Married to a Dragon (No Such Thing as Dragons Book 4) by Lauren Lively (23)

She relaxed realizing he hadn’t meant to offend her. Of course she was small compared to him. Everyone was.

“Oh well okay. I guess I can deal with that. Plus you’re a freakin’ giant, and I don’t think anyone is bigger than you.”

Pyra laughed and yanked her from me lifting her off of the ground and hugging her tightly. “Welcome to the family, little one.”

She gasped at his strength and he let her go. “My god you’re a freakin beast.” Then she seemed to remember what he said. “And thank you.”

The whole way everyone stopped them and welcomed her to the family. He felt her emotions swell by the time they got to his parents’ house she was close to crying again.

“So many nice people. They all accept me because of you? It’s strange.”

“We are one giant family.”

“Apparently.”

He led them up the stairs and the door swung open before he’d even had a chance to knock. His father knew everything.

Chapter 9

I stared at the man who was an older version of my mate. Even Pyra didn’t look as much like the king as Gyyx did. It was crazy.

The man smiled and his teeth glistened in the sun. Automatically I felt a calm override my nerves. He pulled me from his son’s arms and wrapped his around me. My head came up to right below his pecks, and I found myself burying my head into him taking in his comfort. The comfort of a father. The dam broke and I sobbed against him. I didn’t know why, but I wasn’t able to stop it.

No one said anything and he patted my hair soothingly and let me cry. After several minutes I pulled myself together and blushed when I pulled back. “I’m so sorry. You are just very comforting.”

The man laughed and shook his head with a light in his bright orange eyes. “Oh my new daughter. It’s a great day for new family members. I am happy both of my sons have found their other halves.”

I stepped back, but he grabbed my hand and pulled me inside leading me through a giant foyer and into a dining room that rivaled anything I had seen during my time with Bill. He was the rich man that liked to have me hanging from his arm. He was older, fat, but incredibly wealthy. He paid well too. But even his giant house and dining room didn’t compare to the immaculacy to this place. It wasn’t even over decorating and it didn’t scream wealthy.

He led me and Gyyx to the table. “Sit, food will be served, Thiea will be here shortly. She is so excited to meet you—”

“Leia.”

“Leia, what a pretty name.”

“Thank you.” The men were all charmers; all three of them. It was strange but you could tell they were the royalty. There was just something about the air that surrounded them.

Thiea came down the stairs wearing a long silk dress and her orange eyes shined brightly. Her white hair was curled and pulled from her face. Her face was long and fierce. Even though she looked sweet, I knew inside she was an independent woman. She could hold her own.

She smiled and floated to me. Yes, I didn’t even see her feet touch the ground. She pulled me from Gyyx and hugged me. “Oh my you’re so beautiful my dear. I’m so glad you’re awake. My poor boy was a wreck.”

“Mom,” Gyyx said and I could hear the embarrassment in his tone.

“Oh stop, she knows you were hurting for her, don’t you?”

I nodded. “I was aware. So I got to know you all pretty much. Well everyone who was around a lot. It’s quiet strange.”

“Oh I imagine. Now we must feed you and put some meat on those bones of yours.”

“Mom.”

I turned and laid my hand on his arm. “It’s fine. She’s right. I could gain some weight.”

He wasn’t happy when his parents carted me off taking over. Every time I looked at him he was pouting. I found it incredibly adorable. I knew he wanted me to himself, but alone with him meant either sex or him digging deeper into my past wanting to get to know me, and for a while I just wanted to forget everything. I knew the time when I was questioned about my time with the monsters would be coming shortly, and I wanted to enjoy his family before they bombarded me, asking me questions. Some of which I wouldn’t even know how to answer.

Several hours later Gyyx sat next to me and sighed. “Sorry, they’re excited.”

“It’s okay. I like that your parents want to know me. I’ve always wanted a big family.”

He chuckled. “Well Sweetheart, now you’ve got one. They won’t let you go now.”

I smiled. For the first time I felt settled. I didn’t feel the urge to get high or find some random man to sleep with. I had everything I needed and my heart would eventually heal.

“Good,” I said.

His mother peppered me with questions, and none of them were all that hard to answer. She seemed to know that there were topics that were off limits. I wasn’t sure how, but she was very intuitive.

“So you were supposed to be our first exchange student?”

“Yes, I was on my way here when the ship was attacked. I don’t remember much about what or how it happened though.”

“And then they kept you?”

“Yes.”

She waved her hand at her husband. “Now’s not the time. We can figure it out later. Now we just have to thank the Goddesses she made it out alive and in one piece. You’re one tough woman.”

“Finally, someone sees it,” I said and winked at Gyyx. He laughed and shook his head.

His mother smiled at me and patted my hand. The warmth from her reminded me of the one I had lost and never mourned. It was nice to be around a woman like her. I found I liked where I was very much.

(To be Continued in Part VI… )

Book 6 – Loved by Alien Prince

Chapter 1

One week. That’s how long it had been since I had woken up and still I hadn’t done anything. Gyyx kept trying to pamper me. He wouldn’t let anyone question me about the Klimnu, and I was grateful but a day before there was an attack again. The warriors were all on high alert looking for Ullie knowing he was with the enemy now. He knew inside secrets and had access to the compound. It was time to tell them my story even though it wasn’t going to be fun. A lot of truth was going to come out, but they deserved to know anything I was able to tell them.

I sighed and ran my hand over his bare chest. He smiled and his eyes cracked opened.

“Good morning, beautiful.”

“Morning.” I rolled over and kissed him. When he tried deepening the kiss I pulled away shaking my head. “Nope, not today, buddy. I’m going to tell everyone what happened to me. It’s time I meet your family and everyone else. I’ve been here a week now, and they’re all worried especially now that there has been an attack. You know that. You’re a warrior too.”

He sighed and nodded. “I know it’s time, I was thoroughly enjoying not having to worry, but that little prick is going to pay for switching sides. Why the hell would he do that? He’s a fucking warrior for god’s sake.”

“Some people do bad things because they feel like they don’t have a choice.”

He glared but even though I didn’t agree with what Ullie did I got it. I had made a lot of my own bad choices.

“You can’t think that the things you did are as bad as what Ullie did?”

“Just because I’m your mate doesn’t make my past squeaky clean, Gyyx. What if he was forced?”

He rolled his eyes. “It didn't’ seem that way from what Elaina said. She was there when he would have handed them over to the Klimnu. Ero was knocked out. So clearly I’m right.”

I laughed. “I’m not saying I think he is innocent. Sometimes things aren’t as they appear to be though.”

“Okay, okay, let’s not fight. You need to get dressed if we are going to have breakfast with everyone.”

I nodded and gulped. It was the day they were all going to learn of my captivity. I wasn’t even sure if my story would help them, but I was determined to finally do some good in my life. Maybe it would help make up for all the bad I had done so early in my life. I could only hope it would redeem me.

I climbed out of bed and picked the least sexy outfit the girls had given me and cleaned up. When I was done I brushed my long hair and did a side braid. My bangs needed trimming.

“Hey babe, do you have any sharp scissors?”

He smirked at me. I blushed realizing it was the first time I had called him anything other than his name.

“What for?”

“I need to cut my bangs; they’re too long.”

He paused as if thinking and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll get them.”

“Thank you.”

No more than two minutes later I held a very sharp pair of shears. Carefully I began to cut some of the length off. My tongue peeked out and pressed on my upper lip as I concentrated to get them even. My hand shook as I trimmed away the long hair.

By the time I was done, I realized I was pretty good. Besides the shaking hand due to the sears being pretty heavy and I had small hands, I did damn good. I was definitely out of practice. Captivity pretty much made me lose a part of myself.

Now it was time to take that part of me back. Erase the past and finally move forward with my mate. Life would be so much brighter. I knew I could really fit in this world.

Gyyx stuck his head in the bathroom. “You ready? I’m starving.”

I chuckled. “You’re always starving, but yeah I’m done.”

“You look beautiful.”

Hearing those words from someone who actually meant it took some getting used to. I didn’t say anything, but I couldn’t hold back the smile. Each day it got easier to hear him compliment me.

I followed him outside. It always seemed to be bright and sunny. The sky was always clear with no clouds. I was beginning to wonder if there was any different kind of weather. I wondered if it rained or snowed. Were there ever any gloomy days?

I held his hand as he led us to the eating hall. It was the place where they held meetings and had their community dinners, which was often. They were a very close knit species. At least the ones here. Gyyx had told me about the others. They were all segregated to family lines or whatever. His parents and the warriors kept in contact, but once the Klimnu starting attacking the other groups of Denynso locked up their compounds tight and didn’t let anyone in and a select few were allowed out to get supplies. Otherwise they lived behind their walls. It was a shame because if they would all work together they would be more powerful than their enemies.

A tall man stood beside me out of nowhere, and I jumped. He was actually shorter than all of the other warriors and not as bulky. He looked more human. He didn’t have a Mohawk, and he didn’t have white hair. He had dark brown hair and eyes that matched. The dark orbs held such sorrow. And then he spoke. “Damn you’re fucking tiny. I bet Gyyx could tear you in two.”

My eyes widened. “Wow, you’re really going to go there the first time we meet?”

Gyyx slammed into him throwing him to the ground. “Don’t fucking talk to her like that, asshole!”

The man groaned and jumped to his feet and rubbed his back. “It was a joke damn.” Then he looked at me. “Sorry, I’m Ero and you must be Leia.”

I frowned. His smile was fake. Anyone could see this guy was miserable, and I had a feeling I knew why. He didn’t resemble any of the Denynso I had seen yet. “Yes I’m Leia, and for the record Gyyx didn’t need to defend my honor.” I hated that he felt like he had to run to my defense. I could have easily taken Ero down myself.

Ero smirked and nodded when he moved forward he cringed and tried to cover it up. But I was an artist. I spotted things like discomfort and insecurities a mile away. He was an artist’s dream for drawing. His eyes alone were enough to make any one of us want to do a happy dance. Not because we thought it was funny but because no one couldn’t fake that kind of emotion.

Chapter 2

As soon as we entered the large room the voices stopped. Every single person in the room stopped to stare at me. I felt like some sort of circus freak. They had all been trying to get Gyyx to let me out of his cabin, but he refused. It was our “honeymoon” he had said. He wanted me to himself for at least a few days. Then there was an attack and now it was time to get back to the real world.

I didn’t know what that meant for me anymore. I hadn’t done anything artistic since before, and I was itching to draw something—anything. I didn’t have any materials or anything though. I hadn’t wanted to ask because I thoroughly loved getting to know him. He was an amazing man, and I was madly in love with him—not that I’d said it yet. It was too soon.

Gyyx squeezed my hand. “After we eat she’s ready to talk about her captivity. No fucking questions before she eats a decent meal.”

Everyone nodded and the insistent chatter picked up again. Some of the Denynso didn’t even realize I had been in the Klimnu hands for 57 long and horrible days. Even though the room felt like a college campus full of people chatting about inconsequential things, I still felt eyes on me.

Everyone wanted to know what I had been through and what I learned. I nodded at a few of the warriors who smiled and tilted their head in a nod, and then I felt arms around me, pulling me away from Gyyx.

“Oh my gosh, I thought you’d never wake up!”

When I gasped her arms didn’t loosen and I felt wet tears on my shoulder. It was Eliana. Instead of freaking out about having a woman hugging the life out of me I hugged her back and whispered, “Thank you.”

I felt her nod and then she pulled back. “I wasn’t just going to leave you there. Not after I knew you weren’t some trick of the mind.”

I nodded knowing exactly what she was talking about. The Klimnu were freaking good. They could manipulate their shape. If they could get in their victims head and steal their memories they were as good as done. They used the memories as a way to break their prey down.

“I’m so grateful for you. I would have died had you not taken me out of there.”

Gyyx growled, and I patted his arm reassuringly. Eliana nodded in understanding. She didn’t deny it. She was the only person who knew what I had gone through even if they only had her for a short time.

She grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “We’ll talk more later, okay? You better eat before the fire in Gyyx’s eyes burns me.” She laughed but she glanced at my mate leery. He was glaring daggers at her as if her talking to me was an inconvenience.

“Stop,” I whispered.

“I’m starving woman, stop chitchatting.”

“Well then go eat you big baby.”

“Not without you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine, lead the way.”

He led us to a table where his brother and another woman sat. I assumed that was Eden. Gyyx told me she had been a victim of the Klimnu too. Only she died and Ciyrs brought her back to life. On Eden’s other side another male sat. He tipped his head and smiled at me. His eyes shined. There was something different about him. It was Ciyrs. I knew he tried so hard to help me wake up. It was strange. I actually knew these Denynso. They didn’t seem to realize that I was aware when I was out. I was pretty sure Ciyrs was beating himself up over not being able to make me wake up sooner. He was mated to Eliana and she seemed to have this mothering thing towards me.

He sat across from Pyra and I sat next to him and blushed when they stared at me.

“It’s good to see you awake.” Pyra was a simple man. He went back to stuffing his face, and these men could eat. Their plates were loaded and they devoured food.

“Thank you,” I said in a hushed whisper.

Eden smiled and nodded. She rubbed her belly and sighed. She was a lot different than I expected.

I ate in silence lost in my own thoughts. Gyyx left me alone as if he knew I needed this time to deal. I was about to relive the last two months. The whole thing was it was more mental than physical. The Klimnu got more power by getting inside of my head than physically touching me. Humiliation was another way to feed their lust for power. Something about fear and disgrace fed them. I wasn’t sure how it worked. I only knew that I dealt with the same two, the whole time. The one Eliana somehow snuffed out. I still had yet to learn exactly what she did, and then the other one. The one who liked me, the one who used illusion to shake me to the core. Otherwise the other Klimnu pretty much stayed away from me.

“They are all so anxious, and I really don’t know how much help I’m going to be,” I whispered, but of course they all had good hearing and Pyra frowned.

Before Gyyx could respond Pyra said, “Anything you can tell us will be helpful. We need to stop them from getting onto the land, and we only had a week with no attacks. I fucking hate those nasty pricks. I want to know how they manage to get here. What is it they want?”

“The King.” I did know that.

Both Gyyx and Pyra growled. “They won’t get him. We’d die first.”

My heart dropped even though I knew that would be the answer. Gyyx would sacrifice his life for his father.

Eden smiled at me as if she was used to this, and she probably was. “We will all give our lives for Criea.”

I nodded. There was such a strong loyalty for their leader.

Finishing my food I sat back and sighed. It was now or never. “So when am I going to lead story time today?” I felt the sarcasm drip and shook my head. “Sorry being sarcastic helps when I’m nervous.”

“You don’t even have to talk. See the thing is dad is one powerful male. He only has to touch you and your memories become his. It will be like he is living it, and he can send it to us. It’s hard to explain. He is telepathic to all of those who share his blood, and every warrior does. It’s part of the ritual. Therefore he has a link with all the males. Each one of us will have your story fed into our heads from you to him, then to us. That way we all see it. Live it and understand it.”

“Whoa, so Eden and Elaina won’t?”

“Oh we will because of our mates and our connection to each other. So yeah we will.”

“That is so weird.”

“Yep,” Eden said with a smile. “It’s a lot to get used to being around people who are so gifted. It’s intimidating.”

I shrugged. “I don’t really mind. I’m just an artist.” Then I took a deep breath. “Well let’s get this over with.”

Gyyx nodded and then suddenly the king sat next to me.

“Are you sure you want to open your mind to me. I need your guards down fully.”

I hesitated. “Guards down?”

“Yes, everyone has guards. Since you suffered yours will be thicker and harder to break through, it will be painful. That’s why I need you to put them down yourself because I don’t want that. If you’re willing to open up to me it will be easier and less—invasive.”

I nodded still feeling nervous. “Uh—okay so how do I put my guards down?”

The kings took my hand and shut his eyes. At first I didn’t feel anything and then wham it was like the Klimnu only it didn’t feel evil. It was a gentle caress. Without opening his eyes he said, “Okay Leia, I need to you relax and take a deep breath.”

I closed my eyes and listened. Doing my best I shut everything out around me and let the king invade my most intimate thoughts and all of my memories. A part of me worried what he would think after he knew what I was like before, and I wondered if everyone would see that part of my past or if he could block some things out. I certainly hoped so.

Chapter 3

I felt his mind traveling into mine. It was like tiny pricks of static. He sifted through my memories. It was strange having him in my head, and thankfully it wasn’t painful. I was beginning to understand he was a powerful creature. It made sense on why the Denynso wanted him so badly. He really was the key to getting back to their power.

As of now they were nasty creatures. They were grotesques and horrible vile things. I knew what they were in the past. What they were before the toxins. Apparently the king could cure them, but he refused. Said they changed because of their selfishness. It was their punishment for wanting too much and expecting it.

The Klimnu were chatty things. They loved talking about themselves and then showing me images of what they used to be. It was no surprise they were a little selfish. They were the ultimate beautiful creatures. And what was beauty was no longer theirs.

I took a deep breath getting out of my own thoughts when I felt a small pain.

I felt Gyyx’s hand on mine and I heard complete and utter silence, all except the sound of my heart beating rapidly in my chest.

* * * *

2 months earlier

“Anna, do you really think I should do it? I mean what if they all think I’m weird or something?”

“Oh honey they won’t. And you aren’t weird, you're a woman who is learning to be on her own. Getting away and gaining new life experiences is what it’s all about”

I shook my head. “I know that but it’s all still so fresh. I haven’t been this person for very long.”

She cupped my cheeks. “That is who you are Leia. Don’t let your past insecurities hold you back.”

I nodded. “Okay I’ll go. It might be good to get away from all the things from my past. I’m having cravings again.”

Her eyes widened. “Fight them sweet heart.”

My eyes filled with tears. “I’m trying.”

She nodded and led me back into the break room. I sat down and while my hands shook Anna handed me a glass of water. It wasn’t what I wanted—what I needed, but having her around to keep my on the right road was helping. If I was alone I would have already cracked.

I closed my eyes and let the coolness from the water ease the ache. I was in control. “Tomorrow I leave,” I whispered. Suddenly leaving to another planet seemed like the best idea I had ever had. I would get away and hopefully learn a lot of new things.

Later that night as I dragged myself up the creaky stairs to the shop I realized a few things. I was slowly overcoming my addiction. Every day was a challenge, but it was worth it in the end.

I stripped off my clothes and fell into bed. I didn’t even bother getting dressed. I was thoroughly exhausted.

* * *

The next morning I woke up feeling both terrified and excited. I was the first from school who signed up for the foreign exchange program. It was a once in a lifetime experience and couldn’t have come at a better time. I had been clean for 3 months. My counselor said I would be fighting for years to overcome this and even then it would always haunt me.

I rolled out of bed and went into my tiny hole in the wall bathroom. It had a shower, a toilet, and hot water. That’s all I needed. I turned on the water and the pipes groaned and creaked in protest. It was an old building. The water got luke warm at best, but I had worse so I couldn’t complain.

I scrubbed clean and stepped out into the cool air shivering. It would be nice to be somewhere different. I hoped somewhere warm. This weather was getting ridiculous. I took the folded piece of paper out of my pocket and unfolded it so I could check the directions to the meeting point one more time. I had never traveled by spaceship before and I was afraid that I would somehow take a wrong turn along the way, get lost, miss my trip to Uoria, and be stuck in the same life with dark memories that haunted me no matter how hard I tried to put them behind me.

The bright green piece of paper led me to one of the university's many outlying study buildings; this one so far at the other end of the campus that I was afraid my short legs weren't going to get me there in time. For a brief moment I entertained the idea of waving someone down and asking them for a ride, but just the thought made my stomach turn as I remembered how many times I had done something similar, and the consequences I had suffered because of it.

Forcing myself to think about something beyond those memories distracted me so much that I almost didn't realize I had gotten to the building. It loomed ahead of me in brilliant chrome and black detailing and for a moment I just stood back and admired it. It was extremely impressive for a building that existed purely for the purposes of housing ships and arranging travel for the students and researchers at the university. I stood on the sidewalk outside and looked at it. Somewhere inside there the crew was waiting for me, waiting to bring me aboard a ship that would take me on a journey far from Earth and far from everything I had ever known, and everything I had been trying to outrun.

I took a deep, steeling breath and strode into the building, exuding as much confidence as I could even though there were butterflies swarming in my stomach. No one I knew had ever traveled off of Earth so I had no one to give me advice on what the trip would be like or how I was going to handle it. This was truly an adventure into the unknown and I was nervous, but ready to embrace it. There was no way it could be worse than anything I had already endured.

The woman at a massive, gleaming front desk looked up at me and flashed a smile so big and bright it looked like she had been rehearsing it.

"Hi," I said cautiously, approaching the desk and holding up the green sheet of paper as if it was my pass to the building, "I'm Leia. I'm here for my trip to Uoria."

"The foreign exchange program!" the woman said with excitement, "They are just fueling up the ship and will be ready to go in a few minutes. Go through that door and go to the end of the hall. Type your name into the keypad beside the door and it will let you out into the loading area. Have a fantastic trip!"

"Thank you."

I followed the woman's point to a tall metal double door at the end of the room and it opened as I approached as if it could sense my presence. It led into a long, wide corridor lined with doors with nothing more than numbers to differentiate them. I followed the corridor to the end and found the keypad by the door. My fingers shook slightly as I typed my name into the keys, but I didn't know if they were shaking more from nervousness or excitement.

The door swung open as soon as I finished typing my name and I stepped out into a huge room that swarmed with people. I waited just inside the door until a woman in a short dress and pointed hat came up, took my elbow, and led me toward the ship in the middle of the room without saying anything to me.

A few moments later I was settling into a large plush seat that surrounded me like a pod, securing my seatbelt as tightly as I could, tucking my small bag in behind my feet. It didn't contain much, only the few articles of clothing I had that I felt comfortable wearing in a school setting and my meager art supplies. I closed my eyes and let out a long breath, knowing this moment was the last of life as I knew it and that soon I would be experiencing something incredible, something that would fuel me to another level of my art.

Chapter 4

The top of my pod was still open and a pleasant-looking man appeared above me.

"Hello, Leia. You are my only passenger today."

"Yes," I said, not really knowing what else to say when he paused.

"The flight from Earth to Uoria takes approximately five days when the conditions are good. If you prefer, I can put you to sleep so that you can pass the trip in your pod rather than experiencing all of it. Would you like me to do that for you?"

My mind immediately panicked at the thought of him doing anything that would put me into a state of not being able to control myself or make decisions. It was much too close to what the men had done to me, how they had controlled me for years using drugs and manipulation to keep me as their compliant servant. I shook my head adamantly.

"No. I'll stay awake."

The pilot got a strange look on his face, but nodded.

"That's fine. We have plenty of supplies to sustain you through the trip. If you change your mind, though, just let me know."

"I will. Thank you."

"I'm going to go ahead and close your pod up now. It will open when we get out of orbit and it is safe for you to move around the rest of the ship. Make sure your seatbelt is secure and just relax. The takeoff is the worst part."

He smiled, but I didn't find his words terribly reassuring, and when he closed the pod, the loud clicking sound of the lid clamping into place made my stomach flip. I rested my head back on the seat and gave my seatbelt another tug just to make sure that it was tight around me. A few moments later I felt the pod around me start to shake slightly as the pilot began the lift-off process. The shaking grew more intense and right as I felt like I couldn't take it anymore, the shaking eased and I felt a tremendous surge upwards.

What felt like hours later, there was a click and a hissing sound as the lid to my pod popped open and eased upward a few inches. I released my seatbelt and pushed the lid up the rest of the way so that I could climb out. We were still days away from the planet where I planned to spend the next six months, but I already felt like Earth was a lifetime away. The sense of freedom and possibility surrounded me and for the first time in years I felt all of the tension, fear, and worry ease out of my shoulders. It would be less than 24 hours before it all returned and what was supposed to be my salvation became my hell.

I had just eaten a huge lunch and was settling into my pod for a nap on the second day of the journey when I felt the ship lurch and shudder. It settled only for a moment before shaking even more violently and tilting to the side so harshly I tumbled out of my pod and onto the floor. I heard a scream from the front of the ship where the flight attendant stayed for the majority of the time and then a series of pounding sounds that felt like they were shaking my bones.

The door between the chamber where my pod sat along with a table and cluster of chairs and the small room where the flight attendant stayed dented then split, and my breath caught in my throat as a loathsome-looking creature climbed through the break into my chamber. It looked like a slimy skeleton covered with ghastly white skin and oily strings of hair coming from its comparatively tiny head. Steeply pointed teeth jutted from its mouth and claws several inches long protruded from the ends of its thin fingers.

I scrambled backwards as four more of the creatures climbed into the room, the last one dragging the pilot along with him. They seemed to notice me suddenly, all of them turning their eyes to me at the same time and approaching with long strides that covered the floor space between us in seconds.

"What are you?" I screamed, flattening my back against the far wall of the chamber and starting to work my way around the room toward my pod.

"We are Klimnu," the first creature that had come into the chamber said in a voice that made my skin crawl.

"Run!" the pilot screamed, thrashing against the hands of the creature that held him, "Get into my cockpit and call for help."

The Klimnu that held him pulled the pilot up off of the ground and pulled his head back by his hair. The pilot kicked and another of the Klimnu grabbed his legs so that he couldn't move anymore. An instant later the one who held him slashed his throat with his fangs. The blood poured in a thick, glistening curtain down the front of his body and I felt my stomach turn. Pulling his head back further, the Klimnu burrowed his mouth into the pilot's neck until he found his spine, then bit through it with a sickening crunch. The rest of the man's body collapsed to the floor and the Klimnu held up his head like a trophy.

I fought the vomit that rose in my throat, struggling to stay in control and keep my mind clear so that I would have any chance at all to get into the cockpit and call for emergency help.

"What are you?" I asked in a strangled voice, still working my way around the wall.

The first Klimnu took a step toward me and I gasped, pressing myself harder against the wall.

"We are Klimnu," he repeated angrily.

"Why are you here?" I asked, the tears pouring down my cheeks like acid.

"Ynn, our planet, has become a wasteland. There is nothing there and even we are struggling to survive. We are going to Uoria to join our brethren there. There is no famine, especially with the Denynso to sustain us."

"What do you mean?"

The creature gave a horrific sound that might have been a laugh and was suddenly only inches from me, blocking me against the wall with his disgusting, slimy body. Instead of answering my question, he reached up and ran the tips of his sharp claws along my cheek and down my neck. I shuddered at the feeling, but when I tried to wriggle away from him, he tilted his hand so that the points of the claws bit into my skin like needles.

"You are a pretty little thing," he said, his voice lower now like he was trying to cajole me with his words, "I don't think I am going to let my men kill you. I would much rather keep you as my pet."

He looked at me the way that the men who had bought, sold, and traded me did and I felt myself grow dizzy with fear and disgust.

"I would rather die," I hissed and I felt his claws slash across my neck, digging deeply enough to make my blood flow but not enough to comply with my wishes.

I withheld the cry of pain that bubbled up in my throat. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of making me appear weak and vulnerable in front of him.

"Perhaps you will have the opportunity to experience both," he said and grabbed me by the front of my shirt, dragging me toward the door.

I felt the warmth of the pilot's blood soaking through my clothes as the creature dragged me through it on our way through the ship. No matter how hard I struggled, I couldn't free myself from his grasp. I could see out of the corner of my eye that he was dragging me through the side hatch of the ship and I grabbed onto the sides, desperately trying to stay within the ship, but he pulled me so hard the skin tore from my hands and I couldn't hold on any longer. A moment later I was in a dark hallway and I knew my life was no longer my own.

Chapter 5

In an instant I realized that the dark hallway was a connector between the ship that I had been on and another one. The Klimnu had attached their ship to the university's and torn through the wall, leaving it gaping and vulnerable. The creature dragged me down the hallway and into a large open chamber in the center of the ship. Behind us the rest of the creatures crawled through the doorway. One held a small black contraption in his hands.

"I have the black box," he said.

His voice was not as slimy as that of the creature that still gripped me, but he was no less disgusting as he passed close by me on the way toward an open door on the other end of the chamber. I knew that the black box was stolen from the university's ship and that it contained all of the programming for the trip to Uoria. In taking that box they had essentially stolen an auto-pilot flight right to a planet that they wanted to dominate. My stomach sank as I realized that there was no escape now. Without the black box, even if a miracle struck and I was able to get myself free of the Klimnu and back onto the university's ship, the emergency rescue crews would have no way of finding it.

The Klimnu holding me turned me roughly so that I was staring back down the hallway toward the ship. In an instant the ship exploded, becoming a massive ball of orange flame. I screamed as the ship disappeared and the hallway collapsed in on itself, closing the opening in the side of the ship and closing me in with my disgusting, threatening captors. I knew it was my last chance. Maybe if I could free myself from the grip of the creature that held me I would be able to get into the control room of this ship and reach out for help, or at least figure out how to steer the ship onto the closest planet so that I could get away.

Years of martial arts training from when I was younger came back to me in waves. I felt the lessons, the discipline, and the power flowing through my muscles as I channeled the confidence and intensity I once held. This was knowledge from a time before I ended up on the street, before I had to turn to the sickening men to stay alive. I took a breath and lashed out at the creature. My leg lifted and came in contact with the side of his head, making a deep cracking sound that resonated through the chamber. The creature let out a shriek that nearly brought me to my knees, but the feeling of his hands holding me in place released and I took advantage of the sudden freedom by taking off running across the room.

I ran a few steps and then dropped to the floor, using my small frame to my advantage by sliding through the legs of two of the creatures that came at me. Getting past all of the creatures, I scrambled to my feet and took another step toward the open door on the other side of the room. I felt a surge of energy and hope as I reached a hand toward the doorframe, hoping to grab onto it so that I could pull myself through. Before I could, however, I felt a sharp, searing pain in my back.

I fell back, pulled by some unseen force. The intensity of the pain took my breath away and I couldn't withhold the sharp gasp that came from my lips. A moment later the creature who wanted to keep me as his pet appeared by my side. I looked up and realized that the pain came from more than a dozen fine wires that came from the ceiling. The creature walked around me and touched a button on the wall. I screamed as the wires retracted, lifting me a few inches off of the floor with the hooks embedded in my back. The weight of my body pulled the hooks through my skin, slicing through my back, but held so that I dangled from the ceiling with my toes barely grazing the floor beneath me.

"Misbehaving will do you no good," the Klimnu hissed at me, "It will only make this far worse for you."

I opened my mouth to speak, but he covered it with his hand and I felt like I was being gagged. My voice would not push through my throat and I could barely breathe. Even when he pulled his hand away from my face I couldn't make a sound and only the smallest amount of air seeped through my mouth and nose into my lungs.

That is where I stayed for the next four days, hanging from the ceiling of the main chamber of the ship unable to make any sound. The Klimnu passed by me throughout the day as they went about their normal business, walking past me as if I was a gruesome decoration. Occasionally one of them would tip a small amount of water down my throat, but they never brought me food and by the time they told me we were preparing to land, I was nearly delirious with hunger.

Four days later.

The shaking of the ship as we lowered toward the ground intensified the pain in my back and I felt fresh tears following the dry, sticky path of those I had already cried over the last few days. I have never been one to cry often, but the excruciating physical pain and emotional despair I was in drew more tears from me than I remembered crying in the last several years.

Even with the pain, however, the shaking was welcome because it meant that we were nearing the surface of Uoria and perhaps they would free me from the hooks that held me in place. It may mean that I was a few steps closer to death, but that relief would be welcome.

When the shaking of the ship calmed, the group of Klimnu came into the chamber and without a word, the one who had held me in place when they first captured me came to my side and wrapped an arm tightly around my hips. He used his long, slimy fingers to pry each of the hooks from my back and as they swung through the air I could see droplets of blood spatter across the floor. He picked me up over his shoulder and I draped over it like a ragdoll, incapable of moving.

He carried me out of the ship and I got my first breath of fresh air. The university had warned me that breathing on the strange planet would be challenging at first, but I didn't care. The warm air smelled sweet and as it washed across my skin I felt a brief moment of relief from the agony. After only a few seconds, however, the creature brought me into a building and darkness engulfed me. He threw me to the ground and I felt pain shoot through my hip as it cracked against a stone floor. My eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness and I could just make out the nearly bare space around me. There was a plate of something that resembled food on the floor and I descended on it, eating ravenously as the metallic sound of the barred door slamming reverberated in my head.

I don't know exactly how long I stayed on that cold stone floor before the Klimnu returned. My captor opened the barred door and stepped into the cell with me. He ran one of his fingers along my leg and then through my hair. I shivered in disgust and turned my face away from him. To my utter surprise, he stepped away.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Leia."

"Why were you on that ship?"

"I am part of an exchange student program with Uoria. I am here to study the land and the culture and work on my art," I answered shakily.

There was a pause and I could feel tension growing in the cell.

"I don't believe you."

"What do you mean?"

"My brethren say that you must be a scientist. Uoria has only allowed a few humans to visit and they have all been researchers."

"I'm not a researcher."

"You must be," he said, taking a step back toward me, causing me to cower against the wall, "You know something about the Denynso that has brought you here to do more research. Tell me what it is."

"I don't have anything to tell you," I said, my voice sounding slightly more pleading than I would have liked it to.

"We will accomplish our goal, Leia, whether you cooperate with us or not. I do warn you, though, if you choose not to cooperate, I can promise you will not live to see the sun again much less do any studying."

The Klimnu walked out of the cell and locked the door behind him, leaving me alone in the darkness. I curled my knees to my chest and sobbed into them. I had finally made it to Uoria and yet I was back in the torturous, brutal hands of captors who sought to control my every breath.

Chapter 6

"Seven days."

They were the first words I had heard since my captor left me in the cell. I had been fed once and given only a bucket of water to drink. I barely had the strength to raise my head to look at the Klimnu who stood on the other side of the bars staring at me like an animal in one of the zoos back on Earth. His mouth curled up in a disgusting, skin-crawling smile and I could see that he was looking at me in much the same way as the one who had captured me and told me he wanted to keep me as a pet.

That creature appeared behind the one at the door and pushed him aside, opening the door and stepping into my cell. He knelt down beside me and I felt him touch me. My body recoiled and his hand wrapped more tightly around me. He leaned forward and ran his tongue along my skin, causing bile to rise in my throat and my chest to constrict painfully.

"Are you sure you don't have anything to tell us about the Denynso?" he asked, lifting his head away from my arm and bringing it to the other one so he could repeat the lick.

"I told you that I don't know anything about them. I am just an art student. I'm not a scientist or a researcher or anything else. The whole reason I'm here is to learn about them."

I sobbed as his teeth dug down into my skin, drawing fresh blood to join the dry streaks from other bites that covered my body. This had been the greatest torment; him coming into the cell with me to lick and touch me without speaking, then biting or clawing me when I had no information to give him.

********

"Thirty days."

My captor stepped into my cell and I raised my head to look at him. The weakness in my muscles made it almost impossible, but anger and bitterness were replacing my fear. They kept me so close to the edge of death, hovering just on this side of life, that I didn't feel that I had anything to fear any longer. It would take only a moment to finish me and then at least I would be free. I refused to cower from him any longer.

The creature came into the cell and sat down beside me. This was strange. He had never sat with me before. After a month I had become accustomed to him coming into the cell and torturing me, prodding me for information, touching me in ways that made me feel sick. Sometimes he would feed me. More often, however, he didn't.

He reached out and touched my leg and an idea suddenly occurred to me. Perhaps I could lure him into trusting me. If I could use what I learned from the time with the men, I might be able to lower his guards and find a way to free myself.

I didn't withdraw from his touch like I usually did and he looked at me. His sickening hands tore my shirt away from me, but I continued to fight the revulsion. As if testing me, he leaned forward and bit into my breast savagely. I drew in a pained breath, but still didn't move away. The creature shredded my pants with his claws and suddenly I was in nothing but my bra and panties. I was thankful for the relative warmth of the room, but felt exposed and ashamed as he looked at me. I closed my eyes and brought myself to the distant plane of existence I had trained myself to escape to when I was under the hands of the men who felt they owned me.

When his touch finally left my body, I quickly covered myself and curled against the wall.

"You never told me why you wanted to come here," I said cautiously, trying to start a conversation with him that may both lull him into complacency and give me information I could use to help me if I ever managed to get out of the prison.

The Klimnu hesitated for a moment, and then looked at me.

"We want Criea."

"Who is that?"

"The king of the Denynso."

"Why do you want him?"

"The Klimnu feed off of the temper and aggression of the Denynso. The more we provoke them, the greater the benefit. Even more powerful than their temper, however, is their blood. Their blood gives us even greater strength. We are already the far more superior species in terms of intelligence and capability. Their blood gives us the intensity and power of their warriors to make us the ultimate race."

His words were some of the most terrifying I had ever heard and I could sense his growing agitation, so I allowed the conversation to end. He left and a few minutes later another of the group brought me food.

********

"Forty days."

In the ten days since I had begun to give into the roving tongue and prodding fingers of my captor, I had learned more about the planet where I was now imprisoned and the powerful warriors who lived there. He stepped into the cell again and I immediately started talking.

"You never explained to me why you want Criea," I said, hoping to dissuade him from touching me.

"To get back at him," he said, reaching forward and running his fingers down my shoulder despite my hopes.

"Why?"

"The Klimnu were once beautiful creatures," he said and I withheld an exclamation of surprise that this wretched creature could say that anything like him had ever been beautiful.

He continued to talk and I learned that there was a time when the Klimnu were strong, beautiful, and powerful. Knowing their own planet was on a rapid path toward destruction, the Klimnu decided to take over the lush, healthy, and clean planet of Uoria for themselves. The Denynso, however, had been there since the beginning of their kind and were not willing to let the Klimnu take over. As they tried to take over, the Klimnu came into contact with plants that contained toxins so potent and virulent they immediately began to transform the once lovely creatures into the contorted, disgusting versions.

I listened to my captor talk, horrified yet fascinated at what he was telling me. He told me how they approached the incredible healers of the Denynsos and asked that they heal them. These healers agreed to provide the antidote to the toxins if the Klimnu agreed to leave the planet and stop their efforts to take over. They refused and only increased their violent attacks. The more violent they became, the worse their condition became. Finally they appealed to Criea to command his healers to remove the toxins and return them to their health and strength.

"The king refused," my captor said, his voice seething with anger, "He said we deserved what we got because of our selfishness and cruelty."

"If you wanted so much to be healed, why couldn't you just promise peace and find another planet?"

As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I knew I had gone too far. His eyes flashed with fury and before I even saw his hand moving I felt the vicious tips of his claws slash across my back, opening the still-healing wounds form the hooks that had held me in the ship.

"You are not the only human we have attacked," he told me through gritted teeth, "The other survived because he was mated to the most powerful warrior of the Denynso race. You will not be so lucky."

He fell into a frenzy, biting me all along my body and slashing at me with his claws. When he finally had his fill and left, I lay on the floor quaking with pain, feeling the life draining from my body. I closed my eyes, welcoming death.

********

"Fifty-five days."

Death had not come as I had prayed. My captor had toyed with me, leaving me just at the edge of life so that he could return as my body healed and torture me more. I couldn't remember the last time I had eaten when another of the creatures stepped up to my cell and slid a plate of food toward me. It took all of my strength to eat what had been given to me and the creature seemed to take pleasure in watching my struggle. Suddenly I heard a scream reverberating off of the walls on the corridor in front of my cell. It was muffled as if it was coming from a different area of the building, but it was undeniably a woman screaming for her life.

My eyes darted around me and the Klimnu laughed.

"You hear our new guest," he said and my ears pricked up, "She is different than you. She is special."

"What do you mean?" I struggled to ask.

"The Denynso will come for her. She belongs to one of them and he will ensure they find her, which means he will bring the warriors right to us."

As soon as he said that, I knew this was my only opportunity. I was already so tiny and on top of that became grotesquely thin. The next day I pushed myself through the bars of my cell as soon as my captor left and made my way through the halls. I moved as fast and I could and went until I couldn't go any further. When I fell, I was sure that was it. I knew the Klimnu would realize I was gone and come to find me. But then I saw a woman coming down the hall toward me and I used the very last of my strength to ask for help.

Chapter 7

"The next thing I remember is hearing voices around me but not being able to respond to them or wake up. I thought I was dead, but then I felt Gyyx near me and I knew I was alive and going to be safe."

When I was finally finished sharing my memories with Criea, I felt drained but relieved. I sat back and reached out to grab Gyyx's hand. I needed to feel him close to me.

"Burning the prison didn't stop them," my mate said, growling deep in his throat as he processed what he had just heard about my experience with the Klimnu, "They will be back, especially if they can replenish from Ynn."

I watched as the control in the room around me disintegrated. The warriors jumped to their feet and the room filled with the sound of shouts. I squeezed Gyyx's hand, telling him with the pressure that I needed to get out of the room. Criea stood and pounded his hand on the table in front of him, demanding attention and quieting the room around him.

"The Klimnu will return. They are after me and they will not rest until they achieve their goal."

"Unless we wipe them out of existence," Pyra said and I saw Eden reach up to stroke his arm calmingly.

"There is nothing we can do tonight," Criea said, "Gyyx, bring your mate home. Let her rest. She has been through even more than I could have imagined. Take care of her and we will move forward tomorrow."

Without replying, Gyyx stood and scooped me into his arms. Usually I didn't want him to carry me, but at that moment I needed the feeling of his heart against me and the sound of his breath surrounding me. I felt tiny cradled in his arms and the strength of his body made me feel safe. As he carried me home I felt my body aching for him, needing his touch to soothe and comfort me. It was his touch that brought me out of the deep, consuming sleep that I had not been able to free myself from, and his love that was helping me overcome the darkness of the days behind me. I needed that touch now.

When we got back home Gyyx carried me directly to the bedroom and laid me down on the bed. Before I could pull him down with me, however, he straightened and began to pace around the room, stalking like a caged animal.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

He shot a withering glare at me and I felt my breath catch in my throat.

"Are you kidding me?" he asked, nearly shouting, "After what I just found out about what those disgusting creatures did to you, you can seriously ask me what's wrong?"

"I'm alright now," I told him, reaching out for him.

He came to the side of the bed and let me run my hand down his chest. I could feel his heart pounding beneath my fingers and the orange of his eyes flashed with anger despite the desire lingering there.

"I hate to think about them touching you," he said softly, "The thought of one of them licking you…" he trailed off and I could see his body shudder.

"Fix it," I whispered, "Replace those memories."

I eased closer to him on the bed and turned his face toward mine so I could rest my lips against his. He kissed me back gently at first, then with greater intensity until I could feel my need reflected in him. I climbed onto my knees and swung one leg over his hips so that I straddled his lap facing him. Not taking my eyes away from his, I pulled my dress off over my head and dropped it to the floor behind me. His only reaction was a soft moan, so I went a step further, releasing the clasp on the back of my bra and peeling it away so that I exposed my bare breasts to him. That was enough to trigger him into action.

Gyyx flattened his hands on my back, the size of them nearly covering the entire expanse, and applied pressure until I arched back, thrusting my breasts up toward him. He dipped his head and ran his tongue around one of my nipples, causing it to harden and the ache between my thighs to increase. Moving with incredible patience, he switched to the other nipple and repeated the motion, nurturing that one to a taut peak as well. His tongue roved across my breasts and then up to my neck before he brought a kiss back to my lips and stood, cradling me against him so that he could turn me and lay me back down on the bed.

I complied with him as I always did, letting him conform my movements to his wishes as he pulled my panties from my hips and dropped them to the floor. He didn’t remove any of his clothing and the juxtaposition between him being fully clothed and me being completely naked sent a shiver through my body and directly into my core. Gyyx returned his mouth to my skin, tracing the curves and planes of my body with his tongue as if trying to cover every inch that the Klimnu may have touched or licked. I could feel the disgust of the creature's touch disappearing as my mate nurtured me.

Suddenly the torturously slow, tender movements of Gyyx's mouth stopped and he pushed my legs apart, scooping his hands beneath me to hold my pelvis up. His mouth opened and engulfed my core, sucking lightly as his tongue explored the intricacies of my folds and dipped within me. I cried out loudly, burying my fingers into his long white hair. He moved his mouth up, concentrating his attention so that just the tip of his tongue swirled around the tender, hypersensitive pearl of flesh at my peak and for a moment I thought I was going to dissolve under the intense, glorious sensations he was creating within me.

In the next moment his finger slid into my body and everything crashed around me. My body clenched around his hand, squeezing it tightly as I screamed his name and dug my nails deeply into his back.

"I love you," I gasped as I collapsed back down onto the bed.

His face lifted and he looked down at me with wide, vibrantly orange eyes.

"What?" he asked.

It was the first time I had said it and perhaps I had not chosen the most opportune moment, but it had spilled out of me with the same purely natural energy of the blistering orgasm he had just given me and there was no reason to pretend it hadn't.

"I love you," I repeated, holding his face between my hands.

"You're not just saying that because I made you come so hard I think the warriors probably heard you?"

"You've done that before," I pointed out to him.

Gyyx rose up over me and lowered down so that his body engulfed mine and captured my mouth in a deep, seeking kiss.

"I love you," he whispered when our kiss broke.

Gyyx spent the rest of the night kissing every inch of me, soothing the scars on my back and making up for every moment of pain and abuse I had ever endured. The next morning I was thoroughly fulfilled and more at peace than I had ever been in my life. I told him I was going to visit Eliana and Eden and left him lying in bed, drained and with a satiated smile on his lips.

I had only gone a few yards from the house when I heard a voice near me.

"You are mine," it hissed.

I looked around, frightened by the sound, but didn't see anyone.

"You are mine," the voice repeated and I recognized it as the slimy sound of the Klimnu that had captured me.

I spun around, trying to see him, but around me the land was quiet and empty.

"I own you. You belong to me," the Klimnu said and I suddenly felt his presence behind me.

I remembered what Gyyx had told me about the Klimnu being able to use illusion to manipulate people, so when I turned and saw Ero close behind me, I didn't hesitate. The anger that had built up inside me for two months in that prison boiled over, fueled by my love and loyalty for Gyyx. Being mated to my powerful Denynso warrior had me feeling stronger both mentally and physically than I had ever felt before. My hand lashed out before the disguised Klimnu had the chance to react. It hit him so hard he stumbled back and I swept my leg forward, taking his out from under him so that he hit the ground. Not giving him the opportunity to recover, I jumped and landed with my elbow in the middle of his throat. There was a satisfying crack and the creature gurgled beneath me, the attack causing his illusion to fade so that I looked at his disgusting face again.

"You do not own me," I told him, enunciating each word carefully to ensure he heard them, "I belong to my mate, and my mate only. You will never touch me again."

I shoved the heel of my hand into his face, crushing his nose. Before I could hit him again, I felt hands pulling me back and spun around to see the real Ero tugging me away from the bleeding and struggling Klimnu.

"Leia!" he shouted, trying to get my attention, shocked he said, "Calm the hell down. Are you okay? We’ll take it from here."

"He used an illusion to look like you. He said that I belonged to him. He was trying to take me back."

"Don't worry," he said as two more warriors ran up to us, "He won't be bothering you anymore."

Ero turned me by my shoulders and started guiding me back toward the house.

"We finally heard from the university," he said in a cheerful tone that belied the sounds of screaming behind us, "They are sending a professor for the exchange program."

"Do they know what happened?" I asked.

He shrugged.

"We handled it."

A furious Gyyx stepped out of the house and pulled me into his arms, possessively removing me from Ero's touch.

"When will she be here?" I asked, wrapping my arms around Gyyx.

"A few days."

As he said it, I could swear I saw a flicker of orange in his eyes.

(To be Continued in Part VII… )

Book 7 – Desired by Alien Warrior

Chapter One

There wasn't really anything to look at through the window of the ship, but it was better to stare out into the dark expanse than it was to look ahead of me at the bright, almost iridescent white interior of the pod chamber I had been looking at for the last four days, so I continued to gaze out. I sat in my pod, tucked down so I was reclining in the thick padding that filled the rounded egg-like pod with a notebook open in her lap. The top of the pod was as wide open as I could get it and I hadn't closed it since the moment the pilot announced we were out of Earth's atmosphere and I was able to open the pod and move freely around the chamber. I hate being confined in any way. It makes me feel out of control, which was something that I never handled well.

"How are you doing in here?" a flight attendant asked, leaning against the side of my pod and looking down onto the notebook in my lap.

I sighed and smiled up at the frail, rather plain-looking but pleasant girl who had been rotating shifts with a young man during the voyage. The trip from Earth to Uoria was long, but I had been unwilling to undergo the sedating process that would have allowed me to sleep throughout the entire five day sailing. It might be tedious to stay within the same area for such a long time, but giving up five days of my life was not something I was going to do, especially not when I still felt like I had so much to do to prepare for my teaching position on the new planet.

"I'm doing alright. I'm definitely ready to get out of this ship, though."

The flight attendant gave a short laugh and nodded.

"I can totally understand that. These voyages can get stressful. At least you decided to stay awake though. Sitting around here during voyages that are more than a day with passengers that go to sleep can really wear on the nerves."

"I'm sure. I bet there is only so much you have to talk about with your coworker over there."

We both glanced across the chamber at the other flight attendant. He was sitting in one of the long chairs beside the tall windows opposite of my pod, plugged into a game that he held in his lap with the same level of interest and consideration that I held my work. We laughed and the flight attendant shook her head.

"Yeah. He's an exhilarating conversationalist."

"Do you always travel with him when you're working?"

As a teacher, I am naturally curious and constantly found myself feeling like I was doing little research projects throughout my days, trying to find out more about any situation or person that I encountered. I didn't know much about space travel, considering this was my first excursion away from Earth, and it fascinated me to find out about the intricacies of the travel companies and their staff. The curiosity sometimes got me in trouble, but I figured that there wasn't much that could happen just by asking about how they planned their shifts.

"Yes. The university charters teams and we essentially stay together throughout our careers."

"I guess they want to foster closer bonds and trust between the members of the teams so that you can cooperate on a higher level and manage crises more effectively."

The flight attendant stared down at me with a slightly blank look in her eyes.

"That sounded like it came directly out of the training manual."

I laughed. That was not the first time that I had had someone accuse me of sounding like a textbook.

"I guess it's like my grandmother always said, 'You can take the professor out of academia, but you can't take academia out of the professor.'"

The flight attendant giggled.

"I love old-fashioned sayings like that. I haven't heard that one since I was a little girl." She gave a sigh and peered over her shoulder briefly, "It looks like it's just about lunchtime. Can I get you something?"

I nodded.

"Yes. I'm starving. Thank you."

I had packed snacks in the luggage I kept with me at my pod, but I hadn't anticipated the somewhat small portions they served me on the ship and had already eaten almost all of them so I was rationing them carefully so that they lasted throughout the rest of the voyage. When the flight attendant walked away, the pod chamber fell still and quiet again. Even the other attendant had turned off his game and was somewhere else in the ship helping prepare the meal. I let my mind wander to Uoria again and what could be waiting for me there.

I thought about Leia and what the university had told me about the first student who had made the journey to the new planet. It had been two months since the brilliant but troubled young art student had made the courageous decision to the be the very first Earth student to join in the exchange program with the Denynso and make the trip to Uoria to study the culture and the land. Since she left, the university hadn't heard anything about her, and while many of the other professors and even the organizers of the program felt that there was nothing to be concerned about considering how intensive the level of study would be suddenly arriving on another planet where there had been no previously established school or connection, I had felt a twinge of nervousness every time I thought about her.

I didn't know Leia extremely well. Our relationship had not gone far beyond the level of educator and student, but I had always felt a personal interest in her. Though Leia didn't talk about it, I could tell that this was a young woman who was constantly struggling with her own set of demons from her past and was constantly running. She ran by choosing to go to the university. She ran in the type of art that she created. And she ran by being eager to be the first student to sign up for the exchange program even though it was completely uncharted territory and no one had any idea how the engagement with the Denynso was going to go. It seemed strange, even, to call the program an "exchange" program considering no students from the other planet had made the decision to go to Earth to study. Instead, they had requested a professor be sent to the planet in order to instruct them about the history, culture, and environment of Earth.

The lack of news from Leia and the seemingly evasive response of the Denynso when they asked questions about what they wanted to know about Earth and why they didn't want to send their own students or representatives to Earth to learn instead had made it more difficult for the university to find a professor willing to take on the challenge. Even those who didn't think it was strange at all for a young girl on a study abroad program to not check in with the university or send any type of update were reluctant to involve themselves in a program that didn't seem thoroughly planned, especially considering it was designed to foster cooperation and involvement between Earth and a culture known for being fearsome and ruthless warriors.

Though scientists and journalists had had successful excursions to Uoria over the years and had brought back a tremendous amount of information that helped to illuminate the culture and facilitated in laying the foundation of greater cooperation and involvement between the two species, they also brought back stories of aggressive, violent men who towered over seven feet tall, a vicious other species that roamed the planet and engaged in bloody warfare with the Denynso, and laws that governed that visiting humans under the threat of severe punishment. This veil of mystery had made the other professors too afraid to leave their positions on Earth and embark on the journey. Despite my own nervousness, however, I had been intrigued by the stories and eager to find out more. After the Denynso representatives had finally gotten back to the university to tell them that Leia had been on a personal retreat during her time on Uoria gaining inspiration for her art but had recently emerged and had gained special permission from the king and queen to extend her original six month stay into the indefinite future, I decided that if the young, embattled girl could dive into the experience so completely and so quickly, and gain such incredible meaning from it that she decided to leave her home planet and live on Uoria, maybe I should be courageous as well.

With no husband, children, or anything else concrete tying me in place at the university, I finally stepped forward and volunteered. That had been only a day before the scheduled flight, not enough time for me to put together a real lesson plan for the classes or even really narrow down what I wanted to teach. The program had given me fairly loose guidelines about how they wanted the instructing structured, leaving most of the planning and management completely up to me. Without really knowing what age group I would be teaching, what they wanted to learn, or what type of environment and resources I would have access to, I had brought with me as much teaching material as I could and spent the journey putting together my ideas. It was yet to be seen what would really happen once I arrived and got started.

Chapter Two

The ground furled away behind Ero like a ribbon as he ran through the forest, his feet pounding into the soft undergrowth with an intensity like fire. Gnarled roots rose up to trip him and branches brushed at his skin, but he was moving too fast to really notice either or for them to impede his speed or his progress. He ran like he had never run before, with a speed that far surpassed any of the other Denynso. A skill that he had learned about when he was still young, his ability to run faster and harder than anyone else was something that he rarely shared with anyone else. He used it instead as his way of escaping when his mind was filled with too much thought or emotion. Even if he didn't have anywhere to go, he would run. His feet brought him wherever they wanted to go, through the dark forest, over the rocky ledges, or through the wide fields behind the village. He ran until he had no energy left inside him, then he would collapse to the ground and let the darkness of sleep make everything go away.

He ran now to escape the confusing, overwhelming feelings he had been experiencing for the last few days. They started after he rescued Leia from the Klimnu attack. At first he thought the aggression and anger had been related to finding the mate of one of his friends terrified and in danger only a short time after she had escaped from nearly two months of imprisonment under the hands of the slimy, vicious creatures. Though he was not as large or powerful as the other warriors of the Denynso, he still had within him the ability to grow fierce and angry when something or someone that he cared about was threated, and even though he and Leia had not gotten off to a great start, she belonged to Gyyx, which meant he had loyalty toward her.

When the aggression and intensity were still there the next day, however, Ero began to wonder if that was really the source of these feelings. He was not accustomed to this level of emotion within him, especially when he couldn't identify a clear source, and he didn't like how it made him feel. He felt confused, on guard, and violent to the point that he had gotten into several scuffles with the other men after he heard them teasing him. He was accustomed to their bullying. At a foot shorter than the other warriors and nowhere near as well-built, he had been the butt of nearly endless ridicule and teasing since he was orphaned as a child and left to be raised by the community. In a way it was his form of interacting with them. Over the last few days, however, he had not reacted the same way as he usually did, laughing off the jokes and keeping the negative feelings he experienced toward the other men concealed. Instead, he had lashed out and fought.

After one particularly intense encounter with one of the other warriors, Pyra had pulled him aside to ask what was happening to him. That is when Ero broke away and started to run. He had been running for hours now and was so far from the village that he wasn't sure he would be able to get back before the families came together for dinner. Not that many of the people there would notice. Pyra and Eden, Ciyrs and Elianna, and Leia and Gyyx, the mated couples, were so wrapped up in each other that they didn't really care what happened around them most of the time. The other warriors were still filled with adrenaline and anger after the battle with the Klimnu days before that had ended with them burning the building where they had brought Elianna after capturing her and where she found Leia after they had kept her prisoner and tortured her for 57 days.

Ero turned back and started running the way he came, pushing himself harder and faster until he could barely see what was going past him. He was nearly back to the village when he heard someone call his name. He slowed and jogged back toward the voice, finding Pyra standing at the edge of the forest.

"Running again?" Pyra asked.

Ero put his hands on his hips and glared back at the tremendous warrior, feeling the anger spiking in him again as he saw the teasing flicker in his orange eyes. The orbs that used to be blue were vibrant, nearly glowing orange now that he was mated to Eden and something about them made Ero feel uncomfortable when he looked at them.

"What are you doing here?" he asked accusingly, and immediately felt bad for the tone in his voice.

He didn't understand what the hell was happening to him. He had never been like this and now suddenly he felt like he could tear anyone who got near him limb from limb just for looking at him in a strange way or saying something that he thought might have a negative meaning. Fortunately Pyra didn't seem to notice his aggressive tone, or was choosing to ignore it, because if he had been offended by it and decided to engage Ero in a fight, there was no way the smaller warrior could have overpowered him.

"I have been sent out into the forest to get some sort of fruit that Eden wants."

"You are all the way the hell out here to get some fruit?" Ero asked incredulously.

Pyra nodded and sighed.

"Yeah. Apparently she is having cravings and says that she absolutely has to have this particular fruit and she won't settle for the cooked kind that we already have. She needs it right off of the bush and she needs it right this second."

Pyra said the words in a tone of resignation that said he thought the venture was ridiculous and wasn't thrilled about having to do it, but that he loved Eden so much he would literally go to the ends of the planet for her no matter what it was she asked of him. This was especially true now that Eden was carrying his child. The pregnancy was still not common knowledge among all of the Denynso and those that knew were approaching the situation with caution. Not only was this first birth among the children of the king and queen, but Eden had been a human when she first came to Uoria. She had nearly died at the claws of the Klimnu and the tribe's healer had brought her back to life. In doing so, however, Ciyrs had somehow changed her into a Denynso. The pregnancy was completely unprecedented and no one, not even the elders, had any idea what to expect.

"That sounds like you are having so much fun with this whole experience."

Laughing softly, Pyra shrugged and nodded.

"What am I going to do? You know how women can be."

Ero shook his head, feeling the tingling in his legs and the pent up energy and emotion in his belly that had fueled his hours of running over the last few days. If there was one thing that he definitely didn't know about, it was women. He wasn't mated and no female had ever caught his eye.

"Actually, no. I have no idea how women can be."

He saw Pyra take a step back and give him a once-over that made him feel scrutinized and uncomfortable. A strange growl rumbled in his throat and he had to hold back the compulsion to lunge at Pyra. The larger warrior, the biggest and most fearsome of the species, gave a knowing smile and rubbing his own face with one hand.

"You might not know yet, but from the looks of things I think you will be finding out pretty damn soon."

For a moment Ero didn't understand what Pyra was talking about, then he saw his eyes give a brief glance to the front of his pants. Ero rolled his eyes and reached down to the try to rearrange the raging erection he had been sporting most of the time since the day of the Klimnu attack. It was an uncomfortable reminder of the strange, unfamiliar feelings he had been experiencing and he was embarrassed to have Pyra point it out to him.

"Shut up," he said, managing to tuck his hard-on in a way that made it not look so obvious.

"Don't worry about it, buddy. You should have seen me when I was first around Eden. It was not a pretty sight. Well," he got a mischievous glint in his eyes, "I guess it was for her."

"Thanks for that image," Ero said, "It doesn't make sense, though. I haven't met any new women since Leia, and I know all this is not about her. I don't understand what the hell is going on."

"Don't stress about it," Pyra told him, starting toward the path leading into the forest, "With the attitude you've been throwing around and that situation you've got going on there, you're going to figure it plenty soon enough."

The other warrior's words bouncing around in his head and somehow making him feel even angrier, Ero started running again.

Chapter Three

"What's going on?" I asked, staring out the window again, "We landed forty minutes ago. Why am I still in here?"

The flight attendant paced back and forth in front of her, wringing her hands and throwing occasional glances over her shoulder toward the pilot's cabin. She obviously felt the tension and frustration that I was feeling. I didn't like to be kept waiting, especially when I was waiting to be let out of a tiny space ship chamber I had been in for the last five days.

"I'm not sure," the flight attendant said, barely braving a look in her direction, "The pilot just said that there has been a delay. Apparently your escort hasn't arrived at the landing point yet."

"Why does that matter?" I asked, reorganizing my notebooks and papers in my bag again just to give my hands something to do, "I'm sure I'm smart enough to make my way from a space ship to a meeting hall. This planet can't be so primal that they don't have roads, right?"

The flight attendant looked over at her with a touch of desperation in her eyes.

"Actually, I've never gotten off of the ship during one of these flights. I just stay inside and use the sleeping quarters on the top floor to take a shower, sleep, and change between legs."

"You've never gotten off of the ship on another planet?"

"No."

"Your job is to travel around the universe carrying passengers in between planets and you have never once had the curiosity to step outside and see one of them for yourself? You don't wonder what they might look like or what the people living there are like?"

The flight attendant shook her head, suddenly looking even younger and less remarkable as her eyes welled up in tears.

"I'm too afraid."

"Of what?"

"Of what the other species might be like," she said, dropping her tone slightly, "My grandmother always said that we should stick to our own kind and that humans don't have any business running all over other planets intermingling with other species. She says if we were supposed to be interacting with them, that they would already be on our planet and we wouldn't have to travel to find them."

"How incredibly closed minded of her."

The statement should have offended her, but instead the flight attendant just nodded.

"I haven't even told her that this is what I do for a living. She just knows that I work for the university."

I sighed. I will never understand the level of intolerance and ignorance that was still so pervasive. It was as if people got over one hang up that they had and decide that it was awful to have that viewpoint, only to move on to the next one with the same level of intensity and stubbornness. I rubbed my temples, trying to release some of the tension that was building there.

"Regardless, why am I stuck here until some escort comes? That wasn't part of the itinerary the program gave me."

The flight attendant shrugged again.

"Apparently it's against the law for humans who have just arrived on Uoria to travel from their ship unaccompanied. Everyone who visits has to be escorted to the meeting hall where they will meet the king and queen before they are allowed to stay."

I sighed again.

"So who are these escorts?" I asked, "Other academics? Law enforcement?"

"I think they are warriors."

"Fantastic. So between the leading university research department for interplanetary exploration and cooperation and a group of warriors, they couldn't coordinate one meeting. That bodes terrifically for the future of the success of this program."

I was usually calmer and more pleasant than this, but it seemed space travel was pulling the worst out of me. Always described by everyone who met me as headstrong and fiercely independent, I have a very low tolerance for anything that I saw as incompetence, which this level of disorganization and improper handling of a situation definitely was in my mind.

Finally the pilot's voice came over the speaker in the chamber, announcing that the escort had arrived and I was welcome to come to the exit door. The flight attendant looked even more relieved than I felt.

"Oh, good. I was getting worried we were going to have to stay here for even longer. Is there anything I can help you with before I go upstairs for my break?"

I shook my head, reaching out to squeeze the girl's hand comfortingly. No matter what the origins of the fears she was experiencing, they were obviously very real and I suddenly felt bad for her. I hated to see a person feel so limited by their own minds that they were unable to face any changes in their normal situation or confront anything that may alter their point of voice because it was too uncomfortable for them.

"No, I'm fine. You go on ahead. Maybe I'll see you on my trip back in a few months."

The attendant smiled and returned the squeeze with her hand.

"Thanks. I'd like that. They'll have your bags for you at the door."

Without saying another word, the flight attendant scurried across the room and disappeared through the hatch that led to the small chamber where the attendants spent much of their time during the flight and where, I presumed, there was a set of stairs or an elevator that would bring her up into the staff sleeping quarters overhead. Taking a final glance around the chamber, I walked toward the front of the chamber and through a sliding door to the exit hatch.

The other flight attendant stood at the door, holding my bags in each hand and looking like he was still seeing the images from his beloved game flashing on the backs of his eyes. I reached for the bags and took firm hold of them by their handles.

"I can get these. Thanks," I said.

The attendant relinquished the bags, but I had only taken one step down from the ship onto the landing platform when I felt hands grab at them again.

"I'll help you," a male voice said and I looked down at the platform to see a man reaching up to hold onto my luggage.

He was certainly attractive, but if this was one of the famed warriors of the Denynso people, I found myself a touch disappointed and a bit confused. I had heard tales of enormous, powerful men so breathtakingly beautiful that women couldn't control themselves around them, which, I will have to admit, is one of the influencing factors for signing up for the program. The man in front of me was lovely, but at only around six feet tall and quite slender, he was decidedly not enormous and looked less fearsome that many of the professors who walked the halls of the university back on Earth. I pulled the bags back toward me.

"No, thank you, I can do it myself."

"I'm happy to help."

I gave a final tug, yanking the bags out of his hands.

"I have them."

I stepped down from the platform and when I straightened in front of him I saw the escort's eyes travel over my body in a way that I didn't really like. His gaze stayed on me for just a bit too long and I couldn't quite interpret the look on his face. It was somewhere between shock and an emotion that I couldn't define. Finally he lifted his eyes to mine.

"You definitely don't look like the other human women that have come here," he said.

I shot him a scathing look.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

The man stammered for a minute, obviously trying to come up with an explanation.

"I just mean your hair. The other women have dark hair, except for Eden, but her hair is more red. Yours is…golden."

I wasn't convinced that that was actually what he was thinking. Leaving him still muttering, I pushed past and started down the steps of the landing platform.

"What's your name?" he called after me and I heard his footsteps follow me down the stairs.

"Zuri Hase. Didn't they tell you?"

"No. I'm not the original escort you were supposed to have."

"Oh," I said, some of the bitterness leaving my voice.

Maybe something bad happened and that's what caused the delay. I didn't want to be mean to him if his schedule for the day was thrown off just as much as mine was.

"I'm Ero," he told her as he caught up to her, "It's nice to meet you."

Chapter Four

What the hell was wrong with him?

The one time in his entire life when he had actually been trusted to do something important, and he was already screwing it up. Pyra was supposed to escort the new professor from the ship just like he had with the other women, but at the last minute he asked Ero to step in for him. Ero didn't know if there was something wrong with Eden and the baby requiring his attention, or if something else happened that took him away from his responsibilities, but he hadn't really cared in the moment. He had just been excited to have been the one that the older and more respected warrior had chosen to take his place.

Not only had he managed to be almost an hour late for the set time that he was supposed to meet her because he tore the lacing on his pants and had to go all the way back to his house to change them so that he didn't greet her with the intense erection that he was still sporting everywhere he went, but he had also offended the woman almost as soon as she stepped out of the ship. He couldn't really help it, though. He was expecting the same type of woman as Eden, Elianna, or Leia. What stepped out of the ship, however, was a shock. Instead of tiny and fragile-looking, Zuri rivaled some of the females of his species in size. She was only a few inches shorter than him and had a body that was lush, full, and curvy. The effect was bewildering. He had become accustomed to the small human women and was startled by someone who looked so different, but at the same time, he was drawn to all of the soft curves and swells. They seemed to have a powerful effect on his body as well, making him twitch and harden even further as the intense, almost animal feelings that built in his chest.

As she took long strides to pull out in front of him so that she walked ahead of him by several feet, Ero got an even fuller view of her body. Wide hips shifted beneath her long, loose skirt, accentuating the deep curve of her waist beneath her tight shirt. Something about her size made him uncomfortable, reminding him of his own size concerns and how small he felt compared to the other warriors. He jogged forward again to catch up with her.

"Tell me about your program," he said.

It came out more as an aggressive, almost violent, demand than an actual request inviting conversation and he saw her look sideways at him.

"What do you want to know about it? Are you going to be a student?"

It sounded like she was teasing him and he didn't like how that taunting made him feel. It was worse than when it came from the warriors. Hearing this woman making fun of him, even as subtle as it was, made a sharp pain go through his chest and he felt defensiveness building through him. Who did she think she was making fun of him?

"No," he said, "I'm a warrior. I have no reason to go to school."

"Oh, really? So you know everything that you need to know and never need to learn anything else?"

Well, shit. This conversation was just going downhill as fast as she could get the words out of his mouth. What was it about this woman that made him completely out of control. She was cute, but definitely not so beautiful that he should be stumbling over his words and humiliating himself every time he opened his mouth. So why was he getting harder every time she talked to him, and why did he want to keep talking to her no matter what came out?

"That's not what I said," he said, "I just…I don't really need to know about Earth."

"So you know about the program. Why did you ask?"

"I know that you're here to teach about Earth. I don't know any more than that."

He was getting more and more frustrated, while also feeling worse every time he spoke and he saw the darkening across her wide blue eyes. It was a confusing feeling that he was really starting to hate.

"Well, to be completely honest, I don't really know a whole lot more than that, either. I just signed up to be the professor for the exchange program one day before my flight. I didn't really get much of a chance to figure out what I was going to teach."

There was laughter in her voice and he felt some of the tension ease out of his body. She glanced over at him and he noticed that her soft, rounded face really was pretty. Her skin was pale and smooth, not sprinkled with freckles the way that Eden's was, and her golden blond hair framed it as it flowed around her shoulders. Her mouth was wide, with full, soft lips slicked with lipstick that made them shine in a way that was undeniably alluring.

"Why did you want to come?"

He was honestly curious about why she decided to come to the planet to teach. If she had only signed up right before she left to be a part of the program, she obviously hadn't spent much time planning and getting herself invested in the concept of teaching on Uoria. There was a period of silence and Ero was worried for a minute that he had made her angry again and broken the brief moment of pleasantness between them. Finally she sighed, but it wasn't a sigh of exasperation. Instead, it sounded like she was trying to figure it out herself.

"I'm a professor at home, obviously, and I love teaching, so that's the main appeal. I'm excited about getting the chance to teach Earth customs, and I think I’m even more excited about getting to experience some new things."

"Is Uoria very different from Earth?"

She gave a short laugh.

"I've only been out here for about five minutes. I'm not really sure. So far, it doesn't look too far off. Not as many buildings."

They fell silent as they walked. They reached the center of the village and Zuri hesitated, no longer knowing where to go now that she had more options than just going straight ahead. He subtly stepped around her so that she could see him and guided her through the village and to the meeting hall.

"We'll go inside and meet the king and queen, and then I can show you around more if you'd like."

Zuri stopped right before the door to the meeting hall and looked at him.

"Thanks, Ero, but now that I have been successfully escorted from the ship, I think I can take it from here. I appreciate your help."

His stomach dropped and a sick feeling rolled through him. She had already grabbed onto the latch of the door and was pulling it open when he started toward her.

"No. I actually have to come with you. My job isn't finished until I get you to the king and queen. That means I have to bring you all the way to them."

Zuri sighed as if it was the biggest burden in the world for her to deal with him any longer.

"Fine."

She wrenched the door open and stepped inside, not bothering to hold the door open for him but letting it swing shut behind her so that he had to slam his hand against it to stop it from actually hitting him. She paused just inside to let him walk past her and guide her to the reception room. He stormed through the hall, his fingers tingling with anger. He was sure that if it had been Pyra or even Gyyx who had met her at the ship, she would be more than happy to go along with them for anything that they wanted her to do. She was only being so resistant because it was him. He was just too small and slim to be appealing to her. He didn't have enough muscles and wasn't tall enough to keep her attention. She was just like everyone else.

Chapter Five

"We're so glad that you came."

I was still a bit startled by the woman talking to me and it took a moment for me to be able to respond to her.

"Thank you. I'm glad to be here."

The woman, who I was taken to meet was the queen, she was so large she even made me feel small, which is quite a feat most of the time. I was not used to having women be taller than me, and her shoulders were broad and strong. She was beautiful in a dignified way that I had always admired about the older professors at home and she looked at me with tenderness in her eyes that made me feel like it was my mother looking at me. She strode forward toward me and reached for my hand with both of hers.

"I'm Theia, Queen of Uoria. This is my husband, Creia."

Her hands nearly engulfed mine and she held them warmly as a massive man came up behind her, smiling at me kindly. I wasn't sure what to expect from the royal couple, but this certainly wasn't it. As I stood there in the huge meeting hall with Theia's hands grasping mine and a row of warriors standing behind me, I started feeling like I should have done more research about the planet before I made the decision to suddenly come here for six months to teach. I felt even less like I understood the culture now that I had seen Ero, compared him to the truly huge warriors who joined us in the meeting hall, and met the monarchs.

"It's very nice to meet you," I said, really meaning it.

Being near the king and queen made me feel somewhat more at home and I was starting to feel much more confident about my role, even as I wondered how much studying I was going to be able to shove in the brief amount of time I had before I started teaching. I wanted to have a little bit of a grasp of the culture before I tried to interact with them on a regular basis.

"We have loved having Leia here with us, and we are very excited to do more with the exchange program."

The statement struck me as strange. Leia had only been here for two months and from my understanding, she had been alone on an artist's retreat for most of that time. I supposed she just meant that they loved the idea that she was there and that the idea of the people of Uoria and Earth interacting and cooperating.

"I hope that I can be a positive influence on the program. I'm excited for the opportunity to share our customs and history with you."

I heard snickering from behind me and I glanced over my shoulder. A couple of the warriors were trying to maintain straight faces and I looked back at the king and queen.

"Did I say something funny?" I asked.

The royals looked faintly uncomfortable and the king shot a glare at the warriors, who immediately fell silent.

"You'll have to forgive our warriors. They aren't accustomed to such formality."

"It's quite alright," I said, looking back toward the warriors, "I don't think of it as formality so much as intelligence."

At the end of the row of warriors I could see a dark look roll over Ero's face. There was something about him that both drew me to him and repelled me. I could see the hint of disdain in his eyes when he looked at me, and I knew it was because I am not like the more delicate women who had already come. I was accustomed to that look, but somehow it coming from him made me angry.

"Well, it has been a long trip. We would love for you to join us for dinner if you're hungry."

Theia had released my hand, only to loop her arm through mine and start leading me gently through the room toward a large arched door at the far end. As we passed by the row of warriors, I heard Ero's voice.

"I'm sure she's hungry."

I stopped and looked at him.

"Excuse me?"

He looked back at me with an expression that said he didn't think I was going to hear him.

"Like she said, it was a long trip and I've heard that the food on the ships isn't very good. I just meant that it's time for dinner and I'm sure you'd like to join us."

I didn't bother responding. Instead, I let Theia lead me the rest of the way across the room and through the doorway into a large banquet room. The space glowed with firelight and was filled with delicious smells coming from platters of food lined down the long tables positioned in a squared U-shape around the edge of the room. Most of the chairs were filled and I noticed the distinct difference between the Denynso and the three human women sitting close to me.

"Everyone," Theia said and immediately everyone in the room quieted and turned to me, "This is Zuri Hase. She has joined us from the university to be a part of our exchange program. We are thrilled to have her here to help us understand the people of Earth more and hopefully get us closer to our goals of cooperation and eventual integration. Please make her feel welcome."

I saw several of the warriors tense when the queen mentioned integration, but most of the people in the room smiled welcomingly at me. I saw a very thin woman coming toward me, her arms open as if to hug me. It took me until she was almost at me to realize that it was Leia. I gathered her into a hug, disturbed by how fragile and bony she felt in my arms. She had never been a large girl, but she seemed even thinner now than I had seen her.

"It's so good to see you!" Leia exclaimed and I smiled down at her.

"It's wonderful to see you, too. Are you well?"

Leia laughed and nodded. I'm sure she knew what I was thinking, but she wasn’t volunteering any information.

"I'm better than I've ever been. Come meet the other women."

Theia smiled at me and released my arm, allowing Leia to pull me toward the table where I saw two other human women sitting beside each other. She introduced me to Eden, who had her hands rested over her belly in the nurturing, protective way of an expectant mother even though it was only a slight swell, and Elianna who was tiny and delicate looking with dark hair that hung around her face and brought out her piercing green eyes. I was happy to have other human women with me and immediately felt a connection with them. We had been talking and eating for several minutes when I heard Ero's voice come over the rumble of the other voices around me.

"We'll have to keep a special eye on her and make sure she doesn't get hurt. I don't know if Ciyrs has enough healing power to take care of everything she's got going on."

Humiliation, hurt, and anger flowed through me and made my face burn. The three women shot furious looks at the warriors but I held up my hand to quiet them before they said anything. I climbed backwards over the bench beside the table and rushed out of the banquet hall, bursting out of the building before I let the tears stinging in the corners of my eyes spill down my cheeks. What the hell was wrong with him?

I was so tired of that attitude. I couldn't stand men trying to make me feel like I was worth less because I wasn't frail and dainty. Even worse was how much I wanted Ero specifically not to think of me that way. I hated the way that he made me feel. It was a confusing, uncomfortable mixture of wanting absolutely nothing to do with him and wanting everything to do with him. I had butterflies in my stomach when I looked at him, but in that moment, those butterflies were replaced by a wave of sickness. Behind me I heard Ero calling my name, but I didn't slow down. I didn't know where I was going, but I kept going. I just needed to get away from the banquet hall and the sound of Ero's voice.

The darkness around me got deeper and more intense as I ran, but I still didn’t stop. I told myself I would eventually find my way, that I would come upon a house or other building and be able to ask directions to wherever I was supposed to live for the six months I planned to stay on the planet. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Within a few minutes of leaving the banquet hall, I was lost. Within a few minutes after that, I was hopelessly lost. And by the time I felt the long, slimy fingers stroke the back of my neck and saw the gleaming fangs coming down at me, I knew I was gone forever.

Chapter Six

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Ero's head snapped back as Pyra grabbed him by the back of the shirt and yanked him backwards so that he and the other men could surround him. The three much larger men glared at him, their jaws twitching angrily and bright orange eyes searing into him almost painfully. Ero didn't know what to say to them. His stomach was twisted in knots and he felt like he was going to shatter at any second. What had he done?

"How could you say something like that about her?" Gyyx demanded, stepping up close enough to Ero that he felt like he needed to step back, only to find himself within inches of Ciyrs's chest.

Though Ciyrs was a healer and not a warrior, he was still powerful and larger than Ero.

"I don't know," Ero said honestly, "I don't know what the hell is going on in my head. Ever since the Klimnu attack on Leia, I've been out of my mind. I can't think straight, I'm angry all the time. It only got worse when Zuri showed up."

The three other men looked at each other knowingly and some of the anger exuding off of them eased. Pyra stepped forward and clapped him on the back, then wrapped a massive hand comfortingly around the back of his neck.

"You've always been the scrawny one of the group, so I guess it makes sense that you haven't figured out yet that all of this has absolutely nothing to do with the Klimnu attack and everything to do with Zuri."

"What are you talking about? And don't call me scrawny. I'm so sick of everyone making fun of me and treating me differently because of my size."

Suddenly realization hit him and it felt like a rock fell into his gut.

"Holy shit, that's exactly the same thing that I've been doing to Zuri, isn't it? I've spent my whole life pissed off because the people around me bullied me for being smaller than what they thought I should be and the second I meet a woman – an adorable woman, by the way – who just happens to be bigger than I would think she was going to be, I treat her in the exact same way. That's just great. I just don't get why I'm suddenly so aggressive and angry."

He looked up into Pyra's eyes, then at Gyyx's, then at Ciyrs's. He let out a long, ragged breath.

"Yeah, you just figured it all out, didn't you?" Pyra asked.

Ero nodded, covering his eyes with one hand.

Before he could open his mouth to reply, he heard a scream. All four men turned toward the sound and another scream tore through the air. Without speaking, they all ran in the direction of the sound, pulling weapons from the sheaths on their waistbands as they went. Within moments they saw the source of the screaming.

Klimnu swarmed the center of the compound, standing off against the other warriors who had come out of the meeting hall. The scream was pouring from Elianna as she fought against the tight hold that one of the men had around her waist, trying to keep her from running into the cluster of slimy, skeletal creatures. She had an incredible gift, given to her by Cirys after she became his mate, that would allow her to kill any of the creatures who she touched. Running into such a large group of them, however, would mean almost certain death. She was tiny and could only kill two creatures at a time, opening her to the threat of death by the others surrounding her.

"Get in the meeting hall!" Pyra shouted, his voice so loud that it made even Ero shake with intimidation.

Pyra's mate, Eden, looked up at the sound of his voice and Ero saw her hands protectively covering the slight swell of her pregnant belly. She had fear in her eyes, but she didn't move.

"Go!" Pyra shouted again, and finally Eden complied.

She grabbed Leia's hand beside her and yanked her back into the hall, slamming the door to the building just as one of the Klimnu broke free of the rest of the group and started toward the hall, wanting to get inside to the small human women. They had both been injured by the Klimnu before, and this was a species that did not respond kindly to their efforts being thwarted. When they went after someone, they went after them with the pure and unadulterated intent to kill, which meant that when someone escaped that fate, especially a fragile human woman, it only infuriated them more intensely and fueled their hatred toward the Denynso who protected them.

The four men surged forward and Ero immediately felt himself pulling ahead of the others and running into the group of Klimnu so fast that they didn't even have time to react. He balled his fists and spread his arms to the sides, tightening his muscles so that he caught the creatures by their necks as he passed, bringing them to the ground. The chaos that ensued shattered the control and organization that the Klimnu had had, and suddenly the compound filled with the sounds of battle.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ero saw the warrior release Elianna. She ran forward toward one of the Klimnu that Ero had brought down and reached toward him to grab him around the neck before he was able to stand all the way again. His strangled cries filled the air along with the acrid smell of burning flesh as she reduced the creature to ash. He saw Ciyrs look at her with affection and desire in his eyes, and pull her against him for an intense, almost violent kiss before they parted and went after more of the Klimnu. Larger warriors followed behind them to guard their backs as they burned as many creatures as they could get their hands on, the warriors slashing with lethally pointed daggers at any of the other creatures who attempted to intervene.

Pyra grabbed one of the creatures and lifted him into the air, taking him by his head and his waist and snapping him in half in one sharp movement. Ero heard the breaking bones and saw the life leave the Klimnu's eyes before Pyra dropped his limp body to the ground and moved on toward another of the creatures. Knowing he was not large or strong enough to do anything like that, and didn't have the burning gift that Ciyrs and Elianna shared, Ero used his own skills to contribute to the battle. He ran around the edge of the fray, taking down creatures that were getting the upper hand on warriors using his incredible speed and the fighting skills he had taught himself when he was younger by watching the other warriors train. Suddenly his ability to run so fast felt like more than just something he could use to escape.

The clash continued on for several long minutes, and then Ero noticed Pyra stepping out of the middle of the battle, dragging a man behind him. Ero looked closer and realized that it was Ullie, the Denynso warrior who had betrayed his people by giving up the secrets of the warriors and the ability to infiltrate the compound to the Klimnu. He had escaped the last battle between the species, but now he was at the mercy of the larger, stronger warrior who had him by his long white hair and was pulling him up onto the stone steps of the meeting hall.

Ullie struggled hard against Pyra's grip, but blood was streaming down his body from several wounds already sustained during the battle and since he was already at a disadvantage to Pyra, there was truly nothing he could do. It was time that he met his fate.

Once at the top of the steps, Pyra tilted his head back and let out a battle cry that trembled through the compound and brought stillness to the battle as everyone, both Denynso and Klimnu, turned in his direction. Without hesitation, Pyra forced Ullie to his knees, used his hair to pull his head back, and stared directly into his eyes as he drew his dagger across the traitor's throat. There was a strange gurgling sound and then Pyra dropped Ullie, allowing his body to crumple to the steps and slide down toward the men.

Pyra looked out over the cluster of opposing species, his hand still wrapped around the dripping dagger.

"This ends now," he growled, then kicked Ullie's body so that it fell the rest of the way to the dirt, "Take him with you."

The Klimnu complied, moving as quickly as they could to gather their dead and wounded and leave the compound, the battle having been lost without a single Denynso warrior death.

Panting, Ero watched as some of the other warriors followed the Klimnu away from the meeting hall to ensure they left the compound. Suddenly panic gripped him. They still hadn't found Zuri. He ran toward Pyra.

"I have to find Zuri," he said.

Pyra looked down at him and nodded.

"She's yours. Go get her."

Ero didn't respond, but took off running, pushing himself harder and faster than he had ever run before, allowing the tight feeling in his chest and the quiet voice in his mind, the voice that sounded like Zuri, guide him toward her.

Chapter Seven

I have never run so fast in my life. To be honest, running is not something that I have ever enjoyed and have gone to great lengths to avoid having to do it for any considerable period. At that moment, though, running was the only thing I could focus on. I didn't know what the creature was that had reached down from the tree to take hold of me, but I fought it off as best I could and managed to knock it out of its place with a large branch I picked up from the ground. I hoped it was unconscious. I didn't wait to find out.

I ran deeper and deeper into the forest, knowing I was getting further and further away from the meeting hall. The terror gripped me so hard I felt sick and suddenly my mind drifted to Ero. I was still infuriated at him, but somehow I felt like if I thought about him hard enough, I might be able to find my way back to him. I didn't understand, but I had no other recourse and focused in on him. I thought about the curve of his shoulders and the flat plane of his belly. I thought about the shock of white hair and the intense eyes that seemed to vacillate between vibrant green and almost glowing orange. I had noticed a few of the other warriors had orange eyes, and I wondered what that meant.

As I thought of him, my steps slowed. I was breathing so hard I could barely get each breath all the way in before my lungs forced it back out. My back hit one of the trees and I slid to the ground, leaning my head back and closing my eyes to try to regain control of myself. I continued to think about Ero, imagining him there with me. It was as if I could see him there, ready to guide me back toward the compound and away from the terror that held me so firmly.

Suddenly I heard crashing in the trees ahead of me. I thought the slimy, skeletal creature that had reached for me had somehow found me and I tried to scramble to my feet to ready myself for another encounter. Instead, I saw Ero. He stopped running the instant he saw me. He stood a few feet away, his shoulders rising and falling with his labored breath and the sliver of his chest revealed by his shirt shimmering with sweat. He was beautiful and in that moment I had never wanted something so much.

Without saying a word, Ero lunged toward me and dropped to his knees in front of me, forcing my legs apart so he could position himself between them and lean forward to crush his mouth against mine in an intense, almost animalistic kiss. A primal need for him overwhelmed me and I tore at his shirt, pushing away the thin fabric until I could throw it aside, revealing his slender but gorgeous body. He reciprocated, yanking my shirt over my head and tossing it over to join his. I hadn't worn a bra under the shirt and my breasts bounced free, giving him full access to grab one in his hand and bring his mouth down to the nipple to suckle me. I cried out at the feeling of his mouth and spread my thighs further to encourage him to come closer.

He took the invitation eagerly, grabbing me and lifting me up so that he could reach under my skirt and peel away my panties. His hands moved so quickly I could barely keep up as he released the ties at the front of his pants and pushed the garment down to release an erection that made my mouth water. Sitting down on his knees, Ero grabbed my hips and pulled me forward so that I had to brace myself with my hands on the ground behind me to keep myself from falling. He pulled me until I positioned my legs on either side of him and my hips in his lap.

A second later he was inside me and I gasped at the sudden feeling of him filling me. He pushed my skirt up higher so that it bunched around my waist and wrapped one arm around my hips, using the other hand to grip one of my breasts as he pounded into me at a fevered pace. I let my head drop back and moans poured from lips. I felt him pull me forward and I complied, lifting my hands off of the ground so that he could sit me up in his lap. My feet were planted on either side of him, giving me stability as he bounced me harder and faster, capturing my mouth in an almost painful kiss just as my muscles clenched around him and I dissolved into a shattering climax that pushed him over the edge. He groaned into my mouth and forced me down hard into his lap so I could feel his cock pulsing against my walls, spilling his hot streams into me.

As our bodies slowly relaxed, Ero gently eased me back until I was lying on the ground with him on top of me, his head nestled into the curve of my neck.

"I thought I lost you," he murmured.

His hand stroked the curve of my waist and the swell of my hip and I felt him fill his palm with my flesh and give a gentle squeeze. I closed my eyes and felt a tear slip down my cheek.

The next morning the sun had barely risen when I was standing in the meeting hall before the king and queen. My bags were stacked behind me and I gripped my notebook in my hand.

"Please, I can't do this. Send me home."

(To be Continued in Part VIII… )

Book 8 – Charmed by Alien Warrior

Chapter One

"Please, I can't do this. Send me home."

I watched as Theia and Creia exchanged worried glances and eased closer to the edges of their seats so that they could stare down at me. They leaned closer, not enough that I felt like they were trying to intimidate me, but enough that I felt them closing the space between us as if they were trying to make our conversation more private. The row of warriors standing on the far side of the room were not looking at us, but I would see them turning their ears subtly toward us as if they were trying to listen in on the conversation without us noticing them.

I mirrored the action of the king and queen, leaning slightly towards them and meeting their eyes so that they could see that I was very serious about my request.

"Please. I've been here for less than 24 hours. I'm sure that the university shuttle is still here. I would like to be on it when they leave to return to Earth."

Theia looked at her husband again and then back to me.

"Like you said, Dear, you have only been on Uoria for less than a day. How could you possibly know already that you want to go home? I know that our planet is different from yours, but if you give yourself time to get accustomed to it, I'm sure that you could learn to love it as much as the other human women who have come here."

I shook my head adamantly.

"I'm sorry. I know that I made a commitment to be a part of the exchange program between the university and the Denynso, but I've realized in my time here that I'm not cut out for this type of environment. I'm sure that the university can find another professor who will be willing to take my place."

Creia rubbed his face with his hand, looking distressed. I knew that the program meant a lot to the king and queen, but they seemed far more upset about me wanting to leave than I thought they would be. After all, I had just gotten there the day before and I hadn't even figure out who I was teaching yet, much less actually started teaching, so I didn't understand why they seemed to have so much emotionally invested in my staying on as the foreign exchange professor to teach the Denynso about Earth customs and traditions.

"You did make a commitment to us in regards to the exchange program, but I feel that there may be more that should be keeping you here."

"What do you mean?" I asked, even though I felt sure that I already knew exactly what he was talking about and didn't want to think about it anymore.

"I thought that you may have felt more of a connection with…" he hesitated and Theia looked at him with a meaningful glance that said be quiet before you make this situation worse, "the people of Uoria than you expected to and would want to spend more time getting acclimated to the new weather and culture."

The words came out flatly and it was obvious that that wasn’t what he had originally intended to say.

"Is this about the Klimnu attack last night?" Theia asked.

My body shuddered as I thought about the horrible experience that I had had the night before. I had only been on the planet for a few hours when I heard Ero, my escort from the ship, making fun of me to the other warriors. His comments about my size had been cruel even though he said them like they were a joke, and they brought up memories that I would rather have left behind me. When I left the banquet hall it was so dark that I managed to get myself lost and ended up in the thick forest that surrounds the Denynso compound, putting me right in the grip of slimy, disgusting, skeletal creatures that tried to capture me.

"Yes," I replied.

Even though the experience with the Klimnu in the forest had been terrifying, I knew that that was not actually the reason that I wanted to leave. Those creatures were awful, but the truth was I could have handled the situation and gotten over it. That is, if Ero hadn't found me hiding in the forest. I had been feeling an intense and confusing attraction to him since I met him, which is part of why the comments he had made were so painful, and when he found me sitting up against the tree, it was like we couldn't keep our hands off of each other. We didn't even talk. We were just suddenly ripping each other's clothes off and fucking with such intensity I could still feel him inside me as I stood there in front of the royal company pleading my case.

"I hope you know that that is not a common experience and that our warriors are the best in the galaxy. You are safe here. I'm sure that Ero will protect you. We have already assigned him as your personal guard and he will make sure that you are well taken care of while you are with us."

I shook my head again, closing my eyes against the tears that were building up in them. I didn't want Ero taking care of me. He had already broken me. It had been so long since any man had touched me, and after Ero did I felt disgusted by myself. I had allowed this man, this close-minded, arrogant man who thought I was less than the other women on the planet because I was tall and curvy, overtake me because I was feeling a moment of terror and weakness. I hated that he had been able to do that to me, and even more that I couldn't stop thinking about him even after he escorted me to the quarters chosen for me for my time staying on the planet during the program and left.

"I just don't think that I have it in me to do this. Please, allow me to take the shuttle back to the university. I will personally help find a replacement for my position."

Creia and Theia looked at me sadly, but nodded. I knew that part of the agreement for the exchange program was that they were not allowed to keep me on their planet against my will. Technically I didn't even have to ask them to let me leave. I did out of respect for them and desire to maintain the communications and cooperation that were gradually building between the Denynso and the humans. I didn't want my own personal issues to get in the way of the relationship the species had been working so hard to develop.

"Shall we call Ero to escort you back to the ship?"

"No," I answered quickly. The last thing I wanted was to see him again. I wanted to be off the planet as soon as possible and get the thoughts of him behind me, "I can make it back myself."

"We can't let you do that. We will send Pyra with you." Theia stood from her throne and stepped down to me, reaching out to take my hand in hers like she did when we first met, "I have to say that I am very sad to see you go so soon. I was hoping that you would find the same type of comfort and happiness here that your fellow human women have."

"Thank you. I'm sad, as well. I'm sorry that this didn't work out the way that we hoped, but I’m sure that the next professor that comes here will be an amazing part of your program."

Theia grasped my hand more tightly for a second and I saw a look of true sadness in her eyes. I wondered how much she knew about my time with Ero. Creia came up and patted me comfortingly on the back.

"You are always welcome to return if you change your mind. We will make sure that the university knows that any time you want to come back, you have a place here."

"Thank you," I said, still startled by how deeply they seemed to be feeling my decision to leave.

Theia gestured over my shoulder and the massive warrior called Pyra came to my side. He didn't look at me, but nodded at the king and queen and agreed to be my escort back to the ship. We walked back in silence, Pyra occasionally glancing my way. When we got to the ship, he turned to look at me.

"Are you leaving because of Ero?"

His question startled me and I stared at him.

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I asked."

I stiffened at his attitude.

"I'm leaving because of the Klimnu attack," I said, deciding I might as well keep up with the story I told the king and queen.

He looked at me, scrutinizing my face, and then shook his head.

"No, you aren't."

I grabbed my bags and climbed up onto the ship platform without another word. I wasn't going to let some warrior I didn't even know try to judge me for my decisions. I wanted to go home and that is exactly what I was going to do.

Chapter Two

Ero was still smiling when we made his way back from his patrol. He had been thinking about Zuri since he woke up, still hard from the dreams he had had about her, and was excited to get showered and changed so that he could meet with Eden, Eliana, and Leia. Before he started his patrol that morning he had sent them messages asking that they meet with him in his house that afternoon so that they could help him with a very special project. They had no idea what he had in mind, but he knew that they would come. As the mates of his fellow warriors, they had loyalty to him and they want to make him happy. When they found out what he was thinking about, he knew they would be even happier.

He had just stepped out of the shower and finished drying off when he heard the women knocking at his door.

"Come on in. The door's unlocked!" he yelled out of his bathroom into the house.

He heard the door open and the excited voices of the three women filled the house as they came in and settled in in the living room. Ero laughed as he heard Eden's distinct voice criticizing how stark his house looked. Everything he had heard about human women, as little as that was, was right. As soon as they mated and "settled down" they suddenly turned into creatures of nesting and decorating. They may have been just fine with a plain, basic home before, but as soon as there was a mate to take care of, the home had to be perfect and suddenly there was a need for things like curtains and extra pillows. Of course, things like that were not a priority on Uoria to say the least. In fact, Ero had never even seen a throw pillow and the only curtains that he had ever heard of were the thick, unadorned ones that covered the windows during the annual week of solid sunlight.

Eden, however, was changing that. She had started taking old clothing and blankets and turning them into all kinds of decorative items that she put up around her mate Pyra's house. The other women had followed suit, learning to sew these items for their mates, another warrior and the healer of the tribe. Ero had heard both of them telling somewhat awe-filled and confused stories of waking up or coming home from their patrol to find new decorative items had just appeared in their homes. As much as they grumbled about it, Ero knew that they secretly liked it. It made them feel special to have their mates taking care of them, and, like any Denynso men, they were completely and fully dedicated to making their women happy.

"Can you believe the condition of this couch?" Eden said in a tone that Ero knew she thought was subtle, but was actually loud enough for him to hear.

She had gotten worse with her nesting in the last several weeks after finding out that she was pregnant with her and Pyra's first child. This pregnancy was extremely special. It was the first of the new generation, and because Eden had been changed from a human to a Denynso, no one was entirely positive whether it was going to be more like a Denynso pregnancy or a human pregnancy. Either way, she was filled with hormones and suddenly totally obsessed with making sure that everyone was living in a beautiful place. It was adorable in kind of a frightening way. Maybe one day Zuri would be like that.

The thought startled Ero and he glanced up at himself in the mirror. There were streaks of orange across his eyes and as he thought more about her and the idea that one day she may carry his child, he watched the usual green of his eyes turn to bright, vibrant orange. He shook his head, forcing his mind to go to different thoughts. The last thing he needed was to walk out into the living room and have his eyes do all of his talking for him. He needed the opportunity to talk to the women about what was on his mind before they already knew just by looking at him.

"I think that my couch is just fine," he said, walking out into the living room.

Eden turned sharply to look at him and made a face like she couldn't believe he would even say that. There was no hint of apology in her expression, but he wasn't upset with her. He admired the fire in her and knew that she was the perfect match for the massive and intense Pyra.

"Well, that makes it even more upsetting," she said.

The women giggled and Ero smiled at them as he dropped down onto the large armchair across from the couch where all three of them sat. Eden was gently rubbing the small swell of her belly, Eliana was looking around in her sharp, scrutinizing way, and Leia was staring at him softly, still looking so small compared even to the others, neither of which were big. He winced as soon as that thought went through his mind. It was that kind of thinking that had gotten him into trouble with Zuri in the first place. He really needed to get himself to stop thinking that way. Especially since he had realized just how wrong that thinking was.

It had definitely startled him when she first stepped out of the space ship and he saw that she was only a few inches shorter than him and was full, soft, and curvy, unlike the other three women that were all nearly two feet shorter than their mates and thin. The more he looked at her, though, the more he realized how cute she really was, and the sexiness of each of those inches. This was made especially obvious when each of those inches were wrapped around him and he had the chance to bury his face in her breasts, grab her lush hips, and satiate the aggressive hard-on he'd had since before she even arrived on the planet. Now all he wanted was to make it up to her for the cruel jokes he had made and show her just how much he cared about her.

He just needed the human women to help him.

"So, what do you girls think of Zuri?" he asked, trying to introduce the conversation as casually as possible.

All six eyes snapped to him and there were a few seconds of tense silence.

"Zuri?" Eden asked.

"Zuri Hase?" Eliana followed.

"As in Zuri, the foreign exchange professor?" Leia said.

"Yes. To all of those."

The three women exchanged glances and Ero watched as they seemed to communicate without speaking. Finally they all turned back to him.

"We think she's wonderful," Eden said slowly, "What do you think of her?"

Ero smiled and the women squealed and clapped in a way that made them all seem like little girls, but filled him with even more excitement. He almost caught himself clapping right along, but there was no way he was going to let that get back to their mates. He certainly didn't need the warriors having any more to make fun of him about. They already teased him relentlessly about being smaller and less muscular than them. There was no need to add girly celebrating to the mix.

"Here's the thing," he said after letting them get out their excitement, "I didn't get our relationship started on the best note."

"Yeah, we noticed," Leia said.

"What the hell is wrong with you, by the way?" Eliana said.

"Yeah, why would you ever say something like that about a woman? Especially a woman that you apparently care about?"

"It's just that…" Ero started to try to defend himself, but the girls weren't going to give him any slack.

"It's just that you are an insensitive jerk," Eliana said as if it was a fact that he just needed to accept so he could move on with his life.

Ero sighed.

"Probably. I don't know why I would say something like that. The point is, though, that I want to make it up to her. I want to plan something amazing for her to show her how much I care about her and I figured since she is human and you are human that maybe you would be able to help me out."

The women looked at him for another uncomfortable second like they were evaluating his worthiness to receive their help, and then they broke into smiles.

"We'd love to help," Leia said.

Of the three, Leia knew Zuri the best. She had been a student at the university before coming to Uoria, and in fact, it was the same exchange program that brought Zuri to the planet that brought Leia. This gave the two women a special bond and Ero hoped he could use that to his advantage when coming up with ideas for the special date he wanted to have with Zuri.

"Did you have anything in mind?" Eden asked.

Ero shook his head. He had never dated anyone before. Dating wasn't the same type of practice on Uoria as it was on Earth, but even the Denynso customs weren't something that he had experience with with the women of the tribe, as few as there were. The desire to spend time with one specific woman just to be near and make her happy was something that was completely foreign to him and he didn't know where to start coming up with something that they could do together that she might enjoy.

"Well, on Earth, a lot of people go out to eat on dates, but considering there are no restaurants on this planet and everyone eats together in the banquet hall basically every night, I guess that's not really an option," Eden said with a hint of disdain in her voice.

She was still working on getting used to all of the differences between Earth and Uoria, and some of the strangest ones seemed to bother her immensely.

"They could have a picnic, though," Eliana offered, "We could help you put together something and instead of coming to the banquet hall, you could bring her out onto the cliffs and eat together, just the two of you."

"That sounds nice," Ero said, "Is that it, though? I want to do something really spectacular for her, something that will really show her how much I care about her and how sorry I am for hurting her feelings."

Suddenly Eden looked at him more closely. She took her hand away from her belly and leaned closer so that she could look him fully in the face.

"Oh my god. You slept with her."

"What?" Leia shrieked.

Ero knew his eyes were bright orange now and there was nothing he could do about it. Just thinking about her filled him with such intense desire and need to be near her that he felt like he couldn't catch his breath. This must be the same feeling that Pyra had when he met Eden that reduced the usually fearsome warrior to an incoherent, broken shell because he thought she was dead, or made Ciyrs stronger and more powerful than he could ever have imagined when he met Eliana and she had to be rescued from the Klimnu, or gave Gyyx the power to bring Leia back from the brink of death after her own weeks in captivity. It was something that he had never experienced before, and he wanted more than anything to explore it further.

"It just kind of happened," he admitted, "That's another reason I want to do this for her. I want her to know that it wasn't just something that I did because she was there and vulnerable. I really think that she's my mate."

It was the first time that he had put that thought into words and it sent a little bit of a shiver through him. He couldn't wait to get this date planned, find her, and tell her everything he'd been thinking about, and just hoped that she felt the same way.

Chapter Three

I wanted to stay awake for the trip back from Uoria like I did when I first left Earth, but two days into the trip, I couldn't take the thoughts rolling through my mind anymore. Every time I stopped reading one of the books in my luggage or glanced out of the window at the stars beyond my pod chamber, all I could think about was Ero. I hated that I was still thinking about him and the feelings it brought up when I did. He was so beautiful and had made me feel things that I hadn't experienced in my entire life. I wanted to think that having sex with him in the forest had been just a one-time fluke, a momentary loss of clarity and judgment, but my heart felt like it was something so much more, which made the pain even worse.

It didn't matter how I felt when I thought about him. What mattered was how he had spoken about me and how he looked at me. I had been through enough years of being mistreated and made fun of for my size. I had dealt with enough of the taunting and teasing, the hurtful jokes and the backhanded comments, from the person in my life who was supposed to care about me the most. I had gotten rid of him two years before and I wasn't about to put myself back into the same situation just because Ero made me feel breathless and all I wanted was to be back on Uoria with him.

Finally I called in the flight attendant over and asked her for her to let me go to sleep. She gazed down at me with wide, sad-looking eyes.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

Since I had spent less than 24 hours on the planet after stepping off of the university shuttle, the staff was the same from the trip there. There was generally a 24 to 36 hour break between the two legs of any journey that long to allow the pilot to rest and give the staff some time off from their sometimes grueling responsibilities on board. I had managed to get back on the ship just before they were to take off again and the flight attendant looked extremely surprised to see me. I hadn't gone into detail about what had happened, but it was almost like she could see the hurt in me and knew that there was something going on in my mind that I didn't necessarily want to share.

"Yes," I said.

I had been resistant to sleeping through the five day journey on the way to the planet, not wanting to give up that much time or control, and wanting to use the time to start preparing my lesson plans. Now that I had no lessons to plan and wanted nothing more than to miss some of the time that was just tormenting me. Maybe when I woke up back at home, I would feel better. Though I was nervous, I figured nothing worse could happen to me while I slept for the next three days than was already happening to me.

Once I was ready, I settled into my pod, attached the straps that would hold me in place in the event of turbulence, and closed my eyes. I heard the flight attendant's voice telling me to relax and just let the process take effect. I had read through the brochure about the flight carefully so I knew the basic concept behind the sedating process. As a teacher, I am accustomed to taking information presented to me very seriously and accept facts as the truth that makes the world make sense. Repeating this concept through my mind and reviewing the steps of the process as they happened helped me to relax as I felt the seat beneath me soften to cradle my body more closely.

I opened my eyes and watched the glass portion of my pod darken gradually, creating a soothing feeling around me. Everything went absolutely silent for a moment as the pod closed itself off to prevent more sounds from coming through to me, and then a small speaker opened on the wall beside me to stream soft white noise into the space. It was one of those sounds that sounds obtrusive and almost uncomfortable at first, and then becomes such a comforting element of the environment you don't want it to go away.

After a few moments of the sound, I became aware of a faint, almost powdery scent. The fragrance increased and I started to feel deeply relaxed and sleepy. I let go of the tension and control within my body and my eyes drifted closed again. For a brief moment I could see Ero smiling at me behind my eyelids, and then everything went black.

When I woke again it was three days later and the ship was settling onto place on the landing platform in the university bay. Beneath me I felt my seat growing harder and the white noise gradually stopped as the automated system started easing me out of the sedated state. The pod's sound defenses ended and I could hear the loud scraping sound of the retractable metal ceiling of the landing bay sliding back into place above the ship.

The glass at the front of my pod became clear again and I heard the soft hiss and pop of the locks releasing. I released the straps over my chest and used one hand to push the lid of my pod out of the way. The light inside the chamber was blinding for a second, so I sat still until the effect dissipated and I was able to see again.

The flight attendant was standing beside my pod, smiling broadly and offering me a cup. I took it and swallowed the strong coffee it held, then handed it back to her.

"You look happy," I said groggily, pulling myself out of the pod.

"I love it when we get back home," she said brightly."

"You really should consider changing your job," I said, and then immediately felt bad for it.

She had opened up to me about how her grandmother felt about her traveling away from Earth and why she took the job. I sighed and gathered her in a hug.

"Thank you for helping me during my trip – both times."

I tried to laugh, but she continued to look at me with the sadness in her eyes.

"It was my pleasure," she said.

I walked through the ship to the exit door and picked up my luggage. It was just like when I arrived on Uoria, except that where there was so much hope and excitement when I arrived on that planet, there was only sadness and disappointment here. I felt like a failure and all I wanted to do was go home and start trying to put it all behind me. As soon as I got there, however, I found out that getting a few days of relaxation to myself before heading back to the university and hoping they would let me take over my usual classes again wasn't going to be nearly as easy as I had hoped it would be.

It seemed like it took hours to get from the landing platform through the university back to my house. All around me I could hear whispers speculating why I had made such a sudden return, changing what was anticipated to be nearly a seven month absence into one that lasted less than eleven days. The people who were brave, or discourteous depending on the perception, enough to actually stop and talk to me about the situation shared the gossip of the department.

Wild rumors and explanations ranged from I was too scared to even get out of the ship in the first place, to I had gotten to Uoria only to find it a desolate wasteland destroyed by some recent war that Earth had not been informed of, to my personal favorite which was that there had actually never been an opening for a professor in the exchange program but that was used as a cover-up because I was pregnant by the department head and needed to disappear until the baby was born, but it turned out to be a false alarm which is why I had suddenly came back. No one seemed interested in my explanation that I simply decided that the experience wasn't for me and wanted to come home. Apparently that wasn't salacious enough.

Of course, I wasn't about to give them the honest, and legitimately salacious, explanation.

I finally made it home in the middle of the evening when the sun had already gone most of the way down and the first thing I noticed was that my living room light was on. I had all of the lights throughout the house on a timer to turn on and off throughout the day so it looked like I was home to anyone who didn't know for sure that I wasn't, but this was one of the times when it should have been off and my bedroom light should have been on.

I approached the back door carefully, putting myself on the opposite side of the house from the light, and eased inside. Traveling with any form of personal defense tool wasn't exactly my style, but I knew that the dictionary in my bag would pack a hell of a wallop and that once they were disoriented, I was pretty capable of taking someone down if necessary. I reached for the dictionary as I walked toward the living room, moving toward the sound of the television and faint munching.

"What are you doing back so soon?"

A sudden, familiar voice startled me and I nearly dropped everything I was carrying. A figure appeared in the doorway to the living room carrying a bowl of popcorn and looking at me like I should have expected her to be there.

"Samira!" I gasped, tossing my bag onto the kitchen table as she turned on the light with the switch on the wall beside her, "You scared the hell out of me. What are you doing here?"

I looked back up at her wide brown eyes and saw a flicker of hurt move across them. Looking closer at her face I realized she didn't look nearly as casual and relaxed as I thought she had. Instead, she looked drawn and there appeared to be streaks of tears down her cheeks. The bowl she gripped was still overflowing with popcorn, but there wasn't a lingering smell of fresh popcorn in the air, meaning she had probably made it long before now but just hadn't eaten it.

"You said I could come here whenever I needed a place to go," she said, her voice cracking slightly with emotion.

At just 18, my favorite student was still so young, but her genius well out-weighed her years. In that moment, though, she just looked like a terrified little girl. I crossed the room to her and gathered her into my arms. She shook against my chest, crying.

"Of course you can. You can always be here. I'm sorry if I snapped at you. I was just surprised."

"You surprised me, too. I didn't think you were going to be back anytime soon. I just didn't have anywhere else to go and so I thought I would stay here for a few days until I could figure things out."

Samira was nearly as tall as me, but her curviness came across as more soft and feminine than just sturdy. As I draped my arm around her and led her into the living room to sit on the sofa, however, she felt small and fragile.

"What happened?"

She looked up at me with tear-filled eyes and I knew exactly what had happened. I had been teaching Samira since she had entered the university at the age of 15, a stunningly remarkable student that had brilliance I had never seen, but just needed to learn to rein it in. Since then I had gradually worked past a strong shell to get to know her and learn about her painful childhood and continued horrific relationship with her stepfather. She was stuck in a tormented world of having a mind that far exceeded the intelligence, logic, and abilities of any of the adults in her life, but an age that made it so that she had no escape. Efforts to protect her from various teachers and neighbors, including me, went completely unheard, and she was constantly forced to stay in a place of darkness and trauma.

Now she was finally 18 and was not just allowed to leave, it seemed she had been forced to, given one less horrible session with her stepfather and then turned out onto the street where she would be forced to fend for herself. I had told her two years before that she was always welcome at my house and given her a key. It seemed she finally had the chance, and the courage, to do it.

Chapter Four

"It's going to be perfect," Leia said, patting Ero on the back as she and the other women made their way out of the house.

"I hope so," he smiled, feeling a little nervous now that the planning was over and he was actually going to get to go through with the night he had arranged for Zuri.

"The bond's already there," Eden assured him, stepped past him onto the porch, "You just have to make sure now that she understands what that means. Remember that she isn't a Denynso. Ask these ladies. It takes a little more than just a good lay to get a human girl to stay with you forever."

She meant it as a tease, but her words made Ero feel even more nervous. He nodded and watched the women start toward the road, but all three stopped when they saw Creia approaching. The king rarely left the hall unless there was a specific event, which meant that whatever he had to say was very serious.

"Hello, girls," he said affectionately to the women as he passed them, towering over them but smiling gently at them, "Ero, I need to have a word with you."

"Alright."

He made no move to go inside and the women started to turn away, but Creia held up his hand to stop them.

"No, you should stay. Your mates will need to know about this, too."

"Is there something wrong?" Ero asked, the intense look on the monarch's face making his stomach turn.

Maybe there had been another attack or capture. But if there was, why would the king come to him instead of Pyra or Gyyx?

"It's Zuri," the king started and Ero already felt his heart start to pound.

"What happened?" Ero demanded.

He could feel the aggression he had been trying to fight building back up inside him and the anger making his muscles tighten and twitch. Lashing out at the king could have dire side effects so he had to keep himself under control, but he was starting to feel again like he could rip anyone near him limb from limb if he found out that she was hurt in any way.

"She left," the king said bluntly, "She went home."

Ero felt something inside him break and his vision blurred.

"…What?"

"She went home, Ero. She decided she couldn't stay here and continue with the program. I felt like you should hear it from me. I've noticed your behavior recently and I thought that perhaps you saw her as a potential mate."

The king was speaking softly, trying to comfort Ero, but he only felt rage and a type of emptiness he could never have imagined. He heard the women gasp and whisper to each other, but he couldn't make out their words.

"When did she go?" he asked when he had control over his voice again.

"This morning. She got back on the shuttle back to the university."

"Did you know about this?" Ero demanded, turning fiercely toward the women.

"What the hell do you mean did we know?" Eden responded, stepping toward him without fear, "Would we have just sat in your house with you for the last three hours trying to put together this big date for you if we had known that she was gone?"

"I'm sorry," Ero relented, and turned back to the king.

"Did she say why?"

"Just that the program wasn't for her and that the Klimnu attack had frightened her so she wanted to go home. She says she will find a replacement for her position in the program."

"It had nothing to do with the Klimnu," he muttered and saw the king nod.

"I know, Ero."

He couldn't take it anymore. He felt like fire was rushing through his veins and that he was inhaling liquefied stone so that it solidified in his lungs with every breath. Without another word, he started to run.

His feet pounded into the ground harshly, carrying him at the fastest speed he could achieve away from the houses and into the forest. He ran like he had before he understood what was going on with Zuri, ran like he would eventually be able to outrun the pain and the disgust at himself. He was just like the warriors. He had bullied Zuri for her size and then just expected her to be fine with it if he explained he was joking. Instead of being there to forgive him, though, she had left him behind.

Ero paused in the middle of the forest, close to where he and Zuri had spent their few minutes together, and put his hands on his hips, looking up through the branches of the trees at the setting sun. Suddenly from behind him he felt a harsh push and hit the ground.

"Do you feel better now?" Pyra demanded from above him and Ero scrambled to turn around.

"What the hell, Pyra?"

"Do you feel better now that you chased her away?" the huge warrior shouted, shoving Ero further away from him with his boot, "Does it make you feel big and powerful to know that you hurt her feelings enough that she didn't even want to stay here anymore?"

Ero jumped up and squared his chest at Pyra.

"No, you ass, it doesn't make me feel better. I feel like shit. I just sat in my house for the last three hours trying to plan a date for her so that I could tell her that I love her, and instead I find out that because of my own fucking mouth she's gone back to Earth and I'll probably never see her again."

"So you're just giving up? Just like that?"

"What?"

"You're just going to give up. She left, so you are going to do the same thing you always do and take the weak route. Instead of manning up and doing something about it, you are going to run around and whine."

"What do you suggest I do about it? She's on a space ship right now heading back to another planet. It's not like I can just walk up to her and tell her I'm sorry."

"Why not? Is there a rule that says that if you want to say you're sorry it has to be on Uoria?"

Realization hit Ero and determination took the place of the anger and devastation. He took off in the direction of the hall, hoping that Creia had returned so that he could request a special audience with him. He wasn't going to give up. For the first time in his life he felt strong and powerful, and he knew that was because he had discovered his mate. He wasn't going to give up on her just because he did something stupid and made her leave. This was his last chance to do something that really mattered and show his mate that there wasn't anything that was going to keep her away from him, even if she tried to put an entire galaxy between them.

When he finally stood in front of the king, Ero felt more courageous and sure than he ever had in his life. It no longer mattered to him that he had always been seen as the orphan of the planet or that he was so much smaller than the other warriors. What mattered to him was getting to Zuri, and that meant requesting something that no Denynso had ever done.

Chapter Five

The sun burned into my eyes as it came through my bedroom window, searing into me as if teaming up with my alarm clock to try to get me out of bed. It was the second morning I had woken up in my own bed, but I still didn't feel like I was really at home. There was something missing that made me feel like I was visiting my own life, and I knew exactly what it was.

"How are you doing this morning?" I asked Samira as I padded into the kitchen.

I picked up a mug and poured a cup of coffee from the machine set in the corner of the counter. The first sip brought the same thought that it always did: thank the universe for automatic brewing.

"I'm feeling a little better," she said, looking up from the book in her lap.

"That's good. Did you have anything that you would like to do today? I still have… well, technically like six months off, but I'm planning on giving myself about another week before I go back to the university and try to blend back in."

"I can't really think of anything." She sighed and I saw a look of nervousness flood over her face, "I know at some point I'm going to have to go back to my mom's house and get my stuff. They said I needed to be completely moved out by the end of the week."

Her voice sounded so defeated it made me angry, but I didn't show it. This was a girl who had seen enough anger and aggression in her life turned toward her when she didn't deserve it. She deserved gentleness and compassion now.

"I'll go with you," I offered, pouring another cup of coffee now that I was starting to feel a bit more awake.

"Thank you," she let out a tremulous-sounding breath, "I'm way too scared to go by myself."

"Is your stepfather going to be there?"

She nodded.

"He's not working anymore. He doesn't have anything to do but sit around the house and terrorize whoever gets in his way."

"He won't terrorize me."

The mug slipped out of my hands and shattered on the floor at my feet, sending a wave of coffee splattering across my legs. I gasped and jumped out of the way before I looked up to make sure that my eyes weren't deceiving me. Ero was standing in my kitchen.

Samira looked shell-shocked and didn't move from her seat, but stared at him, wide-eyed.

"Ero!" I managed to gasp.

"Who is she talking about?" he demanded, pointing at Samira.

I blinked at him, not sure what I was supposed to be thinking in that moment. Was he seriously standing there, in my kitchen, on Earth, asking me about Samira?

"Ero?" I repeated, "What are you doing here?"

Finally it seemed that his attention returned to me and he crossed the room toward me in two long strides.

"I came for you. I left two days after you did," he said, then looked down at my coffee-soaked legs, "Oh. I'm sorry."

That's when it hit me that I was still in pajamas, no makeup, and hadn't even brushed my hair yet. Embarrassment flooded over me and I pushed past him to rush toward my bedroom. I heard him following me and I tried to shut the door so that he couldn't get inside, but he was too fast and too strong for me to hold him back.

"What are you doing?" I asked, spinning around to face him.

Ero grabbed me, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me to him for a kiss that took my breath away. When his mouth lifted off of mine, I looked up into his eyes and saw that there was no longer a hint of green, only intense orange.

"Your eyes," I said, not letting go of my grip on his shoulders, "They changed."

"They changed because of you. That's why I'm here. I haven't been able to get you out of my mind. You are my mate."

I pushed out of his arms and stepped away, combing my fingers back through my hair.

"I heard what you said about me, Ero."

"I know, and I am so, so sorry. I don't know what I can say to you to make you understand that, but please, tell me and I will say it. I will do anything you need me to do to convince you that I didn't mean to hurt you and that I would never, ever do it again."

"I have spent too much of my life feeling bad about myself and being told that that's how I should feel because of the way I look."

"I don't want you to feel that way," he said, closing the space between us and pulling me into his arms again, "I want to spend every day of the rest of my life making you feel as beautiful as I see you. I know that you don't trust me yet, but please, just give me the chance to show you. Come back with me. Everyone on Uoria misses you so much already."

"I was only there for a day."

Ero laughed softly.

"They must just realize how wonderful you are." He nuzzled me with his nose and kissed me gently, "I'm sorry it took so long for me to get here. No one from Uoria has ever travelled off of it before, especially to Earth, and it took a couple of days for us to arrange transport."

"At least you're here."

"Does that mean you're willing to come back with me? Give me another chance?"

"I will come back, but only on a trial basis. Like you said, I don't trust you yet. I can't just let myself get swept away by you."

"Thank you," he said, sounding so relieved and happy it made my lips finally curve up in a smile, "And definitely don't forget your books. I've only been here for a day and what I went through trying to find you and navigating this ridiculous planet tells me that there is a lot more to learn about Earth than we ever expected."

I laughed and he met the sound with another kiss, pressing his body to mine so that I could feel him getting hard beneath his clothes. My knees weakened a bit, but I forced myself to resist the aching of my body and gently eased him away from me.

"Not so fast. I told you I'll go back with you. That's all you get for now."

He gave a sigh, but nodded.

"I'll accept that. Now… tell me who is terrorizing that woman in the kitchen."

Chapter Six

Ero flexed his fists as he stood on the outside of a white wooden door, waiting for whoever was inside to respond to the doorbell he had just rung. He waited for a few seconds and then rung the doorbell again, following it up with a few pounds with his fist on the door. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Zuri standing at the bottom of the front steps of the house, her arm wrapped protectively around Samira. The teenager had her head buried in the older woman's shoulder and appeared to be shaking with fear. The sight made him even angrier and he pounded on the door again.

"What the fuck do you want?" an obviously drunk man said as he wrenched the door open.

Ero pushed into the house as soon as the door was open enough and immediately turned to the man. This was the first human man he had ever encountered, and he was struck by his size. On Uoria, Ero was tiny compared to the other warriors. Here, though, he towered by several inches over the man, who stumbled back, his red-rimmed eyes fixed on Ero's white hair and orange gaze.

"I'm here for Samira's belongings," Ero said, keeping his voice low, but ensuring there was enough intensity in it that the man understood he was not to be challenged.

"Who are you?" the man stammered.

"I'm the mate of a very dear friend of Samira's, which means that she matters to me and I don't like to see her cry or be scared because some full of himself asshole has been using her as a punching bag since she was 10, not to mention other things that I can't even get myself to say or I will pick you right now, snap you in half, and bring you home with me to use you as Klimnu bait."

The man took a swing at Ero, who immediately caught his fist in his palm and squeezed until he felt the bones shattering into pieces beneath the man's skin, causing an agonized scream to echo through the house. When Ero released him, the man cowered back against the wall, cradling his hand to his chest.

"Never try something like that again. Not against me, not against your stepdaughter, not against your wife. Not against anyone. I've traveled once. I can do it again, and if Zuri doesn't decide to stay with me on Uoria, I will be doing it again, which means I will be here all the time. Do you understand me?"

His voice had lowered to a fierce growl and he could see the terror in the man's eyes. Behind him he heard the women climbing up the stairs and he extended one hand toward the door, gesturing for them to come in, but not taking his eyes away from Samira's stepfather. They stayed locked in that position for several minutes while Samira and Zuri rushed through the house packing everything that she could fit into her luggage. When she was finished, Ero took another step toward the man. He met his eyes and stared intensely at him for several long seconds before turning and walking out of the house, slamming the door so hard behind him that the glass in the window shattered.

The three were silent until they were back at Zuri's house sitting in the living room. Samira finally looked calm, relaxed as if she had been vindicated.

"Thank you," she said, turning to Ero, "I can't tell you how much that means to me."

"It means a lot to me, too," Zuri said.

Ero turned to her and smiled, reaching up to stroke her face.

"You mean everything to me," Ero said, "I'm so glad you're coming back with me."

"You're going away again?" Samira asked.

Zuri nodded and Ero noticed the sad look in her eyes suddenly disappear.

"Come with us," she said, leaning toward Samira and grasping her hands.

"What do you mean?"

"Come with us. Come to Uoria with us." Samira started to protest and Zuri shook her head, leaning closer, "No, no, listen. It could be perfect. It would get you away from everything and give you a break. Ciyrs and Eliana have been working on creating healing ointments for the warriors to bring with them into battle, and you could help them. No one understands chemistry and biology like you do. This is a real way that you can use it. It doesn't have to be forever. It doesn't even have to be for long. I don't even know how long I'm going to be there. Just come. Please. It will make it even better for me there with you."

Samira looked back and forth between Ero and Zuri and Ero saw a change come over her. He smiled at her, reaching to take Zuri's hand and join in the encouragement for Samira to join them on their trip home. Through his bond with Zuri he had built an affection for the young girl, and more than anything he wanted to make Zuri happy.

He knew that back home the women were putting together the surprise they had planned for Zuri, getting it ready in the hopes that he would be able to convince her to come back with him. It had been a major risk to ask them to do that for him and to climb into a spaceship as the first ever Denynso to travel through the galaxy, but she was worth every single risk, every single moment of fear, and every single moment of doubting himself and his ability to be the mate that she deserved.

Chapter Seven

For the third time in less than a month, I climbed out of my pod and stretched. I didn't feel as stiff as I had the first two times and I couldn't decide if it was a good thing or not that my body seemed to be getting used to compressing into the pod and going through five days of space travel.

I wanted to get out of the ship as quickly as I could. Ero had had to return in a separate ship because of the short notice of our travel and I found myself missing him intensely during the five days of the voyage. It was a strange feeling. I still didn't trust him completely, and there was doubt in the back of my mind of whether I was going to stay on Uoria for more than a few days, but when I was away from him, I wanted to be near him. It was like I was connected to him in a way that I had never been to anyone else. Sometimes I found myself thinking about him and it was almost as though I could hear his voice in my head.

Samira followed me timidly out of the ship, looking around as if she was waiting for something to happen. Unlike my first time arriving at Uoria, no warrior stood at the base of the platform.

"I guess they figured that you didn't need an escort."

I heard Ero's voice from the other side of the platform and my heart lit up. I turned to him and he came toward me slowly, reaching out to intertwine my fingers with his.

"I think I have my own," I said softly.

"I hope so," he replied, "Leave your bags here. I'll have Pyra take care of them."

"Did you let anybody know that I brought Samira along with me?"

Ero nodded.

"I told them when I arranged my transport back home. They have everything arranged."

"Will we be sharing a house?"

He looked at me with an expression I couldn't quite decipher and shook his head.

"No, Samira will have her own quarters while she's here."

Before I could ask anything else, I saw the three women coming toward me with their mates and a man I didn't recognize. They were all smiling and I felt a surge of happiness to see them again. Leia looked at Samira strangely for a moment, then seemed to realize that she recognized her.

"Samira?" she said, "Do you remember me? I helped you with a research project about a year ago."

Samira leaned closer and her face lit up.

"Leia? I heard that you signed up for the exchange program," she climbed down off of the platform and stepped into Leia's open arms, "It's good to see you."

The sentiment sounded so genuine I felt a twinge of emotion in my throat. These were women who had been through so much. Seeing them coming together for a moment of empathy and strength was truly beautiful. On the other side of the two women I noticed a man who I didn't recognize. He was tremendous, nearly as big as Pyra, but there was something soft about him that made me question if he was a warrior. His eyes were focused on Samira and I thought I saw a flicker of fire in his eyes.

"Eden," Ero said, looking at Eden.

I glanced over and saw the pretty redhead holding her mate's arm and leaning her head lovingly against him.

"Everything's ready, Ero. This is Ty," she looked over her shoulder at the man and I noticed he was wearing an apron slung low over his hips, "He's going to keep an eye on Samira."

I watched Ty meet Samira's eyes and it was obvious that he thought she was as gorgeous as everyone else did. With long dark hair, eyes to match, and olive skin, she stood out anywhere she went.

"Keep an eye on me?" Samira said, but didn't take her eyes away from Ty.

"It's kind of an Uoria thing," I told her, "Human visitors get babysitters."

"Guards," Ero corrected.

"He'll bring you to your quarters and I'll go find mine and we'll meet up later with the other women, ok?"

"Actually," Ero said, giving me a gentle pull on my hand, "you have other plans this evening."

"I do?" I asked.

Ero nodded and I saw Eden introduce herself to Samira and then hand her gently off to Ty. Pyra scooped up all of my luggage in one arm and Samira's in the other and followed them. She turned around just before they disappeared into the darkness away from the lights of the ship.

"Ero, when you get to the chocolate, thank Ty. He made it."

They walked away and I felt Ero turn me so that I faced him.

"Chocolate?" I asked.

I was confused, but the sparkle in Ero's eyes intrigued me. He guided me down the steps of the platform and we walked slowly away from the ship. There was a brief moment after we stepped away from the lights of the ship where the darkness around us was almost impenetrable, then my eyes adjusted and I felt the moonlight washing over me. The light pooled at our feet as Ero continued to guide me away from the compound toward an area of the planet I hadn't had the opportunity to see during my short first visit.

"Are you going to tell me where you're taking me?" I asked, something about the situation causing me to nearly whisper rather than using my full voice.

"No," he said.

"Why?"

"Because then it wouldn't be a surprise."

I fell silent and allowed him to guide me along until we reached what looked like a small, still lake of purple water. The surface glittered with tiny candles tucked into large blue flowers that floated on top of the water. It created an almost mesmerizing effect and I barely noticed him leading me toward a blanket stretched across the ground.

"A picnic?" I asked.

"You don't like it?"

I turned to him, feeling the beginnings of tears in my eyes.

"It's perfect."

We settled onto the blanket and Ero opened the square basket positioned on the edge. He started pulling out containers containing a variety of foods that I didn't recognize.

"Do you know what any of that is?" I laughed.

"Most of it," Ero said, tilting one of the containers to look through the bottom at whatever was inside.

He pulled another container out and I immediately knew what it was. I took it from his hand and opened it, pulling out a piece of brownie.

"Do you know what this is?" I asked, not knowing how familiar the Denynso were with Earth foods.

"Chocolate?" he said, sounding like he was making a complete guess.

I nodded and pulled onto my knees so I could lean toward him.

"Have you ever tasted chocolate?"

He shook his head and I crawled slightly forward so I was close enough to him to hold the piece of brownie to his lips. Without taking his gaze from mine, he opened his mouth and let me place the brownie on his tongue. I watched as his eyes widened and then darkened slightly as the taste flooded through his mouth. His lips closed over my fingers and I withdrew them slowly.

"Thank you, Ty," he muttered and I laughed softly.

Ero reached into the container and took out another small piece of brownie. I parted my lips so he could feed me, letting my tongue slip across his finger as I closed my mouth. He drew in a breath and his face came close to mine. His lips brushed mine softly and he paused, keeping them hovering close enough that I could feel his breath on my face. He waited until I leaned closer to him, offering my mouth to him, to kiss me again. This kiss was deep, passionate, and tasted rich like chocolate. When he pulled back, we were both breathless.

"Are you hungry?" he asked quietly and I shook my head.

"No."

"Come with me."

He helped me to my feet and led me around the edge of the lake. I watched the candles floating on the surface of the water as we walked, and it seemed like their glow was guiding me away from everything in the past and toward something incredible that I hadn't even begun to imagine. When we reached the opposite side of the lake, he paused and gestured toward a steep path cut into a rock face.

"Are you serious?" I asked.

"Trust me."

"Is this your way of trying to get me to lose weight?"

I was joking, but I felt his hand come to my lower back and apply pressure to my hip until I turned around to face him. He stepped toward me so that I stepped back and pressed to the rock wall. My breath caught as I felt his body brush against mine.

"I never want to hear you say that again, do you understand?" I nodded breathlessly, overwhelmed by his sudden exertion of power. "Because I love you," he dipped his head down to kiss the curve of my neck and shoulder, his hands coming to my hips, "Every inch of you," his touch traveled to my waist and up to my ribs, "Every single beautiful inch," his thumbs brushed across my nipples and I gasped, "I haven't seen enough of you. I want to see more."

I nudged forward with my hips, needing more of his touch. He turned me around again and patted me on my butt.

"Go on," he encouraged.

I complied, climbing my way up the steep path with the motivation of him directly behind me, his hands occasionally reaching up to stroke my back or touch my hip. When I reached the top of the path, I stopped and felt my mouth fall slightly open. I had stepped out onto a wide plateau strewn thickly with flower petals and dotted with candles. The effect was dizzying in the most wonderful way imaginable.

"This is…" I started, but couldn't find the words to finish.

"I wanted to give you the most romantic human date I could," he said, coming up beside me, "The women said flowers and candles were always romantic."

"You came up with this?" I asked.

Ero nodded and took my hand again, drawing me further onto the plateau until we reached another blanket stretched out across the ground. This one was so perfectly matched to the colors of the flower petals that I hadn't even noticed it was there until he brought me to the edge of it and pulled me into his arms.

"I am so sorry," he whispered, and I felt my heart constrict.

"Ero, stop." He looked at me with pain in his eyes and I brought one hand up to brush the hair away from his face, "Don't tell me how sorry you are." I ran my hand down the front of his shirt, "Show me."

Without another word, Ero ducked his head and caught my mouth with his. He kissed me with greater meaning than any words could have ever expressed, and I felt myself melting under his touch. I remembered what he said in my bedroom, that I was his mate, and suddenly I could feel it with such clarity and depth it was as though I had always carried him with me, but I had to discover him.

Ero's hands moved slowly and gently over me, removing each article of clothing and caressing the newly exposed skin with his mouth, kissing and licking his way across my shoulders, down my chest, and onto my belly. He knelt down in front of me and unbuttoned my pants, then eased the zipper down. The movements were careful, reverent, and I could feel myself getting hotter and wetter with each touch. I was shaking with need for him by the time he eased my panties down off my hips and guided me to step out of them, leaving me finally bare in front of him.

He hadn't removed any of his clothing, but standing naked as he knelt at my feet and ran his lips across my belly made me feel worshipped and beautiful. My hand came to the back of his head, tangling in his long white hair, as he moved his mouth further down my body until it teased at the valley between my hipbones. He paused there, nipping his teeth at the soft swell of my belly before easing down and drawing his tongue through the wet heat between my thighs.