Georgia stood calmly, feet shoulder width apart, in the dining room of the observatory in Stargazer, Pennsylvania.

She gazed out the window at the dark surface of the placid lake, willing herself to be as still and cool as the water.

She’d been on hold long enough that the phone had warmed to the temperature of her ear.

She tried not to notice Posey and Rima fidgeting at the table beside her.

Posey had just called on her dancer friend Honey at that resort in the Catskills for help.

In comparison, Georgia should have been feeling confident that her contact at the police academy would come through for them. But there was so much riding on her instincts that it was hard to feel very confident about anything.

The smell of chai tea wafted in from the kitchen. Even Dr. Bhimani was nervous. Rima’s mom seemed to think a cup of tea would solve all their problems.

It couldn’t solve this one.

At last the silent phone came to life.

“Hello?” Veronica’s normally husky voice was up an octave - worried.

“Hey Veronica. It’s Georgia.”

“Georgia,” Veronica echoed, sounding surprised.

She had every right to be surprised. It wasn’t like they’d really stayed in touch much after high school. Georgia had been strong-armed by her dad into going to college. Veronica had gone on to work at the police academy - the same one Georgia had hoped to attend.

“I know this is out of the blue,” Georgia said. “But I need your help with something.”

“Sure,” Veronica said without hesitation. “What is it?”

God love her.

“I’ve got three guys who need internships,” Georgia told her.

“Oh, gee…” Veronica began.

“Unpaid internships, nothing official,” Georgia said at once. “They need a bit of real world experience and if your mom’s Facebook page is accurate, you guys need hands on deck. Just get a roof over their heads and food in their bellies.”

“Who are they?”

It was a reasonable question.

Too bad Georgia couldn’t answer it. She had no idea if the Feds were listening in on her calls.

She and her sisters-in-law had… liberated a bunch of the men from the planet Aerie who were being kept in the lab next to the Observatory.

But she had a feeling the officials in charge wouldn’t exactly see it that way.

In the lab, scientists were trying to make these men click permanently into their human forms artificially, without bonding to a mate as it was meant to happen. As Georgia, Posey and Rima saw it, this was nothing but hopeless torture for the men. It wasn’t working and it never could.

And if Aerie thought their men couldn’t click with Earth women… Well, Earth would soon be a distant memory if that were the case.

So Georgia and her friends had snuck out some of the alien men, sending them off to places where they hoped they might learn more about Earth, and meet women who would love them and help them click.

“I think you’ll recognize them the moment you see them,” Georgia said in as significant a way as she knew how.

Everyone knew these guys from Aerie were over-the-top big and sexy.

“From high school?” Veronica ventured.

Darn.

“Nope,” Georgia said. “I don’t have time to explain, but just look out for them. You’ll know as soon as you see them. Make sure they meet some decent women, okay?”

“What are you talking about?” Veronica demanded.

But Georgia hung up, before her friend could ask the wrong type of questions - questions that might alert anyone listening in about what was happening.

“Everything okay?” Rima asked quietly.

Georgia shook her head.

“She’ll get it,” Posey said comfortingly. “She’ll understand everything once she reads your letter.”

“What letter?” Georgia asked.

“The letter of introduction,” Posey said slowly. “Like the one I sent with Kitt for Honey, to make sure she knew the guys were aliens and needed to find mates?”

“I didn’t write a letter,” Georgia said. “This isn’t a Jane Austen novel.”

Rima and Posey exchanged a look.

“I’m sure they’ll be okay,” Rima said quickly.

A sinking feeling threatened and Georgia pushed it back.

Veronica Nunez was smart and resourceful. Her instincts would lead her in the right direction even if she didn’t immediately notice the men’s striking resemblance to their gorgeous brethren.

She hoped.