“Not by yourself you’re not,” Faith said.

  “Are you forgetting what we are?” he almost purred, yanking her to his side and licking the side of her neck.

  “Stop it. That means nothing if these are from other worlds you don’t know.”

  “Surne?” Cassidy asked as he and Xfra came back to them.

  “There is no one in the home, but it’s not a home. It looks more like a lab, and I really don’t want you in there, Cassidy. What we found will only make you sick,” Surne said as the home behind them disappeared, shocking the hell out of her.

  “Where did it go? What about, wait, the need? Okay, I don’t understand.”

  “Back up, Cassidy. All of you get away back into the tunnel, please.” As Surne finished speaking, the ground began to shake.

  Malachi tossed her over his shoulder and raced for the tunnel. By the time he put her down inside, everything was spinning. “Don’t move,” he ordered.

  To her great relief, all the others had made it inside as well, but before she could even draw in a breath, some black-gray thing with ten eyes, arms like a squid, and emitting a foul odor rose up from the pit where the house had been. “Okay, I’m never again listening to my inner thing.”

  “You know one of those bubbles you guys talk about putting us in would really be nice about now.” Faith gagged.

  A clear bubble appeared around all four of the women. Cassidy gaped. “Wow, now I can say I was surrounded by a bubble.” But could it protect them from the thing that rose into the air and hovered above them? “You were supposed to come alone, wild thing.” A slimy film seemed to cling to its words.

  “Well, I never did listen too well as a child, and stay out of my damn head.” Brave words, but she was scared out of her effing mind. Surne appeared near her side and at once, Cassidy felt another shield go up around her since it was obvious the other one hadn’t helped.

  “Your mates are strong, but I mean you no harm,” the thing snarled. How had it managed to penetrate Surne’s shield?

  She sighed. “Why does all the weird stuff happen to me. Okay, whatever you are, what do you want me for?”

  “Cassidy,” Malachi warned.

  “What? He can get past Surne’s shield, so we might as well find out what the hell he wants. It’s obvious I’m not going anywhere till this is done.” But oh, how Cassidy wished Surne could have protected her. Once more, his touch was like a cold slime which slid over her whole body as the thing lifted her up into the air, carrying her to him.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Cut the crap, Father, and put my daughter down now,” Cassidy’s mother, Kat said.

  “Mom?” Cassidy squeaked out.

  “Four hundred and sixty-two years ago, I was left here in the care of a couple,” Kat said. “You see, I, too, have two sets of parents, but I haven’t seen my birth parents since I was eight.”

  She went on. “Where I come from, if you are not born with a certain gift, you are discarded like trash on other worlds. I fought this till even my mother agreed with me, but my father did his duty, like every man before him.” She glared at the thing. You have no right to come here and touch my life again. You gave that up.”

  Cassidy wrinkled her nose. “You don’t stink like him, and I don’t, either. Please tell me we don’t look like him?”

  “No, this blob is putting on a show. I won’t say it again, release my daughter now.” Kat glared at the man.

  He lowered Cassidy to the ground, but did not release her. “She must come back with me.”

  “No, her home is here, as mine is. You see, Father, if you had waited longer, you would have seen I had the gift also.” Kat shifted to a pure-white figure. “Go home, and don’t come back. If you even touch my daughter again, I will inform your so-called governing body you are still practicing ancient ways.”

  “No more, Kat,” Reese said, supporting her swaying figure as she shifted back.” It takes too much out of you. Plus, you have to think of the child.” Reese turned to her alien father. “As you can see, your daughter has a new life here where she will always be loved. Do not think for one minute you will come here and split our family.”

  Malachi knew then that Reese had more power than anyone of their world understood.

  “Well, looks like we have two alien beings in our family unit. Maybe for Christmas we can all turn different colors to celebrate the holidays?” she said, and he laughed and placed a kiss on the top of her head.

  “We’ll see, but right now I think we need to get out of this cave. It’s starting to crumble,” Malachi said. “Seth, Alexander, Gordon, move. This cave isn’t going to last much longer.”

  In the blink of an eye, they stood in the hall where the breakfast had been held earlier. But two others stood with them. The man from below, now much more human in appearance, with a woman at his side. Kat gasped and stepped back into Reese’s arms.

  Alexander and Cassidy stepped in front of Kat.

  “This is my home, and you were not invited. I don’t care who you are. You will not hurt my mother.” Cassidy stood, her feet apart, appearing ready to do battle.

  Surne and Xfra floated down in front of them with three others of their kind.

  “Okay, what the hell is going on here?” King Byrne came into the room followed by Cassidy’s brother and sons, plus about fifty guards.

  “I am sorry, King Byrne. I had no idea it was my father who was drawing our daughter to the caves below. I also didn’t understand the warning to her, but it was you, wasn’t it, Mother? You were trying to warn Cassidy away?” Kat asked.

  Cassidy could hear the emotion in Kat’s voice and noticing that her own mother was having a hard time seeing her mother.

  The woman smiled and nodded.

  “You did this, went against me?” raged the man.

  “You have taken sixteen of our children out of my arms. No more. I will not have you interfering with them now that they have loving homes. Go home, Tursa, to your fathers, because our dwelling is gone. I should have done this a long time ago.”

  “You destroyed our home?” Tursa’s form started to shift.

  “Don’t. You have destroyed our home. Never again.” The woman clapped her hands, a single tear sliding down her cheek. “He will not be able to come here again,” she said. “The women of our family will always carry the gifts and the powers that transfer to their mate. It is our choice to who we give these to. I was hoping it was your father, but it wasn’t. I see that now. I guess the heart even gets in the way of our people.”

  The woman glided forward and stopped in front of Malachi. “Well, it would seem we will have a new colony here.”

  “Please explain your comment,” Malachi asked, but before she could reply, three other couples appeared behind the woman.

  Kat stepped forward, frowning. “Why are they here?”

  “Where else would we be when our family is in turmoil. I’m sorry, Melody, about Tursa,” the man said, embracing Kat’s mother. “His family has been warned. If I hear about one incident with them, they will be driven from our colony.” The man was almost white, even his hair, but his eyes were Cassidy’s.

  As the man stepped close to King Byrne, his guards lifted up their weapons. “Put them down,” King Byrne ordered.

  “I am sorry for the intrusion to your city and world. My daughter has tried to protect you as much as she could, but it looks as if our worlds are going to join forces after all. My name is Gak, and the woman standing next to my daughter is my mate Lommie. On our world, as Melody stated, the women always choose the men who will guide them and those around them. It would seem you have such a man. One who is powerful enough to have his own colony here.”

  Once more, all eyes turned to Malachi, and he snarled, “I have no idea why you all keep looking at me.”

  Surne moved to his side and placed his hand on his shoulder. “As I told you earlier, I knew you would be the one to lead our family, but it would seem you are also going to be the leader to a different race here, too.”

  “What? How can that be, when I’m not even like them?”

  “But you will be, soon enough,” Cassidy’s grandmother, Melody said, smiling.

  “This is all too weird, but I do have a question, Gak,” Cassidy said. “Since it is obvious you have even more power than my mate Surne, can you get rid of the vile things that are plaguing this world because I sure would like to relax for a little while. Not have to worry about being taken again, like our daughter was, too.”

  “Oh yeah, if he could get rid of those…” Faith echoed.

  Gak frowned. “I had no idea these things were even here, and the fact they had our family…” Gak glanced at the other two couples. The men bowed and disappeared.

  “By tomorrow, they will be gone from this universe.” Gak glanced at Surne and Xfra. “We’ve met a number of your species. It is good to see you are still alive. So many have died out over the years.”

  The doors to the ballroom opened up and Cara moved into the room. “So, they are going to stay for tonight’s grand event, right? They are family after all?”

  King Byrne shook his head. “As you can see, Cassidy has picked up my mate’s outspokenness.”

  “She isn’t the only one.” Reese looked down at Kat in his arms. “But, right now, I do think she is in shock.”

  Malachi tossed Cassidy over his shoulder. “If you would excuse us, we need to talk.” He moved out of the ballroom with Krill and Surne trailing behind him.

  “You know I didn’t do this, right? I mean how was I to know they were related to me?” Cassidy laughed, trying to lift up, and he swatted her butt.

  “Hush,” Malachi said, needing time to sort this all out. All four of them needed to sort this all out.

  “You know, this time, she is right,” Krill said, but Malachi had heard the laugh in his voice.

  “Krill, don’t you start on me, too,” Malachi growled stepping into Cassidy’s room, and putting her down on one of the sofas. He sat down next to her.

  “Last week, all I had to worry about was taking Reese and Kat to see the king and know I’m going to be some kind of alien king.” Malachi shook his head. “What do you know of this race, and what are they called?”

  Surne and Krill sat opposite them. Cassidy placed her head into Malachi’s lap and pulled the blanket from the back of the sofa over herself.

  “Are you okay?” Malachi asked.

  “I’m just a little cold and have a slight headache. I’m sure it’s all the excitement,” she said.

  “I’m afraid it’s not. May we come in?” Gak’s voice filled his head.

  “Surne, allow Gak in, please,” Malachi said, knowing Surne had put up another shield to protect them. Their connection growing stronger by the minute.

  Gak, Limme, and Melody moved into the room.

  “Cassidy is going into what we call a Xulqin. I’m afraid all four of you will, since it is obvious you are her mates. We will stay here and protect you while you change,” Gak informed him as green covered her body, starting at her feet.

  Krill and Surne were undergoing the same process. “Tursa had wanted to take her away from here, before this could happen. Rest, Malachi, mate to my granddaughter. You will understand a little more when you waken,” Gak said.

  The green stuff as warm as if a live blanket.

  “Going to spank,” he grumbled. Cassidy smiled.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Cassidy stretched and frowned. Her mouth tasted like it had been stuffed with mud or something, and she wasn’t in her bed. Her eyes popped open, and she freaked. Cassidy was in some kind of green thing.

  “Stay calm. The covering will open in a few minutes. You woke early. It took over twenty-four hours to go through the change,” Kat said in her head.

  “Did all of my men go through it, too?”

  “Yes, but they will sleep a little longer since they do not have my blood,” Kat said as the green thing opened up slowly. “Stunning. You were beautiful before, but wow. I have a feeling your mates won’t be able to keep their hands off you now.” She smiled and held out her hand. “Probably need a toothbrush if I’m remembering right.”

  “God yes.” Cassidy placed her hand into her mom’s and jerked it back. “I’m white, like really, really white?”

  “You take after my grandfather, which is also why your man will be a powerful one, because you are the next vessel,” Kat said.

  “Vessel? I don’t like the sound of that,” Cassidy grumbled. “It better not be about having kids.” She allowed her mother to help her out of the thing.

  Everything was bright, and the room felt cold, but her nudity could be causing that.

  “It’s just us. Your mom, Cara, my mom, Melody, and my grandma, Lommie. Your men are in the other room,” Kat told her. “Go take a nice soaking bath. Cara said you always did enjoy them, we’ll speak when you are done.”

  Cassidy went to step forward, but she seemed to glide. Not even moving her feet. “What the hell?” And she fell on her ass.

  “Oops, sorry, should have warned you about that.” He helped her up. “You don’t have to move your legs to get where you want to go, but when you are around others, it is best to do so, as not to draw attention. It will take some time to get used to. There are many things you can do, including flashing somewhere like your Surne does, but our mates can easily take this gift from us if they think it will harm us.”

  “I’m afraid yours is not the only one whose was limited, granddaughter. Over a thousand years, and still Gak refuses to release this hold. Your bath water is ready,” Lommie told her.

  “So cool,” she said. “Maybe if you don’t tell your mates, we can go on trips, just us girls.”

  Cassidy took a moment to brush her teeth and rinse with mouthwash before stepping into the water. “Thank you, Momma.” Cassidy dipped her head under the water before coming back up and taking a deep breath. “Okay, so my skin color is different. We’ll have to figure out a way to explain that to the townspeople. Any other changes?” she asked.

  “The vessel thing I was talking about is for the new colony,” Kat told her. Wait, Grandma, you’d better explain this since I don’t know much about it.”

  “It’s really different. You being the woman of the new leader, will be the mother of your colony as I am with ours. Where your men will be the warriors and the governing body, you will be the heart of this colony. If you thought your men were possessive before, you haven’t seen anything yet. If something happens to you, they die, Cassidy. You are their heart. The air you breathe, you breathe for them. If you are in pain, the whole colony will feel it.”

  “Well, that is going to suck. I mean, come on, giving birth alone would knock some men to their knees.” Cassidy took her sponge and started to wash.

  “At that one time, they will not feel your pain, at least not in full intensity. Oh, they will feel the discomfort and know when each contraction is going on, but nothing like we do. Or you wouldn’t be able to protect your town-colony.”

  “Did we miss this grand party?” she asked, hoping.

  “Not to worry, it has been postponed till Saturday,” Cara said. “By then, the rest of the court will be here and your men’s families also.”

  “How is Nessa doing, and Alexander? Will he go through the change?” Cassidy asked.

  “Only the females. Yes, Alexander has some different abilities, but you carry the legacy,” Lommie said.

  “Hence, big creepy guy wanted me.” She glanced over at Melody, her grandmother. “Where will you go?”

  “I will stay here for your ceremony, but after, I’d like to find my other children. I know where three of Kat’s siblings are, and I plan to visit each of them then I will search for the others.”

  “You know, here on Earth we celebrate Christmas. If these siblings would like to meet their family, you are more than welcome to bring them here. I’m sure my mother would like to meet her siblings as long as they don’t look like that thing earlier.” Cassidy shivered. “Are there really things out there like that, Lommie?”

  “Worse. You think those wormlike things were bad, you haven’t seen the staikul.” Her grandmother shook.

  Her grandfather appeared and wrapped his arms around her. “There is no reason to be thinking of them. They are far from our home.”

  Thankful for the bubbles, Cassidy sank lower into the water. “Um, bath here.”

  To her relief Gak disappeared again.

  “Let’s change the subject,” Melody suggested. “I think we have a few hours before your mates awaken. Would you show me your home up top? I’ve never been here, and I’d love to see it.”

  “Both of you will come?” she asked, climbing out of the tub.

  Cara handed her a towel. “Of course they’ll come. It’s around lunchtime, and you must be hungry. Why don’t we take them to the little café in town? I love their sandwiches.”

  “I haven’t been there in a while. We need to get Nessa, Faith, and Maria to go with us without the others knowing. It would truly be a girl trip,” Cassidy said, wrapping the big towel around her and moving to go into her closet, when Lommie gasped, staring at her back.

  “What? Do I have something creepy on me?” Cassidy asked, trying to look at her back, but frowning.

  “You have markings?” Lommie touched one of the nastier scars on her body.

  “Those were from a long time ago. Where you have those things you said, I have the wormlike things that scare the crap out of me.”

  “But they marked you, a princess. Our society has destroyed races for touching our women.” Lommie looked like she was going to cry.

  Cassidy hugged her. “No crying allowed. It happened a long time ago.”

  “You are truly a very brave woman. Where we are sheltered, you are a fierce one. I’m sorry I scared you,” her grandmother said, hugging her back.