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  I groaned and sank onto the small couch. What had I done? The little human was so wet and aroused for me that I was certain she could take my cock easily. I hadn’t even tried to make sure she was ready before I fucked her.

  I muttered a curse and stared at Teo. “I hurt her. I – I did not know she was an innocent and when I took her, I hurt her badly.” The sound of her scream still echoed in my head and I flinched when Teo touched my shoulder.

  “I am sure it is not as bad as you think, Quill. Even I could see the little human wanted you earlier. I am sure she was more,” he paused, “prepared than you think. And I am sorry, I do not mean to argue with you, but there is no way she can be a virgin. Perhaps she is just,” he gave me a delicate look, “tighter than the average human?”

  “No.” Another sick pulse of guilt went through me. “Sabrina was a virgin. I swear to Krono she was.”

  “Who is Sabrina?” Teo was giving me a puzzled look and I scowled at him.

  “What do you mean, who is Sabrina? Sabrina – my new mate. The non-virgin, virgin!”

  “You mean Evelyn,” Teo said slowly.

  I stared at him like he’d gone mad. “No, I mean Sabrina.”

  “Her name is Evelyn, not Sabrina.”

  “She said her name was Sabrina. She pointed to her chest and said Sabrina.” I thought back and my mouth dropped open. “She said Sabrina, but she also said Evelyn.”

  “She said both names?” Teo’s voice was as confused sounding as I felt.

  “Yes. She pointed to her chest and said Sabrina then shook her head and said Evelyn. She did that a few times and...”

  I gave Teo a look of horror. “Bring up her file. Bring it up right now!”

  The old Draax tottered back to his chair and grabbed his phone. He pushed a button and the image sprang to life in the air in front of me. Using my finger, I scrolled through the pages of the document. The picture of my mate was at the very end, and as her face popped up, I staggered back.

  The woman staring at me was very similar looking to the woman in the guest quarters, but it wasn’t her. The woman in the file had green eyes and was thinner. Her dark hair was a little shorter as well.

  “Who is that?” Teo said as he studied the picture.

  “That is Evelyn, my mate,” I said.

  “No, that is the other female human from the ship.” Now it was his turn to give me a look of horror. “I scanned her chip, my King. I swear by Krono’s hand that I scanned the chip. It said Evelyn Fisher.”

  “I believe you,” I said. “Obviously the humans implanted them incorrectly.”

  I paced back and forth again. “What in Krono’s name do I do now?”

  “It is fine,” Teo said. “I will contact the humans and find out who the other female was and where she was going. Obviously, your mate is with this Draax male. We will simply contact him, inform him of the mix up and make the switch.”

  “Have you forgotten about the storm?” I said. “We will have lost our connection by tomorrow morning if we have not already.”

  Teo sighed. “We will just have to keep the woman here at the palace until the storm ends. Then we will fix the human error. In the meantime, the female can stay in the guest quarters.”

  “I hurt her,” I said. “What do we do about that?”

  “I will take her some gallberry juice to help ease her discomfort. When the translators are working, we will explain the situation and you can apologize.”

  “I will take the juice to her,” I said.

  Teo frowned. “I do not believe that is a good idea, my King. If you hurt her like you said you did, she may be frightened of you now.”

  My stomach churned, and my tail drooped to the floor. Why it bothered me that some random human female would be afraid of me, I had no idea. She wasn’t my mate. She was not this Evelyn Fisher. She was Sabrina and she was not meant for me.

  “I am going with you,” I said. “I want to make sure that she drinks all of the gallberry juice. She was hesitant to drink the entire glass earlier.”

  “Yes, my King,” Teo said.

  * * *

  The little human was standing in the farthest spot from the door when Teo and I entered. She was wearing the tight and stretchy pants that were so popular with earth women and a bulky top that hid the beautiful swell of her breasts. Guilt flooded through me when she pressed her body against the wall and began to babble in her language. I held up one hand and made soothing sounds as Teo and I approached her like she was a skittish grundleswat.

  “Shh, little human,” I said in a low voice. “Shh. I will not hurt you again. I promise.”

  She froze when I stopped in front of her. Tears were drying on her cheeks and I had the strangest urge to pull her into my arms and hold her against my body. I was being ridiculous. If I did that, she would go from scared to terrified.

  Instead, I held out the glass of gallberry juice toward her. “Drink, little human.”

  She stared at the glass and I nudged it a little closer to her. Her hand trembling badly, she took it from me, making sure her fingers didn’t touch mine. She spilled a little of the juice, and she made a moaning cry of fear when it splashed on the floor.

  “It is fine, little human,” I said. “It is fine. Drink.” I made a drinking motion and she drank the glass of juice quickly, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Teo held out his hand and she gave the glass back to him as she stared at me.

  “Better?” I said.

  She obviously didn’t understand me, and ignoring Teo’s low grunt of disapproval, I stepped closer. I had to touch her, had to somehow make her understand that I felt bad for what I had done. She moaned and pressed herself against the wall, her lovely blue eyes wide with fear. Moving slowly, I pressed my hand against her lower belly and rubbed gently.

  “I am sorry,” I said. “I am sorry I hurt you, little human.”

  I continued to rub her belly until she relaxed a little. She was still trembling, but she no longer looked like she was going to drop dead of fear. I smiled at her and stroked her belly once more before forcing myself to drop my hand and step back.

  “I am sorry,” I said again.

  She stared at me and said something in her sweet little voice.

  “Sabrina,” I said.

  She nodded, and I glanced at Teo. “Sabrina,” I repeated before shaking my head, “not Evelyn.”

  There was a small flicker of relief in her eyes and she licked those full lips of hers. My gaze dropped to her mouth and she pressed herself up against the wall again, folding her arms protectively against her torso.

  I flinched and immediately stepped back. Krono, I had really made a mess of things.

  “We should go,” Teo said. “Perhaps by tomorrow the translators will be working, and we can communicate with her.”

  “Maybe I should stay with her tonight,” I said. “She is afraid and -”

  “That is not a good idea,” Teo said. “She is frightened of you, my King.”

  I knew he was right, but I said, “I could stay out here. If I do not go into the bedroom, it should be fine. She will know I am here if she needs me.”

  “Quill,” Teo said, “this female is not your mate. It would be best if you had very little to do with her.”

  I sighed in frustration. Teo was right, even if I didn’t want to admit it. Once the translators were working, I would apologize to the little human, make her understand that I never meant to hurt her, and then I would not go near her again. In a moon’s time, the storm would end, and I would never see her again anyway.

  “You are right, Teo. Come, we will leave her alone and let her rest.”

  We backed away toward the door. Sabrina watched us with a look of confusion, and Teo gave her a little wave as we opened the door. “Good night, human.”

  She waved back hesitantly, and I followed Teo out of her quarters and shut the door.

  * * *

  Sabrina

  It was mid-morning when there was a knock on my
door. It took me forever to fall asleep last night. When I had finally fallen asleep, I dreamed about the large green alien, his low voice whispering in my ear as his hand rubbed my stomach.

  I’d risen early and after a few minutes of studying the shower, figured out how it worked. It had multiple showerheads and I especially enjoyed the blast of hot air that surrounded me when I shut the water off. I had explored the apartment, a little surprised by how many things were similar to Earth. I wondered if they had mimicked our styles or if it was just a coincidence that so much of their furniture and decorations were the same as ours.

  I couldn’t find any food in the kitchen, but I wasn’t particularly hungry. The visit from Quill and the old Draax last night had convinced me they weren’t going to kill me. They wouldn’t have wasted a second entire glass of gallberry juice on me if they were, but I was still afraid of what would happen next. I was also terribly homesick for Earth and I missed Carrie and Josh with a fierce yearning that surprised me.

  I touched my lower stomach just above my pubic bone. I’d still been sore when Quill returned last night, but the gallberry juice had taken care of it quickly. I shivered as I remembered the way Quill had rubbed my lower belly so gently. I couldn’t understand his words, but I had the feeling that he was trying to apologize for earlier.

  Now, I took a deep breath and watched as the old Draax stepped into the apartment.

  “Hello, human,” he said in perfect English. “Can you understand me this morning?”

  “Yes!” I said excitedly. “Can you understand me?”

  “I can.” A small grin crossed his face. “Thank Krono. That did not take as long as I thought it would. My name is Teo.”

  “Yeah, nice to meet you, Teo. Listen, there’s been a really big mistake. I’m not Evelyn – I’m Sabrina Green.”

  “Yes, we figured that out last night after the king left your quarters,” Teo said. “We are sorry for the mistake. Your chip scanned as Evelyn.”

  “The idiot woman at the Space Station injected me with the wrong chip. I didn’t realize it until I got here and Quill...”

  I stared at Teo. “What do you mean the king?”

  “Quillan is the King of the Western Province of Draax,” Teo said. “Evelyn has been chosen to be his mate and to bear his young.”

  “He’s royalty.” My voice was uncharacteristically quiet. Well, that explained the bowing the others kept doing.

  My eyes widened. I had sat on the lap of the King of Draax. I had let a king kiss me, touch my tits, and take my virginity. Holy fuck.

  “Human? Are you all right?” Teo asked anxiously. “Your face is very white.”

  “Just a little shocked.” I groped for a kitchen chair. I sank into it and stared up at Teo. “I didn’t know he was the king. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful. I was supposed to be a nanny for a farmer. Uh, people here don’t get beheaded for disrespecting the king, do they?”

  Teo blinked at me before laughing. “No, strange human, they do not. The king understands that you were not aware of who he was. Although you are expected to curtsey when he is in your presence.”

  “Right.” I had no idea how to curtsey, but I could fake it. My shock was fading a little and anger was setting in. “So, you know that shit like this wouldn’t happen if you guys had translators implanted in you, right? Why the hell don’t you?”

  “The translators are for human use only,” Teo said. “Implanting translators in us is a waste of resources. If we believe there is a good reason for a human to speak to us, we implant them with a translator. The system works well.”

  “I think I’m proof that it doesn’t,” I said in exasperation.

  “Technically it was human error that caused this,” Teo said. “They implanted the ID chips incorrectly.”

  “Yes, but if you’d had a translator implanted in your head, I could have told you that I wasn’t Evelyn and you wouldn’t have needed the ID chip.”

  Teo just shrugged, and I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at his arrogance. I decided to move on. What was done was done. “So, now what?”

  “We will contact earth and find out the name of the farmer you are nannying for. Obviously, Evelyn is with him, and we will simply right the wrong by exchanging you and Evelyn.”

  “Okay, good,” I said. “Uh, will I see Quill, I mean, His Majesty, before I go?”

  Teo blinked at me. “I am sure you will at some point. The storm has cut off all communication with earth, and even with others just outside of the palace.”

  “It’s still going?” My apartment had no windows and I didn’t have a clue what the weather was.

  “Of course,” Teo said. “The storm will last at least a moon.”

  “How long is a moon in Earth time?” I had a very bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

  “A month, give or take a few days,” he replied.

  “A month? The storm will last a month?”

  “Yes.”

  “But I promised my sister I would email or hologram her every day.”

  “I’m sorry,” he replied. “That is impossible while the storm rages.”

  I sucked in a deep breath and rubbed at my forehead as I tried to quell my panic. Carrie would be fine. She was completely healed, and she had Josh. She would be fine.

  “Human?”

  “Yes?”

  “I want you to know that the king did not mean to hurt you last night when he -”

  I cleared my throat as my face turned red. “Uh, yes, I know. He believed I was there to breed with him.”

  “Yes, he did.” Teo paused, and then forged ahead. “Did he finish last night?”

  I stared blankly at him. “Finish what?”

  Teo’s light green skin darkened and his tail swished nervously behind him. “Did he deposit his seed within you?”

  My mouth dropped open and Teo said hurriedly, “I only ask because I need to know if there is the possibility that you carry his young.”

  “Oh,” I said, “Oh, uh, no he didn’t finish. But I’m not breeding compatible anyway.”

  Relief crossed his face and I tried not to take it personally. “Good. The king had a matter to attend to this morning, but I will inform him that your translator is now working. He will visit later this afternoon to apologize properly for the mistake last night.”

  I cringed. I never really thought that losing my virginity would be referred to as a mistake, but I also never thought I would lose it to a king, and that it would hurt like a thousand bees were stinging my lady parts at once. I shuddered at the memory of the stabbing pain. Christ, why had I ever thought having sex with a Draax male for my first time was a good idea?

  You weren’t thinking. Quill had you so worked up that you weren’t even thinking straight. You wanted to come, girl, and you didn’t care how big his cock was.

  My inner voice had a point, but the good news or the bad news depending on how you looked at it, was that I didn’t have to worry about losing control like that again. I was never going near another dick again – Draax or human. I was destined for spinsterhood now, and that suited me just fine.

  Teo was moving toward the door and I said, “Um, is there somewhere I can go for food? Do the servants here have a communal kitchen or something?”

  He stared at me blankly for a moment before shaking his head. “There is a communal eating area, but you are to stay in your quarters.”

  “Why?”’

  “You are an unmated female, and there are many men in the palace who are looking for a mate.”

  Fear stabbed through me and Teo must have seen the look on my face because he said, “The males here would never hurt you, human. I promise you. But if you were to become attached to one and mate with him, the Draax who has employed you will be out a nanny. You would be breaking your trade with him and that is an offense on earth, is it not? You could go to, oh what are they called...”

  “Prisons,” I said. “I can be sent to prison for breaking the trade agreement. Listen, I�
�m not going to. I don’t care how, um, charming your males are, I have no interest in breeding with any of them. They won’t want me anyway – I’m breeding incompatible.”

  He shrugged. “Some of our males do not want young ones. They only want a mate.”

  “Really?” I gave him a look of surprise.

  “Yes, and we will not force them to raise young if they have no desire to do so,” he said. “Anyway, I see your point, but I must insist that you remain in your quarters until the storm ends. We will have food brought to you.”

  “I can’t stay in this apartment for a month by myself. I’ll go crazy!”

  “We will bring you books and other earth forms of entertainment,” he said. “Now, I will have Galan bring you some breakfast, all right? You met him last night.”

  “Sure,” I said.

  He paused at the door. “Remember, do not leave your quarters.”

  “Yeah, I heard you the first time.”

  He stared uncertainly at me and left the apartment.

  * * *

  Quillan

  “My King.” Faro bowed low before giving me a questioning look.

  “Have you seen Galan?” I asked. “I have been looking for him all morning.”

  “I believe he is with the human still,” Faro said. “He took her breakfast this morning and I have not seen him since.”

  A weird burning feeling was developing in my stomach and my skin felt both itchy and too tight. “Why is he with my mate?”

  Faro blinked at me. “My King, Teo told us of the mistake with the humans. Your true mate is on a farm, is she not?”

  I shook my head in irritation. “I mean, what is Galan doing with the human?”

  “I do not know,” Faro said. “Perhaps he is trying to convince her to mate with him?”

  The burning intensified and Faro took a step back in the hallway as my skin darkened to a forest green. I was suddenly filled with a rage so great, I was nearly blinded by it. I turned and stalked away. I was at the far end of the palace and it took me nearly twenty minutes before I reached her quarters. I tore open the door and stomped inside, ready to tear Galan off the little human.