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“So nice to meet you. I’ll be out in a minute,” she says as she grabs her pillowcase full of clean clothes and hurries to the bathroom.

She returns in a moment, fully dressed, and exchanges quiet introductions with Lumina while Zoriss and I remark to each other how worried we were that the other was dead. I haven’t released my hold on him. It’s good to have my clutchmate back.

Lumina ran to her van to get snacks, which are now causing me to split my attention between telling my brother how much I missed him and watching Annora lick her fingers. I’m sitting on one of the two rickety chairs in the room, with her on my lap. My cocks harden underneath her ass.

It would be the sexiest of secrets . . . if it were a secret, but by Lumina’s embarrassed smile, I think she has her suspicions. Perhaps the fact that I can’t tear my gaze from Annora’s provocative mouth gave it away.

“Give us an update about your time on Earth,” Zoriss says as he looks from me to Annora and back again.

We give the two a rundown of our time together, and she reluctantly confesses she found Draalians repulsive.

Zoriss is nice enough not to even look ruffled at her admission.

A few minutes later, I understand why he was so tolerant.

He admits, “I was completely despicable to Lumina the whole time we were stuck at the bottom of a steep canyon together.

She saved my life more than once and gave me her body heat, and I called her despicable and mocked her.

“Luckily, she didn’t understand most of what I said. I think the Earth saying about my behavior would be temporary insanity.” He gives Lumina a smoldering look best bestowed when two people are alone.

He says he was despicable? That certainly seems to be behind them now. He’s having trouble looking at Annora or me, preferring instead to gaze at her.

“Well, in his defense,” Lumina chimes in, “my translator didn’t work, so I didn’t know what he was saying, and he thought I just wanted him for his cock and his sperm.”

“Don’t you though?” Annora laughs, then gives me a long kiss full of appreciative tongue.

“Umm . . . yeah?” Lumina admits. “Although, regarding the sperm, the scientists haven’t figured out how to help human/Draalian embryos carry to term. I did a deep Internet search. They’re close, though.”

Annora

Kids? Of course, I thought of kids when I signed up for the alien mate program. It’s the point of the whole Repopulation Initiative thing. That was all great in theory, but now it’s real. What would a human/Draalian look like?

I get a liquid gooey feeling inside when I think of having a baby that looks like Zorn. By the unconcealed grin on his face, it looks like he’d be happy to be a dad.

“So,” I peer at Zoriss, “something must have happened to change you from thinking she’s despicable to looking at her like you can’t wait to get to your own room so you can get it on.”

They tell us how Lumina saved his ass after he crash-landed in an escape pod he stole from the pirate ship the males were abducted on.

The two were holed up in a cave because he was too injured to climb out of the deep canyon they were in.

By the way she keeps rubbing his back and how close his palm is to her crotch, it sounds like they shared more than body heat down there.

“I saw the error of my ways,” Zoriss explains.

“At first, I had amnesia, then when my memories returned, it took me a few days to get over my rage at being abducted and lying paralyzed but conscious for the three months we were in stasis. It was only then I could admit to myself how amazing this female is.”

“Did I hear that right?” Zorn asks, his whole body stiffening. “Paralyzed but conscious?”

“Yes, brother. Three months without the ability to scratch my nose or swallow. Three months of listening to those motherfuckers talk about the abhorrent Earth females who wanted us as fuck toys. Three months with nothing for my brain to do but marinate in anger about my circumstances. Three months to pin my hopes on revenge.”

I get bored in the shower. I can’t bear to be without entertainment or work. I can’t imagine being paralyzed with nothing to think about for three long months. Poor guy. I guess I’d wake up a bit pissed, too. Then to have amnesia. No wonder Zorn couldn’t sense him for several days.

“Not to bring a crashing end to the party,” Lumina says, “but the facts are clear. These guys are here illegally. We’ve looked into it.

Unless we were in line already, they can’t be matched with us.

They’d have to meet someone new who had already paid her fee and been vetted.

I guess the only choice we have is for them to choose another Earth female or for all of us to go back to their home planet.

I already agreed to go back to Draal with Zoriss as soon as we found you. ”

“Uh . . . I am in line,” I admit.

Zorn’s head whips in my direction.

“Yeah, the day my mom shoved me into our guest cottage, I’d just received word that I could begin attending mixers at the agency I’d applied to.

I’ll admit, Draalians weren’t on my list, but I think Zorn and I meet the criteria you just described.

Once we get him registered at the Windy City facility, it will just be a formality for us to become mated. ”

After a moment, it dawns on me that my mom has lots of contacts and lots of clout.

After a call to her, she contacted the CEO of Heavenly Matches, the company that helped her switch Zorn from illicit to licit in a dark off-the-books operation.

With a little encouragement and a few promises of favors, mom cleared the way for Lumina and Zoriss to legally mate.

The only problem is the one-hundred thousand credit fee.

Mom generously donated half the amount. I think her guilt is still eating at her for what she did to Zorn and me.

I immediately offered all my bank account would allow, which was twenty-five thousand.

Buying the off-the-books stunners and getting papers for Zorn put a serious dent in my savings.

One thing everyone in the room agrees on is that the clutchmates can’t be separated. So, if Zoriss can’t stay, the four of us have to emigrate to Draal. So, yeah, I donate twenty-five grand. My contribution is less out of generosity than out of self-defense.

Lumina has an exciting idea of how to get the rest of the credits she needs, so we agree to meet back in Windy City in a few days’ time.