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  Sure enough, as he spoke, the front door burst open and a voice shouted,

  “Hands up! This is the police!”

  “All right,” I said, making a decision. Stepping forward, I gave him my hand. A strange electrical tingle ran between us and I gasped. “What—?”

  “It’s nothing,” he assured me hastily. “Are you coming with me?”

  “Yes.” I nodded firmly. “Take me to Zoe.”

  “My pleasure. Come on.”

  We raced up the stairs, which were thankfully located on the other side of the living room from the entry hall, and into my bedroom.

  “Wait,” I panted as Grav slammed and locked the door—not that my flimsy bedroom lock would hold the police for long. “Why are we up here? Are we going out the window? Because it’s really high up and there aren’t even any trees to climb down.”

  “Not the window—the viewer,” Grav grunted.

  I didn’t understand what he was talking about until he gestured to the wide, silvery mirror attached to my bureau. It was an antique piece I’d inherited from my grandmother, but there was no door or drawer in it wide enough to fit me, let alone the seven-foot-tall, hugely muscular Grav.

  “What are you talking about?” I said blankly. “Is there some kind of secret passage there? Like the doorway to Narnia or something?”

  “Just watch.” He pulled me closer to him and we stood side by side, staring into the mirror. I noticed that there was a bluish-gray spot on his massive muscular chest that appeared to be spreading.

  “Oh, look—you’re hurt.” I pointed at it. “That’s going to be a nasty bruise.”

  Grav looked down at himself and grinned humorlessly.

  “That’s not a bruise.”

  “Then what—?”

  “You’ll see,” he interrupted. “I wish I had time to explain better but I don’t. Just don’t be surprised when we go through. I’m not, uh, exactly how I appear.”

  “Go through? Go through what?” I demanded but Grav was leaning forward and speaking directly at the mirror.

  “Char’noth,” he barked. “Two to transport and make it fuckin’ snappy.”

  “Two to transport?” I asked, looking at him incredulously. What did that mean? It sounded like something from one of those old Star Trek episodes Zoe used to make me watch. She was a total scifi geek and insisted on inflicting her obsession on all her friends.

  God, I missed her!

  I started to ask Grav more questions but outside I heard footsteps pounding up the stairs and a stern voice demanding that Grav give himself up and release me unharmed. Gerald had really done a number on their heads—the police believed him completely.

  “Grav,” I said nervously as someone started pounding on the door. “If we’re going to go, we have to go n—”

  The rest of the word died in my throat as the mirror began to swirl with a kaleidoscope of rainbow colors. Then a strange blast of music played. With a shock, I realized it was the same thing I’d heard just minutes before Zoe had disappeared. I’d been talking to her on the phone at the time of her disappearance and that music had been the last sound I heard before she screamed and was gone.

  The next minute, I found out why she’d been screaming.

  A force like nothing I had ever felt starting pulling Grav and me towards the mirror. It seemed like someone on the other side of those swirling colors had turned on a giant vacuum which was sucking us in.

  But in to what?

  “Grav?” I asked, trying to keep the panic from my voice.

  His big hand tightened on mine.

  “Here we go, darlin’. Hold on tight.”

  “But I—”

  I didn’t get to finish my sentence. Just as the bedroom door burst open and the police came in with guns out, I was sucked forward into and then through the mirror.

  I had a moment to think that I was leaving Earth and my whole life behind and I had no idea how or if I would ever get back.

  Then everything went black.

  Chapter Four

  Leah

  When I woke up, I was naked in the lap of a huge blue alien.

  I screamed and scrambled away from him as fast as I could.

  “Oh my God! Oh my God—what? Where? Who?” I could scarcely get the words out.

  “No, no—it’s okay. Take it easy, it’s just me!” He put out a hand to me but I shied away.

  The alien was naked too—and very obviously male. I couldn’t believe the size of the member between his legs. But as impressive as his equipment was, that wasn’t what caught and drew my eyes.

  His face was much scarier.

  Curving black horns like a ram’s grew from his temples and his eyes…how can I describe his eyes?

  The whites—or what should have been the whites of his eyes—were pure, liquid black. His irises were brilliant white and his pupils were black with a pinprick of white in their centers.

  I had never seen eyes like those and they scared the crap out of me.

  “Who are you?” I asked in a trembling voice.

  He sighed and ran a hand over his short black hair which was cut close to his scalp.

  “It’s me—Grav, Leah,” he said in a low, quiet voice. Clearly he was trying not to upset me anymore than I was already upset—which was plenty, let me tell you. “I told you I wasn’t how I seemed back on your planet, remember?”

  “Yes, but you didn’t tell me you were…were this.” I made a motion at him which caused my breasts to jiggle. This reminded me that I was completely naked—as naked as he was—and I quickly wrapped my arms around myself and drew my knees up to my chin. “What are you?” I whispered.

  He sighed again.

  “Yeah, I don’t blame you for bein’ scared. I’m an ugly son-of-a-bitch, I admit that. I’m half Braxian and half Vorn. That’s why I look like I do.”

  “But…” I shook my head. “You, uh, didn’t look like this back on…on…” I couldn’t make myself say ‘Back on Earth,’ because I still couldn’t believe we’d left the planet’s surface. “Back in my living room,” I said at last, lamely.

  “That’s because I was wearing a mask,” he said patiently. “And because I’d drunk saphor solution to hide my true skin color.” He gestured to his muscular blue-gray hide. “Which is this.”

  “You wore a mask?” I repeated, remembering his oddly generic features. “I don’t understand. Why?”

  He shook his head unhappily. “You haveta ask? Because of the way you’re looking at me now—like you think I’m gonna eat you up. Because I didn’t want to scare you, Leah.”

  “Oh,” I whispered in a small voice. I had to admit that seeing a seven foot tall blue alien with black horns and white-on-black eyes in my living room would have been pretty damn frightening. In fact, it probably would have caused me to question my own sanity.

  Not that I wasn’t doing that now.

  “I trust the transport went well?” a high, piping voice behind me asked.

  I spun around—as well as I could while still trying to keep myself covered—and saw what looked like a three foot tall, dark blue, segmented worm with multiple arms and legs. It regarded me with bulging purple eyes perched on stalks that swiveled as it took me in.

  I started to scream but the sound stuck in my throat.

  “Oh…Oh, my God,” I whispered, shaking my head. “First a giant, naked, blue alien and now a talking worm. I…I must be going crazy.”

  “No, you’re not,” Grav said quickly. He made a shooing motion at the worm. “Get back and give us a minute, Char’noth. Can’t you see the lady’s upset?”

  “I see only a disheveled Earth female with multiple cuts and lacerations on her face.” The worm Grav had called Char’noth sounded disapproving. “I need to know if this is due to our transport process. If so, the equipment needs to be moderated or changed. Such injury during transport is not acceptable…”

  “Oh. Well, thank you for b
eing concerned,” I said, trying to smile.

  “As it reduces the value of the merchandise,” Char’noth continued, pretty much killing any warm and fuzzy feelings I’d started to have towards the three foot tall worm guy.

  “Don’t get your tail twisted in a knot,” Grav told him. “Those marks on her face don’t have anything to do with your damn transport process.”

  “Well, then how did she acquire—” Char’noth began.

  “You don’t need to know,” Grav said, briskly. I gave him a grateful look and he nodded at me. “The main thing is we need to get you cleaned up and changed into, uh…” His cheeks went dull purple and I realized he was blushing. “Uh, into anything at all, I guess,” he finished.

  “What happened to my clothes, anyway?” I asked. “And yours?”

  “The transport beam only supports living, organic flesh,” the worm answered for him. “Unless it is reconfigured to transport non-living objects. But it cannot do both at once.”

  “Is the beam going to take us to Zoe?” I asked Grav.

  He barked a laugh. “Hardly. That kind of thing is only for short distances—the range is only a million solar miles or so.”

  “Oh, of course,” I murmured. “Only a million miles or so.”

  “That’s right.” He grinned amiably, showing very sharp-looking white teeth. “I guess that sounds like a lot to you, huh? But it’s really hardly anything—the universe is vast. Which is why most of us usually stay in our home galaxy.”

  “The Milky Way, you mean?” I said.

  “Is that what you Earthlings call it? We call it the Goddess’s cloak—because of the way it's spread out, all glittering with stars.”

  “The Goddess?” I said blankly.

  “Yeah. The Goddess of Mercy who created all of this and then created the Ancient Ones. She gave them the seeds of life and told them to sow them on planets capable of supporting life in her image. Those became the Twelve Peoples. The Vorn, the Braxians, the Majorans, the Eloim, the Denarins, the—”

  “But what about Earth?” I interrupted, frowning. “Where does Earth fit into this…this religion of yours? “Are we made in the, uh Goddess’s image? Are we one of the…the Twelve Peoples?”

  He frowned. “Actually, people from your planet are closer to the Goddess’s image than any of the Twelve. You see, Earth has been a closed planet—locked against invaders like Char’noth there,” he gestured to the blue worm, “For millennia. You’re what we call ‘Pure Ones.’”

  “Pure Ones?” I asked. “I don’t understand.”

  “You have the original DNA of the Ancient Ones,” Grav explained. “You haven’t mixed with any of the other sentient species in the galaxy. That makes you special—unique.”

  I thought of what he had said to Gerald. Something about how I was unique but he had used a special word for it. What was it now?

  “You called me something else,” I said. “A Lana…lata…”

  “A La-ti-zal,” Grav said, nodding. “Means you have latent powers bestowed by the Ancient Ones. It’s one reason Count Doloroso wanted you.”

  “Count who? The one Zoe was talking about in her message?”

  “Uh-huh.” He nodded. “But it doesn’t look he’s been anywhere near this planet and the Commercians are keeping their word not to sell you or your friend, so I think it’s safe to take you back to Eloim and Lady Zoe.”

  “Wait…what?” I said. “Who is selling who? I didn’t understand half of what you just said.”

  “You don’t need to.” Grav got to his feet and offered me a hand. “Come on. Eloim is a long trip, even with a faster-than-light hyper-drive. Let’s get started.”

  “So if we’re not getting beamed there, then how—?”

  “We’re taking my ship. Remember I told you I had one?” he asked. “It’s docked with this station right now but as soon as we’re inside we’ll uncouple and be on our way, back to Eloim.” He held out his hand to me again. “Come on. Sitting on that cold metal floor all bare like that has got to be cold.”

  “It is,” I admitted. “But, um, I’m shy. Do you have any, uh, clothes I could wear?”

  “We have acquired a supply of Earth female clothing,” the blue worm piped up, surprising me. “Since you silly creatures are all so attached to your outer wear, we have gone to great pains to procure some in order to keep our transportees happy.”

  “Oh, uh, thank you, I guess,” I said, surprised. “Where is it?”

  “Here. These appear to be in your size.”

  The worm thrust a bundle of clothing at me…which I stared at in disbelief.

  “This? You expect me to wear this?”

  “Why? Is there a problem with it? We searched your Internet for clothing appropriate to females who are trying to win the attention of males. This was one of the results.”

  “I bet,” I muttered, taking the outfit from him. It was a naughty schoolgirl costume with a short, plaid skirt and a white button down blouse, clearly meant to be tied above the midriff. There were even knee-high socks and high-heeled Mary Janes to go with it.

  “There is also this garment, if you prefer.” Another blue worm came forward and held out a black lace teddy that was very clearly see-through. It came with a pair of barely-there black lace panties to match.

  “No thanks,” I said. “I guess I’ll stick with the naughty school girl. Although I will take these.” I took the panties and added them to my pile. Some underwear was better than none, even if the underwear in question looked like something a porn star would wear. I frowned at the worm Grav had called Char’noth. “What kind of operation are you running here, anyway? Why do you want clothing that attracts men?”

  “The Alien Mate Index is the premier destination for Pure brides and concubines,” Char’noth answered promptly. “For a fee, any type of Earth female may be procured by the wealthy and influential males of the galaxy.”

  “What?” I stared at him. “Did you just say what I thought you said? You’re abducting Earth women and selling them as mail order brides?” I turned to Grav. “How can they do that? Is that even legal?”

  He frowned unhappily. “I don’t like it either—females should be protected from harm, not bought and sold. Unfortunately, your planet brought this on itself.”

  “What? How?”

  “By dissolving the lock the Ancient Ones left around your planet,” Char’noth piped. “Once you made a big enough hole in your ozone layer, we were free to begin our harvest. But please do not worry. Your friend, the Earth female Char-lotte, will not be sold. Her contract has already been paid in full by Sarden, the ruler of Eloim and bonded mate of Lady Zoe.”

  It was all too much. I put my head in my hands, trying to take in everything the worm was telling me and failing.

  “Leah?” Grav put a hand on my shoulder but I flinched away from him.

  “Look,” I said. “Can we just get out of here and go see Zoe?”

  “Of course.” He withdrew quickly. “If you wanna follow me, my ship is this way.”

  “Thank you.” I had the feeling he wanted to help me up but I just needed to keep to myself for a moment. Too much had happened and I’d gotten too much new information I needed to process.

  My rescuer was a huge blue alien with horns… talking worms were “harvesting” Earth’s females… Zoe was married to a guy who was the ruler of an entire planet…and Charlotte and I were safe from being sold because our “contracts” had already been bought. All that was only part of my information overload. I was still trying to deal with the vicious beating Gerald had given me before Grav had stopped him. Or rather, trying not to deal with it.

  I won’t think about it now, I told myself as I rose on shaky legs, clutching my schoolgirl clothes to my chest. I won’t think about it now—I’ll think about it later when I can stand it.

  But I didn’t know when I’d be ready to face the fact of my husband’s betrayal. Despite all the other strange and awful
things that had happened to me that day, Gerald’s cruel beating hurt the worst.

  My face ached where my husband had hit me, but my heart hurt even more as I followed Grav to his ship.

  Grav

  I could tell Leah was upset and overloaded and it made my heart ache for her, even though I told myself I shouldn’t care.

  You’re only here to protect her for a little while. Once you see her safely to Eloim, your duty is done. No point getting attached, I told myself grimly. She’s not even an actual ward—you haven’t signed a contract or given her your oath.

  Which didn’t really matter—I would, of course, protect her with my life, as I would any female in my care. But still, when a Protector swears his oath to a female, it seals the relationship between them.

  I remembered how little Teeny had watched me with wide eyes when I gave my oath to her, in the presence of her grandmother and grandfather. They had hired me to protect their granddaughter from their political enemies, of which there were many.

  Teeny had been only ten cycles old at the time and I had expected to be with her until she came of age and bonded herself to a male. But then, on a females-only retreat with her grandmother, she had been taken by pirates and sold to Tazaxx, the same male who had bought my friend Sarden’s blood-sister, Sellah. I had rescued Teeny but instead of thanks, her grandfather had shipped her off to an all female planet for finishing school.

  Thinking of my former ward bothered me more than I wanted to admit. Yeah, I’m a big softy, I guess but she’d become almost like a daughter to me. She had been so upset when her grandfather announced his plans for her…and told her I wasn’t allowed to go along. She’d wrapped her little arms around my neck and held on tight for as long as she could but in the end, he sent her off to school with tears in her eyes.

  I just hoped the people at her fancy new school were treating her well because if I ever found out differently…I gritted my teeth. Once a Protector has given his oath, it’s never really over until either he or his ward are dead. Teeny’s grandfather might have dissolved the contract between us, but she was still in my heart and would remain there forever.