Mate Abduction (Alien Abduction #9) - Eve Langlais Page 0,2

you seek, then we could arrange something with the Kulin. They’re almost decent warriors. I could speak to Aylia about an exchange.”

Aylia was another human. Older than Clarabelle and her sisters, she’d been living with the Zonians since she was much younger than they had been on arrival. She’d gone off planet to find a baby daddy and ended up shacking up with him on some planet with a pretty ocean. Even Louisa, the only adult kidnapped with them, had decided to put her future and love in the hands of a pair of bumbling purple idiots.

Two guys, one girl. A decadent alien thing. Clarabelle wasn’t greedy, she’d be content with one fellow, but to find one she needed that ship, which meant saying no to Pantariste’s offer to import some dick.

“Don’t even mention the Kulin.” Clarabelle’s nose wrinkled. “I hate the color purple, and they’re kind of controlling.”

Then there was the fact their sharply filed teeth scared the piss out of her. What if in the throes of passion the purple dude ripped out her throat? She hated that her mind saw them as so different. But she couldn’t help it. She’d not been raised to see aliens as potential boyfriends. She had a hard time imagining herself with someone so different.

“If they are insolent, then you beat it out of them.” Pantariste rolled her eyes and clacked her beak.

“Or maybe, instead, I could find a colony with a bunch of guys. Maybe even human guys,” she added quickly. Without the extra parts or, in the case of the Kulin, missing balls. Was it really asking for much to have a boyfriend with teeth not meant for puncturing or fingers that didn’t end in claws? No tentacles or tails either, just a nice, normal, guy.

“I know of no such place.” Quick and dismissive.

“You haven’t even looked,” Clarabelle exclaimed.

“It is not my task to complete.”

“You’re right; it’s not your task but mine. There has to be somewhere I can find more of my kind.” If she and her sisters ended up Zonia, who was to say other abductees hadn’t clustered in another place?

“As far as I know, the only other humans are on your origin planet, and visiting that galaxy is forbidden.” Because the Zonians were big on following the rules. Meaning no going home to Earth.

Hearing it again didn’t make it easier than the first time. They’d been warned at a young age they could never return. The orphans had seen too much, learned about the wider universe and its many inhabitants. Earth, with its protected status and easily panicked populace, wasn’t ready for the truth.

“I know the rules. I wasn’t planning to go there.” Not at first. She’d have to be sly about her return, or the galactic cops would go after her. “There has to be somewhere else with humans. We can’t be the only ones out here.”

Given the abductions over the centuries, and the way humanity had of multiplying, it seemed logical there’d be a location where they’d flourished. Even if there wasn’t, she wanted to get off this planet. Wanted... something. She’d know it when she found it.

Apparently Pantariste’s seeming acquiescence was but a sham, as she began to hammer Clarabelle. “And if there isn’t a place? What if you cannot find others like yourself? Or let’s say you do find a male, maybe even a few? What if there aren’t enough for all of you? What then?”

“Then we keep looking for more. The universe is huge.” She waved a hand.

“It is, and your kind are rare and fragile. The chance of success is slim.”

“I know that, and yet I won’t give up hope.”

“Never said you should, but there is more than one kind of male compatible with your race.” Pantariste once again reminded her that there were purple dudes and even blue ones that could do the trick.

But Clarabelle wasn’t interested in dating a Smurf.

“Human or not, it doesn’t matter. The fact is there is no one here on Zonia for us. We have to leave to find boyfriends.”

“The universe can be harsh.”

“So can I.” Clarabelle lifted her chin. “Besides, isn’t it you who taught me to fight for what I want?”

“Since when do you obey your lessons?”

A reminder that Clarabelle had been a hard student to teach, stubborn and not only because of her red hair. She’d railed against their strange new life even as she adapted quickly to it. A part of her enjoyed the sparring and the camaraderie that came with