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Aklan parted from Sonja only after regaining control of his body. She had teased him to the point of madness with only a kiss and the glancing graze of her fingers along his clothed chest. And while it had been a test of his willpower, he had begun to find some small measure of charm in human mating rituals, particularly the one called foreplay .

Sonja stepped out of her office behind him, then slid away with a murmured, “See you after supper.”

They had a date that night, attending the pickup game Missy had suggested. Aklan had determined to bring Sonja another gift to commemorate the occasion, yet had not decided which would be most appropriate. None of the gifts he’d brought seemed adequate now compared to her innate beauty and goodness.

She was his gift, he mused, one he’d traveled the galaxy to find. Did she understand the lengths he would travel to keep her?

Across the room, Mike Nicholson beckoned Aklan forward, likely for further diplomatic nonsensicalities. No word had yet arrived from the UK country-clan’s diplomat. Such remained beyond Aklan’s control. So long as he courted Sonja, his patience would hold. When she acquiesced, he would reassess his options. Until then, he must play this game well enough to fool the other diplomats into complacency.

Resigned, Aklan crossed the room, politely greeting Sonja’s coworkers along the way. Mike waved him into an office space nearly identical to Sonja’s, then urged Aklan to sit as he found his own chair.

Aklan leveled a neutral gaze on the other male. “You wished to speak with me?”

Nicholson’s gaze was equally unyielding. “The president has asked me to express his gratitude to you for your patience.”

“There is nothing to be done,” Aklan acknowledged with a polite nod. “Truthfully, I find human dithering to be quite tedious. The UK diplomat’s absence has relieved me of enduring it. I hope you and your fellow diplomats use the time well.”

“We are, I assure you. Several countries have agreed to allow larger nations to negotiate on their behalf.”

“Favorably to all, I should hope.”

Nicholson rolled his shoulders. “Many are reluctant to offer their women up to an alien race, even those whose cultures devalue women.”

Aklan bared his teeth in a predatory smile. “We value them, sir, and will happily court them with the full honor and respect they deserve.”

“The same way you’re courting Sonja?”

“Has she any complaints regarding my treatment of her?”

“To the contrary. She speaks highly of you.” A smile played around the other male’s mouth. “You’ve quite won her over.”

“Such is as it should be when one woos a mate. Force would never work on her.”

“It wouldn’t work on many human women.”

“Nor on Xeruvian females. Unless they wished it.”

“Sonja keeps telling me our species have more in common than not.”

“She speaks the truth. I have always found diplomacy to work better when each side understands the commonalities.”

“Indeed,” Nicholson murmured. His gaze drifted to his desk and he swiveled his chair to the side and back. “Would you be willing to entertain a counteroffer that does not include human women?”

“We would not,” Aklan said flatly, “as we made clear from the beginning. This seems to be a sticking point for every human culture.”

“For good reason. It smacks too much of slavery.”

“Slavery? Bah. We have no wish to enslave humanity. A warrior’s mate is his equal, free to do as she pleases so long as she honors the mating bond. Xeruvians make possessive mates, Mr. Nicholson. Protective ones. But we are not slavers.”

“Still. Will you consider nothing else in trade? Unique delicacies? Raw materials?”

A spurt of irritation pushed Aklan to his feet. “Such things are easily obtainable from within our own solar system, as you well know. Do you intend to delay until such time as we give up, or will you acquiesce?”

Mike remained seated, his gaze guarded. “You’re asking me to show my hand.”

“I’m asking you to honor the promise you have already made. We gave you technology as a show of goodwill, and now you say you have no intentions of honoring that implicit agreement?”

“I’m saying no such thing, Ambassador Phyrz, merely that we would like to explore all options before agreeing to anything further.”

Aklan huffed out a raw breath. “You dither surprisingly close to prevarication.”

“Such is the diplomat’s life.”

“Then you will not agree to our terms even to benefit your own subordinate?”

“It’s not my call. I’ve been given a negotiation path to follow and told not to deviate from it without permission.”

Aklan stared down at the other male, his expression carefully controlled, revealing no clue to his inner thoughts. “Gain permission to deviate, Mr. Nicholson.”

He turned and walked out, his stride even and purposeful, speaking to no one unless they spoke first. His guards fell into step behind him as he left the US country-clan’s offices, and he tolerated their presence until reaching his own rooms.

And felt a good deal of satisfaction at shutting them out.

Once inside, he turned off his translator and signaled Zoran. When the other warlord answered, Aklan said, “Have you located suitable candidates?”

“We have,” Zoran said. “And within three days’ time, we shall have a hold full of supplies for their care.”

“Good. Be ready to retrieve me at my request.”

“And what of your mate?”

Aklan’s mouth slid into the smile of a mate on the hunt. “Prepare for her as well. Peace be unto you.”

“And unto you.”

Aklan closed down the signal and strode to his satchel in search of another gift for his mate.

That evening, Sonja stood with her hand tucked into the crook of Aklan’s arm, bracketed between him and Missy. The pickup game had expanded to include the full court. Everyone had joined in on the fun, including many of the supporting staff for non-American diplomats.

She fingered the necklace Aklan had given her earlier, a sunburst crafted from silver filagree and stone native to his home region on Zephyria. The delicate jewelry was the most beautiful she’d ever owned, and for one brief, shining moment, his gift had touched her as deeply as his words had. He’d carried this gift across who knew how many lightyears, just for the mate he’d hoped to find here.

Lightyears .

How many millions of miles stretched between Earth and Zephyria? Between her life here and his life there?

He might think of her as his mate, but was she really? Could she ever fulfill that role in his life when their worlds were literally lightyears apart? How would that even work? Would he move here? Would she move there?

When she thought of giving up her life and moving to a completely alien world, her stomach sank like a rock. What place could she possibly have on Zephyria?

God, why had she ever let things get this far?

Missy leaned in and spoke, her gaze following the competitive game taking place in front of them. “I can hear your thoughts whirring from over here. What gives?”

“It’s nothing,” Sonja murmured.

Nothing she wanted overheard, anyway. She and Aklan had been on the receiving end of a few mutinous glares, directed at them foremost by the Russians. Mike’s in had caused some resentment among the other countries participating in the talks. She’d expected some negative reactions when she’d first jumped into meeting Aklan.

She hadn’t expected those reactions to hold any sway with her. Maybe if she’d anticipated developing feelings for him, she would’ve thought further ahead. At the time, she’d fully intended to do her duty merely to placate him, to buy Mike some time.

Not once had she seriously considered that she might fall in love with Aklan.

Her heart was still her own, barely. Hanging onto that cliff by its fingernails. How much longer could she hold out before she took that last, fatal tumble into love?

Missy patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry, Sonja. Everything’s going to be ok.”

Sonja snorted at that. “Easy for you to say.”

“Trust me.”

Missy slipped away before Sonja could respond.

Aklan crossed his arms and placed his hand over Sonja’s fingers, still tucked into the crook of his arm. He’d positioned them near center court with his back to the concrete block wall.

If she never saw another concrete block in her life, it would be too soon.

On the other hand, that was a plus on the Zephyria side. She’d bet next month’s pay they didn’t have a single concrete block wall anywhere on the planet.

A group of Ky’Lota devotees hovered near Aklan, questioning him about forms and style. He assured everyone who asked that he intended to resume twice-daily sessions “on the morrow.” While he chatted with the others, Sonja let his strength warm her. His bicep was like sculpted rock under her fingers, his hand a firm promise.

He’d protect her no matter what. Of that she had no doubt. But would his protection be enough?

The thought startled her. She shifted her gaze to his face, only to find him gazing down at her.

“Something troubles you, pjora-la ?”

Should she share the doubts filling her heart? Should she tell him of her uncertainties?

She shook her head. No. Better not to worry him. He already had enough on his plate.

“It’s nothing,” she said.

“It is something, for it fills your eyes with grief and sadness.”

She forced her mouth to twist into a credible approximation of a smile. “That’s boredom, or maybe the dust.”

He grunted. “You must learn to trust me, Sonja.”

“Trust takes time.”

“As do many things.” His gaze probed hers a moment longer before it dropped to her throat. “Tonight, will you kiss me again?”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Think hard, female.”

The blunt growl held as much promise as command.

Later, after he walked her to her quarters, she did kiss him. Not the passionate kisses they’d shared that afternoon, but a light brush of her lips across his. The simple touch seemed to satisfy him, for he grazed his fangs along her throat and wished her a good sleep in that formal way of his.

Doubts dogged her sleep, haunting her dreams.

When her alarm went off the next morning, she pushed herself upright and dragged tired hands over her face. For the first time ever, she considered calling in sick. It wasn’t the lack of sleep. She’d done without plenty of times before.

No, it was having to face Aklan and her coworkers knowing she couldn’t string him along a single minute more. Knowing she should’ve nipped the whole thing in the bud, right after meeting him that first time. Everything after that had acted as encouragement to him, prodding him to believe she’d eventually accept him, when she knew, in her heart, they were incompatible to the bone.

Tears pricked her eyes, and she scrubbed them away.

“I’m just tired,” she told the wobbly chest of drawers, and turned away from the robe he’d given her, carefully folded at the end of her bed.

She dragged herself into and out of a shower. Stared at the coffee pot, pondering whether she wanted to bother making any.

Three raps hit her door, and the doorknob jiggled. “Sonja, you awake?” Missy called through the metal door.

What now , Sonja thought. Couldn’t she even procrastinate in peace?

She heaved a sigh and opened the door. Missy breezed in wearing a baggy sweatshirt over her exercise clothes, a backpack slung over one shoulder.

Right. Ky’Lota. It had completely slipped her mind. When she’d gotten out of the shower, her hands had reached automatically for the shimmery soft robe Aklan had given her that first day. She sniffed back another spate of tears and slumped onto the end of the bed, her arms crossed over her chest.

Missy dropped the backpack on the bed and dug out a paperback novel. “Nunh-unh, girl. Get up and change, or we’ll miss the morning session.”

“I can’t make it today.”

“Yes, you can, Miss Grumps. Just because you look like hell—”

Sonja giggle-snorted. “Thanks. You sure know how to cheer a gal up.”

“What’re friends for? Say, do you mind if I make some coffee? I could use a caffeine hit.”

Without waiting for Sonja’s reply, Missy dropped the novel onto the backpack, went to the coffee pot, and efficiently set coffee to brew. Once done, she ran her hands along the back of the appliance, then along the edges of the desk where it met the wall.

“What are you—” Sonja said.

Missy interrupted with a bright, “So! I was thinking we could have another movie night.”

“Oooookay.”

“Aklan’s only seen the one, right? I mean, you two haven’t been sneaking around watching movies without me, have you?”

Missy held her hand out, palm up, displaying two tiny metal discs. Sonja stared at them with growing horror. Someone had bugged her room? When? Why?

She winced. No, she knew why. Who and when were the problems.

“So, what do you think?” Missy continued. “Do you think Aklan would be up for another movie night?”

“Y—” The reply stuck in Sonja’s throat. She swallowed twice before speech would clear her mouth. “Yes. He seemed to like The Avengers .”

“It did make for some interesting discussions. How about Independence Day ? We can show humans kicking alien ass for once. He sure kicks our butts often enough.”

Sonja forced out a laugh. By then, Missy had worked her way around the room, lifting covert listening devices from behind the headboard, under the chest of drawers, and even her lone suitcase. The coffee finished brewing just then. Missy calmly pulled the one-cup pot out and dumped the handful of bugs into the piping hot liquid, then held one finger to her mouth.

Right. She probably hadn’t found all of them.

Sonja rubbed her eyes, surprised to find tears seeping beneath her lashes. She should be angry about this, so pissed off she marched from her room and gave Mike an earful for him to pass along to whoever the hell was in charge of their team’s security.

Missy, she thought miserably. That’s who was in charge, and she was already on the ball.

Still, how long had those devices been hidden in her room? Had they caught the one-sided, late-night conversations she’d held with Aklan? Were her own words being used against him even now?

A long sigh shuddered out of her. She should’ve anticipated this.

“I think,” she said slowly, “ Independence Day might give him the wrong idea.”

Missy picked up the novel and showed the cover to her, then opened it and pointed inside. “Could be worse. Like, Men in Black worse.”

Sonja studied the paperback, a trashy romance. The cover featured a man in a flowing, unbuttoned shirt dipping a woman wearing an old-fashioned gown. Why was Missy showing her that?

She pursed her lips. “I don’t know. Do we really want him to think humans are always that aggressive?”

“Humans are aggressive. Not half as aggressive as aliens. In fact, I’m positive there are bigger threats out there than the Xeruvians.”

Sonja pondered that for a moment, startled by Missy’s certainty. Unsure how to reply. Finally, she settled on, “Does your fiancé like movies as much as you do?”

Again, Missy pointed to the novel, then the interior, her blue eyes wide and unblinking. “Yeah. He’s a total geek.”

Sonja picked her next words carefully. “He sounds adorable. Where did you meet again?”

Cover, interior. “At a gaming convention. I was security, he was a panelist. We bumped into each other one day. Literally. Poor thing bowled me over. I spilled coffee all over my best suit.”

Her meaning hit Sonja like a Mack truck barreling into a retaining wall. Not cover, interior. Cover story . Missy worked for one of the alphabet agencies. Mike had never said which one, and Sonja hadn’t asked. There’d been too many other things going on. In the back of her mind, she’d thought maybe DHS or the CIA, given the circumstances.

But now she had to wonder who Missy really worked for, and why she was really there.

Sonja’s breath caught in her throat. No, wait. Missy had already told her. She just hadn’t understood.

“Well, that’s not quite the meet-cute I was imagining,” Sonja improvised.

Missy beamed at her and dropped the book, then turned to the chest of drawers and pulled the top one out. “Nothing like your meet-cute anyway. Say, what are you going to wear later? I think we’re doing a formal dinner tonight?”

Sonja watched the other woman pull out a handful of her underwear, bemused. “God, I hope not. I only brought one dress. Forgot my pantyhose, too.”

“Nobody cares about that anymore.”

Missy stuffed the panties in the backpack, then held it out to Sonja, eyeing her meaningfully. Her other hand dipped into her athletic short’s lone pocket and retrieved an index card folded into fourths. Sonja took it, unfolded it, and squinted at three lines of miniscule handwriting.

Trust me.

Not everyone agrees with the powers that be.

Don’t let anyone separate you.

She glanced questioningly at Missy, one eyebrow raised. Missy exchanged the backpack for the index card, tore the latter into tiny pieces, and flushed it down the toilet.

“Oh, look at the time!” she said as she walked back into the bedroom. “I’ll just pop on ahead of you, make sure Aklan knows you’re running a little late. Thanks for the coffee!”

“You’re—” Sonja said as Missy all but bounced out the door. “—welcome.”

She glanced at the backpack, then at the novel, not quite understanding why Missy had left either behind. Too early, Sonja thought, and not enough sleep or caffeine. But the visit had at least jogged her out of the morose mood she’d woken to.

Doubts swirled to the surface again, and she stiff-armed them away. She didn’t have to make a decision about Aklan right away, didn’t have to figure out all the logistics. Those bugs were a more pressing concern anyway. Mike needed to be warned about them so someone could figure out who’d planted them.

Unless Missy already had. She seemed to be one step ahead of everyone.

Had a Men in Black style agency really embedded her in Mike’s team?

Sonja shook that off as she slid off the bed. More pressing matters, she reminded herself. On a whim, she emptied the rest of her clean clothes out of the chest of drawers into the backpack, just in case Missy knew something she didn’t.

Which she probably did. Sonja suspected, now that her brain had cleared and she could process their conversation, that Missy knew far, far more than she let on.

The Xeruvians weren’t the worst threats out there.

Someone was spying on her.

Not everyone believed the Xeruvians should walk away empty handed.

It was all tied together. And maybe, she thought as she locked the backpack in her suitcase, maybe they were running out of time.