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He kissed her, and when she was limp and hanging in his arms, he lifted his head. “You are very bossy for a hostage.”

  “You are very easily goaded for a mate. We both have some work to do.”

  Bree looked at him and knew that they were in complete agreement. She was bossy, he was touchy, but they were going to get along fine.

  “Shall we get going? It feels like weeks since I was last shopping.”

  He offered her his arm, and she took it. They walked together, out of their quarters and across the compound. When they were out in the street, she looked at everything with new eyes.

  Colours were brighter, smells were stronger and the voices of the folk on the streets came to her with their pitches telling her whether they were excited, calm, lying or nervous.

  “Why are my senses keener?”

  Arix was surprised. “Are they?”

  “Yes. Everything is just... more.”

  “Interesting. You might want to visit the health centre. I will take you tomorrow.”

  “But noodles tonight?”

  He chuckled. “Correct.”

  She walked with him at a slow and measured pace. Gazes from both species skidded across them. Bree was a little smug that the women were staring at Arix with hunger in their eyes.

  “By the way, Arix, you are not allowed to disappear on me tonight.”

  He blinked. “How did you know what I was thinking?”

  “I like watching your body language, and I could feel your arm tense when you realized that the women were looking at you like you were on the menu.”

  He wrinkled his nose. “This does not happen that often.”

  “You look splendid tonight. It makes me wish that I had something a little prettier. As sleazy as it sounds, the robe and gown on Skekt would have matched you nicely.”

  He didn’t know what to say to that, and it showed. “It is a Rrassic design. As we have travelled the universe, we have found that the basic structure for clothing has always begun with a rectangle. It goes back to looms being designed to create rectangular fabric.”

  “Well, I have always liked comfortable clothing, so it is probably something that I will steal out of your wardrobe.”

  He looked surprised. “You would take my clothing?”

  “Sure. It’s a girl thing. We like comfortable clothing, and the men’s clothing is usually cut to be much more comfortable than ours.”

  Arix pointed to a shop with a graceful sign above the door. “That’s it. It is a Luthin favourite.”

  “And you are bringing me in? I am touched.”

  He laughed. “You will be. We will be the only ones visible.”

  With that warning, he led her into the noodle house, and they were seated.

  By the end of the very tasty meal, about eight different Luthin had caressed her on the neck, cheek or hand.

  The oddest part was she could see them in a way. Their bodies were like a heat wave, showing her what she couldn’t quite see.

  Arix was amused, and he didn’t stop his friends from touching her. That was what told her her honour wasn’t in any danger.

  “I am guessing this is a ritual of sorts?”

  Arix smiled. “Of sorts. They know you now. It was a mark of welcome.”

  “Mark? Oh hell.” She rubbed her face and found some of the sauce on her cheeks and hands. “I am so going to give someone hell for this.”

  He chuckled. “I look forward to it.”

  She raised her water glass to him. “I like a man who can take a challenge.”

  “I can take it, and I will win.”

  She smiled at him from across the table and smirked. We will see about that. You can’t go invisible forever... and you would have to to win.

  Chapter Nine

  She made sure that she had cleared her features of any unwanted stains before they left the noodle house.

  Arix was smiling easily, surrounded by his people. It was a different expression than she had seen on his features before. He was relaxed and happy.

  “It was definitely a nice night out.” She squeezed his arm as they headed home.

  “It was. Thank you. My brethren enjoyed meeting you.”

  She cackled; it was a genuine, if not delicate, sound. “They clustered around me like schoolboys.”

  He shrugged. “We go from being Nool to Luthin and require two years of training to master our bodies. That much schooling prolongs adolescence.”

  “I can tell. You could have warned me.”

  “It was more fun to watch your expression. As I said, prolonged adolescence.” He grinned.

  Music spilled through the streets, and Bree looked toward the main square. A crowd was gathered. “I thought we already had a concert.”

  He cleared his throat. “That was two weeks ago, and it came to an abrupt end due to a collapsing balcony.”

  “No. It was four days ago.”

  He tilted his head. “No, it was two weeks ago. Your time in Skekt was longer than you thought.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He pulled her close. “I will explain it when we have some privacy.”

  “Fine, but I am not letting this go.”

  “I expect nothing less.”

  Curiosity rippled through her as they walked through the streets and returned to the Breeder compound. The security check was thorough, and the blood sample she had to give was a little over the top, but once they had been cleared, the doubled security closed ranks behind them and they were safe behind the security and walls.

  They made it to her quarters in a few minutes, and once inside, she pinned him against the wall with her hands to his chest. “Explain.”

  “Imrahl is in another dimension.”

  “Right. We learned that in orientation.”

  “Well, it is also in another time. The Rrassic are skilled at finding worlds, but not all worlds mark time in the same way that yours does. Imrahl moves quickly.”

  She let go and backed up. “That means that my family, my friends... I will be old by the time I get home.”

  “You will remain this age or very near it. The effect of the initial medical treatments you underwent will keep you in good health.”

  “For how long?”

  “Until we defeat the Voboth. We are very close to having what we need.”

  She sighed and looked into his eyes. “I can’t tell anyone that I know this, can I?”

  He stroked her cheek with his thumb. “I would rather you didn’t. I am enjoying being with you and would not like to be shipped off world right now.”

  She was shocked. “They would send you away?”

  “Of course.”

  “Why?”

  “I am a defender of the Rrassic. If I leak information out that could be detrimental to our security, I would deserve banishment.”

  “You think that I am a danger to your security?”

  He stroked her cheek again. “I think that you are a desirable target for the colonists. All of the activated Breeders are.”

  “Wait, so you mean I was fine until my classification changed?”

  He leaned in and kissed her. “You were dormant until you weren’t. They don’t have the inclination to wait on Breeders to activate.”

  “And the Imrahl Rrassic do?”

  “Of course. We segregate the Breeders because they are in danger. It has the unwanted effect of making you more visible targets, but we do try and keep you safe.”

  She whispered against his lips, “So you try and keep me safe and they try to take me?”

  “They can’t have you.” He threaded his hand in her hair and tugged her head back. “You are mine.”

  She was about to tell him that it was mutual, but it was suddenly hard to think as he focused on kissing her into a stupor.

  His tongue glided along hers and flicked into her mouth. Bree ran her hands along his skin and enjoyed the feel of the hard muscle under her palms.
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  She wrapped her arms around him and pulled her body flush with his. He had to crane his neck to maintain the kiss, but he was flexible.

  He wrapped his good arm around her and carried her through her living space and into the bedroom.

  The wrap around her torso didn’t stand a chance as he peeled it off, tugging her free of it before dropping it to the ground.

  The dress was pulled up and over her head, to meet the same sad fate as her sash.

  Her shoes were the only thing between her and complete nudity.

  She reciprocated by pushing the robe off his shoulders and then working to find the clasp of his belt.

  He parted from her and his chest was moving rapidly. “Let me do that.”

  She smiled. “Do I get to see you this time?”

  “It will take some concentration, but I want to see you looking into my eyes and not staring blindly when you come.”

  She stroked his face. “I want to watch your colours turn and feel you inside me while I can see you.”

  “I think I can manage that.” His smile was slow.

  With a few quick motions, his belt was off and his trousers were right behind. He had to sit to take off his boots but that just left his lap open for her.

  She straddled his lap and wrapped her hands around his neck, turning her fingers in the waves of his hair. “You do have the prettiest hair.”

  “I am glad you are fascinated with it. The Luthin pride themselves on their hair, but we rarely get to let it fall.”

  He shifted and tugged his hair out from under his butt, draping it across the bed. “I had forgotten how it gets pinned under everything.”

  She sighed and stroked her hands through it, his cock pinned between them. “I just want to wrap myself in it.”

  “I think we can manage that.” He was amused.

  The hair wrapped around her wrists, and she jerked. “What is going on?”

  He chuckled. “Luthin hair is prehensile. We do not have stripes or purr, but our hair is our glory and our weapon of last resort.”

  “Weapon?”

  He kissed her softly as his hair slowly pulled her hands up and over their heads, binding them tight.

  She stared up at her wrists bound in the black silk. “How are you doing that?”

  He lifted her higher until she was suspended above him. “I told you, it is a Luthin thing.”

  She shivered when he leaned forward to bury his face between her breasts, and when he began licking, she started squirming.

  The tendrils of his hair moved down her body, caressing, tickling and squeezing as he scraped his tongue across her skin and stroked two fingers in between her thighs. He slid them into her in a deliberate move that had her thrashing for a balance point.

  She looked around, and he had her suspended above him as he lowered and moved her where he wanted her.

  Bree twisted freely, and he simply kept her from dropping onto him while he pulled her thighs apart and kept his fingers pumping inside her.

  The shivering started when he used his teeth on her breast, and it rapidly cascaded into a violent shaking that culminated with her body clenching on his fingers and a low moan breaking from her throat.

  He turned her and his hair released her, leaving her on her back and panting.

  His smile was slow. “You did not make eye contact at the end, so I suppose I will simply have to start again.”

  His hair snapped and arranged itself in a curtain down his back, leaving her exposed to him as he lay on her, slowly working himself back until his mouth was exhaling warm air against her slit. She whimpered and gripped the bedding next to her as the delicate torture continued with his mouth leading the attack.

  Bree held on to her alien marauder and surrendered every time he came at her. Eventually, they made eye contact and their link was forged. She saw into Arix’s soul, and he saw into hers.

  Chapter Ten

  Arix was in with Iktabi for a debriefing, so Bree asked Isabella, “What is actually going on here?”

  Isabella was at her desk and making notes on her tablet. The bands that she wore gleamed in the morning light coming through the huge wall of windows that faced her desk.

  “I need a bit more definition to the question than that. What do you mean, Bree?”

  “Why are humans on Imrahl?”

  Isabella gave her a small smile. “Just a moment.”

  The overseer’s assistant left the room to enter Iktabi’s office. Bree waited, and when Isabella returned, the woman sat and smiled before she pressed a button.

  “What are you doing?”

  “We are going to need tea and snacks. This is a long explanation, but I do have a slideshow for you.”

  “So, you can tell me?”

  “Most of it. There are a few things that are still proprietary. They would upset the general population of humans. Instead, I will give you everything that I have been authorized to explain.”

  Bree blinked. “How did you get authorization?”

  Isabella sighed. “I got tapped as the overseer’s assistant. I had to know everything, and it gets a little heavy now and then.”

  “How did you end up as his assistant?”

  “That is a long story, but first, I will tell you about the Voboth, the Rrassic, the war and the intervention requested from other species.”

  A Nool delivered their tray, and when he was gone, Isabella used a control at her desk and dimmed the lights.

  A projector highlighted a world similar to Earth with different landmasses.

  “This was Eddamia. The Voboth attacked, took over and soon, this was what was left.”

  Where a bright world had spun in space, darkness overtook it and snakes of energy as well as shadow covered the surface.

  Bree was stunned. “Okay. That is horrible, but what does it have to do with us?”

  “This was Rrassic Prime. The Voboth entered their star system, and they prepared for war.”

  Another pretty world covered with vivid shades spun happily in space.

  “The Rrassic were more advanced than other species, and when they were under attack, they broke down the tech of the Voboth and turned it against them. The Voboth are space jumpers. They can move distances that would take humans thousands of years to traverse, all in a matter of seconds.”

  “What was the Rrassic skill?”

  Isabella smiled in the light of the projection. “Time gates and dimensional creation. Are you familiar with the premise of teleportation as it was discussed on Earth?”

  “What?”

  “Well, pretend that you want to send something somewhere. You are not transporting the physical; you are creating an exact copy on the other side and destroying the original.”

  “Right. Okay.”

  “If you combine that tech with time manipulation and create a dimensional copy of a world, you have the ideal place to train and supply for your war effort.”

  “So, Imrahl was a copy of an existing place.”

  “Correct. It was one of hundreds of pieces of worlds that were copied.”

  Bree sat back and whistled. “That explains a bit. What is a step-down world?”

  “We are getting there. Imrahl is moving fast in comparison to Rrassic. We are creating supplies and materials to enable them to fight off a siege, but the reason that the humans are here is very simple.”

  “Don’t keep me in suspense.”

  “We are here because Rrassic intelligence found a file in the Voboth fleet, and they had a list of thirty worlds. Earth was one of them. They are worlds that will fall after the Rrassic are defeated.”

  A sick feeling churned inside Bree. “What will happen to Earth if they are defeated?”

  “The same thing that happened to Eddamia.”

  “Damn. So, why not come to Earth and ask for help? Ask for volunteers?”

  “They tried it on other worlds before they got to us. Those violet women?
They were a world who decided to try selling their participation to the Voboth rather than risk a war. The few in dimensional bubbles are the only ones who survived. They are extinct. The ladies with the cream stripes are from Kefko. They tried to use the Rrassic to evacuate their world. They stole the tech and ended up smearing themselves across time and space.” Isabella sipped at her tea. “They are extinct as well.”

  “So, taking us and keeping us here is for our safety?”

  Isabella rocked her head. “Yes and no. We are here to work, first and foremost. The seconds are ticking away in the outer worlds, and we are speeding along in a bubble of time that no one can find. The food and materials that we craft and harvest here are slowly sent on to the final staging area before the signal comes and they go to Rrassic Prime.”

  “What else?”

  “They want our genetic code. Each of the thirty species targeted by the Voboth is compatible, and the men who are here with us on Imrahl were selected because they have the best chance of being matches for one of us humans.”

  Bree was shocked. “So, the Breeders were a primary concern?”

  “Yes, but by their own laws and codes, they have to wait until the female is receptive. For Imrahl, it has taken six months or so. I bet you didn’t even notice that you hadn’t had a period since you got here.”

  “I just thought it was stress.”

  “It was, in a way. Your body was under strain from the time change.”

  “What about yours?”

  “Oh, I have not gone receptive yet. I just got caught hiding a few who were.” Isabella wrinkled her nose.

  “What?”

  “I was an assessment officer, and I helped a few of my friends avoid Breeder classification. I got caught, and my punishment is to be locked within thirty feet of the overseer at all times.”

  “Is that what the cuffs are?”

  “Yeah. Proximity bracelets are annoying, but as long as I have enough space to go to the bathroom on my own, I am fine.” Isabella shrugged.

  “You live with him?”

  “Sort of. I have a suite next to his.”

  “So, you were telling me why they simply stole us?”

  “Oh, right. Well, the other races that they had tried to inform and negotiate with had ended up tangling on the wrong side of the invasions or with their own aggressive tendencies out of control. With Earth, the Rrassic decided to skip the request portion of the issue and simply go with taking the population that they needed, slipping them into a dimensional bubble and replacing us before it was noticed that we were gone.”