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  Then she was on him—seizing him like a wild animal that scents its prey. Grayson made a strangled noise of surprise and stumbled backward. The shift in his balance gave Emily the advantage and she lunged forward hard and fast, bearing him to the ground despite their height difference.

  He tried to push her away but she was feral—the other taking over completely. Locking her teeth to the side of his throat she bit as hard as she could while scratching long, bloody furrows down the sides of his face. He flailed wildly but he couldn’t buck her off.

  “Ow! Get off me, you bitch! What the hell is wrong with you?” Grayson’s howls would have been comical if she could have felt anything but fury. But a red curtain of rage clouded her vision and the hot, coppery blood in her mouth only seemed to fuel her fury.

  Kill him! whispered the voice of the other in her head. Kill him now so he can never do it again!

  Emily obeyed mindlessly, looking for a better grip on his neck in order to rip his throat out. It didn’t occur to her that the mild-mannered kindergarten teacher she believed herself to be would never do such a thing or even think of doing such a thing. She only knew that she would kill or die before she allowed herself to be taken against her will again. Grayson was a threat so he had to be eliminated.

  Now.

  Chapter Four

  Tragar’s vehicle skidded to a halt in front of the little domicile shielded by the lush tropical vegetation. He’d been held up on a one way street by a slow, elderly driver he couldn’t get around which seemed to be a very common problem here in Emily’s part of Earth. Normally the delay wouldn’t have bothered him but by the time he finally got around the slow driver, he was nearly frantic with worry.

  She’s just a target—it doesn’t matter what happens to her, he tried to tell himself. But he didn’t believe the lie for a moment. The knot of tension in his gut just kept growing every time he remembered the tears in her eyes and the way she had rushed away from her school. Not to mention the blond male who had been following her. Who was he, anyway? Tragar had been casing her school for days and had thought he knew all the instructors and support staff. But who was this bastard and why had he affected Emily so deeply?

  Could it be another hunter? Another assassin out for her blood? The thought made him even more uneasy. When he had taken the job, the Dark Kindred named Two had said that he might not be the only one hunting Emily. Though Tragar had assured him he could take out one lone female—no matter how dangerous—with ease, he seemed the type to leave nothing to chance.

  “I will give you ten solar days from the time you take the contract,” he’d told Tragar, those metal teeth of his gleaming. “No more. After that, others will be dispatched with the same goal as yours—to kill the girl. I mean to see her dead, Verrak, and it must happen soon…”

  Tragar tried to push back the disturbing memory. He would deal with other assassins if they came. Right now he had to see to Emily.

  When he finally parked his vehicle and made his way quickly but silently up the lawn, staying well hidden in the large leafed plants, he saw what was clearly a bad situation happening right in front of Emily’s front doorway.

  The male with the blond hair and pale eyes was advancing on Emily, speaking to her in a low, threatening tone. Tragar’s first instinct was to jump out of the bushes and knock the bastard flat with one punch or maybe even kill him outright with a single shot of his sonic rifle. Terminating people other than the target during an operation wasn’t exactly forbidden by the Verrak but it was certainly strongly frowned upon. In this case, however, Tragar was more than willing to take whatever chastisement might come his way for killing the son of a bitch.

  But something stopped him. It was a scent—a scent in the air he’d never smelled before and yet one he instinctively knew. One he would recognize anywhere though he would never have expected to smell it here on Earth, so far away from his home world of Rageron.

  What in the Seven Hells?

  He had to be wrong—there was no way. It couldn’t be. He sniffed the air and scented it again—was it really coming from Emily?

  Hidden by the screen of vegetation, he breathed deeply and watched the scene in front of him unfold.

  “It’s just…I’ve never forgotten that night we spent together,” the blond male said, taking a step towards Emily. Tragar could only see him from the side but he didn’t like the look on what he could see of the male’s face. It was greedy and lustful. “I’ve been with so many women since then but none of them could compare to you, my dear Emily.” His eyes gleamed. “You were so tight.”

  Tragar felt a low growl rising in his throat but Emily’s reply left him mute.

  “That’s because I was a virgin and you raped me you bastard!” she cried, glaring at the blond male. “I asked you to stop—I begged you to stop. But you wouldn’t!”

  Every fiber of Tragar’s being howled in protest. Raped her? This fucking scum had dared to take her against her will? If she was what Tragar’s nose told him she was—what her scent proclaimed her to be—there could be no worse crime. To take any unwilling female was shameful and disgusting—the act of a coward who deserved nothing but death. But to take a Khalla—

  Things were happening rapidly now. The male had her by the wrist and was squeezing hard. Tragar lifted his rifle to shoot—not to kill—that was too good for this bastard. He just wanted to wound him and he would finish the job later. Slowly. But then something else happened—something that confirmed his suspicions.

  Emily ripped her wrist from the male’s grip and her eyes began to glow. They changed from the no-color blue they had been to a pure, fiery gold. Her hair changed color too—going from brownish-blonde to thick, glossy black. And then she pounced.

  Seven Hells! Tragar rushed forward but he wasn’t sure what to do. On one hand, it was her right to exact justice for the wrong which had been done her. Taking the maidenhood of a Khalla against her will was a sin punishable by torture and the most painful and prolonged death possible. But if he allowed her to kill this slimy male it would surely throw her body into complete Tenrah and shortly after that, the breeding heat would be upon her. At that point it would be either breed or die. He couldn’t allow that to happen.

  “Stop!” Grabbing her by the back of her garment, he pulled her off the male as carefully as he could. He didn’t give a damn if it hurt her rapist but he didn’t want to damage her.

  At first she fought him, trying to reach the male who had scrambled away, holding a hand to his bleeding throat and moaning.

  “Emily!” Tragar took her by the shoulders and shook her as gently as he could but she kept struggling. He wished he knew her Kit’tara’s name—that would have gotten her attention—but the name of a Khalla’s hidden or second self was a secret known only to herself. He put his face into hers and tried to catch her eyes. “Emily,” he demanded. “Emily Brooks, see me!”

  Finally she focused on him. Her eyes were still fiery gold and her ripe scent filled the air. When she spoke, her voice had a strange double echo.

  “Who…who are you?” The golden eyes reflected his image back to him—tall and dark and menacing. “Who are you and what do you want?”

  “Relax,” Tragar rumbled, trying to sound reassuring. Apparently he failed.

  “Let me go!” She began to struggle again and this time her pure gold eyes were filled not with fury but with fear. “Let me go, I won’t let you!” She glanced at the blond male who was still moaning and nursing his wounds. “I won’t let you do it! I won’t go through it again—I won’t!”

  Tragar felt his heart fist in his chest. Gods, she thought he was a rapist, no better than the bastard that had ripped her maidenhood from her and taken her against her will!

  “I’m not what you think,” he said more roughly than he intended. “I didn’t come to rape you, Emily. I was sent here to kill you.”

  * * * * *

  “Kill me?” For some reason his words calmed her down. Death was better than enduring