The next morning, butterflies bounced in my stomach with anxiety of the unknown, but, overall, I was feeling fresh and ready to take on the day and meet this so-called prince.

I stood outside my apartment because I was too eager and fidgety to wait inside for my driver to arrive. A few minutes ticked by and I could swear each second that crept by became an eternity.

Finally, I saw a black Escalade truck pull up right in front of me. A driver wearing a suit jumped out of the driver’s seat and jogged to greet me.

“Hello, Miss Feist.” He beamed joyfully at me and shook my hand. “I’m Edgar, your driver.”

“Hi, Edgar.” I tossed him a shy grin. He spoke with a British accent and had kind eyes.

He opened the door for me and I stepped in with an immediate jaw drop. “Wow,” I said in awe as I scanned the backseat. “Champagne on ice?”

Edgar grinned proudly. “Yes ma’am, and some of the finest dark chocolate you could ever taste, made by Amedei Porcelana. He is a famous chocolatier in Tuscany, Italy. His chocolate is some of the most expensive in the world. I hope you enjoy it.”

I, of course, had never heard of the chocolatier or his decadent chocolate, but I was impressed. “Yes, thank you so much.” I nodded up at the polite Edgar.

I sat back in the seat and reveled in the air conditioner blowing right on my hot skin. Edgar closed my door for me and then jogged back around to return to his position in the driver’s seat.

I couldn’t believe how awesome everything was so far and now I was beyond excited. I’d never been materialistic or obsessed with money, but I could get used to this royal treatment.

The prince must be absolutely loaded and my heart leapt when I imagined what his house would look like, or what other delicacies would cross my path on this journey. Not having to worry about paying rent or budgeting with a calculator at the grocery store sure sounded appealing.

As if reading my mind, Edgar’s voice carried from the front as he glanced at me in the rearview mirror. “What is your job, Miss Feist, if you don’t mind my asking?”

I smiled. “Please, call me Marissa. Mrs. Feist is my mother.”

“Oh of course, as you wish.” His laughter sounded like a wind chime.

“I’m a librarian.”

“Ah, delightful,” he said and I could tell his expression to be genuinely impressed.

I gazed out the window as the shops and pedestrians on the streets whizzed by. I took a sip of the champagne and marveled at how the liquid ran immediately through my veins, relaxing me and calming my nerves.

Each sip was warming as it hit my stomach with a splash of contented enjoyment. I had better slow down if I didn’t want an instant buzz. I took a bite of the chocolate. “Oh my goodness; I can see how this is the world’s most expensive chocolate.” My eyes rolled back in my head and it was a melting of perfection on my tongue.

“I told you, it’s the best out there.” Edgar winked.

I didn’t make much money as a librarian, but a pang of nostalgia hit me as we continued on. I couldn’t imagine any other profession and was proud of my career.

Even if I did get married to this prince, I would still want to work in a library. The smell of the old books lining the shelves and the peacefulness of the quiet drew me in like a moth to a flame and I was intoxicated with every piece of it.

After a few more sips of the champagne, I began to get groggy, almost delirious. The trees blurred out the window and my head began to hang so sleepily and heavily that I leaned back in the seat.

“I’m tired,” I mumbled. My ears couldn’t decipher what Edgar was saying, but I heard his chipper voice in the back of my mind.

Unable to stay awake any longer, my eyelids slid shut and I couldn’t even remember to dream.

I woke up some time later with a feeling like I was floating on air. I was completely disoriented as I tried to look around and assess my blurry surroundings. Finally, my vision caught up with the rest of my body and I could see clearly.

Goose bumps prickled my skin and I rubbed my arms. “It’s cold,” I murmured.

Panic rose in my throat as I realized I was on some type of space ship. I jolted to a standing position and ran to a nearby window. It looked like nighttime outside. Oh no, oh fuck. It wasn’t nighttime. I was in outer space!

The Earth was becoming further and further away as whatever kind of space craft I was on continued to spin its way out of orbit. The next sound I heard hit me like a freight train. It pierced my eardrums and reminded me of a wailing fire alarm.

It took me a few seconds to realize the sound was coming from me, and that it was screams erupting from my throat.

A slender and concerned-looking crewmember with a furrowed brow and dark hair ran into the room I was in. “Is everything okay, Miss Marissa?” He placed a hand on my shoulder.

I jerked away from him and curled into a ball in the corner of the room. “Where the hell am I? Is that Earth?” I pointed up to the window and winced.

The crewmember glanced at me apologetically. “Yes ma’am, we are on the way to a planet called Alpazon.”

The next sound to escape my lips was almost as unrecognizable as the scream. I was laughing, but it was deep and panicked. “Are you fucking kidding me? Surely you are joking, or maybe I’m dreaming?”

I pinched the skin on my arm and yelped in pain. Nope, this shit was real. I was really on a fucking space ship.

“I’m sorry, Miss. We will arrive shortly. Then everything will be explained.”

“Yeah, whatever,” I said sarcastically and climbed back onto the metal-framed bed with the flimsy mattress.

I lay down and closed my eyes and felt my matted hair. If I had to meet the prince like this, I was in serious trouble of rejection. I was angry with myself for drinking so much in the car, but a few minutes later, I had succumbed to sleep once again.

After I woke up the second time, I jumped up and down so that I could regain the feeling in my arms and legs, which currently felt like jelly. There appeared to be daylight spilling in through the window, so I looked outside again.

I saw a bizarre, foreign world. The first thing I noticed was the lavender sky and the weird orange trees that looked like weeping willows. It was strange, yet oddly beautiful.

A gasp rose in my throat once again and I placed a hand to my lips. This really wasn’t a dream, after all. Celestial Mates was literally what it claimed to be.

My heart nearly drummed out of my chest and I became sweaty in a panic. I threw open the door to the room and raced out in a huff. I searched the spaceship for signs of other people.

Everything looked exactly what I’d imagined a real spaceship to look like that astronauts flew around in, only apparently there was gravity contained on this ship, or it was because we’d already landed.

I found some other crewmembers unloading what appeared to be suitcases and supplies. “Excuse me,” I shrieked.

The men turned to look at me expectantly. “I’m sorry; there must be some kind of mistake. I’m not supposed to be here.”

One of the men was huge and had hair so blond it was almost white. “Are you meeting Prince Kadic?”

My heart collapsed. “Yes,” I said timidly, realizing this was no mistake at all.

“Then you are in luck because you are in exactly the right place. Prince Kadic can’t wait to meet you, Miss Feist.”

Suddenly, I was shot with a huge rush of adrenaline, so much so that a migraine formed instantly in my brain. They guided me to the main door of the ship and, with a pop and hissing sound, the door extended and opened, leading to a ramp for me to walk down to the ground below.

I gasped again as I absorbed my unfathomable surroundings. There was a gathering of hundreds of naked blue aliens. I became dizzy and my breath was raspy. “I am going to faint,” I warned the crewmembers.

The group on the ground parted to allow a huge, seven-foot-tall alien man to walk through. The spaceship crewmembers whispered to me that the alien was Kadic.

I allowed my gaze to strut across his ripped, muscular body. I dared a glance at his groin and my eyes found his huge cock. At the sight of it and him, I screamed once again.