Chapter Four

 

Mira stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom, craning her neck forward as she reached her arms behind her like a contortionist. She’d managed to get the lock pin to move, just a little. The damn collar was so fitted, she couldn’t even swivel it around to put the lock in the front and make it easier to pick.

Yes, she understood why Jakk and Gav’n believed she needed to wear it. And she disagreed. So, while Gav’n was at his meeting, she was damn well going to take it off. She needed to practice removing it, so if—no, when—she managed to locate her fellow shipmates, she’d be able to slip away and visit them without being traced. Not to mention any other time she needed a bit of freedom. Being held prisoner—even if the two men who thought they owned her knew how to play her body like a fine-tuned instrument—didn’t work for her.

A little more...almost...damn.

She shook her arms out and rolled her neck. If it took the entire time Gav’n was gone, she would figure out how to open this flipping lock.

She threaded the narrow knife blade into the lock once more, seeking the inner pin with the tip. There. She nudged it to the right...a little more...just a bit and...success! The collar fell open, and she caught it, bringing it in front of her eyes to investigate. Even as a child, she’d always loved to take things apart and see how they worked. Her sisters had made fun of her tinkering and, when she’d declared her aspirations to become an engineer instead of something more glamorous or prestigious, had rolled their eyes and said it figured.

Perhaps she could take the collar apart to deactivate the shock function and remove the tracker. She’d leave the tracking software on, but store it someplace at home when she left to go places. She tucked it into the rather too-small pocket of the jumper and went in search of tools.

For the first time since their crash, she had a moment of autonomy. It felt delicious to have the freedom to investigate the townhouse on her own. She tripped down the stairs and started in the kitchen, opening drawers and cabinets, examining all the foreign products. From there, she tried what appeared to be an office in the room beside the girls’.

Nothing.

Where would tools be? Had there been a “garage” or workshop type area on the street level where they parked the shuttles? Would anyone see her if she slipped outside to look?

No better way to find out than to try. She pulled the choker out of her pocket and dropped it onto the little bench underneath a row of hooks jammed with children’s jackets and school bags beside the front door. She put her ear to the door to listen.

No sound of anyone.

She slid the lock open and cracked the door, peeking out.

All clear.

Slipping out, she ran on bare feet down the back stairwell until she reached the ground floor.

Voila! It turned out there was a shed she hadn’t noticed when they arrived, tucked in the corner of the itty bitty parking spot cum yard.

She tried the door, but it was locked. Hopefully, it was as primitive as the lock on her collar, and she could simply pick it. She went back up the stairs for the knife, her bare feet silent on the wooden steps. As she reached the door, the sound of a shuttle pulling into the yard below reached her ears.

Gav’n! She slipped inside, raced upstairs to their bedroom, and threw herself on the bed, as if she’d been lounging there.

The door opened downstairs.

Fuck. Her hand flew to her neck. She’d left the collar on the table below.

“Mira?” Judging from the sound of Gav’n’s outraged roar, he’d seen it. “Mira!” he shouted again before she even had a chance to think about answering.

Heart pounding, she climbed off the bed. “I’m—”

“Mira!” A pitch of desperation tinged his roar now. His footsteps pounded up the stairs, shaking the old walls with their thunder.

“I’m right he—”

He arrived in the doorway, the collar clutched in his hand, eyes wild. They widened when he saw her, and then he sagged against the doorframe. The relief only lasted a moment, though, replaced by fury. “What in the hell is going on?” He shook the fist with the collar, advancing slowly toward her.

Lying seemed fruitless. What could she possibly say? It fell off?

She opted for stubborn, instead. Folding her arms over her chest, she lifted her chin. “I told you I don’t like it. It’s too heavy, too tight, and I don’t like being a prisoner in my own home.”

Her own home. Did she really consider this place to be her home already?

Interest also flickered on Gav’n’s expression before it hardened into something more resolute.

He took another step toward her, face dark and dangerous. She saw the cop in him now—he appeared lethal. It didn’t hurt that he was a foot-and-a-half taller than her. “So what? You picked the lock?”

She nodded.

He put his hands on his hips and gazed upward, as if imploring some higher power for patience. Did Pra’kirians believe in a higher power? She made a mental note to ask later on.

“And you left it there for me to see? You wanted me to know our device can’t hold you?”

She hoped he didn’t notice the flush creeping up her neck. This part of the story, she definitely wanted to keep a secret. She swallowed and nodded.

His mouth firmed. “Clothes off.” The hardness of his tone snapped like a whip.

Punishment.

What would it be this time? The belt? Or something worse?

She considered refusing the order, but even if she was willing to run away—which she wasn’t, not without a plan— she’d never outrun Gav’n in a race. Her only choice was to strip and accept his discipline. She pulled off the jumper.

Gav’n tossed several pillows in the middle of the bed. “Lie over them.” He sounded grim.

She obeyed, placing her hips over the stack of padding so it lifted her ass in the air.

Gav’n stalked to the closet and emerged carrying several strips of silky fabric—some kind of formal men’s tie, perhaps? He used one to bind her ankles together and the second to tie her wrists behind her back.

“Since you won’t wear your collar, I’ll have to keep you tied up. Remember this was your choice when your arms fall asleep, little girl.”

She bit back the fuck you rising to her lips.

Gav’n went to the closet again, and this time returned with a thin cane.

Oh shit. Her bottom clenched reflexively.

He rested one knee on the bed and clasped one of her bound hands in his larger one. The move surprised her, but before she had a chance to lift her head and look at him, the cane swished through the air and landed across her buttocks like a line of pure fire.

She screamed, bowing up in shock.

“That’s for defiance.” He struck again.

She panted with a moan of pain.

“And that’s for being too damn clever for your own good.” Another line of fire.

She gasped, tears smarting her eyes.

He whipped her again. “That’s for scaring the crap out of me, thinking you’d run away.” Another wicked line of fire.

She screamed, certain she couldn’t take any more. It was so much worse than the belt.

But the cane swished through the air again and landed mercilessly. “And that’s for being sweet enough to stay.” His voice grew soft on the last words, and he leaned over and kissed her heaving back. Was that gratitude or affection in his voice?

The cane clattered to the hardwood floor and sounded like it rolled under the bed. If she were smart, she’d retrieve it and burn it before he remembered where it had gone. Her entire ass was on fire, her body shaking.

Something beeped, and Gav’n muttered a curse her translator didn’t get—something like volchek. “What is it?” he snapped, and she realized he was speaking into his communicator.

“Commissioner, I’m sorry to bother you, but we have a suspected bomb threat at Endermere Academy for Higher Learning. The team is responding, but I thought you’d want to know.”

Gav’n cursed again. “I’ll meet them there.” He disconnected. “Volchek. Volchek. Volchek. Now, what in the hell am I going to do with you? Hmm?” He slapped her throbbing ass. “Obviously, you can’t be left alone for even a minute.”

She heard him rummage in the closet again, and when he returned, he had another silk tie. He unfastened her ankles from each other and quickly tied one to each bed post, so she lay with her hips still lifted and her legs spread wide, pussy exposed.

“I would have preferred to stay and watch this particular part of your punishment, but I am needed elsewhere.” He moved with quick efficiency.

“What part...ooh!” She tried to tighten her ass when a glop of something cool dropped between her cheeks.

Gav’n rubbed it in a tight circle around her anus and then pressed a plug against her opening.

She attempted to kick her legs, but with her ankles tied wide, they didn’t budge. “What are you doing?” she spluttered.

“Making you a sorry little girl. I don’t have time to go slow, so open for me now.” He pressed the object with more insistence and, against her will, the tight ring of muscles yawned to admit the plug. No—it wasn’t a plug. It was worse—a vibrator! The phallus hummed to life, stimulating every nerve ending in her pelvic floor and inside her ass.

“Ohhhh,” she moaned.

“I’m not finished.” His fingers probed her pussy. “Good, you’re already wet.” He thrust a second, larger vibrator inside her channel and set it to hum, as well. “Don’t even think about moving from this position.” He slapped her poor, throbbing ass and she heard him leave the room.

“Jakk, I have a situation,” his terse voice sounded from the stairs as he left her there, in total wanton misery.

 

~.~

 

Jakk’s head swam and he had to lean against the bedroom door frame to keep from lurching. Their little human lay naked on her belly, legs tied wide, striped ass raised up on pillows, vibrating dildos buzzing in both her anus and dripping pussy.

She hadn’t heard him come in, and the blankets were clenched in her teeth as she moaned a repetitive, plaintive cry. The scent of her arousal filled the room, and energy snapped and crackled, rebounding off the walls and sending waves of heat cascading through his body. His cock was harder than a rock.

“I heard you were a very naughty girl.”

Her head snapped up, and she twisted, trying to see over her shoulder. Her eyes were glassy and dilated, cheeks flushed bright-red.

“Jakk, Jakk, Jakk,” she breathed in a chant. “Oh God, please...please.”

He was afraid to move from the doorway. If he got even a foot closer to her, he’d lose all control and take her without any consent.

“Were you naughty, Mira?”

“Yes. I’m sorry.” She shifted her upper body, as much as she was able to with her hands tied behind her back. “I hate the collar. I took it off. But I didn’t run away. I’m still here. Please, doesn’t that count for something?”

The desperate plea in her voice finally got through his fog of lust, and he walked to the bed, untying first one ankle then the other.

She humped the pillows, her welted ass squirming and wriggling.

He inhaled slowly through his nose, trying to clear his head. The scent of her arousal only made it worse, though. He pulled the vibrator out of her pussy and switched it off. It was coated with her sweet juices.

“Jakk,” she moaned.

He removed the anal vibrator and switched it off then untied her wrists.

She whined and moved them slowly up by her head. A wild, animal-like expression painted her face. Her little body shook, and she breathed in short pants.

“You look like one very sorry little girl.” He ran his thumb down her cheek.

She mumbled something including Gav’n’s name, but he didn’t catch the rest. He roughly rubbed her ass, punishing and soothing at the same time. She moaned, lifting her curves into his hand.

His communicator beeped with a call from Gav’n. He fit an earpiece into his ear so Mira wouldn’t hear Gav’n. “I’m home.”

“Is she all right?”

“She didn’t go anywhere, if that’s what you mean. I don’t know if she’s all right. She’s feverish and shaky.”

“She needs you to fuck her.”

His cock surged at his brother’s words, but he steeled himself against the urge to do exactly that.

“Ask her. Say, Do you need your master’s cock?”

Only his own desperate need prompted him to follow his brother’s urging. “Mira,” he said hoarsely. “Do you need your master’s cock?”

“Yes. Yes, sir. Yes, Master.” She spread her legs the way they’d been when he walked in.

He disconnected the call with Gav’n and tossed the communicator onto the couch. In a nanosecond, he had his pants down and his aching cock free. He climbed over Mira and rubbed the head of his cock over her slick entrance.

“Bad girl,” he said thickly, his tongue tangling as his cock inched into her hot, wet channel. Her muscles squeezed him. “Oh, Mira,” he groaned. “I knew you’d be tight, but I had no idea it would be this good.”

He tried to hold back because she was so much smaller and it was their first time, but she arched her ass even higher than the pillows, wantonly begging for it. He gripped her hips, unable to restrain himself. He manipulated her body with his hands, alternately lifting and lowering her pelvis over his cock then bracing her pelvis for him to pound into her, his flesh slapping her heated ass.

The noises she made destroyed him. Little grunts. Mewls. Choked cries. His fingers dug into her flesh, cock thrust and retreated like his life depended on it. He knew he was too rough with her, but he couldn’t contain his lust, his desire. She’d been a torture to him since the moment they’d stripped her naked the night before. He’d spent the night feverish with desire from having her lush little body nestled up against his.

His vision closed into a narrow tunnel. Nothing but pure desire and the need to quench it drove him. His thighs flexed, balls tightened. Stars sparked in the periphery. “Mira, yes, yes, hell yes!” he roared, driving so deep inside, he flattened her to her belly, and still he wanted deeper, deeper...to the depths of her soul to mark her forever with his seed. Cum shot down his shaft, hot streams filling her.

Ecstatic silence closed in on him, shut down his senses. After ages, or maybe only a few moments, he became aware of his little human panting beneath him, their bodies so tight he didn’t know where his ended and hers began.

Aaaand he was probably suffocating her. He sure as hell hoped he hadn’t hurt her. Shit—what if he had? He lifted away from her, easing out of her glorious channel with a groan.

“Mira,” he rasped, settling beside her. Her blonde hair swooped and twisted on the bedcovers, fanning out from her face, still hidden deep in blanket.

She made a faint “hmmm” sound.

“Sweet little human.” He stroked his large hand down her slender back. “I was too rough with you. I’m sorry. I couldn’t control myself. I’ve needed to do that since the moment you came here.”

He might have worried at her refusal to lift her head, but she made a little swishing motion with her ass, a little wiggle he took to be contentment. He’d feel better if she’d show him her face, promise him she was unhurt and didn’t hold a grudge for the way he’d lost control, but he settled for stroking and petting her.

After a few minutes, her breath slowed, and he realized she must have dropped into sleep. His heart twisted. How could it be he’d already come to care about her so much it hurt?

He loved her. Would she ever love him? Even if she got over the fact he was little more than her glorified prison guard, there was his deformity. No Prak’irian female could love a man like him. The best he could hope for was Mira to tolerate his presence and accept what he had to offer.

No, he’d better put out the little spark of hope lodged in his chest, threatening to catch flame and grow ever brighter.

She still hadn’t met the girls. And her rebellion had not been quelled nearly enough for him to feel comfortable she wouldn’t bolt at the first opportunity.

They had huge hurdles ahead of them just to coexist together. He’d better forget about love.

 

~.~

 

Mira woke to a darkened room, her stomach rumbling angrily. She hadn’t slept so deeply since their cryosleep on the ship.

She pushed up to sit. Ow. Her weight on her tender ass brought back Gav’n’s caning and Jakk’s rough fucking. It had been...well, she didn’t even know how to assign meaning to it.

The door pushed open and Gav’n came in, handsome in his still-crisp uniform, and carrying a tray of food. “Pashika, you’re awake.”

She licked her lips, despite her reservations about how the food would go down. “Yes, Master.”

He sat on the edge of the bed and slid the tray in front of her, balancing it on her thighs. “Hungry, love? You missed lunch. Jakk prepared you a variety of things to try—all foods known to be gentle on the stomach.”

She examined the tray, which held a bowl of steaming soup, a small plate of a sliced green vegetable, and the madlyne fruit. “Thank you both,” she murmured, and picked up a spoon to sample the soup.

Gav’n’s eyes were soft as he watched her. He reached out and attempted to detangle her hair with his fingers, but caught a knot and pulled. “Sorry.”

She smiled, and their gazes caught, held. Sudden shyness crept over her—odd after what Gav’n had already seen and done with her. She dropped her eyes to the food.

The soup was salty and flavorful. “Mmm,” she murmured as the juices from her stomach surged with enthusiasm. Suddenly starving, she picked up the bowl and drank from the side, draining the entire thing.

Catching Gav’n’s shocked expression, she grinned and wiped a drip from the corner of her mouth. “It’s not polite on Earth, either.”

He threw back his head and laughed, the deep rich sound warming her.

She handed the tray back to him. “I don’t think I should try anything else until I see how this goes down.”

“Very well.” He took the tray and set it on the bedside table. His eyes glittered as he considered her.

“You were a good girl to take your master’s cock like you did this afternoon.”

Take your master’s cock.

The words alone had her pussy clenching and her belly fluttering.

“Jakk said he was too rough with you. I need to inspect.” He reached for her, pulling her onto his lap.

She struggled, but he easily mastered her, flipping her over his lap and slapping her raw ass.

“Your masters are responsible for your well-being. That means this little body is under our charge. We must know what’s going on with it at all times.”

He ran his hand lightly over her welts, circling her bottom with a soothing caress. “You have a perfect little ass, Mira. And, I have to confess, I love to see my marks on it. I like knowing you’re subject to my rules and discipline.”

Her belly twisted with that pronouncement, but the protest inside her didn’t find its way out. Possibly because it wouldn’t be entirely honest.

He pried her thighs apart and traced one fingertip along the seam of her pussy. “A little swollen from use. Is it terribly sore?”

“A little. Not terribly.” The memory of the normally reserved Jakk pounding into her, his lust unchecked, sent fresh arousal snaking through her core. The sense of power in knowing she evoked that much passion from him more than made up for his roughness.

He traced up from her slit to the crack of her ass, wiggling the pad of his digit over her anus. “When you take my cock, it will be here, Mira.”

She squeezed her cheeks, clamping them closed on his finger.

He laughed and slapped the back of her thigh. “You will like it, I promise.”

Fuck that! Er...no—never fuck that.

He rolled her over and gathered her into his arms. Amusement sparkled in his eyes. “You will beg me for it, pashika.”

“No, I won’t.” She let her stubborn show.

He touched the tip of her nose. “With respect.”

“Master.”

He palmed one of her breasts. “You will,” he murmured. Once more she was reminded of the steel beneath Gav’n’s seemingly laid-back demeanor. “We still have a problem, little human.”

She grimaced.

“Jakk and I thought we could leave you home alone with the collar on. Now that we know you can remove it, we can’t. Are we going to have to tie you up every time we leave?”

She shook her head, the edge of panic creeping in. The hour she’d spent tied up alone with the vibrators in her had nearly killed her. “I won’t remove it, Master.”

Gav’n looked regretful. “I wish I believed you, pashika, but I can’t. We’ll have to find some other way to track you, perhaps a surgical implant.”

“No! I’ll leave it on. I promise.” She chewed her lip, wishing she hadn’t colossally screwed herself by getting caught that afternoon. She needed her freedom. She needed to see her shipmates—if for nothing else, so she didn’t feel so damn alone and strange anymore.

 

~.~

 

Jakk sat behind the wheel of his sister’s shuttle and gave Mira the rundown on how everything worked. She’d slept between them again, leaving him as needy for her as he’d been the previous morning, despite the fact he’d taken her hard the night before.

His poor brother still sported a set of the bluest balls on the planet.

At least Mira had clothing on at the moment—minus underclothes.

“You set the destination here. The girls’ academy is already programmed in, see?” He scrolled through the destinations, which he’d limited to the grocery store, home, and the school. Even the grocery store pushed the limits. If anyone saw Mira out unattended, they would absolutely panic. Most of the general public believed she and her cohorts were dangerous aliens intent on waging war with their planet.

Which still left them with the dilemma of controlling her movements. Neither he nor Gav’n believed her claim she wouldn’t remove the collar again. If she knew how to do it once, she’d do it again. He didn’t believe a simple caning would stop that, no matter what she promised. But he and Gav’n simply couldn’t be with her every hour of the day. It defeated the purpose of having her as a support to their family.

Mira tapped her fingers on the dash, showing her impatience.

He flicked through the news feed stations, seeking out the only one that played music, instead of news. “Do you like music?”

She winced. “This is music?”

“Is it not beautiful to you?”

“Is it beautiful to you?” She sought his eyes in the rearview mirror.

“I love it,” he admitted. Music had always been the thing that soothed, a friend when everyone besides his twin shunned him.

“Are there other music stations?”

He shook his head. Music had always been the least popular art form on Pra’kir, and it had gone even further out of fashion in the past twenty years. He switched off the station. “We don’t have to listen. I know most don’t love it the way I do.” He shoved his seat backward. “Come here.”

She shrieked when he lifted her by the armpits and settled her on his lap to drive. Gav’n had made the rule she couldn’t wear panties, so her ass was bare under the too-short jumper. It felt divine against his perma-hard cock, and her exotic scent filled his nostrils.

“Why am I on your lap?” she protested. “I can drive this thing myself. I don’t need you to hold the wheel.”

He wrapped a fist in her hair and tugged her head back until it rested against his shoulder. “Mira, do not get sassy with me.”

To his surprise, the scent of her arousal filled the cabin of the vehicle. Did pulling her hair turn her on?

“Ow.” She squirmed, making his cock even more eager to strip the layer of fabric lying between them and impale that tight little pussy.

He waited.

“I’m sorry, Master.”

He instantly rewarded her good behavior by releasing her hair. “You will drive and I will oversee the driving. Once you have gained my trust, I will allow you to drive on your own. Understand?”

“Yes, Master.” There was sullenness to her tone, but he let it go.

“Start the shuttle.”

She didn’t require additional instructions on starting the shuttle, nor on maneuvering it out of the tiny parking space and into the alley. He lifted a finger to direct her toward the speedrails, but she’d already found the tracks, using the proper signaling.

Good girl.

She gave the shuttle too much power getting on the tracks and jumped them the first time, but before he reached to steady the wheel, she’d corrected the course and the shuttle settled, the auto-route initiating.

She shifted her ass over his cock, and this time he was certain it was on purpose.

“Human, if you don’t want me to shove you up over the wheel and unbutton my pants so you can ride my cock all the way to the school, you’d better stop that squirming.”

He swore her pussy transmitted dampness onto his pants. He reached around and pinched one of her nipples.

“I’ve never had a female so at my disposal before.” He immediately kicked himself for saying so. She wasn’t technically at their disposal. They were supposed to be operating with her consent.

But it seemed she wasn’t offended. “Why not?”

He stiffened. “Isn’t it obvious?”

She twisted to face him then stopped when he growled at the way her ass moved and she sought his eyes in the rearview mirror instead. “No.”

He couldn’t help the way his entire insides solidified and turned cold. It was the defense mechanism he’d employed since he was old enough to understand what made him different. Gav’n said it made him too stiff, too wooden, but it was out of his control.

“I really don’t know. I’m not a Pra’kirian. Where are your females? Do you not marry?”

“Pra’kirians mate, yes. But I will not.”

Her blank curiosity didn’t appear faked. “Why? Judges can’t marry? Can Gav’n?”

The pain he’d long ago resolved himself to surfaced, and he allowed it to wash over him. “Gav’n will most likely marry and have his own family.”

“So you still haven’t explained. Why won’t you?”

His jaw locked. He had to work to pry it open. “My eyes.”

Now she did swivel on his lap, shifting until she almost faced him. “I still don’t understand. It’s a genetic thing? Does your eye color come with sterility?”

He gave a bitter laugh. “No, Mira. But no female in her right mind would ever choose to bond herself to me. I’m a misfit.”

Mira’s mouth dropped open. Her face went pale and then flushed with color. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” she spluttered.

The shuttle whipped off the main tracks onto the side road in front of the girls’ academy and slowed to a stop in the drop off lane. “Destination reached,” an automated female voice told them.

He didn’t like Mira’s looking at him like that. Was it with pity?

A fierce expression crossed her face. “Do you know what we do on Earth with a male with eyes like you?”

Dread flushed through him. Did she despise his appearance, too? He steeled himself for her pronouncement.

She unzipped the front of her jumper, allowing her breasts to spring free. Shocked, he took a quick look out the windows, but no one was around—he’d timed their trip during the lightest traffic during the middle of the school day.

She climbed into the passenger seat on her knees then bent over and unfastened his pants.

He groaned as his cock sprang free. Horrified at being in front of the academy with his cock out, he hit the button for home.

Crouched with her ass in the air toward the passenger window, Mira gripped his cock at the base and lowered her head. He groaned the moment the head of his cock met her soft lips then bathed in the moist heat of her mouth.

“Mira...oh.”

She took him deep into her throat then plastered her tongue against his length as she sucked hard, drawing the blood down his shaft. At this rate, he wouldn’t last five seconds.

“Mira. Holy hell, woman. You’re killing me.”

She lifted her eyes, lips stretching into a smile around his cock. “Mmm,” she hummed as she lowered her mouth over his cock again.

He closed his eyes, unable to take in the scenery whizzing by at the same time a beautiful blonde alien made love to his cock.

She picked up speed, bobbing her head while she dragged her fist up and down his cock, making it feel like she’d taken the whole length of it into her little mouth.

“Oh...oh. Yes.” How did he get so lucky? Was this truly happening to him? It sure as hell was the first time in his life he’d ever had more action from a female than his brother had. And he didn’t feel the least bit guilty, either.

He buried his fingers in her hair, urging her over his cock faster, deeper. “Mira, yes! Oh hell yes. Yes!”

He slammed his feet against the floorboard and jacked his hips up, choking Mira as his cock shoved deep into her throat. Hot streams of his seed shot into her mouth, but his beautiful human didn’t pull off. She kept sucking and swallowed his offering, licking him clean.

He closed his eyes, soaking up the moment, wanting to remember it for the rest of his life. He didn’t even care to analyze what Mira had meant by it. All he knew was she was the best thing that had ever happened to him, and he needed to show her that in a variety of ways that all ended with her screaming a climax until her voice went hoarse.

Mira sat up. He pried his eyes open to see her smug smile, right when the shuttle exited the speedway and sent them hurtling down the side street toward the townhouse. He took over the controls to maneuver them into the alley and park the vehicle.

“Naughty girl,” he rumbled as he opened her door and offered a hand to help her out, careful to zip her jumper before their nosy old neighbor, Linat, saw. When she stood, he tossed her over his shoulder and carried her, kicking, up the stairs. “Now I’m going to have to spend all afternoon making sure you know how much I—we—appreciate you.”

In their room, he flicked on the small device that broadcast music, turning it up as loud as it went.

“Don’t you have speakers for that thing?” Mira muttered.

He didn’t understand the word speaker.

“The sound quality is awful. Does it go any louder?”

“This is as loud as it goes,” he said.

He plopped her in the center of the bed. Three hours before he had to leave to drive out to his parents and pick up the girls, and he had one aroused human female to satisfy.