Page 13

Kira drew Mia’s hand into her lap, clenching it tightly against her stomach. “You promise this Zoran character hasn’t hurt you?”

“Well, he hasn’t exactly been a gentleman,” Mia hedged. “His clothes seem to fall off of him whenever he enters his quarters.”

Leona’s mouth curled into a sultry smile. “Do tell.”

Mia laughed, relaxed now by the sheer normality of their conversation, as if they weren’t stranded on an alien spaceship thousands of miles from Earth, surrounded by giant alien warriors who wanted to make babies with them. “Honestly, Leona. You’re the only woman I know who’d think more about acquiring a new lover than escaping.”

“When opportunity knocks.”

Kira narrowed her eyes in a withering glare that did nothing to dampen Leona’s fun. “We should be more concerned about our eventual disposition. You said their culture is dying?”

Mia nodded and tucked a stray strand of hair behind one ear, giving her a clearer view of Zoran where he stood across the bay. “Their database—”

Leona sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes suddenly greedy for something besides sex. “You have access to their ship?”

“Just the database, I think. It’s incredibly comprehensive, almost like an encyclopedia, but so much more.”

Kira leaned forward, her hold on Mia’s hand loosening. “How much more?”

“Ancient texts more,” Mia said, her gaze going distant as she recalled the items she’d skimmed. “Research studies more. I think it includes just about everything they could lay their hands on. Some of it’s so old, it hasn’t been translated into their modern language yet, let alone English.”

Leona whistled between her teeth. “I know some of the women here who’d like to get their hands on a database like that.”

“Every one of us would,” Kira said quietly. “But what did you learn that’s pertinent to our current situation?”

Mia retrieved her hand from Kira and pulled her knees tight against her chest, crossing one foot over the other for whatever warmth the layering provided. The cargo bay was a lot colder than Zoran’s room. It was a wonder the other women were doing as well as they were with the thin blankets Zoran’s men had given them.

“Well,” she began, “the trouble began with a series of natural disasters, though they see them as one. The Xeruvians, that is. They believe those disasters released a natural virus that infected the population and killed or sterilized many of their women.”

Leona pounced on her wording. “Theybelieve? What do you think happened?”

Mia shook her head, and her hair slithered around her shoulders, partially hiding her view of Zoran. She peeked at him anyway, caught by the tension in his shoulders, the strong tilt of his chin. The curl of those magnificent horns. He turned his head, zeroing in on her gaze as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. A flush heated her cheeks, and she yanked her eyes down, shutting him out.

“Not enough data,” she said. “I haven’t had enough time yet to comb through their database.”

“But there’s something,” Kira murmured, “or you wouldn’t hedge so much.”

Mia nibbled on her lower lip, remembered the feel of Zoran’s teeth nibbling along her neck, and blew out a breath. Curse that man and his infernal corruption. “I think we should make it a priority to reexamine the evidence independently of the conclusions drawn by the Xeruvians.”

“Spoken like a true scientist,” Leona said.

The pride shining in the other woman’s eyes warmed Mia in an entirely different way, earning her a shy smile. “That’s me, the trusty research scientist.”

Kira huffed out a tiny laugh, and her expression relaxed for the first time since Mia had joined them. “If we could only reason our way out of this situation, I would be satisfied.”

Leona turned a speculative gaze on Zoran. “I say we take advantage of the situation first and reason our way out of it later.”

“Typical,” Kira muttered.

Mia laughed. “So you’ve been approached by one of the warriors? I’m assuming there are more than the few we saw the day they abducted us.”

“I’ve counted maybe a dozen so far,” Leona said. “But no, they haven’t approached us yet, even to give us food and water.”

“Not once,” Kira confirmed, then shivered and hunched into herself. “They do come in and stare at us quite a bit.”

“Any one in particular?” Mia said.

Leona reached forward and grasped Kira’s hand, squeezing gently. “No one’s going to try to force you into an arranged marriage, sweetie, not again. They’ll have to go through me first.”