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  “In my experience when a man is determined enough, he can do anything.” Lauren patted her shoulder and offered her a muffin. “And from what you’ve said, Detective Rast is plenty determined.”

  “Amen to that.” Kat popped a bite-sized muffin into her mouth. “Lauren, these are to die for.”

  Lauren smiled. “Thanks—they’re made with tanka berries from Rageron. I kind of think they taste like a cross between a hazelnut and a cranberry. Zairn loves them.”

  “I just bet he does. You’ve really mastered this recipe.” Kat grinned at her. “I mean, do you just chop the nuts up or do you have to grind them into submission or something?”

  Lauren’s creamy light brown cheeks turned dark pink in an obvious blush. “Stop being so bad, Kat!”

  “Sorry, doll, I just have to get in a few digs wherever I can.” Kat popped another muffin. “You have to understand that before you came along, my love life with the whole ménage thing was the kinkiest thing going. Now you get to wear the kinky crown for awhile.”

  Liv raised an eyebrow. “The kinky crown? Seriously, Kat, that sounds like a bad romance novel.”

  “Or a really cheesy Lifetime movie,” Sophie put in.

  Olivia laughed. “Yeah, something about beauty pageants gone bad, with all the contestants forced to be sex slaves to really stern but extremely hot masters. Awful.”

  “Yeah, but you know you’d watch it if it came on,” Kat pointed out. She looked back at Lauren. “So does this recipe call for any whipping cream?”

  “Kat!” Lauren threw a still hot muffin at her and Kat ducked. Olivia caught it instead and took a bite.

  “Yum! Delicious but it needs dill pickle icing.”

  “Ugh, I wish you’d never started with that,” Sophia made a face and looked at Lauren. “Seriously, she wants to eat it on everything now.”

  Nadiah laughed along with them as the topic of conversation turned to Olivia’s pregnancy and her strange food cravings but inside she was still troubled. Why was the human detective willing to risk his life to save her from a lifetime of bondage? Was she really just another part of the quest that had started for him when his beloved sister, Jessie was murdered? Or could there be another, deeper reason? Did he care for her as Kat seemed to think? And more importantly, did she want him to care for her?

  I’ve always dreamed of bonding with a Kindred warrior, she thought, chewing one of Lauren’s muffins thoughtfully. Living aboard the Mother Ship, seeing new things and new people all the time as the ship moved on to new trades. Would she really be willing to give that up to be bonded to a human? Would she want to live on the little blue and white ball called Earth for the rest of her days?

  Once again she tried to picture her ideal life, the one with a handsome Blood Kindred husband and two or three little boys that looked just like him running around. But somehow, she could only see Rast—his stern features looking like they’d been carved from granite, his truegreen eyes narrowed as he roared at Y’dex to leave her alone. Just remembering how it had felt to be held against his chest, his warm, masculine musk invading her senses, made her heart start to pound and her palms damp.

  Stop being so stupid, she lectured herself, taking another bite of the muffin, which she hardly tasted. Olivia is almost certainly right—he’s helping me because he sees me and all females, really, as an extension of his sister.

  For whatever reason he was helping her, Nadiah felt extremely grateful. But she couldn’t help wondering if she was just a symbol to Detective Rast…or if she meant something more to him.

  Chapter Five

  “You’re picking this up remarkably fast.” Sylvan eyed the way Rast was handling the controls with reluctant admiration. He’d given the human a brief demonstration before they left the docking bay and Rast had showed such instinctive skill that he’d decided to let him take the steering yoke on the way down to Earth as well as on the trip back.

  The human detective shrugged, his eyes fixed on the blue and white ball of the Earth, growing rapidly in the viewscreen. “Not much different than driving a stick. I’ve been doing that since I was fifteen.”

  “I see.” Sylvan nodded. “Ah, who are you going to visit, if you don’t mind me asking? Just your parents?”

  Rast nodded. “That’s about all there is. I have an ex but we lost touch after the divorce. Even if I could to find her, I’m sure she wouldn’t care if I decided to go to a galaxy far, far away.” He barked a laugh. “Hell, she’d probably be glad to hear it.”

  Sylvan frowned. “So you’ve been bonded before?”

  “Yeah, but for less than a year. It was ages ago, back when I was still with the PD. She claimed I was married to my work.” He sighed. “Sad to say, she was probably right. I don’t blame her for leaving my sorry ass—I never really did right by her. Never gave her the attention she deserved, so she found somebody who would.”

  Sylvan shook his head. “I’ve heard that humans do such things—that they abandon their mates and find new ones on a regular basis. But to hear you talk about it so casually…”

  “Why?” Rast shot him a look. “You guys don’t have divorce or separation?”

  “We form a bond—both mental and emotional with our females,” Sylvan explained. “Breaking it is nearly impossible.”

  “So you’re stuck for life with one woman with no way out?” Rast frowned. “You know, if you’d told me that a month ago I would have thought it was a nightmare. Now…now I’m not so sure.”

  “If you’re thinking of Nadiah when you say that, you can forget it,” Sylvan said flatly.

  “Oh yeah?” Rast shot him an angry glance. “And why is that? Because I’m not Kindred I’m not good enough for her?”

  “Being Kindred or not has nothing to do with it,” Sylvan said coolly. “Tell me why you’re doing this. Why are you undertaking Nadiah’s cause and challenging her blood bond?”

  “I, uh…” The human detective looked uncomfortable. “It’s the right thing to do, all right? I couldn’t just let her go off and get married to that snot nosed little punk who’s obviously going to beat on her the first chance he gets. Just thinking about…” He shook his head. “I just couldn’t let her go. I mean, I couldn’t let her face him alone.”

  Sylvan raised an eyebrow. “So you’re only concerned for her safety? You have no other motives for championing her cause?”

  “I don’t know, all right?” Rast squeezed the steering yoke in obvious frustration, causing the little ship to wobble alarmingly. “I’ve never felt this way before about a woman—not even my ex. Especially not my ex. It’s goddamn confusing.”

  “And that’s why I don’t want you forming a permanent relationship with Nadiah.” Sylvan pointed a finger at him. “Confusion and a vague desire to do the right thing aren’t enough to base a lasting relationship on—especially since you’ve already abandoned one mate.”

  Rast groaned. “Look, I told you—she left me. Besides, what is this, The Scarlet Letter?”

  “I know the book you’re speaking of,” Sylvan said. “And it was the male—the one who abandoned his pregnant female—who should have been shunned and cast out of society. What he did was shameful and wrong—she was blameless.”

  “Blameless, huh?” Rast’s eyes flashed. “It takes two to tango, buddy.”

  “Well you’re not going to be giving Nadiah any dancing lessons—understood?” Sylvan pinned him with a cold glare. “I mean it, Rast, she’s a virgin and she’s going to stay that way. Do you understand?”

  The human’s eyes widened with surprise. “You sure about that? I mean, she’s what—twenty-three? Twenty-four? Most women have done some exploring by that age.”

  Sylvan felt red rage rising up in him but somehow he held onto his temper. “Nadiah just came of age recently,” he said in a slightly strangled voice. “And yes, I’m sure her virtue is intact. Look, Rast…” He turned fully so he could give the other male the full weight of his glare. “Virginity is very, very important to my people. If