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  The thought seemed to bring her alive somehow. Holy crap—he’s really killing him! Right here on my front porch, right in front of me—he’s killing him!

  “Stop!” she gasped, lurching forward to grab Six’s muscular arm. It was far over her head and Randy’s dangling feet were in the way but somehow she managed to get her hands around his bicep. It was as hard as iron. “Stop!” she demanded again. “You have to stop!”

  “Why?” His red left eye scanned her as though searching for answers. “You told me this male would come back again and again unless he was terminated. You said you could not come with me until he was dead.”

  “I never said that!” Or had she? Vaguely she remembered saying something about how Randy would keep coming back until the day he died unless he was stopped. But she’d never expected the big Kindred to take her literally.

  “You did. You cited him as the reason you could not come with me.” His grip on Randy’s throat loosened slightly but he still dangled the other man in the air like a rag doll.

  “But I thought you didn’t want me after all!” Mei-Li protested. “You said you only came to make sure I could take care of myself.”

  “I thought that you could and then I saw this male behaving suspiciously when he left the domicile where you first encountered him.” He shook Randy who gave a choked, half-unconscious moan. “I followed him and watched as he marked your vehicle.”

  “So, you watched him key my car and didn’t do anything about it? Thanks a lot,” Mei-Li muttered.

  “I wanted to see what else he would do. I followed him here and watched to see if you could fend off his attack on your own. You could not.”

  “What?” Mei-Li was really angry now. “You stood there and watched him attack me? What is wrong with you?”

  “There is nothing wrong with me but there appears to be something considerably wrong with you—you cannot defend yourself nearly as well as you at first led me to believe.”

  “I was doing my best,” Mei-Li protested.

  “Your ‘best’ was about to get you sexually assaulted—I believe that was what he was alluding to, was it not?” He shook Randy again.

  Mei-Li felt her cheeks getting hot and she was suddenly aware that her shirt was still gaping open, showing her white lace bra.

  “Just put him down,” she begged, clutching her shirt closed. “You can’t kill him—especially not here on my front porch. He’s an abusive asshole and he absolutely deserves it but think of all the paperwork involved. I’d never be done with it. We need to let the police deal with him—send him back to jail.”

  “I will not kill him on the condition that you come quietly with me,” Six said. “I do not wish to make a scene when I take you.”

  “What? When you take me where?”

  “To Z4—Zeaga Four. For our Claiming Period.”

  “What? No! You said you weren’t claiming me!”

  “I said that before I saw the kind of danger you were in. Am I right in thinking that you deal with this kind of scum on a daily basis?” He nodded at Randy whom he was still holding casually over his head, as though the two hundred and fifty pound man weighed no more than a child.

  “Randy Dungston is like a lot of men I have to deal with,” Mei-Li admitted thinking of all the drunk and abusive husbands, fathers, and disgruntled ex-boyfriends that littered the lives of the children in her care. “But I can handle them—I can handle myself.”

  “That will be unnecessary. From now on I will be taking care of you. This is natural and right—a Kindred’s instinct is to protect the female he claims.”

  “But you can’t claim me!” Panic gripped her by the throat. “You can’t!”

  “I am through arguing with you. You will come with me.”

  “But…but my clients—the children on my caseload! If I’m not here to watch over them—”

  Six nodded. “I understand your concern for them. Don’t worry, I will take care of this male before we go.” He shook Randy like a bag of rags.

  This sounded ominous to Mei-Li.

  “I told you, you can’t kill him! Even if he deserves it that’s not how we do things here. See, there’s something called due process—”

  Her words were cut off when Six dropped Randy heavily to the porch. The big man’s head bounced against the wooden boards and he groaned, his eyelids fluttering.

  “Hey,” she protested. “You can’t just—”

  Paying no attention to her, Six leaned over the supine figure and took one of Randy’s arms in both his hands. Mei-Li saw his metal hand flex and then with a calm, practiced gesture he snapped Randy Dungston’s bone in two, right between the elbow and the shoulder.

  “Oh my God!” Mei-Li gasped. At the same time Randy woke up with a howl and started screaming.

  “Ow! Holy God! Sweet Jesus—what?”

  With a muffled crunching sound, Six broke his other arm as well, this time between the elbow and the wrist.

  “Fuck!” Dungston screamed. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

  “What are you doing?” Mei-Li cried. “You can’t…I don’t…”

  Methodically, Six walked around the wailing man and planted one huge, booted foot on his right leg, right between the knee and the hip. As Mei-Li watched, he stomped down, breaking Dungston’s femur as casually as a man might snap a particularly stubborn piece of firewood.

  Randy had been trying to get up but this stopped him cold. He lay on the porch and screamed and howled, begging Six to stop. Six, however, was already planting his boot on Dungston’s other leg, between the knee and the ankle.

  Mei-Li watched in horror as Randy Dungston flopped on her porch like a wounded starfish. All his limbs were bent the wrong way, as though they had somehow turned to rubber. It made her sick to her stomach and Six still wasn’t done.

  “Stop, stop!” she begged, catching one muscular arm and dragging on it. Though Dungston was a bastard, she couldn’t stand to see him or anyone else tortured. “You can’t do this—you have to stop!”

  “Why?” Six’s face when he turned to her wasn’t cruel or malicious—he didn’t look like he was enjoying this. He simply looked determined, like a man who had to do a mildly distasteful job but was set on seeing it through to the end.

  “Why? Because we don’t do this here—we don’t torture people!” Mei-Li exclaimed. “And…and I thought you said you wanted me to come quietly—well this is not quiet!”

  “True.” Six looked thoughtfully at the squalling, flopping Randy. Mei-Li was certain that at any time one of her neighbors was going to call the police. In fact, she couldn't understand why nosey old Mrs. Hurley who lived next door hadn’t already. Having the police come might be a good thing—maybe they could stop Six from taking her. On the other hand, she thought, looking up at him, they would probably just get hurt or killed trying.

  As the thoughts swirled in her brain, Six leaned down to the screaming man and squirted something from a small tube between his wide-stretched lips. Randy’s eyes grew wide as a wad of gray-blue foam suddenly filled his mouth. It looked like he was trying to spit it out but it remained lodged firmly in place, effectively blocking his screams. The sudden silence seemed eerie, especially since the source of the former noise was still flopping around on her porch.

  “That is better,” Six said, turning to her.

  “Oh, God…” Mei-Li felt faint. She stumbled and would have fallen if Six hadn’t grabbed her arm.

  “Don’t touch me!” She yanked away from him. “What is wrong with you? Why did you do that?” She nodded down at Randy, still writhing mutely on her porch.

  Six shrugged his broad shoulders. “You said I couldn’t purge or terminate him so I put him out of commission. In this way you will know that the young ones you are leaving behind are safe.”

  “You think Dungston is the only asshole I have to deal with?” she demanded. “You think I’ll go with you because you broke his arms and legs?”

  “I think you’ll go with me because I have a
legally binding Claiming Contract which says I am entitled to take you,” Six said, frowning.

  “Oh my God…oh, God…” Mei-Li shook her head, not sure whether to laugh or cry. The worst thing was, he had a point. Though her father and the World Security Council had been talking about abolishing their deal with the Kindred, it hadn’t happened yet so the draft that allowed unmarried women to be called as brides by the big aliens was still in effect. Six could take her and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

  But surely she couldn’t be legally obligated to go with someone who had just stomped a man nearly to death on her front porch? Shouldn’t there be some kind of loophole for that kind of thing?

  “I don’t….I can’t even think right now,” she said, putting a hand to her forehead.

  “You don’t have to think—you just have to come with me.” Six motioned to her and Mei-Li stared at him in disbelief.

  “You think I’ll come with you after that?” She nodded at Randy. “After seeing what you did to him, how could I ever feel safe around you? How could I ever—”

  His eyes blazed. “You think that I would hurt you?”

  “Well…yes. After what you just did—”

  “I did this for you, to set your mind at ease.” His deep voice was fierce. “But I would never hurt you—I am going to protect you. With my life, if necessary.”

  “I…but I…” Her mind was a whirling blank. Suddenly Six was bending down to get on eye-level with her. He searched her face, giving her a long, level look.

  “I do not wish to frighten you, Mei-Li—that was never my intention. But you must come with me now. Will you walk or must I carry you?”

  “You…I…” Slowly but surely it was becoming clear that she had no choice about going with him. This time a few harsh words weren’t going to send the big Kindred away—he was going to take her whether she wanted him to or not.

  “Well?” he demanded.

  “I…I’ll walk,” she whispered.

  “Good. My shuttle is parked just ahead of your vehicle.”

  “What?” She pushed her glasses up her nose and squinted out at the street. The only car she could see parked there was her own. “But I don’t…don’t see anything.”

  “Naturally not. I have light refracting technology that renders my shuttle invisible when necessary.”

  “You have what?”

  But he was already headed for the porch door. He stepped over the supine body of Randy Dungston, who seemed to have fainted again, as casually as though he was stepping over a pile of trash. Looking back, he nodded for her to follow.

  Against her will, Mei-Li found that she was doing exactly that.

  Oh my God, am I really doing this? Am I really going with him after seeing what he just did?

  But what choice did she have?

  Well, you could run, whispered a little voice in her head. You’ve still got your purse with your phone in it. The minute you get clear of the porch you can just take off. Hide somewhere and call for help.

  It seemed like a good idea. Six was ahead of her, already striding down the front sidewalk to where his invisible car was supposedly parked. All she had to do was break right and run around the hedge that separated her front lawn from Mrs. Hurley’s property. Then she could hide in the bushes or bang on a neighbor’s door and call 911 and say she was being abducted.

  Mei-Li took a deep breath, determined to try it. No matter how good his reasons were, she couldn’t go with Six after seeing him calmly and methodically break someone’s arms and legs. He hadn’t even shown a speck of remorse—it was as though crippling people was no big deal to him.

  Her heart was pounding as she hobbled down the last step. Her knee was still throbbing but that was okay—she could deal with it later. Six’s broad back was to her and there was never going to be a better opportunity. She turned and dashed to the right—

  And her leg gave way completely.

  With a cry of pain, she went down on the ground, feeling like someone had jabbed a rusty wire into her knee. Her purse went flying, spilling its contents everywhere, including her cell phone, which she could see glowing on the sidewalk.

  “Mei-Li?” Six was at her side in a flash. He knelt to examine her knee and when he looked up, his face was grave. “This requires immediate attention and you should not have attempted to run on it.”

  “I…” Mei-Li bit her lip, uncertain of what to say. Did he know she’d been trying to get away from him? “It really hurts,” she whispered at last. “Maybe…I think you should take me to a hospital.”

  Six shook his head. “I can mend this injury on my shuttle once we are out of your planet’s atmosphere. I have the latest in Tolleg medical tech in my stores.”

  “But—” Before she could protest further, he swung her up into his arms and was striding towards the street.

  “Hey, what’s all this? What’s going on?”

  Suddenly, Mrs. Hurley, her next door neighbor, came around the side of the hedge that separated their property. She was wearing a flowing muumuu with big purple flowers on it and her hair was up in pink plastic curlers.

  “Mrs. Hurley!” Mei-Li made frantic shooing gestures at the old lady. “Go on, get out of here!”

  “What? How dare you speak to me like that, young lady? And what was all that screaming and carrying-on I heard coming from your place a minute ago? I’ve called the police, I’ll have you know.” The old woman put her hands on her hips. “This is a nice, quiet neighborhood and we’re not putting up with whatever kind of sex and drug parties you’re having over here.”

  “Mrs. Hurley, I’m not having drugs or doing sex,” Mei-Li gabbled. “I mean, doing drugs or having sex,” she amended.

  “Oh, yeah?” Mrs. Hurley frowned up at Six. “Then what is he doing here and why is he carrying you like that?”

  “He’s taking me away.” Mei-Li made her eyes wide, trying to get the message across. “He’s taking me with him and I haven’t even been able to call anyone and tell them. Like my father or my friend, Claudia…” She cut her eyes at her cell phone which was still glowing peacefully on the sidewalk like a discarded part of a life she would never see again.

  “Oh…” Mrs. Hurley took a step back, her hand going to her chest. “I see.” She eyed the stoic Six mistrustfully. “Is he taking you without your consent? Is he kidnapping you, dear?”

  “Please, just go,” Mei-Li begged her. “Just leave. It’s not safe.” She hoped the old lady would go back to her own house and then come back for her cell phone when she and Six were gone. To her relief, Mrs. Hurley did just that. She scampered across the front lawn with surprising speed for a woman in her seventies, and only turned to point her finger at Six when she was safely on her own sidewalk.

  “You won’t get away with this, young man,” she shouted. “Mei-Li’s father is on the World Council! He’ll hunt you down. And the police are coming too!”

  As if to emphasize her words, the sound of blaring sirens could suddenly be heard in the distance.

  But any hope that she might be rescued at the last minute was dashed when Six made a gesture and a door opened in midair. Mei-Li had a confused image of what looked like the interior of some kind of cockpit filled with complicated controls and then Six was putting her inside and strapping her down.

  “You won’t get away w—” Mrs. Hurley’s voice was abruptly cut off when the door slammed shut.

  Mei-Li looked wildly around as Six climbed in the other side of the strange vehicle. She could see flashing lights pulling up in front of her house and Mrs. Hurley running out to talk to the cops but it was too late. The vehicle—ship?—they were in was suddenly rising straight up into the air. In another moment, her house was no bigger than an ant and the police lights looked like fireflies in the darkness.

  Mei-Li closed her eyes, unable to watch anymore. This was it—she was being taken from Earth by the huge Kindred who had been haunting her dreams for months.

  Who knew if she would ever get home?<
br />
  Chapter Nine

  Six watched Mei-Li from the corner of his eye as he guided the shuttle up and away from the Earth’s atmosphere. She had turned her face away from him and her thin shoulders were shaking. Was she feeling? More to the point, were her feelings negative? He very much feared they were.

  Well, so much for your plan to claim her without threatening or frightening her, a little voice whispered in his head sarcastically. It worked almost as well as your plan to take her without causing a scene. Despite High Chancellor Terex’s orders, he hadn’t wanted to make a big commotion when he took Mei-Li away in his shuttle. But considering the screaming sirens and flashing lights of the official vehicles that had been pulling up as they lifted off, not to mention the older female shouting threats, Six was very much afraid that Chancellor Terex was getting exactly what he had asked for.

  Well, maybe he could talk to her, explain a little more about what was going on.

  “Mei-Li,” he murmured. When she did not respond, he put out a hand and brushed her arm with his fingertips.

  “Don’t touch me!” She jerked away from him, huddling into a tiny ball in the passenger seat as though she could get away from him if only she could make herself small enough.

  She fears me—she thinks I’m going to hurt her.

  For some reason the thought made his heart contract painfully in his chest. It wasn’t as if he had emotions for her or felt sorry for her pain but still…he didn’t want her to be afraid of him.

  “Mei-Li,” he said in a low voice. “I would not have hurt the elderly female who came looking for you.”

  “What?” she half turned towards him and he saw that her eyes were red, as though she was trying not to let her eyes leak. What was that called again? Crying—yes, that was it. She was trying not to cry. “You mean Mrs. Hurley?” she asked.

  “You told her it wasn’t safe—that she should go,” Six said. “But I would not have hurt her—not unless she threatened you. Also, you could have taken your personal communication device if you wished to speak to those who are important to you.”