Runaway Renegade (Ultimate Passage Book 4) Read Free

shows on their television networks about aliens. She knew that’s what she was to them. An alien. Ugh. She hated that word.
    She’d never had sex or even masturbated on Kormia. Asazi had no sex drive. Not on Kormia. When she’d arrived in America, things went haywire. Her sexual desires were off the charts, but other than one sexual experience with Finn, she’d remained untouched. Ali could not afford to be discovered; not on Kormia, and not on Earth, either.
    No sex meant she could have no relationships—at least not the kind that would lead to sex. So she had friendships, and if she needed sexual release, she self-satisfied.
    Ali sighed, remembering her first and only experience. One she regretted. She should not have seduced Finn. He was in love with another woman, and seducing him while he was asleep left Ali feeling ashamed. She’d violated their friendship when she did that. No amount of sexual curiosity or desire justified what she’d done to him. And she had been a bitch to his woman, Marissa.
    She pushed the memories away. They were easier to deal with by not thinking about them.

3
    T hane would have said thank god the meeting was over, because he was tired of Asia, mountaintops, and Himalayan tea, but he didn’t believe in god. Not the kind of god that humans did. He wondered if he would be considered a god by humans still. Centuries ago, the American natives used to think so. Humans were more sophisticated now in terms of technology, and far less believing in terms of faith.
    “I’m ready to get the hell out of Burma.” Thane took off the customary Brethren robes they all wore to the meetings.
    “It’s Myanmar, now,” Zale said.
    “Who cares? I don’t know how many times I have to keep relearning the new names for old countries. Enough already.” Thane hung the robe in the tiny closet in the room he was assigned to use every time they returned. The room was smaller than the smallest bathroom in Thane’s Los Angeles penthouse apartment. “And Brohm’s fixation with Himalayan tea… really? When does he want to join us in this century? Anyway, no matter what he does or thinks, none of us are going to think the way he does. I’m not interested in emulating his ways.” Thane cocked a brow at Zale. “Are you?”
    “Why would I be?” Zale folded his arms over his chest, his shoulders broad, his dark scales shimmering. Beneath the robe, Zale’s wings moved, making waves in the fabric.
    Zale was there to say goodbye. With the meeting over, all of the Brethren would be flying out, taking wing toward their respective countries. Thane was ready to leave Brohm’s home behind.
    “He still creeps me out.” Zale kept his voice low.
    Thane didn’t need Zale to tell him who “he” was. Brohm. Most senior of the Brethren. “Keep your voice down,” Thane advised. If Zale pissed Brohm off, who knew what repercussions Brohm would wreak on him? “I can’t imagine tolerating these meetings without you. Still coming for a visit next month?”
    Zale’s territory was down south. Way south. Argentina. “Looking forward to it. Your grasp on the American idioms and slangs is impressive.” He cast an envious glance at Thane. “I’d be open to a reassignment.”
    “You’re just jealous because I have Los Angeles.” Thane laughed, though he knew better. Zale enjoyed his retreat in Argentina. Zale didn’t mind humans, but he didn’t necessarily seek out their company.
    “I’m out.” Thane opened the window and looked out over the forested greenery below, thousands of feet to the gorge that was thickly treed.
    The monastery was built into the mountain’s unclimbable face, clinging to the rocky, tree-covered surface like a cat clings to a tree’s bark as it scales higher, defying gravity and the odds of falling into the deep gorges below. Brohm had selected his home well. Visitors would have a hard time coming here. As would enemies. Unless they were winged, Thane noted, spreading his own hooked