“What is that?” Ral arched his eyebrow.

She met his curious gaze. “Like a science experiment. Is that a better description?” Ral pulled her into his arms to give her a hug. “I know this is difficult for you, Ariel.

I am sorry.”

She nodded into his chest and let him comfort her for a moment. Ariel pulled back.

“It’s all right.” She removed her clothing. Ahhu stared at her with open curiosity. Ariel flushed and stood as the woman’s gaze raked over every inch of her.

“You have bred her.” Ahhu glanced at Ral. “Correct?”

“Yes. I told you I bound her.”

Ahhu nodded. “How is she physically different from our women?”

“Besides her obvious looks?” Ral growled.

“Besides.”

“It’s all right,” Ariel sighed. “Don’t get mad.” He was angry. Ariel could see it. Ral glared at the Zorn woman. “Her unis is in the front.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Her unis is in the front, exposed between her thighs when spread.” The Zorn scientist’s eyes flew to Ariel. “May I please see this?” Ariel knew Ahhu had to examine her, but she still felt embarrassment. She climbed on the exam table and spread her thighs, but she shut her eyes so she didn’t have to watch herself being stared at. When she felt the hand her eyes flew open and she started to jerk away. It was Ral touching her and she instantly relaxed. He spread her nether lips with his fingers to better expose her sex. Ral’s eyes locked with Ariel’s.

“Look but don’t touch her, Ahhu.” Ral warned. “You are making her uncomfortable and you will treat her with the respect of my bound woman.” The woman dipped her head in a nod. “Of course, Argis Ral.” Ariel saw Ahhu staring at every exposed inch of her. The woman reached for something. Ral growled. He looked furious.

“No.”

Ahhu froze. “I wanted to document it.”

“You will not take documentation of my woman’s sexuality to share with other scientists. Put that down now.” He snarled. “No other male sees my woman like this but me.”

Ahhu put the electronic device down. She moved closer to study Ariel. She was fascinated. “Her color is different. She’s pink.”

“She is softer inside too.” Ral released Ariel and slid his palm over her, cupping her mound to cover her sex. “You have seen enough.” The woman backed up. “Can she enter your mind? Any signs of abilities like that?”

“No.” Ral’s hand left her mound to help her sit up. He handed her clothes back and started to help her dress. “She has no abilities that could control me.” Ahhu was frowning. “Then why did you bound to her?” Ral lifted Ariel up off the table to help her put on her pants. “Seeing her was enough. I was drawn to her fragile beauty. She smelled good and I wanted her intensely. When we were alone I got to know her very well. I knew she was mine to keep. I knew she was the woman I wanted bound to.” The scientist studied Ral. “She pleases you?”

Ral nodded. Now that Ariel was dressed Ral’s anger seemed to dissipate. “More than I have ever been pleased in my life.” He looked down at Ariel. “Let her look at your implant.” He eyed Ahhu. “Can you download the program and load her language into our translators so all Zorn can understand her? How long will that take?” Ahhu walked to a wall and got another device. She walked to Ariel. “Tell her to sit.”

Ariel sat. “Please remind her that I can understand her.” Ral chuckled. “She can understand you, Ahhu. You just can’t understand her.” The woman ran the device over the wrong ear. Ariel pointed. “This one.” The woman moved and ran it over the right ear. The woman read the small screen and frowned. She looked at Ral. “Let me see you.” Ahhu scanned both ears on Ral and frowned. “They put a new implant in your left ear, Argis Ral. I would like to remove the other-world implant from you. We do not know what their technology can do. It could be dangerous.”

“No. If you do I could not understand Ariel.”

“Your father is going to order all of the implants removed from the other world. We do not know if they contain tracking devices or even harmful tendencies. They could release poison.”

“What are the chances?”

The woman hesitated. “Good. Remember history.” Ariel frowned. She met Ral’s eyes. “We won’t be able to able to understand each other, will we?”

“No. The Zorn translators obviously don’t know your language or they’d be able to understand you.”

“At least let us remove them for testing. We might be able to download their program to adapt it to our translators,” Ahhu said softly.

Ral frowned. “Remove the other implants from our people and test those.”

“They all must be removed, Argis Ral. I swear to you that I will work very hard to find the way for our translators to work for your bound woman.” Ral growled. There was no translation. “Leave us and lock the door. We need some time together.”

Ahhu nodded. “The other Zorn recovered are coming in right now. I’ll remove their implants first.” She left the room.

Ral met Ariel’s eyes. “We need to do this. She could be right. We have had something like this happen before to some of our warriors who were captured by other world species. They were given alien implants that released poison that killed them all.

It happened days after they escaped.”

“But we’ve been traveling for three weeks.”

“We have been aboard their ship. We are out of range of any signal it could have sent out now that we are on the planet. It is safer if we do this. I won’t take the risk with your life or mine.”

“I understand.”

Ral reached for her. “It doesn’t matter if we can talk or not.” He pulled her into his arms. “We know how it is between us.”

“We do.”

“I will take care of you. It shouldn’t be too difficult for them to get a working translator. We have the Anzons ship as well with their programs. We’ll find your language and work it into our translators. We can do this together, Ariel.”