If Erudan could disappear from the homecoming feast, so could Rhea. Especially if she went off searching for him. Her mate had retreated sometime earlier, an introspective look in his eyes.

Helpful direction from a couple of warriors, combined with her inner mate radar—which became more sensitive with each passing moment—led her to the balcony off the suite she and Erudan shared.

She joined him at the railing and took a deep breath of the sweet cool air. The forest around them was dark and peaceful, a gentle hush of rustling leaves breaking the night’s silence.

“Hey,” she whispered. It seemed right to respect the forest by using a soft voice. Her whisper paid reverence to the ageless trees and forest that the Vians called home.

Even though they’d mated in Ikkim, something about being by his side in his true home brought a deeper meaning to their mating.

Her mate didn’t speak with words, but rather welcomed her by lifting his arm. Accepting his invitation, she tucked herself into his embrace and leaned in, cuddling against his side.

They shared the intimate view a while longer, listening to the forest and the distant music of the feast, before she ventured to speak again. “Are you happy to be home?”

He exhaled but didn’t answer right away. Rhea rubbed her cheek over his heart, waiting patiently. She could sense his happiness down deep, especially when they were alone, but there was something…

Erudan stroked his hand down her arm and linked her fingers with his. “Yes, but the actions of my past have not been erased. They plague me.”

Rhea craned her neck in order to look at his face. Waiting until his gaze shifted from the trees to meet hers, she squeezed his hand. “You’re not the same man you were then. You’ve built yourself into a strong, honorable person with respect and love for your family and the people of your world. Everybody can see that.”

“Not everybody.” He looked out into the dark again. “I am still deeply ashamed of my behavior with my brother’s mate.”

Taking a deep breath, she left her position at his side and squeezed in to stand between him and the rail. “Look at me, please.”

He closed his eyes briefly but then opened them and tipped his chin down.

Rhea took his face between her hands. “Erudan, you are my mate. I am yours. You don’t love Jassa. You love me. Just as Vroe and Jassa love one another, happy with Priut and baby Avani. Nothing you did or said changed the course of their future—while everything you did changed the course of yours. Every action you took brought you to me, and now life has moved on. It will continue to move on. There’s no reason to hold on to that anymore. Don’t let the past paint your—our—future with its dark brush.”

He parted his lips but no sound came out. Smiling, Rhea traced her thumb across his bottom lip, the way he sometimes did to hers.

“You’re home here. We’re home. This is where we are meant to be. You’ve changed and learned so much, and now we can do things for your people you couldn’t have done a year ago.”

He swallowed. “We?”

“Mmm-hmm. We. Because I’m going to be right by your side every step of the way.”

Finally, he spoke. “Only you, mate? Or will we have our own young someday, too?”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and rose up to kiss his chin. “Of course, we’ll have babies, and a couple of pets for them to play with as well. How could you think we wouldn’t?”

His broad shoulders lifted in a shrug, but instead of answering her question, he frowned. “Pets? Do you mean pests? Because I will not subject my family to pests.”

Rhea laughed. “No, love. Not pests, pets. Jassa’s farlor just gave birth to a new litter. They’re so freaking adorable, I can’t even. She offered us a set and I couldn’t say no to those big, puppy-cat eyes. I’m so excited! I’ve never had a pet before. You’ll have to help me name them. I think one should have an Earth-ish name and the other should be given a traditional Vian name.”

In her excitement, it took her a minute to register Erudan’s lack of. She stopped going on about their future pets and frowned up at him. “What’s wrong?”

He shook his head, scowling. “No farlor, mate. Your words are confused. They are not pets, they are pests.”

“Okay, yeah, no. Mice are pests. Mosquitos are pests. Farlor aren’t either of those. I mean, have you seen them? They’re the best of both worlds.” She bit her lip and—yeah, it was evil, but she’d already fallen for the crazy-looking, purring six-legged cross between a kitten and a puppy—she fought dirty. “Just like you and me, and our children. We’re the best of both worlds, too.”

Erudan groaned and dragged his hands down his face. He growled. “Mate. They are pests. Dirty animals. They will leave their hair everywhere, they will steal our food. They are noisy.”

“They can be trained. Come on, don’t be so…so…Vian,” she teased. “Pretty please? You won’t even notice them, once they’re past their noisy baby stage.”

Erudan grumbled several more objections until she grew convinced he was only continuing out of stubborn male-ness. Finally, she threw her own growl into the mix.

“Erudan! Every child should have the chance to know the unconditional love of a pet and learn the sense of responsibility that comes from caring for one. A farlor would be perfect on both fronts.”

“Very well,” he muttered. “We will discuss this matter once we have children.”

“Fine…I accept your terms. But…” Rhea bit her lip and then grabbed his hand and pressed it to her abdomen. All the fight drained out of her, pushed aside by the love—and everything else—growing inside. “You sorta need to accept that we’ll have little farlor running around our home within the next nine months.”

Erudan went silent and still as he stared down into the shadowy space between them. “Mate…”

She smiled and he gave her a matching wide grin. He lifted her right off her feet and spun her in a wide circle, which she couldn’t help noticing took her away from the rail. Protective male.

Laughter rang out from him as he continued to spin with her. Clinging to his shoulders, she opened herself to share in his joy and sent heartfelt thanks to Celestial Mates and the whole crazy mix-up that brought her to this moment.

She might never know what Celestial Mates did, or how they came to match her with Erudan, but none of that mattered more than what she did know.

Which was that she was thankful to have pure love and a bright, family-filled future.

If you enjoyed this book, please be totally awesomesauce and leave a review so others may discover it as well. Long review or short, your opinion will help other readers make future purchasing decisions. So, go forth and rate my level-o-awesome!

Did you miss Vroe and Jassa’s story? Be sure to check out Not So Little Green Man!

Chapter One

Running was definitely not Jassa Marizen’s forte. Sitting. Talking on a comm. Calculating her chance of survival over the next ten minutes—maybe fifteen due to being a crappy runner—was within her day-to-day toolbox.

Running for her life? Not so much.

But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t give it a try.

She panted, chest heaving, while her lungs fought to bring in more and more air. Her feet pounded on the smooth metal path that lined the hovway. Vehicles raced past, the wind pulling at her long hair and tugging on her clothing. The vortex of spinning air pushed her to and fro, left then right, then left again with each speeding hovcar. It was what came from running—literally—down the middle of the hovway.

Male voices followed her, curses and demands crowding the air and battling with the rushing breeze that overwhelmed her hearing. But she knew they were there.

She was too good of a prospect for them to allow her to escape. Her genetic code…

Jassa swallowed hard and pushed herself to go faster. She had one destination in mind, one chance at freedom, and she wouldn’t be defeated by a simple lack of cardio.

Although, cardio was at the top of her list once she got to her new home.

If she got to her new home.

No. No. She wouldn’t think in terms of “if.” It was all about “when.”

When she got to her new home, she’d work on increasing her stamina. There. Positive thinking would get her through the mess she’d landed in. At least she hoped. Because if she was caught after trying to flee… Yeah, things wouldn’t go well.

Her last and only hope rested in the hands—suckers? tentacles? paws?—of Celestial Mates, an intergalactic mating agency. She wasn’t sure what they looked like, only that they responded to her written application and submission of genetic material.

They’d accepted her. Accepted. They’d even gone so far as to match her with a mate!

Her eyes stung, joy and panic warring within her heart, and she gritted her teeth. She dug deep for more strength, pushing past the first wave of exhaustion that threatened to send her stumbling.

She couldn’t allow the officers catch her—couldn’t allow them to…

“Cease or we will be forced to shoot!” The male’s voice was close—too close.

And he acted as if the worst that could happen to her was getting shot. No, the worst thing she could experience was getting caught. The Department of Population didn’t take kindly to runners. They didn’t like it when citizens sought to avoid their government-sanctioned “duty.”

They hated anyone who ran from DP.

Jassa was most definitely running. She wasn’t ready to do her duty. She’d never be ready. And since she hadn’t found a mate yet, she was about to be forced to submit…

Her throat tightened and she swallowed past the growing lump, hating the surge of emotions that swelled and threatened to overwhelm her. She could break down once she reached the safety of the Celestial Mates’ ship. Not before. Once she stepped foot on their ramp, she’d be out of DP’s reach.

The hovway took a sharp right, and she struggled to stay on the path, soft boots sliding over the smooth ground. She spun and fought to right herself, barely sparing a moment to glance behind her.

The DP officers were too close. Way too close.

A surge of adrenaline suffused her blood, her body’s fight or flight response doubling with that single look. She pushed on, arms and legs pumping, while she picked up speed once more. She wouldn’t be caught. She wouldn’t.

Because if they got her…

There was no sense in panicking over what could happen if DP took her into custody because it wasn’t going to happen. Nope. Not at all.

She wouldn’t be put in cuffs. She wouldn’t be walked down the center of the city’s main hovway in cuffs and paraded around like a trophy. She wouldn’t be strapped to a table, and she wouldn’t be impregnated by a mechanical device.

She wouldn’t endure nine months of pregnancy.

She wouldn’t have her baby ripped from her arms after she gave birth.

None of that was fucking happening because she had a mate. A mate on a distant planet, but a mate nonetheless. She didn’t know what he looked like, his species, or even his name, but it didn’t matter.

Celestial Mates had found her a worthy mate—one fully screened and guaranteed to meet her desires emotionally and physically.

That was all she’d had to hear—er, read.

The digicomm burned a hole in her pocket, a copy of the message on hand just in case she had to show it to someone from the company. She wasn’t leaving anything to chance. She’d get off Earth—away from DP—and no one would stop her.

Well, except DP if they caught her.

The port came into view, the towering structure rising high above the city. The gleaming tower of metal and glass was like a beacon to incoming ships and outgoing travelers.

A beacon for Jassa.

The last hovway between her and salvation remained in the distance, the busy path filled with vehicles racing back and forth. The drivers and passengers didn’t care that she was on the run and needed safe passage. They had their own destinations in mind.

She let her attention flick left and right, eyeing the traffic that zoomed down the busy hovway. She tracked each hovcar and truck, her mind processing variables and probabilities.

She had a chance of making it across the hovway safely.

The officers… not so much.

But they were chasing her and it wasn’t her fault if they followed her into traffic, right? She ignored the guilt that attempted to crawl into her stomach and squeeze her chest. She couldn’t control others—only herself.

And herself was getting across that hovway without injury, dammit.

Eight lanes of traffic. Piece of instacake.

Cake… She was way too hungry to be running this much. Seriously.

Jassa put on one burst of speed and crossed two lanes, freezing in place when a double hovtruck raced past within an inch of her breasts. Okay, reminder, she had to include her boobs in her calculations because she almost lost her chesticles with that one.

She bolted one more forward before halting again, ass getting brushed by a hovcar.

Obviously her butt needed to be added to those friggin’ calculations too. This wouldn’t be happening if DP would just get off her ass already.

Two more across and then one back before she leapt forward three.

She was only one away, one dash from freedom and joy and anything but remaining on Earth and giving birth to a baby she’d never get to hold. Jassa had always wanted children. Children she could keep.

A hard thump was followed by a scream and then the rhythmic sound of something large and heavy rolling across the ground.

She wasn’t going to think it was a person—an officer. She wasn’t.

She wasn’t going to think about the agony-infused cry that immediately came after or the panicked voice that shouted for emergency medassist.

Nope, not at all.

Jassa raced over the last fifteen feet of ground that separated her from the relative safety of the sideway. She ran three feet. Then six. Then ten.

Then something wrenched on her shirt, yanking on the fabric that clung to her abundant curves. “No you don’t.”

She glanced over her shoulder, meeting the furious gaze of a DP officer. His brow was soaked with sweat, the dark exhaust from passing hov vehicles clung to his skin, and rage filled every line of his expression.

“You’re coming back with me, bitch,” he snarled at her, his glare growing darker with each passing millisecond.

If she went with him, she’d never see daylight again. She’d heard the stories. Piss off a DP officer and never be seen or heard from again. Sure, the woman would do her duty to the government, but then… nothing.

“No.” She snapped out the word and yanked, knowing she only had one point three two five seconds to get out of the hovway before a massive hovtruck…

The moment her foot hit the sideway, she heard the sickening, wet crunch of metal on flesh and bone.

That didn’t mean she would slow, though. The men chasing her weren’t the only DP officers in the area. Just the most recent set to spot her.

Jassa kept up her pace, her hand pressed to the outside of her pocket where the comm lay. She darted through the flowing crowd, ducking when she saw anyone in a uniform and sprinting the moment she passed one. Aliens milled around her, their various colorings drawing her eye, but she pushed her curiosity aside.

She had a shuttle to catch.

She rounded the last corner, pushing herself on and on until her destination was in sight. The Celestial Goruza was docked just as promised, the large ship resting in its berth and waiting for her. The gleaming metal shined in the sun’s few rays, the sprinklings of light able to break past the dark clouds of smoke and smog.

It was big, imposing, threatening, and powerful. The agency said their cargo was the most precious in all the galaxies, and they would always strive to care for each of the mates in their guardianship.

For Jassa, the Celestial Goruza was one thing and one thing only—salvation.

Out of breath and near collapsing, she made it to their berth, stumbling toward the ramp, pushing herself so hard she thought she’d die if she had to run any farther. More yells followed her, more officers demanding she stop—demanding someone else stop her.

But no one listened. Or at least, she didn’t notice anyone attempting to come toward her. Jassa had eyes for one being and one being only—the one with the golden wings, kind eyes, pale skin, and… a single outstretched hand beckoning her to safety.

Not suckers, tentacles, or paws, but a delicate, caring hand.

One she grasped the moment her feet hit the ramp. One she grasped and refused to release until the Celestial Goruza left Earth—and DP—behind.

Then… it was time to learn about her mate.