For the umpteenth time in the past hour, Eryn caught herself staring at the drab white wall of her small office rather than focused on her work. Distracted, her mind jumped from one topic to another, none of them job related, even though the half-done report in front of her had a deadline of 5:00 p.m. today. She blamed sleep deprivation. Although it had been almost a week since she’d woken Lana with any screaming or moaning in the middle of the night, her dreams continued, leaving her drained.

Last night’s had been a repeat of the day of her capture, and especially vivid. So real, it seemed more like a flashback than a dream.

As she replayed it in her head, the screams of her shipmates as they exchanged fire with the unknown entity, came back to her, and were as chilling and frightening now, as they were then.

Outnumbered and facing superior firepower, a distress call had gone up to the Odyssey, but a solar storm impeded communications. This left making a run for the shuttle and an emergency liftoff their only option for escape.

---

In the pandemonium, Eryn and Brenna, one of the scientists selected for the initial survey of the planet, found themselves cut off from the rest of the landing party. As per protocol, if separated, they were to rendezvous at the shuttle. So that’s where they headed, hoping the others would be waiting for them.

The lake where they’d been collecting samples lay several miles from where the shuttle had touched down, and through dense forest. With pursuers at their heels, Eryn took the lead and set a brisk pace.

Not a career soldier, Brenna had been selected for the mission for her scientific expertise, not her strength and stamina. She also wasn’t the fleetest of foot among the ship’s crew. Although she kept pace for a while, after the first mile, she struggled to match Eryn’s much-longer strides and fell back, despite frequently offered encouragement.

When a sharp cry rang out behind her, Eryn skidded to a halt. Twisting around, she searched the overgrown woods for her teammate, but the lengthening shadows and murky shapes of the trees and thick vegetation melded together, making it difficult to see more than a few feet in front of her. It was so dark, she could barely see her hand in front of her face, let alone Brenna’s dark-blue USIF flight suit.

A soft sob came from somewhere to her right. As she squinted, trying to pinpoint the location, she cursed the dense canopy of leaves and branches overhead which blocked the remaining traces of light cast by the binary suns.

“Brenna?” she called softly.

Her reedy voice, filled with obvious pain, came out of the darkness. “Go on without me.”

Ignoring her ridiculous request, Eryn started for her. “I’m not leaving you behind. Keep talking, except do so quietly. We don’t want to alert our pursuers.”

Her foot brushed against something soft. When she looked down, she could just make out the paleness of the chemist’s white-blonde hair.

“Save yourself, Eryn,” she replied in a broken whisper, still winded and sucking in gulps of air between her tear-filled words. “I stepped…in a hole…and rolled my ankle. I’ll…only get you caught…too.”

“Nonsense.” She bent to assist her. Slipping an arm beneath Brenna’s shoulders, she curled her hand around her far side and hoisted her to her feet. “Let’s go.”

With Eryn’s six-foot frame and Brenna’s less than average height, they were immediately set off-balance. Keeping weight off her injured foot further hampered their efforts as they navigated through the darkness and over the rough ground with its thick undergrowth, every so often trying to avoid a fallen tree blocking their path. They had to make it work, all the same.

“Maybe if I switch to your weak side, it will make the going easier,” she suggested.

When they stopped to make the position change, out of nowhere, two hulking shapes dropped from the sky and landed in front of them. Their immense size blocked the only thread of light filtering in from above.

A sharp, piercing shriek in her ear almost deafened her. While shaking her head to stop the ringing in her ears, large hands encircled her upper arms and pulled her away from Brenna.

Her teammate’s frightened protests echoed in the forest the next instant. “No! Put me down!”

What sounded to Eryn like fists thudding against flesh was followed by several deep masculine grunts. Next, a loud crack reverberated in the air and an instant later a whimpered yelp of surprise.

“Brenna?” Eryn called out in alarm.

“Oh, dear God, no!” Her panicked words, which started out in a rush, ended in a shriek echoing through the night. Intermingled with her calls for help, Eryn made out the snap of branches beneath the heavy, thudding footsteps moving off through the trees.

“Brenna!” she repeated with a frantic cry as she, too, struggled within an alien’s inflexible hold. But no response came other than the fading sound of Brenna’s cries for help, as the thick dampness of the forest enveloped them.

Knowing the same fate awaited her if she didn’t escape, she twisted violently, trying to break free from the hard fingers which tightened on her arms. She fought harder, using every defense technique she’d learned in years of training—wrist and elbow locks, a back kick, and an elbow break. All of them hopelessly ineffective against his superior strength.

The being spoke for the first time, barking something in her ear. She ignored him, resisting with all her strength even though his deep, insistent tone held a warning. Despite her struggles, he moved forward, taking the same path as his companion.

Eryn sensed disaster lay along that trail and fought even more frantically to break free of his grasp immediately. At the first opening, she raised her booted heel and brought it down hard on his foot. At the same time, she slammed her head backward, head-butting him. Well, almost. With his greater height, the back of her skull connected with the underside of his jaw, instead. Still, the click of his teeth and grunt of pain filled her ears. Not an incapacitating blow by any means, but it distracted him enough that his grip loosened and she wrenched free.

Like a shot, she took off, running headlong through the darkness. She wasn’t quick enough and hadn’t gone more than a few yards when a steely arm wrapped around her waist from behind. Lifted off her feet, her body slammed hard against his broad chest, the force enough to force the breath from her lungs in a whoosh. While she gasped for air, he rotated her body, catching her against his hip, and, as if she weighed no more than a sack of potatoes, the brute followed his partner through the trees.

Although stunned, her shock didn’t last long. Straining against his grasp, she kicked, bucked, and fought with all her might. It had no effect on him. He didn’t slow or even flinch, acting like he carried a struggling woman through a dark forest every day.

Perhaps he did!

Holy crap.

Redoubling her efforts, she raked her nails down his forearm. This elicited a reaction, but not the one she expected. Instead of dropping her, he swung her around and flipped her over his shoulder, moving her so fast, she got light-headed. Then, to her utter shock, his huge hand came down hard on her ass—twice.

“No way,” she screamed. “No how!”

In a fit of anger, she pounded on his back with her fists, rocking and bowing her body, not caring if she fell from the shoulder of this tree of a man. She wasn’t about to let anyone—particularly a barbaric behemoth of an alien—spank her.

Handling her one hundred sixty-pound frame with ease, he set her down in front of him with an angry growl. In the back of her mind, she knew it was crazy to go toe-to-toe with him, yet her outrage overrode common sense, and the basic need for self-preservation.

She angled her head back and glared up at him. Then froze, as a wavering shaft of light from the rising alien moon broke through the branches, and she caught her first good look at her captor.

Black hair surrounded a very human-like face, with slashes of dark brows knitted together in obvious anger. They didn’t detract from the masculine beauty of his bronze skin, angular cheekbones, firm jaw, and full sensuous lips. But it was his eyes that she found so compelling, and unusual. If not for the glimmer of moonlight, they would have appeared black. Instead, his gaze glowed golden in the low light.

In a word, he was breathtaking.

Regardless of her precarious situation, there she stood, paused in the middle of a battle for her freedom on an alien world, in a forest clearing, while precious moments to escape ticked away. Yet, the mesmerizing appearance of her foe left her stunned.

And while in this state of shock, gaping up at him like a fool, she only halfway noticed he had caught her hands in one much larger and stronger than her own, as he pulled free the tie holding his hair at the back of his head. It unleashed a gleaming mass of onyx strands falling in a sheet of glossy silk around his shoulders. She stared, awestruck by his masculine beauty until a tug on her wrist snapped her to reality. Peering down, she saw him tying her hands together.

Like a splash of cold water in the face, she woke to the fact she’d let her inexplicable attraction to this alien interfere with her concentration and her need to escape. Once bound, it would be doubly hard to do so, if not impossible.

She tried to pull free, but he was ready for the repeat move, grunting something in his unintelligible language once more—threatening another spanking, no doubt. Again, she disregarded it.

Since her girl tactics had worked before, she had no qualms about using them now. She kicked him. And when her squared-toed boot bounced off his shin, she followed it up with a sharp upward thrust of her knee right into—she hoped—his most vulnerable spot.

He twisted at the same time and she missed her target, although she came close, catching his inner thigh. The errant blow hit hard enough to make him shift, likely protecting his precious man goods from further attack, as any male would.

Gaining the break she’d hoped for, she pulled free.

Whirling, she took off once more, running like her life depended on it, which it probably did after her repeated attacks and escaping from him three times.

Not daring a look back, she dodged trees and ducked under branches. Despite her focus and her above-average speed, the thudding sounds of his pursuit drew nearer. Or it could have been the pounding of her heart in her ears. Either way, she prayed her endurance would hold up.

With length of stride in his favor, Eryn depended on her agility, wending her way through the forest in a zigzag pattern in the direction she hoped would take her to their shuttle, and freedom.

A flash of color appeared in the dark—the fluorescent-yellow markers they’d left to lead them back. Not long after, Eryn caught sight of the clearing where they’d landed.

Elation gave her a burst of energy and quickened her steps. Almost home free!

But how would she board with the giant on her heels when she got there? She veered right through a break in the trees, the last obstacle prior to reaching the clearing where the shuttle awaited. Then, out of nowhere, her body lurched forward as she tripped on what had to be a tree root leaping into her path. Eryn went airborne, hurtling straight toward another tree in her path.

She closed her eyes, bracing for a painful impact, when, from behind, something snagged the back of her flight suit, and she jerked to a sudden halt. The snag turned out to be a large hand gripping the material, followed by a hard, muscular arm snaking around her body. He’d saved her from a nasty fall, and an even nastier collision with a tree, perhaps a concussion, or worse, a broken neck and, at the same time, recaptured her.

He shoved her straight to the ground, facedown in the dirt with his weight pinning her then pulled her hands behind her back and tied her securely.

Smacking face-first into the tree may have been better than a mouth full of dirt and being manhandled.

Once finished, he leaned over and murmured something incomprehensible in her ear.

Eryn had no doubt his words didn’t praise her for her awe-inspiring athletic prowess. When he emphasized his point by delivering two more smarting swats to her backside, her conclusion solidified.

Picking her up, he tossed her over his shoulder once more.

His beefy arm clamped around her legs kept her from kicking this time. Like a trussed-up game animal after a valiant fight, she’d been well and truly caught.

With no option except to lie there—spanked ass up, dignity having taken a sound beating—she stared at the clearing and the shuttle gleaming in the moonlight. The sight lingered like a beacon of hope for a split second then darkness gobbled them up as her alien captor carried her deeper into the forest.

In a moment of utter exasperation, one out of character for her, she tossed her head back and shrieked her frustration to the sky.

---

“Good, you’re here.”

Eryn jumped at the enthusiastic voice coming out of nowhere.

She’d been leaning back in her desk chair, and her sudden movement knocked her off-balance. She reached for a hand hold, grabbing the flat of the desk with splayed fingers trying to keep from flipping over. Except the freewheeling chair rebounded, shooting her forward, and she hit her knee on the pedestal drawer underneath.

Items on top of her desk went flying, including her pencil holder which rolled onto the floor, scattering her styluses and pens everywhere. Her full coffee cup teetered on the edge of her calendar desk blotter—still safe. But when she reached for it, the damn thing tipped over and saturated the documents she needed to finish by the end of the day.

She groaned at the same time the formerly enthusiastic voice cursed.

“Oh, hell, look what I’ve done.” Maggie, who stood frozen in the doorway, watched coffee drip off the edge of her desk and onto the floor. Rushing forward, she grabbed a handful of tissues from a box on a nearby shelf and started blotting up the spill in an attempt to help Eryn salvage what she could on her desk. “Wow, you were checked out. Pondering world peace?”

“And solving global warming, El Nino, poverty, and, in reward for the vast expenditure of brain power, having vivid dreams of Ra—” She snapped her mouth shut at the last moment, unwilling to reveal her deepest secrets to yet another friend.

“Dreams of Ram,” Maggie concluded. “That’s what you practically bit off the tip of your tongue to keep from saying? You don’t fool me for a second, Eryn Lockwood. The question is, when are you going to stop fooling yourself and admit you have feelings for the big, surly Master Warrior?”

“Never. Because I don’t.”

“Like my sainted Granny Nell used to say, poppycock and balderdash.” She twisted to toss more soaked tissues in the trash, and when she turned back around, winked at Eryn’s bemused expression. “She always thought because the words contained cock and balls she was cursing. We didn’t see any need to correct her assumption, and, besides, everyone got a kick out of it.”

“Although I hate to contradict Granny Nell, she would have been wrong, as are you,” Eryn shot back. “I wasn’t thinking about him, rather the work involved in getting the five hundred candidates on our list processed, educated then signed, sealed, and delivered to the Intrepid before it blasts off for Primaria next week.”

Maggie tilted her head, her expression unconvinced. For her part, Eryn stayed focused on rescuing what she could from her desk, moving papers and other items aside and out of the path of the ever-widening circle of coffee, long since gone ice-cold.

She picked up her soggy spreadsheet with its obliterated half-completed calculations. “Damn, I’ll have to run this one again and start over.”

“I’m really very sorry.” Maggie straightened. “Can I help with your report? I’m responsible for this mess, although I did knock first. I promise.”

“It’s not your fault I have a bad case of woolgathering, Mags.”

A flash of humor crossed her face as she exclaimed, “Granny Nell used to say that, too. But really, I want to help. I feel awful about ruining your work.”

“I’m sure you have better things to do than crunch numbers.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, why are you crunching numbers? Don’t you have soldiers to torture, or new mates to scare?”

She did, except her C.O. had called her on the carpet for not completing her monthly reports which were already two days past due—the part of the job she despised the most. For this same reason, she kept putting off coming clean with her superior about her pregnancy. She loathed desk duty, and everyone knew it, but she hadn’t argued or complained, not while standing in front of the Major’s desk, because she had been eyeing her suspiciously.

She’d known Emily Aldridge for ten years. Before she moved up the ranks and attained her position as base commander, Eryn had served alongside her in the regular Army. They’re lives had taken divergent paths about five years earlier, when Eryn transferred to USIF security and later signed on to the Odyssey. Emily, who had taken shrapnel to her knee during a skirmish in Central America, had ended her field career and focused on administration. She’d shown an aptitude for leadership and organization, and Eryn hadn’t been surprised when she’d learned upon returning home she would be her C.O. on the base.

“What’s with you, Lockwood?” she’d asked. “Something is different.”

“Um…” She stalled, not wanting to lie and deny her pregnancy outright. “I, uh, got my hair trimmed a week ago.”

“No, it’s not your hair.” Emily narrowed her eyes in scrutiny. “I can’t put my finger on it.”

And she wouldn’t be able to, either. It would require all ten fingers and both of her hands, because the change she noticed was all over, in the fullness of her face, her boobs—up a full cup size already—and her ass, which had always been round, had also become quite wide. The scale that morning showed she’d gained almost thirty pounds. Fortunately, her height gave her extra room, or she wouldn’t have been able to hide her bulging belly this long.

“If I’m to get those reports to you by five today, ma’am, I better get on it.”

She’d frowned but nodded. “Dismissed.”

Eryn had left her office sweating bullets, only to be treated to the same scrutiny a few hours later, by her former C.O.

“I’m behind on my reports,” she told a frowning Maggie. “You know how it is. You always put forms and reports off until the last minute, too.”

Her old friend, all five feet nothing of her, peered down at her, arms crossed over her chest. “What’s really going on with you?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary.”

The lies in this cover-up were mounting, but she wasn’t ready to get into all the issues surrounding her mother-to-be status. And she didn’t want to talk about her sleep problems, not when her slip of the tongue had already raised her suspicions.

Daydreams of Ram had become a common occurrence, and he’d been invading her sleep for months. Lana had said three times a week. Her count didn’t include the ones where she woke trembling, soaked with sweat, and, more often than not, with her hand between her legs, moaning with desire. Those Eryn kept to herself.

Not so much fragments of the past or fantasies of what had never occurred, her dreams replayed actual memories of her time with Ram. So vivid and so realistic she could smell, touch, and taste him. Most left her shaking.

“Hmmm.” The hum of skepticism came from her former captain and friend for over a decade. She knew her better than anyone, including Lana who she had grown close to since coming home. Maggie seldom let matters rest if she had doubts, so when she changed the subject, Eryn stared at her in surprise. “Well, I did have a purpose for stopping by, other than to wreak havoc on your day and your desk.”

“Oh?” She twisted and dumped more coffee-soaked tissues in the trash.

“I came to invite you for dinner.”

A glimmer of interest sparked her mood. She hadn’t done anything in the evenings lately except work. Dinner with her friend would be a nice change of pace. “I’d love to. Will the commander be joining us?”

“Of course, Eryn. Roth and I are mates. But other people will be there, too. I’m inviting Lana and a few of the key EPIC personnel. It’s casual, but some dignitaries in suits will show up, I’m sure.” She wrinkled her nose. “The big boss insisted I invite them.”

“So, it’s a party?” She wiped down the side of her desk where a few drops had rolled over the edge.

“More like a celebration, but an informal one. We’ve reached five thousand applicants for integration already and seven new contracts with builders who will have teams ready to go to New Earth by next month. The Dauntless is on its way back to pick them up, along with another group of prospective mates.”

At this news, she glanced up. “So soon? We’ll need to step up the pace. Maybe I don’t have time for dinner.”

“You’ve got to eat. Besides, it’s still a few weeks away. With things going so well, after all the hard work we’ve put into this in the past few months, and the long hours we are facing in the future, I thought we deserved to have some fun.” She pitched her wad of soggy napkins into the trash. “Pulled-pork barbeque, potato salad, beer, and we’ll cap off the evening with fireworks which can be seen over the park from the backyard of our residence.”

“Fireworks? You’re going all out for this.”

She stared at her for a moment. “Eryn, you are aware Monday is Memorial Day, right?”

“Oh.” Her gaze shot to the calendar on her computer screen. How could she not know?

“Sleep isn’t overrated, Chief, it’s necessary,” Maggie stated, using her captain’s voice effectively, and, she still outranked her. Leaning forward, she reached over and squeezed her hand like the dear friend she was. “See Juna so you can get some.” She surveyed the top of the desk and nodded, except for the ruined spread sheet, everything had been set back in order. Brushing her hands together, she headed for the door. “Show up Saturday night ready to eat, drink, and par-tay! You know I won’t take no for an answer.”

“You never do,” Eryn whispered to the empty space where her friend had been. She smiled wistfully. Maggie looked happier than she’d ever seen her. Despite giving up her command at the end of their mission, she had easily transitioned into the position of Primarian Ambassador, and her lifetime role as Roth’s mate. She had blossomed in both.

She’d always been confident, smart, in control. Now she possessed an effervescence she hadn’t before. They used to tease her about being a workaholic and driving the crew hard during a mission, forgetting they needed downtime. And here she’d stood, preaching about rewards, fun, and sleep. No one would have ever believed it possible.

“What a difference regular sex makes,” Eryn remarked dryly, turning her chair back to her console and, with a long-drawn-out sigh, pulled up her report again. She hit reprint while grumbling to herself. “Leave it to the USIF to limp into the future, insisting on paper in this day and age.”

---

Dressed in a loose, mid-thigh length tunic that flowed freely around her waist and hips, concealing much more than her revealing uniform, Eryn mingled for a while amongst friends and peers before seeking out a darkened corner of Maggie and Roth’s big backyard.

While she took in the beautiful landscaping, she came to realize rank did indeed have privileges. As commander of the space fleet and all Primarian forces deployed to Earth, and because his mate was the liaison between their two worlds, their housing assignment resulted in an upgrade to a sprawling four-bedroom home in a residential area of the base.

With the alliance formed months ago and the treaty long since signed, the Army reopened the base on Long Island, designating it and a dozen other sites across the country as transition centers. More cropped up daily in other Alliance countries around the world—England, France, Germany, most of the old NATO nations, in Mexico, two in South America, and they also had a few in Africa and Australia, although the majority of the work took place in the U.S. Such a huge operation required additional Primarian resources, which arrived on the Intrepid a few weeks ago.

As the senior Primarian official on Earth, Roth had the success of the operation on his shoulders. It had to be stressful, but with his beautiful mate at his side, he didn’t show any signs of feeling the strain as he mingled with his guests. In fact, his laughter rolled low and husky across the gathering, reminding her of another very similar Primarian male.

Tall, broad shoulders, bodies bursting with muscle, hair ranging from dark brown to jet black, each male of their species possessed these common traits. Even with subtle differences, this posed a problem for Eryn—all the warriors reminded her of Ram. So alike in appearance, whenever one passed, it startled her enough to require a closer second look, to be sure. And always, she walked away torn between relief and heartbreaking disappointment.

What would she do or say if she ever came face-to-face with him again?

She huffed a small humorless laugh, drawing strange looks. Considering his last words told her she would rue the day, it would be better to keep right on being disappointed.

When she scanned the crowd, she noticed Lana’s absence. Smart girl. These events only reminded them both of times they would be better off to forget. Often, they found being around the Primarians so disturbing they had talked of leaving the service and finding something in civilian life. But with the world in flux, both politically and geo-physically, they both wanted to stay involved. Intent on being one of the first with boots on the ground when they colonized their new home planet, Lana had been scheduled to leave in a few days.

Eryn blew out a heavy breath. Due to her circumstance, she couldn’t consider leaving for a long while.

Not in the mood to celebrate anything and far from feeling social, she made her way through the crowd to where the host and hostess stood surrounded by guests. As she waited for an opening to say good-bye, she gazed up at the three-story house and dreaded going back to her apartment. Though in truth, her dinky two-bedroom was far bigger than her quarters on Odyssey where she’d resided much of the last few years, so she shouldn’t complain. And when Lana left, the place would seem empty.

Still waiting to tell Maggie good-bye, she let her gaze wander to the wrought-iron accents adorning the back porch. Noticing movement in the shadowy corner next to it, she froze. Tall, with long glossy black hair, and wearing a familiar red tunic, the man, unmistakably a Primarian warrior, had his powerful forearm pressed again the side of the house as he leaned in, putting the moves on a willowy blonde. From behind, he looked so much like Ram, her body reacted, humming with a familiar tingle. When he dipped his head to go in for a kiss, the moonlight glinting blue off his onyx hair in the exact same way it had Ram’s, her heart lurched.

Is it him?

Even though jealousy burned like a hot knife in her chest, wedging deeper the longer she watched, she took a tentative step closer. She had to know.

His head came up at that moment, and he glanced her way, as if he’d heard a noise or someone calling his name. The torches bathed his handsome face in enough light to make out the straight nose, square chin, and firm jawline…except this man’s eyes were different. Violet, not the molten gold she’d expected, yet dreaded seeing. And when he smiled, his cheek creased with laugh lines but remained smooth otherwise, without Ram’s endearing dimple.

Eryn’s shoulders slumped in relief, although she chided herself for thinking she had a right to care. Still, seeing a man so like Ram they could be twins, with another woman, hit too close to home, and, without saying her good-byes, she fled the backyard. Rushing through the crowd of guests in Maggie’s spacious home, she made her way to the front, swearing from this moment on she’d be more like Lana and stay away.

Better to be alone than surrounded by people, still lonely and wanting.

Careful to avoid eye contact with anyone, she slipped out the front door and walked home, back to the lackluster existence she shared with her equally miserable roommate, in her Spartan apartment, with its cramped bathroom and serious lack of storage space, in her less than fulfilling life.

As she climbed the stairs to her third-floor walk-up, her baby stirred inside her. Maybe this little one would be the spark Eryn needed, bringing excitement and meaning back into her life. If not, she hoped she could find it within herself to be the spark for her child.

Today, feeling down and tired, she doubted her wish would come true.