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Lili felt sure they were Kindred for several reasons—first, the one on the left was at least seven feet tall. The one standing beside him was even taller and both were extremely muscular. Second, their skin was a kind of golden purple.
The taller one on the right had black hair and wore a strange kind of jacket that left only one arm bare, showing a muscular bicep tattooed with curving, golden lines. The sleeve on the other side had a metallic glint to it.
The Kindred on the left, who had silver hair, was wearing a long-sleeved uniform shirt that was black. Both of them were wearing tight black trousers and tall black boots. She could only see the side of their faces, but they both had strong, angular features and the dark one had a beard.
Only aliens would have that skin color, she thought. And only Kindred warriors would be that size. They must be down here on leave from the Mother Ship, which orbited the Earth’s moon for some reason.
Lili trusted the Kindred. She had met several of them at her best friend’s wedding and she knew that no matter how big and imposing the alien warriors might look, they were extremely protective of women. As a race that was ninety-five percent male, they believed that female lives were precious. They also worshipped a Goddess who was served exclusively by priestesses. So even though Lili didn’t know the big warriors standing in line to get into the club, she was almost sure they would help her.
Turning her head again, she saw that the man from the bar had gotten through the drunken crowd and was gaining on her. The nasty look on his face said he intended to finish what he had started in the alley.
There was no time to lose—her heart pounding in her throat, Lili ran towards the Kindred. She just hoped they would be willing to keep her safe. If not, she didn’t know what she was going to do!
2
LIGHT
“Please pretend you’re my boyfriend!”
Treads Lightly looked down in mild surprise at the human female clinging to his arm. She was a tiny little thing—despite the impractically high heels strapped to her feet, the top of her head didn’t even come up to his shoulder.
She had a full, curvy, Elite figure which was pleasing to look at, though Light had learned that most human males didn’t think so. For some reason, they preferred women who were extremely thin, which was much less aesthetically pleasing, at least in his estimation.
“What is it?” His twin brother, Fights Darkness, looked around him to see what was going on.
“I don’t know—this little Elite seems distressed.” Light felt his heart contract at the idea. He had only had his emotion damper removed a short while ago, but he was already feeling many things he never had before. Seeing the little human female looking so anxious troubled him in a way it never would have before he had the device taken out of his neck.
“Please help me!” the little female pleaded again. “If you pretend you’re my boyfriend, he might leave me alone!”
She had big brown eyes and tousled, golden-brown hair that tumbled around her shoulders in loose waves. She also had those tiny spots of pigment that humans called “feckles” dotted over her petite nose—at least, that was what Light thought they were called.
But it wasn’t her appearance—pleasing though it might be—that attracted Light’s attention—it was the fear in her big brown eyes. As Dark Kindred whose DNA was part Ash’anti, he and his brother had been raised without emotions, so Light had never felt fear himself. But he knew the signs of it—the way the girl was trembling and clinging to him and the way her eyes widened in distress as she looked up at him made her emotions clear. Also, the sharp scent of her terror filled his nose.
“What’s wrong? How can we help you?” He leaned down to get closer to her.
“There’s a man—he followed me from my hotel and grabbed me in the alley. I barely got away from him. Please—he’s coming right now!”
She cast a glance over her shoulder and then clutched his arm even harder, her sharp little nails digging into his flesh.
Light turned and scanned the street behind them. Sure enough, he saw a human male coming towards them. His eyes were narrowed and his mouth was curved downwards in an ugly sneer. Those were the signs of another emotion Light had never experienced—anger. Also, possibly the intent to harm—the human’s hands were clenched into fists at his sides and his shoulders were bunched with tension.
He looks like he wants to hurt her—to break her bones or violate her!
Light had heard that human males did such things to human females. As a Kindred, the idea of hurting a woman was incomprehensible to him. Though for most of his life, he’d had almost no emotional responses himself, the idea of harming a female brought with it a strong visceral reaction he found difficult to name—possibly disgust? Anger? Protectiveness?
It was hard to say since he and his brother had never experienced such feelings before—or really any feelings—while they were living on Zeaga Four, the Dark Kindred home world. That was because emotions were disallowed there and punishable by death. There were even special canine units called “Sniffers” who were able to smell any kind of feelings coming from a person—the same way Light could smell the little female’s terror.
As he watched the human man coming for the little female who was clinging to his arm, a strange sensation filled his chest. Light couldn’t put a name to it but it made him want to put the little female between himself and his brother and keep her safe—or else fight to keep the other male from touching her.
“It’s all right,” he told the little female, wrapping an arm securely around her waist. “Dark and I won’t let him harm you.”
“No, we fucking won’t,” Dark said. He was a male of few words, but now he took a step closer, closing ranks with Light and keeping the small female safely between them. He shot the human man a cold look through the retractable scope that covered one eye and put his arm around the girl’s trembling shoulders.
“Thank you—both of you!” She nestled between them, but kept an eye out over her shoulder.
Light kept an eye on the human male as well. When he saw Light and Dark put their arms around her, he muttered something that sounded like a curse and the angry scowl on his face deepened to a look of furious frustration. He almost looked like he might come try to take the female away from them!
That would be a mistake on his part, Light thought grimly. He and his brother not only had Kindred size and strength, Dark also had a bio-mechanical arm which was capable of punching through plasti-steel or concrete. And Light had legs that were engineered to enable him to leap twenty feet in the air and land safely—or kick his way through a brick wall.
