“I don’t know what you did to us when you put our birthmarks together, but I can’t seem to get you completely out of my head. And sometimes, I see things.” She shrugged. “I assume they are coming from you. Some kind of alien sex side effect. If not, I’ve got a serious problem on my hands.”
6
Rebecca, Five Days Later, Earth
The spaceship settledin an empty section of a large open area inside the Interstellar Bride’s Processing center’s compound. He turned on the monitors so I could see the small army of giants moving to surround us.
Us.Ourship. When had that happened?
Sure, it was small, but it felt like home now. Even Lilah had settled in. I didn’t mind the small bed because Stark held me all night long. When I complained of being too hot, he made sure the room was cool enough for my comfort. He looked after me constantly, asking if I was hungry or thirsty or tired. Making love to me multiple times a day. Even using that funny magic wand to heal my lady parts when they got sore from all the unusual activity.
Hah.I smiled. The last 10 days had been filled with pounding and grinding and so many orgasms I’d literally lost count. Which was completely crazy when I realized I could count on one hand the number of orgasms I’d had in bed with a man in the last fiveyears.
“Are you sure about this?” Stark asked.
“Yes. Trust me. She is famous. Seems like a really cool chick.”
“She is a child from one of the bird races?”
“No. What? There are bird people?”
“Of course.”
“Why aren’t they in the brochures?” Bird people? Holy shit. What else was out there?
“They are not part of the Coalition of Planets. Their home worlds are in a distant galaxy and they had no desire to become involved in our war with the Hive.”
Bird people. Wow.
I moved to stand next to the pilot’s seat and rested one hand on his shoulder, the hand with the birthmark, the one that had made Stark mine. I’d hated the odd mark my entire life. Now I was grateful to have it. Happy.
Stark lifted one hand to cover mine, his touch both familiar and comforting. “How many Prillon and Atlan guards does one woman need?”
I looked at the monitors again and had to agree. Walking toward us, head held high, was the woman I recognized from the brochures my friend Katie had shown me before she volunteered to be a bride. The woman was Warden Egara, a human in charge of processing all the volunteer brides in North America. She was based in Miami, which wasn’t exactly Cleveland. I was still far from home, but Stark had a plan and I had convinced him these people—or aliens—would help.
Stark settled the ship and went outside to speak to her. I stayed in the cockpit, as agreed, not because I was afraid to go outside, but because I still didn’t have anything to wear and I was not flashing my ass to every alien in the joint.
Stark spoke briefly to Warden Egara. I watched her pass a bag to him. He was back in minutes. Eagerly, I pulled the ordered clothing from the bag and put everything on. It all fit perfectly, even the bra and panties.
“I like you better naked, mate.”
I smiled at my man. My alien man. “Don’t worry, as soon as we’re alone again I’ll switch back to my normal clothing.”
“You mean one of my shirts with nothing beneath?”
“Of course.”
His smile made my heart melt a little more than it should. I was already in love with him. I knew it. But every time I thought I was in as deep as I could go, he did or said something that made me want him more. I hadn’t thought about college or the cheap items I’d packed up to move since the day I woke in the glass coffin. There was one box of personal items I cared about, photos and little things I’d managed to keep after my parents died. I did want that. The rest? Nothing but random stuff of my random life beforehim.
Hopefully Warden Egara had sent the message ahead to Cleveland for me and one of my friends from the center had been able to pick it up. Wherever it was.
I smoothed the ivory blouse and rust colored pants over my curves and felt normal again. Well, as normal as I could with an alien staring at me and Lilah flopped down in the corridor of a spaceship like a huge dog carpet.
I slipped my feet into an extremely comfortable pair of sandals and smiled up at Stark. “These are perfect.”
“Of course. I was very specific when I sent your measurements.”
“But you didn’t measure me.”
