by Cara Bristol
Darak dragged the mugger to his feet by his jacket, picked him up, and threw him across the parking lot. He slammed into the side of my van, setting off a piercing alarm, drowning out what the 911 dispatcher was saying. I scrambled on my knees for the key fob to shut it off. I found it, silenced the wail, and squinted at my vehicle. The fender appeared dented, but I wasn’t going to kick up a fuss. It would buff out. And, if not, a ding was a small price to pay for, well, life.
“Is he there now?”
“Yes.”
“Are you in danger?”
Hoodie lay on the ground groaning. “Right at this second? I don’t think so.”
“What is your location?”
I gave the dispatcher the address. “We’re behind the building in the parking lot.”
“Get to a safe place if you can, and do not engage the suspect.”
“The suspect engaged us!”
“Are you in danger?” she asked again. Was she reading from a script like a telemarketer?
Hoodie staggered to his feet. Darak started toward him, and the mugger ran—or rather, limped away at a fast pace—and disappeared down the alley. “He’s gone now,” I said.
I hung up with 911 after promising to seek safety. It was easier than trying to explain. The script didn’t cover situations like this.
“Are you all right?” Darak jogged to my side.
The way he’d taken down the mugger had been incredible. Fearless, fast. Powerful. Hoodie never had a chance. He’d picked the wrong alien to mess with. My heart swelled with admiration. “Are you crazy?” I rounded on him. “Didn’t anyone tell you not to argue with an armed robber? He could have shot you! You’re supposed to give him what he wants.”
“We didn’t argue. He didn’t shoot me—I made sure of that. I could not allow him to threaten you.”
“Well…well…don’t do that again.” I still felt shaky, like my blood sugar had plummeted. It’s possible it had, considering all the pasta and the cupcake I’d eaten. “But…thank you. You were amazing.” I hesitated to praise him since it might encourage him to go all vigilante superhero and run around beating up criminals, but I owed him a thank you. A really big thank you. What if I’d been alone? I could have ended up a statistic on the police blotter.
“Come. I’ll walk you to your vehicle,” he said. “I’ll see you safely off then I’ll be on my way.”
Don’t leave. “We need to wait for the police.”
I’d no sooner spoken than a white vehicle with carnival lights pulled into alley. There must have been an open-all-night donut shop close by for them to arrive so quickly.
Two officers exited the vehicle: a woman about a decade older than me, and a younger pudgy guy with manboobs straining his tan uniform. Both rolled their hips with the strut of authority as they approached. “I’m Sergeant Jenkins. This is Officer Studmeyer,” the woman said.
I stifled a snicker. No male with manboobs should be called “stud” anything.
“You reported a robbery?” Jenkins continued.
“He had a weapon. He threatened my mate and demanded her purse,” Darak said.
I winced. I should have advised him to let me do the talking. I’d been quite blunt in telling him we had no future—why was he still referring to me that way? And why did my fluttering heart tempt me to reconsider my decision?
Of course, Jenkins picked up on the wording. “Your mate?” She squinted at him, her gaze riveting on his horns. Her eyes widened. “Are you an alien?”
“I’m a Dakonian.”
Studmuffin, er, meyer wasn’t impressed. All business, he whipped out a computer tablet. “What are your names, please?”
We told him.
“Can you describe the suspect?”
“He was a few inches taller than me—I’m five foot six. Young guy. Twenties. Needed a shave.” Pointing the gun at me, he’d seemed huge, but when I’d first seen him outside the front of my shop he hadn’t looked that big. “He wore a hoodie. Blue jeans. Faded. Oh—and he had like a dragon tail tat on his neck.” I touched the right side of my throat.
“Like a dragon or it was a dragon?” Jenkins asked.
“Definitely a dragon—I think. Or a scorpion.” Lizard, maybe?
“I don’t know what a dragon is, but the drawing on his neck was of a scaly blue creature with wings and a long tail with red fire coming out of its mouth,” Darak said.
A dragon, just like I said.
“What color hoodie?”
“Uh…something lightish.” I didn’t remember.
“Gray,” Darak said.
“Hair color? Length?”
“Brownish….or blond.”
“Brown. Short. Little longer than his,” Darak pointed to Studworth. “Brown eyes.”
I was a terrible eyewitness. All I could remember was staring down the barrel of a ginormous gun. Fortunately, Darak had an eidetic memory.
“Anything else stand out?”
“His shoes had a name,” Darak said.
“Name? What name?”
“I don’t know. I can’t read.”
The smirk Jenkins and Studley exchanged set my teeth on edge.
“How’s your Dakonian? He can read his language, just not ours,” I snapped, assuming he could read his language. Didn’t matter. What right did they have to mock him?
“I can copy it, write it for you,” Darak said.
Jenkins handed him a tablet of the paper kind and a pen. Darak scribbled in the notebook.
She peered at it. “Brizallo.” She read off a brand of sneaker. “What can you tell me about the weapon he used?”
“It’s still under the trash dumpster.” I pointed.
She frowned.
“He dropped it during the scuffle.”
“Scuffle?”
“Darak disarmed him.” I proceeded to relate the events as they had occurred.
The four of us walked to my van where Jenkins peered at the dented fender, glanced at Darak then eyed the location where the skirmish had taken place. I could see her mentally calculating the distance. I could also see the dent wasn’t going to buff out. I’d have to submit a claim to my insurance company. My rates would go up. I would be robbed a second time.
“Check the hospitals,” she told her partner. “He might be injured and might go there.” Studmiller retreated to the squad car to make the calls as Jenkins extracted her flashlight and strode to the wheeled dumpster. She pushed it out of the way and swept the area with her flashlight, revealing two guns. What the hell had been going on behind my shop?
Both pistols looked like toys now that one wasn’t jammed in my face. One gun was tiny enough to conceal in your palm—or the pocket of a hoodie.
Jenkins donned rubber gloves and extracted a plastic bag from a pocket on her utility belt. “Which one did the suspect use?”
I had no idea.
“The smaller one,” Darak said.
“Yeah, that one,” I seconded. If he said it was that one, it was that one.
Picking them up by the trigger guard, she bagged both guns.
Studwick met us at the dumpsters. “No one matching our suspect’s description has gone into the ER. They’ll watch for him.”
The officers asked us a few more questions and then wrapped it up. “If you remember anything else, give me a call.” Jenkins handed me her card. She glanced around the parking lot, darker now since Hoodie had blown out the light over the door. “You two should go home. Don’t stay here. He could come back.”
She didn’t need to tell me twice.
“We’ll leave now.” I motioned to Darak.
He shook his head. “I’ll walk.”
“Oh, for the love of banana cream pie!” I snapped. His refusal to accept a lift hurt. He’d called me his mate. Didn’t that count for anything? Did I want it to?
My feelings were so confused I didn’t know what I wanted. The way we had worked together and supported each other in the aftermath—not to mention his impressive, alb
eit risky, performance during the mugging itself—had complicated matters. I was reluctant for him to walk away, leaving things as they were—even though I didn’t know how I wanted them to be. However, the streets weren’t safe at night. He could encounter more robbers. Or a gang. “We were mugged! You shouldn’t be out alone this late.”
Jenkins glanced between the two of us. “I assumed you were a couple.”
“First date,” I explained.
“She told me she doesn’t wish to see me again,” Darak said.
“Come on.” She waved at Darak. “We’ll drop you off at home on our way back to the station.”
“That would be acceptable,” he said.
“Fine.” I stomped to my van.
The squad car blocked my vehicle, so I had to wait while it pulled out first. I watched Darak ride away with the cops.
Chapter Four
Darak
My mate needed me. The attack outside her bakery shop confirmed Earth was a violent, dangerous place.
I needed her. There could be no other female for me. Humming in the center of my being, her magnetism tugged at me even when I wasn’t in her presence.
Convincing her of the rightness was the problem. Despite our obvious attraction, she had hardened her heart against me, and I didn’t understand why. I suspected more than the robbery had scared her. But what? Why join the Intergalactic Dating Agency if not to seek a mate?
I had decided giving her time to reflect and perhaps miss me would begin to topple the walls she’d erected, so I’d stayed away. Now the weekend approached, and if I waited any longer, she might find somebody else to escort her to her sister’s wedding.
Squaring my shoulders, I strode up to her door.
It sprang open before I could knock.
“Darak! You got my message. I didn’t think the agency would give it to you.”
“Yes, I received it.” They’d informed me she’d cancelled her membership and offered me a refund or another match. I’d declined both. They then informed me I would have a week to vacate the barracks where I was staying. I didn’t care. It would be Lexi—or no one.
“I couldn’t reach you.” Her gaze flicked over me from head to toe. “You look…nice. Different, but nice.”
“I purchased Earth clothing.” I wore new leggings called khakis and a white tunic with fastenings all the way up the front. I’d rolled the long sleeves to my elbows. Instead of furry boots, I wore brown leather deck shoes. The new clothing felt stiff and unfamiliar, but not uncomfortable, and it was cooler than my kel hide clothing. People still stared at me, though.
“You did well picking it out,” she said.
“A salesman at the store helped me. I told him I needed clothing to properly court my female, and he selected this outfit. He also invited me to play on his sports team.”
“That’s nice. What sport does he play?”
“I don’t know, but he said if I ever decided to swing both ways and hit for the other team, I should give him a call.”
Lexi choked a little like she was trying not to laugh. I didn’t understand the amusement, but I loved seeing her smile again. Her expression sobered. “You still want to date me?”
“I never stopped wanting to.”
“I was afraid you’d decided not to see me anymore. You refused to let me drive you home.”
“You’re my mate. Of course I want to see you.”
“Oh, Darak.” She sagged against the door for a moment then straightened. “Would you like to come in?” She stepped aside.
I entered, inhaling her scent as I passed by. I’d dreamed of her vanilla fragrance, how she looked, her laugh, her smile. And her cupcakes. I’d dreamed of them, too. However, nothing compared to being in her presence. I needed to know how she felt and where I stood. “Have you changed your mind about going out with me?”
Eyes wide, she bit her lip and then nodded. “Yes. I decided to risk it.”
“Obah!” I let out a cheer. She smiled, and I grinned, too. “So why did you cancel your membership?”
“So the agency wouldn’t fix me up with anybody else—but after terminating my membership, I lost the access to the dating agency ’Net site, so I didn’t have a way to contact you. I didn’t have your address or a phone number. I asked the agency to pass on a message, but they refused, saying it would violate their privacy policy. I hoped you would call me, but you didn’t, and then I started to think I’d succeeded in running you off.”
“The only message I received said you’d cancelled your membership.”
“I’m surprised you came to see me after everything I said and not hearing from me.”
“I left my home planet and flew three months on a spaceship to get here. Do you think I’d give up so easily?”
“Put like that, I guess not.” She lifted her shoulders. “I’m glad you didn’t.”
“I need you, Lexi. You fill my heart. You need me, too—to go to your sister’s wedding, to keep you safe. Your planet is dangerous.” I hoped with time she would realize she desired me the way I desired her, but for now it was enough to have a small place in her life.
“That’s sweet of you, but the incident the other night gave you the wrong idea about Earth. It’s not dangerous. That was the first and only time I’ve ever been mugged.”
“Once is too often,” I said. “And there were two weapons under the big metal box.”
“Well…”
“Did they apprehend the man?”
She shook her head. “I called the sergeant yesterday. Either the mugger never sought medical treatment, or no one at the hospital noticed the alert and notified the police. I had to have the light outside my bakery fixed, get a new driver’s license, and cancel all my credit cards because he took my wallet.” She planted her hands on her hips and scowled at me. “You never should have jumped him. He could have shot you—killed you.”
She cared. My heart and horns swelled. Maybe she needed me just a little in the special way mates yearned for each other.
“Promise me you won’t do anything like that ever again,” she said.
“I can’t promise that.” As much as I wished to please her, I couldn’t lie. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
“You have to.”
I folded my arms and regarded her irate expression with a happy heart. “If Earth is as safe as you claim, then I shouldn’t have to promise. There shouldn’t be another occasion when I’ll have to defend you.” I canted my head. “Is your planet safe or isn’t it?”
She huffed. “Well…well…as long as you don’t venture into certain areas… We’ll have to agree to steer clear of sketchy neighborhoods so the necessity won’t arise.”
“Perfect.” I grinned.
A large wheeled travel bag rested against the wall. Rubbing her palms together, she glanced at it then me. She exhaled a long breath. “Are you sure you want to attend my sister’s wedding with me?”
“I’m looking forward to it.” To spend time with Lexi, I would go anywhere. However, I also wished to meet her family and observe a Terran mating ceremony.
“Most men would freak to be asked to a wedding on such short acquaintanceship.”
“I’m not most men.”
“No kidding.” She grinned. “We’ll need to leave this afternoon to beat the traffic. You’ll be gone all weekend; you won’t get back until Monday.”
“Are you trying to talk me out of it?”
“You haven’t met my family. You have no idea what you’re getting into.”
“But I’ll be with you.”
“Okay. I’ll do my best to run interference and protect you.”
It was my honor to protect her, not the other way around, but my lips twitched with humor. “Because Earth is so safe, right?”
She laughed. “Earth is safe. My mother?” She scrunched up her face. Then she said, “We should leave now so we can stop at a men’s big-and-tall store to get you something to wear for the wedding.”
“I have clothi
ng.”
“Besides what you have on. You’ll need clothes for four days, plus something formal for the wedding.”
“I have additional garments. When I told the man at the store about your sister’s wedding, he picked out clothes for me.”
Her jaw dropped. “You told him you were going to my sister’s wedding? While we were broken up? You were sure of yourself, weren’t you?”
I was sure of myself; my feelings wouldn’t change. I’d been much less certain of her and whether I could convince her to go out with me again, but I had intended to be prepared in case the situation worked out in my favor. “Of myself? Yes. Of you? Not at all,” I answered honestly.
“I don’t mean to be difficult or mean or bitchy or controlling. All of this”—she waved her hands in circles—“is new to me, too. I’ve never met a man like you, and things are moving so fast, it’s like life pulled the rug out from under me.”
My pulse raced with alarm. “That doesn’t sound good.”
“No-no—it is good, it’s just…scary.”
I moved closer, and she peered up at me with wide eyes. She wet her lips. My body reacted immediately, blood heating and surging to my loins. The urge to press my mouth to hers and do that Terran kissing thing pounded a seductive rhythm, but I sensed we teetered on a whisper and a promise of what could be, and a misstep on my part could destroy the fragile beginning. “It’s scary for me, too,” I said.
She smiled. “And you haven’t met my mother yet.”
* * * *
I folded my knees to my chest and crooked my neck at an angle, but my head still pressed against the roof of the vehicle Lexi called a sports car.
“This isn’t going to work. You’re bent over like a pretzel. We have to take the work van.” A slow smile spread over her face. “Remind me to honk when we pull into the drive so Mother doesn’t miss our arrival.”
I crawled out, we changed vehicles, and Lexi drove to the barracks so I could retrieve my new clothes.
To my disappointment, the dorm was vacant. I would have liked to introduce her to the others.
Lexi surveyed the dozen cots lined up against the blank white wall. “Military surplus. Gee, the agency spared no expense in putting you guys up, did they?”