She slammed into his bare chest not even caring that he was sweaty. Her arms went around his waist as she hugged him almost as tightly as his crushing arms held her. His entire body seemed to quiver when he lowered his head to nuzzle the top of her head with his jaw.

She didn't want to let him go, but as Argernon released her he forced her to. She looked up at him, seeing relief in his expression and a few other emotions she couldn't guess. Mostly she saw his happiness at seeing her and she knew she was damn happy to see him again too.

He studied her face first and then started to examine her with his hands while he visually inspected her body. After sniffing at her a few times he snarled at one of his men. They snarled back. Argernon looked enraged when he faced Casey. One of the men tore open the conis panel to start working on it with a metal tool. He softly growled something and then there was a beep.

"I don't care," Argernon snarled. "Fix it right now. I want to know what happened to her.

She should have been safe locked in my room. I smell Collis on her."

"I'm trying to fix it, ArgisArgernon," a male growled. "We're a mess. I got gravity restored and we're moving again. I got us up to full power, but we're still having internal problems with some of our systems. They fried us when they attacked and our internal sensors are shot. I don't know if any of them are still on board or if we killed them all. I am hoping the lockdown procedure is working so if some of the Collis are still on board, that we've trapped them where they are."

"Just fix it soon," Argernon looked pissed off. "I want to make sure my bound is unharmed. She's scenting fear and she was found wandering the ship. She came in contact with a Collis. Make it a priority. I can't stand not being able to talk to her."

"Argernon?" Casey stared up at him.

His head lowered. "Yes, beautiful? I wish you could understand me."

"I can."

He blinked. Shock transformed his features. A second later he smiled. "You can? The conis is working?"

"Yes. What in the hell is going on? If Collis are men with pointed ears, spots on the backs of their hands, and they look kind of like Zorn, then I definitely met them. They took me from your room and took me to some little shuttle. I escaped."

Argernon's mouth dropped open. He paled. "What?"

She fought tears. "They had another human woman there. They killed her, Argernon.

They were going to rape us. I fought. She tried to fight. One of them punched her in the face when she clawed his face up. He hit her too hard and killed her. The three men started to fight each other and I got away from them. I've been wandering the ship looking for you, but I didn't see anyone until that guy found me."

Argernon snarled. The translator was quiet. He jerked his head around to glare at one of his men. "We need to search every inch of the ship and find these betrayers now."

He turned his full attention on her. He caressed her cheek. "Did they hurt you? Tell me the truth."

"I got away before they could do anything to me."

Relief washed over his face. "We were attacked by the Collis. We're not at war with them so we don't know why they did it. They live on a planet not far from Zorn. They boarded us. We thought it was only one shuttle they used, but we have that one secured. If they took you to a shuttle then there's another one. Our internal sensors are down so we can't track anyone inside until it is fixed. We initiated lockdown so without a palm print it should seal off the ship at every junction."

"It's not working. I was able to walk around. The doors automatically worked except it wouldn't let me into any of the rooms. It just would let me move from corridor to corridor."

Argernon snarled, turning his head to glare at his men. "Fix it now, and alert everyone that lockdown is not working. Order our men to search every inch for those betraying Collis."

"Yes, ArgisArgernon. I'm sending out the alerts now." The man at the panel was typing something into it.

Argernon turned to stare down at Casey. "I thought you were safe in my room. I am sorry. If I had known you were in danger I would have been there." His shoulders slumped. "I failed to protect you."

She was dazed at how upset Argernon was. "It wasn't your fault. Really."

He dropped to his knees in front of her. Casey was surprised as Argernon started sniffing at her, pressing his nose against her shirt, as growls tore from him. It was a vicious sound. His hands fisted on her shirt as his head snapped up.

"I smell more than one male on you."

She swallowed. "I attacked one of them and I landed on him. Another one took me from your room. I'm fine, Argernon."

He climbed to his feet, a look of fury hardening his features. "You're my bound. I should have protected you better. I will never be remiss again, Casey. I swear it to you. Do you forgive me?"

She nodded. He was beating himself up over something that wasn't his fault. She heard a beeping sound. Argernon spun around to face his men.

"What is it?"

"We have a breach on deck three," one of his men snarled. "It looks like they aren't done yet. They are heading right for us. I'm sending the alert and our males are on their way."

Argernon shoved Casey, none too gently, against a wall. He moved in front of her, trapping her body there with his larger one. She felt fear as she stared at his wide back. She heard the Collis before she saw them. They were wearing those metal boots that clanked loudly on the corridor floor. Casey did a head count on the seven Collis as the pointed-ear aliens paused. The one in front leading the other six was the one she'd attacked in the shuttle and she saw the other two men who had attacked Rachael with him.

"That's him leading them," Casey whispered. "He's the one I attacked because he was going to rape me. The two shirtless men behind him are the ones who killed Rachael."