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  She peered at the suit. “And if I don’t?”

  “If you don’t, you die.” At her disbelieving hiss of breath, he explained, “My people have also managed to infuse some of our textiles with our shields.” He nodded at the weird attire in her hands. “The suits have been designed to cater for all our needs on the flight.”

  “Oh?”

  “This smaller craft isn’t always able to maintain perfect temperature, your suit will modify as needed.”

  She peered around. Not everything was sorted. “I see nowhere to…relieve myself.”

  “Your suit not only cleanses you, it also absorbs and dissolves any excrement.”

  Her mouth dropped open. “You’re not serious…are you?”

  As if in silent reproach, he reached into the wall again and extracted another suit. When he peeled his pants down, past his cock and hard thighs, she didn’t turn away. She stood transfixed and gaping, taking him in—all of him.

  Oh…my.

  She had no experience with men and their bits, for obvious reasons. But from the pictures she’d seen in the many books in the house library, the human men hadn’t been anywhere near that large.

  “Princess, you keep staring at my cock like that and it’ll grow.”

  It gets bigger?

  She looked up, flushing while butterflies danced in her belly, her womb. Was this lust? Or were these the sensations of someone caught blatantly staring? “Grow horns, more like,” she muttered.

  The breeze behind her abruptly subsided. She turned, just in time to see the last of the opening behind her fill in until there was no more doorway.

  She caught her breath. This was her last chance to tell him the truth. Every cell in her body screamed to reveal her real identity or be taken away from life as she knew it. She bit back the truth. This was it. There was no turning back now.

  Aline had always been there for her, now she could only hope her sister and her parents valued her sacrifice.

  She swallowed. Was it selfish to want her parents to finally notice her in her absence? Self-centered to hope they’d all be proud of her?

  Genesis stepped into his suit with a dry looking smile. “The craft is self-piloted. And as its program knows we’ve arrived, I would estimate you have ten minutes to get dressed and seated before takeoff.”

  Shit.

  This was no time for being self-conscious. Like it or not, she would eventually be fucked by this alien anyway. She caught her breath at the unfamiliar sensation of her hardening breasts, her clenched pussy and trembling thighs.

  She shucked off her shirt with savage force. She wasn’t that desperate for a man.

  Except, when he groaned appreciation at her bared breasts, she couldn’t deny the bolt of pleasure lighting her up from the inside out. Couldn’t stop her nipples from tightening into perfect sized buds, ripe for the pleasure of his mouth.

  His smile became all sensual need. “I don’t need to experience trans-alien hypersensitivity to know you’re mine.”

  Her mother had warned Aline more than once about the trans-alien stuff—an extreme awareness between human and alien intendeds that heightened the closer their proximity to one another.

  Eden was only glad she’d listened too. Which had her question why she had experienced such an odd sensation just before she’d turned and seen Genesis?

  Because he’s the first man you’ve met other than your father.

  The man in question slipped his arms into his suit and added huskily, “I knew it from the moment I saw you on your knees in the garden—all the while trying not to imagine you on your knees in front of me.”

  Ignoring the curling of lust within at the image he shared, she bit out, “The only way you’ll have me on my knees is when I’m begging you to return me home.”

  “So why aren’t you begging me now?”

  Because I want to save my sister.

  “Because I know it’s pointless. You didn’t travel all the way here not to take what you want.”

  He nodded, his nostrils flaring. “I take what is rightfully mine. Nothing more, nothing less.”

  She unclipped her jeans button. As her zip rasped undone, she said, “One thing you’ll learn about me.” She stepped out of her jeans and too-practical panties with more anger than grace. “No one owns me.”

  “Oh, I don’t want to own you, Princess.” He stepped toward her, one hand tilting her chin so that her obviously reproachful, angry stare lit on his face. “I’d simply be happy knowing you’ll want to stay.”

  She wrenched free of his clasp, all too aware her skin still tingled from his touch. She pulled on the stocking-like suit with a glower that was aimed more at herself than him. She was such a fool. Did she need to remind herself he thought she was Aline? It was her sister he wanted to stay of her own free will, not her. If only he knew it. Sticking her arms through her sleeves, she said a touch nastily, “I don’t think the question will be that I’ll want to stay, it’ll be that I’ll have nowhere else to go.” The alien fabric settled against her skin, shaping itself against her seemingly of its own accord. She rested her hands on her suit-clad hips. “Being stuck on another planet with no way out will see to that.”

  “True, but I don’t think it’s too much to hope you’ll be happy to stay anyway.” He grinned. “Who knows, maybe I’ll be able to seduce you by my…charms.”

  Her eyes zoomed down to the bulge in his pants. She tore her gaze away. He needn’t know that deep down his arousal caused her pulse to leap, her insides to warm.

  It had to be her inexperience, surely?

  Were all men like this? Gentle, tough, crude and sexy all rolled into one.

  She could hardly compare this alien to her father, Renate. Then again, her mother, Ally, had basked in Renate’s love, and if that was all Eden got from a life mate she’d die a happy and satisfied woman—if guilt didn’t destroy whatever joy she experienced knowing she and Genesis were never meant to be together.

  The craft’s walls gently vibrated. Genesis tore his stare from her and frowned. He turned back, proffering a hand. “Come. It is past time we were seated.”

  She grudgingly accepted his hand and allowed him to lead her to one of the chairs before he instructed, “Sit. Relax.” He did the same in the chair nearby. “The journey will be a long one, but our seats will automatically adjust for our individual comfort.”

  She gripped the arms of her seat as it unfolded. The red fur underneath her spine and ass cheeks was amazingly soft and comfy. No doubt it had come off the vicious, alien-eating caltronian beasts she’d heard her father talk about a time or two.

  If she ever met such a beast, perhaps she’d offer congratulations for its good taste. She shivered, half-ashamed. A morbid sense of humor wouldn’t cut it if she really did set eyes on one of the red-furred monsters—they’d probably enjoy her human-alien flesh just as much.

  Genesis stretched his long legs out before him, clearly settling in. He took hold of her nearest hand, as if in reassurance. “The shields will shortly web across our bodies. They’ll hold us in for takeoff.”

  She jerked with alarm as the shields grew from the floor and up the chairs to quickly blanket her entire body, including her scalp. Only her face—mouth, nose and eyes—stayed clear. Even their joined hands were webbed together. It was the weirdest sensation, as though smoke was solidifying over her body.

  “Relax,” he soothed from the chair beside her, though she couldn’t turn her head and see him.

  “I didn’t expect this!” she hissed, perversely glad his hand was entwined with hers.

  The craft reverberated, juddering hard underneath. The walls of the craft revolved, faster and faster, as though a spinning top, the momentum creating a whine that amplified on seemingly every rotation.

  “The craft is preparing for takeoff,” he said, raising his voice to be heard. “When it does, the G-force will cause you to pass out. Soon after the shields will release a non-toxic gas to keep us unconscious.”

&n
bsp; “Please don’t tell me you’re serious!”

  She wasn’t used to feeling so helpless. Since giving herself over to him in place of her sister, all her free-will had been taken away from her.

  “It sounds crude, but staying asleep with brief snatches of wakefulness to relieve our hunger and thirst, means our supplies won’t run dry.”

  The straw in the cylinder beside her took on a whole new meaning. Clearly whatever liquid it held was both food and water in human terms. Her voice cracked, “Do I get any say in this?”

  “Sorry, Princess, no. At just twenty day’s journey, this craft is by far the fastest and most efficient way to travel.”

  The craft’s whine became an earsplitting hum that continued to increase in volume and unlike anything she’d ever heard before. And as the shields pushed a little way into her ear and formed a ball to evidently block out the worst of the sound, Genesis squeezed her hand and shouted, “See you in my solar system, Princess!”

  A flash of light burst before her eyes. Her belly dropped from beneath her. Then…nothing.

  Chapter Two

  Eden woke slowly, getting her bearings as her lashes fluttered open.

  The alien craft.

  A sob built in her chest. She choked it back. No regrets. She’d made her choice. She’d just have to live with it.

  She hazily recalled half waking at least a dozen times, her belly burning with hunger, her throat dust dry. She’d taken great gulping mouthfuls of liquid from the straw beside her before giving into the ever-beckoning darkness once again.

  She wriggled a little, surprised to find no restraints. Even her ears were free of the plugs. She fisted her hands. The shields were gone, right along with Genesis’ reassuring clasp.

  “How are you feeling, Princess?”

  She jerked her head to the side. Aside from his mussed looking bed hair, Genesis was bright-eyed and observant. Something delicious moved through her belly and surrounded her core. He was too masculine and attractive by far.

  She leaned forward and the chair automatically followed, adjusting her position until she sat straight. She rolled her shoulders, her neck, feeling surprisingly good. No, more than good. Great. Rejuvenated.

  She reformed her face into what she hoped was a suitable glower. “I’ve been better,” she lied.

  The alien juice must have had some amazing nutrients. Then again, sleeping for almost three weeks nonstop probably had a lot to do with it.

  His brow arched. “I’m fine would have sufficed.”

  She slipped her legs to the side of her chair and pressed a hand to her heart. “I guess I haven’t learned how to be grateful to my abductor.”

  His smile somehow made it to his eyes. “No, I guess you haven’t…yet.”

  She pulled away from his brilliant gaze. Though Genesis was evidently under the illusion that he was connected to her by the trans-alien crap he believed in, she didn’t suffer from the same misconception. Yes, they were super aware of each other—who wouldn’t be under the same circumstances?—but as his intended remained on Earth, she knew there was no true bond between them.

  “So where are we?” she asked, deftly changing the subject and expunging any guilt from her mind.

  He stood, all masculine grace. “I’ll show you.”

  The walls of the craft abruptly shuddered, and became see through again, only then making her aware they’d solidified somehow while she’d been deep asleep. But any questions she might have asked were forgotten as her mouth dropped open, her eyes widening.

  A huge, copper-red ball glowed before them with tinges of green threading the sphere, along with patches of blue she could only assume were small oceans or maybe huge lakes.

  Genesis smiled. “Welcome to Carèche.”

  Her pulse beat like a drum in her ear. She pressed a trembling hand to her mouth. “We’re here. We’re really here.”

  She’d envisioned a whole load of dread and horror, not this odd and unexpected excitement banging around inside her. Then again, despite being raised on Earth, the planet of Carèche was her father’s homeland, therefore a part of her.

  She swallowed, imagining the big, muscular males of Carèche as only a woman who’d seen few men probably could. Her stare swung to Genesis. If they were anything like him, they would be any Earth woman’s fantasy of old.

  But what were the aliens like as a people? Were their laws very different to what she’d known? She’d experienced a freedom on Earth that perhaps the aliens didn’t. Her breath caught. How did they treat their Earth women? Were their edicts strict? Modern? Barbaric?

  Her father had spoken of his people many times, but that had been mostly in the days before the virus had hit. She could only surmise the alien’s world would be a vastly different place now. Ruled by a need to survive and reproduce.

  Her pulse stuttered. What if these same people learned of her deception? She was supposed to be Genesis’ intended. His princess! Bloody hell. Would they punish her for such a crime? Execute her?

  Lord above, she knew so little about this new world.

  “I know this must be hard on you.” Genesis’ gentle tone snapped her out of her morose reverie. He raised a hand, then dropped it back to his side. “But if you’d prefer to wait, we don’t have to port yet.”

  He shrugged at her clearly perplexed look. “We can get to know each other a little first. I’m sure you must have plenty of questions you’d like answered before setting foot onto my planet?”

  She bit back a yes. She’d face his people now rather than later. “Let’s get this whole introduction to your people thing, out of the way.”

  He laughed, a deep, rich musical sound that was so unexpected she couldn’t help but stare. God, he really was beautiful, in a purely masculine, women’s fantasy type of way.

  She swallowed past the dryness of her throat. “What’s so funny?”

  “I’m sorry to be the one to destroy your cute little fantasy,” he said with a grin, “but there’s no big welcoming party awaiting our return.”

  “No fanfare even for a prince?”

  He brushed a hand across her shoulder and she ignored the frisson of awareness as he explained, “Let me show you something.”

  She pushed to her feet, decidedly unsteady after weeks lying unconscious. She clasped a handhold beside the instrument panel, refusing his support—refusing to touch him and wonder again over her reaction.

  With a barely audible sigh, he pointed to the right of the planet before them. Her eyes settled on a big chunk of red terrain with very little green or blue.

  “Pyracade is my land of rule.”

  Her eyes narrowed. She’d not been huge on geography, but her mother had ensured her daughters had studied the old maps to get an understanding of at least their world. And from what her dad had told them about Carèche being roughly three-and-a-half times bigger than Earth, then Genesis’ land was huge in comparison to any country back home.

  “A lot of land for very few people,” Genesis conceded at her silence. He turned to her. “Our lands are beautiful and precious to us, but from what I’ve been told from our queen—my mother—our planet is all but inhospitable compared to yours.”

  “So why stay here instead of Earth?”

  He stepped away, his fingers tapping across the buttons on the instrument panel. Only as the craft began to gently sink toward its final destination, did Genesis turn back to her and explain, “Because without us as its keepers, Carèche would die.”

  * * * * *

  Genesis scrutinized her face. In many ways he could read Eden’s emotions as clearly as a captain’s flight manual. In other ways she was a locked door. Forbidden and beyond temptation. And he badly wanted to be the key that unlocked all her secrets, all the hidden parts of herself.

  His cock stirred. The trans-alien hypersensitivity guaranteed her compliance, and yet instead she’d shown an unprecedented dislike toward him that was both exhilarating and infuriating.

  Once they were grounded
he would make her his, make her realize nothing and nobody was as important as their being together and making love.

  Over and over.

  His jaw locked as his cock twitched at the image of her under him, on top of him. Damn it. He knew her well enough already to know she’d be as cool to him as a desert night if she looked down and witnessed his arousal.

  She reminded him of one of his father’s delicate plants that needed extra love and attention in order to thrive. But somehow he knew that once he got past her reservation, her passion would be an explosion just waiting to happen.

  The planet loomed, larger and larger. He didn’t particularly notice. His eyes feasted on his intended, watching the way her breath hitched the closer they got, the way she pressed a hand to her mouth, her eyes widening with alarm.

  “It seems so perverse,” she whispered, “how you and your people stay on your planet to keep it alive,” she turned to him, face pale and eyes wide, “while my mother’s people all but killed their planet Earth.”

  Her hair, brighter even than caltronian fur, had been captured into some sort of knot, where pieces of hair leaked through. How long were her tresses? Gods, he wanted only to whip her hair free and watch it tumble around her shoulders.

  Instead he cleared his throat and stated matter-of-factly, “Earth will rejuvenate and replenish.”

  Her eyes appeared stricken. “What, now that there are no hordes of humans to destroy it?”

  He cursed his tongue. Was he that distracted by Eden? He hadn’t meant to come across so…harsh. But really, was there any nice way of putting it? Humans had all but destroyed their beautiful planet. He nodded. “Yes.”

  She appeared to wilt a little, as though acknowledging the truth. Then biting into her bottom lip, she asked, “Do you think I’ll…like it here?”

  “If you allow it, most definitely.”

  “Allow it?”

  “Carèche has a way of sinking into your bones and wrapping around your soul until it becomes a part of you.”

  “If one is open to the idea?”