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  Mind made up, Stav rose, lifting her in his arms. The pain was still bad but easing bit by bit. Now that he had a direct course of action, he felt more than able to carry her out to the car and get where they needed to go.

  Charlotte, however, seemed to have other ideas.

  “Hey, wait!” She struggled weakly in his arms. “What are you doing? Where are you taking me?”

  “Somewhere you can get help,” he growled. “Now stop struggling and tell me where the keys to your vehicle and these damn cuffs are. We don’t have much time.”

  Chapter Six

  Charlie tried to fight him but it was like beating against a brick wall. Before she knew it they were in her car and on the way back to the place she’d found him in the first place—the dirt road behind Bad Decisions. Shortly after that he was carrying her through a field and folding her gently into one of the little Kindred shuttle cars that he must have parked and left before she got to him.

  She tried to protest but the medicine was finally beginning to work and her mouth didn’t want to work. Later, she knew from experience, it wouldn’t want to stop working—the muscle relaxers had that effect on her. But for now she was mute as the car transformed into a shuttle and lifted off the ground taking her away from her home and everything she had ever known.

  “You’re going to be all right.” Stavros cast a glance at her as he manipulated the steering yoke and the array of complicated looking controls. “I’m taking you someplace they can cure you of your affliction.”

  My affliction? she thought fuzzily. What the hell is he talking about? What affliction? But when she opened her mouth to ask, the sight outside the shuttle’s window took her breath away.

  As they pulled away from Earth’s surface, she could see the grid of lights blinking on the darkened globe like a giant map. The sight was both beautiful and frightening—and something she had never expected to see. She’d taken great pains to be sure she would never be called as a Kindred bride and now, here she was being abducted by one of the big aliens anyway.

  They were headed out fast and she could see the various satellites that orbited her home planet whizzing past. Somehow, Stavros managed to avoid them all.

  Then a new satellite showed up—a black one-so black it was hard to see. What made it visible was the fact that it pulsed with some dark energy. To Charlie, it almost looked like a hole in space outlined by a black light.

  “What in the Seven Hells?” she heard the big Kindred beside her mutter and then the satellite—or was it a ship?—was shooting at them.

  Beams of light fired silently from the black ship and she felt their small shuttle shutter as one made contact. Stavros cursed in that same, strange guttural language and twisted the steering yoke, causing the little ship to dip and dive alarmingly.

  “Oh my God!” Charlie gasped, finding her voice at last. Her stomach rolled as the shuttle dipped again and then did a barrel roll. The black ship was still following them but now Stavros turned quickly and returned fire.

  Perhaps it was the suddenness of his move but he scored a direct hit. Charlie saw the other ship blow in a silent explosion of light and tiny fragments. Wait a minute—that was a big-ass bang. Why didn’t I hear it?

  “We’re in space,” Stavros answered and Charlie realized she must have spoken her question aloud. “Sound waves can’t travel in a vacuum. The only reason you can feel the effects of the ship maneuvering instead of just floating weightlessly is the artificial grav-con.”

  “What…what was that thing you blew up?” Charlie asked, speaking with some difficulty since her head was still fuzzy.

  “Not what—who.” He spoke tensely, never taking his eyes from the viewscreen at the front of the ship. “I am not certain but it looked like the ship of a Dark Kindred. Though why they are in Earth’s air space I do not know.”

  “Dark Kindred? Who the hell are th—”

  “Another one!” He swore softly under his breath. “There’s a whole fleet out there. Hang on—I wanted to take us straight to the Mother Ship but I can’t. We need to take evasive action and stay hidden somewhere for a short time.”

  “So we’re gonna lay low for a while?” Charlie asked. “Where?”

  He spared her a quick glance. “Earth’s sister planet isn’t far from here and I believe its cover of green house gasses should mask our energy signal.”

  “Sister planet? What?” Charlie frowned.

  “Venus,” he said impatiently. “Named for your goddess of love, is it not?”

  “I guess,” Charlie muttered. “I’m not up on my Greek mythology. It wasn’t exactly required reading at the police academy I attended.”

  “It is for us,” Stavros said. “We are required to know all about your myths and legends in order to understand your culture.”

  “You are?”

  He nodded shortly.

  “Hang on, I’m going to get us to Venusian air space as quickly as possible. We’ll hide on the far side of the planet until its safe to make another try for the Mother Ship.”

  “’K.” Charlie nodded agreeably. The meds were kicking in stronger than ever and as the last of her pain floated away, she felt like she was being enveloped in a big, puffy cloud. It occurred to her that she might just be having some kind of a hallucination brought on by doubling up on the muscle relaxers. She really wasn’t supposed to take more than one at a time but the pain had been so intense she had instinctively gone for two. Possibly right now she was lying on the carpeted floor of her bedroom and dreaming vividly that she was in an alien’s spaceship flying to Venus.

  That has to be it, she thought and yawned. How else can you explain all this weirdness? How else can you… Her eyes drifted closed before she could finish the thought and she knew no more.

  * * * * *

  When she opened her eyes the first thing she saw a blanket of stars stretched out across a black velvet background.

  The second thing was a huge alien male bending over her with a look of concern on his face. His very handsome, chiseled face, she couldn’t help noticing and a mane of thick, dark auburn hair was clubbed at the back of his neck. She opened her mouth to ask where she was, how she had gotten there, and who he was.

  “Hey, you’re kinda cute,” was what came out instead.

  He frowned and raised an eyebrow at her.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Uh…” Suddenly everything came back—capturing the big Kindred, Purvis insisting she take him to her home, her horrible migraine-period, her prisoner breaking her bed and then abducting her…And taking double the amount of medication you’re supposed to have. Don’t forget that part, a little voice in her head reminded her helpfully. But that didn’t seem to matter—none of it did. And all the memories that floated into her head seemed like daydreams—something that had happened to someone else.

  “I see you’re beginning to come back to yourself,” the big Kindred remarked, still looking down at her.

  For the first time, Charlie noticed he was shirtless, although how she could have missed that broad, muscular expanse of chest earlier she didn’t know. He had a towel slung around his neck and there were beads of water dotting his broad, tan shoulders. Peeking out from under the edges of the towel were the thick, curving lines of an intricate tattoo. She wondered if it just covered the back of his neck or if it went all the way down his back.

  “You’re naked,” she said stupidly, her fuzzy brain trying to process what she was seeing.

  “We are safe here so I took a shower while you slept,” he returned. “But I am not nude—I have my leathers on—see?” He motioned down to his black leather trousers and boots.

  “You look good naked,” Charlie murmured, eyeing his chest some more. “Damn good.” He had a small patch of dark auburn hair between the flat copper disks of his nipples and his skin was nicely tan, not fish belly white like so many redheads she’d seen. The six-pack abs were well defined and his arms were heavy with muscle. Yummy!

  “Well…than