Walking in silence I followed the alien through the station to its center. Corvax practically stalked along, his body vibrating with frustration and anger, and I wasn't much better. I felt like I was being torn between two very different feelings. On the one hand, he'd abandoned me at the dockside to be kidnapped by slavers, and now that he'd caught up with me it was only to say that he'd be packing me off home as soon as he could.

On the other hand, when he found me in trouble he'd torn through the Kalpans who'd threatened me without a second's hesitation. Outnumbered and surprised, he'd still leaped to my defense and saved me from the slavery they'd had in mind for me. I couldn't forget that.

I couldn't ignore his sheer presence, either. The pictures of him the Celestial Mates had given me had done nothing to prepare me for actually seeing a man like him.

Sneaking a look at him, I saw his powerful muscles move under his tight tunic and felt my face flush. Damn he was good looking. Frightening too, though somehow not as frightening as he should have been. His powerful body was made for war, with lethal claws and fangs. Despite that, I was confident that I didn't have anything to be afraid of.

I took in a deep breath and tried to focus on something else. Anything else. That was harder than it should have been, though. I kept slipping into thoughts about how it would feel to be folded in those powerful arms, what Corvax's deep blue skin would feel like, how he'd smell and taste. Stop that, brain, I told myself futilely. He's not interested.

Except I knew that wasn't true. Whatever he might have said about sending me home, he wanted me as much as I wanted him. There was no hiding the way he'd responded to me, the way his cock swelled in his tight leather pants. That just made his refusal more infuriating.

I've got nothing to go back to on Earth. So whatever Corvax's problem with me is, I'm going to have to convince him to get past it. I can't just go home. I had to laugh at my excuses. Sure, Gemma. That's why you want to get into his bed. Sure. Nothing to do with the way he makes you feel.

Corvax was hitting all of my buttons, hard. It wasn't just his powerful build and broad shoulders and perfectly defined muscles. Not just the chiseled jaw and intense eyes. There was a grace to his movements, a precision and focus that made me shiver. It was hard not to imagine what it would be like if he brought that focus to bed.

And then there was the almost physical aura of power and control that surrounded him. It was enough to make me feel weak in the knees. My mind filled with half-imagined images of him pulling me to him, his hand in my hair, his lips inches from mine...

I only realized I'd zoned out when I almost walked into him. While I'd been lost in thought we'd come to a very different part of the station, and Corvax had stopped at the door to some kind of pod. Looking around I saw that there were several more in the room, and still more spaces where other pods could fit. Each one was as big as a truck, round, and painted in different abstract designs. The colors of the one he'd stopped at matched those of his tunic.

"What are these things?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me and breaking the embarrassed and angry silence. Corvax turned back to me.

"This is my personal transport capsule," he said. "We'll take it down to the surface where you can stay until a ship headed to Earth comes past. This station is no place for a female to wait alone."

"No shit," I snapped, then relented. There was no point in antagonizing Corvax if we were going to be stuck together. "I mean, yeah, you're right. I'd rather see your homeworld, anyway. The space station is just another set of rusting corridors and I've seen plenty of those on Earth."

I'd said something wrong, that much was obvious from the sharp look he gave me before turning away. Well, I wasn't about to apologize for telling the truth. Corvax pulled open a door on the capsule and ushered me inside without another word.

Not sure what to expect, I entered. To my surprise it was a small but comfortably furnished room, with several chairs, a desk, and even a bed. I stopped short at that, the ideas that rushed through my mind making me squirm. But when Corvax closed the doors behind me, he directed me to one of the chairs instead. I wasn't sure whether to be relieved or disappointed.

No, that wasn't true. I was disappointed, I just wasn't sure whether to admit it to myself.

"The trip down to the planet will take some time," he explained. The translator kept pace with his words, and even managed to convey his tone. Thank goodness, we could have a conversation. "And you'd better strap in."

"What is this? Your own spaceship?" I asked as I pulled myself up onto a chair. Of course it was too big for me, it was built for a Crosan, and I felt clumsy and undignified as I pulled myself up. The straps were strange too, and I had no idea how to fasten them safely.

"Not quite," he told me. "It travels on rails, along the skystalk. Much cheaper than a rocket for getting to orbit."

"Then why is there a bed?" My cheeks heated again as I looked in its direction and I saw his skin darken too. A low growl escaped him, hungry and powerful, and I could feel his temptation. The temptation to throw me onto the bed and have his way with me.

Which I'd have enthusiastically cooperated with. God, I wanted him.

"It gives me somewhere to stay when I'm up here," he explained instead. "And as Protector I am sometimes called to spend time away from my palace. It is best to take a small home with me wherever I go."

Palace? I wondered again how accurate the translator was being. It made Corvax sound like he was a king or something. Was that true, or was the translator messing up? Or was he bragging to make himself sound more impressive? I didn't believe that last. There was something too sincere about him to think that he'd be making idle boasts.

If he said he lived in a palace, then I believed him. I'd see in a few hours anyway.

I tried to fasten the seat belts, but whatever mechanism they used remained mysterious. Corvax grunted something and stepped closer, leaning over me and taking the straps from my hands. The touch of his fingers made me gasp and I tried to hide just how much of an effect he was having on me. A spark in his eyes told me I wasn't succeeding.

With careful precision he fastened the straps and tightened them around me, and as he made sure I was safely secured his eyes stayed fixed on mine. There was a tension there, despite his words, and when he was done he didn't move away. His hands rested on the arms of my chair, and we were only inches apart. So close I could almost taste him.

His chest rose and fell, and I heard my heart pounding as we looked at each other. For a moment I thought he was going to lean in and take the kiss we both ached for. But no. He'd made up his mind, it seemed, and with a frustrated noise and a word my earpiece didn't translate he stood and marched back to his own chair.

Before he'd even sat down, the pod moved. Accelerating sharply, it followed the rails out of the station and turned downward towards the planet below. I gasped as the movement threw Corvax in the air, but he was clearly ready for it. Grabbing hold of the chair, he strapped himself in with a casual ease that was more impressive for the fact that he didn't seem to be trying to show off.

Out of the window I saw the planet thousands of miles below, and other pods on the tracks parallel to ours racing down the skystalk. It was an amazing sight, I had to admit, and it stunned me into silence as we rode down the gravity well towards the blue ball that might be my home.

If I could convince Corvax to let me stay.

The journey took hours, and quickly became frustrating. The awe-inspiring view was enough to keep me silent and focused on the window for a while, but there was only the slowly growing planet to watch. It didn't make for riveting viewing no matter how impressive the engineering of the space elevator was.

Corvax made some calls as we went, speaking quickly and quietly enough that the translator couldn't keep up. I could make out a few words, and my own name came up a few times. So did the words 'Celestial Mates' and I realized that he was trying to make arrangements to ship me home. Or back to Earth, anyway. I wasn't sure I should call that home anymore.

"Xiaf," he said as the last call ended. That was loud and clear, but the translator still stayed silent. It didn't matter; I knew a swearword when I heard it.

"What's wrong?" I asked, though I had a good idea what it was going to be.

"The next ship headed back to Earth won't be here for eighty-seven days," he said, voice tight as though he were struggling for control. I swallowed. That gave me three months to convince him to keep me, or to decide I wanted to go back.

Three months to crack his self-control if that's what it took. Which was ridiculous. He wanted me, I could see that. That didn't make his instant rejection of me any easier to handle; if anything, it made it more frustrating.

"Why don't you give me a chance before you make up your mind?" I asked. He shook his head.

"You are tired, frightened, and alone," he said. "Tomorrow is soon enough to discuss the future."

"What's wrong with now?" I demanded, wishing I could storm up to him, to confront him close up. Then he could sweep me off my feet and onto that oh-so-tempting bed behind me, press me down into the mattress, pin me with his weight as we kissed.

Dammit, stop thinking about sex, I told my brain. It had other ideas though, imagining different positions and techniques and wondering just what his bulge would look like freed from those deliciously tight pants.

It really had been too long.

Corvax's hungry growl told me that his thoughts weren't that far off mine, but he shook his head and looked out of the window at the world below. The pod shuddered under us, making me glad of the seat's restraints.

"If we talk now, there's nowhere for either of us to retreat to," he said, voice hoarse and rough. The translator, I had to admit, was excellent at getting across tone. "We're stuck here until we reach the surface, and this journey is awkward enough already. No, it can wait until we're on the surface where we can get away from each other if we must."

Getting away from him was the opposite of what I wanted, but I had to admit that he had a point. If this turned into a fight, and it might, I'd rather not be stuck staring at him for however many hours it took to reach his home. Most awkward drive ever. Damn it, he was right. Especially since even if it went well, we were stuck in these seats and wouldn't be able to do anything about it until we got off.

Okay, but we don't just have to sit here in silence.

"In that case, tell me about your home," I said. He looked at me dubiously. "Oh come on, if we don't talk about something I'll go mad with frustration. Please?"

"Very well," he answered. "Though I am not the best to speak about this. What do you wish to know?"

"Tell me about yourself," I suggested. "What does Protector mean, anyway?"

"It means that I lead my clan, the Rohar, and guard them against our enemies," he told me, pride creeping into his voice. "Our island is the base of this skystalk, on the equator of the planet, and I have to protect that asset. It is a great responsibility."

I whistled at that. He owns this space elevator? Or his family does? That must make him insanely wealthy. Some resentment crept back into my mind though. If that was true, then he was more responsible for the attack on me than I'd thought — why didn't he have more guards up there? For that matter, why had he let the station get into such disrepair?

Asking those questions seemed rude, but as it turned out I didn't have to. Corvax shook his head as though he could read my mind.

"The Rohar only control the base of the skystalk," he explained. "All the clans share the station at the top, but we control access to it. That's the source of our wealth and our weakness too."

A shadow passed over his eyes and I knew there was something he didn't want to talk about there. Something painful. I looked past him to the window again, frowning. Whatever was troubling him, I wanted to know it. But now wasn't the time or the place to press him for answers he didn't want to give, so reluctantly I changed the subject.

"Tell me more about your island," I said. "What am I going to see when I get down there?"

"The most beautiful island in all the settled worlds," he said, and it didn't sound like a boast. To him, it was simply the honest truth. I'd believe it when I saw it, but I gestured for him to continue. He hardly needed any urging, talking about the golden beaches and sunlit cliffs of his home with eager pride. He quickly lost me — a lot of the words he used meant nothing to me, and the translator was no help here. Perhaps English just didn't have an equivalent for them?

It hardly mattered. I could have listened to that deep, rough, sexy voice read the dictionary to me and enjoyed it. Letting myself get lost in the sound, I settled in to enjoy the rest of the ride.

As we approached the surface, the view outside the window darkened and reddened. My heart caught as I realized that we were hitting the Crosan atmosphere, and that glow was the red heat of re-entry. My knuckles whitened on the arm of my chair.

It helped that Corvax didn't seem even slightly discomforted by the fire outside. And the inside of the capsule stayed a steady pleasant temperature despite the inferno on the other side of the glass. This is normal, I told myself. This has to be normal.

Then the fire cleared, and I could look out across the planet. And it took my breath away. Blue skies over blue seas, stretching out to a distant horizon broken only by faraway islands. It was like every vacation I'd not been able to afford on Earth.

The capsule slowed as it reached the bottom of the skystalk until it stopped with a barely noticeable thump. The restraints unlocked automatically and I jumped up, not waiting for Corvax.

Where the station in orbit had been a disappointment, this was anything but. Birds sang unfamiliar songs in the distance as I stepped out into the tropical heat of an alien world.

The skystalk rose above me, unbelievably huge. The pod had stopped at some kind of private dock, a stone path leading through strange purple-leaved trees to... was that a castle?

I had no other word for the massive building. Strong red stone walls rose up to battlements, and towers reached for the sky. It looked like something out of a fairytale, or from a fantasy show on tv. Perching on the edge of a cliff, the castle looked out over a bay, dominating the surrounding area.

Behind me Corvax chuckled, making me realize that I'd been staring. I shut my mouth with a snap and stepped forward down the path, looking around at the carefully-kept trees. There was so much to see here, and I didn't want to miss a thing.