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  Instead, she sank down on the dirty rattan sofa and put her head in her hands. God, what a day. And it still wasn’t over.

  Well, at least you’re not being hauled away in a spaceship to some distant world where everybody is half Terminator! she tried to console herself. But somehow the fact that her “claiming” hadn’t happened after all was small comfort. Mei-Li tried to tell herself she was relieved but instead she just felt empty inside. And she didn’t know why.

  Chapter Seven

  Six frowned as he got into his camouflaged shuttle again and started the engine. Mei-Li had really surprised him.

  In every dream he had shared with her, she had seemed frightened and frail—a timid little creature that reminded him in her mannerisms of the furskins, the tiny half rodent, half mechanoid creatures that scurried around the medical barges. She had seemed ready to run away and hide at the very sight of him.

  But though her tiny body looked frail, she had hidden strength.

  When the action began, he had been sitting in his shuttle, far down the street and watching her watch the little domicile. Nothing had been happening and he’d almost decided he would just go and leave her when he’d seen her jump out of her vehicle and go charging into the place she’d been watching with nothing more than a small metal canister in her hand.

  Six had followed her in and had quickly realized how dangerous the situation was. Mei-Li was confronting a male nearly twice her size and making demands and threats when she clearly had almost nothing to back them up. He hadn’t wanted to get involved but it was clear she or the young one she was trying to defend would be hurt if he didn’t. However, before he could do more than speak a few words, Mei-Li had used her metal canister, which appeared to be some kind of extremely acrid chemical weapon, and had rescued the young one without his help.

  It had amazed Six to see her act so bravely and decisively—like a warrior. Also like a warrior, she had refused to be slowed down by her injured knee.

  But it wasn’t just the way she had dealt with the Earth male or her wounds that impressed Six, he was also impressed by the way that the little female had reacted when she first saw him.

  He had seen the fear in her eyes when she first looked up at him and had expected her to faint or cry or act in some other irrational, emotional way. Hadn’t the Earth female Tess warned him that it might be so? Instead, Mei-Li had turned that fierce anger on him, telling him that she couldn’t go with him and demanding that he acknowledge her ability to care for herself. Reluctantly, Six had been forced to do just that.

  She doesn’t need me, he told himself as he started the shuttle’s engines. Doesn’t want me either. For some reason the idea caused a kind of constriction in his chest—a tightness that he chose not to acknowledge. After all, rejection meant nothing to him—he had no feelings for her to hurt. In fact, he had no strong emotions about the female he had come to claim at all. Well, except maybe admiration.

  He couldn’t stop thinking of how she had faced down a male twice her size with no sign of fear at all. Her dark, lovely eyes had flashed with rage and her long, silky black hair had whipped around her delicate features. Truly, she was very pleasing to look at—if he’d had emotions he might even had called her beautiful. Her body might be frail, but her spirit was one of a warrior.

  Against his will, Six found himself intrigued by her. Truly, she was a female to be reckoned with. He wondered what other surprises she had hidden beneath her demure exterior?

  It was a pity he would never get to find out…

  * * * * *

  “Well, it’s wrapping up in there. The police have their statements—now it’s up to us to do the paperwork.” Claudia came out onto the porch where Mei-Li was still sitting in the shadows on the rattan couch.

  “Great,” Mei-Li said tiredly. “Did they say if they caught Randy Dungston yet?”

  “Nope, but they’re looking for him. Hopefully they’ll get him before too long.”

  “Before he comes back to bother Kristin and her little sister again, you mean,” Mei-Li said darkly. No matter how many times they were picked up by the police and sent to jail, men like Randy Dungston kept showing up, like bad pennies. She just hoped it would be awhile before she had to deal with him again.

  “Mei-mei, are you okay? If you don’t mind me saying so, you look awful.” Claudia put a hand on her shoulder, a concerned look on her face.

  “Gee, thanks—you really know how to cheer me up.” Mei-Li tried to smile but she found it almost impossible—the corners of her mouth simply refused to turn up. Her head was throbbing, her cut knee was stinging and she felt absolutely horrible.

  “Seriously, what happened? I mean, not with all this…” She gestured to the shabby little house where Angry Mom and her kids had finally settled down. “I know what happened here. I’m talking about what happened with you?”

  “You don’t know? Angry Mom didn’t say anything about him?”

  “About who? She was babbling about some big guy but I thought she meant Dungston.”

  “No, she was talking about him. Him, Claudia,” Mei-Li emphasized. “He came for me after all.”

  “He who? You mean—?”

  “Yes, the man of my dreams.” Mei-Li started to laugh but the sound coming out of her was more like a sob so she choked it off. “He actually came—right in the middle of the mess with Dungston and Angry Mom and all the rest of it!”

  Claudia gave a long, low whistle. “Having an alien from another planet show up in the middle of a domestic altercation. That’s going to complicate the paperwork considerably.”

  “Paperwork? You think I care about paperwork?” Mei-Li snapped.

  Claudia made a calm down gesture with both hands. “Take it easy, Mei-mei. Just trying to lighten the mood.”

  Mei-Li put a hand to her head. “I know. I’m sorry, that was uncalled for. It’s been a long day and I’m just so damn exhausted.”

  “Of course you are, honey,” Claudia said gently. “And I hate to ask anymore but, uh, what happened? If he came for you, why are you still here?”

  “He said he just wanted to check on me—to make sure I was safe.” Mei-Li shrugged tiredly. “I guess seeing me shoot Randy Dungston in the face with a stream of pepper spray convinced him that I was perfectly able to take care of myself.”

  “That does sound like a pretty impressive display.” Claudia nodded thoughtfully.

  “Yeah. Or maybe seeing my flat chest changed his mind. You have to admit, this is not an impressive display.” Mei-Li nodded down at her rumpled gray suit jacket and her white silk blouse which had looked so nice that morning. Now they looked like she felt—like they’d gone through hell. But it was clear to see there wasn’t much going on behind them.

  “Your boobs look fine for your size,” Claudia said. “If you had great big ones like me you’d look ridiculous—like a porn star. Besides, I’m betting it’s more the size of your balls than the size of your boobs that scared him off. You acted like a total badass in there—I’ll admit it even though it makes me madder than hell that you disobeyed orders and ran in before the cops showed up.”

  Mei-Li shrugged tiredly. “I had no choice. If I hadn’t gone in to get her, Kristin might be—”

  “I understand. I get it.” Claudia nodded. “Now you get this—you were a major hero tonight. You saved a little girl’s life, sprayed a drunk asshole with pepper spray, and sent the man who’s been bugging you for months packing. So why the long face? You ought to be celebrating—he’s officially out of your life forever!”

  “I should, I guess. I just…” Mei-Li shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “I don’t know either until you tell me, Mei-mei. Come on—what’s bothering you? Give.”

  “I honestly don’t know…” Mei-Li sighed. “After he left I just started thinking about how…how rude I’d been to him. I mean, I really let him have it.”

  “Rude? Are you crazy?” Claudia shook her head in disbelief. “This is the guy who’s bee