Propped up on an elbow in Ram’s bed, she punched her pillow into a ball and settled, once again, staring at the wall as she had for hours. He’d never shown up for the dinner or come home afterward, which had resulted in a long, sleepless night.

After the brief visit to her hospital room, her next awakening picked up where the last one left off, with her, rather than dream-Eryn still in control.

The short-haired warrior with the weird vibe had escorted her as planned. Ram lived in town, so, like many others, they’d walked. People jammed the sidewalks, waiting in long lines to enter the capital center, a huge, four-story, stone structure. Odo informed her—yes, the testy man had coughed up a name—the main government building had many functions, housing the elder council’s chambers, conference rooms, guest suites for visiting dignitaries and other leaders from around Primaria, and the Princep’s residence on the top floor.

It also had a huge banquet room, which is where Odo took her, pointed to a chair at an empty table, and commanded her to sit. “You are not to move from this spot without me.”

After this warning, with an irritated expression on his face, he stood against the wall behind her, scowling at anyone who ventured near him and, by extension, Eryn.

More guests arrived, and she found herself seated with several other recently mated couples. They were polite, tried to keep her engaged, but, as the night wore on and Ram didn’t arrive, the sympathetic looks from the women became annoying, and she stopped talking altogether. And she stopped looking toward the door, watching for him like a lovesick puppy—it was embarrassing.

She received no word from him until late while dessert was being served. When they set the small plate of pie in front of her, she scowled at it, not missing the irony.

“Eryn.” Turning at her name, she glanced up into golden eyes identical to Ram’s. With the same hair and skin tone, this man could have been his twin. Yet, as she peered closer, she noticed subtle differences between him and Max Kerr, the Princep. “I’m afraid I must take the blame for your lack of a dinner companion.”

Be polite, Eryn told herself, remembering Ram’s many lectures, because although he wasn’t here, she knew, word would get back to him if she slipped up. Most of all, she didn’t want to test the public punishments she’d heard whispered about, with a few smart-ass remarks.

“I had plenty of company, Max, er, um, your Princep.” Her voice rose with uncertainty over what to call him, and her comment sounded much like a question.

He chuckled, and another difference became clear. No dimple.

“Kerr. Or if you stand on formality, Max Kerr. As for the company, sitting between two new mated pairs, I’m sure they didn’t provide scintillating dinner conversation.” He didn’t exaggerate. Mailynn and Brenna couldn’t take their eyes off the doting men at their sides. It would’ve been enough to ruin her appetite if she’d had one to begin with.

“I didn’t think Ram would be away so long,” the leader explained. “We had a problem in a district outside the city. I’ve received word the, uh… clean up, will take several more hours.”

“Thank you for letting me know. I was beginning to wonder. Still, I understand duty.”

With Ram’s golden gaze, he glanced at her, nodding; alike in height, the same black hair, and long lashes framing his incredible eyes, the similarities were eerie.

“You’re military, more so than Eva.”

“I’m not sure there is a degree of being military.”

Kerr considered her closely. “Do you think a scientist recruited and trained for a specific mission has the same vision and passion to protect and defend as a career soldier?”

“Perhaps not, although the crew I served with were dedicated, especially Eva.”

He smiled. “I believe you’re right. Tell me how you’re finding Primarian life. Are you settling in?”

“I don’t know if that’s the term I’d choose,” she said, attempting to remain vague, her role in this memory vignette, still undetermined. “But I suppose it will do.”

His midnight-black brows flickered a little. “A rather tepid response. I had hoped you and Ram would have grown closer.”

“We have different goals in life, Princep.” That statement was true, then and now.

“Ram will find a path for you both, don’t worry.” He signaled to Odo. “I’m excusing you from the formal presentation to the elders, considering Ram’s absence.”

Eryn tried to hide her almost-giddy relief at the news but figured she failed when his lips tipped up with amusement. As Odo took her arm to lead her to the door, a man in a long white robe, a long beard, and surprisingly, a bald head—not balding, or with a receding hair line, or one of those sad monk’s cuts with fringe around the edges, completely bald—cut in front of them.

He bowed low, giving his Princep an effusive greeting.

Eryn wasn’t fooled. She remembered this man well, and behind his kind smile and pleasant manner, spelled the worst kind of trouble. For Kerr’s people, and for herself, because he was the one who put into action the events leading to their escape and her betrayal of Ram.

“I haven’t been introduced, Max Kerr,” he was saying as he smiled at her.

“Lorkin. This is Ram’s mate, Eryn.”

He was an elder, and she didn’t know the protocol. Should she bow or curtsy, or did she dare do what she sorely wanted and punch him in the face? None of these were options because she didn’t know how to do the first two, and considering she’d given Ram her promise to be respectful, prevented her from doing the last. So, she inclined her head.

He didn’t take offense, so she supposed she hadn’t screwed up too bad. Still, she mentally cursed Ram for leaving her to figure this out on her own.

The next moment, the elder picked up her hand and patted it, and her spine stiffened with tension.

“Galita, isn’t that what our Master Warrior calls you? I can see why from your crop of flamboyant red hair.”

She remembered him saying those exact words. And despite having gone through this before, her face flooded with enough heat she knew, without a doubt, her cheeks matched the bright hair he rather rudely pointed out.

Kerr pulled her hand from his and squeezed it while glowering at the older man. “You’ve embarrassed her, Lorkin, and while she’s here without Ram’s protection, which isn’t well done of you. I shall stand in, Eryn, and issue a challenge if you’ve taken offense.”

“For teasing, oh, no. I don’t think that’s necessary.” She looked up at him as a horrible notion popped into her head. “You don’t fight duels over insults here, do you?”

Kerr tossed his head back and laughed, the warm rich sound filling the room and drawing every eye. The elder reclaimed her hand and pulled her to his side.

“Our Princep is teasing you, Eryn. He’s in a playful mood this evening.”

“And why shouldn’t I be? I have a mate as do seven of my most trusted warriors. I sense better days ahead for us, Lorkin.”

“Agreed, Max Kerr.” With a smaller smile, he raised her hand to the level of his chest and with a gallant air, bowed over it. “Can you forgive an old man for teasing? I didn’t mean to embarrass you. As a sign of my good will, let me accompany you home, with your warrior guard, of course.”

“Aren’t you needed for the presentation?”

“With so many on the council here, I’m sure I won’t be missed. I’d like to hear all about your world and your travels, which I can’t do in this crush.”

“Lorkin is an avid student of social orders. He has made trips to other cultures all over the galaxy.”

“Though never as far as Earth. Please, humor an old man.”

The dialogue, although a bit altered from what she recalled, maneuvered him into position to speak privately with her. She didn’t like it one bit.

“Oh, I don’t—”

“Excellent,” the Princep declared, talking over her protest. “They will see you home, and I won’t have an irate warrior in my face for not taking the utmost care of his mate while he was off doing my bidding.” Someone called his name, the Princep in high demand at the gathering, and with a squeeze of her shoulder, he murmured, “I’ll see you again soon, Eryn. You’ll excuse me.”

He walked away, and Lorkin’s hand at her elbow guided her toward the wide-flung double doors. He nodded and smiled at several people who called to him but didn’t stop to speak. A few moments later, they had navigated the crowded main hall and descended the stone steps in the cool night air.

Flanked by the elder and her warrior guard, she rushed to keep up with their longer strides. Even the older man was tall, almost a foot greater than her, and she got winded trying to keep up.

“Please, I haven’t kept up with my workouts. Can we slow down?”

“Of course, we are far enough away not to be heard.”

“Excuse me?”

He pulled her off to the side in the shadows of a shop awning, and turned on her so fast she took a step back. Had he been this intimidating before?

“You aren’t a passive female, are you, Eryn Lockwood? What you are is a rebel, and I plan to take advantage of it.” His tone had changed from the kind, old grandfather and taken on a sharp, clipped, ominous quality.

She pulled her arm free of his hold. Her silent warrior on the other side didn’t release her, though. When she jerked hard, his fingers tightened, painfully digging into her flesh.

“What do you want with me?”

“We want you to leave.” Odo spat out his contempt, enough that droplets flew from his mouth.

She cringed, averting her face from the verbal shower then repeated what she had six months earlier. “Leave? You were the ones who insisted on walking me home.”

“Not the house. Leave the planet, stupid Earth female,” the guard growled in her ear. “You and the other seven, we want none of your kind here.”

“My kind? You mean women? Gee, I thought you needed us to procreate your illustrious male-dominant species.” It wasn’t wise to poke the big, angry gorilla, but she couldn’t resist. She knew Odo’s kind—pigheaded and narrow-minded, just like Slim who was responsible for her having to relive this disastrous scene in the first place.

“I’m referring to your deficient mental capacity and inferior physical nature, earthling.” He hissed the last word with scathing contempt.

“Calm down, the both of you,” Lorkin barked. “What Odo means is we prefer not to contaminate our race.”

“Oh yes, that sounds so much better,” she drawled.

“Was I misinformed of your desire to leave Primaria? You’re happy and wish to remain here with Ramikin as a mate?”

Again, at a loss on how to play it, she stammered, “No, I mean, yes… I don’t know.” And she didn’t. She wasn’t happy, not as it stood now. She wanted him, but only if he wanted her, not because of the baby. Holy crap, what a mess.

“I must know. Did he breach you? Have you bonded?”

“Why is that relevant?”

“Answer the question,” he growled, not seeming to care they stood on a public walkway where anyone could hear.

“There is no bond,” Odo stated. “She admitted as much to me today. And she has not transformed.”

“You sent him today to test me,” she accused, the weird scrutiny he’d given her earlier now making sense.

“Before I approached, I had to make sure.” From his robe, he withdrew a folded piece of paper. “I also retrieved this.”

Eryn knew right away what it was. He held it out to her, but she couldn’t take it. Not again.

He shook it at her and hissed, “Take it.”

She shook her head stubbornly.

His lips flattened in the middle of his bushy gray beard, clearly annoyed. “It’s your compatibility test. Aren’t you curious?”

“I just want to go home.”

“Stupid, insipid female,” Odo muttered under his breath, which earned him another scowl from her.

“The score reported to Master Ram was in error, deliberately inflated so he would claim you for his mate,” Lorkin explained.

“Why would someone do that?” A good question she wondered about to this day.

“Morale was low among our people and hope fading. Then, we found you Earth females, very similar to us in appearance and some of you showed favorable compatibility results. We don’t believe the ratings were as promising as initially reported, and think the scores were inflated to sway the people to support this ill-fated plan. If all the females in the sample matched, it seemed predestined for our two species to join.”

“And I was an outlier who put their plan at risk.”

“Yes. You and a few others.”

“Who would do this? Your Princep?”

Lorkin and Odo glanced at one another.

“Perhaps, but we aren’t certain yet,” the elder said.

An interesting theory. But one major flaw discounted their supposition, however. It was dead wrong. When transformations started happening, and mate markings started popping up, not to mention the pregnancies she knew would follow, they would realize it. Like the protesters on Earth, xenophobes couldn’t accept something different, even for the sake of their own survival.

He waved the paper closer to her face. Because he looked ready to pop a blood vessel in his head, she took it. When she unfolded it, the shadows made it too dark to read, so she acted as if she did to move things along—she knew what it said, after all.

Blowing out an exasperated breath, the elder muttered, “Most obstinate creatures ever,” and dragged her a few yards up the walkway to the next streetlight. By angling it just right, she could make out the word incompatible in bold print. The truth knocked the breath out of her as it had the first time. Pregnancy aside, they hadn’t bonded, she didn’t transform, and they weren’t mates.

“What’s your plan?” she asked, humoring him to get this over with.

Voices and footsteps from nearby had his head whipping around. Several people had left the capital center and moved in their direction.

“Not here.” Grabbing her arm again, he moved her down the shadowed street. “I will explain at Master Ram’s residence. We must hurry before he returns.”

Once again, they dragged her along with them through the dark streets of Ariad. In a few blocks, they reached the residential section. By then, having to take two steps to their one, Eryn had a hard time catching her breath.

“Lights up,” Lorkin barked as they swept through the entry of Ram’s home and into the front room. Feet throbbing—her beautiful dainty shoes not intended for sprinting on city streets—she limped across the room and sank onto the couch.

After kicking off her sandals, she rubbed the circulation back into her pinched swollen toes. Why couldn’t she have normal dreams like everyone else? Lounging on a warm, sandy beach, while she sipped a fruity drink with an umbrella, a gorgeous man who could be Ram’s twin rubbing oil on her skin. Because what was the point of a lucid dream if she couldn’t use it or control it?

Eryn closed her eyes, willing the nightmare to stop and for her to wake anywhere other than here. When she cracked open one eye and checked, nothing had changed. The Odo and Lorkin Shit Show continued.

They stared at her like she’d lost her mind.

“Is something wrong with you?” Odo inquired, rude as ever. “You don’t look good.”

“Yes,” she grumbled. “You’re still here. And you’re not winning a beauty contest any time soon, either.”

“Stop it. The two of you are like children,” Lorkin snapped. “And Odo is right. You’re flushed, sweaty.” He grimaced. “And you’re breathing fast.”

“You try doing double-time on city streets in heels and see how you feel,” she bit back. “Now, you mentioned something about being in a hurry. Ram will be home soon.”

“Yes, which means we don’t have time for any more of your bickering.” He glared pointedly at Odo then addressed her again. “There are others who feel as we do. We are a small group, so it will take all of us to pull this off. The plan is to send you back to your ship tomorrow.”

“How?”

“You don’t need all the details, other than we’ll have someone at the controls at the transport center to send you directly onto your ship.”

“With the new arrivals, there are three hundred.”

“We are aware. Your job is to help my people round up all the females, convincing any frightened or undecided holdouts they need to go back. Once you’re all onboard, we will disable the scanners and alarm systems so your ship can get away undetected. What happens after will be up to you.”

“Getting away won’t be easy. Ram doesn’t let me out of his sight or leave me unguarded.”

“We heard you could be troublesome,” Odo sneered, “and planned for that, too.” He held up a vial. “Ensure he drinks this.”

Although not a new twist, it still shocked her, and the same words rolled out of her mouth. “You expect me to poison him?” The idea caused her stomach to roil.

“It is a harmless sleeping potion,” Lorkin assured her. “A few drops and he should be out for hours.”

“Ram is a large man. Double the dose to be sure,” Odo advised.

Eryn shot him a disgusted look. “You’re one of his warriors. Would you see your leader harmed?”

“Better that than breeding with an animal.”

She’d had enough of him and jumped to her feet. “If I’m an animal, you’re a two-legged cretin with shit for brains, asshole!”

He growled and started forward. Though in a gown and barefoot, she took a fighting stance, ready to defend herself. She might take a beating, but she would enjoy getting a few good licks in first. A fist to the throat, her thumbs gouging his eyes, or a hard kick to the groin should do it.

“Enough!” the elder roared, stepping in between them. “This gets us nowhere. Are you in agreement with our plan, Earth female, or must we seek out another?”

The suggestion intrigued her. “You’d move on, after revealing this to me?”

“He did not say that, foolish woman. If you refuse, you deal with me,” the hulking warrior replied, his expression full of wicked intent. Eryn didn’t need him to elaborate. And she’d rather not find out what happened to the real Eryn if she died in one of these crazy lucid dreams.

“You really are barbarians,” she whispered.

“We do what we must for our people, as you will do for yours, tomorrow.”

He put the vial in her hand, and she took it, not about to give Odo the Ogre cause to follow through on the painful death he had planned for her.

“Now sit and I’ll go over a few other key details.”

She sat and listened, anything to get them out of Ram’s home and out of her head.