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The alien helped me sit down when my knees buckled, though I yanked out of his grasp as soon as physically possible.

Either he was the kindest alien in existence, or he was planning something truly horrific.

I assumed the latter. If being taken by aliens had taught me anything, it was that the universe was a hard place and the worst always happened.

He lingered in front of me, hands behind his back. “You are safe here.”

I sincerely doubted that.

The crowd teemed around me, shouting at me to come spend my money for whatever disreputable service they offered.

I kept an eye peeled for trouble as the thoughts and emotions of those surrounding me crashed like an unending tide through me.

Most of the time, I could keep a barrier between my thoughts and others’ to calm the noise, though it was impossible to completely silence it. That human, Vince, had unnerved me.

His pale-pinkish skin, brown eyes so dark they appeared black, and straight black hair didn’t set him apart from any of the other humans I’d seen, though he was smaller. Thin and delicate, too. His sharp features made his aspect pleasing to the eye as well.

None of that had distracted me, though. It was the dark swirl of despair, like a black hole in his mind, that had made me wish to pull away from him.

Every time I’d touched him, my awareness had intensified.

My inner fire was inconvenient most of the time, for I stole the thoughts and emotions of others, but physical touch made it far worse.

And this human… When I touched him, the anguish had been far too much to bear.

Then the human had thought of Seth. My youngest brother Kalvoxrencol’s mate, Seth.

How did they know each other? Seth hadn’t indicated knowing him; he hadn’t even thought about it.

Bartholomew knew Vince and wanted to retrieve him.

They’d been bought together. Serlotminden, my immediate younger brother, had taken Bartholomew as his mate, and he would never let his mate be upset.

And we drakcol couldn’t leave any human in captivity.

It was our fault they were here. We were honor-bound to save and return them to Earth if they so desired.

Humans within Coalition space would be easier to free, as slavery was illegal; it would be a matter of finding them.

But this planet, Xome, and many others, weren’t a part of the Coalition of Planets.

We couldn’t force them to follow our laws or to free the humans, which was why I was purchasing all of the humans who remained on Xome.

I pushed Vince’s unnerving presence out of my mind. The answers wouldn’t be found as I roamed the streets. I had to claim two more humans. My second in command, Bimwoxcol, was finding the other three. She would bring them to the ship when she’d retrieved them.

We’d located the humans while aboard my ship, and I had them on my sensors.

One was in another brothel, like Vince had been, and the other was owned by a family.

Neither would be difficult to purchase, as before landing, I’d entered negotiations for all of the humans and reached an agreement with their current owners.

I went to the brothel first. This one was much more upscale than the one that had owned Vince, and it was in a far richer part of Xome, with cleaner streets and a lack of people offering their services at every moment.

This human, too, was Vince’s opposite, with a muscular frame, shining golden hair, and tall stature.

He was… wary when I purchased him, but he was far less suspicious than Vince had been.

“What’s your name?” I asked after I introduced myself and led the human outside.

“Camden,” he replied, not saying anything else, and I didn’t force him to.

What he and the others had suffered here were wounds that wouldn’t easily heal.

Securing the second human, Roman, whose skin was far darker than any human I’d seen before and who was completely bald, with facial hair, was far easier to retrieve because of Camden’s presence.

They stayed right next to each other, eyeing me and the aliens that swarmed around us.

I didn’t blame them for their suspicion. Their lives had been at the whim of others, and this seemed the same.

It was not. They were free.

Once all the humans were gathered on my ship orbiting Xome, Seth would explain the situation. He was the leader of what Caleb, my second to youngest brother Zoltilvoxfyn’s mate, called Team Human.

I ushered the two humans into the shuttle.

All of them huddled in the back corner, watching me with narrowed eyes.

Vince was in the front. His knees were drawn to his chest, and his thin arms were wrapped around them.

The swirling emotions of his mind sucked me in as if it had its own gravitational pull.

He was pain and anger and sadness and fear and numbness and hatred and longing.

I’d spent my life perfecting the static shield around my thoughts to protect my calm—I’d had to.

But this human cut through it like a well-sharpened blade.

The people that called to me most were my family.

I felt them no matter how hard I tried not to.

This human was worse, and it made no sense. He shouldn’t affect me.

Caution would be needed when I interacted with him.

If I felt anything too strongly, he might feel it to some extent.

When I was angry or experienced a deep emotion, my inner fire sometimes shared it with those closest to me.

On more than one occasion, my brothers had all inexplicably experienced the same emotion and known it was mine, not theirs.

As hard as I tried to contain it, I gave as well as stole. My calm and control had to be absolute.

My eyes moved to Vince as his thoughts bounced. He was frightened of me, and of what I wanted with him specifically. He’d spoken to the other humans and learned that I hadn’t called them by name.

Vince was different, and he knew it.

I met all ten sets of eyes with their odd round pupils. All the humans who’d remained on Xome were now in my cargo hold.

I said, “I am Captain Dontilvynsan, second prince of the Drakcol Empire.”

A few gasps sounded, but my focus was on the small human.

Vince simply stared at me, eyes hard. He thought I wanted him because my younger brother had mated a human.

He knew Seth, but he clearly didn’t know that Seth was Kalvoxrencol’s mate.

Kalvoxrencol had done his best to keep Seth away from any news coverage. It appeared he’d been successful.

“The Drakcol Empire has recently become aware of the human trafficking problem, and we are taking steps to correct the situation,” I continued.

Politicians , Vince thought, his voice as loud and clear in my thoughts as my own.

Why? It made no sense. The word was familiar; I believed it referred to their leaders.

I understood English, mostly, but occasionally there was a word or phrase that I didn’t know.

Vince also thought of wrinkled men with pale skin and even paler hair.

What that signified and how it was attached to his snarky thought was a mystery.

The other humans still had an edge of wariness, but relief was also there as well. So was hope. Bright and burning.

“When we arrive on my ship, I have someone who will explain everything.” It was better to let Seth say what the humans needed to hear. He would understand his own species better, and they would trust what he said for the simple fact that they were of the same species.

I headed toward the door, but at the last moment, I glanced back at Vince.

His fear was a needle puncturing my calm.

I wanted to reassure him and soothe the tension in his coiled muscles, but that wasn’t my place.

And from the way he drew away from every human and flinched at every touch, he wouldn’t want it anyway.

As the door closed, Vince’s thoughts crashed into mine. Once again Seth’s face appeared, as well as a deep ravine of longing. What was Seth to Vince? And how was Kalvoxrencol going to react? My youngest brother was exceedingly protective of everyone he loved, and Seth was the dearest to his soul.

It would be interesting, to say the least. I would have to monitor the situation closely to protect Kalvoxrencol.