by Sadie Carter
“What do you mean, starting to change?”
“We know there is a change in human mate’s bodies. We believe it happens in preparation for the full mating. Once fully mated, mates can feel each other’s emotions and sense where the other is as long as the distance between them is not huge.”
“Really? So this woman didn’t faint at your feet?”
“No.”
“Aw, bummer.” She winked at him.
“While I would be grateful to find my mate, I am slightly relieved it was not that particular female.”
“Is there anything else you can tell me about this whole mating thing? It’s fascinating.” And she knew Rich would demand to know more. “What happens next?”
He actually blushed. It was cute.
“Mates have to join for the mating to fully settle into place,” he explained. “And if there is some delay then sometimes their bodies take over, pushing them into it.”
Huh? “What? They’re pushed into it?” That didn’t sound good. It also sounded exactly what Rich was searching for.
“The female can become overcome with need for the male. And the male grows more aggressive.”
“What happens if they don’t join?”
“We do not know. That has not happened yet.”
Well, okay, then.
***
Annabel paced back and forth across her bedroom. It felt as though the walls were closing in on her. She’d never been good at sitting around and doing nothing. The transporter was due to leave in a few hours. She should be on it. Except she couldn’t leave. Not yet. She told herself it was because Rich needed her here. But that wasn’t the only reason. Her body was screaming at her to stay, even as her brain told her the sensible thing was to leave.
She needed to make up her mind because she couldn’t hide here another day. Dex was likely to send a healer to check on her. He’d wanted to do that yesterday, but she’d managed to avoid that by telling him it was ‘woman problems.'
Poor guy, he’d turned so red she thought he would pop a blood vessel. He’d been mated to Zoey for over a year, you’d think woman problems would be something he was comfortable with by now. She grinned, remembering the way he’d stammered and stumbled over his words then told her to take as much time off as she needed.
She wished.
Hiding in here wasn’t going to get the job done.
“Suck it up, sunshine,” she told herself, using one of her trainer’s favorite sayings. “You need to get out there and do your job.”
They were going to get suspicious otherwise, and that was the last thing she needed. She’d half-expected Macon to turn up at her door and demand to know why she wore glasses she didn’t need. But he’d never shown.
And that wasn’t disappointment she was feeling.
“It’s a good thing he’s as observant as a newborn babe,” she muttered. “Otherwise you’d be thigh deep in a pile of poop. Probably too busy cuddling up to Hagartha and complaining about the idiot humans infecting their population with inferior genes.”
Okay, so decision made. She was going into work today.
She hadn’t told Rich what Racar had told her yet. She didn’t know why she was holding back. Rich would be ecstatic about this information. It was just the thing he needed. She’d never heard anything about the mating needing to happen. It was too close to taking away people’s free will. She wondered if the High-Councillor even knew about this or if the Zerconians had kept it totally to themselves.
A buzz on her bedroom communicator thirty minutes later as she was getting dressed surprised her. She pulled her top on and took a quick look in the mirror. Her hair wasn’t up yet, and she didn’t have her glasses on.
“Hold on a sec,” she called out as the room’s communicator buzzed again. Impatient. She placed her glasses on then quickly twisted her hair up. She knew it was probably a mess, but the buzzing was coming non-stop now.
She placed her hand on the pad beside the door, and it swung open. “Hold your horses, I’m com—” She stared up in shock at Macon who stood in her doorway, glaring down at her. “Um, hi.”
He didn’t say a word. Just continued to look down at her. She studied him, she was used to his stony face, but he’d never turned up at her house to give her ‘the look,’ the one that told her how much he disapproved of her.
“Can I help you with something?” she asked sweetly, trying to keep to her disguise. “I’m not late for work, am I?” She gave a false laugh. Nothing. He didn’t even blink. But his eyes did flash to a deep red. She frowned. She knew Zerconian eye color changed with strong emotions. Red was anger. What the hell did he have to be angry about? He was the one who’d turned up outside her room and was now standing there, scowling down at her. “Has the cat got your tongue or something?”
He actually opened his mouth and touched his tongue with his finger. Oh. Dear. Lord. “Look, Macon, as much as this conversation has been truly scintillating, and really, it’s been great. I mean, I’ve hardly been able to shut you up to get a word in, but I’ve got to get going. I’m going to be late for work.”
“You are not going to work.”
“I’m not?” Nerves tightened her stomach. Fuck. She smiled brightly. When uncertain, bluff, bluff, bluff. “Is today a holiday? Wow, that was so good of you to come tell me in person. I’ll just go back to bed then.” She attempted to move her hand to the pad to shut the door, hoping to catch him by surprise, but he stepped forward, right into her room.
“What are you doing, Macon? This is my room.”
“Come in,” he said.
What? She was already in. And this was her room, what did he… Suddenly two warriors stepped into her room. One was a dark-haired warrior, she’d never met before, but she knew Safan; he’d always flirted with her. She’d never seen him without a smile. But he wasn’t smiling right now. And he wouldn’t meet her gaze.
Oh fuckity-fuck.
“What’s going on?” She didn’t have to fake the nervousness in her voice as the warriors started to search her room. Her bedding was pulled off the masic by the dark-haired one, while Safan turned to her dressing area, throwing her clothes onto the floor.
“Hey! What are you doing? This is my room. You have no right to go through my stuff.”
“We do if we believe you to be a threat,” Macon told her.
“A threat? Me?” She laughed. “What sort of threat do you think I am?”
Macon’s gaze narrowed as he studied her. “We believe you to be a spy.”
Oh, double fuckity-fuck.
Her heart beat fast as she assessed the situation. The two warriors were hell-bent on destroying her room while Macon stood there, the one barrier between her and the door. She could take him out while the other two were occupied and escape out the door.
But escape to where? There was nowhere to go. And who knew how many guards were outside of her room?
And that was even assuming she could take Macon. He had at least a hundred pounds on her, and she knew he was a good fighter, she’d seen him training. His skin had gleamed with sweat, his entire body thick with muscle. She swallowed at the memory, her body buzzing with need.
She was in deep shit here, and she was thinking about how sexy he was when he was working out? Had she been drugged with something? She took a deep breath in then let it out slowly. She needed to keep a clear head if she was going to get herself out of this mess. There was no way they could have evidence of what she’d been up to.
She could still talk her way out of this. She hoped.
“I’m a personal assistant, not a spy. Come on, do I look like a spy to you?” She held out her skirt. “I wouldn’t have a clue how to be a spy. I prefer cups of tea to sneaking around and listening at doorways. See, I don’t even know what a spy does.” She forced herself to laugh. “I don’t like my chances of blending in with the clothes I wear.”
“No. But these clothes would blend in.” Safan appeared with her sleek black tights and long-sleeve
d black top. She’d hidden them in a bag at the back of her wardrobe, under a pile of ugly tops.
Shitballs.
“Oh those, they’re my sister’s. They got mixed up in my laundry, and I didn’t notice until I arrived. I put them back there because I’d never be able to pull off wearing such tight clothes. Not with all my rolls.” She pressed a finger to her stomach and imaginary fat rolls. They had no way of knowing she was much slimmer than she appeared.
Not unless they strip searched her.
Okay, getting ahead of yourself here, Annabel. Nobody was going to strip search her. Although maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if Macon suddenly decided to pull her clothes off. Heat filled her, and her nipples tightened at the thought of being naked in front of the big warrior.
All right, what the fuck? She’d never had this reaction to another man before. Sure, she’d thought he was attractive. In a kind of stiff, stuck in his ways, already taken kind of way. But this was a whole other level of attraction.
This was not the time, place, or man for her to do this with.
And as soon as she was able, she was getting laid. Macon reached out and grabbed hold of the top and pants. He ran his other hand over the fabric, and she shivered.
God damn it. Looking at his hand against her clothes should not be sexy. It really shouldn’t.
Then he brought the cloth up to his nose and took a deep sniff. What the fuck? Her clit throbbed even as she reached for her clothing. “What are you doing? That’s just weird. Stalker-weird.”
He snatched the clothing back out of her reach, and she knew she couldn’t demand he hand them over without it looking suspicious. So she drew her hand back.
“Stalker-weird?” He said the words slowly, obviously uncertain what she meant.
“Yeah, stalker-weird. You know what a stalker is, right? Someone who becomes obsessed with another person. They start following them around, giving them unwanted attention. They get themselves off by peering in their windows to watch them undressing and touching their stuff, and generally just being a crazy freak.”
All three warriors had stopped and were now gaping at her.
“You are accusing me of being obsessed with you, of giving you unwanted attention?” Macon asked, looking completely dumbfounded.
“Do not forget her accusation that you find it arousing to touch her belongings,” Safan added.
Macon looked down at the clothing he held in his hands then back up at her, and she could see the horror on his face. “I do not find it arousing to touch your belongings.”
“You sniffed them,” she accused.
“They smell like you.”
“I do not smell. They’ve been washed.” She reached out to grab them again, and he took a step back. “Give them back.”
“No. They are evidence.”
“Evidence of what? That I’m bad at laundry?” She threw up her hands. “I confess. I am terrible at laundry. There, lock me away, boys. I’m a bad, bad girl.”
His frown deepened. “This is no laughing matter, Annabel. You are in a lot of trouble. These are your clothes. You wore them when you snuck into the main computer room.”
She plastered a confused look on her face even as her brain raced. What the hell was she going to do? How did they know she’d snuck into computer room? Was he just bluffing? Searching for information and hoping she would trip herself up?
“Here’s her bag,” the dark-haired one said, lifting it high.
“Search it,” Macon ordered.
“Hey, wait a minute, I have private stuff in there. You can’t just search through my stuff without a warrant!” She had no idea if that was true here, but she had to have some rights.
“We do not need a warrant. All we need is an order from the Emperor or his two chief commanders.”
So, either Dex or Koran and Darac had ordered them to search her room. Oh, this was so not good.
“I want to talk to Dex first before you go any further.”
The dark haired one was pulling things out, including her tablet, which Safan took and placed into a bag he’d brought with him. Shit. That was bad, but not fatal. She’d been careful to clean her tablet each night of anything incriminating. They wouldn’t find anything on there.
But Rich could call her. Oh hell.
“You will see Dex shortly,” Macon told her. So did that mean Dex had ordered them to search her room?
This just kept getting worse. If Dex believed her to be a spy, then she was in trouble. She thought he, out of everyone, would give her the benefit of the doubt. And as ridiculous as it sounded, she was hurt he didn’t come to her himself.
Dark-hair kept pulling stuff out of her bag. Comb. Spare glasses, which Safan took and placed in the bag, hair ties, moisturizer. Then he dug into the pockets. She nearly groaned as two foil packets landed on the table. She knew she should have taken removed them before coming to Zerconia. It didn’t exactly go with the shy, timid image she was trying to project. But hell, just because she might be shy didn’t mean she was a virgin. She had every right to protect herself. So she forced herself to look up at Macon. He frowned down at the packages. “What are those?”
She let out a deep breath as Safan picked one up, studying it. Were they having her on? They had to be, there was no way they couldn’t know what a condom was, right? Mila held seminars on human culture. She didn’t think Macon would attend one, but surely the other two had.
“What is it?” Safan asked.
“It could be some sort of drug,” Dark-hair said cautiously, holding it up to the light. “We should send it to the lab to have them inspect it.”
She placed her hand over her face. She couldn’t believe this was happening. She had to be still dreaming, right? Because this was too ridiculous to be real life.
“You’re all having me on, right?” She looked from one to the other. “You seriously cannot believe that is a drug. Do you think I’ve got some weapon of mass destruction in there? Or that as soon you open that packet, there will be a flash of light and I’ll disappear in a puff of smoke?”
“Best be careful with it,” Macon ordered Dark-hair.
“Oh for goodness sake.” She snatched up the other condom and ripped it open.
“No!” Macon reached for her, slamming her to the ground and covering her with his body. Her breath left her in a whoosh, and she struggled to fill her lungs as he pressed against her. After a few heartbeats where nothing happened, he lifted his chest up enough so she could take a deep breath.
“Are you trying to smother me to death?” she asked as she took in a long, deep breath.
“Are you well?” He sat back and ran his hands over her. His touch wasn’t the least bit sexual, but boy did her body sit up and take notice.
She nodded, not trusting herself to talk right at this moment. She should take this opportunity to escape while he was distracted, but by the time her brain brought her scrambled thoughts together, it was too late, he had pulled her up so she was standing, his hand firmly around her wrist.
“Do not do that again.”
“What, open a condom? I prefer to be protected when I have sex thank you very much.”
“What?” He gave her a confused look.
“It’s a condom. It’s to prevent me getting pregnant or catching any nasty diseases.”
“You wear this during sex?” Safan asked, picking the condom up between his fingers. “Where do you put it?”
“Safan!” Macon barked. He scowled at the other man who gave him a surprised look.
“I don’t wear it,” she explained. “The man does. He puts it on his penis, and it catches all his little friends so they don’t swim their way up to the holy land.”
She sighed when they all looked shocked. “Look, I’m not a sex teacher. I can’t believe Mila hasn’t gone through this with you yet.”
“I believe that sexual practices are the lesson for next week,” Dark-hair said.
“Koran has been trying to find someone other than his ma
te to give that seminar,” Safan added. “One of the Joyadan males is taking the seminar. This really goes on the male’s penis? How does it fit?”
“It must be a small size,” Dark-hair said confidently. “Not nearly big enough for a Zerconian warrior.”
Safan nodded. “Yes, human males are smaller physically. We would need a much larger size.”
She groaned. Men. They were the same no matter what race. “Contrary to what all guys think it’s pretty much one-size fits all. And you are not as large as you think you are.”
Both warriors faces fell. It would’ve made her smile in another time or place.
“Enough,” Macon said harshly. “Bag everything up that we need and bring it with us. It’s time to take her in.”
Okay, she really, really didn’t like the sound of that.
***
“I can’t believe that Annabel is a spy.”
Dex turned to look at his mate. The look of disbelief on her face matched his own feelings. He’d worked closely with Annabel for weeks and never suspected she was anything other than what she’d appeared to be. Now he watched her through the one-way mirror as she sat on the chair in the middle of the windowless interrogation room.
“She looks scared. I mean, she’s so sweet and quiet. She says sugar instead of shit, for goodness sake.”
He could hear the sympathy in his mate’s voice. She was right, Annabel did appear scared. Her eyes were wide, she constantly scanned the room as she ran her hands up and down her arms. But was it all an act?
“Dex, are you sure it was her in that vid?”
“Yes, my own,” he replied grimly. “I would never have suspected her if not for that vid. It clearly shows her face.”
“But how did the guards not see her at the time?”
“Parin believes she fed her own recording into the system to hide her presence. But she obviously didn’t know that we store a backup recording on a different system. It isn’t fed to the security center but is recorded on the hard drive. It’s a precaution. One we were right to install. We might never have discovered she was the spy otherwise.”
Zoey bit her lip. “But she seemed so genuine. Elodie adores her. Kids can sense these things, you know.”
