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“I don’t think they’ll use force.” Mia shrugged. She risked another peek at Zoran, and just as quickly looked away, before the mere sight of him corrupted her again. “He’s given me a couple of days to come to terms with it.”

The color drained from Kira’s face, leaving her skin an odd ashen-honey color. “A couple of days! And then what?”

Mia nibbled on her lower lip, her shoulders drooping. “Then he wants to have sex.”

“So he’s going to force you,” Leona said flatly.

“No,” Mia replied quickly with a firm shake of her head. “I don’t think so. I think he’s testing me somehow.”

“He’d better not test you farther than you’re willing to go.”

“Would that be logical, though?” Kira said. “To force you when he and his people so obviously need our help?”

“I don’t know if logic has anything to do with it,” Mia admitted. “He’s been kind.”

“The least he could do after abducting you.”

The molten steel in Leona’s voice touched Mia deeply. She unfolded and draped an arm around the other woman’s shoulders, then touched her temple to Leona’s. “He seems too honorable to resort to force.”

“I think she’s right.” At Leona’s hot glare, Kira shrugged. “If these Xeruvians wanted to harm us, they would’ve already. They’ve had ample opportunity. Some of us have been singled out, yet the men remain apart from us. Not a one’s invaded our privacy beyond helping us to be as comfortable as we can be, and that from a distance.”

Leona sighed. “There is that. Personally, I think they’re waiting to see how things turn out with you and the big guy, Mia.”

“So, no pressure, huh?” Kira said wryly.

Mia wrinkled her face into a frown. “Thanks, Kira. That makes me feel a lot better.”

The comment didn’t draw the smile from Kira that Mia had been hoping for.

“What about this other woman?” Mia said. “The diplomat.”

“Fully mated,” Leona said. “Sex and all. Apparently her warlord is quite the lover.”

Mia blushed under Leona’s playful leer. “Stop it. We haven’t gotten that far yet.”

Kira’s frown deepened. “There’s more to it than sex, though, isn’t there? And, what did you call it? Mating?”

“Yes,” Mia said. “That’s the term Zoran uses.”

Kira nodded. “I think we were chosen not because we’re young and presumably fertile. Look at the specialties chosen. You’re a crop scientist. Leona is a linguist.”

Leona’s gaze had gone thoughtful. “I can’t see them needing an exoplanet specialist, but you hold minors in geology and climate science, don’t you?”

“Yes, exactly. Emma Mitchell’s a noted immunologist. She’s worked with the CDC and published at least a dozen papers. Isabella Rossi is an evolutionary biologist.”

Mia’s gaze swung to the other women. “Mara Sullivan’s an engineer. Elara Vega’s also a climate scientist.”

“Who published a paper on terraforming a near-Earth exoplanet,” Kira said. “And Mara has worked on both the Alcubierre drive and interlocking habitation modules for colonies on the moon and Mars.”

“My God,” Leona breathed. “It’s so obvious, I can’t believe I didn’t see it before. They’ve got everyone they need to establish a human colony on their planet.”

“Zephyria,” Mia said absently. “Or to terraform it to make it more habitable for human-alien hybrids.”

Kira paled even more. “Think of the resources needed to undertake terraforming, even as subtle a change as that.”

“Yes,” Leona agreed. “They must be incredibly devoted as a society to the outcome of abducting us.”

“Having children with us,” Mia said. “Their species is dying. If humans were threatened with extinction, what would you do to save us?”