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Only he doesn’t talk – and neither do the two, huge men standing a foot behind the leader.

They share his brilliant green eyes – but only that. One of them has short, buzzed hair and a vicious scar running from his chiseled abs all the way up to an inch beneath his heart. A hefty solid gold chain dangles down across his chest.

The third otherworldly stranger has a trimmed mohawk, and he licks his lips as he stares at me; like nothing else exists in the world.

“Aubrey,” rumbles the leader, in a thickly accented voice.

His words are drawn out, as though he speaks in a dialect I’ve never encountered before. His voice sounds out of this world.

I’m transfixed. Paralyzed. I can’t even run – not even as this huge monster of a man strides towards me – his powerful leg muscles flexing as he steps forward.

Why should I? None of this is real, right?

In the face of the loss of my relationship, and the disintegration of the future I’d so carefully planned, my mind simply snapped and conjured a fantasy.

I’ve justimaginedthese three, impossibly-muscled, sexy barbarian men; all covered in tattoos and scars.

Either that, or the leader of the triad reallydoesjust step forward, scoop me up like I’m a ragdoll, and throw me over his broad shoulder.

This isn’t happening, right?

Only I suddenly realize itis.

I feel like a sack of potatoes as the looming stranger hoists me back through the crackling portal, and suddenly the cold air of New York City disappears as instantly and thoroughly as my sanity.

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2

Stryker

Joy.

I now know what this word, so foreign to me, actuallymeans.

ThemomentI set my eyes on her, I felt in my heart. The brackish air of her homeworld could not tarnish the clean scent of my mate.

She smells…right.

My triadearnedher. We risked our lives to kill the great beast that lurks in the caves – the Scorp Queen whose warriors had endlessly harried our tribe. We brought back her poison glands for our tribe – but her severedheadwas an offering to our God.

A sacrifice – to prove our worth. And, in return, our Orb God rewarded us withperfection.

Despite my joy, I frown momentarily as I walk forward – through the rippling portal, and back onto the ground of my home world.

Aubrey’s world had an unnatural ground in it – one with no give underfoot.

As I step forward back into myownworld, I feel her banging against my back with her tiny fists.

It doesn’t hurt – but Iamannoyed that she’s fighting her destiny.

That we’ll take care of soon enough. The elders of my tribe often brag about how quickly they tamed their mates. My cock surges as I imagine the ecstasy of the taming process – of bending this fertile young woman to my desires, and thenseedingher.

And what if she rejects you? What if she decides she wants no place in your cave? What if she demands the portal take her back to her world?

I push back these thoughts, breathing in her scent instead.

Thoughts of defeat have no place in a warrior’s mind. There’s no worse fate than to be scorned by your mate. One who loses their honor in such a way loses all respect among the tribe.