Chapter One

LIGHT YEARS away, a Tah’Narian sat at the subspace controls monitoring communications over the planet Earth.

Boredom washed over First Officer Gibor Kwen as he mindlessly flipped through the channels on the Vox device. Just as he was about to move on to something else, a voice like liquid velvet emerged from the speakers, sending shivers down his spine and causing his tail to twitch with excitement. The sultry tone captivated him, drawing him in like a moth to a flame.

Suppressing a yowl, he gritted his teeth as his sensitive tail smacked into the hard surface of his chair. The high-tech translator implanted in his brain converted the foreign sounds of the Earthling’s language into words that were comprehensible to him.

Quickly he narrowed his focus to the conversation and accessed the physical coordinates of the Vox channel. A series of keystrokes seamlessly connected technologies, allowing him to utilize his ship’s advanced satellite capabilities to pinpoint the owner of that sinful voice.

“Gods above,”

he mumbled when the picture popped on-screen and resolved. This Earthling was beautiful, simply magnificent.

“Gibor? Gibor? First Officer Kwen!”

“Sir!”

Captain Shou strode over to the station where Gibor was seated. “What have you found that has you so entranced? Surely the Earthlings are not—”

“No, sir. The Earthlings are not engaging in any concerning activities,”

Gibor stated with a shaky exhale. His voice dropped to a hushed tone. “But, Keyno, please look at this.” He gestured toward the screen, his fingers trembling.

Two human males stood side by side near the edge of a vast expanse of shimmering blue water. One held a rectangular object to their face and was speaking into it, while the other looked on with interest.

Keyno leaned in close to Gibor’s shoulder and peered at the screen displaying images and sounds from Earth. The two humans now seemed to be engaging in some sort of ritual, laughing and teasing each other as they prepared for a task known as “fishing.”

Gibor marveled at these primitive beings, wondering how they survived and thrived on such a planet with limited technology.

“He’s stunning,”

Keyno admitted.

“Isn’t he?”

Gibor answered as the blond opened a square box that had all sorts of hooks, small bits of polymer, and a thin, transparent line. “That hair of his is almost white in the sun.”

“Huh?”

Keyno asked, confused. “I was referring to the brunet.”

“Well, I wasn’t.”

Gibor watched the scene.

He smiled at the blond, who was griping about an injury to his hand—Gibor couldn’t see one, though he looked the male over quite thoroughly—and something called a “stupid tent”

that seemed to both amuse and annoy his friend. Gibor groaned softly.

“His voice alone could bring a Tah’Narian to his knees.”

“Any Tah’Narian, or just you, my friend?”

Keyno asked with a slight smile, watching the brown-haired human push the blond one into the water.

“Me, of course.”

“If you’re so interested in him, do a scan and find out if he’s of age. He may be eligible for the upcoming collections. Matter of fact, do both of them. And Gibor, copy that to my private files, will you?”

Gibor smirked at his captain. “Seems like I’m not the only one interested in these two.”

“I gave you an order, First Officer,”

Keyno replied, winking.

“One I’m pleased to obey, Captain,”

Gibor replied as he forwarded the link to his captain’s files. “Gods, Keyno. As much as I hate what we do, I hope he’s eligible. I want him.”

“The harvest is in two Earth days, my friend.”

Keyno laughed slightly at the humans’ antics on the screen. The blond was chasing the brown-headed one now. “I don’t like this, either, but what choice do we have?”

“It seems to me there has to be some other way.”

Gibor’s gaze was fixed on the screen in front of him, but his mind was elsewhere. He couldn’t shake the feeling that this human was important. He turned away, looking out at the dark recesses of space.

He was lonely, yet he knew what taking a human mate meant for that human. It was life-altering for them, but despite Tah’Nar’s best efforts, they couldn’t find any other solution to their predicament.

“Gibor? Find out what you can and let me know.”

“Yes, sir,”

Gibor replied, turning back to the screen.

He spent several moments watching the Earthlings pull some sort of squirming aquatic animal out of the overly large body of water. Lake. They’d called it a lake, and its shimmering blue surface reflected the equally vibrant hue of the sky above.

Despite the oddity of this world’s aquatic life, Gibor couldn’t help but appreciate the beauty in front of him. A sense of wonder and curiosity washed over him, reminding him that even in the vastness of the universe, there were endless new discoveries to be made.

He found it odd that the humans lived in these wooden houses built on the ground. Tah’Narians’ personal homes were often built in the treetops. And the humans’ personal vehicles were also ground dwelling. They had crafts capable of flight, but not every human had one. And they certainly looked nothing like the Tah’Narians’.

While the humans enjoyed their day, completely unaware they were being observed, Gibor did a facial recognition search on the blond. A moment later the machine beeped.

“Hmmm. Chad Foster. Parents are Howard and Linda Foster. And he is of age.”

Again, Gibor had a brief moment of hesitancy. He mentioned he’d wanted this human, something he’d never done during any of the other harvests, and he’d done it knowing full well Keyno would pull strings to make it happen.

If Gibor went through with this, he would not only be uprooting this human’s life but he would, for all intents and purposes, destroy it. Chad could never return to Earth. Not only that, but his DNA would be mutated so he could bear a young.

But Gibor couldn’t walk away. There was something about those big blue innocent eyes and that playful smile that appealed to Gibor. He wasn’t sure how he’d react if he saw the human on a starship with another Tah’Narian’s mark of ownership around his throat.

And that told him everything he needed to know.

Hopefully, one day Chad could forgive him because he was going to make sure Chad’s number was called for the lottery. He also did an official recognition search on the brunet and sent the information to Keyno’s personal comm.

IT WAS time.

The harvest had started. Doc had been on the Bridge when it began, although Keyno had relieved him now.

Gibor had gone to his quarters, slept for a while, and was due to return to the Bridge close to the end of the harvest. Chad’s retrieval was scheduled for much later in the afternoon—9 p.m. Central Standard Time. But since it was summer, it was still light outside.

Gibor wanted to be there to witness it. Something told him he needed to be.

He and Keyno had been monitoring the activities of SWAT teams across the United States. He couldn’t help but notice a growing impatience among the human officers as they carried out their duties, attempting to collect the individuals who had their number called.

The tension in the air was palpable, as if things could erupt into chaos at any moment. It was clear that the situation was becoming more volatile. It didn’t help that on more than one occasion, Gibor had seen crowds videotaping a harvest happening, and their responses were becoming more violent toward the SWAT teams, oddly enough.

There were obscenities shouted, hand gestures made, and things thrown. This was human-on-human violence, but it was concerning.

Gibor stood next to Keyno as they stared at the video monitor. They watched as Dale walked out of Chad’s house. There were so many humans out and about, working in their yards even at that time of the day.

Chad leaned against the doorframe. When Dale reached his house, he turned and waved at Chad.

“Here we go,”

Gibor said quietly. His heart raced, the adrenaline pumping through his veins sending chills down his spine.

As Chad waved back, a sleek black van turned onto the street and moved slowly down it. People reacted as it moved past them. Some glared, and some flipped the van off. Somebody was watering their yard and dropped the hose. A woman ran inside and then came back out with her husband.

Every last one of them were so very angry.

“Oh, fuck,”

Chad wheezed.

The terror on Chad’s face hit Gibor like a fist to the gut. For a brief moment, he hated himself for putting Chad through this. There had to be a better way.

The van pulled into Chad’s driveway, and he ran into the house. For the next several minutes, Gibor and Keyno had no idea what was going on inside, but they could hear screaming and cursing.

And crying.

Gibor closed his eyes, but quickly opened them when he heard Keyno growl next to him.

Dale had started back across the yard toward Chad, yelling also.

“No, no, no. If he tries to interfere—”

“Wait. Wait.”

Gibor grabbed Keyno by the elbow. “Look. There’s an older human—okay, he’s got Dale on the ground. It’s okay. He’s keeping Dale out of it.”

Neither Gibor nor Keyno had stopped to consider the possibility that Dale might see this. And he hated that too. Eventually, the SWAT team dragged Chad back outside. He struggled weakly every step of the way to the van. One member of the team walked funny, almost as if he was protecting his stomach.

Gibor stiffened next to Keyno. “Chad moves as if he’s in pain.”

“He does. What happened in that gods be damned house?”

A crowd had gathered in the front yard, but none of them dared to come closer. As the SWAT team shoved Chad into the black van, a team member ran from the house and joined them.

One was holding his arm.

“Chad fought them,”

Gibor said. “Did you see? There was blood on Chad’s face. Around his mouth. I think they struck him.”

Gibor’s body warmed as his muscles began to bulge. Tah’Narians had the ability to bulk up their body when they were threatened, and Gibor was on the verge of doing just that.

“Get a hold of yourself, First Officer,”

Keyno warned.

“I’m trying.”

All he could see was the trail of blood by Chad’s mouth. “They made him bleed. I want to make them bleed for that.”

“I understand. Look, send the probe that was watching Dale to track Chad to the intake building we set up.”

“Yes, Captain,”

Gibor said, thankful Keyno understood Gibor’s distress. They wouldn’t have access to the interior of the van, but at least they could follow their journey.

Gibor debated asking permission to beam down. He wanted to be there so he could help Chad adjust. Or would that stress the human out more? What could he do to help him?

Or was there even anything he could do?

While they waited on Chad to arrive, Keyno continued to monitor the progression of other harvests that had already taken place in other areas of the planet.

Gibor’s nerves spiked as the probe showed the van was now a quarter of a mile from the intake building. There was nothing for several miles around, which was what the Tah’Narians wanted. The last thing they needed was the human media there.

The building loomed ahead, a towering, sickly grayish-white structure with dark gray veining. The surface had a slight metallic sheen, reflecting the harsh rays of the sun. No windows broke up the monotony, and there was only one solitary door serving as an entrance and exit.

The van parked, and Chad was dragged out of it.

“Oh, fuck no! No! I am not going in there!”

Jerking wildly, Chad tried to free his arms. He fought, but he was still dragged inside and down a hallway. Went they entered a large room, he kicked out, hitting one of the SWAT team members.

“That’s it!”

the extraction team member yelled, swinging around. “You little shit. I’ve had it with you. Since you won’t voluntarily comply, I’m going to make you.”

He pulled his Taser, and the men on either side of Chad held him tightly.

Keyno!”

Gibor yelled, his voice filled with shock and disbelief as he scanned the scene before him. They had better not hurt Chad.

“Go! Take care of what is yours,”

Keyno commanded.

Within seconds, Gibor transported. As vertical lines shimmered and then vanished, he found himself standing in front of Chad.

The humans who had been restraining Chad quickly scattered, sensing the danger emanating from Gibor. Gibor bared his fangs at them, but his attention was on the human in front of him.

The sharp crack of the Taser echoed through the air as the small prongs found their mark in Gibor’s chest. A searing pain pulsed through his body, causing his hair to writhe in response.

With a guttural roar, he threw his head back, his eyes blazing with fiery rage. The desire to kill the human with his bare hands surged through him like an unrelenting Tah’Narian storm.

Chad whimpered behind him and dropped into a crouch.

That only infuriated Gibor more. Now he’d scared his mate. Granted, his roaring hadn’t helped, but still, that hurt. Grabbing the reins of his runaway temper, he stopped yelling his displeasure.

There was dead silence, except for the Taser, but it finally stopped too.

All the humans, regardless of whether they were cops, medical staff, or mates, stared at him in horror. Other Tah’Narians refused to make eye contact with Gibor. Smart of them. Not a soul said a thing while Gibor fought not to murder the entire SWAT team. He reminded himself that was not the first impression he wanted Chad to have of him.

When he was sure he had himself under control, he glared at the human who’d tased him. “Give me one good reason why I should not remove your spine from your body.”

“That fucker hit a team member with a bat when we collected him!”

the asshole in SWAT gear snapped. “Broke his arm! Then he kicked me. I’ve had it with him. He’s a fucking menace and—”

Snarling, Garber took a step toward the human. How dare he insult his mate. Menace? Gibor would show him a gods’ damn menace.

“Okay, okay! I didn’t mean to—”

He tried to scramble away.

Chad gasped. “They understand you?”

Gibor officially had had enough. He’d been afraid something had been done to Chad during his retrieval, and now he knew they had hurt his mate. In five steps he was close enough to yank the Taser out of the SWAT team member’s hand.

He stared into the human’s eyes as he crushed it, imagining it was the man’s skull.

After dropping the useless weapon on the ground, he picked the human up by the front of his body armor and tossed him back toward the hallway they’d just came from.

Hands on his hips, Gibor surveyed the men who had taken Chad. He pointed at someone else on the extraction team. “Get out. Now. Before I show you exactly what I’m capable of.”

Then he growled at them.

There was a scramble of feet and curse words as the SWAT members vacated the area.