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  “I know you will.” Sophie gave her a hug and then cocked her head. “Oh my God, the music’s starting. How do I look?”

  “Gorgeous.” Nadiah hugged her carefully, trying not to disarrange the transparent white panel she wore over her face which the other Earth girls had called a veil. It was a beautiful and interesting custom—one she was determined to emulate in her own bonding ceremony.

  And who knows, she thought as they lined up behind Sophie and began the slow procession out to the sacred grove. Maybe I’ll be meeting—and kissing— my future mate in the next few minutes.

  Of course she knew that was nonsense. The blood bond between herself and Yo-dah was practically unbreakable. Her parents had seen to that. Still, a warrior who genuinely cared for her might be able to challenge the bond…

  Humming softly along with the lovely Earth music, Nadiah followed her friend out of the changing tent.

  Chapter Five

  “Well…that wasn’t so bad,” Lauren murmured after Blix finally left. She shut and locked the door carefully, checking it twice to make sure it was secure, before shaking out some of the clothes in the pile.

  She had to admit they were a vast improvement over the silver muumuu. There was a tight-fitting blouse with long flowing sleeves in a shimmery see-through pale blue that felt as soft as silk. It fit Lauren so exactly she wondered how Blix could know her size. Probably picked it right out of my head like everything else. The idea made her frown but Lauren pushed it away. If the worst thing that came out of her meeting with the alien mind reader was a new set of clothes she supposed she couldn’t complain.

  The only problem she could see with the blouse was that it was revealing—very revealing. Her full breasts and tight nipples were clearly visible through its shimmery fabric. Just as she was thinking there was no way she could wear it out in the open, she saw a solution. The next piece of clothing she unfolded was a red sash. It was about the width of her palm but so long she was able to wrap it around her several times and still knot it on one side. It looked a little strange when she was done—kind of like the wrapping on a kimono—but it was better than showing God and everybody her boobs.

  The skirt that went with the blue blouse and red sash was deep cobalt. Lauren caught her breath at the lovely color and was pleased to see that it was completely opaque. It fit just above her hips and fell to her ankles in a snug but comfortable sheathe. There was a long slit up one side that showed most of her left leg when she walked but Lauren shifted it over so it didn’t reveal as much as felt satisfied with the result.

  The only problem now was shoes—she didn’t have any. In fact, she’d been barefoot for weeks, ever since the AllFather had first kidnapped her and taken her aboard his Fathership. Lauren wasn’t wild about the idea of going barefoot on an alien planet—who knew what she might pick up out there? But when she looked down again, she saw something she must have missed the first time. A pair of deep blue slippers with crimson soles was lying where she’d put the pile of clothes. Lauren tried them on and found that they fit perfectly and were deliciously comfortable.

  She went to look at herself in the bathroom viewer and was pleased with what she saw. “Sooo much better than that ugly silver muumuu,” she murmured, running her fingers through her long black hair. She wished she had a little lipstick to brighten up her face but other than that, she looked ready for a night on the town—well, a strange alien town, anyway.

  Which led to a dilemma—should she leave the ship and trade a few food cubes to Blix or should she stay tucked inside the spaceship as Xairn had instructed?

  On one hand she had promised to stay inside. But on the other hand, he had promised to be back in one day. Lauren didn’t want to let herself think that something had happened to him—the very idea put a lump in her throat and not just because she’d be stranded on a distant planet without him. As fierce and moody as he was, Xairn had become very dear to her. She felt safe in his arms and wanted to help him work through his troubled past. Not to mention that when he looked at her with that burning red-on-black gaze she felt hot and cold all over and wanted…what did she want from him? Lauren wasn’t quite sure but she did know she didn’t want to lose him.

  Right now, though, she had to be practical. What if she was on her own now? Marooned on a distant planet in a galaxy light years from Earth. What was she supposed to do? How would she survive when the food cubes ran out? There were hundreds of them but not a lifetime supply. And besides, did she really want to live the rest of her life cooped up in the small silver spaceship?

  When she thought about it that way, there was no choice. “I’ll do it,” Lauren said out loud. The sound of her own voice seemed to give her courage. Lifting her chin, she went to the cabinet and began sorting rapidly through the cubes, looking for the ones that had the little squiggle that indicated worm based cuisine. When she had a handful she tucked them into the pocket of the skirt. Then, taking a deep breath and gripping the stunner Xairn had left her firmly in one hand, she unlatched the door and went out.

  She hadn’t gone two steps, her crimson soled slippers soundless on the stones of the alley, when a girl with deep orange skin and strangely tilted eyes suddenly appeared before her.

  Lauren gasped and held up the stunner. “Stay back, I’m armed!”

  “I’m Vlanka. Don’t be scared—Spider sent me.” The girl smiled, revealing blue teeth. Instead of hair she had two large, fleshy tentacles with purple tips growing out of either side of her head. They twitched and moved, seeming to have a life of their own—reminding Lauren of an elephant’s trunk. Other than that and the coloring of her skin and teeth, she looked more or less humanoid and seemed to speak English as well as Blix had. She was also wearing the same kind of outfit Lauren had on, right down to the blue shoes with red soles.

  “You mean Blix?” Lauren asked, still keeping the stunner level with the girl’s midsection.

  Vlanka shrugged. “If you want. Around here we mostly just call him Spider. He said you’d be out. Sent me to bring you to him.”

  Lauren frowned. “I thought his, uh, booth or stall or whatever was just around the corner.”

  “It is.” The girl smiled mysteriously. “But you got to know which corner to go around. First though, you’re wearing your tok all wrong.”

  “My what?” Lauren asked but the girl was already rearranging the red sash Lauren had wrapped around herself so carefully. She used both her hands and her hair trunks, as Lauren was beginning to think of them, for the job. Lauren couldn’t help noticing that she had seven fingers on each hand, tipped with long purple nails. Several of them were missing joints, however, and ended in stubs instead of nails. Lauren wondered if Vlanka had lost them in some kind of accident.

  At last the alien girl stood back to admire her handiwork. “There. Better.”

  “Hey,” Lauren protested, looking down at herself. The long red sash now crisscrossed between her breasts and tied at her waist in an elaborate knot. Unfortunately, the new configuration left her breasts exposed through the sheer pale blue top. “I can’t go out in public like this,” she said, trying to pull the sides of the sash over enough to at least cover her nipples. She was only partially successful.

  “You got to,” Vlanka said implacably. “That’s the only way to wear a tok in the trade.”

  “A what in the where?” Lauren asked but Vlanka was surveying her with a frown.

  “You got this wrong too.” She twitched the long cobalt skirt around until the long slit was directly up the front, flashing a lot more of her crotch than Lauren was comfortable with. But before she could protest again, Vlanka said, “Come on. Spider’s waiting.”

  Taking her by the hand, she pulled Lauren down the alleyway toward the busy marketplace beyond.

  Chapter Six

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Rast said, looking down at himself. The black haired warrior named Deep had made him strip down to his skin. Then he’d given Rast nothing to replace his clothes but a