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  “The Scarlet Plague…” Six shut his eyes briefly. Blood leaking from their eyes and ears…oozing in crimson rivulets from Kaylee’s nose, the corners of her mouth. “Kill me, Jax. I want you to kill me…it hurts so bad…”

  “…Claiming Period here.”

  “What?” Six’s eyes flew open. “Forgive me—I did not quite hear your words.”

  “Which is why you should get an acoustic implant—at least on one side.” One frowned disapprovingly. “I said that you can spend your Claiming Period here on Zeaga Four.”

  “But I don’t know what a Claiming Period entails,” Six protested. “And the girl is completely unenhanced—I can see that much in the dreams. Also, she is a Feeler.”

  “You can study the rules of the Claiming Period as you journey to claim her,” One said. “As for enhancements, she can get one or two simple ones aboard one of the medical barges before you come to the surface.”

  “And her emotions?” Six asked. “What if she does not choose to get an emotion damper as one of her enhancements? What then?”

  One sighed. “A special dispensation will be granted. Though if you keep her and she stays here for the long term, an emotion damper will become necessary.”

  “Of course,” Six said numbly. He stood up. “But…why? Why do you want me to do this, One?”

  The older organic, which Six had come to regard as his mentor, sighed and rubbed one hand over the smooth, see-through skull cap.

  “Officially I will say only that it is the will of the Collective. Unofficially, I will tell you that events are in play that can affect all of Zeaga Prime. I cannot tell you more than that.”

  Six frowned. “I will do it if you ask it of me, of course. But I still do not understand.”

  One looked up at him. “I know you don’t and I know this is a risk for you, Six, but I believe you can do it. Your character is strong, your logic unimpeachable. You will not allow yourself to fall into Feel-crime, no matter what influence this human female has on you.”

  “She has no influence,” Six said, frowning again. “None at all.”

  But against his will he remembered the sheer, silky white garment which showed her small, perfect breasts…the fear in her eyes…her soft, sweet voice when she begged him not to hurt her… Someone needs to protect her, a voice whispered in his head. She’s too tiny, too delicate—defenseless.

  “I know she doesn’t. And I know you will stay strong.” One’s voice broke the strange reverie he had somehow fallen into.

  “Oh, of course. Of course, I will, One.” Six nodded.

  “Good.” His mentor stood so Six did as well. “When you have her, bring her back to me and let me inspect her enhancements. I will grant you a personal dispensation for her emotions so you won’t have any problems.”

  “Thank you.” Six made a formal bow which One returned with a nod of his head. “I will do as you ask.”

  “See that you go at once,” One said. “Take your fastest shuttle and have the tertiary medical barge fold space for you. Its energy source is the strongest.”

  “Of course.” Six nodded again and turned to go.

  “Six?”

  “Yes?” He turned back to see a strange, unreadable expression on One’s face. Then again, it was odd to see any expression on the normally blank countenance of his mentor.

  “May Fortune favor you,” One said formally. “Now go. I will see you next when you have the girl with you.”

  Six nodded again and left. But as he stepped from One’s domicile into the dim daylight of Prime, he wondered what reason his mentor could possibly have for him to claim the human girl.

  And what would Six do with her once he had, in fact claimed her? What did one do with any female? A quick vision of tiny, perfect breasts and huge, lovely eyes flashed before his mind’s eye and was gone just as quickly.

  He lifted his chin and headed for the shuttle docks. There was much to do and much to learn.

  It was time to claim his bride.

  Chapter Two

  Mei-Li Hastings rolled over with a groan and slapped at her phone to make it stop its incessant beeping. Ugh, why had she set her alarm so early? Oh, right—to try and get a jump start on her day. She had a mound of paperwork and a two o’ clock shelter hearing in court—not to mention the various clients she had to visit today. She was going to be running from the moment she hit the office.

  Rubbing sleep from her eyes, she fumbled her glasses onto her face and forced herself to get up and stagger to the shower. Normally the crushing work-load of a CPI or Child Protection Investigator didn’t get her down. She had excellent organizational and time management skills which allowed her to juggle even the most difficult day’s schedule—but that was much easier when she’d had a full night’s sleep. And she hadn’t had any decent rest in ages.

  Mei-Li sighed as she turned the shower on full blast, allowing the water to heat until the little bathroom was filled with steam. Her glasses fogged over and she took them off and folded them carefully on the ledge beside the towel rack. Maybe a hot shower would make her feel better.

  But even the stinging, heated needles of water raining down on her skull wouldn’t wipe out the details of her dream. As she shampooed her hair, Mei-Li wondered again why she couldn’t stop having it. She had been told personally by Commander Sylvan of the Kindred High Council that the Dark Kindred warrior she was dream sharing with didn’t intend to claim her. But if he wasn’t coming for her, then why did she keep dreaming of him? And why were the dreams lasting longer and including more details?

  “What is your designation? I am Six.”

  Mei-Li shivered as she remembered his deep voice, so flat and devoid of emotion. His one normal eye had flickered over her body, as though he was studying her. It made her feel like he could see right through her thin, white lace nightgown.

  Not that there’s much to see, she thought ruefully as she soaped her flat chest. Her breasts were two little apricot sized buds and her hips were barely rounded. No wonder the Dark Kindred had decided not to claim her. Looking down at her too-slender, naked body, Mei-Li could see why he’d decided it wasn’t worth the effort of coming light years across the universe to make her his bride.

  Not that she minded—the dreams had been scaring her to death. Six was absolutely terrifying so she was much more relieved than insulted that he wasn’t coming to get her.

  As she scrubbed herself, Mei-Li reflected that this was the first and only time her lack of curves had worked in her favor. Her flat figure had been a sore point for her since high school. For awhile she’d hoped that her chest and hips might eventually fill out, but she was twenty-seven and well past puberty—it didn’t look like anything was going to change.

  “Yup, twenty-seven and still buying my clothes in the junior’s department,” Mei-Li muttered, reaching for the shampoo. Because in addition to her flat chest and nonexistent hips, she was also petite—barely five feet tall in her stocking feet. Her tiny stature made her look like an adorable little China doll—or so Clem, the guy she’d dated in college, had claimed. Then he had left her for a blonde, busty cheerleader type so Mei-Li guessed the delicate doll look wasn’t as attractive as he had claimed. But she was stuck with it and her almond shaped black eyes, long black hair and porcelain pale complexion only added to the look.

  Mei-Li hated how tiny she was—it meant she was scarcely bigger than some of the clients she served and made it hard to get respect from their parents. She also wished she was a little better endowed—was a B cup too much to ask? Apparently so. Of course, she could have scraped and saved to get a boob job but she was extremely wary of elective surgery—or any surgery for that matter.

  Her adopted mother had died during what was supposed to be a routine liposuction ten years before. Though they had never been close, Mei-Li still missed her—she was, after all, the only mom she had ever known. She could still remember getting that awful phone call from her father, telling her they had to get down to the hospital
right away because something had gone wrong…

  Mei-Li tried to push the sad memory away. The point was, after her adopted mom’s untimely demise, she wasn’t about to risk death just to get a bigger bra size. A breast enhancement wasn’t worth dying for.

  Enhancement. That made her think of the Dark Kindred again. Mei-Li wondered again if he had somehow been able to see through her white lace nightgown. If so, had he been disappointed with what he saw?

  She frowned. The expression on the Kindred warrior’s face as he had looked her over hadn’t seemed disappointed. In fact, having his gaze on her had frightened her because he looked at her with something approaching interest. But why would he be interested in her, especially after seeing how flat she was?

  Me-Li told herself she should stop thinking about it. Hadn’t Commander Sylvan said that the Dark Kindred, or Enhanced Ones as they called themselves, had no emotions? So it shouldn’t matter if Six saw her in her nightgown or not…except it did. It really did. It bothered her—made her feel hot and cold and naked all at the same time.

  Maybe I should start wearing something thicker to bed. Flannel pajamas or a granny nightgown that covers me from my neck to my ankles.

  Just the thought made her feel overheated and sweaty. It was June and just starting to get really hot in Tampa. The idea of sleeping in cold weather pajamas was awful, especially since she really couldn’t keep her little bungalow at the unfashionable end of Seminole Heights nearly as cold as she would have liked on a social worker’s salary.

  Mei-Li turned off the water and wrapped herself in a towel. Grabbing her glasses, she wiped the steam off with her fingers and stuck them on her face. Claudia, her best friend and supervisor at the Department of Family Services, had suggested she get her vision corrected with LASIK surgery. It seemed like a great idea and very non-invasive which was a big selling point for the surgery-shy Mei-Li—but when she went to be evaluated, she found out she “wasn’t a candidate” because her corneas were too thin. “Your eyes are so bad, they’re actually too bad to fix,” she had been told. Gee, thanks.

  She couldn’t wear contact lenses either—they irritated her eyes to the point of tears. Besides, she’d never been able to overcome her blink reflex enough to put the damn things into her eyes in less than twenty minutes—twenty minutes of fumbling and swearing under her breath and wondering why she was fighting with the stupid contacts in the first place. So glasses it was—she just wished she hadn’t broken the nice pair of ultra-light, expensive ones her father had bought her last time he was in town. A mischievous toddler had snatched them off her face and crushed them during an intake the month before and she hadn't been able to afford to get them fixed. So now she was back to the thick lenses and heavy black frames of her emergency pair.

  Thinking of her own eyewear made her remember the Dark Kindred again. Six, his name is Six, she reminded herself. Except who had a number for a name? And what was the deal with the weird red searchlight where his left eye should have been? Was there a way to sever this strange connection between them? Couldn’t he stop intruding on her dreams now that he had decided he didn’t want her? And if he really didn’t want her then why had he looked at her…that way?

  Mei-Li shivered and forced the memory away. She pushed the glasses up her nose and went to get dressed. There was a long day ahead and it was time to get to the office. She would make a call to Commander Sylvan if she ever got a free minute and ask if there was anything she could do to make the dreams stop. In the meantime, she needed to put Six out of her mind and concentrate on the mound of work she had waiting for her.

  But in the back of her mind, she kept seeing him staring at her…kept hearing his voice asking, “What is your designation?”

  Chapter Three

  Six exited the fold in space just outside Earth’s single moon. The small planet was like a brilliant blue and green jewel hanging in the void of space—very different from the blackish-gray exterior of his own home world. Six wondered if it was less industrial than Zeaga Four. Then again, Z4 hadn’t always been completely urbanized as it was now. Some said it was once a green and fertile place. But that of course was before the Great War and the rise of the Collective.

  He was eager to explore this strange new world—curiosity was permitted in Enhanced Ones as long as it did not engender extreme emotions. But he had some concerns he wanted to address first. The Earth girl he had met on one of the medical barges, whose designation had been Tess, had given him vital information. Information he wished to act on before he went to claim the small, frail female he had been dream sharing with. Specifically, Tess had warned him that he would “scare the poor girl to death.” It was a warning Six felt he could not ignore, especially given the agitation the little female had shown during their last shared dream.

  He kept thinking of her as the little female but that wasn’t her designation. Six frowned—Mei-Li, that was her name. A strange but surprisingly lovely combination of syllables, though it was completely illogical. It was much easier to categorize and classify individuals if they had numbers for identification. Still, whatever she called herself, he had no wish to frighten her further than he already had. A smooth, incident-free claiming was what he hoped to achieve.

  Also, he needed more information about what exactly the Claiming Period entailed. What was he supposed to do with Mei-Li once he got her? He had known once—or at least had a vague idea. But that information was buried along with the memories of his past…Blood leaking from her nose, her eyes, her mouth…”Kill me, Jax—it hurts! It hurts so bad…”

  Six frowned and quickly closed off that part of his mind. Those were memories he did not care to access which was why he had locked them away in a cache. Accordingly, he needed to do some research and get some information before he claimed his bride.

  He saw the Kindred Mother Ship at once, orbiting the rocky natural satellite and sent out a hailing frequency, requesting docking privileges. There was a short delay and then a face popped up on his shuttle’s viewscreen. It was a male with short, blond hair and the characteristic double fangs of a Blood Kindred.

  “This is Chancellor Terex, head of the Kindred High Council,” the male announced without preamble. “And you are Six—the Dark Kindred come to claim your bride, correct?”

  Six inclined his head. “I am.”

  The Chancellor scowled. “Then what are you doing asking for docking privileges? I told your superior, One, that you were to claim your bride immediately.”

  Six frowned. “I merely wished to familiarize myself with some of the Earth customs first. I was told that I might appear… frightening to the female I am here to claim. I thought maybe if I came aboard I could get some insight into her society and—”

  “Yes, yes…frightening.” Chancellor Terex sounded almost gleeful at the prospect. “You are a big male and the metal hand and the red ocular implant are a nice touch.”

  “Excuse me?” Six was confused. It almost sounded as though the Chancellor was hoping he would frighten the girl he had come for. But that wasn’t logical—was it?

  “I don’t want you aboard the Mother Ship,” the Chancellor continued, frowning. “You’re to go to Earth and claim your bride at once—do you understand? Then you will take her back to Zeaga Four and spend your entire Claiming Period there.”

  “But that is part of what I wish to learn,” Six protested. “No Dark Kindred has claimed a bride in centuries. I do not know the rules of the Claiming Period although I do know if I somehow unknowingly violate those rules, the Claiming Period can be instantly terminated.”

  “Hmm, yes. You make a good point. It wouldn’t do to have the Period end too soon…” The Chancellor frowned and looked down, as though deep in thought. At last he looked up. “Very well, I will send you a copy of the Claiming Period rules. A very detailed copy which I will expect you to obey to the letter. You must not, under any circumstances omit any of the Claiming steps. Do I make myself perfectly clear?”

  “You do.
” Six nodded. “May I ask, Chancellor—it’s clear you are the one who contacted One and initiated this sequence of events. In what way does it benefit you for me to take this female from her home planet?”

  Chancellor Terex scowled. “That is none of your concern, warrior. Keep your mind on your business which right now is claiming your bride. Take her as soon as possible and do not do anything to compromise your Claiming Period—am I clear?”

  “Perfectly,” Six said blandly.

  “Good. Then get to it! I am transmitting the Claiming Rules to your coordinates now in both the Kindred native dialect and English. I suggest you print them out so that you can refer to them as often as you need to. Share them with your bride as well…” He gave a laugh that was both cruel and amused. “She might as well know what she’s getting into…what she can’t get out of.”

  Six frowned. He was no judge of emotions but the High Chancellor seemed to be acting…strangely. Did he find the idea of Mei-Li feeling trapped by their Claiming Period amusing?

  Surely not. I must be misreading his emotional signals because I have no emotions myself and no point of reference for them.

  “What about when the Claiming Period is over?” he asked. “I certainly will not keep this female with me. She will doubtless wish to go back to her home world and, as we will not be bonding, I will have to allow her to go.”

  “Then let her come home…home to Earth.” Chancellor Terex’s lips stretched into a too-wide grin that showed his double fangs menacingly. “Let her tell her story of how she was stolen away to a strange, hostile world by a warrior who was more machine than male. How she was kept locked away and ravaged though she begged for mercy…”

  Six could no longer listen to such talk.

  “Excuse me, Chancellor, but I have no intention of brutalizing or frightening the little female. In fact, it was my wish not to hurt or frighten her that prompted me to request docking privileges in the first place.”