“Toorg!”

Erin rolled her eyes as a chorus of female voices called out in welcome when they entered the draftees common area.

“I am Toorg,” she heard him answer proudly, smiling and waving at his adoring fans.

She also watched his concerned gaze slide to the light mocha-skinned female staring out the window. It covered every inch of the woman before he could make himself look away. It was the same reaction Toorg had every time they entered the room and Prudence was hiding away from everyone in her own thoughts.

Fifty-seven of the fifty-eight females in the draftee area always called out to her handsome guard, but Toorg seemed only interested in the one who never even turned his way. The alien’s reaction had convinced her beyond doubt that males from every planet were all the fecking same. They wanted the damn hunt more than the catch.

The good-looking alien could have crooked a finger at any of those who called his name and had what he so obviously wanted. But no—feck no—he wanted the one who ignored him and the rest of the world.

Handsome bastard had no idea how much Prudence was still reeling from finding out her entire family had been slaughtered in cold blood. The woman was grieving them and grieving them hard. No blond alien god with chiseled muscles was going to hasten the woman’s mourning along.

Her lips tightened as she stared at her sad alien guard. “I’ll be here a while, Toorg. Take yerself a break.”

“I am Toorg,” he whispered softly.

Erin patted his arm. Feck her soft heart. “Prudence’s still hurting, Toorg. Give her time. She lost her entire family and now feels all alone in a world she has to leave shortly.”

“Pretty,” Toorg whispered even more softly.

She had quickly learned the boy understood her language perfectly. He wasn’t slow in any regard. He just had limited verbal responses to offer back. And “pretty” was what he secretly called Prudence Sheffield. Though when ya got right down to it, that one word said what was most important for a woman to know a man felt.

Bowing his head sadly, Toorg left and closed the door behind him. Erin rolled her eyes at his exit. She should be pissed over feeling sympathy for her guard dog—majorly pissed—and she was in some regards. But then she’d see Toorg looking all sad and dejected over Prudence and something in her melted. Her urge to fix his situation was enough to make her scream. The only reason she didn’t was that she’d scare all these other fecking condemned females.

She glanced at the paper in her hand and made herself read the name. This was the second time she’d done this since coming here. It was obviously not going to get any easier or feel any more right. How had her predecessor ever developed the stomach for it?

“Mia Johnson, yer number has been chosen. Come see me in the office in fifteen minutes.”

Ignoring the squealing woman, and the forty-nine others groaning in complaint, she stomped away to what Nate had called her “office”. It was a tiny room with a current view of the same fecking rock Prudence stared at. It didn’t even have a proper desk, just a couple tables. A magical tablet came up and out of one arm of her chair when she needed to write something down.

Erin turned the seat to face the window. Prudence wasn’t the only one who liked to spend a considerable amount of time staring at nothing. It was the only break from the madness she could seem to get.

* * *

Mia poured over the five photos the matchmaker had handed her. “How am I supposed to pick one? They’re all good looking.”

“Yes. No one could say otherwise without lying,” Erin replied. “Ya are going to want to flip each page over and look at the description of an average day on their planet. Good-looking won’t change near zero temperatures or a heat that will cook the skin off ya. A decent location might make for a more pleasant life long-term.”

“Only one thing really keeps me happy. I wish these forms rated their bedroom skills,” Mia said, staring at the one photo she kept coming back to.

Erin grinned and snorted. “That would still tell ya nothing, Mia. Every male thinks he’s the best between the sheets. Have ya not been around enough to know that?”

Mia giggled. “Yes, but I’ve also been around enough to know some really are as good as they say.”

Erin shrugged. “Well, I hear ya can try out all the aliens in yer folder, if that’s the biggest criteria ya have for picking. I also hear a couple of them will renege on their offer for ya if ya do. But it’s yer call not theirs. I’m told the important thing is to make a match ya are going to be happy with in the long term. It’s not like ya get a second chance at this.”

Her first thought after the girl joked about really good men in bed was bloody Angus MacNamara. It was going to be a bloody long life for her in Universe 1 if Angus using her for a substitute for his dead wife ended up being the pinnacle of her sexual experience.

Maybe she ought to take one of the guards for a spin just to clear her fecking mind of Angus. Someone like Toorg would be perfect if she could set the image of him mooning over Prudence to the side.

Oh, who was she fooling with her wicked thoughts? She had a tongue on her, but she wasn’t a mean harpy at heart. Being a substitute for Prudence wasn’t going to help her in any genuine way. And Toorg being one for Angus MacNamara would just be cruel.

Her sigh over her weakness was loud and long. Sighing was all she could do these days. She felt more freaking helpless than she’d ever felt in her life.

“I’m sorry. Am I taking too long?” Mia asked.

Erin shook her head. “No, lass. Take all the time ya need. I’m sighing for my own reasons. My ma would tell ya that I’m just a sigher. Always have been.”

Mia smiled and nodded. “My mother was a sigher too. She died when I was sixteen. My dad turned me over to placement services the day her body was officially incinerated. I modeled to support myself and the common house where I lived with thirty-three others like me. Lexi found me a year later and made me his mistress the moment I turned eighteen. There were other men in my life who I was friendly to as well. Lexi knew, but he had a wife, so he didn’t seem to mind sharing. We both liked our arrangement with each other.”

“If life was so good, how did ya end up here?” Erin asked.

“Lexi told me he had the kind of open marriage that allowed for outside lovers, but I found out later he didn’t. He’d just wanted that kind. His wife insisted he remove me from his life, but he really didn’t want to… and I didn’t want to leave him either.”

Erin nodded. “A lot of men want that kind of marriage. It doesn’t surprise me that five hundred…” No, she couldn’t say that. She wasn’t supposed to mention anything about her past, but it was fecking hard to remember the details of all her lying. “What I mean is… it doesn’t surprise me that some marriages these days officially include outside relationships. I suppose I’d prefer such a thing to be out on the table rather than hidden in a cupboard. Where I come from, being with another once ya are married is called infidelity and considered a sin, but I read in books that it wasn’t like that everywhere.”

“I know you and Angus MacNamara are a committed couple,” Mia said with a smile.

Erin shook her head and laughed. She refused to lie about this. It would never be believable. “Angus and I have a… unique… relationship. The truth of the matter is that I’ve always preferred to keep my status as a promiscuous goddess worshipper. It’s put more than one man off making me his wife when he found out I wasn’t interested in cooking his supper for a living.”

Mia put down the picture. “But you’re a matchmaker. You should have the perfect relationship.”

“Perfect doesn’t exist, child.” Erin laughed and shook her head. “Don’t take my teasing wrong. I believe in love and marriage. Both are meant to support those with the right mindset for them. I’d be quick to advise ya not to go that far if ya are not interested in being true to the one ya pick. Love is one thing, but most people value loyalty in word and deed most. Sharing yer body with another after promising not to is about as disloyal as it gets, especially when the one waiting at home is thinking all turns belong to them.”

“But don’t you think all men are unfaithful by nature?” Mia asked. “It’s always seemed like that to me.”

Again, blasted Angus popped into her mind. Bloody hell. She had no idea if he had been faithful to his wife or not. She only knew he’d been faithful in death, even while dipping his sizable cock into her. But for all she really knew, Angus MacNamara was secretly the world’s biggest womanizer. He was over two decades older than her. She certainly hadn’t known him as a boy.

Though she secretly agreed with Mia about most men’s morals, in her line of work she’d learned to keep her personal cynicism tucked away from the young and idealistic. Mia had the nature of those types, even if the life she’d lived to date hadn’t allowed her the luxury.

“Some men do remain faithful… even to their dead wives,” Erin said firmly. “I have experience of that kind myself. And some men sincerely want to love and be loved in return. Those are the ones worth really having, but ya have to look damn hard for them. I understand how distracting all those muscles, wide shoulders, and a nice arse can be to a woman. My best advice though is to look into their eyes instead of at the size of their cock or purse.”

Mia picked up the least attractive male in the pile. He was still good-looking, just not the most handsome in the group. “This one looks like he has kind eyes.”

Erin leaned over and looked at the picture before nodding. She’d seen that one wandering around looking lost and unsure. He seemed like he’d be a careful sort with a woman. “I agree, Mia. Want me to set up a sweet meet for ya?”

“Yes, please. I don’t think I told you, but I heard you and Angus on a recording once. You sound very different in person,” Mia said. “Your speech is charming though. I could listen to you all day.”

The lies just piled on top of each other lately. Worse, they rolled easily off her tongue now. MacNamara with his damn ethics was going to have the devil of a time covering his big arse lies.

“They have ways of covering yer voice failings when they record ya. The village where Angus and I first lived was very remote. We did all our learning on machines and never traveled much. It kept our language unchanged much longer than usual. Angus and I are two of the only ones left sounding like we do. Perhaps in another few hundred years the accents will finally fade and we’ll sound as common as anyone else around here.”

She was relieved to see the girl nod. Nate had disturbing ways of making people forget their nosier questions about her. Worse, the person didn’t even remember the unpleasantness afterward. He’d already stopped some of the draftees from questioning the changes in her appearance. Maybe Nate’s lies were bigger and better than hers—she didn’t know. However, the result was the draftees just started all over again with her, accepting her for what she was when she was with them.

“How is your life partner doing these days? We all heard he was sick and had taken medical leave.”

“My what?” Erin asked in surprise, tripping over the term. She didn’t appreciate the girl laughing at her stumble.

“Angus—Mr. MacNamara? Aren’t you two a long-term couple?” Mia asked.

Erin kept forgetting that the whole world believed Angus was having himself a medical break from his duties. No one knew the original Universe 1 version was really gone. If he was with the Goddess now, she hoped Brighid took pity on the man and looked after him. The Morrigan would take his soul if the original was anywhere as bad as the version she knew.

“You’ll have to forgive me, Mia. Angus and I got spitting mad at each other just before he took ill. I sometimes forget what the world thinks of us. But don’t lose faith in long-term love. If there wasn’t any fighting in a relationship, there wouldn’t be any making up. Ya certainly wouldn’t want to miss that kind of sex. It’s the best ever. Angus is outstanding when riled up beyond reason.”

And that was the biggest lie she’d told yet. She had no idea what Angus was really like in bed. His one drunken poke had been blissful to her neglected girly parts, but hadn’t done a thing for the rest of her.

While the girl was still giggling about her sex comment, Erin let a quiet sigh of relief escape. She surely hoped she was done lying today.

The ones about her version of Angus always broke her heart.