Prologue

Human females were everywhere. Well, everywhere in the Latharian Mate Program section of the base.

Vaarn growled under his breath as he walked through the crowded corridors, heading for his workshop. His new workshop. Since it had gotten out that he'd been the creator of the bracelet that had allowed Kaas V'aant to track down his mate on Earth, Vaarn had been inundated with work and given a new workshop.

The first he liked. It was validation that his inventions weren't the waste of time both the engineers' hall and his father had labeled them. That his creations still had value. Were useful.

The second, the workshop, was beyond his wildest dreams. He'd had to tinker with his inventions in the corner of barracks or cramped personal quarters for many years. Although the latter had afforded him a little more room, the need to pack everything away if he was reassigned had limited the size of his creations. He'd become a master at miniaturization because of it, but now he relished the opportunity to create on a larger scale.

But… he turned the corner, and his jaw tightened when he spotted the familiar form of a human female waiting outside for him… he wished they'd put him somewhere that wasn't so accessible.

"Lady Sadie," he said as he approached.

Sadie was the sister of his friend Kaas' mate—the female Vaarn and his training group had helped rescue from an Earth healer who had been intent on selling off her organs. The fact that it had happened and how easily the delicate little female standing in front of him could also have become a victim made his blood ice over.

"Vaarn!" Sadie turned, treating him to a bright smile. It faded a little when he didn't smile back, and she held out a basket warily. "I made these for you."

He looked at the basket with human-style cakes inside. His stomach rumbled a little, but he ignored it, looking at her face again.

"Why?"

She looked down, and her knuckles went white on the basket handle. "I-I wanted to thank you for the bracelets you made for Ollie and me."

"You are welcome." He nodded. For some reason, Sadie had not registered with the Mate Program yet, which meant she wasn't eligible for a tracking bracelet. So he'd made her and her child one each—a private commission.

"Was there anything else?" he asked, one eyebrow raised. "If not, I have work to do."

She shook her head, paling at his hard tone. "No, nothing. Sorry to have bothered you."

He grunted as he swept past her into his workshop. As soon as the door closed, he leaned against it, his head thudding back into the metal as he groaned.

He felt a complete and utter draanthic for speaking to her that way, but she hadn't registered for the Mate Program yet. The instant she did, she would be matched; he just knew it. If he let himself get close to her, allowed her soft smiles and charm to worm their way past his defenses, and she were given to another…

He wouldn't survive it.