Andie wrapped the Leonid-issue military blanket tighter around her shoulders and looked out over the town of Silver Creek, lit up with sirens and lights as everyone learned about the Leonid showdown at Gramzy’s.

They were on the roof of the Blackthorne County Hospital, which was the only place the Alliance helicopter could land anyway. The wind carried up here, and the night was cooler than usual, carrying with it the promise of rain. Andie’s hair was a mess, and she had to squint through the wind to see anything at all.

And what she could see…she still hardly believed.

What have I gotten myself into?

Immediately after Kragen had agreed to a surrender, Andie had run toward him, and he’d begun to sort of…power down, was the only way Andie could describe it. Before that, when she was in danger, Kragen had been literally incandescent. It was like watching a nuclear bomb arm itself on her behalf. Empowering, and also not a little bit terrifying.

After that, she’d just needed to touch him. Andie had grabbed Kragen’s hands, still glowing, and looked into his eyes, and she’d felt it again, that same bond, only stronger, stronger…

Until she’d also started to feel the hundred or so Leonid soldiers who had arrived at some point during the stand-off.

That had been weird. It had felt different, like an awareness, sort of. Like the bond she had with Kragen was a direct line between the two of them, and the awareness of the other Leonids was more diffuse, like background noise.

But the background noise from a hundred Leonid warriors had been pretty damn loud. Especially when she’d touched Kragen. And especially when both their mating marks lit up, bright beacons in the now dark night, while her entire neighborhood filmed the whole thing on their phones.

There had been a moment when Magnus came forward with heavy shackles made of Leonid metal, and Andie had refused to let go of Kragen. She’d felt the apprehension ripple through the ranks of Leonid warriors that surrounded them, all of them different colors, all of them deadly serious and armed to the teeth. And all of them scared of Kragen, and even, maybe, a little scared of her.

The Leonids were freaked out, awed, even frightened by the mating bond between her and Kragen.

Which was just what Andie needed if her plan was going to work.

Now she was on the roof of the hospital, the wind whipping her hair around while she waited for the Leonids to escort Kragen out of the helicopter. There were a few of them guarding her while they coordinated, and she could feel their eyes on her mating mark, which had long since burned through the flimsy material of her cotton dress. It made her think of the cameras she’d seen back at Gramzy’s house.

At least she hadn’t been wearing sweatpants for her fifteen minutes of fame. Gramzy never would have let her live it down.

Gramzy.

Andie had been trying not to think about her grandmother, because it was crazy making. Tears pricked at her eyes, and she did her best to shove those feelings back down. She was about to see her. She’d know more then. Meanwhile, Andie had a literal intergalactic incident to manage. And Andie knew damn well what Gramzy would want her to do.

Kragen emerged from the helicopter, impossibly tall, his eyes shining, draped in heavy chains that seemed weightless on him. The glow from his eyes set off the mother of pearl in his skin, while his dark hair whipped in the wind. Even surrounded by Leonids with phase rifles, and covered in chains and shackles, he looked like he could eat this entire military company for breakfast.

Good Lord.

Andie’s eyes were drawn to his, as they always were. Thoughts still spun out in the back of her mind—thoughts about how this was nuts, how she couldn’t believe she was doing this. I’m a juvenile delinquent phlebotomist with historically terrible taste in men, and I’m about to go argue for my alien ‘mate’ in front of a queen.

Gramzy the lawyer would be damn proud, actually. Even if Andie kept doubting herself.

I don’t know what I’ll do if anything happens to her…

Finally, Kragen’s eyes found hers. And all thoughts fell away.

Ignoring his escort, Kragen jumped down from the helicopter, sending a wave of alarm through the guard, and strode toward her. Andie was beginning to suspect that, like with the chains he’d had back at the warehouse, Kragen was keeping these shackles on just to keep the other Leonids from freaking out.

“Lubcha,” he said as he reached her. He stopped a few feet away, again in deference to the freaked out Leonid guard. “You are worried about your matriarch.”

Silently, tears coming back to her eyes, Andie nodded. All she wanted to do was step into his arms and know it would be ok. She didn’t even care that that was crazy anymore. Let this be crazy; the rest of the world already was.

Don’t get too attached, Knowles. He still won’t claim you.

Kragen took one more step toward her, his face gentle but worried.

“This is my fault, lubcha,” he said. “Do not blame yourself for not being with your matriarch.”

“How did you know I was doing that?” Andie said, wiping away a tear. “If you can literally read my mind, you have to tell me. And then teach me how to do it to you. Why would you think this is your fault? I mean, a lot of this”—she waved around at the military chaos surrounding them, smiling slightly—“is definitely your fault, but my grandmother…”

Andie couldn’t finish. Gramzy had been sick for a while. Maybe Andie had been in denial for just as long.

Kragen smiled sadly as the Leonid guard behind him secured the roof door to the hospital.

“When I was alone with your matriarch, I saw she was in pain,” he said.

Andie blinked slowly, and swayed a little. Kragen reached out and propped her up, even with his shackled hands, but it still felt like the world was falling away from her.

Gramzy had been in serious pain? Andie knew her grandmother was as tough as a cat, unlikely to complain. But she also thought she could see through her grandmother, and Andie would know if she was really in pain. Apparently she’d been wrong.

“Do not blame yourself, lubcha,” Kragen ordered. “I forbid it. I took the pain away as best I could.”

“You what?”

“It was only possible because of our bond,” Kragen said, his brow furrowed. “Even incomplete as it is.”

Andie was all attention.

“Wait, you can help her?” she asked. “Because of our mating bond?”

Kragen frowned, but he held her gaze.

“Your matriarch made me swear not to discuss this with you.”

“I don’t give a flying fuck!” Andie shouted. A few Leonids around them shifted their weight uncomfortably. “You’re my mate, not my grandmother’s!”

Kragen inhaled deeply, his eyes glowing fire.

“I tried to help her, but I may have hurt her,” he said. “Pain is the body’s way of warning against injury. Without it…”

“She pushed herself too far,” Andie finished.

That was actually a relief. Andie knew her grandmother, and that was exactly something she would do. Maybe there was nothing else wrong. Maybe…

“If you claimed me,” she said, slowly, “could you heal her?”

“It is impossible to know,” Kragen said. “No one knows how it would work with a human-Leonid bond. I could lend her my strength, but I do not know how long it would last.”

Andie hung her head. She was suddenly so, so tired, and she still had so much to do. She’d gotten herself into this, and she had to see it through. She’d just…

She’d just been hoping for another miracle.

“But,” Kragen went on, and his voice lifted her head, as it always did. It was impossible to feel hopeless, looking into his shifting, silver eyes. “I believe Leonid medical technology could heal her.”

A red-chested Leonid behind him—a commander, based on the bars on the leather strap across his bare chest—grunted. There were Leonids stationed at regular intervals in a path to the door down to the hospital, and it looked like there were Leonid guards beyond that. They’d secured the entire building before letting Kragen in, and, apparently, they were ready.

Silently, Kragen guided her to his side, and began to walk. The commander behind him seethed, but no one argued.

“Do you think the queen will agree to heal Gramzy?” Andie asked.

“If she does not,” Kragen said as they walked through the threshold, and down the stairs, into the hospital, “I will rip the medical bay out of the queenship and deliver it to Gramzy myself.”

Andie looked at him, wide eyed. So did the red-chested Leonid commander, and a few of the guards.

Kragen was completely serious.

And the thing was, with his tendency to glow like a nuclear reactor where Andie was involved, she got the sense that every Leonid there knew he could do it.

They walked in silence the rest of the way, guided by jumpy Leonids who couldn’t decide whether to watch Kragen, who terrified them, or the alleged first human mate, who fascinated them. Andie didn’t mind the deferential silence—it gave her time to think.

And the more she thought, the more nervous she got. She looked at Kragen once more, out of the corner of her eye, even though she could feel his presence in every cell of her being. What he called the hunger was building inside her again, sending a warm flush over her skin, and wetness between her legs. Kragen inhaled deeply, a low rumble building in his chest, and the glow brightening in his eyes, and Andie blushed when she remembered that he could very literally smell her.

Her plan needed to work. Or she didn’t know what Kragen would do if he thought Andie would be harmed—or what would happen to Rune. And no matter what, Andie didn’t want anyone, Leonid or human, to die.

Her plan needed to work.

A dark blue Leonid warrior with red hair opened the door in front of them, revealing low lighting, calming taupe wallpaper, and a single hospital bed containing a sleeping Gramzy. Kat was sitting next to her, and looked up as the door opened.

To her credit, Kat barely paused as she took in the sight of Andie, Kragen in chains, and a phalanx of Leonid warriors surrounding them. She rose from her seat, walked forward, and with her voice low, said exactly what Andie needed to hear.

“She’s fine,” Kat said, in full nurse mode. “Her vitals are fine, and her labs are actually better than fine, which no one understands. She fainted on the couch at home, and now she’s sleeping. They’re just keeping her for observation.”

“Oh thank God,” Andie whispered.

“I tried to call you,” Kat said, “but…”

Andie cursed under her breath. She hadn’t even checked her phone, which was always on vibrate. She had been distracted by a giant sexy Leonid, and then they’d just been going to Gramzy’s place anyway…

Get it together, Knowles.

Andie turned around and addressed the Leonid commander.

“I need a moment with my family,” she said. “Alone. You will stay out here.”

His giant red face scrunched up with what looked like it was going to be disagreement—until Kragen growled.

“The door will remain open,” the Leonid commander grunted.

That was fine by Andie. She walked right to Kat, and gave her best friend the biggest hug of her life.

And then, with no Leonids nearby to overhear, she whispered her plan right into Kat’s ear.

“I think it will work,” she finished, and gave Kat a final squeeze. “If you’re in, just say, ‘Of course.’”

She pulled away from Kat to find her best friend smiling, and crying a little bit.

“Of course,” Kat said. “I love you, dummy.”

Now Andie just had to pull it off.