent betrayal would likely see him become an outcast. Like father, like son. “Yes. In many ways it is.” He tamped down the mix of melancholy and pain, indicating the small house. “This looks as good as any place to rest for a few hours.” She nodded, but he sensed her reserve. At the screen door he asked, “Are you okay?” She gnawed her bottom lip. “I’m just afraid of what we might find inside.” “I’ll go first and take a look. If I find anything, we’ll go elsewhere.” Her relief was palpable. “Thank you.” He pressed a quick kiss to her brow. “Don’t go anywhere, hmm?” Then he was opening the squeaky screen door and turning the handle of the wooden door. A closed-up mustiness pervaded the place. Urine and worse. His nose wrinkled and he wished right then for the inferior scent ability of a human. Clearly small animals had
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moved in. A little brown shape scuttled across the floorboards then disappeared behind a glass cupboard. What did the humans call them? Mouse? Mice? There was no scent of rotting flesh, no human bodies decomposing. He glanced in the direction the mouse creature had disappeared. At least not anymore. He returned to front door, opening the screen. “It’s clear.” “Thank god,” she breathed. He brushed a hand down her cheek. What he’d do to be able to take her back to his planet and court her like real lovers did. He’d take such pleasure showing her the world he’d left behind. The great red-gold cliffs that reared high into a red-tinged sky, like earth’s sunset smeared thick across a canvas. The magnificent creatures, big and small. The beautiful but often deadly plants. And then when he’d made love to her, again and again, until her throat was dry from calling out his name, he’d leave her to sleep off the pleasant weariness of great sex while he prepared her dinner using his favorite Carèche delicacies. Perhaps the fragrant, melt-in-the-mouth caltronian meat, wrapped in the leaves of a shanash vine, where every bite released a different flavor. And to finish, the creamy, purple innards of the lekkle fruit with its odd, spicy aftertaste. Afterward, he’d pour her a lakroda, Carèche’s answer to liquor on a vine. They’d sip on the minty, spicy liquor, sharing long looks and yearning smiles… Ally brushed past him and headed toward the kitchen, Bonnie at her heels. With a heavy sigh, he stepped aside to close the door. The ginger cat shot up the footpath and squeezed through the narrowing gap, meowing as if he’d just come home. Perhaps he had. Renate crooked a brow and with exaggerated politeness said to the odd animal, “Do come in.” The door clicked shut behind him when the noise of running water sounded. Ally jumped up and down, clapping her hands and squealing. “It works! The water actually works!” He followed her into the kitchen, where she stood on tiptoes and leaned over the sink. She pressed her brow against the window pane that overlooked the back yard and exclaimed, “Oh, they have a water tank on a stand! No wonder. It’s gravity fed.” She turned around, straight into his arms. “I can have a shower—a cold shower—but still!” “Mind if I join you?” he asked huskily. She hit him playfully. “That’s such a man thing to say.” “It is?” He cupped her chin, holding her gaze to his. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Her breath caught. “Neither, really. It’s just typical of a male—clearly from any planet.” “Mm.” he leaned down, taking her lips with his own and murmuring between long, luxurious kisses, “Is this typical of a male, too?” 35
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“Yes,” she breathed. Her lashes dropped. “But not here, not in the kitchen.” His grin felt all kinds of wicked when he teased, “I don’t see anyone watching, if that’s what worrying you.” She gestured helplessly behind him. “Bonnie and Leopold might be…” “Leopold?” She twined her arms around the back of his neck, lashes fluttered upward. “He deserves his own name, doesn’t he?” His hands cupped her ass and he lifted her up. She shrieked a little and then giggled helplessly. And as she wrapped her legs around his hips, his grin stretched even wider. “Leopold it is,” he agreed. Her head resting against his shoulder as he carried her into the bathroom, she clung to him as if she’d never let go. And something in his chest almost hurt at this unwitting trust she placed in him—without even one bit of mind control. He placed her on her feet on the dirty, off-white tiles with the matching colored walls. Right then he didn’t care about their surrounds and he knew Ally didn’t either. They could have been in a palace for all the notice they took, their eyes only for each other. He helped her take off her boots and socks, then her clothes. When she returned the favor and peeled off his pants, her hands were noticeably unsteady. They kissed again, tongues joining and lips urgently mashing together. His cock throbbed hard and insistent against her belly. But somehow he found restraint and said hoarsely, “Let’s get clean first.” “Mm. Fuck hard later,” she declared with deliberate coarseness. His cock leapt in response, the growl that ruptured from his throat low and loud. Her breath hissed, and she pulled away a little to fumble with the shower taps. Water spluttered sluggishly, then hissed out in a cold stream. She pointed to a bottle. “Would you mind passing the liquid soap from the vanity?” “Soap?” he murmured, retrieving it. “Ah. This is the stuff you clean yourself with. It’s the same that my queen uses.” Ally nodded absently, unable to think about the queen or anyone else. And as she closed her eyes all her thoughts centered on Renate and the feelings he created in the most secret places within. She was aware his hungry stare would be reflected in her own. Everything she felt was powerful, undeniable. Irrefutable. But are those feelings really my own? She trusted his word not to use mind control again, but her skeptical side couldn’t fathom that all the hatred she’d held for the aliens had been exonerated so effortlessly by this one alien.
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Hell, she’d had the chance to leave once the storm had cleared—and she hadn’t— she’d been too busy taking part in a fervent storm of their own making. When she stepped under the spray of icy cold water, the sharp gasp that left her lips had little to do with the temperature. All her doubts were washed away like the dirt on her skin as Renate’s large hands massaged soap over her shoulders, down her spine and along her buttocks. He worked a lather of shampoo through her hair and she leaned against him, her spine aligning to his chest, her buttocks to his strong thighs. She handed him the bottle of conditioner sitting in an alcove beside the shampoo, sighing bliss as he worked that through her short hair, massaging deep. And as the water rinsed her hair clean, he spun her around. She was a puppet to his command, a willing servant to the master. With the cold curtain of water pummeling them, he used a hand to part her labia. And without preliminary, one of his fingers sunk in deep. “Renate,” she breathed. Another finger slid in deep, joining the other. Then he was pressing in and out, deliberately grazing along her clit with every motion until her entire being was flooded with sensation, with sharp needs not quite fulfilled. “You like this?” he growled. “You. Know. I. Do.” Her words sounded more like a drawn-out whimper. But she didn’t care. She wanted more. She wanted everything. Another finger joined in with the first two. “Just say the word.” Oh. God. “Say it,” he groaned. “I want you,” she groaned. “Only. You.” He withdrew his hand. And with an effortless strength that was a turn-on all on its own, he lifted her high. The tiles were cold against her back as she tucked her legs around his hips. His cock was all blatant heat as he guided it with a hand to the entrance of her moist cunt. Their gazes locked. His stare drilled into hers, his eyes all possessive intent. Then he drove forward, filling her pussy with his hard shaft. Pushing into her until she wondered if she just might die from the sheer pleasure-pain of it all. He withdrew slowly, inch by torturous inch, pushing her right to the edge. “Renate—” He plunged back inside her and hit her with an electric charge, stimulating her nerve-endings into immediate gratification as she came with an abruptness that took away her breath. Her mind.
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She screamed his name, pitched heavenward into a pleasure that rocked her to the core. And then he followed, coming into her and hollering a pleasure that echoed her own, his liquid warm seed shooting deep. Her muscles felt as though they’d turned to mush when she at last untangled her legs from his hips and slumped against him, the water pouring over them like a benediction to their lovemaking. Lovemaking? She squeezed her eyes closed. Impossible. She’d known Renate for all of two days. And yet it feels as if I’ve known him my whole life. Renate’s breath was warm on her ear, startling her out of such intense thoughts as he murmured, “Are you all right, kitten?” Her eyelids flicked apart. He was watching her. Closely. He knows. “I…I’m not sure.” And as if aware she wasn’t ready just yet to face such a profound truth, he said, “Let’s see if we can find you some clean clothes, hmm.” She let out a slow breath. “Good idea.” A good ten minutes later they were clean, dry and dressed. He in his odd, alien long pants that never seemed to get dirty and she in a pair of too-big denim jeans and a white, oversized short-sleeved blouse. For the time being she left her feet bare, luxuriating in the blessed lightness as she moved through the house. She glanced at the round wall clock that ticked in the silence. 1.15 pm. Her stomach growled as she headed to the pantry. Relief coursed through her as she saw the contents. She turned to Renate. He was reclining on an overstuffed chair, the ginger cat curled up on his lap and undoubtedly purring like an engine, Bonnie at his feet. A smile stretched her face. If she didn’t know better she’d say Renate was the epitome of domesticity. She cleared her throat and announced, “There’s enough food here to make a decent lunch. And since this house has a gas stove and running water I’m going to cook us up a feast.” He smoothed a hand over the back of Leopold’s back, his eyes slumberous and possessive all at once. “You’re cooking for me?” “Don’t worry, you’re in safe hands. In fact, I can rustle up a mean meal when the mood takes me.” “On my world, when a woman cooks for a man, it’s a sign of her commitment.” “Really? Then I better make sure I don’t burn the water.” At his raised brow, she swung away with a repressed giggle, retrieving saucepans and putting them on the gas stove. She paused at the pantry doors. When was the last time she’d been so happy? She pressed a hand to her head. A memory surfaced, hitting hard.
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***** She couldn’t hold back the grin plastered to her face as she pushed open the front door. Pregnant. At last. She could hardly believe it. She’d taken the afternoon off work to see the doctor, hoping against hope that the queasiness she’d experienced the last few weeks really was from what she’d suspected. They’d been trying for months now to conceive. She’d caught a taxi straight away and rode the dozen blocks to Luke’s firm, only to be told by his receptionist that he’d left work early too. Please be home. She didn’t want to tell him the good news over his cell phone. She wanted to see his joy, bask in his pleasure. He wasn’t anywhere downstairs, though she found his tailor-made jacket slung over the balustrade. She arched a brow, plucking it on the way upstairs to the second story. That was so unlike Luke. He was fastidious to a fault. He was probably in all kinds of hurry for a shower. No doubt he came home to get refreshed before leaving for another interminable meeting. It made sense he’d wear his jacket again. She cradled her still-flat belly, where butterflies danced and jived inside. What if he wasn’t happy with the news? What if he’d decided, after all this waiting, that two children were more than enough? Turning left at the stairs, she rounded the hallway and headed toward the main bedroom. She heard the shower running full tilt. Tossing his jacket over a nearby chair, she shrugged free of her fitted, charcoal coat and threw it beside Luke’s, then unbuttoned her silky, egg-shell colored blouse as she headed for the en suite. She licked her bottom lip. She felt inclined to share more than some good news. Toeing off her high heels, she walked on silent, stockinged feet into the bathroom. Beside the large, shiny white bathtub, she froze, hardly able to comprehend the scene before her. Luke’s buttocks were pressed against the clear Perspex of the shower stall, his spine arching out and arms above his head as he clasped the edging of the Perspex. Sharing the shower with him, on her knees, was blonde-headed Felicia. The CEO’s head bobbed up and down as she sucked his cock for all she was worth. “That’s it,” he grunted, hips surging back and forth against her mouth, “suck it, baby. Then I’ll go down on you before I fuck you hard, just the way you like it.” You don’t do oral sex! But no words formed. Nothing could get past her stone-dry throat as the room abruptly lurched around her.
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She came to on a hard bed, breathing in the dreaded antiseptic scent associated with a hospital. Luke’s physician waited by her side. And as her eyelids fluttered open he gently explained how her fainting had caused her to fall hard against the bathtub, causing a miscarriage. She turned away. She knew without a doubt what—no, who—had been the cause.
***** “Are you all right?” She drew in a shaky breath, brought back to the present by Renate’s concerned voice behind her. No. “Yes. Yes, of course.” “No you’re not.” Placing his hands on her shoulders, he gently turned her around. When she didn’t look at him, he clasped her chin and lifted her gaze to his. “Be honest with me, kitten.” One of his thumbs blotted the moisture beneath her eye. Tears? More emotions threatened to spill over and she sucked in a breath, choosing anger over pain. “Or what, you’ll manipulate my mind again?” His eyes darkened. “I made a promise I wouldn’t mess with your mind again and I meant it.” And you’ll keep your vow, unlike my husband. She nodded. “Of course.” Not all men were lying bastards. “Ally, I’m a good listener, if that helps?” he murmured wryly. She rubbed a splayed hand along her belly. She bit into her bottom lip, fighting back more tears. “I was pregnant. And I…I lost the baby.” He took her into his arms. “I’m sorry.” She added in a choked-up voice, “I…lost the baby after I found my husband with another woman.” His muscles bunched around her. “The bastard,” he breathed into her hair. “This man married you and yet still he lay with another?” “Yeah, well, believe it or not, infidelity is not all that uncommon,” she sniffled. “On Carèche it is a crime of the highest order.” She pulled back and stared up at him, overwrought with emotion and yet somehow curious, too. “You take commitment that seriously?” His eyes fairly blazed with righteous anger. “We do. And even if we didn’t, I’d never abuse your love like that.” She managed a wobbly smile, trying not to read too deep into his statement. “I’m starting to think I really like your planet.”
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Her heart stuttered. Like you. She stepped back. “I believe I have some cooking to do.” He nodded, expression inscrutable. “Is this your roundabout way of telling me to get lost?” She released a breath. “You know, sometimes I think you really are human.”
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Chapter Five Ally turned off the gas stovetop and leaned over the three saucepans bubbling away. She breathed in the fragrant smells. Yum. One saucepan held the contents of a can of vegetable soup; another one a can of braised steak. The last saucepan steamed with a packet of chicken noodles—out of date, but she didn’t have the luxury of being fussy. She ladled a generous spoonful from each saucepan into two clean bowls and placed them on the table. Renate sat at one of the chairs, looking awkward and uncomfortable. Did they not use chairs on his planet? She picked up her spoon and took a mouthful. O.M.G. It tasted divine. The first hot, decent meal she’d had since her memory loss. Renate watched her carefully. She smiled and leaned across the table to dip his spoon into the broth. “Here.” She offered the spoonful of hot food to him and he obediently opened his mouth. His lips closing over it, she pulled the spoon free, giggling at the long noodle left dangling from between his lips. “Suck it up,” she said. At his perplexed frown, she twirled her spoon around one of the noodles in her bowl. Deliberately allowing the noodle to dangle from her lips like his, she drew it slowly into her mouth. “See? Just like that.” He sucked and the noodle disappeared. “I’m starting to like your human food,” he acknowledged with a wry grin. They ate the rest of the noodle, beef and vegetable soup concoction in shared silence, before she doled out the leftovers between Bonnie and Leopold. Placing her empty bowl on the sink, she turned and observed the dog and cat as they ate. “Look, they’re already friends.” She felt proud somehow, in the same way a parent would of two bickering children suddenly playing nicely together. She closed her eyes for a moment, joy dimming as she unconsciously pressed a hand to her belly, all too aware of the sudden ache inside, the void. “So they are.” Renate’s warm chuckle filled a little of the emptiness within. And as he placed his bowl and cutlery in the sink with hers and rinsed them beneath the water, he turned to her and said, “Thank you for cooking your earth meal. It was very enjoyable.” The ache disappearing, she didn’t need to force another smile. His appreciation left her feeling ridiculously pleased. “Technically, I just heated the food.”
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He stepped toward her, his mouth covering hers until tingles of desire were shooting from her lips to her toes and back. When he finally drew back he said huskily, “You fed me. All else is irrelevant.” When she walked back to the pantry, she wondered if she just might be walking on air, despite the weariness that had descended upon her like a lead weight. “I think I’ll be getting me some more of that canned food.” Renate’s voice held amusement, though the topic was all too serious. “I’m going to search the house, see if there’s anything useful we can take with us tonight.” She swung the pantry door closed and turned toward him. “Tonight?” she breathed. “What about the wild dogs outside?” “It’s a risk we’ll have to take. Nighttime means there’s less chance we’ll be seen by my alien brothers, even with the mother ship’s sensors.” “Sensors?” she repeated. Though chairs—even a spoon—seemed a mystery to Renate, she had no doubt the aliens’ technology would be far superior. They had arrived here from another galaxy, after all. “Yes.” A sick feeling inside her gut told her Renate wasn’t telling her everything. Should the alien ship have found them already? Were the aliens playing with them? Renate dipped his head toward the hallway. “I found a locked cabinet in the study. I’m hoping it holds a gun or some kind of weapon to better protect us.” She shuddered. She hated guns, loathed them. But in the circumstances, there really wasn’t a lot of choice. “You know how to use a gun?” He nodded. “We have similar weapons we use to hunt caltronians.” At her perplexed look he added, “Caltronians are big, ferocious beasts. They’ve been known to tear even the best hunters in half with a single swipe of their claws. They also happen to have the most flavorsome meat you could eat and their red fur makes for the softest bedding.” Her eyes widened. If the alien males had a similar physique and strength to Renate, then the beasts must be very big and powerful indeed. “Even so, I’m pleased we don’t have anything the same on our planet.” His expression was all fierce adoration. “I’d protect you, kitten.” Her chest hurt at his words that were said with absolute conviction. “I think you just might.” Her chin tilted a little. “Although I know how to look after myself.” She’d been alone—and alive—long enough to prove it. He smiled gently. “You most certainly do.” His eyes narrowed a little, examining her face. Apparently she looked as bone-weary as she felt. “Perhaps you should get some sleep?” he suggested. “There’ll be no time for that luxury later tonight.” She let out a sigh, sagging a little. “I think I might.” Bonnie’s nails clicked on the linoleum floor as she followed her mistress down the hallway and into the smaller, less musty bedroom. Ally stroked the dog’s head before 43
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she went in search of the linen cupboard. Then stripping the double bed of its sheets, pillow slips and quilt cover, she changed them for fresh ones. Climbing under the covers with Bonnie flopping on to the floor beside the bed, Ally’s eyes drifted closed to the sound of Renate’s quiet tread on the floorboards in the room next door while he rummaged around—looking for a key to the locked cabinet? She snuggled deeper into the surprisingly comfortable mattress. It was odd just how reassuring it was to have someone else around, despite the fact his alien friends were looking for him…for her. Renate had promised he’d not share her with any other alien men. Even with her reservations, she could only trust him in that. Leopold let out a plaintive meow from the hallway before his orange head appeared around the doorway. His eyes widened with a feline flash of triumph when he saw her. The next moment he raced into the room and bounded on to the bed, his claws digging in and out of the quilt as he loudly purred. Ally couldn’t help but smile. And as she drifted into sleep she realized in that moment everything felt almost…normal.
***** “A divorce?” Luke sounded incredulous. He glowered at her, as though her request was absurd and something he’d not even contemplated. “What about the kids? You leaving will destroy them.” Ally closed his office door behind her. Pressing outspread hands on his polished mahogany desk, she leaned forward, the dominant position helping to strengthen her resolve and feel every inch in control. “What about you, Luke? How do you feel about me leaving?” His eyes narrowed in a pinched face. In that moment he looked older than his thirty-four years. “I don’t want you to go.” She stared at him. “No undying words of love? No promises to never stray again?” He had the grace to look shame-faced. She straightened. “Tell the kids I’m sorry—sorry I couldn’t turn a blind eye to your fucking any beautiful woman who takes your fancy. I’m sure they’ll understand why I had to leave.” Ripping free her gold wedding ring, she tossed it on his desk, ridiculously lightened by its absence on her finger. And as she spun away and opened his office door, she couldn’t help but feel just a little bit pleased when Luke called out her name with a note of desperation. As the door clicked firmly shut behind her, she didn’t look back.
*****
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She woke with Renate’s arms around her, his warmth surrounding her. She sighed. Luke had never made her feel this protected, this…loved. With Renate she felt adored. Beautiful. She pressed closer to all his hard length, enjoying his musculature. He was so big. And so damn handsome it almost hurt to look at him. It seemed inconceivable that he could want her. Yet every look he cast her way was full of longing, every touch full of wanting. She sat with a frown, deeply unsettled. But it wasn’t anything to do with her elated thoughts. It was something else entirely. At the foot of the bed, Leopold rolled onto his back and stretched with feline bliss. She hardly noticed. Carefully extricating herself from Renate’s arms, she left his beckoning warmth and moved on silent feet to the small window. Outside the sky was darkening, shadows lying long on the ground. The air was silent and unnaturally still. Too still? Bonnie moved from beside the bed and sat next to her and Ally absently ran a hand over her head. What had woken her from such a deep sleep? The bed creaked behind her, sheets rustling. This once she took little notice of Renate. Not with alarm pushing her throat almost closed. “Ally, what is it?” “They’re coming,” she whispered. She couldn’t see any craft. She didn’t need to. Renate’s words came back to her as if he was saying them right then. If the other males should happen to come near, you will experience something we call trans-alien hypersensitivity. Their thoughts are centered on you now, and the closer they get to you the more heightened their awareness of you—and you of them. And the easier they will find you. His hands encircled her forearms and he turned her around, snapping her from whatever it was that had her frozen at the window. “Let’s get out of here,” he growled. She nodded. And it took just seconds for her to clip on Bonnie’s leash and scoop up the cat—she wouldn’t leave Leopold to starve inside the house. As Renate slung the backpack over a shoulder they raced for the back door. Leopold hissed, aware of the tension, or perhaps he sensed the craft heading their way. Ally put the ginger cat on to the long grass outside, trying not to think about what might happen to him when they were gone. He’d survived this long, it stood to reason he’d survive many more years to come. The still dusk air abruptly vibrated with sound overhead. Oh. Shit. With one hand snared in Renate’s, her other hand wrapped around Bonnie’s leash, she ran for all she was worth, pulse pounding as she sprinted beside Renate. Adrenaline
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tore through her veins with the knowledge that this time they just might not outrun and hide from the craft closing in above them. Renate pulled her into an alleyway, where big buildings loomed either side of a narrow lane and shielded them in shadows. The aircraft that slid above the buildings emitted a high-pitched whine. And as the sound receded, Renate said urgently, “We don’t have much time before they return. We have to keep going.” Chest heaving and lungs burning, all she could think about was the deep knowing she was “felt” by the aliens promised to her. She gave a jerky nod and he squeezed her hand in return. They took off sprinting down the ever-darkening alleyway, their footsteps echoing eerily and all too loud. Bonnie emitted a ragged growl a nanosecond before Ally saw the flash of hungry eyes ahead. She stilled beside Renate as shapes emerged from the shadows. Feral dogs. A dozen or more of them. She shuddered. She didn’t need sunlight to imagine their sharp fangs, their ribbed and undernourished bodies after gorging for so long on human remains— and then nothing. Renate pulled a rifle out of the backpack. And without taking his eyes off the dogs he said softly, “Back away slowly. The moment even one of them breaks from the pack, you run like hell. Get out of the alley and find somewhere to hide. Take Bonnie, she’ll protect you.” “I’m. Not. Leaving. You.” He leveled the gun at the dogs. “Just this once please do as I say.” When she stayed put, unwilling to leave, he said hoarsely, “Go!” No! I can’t lose you! She swallowed past the fear and grief lodging inside her throat. “I don’t want you to be a hero.” She backed away a few steps, heart in her throat, her pulse flailing loudly in her ears. Tears were streaming down her face but she barely noticed, too focused on the alien who was more man than anyone she’d ever known. She took another couple of backward steps, all too aware the dogs were moving toward them, step-for-step. Tears flowed harder. “Did you hear me, Renate? Don’t be a hero. Don’t you dare die on me!” The dogs abruptly broke formation. Bonnie whined, fearful. Only then did Ally spin around and push into a run. Gunshot ricocheted in the alley, thunderous in her ears. She heard a yelp, followed by another shot. There’s so many of them. He’ll never make it. A loud thud sounded and then another. Renate had been reduced to striking the attacking dogs with the rifle butt? Snarls echoed down the alley, along with an all-toohuman curse.
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Heart in her throat, Ally veered left at the end of the dark lane, perceiving he and Bonnie weren’t alone. She risked a glance over her shoulder. Oh, hell. Four dogs had broken from the pack and followed, their flashing eyes revealing their intent to kill. A warehouse loomed ahead. A handful of steps led to a small concrete landing and a steel door. Oh, god. Please don’t let the door be locked. She heard a savage growl—so close! She half-screamed as a dog leaped and hit her from behind, its dead weight bouncing against her spine as its canines sank deep. She kept right on running. If she stopped she’d be dead. It was as simple and as terrifying as that. She heaved out a sob as a chunk of her flesh gave way, tearing free. Warmth poured down her back and the dog fell to the ground with a snarl. Bonnie strained against the leash, all but pulling Ally up the warehouse steps. Breath rasping, Ally fumbled for the door handle. It didn’t budge. Bloody. Fucking. Hell. She twisted to face the dogs, scanning desperately for a weapon—anything. Bonnie stood her ground, hackles standing on end and her teeth bared as she growled. The big tan dog in front revealed bloodied canines, his top lip curling high. Oh, shit. This was undoubtedly the dog that’d attacked her. And by the way he stalked forward and the others fell back at his flanks, he was the alpha male, the top dog. She’d need to take him out first. Lop the head off the dragon. If only she had something to defend herself with aside from her bare hands. The lead dog suddenly leaped, hitting her chest and knocking her to the ground. As another two dogs fell on Bonnie, Ally pulled her knees up to her chest and kicked out hard. One of her feet connected to the alpha’s thick snout, the other on his barrel chest. He let out an irate yelp, slamming into another one of his pack members. She glanced over at Bonnie. Her dog labored under the double attack and was struggling to stay on her feet. Bloody hell. She sucked in a desperate breath. The dogs were taking out Bonnie so the alpha could dispatch Ally without any outside threats. It was human meat these animals craved. She moved backward, slipping in something wet. She looked down. And froze. Blood, and lots of it. Hers? Everything abruptly spun around her. She battled not to pass out, not to give in. And didn’t even see the alpha dog until he bit deep into her thigh. She screamed at the piercing pain. The dog shook his head, shredding right through her jeans and savaging her flesh. She struggled, growing weaker and more ineffectual by the second. But somehow she took absurd comfort in the fact she’d gone numb to any pain. 47
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Gunshot boomed, much closer this time. Or was she dreaming? Then she heard Renate’s frantic shout. “Ally!” Everything blurred and her eyes fluttered closed. Her lips tilted into a half-smile. Renate was alive.
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Chapter Six Sounds infiltrated Ally’s consciousness. The murmur of voices. The soft tread of someone moving around. Strange scents filled her sinuses. Rich earth and something sharper, more pungent. Foreign. She moved a little, aware of something extremely soft beneath her spine. “She is waking, my friend.” Who the hell is that? She frowned, struggling to open her eyes. A hand moved gently over her brow. “Ally, can you hear me?” Renate. Oh, thank god. She pushed into his hand. “Yes.” His relieved sigh fanned her face. Warm. Comforting. His thumb stroked her toohot skin as he murmured heavily, “You’re okay. Thank the gods.” Her eyelids strained apart. Light hit her pupils and she turned away with a moan, waiting as her vision adjusted. Damn. Her head felt all kinds of fucked up, her stiff muscles and aching bones telling her she’d been hit by a truck, or worse. “Where am I?” she managed. Hell, it even hurt to speak. “You’re on the mother ship, kitten.” She shrank back, breath hissing. No! And then it all came back to her. Escaping the mother ship. Racing down the dark Ally. The dog attack. Her eyelids jerked wide apart. Pain lashed her head, her eyeballs. Her leg and back. Fuck. Renate’s large form blurred before her, then came into focus. “They caught us?” she asked, horror thickening her voice. “No. I…I brought you here.” At her obviously shell-shocked look, he gathered one of her hands in his and said hoarsely, “I had no choice. You needed help.” Something inside her chest tore. She’d been wrong about Renate. He was no different to the other men she’d had in her life. She snatched her hand free. “You lied to me.” He frowned but didn’t deny it. She wasn’t even sure if that was a good or a bad thing. Tears threatened. She willed them away. Even if it killed her she wouldn’t allow him to see the depth of her hurt. Another alien stepped close. She stiffened, unconsciously shrinking back. His eyes, the color of a cold, mysterious sea, narrowed as he studied her, before he looked to
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Renate and back to her again. He was more finely boned than Renate, and his honeycolored hair drifted to the shoulders of his orange coat. This was undoubtedly the man…alien, she’d heard as she’d come to. She lifted her chin and glowered. He was beautiful. And yet he did nothing for her. He didn’t sing to her soul. Renate…he’d been her everything. The alien turned to her former lover. In impeccable English he said, “You should leave. She needs to rest.” Renate opened his mouth and the other alien interjected, “She won’t be seeing anyone else.” Anyone else? As in the other alien men I’m apparently promised to? She pressed her hands to her face, but it didn’t stop Renate’s fierce voice from penetrating her numbed mind. “Ally, I did what I had to do to keep you alive. Maddox has a gift with plants, a gift with healing.” Even with her voice muffled by her hands, none would mistake its note of bitterness, even self-pity. “You should have let the dogs finish me off.” His shock pressed against her senses like a heat wave. Her hands locked harder over her face as she repressed a stupid need to appease him. She was so not going there. When she heard his heavy tread moving away, her hands dropped and she looked up, watching his rigid shoulders push through a throng of broad, leafy plants. Her heart skipped a beat. “Wait!” As Renate paused, her eyes scanned the room, with its huge domed ceiling and enormous orb of light high above, like an artificial sun. Though a wall of plants prevented her from seeing too far, behind her some sort of transparent substance revealed the drop to another floor below. Aliens moved beneath, in and out of her field of vision. She turned back to Renate, a sick feeling churning in her gut. “Where is Bonnie?” He turned slowly to face her, his posture stiff. She glowered, but her voice cracked when she repeated, “Where. Is. She?” “I had to leave her,” he conceded gruffly. She shook her head. “No.” Tears welled, then slid down her cheeks. She didn’t have any strength left to block them. Not anymore. “No. Please, no.” He took a step forward. The other alien held up a commanding hand. Renate’s eyes glistened. “I’m sorry.” When he turned away and retreated through the plants, she couldn’t stop the shudders of betrayal racking her body. She’d lost her beloved dog. And now…now she’d lost all faith in the one man she’d thought had been different from all others. The alien cleared his throat. “I will have our queen pay you a visit.”
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She froze. “No!” She shook her head. She’d lost everything and everyone she’d ever cared about. No amount of persuading would ease her pain. “I don’t want to see anyone.” Maddox stiffened. “Renate didn’t inform you our queen is human?” She wilted a little under his stare. “Yes. I guess he did. I…I just want my dog back.” The alien male stared at her as if she was mad, and who could blame him? She’d dismissed the idea of meeting another earth survivor with an even greater urge to find Bonnie. What this male didn’t understand was that her dog had kept her sane, kept her going when some days she wondered if she could. Bonnie had been her best friend. The alien’s face settled into an inscrutable, beautiful mask. “That isn’t possible. We are far away from where your dog was left behind. The craft is set on course for another earth woman who was detected by our sensors.” Ally struggled to her feet but staggered back. “No!” The alien crouched beside her. He pressed a round cup to her lips. “Drink this, it will help you to sleep, help take away your pain and your single-mindedness on everything negative.” I’ve just lost everyone I’ve ever loved and he calls it negative? She glared. “I don’t want it.” He raised a brow. “Renate brought you to us just in time. You suffered major blood loss and serious bite wounds. My plant tonics have already helped you to heal and regenerate your blood, but you need more.” Her lips pressed tighter. He sighed. “Drink the tonic willingly or have it poured down your throat by force. Your choice.” “No mind games, then?” she asked with bitter-sweetness. At his inscrutable expression, she muttered, “Fine.” She glared up at him as he tipped the cup into her opened mouth. Citrus and sour melon, bursting on her tongue as though fireworks before they became something else entirely. Something that burned down her throat like whiskey set alight. Then her eyelids grew heavy and fluttered closed, darkness immediately descending.
***** Renate shoved through the orange shield and leaned against the corridor wall with his chest heaving and everything inside him screaming to race back into the Ak ‘ Bella, gather Ally into his arms and escape. Where to, fool? Another part of the mother ship?
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He pushed back the selfish needs arising within. Ally needed to rest, to heal fully before he came up with any more wild ideas. Besides, there wouldn’t be any escape now the kings knew of his planned defection. He had little doubt Ezra would take that fact by the balls and squeeze hard. He closed his eyes and released a slow breath. Ally hated him now. But it paled in comparison to never seeing her again, never hearing her gentle voice, touching her soft skin or seeing her face light up with her smile. If she ever smiles again. He thrust an outspread hand through his short hair. He had to trust the kings— even Ezra—with Ally. Trust that they understood just how far he was willing to go to protect his woman. Because she was his woman. His alone. And he’d do everything in his power to win back her love, her respect. A soft tread along the corridor warned him of Lillian’s approach. His eyes opened and she paused right near him at the doorway. “She’s going to be okay,” the queen said softly. And somehow her compassion and understanding was almost his undoing. He jerked out a nod. “I hope so.” “The kings know you love her, but they doubt her human love is strong enough in return to resist her other chosen ones.” Her voice lowered. “And I have to say, I have my doubts too. I thought Dar was enough, then I met Ezra and Maddox. I couldn’t resist who I was meant to be with.” Pain lanced through his skull at the thought of Ally succumbing to the other four men of worth. He shook his head. He couldn’t—wouldn’t—go there. “She’s strong. I’ve seen her resist my mind control.” Surprise flickered across Lillian’s face. “Really?” “Yes.” He straightened. “You know I’ll kill any one of those men if they even attempt to go near her and test my theory.” “We thought that might be the case. Which is why Dar had the four chosen escorted to his earth base until a decision is reached.” “But…?” Renate prompted, knowing any relief crashing through his body would undoubtedly be short lived. “Ezra has requested other strategies to test your earth woman’s loyalty and love.” Lillian put a reassuring hand on his taut forearm. “There will be no alien men, I promise.” “Then who?” His eyes widened. “You?” She nodded. “The stage is set for you and the kings to oversee.” “Then Maddox is fermenting sasquatweed,” he murmured. It was an aphrodisiac few Carèche people had need of, but it was rumored to make a person forget everything but their most primal desires.
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How fitting that Ezra would use the one tonic that Renate’s mother had used on Ezra’s father to bring him to ruin and disgrace. He could only hope Ally found the strength to resist its potency. Bloody hell. If Ally did fail the test and succumb to the queen…he stood to lose her forever.
***** Ally placed her briefcase on her desk and sat at her leather chair, aware her movements were on autopilot. Just this once work wasn’t high on her list of priorities, her finger not on the company’s pulse. She had more important things occupying her mind. In less than a week she’d be moving out of the house she’d come to see as a home, moving away from the stepchildren she’d come to love as her own. She’d bought an apartment with million-dollar views of the harbor. Yeah, and with absolutely no one to share it with. She stretched, clicking her stiff neck. One just never knew what was around life’s corner. Clinton, her bald-headed, bespectacled co-worker and possibly the company’s biggest brown-noser, banged on her door. She frowned as he barged in before she’d called out for him to do so. But her frown dissolved at seeing his flushed face, his bright, disbelieving eyes. “What is it, Clinton?” “Have you heard the news?” His voice sounded breathless, bewildered. “No.” I’ve been a little preoccupied. “Should I have?” “Yes! UFOs have been sighted around Australia, around the world!” She rolled her eyes. Office pranks weren’t uncommon, but this one was beyond ridiculous. She didn’t have the time or the patience for this sort of bullshit. “If this is your idea of a practical joke—” He shook his head. “No way. This is…it’s fucking incredible. Come take a look.” His too-earnest expression had her push to her high heels despite herself. She followed him out of her office. And stared. The room beyond was empty of its workers. Shit. The chief executive would have everybody’s scalps on a silver platter. Clinton turned. “They’re all in the conference room, watching live footage on the big screen.” “Of course,” she said wryly, even as her pulse picked up speed, the palms of her hands beginning to sweat. This didn’t feel like a prank. Not one bit. She followed him into the conference room at an almost run, then froze. Her stare came to rest on the live coverage that flashed across the screen. Fucking hell.
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***** She woke quickly this time, instantly attuned to the fact Renate wasn’t by her side— and wanting him there with a desperation she didn’t want to feel. Her eyelids flicked apart, the bright orange of the alien’s coat the first thing to come into focus. Maddox smiled. “How are you feeling now?” “Where’s Renate?” Her breath caught and she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. “And Bonnie, I…I want my dog.” He ignored her questions. “You should be feeling back to normal now—better than normal.” She sat up gingerly. No pain hit at her with the force of a sledgehammer. No vertigo. “How long have I been asleep?” “In earth time, four hours the first time.” He pressed a hand to her brow. “Twenty minutes just now.” She jerked away from his touch. He backed away, giving her some space. Only then did she realize someone had removed her jeans, her top. And as she’d borrowed no underwear to begin with, she was left completely naked. She covered her breasts with an arm, but knew it mattered little now. She’d been asleep and exposed to anyone who happened to be around. Her face flushed. She could only hope she hadn’t slept in her favorite position, on her back with her thighs splayed apart. Swallowing back mortification, she peered down at her legs. Holy shit. All self-consciousness fled, replaced by stunned disbelief. No deep wounds, no cuts, scrapes or bruises. Not even a scar. All that remained was a smear of dry blood. She looked up at Maddox. “That’s impossible.” He raised a brow. “My plants make many things possible.” “I nearly died—” “Very nearly.” “I—thank you.” He smiled again, his ice-blue eyes warming. “You’re welcome.” He lifted a cup to her lips and she automatically swallowed. She frowned at the peculiar briny taste. “This isn’t what you gave me earlier,” she spluttered, tasting the foul brew all the way to her belly. He nodded. “You have no need for physical healing now.” “Then what—?” He stepped back, the cup still in hand. “Let me introduce you to Lillian. Our queen.” The earth woman stepped through the leafy plants in an almost sheer dress that fell mid-thigh, made of the same alien substance the males wore as pants. Her long goldbrown hair swung forward and curtained her face as she twined slender arms around 54
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Maddox’s neck. The cup thudded to the floor as they kissed with tender, loving restraint, their eyes clinging for a moment before Lillian turned her attention to Ally. Ally felt her eyes bulge. No. Way. Though her memories were fuzzy at best, she knew the beautiful woman who stood before her. Queen Margaret Belgrave. Earth royalty. She sucked in a breath, pushing aside the need to bow. She wasn’t on earth, those rules no longer applied. Queen Margaret—Lillian—stared at her. “I can hardly believe it, another earth woman.” She smiled, delight sparkling from her eyes. “I hope we can be friends, yes?” Ally smiled lopsidedly in return, half-aware the brew she’d swallowed was making her feel…woozy. “I…yes. I think I’d like that.” Lillian interlaced her hands and tucked them beneath her chin, prayer-like, as she studied her. Apparently pleased, she dropped her hands and held one out. “So would I,” she said huskily. “Come, let’s get you clean, comfortable…relaxed. Then later, you can tell me your story.” She accepted Lillian’s small, feminine hand. All too conscious of the queen’s soft skin, her fragrance… What is wrong with me? Ally cleared her throat. “The aliens have a shower?” The queen smiled a secret smile. “Something like that.” When Lillian spun around and tugged her to follow, Ally squeaked, “I don’t want to go anywhere, not without Renate.” Lillian turned back, a brow raised. “He won’t be too far away, believe me.” Ally paused perhaps a second or two longer. But really, what choice did she have but to follow this human? Besides, she needed a friend in here. And a powerful friend at that. She managed a smile in return. “Then I’m all yours.” Lillian giggled, an almost girlish sound. “Oh I am so glad to hear you say that.” The queen led her through a jungle of leaves, exotic-looking fruits, vines and shrubs, but Ally scarcely noticed. Her body was thrumming with ever-increasing need. Her breasts had hardened, nipples tight and engorged, her pussy sensitized and clit tingling. What had that Maddox bastard given her? Needs were taking over, stark and wanton. Renate. Bonnie. Despite herself, right then she could scarcely dredge up their names. She repressed a groan. Lillian’s fragrance smelled of ambrosia, shooting shockwaves of lust straight to her cunt.
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She tore her stare away from the queen’s swaying ass and slender rearview, forcing herself to notice everything but the woman in front. A huge crimson butterfly with six jagged wings flittered past, its extra-long antennae that was speckled with fleshy knobs, seemingly a dead weight it had to lug around. Little wonder it needed an extra pair of wings. She brushed against a plant with fluorescent yellow leaves with the appearance of long, leathery porcupine quills. It quivered and then abruptly whipped into itself, leaves twisting around one another to form a knot. Self-protection? Lillian turned back and smiled at her. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. The Ak ‘ Bella houses some incredible things.” “Ak ‘ Bella?” she asked, voice breathless and heart skipping beats. She could only hope the effects going on with her body weren’t apparent to Lillian. “Yes. It’s the mother ship’s hothouse. Maddox is the genius who looks after all the plants and their companions. Not only has he kept many otherworldly species from extinction, he helps supply food for the crew and tonics for all their ills.” The tinkling of a waterfall reached Ally’s ears even before they broke through some spiky greenery. A large pool gently bubbled and steamed before them. Ally’s eyes widened. “Wow. It’s beautiful.” The other woman dropped Ally’s hand to peel the dress over her head. Ally’s pulse jumped, her cunt squeezing. Speaking of beautiful. The queen’s slender body could have graced the cover of any number of beauty magazines. Her full breasts and pink, puckered nipples were made to be sucked, her pussy made to be tasted and fucked. Three kings would see to that. So what does she want from me? Lillian slipped into the steamy water with a luxurious sigh, but it was only once the queen had swum out to the middle of the pool that Ally’s lust dimmed. She drew in a steadying breath. She’d never felt this way about a woman. Ever. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. It took every bit of her restraint not to push a finger into her cunt and satisfy even a little of the lust overtaking her body. Water splashed. Ally’s eyelids flipped apart. The queen was on her back, thighs opened, the soft pink folds of her pussy in full view. “Don’t ask me how all this works,” she called out, sweeping a hand to encompass the pool and its surrounds. “All I know for sure is that the steam coming from this hot pool is vital for many of the plants survival.” Ally swallowed, her throat dry and her pussy wet. What would it be like to taste her majesty’s cunt? To make her vibrate with pleasure and sample her essence as she brought her to orgasm with her tongue? Lillian flipped back on her belly and swam to the other side of the pool, her long hair fanning out behind her.
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Ally absently touched her short, cropped hair. Just a few days ago she would have felt dowdy, ugly, beside this exquisite woman. Oddly enough, she didn’t. Somewhere in her short time with Renate, she’d grown past her insecurities. Renate. Pain lanced her heart, her soul. He might have helped her to find her poise and selfconfidence, but he’d betrayed her trust. Her hands curled into fists. She wouldn’t be forgetting that fact any time soon. “Are you coming in?” Ally started a little, lost in her realizations. “It’s beautiful in here,” Lillian added. She nodded, and then slid into the liquid warmth that encased her body, caressed her with gentle bubbles. She all but moaned. “You’re right. This is heaven.” Lillian swam toward her, gliding close. “Almost,” she breathed. And then she moved closer still, her mouth settling over Ally’s like silk-on-silk, soft and inviting. Ally didn’t move, didn’t react—at least not outwardly. On the inside undercurrents of pleasure surged into a deluge of frustrated need. Lillian drew back, her eyes slumberous and hot. “Did you like that?” “It wasn’t…unpleasant,” she admitted hoarsely. The queen’s eyes darkened. “Good.” And then she moved back, swimming with slow strokes to where the bottom of the pool—the floor of the craft—dropped away. She flipped on her back again, arms scissoring forward and back through the water either side as she kept her head up and watched Ally. “I guess you’ve learned our men don’t want to share?” “So why do they?” Lillian arched a brow. “Aside from the fact the men would never find enough females to go around?” Ally moved deeper into the water, following Lillian as though an invisible lead tugged her forward. “Yes.” Lillian’s smile tilted with pleasure. “The more sex we embrace from our multiple partners, our soul mates, the more chance there is we’ll be impregnated to increase our population.” Ally stilled at the precipice where shallow became deep, her toes digging into the odd surface of the mother ship. Did the queen see the flash of pain that momentarily shot through her body, her soul, blinding her to any of the lust that had consumed her? “Barbaric and a little shocking, I know,” Lillian continued, evidently unaware. “But there is validity in their reasoning. Without alien men fucking earth women, both species would die out.” Ally barely heard the queen’s logic. She was dying—at least on the inside. Lillian swam close. “Are you okay? You don’t look so good.”
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“I’ll be fine,” Ally managed. “I’m just…shocked.” Traumatized. Devastated. Distraught. Lillian moved behind her. And Ally sighed as the queen’s hands clasped her shoulders and gently kneaded. The queen’s breath along her ear sent shivers through her body, her pussy. What the hell? She’d never been intimate with a woman before, never even been halfway interested in her own sex. “Relax,” Lillian said huskily. “Enjoy.” Lust reanimated as though a lightning bolt to kindling when Lillian began to gently kiss the side of her throat, her shoulders, her body a mass of quivering, sensitized nerves, hungry for so much more. “Let’s get you clean,” Lillian added. The queen retrieved a bottle of shampoo and conditioner wedged in a crevice of a purplish rock. She squeezed a blob into her open hand. “Allow me.” Ally closed her eyes as Lillian massaged the shampoo into her hair. She moaned, desperate to end this torture. Dunking under the water to wash the shampoo out, she luxuriated in the feel of the conditioner next, rubbed deftly through her hair. “I’m not supposed to use the human shampoo and conditioner,” Lillian admitted softly. “Dar—one of my husband’s—asked Maddox to make me a concoction, similar to what we have on earth, only plant friendly.” She let out a sigh. “I can’t help myself though, I just love the scent of our human stuff. And it’s the little things that take me back, even now.” “You miss home?” Ally asked, turning to face her. Lillian smiled. “Home? This—here—is my home. Besides, I could hardly miss the life I had on earth where I was forced into a marriage I hated. In comparison, this new life with my alien lovers is beyond par. Dar, Ezra and Maddox make me feel things that would’ve been impossible with a human.” “I think I know what you mean,” Ally whispered. “Renate makes me forget my old life, my loveless marriage.” Lillian’s expression softened with understanding. “The captain is a remarkable man, even without his lineage.” His lineage? Captain? “Lie back now,” Lillian suggested softly, “and allow me to rinse the conditioner from your hair.” Ally floated on her back, surprised to discover the bubbling water supported her weight, as though this alien water was denser than what was found on earth. Lillian’s hands worked the conditioner from her hair and Ally’s lashes fluttered closed as sensation speared from her scalp to her toes and back again.
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“Oh, look who’s here,” Lillian murmured, a smiling lilt in her voice. “Here?” Ally spluttered, sinking under the water before quickly surfacing and only too aware she’d been putting on quite the show. “Yes.” My husbands, Dar, Ezra and Maddox.” Ally’s eyes goggled. The kings were as different as three men could get, but each one was deliciously handsome. One of them resembled Renate—short cropped hair, compelling green eyes—but with a gem in his brow and restrained anger in his stare. “What are they doing here?” Ally whispered, a flush heating her cheeks. Lillian’s smile pulled the corners of her lush mouth. “They’re here to watch us.” “Watch us?” she echoed. Lillian’s eyes turned smoky with need. “Yes. You and me.” “But—why? I don’t understand?” Lillian brushed back a lock of wet, darkened hair. “These males are no different to our earth males,” she murmured. “It would give them great enjoyment to watch us pleasure each other.” She moved back, shaking her head. “No. No! I’m sorry, I just…I can’t do that.” The other woman looked more bemused than rejected. “Then I take it you care for Renate a lot, perhaps more than a lot?” Why did it take such a simple question to break through her walls? Why did it take the gently worded knowing of another woman to catch her off-guard? She felt the blood drain from her face, felt passion ebb away even as sadness engulfed her, followed soon after by the wretchedness of pain. “I…do.” “Then why so sad?” “He betrayed me,” she admitted in a small, shaky voice. “He broke my trust.” “He saved your life.” “And yet I wonder if it wouldn’t be better to die with the rest of my race than face a life of lies, of shattered dreams and broken promises.” “Kitten, I’d never do that to you. Not deliberately.”
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Chapter Seven Ripples eddied around her as she spun toward Renate. He sat at the water’s edge, as buck naked as she and wholly unselfconscious. His eyes regarded her with an intensity that struck at her soul and snared her heart. She shook her head. “How do I know that?” Really know? He moved into the water, his movements so graceful, so masculine it left her mouth dry, her heart pounding. “You don’t. Not for sure.” He swam close, and in that moment Ally realized they were alone. Lillian was even then moving out of the other side of the pool and into the kings’ arms, all four then leaving Ally and Renate to their own devices. Her eyes narrowed. Had this been some kind of a test? A trial to see how deep her feelings for Renate really ran? Had she passed? Anger flared. “I’m not sure that’s enough.” “I can’t promise never to hurt you. But I can tell you without question—I love you, and will keep on loving you until we’re both just memories left behind.” Her chest hurt. Something came undone inside. He loves me. The very idea was surreal. Indescribable. Incredible. She bit her quivering bottom lip. “You will?” she asked in a small voice that somehow echoed the little girl crying out from deep within. The same girl who’d been abandoned by her mother and raised by a father whose ability to love had left right along with the woman he’d once called a wife. Ally squeezed her eyes shut, willing away the sudden memory, the knowledge. She couldn’t take any more sadness, any more despair. Especially not after hearing those three little words that had the ability to make everything right. “Yes, Ally,” he whispered with a seriousness that couldn’t be denied, “a thousand times, yes.” When he kissed her, she knew she was a fool for not trusting him to begin with, for not seeing him as the hero he was. He’d stayed to fight off a dog pack to keep her safe, he’d taken her to his people—undoubtedly at great risk to his own safety—to save her life. She opened her eyes, struck by the strength of his deep green stare. “I don’t want anyone else,” she breathed. “Just. You.”
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He didn’t say anything, he didn’t need to. Words weren’t needed. His mouth pressed over hers once again, his lips soft and dominant all at the same time. He walked her slowly backward, kissing her even when he laid her back in the shallow water and she was pressed fully against his aroused body. When he pulled his mouth free, his eyes searched hers, as if ensuring she really wanted this as much as he did. “I want to make this special for you.” More special? Impossible. God, how had she thought anyone, male or female, could be a substitute for Renate? He held her heart in his hands. Her soul was irrevocably entwined with his. She cupped his face in her hands and urged him down, wanting him with all the pent-up emotion and needs of before, only this time she had absolutely no doubts, no restraint. He put his hands over hers, stilling her. “Trust me, okay.” She leaned back, a little deflated but a whole lot more intrigued and aroused. “Yes, of course.” Because she did trust him, just as she should have from the very first. Besides, if it was possible their lovemaking could be even more special, who was she to have doubts? She relaxed, putting herself in Renate’s hands and staring up at the domed roof. Odd-looking insects flittered through the air, all colors and shapes. Something much larger soared up high, its skin spotted with crimson and yellow. Carèche’s, or perhaps some other planet’s, version of a flying fox? The water rippled around her as Renate’s weight moved away from her. “Give me a moment,” he said thickly. When he moved back, he placed something warm and squishy on her thigh. She started when it began to pulsate. She looked down. “What is that?” she squeaked. “Kio kio.” His stare was unmistakably hot as he guided the spongy thing that was about the size of his hand along her inner thigh, toward her pussy. “What are you doing?” she gasped, turned on and horrified all at once. “Carèche people use the kio kio as a stimulator.” “A sex toy,” she breathed. He looked up, his stare hot. “Yes. Relax, kitten, you’ll be thanking me soon.” She swallowed, holding his stare. “Okay. I…I trust you.” He nodded, then said with a smile, “I know you do.” The vibrations strengthened as he pushed the kio kio plant up and down one thigh, then the other, at times so close to her pussy she gritted her teeth to stop her hips from gyrating toward it and force the pulsations over the inner folds of her pussy, her tender but sensitized clit.
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Her breath left her lungs when he moved upward, placing the stimulator on the underside of one of her breasts. “Nice?” he asked hoarsely, his stare every inch knowing. “Are you trying to make me explode?” she asked in rebuke, except her voice pitched into a mewl as he swept the kio kio right onto the stiff peak of her nipple. Sensation pierced her breast and shivered all the way to her womb, her pussy shuddering in reaction even before Renate’s mouth replaced the kio kio and he suckled on her taut nipple, his tongue expertly flicking the puckered areola. She groaned, arching closer. His head reared back. His mouth curled into a satisfied grin. And in one deft movement he used his free hand to spread apart the folds of her labia, his other hand pressed the kio kio right over the stiff bud of her clitoris. She pushed into its writhing pulsations with a gasp. Bolts of pleasure darted through her clit then spread every which way as a climax tore through her, her body shuddering in reaction. He pressed the stimulator harder against her and more powerful vibrations set off another round of shudders as a second climax ripped through her body. Renate leaned down, his mouth taking ownership of her mouth, his tongue sliding past her lips and curling like smoke around hers Only when he removed the kio kio from her insatiable cunt did she wind her arms around his neck and kiss him back fully. God, I love you. She stiffened. He pulled back, eyes searching her face. “I think it’s safe to say you’ve had enough pleasuring for one day, hmm?” She breathed slow and deep, re-gathering her thoughts, her emotions around her, before tucking them all neatly away. Even without all her memories—and the tonic running through her veins—she’d learned firsthand that life wasn’t all hearts and flowers. Perhaps old wounds really did take time to heal. At Renate’s faint frown, she half-sat. “I think you’re right.” He nodded, then released the kio kio in the water. Its tentacles vibrating through the water, the spongy stimulator moved out of sight to the bottom of the pool. In one graceful motion Renate stood and offered a hand. “Come, let’s get you dry, dressed. And fed.” She arched a brow at his massive erection, at the veins criss-crossing his cock like hard railway lines. He was the one who looked about ready to explode. She looked up at his vaguely amused stare before looking pointedly at his ripe-to-fuck cock. “Shouldn’t we take care of your needs first?” His bark of laughter was honey over her senses. Warm and golden smooth. “Waiting will make my release that much sweeter when your body is ready for me.” 62
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She took his hand and he brought her to her feet with effortless power. The inner walls of her pussy clenched. “Then I look forward to it,” she admitted huskily. His eyes flared. But then he stepped away, toward a yellow vine that held his pants aloft with sucker-like leaves. He swiped its scaly trunk and the leaves retracted, releasing his pants. He turned to her and used the alien fabric to swipe the moisture from her skin in gentle, reverent strokes that were more an intimate massage than anything practical. She closed her eyes, resisting a sudden need to purr as he rubbed slowly, deliberately along each of her breasts, the outer folds of her cunt. He stepped away again and her eyes jerked open. She tried not to focus on the sexy globes of his ass, the long, lean length of his spine and the muscles of his broad shoulders that flexed and rippled as he bent and retrieved something from another vine further in. He turned back and she tore her gaze from his cock, to the dress he held out for her, made from the same alien substance as his pants. She accepted the feather-light fabric that looked similar to the web weaved by a spider, only silky soft. “What happened to my clothes?” Renate shrugged as he pulled his surprisingly dry pants up past his thighs and then snapped the waistband low on his hips. And somehow his arousal looked even larger tenting the fabric. “I suspect they’re now compost for Maddox’s plants.” He looked up. “We have no use for earth clothes here, not when our own self-clean.” “Yes, well I could see how that would be an advantage,” she muttered drily, pulling the dress over her head and allowing it to drape over her body in a perfect fit. His hand was warm around hers as he led her back through the jungle of plants. But a sudden coldness gripped her. Damn. She didn’t feel too good. She stumbled, pain slicing through her head as her thoughts slammed back to reality. Her breath hissed. “I think that damn tonic has worn off.” Renate turned and scooped her up into his arms. “I’m sorry Maddox gave you that, unfortunately Ezra insisted.” “Ezra?” she asked weakly. “Yes. He’s one of the three kings.” “Let me guess, the one who looks like you.” He nodded. “That’s him.” Another pain ripped through her frontal lobe, making her gasp. She put a hand on her brow and squinted up at him. “Why? What has Ezra got against me—against you?” He looked down at her with a faint frown marring his face. “Don’t fight against the pain, ride with it. The anxieties you had before the…tonic are struggling for recognition.” And then it hit her. Bonnie had been left behind! Her pulse jerked in alarm. The head pain abruptly disappeared, but she felt no less anguished. In her mind’s eye she 63
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saw loyal Bonnie waiting for her mistress, laying in a pool of blood and slowly dying. She clasped Renate’s forearms, fingernails digging into muscle. “We have to go back. We have to get Bonnie.” He let out a heavy sigh, as if unsurprised by her request. But something close to regret shadowed his stare when he said, “Unfortunately our course is set.” She pushed upward, pinning him with the full force of her stare. “There must be something we can do.” It wasn’t a question. “Unless all three kings are in agreement, there’s nothing—” Her vision narrowed. “Everyone has a weakness. Even alien royalty.” A wry smile tugged at his sexy lips. “Lillian.” “Yes.” His head swooped low, his mouth taking possession of hers for one long, lingering moment before he murmured, “The royal consort are about to eat. I think it’s time we joined them.” He strode quickly through Ak ‘ Bella, then paused at a doorway covered by some kind of orange substance that looked similar to their alien clothes. He looked down at her, eyes somber. “Don’t ever go through this colored shield alone and without permission. It is our strongest defense against intruders.” “So I can’t touch it?” “To do so means instant death. The Ak ‘ Bella is off limits for almost everyone but the royal lineage.” She held his stare as he brushed through the fabric—the shield—without a qualm. “So you’re part of the royal family,” she whispered, feeling all the old insecurities come blazing back. What the hell could Renate want from her? She was a nobody, a Plain Jane commoner. He looked all kinds of uncomfortable when he conceded, “I guess I am, if you count a bastard child to the king as royalty.” She took little notice of the semi-dark corridor he carried her through, lit by the eerie glow of blue lights. All her attention was caught by the man—alien—she’d come to call her own. “Your mother not being queen doesn’t make you, or her, any less worthy.” “I’d probably agree if she’d been a loving mother, a woman of high values.” What the hell does that mean? But then Renate was stepping on to a white substance—a shield?—that ferried them gently downward to the next level. Even before he stepped clear of the shield and placed her on her feet, she felt the stares of the alien people. She turned around, seeing a good twenty or more of them sitting cross-legged on the floor.
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Lillian smiled and lifted a hand in greeting. Dar and Maddox looked amused. Ezra looked…wound up. His eyes glinted with a whole lot of irate. “Come,” Renate murmured into her ear, “dinner is about to be served.” Lillian had some of the men nearby shuffle along until there was space enough for Ally to sit with Renate. The queen smiled. “I wasn’t sure you guys would make it,” she leaned closer, “if you know what I mean.” Ally murmured something back to Lillian, but she couldn’t even recall exactly what she’d said. She was far too aware of Ezra’s dark stare on Renate, his hostility. A long, narrow shield floated outward from an opened doorway, clearly Carèche’s answer to a conveyer belt table, not unlike what a diner would find at a Japanese sushi restaurant. The shield all but groaned under the weight of food offered in bowls that could have been the halved coconut husks from earth. Despite the tension, Ally took a steaming bowl filled with meat and odd-looking vegetables. She breathed in its tantalizing scent and sighed appreciation. Renate grinned as he took a bowl filled with something that looked similar to pumpkin soup. “You have chosen well. Caltronian meat is flavorsome and full of energy. The intergalactic herbs and vegetables are also rather tasty and aid the body’s immune system.” She raised a brow. “Not unlike our earth food.” “Yes. Only most of what you’re eating now stores roughly ten times more nutrient and energy value to what you’re used to eating from earth plants.” “Really?” He took another generous sip and nodded. “Eat up, kitten. Maddox thinks a human’s lifespan might well be doubled, even tripled, by partaking in our food.” Wow. With no cutlery to be seen, she picked out a juicy, golden piece of meat and popped it in her mouth. She closed her eyes as the spiced flavor all but melted in her mouth. “Mm. This is good,” she murmured. “Even better knowing I could be actively increasing my lifetime.” Renate chuckled, causing her eyelids to spring apart. She grinned up at him and his eyes darkened with passion, with possessive need. He leaned close, his lips touching hers in a brief kiss that spoke volumes. Ezra abruptly shoved to his feet and Ally jerked away—like a guilty teenager caught out in the act. Ezra’s nostrils flared even as Lillian reached up, placing a hand on his arm before she said, “Please, don’t—” Ezra’s muscles jerked beneath her hold, but he didn’t shrug her off as he growled, “I see no reason to sit here and watch my brother get preferential treatment once again.” Ally turned to Renate. He appeared calm, neutral. She clasped his nearest hand and squeezed, feeling every locked tendon and sinew that told her he wasn’t. 65
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The king with the long black hair—Dar?—shifted forward, his odd golden eyes narrowed. “Enough, Ezra.” Ezra didn’t back down. He stared at Dar and Maddox in turn. “We’re kings, and yet we have to share the woman we each yearn to have as our own?” He twisted to face Ally and Renate. “Meanwhile we’re seriously considering granting my bastard brother exclusivity with a female? It’s insane!” Lillian’s face whitened. “We discussed this.” Ezra’s expression grew fiercer still. “Renate gets all the advantage of his diluted bloodline while royalty get none!” Ally’s headache returned with a vengeance. Damn protocol. She pushed to her feet, eyes burning. “Perhaps I’d like a say in all this?” Maddox raised an amused brow. Dar nodded. “Go ahead.” Thank you. “Even if Renate were able to choose his parents, I imagine it’d mean little now, what with our nations all but dust under our feet.” She turned to the other aliens sitting cross-legged around her, seeing the different eye colors in each one that spoke of their origins. “Renate is loyal, courageous, loving and generous to a fault.” She turned to Ezra and held his narrowed stare. “As far as I’m concerned, those are the attributes of a great man, a great leader. Not genetics.” “He’s brainwashed you,” Ezra growled. She tilted her chin. “No. I’m with him of my own free will.” At the murmurs around her, she added, “Seems like you’d know that since I passed your damn test.” Ezra’s stare glittered. “It was a necessary evaluation.” She tilted her head. “Why?” “Let’s just say my father found out firsthand the skills of deception undoubtedly acquired by Renate.” Renate bristled beside her, but remained seated. “Your father was seduced by my mother. End of story.” Ally frowned. “Last I heard it takes two to tango.” Ezra’s fists clenched. “My father’s weakness cost him the throne, his family. To this day I have no idea if he survived his exile into the desert—while his one-time-lover grew fat and coddled by royal staff because of my father’s seed.” “Then you’ll be happy to know my mother is dead now, along with all the women of our planet,” Renate snarled. Ally blew out a breath. She caught Lillian’s eye and they exchanged a taut smile. Clearly the queen was at just as great a loss as she to fix the problem. Ally broke the thick silence. “Surely there is a solution—”
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“There is,” Ezra rasped, turning to her. “You will leave this ship with Renate—on the condition your firstborn daughter will be promised to our queen’s firstborn son.” Lillian sucked in a startled breath. “Ezra, this is hardly the time to ask—” “Yes,” Ally said to Ezra. And though Renate had stiffened beside her, relief of unimaginable proportions filled her. “Ally, no,” Renate said hoarsely. She ignored his objection—she’d explain her inability to conceive to him later. Right then she’d never been happier of her sterility. “On the condition,” she echoed in turn, “that I am never subjected to my other four intended. And you turn this ship around and we’re taken back to where we were found.” “That’s two conditions,” Ezra said with a smile, “but agreed.” His eyes glinted triumph even before he turned his attention back to Renate. “We will come for your daughter when the appropriate time has come to pass.” Renate shot to his feet and glowered. “I will have to refute my lover’s claim. She doesn’t know that oaths exchanged right now will be irrefutable.” Lillian stood with inherent grace, though her stiff body language revealed her suspense as she breathed, “Ally, now that you know, do you accept our terms?” Ally swallowed back a shaft of guilt at her deception. It was clear Lillian wanted the future union too, for obvious reasons. “Yes. Yes, I do.” Renate’s breath hissed in disbelief. Ezra’s gem winked under the lights as he bent and raised a cup. “Kas’lios.” As Lillian, Dar, Maddox and the remainder of the aliens each lifted their cup, Ally took hold of one too and pressed Renate’s hand around her own. “Kas’lios,” she echoed. Renate pulled free. And she watched almost numbly as he strode stiffly from the group…from her. “Renate, wait!” Let me explain. But her request fell on death ears. Ally glanced back at Lillian. The queen flushed a little and looked away. Ezra’s triumph had slipped just a little. Dar and Maddox were unreadable, their thoughts well hidden. “I…thank you,” she murmured, then spun away and ran after Renate. He’d stepped onto the shield and waited silently for her as she joined him. As the shield moved upward, she clasped his taut forearms and looked up at his shadowed face. “It mightn’t seem like it right now, but I do know what I’m doing.” His voice was despairing when he said heavily, “You would have our future child given up for Bonnie.” The shield stilled, hovering at the next floor. She barely noticed. She shook her head. “No. You know I’d never do that.” His eyes hardened. “And yet you just did. And in front of many witnesses.” 67
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“You ask me to trust you and yet you don’t trust me,” she whispered feeling a hundred kinds of upset. “Don’t you understand?” he said hoarsely. “There’s no going back from your word. They’ll be coming for our daughter, and they’ll find her.” “You’re the one who doesn’t understand,” she said shakily, somehow hating him for his doubts, hating herself for being unable to give him the child he deserved. “I can’t give you the child you want. I’m infertile.”
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Chapter Eight Renate’s eyes darkened as he studied her. “The miscarriage?” She nodded. “Yes.” She let out a heavy breath. “I fainted and I…I fell heavily on the bathtub. To this day I’m not certain if that or shock caused me to lose my baby.” “Ally, I don’t think—” “But even beforehand I had trouble conceiving with Luke.” Once unable to talk about her pain, now it was as though she couldn’t wait to share. She shrugged, trying for nonchalance and failing. “The blow to my uterus kind of finished any more babymaking plans.” Renate pulled her to him and she sagged against his strength with something close to a sob. And listening to the steady beat of his heart, all she could imagine was how beautiful a daughter would be with this man as the father, how handsome a son. His arms tightened around her. “We need to…talk,” he murmured. Talk? She bit into her bottom lip. Oh, god. Did he not want her now she was unable to conceive? Was that all she was to him? Despite trusting him implicitly, she couldn’t shake off the horrible thought. “But not just yet,” he added. “You’ve been through a chaotic few days. Let me take you to my quarters so you can get a few hours’ sleep.” She nodded. When her belly suddenly rumbled, he let out a strained laugh. “But first I’ll have someone bring us up some food.” The shield beneath tilted a little, moving with the mother ship. ”We’re changing route for our destination,” Renate murmured, serious again now. His large hands stroked up and down her spine. “I should oversee its course.” She looked up. “I’ll be fine.” He frowned, his hands moving to cup her face. “I’m not about to leave you here alone.” He took hold of her hand and stepped onto the floor. “Come, let’s get you settled in.” He led her through a maze of semi-dark corridors before he paused at a doorway with a blue shield. “You will always be able to pass through my shield defense.” “Okay.” She narrowed her eyes. “What about for those who aren’t?” “They’d be dropped in their tracks by a shock powerful enough to paralyze their every muscle.” “Oh?” Her stare swiveled between Renate and the blue shield. “How does it work?”
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“The lucky few of us considered of high worth,” he raised a brow as though he despised the term, “had our cells meshed to the rare substance now called a shield. It created a life force that reacts to our subconscious, our commands.” He pushed through the shield and Ally followed close behind as he continued in a matter-of-fact tone, “The three kings enmeshed all their cells together, a process which then allowed them to share a mental bond.” “Truly?” At his nod she added, “Then I’m grateful you didn’t share your cells with theirs.” He turned to her, clasping her other hand and pulling her close. “So am I. Everything I feel for you, I don’t want to share with anyone else.” When he kissed her she opened her mouth on a sigh. This was where she belonged, in Renate’s arms while all her doubts, her insecurities and problems faded into obscurity. She pulled back and searched his fathomless stare. “Thank you for believing in me, for risking so much for Bonnie.” “You and Bonnie belong together,” he murmured. “I understand that now.” She knew exactly what he meant, what comparisons he’d drawn. She’d been fighting the very thing Renate had understood from the first. The commoner human and bastard offspring to the king were only half of a whole apart. Together, no labels could describe the rightness, the sense of belonging. He smoothed the one long lock of her hair back with a smile. “Go rest. I’ll return as soon as I can.” “Okay.” She watched him turn on his heel and retreat back through the shield, forcing her stare away from the sexy length of his back to take in the spartan room he called home. Clearly the Carèche people lived simply and didn’t covet the need for luxuries the way humans did. She walked over to the red fur on the floor. Caltronian? She recalled him mentioning the use of the beasts’ fur as bedding. Sinking onto its softness, she lay back with an appreciative sigh. No earth mattress could possibly compare. Her eyelids grew heavy in the silence.
***** Ally pressed her brow against the office building, peering out to the empty streets ten stories below. How quickly things could change. The televised warnings to stay indoors had kept everyone but the insane or suicidal inside. She shuddered. Even so, people were dropping dead by the hundreds…the thousands, a panic sweeping the world even faster than the virus itself. I guess my turn will be soon enough.
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Funnily enough the thought of dying didn’t frighten her anymore, not in itself. No, other thoughts and weird emotions had taken over—relief she had no family to worry about and watch die—anguish that when she succumbed to the virus, no one would even mourn her passing. She started at the chime of her cell phone on her desk behind her. Fewer people in the country must have freed up cell phone service? She retrieved the phone, holding it in the palm of her hand for a moment as she mused over her unemotional and all-toopractical thought processes. It’s either that or curl into a fetal position and wait to die. Ally flipped the phone open. “Hello.” Her ex-husband’s voice filled her ear. “Ally, please don’t hang up on me. Look, I…I know we’re not together anymore, I know I did you wrong, but I’m begging you for forgiveness. The kids are asking for you, beautiful. Will you come over?” She winced. First at his once pet name of beautiful and then at his purely selfish wish that entailed her to leave the safety of indoors and travel—walk—twelve and a half blocks to his city house. What did I ever see in him? She heard someone sniffling and hiccupping in the background. “Please,” he pressed, voice anxious and desperate. “I know this is a lot to ask—” “Fine,” she breathed. She hadn’t seen Sam and Katie for a little over three months, but she often thought about them, wondered how they were doing. “But I’m doing this for them, not you, Luke.” “Of course,” he said in a rush. “I completely understand. Just please…hurry.” The line went dead as the tears she’d been holding back sprang into life.
***** Shivers darted up and down her spine as goose bumps erupted over her skin. But it wasn’t from any vivid, real-from-life dream. She woke quickly, opening her eyes to a very naked Renate spread over her, his head bent while his sexy mouth pressed kisses along her throat, before he drew the lobe of her ear into his mouth and gently suckled. Her breath hissed at the prickling currents that caused her womb to contract and pool heat deep inside. “Feel good?” he murmured, his breath warm in her ear. Are you kidding me? “Fan-bloody-tastic,” she managed, voice husky from sleep and a desire to forget everything but the now. He kissed her neck again and more shivers ricocheted through her body. “This is exquisite torture for me too,” he growled. 71
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“It is?” she squeaked. He lifted his head, his stare unashamedly fierce, possessive, as he said, “Yes. Carèche men mark their women. And I’ve wanted to mark you from the moment we met.” “You have?” she whispered, pulse fluttering wildly. “How does this marking work?” He opened his mouth wide, fully revealing his long, sharp teeth toward the back. At her “Oh!” his mouth closed. He smiled. “Those teeth have one function only—to puncture my chosen woman’s throat and inject a pheromone that tells every other Carèche male you’re mine.” Far from feeling repulsed by such an act of ownership, her pussy clenched at the idea. “Does it…hurt?” He pressed another kiss along her throat, his lips curling into a smile as he mumbled against her throat, “On the contrary, done at the right time when making love, and it induces orgasm.” She gasped as his tongue swirled on the sensitive skin at the base of her throat. “It sounds like something we should seriously consider…soon.” “I agree,” he said hoarsely. He paused again for just a moment. “But when we’re back on earth, alone. I want to perform a bonding ceremony without the men of my planet as witness.” She wanted to ask more questions, but then he was continuing downward, along the curve of her throat, then the hardening peak of one of her breasts beneath its alien fabric. She arched upward. Damn. His mouth, his tongue and teeth, sucked and nipped at the sensitized flesh as though the alien fabric of her dress was an invisible barrier—or no barrier at all. Then he was moving lower still. Her pulse fluttered, both with anxiety and carnal need as he pushed her dress up and peeled her labia apart. He looked up, his eyes burning with desire. “I want to taste you, kitten.” She jerked when he opened her wider still, his eyes drinking her in as though she was manna from heaven. She swallowed. Hard. “Please do.” His smile almost predatory, he bent and licked her stiffening clit with one long stroke that caused her breath to shudder from her lungs. She mewled like a cat in heat when his whole mouth covered the pink flesh of her clitoris and he gently sucked, setting every nerve ending alight. She was all but catapulted toward the edge of release, when he drew on her flesh harder, she shattered around his mouth with a strangled gasp, flying high then gently drifting back to earth. But then his tongue delved deep into her channel, tasting her release. When he growled low in his throat, she felt the vibration shudder through her cunt and she cried out, unable to hold back, to resist vocalizing further pleasure.
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Renate shifted forward, his body full length along hers, the head of his hard cock pressing between her thighs. His mouth when it covered hers tasted of pussy and turned her on in ways she couldn’t define, his fierce kiss one she couldn’t resist. She kissed him back with an urgency that matched his own, need barreling through her body at the unquenchable fire he’d sparked into raging life. She spread her thighs apart and clasped the base of this cock with one hand, guiding him to her wet cunt. “Are you ready for me?” “Hell. Yes.” His smile was all carnal need, matching the possessive glint in his eyes. He thrust forward, filling her, sinking all the way to his balls. “Fuck,” she moaned. His hoarse breathing fanned her ear. Then he withdrew his cock fully from her wet heat. Poised for a nanosecond, he plunged back in, forcing the oxygen out of her lungs, her heart rate up another few beats. And when he set up a motion that increased in speed and intensity, she knew she wasn’t going to last much longer. “Renate, I’m going to come—” And then she did, shattering around his cock even before he jolted her with his charge and caused another orgasm to spin her higher, her breath rasping. He stroked deep inside her once, twice. He roared loud and long, his seed exploding, his eyes rolling back in his head. He all but collapsed on top of her and she welcomed his weight, pulling him close and breathing in his sweat-moistened, salty skin as his heartbeat raced and his chest heaved. She traced over the slight notches along his spine, the corded muscles. She let out a dreamy sigh. “That’s one way to wake up a person in a hurry.” His chest rumbled with deep, masculine laughter that left her giggling in turn. He clasped her face, his amusement fading and his expression becoming all too serious. “I love you.” Her chest hurt with the profound ache she felt for him. Her vision blurred a little. “I love you too,” she whispered. “Thank you, kitten,” he murmured huskily, sealing the deal with his lips covering hers, a soft, lingering kiss that expressed his adoration one step further. She whimpered displeasure when he finally drew back and moved off her, kneeling between her thighs as though he was a gladiator in repose. He smiled, eyes alight with satisfaction. “You’re not hungry for food, then? She crooked her neck to the side, seeing the two bowls within arm’s reach. Tantalizing aromas infiltrated her nostrils, causing her stomach to rumble. “I guess I am.” She sat, tucking her legs from around him and modestly tugging the hem of her
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dress down. She sniffed appreciatively. “But weren’t you going to send someone up with the food?” He crooked a dark brow. “I did, but you were sound asleep and I gave specific orders not to wake you.” He stood and, retrieving the nearest bowl, he offered it to her. It was the meat and vegetable dish she’d chosen earlier and she took it gladly. Stuffing a couple of pieces of lukewarm meat and a pink, leafy vegetable into her mouth, she took her fill of his nakedness as he dragged on his pants. God, she’d never get enough of his tight abs, his broad shoulders and long, muscular thighs that were the perfect backdrop to his heavy balls and a cock that was built for pleasure. She took another mouthful, barely tasting the flavorsome vegetables and herbs that were entirely not of this world. Renate dropped into a crouch and selected a wedge of fluorescent green fruit from the other bowl before he popped it into his mouth. “You’re not going to navigate?” she asked. He smiled. “No need. The mother ship is on course now. We’ll be at our destination in an hour, two at most.” She stopped chewing, her eyes widening. Swallowing, she asked, “Just how long was I asleep?” He shrugged. “I’d guess maybe five earth hours.” “So we’re close to finding Bonnie?” she breathed. “That is my hope.” “Bonnie—” Her bowl crashed to the floor as she clasped her head. A memory hit her front and center.
***** She burst into the townhouse. “Katie, Sam!” Lifting first one foot and then the other, she tugged off her high heels and threw them aside. The damn things had near killed her feet and ankles after the twelve-block hike to get to her ex-husband’s house. I think about my feet after seeing three bodies on the way over, huddled together in the back seat of their sedan? She shivered. Somehow she’d conditioned herself against the hard facts of the virus. She was more than aware she’d be seeing worse than bodies in a car if she was one of the survivors. “Hello!” she called. She just made out Luke’s voice. “Ally, we’re down in the cellar.”
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“Nice,” she muttered. Luke stayed underground as far from the airborne virus as he could get, while she all but waded through it. She pushed open the cellar door. “Shut it quick,” Luke ordered tersely. She sidled through and slapped the door closed behind her, making her way down the half dozen steps to the musty, unaired scent of the large cellar, that was once used for storing expensive wines and unwanted bric-a-brac. Katie was a blur as she raced toward her and wrapped her arms around her. “Don’t leave, Owly,” the little girl pleaded. “Don’t leave us again.” She bent and lifted the dark-haired angel high, holding her close. “I missed you too,” she whispered, knowing she couldn’t promise what Katie asked. Not without hurting her more. Luke stepped forward, rumpled and bleary-eyed. “If we survive this, Ally, I really do hope you’ll consider staying, too.” She turned away, wondering what the hell she’d ever seen in him. A dog barked once, capturing her attention and she glanced over at the shaggy black and white animal, which Sam was holding on to as though he wasn’t ever going to let go. “Hey, how’s Bonnie doing?” she asked him gently, taking in Sam’s tear-stained eyes, his haggard little face. When she’d left Luke, she’d bought his children the dog, hoping Bonnie would help ease their pain and keep them company. “She’s doing good so far,” Sam croaked. “Then why so sad? Your doggy is beautiful and happy.” “I’m scared,” he burst out. “I mean, who is going to feed her, give her water and make sure she’s okay when we’re dead?”
***** “Kitten, are you okay?” She came back to the present with a rush. She swallowed. The bowl was tipped on its side with meat and vegetables thrown every which way across the floor. “What a mess,” she said absently. “Don’t worry about it; I’m more concerned about you right now.” He stepped toward her and brushed a thumb across her trembling bottom lip. “Did you have another memory?” he asked huskily. She nodded. “Yes.” She looked up, feeling as though all her color had leached right out of her face. “I bought Bonnie for Sam and Katie—my stepchildren.” I chose Bonnie. Loved her even before she became mine. The mother ship slowed and Renate searched her face before murmuring, “Then let’s go find her.” 75
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Chapter Nine Following Renate back through the maze of corridors and stepping on then off a number of shields that took them to different levels, her step faltered a little as they moved onto a half level where a U-shaped control panel glowed faintly beneath bluetinged down lights. Lillian waited with her royal husbands, Dar, Ezra and Maddox. She held out her slender hands to Ally. “I’m sorry to see you go so soon.” Ally inclined her head, resisting the urge to stoop lower into a formal bow. “Earth is still my home, no matter its terrible state.” Sadness touched Lillian’s face. “I understand.” Dar spoke to her from beside the queen. “Take care of Renate, he’s a good, honorable man.” Ally smiled up at the powerful king with his beautiful, long black hair. Up close he was much taller than she’d realized and a whole lot more intimidating. “Thank you, I will.” She met Ezra’s narrowed, green stare next. But then his aloof face relaxed into something close to a semblance of approval. With a nod he murmured, “May you both be blessed with many children.” She dropped her stare, unable to hold his eyes and shield the truth. Unable to conceal the gnawing ache that was the void inside her that would never be filled. Before she could find something to say in return, Maddox moved closer and said, “Be well. Our future may one day depend on you.” He pressed a bag into her hand and added, “Seeds from our home planet. Look after them, Renate will know what to do with them.” She glanced up and Maddox and smiled. His gift was priceless. She held in her hands future plants for healing, for longer living and god only knew what else. “Thank you, Maddox, that’s very generous.” He nodded, his blue eyes gleaming. “My generosity isn’t without motive.” “Oh?” Her throat dried, her belly twisting in forewarning. Maddox turned to Renate. “I’m trusting Renate will fill you in…?” Renate stiffened beside her. “We have yet to have our talk, but yes. That is my intention.” Talk? Was it worse than she’d even imagined? Lillian stepped forward then, breaking the tension as her arms wrapped around Renate’s shoulders in a brief hug. “You take care of my earth sister, okay?” 76
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As Lillian stepped back, Renate said, “You have my word.” Dar and Maddox said their goodbyes, each calling Renate their brother, each clearly not wanting him to leave. But it was Ezra who surprised Ally the most as he stepped forward and clasped Renate on the shoulders. “My true brother. Perhaps your earth woman is right? I’ve brought our parents’ fight between us and made it our own. Perhaps our time apart will heal at least some of the pain I’ve caused?” Renate nodded and clasped Ezra on the shoulders in turn. “I can leave now in peace with that hope.” Then Renate stepped back, one hand clasping hers before he turned and led her to a mat-like shield on the floor behind them. Ally didn’t look at the aliens or the human woman—queen—behind them. Somehow she couldn’t. Tears were threatening even as she looked upward, focusing on the blurring, big white balls of light floating high above them, creating an ambient light. Strange how close she felt to the very people she’d once feared. As the shield lowered them quickly out of sight she leaned into Renate and murmured, “I’m really going to miss them.” Renate propped his chin on her head. “Me too.” She looked up and he smiled. “But we’re going to make a new, exciting life for ourselves.” “We are,” she said, breathless and more than a little excited. But as she stepped off the shield and into the bowels of the ship, her breath tightened. She gripped the bag Maddox had given her. “I feel…odd.” Renate slid an arm around her shoulders and guided her along. “It’s only natural in this part of the ship. It’s a different atmosphere down here, a different pressure. You get used to it.” It was the strangest sensation, as if she were floating on air while the oxygen burned down her throat and into her lungs. She was only too relieved when she followed him onto another, large shield, as big as a platform. Bracing his legs apart, Renate instructed, “Hang on to me.” Wrapping her arms around his taut waist, the shield beneath them abruptly dropped, freefall, the ground far below rushing up to meet them. Then the motion slowed and they drifted the last few yards on to the ground. As the shield pulled into itself beneath them and they stepped onto the earth, Ally stumbled. Renate helped to right her as she gasped, “I think I’ve still got my sea legs.” His breath fanned her scalp as he murmured, “I guess I’m used to the motion. You’ll feel right again in a few minutes.” She looked around, seeing the alley behind them, the warehouse just yards away. She shook off any instability. “There’s no time. Bonnie might be here.” She moved into a run, sudden panic assailing her as she pushed past the dog carcasses sprawled on the warehouse steps, their flesh buzzing with flies, past her 77
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backpack Renate had abandoned to save her. “Bonnie!” She scanned the area, but nothing moved, nothing made a sound. She turned to Renate, who was even then shouldering her backpack. He held his hand out for the seed pouch, and as he carefully placed that into the backpack she said, “Bonnie will be back at the house we stayed in, she’s got to be. She’s waiting for me.” He nodded. “Then we’ll go there.” Ally was all too glad of the shared silence as they began the walk to the house she’d called home for so many weeks…months. A scavenging crow called out from high overhead and another one cawed in answer somewhere more distant. But it was times like these Ally really noticed the lack of human noise. No drone of planes in the sky, no buzz of mowers in yards, no excited chatter of children, no traffic whooshing past. That sort of profound emptiness still sometimes caught her unawares. But with Renate by her side, somehow the eerie silence wasn’t unwelcome. Besides which, she knew now there were other survivors. And now with Maddox gifting them with his seeds that could heal and prolong life, living happily on earth was possible once again. Only when they passed the hardware store with its shattered window glinting on the pavement, did she break their unspoken code of silence and say breathlessly, “We’re almost there.” She launched into a run and Renate easily kept pace beside her. The looming jacaranda tree in the front yard seemed almost a tribute, welcoming them back. “Bonnie,” she shouted, sprinting through the ugly olive-green gate. She slowed to a walk and searched the yard. “Bonnie!” Renate put a hand on her shoulder. “The front door is open, she might be inside.” She sucked in an unsteady breath and turned to him, pressing her face into his chest and closing her eyes in reluctance. She didn’t want to find Bonnie dead in there—or almost worse, not in there at all. “Come on,” Renate said, taking charge. She followed him and they proceeded to search every room, even the rooms where the doors were shut. Ally was…numb as she retraced her footsteps back into the lounge room. She bit her lip and stared at the portraits on the feature wall. As she lifted an unsteady hand to trace one of the photos, she absently wondered why it felt as though she’d done this very same thing half a century before, not just days ago. Renate’s hands curled over her shoulders from behind, a comforting touch. “Are you okay?” She released an unsteady breath. “No. Not really.” She closed her eyes for a moment, feeling Bonnie’s loss as deeply as her inability to conceive. “Renate, I’m sorry I can’t give you a family like…like this.”
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“Ally,” he said hoarsely. “You don’t understand. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” Please don’t tell me I’m not good enough for you now. Her hand dropped. She opened her eyes and turned to him. But then other feelings overcame her, a duplicate to how she’d felt when Maddox had earlier insinuated…stuff. “You’re not wanting to break up with because I’m infertile, are you?” she breathed. He frowned. “What? No!” His frown deepened as her words seemingly fully registered. “Children or not, you must know I’ll love you to my last dying breath.” “Then what is this…talk you wanted to have?” He cupped her face, his hands warm on her suddenly cold cheeks. “That medicine Maddox gave you to heal your body from the dog attack—” She nodded, a cold wind barreling through her veins as he continued. “—would have fixed any other problems you might have had as well.” Her eyes went wide even as her pulse jerked like a fish on a hook. “So you’re saying I can have children now?” His smile was mirrored in his beautiful eyes. “Yes.” The shriek of joy she emitted sounded far away, as though it was someone else’s voice. She threw herself into his arms, holding tight. “I can’t believe it.” Her heart was warm in her chest, her love for Renate spilling over. She pulled back a little and looked up. “Are you sure? I mean, really sure?” “I’m sure.” She drew back a little further, viewing his reserve. “Then what’s wrong?” She sucked in a sudden breath, her heart crashing. “Oh. My. God. I promised my first born daughter to Lillian’s son,” she whispered. He didn’t say anything for a minute, just let the truth wash over her as she adjusted to this latest revelation. Her voice cracked. “And they’ll find us again, won’t they.” It wasn’t a question but he nodded anyway. “I’m afraid so, kitten. When our daughter comes of age, she will become Carèche’s most sought-after queen-to-be.” She slid a hand along her flat belly. “Perhaps we will never have a daughter? Lillian may never have a son?” Renate nodded. “Perhaps.” But his expression revealed the unlikelihood. She closed her eyes, feeling the blood rush from her face. “What have I done?” She tore her eyelids apart and looked up at him, her stare burning. “I should have listened to you, should have trusted you.” She swallowed back a rush of self-pity. “You must think me a stupid fool.” “No. That is the old Ally talking,” he said gently. “The Ally I know realizes I love her deeply and see not only a beautiful woman, but one who is strong, loyal and smart. One who’d choose to live away from the people she could make a new life with to find the one friend who kept her sane.”
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“Bonnie,” she whispered. She bit her bottom lip, clearing her mind, her emotions. “You’re right. I can’t give up on her now. I have to find her.” “Yes.” His eyes smoldered. “That’s the Ally I know and love.” Her smile wobbled. “Thank you.” His kiss was hard, possessive and quick. His stare withholding much of the passion she’d earlier glimpsed as he asked, “Any ideas of where else she might be? A place she loved?” She shook her head, “No, I—” Her mouth dropped open, the vision she’d had earlier rushing back. “Of course!” She put a hand over her mouth. “I think I know where she is.” Renate shrugged off the backpack and dug out a bottle of water. He handed it to her with a pleased nod. “How far away?” She took a long sip, calculating the walking distance. She knew Sydney well, but she’d always used public service to get from A to Z. “I’m guessing four, maybe five hours.” She handed back the bottled water and he took a mouthful before recapping and replacing it carefully into the backpack. “Then we’ll take the motorbike I saw a few blocks from here.” As they walked out the front door she asked, “You know how to ride?” “You could say that.” His smile was more a frown as he added, “Before my planet’s population was decimated I was the undefeated cercanne champion.” “Cercanne?” “It’s a form of your humans’ motorbike racing.” He shook his head. “You’d have to see it to believe it.” And suddenly she really did want to see it, wanted to personally witness his skill. Minutes later she really was experiencing his riding abilities firsthand. He pushed the motorbike through the carnage on the streets, dodging cars and debris and often sticking to the sidewalk. She pointed directions, but mostly she simply clung on to Renate and enjoyed the wind whipping through her hair. Her clasp tightened around his waist. The office building she’d once worked at shimmered out of the smoke haze ahead, as though it was a mirage emerging in slow motion. She pointed to the building. “That’s where I used to work.” Seemed so hard to believe now that she’d seen her career as the pinnacle of her life, her greatest achievement. Funny how death kicked that notion right in the guts. Minutes later she was directing Renate to Luke’s townhouse. And even before he’d parked the motorbike a dog limped out, barking with unrestrained excitement. Ally jumped off the bike, laughing and crying all at the same time as she raced over to Bonnie and hugged her tight. “You’re safe,” she shouted, “you’re safe!”
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Epilogue Ally paused, clutching hold of the basket handle filled with the alien vegetables and herbs, which she and Renate had been growing right alongside earth plants. Using her free hand, she absently ran a finger along the permanent, barely noticeable markings on her throat, feeling more proud of them than any wedding ring. How things could change, she mused, smiling at the picture-perfect scene of Renate and their four-year-old daughter, Aline. Renate was using the cricket bat they’d found in the garage of the country homestead they’d moved into just north of Sydney. Aline tossed the ball to him, her teeth pressed into her lower lip with concentration. Ally’s smile widened. Aline was such a little tomboy, out to prove she could do anything her daddy could do, only better. Renate cracked the ball into the air and Bonnie let out a yip before dashing after the ball, her fluffy ears pushed low, snout and tail thrust straight out as if she was nature’s own wind deflector. Leopold let out a sudden meow and brushed in and out her legs in a figure of eight, looking up at her with his big round eyes. Ally laughed. “You want some attention too, eh?” She shook her head. “Wasn’t it enough we spent a week trying to find you?” She nodded toward the shady patch under the tree, where four kittens pounced and swiped at their beautiful, Persian cat mother. “Not to mention having to bring home your girlfriend.” Aline shouted, snaring Ally’s attention. “C’mon, Mommy! Come and play with us.” Ally rubbed her belly, swollen with child. Then placing the basket on the ground, she walked toward her husband and daughter, fully aware that right then life couldn’t get any better. Now was the moment in which she had to live. Together, they’d deal with the future when it came.
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About the Author Mel Teshco lives in rural Australia with too many animals, too many children and not enough hours in the day to write! Her loving husband is in training as a real-life hero and waits patiently to retire on the success of his wife’s writing. Mel welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email addresses on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.
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Also by Mel Teshco Carnal Moon Discovering Sofia Galactic Burn Kallie Revealed Moon Thrall Something Wicked This Way Comes, Volume 1 anthology Winged & Dangerous 1: Stone-Cold Lover Winged & Dangerous 2: Ice-Cold Lover Winged & Dangerous 3: Red-Hot Lover
Print books by Mel Teshco Something Wicked This Way Comes, Volume 1 anthology
Ellora’s Cave Publishing
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Galactic Inferno ISBN 9781419940538 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Galactic Inferno Copyright © 2012 Mel Teshco Edited by April Chapman Cover art design by Syneca Photography: Syneca and fotolia.com Model: Nick Electronic book publication June 2012 The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora’s Cave Publishing. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502. Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/). Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously. The publisher and author(s) acknowledge the trademark status and trademark ownership of all trademarks, service marks and word marks mentioned in this book. The publisher does not have any control over, and does not assume any responsibility for, author or third-party Web sites or their content.
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