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Man, that shit in the dining room had fucked him up good.

  After the initial shock, he felt the hands of his fellow Warriors on him, as well as their mates. He had wanted to scream at Cohen to get the hell away from him because the guy was rolling in sadness and despair. He hadn’t needed the healing Cohen was trying to give him; he just needed everyone to get the hell away.

  His body had convulsed, and there was a moment when he was certain that he wouldn’t survive the onslaught.

  As the pain faded, he had felt her gentle hands on him, and he knew he wanted to be closer. He had eventually found her lap. It was a solace he relished.

  That simple trick she had taught him rocked. Just fucking rocked. There was hope that he wouldn’t need to get a lobotomy, move to an island, or go certifiably crazy. Maybe he could learn to deal with this curse. Gift. Whatever. Anyway, Liberty had given him a little hope.

  He smiled as he rinsed the shampoo. Liberty. Sweet little Liberty who had full control over the gift that brought him to his knees. Well, actually, put him flat on his back.

  Those little ringlet curls reminded him of that girl who starred in the old movie Annie, except, of course, Liberty’s curls were brown. She had an innocent face as well, but it was her demeanor that really gave away her pure soul. Really, she didn’t have a clue about much of anything.

  His thoughts wandered to seeing her in the pool the previous day, her small breasts cresting the water, her slim figure floating in a cross formation as if she were offering herself up to the heavens.

  Looking down at his hips, he watched as his sex came to life.

  Huh.

  It had been a long time since he had sex. About twenty years, if he remembered correctly. A blink of an eye for him, yet a quarter of a lifetime for some human. He tried very hard to not even think about sex since he couldn’t get any with his gift being out of control.

  He closed his eyes. Thinking about Liberty in a sexual way felt wrong. She was innocent and pure, and then there was that little ditty of her being Noah’s sister. On SR44, she wouldn’t have been considered a relative to him, just a servant to the family. However, they weren’t on SR44, and they never would be again. So when in Rome . . . yeah, she was Noah’s half-sister. Even though Noah had known his sister, or half sister, for less than three hours, Jovan knew that Noah would embrace the traditions of Earth and accept her as his sister. Jovan also knew that Noah would be very protective of her. It was how all SR44 males were built: to protect their mates and their family. It was something that they couldn’t control.

  Unfortunately, those thoughts didn’t stop a little fantasy from developing. He imagined Liberty as a stripper twirling around a pole eyeing him seductively, her eyes glowing pink.

  “Fuck.”

  It was interesting circumstances. Sure, Jovan liked being with human females before his so-called gift started ruining his life, but that cute, little thing who was so engrossed by the TV was an SR44 female in a very nice human form.

  And one who had been born into servitude, which meant that she hadn’t lived a life—her life had been dedicated to someone else. Now she resided on Earth, and everything was new. She was like a child experiencing everything for the first time, her innocence and vulnerability . . . he was definitely the last thing she needed. Yes, he was learning to get a hold of his gift—fucking curse—and she was his teacher, but you didn’t get hot for teacher.

  Then there was the whole servitude thing. She needed to learn to live her life, and he was not the babysitter or the coach she needed.

  Well, that little pep talk did nothing for the hard shaft jutting from his hips.

  Seeing that it wasn’t going away, he grabbed the soap and lathered his hands and ran one up and down the length.

  As his fantasy continued—Liberty slowly pulling the apron string to her French maid outfit—he heard the door open.

  Glancing over, he couldn’t see her.

  “Jovan!” she said excitedly, coming toward him, “they actually have whole sections of the TV dedicated to the life on Earth, and another one focused on the government!”

  He turned his back to her as she came into view, her form blurry through the beveled glass. She really didn’t need to see what he had going on.

  “Really?”

  “Yes. I’m learning so much of the animals. They are truly amazing creatures . . .”

  Jovan noticed her words trailing off, and turned his head to look over his shoulder. “Liberty,” he said quietly, “I’m not trying to beat up on you, but you can’t just walk in on someone when they’re showering.”

  There was a moment of silence, and then she said, “But of course. My apologies, Jovan. I’m terribly sorry. Please forgive my intrusion.”

  He heard the door shut and looked down at his flaccid sex.

  It was so not ha-ha funny how he could conjure up a fantasy of Liberty as something she was not, but the real thing made him deflate faster than a flat tire on a freeway.

  Chapter 17

  Liberty stared at the TV, studying the lions, but her mind was on Jovan. Even through the beveled glass she could see that his body was so much different than hers. She had noticed that male and female bodies were not the same, but she hadn’t thought beyond the apparent height, broad shoulders, and Jovan’s flat chest against the small bumps of her own.

  Even tonight through the beveled glass she had seen the difference of the sexes, and she couldn’t stop thinking about it. Humans were so vastly different than SR44 beings. If a male and female SR44ian were to stand next to each other, one could not tell the difference.

  She had seen him fisting his sexual organ, and she noticed the length and girth of it, where on her human body, there was none.

  A strange sensation came over her, and her stomached ached a bit.

  Minutes later, Jovan came out of the bath, a towel wrapped around his waist. He met her eyes briefly and said, “I just need to get some clothes.”

  She watched as he rummaged through the drawers and came up with fabrics made up of squares in the colors of blue and green.

  As he returned to the bathroom, she watched the muscles in his shoulders and back roll with each step. His back also had a picture of a skull with a red knife going through the eye socket. She had seen others with pictures on their skin at the club where she had worked. The picture on Jovan’s back should have been frightening, but it wasn’t. In fact, she decided she liked it, and her stomach ached a little more.

  Sighing, she grabbed the remote and switched off the TV. She snuggled down into the crisp sheets and closed her eyes, hoping she wasn’t getting ill.

  Minutes later she felt the mattress dip, and she opened her eyes. Jovan sat on the bed looking at her.

  “You can’t sleep here, Liberty,” he said, crossing his arms over his smooth, bare chest.

  “I do believe—”

  “No, Liberty. You can’t. There’s a whole list of reasons why this is a bad idea, with the top of the list being that you are Noah’s half-sister. I’m not going to be caught in bed with you. Noah would beat me to a pulp.”

  Liberty studied him. His wet hair hung in strands down to his shoulders, his green eyes glowing. She wasn’t the Warrior Noah’s sister. She had been born into servitude of his family, and she told Jovan this.

  “It doesn’t work that way on Earth, Liberty. On Earth, you’re his half-sister, and since you’re here, you might as well play by the rules.”

  Liberty nodded, both surprised and excited that if what Jovan said was true and Noah would accept it, she did indeed have family here. But that didn’t change the circumstances of the current situation.

  “Jovan, I can’t take my leave.”

  “Liberty, you have to.”

  She sighed and closed her eyes.

  “Oh my God,” Jovan said, grabbing his head. “What the fuck?”

  She watched him sink to his knees, saying words that she believed would be described as curse words.

  After a moment, she closed h
er eyes again. Jovan breathed heavily and slowly came back up to sit on the bed.

  “What the hell just happened?” he asked. “I felt like I was being crushed by emotions again.”

  Liberty nodded. “Jovan, I do need to stay here, because I am protecting you from the onslaught.”

  He simply stared at her while trying to catch his breath.

  “We have a lot of work to do for you to learn to master your gift, Jovan. If you wish, we can start now as I’m not very tired.”

  Chapter 18

  Jovan and Liberty spent two days holed up in the quarters while Jovan learned the techniques needed to control his gift. Jovan had called Noah and explained what was going on, and Noah agreed to leave them to their work.

  “Why the hell didn’t you tell anyone your gift was steamrolling you?”

  Jovan shrugged. “What was I supposed to say? Tell everyone to quit feeling anything? Nothing could have been done about it, except me going into total solitude.”

  There was silence on the other end, and then Noah said in a hard voice, “You know, that’s my sister, Jovan.”

  “I’m aware of that,” Jovan said as he watched Liberty flip through the channels again.

  “It’s getting downright incestuous in this place,” Noah grumbled, referring to Abby being Hudson’s daughter, and now Liberty showing up.

  Jovan grunted.

  “Don’t touch my fucking sister, Jovan, or I will beat you into next Thursday. Do you understand me?”

  “Yep. Had no intention of touching anyone, Noah. Just need to get this thing under control.”

  There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment, and then Noah said, “All right. Call when you want something to eat.”

  Abby and Beverly had brought down food when requested, and Jovan and Liberty had worked tirelessly. In between learning sessions, they had rested, watched TV, and talked. Jovan had given her the rundown on respecting people’s space, especially when there was a bathroom involved. He also told her about everyone in the house, and who was mated to whom.

  “Noah’s mated to Abby, Rayner to Faith, even though they never had a proper ceremony. Hudson and Beverly are an item, and the kid’s name is Killian. From what I understand, Hudson came damn close to losing her during the birth, and some weird shit went down. When you see her and her eyes are glowing a little bit, remember she’s not an SR44 female. She’s human. Well, she's part human. In fact, I'm not really sure what to call her, but for the details, talk to them. And as you know, Cohen and Talin lost their mates on SR44.”

  “Do any of them have special gifts?” Liberty asked.

  Jovan nodded. “Rayner can see spirits caught between life and death.”

  “Oh my word!”

  “Yeah, he’d probably say something a little different, but he feels the same way.”

  “Does anyone else have a gift?”

  “Cohen’s a healer, and a damn good one.”

  “What about the others?”

  “No, nothing like that. Hudson is a beast with a knife, a gun, or his hands. He’s the assassin. I mean, we all will kill a Colonist without a second thought, but Hudson is a magnificent killer, if there is such a thing. Talin is the computer guy.”

  Liberty had told him a little more about her life on SR44. Noah’s father had been a kind male to his servants, but was devastated at the loss of his son and the rest of the Saviors.

  “He felt responsible for your disappearance,” she said. “Although the Royal Council had worked as a group to send you here, he took your not returning as a personal blow.”

  They also recalled the beauty of the planet with its rich forests, golden buildings, and the time of twilight that never ended.

  “Tell me about your trip here,” Jovan said.

  Liberty looked around the room. “Mainly I kept to myself,” she said. “Especially when The Platoon spoke of killing Noah. Everyone was told that I was simply another female who was to be used to ensure our species sustained. My sire assigned me one particular loyal trooper named Annis. She stayed with me at all times.”

  “A female fighter?” Jovan was surprised. He had never heard such a thing. First the servitude, and now this. Shit had changed quite a bit.

  “Yes. As it turned out, we were able to help each other. The human body she was given was defective, and she is blind until the sun goes down. Her SR44 form was a gold color, and when her eyes change she is able to see.”

  “Wow. What happened to her?”

  Liberty’s eyes glistened with tears. “When we landed, she was injured. I tended to her, but when the pandemonium broke loose, she told me to run. I hated leaving her, Jovan, but she insisted, and I was afraid.”

  He had held her hand, trying to comfort her. “We’ll find her, Liberty.”

  “Thank you, Jovan. She was a good friend to me.”

  And they discussed Liberty’s relationship to Noah.

  “I’m afraid he will denounce me as his kin,” she confided in Jovan. “We never would have been considered related on SR44.”

  “I know, Liberty, but Noah’s not going to denounce you. He’s probably taking a few days to wrap his mind around it, but I’m sure he’s going to be fine knowing he’s got a sister.”

  “I hope you’re right, Jovan. However, I wouldn’t blame him if he held on to the old custom in this situation.”

  At present, they were on the final test, and Liberty lifted her “shield” as Jovan had begun to call it.

  “I feel the pressure of the emotions, but it’s tolerable.”

  Liberty jumped up and down, clapping her hands, then ran across the room, throwing herself at him. He caught her in a bear hug and spun her around, both of them laughing.

  “You did it!” she screeched in his ear.

  He laughed and hugged her close. Over the past two days, his respect for Liberty had grown tenfold, and he found her to be funny and kind. The best part was that he didn’t feel her emotions or hear her thoughts. When they were silent, there was a true silence, and he was alone with his own inner voices. He couldn’t imagine being trapped in a room with another person for two days straight.

  He held on to Liberty a minute longer, then gently set her down. She beamed up at him, and something within him shifted. He realized he wasn’t looking at Liberty as Noah’s half-sister or an SR44 female born into servitude. He was seeing her as she was—sweet, pretty, little Liberty with the laugh of an angel, the one being on Earth who could help him. And he was seeing her for who she was, not some twisted fantasy of her swinging around on a stripper’s pole.

  This was not good. He felt his SR44 male begin to grumble, wanting the female in front of him.

  Taking a step back, he cleared his throat. “Thank you, Liberty,” he said quietly. “Thanks for helping me get a lasso on this thing.”

  “Of course, Jovan,” she said softly. A slight blush crossed her cheeks and she looked away.

  The temperature in the room spiked, and Jovan felt a sexual tension between them spark and crackle.

  No, this was not good at all.

  “I’d better get upstairs and meet with Noah and the others,” he said, stepping around her. Yes, it was time to get the fuck out of here before he did something stupid.

  As he waited for the elevator, he heard the door to the quarters shut, and Liberty came to stand next to him.

  “You can’t go with me to the meeting, Liberty,” he said, looking down at her.

  She met his eyes. “I had no intention of going with you, Jovan. Am I not free to move about this dwelling by myself?”

  He heard the challenge and indignation in her voice, and he liked it. Over the past two days, the subservient Liberty was starting to be replaced by this little female who was looking at him like she dared him to tell her to stay, and she would rain down the consequences of the wrong answer.

  “Of course. My apologies.”

  As they stepped into the elevator together, Jovan felt the small space getting smaller. Out of t
he corner of his eye, he watched her look up at the numbers lighting up above. Dressed in a pair of jeans he had bought her and a pink t-shirt she had borrowed from Faith, she looked troubled.

  “Penny for your thoughts,” Jovan said. Not that he should care, but he did.

  “I’m sorry?”

  “Penny for your thoughts. It means I want to know what you’re thinking.”

  A sly grin played on her lips. “Oh, Jovan, it will cost you much more than a penny. Thoughts are precious and shouldn’t be sold so cheaply.”

  Chapter 19

  Liberty had just sat down at the small, wooden kitchen table with Beverly and her adorable son, Killian, who sucked on a bottle while sitting in his little chair. The Warrior Hudson bustled about the shiny silver appliances in the kitchen fixing dinner while making small talk with Liberty, and going over to kiss Beverly or coo over his baby every few minutes.

  It was difficult for her to remember that he held the stature of Warrior, but still insisted on cooking for those in this dwelling. He obviously did it because he loved it, and he cared deeply for those he served.

  “So what do you like to eat, Liberty?” he asked.

  She thought of the ninety-nine-cent tacos and the macaroni and cheese, as well as the other meals she had eaten over the past two days. She was pretty certain she could never eat another taco, but the macaroni and cheese had been her favorite by far. Hudson blanched as she told him.

  Beverly laughed. “I think Hudson has just taken it upon himself to cleanse your palate, Liberty.”

  “I don’t understand, Beverly.”

  “He’s going to make sure that you upgrade your taste in food.”

  Liberty nodded and smiled. “Very well, Hudson. I have heard the saying ‘I will be your guinea pig’ on the TV, and I believe in this case I am using it correctly, am I not?”

  Hudson laughed. “You most certainly are, Liberty, and I’m damn glad to hear it.”

  They chatted another minute, and Noah came into the kitchen, his focus on Liberty. “Can I talk to you a second?” he asked.

  “Of course,” she said, feeling nervous and unable to meet his eyes. Her stomach bounced around as she followed Noah.