CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

Both Bella and Dash wait for us outside our cottage, but I only have eyes for Wranth. Or more accurately, for the small paper cup he holds out to me. “Olivia said you’d—”

“Yep. Thanks.” I snatch the Cuban espresso from his hands, groaning as the first bite of sugary caffeine hits my tongue.

Sturrm stares at me with a puzzled frown as he uses his magic to shorten the length of the stirrups on Dash’s saddle.

I grin up at him and give a little shrug. “Welcome to my caffeine addiction.”

When I finish the tiny shot of rocket fuel, Sturrm lifts me onto Dash’s back, the stirrups exactly the right length for my legs. He waits for me to find my seat, his strong hand lingering on my lower back for a few extra seconds. “No trotting, just walking.” His voice sounds grumpy, but I know it’s because he’s worried.

“Just walking,” I promise. Then I pat Dash’s neck. “Okay, let’s do this.”

I’d told Sturrm during breakfast that I wanted to learn how to ride so I could do so on my own, and here he is, already making it happen.

“Yes, I like this,” Dash says. “All of the healing magic, none of the weight.”

“Humph,” Bella says. “Just you wait. When I’m bigger, I’ll be able to carry an orc easily.”

“I didn’t say I couldn’t carry an orc. Clearly , I can carry one.” Dash rolls his eyes. “I said I prefer not to.”

I chuckle as we take off, heading out of the village, Bella staying by our side so she can continue bickering with Dash.

It leaves Sturrm and Wranth walking together behind us, and I’m glad. The king arriving means Wranth will leave with him to take up his position in the guard again. The friends deserve a little time to talk.

We move past the wide rounded trunks of the heart tree cottages and follow a trail through a pine forest full of ferns and moss. Bright-yellow birds flit from tree to tree, singing happy morning songs, echoing the joy that still fills me from the night before.

By the time we reach the clearing holding the cleaning stone, I even feel a bit steadier on Dash’s back. Sturrm still comes forward to lift me down, and I don’t mind one bit. I sure don’t need to try to dismount for the first time in front of a king!

He stands beside Dravarr and Ashley, an imposing orc about the same age as Sturrm, which surprises me. I don’t know why I was picturing someone in his sixties. Besides being younger than I imagined, King Aldronn also looks more like a soldier than I ever expected of royalty, his wide shoulders tapering to a trim waist, the sword at his hip looking well-used instead of ornamental.

He clasps forearms with Sturrm. “It’s good to see you again. Is this your moon bound bride?”

“It is.” Sturrm pulls me forward. “King Aldronn, I present to you Selena Flores. She’s a healer.”

“Your majesty,” I say. Ay! I forgot to ask about the etiquette of meeting fae royalty. Am I supposed to curtsy or something? But no one else is, so I don’t try.

“A healer. That’s wonderful.” The king studies me with sharp eyes. “And you can heal anything?”

“As far as I’m aware.”

“She even healed us of deathsleep,” Sturrm says, his voice brimming with pride.

“Then I may send patients to you.”

“I look forward to helping anyone I can,” I say.

“Thank you, both,” King Aldronn says. “You’ve done everyone a great service by retrieving the crystals.”

“My king.” Sturrm dips his head.

“Yes,” Sheevora booms. “How is the antidote going?”

“It goes well,” Dravarr says. “My herbalist is already at work on the first batch, using the instructions you provided. ”

I don’t interrupt to say I’ve been helping Gerna. I like her no-nonsense attitude a lot. Gerna doesn’t take any shit, a mindset she acquired by nursing stubborn orcs. “Be warned,” she told me. “Orc men make the worst patients.” I try to picture what Sturrm would be like if ordered to bed rest for a week. Unimaginable! Thankfully, my magic heals so quickly he should never need much nursing.

Nope, the only reasons for my husband to remain in bed are all naughty ones. I grin.

Sturrm and I recount our travels for all of the newcomers. Besides the orc king, there are several unknown unicorns, a wolf, and a smoky gray cat the size of a leopard but with long hair like I’ve never seen on one of the big cats of Earth. The cat gives me a too-wide grin and almost disappears from view for a few seconds, popping back into solidity with a mischievous sparkle in their green eyes.

When we finish, Sheevora says, “Now that we’ll have the antidote to the deathsleep for everyone, it will only make the soul stealers grow even more desperate.”

“I agree,” King Aldronn says. “It feels like they’re building to something.”

“They continue to attack the cu sith,” the wolf says in a deep voice. “But the carnival ride Grace made to protect our main den still keeps them at bay.”

“Bah,” the cat spits, the voice a smooth soprano. “You’ve only driven them our way. They attempted to attack the cat sith only last week.”

“Oh, no!” Ashley gasps. “Is everyone okay? ”

The cat grins, showing way too many teeth. “We led them on a merry chase, hopping back and forth from the shadow roads to Alarria until they gave up.”

I tug Sturrm down to me to whisper in his ear. “What are the shadow roads?”

“An in-between place, somewhat like where Dash took us when he used his travel magic.”

“I am glad you and your kin are well,” Sheevora says. “But I predict the sluagh will only try to find a new target.”

“We’ve warned all our allies,” the orc king says. “And we will rally to any who need help. The soul stealers will not win.” His voice rings with power and steady assurance, and the meeting breaks up not long after.

I say a quick goodbye to Wranth, then go over to stand with Ashley, letting Sturrm get a moment alone with his friend.

They do a quick guy-hug, full of slaps on the back, and then Wranth mounts one of the unknown white unicorns and rides out ahead of his king.

When Sturrm returns to my side, I quietly ask, “You okay?”

“I am.” He smiles down at me, and Dravarr calls out and waves to him to come discuss something with the wolf. My husband strides over, welcomed by the warlord, and I see Sturrm’s shoulders ease.

Happiness fills me. Ay! He’s going to be okay.

Bella stays with Sheevora and Drake, having a little family reunion before their mother leaves for the mountains.

Dash takes off, racing Midnight, the other pooka-unicorn of the village .

“Now let’s talk bras,” Ashley links her arm through mine, and we start the trek back to Moon Blade Village, walking and chatting and laughing.

My first sight of the heart tree cottages causes a happy little skip of my heart. This place is already so dear to me.

We all have a place here, Sturrm, Bella, Dash, and me. It’s the best feeling ever.

It’s home.

After lunch a couple of days later, Sturrm asks, “Are you all right having your riding lesson on your own today?”

“Sure. Dash is aware I can only do the slowest trots. I know he’s playful, but he’s careful when I’m riding him.”

“Good.” He gives me a quick kiss and hurries from the cottage.

I chew a tooth cleaning berry and wonder what he’s up to. Probably something with Dravarr. The clan warlord’s been making good use of all Sturrm’s years of experience in the king’s guard.

When I step outside, Bella’s waiting. She perks up as soon as she sees me, her feathery crest rising. “Selena.”

“Hi.” I hurry over and scratch all around the base of her horns until she hums with happiness. Even though she’s smaller than her brother, she informed me that her horns came in a lot younger than his did, just like her fire control is better.

“Are you riding the unicorn again?” she asks .

“Yep.”

“Humph. When I get a little bigger, you can ride me.” Her tone sounds excited. “Your healing magic will prevent any strain on my wings.”

“I don’t want to do anything that will hurt you,” I say.

“You won’t.” She bobs her head. “Flying is less about wing strength than about magic, and I have a great deal of magic.” To prove her point, she lifts a couple of feet off the ground without even spreading her wings.

“We’ll see,” I say, without promising anything. Sturrm still has quite the protective streak as far as I’m concerned. And after years of having no one to really watch my back, I can’t complain one little bit.

Dash canters around a cottage, coming from the direction of the village green. “I’m here!”

I lift the saddle off the ground and arrange it on his back, tightening the cinch on his belly. “Is that good? Did I do it right?”

He peers back over his shoulder, and his skin twitches as he makes it move in that way equines can do. “Feels secure to me.”

I grip the front of the saddle, set my foot in the stirrup, and swing up onto his back. Ay! I did it right the first time! Sturrm made me practice it a bazillion times yesterday for some reason, and I’m sure glad of it today.

“Bye,” a sad-sounding Bella says behind us.

“Drake’s in the village green telling the orc younglings he’s much better at breathing fire than you are. ”

“What?” she squawks, her wings rustling on her back in agitation as she heads toward the center of the village. “He wouldn’t dare.”

Once she’s out of earshot, I murmur, “Did he really say that?”

“No.”

“But you wanted her to stop being sad,” I say. The unicorn knows how much she likes to compete with her brother.

“I did not. I just thought it would be funny.”

“Uh-huh. Sure. Whatever you say.” The big softie.

Instead of answering, Dash starts forward at a fast walk, giving me time to find my seat.

I wind my hands in his silky black mane, and say, “Okay, let’s go!”

He takes off at a slow trot that feels like a hundred miles an hour as we run into the forest, a laugh tearing from my lips. For all the riding I did with Sturrm, being on unicorn back by myself is way scarier… and also more exciting.

We run and run, well past the time we usually finish our practice. The light’s beginning to dip by the time Dash pauses to drink from a small creek, and the crystal clear water burbling over smooth stones looks so good I realize I’m thirsty, too.

“I think it’s time to head back now.” I give his neck a pat. “I don’t want Sturrm to worry.”

“Okay.” With a little laugh, Dash takes off running again.

All the parts of the forest still look kind of samey to me. I definitely need to get better at noticing differences beyond “ that’s a pine tree” and “hey, look—more ferns.” But even so, we run for a while without anything seeming familiar, the forest slowly darkening around us as evening descends.

“Are you sure we’re going the right way?”

“Yep.” Dash tosses his head, making the front of his mane flip in a dramatic fashion. In a few more minutes, he slows, coming to a stop on the edge of a blue birch grove, the leaves glowing with the last of the day’s light. “We’re here.”

“Um, no we’re not.” I crane my neck. “This isn’t the village.”

“You’re right, it’s not the village, but it’s where you’re supposed to be.”

“Uh, Dash…”

He looks back over his shoulder and whisper-hisses out the side of his mouth, “I’m not supposed to say anything to spoil the surprise.”

“Oh!” Relief rushes through me as I slide to the ground, my healing magic swirling through my butt and legs and soothing the muscles.

Sturrm strides from between the birch trees, his eyes flickering past me just long enough to offer the unicorn a thank you before they return to me. “Surprise.”

“See.” I grin up at him. “You’re already getting the hang of them.”

“You’ve made me see many things in a new light, my bride.” He cocks an elbow and leads me into the grove, stopping under a tree that stands out because it’s got green leaves.

A blanket of furs covers the ground, a picnic meal spread out and ready, lit by a glow stone. Sturrm’s travel guitar waits nearby, the case open so it can be plucked up at a moment’s notice.

“A picnic dinner? That’s so romantic!”

“More than dinner.” Sturrm reaches overhead, his long arm parting the green leaves to pluck a dusky pink fruit he holds out on the flat of his palm. “This is an apple tree.”

“An apple tree!” Happiness bubbles in my chest, like I just drank too much sparkling wine. “Just like the song.” Our song.

Sturrm tosses the apple onto the furs and scoops me up into his arms, his deep voice crooning for me and me alone.

Come, lay thee under the apple tree,

And I’ll eat your fruit all night.

For you are the lovely lass for me,

Who bathes my heart in light.

“Just all night?” I say, my tone seductive and teasing.

“No.” He frowns his serious, thoughtful frown. The one I love so, so much. “One night will never be enough. I will lay with you and love you forever, my bride.”

His mouth takes mine, sweet and hot, in the first kiss of the rest of our glorious lives together.

Thank you for reading Bound to the Orc Guardian . I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Want more Selena and Sturrm? Read on for a special bonus story!

Want to see what happens when Wranth finds out the secret of his birth? Eager to discover who the Moon Goddess picks to be his very special moon bound bride? Dive into Bound to the Orc Warrior , book five of the Brides of the Moon Blade Clan! This book is going to crack this entire world wide open!

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I peek over the edge of the stone, and the ground is way, way below me. Too far. I’m not exactly the best with heights. “God, I want to be on the ground.”

My crystal necklace warms on my chest. Blink. I’m standing on the moss-covered ground, the pillar of rock rising above me. From down here, the heavy forest blocks my view of anything but the closest pines.

“What. The. Actual. Fuck?” Did I just… what’s the word? Did I just teleport ?

I look up. As scary as it was to be so high up, at least I had a better view, more of a chance to figure out where I am.

As soon as I think it, my crystal flashes. I’m there, standing on top of the pillar again.

“Shit!” My arms pinwheel as I try to catch my balance, my heart pounding like a drum in my ears. As soon as I stabilize, I stand completely still, not daring to move.

“Think, think, think, Naomi,” I mutter. “You watched that one episode of Doctor Who . You got this.”

Though most of what I remember is him trying to get a human baby back from a flying ship of goblins. I glance up at the bright-blue sky just in case a big wooden ship sails overhead. Nope, no ship.

So I’m stuck in the middle of nowhere, completely alone, with nothing but a distant flock of birds in sight.

“This is not what I meant when I said I wanted to see new places.”

Instead of scaring off the birds, my voice seems to attract them. They cry out, rough caws filling the air, and wheel around to fly toward me, their movements eerily synchronized.

As they get closer, their bodies are no longer a solid shadow against the lighter sky. Inky-black feathers cover them, but their eyes, beaks, and claws are bright splashes of blood red.

Again, moving as one, they dive toward me, clawed feet extended, beaks open on terrifying screeches.

I throw up my arms to protect my face, and pain flares in my forearms. The damned things bit me!

“Oh, hell no!”

In a blink, I’m on the ground.

And I’m no longer alone.

A green elf runs out of the trees, all pointy ears and fangs that stick up from his bottom lip. He’s drop-dead gorgeous with a sharply chiseled nose and cheekbones for days. Tall and muscular, he’s dressed in tight brown leather pants—major yum—and a light-blue shirt.

Then he pulls a sword—a freaking sword with a blade so sharp it glints in the sunlight—and bellows angrily.

He leaps past me, slicing a bird in two. The body parts fall, dissolving into nothing before they even touch the ground. Again and again, his sword flashes through the air, cutting the birds trying to get around him.

Trying to get to me.

“Oh, hell no. I appreciate the save, and you’re really hot, but no.” Whatever any of this is, I don’t want it.

I want to go home.

In a blink, I’m standing in the middle of a different clearing, the trees surrounding me covered in blue leaves. What the hell kind of tree has blue leaves? It’s a campsite, complete with a crackling fire and a circle of tan leather tents.

And a hell of a lot more of the green elves.

They leap to their feet, all talking at once in a language I can’t understand, and a deep voice answers from right behind me.

I whirl around.

It’s the guy from the stone pillar! He reaches for me. He’s put away his sword, but something else flashes in his hand.

“No! I want to go home!”

Another blink.

I’m standing in an open area in front of some of the strangest trees I’ve ever seen in my life. They’re huge, with wide, rounded trunks even bigger than redwoods. But unlike redwood trees, these don’t soar to the sky overhead. They only grow to about fifty-feet high, their tops sprouting multiple branches all covered in large, heart-shaped leaves.

The bottoms of the trunks might not have branches, but they do have doors and windows set into them!

They’re houses made out of trees!

More of the green elves pour out of them, all of them talking and pointing. A unicorn trots from behind one of the trees—a freaking unicorn!—their coat so white it almost gleams silver in the sunlight.

The deep voice speaks from behind me again.

I spin, already knowing who I’ll find, but my mouth drops open, because a Whirling Swings ride fills the area behind the green elf, the tall central column covered in brightly painted scenes, the swing chairs dangling on chains from the wide disk mounted to the top.

Stunned laughter bubbles up as I shake my head. “Yep, it’s official. You’ve lost your damned mind, Naomi.”

The elf says something, sounding concerned, and steps closer.

I retreat a few feet, but I can’t go far, because the other people now surround us.

I want to go home!

Blink. I’m back at the pillar of rock, the place this all started. Instinct makes me press both palms to it. When I first got here, the crystals in it lit up in time with my necklace. Maybe they can help.

The birds scream overhead, and the sound of a sword being drawn comes from behind me. The elf came with me.

I close my eyes and press my hands harder against the rock, focusing on one word and one word only.

Home. My real home!

Pressure squeezes on me from all sides. All of the past times I teleported were completely effortless. This time’s the opposite. Sweat trickles down my face, down my back, and tickles between my breasts. I strain harder, my muscles shaking, my face scrunching.

Home. Home . HOME .

HOME!

With a huge pop, something rips.

I fall to hands and knees, scraping my skin on asphalt. But I don’t even care, because it’s familiar old asphalt, turned gray with age, and my home town’s most hated pot hole sits only a couple of feet away.

Strong hands wrap around my shoulders, pulling me to my feet, and main street comes into view, the dusty windows of the closed ice cream parlor right in front of me.

I did it! I’m home!

I turn, ready to thank whichever of my neighbors just helped me up. It’s not one of them. Shock freezes all of my muscles as I suck in a startled breath.

The green elf stares down at me, his dark eyes wide and wild. “By the goddess, what did you do?”

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BOUND TO THE ORC WARRIOR

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CHAPTER ONE

Cara

I FLINCHED AWAY from blinding light, my arm sluggish as I tried to shield my face with my hand. Why did it feel like my insides had been scooped out and replaced with cotton wool? Oh, yeah. Cryo.

If they were waking me up, we were there. Our new planet! A thread of excitement wove through the sluggishness of cryohangover.

I blinked repeatedly, trying to get my eyes to focus.

“What the hell!” My heart skipped. That wasn’t a medic! The thing looming in front of me had to be alien! Like alien-alien, not like on the really old Star Trek ’s where they just glued different things to the actors’ foreheads.

Leathery gray hide covered a hairless head with four solid-black eyes and a little blob of a nose. It opened a large mouth, and a sound like crashing rocks filled the air.

As soon as it fell quiet, I said, “Do you speak English?” I winced. It was such a stupid question, but what the hell else could I ask? Maybe they had some kind of universal translator.

Those eyes stared, unblinking. Then it moved backward, letting more of the room come into view. Instead of waking on a bed in the medbay of ARK 1 , the spaceship I’d left Earth in, I stood upright in my cryopod. This also wasn’t one of the ship’s cavernous cargo holds filled with cryopods. Nope. We were in too small of a room, and instead of white plastic, the ceiling, walls, and floor were made out of unpainted metal.

The alien got even more alien as the rest of it came into view. It had shoulders and two arms that ended in three-fingered hands, but below that, it widened out into a shape like a mini-mountain. The base flared in all directions until it was three to four times as wide as me. It looked like a huge slug without the tail. It glided over the flat floor, but how? Were there a million little legs under there? Did it slide like a snail?

Another rumble of rock on rock from it jerked my gaze upward.

The light wasn’t actually that bright, now that my eyes had adjusted, but it still glinted off the silver barrel of a gun the alien gripped in its meaty fingers.

“Fuck!” My body instinctively tried to backpedal, but I only pushed myself deeper into the gel bed of the cryopod. I started babbling, using my perkiest voice, “Hi! I’m Cara Peterson. I’m from Earth. You’ve probably never heard of Earth. It used to be a really nice planet, but it’s kind of not anymore. That’s why I left.” Oh, god, you’ve lost it now, Cara! I’d been trained to make an armed opponent empathize with me as a person. Who knew if it worked on aliens?

The alien certainly ignored me. Its other hand reached out and engulfed my shoulder, yanking me forward and around.

Damn, damn, damn! I tried every move I knew, but I couldn’t break the grip on my shoulder. The thing was freaking strong.

I swiveled my head, trying to keep the gun in sight. The barrel swung up, then disappeared behind me. Panic made my heart race. “I’m a trained peacekeeper! I help people!”

There was an uncomfortable thunk at the base of my skull as a sharp pain pinched. Then the alien let me go.

I sagged in relief, my muscles so weird and wobbly from cryo that I fell forward, face planting into the gel bed of my cryopod. Yep! That’ll really convince them you’re someone to take seriously. A bark of hysterical laughter pushed through my throat.

The grinding rocks came again as a hand lifted me and turned me around. More and more noise poured over me, coming from the alien holding me and another one I couldn’t see.

The sound stopped, those four inky-black eyes boring into me.

“Sorry, dude.” I licked dry lips. “I don’t know what you want.”

None of this was how it was supposed to go! The experts on Earth had programmed ARK 1 to fly until it found a habitable planet. The ship would wake a select team of personnel. As a peacekeeper, I was one of them. Kind of a police officer, solider, and bodyguard all rolled into one, my first duty would be to protect the scientists sent down to evaluate the planet. The women were all brilliant, but common sense wasn’t their forte. Thank god, I had it in bucketfuls.

It had sounded exciting and grand and way better than a dismal corporate security job on a dying Earth. And the thing I’d been too embarrassed to tell anyone else was I’d also imagined it would be like my favorite sci-fi TV shows and movies, the classic ones I used to binge watch with Gramps.

You wanted there to be aliens, Cara! Here they are.

When my ship had left Earth in 2123, humans had still thought we were alone in the universe. I’d always hoped we weren’t.

I’d also hoped for something different than this. Maybe watching Captain Kirk horndog his way through new alien species had skewed my view of what “first contact” actually meant.

The alien spoke again, its large mouth opening enough to show it didn’t have a tongue. A second one glided into view. The two of them looked exactly alike. Were they twins or clones? Or were there differences I couldn’t see with human eyes? I shrugged. I had bigger things to worry about.

While they talked, I craned my head over my shoulder, searching for clues. Crates in various sizes and colors filled the rest of the room, but in the back stood two upright white rectangles—cryopods. Excitement skittered through me. Hell, yeah! I’m not alone! There are more women here.

Then reality hit. Being “here” wasn’t exactly candy and roses. It was my job to protect those women. Thank god they were still asleep.

The gray aliens fell silent, and I turned back around. A twinge of pain flashed from the base of my skull. What the hell had they shot me with, and why?

The one in front of me grabbed my shoulder again and marched me forward. My feet caught against the flat floor, my leg muscles still not working right. How damned embarrassing! I was supposed to be a fighter, a protector, and I could barely walk.

The alien shoved me forward, its grip impossibly strong. The damned thing really was a mountain, ready to roll right over me like a landslide. I’ll call you Mount Slug .

We rounded a stack of crates, and the end of the room came into view. A large metal door hinged upward, and a wide ramp descended to the ground outside. This was the cargo hold of a ship, just not my ship.

I staggered forward, too fascinated by the view outside to care that the alien had to almost drag me.

This was everything I’d dreamed about.

Sunlight poured from a pale-orange sky, bathing a busy street filled with aliens of all different types. The chaos and activity of the scene created a whirl of textures and colors. My eyes pinballed from one place to the next. There were so many things to look at I couldn’t focus.

At the bottom of the ramp, I stepped out onto soft, dusty beige dirt. The thin slippers that went with my white cryo onesie hadn’t offered much protection from the hard metal floors of the ship. The ground felt a lot better, and my toes instinctively dug in to steady me.

Wind tossed my straight black hair into my eyes, and I tucked it behind my ear. Humidity gave the air a thick quality as it coated my face, and a wild mixture of scents competed for attention—grilling meat, clashing perfumes, and the rich smell of greenery.

Ships stretched off in a line to the right and left, all of them small, like shuttles made to land on a planet. We stood on a pedestrian avenue, and only a few feet ahead, an open-air market started. Stalls sprang up everywhere, the setup kind of hodgepodge. Each sold something new to discover. I wanted to explore so damned badly I jolted forward. The gray alien’s grip jerked me to a halt.

The babble of numerous voices came from everywhere. None of them sounded like the same language, but people obviously understood one another.

Mount Slug dragged me across the road and up another ramp. This one led to a raised metal dais about four-feet high. When we got to the top, it spun in place, taking me with it so I faced all of the aliens walking past.

This is more like it! Maybe I could find allies or clues, anything that would help be figure out what the hell was going on.

There were more of the gray pyramid-shaped aliens here and there. Their large bodies really did act like mountains, forcing others to go around them.

A new type of alien came close, an upright-walking lizard. Golden eyes topped a snout filled with fangs. Bright yellow covered the chest, darkening to green everywhere else. It looked like a dinosaur made human-sized with normal-length arms. A bit taller than my 5-foot-six, it had at least twice the body mass, all muscle. A fat tail hung down the back of its legs to just above the ground. It didn’t wear clothes, but a couple of harnesses crossed its chest with things clipped to them. I dubbed it a dino.

Next came a bird alien a few inches taller than me. I was medium build, but this new alien was skinny, way thinner than any human. It had huge dark eyes and a beak instead of a nose and mouth. Pale-yellow feathers covered its body, short everywhere on the front, including its arms. I craned my neck as it passed. It had wings as long as it was tall tucked close to its back, and those feathers were a foot long. That kind could be called birdie.

A tall bipedal form with a huge head walked past, covered in a hooded red cloak that hid its body completely.

Then the crowd in front of me parted, and a new kind of alien strode through the gap.

I sucked in a shocked breath.

He looked the most human of anyone I’d seen, and yet he clearly wasn’t human. His face was a rich blue, shining with a beautiful iridescence in the sunlight. His inky-black hair looked like a true black, throwing off purple and blue highlights. Dark-purple horns crowned his head, one set pointing straight up while a second sat curved down around the sides. Black pants covered his long legs, and something like a long-sleeved T-shirt clung to the muscles of his wide chest and well-defined arms. The triangular tip of a narrow tail poked up above his shoulder, held close to his body.

He carried himself like a fighter, moving through the crowd with the kind of controlled strength you got from doing a martial art for years. The gun on each hip added to the feel. If anyone here could help me, it was him.

He was a dangerous blue demon made flesh—a space demon.

And sexy, like one of the aliens in smutty books who made you orgasm so hard you saw stars.

Yes, please. He looked better even than Klingons, who’d always been my fave sci-fi crush monsters. I almost choked on a laugh. Here I was, lost in space, and all I could think about was this?

The cryohangover was making me loopy. So loopy it was hard to do anything but stare at the new alien.

Space demons, here I come!

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CLAIMED BY THE ALIEN ROGUE