CHAPTER 1

Chloe was going to be late. By several minutes, but still. If you wanted to be taken seriously by a potential investor, you had to be punctual for your very first meeting, no?

She had to get to the café on time… Somehow.

She dashed to the long mirror in the hallway, the clock above ticking her precious time away.

Maybe if she skipped the sunscreen? That might save her 30 seconds, if not a whole minute… No, no, no, protecting her face was a must. With her pale skin and the heat wave, even the 15-minute walk to the café would be enough to give her a ripe tomato look.

Perhaps if she forewent the hair-straightening? Yes, yes, that should cut her preparation time by five-six minutes… But what would Shayla think when she saw Chloe's wild long hair sticking in various directions? Investors didn't trust with their money a person who couldn't keep their own hair in order, did they?

Shayla was a top client who loved Chloe's hand-made jewelry to the point where she wanted to invest in making the little business bigger. With a professional-looking online shop and an assistant to deal with shipping and customer service.

Chloe would finally have a proper workshop; no more hunching over the foldable table in the corner of the living room. No more instruments, bits of metal string, and beads all over the small apartment. She would be able to quit her regular job as an accountant; enough with the boring numbers all day and having only the nights and weekends for her true passion. Who knew, Chloe just might have time for dating as well.

But as generous as Shayla was, she would expect a professional to show up at their first in-person meeting ever. So, no skipping the hairdo. Chloe had to at least tie her hair up. That should take her three minutes tops, right?

Wrong. She wrestled with her rebellious hair for seven. Whole. Minutes. And then, to prove the universe was against her, Chloe couldn't find her small red purse, her ballet flats were missing from the shoe rack, and her phone had vanished from the coffee table.

How could things just go missing in a one-bedroom apartment?!

Twelve minutes later, Chloe was miraculously ready to leave. Just a quick glance in the mirror–

Her hair tie had gotten loose, wisps of hair flying free to the point where she might as well have been in a whirlwind. Her necklace of felt beads was so askew it was about to hang over her back soon. Her knee-long black dress had developed a long wrinkle right above the hemline. One of her red shoes had acquired a black smudge at the back.

Chloe sighed. She had what her mother liked to call, ‘the look of someone sucked into the Black Portal and spat out at the other end of the galaxy.' As usual. Why had Chloe expected things to go any different today?

Oh, fudge it.Messy or not, she was going to the café straight away. If things didn't work out with Shayla, then… it wasn't meant to be. Chloe believed that things happened for a reason, so no matter how the meeting turned out today, she would persevere. She had made it as an accountant by day and a jewelry maker by night for three years, she could keep doing that until another opportunity presented itself.

That would mean foregoing dating further, but she was only 29. The Prince Charmings out there could wait a little longer.

Chloe grabbed the doorknob with newfound resolve.

The doorbell rang.

"You've got to be kidding me."

If it was that prying old lady from Apartment 5 again, pretending to need some sugar in order to grill Chloe about her non-existent love life, Chloe was going to lose it. She had told the nosy neighbor twice already that she was not interested in meeting her hermit grandson.

Chloe peeked through the peephole, planning how to escape the old lady as fast as possible without sounding impolite.

It wasn't the prying neighbor on the other side.

It was an alien. Backed by two other aliens, their huge feathery wings blocking the narrow corridor outside. Gaenthian males wearing the insignia of the Intergalactic Alliance.

The extraterrestrial at the front rang the doorbell again.

Chloe barely stifled a squeak. What were Gaenthians doing at her doorstep? They stayed away from human affairs and interacted with ordinary citizens for two reasons only. Chloe had not broken an intergalactic law, which left a single possible explanation. But no, no, this had to be a mistake–

"Lady Loe Davison? Can you please allow us inside your abode? We can hear you are inside. Please, do not be alarmed."

Not be alarmed? The Gaenthians knew her name! They couldn't pronounce it right despite the tech that allowed them to speak English, but they were here for her and no other! That meant they were here because–

"We come with good news, Lady Loe. Your fated mate has been found. As per the Treaty between Terra and the Intergalactic Alliance, we are here to take you to him immediately. He eagerly awaits you at our space station next to the planet you Terrans call Jupiter."

There was no stifling Chloe's squeak this time. She felt lightheaded. She leaned on the door for support.

"Lady Loe?"

It looked like Chloe was going to be late for her meeting after all. By a light year.