Chapter One

Nine days had completely and totally changed her life forever. Brenda lifted her chin, staring up at the tall alien who was in control of her future, her heart pounding hard in her chest. She was a little afraid but mostly it was nerves. What in the hell is going to happen to me now?

Hyvin Berrr was the leader of an alien planet and looked to be in his late thirties but she knew he was much older than that. Defined muscles under deeply tan skin rippled with his movements as he paced in front of her, his body tense. He wore a shirt with loose pants that barely hid muscular thighs. She was on the planet Zorn and she’d traveled a long way from Earth to reach it.

Zorn males were all over six feet tall, mostly closer to six and a half feet, and they were big all over. He had broad shoulders, a thickly muscled body, and was very physically fit, making her believe they really were a warrior race. He stopped abruptly, turning to face her, and she stared into his beautiful eyes that expressed compassion as they fixed on Brenda.

“I am trying to be fair to you, human.” He growled a little when he spoke in a soft tone. “My warrior who claimed you on your planet is dead now so you are without a male to protect you. His brother has been notified and he has a desire to claim you but he is a week from Zorn. As his brother’s bound he has the right to take you into his home and he is on his way to come for you.” He paused. “I am sorry for Valho’s death.” Pain gripped her as memories flashed through her mind instantly at hearing that name. Brenda had a hell of a fight with Tim, her husband. She’d married the wrong guy but by the time she’d realized it, she was already in a domestic hell nightmare. She had spent four years trying to get out of a marriage on the slow road to utter misery but Tim had broken three restraining orders and finally had bullied her into being too afraid to leave him.

It wasn’t a proud moment in Brenda’s life to admit it was easier to put up with a man’s shit, get pushed around, and be verbally abused than to live in the kind of terror she had when she’d left Tim. She’d realized after she’d filed the first restraining order that he was the type she read about from time to time, the guy who ended up killing the wife who left him and she hadn’t wanted to end up dead.

Nine days ago they’d had a hell of a fight and Tim had lost his temper worse than normal, backhanding Brenda and ripping her shirt where he’d grabbed her, and she’d fled their home in terror for her life, just running into the nearby woods. She’d just needed to get away to think, to formulate some plan to get out of the mess she was in.

She knew she was too good for Tim, too damn smart to end up staying with someone who was that bad, and felt ashamed that she’d let fear keep her in a hellish marriage.

She was trapped, had no money to escape for a new life he couldn’t find her in, and she’d been clueless about what to do to break free.

Valho had found her sitting on a fallen log wiping away her tears with the back of her hand. When the tall, long-haired man wearing black had suddenly appeared, terror had gripped Brenda hard. She stared up at the huge, muscled man thinking her life was over. His features were a little strange with his flatter, unusual nose and scary sharp vampire-like fangs revealed when he’d parted his full lips. He was scary big at six-foot-three with his bodybuilder frame and he had growled instead of spoken words. He’d held something out to her in his large hand at that point.

The fear had eased within a few minutes when the man’s dark brown stare had fixed on hers calmly. She’d torn her gaze from his once she realized he wasn’t going to rape her or attack her, seeing a small rounded object sitting in the palm of his hand.

She’d studied it and then looked up into his calm expression once more, watching as he used his other hand to point at his own ear and then hers. From the gesture she realized he wanted her to put that round little thing in her ear, so she’d taken it cautiously, studying it more intently until she realized it looked similar to a small hearing aid.

Placing it in her ear had changed everything, the small object turned out to be a translator and she could now understand his growling. He’d told her how he was from a planet called Zorn, had come to Earth looking for a woman to bound to and he explained that bound was identical to marriage.

Valho had crouched down in front of her, talking to her, and she’d listened to him and made some decisions. He was really beautiful for a man, big, muscular, but so damn gentle, with the kindest eyes she’d ever seen. Their soft brown depths had made her feel safe, cared for, and three hours later she’d agreed to leave Earth with him. He’d made her a lot of promises, which she’d believed for some reason, and he’d kept them.

He’d never hurt her, never frightened her, never…

She dragged her thoughts back to the present. Valho had been killed on the way to Zorn when the ship they’d been traveling on had been attacked by males from a neighboring planet called Collis. The whys were lost on Brenda and she didn’t really give a damn since that wasn’t going to change the fact that Valho was dead, her life on Earth was gone, and now her future was in the hands of the blue-eyed Zorn leader silently staring down at her.

“I wish I could order you returned to Earth,” Hyvin Berrr said softly. “But as Valho should have informed you there is no going back now that you know of our existence.

Your planet is not as advanced as we are, they don’t have the ability to travel space like we do, but we don’t wish war with your people if they have a problem with some of our males visiting Earth to find and bound with your females. Volder is a good warrior who will come to claim you. Did Valho say anything about his brother?” Brenda shook her head. “No. He just said he had family and that he felt I would like them.”

“Volder lives off world commanding one of our space patrol ships that protect Zorn from alien attacks. It is our way when something happens to one male for a relative to take in the woman.” The man paused. “I told him that he would have to bound to you, which will assure that you will be well cared for and you will be treated with respect.

We don’t abuse our women.”

Her heart squeezed in her chest. “So that’s what is going to happen to me? Valho’s brother is going to marry me? I don’t even know him.” Compassion flared again in the electric blue eyes of the man facing her. “He will give you days to adjust to him before he touches your body to bound with you. You are in grief and it is our way to not rush a woman immediately. I give you my word he will be good to you, human.” He paused. “You will have seven days to grieve your loss of Valho before his brother Volder reaches Zorn to take you into his protection.” She could just nod, knowing she didn’t have a choice about her future. “All right.