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  The two tall men bowed their heads in synchrony as she stopped a meter away from them, suddenly regretting her decision to see them. Both Felix and Mikel towered over her, and their impressive physiques were apparent under the closely tailored uniforms they wore. Wide shoulders, thick arms, massive legs, the two Alphans looked like they could toss a sofa back and forth between them without strain. She felt puny and helpless in comparison, which was an unusual sensation since she was solidly built by any standard. They wouldn’t hurt her. Mak would never have brought her to them if he’d sensed any harm might come to her.

  “A pleasure to see you again, Alisa Sorrel,” the bold one, Felix said with a slight smile, his gaze never leaving her face. She suddenly wished she was wearing a long robe rather than the trim trousers and tunic she preferred for gardening.

  “How did you learn my name?”

  “Through diligent inquiry, lady,” Mikel informed her as he gestured for her to take a seat at a nearby chair. After a quick glance at Mak, who situated himself at his centrally located desk so he could observe, she sank down into the soft leather chair to find an Alphan soon crouched at either side, hemming her in with their muscles and heat. “We spoke with everyone we knew who’d been in attendance yesterday and managed to piece together who you were. As soon as duty permitted, we came to retrieve you—”

  “To see you,” Felix cut in with a glance at his bondmate.

  Retrieve her? She wasn’t anyone’s property. She cut a hard glance at Mikel, and he blinked.

  “No.” Her denial was automatic. Why would she venture away from the quiet refuge of the women’s quarters with these two big, muscular men she didn’t know? She wanted to go to her garden and work. These Alphans were making her nerves jangle and her lungs contract.

  Felix blinked, and his black eyebrows swooped down. “No?”

  Alisa shook her head. “No, thank you.”

  “But you are ours—” Mikel nearly stood, but a loud crack from Mak’s desk soon had him settling back down. Alisa glanced at the older man to find him scowling at the two bondmates as he tapped a knobbed black stick on the desk.

  Felix took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Then what would you like to do?”

  Alisa glanced from one to the other, unsure how truthful to be. “I’d like to go to work.”

  The two men glanced at each other, nearly identical frowns of apparent confusion creasing their features. “Work? You work?”

  A spurt of impatience boiled up. “Yes. I work. I have responsibilities. I do useful things in a timely manner.”

  She stood and brushed her hands down her sides, wishing instead she could press her palms against the broad chests of Mikel and Felix and push them out the door and away from her. Her brain was buzzing with some swirling urgency, impossible to ignore. She wanted them gone, that was it. That had to be it. With a quick glance at Mak, who was watching them with a wary eye, she stepped away from the Alphan males who’d also risen, standing too close, making her shiver with their imposing physicality.

  Without a word of parting, she rushed past them and made her way to the entrance to the living quarters, an area off limits to any Alphans not on staff. As she trotted down the hall and tried to look forward to her quiet time in the garden, Alisa couldn’t shake her unsettled feeling. She could blame it on painful memories but knew that wasn’t the cause of her shaking hands or disordered thoughts. Something about the intensity of the two men, their suppressed surety, had her reeling.

  ****

  Mikel watched Alisa flee, and his stomach ached. Hurt like he’d just taken a gaff stick to his abdomen. How could she just leave them? Regret welled up. He’d apparently made an enormous error in his speech, but he couldn’t understand what. It was a good lesson to be reinforced. He should remain silent and let Felix do the talking. His bondmate was much more articulate.

  Felix must have sensed his attention because he turned away from staring at the door where sweet Alisa had disappeared to look at him, puzzlement clear in his eyes. “What happened?”

  They’d been so sure how this encounter would proceed. Once they’d discovered her identity, both he and Felix had been jubilant. They’d cleaned their quarters, laid in a stock of food, and requested the next several days off so they’d have plenty of uninterrupted time to gain an intimate relationship with Alisa. The realization that she wasn’t waiting for them with her bags packed and a smile on her face had been a shock, and the fact that she’d simply run off was devastating.

  “I said something wrong.”

  “But what? Using the term retrieve might have made her feel like a package. But otherwise, the connection was there. I felt it like fire in my blood.” Felix shook his head and leaned against a pillar. Mikel was equally unsteady on his feet. Had a bondmate ever behaved in such a way? His few acquaintances who’d managed to gain a female partner had all described the process as rapid and overwhelming for all parties, not that the men discussed it in much detail. But it was definitely supposed to involve her wanting them as much as they wanted her.

  The crack of wood striking wood interrupted them, and Mikel regarded the old gatekeeper who’d chaperoned their brief encounter with Alisa. He was wrinkled, grey, and looked like he knew how to disable an entire platoon of charging Xyran with some twine and three pebbles. He brandished his crook.

  “Centurions.”

  Both he and Felix automatically bowed their heads as a gesture of respect for his elder status. He might not outrank them, but he definitely was in control of his sphere.

  “What is your intent in regard to her?”

  Mikel gulped, as the censure in the old fighter’s eyes was clear. He knew many of the diplomatic corps dallied with the available human women here. It was a privilege of rank, and a rare treat for Alphan men to find a female sexual partner considering the lack of women of their own kind back home. Human women seemed to find Alphans attractive, or at least some did. He and Felix had certainly engaged in some casual flings with open-minded females while they’d been stationed on Earth. But a mere one or two nights of passion with Alisa would not satisfy him or his bondmate. She was suddenly and irrevocably as essential to them as oxygen.

  “Entirely honorable, I assure you.” Felix said, staring past the old man to peer down the hallway where she had disappeared.

  “Sounded more like you were going to throw her over your shoulder and steal her out of here.”

  The image that queued up in his admittedly over-stimulated mind had Mikel reeling, his staff hardening with the thought of wrapping his arms around the soft curves of her thighs, her buttocks, having her wriggle against him with gasps of excitement. When his bondmate shot him a dark look, Mikel forced himself to deal with the here and now and leave such fantasies for the shower cubicle.

  “We didn’t intend to abduct her. We wished to speak to her and present our case.”

  Mak raised one eyebrow and released his hold on the discipline rod. Mikel breathed a sigh of relief. He’d often been chastised with the crook while he was at the academy and had the knots on his skull to this day.

  “You don’t have much experience with women, do you?”

  Mikel shook his head even as Felix spoke up. “We have spoken with twelve women in our time here and have had four welcome us for coitus. Well, one for me and three for him.”

  His bondmate jerked his head at him, and Mikel suppressed a grin. Felix was quite peeved he hadn’t had more success at finding a willing woman. He’d demanded to know what Mikel said or did to entice them to join him in bed, but since he wasn’t sure what women were thinking in the first place, he honestly couldn’t answer. He just gratefully accepted whatever contact they were willing to give.

  The older man sighed and settled back behind his desk, gesturing for him and Felix to bring their seats closer.

  “It seems you have encountered humans who are actively seeking a means to leave this planet. Not that they weren’t sincere in their desire for you,” he said, holding up hi
s hand to stave off any protest. “But the women here come from terrible circumstances, and they want a better life. Our efforts to encourage all these uncooperative governments to support just this one center are nearly always met with bluster, corruption, and outright neglect of their most vulnerable citizens, so it’s no wonder these women wish to leave and find security on Alpha.”

  Mikel stayed quiet, ready to learn. Instinct told him gather Alisa up and bring her home, but they apparently needed a strategy.

  “And that’s exactly what we will give Alisa. We are ranking officers and come from elite houses. We can give her a fine home, jewels, and children. She’ll never have to worry about a thing.” Felix made his declaration like he was standing in front of the assembled cohort in the Great Hall on Alpha, introducing his bonded woman and staking his claim upon her. Mikel felt an answering swell of pride.

  Mak tilted his head. “As I said, those are the women who wish to bond, who have their hearts set on a different life. Some who shelter here are not of that mind.”

  “Whyever not? Other than this campus, which is maintained to our standards, everything I have seen of Earth is shabby, if not completely dysfunctional.” Mikel couldn’t help interjecting. He, along with the rest of the newly-arrived diplomatic contingent, had taken a quick tour of Earth as a welcome from various countries officials. Most of the urban areas swelled with homeless populations, the infrastructure was faulty, and only the supremely wealthy seemed to have any security or contentment. Out in the hinterlands, they’d had to merely fly over, since so many of the scattered inhabitants harbored feelings of animosity towards interstellar visitors and would take shots at anyone non-human. Their ship had even been fired upon as they’d hovered over a place called Las Vegas.

  “Some have suffered abuse at the hands of others. It makes them cautious.” Mak’s quiet words burst through Mikel’s conceptions, and he closed his mouth. Of course these women and children had suffered, both at the hands of their own people, and via the barbaric behavior of the Xyrans who’d kidnapped them. Just considering the idea that sweet Alisa might have been hit made his stomach turn.

  “Do you mean to say Alisa was injured by her captors? I thought they kept their human prisoners in good shape to fetch the best price.” Felix’s quiet question shocked Mikel. He’d never even thought of such a terrible scenario.

  The older warrior shrugged. “She’s very reserved and never confessed such to me. Don’t be surprised at her avoidance of you. I know we are quite different from Xyrans, but to these humans we tend to look alike.”

  Mikel found that a ridiculous notion. Granted, both Alphan and Xyran males were of equal stature and musculature, but his skin did not change color like a fluttering flag. He and his bondmate possessed very elegant horns where their smelly nemeses had only a fragile, unadorned cranium filled with a foul forked tongue. No comparison at all.

  “So what is your advice to us?”

  “I would warn you off, if all you wish is a temporary bedmate to entertain you for your tour here. You’ll find plenty of others willing to take on that task, even a few interested in you both.” Mak gave Felix a pointed look, and Mikel wanted to grin.

  “We wish a permanent alliance of the utmost honor and respect,” Felix shot back, nearly rising out of his chair. His bondmate did tend to bristle when their honor was questioned.

  “No offense intended, young centurion,” Mak said as he picked up his crook and stroked the rough leather flail attached to the handle in a silent reminder to regain composure. “I would suggest you apply yourselves to more research. You seem to have a talent for it considering the ease with which you found her.”

  “Research of what?”

  “How to court a woman.”

  Chapter Two

  Court a woman, indeed. Felix snorted out his frustration and glared at Mikel, who was conscientiously studying whatever data he’d pulled up from the official Alphan Earth guide. He doubted his bondmate would find much of use in there. That tome had been compiled by military strategists and diplomats, men hardly interested in the more intimate rituals of this backward people they were reluctantly interacting with. Felix had casually glanced over it on their flight to Earth. He’d learned about the major countries, industries, natural resources, and geography. He’d ignored the section on history for it had been far too convoluted to hold his interest, and human religious practices had put him to sleep.

  “What have you discovered?”

  Mikel blinked at the screen, then tore his gaze away as he swiveled on his chair to face him. “Not much, but I did find a translation of an antiquated etiquette guide attached. I think they tacked it on so we could learn the proper modes of address.”

  “Riveting.” Felix couldn’t keep the sarcasm from his voice. He didn’t want to waste his time reading and planning. He wanted Alisa here in their quarters where he could show her all they could provide. He wanted to protect her, impress her, make her smile. Just thinking about how she’d been kidnapped by disgusting Xyrans, possibly hurt by one of them, made his blood boil. The idea that she was sleeping alone, vulnerable, even if she was in a secure location, grated on his nerves like a dull blade.

  “It is. Listen to this,” Mikel said, completely ignoring his aggrieved tone. “The sanctioned union of a man and a woman has various requirements and are different from culture to culture. Some are arranged and involve dowries and familial exchanges—”

  “Then we find her family and give them the appropriate number of gems. Those spinels we captured on Pharos should be perfect, though I’d rather see them set in a bracelet for her.”

  A pillow whizzed by his face, and he swung his attention back to his bondmate, ready for a tussle. Mikel was shaking his head, his eyes rolling. “If she had family, would she be here?”

  No, she wouldn’t.

  “Besides, it says here some families would want cattle, or land, or a title.” Mikel scowled at his screen. “I wonder if Alphan lands and title would matter much here on Earth. We can provide both.”

  “Likely not. They’re only of use if you can stand on it or use it to cut in the receiving line. What are cattle?”

  His bondmate ignored him and kept reading, and Felix decided to think about Alisa for a while. She had become his favorite speculation, and he replayed yet again the scant glimpses he’d had of her lovely form. He was especially fascinated by how her hips curved into her thighs, all the plump swells directing his attention to what he was certain was a lush quonum between her legs. With a grunt, he shifted on his seat, uncomfortable as his staff pulsed to life. The idea that they’d found her still gave him chills. Soon enough they’d win her adoration, she would complete their bond, and they could begin to live a wonderful life.

  “Where does Alisa hail from?”

  “I don’t know. She didn’t provide any details in the few words she spared us.” That still rankled. In theory he understood she might be shy of men, but surely she felt the urge to join them as deeply as he and Mikel did. He’d never heard of any unrequited bond. The pull was too primal to resist. How did she have the strength to restrain it?

  “We should find out. It matters in how we might approach her. I’m calling Mak.” With that, Mikel rose and activated his link, pacing the floor as he swiftly conducted a quick interview with the other man. Resuming his seat, his bondmate continued reading, his fingers flicking over the screen to move data where he pleased.

  “What did he say about her? Is she well?”

  “He said she was in her quarters for the night and we weren’t to disturb her because she’d worked hard all day.” Mikel let out a pleased sound and leaned close to the display. “This is very fine indeed.”

  “What?” Leaping to his feet, Felix rushed over to him and leaned down to read.

  “I was afraid Alisa might be from a culture that frowned upon physical interaction before the union is confirmed. It would explain her leaving us so quickly. But she is North American, and most of that tribe expect sex
ual contact to commence as soon as all parties are in agreement.”

  Felix nodded as he scanned the information, equally pleased that she would warm their bed very soon, perhaps tomorrow. Just the thought of holding her body as she shuddered through a vital crisis made his already alert staff harden further. “What is this section about? What is dating? Is that a reference to some sort of timetable?”

  It would be very good if there was a plan for them to follow. It would give him and Mikel a solid framework of activities and certainly make Alisa more comfortable. If she was as shy as old Mak implied, the typical Alphan courtship ritual of pheromone evaluation after presenting bona fides, then stripping to inspect each other’s body for any sort of flaw would certainly not appeal to her.

  ****

  Alisa had grave doubts the artichokes would produce anything edible by the end of the short, Canadian growing season. The grey-green plants hadn’t increased in height or even grown a new leaf in the four weeks since she’d planted them. She sympathized. She wasn’t exactly thriving in this new environment either. It wasn’t as if she missed her old life in Dallas, considering the crime, lack of food and shelter, and overall wretchedness she’d endured there, but despite the security and comfort she had now, she still was unsettled. Would she ever feel at home here? Or would her experiences while being held captive keep her forever apart from life?

  Using the end of her hoe as a prop, she straightened from her crouch, and she rubbed her neck and stretched her aching back. She’d been optimistic when planning the size of the plot, and now found there was too much area to cultivate in the course of the day. Weeds sprouted up from areas she’d cleared just an afternoon ago. If she didn’t like being outside among the plants and anticipating how happy her fellows would be when the harvest began, she would likely let the whole enterprise revert back to overgrown lawn.

  A rattling sound interrupted her musings, and she turned to locate it. Staring at her through the iron bars of the fence that surrounded the compound were the two Alphans, Mikel and Felix. So startled by their unexpected appearance, she took a step back and tangled her foot in the hoe’s blade, which made the long wooden handle spin and strike her in the forehead. Pain thudded through her head, and she stumbled, dropping her tool as she clasped her hand to the new injury. That hurt.