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  “The head cheerleader?” Sophia made a face. “How could we forget?”

  “That’s her.” Kat nodded enthusiastically. “Well, you’re not going to believe this but she got drafted.”

  There was complete silence in the room for about two seconds and then Liv and Sophia said simultaneously, “She what?”

  “Got drafted. I know, can you even believe it?”

  There was no need to ask what Kat meant when she said their old acquaintance from Hillsborough High had gotten drafted—every woman in the room knew about the draft and every one of them lived in fear of it.

  Five years before the Earth had been suddenly attacked. The space station orbiting the moon, which had been completed in 2025, had been destroyed and the rest of the planet was threatened by a mysterious force known only as the Scourge. Attempts to contact and reason with the menacing threat had failed and even the deadliest weapons had little or no effect. It looked like the Earth was down for the count and everyone on the planet was going to wind up as alien take-out.

  Liv remembered those horrible days—it had been forty-eight hours of mass panic. Suicides, bombings, looting and unprotected sex which she thankfully had not personally participated in. With no other immediate family, she and Sophie and Kat had locked the doors to the little apartment she’d been living in at the time and eaten themselves sick on Ben and Jerry’s while they watched a never-ending marathon of vintage chick flicks.

  It might not have been the most productive way to spend their last days on Earth but eating your body weight in Chunky Monkey and watching Sixteen Candles and Pretty Woman beat chowing down on the business end of a gun or having sex with a total stranger any day of the week, in Liv’s opinion. And their wait-and-see approach had been justified—in the end everything turned out all right.

  Because of the Kindred.

  The Kindred were a race of alien warriors, humanoid in form but much more massive in scale than the average human male. They had swooped in suddenly and forced the Scourge to stop their attack and retreat to the far side of the moon. There were rumors that the war continued somewhere in space with scrimmages and battles between the two factions but if so, it was kept quiet. The alien warriors took up orbit around the planet, ensuring that the tenuous peace continued, for Earth at least. And they only wanted one thing in exchange—a genetic trade.

  Because a mutation in their genes caused their race to be ninety-five percent male, the Kindred had become a space faring race, looking for other planets to inhabit and other humanoid species to trade with. Earth was only the fourth planet in their ten thousand year odyssey to offer a viable trade and they were eager to get started.

  Of course the governments of Earth agreed to the trade—what else could they do? The only thing that stood between the planet and total annihilation was the warrior race keeping watch far above the ionosphere, so it was considered best to keep them happy. An all female draft was set up which every unmarried woman between the ages of nineteen and thirty-five was required to enter. It was considered a patriotic duty but also a long shot. There was only about a one in ten thousand chance of ever getting called to do your “duty” which was why it was so unusual to actually know a person who’d been drafted.

  The Kindred pretty much kept to themselves, staying in their ships above the surface of the planet and only coming down occasionally in twos and threes to claim their brides. Nobody knew how they picked them and personally, Liv didn’t want to know. It was easier to pretend that the Kindred didn’t exist, easier to forget that you personally might win the bed-an-alien lottery at any minute. But something like this—actually knowing a girl who’d been drafted—made pretending and forgetting impossible.

  “So what exactly happened?” Sophie had stopped whisking her batter, intent on Kat’s latest piece of news.

  Liv realized she was still gripping the juice carton with the fridge door open. She shut the door and turned around. “Yeah, what happened?” She couldn’t help echoing her twin’s question.

  Kat shrugged. “Two draft officers came to her house and took her down to the HKR building. Then she had to sign some kind of a contract—like a marriage license I think.” There was a Human/Kindred Relations building in every major city in the world built specifically for this purpose but Liv had never been inside the Tampa facility which was located downtown. Just driving by it gave her the willies so she tried not to even look at it when she did.

  “What…which kind of Kindred did she get?” Sophia asked in a hushed voice. The Kindred were split into three distinct branches, all outcomes of their past genetic trades.

  There were the Tranq Kindred—a group of males with piercing blue eyes and a double set of short, sharp vestigial fangs. There were rumors that the fangs grew and they bit when they had sex with the female of their choice and other rumors that they could heal any illness with a bite. Liv wasn’t sure how much of that was true and how much was just media hype but the buzz about their sexual habits had earned this group the nickname “Blood Kindred.”

  Then there were the Twins, a branch of the Kindred in which the males always came in pairs and had to share a woman. No one knew exactly why and they declined to offer an explanation. Some said they were telepathic and needed sex to communicate but that hadn’t been proven—not that anyone had ever gotten a chance to study them. The Kindred as a whole kept strictly to themselves and refused to participate in any kind of scientific research or experiments. So no one really knew anything about the Twin Kindred other than they refused to make love to a woman individually.

  And then there were the Ragers—also known as the Beast Kindred.

  Working for so long in a hospital as she went through nursing school, the sight and idea of drawing blood wasn’t frightening to Liv so the Blood Kindred didn’t scare her. And being a twin herself, she wasn’t terribly afraid of the Twin Kindred either. But the Beast Kindred, well…they scared the ever-loving crap out of her.

  As tall and dominant as the rest of the warrior race, the Beast Kindred were said to have the most unpredictable tempers. Rumor had it that they could go into berserker-like rages when protecting their women, killing anyone that stood in their way no matter how many opposed them. But it was the other rumors, the sexual rumors, which put a lump in Liv’s throat.

  Besides being filled with animalistic lust, the Beast Kindred were said to have sexual stamina unequaled by anyone. Rumor had it that they could come again and again without going soft and their marathon love-making sessions put even practitioners of tantric sex to shame.

  Just the idea of being held in place, helpless, while a huge alien male filled her for hours made Liv’s blood run cold. She hadn’t had many lovers but the men she’d been with in the past had convinced her that sex was like a box of chocolates—you never knew what you were going to get when you went to bed with a man. And sadly, you were more likely to pick the nasty pink marshmallow cream than the yummy nut cluster. So rather than lingering for an indefinite amount of time, it was better to get in, get out, and get on with your life. Cuddling was more fun in the long run anyway.

  The year and a half she’d spent with Mitch had only reinforced her ideas. In retrospect, Liv couldn’t understand why she’d stayed with him so long. His idea of good sex was to get on top and grind her into the mattress while chanting, “Who’s your daddy? Who’s your daddy?” over and over again until she wanted to scream and not in a good way. No amount of tactful hints that references to her parentage during intimate encounters didn’t do a thing for her would make him stop. Finally Liv had given up and just plugged her tiny iPod micro-mini into her ear whenever it looked like he wanted some nooky. She’d even had a playlist called “sex with Mitch.”

  That had been bad enough but at least Mitch had never had the stamina to get through the whole playlist. Liv imagined with horror what it would be like to have sex with a man who could go through the entire micro on shuffle setting without quitting once. Just the thought was enough to send her running
—which was why the idea of getting chosen by a Beast Kindred freaked her out completely.

  Don’t they say the Beast Kindred have golden eyes? whispered a small voice in her head. Shut up! Liv told it fiercely. He’s just a dream and that’s all there is to it.

  “So what kind did she get?” she forced herself to ask, not looking at Kat while she got a glass from the cabinet.

  “Twins, I think.” Kat shivered. “Can you even imagine? I mean, I know lots of people have had three-ways. You get drunk in college and before you know it you’re getting the shaft, both literally and figuratively. But two horny frat guys is one thing—the Kindred are supposed to be hung like Clydesdales.”

  “Kat!” Sophie slapped at her with the hand not holding the bowl full of pancake batter. “You are so bad!”

  “But I mean honestly, how would they fit? You’d be bowlegged for life if you ended up with a pair of Twin Kindred.” Kat raised her eyebrows comically and took a few wincing steps as though it hurt to walk. Sophie giggled and shook her head. Liv tried but all she could manage was a weak smile as she poured the orange juice and put the carton back in the fridge.

  “Well, I hope she’s happy. When does she come back?”

  “She’s not. She did her month and she’s staying.” Kat went back to assembling her quiche ingredients which appeared to include fresh thyme, basil, and cilantro as well as some cayenne pepper. “You know everyone that gets drafted has to sign an agreement to at least try things out for that long—a month long claiming period. After that you can come back and call it quits for good—if you and the Kindred stud who chose you haven’t made the beast with two backs. If you have…” She shrugged fatalistically. “Well then it’s too bad for you. You’re a Kindred bride for life and they don’t do divorce or separation. So it looks like Jillian’s stuck”

  “How do you know so much about it?” Liv demanded.

  “I helped one of our attorneys prepare a case for some clients of my firm. We had this young woman’s family try to sue when she got called up,” Kat said matter-of-factly.

  “What were the grounds?” Sophie asked.

  “That she was a virgin and wasn’t prepared to be with, uh, such a large guy.” Kat snickered. “But all I have to say is, sitting there, listening to what this huge masculine alien could and couldn’t do to you sexually and what you could and couldn’t to do to him with your parents listening in had to be at least as bad as actually doing it.”

  “How embarrassing!” Sophie shuddered. “I’d rather die.”

  “Did they win the case?” Liv asked, taking a sip of juice.

  Kat shook her head. “Not on your life. The court threw it out almost before her lawyer finished talking. Everybody knows we have to keep the Kindred happy. The Scourge is still out there somewhere and if throwing the big guys a bone by boning them is the only way to keep them on our side, well then, so be it. So if you get drafted you better develop a taste for alien nookie pretty quick.”

  “You know the thing that really freaks me out?” Sophie dropped the blueberries into the batter, stirring as she talked. “The fact that nobody ever decides to leave and go back to their old life after that initial thirty day period is up. You can’t tell me the Kindred always know exactly which woman is going to be their soul mate for life when they pick a bride.”

  Kat shrugged and started cracking eggs into a large mixing bowl. “Maybe they brainwash you once you get up to their ship. Maybe it’s filled with all kinds of sex toys and pleasure rooms and it’s so good you just can’t say no.”

  “Or maybe they trick you into having sex in the first place—like they slip you a roofie,” Sophie said darkly. “And when you wake up it’s like, ‘Oh, sorry—we did the deed and now you’re mine for life. Hope you don’t mind moving to a galaxy far, far away and having sixteen pound alien babies the rest of your natural.”

  Liv gripped her glass full of OJ tightly. This certainly wasn’t the first time they’d speculated about the Kindred when they got together on a girls’ day but for some reason her nerves were so on edge she felt like she might scream if she had to listen to another word. Just then the doorbell chimed faintly and she breathed a sigh of relief—finally a distraction.

  “I’ll get it!” She was already halfway to the door when Sophia objected.

  “Liv, you’re hardly decent! That outfit almost shows your panties.”

  “I’m fine,” Liv called back, pulling the short black lace robe that went with her baby doll nighty more tightly around her. “It’s probably just Mrs. Jensen from next door. She’s always wanting to borrow something—eggs, sugar, you name it.”

  She threw open the door expecting to see the kind and wrinkled face of her next door neighbor and instead was treated to the sight of two perfectly huge males in black uniforms.

  “I…I…Who are you?” Liv gasped, barely able to get the words out.

  “H/K officers Trex and Locan at your service,” the one on the right rumbled and both of them made stiff, abbreviated bows. “We’re here for Miss Olivia Lauren Waterhouse.” He held up a digital picture and Liv recognized her own face staring back from the holo sheet. “This is you—correct?”

  “I…yes, that’s me,” she said weakly, meaning both the picture and the name.

  “And can you sign this document, verifying that it is so?” He held out a thick sheaf of papers with legal looking words on them along with a pen. Liv signed automatically where he indicated.

  “All right, but I—” she began as the guard snatched back the papers and stuffed them into his uniform pocket.

  “Excellent. Subject confirms identity,” said the one on the left, as though he was making some kind of official report. “Preparing to escort subject to the HKR building at once.” As one, both huge officers stepped forward and each took one of her elbows. The glass full of orange juice dropped from her fingers and shattered on the tile of the foyer like a bomb, spraying glass shards and sticky juice everywhere. One shard pieced her heel when she took a step back but Liv barely noticed the sharp little pain.

  “Now wait just a minute,” she protested, aware that both Sophia and Kat had crowded into the doorway behind her. “What are you saying? Where are you taking me? And can’t I change first?”

  “Negative. Flight risk is incurred if the subject is allowed to linger on the premises for any reason,” barked the one on the right.

  “But I haven’t done anything. Let me go!” Liv struggled against them but it was like she was being held in pincers of iron on either side.

  Kat and Sophie were suddenly there in front of the huge males, blocking their exit. It was like two Toy Poodles facing off Great Danes but neither woman budged even when the officer on the right glared at them in a menacing way.

  “Where exactly do you think you’re taking Miss Waterhouse?” Kat demanded, her blue eyes flashing. “And on what grounds?”

  “Please step aside, Ma’am,” said the officer on the left with mechanical courtesy. “We are simply fulfilling the orders on the papers we have just served to Miss Waterhouse. And we’re taking her to the Human/Kindred Relations building for her claiming ceremony.”

  “Her what?” Sophia exclaimed, her green eyes wide with distress.

  “Her claiming ceremony, where she will meet the Kindred warrior who has chosen her as a bride,” the other officer explained patiently. “Miss Olivia Waterhouse has been drafted.”

  Chapter Two

  “Just try not to scare her.”

  “How would I scare her?” Baird cast an annoyed glance at his half brother. Sylvan had his arms crossed over his broad chest and there was a look of doubt on his face that got on Baird’s nerves. All morning the other male had been giving unsolicited advice and he was getting sick of it.

  “To start with, the fact that you’re so much larger than the human males she’s used to is probably frightening,” Sylvan pointed out, nodding at the puny looking humans standing behind the counter at one end of the large drab room. They were waiting
in the Human/Kindred Relations building for Baird’s bride to arrive with the draft officers and it was staffed mainly by humans. “Not to mention that hungry look in your eyes—you look like the big, bad wolf waiting to eat her up.”

  Baird frowned. “The big bad what?”

  “Wolf, the big bad wolf, threatening to eat her,” Sylvan clarified.

  Baird growled low in his throat. “No threat about it—it’s a promise. Can’t wait to eat her.” Just the thought of spreading his bride’s sweet, creamy thighs and lapping between her legs had his shaft pulsing—so much that it was hard to concentrate on the other male’s words.

  Sylvan rolled his blue eyes and hissed in disgust. “That isn’t what I meant at all.

  Haven’t you ever heard the human legend about the young female who wore a red hood and was menaced in the forest by a large lupine predator?”

  “No, should I?”

  “It was in the human training course I sent over for you to study,” his half brother reminded him. The Kindred had a natural affinity for languages. Being genetic traders they found it extremely easy to pick up any native tongue including the slang—which allowed Baird to curse as fluently as any Earth born human—a fact that pleased him to no end. But the nuances of culture sometimes eluded them so the training courses were a necessity—one he guiltily acknowledged he had mostly skipped. But it was difficult if not impossible to concentrate on obscure Earth myths and legends when all he could think about was her. He saw her in his mind’s eye constantly—when he wasn’t blocking out images of his recent imprisonment that was.

  Dark, so dark and cold. Chained to the wall when the wires weren’t piercing him. Fucking wires, raping his mind, stripping his memories, sucking away his strength. Showing him things—unspeakable things—until he didn’t know what was truth and what was a lie. Telling him he’d never get free, never see the ones he loved again, never see her…

  He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the ugly images. He would have died or gone insane if the alignment between his mind and hers hadn’t happened just as he’d been captured. The Scourge were a parasitic race that lived off the agony of others and their ability to get inside a prisoner’s mind took torture to a new level. To make matters worse, he’d roused the interest of their AllFather and had been singled out for special attention. Apparently his pain had a unique flavor…Baird felt a chill creep down his spine. Without the dreams of his bride to keep him sane he would have given up hope of living, let alone escaping from that hell hole.