Time Slip

The Xephon Alliance 1

Time Slip The Xephons and Tarourkes have just come to the end of a long and bitter war that has made their shared planet temporaraly uninhabitable. While the new human allies from Earth help the Xephons clean up their home world, two ships from Earth and Xephon are temporarily lost in a strange tunnel anomoly. Thinking there is no way back home, the Xephon Captain begins pairing the human females off with his male crew members. Kash Ryder has her first two relationships annulled and she thinks that's the end of it, until Captain pairs her off again with the dark and mysterious ship's engineer, Tinny of Xephon. When Kash has a foolish accident with Tinny’s time machine, he ends up being the only person she can rely on to pull her back to reality. Suddenly Tinny’s not so easy to ignore, and Kash is forced to see him in a whole new light. Genre: Futuristic, Science Fiction, Time Travel Length: 19,846 words

TIME SLIP The Xephon Alliance 1

Karly Maddison

EROTIC ROMANCE

Siren Publishing, Inc. www.SirenPublishing.com

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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK IMPRINT: Erotic Romance

TIME SLIP Copyright © 2012 by Karly Maddison E-book ISBN: 978-1-61926-840-1 First E-book Publication: July 2012 Cover design by Harris Channing All cover art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission. All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

PUBLISHER Siren Publishing, Inc. www.SirenPublishing.com

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TIME SLIP The Xephon Alliance 1 KARLY MADDISON Copyright © 2012

Chapter One A hand flashed out to catch Tinny as he walked past the rec room on his way to the medical bay. “Junner, what is it?” he asked with a chuckle. “One game,” his friend insisted. “Come on, Tinny, you haven’t played in ages.” Tinny pulled back, gently stretching his coat sleeve as he glanced down the long passageway. “Hmmm, one game,” he responded. Junner’s face lit up as he slid over in the booth and passed his friend the virtual goggles. Tinny adjusted them over his eyes and rested his hand on the control pad, feeling a small rise of excitement kick in. Immediately, he found himself in a frosty night on Xephon, struggling for a moment to balance on his plunging ice-dragon. The beast spat a stream of fire into the night with a loud hiss as its wings beat round his head and stirred his virtual hair. He glanced at the bright stars and thought this feels so real. His momentary lapse in concentration made his dragon hit the ice, its claws skating along, scratching for a hold. He heard Junner laugh next to him. “Shame you weren’t closer,” Tinny remarked, “could’ve really taken me out there. It’s the last

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chance you’ll get.” He zoomed upward into the inky night sky again, gripping the ice-dragon hard with his knees, one hand wound deep in its slippery mane as it tossed its head and snorted fire balls. A soft wind stirred the high branches of the virtual trees as he turned his beast back to the last place he’d seen his opponent. Far on the horizon, volcanoes exploded. The blackness of the night made the orange streaks of lava glow brightly, lighting up the slopes of the rugged mountains. I miss this landscape. Wasn’t much he could do about that. His home world had been poisoned by war, and it would be decades before the surface was hospitable to higher life forms again. Were the Tarourke still there, or had they gone underground? The sister species that dominated his home world, along with his own kind, were so much tougher than any other hominid he knew of. If anyone could survive the state of the land right now, it would be them. They would be hunkering down in hidden pockets of survivable terrain, maybe even forming small defensive armies, preparing to claim territories that his own kind, the Xephons, could not defend right now. Rumors suggested all his people were off world now, in great ships, or being hosted on distant worlds or space stations by their new human allies. These same allies were on board his ship right now. Strange, small hominids with little round ears, beige skin, blunt nails, and absurdly colored eyes and hair. Yet for all their strangeness, they were a disturbingly attractive bunch of females. Captain Zeba had found them genetically compatible enough to start assigning them as mates to his all-male crew. This had alarmed and frightened the Earth women at first, and one of them had even taken the drastic step of overdosing on medications. The Earth medic had been unable to revive her, and the incident had created an uproar amongst the Earthlings. But things had settled down again after a while, and most of the women assigned to Xephon mates seemed to be agreeable to the idea now.

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Suddenly, Junner appeared to his left, charging hard, shattering his thoughts and pulling him back into the game. Tinny’s heart rate soared as he dodged his friend and plummeted toward the glacier below again, widening the gap between them so he could do a quick turn. His dragon responded well to his commands. Next to him, Junner hissed with displeasure, and he chuckled when he discovered he was not as rusty at this as he thought. He urged his ice-dragon into a tight turn and surged toward the descending enemy for a show down. The air battle made his body jerk a little as if he were really performing some of the maneuvers. “Too busy playing games to remember your shots, boys?” a crisp voice interrupted their revelry. Tinny flung the goggles off and blinked in the bright light, releasing his controls. The Earth medic, Kash Ryder, was staring at him like he was an idiot, two needles in her raised hands. “I was on my way,” he answered. Why did she make him feel guilty, as if gaming or having fun was suddenly forbidden? “Well, I don’t have all day to wait around for you two,” she said smoothly. “Take your coats off, and roll up your sleeves. I’ll do it right here. Wouldn’t want to delay you from any more dragon slaying today.” Was she being sarcastic? He wasn’t sure. Just being near her made him quake a little. She was so beautiful, so remarkably exotic, drenched in mysterious Earth-female scents that nearly drove him wild. He peeled his coat off and rolled up his sleeve. She held the needle like it was an ice pick as she uncapped it. His eyes widened as she thrust it into his shoulder as if she meant to climb the last three meters of an ice cliff. Yow. He kept his mouth shut—barely. Junner looked a bit pale all of a sudden as he offered his arm in turn. Tinny watched her deal out the same treatment to his friend. She sure had it in for males, he thought, or maybe just Xephons.

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“Thanks,” he said brightly. Too brightly maybe. She gave him a withering look, cocked the needles downward like weapons and sauntered off. Junner nudged him after she disappeared, trying to stifle a laugh. Tinny fumbled for the goggles again and strapped them over his eyes with unsteady hands. “Kill you this time,” he mumbled. But his mind wasn’t entirely on the dragon battle that loomed into focus. He kept thinking about the beautiful medic who had just jabbed them viciously in the shoulders then wandered back to her medical bay as if she’d just dealt with two wayward children. The after image of the way her hips had swayed in time with the bounce of her long, pale hair kept interfering with the images in front of him, making him wonder briefly if such a distraction would make him lose this round. He shook his head and tried to concentrate, but half his brain was still analyzing the length and shape of her goddesslike legs as they had disappeared down the corridor several minutes ago. They were the kind of legs any hot-blooded male would dream of having wrapped around him in a dark room. Would her thighs be warm and satin soft against him as her arms held him close? Would she whisper to him in that mysterious Earth accent? He was such a fool… a dreamer. So far Kash had hashed her way through two men on the ship, and now nobody would go near her. And her amazing eyes had bored right through him whenever he was in her presence. So what was he thinking? He was better off chasing virtual dragons than spinning amorous fantasies around her. **** Kash felt stressed enough to tap into her dwindling coffee supply. One day soon, she would completely run out, and the idea worried her greatly. Would she then take to drinking that weird concoction the Xephons took, the one that left one’s tongue blue for some time after

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consuming it? What a strange bunch they were, and yet in many ways so bizarrely similar to her own kind that it amazed her. Their clothing, their day-to-day rituals, and the interactions that occurred between them, were all similar to Earth norms and mores. However, something unexpected would usually occur each day, to remind her they were not from the same world or even the same solar system. When that happened, she would pull herself back, feel a little ashamed, and remember their situation wasn’t easy for anyone, and she ought to be more grateful for all the Xephons had done for her crew, rather than sit round making unfavorable comparisons. She had spent quite a bit of time at her computer each night, studying the Xephons’ history and culture. They came from a world that had evolved two dominant technological civilizations, unlike Earth, which had only one. This fact couldn’t help but make her wonder how different her own world might have been if humans had not been the only species to become advanced enough to master their own environment and rise above every other creature that shared the planet. Oh, there was intelligence on Earth besides humanity— dolphins, elephants, primates, but it didn’t compare to the relationship between the Xephons and the Tarourkes. But, she acknowledged, considering that those two species warred against each other, perhaps it was a good thing her own kind came from a world with only one advanced and dominant species. Hell, even the one species of Earthbound humans couldn’t get along with each other when one examined human history, with all its wars and conflicts over territory and resources. From all the information she could gather, the most recent wars on Xephon had poisoned it badly, and almost every surviving Xephonite had left the planet on some ship or another after forming an alliance with Earth. Whatever the Tarourke were doing was a mystery, though it was hinted that they were still hiding out on the planet’s surface in a few remaining habitable zones.

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Kash had taken the time to view a few images of the Tarourke, and while they shared some evolutionary history with the Xephons, it was obvious that had been a long time back in their shared history. The Tarourke peoples seemed even more alien-looking to her eyes than the Xephons did. She had been amazed to discover they had once been a winged species capable of flight, and on rare occasions a child was born amongst the Tarourkes with wings and considered to be a godly creature. The remnant wing ridges made the Tarourkes’ shoulder bones look extremely odd and gave them a scary looking silhouette that was almost…she searched her mind for the right word…demon-ish. Yeah that was it. The Xephons, tall and powerful and resembling fierce elven lords, and the Tarourke, pale and almost jagged in appearance like demons, reminded Kash of old folktales and legends. She couldn’t help wondering if indeed her own kind had met them before in the distant past. It had to be a possibility, what with geneticists saying the DNA matches with humans were almost identical. Perhaps the bigger mystery, considering the genetic similarity, was the distance separating their two worlds. Kash started wondering about strange anomalies such as time-space portals when she thought of this. Could there be a link there? It wasn’t so far-fetched, considering that the Windfleur and the Xenxaphan had both recently been victims of a mysterious wormhole. She rested her coffee cup on the bench, padded over to the tiny shower cubicle, and switched it on. A pathetic drizzle oozed out, totally uninviting. She watched it cough and sputter for a moment. “I would kill for a real shower.” She stripped and jumped under the water. At least it was nice and warm, even if there wasn’t much of it. She shampooed and rinsed her hair, switched the shower off, and quickly dried herself with a thick, fluffy towel.

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After a brief examination of her sparse wardrobe, she decided to don a simple, dark wool tunic and warm black tights. The Xephons liked to keep the ship a little cooler than the humans were used to because they were from a cooler world with a more distant sun. Sometimes, as she walked around the decks and passageways, it felt like winter. She grabbed a finely knit shawl and headed down to the medical station, opened the door, and flicked on the dull blue lights. Another thing the humans had been forced to get used to—the different lighting that the Xephons used. Most of the time it felt soothing, though sometimes she wanted everything to be more reminiscent of Earth ships, especially the lighting. She continued to miss home comforts more than she ever thought she could have in the past. She missed brighter lights, warmer rooms, and familiar foods on her plate. It would be a miserable day when the last of her coffee and chocolate bars ran out. Kash stood by her bench and sorted her supplies just as one of her shipmates, Sharnie, came in for her shots. “You doing all right?” she asked the younger woman. “Couldn’t be better.” Her friend smiled, and Kash wondered at the contentment that had settled over her. Could it stem from the fact she had a good man now? Or maybe she was so emotionally balanced because Sharnie came from a warm supportive family. A little spurt of envy lanced through Kash, surprising her, since she thought she’d put such past grievances aside. A few stars swept by the viewer window as her thoughts pulled her back through time. She could still hear her mother screaming at her and her twin sister Kelly down through the years. You’re nothing, and you’ll never amount to anything. Then the woman had backhanded her across the face and thrown a half empty bottle at the wall. Kasheena had watched the liquor explode over the grimy surface for a second before running from the room.

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The brutal jealousy and hatred from her mother had been something she’d run from her entire life. Even now, ten years after her mother’s death, in some ways she still ran from the memories, at least the impression the words had left anyway. It didn’t matter how beautiful or talented friends said she appeared, or even that she somehow knew such comments held truth. Deep down the words of childhood stuck, because they counted so much and had been said so often. But she’d proven those words wrong. She had not amounted to nothing. She worked as a medic and a damned good one at that. Nobody could take that away from her. She’d studied hard to get to this level of capability in her career. And yet women, the women of her ship the Windfleur, had been exclaiming for so long that someone that beautiful, that educated, ought to have a man by now. To still be single was just strange for someone turning thirty on the next moon. Well, it wasn’t quite true, about never having captured a man’s interest before. The hundreds of men her mother had paraded through her life had coveted her at every bend of her life stream, and she still felt the residual effects of it. But men wanted what they saw on the surface, never mind what she thought of them. They just wanted a piece of her, regardless of her own feelings and without appreciation for her unique identity. Still, she’d always thought if someone special ever did come along, she would choose him herself. Now that choice was out of her hands again, just like the old days when her mother’s boyfriends had leered at her. She leaned her warm forehead against the glass and puffed out her breath, leaving a misty residue behind. In it she drew a circle with two dots and a downward facing crescent mouth. Unhappy face, unhappy me. “Come away from the window,” Sharnie said, “and finish giving me the shot.”

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Kash moved over to her colleague and picked up the needle, uncapped it, and gave the intramuscular shot to Sharnie’s shoulder then threw the used needle into the sharps container. “Do you like him?” Kash asked quietly. She’d been doing vaccinations all week, and though she was nearly finished with the task, she was tired of it. “Very much,” Sharnie replied. “Thank you for throwing him away.” She smiled with light humor, as she referred to her new partner. “I’m glad he was assigned someone else,” Kash replied. She’d given Lunox hell for an entire week. Not at all what a nice male deserved. “And for the record, in case you wondered, nothing happened between us. I was too mean to him.” Kash smiled at Sharnie, content in knowing her friends mate would be fair and kind to her. He could have really pulled Kash down a peg or two if he’d wanted to. He had possessed all the power to do so, but he’d restrained from harming her. She knew Sharnie was in good hands now. She was more than glad they were all still around for a second chance at life. Things could have worked out so much worse. The rough journey through the tunnel which had sucked them in had killed four of the twenty-five Earth females, including their leader, Captain Janey Phelps. The bridge had taken the most damage, and though Kash was only a medic from their shattered ship the Windfleur, she had mysteriously and reluctantly been pushed into leadership from that point on. Not an easy or desirable situation, to find herself the leader of all those women floating around space in a ship she didn’t know how to either fly or command. She’d leaned on those who did, but none of them wanted to actively be in charge. Things had looked grim until the Xephon soldiers turned up in an enormous ship in much better shape than theirs would ever be again. It would be a long time before The Windfleur saw raw starlight again.

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It now sat in the Xenxaphan’s cargo hold like a dead bug in a pumpkin.

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Chapter Two Kash had learned later that the Xenxaphan had also been a victim of the mysterious space tunnel that had spat both vessels out in some part of the universe neither ship knew anything about. However, being bigger and sturdier, it had survived the trip a whole lot better. It helped also that the thirty male Xephon soldiers running it knew a fair bit about engineering and ship repairs, so any damage to their own vessel had long since been repaired. Nevertheless, to the Earth women these men were strange humanoid creatures despite how eagerly they had welcomed them aboard their vessel six months ago. In all that time, nobody had been able to find a recognizable constellation or star system, or even a mysterious tunnel anomaly that might spit them out near their own galaxy again, if they were bold enough to jump into it. But jumping in one, of course, was no guarantee they would end up anywhere recognizable again. Kash, as the women’s assigned leader, believed they were safer to stay put than take such a risk, but she wasn’t in charge here—the Xephons were. Kash’s reason for not wanting to try any more wormholes hinged on the fact that at least they knew this place ran on the laws of physics that they were all familiar with. They had also, by sheer luck, managed to find a habitable planet circling a weak sun. Not that they lived on it. Everyone remained on ship, orbiting the little world, sending shuttles back and forth to gather food items to be carefully examined and tested in the chemistry laboratory before use. Captain Zeba of the Xenxaphan did not want anyone staying down on surface because they didn’t really know what sort of creatures or other

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dangers existed down there. So they lived on the ship and used the planet, which they named Blueworld One, as a pantry. After a few months of cohabitation, the system Earth women discovered pair bonding was important to Xephons, and every female was paired up with a Xephon male, according to Captain Zeba’s orders. This had so frightened one of the women that she’d taken her own life, much to Kash’s disgust. She wasn’t overly fond of the alien males either, but there were other ways to fight this than erasing oneself from existence. She had been paired off with Sharnie’s new partner Lunox in the beginning. He had lovely dark hair and eyes, and if she were fair, she could admit he was a very attractive male. But, despite him being humanoid, he was still an alien. He smelled alien and he looked alien, from his too-sharp fangs to his claw-like nails and long, tangled hair, to his strange Xephon tattoos covering his face and body. Kash had made his life hell, to the point where he had requested to have their partnership annulled. Stupidly, she had thought that was the end of it. But then they had paired her with Tipha. He also was attractive in his alien way, but she didn’t want him no matter how muscled and virile he looked, no matter how sweetly he spoke to her. She had to work a bit harder than she had with Lunox to make him go beg the captain to annul their partnership. She had thought two rejections would make the lot of them steer clear of her. Not so. Females were now a rare commodity in this unknown corner of the universe, and the Xephons had no intention of wasting a single one, especially now they were stuck in this miserable situation, drifting around a strange planet and unable to find familiar territory. And even if they could, they still couldn’t return to their own world. It remained a toxic wasteland after the war with the Tarourke. The humans had volunteered their help in the slow process of cleaning up. The only known Xephon survivors were the ones that had been off world when the damage had happened, and most of them had been

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males. Very few females were aboard star vessels at the time. This meant the Xephonites had now been classed as an endangered culture and species by the United Worlds Council. In an effort to protect them, many had been farmed out to human host families, while others, like the Xenxaphan’s crew would now be unaccounted for. Kash left the medical bay and went down to the room where the fifty-one people aboard the Xenxaphan ate meals. The darkened room had three big tables pulled together, each able to accommodate about twenty people. Since her arrival, most of the crew congregated for meals there with her own people. She glanced around the spacious interior, her eyes adjusting to the light. Deciding she would stick around for the meal she sat down at the dining table with two of her own paired up crew members on either side of her, a strategic move on her part, designed to keep her away from the straying eyes of the nine remaining unpaired Xephon males. Captain Zeba sat with them today, but he didn’t seem overly interested in her when she arrived. In her opinion, he exhibited more interest in how the rest of his crew was getting along with the women to which they had been assigned. Kash had her own curiosity about this, too. Her gaze raked the table, scanning the women and the males they sat next to. Most of them looked reasonably happy, which surprised her as she would have expected a little more discord. However, conversations seemed to be flowing easily—there was no tension here. Relieved to see such harmony, she changed from surveying her own crew’s faces to discreetly surveying each of the Xephon males. When she had first arrived on the Xenxaphan, she had thought they all looked very similar, but now she had lived amongst them for so long, she could not disagree more with her initial judgment. Each face was as unique as any human face, each personality as different as those of her own people. She had to reluctantly admit now she had judged them harshly in the beginning when they had seemed to her eyes, a little fierce and forbidding. Now, months later, and with the

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benefit of having spent time with Lunox and Tipha, she realized that her first assessments had been both unwarranted and unfair. Though she did not agree with some of the day-to-day runnings of the ship, she had little influence over such things. Like every other woman on board, she had eventually adapted to the different time scale and routines that the Xephons lived by. At first there had been complaints, and plentiful visits to the medical station from the members of the Windfleur crew. How quickly that had changed, Kash thought. Now the medical station was mostly empty from one day to the next, with little to do other than survey old records and update files. Kash was becoming bored with her role, missing her old life now and then as she haunted the medical bay on her own, day in and day out. She pulled her thoughts up sharply and told herself she should be grateful it was so quiet. How awful if she had to constantly deal with sick and injured crew. Everyone seemed healthy and well fed right now, and she ought to be grateful for that. Things could be a lot worse considering their grim situation. Still, she could not help worrying a little. She might have worked in worse situations than this in the past, but back then she had not been lost in space with no way home. Will there ever be a way home? she asked herself. She had never been cut out for constant shipboard life. In the past, she had depended on her shore leave to revive her sagging spirits, to refresh herself and to catch up with friends. A long sigh escaped her lips as she sat quietly musing over the situation. Not even the food could distract her from her wayward thinking. She let her gaze drift up to the top of the long table, to the group of single males sitting there. They were the leaders of the Xenxaphan’s crew, and yet they had not taken any partners, preferring to keep the lesser ranks happy. And happy they were to have females to care for. She’d never seen such rough-round-the-edges males sit up and look so glossy and refined in such a short period of time. Most of the women seemed to be happy about the arrangement, too. If not,

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they had been instructed to report to her, though nobody had yet, despite a few glowering faces that peered at her suddenly. Still, it had only been six months. She hooked her spoon into the strange looking vegetables on her plate and started to eat. The taste was pleasant and a little spicy, the texture smooth, almost creamy. They’d found these growing on Blueworld One and tested them in the chemistry lab for toxins. She supposed they were some kind of root vegetable but nothing like she’d ever found in the past. She had no complaints. Nourishment was nourishment wherever one could find it. The fact that they had a bountiful pantry out there in the form of a small, blue planet remained something to be grateful for. What was it like there on the surface of that little world? Some crew members had been down there, and she couldn’t help wondering with a little excitement if she would ever get the chance to go planet side herself. She took a long drink of the Xephon concoction in her mug, some kind of fruity cordial unlike anything she’d ever had before. She looked back to the head of the table. Captain Zeba talked to one of the engineers. Captain addressed him as Stannum, after the Earth element, but everyone else called him Tinny. He’d been born on Earth before the time of the United Worlds Alliance. Perhaps because of this he didn’t have as many tattoos on his face as some of the other males, just a swirled star shape over one eye and running up his temple, disappearing into his hair line. Two of the other older males, Chitra and Junner, eyed her with interest. Their dark eyes reminded her of black holes that wanted to sweep her away. The effect of the tattoos on their faces made their stares seem even more intense somehow. Chitra’s eyes flicked over her with interest as he tapped the table top softly. She watched as he locked eyes with Junner for a few moments, and she wondered what silent information had passed between them. She’d never once seen

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the senior officers relax, except that one time this morning when Junner and Tinny had been playing virtual games in the rec room. She glanced down at her plate again and forced herself not to glance back at the top end of the table. It did no good to look up there and make eye contact with beings she barely understood. So why did her gaze stray back again? Three pairs of eyes studied her now, Chitra’s, Junner’s, and Tinny’s. She tried to look nonchalant, tried to act as if she thought nothing of their scrutiny, which made her so uncomfortable. Her heart kicked up a beat, and she had to squeeze her spoon tighter to still the sudden trembling that threatened her fingers. The group of senior males stood up suddenly, huge and moving with the liquid grace of prowling big cats. She ducked her head, wanting to be invisible. They always left the table before the others, walking past her like huge beasts, their black shadows falling over the table like elongated, dark flags blotting out the light. She froze, praying none of them did one of those curious mind tricks on her as they went by. She prayed to the stars that she was too uninteresting for them to notice her wedged between Nanda and Sharnie. One of them accidentally brushed her as he went past. She could feel the hard contact of his thigh against her shoulder through the thick material of his cloak and her jacket, but she daren’t acknowledge it. And then they were past her, leaving the less important members of the crew and the Earth females behind to finish eating. Where did they go now, and what would they do when they got there? She dared a glance at their tall backs as they exited the room, feeling a whisper slide through her mind, as if one or more of them— she couldn’t tell—acknowledged her covert interest in them. She compressed her lips as she stared at the backs of their charcoalcolored coats covered by their overly long and tangled hair. Only Captain Zeba had gray strands in his twisted locks, and he was right at the front of the group. She doubted he had been one of the ones to tap her in the head. That left Junner, Chitra, or Tinny, or maybe all three

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of them. And then they were gone. She let out a long, disturbingly unsteady breath. She noted Tipha looking at her curiously from across the table. She would have given him a small smile, but she’d been too much of a bitch to him in the past to change her tune now. She’d already been informed that the captain had decided since she could not get along with someone her own age he would assign her to an older male, one that might have a bit more life experience to handle her belligerent response to being paired off. But Kash expected an older guy to be a walkover compared to the testosterone-filled ones in their early thirties. She had plenty more tricks up her sleeve to make the new one’s life so miserable he’d soon want to release her back where she came from, but she hadn’t been told who it would be yet. The captain hadn’t decided. She stood up slowly and left the room. She was the odd one out here. All of the Earth women and Xephon males present were partnered off. The nine older males that had not been paired off moved around together in a pack most of the time…and then there was her, out on her own. She wandered down to medical, achingly aware of her separateness. The passageways were cool and dim, and her footsteps echoed on the floor. Occasionally she passed a port hole and would glance out at the stars. She knew how to recognize a lot of star clusters, because she had moved around many of the Earth-based star stations with her sister over the years, but none looked familiar. Curiously though, they did not look entirely unfamiliar either. It was depressing to think they might be stuck here forever. How long did Captain Zeba think they could last in the ship? Surely, eventually they would have to abandon it and all go and live on the planet they had found. A lucky find, that planet, Kash thought, with its supposedly breathable atmosphere and palatable food sources. Also, there did not seem to be any problem with predators that were any real threat to the Earthlings and the Xephons, at least none that had shown up yet.

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Kash found a porthole that allowed her a view of the little world, and she stared down at it for a long time. It might have been Earth, the way it glowed blue in the distance, and yet she knew it was not, however, for a few sad moments, she let herself pretend it was.

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Chapter Three Kash sat in the medical bay, tapping her fingers on the desk, considering her life. She had been in charge of the place since the Xephons had lost their doctor in the tunnel jump, the only Xephon to die in the incident. Kash suspected there was more to it than that, because Xephon males were remarkably tough, and nothing had happened to anyone else on their crew. She suspected he had tampered with medications, and might even have been addicted to some of them, because the supplies of some meds were worryingly low, with no records or indications that made sense as to why. A rough ride through the tunnel would have been a real test for someone who might have caused damage to their heart through misuse of certain drugs. But it was all speculation. She had no proof, and nobody cared anymore, least of all Captain Zeba. He had more important business on his mind now, like keeping up food and fuel supplies and finding a way home. It was what everyone wanted. A way home. A trail out of here. Did such a thing exist? Kash wondered. The door opened suddenly, and she glanced up into fathomless dark eyes. “May I see you?” Tinny enquired in a hushed voice as if he thought he might be interrupting her, though his eyes looked as sharp as a raven’s regarding a caterpillar. “Of course,” she answered. “What is it?” He held out his arm revealing a long and surprisingly deep cut above his wrist. It looked like he had tried to clean it up himself. She wasn’t surprised that he might have. The Xephons were fiercely

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independent and seldom asked for help. She’d already learned that. Most visits to medical were usually from the women of the Windfleur. He’d bothered to come here as a last resort, she realized. She indicated with her hand for him to sit down and lay his arm on the counter top. “How did you do that?” she asked. “I was in a fight with someone.” He shrugged as if he hoped that would discourage her from making him expand on his explanation. Kash picked up her tweezers and pulled a three-inch, splintered shard of some other guy’s talon out of the cut. She glanced at his face, mere inches away from her own, and noticed a betraying blue bruise over his left eye and a tiny graze on his cheek. She’d bet they’d probably pounded each other, but she wouldn’t be seeing any other evidence of it with all of his clothes on. “And what does the other guy look like?” she enquired as she rummaged for antibiotic solutions in her supplies. Hells, why did he make her so nervous? “He does not have one of my broken talons sticking out of his forearm,” Tinny replied wryly. Kash hid a smile as she snapped a sterile saline tube open and ran it over the wound, watching as he flexed his fingers, the only sign he gave of any discomfort. If he thought that was uncomfortable wait till she got out the iodine. She swabbed some on a sterile cloth and patted it gently over the wound. He flexed his fingers again, his eyes reviewing his wound. She stared at the top of his head for a moment. His hair grew dark as jet out of his scalp, and his pointy, slightly elongated ears peeked out as he gazed down. He glanced up suddenly, startling her with the intensity of his eyes. She was amazed to discover they had tiny turquoise flecks in them. Staring into such unfathomable alien eyes made her nervousness kick up another notch. For a few seconds she thought she might have been coming down with a fever.

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Glancing away, she reached for a bandage and quickly wrapped his arm, calling on her professionalism to keep herself calm and focused on the task at hand. “That’s all you will do?” he asked, his voice a deep rumble in the small room. “No stitches?” “Stitching it closed might seal in an infection. The antibacterial should suffice to heal it along with your own body’s white blood cells, and the bandage will help keep it knitting while keeping other nasty stuff out. Just don’t go rummaging in dirt for twenty-four hours.” “Dirt?” He laughed briefly, and the sound rolled softly down her spine. “In space?” Hell, she couldn’t help smiling, too. Had she thought he was going to go do a spot of gardening next? Her erratic heartbeat steadied a little as humor overrode nerves for a moment. “Well, no more fighting either…at least not today or tomorrow,” she warned. “I hardly ever fight,” he replied, leaning forward so close she could feel his breath stream over her neck in a long, warm current that set her nerves to tingling. “I’m not like you.” Kash’s eyes went wide. Was he referring to all the trouble she had made with Lunox and Tipha? She looked up at him. Though his mouth seemed relaxed and straight, she detected the faint hint of a smile. She glanced away, embarrassed he had hinted at her reputation as troublesome and argumentative. “Thank you,” he said, examining his bandaged arm. He stretched back up to his full height, blotting out the light. “Do you want painkillers?” she enquired. She secretly hoped he would leave soon before her nervousness became glaringly obvious. “Painkillers?” He laughed softly. “I do not think so.” “Okay, off you go then, tough guy,” she quipped. She watched him leave, then went to tidy up, a slight tremor in her hands. As she made her way back to the cubicle that served as her room, she heard footsteps approach from ahead of her. She neared the bend

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in the passageway and realized it was Chitra approaching. As she drew level, he shot his hand out and caught her by the upper arm, stopping her in her tracks. She felt uncomfortable to be held there by him, but she kept her face schooled to an outwardly calm mask. He had a bruise on his face. Could he be the one Tinny’d had a run-in with? She glanced down at his hands, dismayed to discover his flesh was covered with dark gloves, providing her no further clues. “Captain want to speak to you,” he said, his eyes raking over her, “in his office.” “Very well,” she answered. She hurried away, feeling his eyes remain on her back as if they were lasers. He was one Xephon male she didn’t want to tangle with, for he seemed too tall, too strong, and probably a whole lot smarter than Lunox and Tipha. She found the captain’s office and went inside. A guard lounged in there speaking to him. “Kash.” Captain Zeba looked up impatiently. “Today we send shuttle to Blueworld One, and you are assigned for trip this time with the Earth Botanist Mayla and four of mine officers. We looking for some plants with healing properties as drug stock is running low. Please go dress in heavy boot and jacket and report to shuttle bay for leaving when everyone assembles.” Kash experienced a kick of excitement. Touching terra firma. No way! She raced off to wrap herself in the appropriate gear and then went down to the shuttle bay. No surprise she arrived last. She ran up the platform through the open door where Mayla kept a look out for her. “You better hurry and strap into your seat,” Mayla hissed in her ear. “Chitra is piloting today, and you’re running late.” “I’ve only been told to come down here ten minutes ago,” Kash said. Had she been a sudden afterthought to this little party? She followed her colleague to the passenger seats behind Chitra and his copilot Junner. Tinny and Fenra, the young guard, were already seated. Kash slapped her safety harness on and sat next to

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Mayla, directly opposite Tinny and Fenra. They studied her for a moment but said nothing. Chitra glanced back at them as if he were irritated they had to come along. The hatch opened, and they roared toward the stars and the blue orb in the distance. For an instant it reminded Kash of Earth, and she had to hurriedly blink away the evidence of strong emotions that rose unexpectedly to the surface. “What you here for?” Chitra asked when they were a few minutes clear of the ship. “Botany and medicines,” Mayla replied sternly. She had a look of determination on her face…determined not to be harassed by Chitra, Kash thought. “What are you four here for?” Kash tossed his own question back at him for no other reason than to annoy him. “Who gonna fly you?” he snapped. “You?” Triumph gleamed in his black eyes for a moment that he had shut her up, put her in her place. “You’d be surprised what I can do,” Kash replied, refusing to let him have the last word. She glared over at Tinny. “Water and soil tests,” he said calmly before she could ask her question again. “Fenra and Junner are for security. Chase off predators while we work.” Tinny grinned at her as if that would be fun, his sharp fangs catching the light and glinting, reminding her how alien he really was. “Predators!” Mayla’s complexion appeared a bit green as she wrung her hands in her lap. “All living worlds have predators,” Junner glanced at Mayla. “Well, let’s hope if any show up, they’re the size of mice,” Kash chipped in sarcastically. “They are big,” Junner said, expanding his hands. “Fenra saw one last trip size of this shuttle craft.”

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The men laughed long and hard at his comment. Kash’s heart went ker-thud in her chest despite the fact she sensed the males were merely having a joke at the two women’s expense. “Entering atmosphere,” Chitra warned. Kash braced as the darkness around them lightened to a pewter color and the shuttle rocked and bucked. “Don’t land us in lava again,” Tinny snapped. Chitra laughed at him. “I was nowhere near it last time.” Tinny rolled his eyes at Chitra’s answer as if he didn’t quite agree. The shuttle made a strange crackling noise an instant before it hit dirt with a thundering ka-boom. Kash thought she was going to be ejected right out of her seat for a moment despite her harness. “Way to go, Mr. Smooth Landing,” she snapped at Chitra. “How much longer have you guys been in space?” “A hundred years longer than you,” Chitra sneered, ignoring her comment about his rough landing.

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Chapter Four “It’s really okay to breathe here?” Mayla asked nervously as the hatch started to open. “It is good atmosphere,” Junner answered. “Tested many times by Tinny.” “And you are sure there are no sentient beings here? No civilization?” “Planet is too young,” Tinny replied. “Only low-form animal life, insects, and fishes. But if I see elf or fairy, I let you know.” The four men snickered with laughter again, taking pleasure in both making fun of Earth mythologies and the two women’s questioning. Kash’s cheeks flamed as she stepped out the hatch into the cool air. Bunch of arses! “You seem to know a lot about human stuff,” she remarked to Tinny. “I born on Hurf, and later I go back and spend two year there,” he answered. “Where the hell is Hurf?” “Urf.” “Earth?” “Yes. Erf,” he looked directly at her. “Twenty of your years ago, I spent two years visiting. Long time ago now.” “Yes…I can tell.” She rolled her eyes and walked off. She’d only gone a few paces when a giant dragonfly creature buzzed so close to her head it stirred her hair. “You said insects!” she shouted. “Insects!”

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“Correct. That is insect,” Tinny remarked, watching it fly off. “Nice wings, huh?” Kash gave him a murderous look. Wings! “That was a bio helicopter, not an insect…and by the size of it, I no longer want to see any of the animals around here.” “Animals are very small,” Tinny answered. He bent and scooped up a little creature from between his boots. It looked like a wet mouse with no tail. He passed it to her to examine, and it gave a protesting squeak. “Well, that would make a nice snack for that insect! I thought Junner said predators were as big as the shuttle,” she reminded him, stepping back warily from the bulk of his large frame. “Junner made a joke,” he said, glancing at her with gleaming eyes before bending to release the tiny creature from his hand. It scurried away into some nearby bushes. Tinny pulled a probe out of his pocket and took a soil sample right in front of her before wandering off to the streamlet next to which Chitra had landed them. Mayla started to put some plant samples in bags to examine later. She’d already grabbed a sizeable sample collection in just ten minutes. “Anything you like the look of?” she asked Kash. She began to answer when Fenra backed into her unexpectedly with his weapon half-cocked. Chitra, standing close to both of them, flicked him over the head with the back of his hand. “Watch yourself,” he snapped at the young guard. Kash whirled on Chitra, about to give him a piece of her mind for striking Fenra, but Tinny appeared from nowhere and stood between them, holding up a small pail of water. “It’s very pure,” he announced casually. “Try some.” He handed a little beaker to both Chitra and Kash, though the warmth of his fingers barely touched Chitra’s the way they touched hers, with that tiny hesitation as if maybe he wished to prolong the flesh-to-flesh contact for a brief moment.

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She wasn’t fooled by his timely interference. Reluctantly, she lifted the beaker to her lips and sampled the purest water she’d ever tasted. The tension eased a little as Chitra followed her example. Mayla returned to the small clearing with an armful of samples that she carried into the shuttle to stack in boxes, encouraging Chitra to follow her inside to help. Kash stared after them, struck by the difference in the tall, alien male with the flapping coat and the slightly built human woman beside him. Did she look like that when she stood next to Tinny? Why on Earth was she even thinking such thoughts? She distracted herself by watching the antics of the rest of the crew. Junner had found what appeared to be a snake, but turned out to be a very large worm. He had called Fenra over to admire it. Together they laughed and jumped about as it tried to escape their examination. Kash wandered away to the stream. She managed to put a few samples in more of her bags before the water lured her. It looked clear and the warm temperature tempted her as she stared down at the pebbles while trailing a hand through it. Would it be dangerous to bathe here? Enchanted with the idea she stripped down to her underwear before she could talk herself out of it. Gingerly she put a toe in the water, then her whole foot. The delicious water beckoned. She moved in deeper until it came up to her thighs, swirling around her. Sighing, she ducked under for a few seconds. It seemed like a thousand years ago that she had been exposed to so much delicious running water. She bobbed up again and gasped for air, surprised to see that Tinny was standing nearby. “Kash, what are you doing?” he admonished from the bank. “I want you out now!” His eyes looked fierce, flashing with turquoise fire, and for a second he exposed his fangs in a menacing snarl. As if! “Tinny! Do not order me around!” “It is not safe. We do not know this world well yet.” “You said it was safe.” “I only said the water was pure! Get out, or I will pull you out!” The clipped command grated like the gravel under her feet.

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Kash wanted to laugh at him. Why did he have to be such an insufferable prat? A sudden desire to nettle him took hold of her. She let out an earsplitting scream and pretended she had been pulled under, her arms flailing. She had only meant to tease him, but before she could jump up again, he had flashed into the water and pulled her against him, against his hard, broad chest that she wanted to…wanted to what? “I was kidding,” she spluttered as he wrapped serpent-like arms around her body. “You Xephons have been doing it to Mayla and me all day!” She stared up into his sopping wet face. He’d come into the water so quickly, and now his clothes were all wet as a result. He climbed out of the stream still holding her, his eyes like hot coals lit with blue fire behind them. “I thought you were being harmed.” He looked down at her. “You are a stupid female!” “Put me down then!” she snapped. He dropped her like a hot rock. She crashed at his feet, shocked that he had literally done what she had asked of him. Scrambling up to her feet, she realized with mounting horror that she wore only her panties and bra. Her wet panties and bra. His eyes assessed her state with a leap of hunger in their depths. Dammit, if that didn’t cause her breasts to ache and her inner thighs to tremble with desire. She had to thank all the gods in the cosmos for the stream water hiding her response. She didn’t want any Xephon male knowing he was a turn on to her… most especially this one! “You are indecent,” he pointed out, his voice rough and low. Kash glared back at his dripping wet lashes, his soaked coat and boots, and her heart skidded around her rib cage. Dammit, the way he said the word indecent…as if it were a caress buried deep in a bed of velvet, and not the scolding that it really was. “If you think I’m indecent, then stop staring!” His damned clothes had steam radiating from them! She felt so flustered she wasn’t sure how she still remained upright. The fact that

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he had little experience with human nuances gave her some hope that she might still avoid making a complete fool of herself. She bent to snatch at her clothes, thrusting her legs into her pants. The action unbalanced her, and if it weren’t for him grasping her quickly by her upper arm, she would have fallen to the ground again. She retained too much pride to say thank you and felt too unsettled by the curl of his long, warm fingers around her icy naked flesh to speak. Embarrassed now that her anger had dissipated, she felt like a naughty child with him standing there. Hands shaking slightly, she struggled with her jumper as he stood guard. Cheeks flushed, she managed to summon a haughty expression to her face and pin him with it. “Your gratitude astounds me,” he said, mild sarcasm in his voice. If he wasn’t careful, she’d soon wipe it off with a swipe of her hand. “I wasn’t drowning.” She stalked past him and went back to the shuttle. “Why are you wet?” Junner asked Tinny as he followed her. “Because I have water all over me,” he said, as he strode past. She couldn’t help a snort of derision. Tinny peeled his coat off and glanced around. “Does anyone haf an under jumper I could borrow?” Chitra took his coat off and lifted his shirts over his head. He had the most ripped body Kash had ever seen in her life. She looked away from the Xephons as he threw his undershirt at Tinny. One more minute, and she would have hardly been able to stop herself from reaching out and running her hand over those washboard abs. Damn if they didn’t look like they had jumped straight out of an advertising feature for a national gymnasium or Olympic sporting team. And Chitra was definitely the last male in the universe she ever wanted to be running her hand over. Shame nature had to waste such a godly body on him, she thought with a quick smirk, refusing to indulge herself with a glance at Tinny as he pulled the new shirt on. Later she noticed Chitra’s shirt hung loose on Tinny because he was not quite as broad as the other male, though he was a few inches

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taller. Kash wondered if Chitra had given it to him to show his own chest off and compare his shirt size to Tinny’s. It was just the kind of thing the younger Xephon males would have done, though surprising from these older ones. Cads! “We leave now before sun gets too low,” Chitra said as Tinny bent to take his wet boots off. Kash experienced a moment of regret that the planet-side trip was over so quickly. It seemed like they had arrived only moments ago, and truth be known, she was tiring of shipboard life. In the past she had always made sure she had plenty of shore leave to bolster her between assignments aboard vessels. She just wasn’t cut out for such long excursions in space. Not that what they were living through now could be classed as a work assignment anymore. They were literally all lost in space. Kash glanced around at the trees and bushes, at the darkening sky. As the soft breeze tickled her skin she found herself wishing she could stay right where she was for several more days. But the males moved hurriedly about, preparing to leave, putting everything that lay around on the ground back on the shuttle. As she watched them at work, she wondered how long it would be before Captain Zeba would choose her again for a planet-side visit.

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Chapter Five Kash wrestled with guilt on the way back to the Xenxaphan, knowing Tinny had to make the trip in sopping wet trousers. At least he had a warm shirt over his chest and a towel wrapped around his bare feet. He didn’t complain, and she secretly admired his stoic nature. It wasn’t the only thing she couldn’t help admiring. He was handsome, even made her heart speed up a little when he came near her. Hell, he was more than handsome, he was damned gorgeous. Why did she think that about him and not the other three males? If she were fair, Chitra and Junner were equally as good looking as Tinny, and yet when she glanced at them, she felt nothing, not the slightest stirring of interest. She glanced back to Tinny, and her heart skittered foolishly in her chest. Something had changed when he had held her against him by the river, something subtle, yet irrevocable. The thought annoyed her. He’s just a stupid alien, she told herself. The atmosphere on Blueworld One has made you go batty in the head, Kash. The others talked about the samples they had found and some life forms they had seen. Kash listened, but did not contribute to the conversation. She was too lost in her own troubling thoughts. Occasionally Mayla would cast her a curious look, no doubt wondering what was going on with her. She smiled back at the other woman and gave a small shake of her head. Kash had not collected many samples. Her bags were half empty. She had been too busy enjoying herself exploring and bathing. She wondered as they walked back through the Xenxaphan if Captain

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Zeba would be angry with her for not making proper use of her excursion. Quietly she went down to her room and took a long sleep, missing the meal break. Her dreams were strange and disjointed, some images seeming only half formed. Visions of the past and present merged, and she dreamt that she was home again, playing with her dog Thunder. She awoke with a start, discovering she had completely tangled herself in the blanket she had slept under. She struggled for a moment then threw the covering off and went to have a shower. Later, after finding an old chocolate bar in her pack to munch on, she went down to medical to examine some of the plant samples Mayla had left there. Some bark had qualities like willow, which might pan out to create an aspirin-type medication. She was no chemist though. She picked up some other plant matter and examined a tiny piece, realizing she was not much of a botany expert either. She’d done this kind of thing during her training, but such a long time ago, and any knowledge she had garnered back then had receded too far in her memories to be of much use to her now. Sighing, she put the samples away in a drawer and pulled out an ancient book on the subject of natural medicines. She sat down near a dim lamp and leafed through it. Everything in the book pertained to Earth, so she had no idea how she was going to match such things to whatever Blueworld One provided. Still, it felt good to be doing something other than just sitting around listlessly dreaming of home. She fished in her pocket for her notebook and pen and made notes as she read through the first chapter of the thick volume before her mind grew too tired to absorb the information. One of her crew members came in as she rummaged through notes. Nanda appeared very nervous as she approached. Kash managed to get out of her how she had been partnered with a young male and they wanted to have a baby.

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“There’s no reason why you can’t,” Kash said. “You have the same chromosome count. But I wouldn’t be trying yet. The situation here is still new. Just wait a year from now. Who knows? We might make it back home by then. And that’s the best place to start a family. Not on an old Xephon warship.” As she watched Nanda go, she realized it was a good sign that some of the pairings were going so well that couples like Nanda and her partner were thinking ahead to the future. But she was no midwife. She hoped like hell they were home before the first Xenxaphan baby made an appearance. She stared out the portal at the stars and wondered what such a hybrid child might look like. A message came on her pager to visit the captain as she prepared to leave medical. She went down to his private office immediately. Fenra was already there talking to him. “Kash, you have been assigned to your new mate now.” Captain Zeba did not waste words. “Fenra will take you there. Do not be argumentative and difficult this time.” He dismissed her without a second glance. She stared, wide-eyed and was about to argue when Fenra grabbed her by the arm and wheeled her out of the room. Who the hell had she been assigned to now? She went rigid as he led her down the halls, but he barely seemed to notice her resistance. Why should he? He was over six and a half feet tall and easily double her weight. She gritted her teeth as he pushed her into a room like a suspect package that somebody was quickly trying to get rid of. Immediately, she adopted a defensive posture, arms up ready for combat. The Earthlings were already well known for their physical fighting prowess. However, the Xephon soldiers didn’t bother with such tactics despite superior physical strength. They had other skills to keep opponents at bay, such as mind taps. They weren’t supposed to use them on the Earth women unless they needed to protect themselves from physical harm. Kash had caused enough physical

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harm to her first two partners that she had experienced mind taps a few times. Would this next partner tap her into place, she wondered? He was standing on the other side of the room with his hands behind his back, staring out the porthole at the stars. He turned around and looked at her, tall and imposing, any thoughts he was holding totally masked. Somewhere inside her, she let out a small sigh of relief that it wasn’t Chitra. Junner would have been okay, but it wasn’t him either. “I know you are bad behaved,” Tinny said. “But here you will be good.” He tapped his head, indicating why. “You’re not supposed to do that,” she said angrily. “You have been made exempt of the rule because of your treatment of the others,” he answered. She swallowed hard. Things didn’t look too good right now. At least not from where she was standing. It was one thing to tolerate him as a work colleague and fellow traveler, but quite another to be thrust at him as a potential mate. “Sit.” He pointed at the couch in his tiny lounge. Kash knew this was her first test. And she just had to test, because she wouldn’t be Kash if she didn’t. “No.” Come on, let’s see what you will do now, Tinny. She could feel her own will being bent to his almost immediately. Her stupid legs carried her over to the couch, bent at the knees and plunked her down onto it. Holy asteroids! He was much more powerful than Lunox or Tipha. She glared up at him, trying to stand up, but it felt like she had an elephant sitting in her lap. The only weapon she had left now was her voice. Or could he influence that, too? “Is this fun for you?” she snapped. “Not at all. But you set the tone.” What the hell was that supposed to mean? She tried to stand up again, but the elephant still reclined in her lap. He came over and sat next to her, catching her chin in his hand and turning her face as if he might find something by examining her so closely. Anger leaped

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along her nerve pathways from her jaw where he was touching her to every other nerve cluster in her body. Her mind tempted her to twist free while her stupid body leaned into him as if the connection to her brain had snapped off at her neck. “Only the young males were promised partners, due to the mismatch in numbers. It seems I have ended up wif one by default.” “You sound about as pleased as I am,” she said snarkily to hide the stupid thud of her heart as her eyes slipped over his wide lips. She licked her own nervously, and his gaze shifted from her eyes to her mouth for a moment, following the track of her sliding tongue. The focused intensity in his eyes made her traitorous heart lurch dangerously behind her ribs. Why was breathing suddenly a conscious act? Wasn’t it supposed to be unconscious? “Oh, I am pleased.” His dark eyes narrowed slightly. “We could be stuck here forever, and my kind is not accustomed to facing a future without the prospect of a mate.” Gods, why was his voice so low and deep and velvety and sliding down her spine like warmed syrup? It wasn’t right that a male could make her feel like that with just the sound of his damned voice. It was immoral. She signed through her nose, trying to gather her defenses around her. “You should try singledom. It’s not so bad,” she quipped cheekily in an effort to hide her nerves. He raised a fine eyebrow at her comment, and for a heartbeat she thought she was going to drown in his eyes, be tugged away by the turquoise flecks and lost forever. She would have to say something smart now. Otherwise he would see the effect he was having on her. “Like what you see?” she asked as her eyes slid sideways to witness his scrutiny of her. ****

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By Earth standards Tinny realized she was probably considered a stunning beauty, though she seemed oblivious to such notions. She had caused many of the males on the ship to almost literally fall at her feet. His comrades had commented on her lush figure, immaculate skin, thick, platinum-blonde hair to her hips, and sapphire-blue eyes which turned their heads wherever she went. However she clearly didn’t like the Xephons. He had heard her say to her own colleagues that they looked vampirish with their claws and fangs and narrow pointy ears, pitch eyes, and long hair always matted as if they’d never heard of combs before. He also had overheard on several occasions how she dropped comments about his kind appearing scruffy, intimidating and way too tall. They loved to wrestle and play fight amongst each other, hang about gaming or listen to overly loud music when they weren’t busy at work. He had to admit that some of her observances were true. **** Kash blinked as she sat under his scrutiny. He had to be well over six and a half feet in height, a considerable jump from her five seven. His hair was too damned long, just like his curved talons and bent fangs. And his near black eyes were just creepy. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking when she couldn’t see into them. “Do you care if I like what I see?” He answered her question with one of his own, his eyes searching her face making her wonder if he could read her mind. The idea made panic leap through her like wildfire. She swallowed it down hard. “I don’t give a horse’s arse,” she replied smoothly. “Hmmm, a potty mouth too I see.” He frowned and then gave her a mild look of disapproval. Even a frown didn’t mar his male perfection. Sparks of fire skittered along her skin everywhere his damned gaze fell on her. Well one could always fight fire with fire, couldn’t one?

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She had a sudden idea as he sat gazing at her with his claws on her chin, an idea that she had half tested on Tipha. “Why don’t you kiss me?” she said silkily. She watched as his grave expression wavered slightly with surprise and shock. He hadn’t been expecting such a suggestion from her. “I don’t like to kiss creatures that don’t like me,” he answered softly. His voice had dropped a little and become huskier than before. He must’ve gone without female contact for ages, so she was sure she had scored a hit where it hurt. Xephons didn’t have kissing in their culture, but since the Earth women had introduced them to it, they had become quite enthusiastic for the habit. It wasn’t hard to pass a couple somewhere on the ship getting in some kissing practice. But Tinny hadn’t touched an Earth woman yet. Was he curious? “You just mate with them instead?” she responded to his statement then watched his eyes narrow slightly. He was much more cautious than Lunox or Tipha, who had both jumped right into her little traps. If she couldn’t find some leverage with this male, then she really was in way over her head. She licked her lips and parted them slightly, dropping her gaze to his mouth suggestively. “Oh, you will like me by the time we get to that stage,” he replied with a small, calculating smile. It was almost enough to warn her off. “Shall we test that with a kiss?” she whispered seductively. He didn’t look too romantically swayed by her suggestion, but he did look curious to find out what her hidden agenda might be. He leaned forward with that lightning speed the Xephons had. It always caught her off guard. His mouth covered hers before she could prepare her senses for the assault. Not that his incredible, warm lips covering hers reminded her of an assault. More like falling onto a radiator and starting to melt a few moments before one caught the full heat and went up in flames, she decided. And it seemed like the elephant had lifted off her lap. So, this was enough to distract him from his psychic hold on her? She leaped toward him and threw him backward onto the floor,

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crashing the couch in the process. He was damned strong, but she was fast and skilled. In three seconds she had him spread on the floor with his back to the carpet. **** He had to give it to her for being so fast. Now that the amazing kiss was over, he could have used a tap on her, but she wasn’t nearly as strong as she thought she was, so he just used his own superior strength to flip her off him and pin her to the crashed couch. Now he could see why Lunox and Tipha had given up. To their credit, they’d hung in for several days. He’d been with the she-devil for only a few minutes, and already she was more trouble than she was worth. Xephons had little experience with such aggressive females. In his world most women were acquiescent and mannered. He looked down into her amazing eyes. They were like the stained glass in the cathedral windows he’d seen on Earth once. She had to be the most beautiful woman on the ship, maybe in the universe, but she was also about the crankiest female he’d ever met. He rubbed his bandage as he contemplated her. “Now that you’ve found out that kissing me disarms my taps, I’ll be sure not to let you get too close again for a while.” He rose to his feet gracefully, dragging her up by the scruff of her neck. He kicked the couch back up the right way as if it were a pillow. “Next time, you’ll want me to kiss you so bad, you’ll ask without tricks against me in your head.” “Me? Ask for a kiss?” She snorted. “When hell freezes over.” “Xephons do not believe in hell,” he pointed out smugly. “You seem to think you are too good for anyone. You have been quite malicious to Lunox and Tipha, and now you have been dumped on me.” He dropped his hold on her neck and towered over her as if regarding a crack in the pavement. She looked ready to crack, too,

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maybe even scream. She tried a useless and ineffectual push on his chest. He totally ignored it. “I’m not sure why Captain wants to punish me so dearly, but I do need to remind you, we are a finite population here on this vessel, in an unknown part of the universe, so it will make life pleasant if as many of us as possible can actually get along. Some of the pairs are doing precisely that, you know. Getting along.” Well, that was a bit of a lie, telling her that Captain had assigned him to her in a new partnership. Truth was he’d manipulated it to suit himself, but more importantly to spare her from that moody pilot who had asked for her and the disaster that would have led to. “If you really don’t like me, I will never touch you again…but that will make life eternally dull for both of us. It’s obviously going to be your call, isn’t it? I was already assigned to have no pairing due to my age…that was before you hashed your way through two partnerings…so you see, you are an unexpected bonus, though I fear you might really be a curse if you are going to make trouble all of the time.” **** Kash absorbed everything he said. It was hard to argue with any of it. “Just exactly how old are you?” She’d been wondering about his age for some time. What was the cutoff age for the Xephons to be assigned a female, she wondered? With thirty of them to twenty-one Earth women, it left nine Xephon males unpartnered. “Forty-four.” “Bullshit!” “There goes that potty mouth again.” He raised an eyebrow at her as he plunked her down on the couch. He didn’t look a day over twenty-five. Just exactly how long were these people’s life spans? Seemed a bit mean that the older guys missed out. Hell, what was she

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thinking? Siding with the Xephons? This scheme of partnering was crazy. Or was it? What if they really were stuck here forever?

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Chapter Six Home seemed a long way away right now. She was used to being an educated and liberated Earth woman. She was used to the power her education and knowledge gave her when she was in familiar Earth systems, and the respect it commanded there. Here, she had nothing. The captain told her what to do, and she jumped through his hoop. Tinny snatched at her resting hand suddenly and enveloped it in his much larger one, pulling her up. “Come wif me to the meal,” he said in his faulty English. Was it evening already? Obediently, she followed him down to the dining hall where the mixed crews assembled to eat at such times. He sat up at the top, near the captain, with her against him on the left, a completely different scenario from her last meal. He had high rank here, though she didn’t really understand their ranking system, apart from who the captain of their vessel was. She caught site of Lunox and Tipha further down the table, staring at her curiously and giving Tinny pitying looks that he didn’t bother to acknowledge. Plates with some kind of steaming, cooked grain, similar to rice with a yellowish tint to it and a slightly nutty taste, passed along the table. Kash ate her whole plateful. A few pieces of fruit rolled toward them from further down the table. Tinny grabbed a red orb and started to cut it, then passed her half. It tasted like a peach. She ate with relish. When he saw how much she enjoyed it, he passed her his untouched piece. She hesitated for a moment then ate it hurriedly. Down the table, she noticed some of the paired females were fawning over their Xephon males, while a few sat sullen beside their nervous-looking partners. Had they been arguing? Perhaps they would

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grow to like each other or request a repairing. Not that she would ever grow to like Tinny or want to be paired again. Her legend had gone around the ship, and nobody wanted her after Lunox and Tipha had tried. She’d been advised by captain to make an effort with Tinny or end up with nothing. She preferred nothing. She glanced at him as she munched her peach fruit. He discussed something with the captain. Might he be second-in-command here? Or third? They conversed in their own language, and it gave her no clues to the goings on of the Xephon vessel. She had not bothered to learn Xephon tongue, though almost all of the males had bothered to learn the dominant Earth language at some stage in their pasts. She had to give them some credit for doing that. She watched his expressive hands, covered in tight, black gloves with round holes at the knuckles and no glove-fingers. His talons exhibited a slight blue tint to them. She couldn’t help remembering as she looked at them that some other males’ claws had ended up in his arm. What had that been all about? After the meal, he dragged her back to his room and showed her the shower and toilet and some cupboards where she could keep her clothing and meager supplies. She couldn’t help noticing the bed. It looked big. Covered in plush, faux-fur blankets, it seemed tempting to lie on for a moment. If she jumped in it, she might disappear. The bedroom had a few glowing, blue mini lights above the bed that gave it a peaceful ambience. There appeared to be no separate bed for her. Did he think he would ever get her in there with him? Well, he probably did, come to think of it. He’d already shown what he could do to her on the couch earlier. If he wanted to, he could make her march to his bed and climb right into it. She went back out to his tiny lounge and stared at him. He fiddled with some contraption on the table. It appeared all metal and wires and glass, like a mechanical brain. He seemed to have forgotten that she was in the room.

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**** Tinny used the device as a distraction from his situation. If he didn’t have something to do, he started to think too much about the likelihood of never returning home. His mind would stray to the possibility that he might never see his four sisters again, his mother, his father, or the northern lights dancing in Xephon skies. If he didn’t occupy himself with activity, he also noticed he had a hostile female in his room intent on challenging him at every opportunity she could find. He pushed his thoughts down with a slight grimace. “What the hell is that?” “Must you always swear? For someone so pretty, you are not much of a lady.” Kash snorted at his comment and appeared to home in on the pretty. “You think I’m pretty?” “Yes…” He glanced up from his machine. “Pretty arrogant, and pretty rude and pretty cantankerous,” he said, with a slight twist of his lips. **** For a heart-stopping moment she was distracted by his mouth as she remembered the taste of him. “You’re a smartarse,” she replied. “Always got an answer.” She stared at his bent back. He had such long hair. It lay all the way across his back down to his tail bone. Did he have a tail? She stared at his peachy buttocks with approval then looked back to his hair. Bits of it twisted like matted rope. She wanted to reach forward and touch it, so she did. It was much silkier than she thought it would be despite the unkempt knots. Might it be a woman’s job in Xephon society to keep their mate’s hair tidy? Is that why all the single soldiers and the captain had matted hair? She had to be right, because since some had been paired off with Earth women, gradually their

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hair had become tidy and sleek. She smiled at her little insight of some cultural norm. Unkempt hair was like a sign that you were an unpaired male. No woman was looking after it for you. “When was the last time you had smooth, silken hair?” He shot upright and glared at her, and she knew she had hit the nail right in the middle of its proverbial head. “That is not your concern,” he snarled, tapping her over to the corner to sit on the edge of the couch. She couldn’t do much when her legs were beyond her own control. “This is a contraption I’ve been working on that can bend time.” He deliberately distracted her from her overly personal question. “Oh, what rubbish! If you sent us back in time to before we came here, all those happy couples at the dinner table will no longer exist, or even know each other anymore. Did you think about that?” “It is not rubbish, my beauty. Already I have sent an apple and a rat through two days into the future. As for going back in the past…I haven’t worked that out yet.” “Looks like junk to me. When are you going to release me?” “When you stop insulting me.” “I have stopped.” “Should I be grateful?” He glanced over at her. “Do you want me to undo the knot in your hair?” she asked. He regarded her as if she offered him some malevolent trick. “You can try.” He released her, and she crossed back to him again. He went back to working on the device that so easily absorbed all of his attention. She experienced an unreasonable desire to be more important than the machine. Gently, she picked up a matted piece in a long lock of his hair and slowly worked to untangle it. He ignored her, but somehow she knew he was secretly pleased. Still playing with his hair, she watched as he fiddled with wires. “Do not get too close,” he warned.

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“Why?” She stuck out her hand and poked the damned piece of rubbish. A flash of white light erupted. “Sorry,” she said quickly, dropping the lock of hair she was playing with. Why did he look like that, as if he was about to be sick?

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Chapter Seven Kash disappeared so quickly he was stunned. He experienced a rush of nausea. Hands shaking, he turned off the experimental device he’d stupidly brought into the room. Sweet Mother Universe, he’d just sent her two days into the future, and he didn’t know how to bring her back. She remained there ahead of everyone else until she fell back in time like the rat and the apple had. Tinny shook slightly from the shock and horror as he stumbled to the couch. He might be having a panic attack for he suddenly found it hard to breath. He put his head down into his hands and tried to suck air into his lungs. Breathe, breathe, breathe, he told himself. **** Why was Tinny ignoring her? Had she offended him by calling his contraption rubbish? Why did he act like someone having a heart attack? She went up to him on the couch and leaned down over him. “Why aren’t you listening to me? Are you okay?” She stuck her hand out to shake his shoulder, but his heaviness made her action ineffectual. Why did he ignore her? Was he dying? “Can you hear me, Tinny? Can you hear me?” She touched his face, watching with growing fear as he scratched his cheek where her hand lay, brushing her fingers aside as if he felt an itch. “Tinny?” Why wouldn’t he speak to her? “Tinny!” she shouted. He got up, sending her sprawling with surprise, took several quick long strides to the door, and left the room. Kash stared after him then

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back at the contraption he had switched off. Had he…? Had she…? She shuddered and raced after him. Other people came down the hall toward her. She touched them, and they shrugged her off like a mosquito. But no one, not a single one, heard what she said to them. Horrified, she realized she had no effect on anyone around her. She was semi-stuck amongst them all in some bizarre way, not quite real in their time zone as they went about their lives. Tinny’s deplorable machine had sent her somewhere strange. Fear clawed at her belly as she ran through groups of people shouting for attention. They were all deaf to her. Some seemed to feel her, but it was as if she were a rush of air or an itching sensation on their skin. Kash stood still and screamed and screamed. She followed Tinny down to the captain in the present she had left behind, yet still seemed linked to. She scooted up to him and listened to the conversation about what he had done. Unfair to take the blame, she thought. He’d told her not to touch. He’d warned her to keep back, and she had completely ignored him. Now she was paying the stupid price for her rash action. She sighed heavily and listened to the drone of their voices. After a while, they switched to their own language without much thought, and she lost track of the rest of their conversation. The words blurred to an unfamiliar sound. It seemed like a language she would never be able to learn. Once again she had to admire them for picking up her own language so effectively. She noted by their body language that the conversation seemed to be coming to an end, and she prepared to leave along with Tinny. Captain Zeba sent him away to work on bringing her back. It seemed when she approached Tinny she could see what happened in the time line she had just left, but when she moved away she leaked forward into a future time line. Was this because she had been holding his hair when she zapped through time? Did the fact that she had held some of

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his cells in her hand when the white light flashed keep her bizarrely tethered to him? She realized she could do mischief while she was invisible and soundless. Kash went down to the kitchens and admired some desserts while kitchen staff worked oblivious around her cleaning dishes from the evening meal and preparing food for breakfast. But she couldn’t really touch anything let alone eat it, which meant if she didn’t get out of this dimension that was pulling her between her lost present and the future, she’d eventually starve or die of thirst. As she walked past some shiny metal cabinets, she noticed she cast no reflection. I’m like a vampire. Some people might think it fun to be invisible, but really, it felt dreadful. She walked down to the bridge, a place she was normally forbidden to go to. She looked around at the people working at consoles. Nobody knew she was there, so she sidled up to the window and gazed at the stars. They looked familiar but distorted. My God! Was that not Hashian’s Belt with its binary stars at the buckle? And below it Riek’s Archer? Did they not have access to Earth-made star maps? She wanted to scream at them, to jump up and down and point with excitement. What if they drifted away to the other side of Blueworld One, away from these familiar constellations while she was unable to warn them? Kash ran to the sextant and lined up the cross with her eye, memorizing the coordinates, for she could not write them down. This was the most exciting revelation in months, and she couldn’t share it! Frustrated, she left the bridge in search of Tinny. When she finally caught up with him, she followed him down to his rooms, wondering what he was going to do next. She watched as he threw his dusty, old notebook on the bed. Was he going to sleep now? Cad! He had work to do, important work. She screamed at him, but he didn’t hear her. Disgusted, she simmered with resentment as he shed his outer layer of clothing.

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Bored, she looked away until she heard the shower running. He had water here now? How curious. Used to be a pathetic, little mist come steam wash. Running water? Get serious! He must have rigged it himself with his engineering skills, she decided. Curious now she traipsed back to the shower cubicle to check it out. Ho! Tinny, you’re naked! She reeled back at the sight of him standing under the gushing water, his face turned up. Oh man! She had definitely underestimated this guy. He had a body to die for. Not so bulky like Lunox’s or Tipha’s would’ve been if she’d seen them naked. He had a lean, sculpted body like a world-class gymnast or a very fit ballet dancer. His limbs were long, and the muscles lay along them tightly like strong, corded dock ropes. Wide shoulders smoothed down to a flat plane of a chest, hairless and smooth with abdominal muscles arrowing to narrow hips…Oh wow! And he washed himself with a chocolate bar that he thought was a cake of soap. Hilarious. Could he possibly get any more delicious? Heavens! She couldn’t help looking at his…very nice cock! She wondered what it would look like erect. He wasn’t turned on by himself in the shower, so it lay dormant against his muscular thighs. What kind of workout does this guy do to look like this? She reached her hand out to touch his gorgeous cock. He didn’t have much hair down there, or anywhere else on his body, except his head, where it grew rich and thick and tangled. As she touched him, he leapt backward and let out a little cry of alarm. Holy cows! Had he felt that? She leaned up against him for a moment and watched as he went very still. His eyes explored every corner of the shower room. She’d tried touching people before with no luck, so why was Tinny any different? Might it be because she spanned present and future when he was close to her? Or had something changed? Excited, she turned to the glass door and tried to write in the condensation. Nothing. It was like she didn’t exist. But she was real! And she wanted out of this nightmare. She had an idea. As Tinny

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stood there dripping in all his glory, his eyes still roving suspiciously around, she reached out and touched him with one hand as she had been doing when she had touched his strange machine. She then tried to write in the glass at eye level with her other hand. For some reason, touching Tinny seemed to give her a little more substance as if he were a staple hinged between the two time membranes she spanned. Her finger trembled as she wrote the word HELP on the glass. He didn’t notice, damn him. She reached her hand up and clasped his jaw, turning his head to look at her writing. She’d moved him. Did he feel her? Did he see? He raised his hand to his cheek and batted at it...and then he saw the message on the glass. His mouth dropped slightly, and he shivered despite the steam of the shower. “Is that you, Kash?” Oh hell, yes, yes, yes! She went quickly to the glass and wrote YES under HELP. Tinny let out a long breath as the letters appeared. Then he seemed to remember he was naked. He snatched at the towel hanging over the top rail and thrust it round his hips while the water still poured over him. “Kasheena?” She wanted to ask him to keep talking forever, she was so lonely in this in-between place. The steam stole HELP and YES away, giving her a new plane to write on. HELP ME STANNUM. Overwhelmed with the gravity of her situation she wrote his full name then paused and regarded his face. Oh gods! PLEASE, she wrote under the fading words. “Did you touch me, Kash?” YES! IT’S HOW I CAN DO THIS! “So if you’re not touching me, you can’t draw on the glass? Kash, you touched my cock!” SORRY! Well, she wasn’t really. She grinned for the first time in hours.

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IT’S REALLY NICE :), she wrote cheekily on the glass door, tipping forward and trying to lick some of the melted chocolate off his chest. He almost fell over. She watched as he inclined against the far wall and shuddered. Were those iridescent pearls on the head of his cock just shower water? She wanted to find out. She stretched her arm out and stroked the long, full thickness of his shaft, wishing that she had more substance to her hand. He trembled as she did so, and his erection grew. She truly wished she could return to normal to play with his cock properly and give it the attention it fully deserved. She sighed longingly, her throat dry as dust, as desire curled through her. She splayed her fingers with intense focus as she stroked the thrusting hardness in her hands. Oh, the things she could do right now if only she weren’t as gossamer as a ghost! She curled her toes tightly and bit his collarbone as she slid her fingernails up his very long back, but her teeth might as well have been air. “Kash!” he warned throatily. Mmmm, so much power! She grinned and licked his chest again slowly, circling his flattened, coffee-colored nipple with her tongue. Hells, what would it be like if he did this to her instead? Her own nipples pebbled to tiny peaks. She sighed, giving his cock another firm stroke, running her thumb over its velvet tip. If only her tongue and her hands were not so faded from reality! The things she could do right now! Why did he have to be such a hottie when she couldn’t even materialize to appreciate him? She watched as a faint crimson flush settled on his cheeks, and he shuddered against the wall with his cock throbbing in her phantomlike hands. This was fun, except she felt really weak all of a sudden, as though if she didn’t lie down, she’d fall. One last time she went to the glass. HELP ME TINNY. GET ME OUT OF HERE She let go of him then and went back to the bedroom and lay on the blankets. She could hear him still asking her questions in the shower room. Her whole body tightened and seized up without warning, scaring her senseless. She wanted to vomit. Black swirls

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danced around her. God, what was happening? She screamed Tinny’s name, but he couldn’t hear her. Then she blacked out.

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Chapter Eight When she woke up, he was asleep on the far side of the bed. She had no idea how long she’d been out. Wearily she crawled over to Tinny and snuggled up to him. He whispered in his sleep and rolled to his side, his arm flung over her. She couldn’t help feeling oddly happy to be anchored to reality by him. Though she could barely feel him, some of his body warmth seemed to seep through to her. She lay awake half the night listening to his deep and steady breathing. **** He woke up several hours after having fallen asleep. He seemed warmer than usual as if someone was tucked against him. Curious he raised his hands and searched for her, amazed that he could actually feel her vaguely. She was sliding back through time the way the rat and the apple had. He let out a sigh of relief as the gossamer body against him stirred. Her hand explored his face and touched his lips. Wow. She was awake, too, and trying to communicate with him. He felt the curl of her fingers around his throat. He reached up and folded her small hand in his and gave it a squeeze, hoping to reassure her. **** Kash watched as he swung his legs out of bed. He wore a soft Tshirt and boxers, and she couldn’t help but remember with a flash of heat what she’d seen under the fabric in his shower stall last night. Kash leapt to her feet, too. Her solid form might be bleeding slowly

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back through time to his present, but it couldn’t happen fast enough for her own satisfaction. Hunger and thirst bothered her now. She had tired of being stuck in a dimension where nobody but the last person she touched had any clue she still existed. Tinny strode off to the shower room again. For a moment she thought her eyes were in for a treat, but Tinny had other things on his mind. When she wandered in there he had all his clothes on and stood in the cubicle. “Come touch me, Kash,” he beckoned. She didn’t need to be asked twice. “Are you here?” he enquired. Yeah I am, but I wish you weren’t dressed. She wanted another visual treat of him minus the clothing, but he was just waiting for the door to steam up so she could write on the glass. She leaned over and touched him with one hand before writing. I’M HERE “Are you okay?” I’M HUNGRY AND THIRSTY “I guess you can’t eat or drink there, huh? Don’t worry, it didn’t seem to effect the rat…or the apple,” he added with dark humor. HA HA, she wrote on the glass. I’M GOING MAD GET ME OUT OF HERE “I don’t know if I can,” he admitted. “I think you just need to wait to slip back here like rattie and apple did.” HOW LONG? “Well, for them it was two days…but I don’t know if that will be the same for you. You have more mass than the rat or apple, and I had adjusted the contraption since they went ahead. Also they were not touching me when they left.” I DON’T LIKE THIS “I know.” He ran his hand over his head. “About the water, try licking the glass, Kash.”

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Hmmm, good idea, why hadn’t she thought of that? If she could write in it while holding onto him, maybe she could drink some of the condensation, too? She leant forward and tried. Beads of water fell onto her dry tongue. Oh, thank God! **** Tinny stood and watched the tongue print on the glass. Just the thought of what she was doing made his body tighten. He had to keep in mind that it was for her own survival. He lifted his hand and tried to feel her, finally making contact with her bent-over shape. Desire leapt through his veins to find her in such a pose. He could feel her stiffen slightly as if he had surprised her, then she relaxed and leaned back into him. It was such a pleasant feeling. He tightened his arm and pulled her in close, her back against his chest, tucking his chin against the curve between her shoulder and neck. “It’s going to be okay,” he whispered softly where he thought her ear might be. “I won’t leave you until you’re safe again. And when that happens, you will listen to what I advise you in the future.” She trembled in his arms. “I have to admit, though, it was partly my fault for having something so dangerous in the same room as something so inquisitive.” **** Kash hung her head in shame. He might as well have labeled her with other words, such as disobedient, contrary, or defiant. Was it possible for her to learn a new way of behavior around men? She leaned forward and put her hand on the glass then released, staring at her hand print, unable to write words anymore for she felt too wretched. Tinny surprised her by leaning forward as well, his arm still around her. He skewered his own hand over her print and then pulled it off. The two prints sat on the glass together for almost a minute

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before the steam claimed them. It saddened Kash when they disappeared. She turned in Tinny’s arms and tried to hug his warm and solid form. “We will win. Soon this will be over,” he said. She released her hold on him as he turned the shower off and followed him back to the lounge. How wonderful, to have someone concerned for her. When was the last time she’d had that? She watched as he bent over the little contraption again. If only she had left the damn thing alone. But she had always been resistant to doing what she was told. It harped back to her childhood when her mother’s boyfriends had tried to push her and her sister around all the time, get them to do their bidding. If she ever escaped this ridiculous situation, she vowed to herself to take more heed of what Tinny told her. She regarded him as he worked, noting what a fine specimen of a male he was. While she had resisted being paired with him, now she experienced gratitude he stayed here for her and tried to undo the mess which her own foolishness had landed her in. Then again, if she had not been paired with him, she would not have touched his blasted time travel device. Feeling contrary with her own thoughts, she observed his long fingers at work, while her mind unexpectedly strayed to what those fingers would feel like if they glided over her instead of his machine. Why on Earth was she thinking along such lines? He was an alien, and aliens were dangerous, or at best worthy of caution. At least that was what she had always been taught. But what if such teachings were wrong? Her eyes wandered up his arm and along his throat where swirling tattoos merged with his shirt collar, disappearing underneath it. Inexplicably, she wanted to trace the shapes against his skin. Her hands twitched. Kash smirked, though he couldn’t see her doing so. What would he think of her if he knew her thoughts right now?

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**** Tinny made a pretense of fixing his machine just to make her feel better, as if someone was doing something. Truth be known, he didn’t want to fool around more with the situation, and he suspected the safest way back was the way the rat and the apple had come, slipping along like a travelator on reverse. Of course, she possessed a great deal more mass than an apple or a rat, and this fact gnawed at him continuously. Even invisible and barely solid, she made his heart trip and his body tighten. He knew all the stories of her terrible tricks on Xephon males, the ones he’d been told by Lunox and Tipha. Some of them had made him smile. But Lunox and Tipha were fair and as far as he knew not cruelly inclined. So when Chitra had suggested to Captain Zeba that he take care of Kash, he’d had to step in quickly and make sure that never became a reality. He’d ended up having a fight with Chitra and after that even had to blackmail the captain slightly to make sure she didn’t fall into Chitra’s hands. He hadn’t liked doing that, threatening to spill Zeba’s homosexual tendencies…not that he really would have. The captain managed to hide it well. The only reason Tinny knew of it was that Zeba had mistaken something he had done once for interest in him and unwittingly revealed his secret. Xephon soldiers did not take kindly to gay males in their ranks. In that respect they were light years behind the humans. Chitra was not too happy that Tinny had outfoxed him somehow for the human woman Kash. Of course, almost every male on the ship couldn’t help falling for her beauty in the beginning. But now her reputation for being difficult preceded her. Chitra had thought he could knock that out of her. Already, secretly enchanted with her at the time, Tinny had no intention of allowing her to fall under his crew member’s control. But he didn’t expect her to be interested in himself. She’d made it clear to Lunox and Tipha that she did not like Xephon

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males. And not once in the six lunar cycles since she’d been on their vessel had she ever given any indication that he appeared any more interesting than the other males. He went about his day’s work aware of her in the background, tagging him like an invisible puppy. He couldn’t help feeling happy knowing she was there. Sometimes he even spoke to her in hushed whispers when others were around. When they were alone, he spoke louder, hoping that his voice gave her some comfort that at least someone was acknowledging her existence. Crew had been querying her whereabouts, and the captain had been fobbing them off with excuses which they might not continue to believe for much longer. Later that night as he went to have a shower, he wondered if she’d join him. He couldn’t really stop her since she was like a ghost. The idea kind of excited him. This crazy situation was making her give him a whole lot more attention and a whole lot less disdain than if it had never happened. Not that he would ever have wished it on her. Even though he had a lot more appeal to her now, he blamed himself for the incident and wished it had never happened.

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Chapter Nine He threw his clothes off and jumped under the warm stream of water. He had the best water shower on the whole ship because he was clever at tinkering with such things. Captain would probably have a fit if he saw his shower. “Are you in here, Kash?” he enquired as he picked up his block of soap. It was a gift from the women, and he loved its unique Earth scent. Chocolate, they called it. He put the soap back down. Just the idea that she might be in here with him was doing things to his body, tightening his muscles, speeding up his heart rate, raising what the humans called goose bumps on his flesh. “Kash?” He looked at the glass. She’d drawn a huge love heart in it, and as he watched stunned, she shot an arrow through it. Though he knew she couldn’t possibly love him—at least not yet—he laughed out loud. “You’re a bad girl,” he groaned. She drew a smiley face with a big grin and little horns on it. Familiar with some Earth symbols, he laughed again, delighted with her playfulness. He rinsed the soap from his skin and switched off the water, drying himself with one of the women’s fluffy towels, another gift from the crew of the Windfleur. He wondered what kind of view she had of him as he pulled on his underwear. Was she coming to bed with him? He switched his lights off and went to his room, slipping under the covers. “Kash?” As if in answer he felt the pull of a hand at the waistband of his shorts.

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“Kash?” She didn’t really want to have sex with him did she? She’d been against it before, told him that hell would have to freeze over first. Now she seemed determined as hell to get his boxers off. He laughed. She wanted contact in the deepest sense she could get. Too bad he had an erection now that needed taking care of. He didn’t feel too much guilt to charge forward into what she was offering, even though he suspected it was just a reaction to her situation. Chivalry be damned. **** Kash slipped her invisible clothes off quickly and threw them to the floor. The blue glow of the nightlights made his face look serenely beautiful. She’d had no intention of ever touching him before, but now he remained the only link she had to life and reality. And much more than that. She desired him in a way she had never experienced before. She wanted him madly. He threw the boxers he’d been wearing on the floor, and she leaned her naked body against his, soaking up the wonderful warmth of his skin. It reminded her of touching something when her skin was defrosting from anesthesia. She could feel him, but in a dulled way. It made her even hungrier to have him. She kissed his mouth, desperate and filled with longing. Their tongues twined, as she angled her hips against his pelvis. His cock had grown huge now, just like the rest of him. Her hand explored his hardness, rubbed and stroked his length. He shuddered in response to her ministrations. He was delicious to touch, to be near. She curled her nails around the heavy weight of him and rocked her hips suggestively. He groaned against her neck then smothered her pulse points in rapid little kisses. She sighed with pleasure as he rolled over her just as she parted her legs. Quickly she slid down the delicious length of his cock before he had time to act. She experienced a small spasm of shock as her pussy adjusted to the size of him. A groan of pleasure escaped his

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lips. She wished she could talk to him, whisper to him. As if he could hear her wishes, he whispered to her in his own language. She rocked her hips against him, grasping him tightly with her internal muscles. He groaned again, thrusting quickly into her. Hell, she appeared to be sliding back into focus. Her arms seemed to have substance before her own eyes. Delighted, she nipped at his collarbone. He looked up at her and smiled. It made her heart flip wildly. “You’re coming back,” he said as he thrust with long, solid strokes. His hands slipped to her breasts, molding them softly, fingers brushing the peaked tips. She shuddered as fire leapt through her. He found her mouth and almost drugged her with a hot, searing kiss that left her breathless before he tore his mouth away reluctantly and slid his lips down her chest. Kash gasped as he bent forward and suckled at her breasts, grazing them with his fangs. “I guess you like me more than you think,” he said. “Must be iced over in hell right now.” “Oh baby, you have no idea,” she replied. He laughed as he lifted his head from her breasts and nibbled her earlobe, pushing back her hair to expose the flickering pulse in her neck before dropping a kiss there. “I heard that, my beauty.” “Really?” She blushed. Time to start paying attention to what she said. “Ahuh.” “I’ve been wrong, and I’ve been stupid,” she admitted. “And I might have missed out being with you.” “Ahuh… Chitra asked Captain for a chance with you, and that’s when I stepped in.” “Why, thank you.” She chuckled. “So I really did get you by default?” “Do you doubt that I really want you?” Her hands caressed his solid rib cage as she dragged Tinny’s lips back to hers and wound her tongue round his as if that was her

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answer. He slowed his pelvic thrusting until her thighs trembled with longing. Spirals of heat escalated from deep within her abdomen. He put his long, warm fingers down between their two bodies and rubbed her slowly until she panted his name, begging for release, twisting in his arms. He climaxed a second before she joined him with her own release. “Tinny, Tinny, Tinny,” she cried. She’d never known sex could be this delicious. And she’d been determined to push him away! He bit her throat gently as he held her close. “If you accept me, I’ll always love you.” “I accept you, Tinny. There’ll never be anyone else.” Her hands slid down his back, pulling him closer. The numbness had gone. Now she could feel the delicious length of his large, naked form over her. “That was the scariest thing I’ve ever done,” she said. “Oh, I don’t mean the lovemaking.” She chuckled. How awful if he thought that! “I know what you mean, my beauty. I should have protected you from what happened. Luckily the effects are not permanent. Life can go back to normal again now.” “Mmmm, normal? This craziness has brought us together…I don’t think I’ll ever be normal again.” He smiled. “I don’t think the other two males could have handled you. I think you were meant for me.” “Are you sure?” she asked. “I think I’m going to have to get you to prove that all over again, just to be very sure.” She laughed, sliding down his chest, her tongue circling his navel, her teeth nipping at the taught skin stretched below it. He gave a small jerk of surprise as she teased sensitive areas with her tongue, a soft animal-like growl sounding deep in his throat. Oh yes! See how much substance I have now, Stannum my love. She ran her nails along his shaft, watching with delight as he fisted his hands in the sheets and squirmed as if she were torturing him. Well, she supposed she was, she thought wickedly as she licked and nuzzled. By the panting sounds he made, he might either be about to die or implode in the next few minutes.

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Kash rose up on her knees and met his eyes, her hands weaving into his as she slid her slick pussy down over him, taking him fully inside her. She shuddered for a second at the size of him, but her body adjusted quickly again. Tinny seemed beyond talking to her in her own language, and everything he said was in Xephon. She translated his encouragements easily. Slowly she leaned back and rocked her pelvis, riding him hard like a goddess, her blood on fire, her hair flowing over her shoulders like a silken banner. He broke free of her hands to trace the shape of her hips, her waist, her breasts. Kash gasped and lost her balance when he brushed her nipples lightly with his fingertips, falling forward only to be drawn down further for a hot, wet, tongue-lashing kiss that was so fierce one of his fangs pierced the lush fullness of her lower lip and drew a spot of blood. He licked it away quickly, pushing her up so she sat in his lap still joined to him. For a second she forgot the thrusting and stroking as his mouth explored hers. Tinny pulled back suddenly and kissed along the column of her throat, down over her chest, licking her breasts, making her shiver with delight, his large hands spanning her pelvis as he held her firmly against him. She quivered slightly at the erotic sensation of his hard, slightly sharp, talon-like nails lying against the bare flesh of her hips. He pulled her upward as if she weighed nothing, and she let out a small groan of displeasure as he slipped out of her. “Turn over,” he said, in her language. Kash turned quickly, feeling the prod of his cock sliding over her damp thighs, making them tremble with anticipation. He pushed against the entrance of her pussy, before he managed to fill her again. She gasped as her body expanded to his size then wriggled her hips back into him. Tinny leaned forward and wrapped an arm under her, tugging her even closer against him before resuming a rhythmic pace that had fire dancing through her veins. She groaned, long and low as the tension built in her, screaming for release, even as she tamped it down and thrilled to the rhythm of their swaying bodies.

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“Stay with me.” “I’m here, I’m here,” she replied, taking the weight of his thrusting hips as best she could, so close to the end. Her body burned with tension and intense pleasure, enthralled at the sensations his powerful body evoked in hers. Her hands slid behind her back, tracing over his smoothly muscled torso, learning the contours of his body, thrilling to its hardened perfection. And then it was just too hard to hold back. “Oh gods!” she breathed. He leaned over her and bit her neck, joining her release with his own. She could have sworn thunder erupted in the room, or maybe it was just her own heartbeat. And then suns collided, and the universe gave a long shudder as their joined bodies trembled and writhed in climax. How could she ever have imagined she could live a single solitary second of existence without this man in her life? It seemed so perfect and right for him to release into the depths of her core, to ride the supernova their union created together. She crashed, hot and slick and tired to the sheets with him as they panted, kissed, stroked, caressed, smiled. Her eyes linked with his in wonder. Her lips were plumped and bruised but still clung to his as their breaths mingled. He stroked her damp hair back off her forehead. “I can’t wait to do that again,” he said, moments later, smiling as he traced her lips with his forefinger. She stuck her tongue out and licked his skin as he ran his finger over the little cut he’d made before, then she nipped him playfully. She admired his face as he grinned at her, witnessed the delight and desire burning in the back of his eyes. She had so much to tell him, to share with him about herself, but wasn’t there something else important she had meant to tell him? What was it? Her mind was a passion-addled mess! All she wanted to do was drink in his essence as she clung naked to his god-like chest, her legs entwined with his. Oh, yes! Coming back to her! “Tinny, I have something important to tell you. While nobody could see me I went onto the bridge, and I recognized a couple of

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constellations on the console that your own people might not have recognized. I used the sextant to get the coordinates of a star I recognized. We can go home, Tinny, we just have to tell the captain.” “I didn’t know you knew how to do that, Kash. I thought you were just a medical officer.” “You’d be surprised what I know how to do.” “No, not surprised. I look forward to finding out actually.” He laughed into her throat. “Do you still want me now you know we can go home to your world?” “Oh, I want you, baby. There’s no escape now.” She nipped his collarbone playfully. “I’m going to untangle all your beautiful hair until you have the glossiest, finest hair on the entire ship.” She admired the smile her answer brought to his face and listened happily as he growled with pleasure and then drowned her in a kiss filled with all the promise of many more to come.

THE END WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/KARLYMADDISON [email protected]

ABOUT THE AUTHOR I grew up on a sheep and crop farm in New Zealand with many ponies and a younger sister. I always enjoyed writing. I trained to be a Registered Nurse to work part-time in healthcare. I have four sons, ranging in age (as of 2012) from four years old to twenty-one years old. I live in Christchurch, and after the devastating earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, I found myself really inspired to sit down and write in my favourite genres, science fiction and fantasy, especially as there were long periods of time without electricity.

For all titles by Karly Maddison, please visit http://www.bookstrand.com/karly-maddison

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