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  The point is, seeing a female get hurt makes me a little crazy.

  “Char’noth?” I demanded, my hands curling into fists. For now he was just raising his voice at her. That was all he had better do if he wanted to live.

  “I am finishing the configuration for organic living material now.” The head Commercian beckoned me to a round, silvery portal made of light which had suddenly appeared in the center of their station. “Make your preparations.”

  I opened the bottle of saphor solution which would turn my blue-gray hide brownish-tan and drank it down. It burned like fire going down my gullet but I barely noticed it.

  As my skin changed from its normal shade to that of an Earth male’s, I looked at Char’noth.

  “Now?”

  He nodded. “Now.”

  I stepped into the portal and was pulled down to the planet where the female I was supposed to be protecting was in danger. I only prayed to the Goddess of Mercy I wouldn’t be too late.

  Chapter Three

  Grav

  I came through a silvery, reflective viewing surface into a sleeping chamber. At least, I thought it was a sleeping chamber—it had a rectangular platform with pillows on it that looked like it might be meant for sleep. On the platform was my bundle of clothes, the mask, and the cubes. That was good because I was naked—my clothes hadn’t made the journey.

  Outside the door, voices were raised—Leah’s mate was saying something that sounded angry. I pulled on my mask and trousers hurriedly but as I was trying to get the mask into place, I heard the raised voices turn to shouting. And then the dull thud of a punch landing on soft, vulnerable flesh and the cry of a female in pain.

  That sound makes me fucking crazy—I can’t stand it.

  No time for my shirt or the cubes. I yanked open the door, looking for the source of the ominous sounds, but I couldn’t find Leah and her mate anywhere. It took me a minute to realize that this was a two story domicile and the fight—(more like the beating)—was happening downstairs.

  Rushing down the staircase, taking the steps four at a time, I finally found them. Leah was crouched in a ball, trying to shield her face in a corner of the entry hall. Her mate—a male who would be considered big by Earth standards though he was nothing to me—was leaning over her, raining blows down on her wildly.

  A murderous hate twisted his features when I grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around to face me. The expression quickly turned to surprise when he saw me.

  “What the…who the hell are you?” he demanded.

  “Someone who knows what the fuck you are,” I growled and plowed my fist into his nose.

  It flattened with a satisfying crunch and he howled as blood began to flow at once.

  Leah’s mate flailed, trying to punch back but I had the element of surprise—the little shit never saw me coming. I punched him again and again, making sure to make every blow count. He made a gurgling noise and then I heard Leah crying behind me,

  “You’re killing him! You’re killing him!”

  I dropped the male, my chest heaving as I tried to control my fury. I turned to face her slowly, pushing back the curtain of red rage that had dropped over my vision with an effort. Braxians are berserkers and I had been very close to the point of no return.

  “Don’t you want me to kill him?” I asked, looking at her. “After what he did to you?”

  Her lovely face was twisted with fear and pain. Her lip was split and I could tell she would have bruises from his ruthless beating.

  “Please,” she whispered, not answering my question. “Please, I don’t know who you are but please…”

  I suddenly realized what I must look like to her. Shirtless and covered in her mate’s blood with the smart-fabric mask twisted in a way that was sure to distort my features. And I was so much bigger than her—she probably found me terrifying.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, my words coming out harsh and angry. I tried again. “I’m sorry,” I told her in a softer tone. “I know you don’t know me but I’ve been assigned to watch over you.”

  “Assigned? By who?” She was still cowering away from me in a way that twisted my heart. No matter what else happened, I didn’t want her afraid of me.

  Suddenly I thought of a way to win her trust.

  “Lady Zoe—I’m from her. From your friend, Zoe,” I told her.

  “Zoe?” Her brown eyes grew huge. “You know her? You know what happened to her?”

  “She was abducted,” I said. “By Lord Sarden—who is now her bonded mate and the ruler of the planet Eloim.”

  “What?” The hope that had briefly blossomed on her face turned abruptly to disbelief and fear. “You say he rules a planet?”

  Damn it, I was making a fucking mess of this! I reminded myself that the Earthlings had no idea that the galaxy around them was full of sentient life. Their instruments were too primitive to contact any other people and they were too skeptical to believe in things they couldn’t see.

  “I can prove it,” I said quickly. “I have a message for you from Lady Zoe.”

  “Where?” Slowly she stood, her arms wrapped around herself protectively.

  “In the upper part of your domicile.” I stepped over the prone form of her mate. He was unconscious but still breathing—which was a hell of a lot more than he deserved, the female-beating bastard.

  “What? What is it doing up there? Is that where you came from? How did you get in the house?”

  “It’s a very fuckin’ long story, Leah,” I told her. “Look, do you want to see it or not?”

  “I do, but…but I’m not going upstairs with a strange man.” She shivered. “And how do you know my name?”

  “Lady Zoe told me all about you, including your name,” I said patiently. “I’ll go get her message to you. Will you wait for me?”

  “Yes.” She stepped carefully over her prone mate, wincing as she did. “I…I’ll be in the living room. Just hurry.”

  “Fast as I can,” I promised and ran up the stairs. I had to prove to her that she could trust me—had to show her everything was going to be all right.

  But I still wished I’d killed her abusive asshole of a mate. He had it coming.

  Leah

  I sat on the floral print couch with my arms wrapped around myself and shivered. My face ached where Gerald had punched me and I could feel blood dripping from my burst lip and a cut above my right eyebrow. But my mind such was a swirling mass of questions it hardly seemed important.

  Who was the strange man who had suddenly appeared in my house and saved me from Gerald’s brutal attack? Did he really know Zoe? How had he gotten inside in the first place? And what was all that about Zoe being married to the ruler of a planet?

  Was I going crazy and imagining this whole thing? Maybe I was in the hospital, unconscious after Gerald’s beating and I was dreaming all of this.

  Footsteps pounding heavily down the stairs assured me it was no dream. I didn’t know who the mystery man was but he was huge—almost a giant. He’d certainly put my abusive husband down with no problem and I had no doubt he would have kept going until Gerald was dead, if I hadn’t stopped him.

  Why did you stop him? whispered a voice in my head. After all the awful things Gerald has done to you since he got you to move here, away from friends and family and any kind of support. Why did you make him stop?

  I didn’t have an answer.

  And before I could think of one, the giant was back in the living room. His face was no longer distorted which was good—before it had almost looked as if his features were twisted somehow. It made him that much scarier. Now he looked normal—well, if a seven-foot tall, muscular, bare-chested giant can look normal, that is. Though his face was oddly generic—which was strange. He looked kind of like one of those police sketches you see where the artist is trying to give the idea of the wanted man and it winds up looking like everyone and no one at the same time.

  “M