“How did it go?” Lottie asked as Freda walked through the door.

Her heart was still pounding and her lips felt swollen from Sysko's kiss.

“It was fine,” Freda said.

“It was more than fine,” Lottie said, standing from the couch. “I can see it written all over your face. Tell me right now.”

“He kissed me,” Freda said.

“Was it hot as heck?” Lottie asked.

“It was like nothing I've ever experienced before,” Freda said, walking through the house as if in a dream.

She kicked off her pumps and sank into the armchair, staring at the wall above the television. She still couldn't believe what had happened. One minute, they'd been talking and then the next minute he was kissing her. She felt that the whole world was turning upside down.

All of her suspicion and doubt was seeping away into nothing. Now, all she wanted was to see him again and to know more about him. They had only scratched the surface of their relationship, and there was still so much more to learn. Sysko was a powerful man who was trying to get her attention. He certainly had it now.

The kiss had been extraordinary, breathtaking, inspiring. More than anything, it had been arousing. She could still smell the scent of his skin and the taste of his breath. Her whole body felt electrified, even now as she sat in her apartment.

“You're starting to feel the thrall now, aren't you?” Lottie asked, wide-eyed and staring at Freda.

“I must be,” Freda said, shaking her head slowly.

She had never felt anything like this before. From a kiss or anything else. Not even when she’d won valedictorian over Jamie Wright in twelfth grade. That had been one of her greatest accomplishments to date. Aside from graduating magna cum laude from her class at MIT.

She’d believed that nothing would ever top beating Jamie Wright for valedictorian. But now, that paled in comparison to just one kiss from Admiral Sysko. She shook her head at herself. Was she turning into some kind of lovesick adolescent like her sister? That wasn’t her. But the fact remained, one kiss from Sysko had changed everything.

It seemed as if the colors were more vivid, lights brighter, sensations more sensual, and flavors more enticing. How could this be? Suddenly, she believed everything the Draxos said. She not only believed it, she wanted to believe it.

It wasn't just because she hadn't had sex in three years, but she was beginning to feel like she had just encountered one of the bravest men in the galaxy. Sysko was a hero. A man of high moral standards. Someone who had been fighting the scourge of the cyborgs for decades.

She let out a long sigh, just thinking about him. The look in his eyes. The set of his jaw. The way that he grinned at her. She rested her cheek in her palm, thinking about his dark eyes while picking at a thread on the old chair.

“You've got it really bad now,” Lottie teased.

“You know, Sysko is a hero?” she said.

“I've known that for absolutely ages. It's you that’s just getting around to it.”

“You understand why I was skeptical, don't you?” Freda asked.

“Sure. Healthy skepticism is important. You taught me that. But bull-headedness is a whole different story.”

“I wasn’t being bullheaded,” Freda said dreamily.

She didn't want to turn into a gushing twelve-year-old, but she felt that she was definitely headed in that direction. Sysko was handsome, powerful, strong, brave and good. What more could a girl want in a man? There was the little question of the transformation ritual. And she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to go through that. Even if that was the only way she could truly be with Sysko.

“I agreed to go out on another date with him,” she said. “But that's all. No one has gone through the transformation in millions of years. You do realize how frightening that is, right?” Freda asked.

“I can see how you would feel that way,” Lottie said.

“What if something goes wrong? What if the simulations weren’t correct? What if I get hurt or turn into a mutant?”

“What could be more important than love?” Lottie asked.

“Living, maybe?” Freda said.

“I guess you're right,” Lottie conceded with a smirk. “But you don't have any reason to believe that the transformation will kill you.”

“All I know is that when I kissed Sysko, it felt like my whole soul opened up. I don't know how he did it. But I am beginning to believe. Even though I liked him before. I genuinely did. He happens to be the most attractive man that I have ever spoken to in person. That certainly doesn't hurt. But the idea of being transformed into a dragon still doesn't sit well with me. I have things to do. I have a life to live and important work to continue. And I don't know how I feel about being our alien saviors’ science project.”

“I doubt that Sysko thinks of you as a science project,” Lottie said.

“I know he doesn't,” Freda admitted.

After the kiss, he had held her close and patted her back gently as they looked out onto the boats in the harbor. It was the most romantic moment of her life and she could no longer deny her deep longing to be with Sysko. She stood from the chair and started toward the bedroom, but stopped and turned back to Lottie.

“Sysko promised to find out what happened to our parents,” Freda said.

“If anyone can find them, it would be the Admiral.”

“The Draxos certainly have superior technology,” Freda said. “Sysko invited me to tour the spaceship on our next date. I have to admit that I am excited to go.”

“Why didn't you go tonight?” Lottie asked. “Spaceships seem like they’d be your thing.”

“I’m busy. I'm still working on my robotics experiments for my dissertation.”

“Why do you still care about your dissertation? You’re the fated mate of the Admiral of entire Draxos space navy. You can do anything you want with your life now.”

“I don't think being his mate and being able to do whatever I want are the same thing,” Freda said. “Besides, that doesn’t take away my need to contribute. We’ll need to get you enrolled in school soon. All the institutions are opening back up next week, and we should all return to life as usual. It's the only sane way for us to move on.”

“I wonder if I have the Draxos gene,” Lottie mused.

“Gene or not, you’re too young to enter their database. They require that females be eighteen years old.”

“Then I have something to look forward to on my birthday,” Lottie countered.

Freda sighed and turned back to her room. Lottie had been sleeping on the foldout couch in the living room since she’d come to visit. Freda needed alone time and she couldn't listen to any more of Lottie's romanticism.

For all the emotionality and softness that Lottie got, Freda was all edges and logic and numbers. She wished that she had a little bit of what Lottie had right now. Maybe it would be easier for her to find her way with Sysko. But she had to question everything at every turn, and it made it difficult for her to come to any final conclusions about what to do.

Regardless of her choices about Sysko, somebody would have to take care of Lottie. She was still just a kid, and Freda did not like the idea of leaving her alone. Even if the Draxos were offering the families of human brides two million dollars. Knowing Lottie, she’d blow through that in about two years.

Freda grumbled as she changed out of her dress and put on her flannel PJs. She climbed under the covers of her bed and turned off the light. But instead of falling to sleep, she laid awake, staring at the dark ceiling. She could hear the TV on low in the living room, droning on about the opportunity to submit DNA to the Draxos databases.

From what Freda understood, more and more human women were offering themselves up as brides of the Draxos. And as far as she knew, she was the only one who had already found a mate. Usually the Draxos thralled in a tournament back in their world. They fought each other with a female in the audience. As soon as the Draxos thralled, he knew his fated mate and so did she.

It didn’t seem to work the same way for human mates. If it had, Freda would have felt something for Sysko right away. Even after the kiss, she was more confused than ever. The new sense of attraction she felt for him had definitely made an impression. Yet, it had created more questions than answers. She still didn't know what she was doing or where she was going. In some ways, she didn't even know who she was anymore.