“No one told me what?”

  The ship lifted off and sped away at a fast pace.

  “He has claimed you. He has tasted your blood and body. Many of our kind can taste blood and fuck without attachment, but my brother has made the choice that you will be his. Forever. Do you know what charls are?”

  “Sex slaves?” She knew the term was wrong but wanted to see what he would tell her instead.

  “No. Fuck, you humans are obsessed with that propaganda, aren’t you?” He shook his head, scowling. “Charls are human companions to Ks, like mates—that’s the closest term I can think of that would make sense to you. He has tried to mate you.”

  “What?” Mate? That was terrifying, and yet the thought of spending nights in mindless pleasure with Soren wasn’t as unwelcome to her as it should have been.

  “You would never have been free of him, Ms. Wells. You would have gone wherever Soren went, and been with him forever, sharing his bed as his permanent companion, what you humans would call a mate.”

  “Until I died?”

  “Something like that,” Sef said. “Your father was informed that Soren abducted you from your protection detail last night. Now it seems he also took your virginity and your blood. He broke your laws, and while it wasn’t against ours, we do treat human laws with some modicum of respect, especially with regards to the treatment of unwilling females.”

  “I…” She drew in a deep, horrified breath. “I wasn’t unwilling, and he rescued me. Ask him to show you the footage from the alley. Some asshole poisoned me and shoved me in a duffel bag. Soren saved me. He got there before my Secret Service agents could even react.”

  “It doesn’t matter what you think happened. Your father is adamant that you will not become a charl, and that is a promise we made to him in order to keep a peaceful relationship between our peoples. Soren’s flight of fancy and your human urges are not more important than that. We must have peace.” Sef landed the aircraft in a small patch of woods half a mile from her campus.

  “Your security team is just ahead. Go with them.” He opened the ship’s ceiling, and it reminded her a bit of a fighter jet, only all silver and shining like a mirror. She climbed out and saw the familiar SUV in the distance. Mike and Scott caught sight of her and sprinted toward her through the woods. She turned to face Sef again, hating how her stomach knotted. She saw Soren in his every feature, yet she knew it wasn’t him.

  “When can I see him again?” she asked.

  Sef frowned. “Never. Our Council will be meeting to decide his fate. He will likely be ordered to return to Krina for a few thousand years until he has learned proper restraint.”

  “A few thousand years?” She choked on the words.

  “It is for the best, Ms. Wells, I assure you. You have a destiny here on Earth. Find a human mate, bear his children, and live a happy life. It will put your father at ease.” Sef climbed into his ship, and the second it closed around him, the ship faded from view using a cloaking device. Bianca stared at the space where it had been. A hollowness filled her chest, and her throat burned as she tried to swallow.

  For five long years, Soren had been a seductive, frightening presence in the back of her mind. Last night she’d seen the real Soren. Her protector, her rescuer, her lover. She had judged him with a girl’s fear and now mourned his loss as a woman.

  I didn’t get the chance to figure out what was between us.

  “Ms. Wells!” Mike and Scott reached her, panting from their run. “Are you okay? We’ve been losing our fucking minds.” Mike looked ready to hug her, and Scott’s head fell back as he looked skyward in relief, one hand pressed to his chest.

  “I’m fine,” she said, finally realizing how scared they must have been. “Seriously, guys. I’m just fine.” She paused and spoke again. “Soren saved me. I was dying. That man from the bar, he poisoned me.”

  Mike’s face drained of color, and Scott’s shoulders dropped as they both stared at her.

  “We vetted everyone in the bar. Especially the bartender,” Mike said with a growl. “How the…? Never mind. We’ll find out.”

  “Can I borrow your phone? I need to speak to my dad.” Scott handed her his phone. She dialed her dad’s private number and waited. He answered a second later.

  “Where is she?” he bellowed.

  “It’s me, Dad. I’m borrowing Scott’s phone.”

  “Jesus, Bianca! Do you have any idea what’s happening? I thought you were dead. Did that bastard K touch you? If I ever see that goddamned mother…”

  Bianca closed her eyes and waited for her father to stop cursing. It took a while. “Dad, there’s a bigger problem. Someone, probably an anti-K terrorist, poisoned me in the bar, even though the agents vetted my location and the employees. But they still got to me. I was in a body bag, Dad. You hear me? If Soren hadn’t—”

  “Don’t say his name,” her father warned.

  “Tough. Soren saved my life. He took me to a safe location and healed me. He didn’t have time to wait there and get debriefed following protocol. You owe him, Dad. I owe him my life.”

  Her father was silent. Only his harsh, angry breaths came over the phone line.

  “I’ll issue an apology and thank the Ks for their assistance, but that’s it. They can’t take you from me, Bianca. Do you understand? You are off-limits. I know we can’t stop them from taking what they want, but I can stop them from taking you. I won’t lose you, not after losing your mother.”

  His words made her own heart bleed. She knew how much he cared about her and how hard losing her mother had been on him, had been on them both. Bianca would have loved him for his protectiveness at any other moment, but not right now. “Dad—”

  “Don’t worry. I’m demanding the K Council to send Soren back home.”

  She wanted to scream. Why was no one listening to what she wanted? “What if I want Soren to stay here?”

  Her father snorted. “Out of the question.”

  Bianca’s hands shook as rage pumped adrenaline through her system. She hung up and tossed the phone at Scott and started toward their SUV. If no one was going to listen to her, then she would find a way to get to Soren herself. She didn’t know if she wanted to be his charl or not, but she did know that things were unresolved between them. They needed to talk, if nothing else.

  And maybe…maybe she could steal another kiss. She couldn’t help it. The man was a sexual god, and she didn’t want to walk away from that, not when he’d saved her life and shown her how good things could be between them. Her life was just that—hers. She was not going to let anyone dictate her future.

  “Where are we going?” Mike asked as he helped her into the SUV.

  “Back to campus,” she said absently. She was already starting to make plans. She needed to find a K, one who could help her find Soren and wouldn’t balk at getting into trouble. And she knew where she could find one. She needed to get Claudia to find out where an X-club was.

  Randall Turner stared daggers at the woman facing him.

  “You had one fucking job. Kill that little bitch.” Tarah Crowley paced in the dim office, the blinds on the small window tightly shut to keep any cameras or Krinar surveillance out.

  “The ambassador showed up. He dropped out of the fucking sky. What was I supposed to do? He nearly killed me,” Randall hissed at her.

  Tarah continued to pace. Her eyes appeared overlarge through her thick glasses, and her dark-brown hair was frizzy and streaked with gray. Randall hated this woman. She was a piece of shit, but she paid him well. Still, he wasn’t an idiot. He knew she had made her money by embezzling from the small tabloid paper she ran. Her business model was to create stories if she couldn’t find a real one to publish.

  “You’ll have to find another way to get to her,” Tarah muttered. “I want that story. Krinar Ambassador Kills President’s Daughter.” She flashed her hands in the air as though displaying a visible sign.

  “You only paid for last night,” Randall reminded her.

  She turned her cold, dead, brown eyes on him. “I shouldn’t have to pay you again, not until I get what I want.”

  Randall weighed the amount of money he’d been promised against the odds of battling an angry, possessive Krinar.

  “Hire someone else.” He turned and walked away. No pile of gold was worth fighting the fury he’d seen in that Krinar’s eyes. Randall had escaped with his life. Barely. He knew he wouldn’t next time. He wanted to keep his limbs intact, and the best way to do that was to avoid the K who had protected President Wells’s daughter.

  Tarah cussed and screamed at him, but it didn’t matter. He was done with her, and he walked away.

  7

  Soren groaned as he crawled his way back from the pit of unconsciousness. His body ached in a way it hadn’t in millennia. Each muscle protested as he struggled to get up from the floor.

  What the fuck had happened? He wiped his mouth to stop whatever was dripping from his chin and nose. His hand came away smeared with blood.

  Shattered pieces of ceramics, glass, and plaster dust coated the floor, stabbing his legs and feet as he got to his hands and knees. He glanced up and realized he wasn’t alone. His twin, Sef, leaned against the open doorway, watching him. A flash of memories raced through him. His brother had kicked his ass.

  “You okay?” Sef asked quietly.

  “Yes.” Soren struggled to his feet. “You were always the stronger fighter.”

  “And you the better strategist. It’s why I never fight fair with you.”

  “What?

  “I wanted to throw you off balance. Once you were worried about her, your emotions overrode your ability to strategize against me in a fight.” Sef was unapologetic, even a little smug. As younger males they had fought plenty of times. Half the time Sef won, the rest Soren won.

  “Where is Bianca?” He climbed to his feet, leaning on the blood-covered bed while the nanocytes in his body continued to repair his damaged muscles.

  “Safe. Away from you.”

  Soren walked to the bathroom, taking in the lingering scent of her hair and the sickly-sweet scent of her fear. He hated to think of how she must have felt while he and Sef had fought. He splashed water over his face, removing the blood and sweat.

  Sef got up and came to the bathroom door. “She doesn’t want you, Soren. You overwhelmed her with your bite, and like any human, she surrendered to the pleasure. It doesn’t make her your charl, and you can’t force her to be. Let her go.” His words were soft, and each one cut Soren deeply.

  “She said she wanted to stay and talk to me,” he argued, realizing he sounded like a foolish young male.

  “She only said that to prevent the fight,” Sef said. “She and I had time to talk while I took her away. She said she was only trying to buy time to calm us both down. You frightened her and hurt her, Soren. The Council is going to convene in a week to discuss whether you should return to Krina. I have sent them a statement that you should be able to return to Earth in a thousand years.”

  The sudden falling sensation in his stomach almost made Soren double over.

  “Long enough for Bianca to be gone.” The words were like ashes upon his lips as he left the bathroom, shoving past his brother. He couldn’t believe his own brother was telling him he would have to just sit and wait while his charl died of old age. It was unthinkable.

  “It’s for the best. You’re eight thousand years old, Soren. You can’t be seen losing your head over a human girl. If you wanted a human female, you should have chosen another. I understand how addictive their blood is.”

  It wasn’t about the blood. Yes, the Krinar had evolved into blood drinking out of a biological necessity to replace a hemoglobin in their system due to a deficiency, but they’d developed suitable synthetic blood to drink as needed in addition to their normal food. Biting Bianca had been about reducing the pain of taking her virginity, not blood. She had been so lost in pleasure that whatever pain he had caused entering her had vanished.

  “Leave me alone, Sef.” Soren prowled toward the wreckage of his bed and sat down. His body was almost fully healed, but his chest ached, and it had nothing to do with the beating his brother had given him.

  “Arus called the president. You will be taking a leave of absence from your position until the Council deals with you. You are to return to your DC residence. Tonight.”

  Soren stared into Sef’s dark-brown eyes. They rarely turned gold because Sef was so used to controlling himself. He had to be—he was one of his people’s top guardians. Soren stared hard at his brother, tempted to tell him to fuck off, as a human would so bluntly put it.

  Sef read his brother’s rebellious intentions. “You will do as Arus commands or face summary judgment from the Council. Is that understood?” He then turned to walk away.

  Soren didn’t like to part from his twin like this, with dark scowls and angry words, but a wedge lay between them now. Sef had taken his mate, his charl. It was unforgivable. The silence of his anger clouded him as his brother left the house.

  Then he stood and began to clean up the remains of the home he’d worked so hard to prepare for Bianca. She’d never even had the chance to stay here except for one night. His thoughts raced wildly. He had to find her, talk to her. If she didn’t want him, as Sef said, he would return home to Krina. But if she did want him, he would steal her away, take her somewhere his people could not follow. He knew of one person who could help them with that, one person who would understand. Korum. The male Krinar was one of their people’s best technology engineers, but more importantly, he had fallen in love with a human, so much that he’d married her in the human way. He’d proven that devotion to a human and the publicity around such a match could be a good thing. Soren went to his office and contacted him.

  Korum’s face hovered in the air. “Soren, what can I do for you?”

  Soren explained what had transpired between him and Bianca. Korum listened solemnly. He and his mate, Mia, had faced similar challenges to be together.

  “What can I do to help?” Korum asked.

  “I need to find Bianca and meet with her without being tracked or viewed. I know we have cameras almost everywhere. Do you have any way to hide my presence from them?”

  Korum was silent for a moment. “I normally wouldn’t give anyone this technology—it’s so easily used the wrong way. But I believe you won’t abuse it. I have a personal cloaking device, two of them, which are paired together. As long as you and your charl both wear them, it renders you invisible to human eyes and to our monitoring and tracking systems, but you can still see each other.”

  “That would be good,” Soren said, already planning how to find Bianca.

  “Here are the schematics. Use them on your fabricator and then delete the designs immediately.”

  “I will.” Soren thanked Korum and ended their communication. He uploaded the files to his fabricator and created the cloaking devices. Two silver bracelets appeared. He slipped his on, pressing a small groove on the side. A sudden shiver rippled along his skin as the device began to work.

  Soren grinned, feeling the tightness in his chest ease. He would go to Bianca tonight, steal her away, and claim her again. Her father and the Council be damned. She was his charl, his beloved, and he would not give her up unless she told him to. But he needed to hear that from her lips and no one else’s.

  “I’m coming for you, lilana,” he said and closed his eyes, imagining just what he would do once he had her back in his arms and in his bed.

  “This is a bad idea,” Claudia hissed as she trailed behind Bianca.

  Bianca wasn’t really listening. She was too focused on the crowded entrance to the X-club. It had taken quite a bit of convincing for Claudia’s sister’s friend to tell them the location of the Krinar nightclub she’d been to. Bianca had figured out how to disable the tracking bracelet and panic button on her wrist thanks to a clever computer engineering student Claudia knew. Mike and Scott would think she was still there, would never know she’d slipped out the back entrance opposite where they watched from their SUV. If she had any chance of finding Soren, it would have to be by herself.

  “Okay, I’m scared—I’ll just own it,” Claudia said as they got in line for the club. Half a dozen scantily dressed women got turned away at the door, so Bianca and Claudia were only a few people from the entrance now. There didn’t seem to be any bouncer, but some kind of scanner at the door read each person’s face before turning red or green. It turned green for the next person in line, and the door opened just long enough to admit one person before it closed again.

  “No one will hurt you,” Bianca whispered as she and Claudia reached the door. She hoped that was true. The rumors that Ks took the humans they wanted and made them charls had too much of a ring of truth to be completely discounted.

  “You go first.” Claudia nudged her forward. Bianca tried to act confident, but deep down she was shaking with nerves. She looked into the face scanner, and a quick flash of light blinded her a moment before the screen flashed green. The door opened, and she ducked inside. The hall was dark except for the red and blue lights glowing from the floor in slow, rhythmic patterns. She followed the lights and paused as she reached the real entrance to the club.

  “Wow…” Claudia came up behind her, leaning against her for support as they stared at the scene before them.

  The most beautiful Krinar they’d ever seen were dancing with each other and some humans in sensual patterns on a large dance floor. Fog drifted along the floors and lights, making patterns in the air. Pulsating electronic dance music filled the room, not too loud, but enough that it made her chest vibrate with the bass beats. A bar on the far right had three Krinar males who were serving drinks to a crowd of Ks and humans around a long row of barstools. But there were no rows of human alcohol bottles lining the bar wall like she expected. Instead, the drinks they served were colorful to the point of being fluorescent, served in pretty, slender, tube-shaped glasses.

 

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