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Chapter One
Nova forced her face into a frown. Not that it needed much effort, everything about the situation pissed her off anyway. But she wanted to make sure the people looking at her would assume she didn’t want to be there.
“With this string, you are bonded together forever,” the old guy in the fancy robe said.
“Forever,” Altair repeated. He looked at her with such intensity, she was having a hard time making eye contact. It wasn’t a passionate look. He remained guarded. It was hard to tell what he was thinking. His large hand held hers in a firm, warm grip that had her heart beating just a little faster from realizing first-hand just how much stronger he was than her.
He didn’t look particularly happy either, which was strange because she’d been told this was supposed to be the happiest day of his life. Maybe he was annoyed by the fact that almost no one had shown up to watch him get married. They could hear the roar of cheers coming from the room next door where another wedding ceremony was taking place, where the other women had been taken. By contrast, the people sitting in this room looked bored. Rich. But bored.
She looked Altair over, trying not to make it obvious. He was good looking, with strong features and broad shoulders. Kemp Dougal, his grandfather, was the leader of the Mudden clan and the most powerful man on the planet. Yet Altair wore nothing to indicate his status. But he did hold his chin up like he thought he was above the rest of them.
The old man raised his arms out like he wanted to hug the world. “Welcome, Meghan, to the Mudden clan.”
The few people in the room clapped politely.
Meghan.
That was the name of the woman whose identity she’d stolen. Not that the real Meghan was going to mind. Nova had saved her from being kidnapped and forced to marry a stranger.
If she believed Elizabeth, the woman who’d hired her to come here, the Mudden government used an algorithm to find their men perfect matches. In that case, Nova had also deprived Meghan of meeting her perfect match. But looking at Altair’s smug face, she had a hard time feeling sorry about that.
“You may come up to congratulate Altair and Meghan,” the old man said.
Altair smiled thinly as he removed the string from around their hands and turned to the people who’d lined up to shake his hand, turning his back to her, just assuming that she would follow.
No asking how I’m doing after being drugged and kidnapped?
Well, she’d been drugged. It wasn’t technically kidnapping when she’d consented, but he didn’t know that. The way he treated her spoke volumes to the kind of man he must be.
She crossed her arms over her chest turning her glare to the people coming up to them. No one forced her to shake hands, instead they smiled at her, gave their congratulations, and left.
A man in his fifties wearing a vest embroidered with gold threads came up to shake Altair’s hand. It was meant to be a friendly gesture but his smile had no love in it.
“Meghan,” Altair said, addressing her for the first time. “This is my uncle Devon.”
“Welcome to the Dougal Family,” Devon said, extending his hand out to her.
Devon, that was the son that Kemp had chosen as heir, passing over Altair’s father. Nova shook his hand. She didn’t have much choice. The way he looked at her suggested that if she didn’t, she might be thrown in jail.
After him came a small woman who introduced herself as Lauren, his wife. Nova shook her hand too.
“Nice to meet you, Meghan,” Lauren said with a more genuine smile than her husband’s. “I’d love to have a chat with you.”
Nova knew all about “the talk.”
“You can stay here,” Altair said. “We’ll go out in the hall.” He followed Devon and left the room. Nova found herself alone with tiny Lauren. If she were a real kidnap victim, this would have been her chance to run. But she was here to spy on Altair, so she crossed her arms over her chest in a suitable appearance of rebellion and waited for Lauren to speak.
“I’m here to explain to you why you were brought to the planet Mudden,” Lauren said, taking a seat on one of the chairs that had been left on the stage from a previous event.
Nova knew the spiel but pretended to be interested. The men living on the planet Mudden could only have male children and no one knew why.Blah, blah, blah.They kidnapped women from other worlds to survive. An algorithm told them if the women were a match to a Mudden man seeking a bride.Blah, blah, blah.All women on Mudden had been kidnapped at some point and never allowed to leave.
“An algorithm?” she asked so Lauren would know she was listening.
“Yes. It is extremely advanced and accurate. Mudden couples experience high marriage satisfaction. There are no divorces on Mudden.”
“Is divorce allowed?” she asked, genuinely curious.
“Well…no. But that’s not the point.”
