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  “Not a big deal,” he repeated flatly.

  “No, it’s not. It, uh…it happens. Right? I mean, my masseuse Eva told me it happens to guys all the time.” She rubbed his back some more, stroking his shoulder where the curving black lines of his tattoo seemed to shift and curl under her fingertips and palm, almost like an animal that enjoyed being stroked. “So you’ll be fine, okay?”

  “Yes, I will be fine.” He turned his head to look at her and Charlie was shocked to see the misery and anger on his face. His jaw was clenched and his lips were tight. His eyes were narrow, red slits. It wasn’t the look of a man who’d just been enjoying a relaxing massage—it was more like someone who had just submitted to an invasive procedure they hated with every fiber of their being.

  “Stavros?” she asked hesitantly.

  “I will be fine if you ever…stop…touching me.” His voice was a low, angry growl—the sound of a wounded animal about to bite.

  “Oh.” Charlie pulled her hand away hurriedly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t meant to—”

  “Excuse me.” He rolled over at last and she couldn’t help noticing there was absolutely no sign of an erection. So clearly that wasn’t the problem. So what was the problem? Had she hurt him in some way? But why hadn’t he said so if that was the case?

  What did I do wrong?

  Before she could ask, he was up and off the low table the thera-mat had formed. He didn’t look at her but the set of his shoulders said that something was very, very wrong and Charlie couldn’t imagine what.

  She stared at him with concern. She hadn’t know him that long but in the short period of time they’d been together, he had seemed like a pretty even-tempered guy. Now he was stalking angrily away without waiting for her to follow, his jaw tight and his hands clenched into fists. He had appeared to be so peaceful and relaxed while she was brushing his hair—like a sleepy lion, powerful but content. Now he was poised to strike. What in the world could have brought on this transformation?

  She looked at the shifting lines on his bare back. Could it have to do with the tattoo—the thing he called his mark? He’d said that it was considered bad luck on his home planet—did he think she had somehow brought bad luck on him or herself by touching it?

  There were so many questions swirling through her mind but she didn’t have a chance to ask any of them. Ta’no and Nar’sa were leading the way to their rooms and Stavors was stalking along behind them silently, clearly not in the mood to talk. Charlie hurried to catch up, wondering what in the world she had done wrong and how she could fix it. You better figure something out and quick or the rest of this mission is going to be completely miserable and it didn’t start out that great to begin with! whispered a little voice in her head.

  The long metal corridor that led to their room was painted a soothing blue but somehow Charlie’s nerves refused to be soothed. She still couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her partner. Not that she ought to care—after all, the Kindred were her enemy. After what they had done to Missy… but she didn’t want to think about that. And somehow she couldn’t help caring that Stavros was so clearly angry and upset. Especially since she appeared to be the cause of his bad mood.

  “Here are your rooms.” Nar’sa beckoned them down a short hallway that led off from the main corridor. It dead-ended in a single sliding door panel which was covered in a shifting pattern of every shade of green imaginable. As she had in the cleansing area, the female Hossan instructed first Charlie and then Stavros to press their hands to the lighted panel at the side of the door. Once it was keyed to both their touches, the door slid open…

  And a blast of arctic air blew out, swirling around them.

  “What in the world?” Still wearing her thin, mostly see-through robe, Charlie wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. “What happened here—did somebody forget to turn the heat on?”

  But neither Ta’no or Nar’sa seemed surprised or upset.

  “Ah, good—I see the Wardel keepers have done their job well.” The male Hossan nodded approvingly. “The room is certainly an appropriate temperature.”

  “The what?” Charlie demanded. “What are Wardels and what do they have to do with the room. And how is sub-zero weather in the place we’re supposed to sleep ‘appropriate?’”

  “Wardels are a type of microbe from Gaza Prime that generate cold,” Ta’no explained. “They cling to all available surfaces—they will cling to your hair, skin, and clothing, making you extremely cold.”

  “What? Why?” Charlie shook her head. “Why would you try to turn our room into the freaking North Pole?”

  “The Wardels cling to every available surface but they cannot cling to a combined energy field.” Ta’no seemed completely unfazed by her irritation.

  “A combined energy field? What does that even mean?” Charlie was rapidly becoming exasperated. It had been a long, stressful day in which she’d been forced to walk around mostly naked and eat weird alien balls and do things that made her really uncomfortable. To make matters worse, her partner was pissed off at her for some unknown reason and now she was apparently expected to sleep in the alien equivalent of an ice hotel. She’d had just about enough.

  “A combined energy field is just what it sounds like—you and your mate must touch each other to combine your fields and repel the Wardels,” Nar’sa explained. “The closer you get, the warmer you will be.”

  For the first time, Stavros spoke up.

  “This is ridiculous. If you think you can compel us to touch each other in this way—”

  “We know we can compel you to touch each other this way,” Ta’no said and there was just an edge of steel in his voice. “Otherwise you will surely freeze.”

  “We’ll just go sleep on our ship,” Charlie shot back.

  “I am afraid if you leave your rooms and go back to your ship, you will automatically be exiled from the resort,” Nar’sa said gently. “And as you are already showing considerable progress, I believe that would be a shame. Don’t you?”

  “A tragedy,” Stavros growled. “Come, we might as well go in and see if we can get comfortable for the night.” He spoke to Charlie without looking at her. Then, without waiting for her to follow he stalked into the room, apparently heedless of the chilly air swirling out.

  “Sleep well,” Nar’sa said, smiling. “You may wish to know there is an alarm on your outer door that will let us know if you leave your rooms. And remember…”

  “The closer you and your mate get, the warmer you will be,” Ta’no finished with her.

  Then the Hossans turned as one and left, leaving Charlie standing there, shivering with cold and wondering what in the hell she was going to do.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Eventually, of course, she had to walk inside—what else could she do? Reluctantly, arms wrapped around herself and shivering with cold, she stepped past the sliding green door and into the small apartment she and Stavros had been assigned for their stay.

  It was cozy enough—or would have been except for the arctic weather. There was a tiny living area, just big enough for an oversized loveseat, a postage stamp sized kitchen just big enough to have two cabinets, a counter with some strange alien appliances on it, and a tiny table with two chairs.

  Well at least they don’t expect me to sit on Stavros’s lap while I drink my morning coffee. If there is morning coffee, she thought bleakly. The small kitchen led directly into a short, narrow hallway which ended in another green door. Her partner was just disappearing into it.

  “Hey, wait up.” Charlie ran after him and found herself in a small bedroom which was mostly taken up by a large bed. Other than the bed there wasn’t much furniture except for two of the white pillars like the kind in the changing room outside the cleansing pool. They were positioned on either side of the bed where night tables would normally be. There was a small door in the corner of the room which Charlie assumed led to a bathroom. Stavros was headed there now. “Wait a minute,” she said, before he cou