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  Instead, she sank down on the dirty rattan sofa and put her head in her hands. God, what a day. And it still wasn’t over.

  Well, at least you’re not being hauled away in a spaceship to some distant world where everybody is half Terminator! she tried to console herself. But somehow the fact that her “claiming” hadn’t happened after all was small comfort. Mei-Li tried to tell herself she was relieved but instead she just felt empty inside. And she didn’t know why.

  Chapter Seven

  Six frowned as he got into his camouflaged shuttle again and started the engine. Mei-Li had really surprised him.

  In every dream he had shared with her, she had seemed frightened and frail—a timid little creature that reminded him in her mannerisms of the furskins, the tiny half rodent, half mechanoid creatures that scurried around the medical barges. She had seemed ready to run away and hide at the very sight of him.

  But though her tiny body looked frail, she had hidden strength.

  When the action began, he had been sitting in his shuttle, far down the street and watching her watch the little domicile. Nothing had been happening and he’d almost decided he would just go and leave her when he’d seen her jump out of her vehicle and go charging into the place she’d been watching with nothing more than a small metal canister in her hand.

  Six had followed her in and had quickly realized how dangerous the situation was. Mei-Li was confronting a male nearly twice her size and making demands and threats when she clearly had almost nothing to back them up. He hadn’t wanted to get involved but it was clear she or the young one she was trying to defend would be hurt if he didn’t. However, before he could do more than speak a few words, Mei-Li had used her metal canister, which appeared to be some kind of extremely acrid chemical weapon, and had rescued the young one without his help.

  It had amazed Six to see her act so bravely and decisively—like a warrior. Also like a warrior, she had refused to be slowed down by her injured knee.

  But it wasn’t just the way she had dealt with the Earth male or her wounds that impressed Six, he was also impressed by the way that the little female had reacted when she first saw him.

  He had seen the fear in her eyes when she first looked up at him and had expected her to faint or cry or act in some other irrational, emotional way. Hadn’t the Earth female Tess warned him that it might be so? Instead, Mei-Li had turned that fierce anger on him, telling him that she couldn’t go with him and demanding that he acknowledge her ability to care for herself. Reluctantly, Six had been forced to do just that.

  She doesn’t need me, he told himself as he started the shuttle’s engines. Doesn’t want me either. For some reason the idea caused a kind of constriction in his chest—a tightness that he chose not to acknowledge. After all, rejection meant nothing to him—he had no feelings for her to hurt. In fact, he had no strong emotions about the female he had come to claim at all. Well, except maybe admiration.

  He couldn’t stop thinking of how she had faced down a male twice her size with no sign of fear at all. Her dark, lovely eyes had flashed with rage and her long, silky black hair had whipped around her delicate features. Truly, she was very pleasing to look at—if he’d had emotions he might even had called her beautiful. Her body might be frail, but her spirit was one of a warrior.

  Against his will, Six found himself intrigued by her. Truly, she was a female to be reckoned with. He wondered what other surprises she had hidden beneath her demure exterior?

  It was a pity he would never get to find out…

  * * * * *

  “Well, it’s wrapping up in there. The police have their statements—now it’s up to us to do the paperwork.” Claudia came out onto the porch where Mei-Li was still sitting in the shadows on the rattan couch.

  “Great,” Mei-Li said tiredly. “Did they say if they caught Randy Dungston yet?”

  “Nope, but they’re looking for him. Hopefully they’ll get him before too long.”

  “Before he comes back to bother Kristin and her little sister again, you mean,” Mei-Li said darkly. No matter how many times they were picked up by the police and sent to jail, men like Randy Dungston kept showing up, like bad pennies. She just hoped it would be awhile before she had to deal with him again.

  “Mei-mei, are you okay? If you don’t mind me saying so, you look awful.” Claudia put a hand on her shoulder, a concerned look on her face.

  “Gee, thanks—you really know how to cheer me up.” Mei-Li tried to smile but she found it almost impossible—the corners of her mouth simply refused to turn up. Her head was throbbing, her cut knee was stinging and she felt absolutely horrible.

  “Seriously, what happened? I mean, not with all this…” She gestured to the shabby little house where Angry Mom and her kids had finally settled down. “I know what happened here. I’m talking about what happened with you?”

  “You don’t know? Angry Mom didn’t say anything about him?”

  “About who? She was babbling about some big guy but I thought she meant Dungston.”

  “No, she was talking about him. Him, Claudia,” Mei-Li emphasized. “He came for me after all.”

  “He who? You mean—?”

  “Yes, the man of my dreams.” Mei-Li started to laugh but the sound coming out of her was more like a sob so she choked it off. “He actually came—right in the middle of the mess with Dungston and Angry Mom and all the rest of it!”

  Claudia gave a long, low whistle. “Having an alien from another planet show up in the middle of a domestic altercation. That’s going to complicate the paperwork considerably.”

  “Paperwork? You think I care about paperwork?” Mei-Li snapped.

  Claudia made a calm down gesture with both hands. “Take it easy, Mei-mei. Just trying to lighten the mood.”

  Mei-Li put a hand to her head. “I know. I’m sorry, that was uncalled for. It’s been a long day and I’m just so damn exhausted.”

  “Of course you are, honey,” Claudia said gently. “And I hate to ask anymore but, uh, what happened? If he came for you, why are you still here?”

  “He said he just wanted to check on me—to make sure I was safe.” Mei-Li shrugged tiredly. “I guess seeing me shoot Randy Dungston in the face with a stream of pepper spray convinced him that I was perfectly able to take care of myself.”

  “That does sound like a pretty impressive display.” Claudia nodded thoughtfully.

  “Yeah. Or maybe seeing my flat chest changed his mind. You have to admit, this is not an impressive display.” Mei-Li nodded down at her rumpled gray suit jacket and her white silk blouse which had looked so nice that morning. Now they looked like she felt—like they’d gone through hell. But it was clear to see there wasn’t much going on behind them.

  “Your boobs look fine for your size,” Claudia said. “If you had great big ones like me you’d look ridiculous—like a porn star. Besides, I’m betting it’s more the size of your balls than the size of your boobs that scared him off. You acted like a total badass in there—I’ll admit it even though it makes me madder than hell that you disobeyed orders and ran in before the cops showed up.”

  Mei-Li shrugged tiredly. “I had no choice. If I hadn’t gone in to get her, Kristin might be—”

  “I understand. I get it.” Claudia nodded. “Now you get this—you were a major hero tonight. You saved a little girl’s life, sprayed a drunk asshole with pepper spray, and sent the man who’s been bugging you for months packing. So why the long face? You ought to be celebrating—he’s officially out of your life forever!”

  “I should, I guess. I just…” Mei-Li shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “I don’t know either until you tell me, Mei-mei. Come on—what’s bothering you? Give.”

  “I honestly don’t know…” Mei-Li sighed. “After he left I just started thinking about how…how rude I’d been to him. I mean, I really let him have it.”

  “Rude? Are you crazy?” Claudia shook her head in disbelief. “This is the guy who’s bee
n disrupting your sleep, scaring you to death, and threatening to steal you away for months and you’re worried you were rude to him when you finally got rid of him? Please!”

  Mei-Li gave a broken little laugh. “I know—sounds crazy, doesn’t it?”

  “Actually, honey, yes. Yes, it does.” Claudia looked at her firmly. “Now listen up and listen good—that man was nothing but trouble and you’re damn lucky he’s gone. You’ll realize that in the morning after a good night’s sleep. Right now what you’re going to do is go home, take a hot bubble bath, and go straight to bed—in that order. And I don’t want to see you in the office before Monday at nine AM or I will personally suspend your narrow little ass until I feel you’re fit for duty again. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, Ma’am.” Mei-Li gave her a mock salute and tried to smile. She stood up from the dirty rattan couch on wobbly legs and Claudia’s eyes widened.

  “What the hell, Mei-Li? What’s that?”

  “Oh…” Mei-Li looked tiredly down at her gore streaked leg. “I cut myself on the broken bottle Dungston was threatening Kristin with. But please don’t make me file an incident report—it looks a lot worse than it is. Really, it’s just a scratch.”

  “Looks like more than a scratch to me,” Claudia said, eyeing her wounded leg critically. “I should send you to the ER.”

  “No, please.” Mei-Li clasped her hands together pleadingly. “All I really need is that hot bubble bath you were talking about and a Band-Aid. And about twenty hours of uninterrupted sleep. Then I’ll be good as new, I swear.”

  “Well…” Claudia sighed and gave her shoulder another squeeze. “All right, get going. I’ll see you Monday.”

  “Thanks,” Mei-Li said gratefully. “Night, boss lady.”

  “Good night, Mei-mei.” Claudia gave her a sympathetic smile and went back into the house—doubtless to wrap up the case. Mei-Li waited until she was gone and then kicked off her best court shoes which by now didn’t look so good. Carrying the heels, she hobbled carefully down the steps and limped across the street to her little blue car. Her wounded knee actually felt a lot worse than she’d let on but she couldn’t face hours in the ER followed by hours of filling out multiple incident report forms tonight—she just couldn’t.

  Sighing, she started her car and put it in drive. Her own house was just a few miles away. She’d be relaxing in a bubble bath with a glass of red wine before she knew it. And maybe, just maybe now that Six was out of her life for good, she would finally be able to get a good night’s sleep.

  Chapter Eight

  It wasn’t until she got home that Mei-Li realized someone had keyed her car.

  There was a long, jagged scratch that ran its entire length on the passenger side. It went from the headlight, across the door, and up to the taillight in one unbroken line.

  What the hell? she thought uncertainly as she examined the scratch which was silvery white against the dark blue of the rest of the car. She parked right under a street light so the side of her little car was easily visible. At first she thought the mark might be from some kind of accident but there was no way—the scratch was too long. It was ugly and deliberate and clearly made by someone with angry intent. But it hadn’t been there earlier today—Mei-Li was certain of it. So who could have done it?

  Randy Dungston, whispered a little voice in her head. But no—he’d been half blinded by pepper spray. Plus he had been in a hurry to get away before the police arrived. Would he really have taken the time to key her car?

  Maybe, Mei-Li thought uneasily. It certainly seemed like the kind of petty, vindictive thing Randy would do. The kind of thing someone who wanted to hurt you would do, whispered a little voice in her head.

  Mei-Li tried unsuccessfully to push it away. It made her think of her dad, who was always trying to assign her a security detail or at least a bodyguard. He always argued that because he was on the World Council, she might be in danger if anyone found out she was his daughter. Mei-Li had disagreed.

  “Believe me, Dad, my clients aren’t exactly socialites,” she’d told him. “I’m in less danger if I just live anonymously, like I want to.”

  “I just worry about you, Pun’kin,” he’d said. “You shouldn’t be living in that neighborhood and going all around the worst part of the city by yourself.”

  “I’m fine,” Mei-Li had assured him.

  Now she repeated it to herself.

  “I’m fine,” she muttered. “I’m fine and so is everything else.” She felt better for saying the words out loud because it seemed to make them more true. Everything was okay and she would have the scratch on her car taken care of later. Tonight, she was too tired to deal with anything else. She just wanted to get inside her little bungalow and relax.

  Her knee was killing her so she held her shoes in one hand as she limped up the steps to her front porch. It was the wrap around kind and one of the main reasons she had bought the house in the first place. It was screened all around and had a porch swing in one corner where she loved to sit and read at twilight when some of the heat of the Florida day had dissipated. In fact, as she shut the screen door after herself, she could hear the soft creaking of its chains as it swung in the breeze…

  Mei-Li took another limping step and stopped. There was no breeze tonight—the damp heat of the Florida night was absolutely breathless. So what was making her swing creak?

  “Hey there, you little chink bitch.”

  A large shape disengaged itself from the shadows on the front porch and suddenly Randy Dungston’s face was revealed, floating out of the darkness like a bloated moon. His skin was red and irritated from the pepper spray and there was a mean little smile on his skinny lips.

  “Oh!” Mei-Li’s heart seemed to skip a beat. She stumbled backwards, reaching behind her for the screen door’s handle. But before she could grab it, Dungston grabbed her, locking his big meaty fists in the material of her jacket and blouse.

  “Little cunt,” he hissed, pulling her close and bathing her face in scotch fumes. “Chasin’ me off my own property and spraying me with motherfuckin’ pepper spray.”

  “Let go of me!” Mei-Li was fumbling with one hand in her purse, searching for the small metal canister in question. For a moment she thought she felt it but then it slipped away from her fingertips, leaving her with nothing.

  “Don’t think so,” Dungston said belligerently. “I think I owe you one, sweetheart, and I’m here to pay up.”

  “Leave me alone!” Mei-Li yanked back against his grip, a violent motion that caused her silk blouse to rip open, tiny pearl buttons bouncing everywhere. She would have gotten away if not for the hold he still had on her suit jacket. As it was, all she succeeded in doing was revealing her white lace bra.

  “Hmmm.” Randy Dungston eyed her chest with interest. “Doesn’t look like you got a whole lot but I bet whatever you do got is nice, am I right?”

  “Stop it!” Mei-Li tried to cover herself, clutching the high heeled shoes she was carrying to her chest with one arm as she continued to dig in her purse with the other hand.

  “You got teeny little titties but I bet you got those big, puffy nipples—right?” He leered at her. “You like to get ‘em sucked sometimes, you little chink whore? Is that what you like?”

  “No, this is what I like.” Mei-Li had given up her frantic search for the pepper spray when she realized that she was still clutching her best court shoes with their narrow, sharp heels in one arm. Dropping one shoe, she grabbed the other tight and hammered the high heel into Dungston’s bulging right eye…

  Or she would have if he hadn’t moved out of the way at the last minute. As it was, she only managed to skim the side of his face with the heel. It left a long, narrow scratch that was probably painful but hardly debilitating.

  “That’s it, you little bitch!” Randy’s piggy little eyes narrowed and he dragged her even closer. “I was just gonna fuck you up. But now I think I’ll fuck you first,” he snarled.

  “No! Let me g
o—get off me! Get—” The words died in her mouth as her wish was suddenly granted. With no warning, Randy was lifted up and away from her, to hang near the top of the porch. It almost looked as though he was levitating.

  As it happened, he lost his grip on Mei-Li’s arms and his narrow eyes grew wide with fright.

  “What…who…?” he gasped.

  Actually, Mei-Li wanted to know the same thing. What the hell was going on and who was responsible for it? Was her front porch haunted?

  Suddenly a tall figure in black stepped out of the shadows. It was Six and he was holding Randy up by the scruff of his neck like a dirty puppy. His right eye was cold and his left blazed like a searchlight. His lips were narrowed to a thin, tight line.

  “Hey…hey, put me down!” Randy gasped, catching sight of his captor’s face. “What the hell, man! I wasn’t really gonna hurt her!”

  “You have made a grave error in judgment,” Six told him. His deep, cold voice was a menacing growl that turned Mei-Li’s blood to ice. “You have attempted to harm the female I came to protect and to claim. This is an offense worthy of immediate termination.”

  “Termination? What are you talking about man? Seriously, what the hell?” Randy squawked, twisting in the huge Kindred’s grip. “Let me down. C’mon, I swear I won’t bother her no more!”

  “You’ll never bother anyone again.” Six shifted his grip so that his massive hand was locked around the front part of Randy’s thick throat. It was his left hand—the metal one, Mei-Li saw. As she watched, he began to squeeze.

  “Oh…shit,” Randy choked and then he couldn’t get another word out. He began flailing and beating uselessly at Six’s arm and the hand that was holding him but it was useless—the Dark Kindred’s grip was as relentless as a hangman’s noose.

  Mei-Li watched in horror as her attacker’s face grew slack and his tongue began to protrude. She felt like she was in some kind of a bad dream and she couldn’t wake up. Was Six really going to choke a man to death while she just stood there and watched?