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Strange music that sounded like someone playing a flute and a drum, while someone else yodeled at the top of their lungs drifted through the smoky air. The lighting was dim but I could see enough to make out some of the other people—mostly male. Most were standing around drinking various glowing concoctions from long tubing which seemed to lead directly back to huge vats behind the bar. I saw shimmering hot pink, electric blue, lime green, and neon yellow flowing through the long glass straws.

  It seemed like a strange way to serve drinks—after all, how could you tell how much the person was drinking? But then, what did I know about alien bars? They probably had a system of keeping track.

  We passed a muscular alien with an elaborate mask on, which hid the top part of his face. He was wearing a long, full cloak that seemed to rustle when he moved. Then he shifted and flexed and I saw it was no cape—the guy had wings. Actual wings!

  Grav looked back and saw me staring.

  “Cantor,” he said under his breath, jerking his head at the winged alien. “Unusual to see one so far from Cantorie Two.”

  “Can they actually fly?” I asked.

  He nodded. “Hell yeah. But mostly on their home planet. It’s a light-G world with lots of updrafts.”

  We left the winged alien behind and passed two large males, one with blue skin and one with red. They were both standing at the bar and they had a female between them. She was sitting on a stool and sipping a neon yellow cocktail from one of the long glass straws that led behind the bar while both males looked at her possessively.

  I nudged Grav.

  “Wonder which one she’s going home with.”

  He looked at the group at the bar.

  “Both,” he said mildly. “Those are Denarins. The males find each other early in life and form a psychic bond. Then they search for the perfect female to complete that bond. Sometimes they search their whole life—Denarins are big interstellar travelers because of it.”

  “But doesn’t that make a lot of half-breeds?” I asked. “Who can’t bond with females?”

  He shook his head. “Nah. Denarins are the exception to that rule—their genes always breed true so they can mate with a female of any of the other Peoples. They never know where their one perfect mate will be. And sometimes when they find her…she doesn’t want them.”

  “Gee, I wonder why,” I said dryly. One seven foot tall alien was enough for me. I couldn’t imagine going home with two of them at once.

  “It’s sad, actually.” Grav sounded unusually compassionate. “Imagine searching your whole life for that one perfect mate and then when you finally find her…she’s too scared to go with you.” He shook his head. “Fuckin’ tragedy.”

  “Almost as sad as finding a guy you really like who refuses to be with you because he thinks you can’t handle his past,” I said daringly.

  Grav gave me a dark look.

  “Leave that be, darlin’. You don’t know my past and you don’t wanna know it. Besides, I told you—I’m a half-breed. Couldn’t bond you to me even if I wanted to.”

  “And you don’t want to. Is that it?” I couldn’t keep the hurt out of my voice. Though I had promised myself I wouldn’t think about this—let alone talk about it to Grav—I couldn’t seem to help it. I had never felt anything like what I felt when I was with him and I don’t just mean sexually. There was something between us—an energy I couldn’t explain or describe but it made me want to never leave him.

  I wished he felt the same way about me.

  Grav whirled to face me and leaned down to stare right into my eyes.

  “You think I don’t want to bond you to me? To claim you as mine and keep you with me the rest of my life, darlin’?” he asked in a low growl. “You think I don’t feel it—feel what’s between us?”

  “What is between us?” I demanded, frowning. I was tired of skirting around this issue. In the past I’d told myself I wasn’t free to be with Grav, even if he wanted me, because I was still married to Gerald. But now I was more and more inclined to agree with Grav’s own view that by abusing me, Gerald had effectively terminated our commitment to each other. If a right hook to the jaw equals a divorce, then Gerald was now my ex and out of the picture. I had even stopped wearing my wedding ring.

  Which left me free to be with someone I really wanted—someone who wanted me.

  Only he didn’t want me.

  “I don’t know what’s between us,” Grav growled. “I only know it makes me want you all the time. But damn it, I can’t have you.” He ran a hand through his short black hair in obvious frustration and repeated in a soft, intense voice, “I can’t have you. You’re not for me.”

  “Why not?” I insisted.

  “Because you’re too fuckin’ good for the likes of me, all right?” he exploded and I thought I saw the glint of red far back in the depths of his white-on-black eyes. “Because you deserve a hell of a lot better than—”

  “An escaped felon who’s wanted for murder in several systems?” a low voice finished for him.

  Grav whirled around and I saw someone—a big someone—step out from the side of the bar to meet him.

  It was an alien male like none of the others I had seen at the bar. He had hair that was so blue it was almost black…and the rest of him was the same color. Skin, hair, clothes—seriously, he was completely monochromatic. Dark blue all over.

  “Who are you and what the fuck do you want?” Grav growled, frowning at the stranger.

  “Gravex N’gol, I am Captain Kristoff Verrai of her majesty the Goddess Empress’ Imperial Guard,” the male said. For a moment his skin changed from the somber dark blue to something else—a gold so bright it was dazzling. And then he shifted back again, the dark blue color covering him completely.

  “All right—I believe you. No need to flash the gold at me.” Grav frowned at him. “Aren’t you pretty fuckin’ far from Femme 1?”

  “We go where we are needed,” the other male said blandly. “Right now we’re needed here.”

  “If you’ve come to take me in, I hope like Hell you didn’t come alone.” Grav gave him a menacing glare. “I’m in the middle of a mission and nothin’ is gonna stop me—and that includes an Imperial warrant for my arrest.”

  The Captain frowned.

  “Under normal circumstances, I’d like nothing better than to bring you in. You know you’re possibly the most wanted male in the galaxy? But in this case, it’s your goddess I need to speak to.”

  “Huh?” I looked around us. What was he talking about? What goddess?

  “He’s talkin’ about you, Leah,” Grav told me, his eyes never leaving the other male’s face. “He’s Majoran—it’s what Majoran males call their females.”

  “I need to speak to you.” The dark blue Captain stepped towards me. “You have information I desperately need.”

  “Leah doesn’t have anything you need and you’re not gonna lay one fuckin’ finger on her or I’ll break it off and feed it to you.” Grav stepped in front of me, an aura of menace growing like a cloud around him.

  “I don’t want to touch her!” Captain Verrai sounded impatient. “I have no interest in her or any female—look at me. Can you not see I am in mourning?”

  In mourning? I frowned, looking him up and down. Was that what the monochromatic look was about? Maybe someone had died and this was the Majoran equivalent of wearing all black?

  “I just need to talk to her,” the Captain said. “She was shown to me in a vision by the Goddess Empress herself. She has important information about—”

  “About what?” Grav demanded, his voice still a low, threatening growl.

  The Captain looked around. “Can we not speak somewhere in private? I have rented a safe room at the other end of the bar. The news I have to relate is not for public consumption. Not yet.”

  “Not for public consumption, huh? Right.” Grav gave him an incredulous look. “Like I’m just gonna go with you nice and quiet so you can arrest m