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Zoran left his mate’s bed before she woke, reluctantly disentangling himself from her touch. In her sleep, she had sought comfort from him, and he had not been able to deny her. Mia was his mate, he thought fiercely. Why should he not touch her, soothe her?

Pleasure her.

Shame followed so closely behind that thought, he flinched. She must consciously accept his touch as easily as she did when sleeping.

Yet last night, she had touched him of her own free will.

Even hours later, the imprint of her fingertip on his lip burned. What did that touch mean? Could she be bending to her own desires?

He slipped away without disturbing her slumber, padding quietly onto the balcony overlooking the town below. The sun had not yet shown itself, though its first light had touched the horizon, a liminal glow rending the night in two. With the ease of long practice, he moved into the first Ky’Lota form, disciplining his mind and body in the ancient soul dance anchored firmly in the distant past.

His focus remained elusive for entirely too long, aware as he was of his mate resting peacefully at his back. He drew in a long breath, held it for a moment, flowed into the second form on the exhale. Inhale. Exhale. The tension in his muscles released on another long breath, allowing him to move seamlessly into the next form, and he felt the first pulse of his kii , his soul, surfacing into the dance.

Mind, body, soul, joining as one, bringing harmony to the conflict raging within him.

Mia was his mate.

Fate-given to him alone.

His to cherish.

His to protect, even from himself.

Mia .

She flowed into his soul as easily as the wind slipping through the trees, as eternal as the stars, inextricably woven into the fabric of his being.

By the time the sun crested the horizon, a light sweat coated his skin. He came to rest in the final form, kneeling before the coming day, his head bowed in gratitude for the Fates’ guidance.

Fabric whispered behind him, and Mia murmured, “Zoran?”

He turned to her without thought and found himself beside the bed, staring down at her slumbering form. Her hair had dried into ringlets overnight and now covered her face. Careful not to wake her, he slipped a clawed finger beneath the loose strands and swept them away from her face. His heart clenched tightly in his chest. So beautiful. So tempting.

Certainty settled into his soul, guiding him toward the correct path as the Fates had guided him to her. He must unearth this chocolate for his mate, and a comb. Would she allow him to brush the tangles out of her hair, to run his fingers through the silken strands?

Would she do the same for him?

Perhaps these humans had no such customs. If so, he must teach her to love him as he suspected he was coming to love her, each moment a small gift ever to be treasured.

Mia woke alone in Zoran’s bed. Sunlight and a light breeze filtered through the protective field into the outer wall’s open arch, and the faint buzz of vehicles and whatever life lived in the jungle added a happy cadence to the day. The storm must’ve dissipated in the night, after she’d fallen, exhausted, into sleep.

She smiled and stretched, starfishing in the middle of the bed. After her shower last night, she’d scrounged through Zoran’s clothes and borrowed a sleeveless tunic. Throughout their simple supper—Xeruvian food for him, human food for her—she’d tried drawing him into conversation, telling him about her day, asking about his. His replies had been short and to the point, and that hurt her as much as his earlier cutting remark had. Gone was the Zoran who’d wrapped himself around her and teased her about rutting and mating. The male that had taken his place was withdrawn and borderline rude.

Still, she found hope in the unlikeliest of places. He’d brought her into his home, when he could’ve dumped her at the compound where the unmated humans would live. He’d introduced her to his mother. That was a plus. And he wanted her as much as he ever had.

A shiver shuddered through her as the memory of him stalking her around the bedroom replayed in her mind. When he’d pinned her to the bed, all glowering threats and adorable snarls, she’d nearly melted on the spot. Mercy, was that man sexy! She’d wanted to boop him on the nose, which might’ve gotten her fingers nipped.

Mmm. Zoran nipping at her skin? Yes, please!

She’d settled for a single touch, one light fingertip against his lower lip. The look he’d given her, startled and disbelieving and outrageously sexy, had warmed her to her core, easing some of the pain of his withdrawal.

Several of the women were bitter or fearful over being taken from their lives on Earth, some, like Kira, with due cause. Mia couldn’t say that she wasn’t, to some degree. She simply refused to wallow in either emotion. Better to make the most of her time on Zephyria.

And since she’d bound herself to her sexy alien warlord, however inadvertently, she intended to make the most of that, too. Zoran wanted to withdraw?

Ha. Let him try!

A chiming melody rang through the apartment. Mia glanced at the open wall and the balcony beyond, found it empty, and heaved a sigh of relief. She kept expecting a giant, woman-eating raptor to creep into the bedroom. Or worse, that lithe white animal she’d spotted slinking through the jungle.

She shuddered again and rolled out of bed. Maybe Zoran would compromise by installing an actual door in the wall rather than relying solely on Xeruvian forcefield technology.

The chiming came again, and Mia realized it was a doorbell. Laughing, she rushed into the apartment’s living area and swung the door wide. Jyrak stood on the other side, dressed in proper Xeruvian fashion: a colorfully embroidered calf-length robe fastened over a sleeveless tunic, flowing pants, and sandals. Her hands were tucked behind her back, and she cocked her head quizzically at Mia.

“ Kii-la, novala ,” Jyrak said.

Mia grabbed her elbow and prodded her inside. “Never mind that. I need your help.”

Jyrak’s startled look shot embarrassed heat straight to Mia’s cheeks.

“Sorry! Hello, how are you, thanks for coming by,” Mia said all in a rush, then waved at the tunic she wore. “I just remembered that I don’t have any clothes to wear.”

“Your warlord has not provided any for you?” Jyrak clucked her tongue. “That is not like Lord Zoran.”

“No, no. There was no time.” Mia blew out a breath and shoved her hands through her tangled hair. “Let me start over. We were taken from our workplace.”

“This I understand.”

“Yes, so, we were wearing work clothes. And that’s what I have with me. A skirt, a blouse, heels, my lab coat, and a single set of underclothes.” She glanced down at Zoran’s tunic and grimaced. “And this, I suppose. Everything happened so fast, I don’t think Zoran and the others realized that we’d need more clothes than what we had on.”

“Ah. Males have little need for clothing.” Jyrak’s upper lip curled in a clear expression of distaste. “If needs be, they will wander around in the same breeches for days or simply go without.”

Mia laughed. “Yes! Human men are the same way sometimes. Alara took me on a quick tour of the market, but I wasn’t focused on finding clothes.”

“Then we shall remedy that matter this morning.”

“But not like this. Oh, wait! I forgot about the robe Zoran gave me. Where is that? Geez, I had it on yesterday…”

She rushed back to the bedroom and found her robe hanging in the set-in closet alongside Zoran’s clothes. Her heart stuttered in her chest. He’d done that, making a place for her among his own things in the spartan apartment that was now their home. Surely that counted for something.

Jyrak’s steps were light on the bare floor behind her. “Is this the same shinsek’uk you wore when we first met?”

“I’m afraid so. Zoran gave it to me after—” Think positive , Mia reminded herself. “It was his first gift to me.”

“And a dear one. These are his colors. The colors of Clan Kerus.”

“Marking me.”

Jyrak gave her a startled look. “I suppose so.”

Mia held the deep red robe to her chest, noting again its length. She’d had to blouse it around her waist yesterday to keep it from dragging the ground.

“Human men do that, too,” she said. “Give women their old t-shirts to wear. Buy them lingerie. Hmm. Now that I think on it, women do the same thing, especially married women. Mated men tend to dress better than unmated ones. On Earth anyway.”

Jyrak hummed deep in her throat. “I think we have more in common than anyone realizes. Perhaps such things are universal. The need to claim the ones we love, to mark them as belonging.”

Zoran’s words popped into her head. We are not humans, mate, and you are no longer on Earth.

Mia bit her lip against a wince. “Maybe.”

Jyrak’s eyes narrowed on the robe. “Tell me. How do you feel about shopping?”

Mia laughed, utterly delighted that Jyrak had sought her out.

Speaking of.

“If you don’t mind my asking,” Mia said, “why did you drop by?”

“Mother Alara asked me to act as your guide, should you need one.”

“Oh, I definitely do. There’s so much I don’t know. Where to find human food, how to get back to the science center, what research I’m going to focus on while I’m here.” The weight of those unknowns pressed down on her, stealing her breath for one raw, vivid moment, and she added, somewhat desperately, “I don’t even know how to pay for my own clothing.”

Jyrak tentatively touched her fingers to Mia’s elbow. “Milady—”

“None of that!” Mia exclaimed sharply.

“Mia,” Jyrak corrected, apparently unoffended. “All will be as it should. Let that certainty comfort you as it does my people.”

“All will be as it should.” Just saying it eased some of the unaccustomed anxiety. “Thank you. I guess I needed that.”

“As we all do at times. We shall break our fast, then endeavor to empty Lord Zoran’s treasure store. Our merchants will be most grateful for your generosity on this glorious day!”

Mia laughed so hard, she cried, then had to explain the difference between happy tears and sad tears, which led to Jyrak trying to laugh and cry at the same time. The episode left them both giggling.

And that, Mia thought as she quickly detangled her hair and dressed, was exactly how a good day started.

They bounced between a custom clothes designer and other merchants. Jyrak had no problem spending Zoran’s money in the form of credit granted by the merchants, but Mia was always mindful of the costs of her new wardrobe. It’s necessary , she reminded herself repeatedly as Jyrak enthusiastically whisked her through fittings of one sort or another. Still, by the time they were finished, Mia winced at the number of packages she’d accumulated. Not enough clothes to last a full week, but enough to put a dent in Zoran’s treasure store .

After dropping the packages off at Zoran’s apartment, they walked to the science center along a wide pathway winding alongside the road. There, Mia found Leona, Kira, and many of the other human women hard at work, and nearly cried when she saw them all.

As soon as she could, she ushered her two besties into her office and closed the door on the rest of the crowd. “I thought we wouldn’t see each other for a while!”

Leona perched against the desk, looking stunning in traditional Xeruvian garb. “I put my foot down on that. We were dragged here against our will. If these warlords want us to acclimate, we need to keep in touch with our friends and family.”

Kira had settled into the room’s lone chair, her feet curled onto the seat under a pale-yellow Xeruvian robe, the ubiquitous shinsek’uk . “And there’s our research. For now, those of us whose mates live nearby are being allowed to work here.”

Leona slid a sly look at her. “Allowed? I insisted.”

“Not every woman can bend a man to her bidding,” Kira muttered. “It’s likely I’ll only be here a few days a month. There’s an observatory to the north. I’d like to spend some time there.”

“Then tell your mate you want to,” Mia said.

Kira flinched. “I haven’t agreed to that.”

“Kira, hon.” Leona’s lips thinned, and she shook her head. “The important thing is that we won’t be separated. If we want to spend time together, we can. No one’s going to stop us unless something dire happens.”

Mia narrowed her eyes at her friend. “How do you know?”

“I asked.”

Kira snorted, making Mia laugh.

“So tell me,” Leona said, that sly look touching her smile. “Have you bumped uglies with your big, bad warlord yet?”

Color flooded Mia’s cheeks and she sputtered. “What? No! He barely touches me.”

“Makes you wonder what he’s up to, doesn’t it?”

Kira shot Leona an exasperated look. “Stop teasing her. We’ve got bigger fish to fry.”

“Ah, yes. The dissent.”

Mia glanced between them. “What are you talking about?”

“You’ll find out,” Leona replied. “In fact, let’s get it over with so we can get down to work.”

She stood abruptly and left the office.

Mia glanced at Kira. “What’s going on?”

“This is something you need to see for yourself.”

They trailed after Leona, who had breezed partway into the central open workspace and stopped with both hands planted on her hips. “Listen up, people. Who’s brave enough to talk shit about humans to my face?”

Mia sucked in a breath the wrong way and nearly choked on it. “Oh, my God. That is not the way to handle this,” she muttered.

“You know Leona,” Kira whispered. “Bull in a china shop.”

“Only when she has to be.”

Every Xeruvian in the place had frozen, their eyes turned on the three humans. Jyrak stood to one side, her arms crossed over her chest, next to a male Mia vaguely remembered meeting the day before. The other Xeruvian women had clustered together in little clumps, two here, three there, while the remaining men were scattered around the room among the human women who’d dropped by that day. Mia studied them all carefully, her heart sinking. So many of the people she’d interacted with had been kind, if not openly welcoming. Her gaze flicked to Jyrak again. The Xeruvian was staring dispassionately at a cluster of three females standing at a workboard, their expressions ranging from sullen to catty.

God, she hated workplace politics.

One of those women stepped forward, her lips twitching into a humorless smile. “Do you think you can best one of us, human?”

Leona bared her teeth in an equally vicious smile. “Why don’t you come over here and find out?”

Kira breathed out what could’ve been a curse or a prayer. “We’re going to get dragged into this.”

“No, we’re not,” Mia said fiercely. She stepped forward, channeled her inner Zoran, and glared at the Xeruvian. “What’s your name, female?”

The Xeruvian raked her gaze up and down Mia’s body and sneered. “What business is it of yours?”

“Answer your lady,” Jyrak said, her voice so cold, it could cut steel.

“She is not my lady,” the Xeruvian said. “I refuse to acknowledge this usurper as such.”

“Then you will no longer be welcome here,” Alara said.

Mia’s gaze whipped to the entrance. Zoran’s mother filled the doorway, her green eyes hard as emeralds.

“Each of you is here by the grace of my son,” Alara continued, her gaze piercing each Xeruvian in turn. “And by extension, the sufferance of his mate. You will accord her the respect befitting her status.”

Mia waited for an or else and got a boat load of silence.

Most of the Xeruvians watched the interplay as Jyrak did, dispassionately. A few, mostly women, had anger in their eyes. It didn’t mean anything. The anger could come from anywhere; the dispassion could conceal distrust or even hatred.

But Mia silently marked those faces that held the most emotion, knowing they’d be the likeliest sources of trouble.

She braced herself against dismay. Not once had she considered that she might not be welcome here. After all the traveling she’d done with her parents, and all the people they’d met, she should’ve known better. No one was universally liked. Not everyone welcomed outsiders, even those who brought much needed aid.

If humanity and Xeruvians shared a commonality, she wished it had been anything other than this.

Alara’s gaze had fallen on her. Waiting, Mia thought, for a response. She shook her head mutely. What could she say? She was a scientist, not a leader. These people were foolish to look to her when she couldn’t even clothe or feed herself here without help.

Leona answered for her. “Now that that’s settled, we poor humans would like to pair off with our counterparts among you. It’s in everyone’s best interests to cooperate. Anyone who feels put upon can hit the road.”

Mia shot her an exasperated glance. Kira merely shrugged. Oh, well. At least no one was openly rebelling. Not a single Xeruvian walked away.

Mia took a fortifying breath and squared her shoulders. If she’d learned anything from Zoran, it was that Xeruvians valued strength. She might not be the strongest person physically—even for a human, she was puny—but there were other kinds of strength, and other ways to wield it.

“You, there,” she said, pointing to the Xeruvian who’d tried to draw her into a challenge. “What’s your name? What do you do here?”

The Xeruvian said, stiffly, “Raelka Korlis. I am attached to the biology labs.”

Isabella Rossi shifted where she stood, catching Mia’s gaze. The evolutionary biologist was classically beautiful with copper colored hair and kind eyes, the kind of woman who attracted men wherever she went, and remained quietly humble. “She’s under me, then.”

Mia nodded sharply, then turned her attention back to Raelka. “If you step even a single toe out of line, I will remove you from your position.”

Raelka’s eyes widened in enraged horror. “You cannot do such.”

“Try me,” Mia gritted out. “If anyone needs me, I’ll be in my office.”

She pivoted sharply and stalked away, her earlier good mood shattered.

Office politics. Who needed ‘em anyway?