Unexpected Read Free Page A

knobbed black stick on the
desk.
    Felix
took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Then what would you like to do?”
    Alisa
glanced from one to the other, unsure how truthful to be. “I’d like to go to
work.”
    The
two men glanced at each other, nearly identical frowns of apparent confusion
creasing their features. “Work? You work?”
    A
spurt of impatience boiled up. “Yes. I work. I have responsibilities. I do
useful things in a timely manner.”
    She
stood and brushed her hands down her sides, wishing instead she could press her
palms against the broad chests of Mikel and Felix and push them out the door
and away from her. Her brain was buzzing with some swirling urgency, impossible
to ignore. She wanted them gone, that was it. That had to be it. With a quick glance at Mak ,
who was watching them with a wary eye, she stepped away from the Alphan males
who’d also risen, standing too close, making her shiver with their imposing
physicality.
    Without
a word of parting, she rushed past them and made her way to the entrance to the
living quarters, an area off limits to any Alphans not on staff. As she trotted down the hall and tried to look forward to her
quiet time in the garden, Alisa couldn’t shake her unsettled feeling. She could
blame it on painful memories but knew that wasn’t the cause of her shaking
hands or disordered thoughts. Something about the intensity of the two men,
their suppressed surety, had her reeling.
    ****
    Mikel
watched Alisa flee, and his stomach ached. Hurt like he’d just taken a gaff
stick to his abdomen. How could she just leave them? Regret welled up. He’d
apparently made an enormous error in his speech, but he couldn’t understand
what. It was a good lesson to be reinforced. He should remain silent and let
Felix do the talking. His bondmate was much more articulate.
    Felix
must have sensed his attention because he turned away from staring at the door
where sweet Alisa had disappeared to look at him, puzzlement clear in his eyes.
“What happened?”
    They’d
been so sure how this encounter would proceed. Once they’d discovered her
identity, both he and Felix had been jubilant. They’d cleaned their quarters,
laid in a stock of food, and requested the next several days off so they’d have
plenty of uninterrupted time to gain an intimate relationship with Alisa. The
realization that she wasn’t waiting for them with her bags packed and a smile
on her face had been a shock, and the fact that she’d simply run off was
devastating.
    “I
said something wrong.”
    “But what? Using the term retrieve might have made her feel like a
package. But otherwise, the connection was there. I felt it like fire in my
blood.” Felix shook his head and leaned against a pillar. Mikel was equally
unsteady on his feet. Had a bondmate ever behaved in such a way? His few
acquaintances who’d managed to gain a female partner had all described the
process as rapid and overwhelming for all parties, not that the men discussed
it in much detail. But it was definitely supposed to involve her wanting them
as much as they wanted her.
    The
crack of wood striking wood interrupted them, and Mikel regarded the old
gatekeeper who’d chaperoned their brief encounter with Alisa. He was wrinkled,
grey, and looked like he knew how to disable an entire platoon of charging
Xyran with some twine and three pebbles. He brandished his crook.
    “Centurions.”
    Both
he and Felix automatically bowed their heads as a gesture of respect for his
elder status. He might not outrank them, but he definitely was in control of
his sphere.
    “What
is your intent in regard to her?”
    Mikel
gulped, as the censure in the old fighter’s eyes was clear. He knew many of the
diplomatic corps dallied with the available human women here. It was a
privilege of rank, and a rare treat for Alphan men to find a female sexual
partner considering the lack of women of their own kind back home. Human women
seemed to find Alphans attractive, or