One week later

Krayter rolled over to find the spot beside him empty. He sat up and frowned, looking for the clock. This was their last day at Jacinta’s compound before heading back to New York, and Penny had told him she meant to sleep in.

And the night before, he’d done his part to make sure she was tired enough to sleep until noon.

But the numbers on the clock told him it was only a little after nine. The sun was high overhead and streaming in through their room. He listened, wondering if she’d merely gone to the bathroom or decided to take a shower. Silence. Nothing.

He pulled on pants and ran his fingers through his hair. When he picked up the shirt he’d worn last night, he spied a frenzied tear in the side and grinned as he remembered exactly what Penny had done to him. He chose a different shirt that he’d borrowed from one of Jacinta’s men and threw it on before leaving the room and following the sound of women’s voices down to the kitchen.

The Morales girls, as they were beginning to call themselves, sat at the table with their mother and Penny, all laughing as they cleaned knives and organized ammo. This wasn’t a family that would ever bond over baking pies.

Jacinta was the first to see him. She smiled broadly and waved him in, still laughing at something one of her daughters had said. Gone was the woman who’d locked him in a storage shed and threatened his life. Now she greeted him like an old friend and teased him and Penny for the besotted looks they couldn’t help but send one another.

He came up behind his mate and placed a casual hand on her back. She tilted her head up with a grin and kissed him, smiling throughout. Both of her sisters made scandalized sounds, but Krayter was getting used to it. It was almost like having his own sisters back and he savored it.

“Is your family still coming tonight?” Jacinta asked, referring to the dinner they’d planned with Kayleb, Ru, and Lis.

“They’ll be leaving the city soon. Now, if you’ll excuse us, I need to talk to Penny.”

The girls made even more scandalized sounds, but Penny just waved at them and let him pull her outside. Once they were through the door, Krayter swung an arm around his mate and held her close.

Penny curled into him, letting her fingers crawl along his back. “They’re going to start thinking you’re possessive.”

He couldn’t help the satisfied smile that pulled across his face. “Good. You’re mine.”

She grinned back and her eyes dipped down to his lips. A shadowed look fell over her gaze as she licked her own lips. Krayter’s cock twitched. He was growing to love that look.

But Penny shook her head and forced her eyes back up, much to Krayter’s disappointment. “Are you ready for us to go home?” she asked. “Thanks for agreeing to stay for so long.”

“Where you go, I go. Always.” And it hadn’t been that bad. Once he’d risked his own life to save his mate’s, her mother had grown more accepting. She hadn’t even blinked when they moved into their own room together.

“So you’re coming with me when I visit next month?”

Krayter nodded. Maybe someday in the future he’d be willing to endure a few days without her, but not now, not so soon after he’d almost lost her. And from the hopeful look on Penny’s face, he could tell she felt the same.

The denya bond thrummed strong between them, growing deeper every day. Utter contentment engulfed Krayter. He stood with the woman he loved, both of them safe and sound, on a green planet full of life. It was almost perfect.

“When do you think Kayleb will find his denya?” Penny asked, hitting on the one thing that hurt even as he glowed with happiness.

“I don’t know.” They’d come to Earth, and he’d fulfilled part of his dream and found a mate when he hadn’t even been looking. And yet his brother would die in months if he didn’t have the same fortune.

“I have an idea,” she offered.

“What?” They stood in the middle of the yard, in full view of anyone at the compound, but to Krayter they floated on their own island.

“What about a dating agency? He’ll meet a lot of women really fast. It could work, right?”

For a moment, Krayter considered it. And then he tilted his head back and let out a full bore laugh as he imagined the look on his brother’s face if he dared suggest such a thing.

Krayter pulled Penny into a full hug as his chest rumbled with laughter and she joined in, her eyes crinkling with joy as both of them thought of his prickly brother dealing with dozens of human women at once.

It was an idea. And now that they had each other, they’d have plenty more. That was what family was for.