She wanted to lie. To say yes. Anything to keep these men from finding out she was alone in the world. Instead, her traitorous body took over and she shook her head in denial. Sighing, she said, “I have no one. Not close relatives anyway. I have a few aunts, uncles and cousins wandering about, but no one who really should be here.” Now what? They murder me and steal my things? Just as well, it’s not like I have anyone who really cares.
“We must speak to your family.” The man frowned. “But first we will speak to you since we are already here.” He smiled and her heart beat faster. If she thought he was handsome before, he was devastating when he smiled. “Why do you look to the stars with your device?”
She frowned. Device? “Oh! You mean my telescope.” Harlow bit her lip at their inquisitive expressions. She felt herself flush as she did so many times when she told people of her job. They would listen politely then patronize her while they laughed and told themselves she was a nut.
“I work for the SETI Institute. It’s the primary organization that searches for extraterrestrial intelligence.” Harlow looked at their blank expressions, hardly able to believe that they weren’t laughing at her or looking at her with pity like one did an insane person. “You know.” She looked from one to the other. “Like little green men?”
* * * *
Jered didn’t know about little green men, but he knew about little tan ones. The Banarts. They’d been the scourge of the universe since before Ryo was born. But Ryo’s mother and the other original triads had finally ended their reign of terror while he had slept, waiting for the time when he would wake to unite with his mates.
He sighed and knelt beside Ryo. It was time they introduced themselves and maybe, if they were lucky, she wouldn’t faint again. “I know of this extraterrestrial intelligence that you speak of. But the creatures our people feared were not green, they were tan.”
The woman paled, backed up farther away from them, but did not faint. Instead, she reached toward a leather bound journal on the table beside her. Worried she intended to harm one of them with the thickly bound book, Jered split his concerned gaze between the book and their mate. “What is in the journal that concerns you, love?”
Disbelief and wariness crossed her features—whether because of what he said or how he addressed her, he didn’t know—before she shook her head and continued to back away from him. Eventually, she was seated all the way at the other end of her sofa, her back pressed as far into the corner as it could possibly go, both her knees and the journal drawn tightly to her chest.
Now what do you suggest we do, Ryo.
For now, we determine just what is so important about that ancient Hienial text, Jered. For while you’ve been scaring her, I’ve been having our computers scan the leather and dyes made from the journal she’s clutching. It’s ancient Hienial, no doubt about it. Whatever written inside it may be the key to knowing how there came to be so many of her kind on this planet.
“Do you know what that is you’re holding, Miss?”
Harlow snorted. She couldn’t recall the last time anyone called her that. “Miss?”
“Well, you haven’t told us your name?”
“I don’t just tell strangers who come into my home uninvited my name, no matter how good looking they are. I’m not that stupid—or crazy, despite everything else I’ve already told you about me.”
“What harm could come by just telling us your first name. It is just common courtesy.”
“Fine.” Blowing a wild ebony curl out of her face, she turned toward he and Ryo, who remained crouching on the floor at her feet, and said, “It’s Harlow. My first name is Harlow.”
“Do you know what you have in your possession, Harlow?”
Be careful, Jered. We don’t want to frighten her off.
I think she’s inquisitive by nature. You heard her. She’s a scientist, always searching for answers. She’ll be intrigued that we have the answers for which she has always searched.
I hope you know what you’re doing.
Trust me, Ryo. I won’t lead you astray in this. I want her just as must as you. Need her just as much as you.
Then proceed.
Harlow looked at him suspiciously as though he’d come to steal her precious treasure, not that he could blame her really. What she held so fiercely against her heart was precious indeed, if it held answers to their past. “I’ll not take what is yours, Harlow. I’m just curious. And perhaps, I have those answers that you seek—the answers that you search the stars so diligently for. You saw for yourself from where we came, how we traveled. Will you not believe what you have seen with your own eyes? Will you not listen to what your ancestors tell you with their own words? That is a journal of a long dead ancestor is it not, Harlow?”
When she seemed to be considering his words, Ryo leaned forward and gripped her hand. “We, too, have been searching for something. Searching for the one person who could understand us, who could help us find the proper balance on our planet, help us lead our people and bring us back together as one. Help us reunite the old with the new. And with this lost colony here on your planet, these last people you call family, our mission is finally complete and we can finally… finally… all go home. Together.”
Harlow loosened her hold on the journal and dropped her knees to lay them loosely on the couch. She glanced from Ryo to Jered, then back to Ryo. “Are you trying to say, I’m the person you’ve come to Earth searching for?”
Ryo nodded. “Just as you’ve searched the stars looking for us, we have spent our entire lives waiting until the time was right to find you. You are who we’ve always been searching for, the reason we came into this star system, the very reason our search is finally over and the ultimate reason that we can finally build a life of our own as so many of our kind have already begun to do.”
“Whoa… Don’t you think you’re putting a little too much pressure on me—a virtual stranger you know absolutely nothing about? I could be an axe murderer, a serial killer scoping out my next victim with this telescope for all you know and this diary is where I write down all my dirty deeds.”
Jered leaned back, his guard down, knowing Ryo would watch his back and allowed his laughter to flow free. He had not had this much to laugh about in many years. His mate may lie poorly, but she had a quick wit about her. Serial killer indeed. She was too brainy, too curious to worry about real world details like hiding bodies and kidnapping plans to effectively think up such nefarious plots. He knew her well enough to know that already.
Once he wiped the tears from his eyes, he held his hands up in submission, seeing the mutiny on her face. “Fine, just tell us what the diary journal says.”
“I can’t read the beginning entries, but what I can reads like a Science Fiction Fairytale. But about halfway through my great, great, great grandmother takes over telling the family history. She describes an archeologist fleeing an ancient enemy, one who’d destroyed all of the women and most of the men. So she hid here, among our people, eventually fell in love and mated amongst our kind, propagating her lost people. One day, she prophesized that the great leader would reclaim her progeny and return her family to the fold, reuniting the lost colony.”
* * * *
Ryo watched her expression change. Several emotions chased across her face as she thought about what Jered had said. Disbelief, fear…hope. Even the desire to believe them was displayed clearly in her beautiful green eyes. He watched them as she blinked slowly, her thick lashes making dark crescents on her cheeks. Her small pert nose and full moist lips woke his sleeping libido and his cock twitched with anticipation. He’d waited years since the Goddess told them they would find their mate here. Long months of hopes, dreams and endless waiting. Always the waiting.
He shook his head and placed his hands in his lap. He wanted to cover his perpetual hard-on. The last thing he wanted was to scare her again. She was frightened enough as it was. They didn’t need her thinking they had rape on their minds. Ryo would have her by
consent only. It didn’t matter how long he’d waited or how much he wanted her. He refused to turn into the same type of monster his biological father had been.
Jered stepped forward, unable to keep his mouth shut. Ryo would have left him behind if he would have known the kind of mouth the other man had on him. “Ryo is the great leader your ancestor spoke of.”
I’m going to have to remember not to trust you with any secrets. You can’t seem to keep your big mouth shut.
Grinning, Jered moved to sit across from the girl. I never knew it was a secret.
Ryo sighed. It wasn’t, damn it. But that didn’t mean he wanted to scare her off. It was one thing for her to hope that she would meet her dream man and he’d carry her off to a faraway planet. It was another thing altogether to face it. Fantasies were great. It was different when you realized that they were becoming reality whether you liked it or not. He glanced up at the young woman. Her face had gone even paler than it had been before.
“You—you’re the…” She started coughing and couldn’t finish her sentence.
Sighing, Ryo nodded. “I’m told I’m the one.” He shrugged. “Personally, I don’t see why me and not Jered here.” He indicated the other man. “I have no special abilities.” He felt himself flush. “Well, nothing special compared to others of our kind.”
She licked her lips and his cock jumped again. He closed his eyes for moment. What would he do? He couldn’t, wouldn’t, just take her with no thought to her feelings, her desires. Yet his own needs kept rising, reminding him that he needed this woman. He needed to convince her and, if what she said about the journal was true, her entire family to return to the home world with them. Reaching up, he rubbed the back of his neck.
Looking between them, she bit her bottom lip before asking, “What kind of abilities are we talking about? I know that a lot of us are psychic, but there are stories…” Her words trailed off as she eyed the book.
“What kind of stories?” Ryo asked. He was completely taken with her as she blushed again. Obviously uncomfortable with the turn in the conversation, she drew her knees to her chest again and hugged the book.
“Shape shifting mostly. None of us know how to do it.” She glanced down at the book. “But according to the journal, we’re all supposed to be able to shift our shape into anything we want.” She laughed nervously. “I know it’s stupid, but a lot of us have wondered just how much of this journal is true and how much is bull.”
“Bull?” Jered asked, sitting forward in his seat.
“Um… Baloney, malarkey.” She sighed when they all still stared at her blankly. “Lies or untruths?”
“Oh,” Ryo nodded, finally understanding. “I see. You want to know how much of the stories are true.” He nodded to one of the other men. “Corban, please come here and show our new friend what you can do.” He looked back at the woman ready to grab her in case she took off running at Corban’s display. “Corban is half Hienial, as are all of us, with the exception of Jered. Watch what he can do.”
Her eyes widened and her face turned white as Corban changed from his usual form to that of an animal in a picture next to her elbow. The black four-legged creature walked up to her, its tail wagging and an impossibly large tongue hanging from its mouth.
“I have no idea what Corban has changed himself into, but that is one of many. The possibilities are as endless as there are animals on any planet in any galaxy.” He began to worry as she just sat and stared at the animal with tears in her eyes.
* * * *
Harlow swallowed past the lump that seemed lodged in her throat before blinking away the tears. “Holy crap!” She blinked again, positive she was seeing things. But sure enough, an exact replica of her childhood dog stood in front of her, looking for all the world like it belonged here in the living room of her home. If she hadn’t seen it for herself, she wouldn’t believe it. As a scientist, she made it a practice not to lie to herself, to take things at face value and, when faced with solid proof of something, to move forward with it.
“Joshua?” She swallowed. “He looks just like Joshua.” She rubbed her eyes again, fisting her hands, still not wanting to believe what her eyes were showing her. “I can’t believe this. I’m seeing it. I’ve wanted to believe it, even when I deep down doubted that extraterrestrial life existed. I really did. But… I just don’t know what to say. What to do.” She stared at the animal before looking at Jered, then Ryo. “What is it you want from me, from us?”
“From you,” Ryo began, “probably too much. From all of you…we’d like you to come with us, our world. To settle down with our people—your people, really.”
“Our people?”
Both Ryo and Jered nodded so Harlow settled back against the sofa, waiting for the explanation she knew would follow. They didn’t disappoint her.
“When we ran scans of your planet looking for you, we did so looking for those carrying the Hienial gene—carrying the same bloodline as us. Almost everyone in your community seems to carry this same gene. There are over one hundred Hienial-Human descendants of your ancient relative living here as far as I can tell,” Jered explained.
Harlow nodded, then looked away. Her heart pounded in her chest and her palms grew moist. She wiped them on her legs, more to have something to do with them than anything else. “And me, what exactly am I supposed to do?”
“Mate with us,” Ryo boldly declared. “Rule by our side. Teach us about what it means to be human. Give those of us that are Hienial that—the gift of humanity.”
Harlow snorted, speechless and unsure exactly what else to say. Even though these two men were drop dead gorgeous hunks and totally drool-worthy, they were strangers and hello—they were not from this planet. “You don’t ask for much do you? I don’t know you. I can’t just mate with you. You’re strangers.” Totally fuckable strangers, but strangers nonetheless, she thought.
“We understand why you would be reluctant.” Ryo shifted in his seat. “Of course we don’t expect you to just hop into bed with us on our word. We’re both willing to wait until you feel comfortable with us. You can’t deny you’re attracted.”
No. She couldn’t deny it. Both of them turned her on so much she could barely breathe, let alone think. Not only couldn’t she just hop into bed with them, she wouldn’t do it. Harlow refused to play the part of a loose woman. She may have been a bit wild in college—her face flamed when she thought of some of the things she’d done—but she wasn’t anymore. Men and threesomes were something best left in her past. She had her career to worry about now. No one would take a party hardy astronomer serious.
She chewed her lip. But if what they said was true, she wouldn’t have to worry about people not taking her seriously ever again. Her stomach clenched with both fear and excitement. To leave here and actually fly amongst the stars was a dream she never thought to fulfill. She was too much a dreamer for the space program and too much a scientist to just take what they said on face value. “What about my job?”
“Your job?”
“My occupation,” she stood and began to pace. “What I do as my life’s work.”
Ryo sat forward. “Didn’t you say you searched for life among the stars?”
She nodded. “What about that? I’ve studied and worked my entire life to prove that there is life on other planets.”
“Oh. You did this for fame then?” Jered asked.
“Of course not!” She scowled. “I did it to prove, at least to myself, that there are other forms of life than what is found here on Earth.”
“Then you have nothing to fear. Leaving with us does not interfere with that.” Ryo smiled, holding his arms out to his sides. “You have already found us. Since you say you did not do it for fame, there is no reason to tarry.” He stood, clearly expecting everyone to do as he said. “Come. You must have some sort of meeting place and a signal to gather, do you not? Let us ask your people what it is you should do. You are their queen after all.”
Their queen? Harlow n
early fainted at the thought. How could she be a queen? Her grandmother’s sister was the leader of their people. Not her. She had no idea what it took to run their community and she had no desire to try. Being a mate was hard enough to swallow. Being a ruler was something else entirely!
* * * *
You’ve said too much, Ryo. See that look in her eyes? Our little mate is about to run. He gave a soft chuckle, amused over her growing irritation. Everything about her intrigued Jered. He couldn’t wait to explore every facet of both her personality and her luscious body. It’s a good thing I love a good chase. I wonder… How far do you think we should let her get before we pounce and kiss her stupid?
Ryo chuckled softly and shook his head. I think she knows we’re talking. I would advise that we no longer converse in this manner.
“I know you can talk to each other in your minds. Stop doing that. It’s rude.” She glared at them, crossing her arms over her breasts.
“How can you tell?” Jered asked, curious as her to own powers, even those she may be unaware of.
Harlow shrugged, looked between them, then glanced around the room at the other men still gathered around her. “I’m not sure. The same way I can tell you’re all having discussions amongst yourselves. There’s a low-level buzz of awareness in my mind, but it’s the subtle sense of emotions I’m picking off everyone that tells me that you’re not just innocently standing there. I’m picking up humor, unease, fascination, boredom, fatigue, even anger. However, I can’t pinpoint who’s feeling what. It’s not something I’ve ever really worked on. I was different enough believing life existed on a world other than my own. I didn’t want to others to notice other differences—even if I had to lie to myself half the time to hide them.”
“What do you mean?” Jered asked.
She could feel his sincere curiosity, which is probably why she didn’t hesitate in answering him truthfully. Ryo just looked on, watchful and cautious. “In this community, we’re related, the majority of us anyway. Outside of this town, I wanted to blend in with everyone else. It was easy to hide my psychic abilities from outsiders since most people are skeptical and think those of us who claim to have empathic abilities are frauds. Like I said before—I didn’t want to be different, so I hid my abilities. Besides, it’s something we all do when we’re among outsiders.”
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