Sef glimpsed his reflection in the glass behind the bar and for a second didn’t recognize himself. Despite the fact that Sef had left for this mission a few days ago, he still hadn’t gotten used to how his looks had changed for this mission. Like all Krinar, he had brown eyes and brown hair, though his was a little more russet, a color unique to his family and their region of their planet, Krina. But for this mission he had been given contact lenses and a hair treatment to turn his hair a golden blond.

  Humans wouldn’t suspect him to be Krinar so long as he kept his super-strength and increased speed hidden from them. That was why striking that bastard who’d hit Harper tonight had been so dangerous. Sef had almost blown his cover just by punching him. But after seeing Harper hit, he’d nearly lost his mind.

  There was something about her that called to him and played upon his protective instincts. He didn’t like the way just looking at her made his blood hum and his body ache for dark pleasures. Already he wanted to sink his teeth into her neck and taste her blood. The high it would give them both would be unbelievable. But he had to hold back. He needed to stay undercover, and the last thing he needed was to perpetuate the rumors that Ks were blood drinkers. They were, of course, but his people wished to keep that quiet for now.

  Sef spent the next two hours helping Jessie and Neil manage the bar before it was finally closing time. Harper’s face was still a nasty shade of red, and he examined it while Neil cleaned the bar and Jessie tidied up the tables.

  “I’m fine.” She blushed and tried to push his hand away. He didn’t like it when she pulled away from him, but given his height and build, it was understandable that a small female like Harper would be wary of him at first. He had no such problems with Krinar females, but at that moment only one female mattered, and she was human.

  “Honey, you aren’t fine. That asshole landed one hell of a blow.” In order to soothe her, Sef slipped into the more casual words and phrases he’d learned. It was one of the many talents that made him such a good guardian for undercover operations.

  Harper winced. “If he hadn’t had all his friends with him, I would’ve taken him out.” The conviction of her statement confused him.

  “You would date that man?”

  Now Harper was confused. “No, take out. Beat to a pulp. Taken out on a stretcher.”

  Sef chuckled. “Oh, of course. Adorable and bloodthirsty. Are you trying to drive me crazy?” he muttered.

  “Huh?” Harper blinked and stared at him.

  “Hey, Seth?” Neil called out. “Come meet the bosses.” Neil nodded at the Employees Only door. Two tall human males, almost as tall as him, came out through the door as it swung open. They looked similar to Harper, but where she was small and feminine, they were tall and masculine, decent specimens of human males. Krinar females would be attracted to these two if they ever visited an X-club or a Krinar Center.

  “Mason, Liam,” Neil called out, and pointed at Sef with his thumb. “This guy saved little Harper’s ass a while ago.”

  “I didn’t need saving.” Harper’s adorable grumble went unheard by all but him. The Krinar had heightened senses, including hearing.

  “What happened?” Liam asked. He and Mason came over to Harper by the edge of the bar.

  “Some asshole slapped me,” Harper admitted, shame coloring her tone. “Caught me off guard.”

  Neil finished the story. “Seth here knocked him out cold with one punch and sent his friends packing. They had to carry the guy out.”

  “Jesus, Harper, come get us next time.” Mason tried to look at Harper’s face, but she turned away, annoyed.

  “Hey, thanks, man.” Liam offered a hand. “Seth, was it?”

  Sef took it, then shook Mason’s as well. “Seth Jackson. You’re welcome. No one hits a woman on my watch.” And I would have killed the bastard if there hadn’t been any witnesses, he added silently.

  “What can we do to make it up to you?” Liam offered.

  And this was what made his risky action tonight worthwhile. He had hoped to ingratiate himself to the King brothers somehow, and this was a perfect opportunity.

  “Actually, I’m passing through, but I could use a job. Maybe a recommendation of where to stay? I’ll be around a couple of months.” He hoped the brothers would offer him a way to stay close until he could infiltrate their operation.

  “He was pretty helpful tonight,” Jessie volunteered. “We were down a waitress, and he was great.”

  “Oh?” Liam glanced at Neil and Harper, who both nodded in agreement. “Well…would you like that? We pay a few bucks above minimum wage, and any tips you make are entirely yours.”

  “Thanks. That would be great.” Sef grinned and noticed Harper shoot him a glance. He wished he could read her thoughts. Her expressions were so guarded.

  “We even have a spare room in the apartment next door. Harper lives on the first floor. You could have the room on the second floor if you’re interested. It needs some work, but we would only charge two hundred a month.”

  “Sounds like my lucky day. I can afford that.” Sef could afford whatever he needed, but he was here to play the role of a human drifter, moving from town to town. The King brothers weren’t idiots—it would take time to win their trust and convince them to let him join their movement.

  “Harper, why don’t you get him a bar T-shirt for work and show him the apartment. We can handle the paperwork tomorrow,” Mason suggested.

  Harper blew out a little breath but didn’t argue. “This way.” She led him to a door that connected to the auto shop. There was an office in the small space between the two businesses but it was separated by a door to give it privacy. Harper opened a large cardboard box beside the desk and shot a glance at him, sizing him up.

  “XL, I assume?” she asked before turning back to the box.

  “Yeah.” He stared at her curvy ass as she bent over, and he licked his lips, unable to stop imagining how it would feel to bend her over the table and pound that soft little bottom, listening to her scream his name in pleasure.

  No. Off-limits. Could blow everything.

  She straightened and faced him, holding a King’s Bar T-shirt. He took it and studied the crown logo.

  “King’s, huh? You need a shirt that says Queen’s as well.”

  Harper’s eyes brightened, and she suddenly smiled. “My dad used to call my mom Queenie. She loved that.”

  “Did something happen to them?” he asked.

  He already knew they were dead. During the Great Panic that had followed the day his people had invaded, many humans had died. The chaos had been hard to prevent. Soren, his brother, had done much to quell fears and resistance early on by working with the human president here in the United States, but there was still violence, riots and deaths that had been unavoidable—and very one-sided. Even with the Coexistence Treaty in place, there were still anti-K groups and all the dangers that came with that.

  “They died during the Great Panic. They were on a bridge in their car. Someone blew up the bridge, thinking it would hurt the Ks, but all it did was kill forty-three innocent people, all humans. They were trapped, drowned. They never even found my mother’s body.” Her voice roughened, and she wrapped her arms around herself, as though she needed a hug.

  Sef hated to think that innocent humans had suffered because of them. His people didn’t want to hurt anyone. They wanted to—needed to—live peacefully alongside them, but until humans learned to accept that their world had changed, his people had to retain control.

  And it wasn’t like they had been terribly good custodians before the Krinar had arrived. Between pollution and overpopulation, this world needed their protection in order to survive. Sef’s people needed Earth because their own sun was dying. They had only a few thousand years to make Earth stable before they could bring the rest of the Krinar here. Which meant the humans needed to learn to share. And though they didn’t know it yet, the humans owed their very existence to the Krinar.

  “Thanks for the shirt,” he said. “I’m sorry about your parents.” He paused, holding his breath. “Do you hate them? The Ks, I mean?”

  Harper’s gaze shifted to a distant look, and her mouth hardened.

  “Hate is such a strong word. I don’t hate them. But I want them to leave. They’ve ruined so much, especially here. Middle America is dying. They want us to grow fruits and vegetables, but some people need meat protein in their diets, and not all farmlands have the right soil to be turned from grazing fields into crop-yielding land. Not to mention it’s a bit off-putting being told what to do. Un-American, you might say.”

  Sef smirked at that. Stubbornness was a trait one could apply to this nation.

  “Our way of life was taken away, and we didn’t get any say in how to stay alive. It’s one thing to have lofty ideals and to force people to bend to your will and all that, but if you don’t stop to look at how it impacts others, doesn’t that make you a monster? The Ks were wrong to do what they did. This is our home. We live, fight, and die on this little blue planet. The Ks could go somewhere else if they can’t respect us and our lives here. They have the technology to travel anywhere—I’ve seen it.”

  “You have?” That surprised him. His files on the King family hadn’t suggested she’d encountered any Krinar up close.

  “I mean, not in person, but I’ve seen pictures and videos.” Suddenly Harper’s eyes were bright with excitement. “They’re all close-lipped about what they can do, but FTL, or faster-than-light travel, is no small feat. Plus we know they have special healing devices, and…” She blushed again and cleared her throat. “Sorry, don’t get me started talking about Krinar technology. But I’d give a small fortune to be able to take apart even one of their children’s toys for ten minutes.” She grabbed a set of keys hanging from a hook on the wall and left the office. Sef followed behind, and she led him through the darkened garage and out another door. He wanted to know more about what she thought about Krinar technology, but it was wise to keep his mouth shut.

  “The apartment building connects to the far end of my shop.”

  “Your shop?” He’d assumed her brothers also owned the auto shop. He’d only glanced at her dossier before he’d come here. She wasn’t his target, after all.

  “Yep. Brothers got the bar; I got the garage. I’m good with machines, always have been. Dad let me take over after I graduated high school.”

  “No college?”

  “No—self-taught. So what? Bill Gates never graduated either.” He smelled a faint trace of panic in the air just as he had back in the bar when he’d asked her to give him her notepad. She’d refused. There was something there that bothered him, but he couldn’t figure out what.

  “So, there’s another door outside you can get in if you want.” She opened the door from the auto shop to a stairwell and held up a ring with a green fob. “This key with the green fob opens the outside door to the stairs, and the red fob opens your apartment. It’s that one up there.” She nodded up the stairs. He trailed behind her as she led him to the apartment.

  The room was dark and musty as he searched for a light switch. There was a small kitchen, a bedroom, and a little living room. Adequate, if a bit small for his tastes.

  “I’ll grab some fresh bed linens. We keep the mattress bare until we rent the room.” She went to the linen closet by the bedroom and pulled out some sheets. “I washed these a few days ago. The fridge is empty, but there’s a supermarket just a block away. Only it’s not open right now. Have you had dinner?”

  Sef shook his head. He wasn’t terribly hungry, but if she was offering to cook, he’d be more than happy to accept—to protect his cover, of course.

  “Why don’t you get settled and come down to my apartment when you’re done. I’ll whip something up. I always end up having a late dinner on nights like these.”

  He watched her walk away, unable to deny the sway of her bottom in those jean shorts. When she shut the door behind her, he gave his head a little shake and focused on fixing up his bedding. He then removed a small device from his pocket and sent an encrypted message to Arus, one of his friends, who was also a powerful and influential Krinar. Arus was the one who’d given him this mission.

  Sef: I’ve made contact with the King brothers and have a job at their bar as well as living accommodations nearby. My next goal is to gain their trust and show sympathy toward the resistance.

  A few seconds later, Arus responded.

  Arus: Excellent. We will send a fabricator and jansha healing device now that you have secured lodging. We will send you items to set up localized surveillance of the King properties.

  He sent Arus a thank-you reply and then locked the communication device inside one of the air vents near the front door. Humans tended to look under mattresses and inside bathrooms for hidden items, but never in vents by the entrance. It felt too vulnerable, but that was what made it a perfect hiding spot. It would be only a matter of minutes before a small drone-like device flew here to his apartment to deliver his other requested technology.

  He put the sheets and pillows on the bed and retrieved a couple of thick blankets from the closet. When he got into the bedroom he noticed the window was open and on his bed lay a parcel of small items. The drone had already come and gone in his absence of a mere thirty seconds. After he was done hiding the Krinar technology and laying the blankets on his bed, he went downstairs and knocked on Harper’s door. Even though this was a bad idea, he couldn’t deny the appeal of having the little Earth human all to himself in her living space. The subtle intimacy excited him. Maybe he could steal a kiss. One kiss from a human wouldn’t put his mission in jeopardy, would it?

  Chapter 3

  Why the hell am I so nervous?

  Harper didn’t want to analyze the answer to that question too closely. She opened her apartment door, and Seth stepped inside. She moved back, as he dwarfed her in the doorway. He had to be close to six foot seven. Her head didn’t even come close to the top of his shoulders. She had to admit she liked that, a lot.

  Seth faced her and inhaled deeply. “Smells good.” For a second she thought he was smelling her, and a shiver of delight rippled through her despite herself.

  Harper forgot all about the food as she took in the sight of his muscular body. His shoulders strained at the edges of his red plaid button-up shirt, yet he was perfectly proportioned with a trim waist, the kind of waist a woman wanted to wrap her legs around. But that was a dangerous thought. He moved deeper into her apartment with a panther’s grace, and she didn’t doubt his rough-and-tumble side after having watched him deck that asshole earlier tonight.

  “I…thanks.” Harper tried to remember that he was commenting on her food, and she rushed past him back toward the kitchen. She had grilled some chicken breasts on a skillet with oil, lemon, and rosemary and put together a basic salad. She wasn’t a pro, but she had mastered a few recipes to keep her from hitting the fast-food joints too often.

  “Chicken?” Seth leaned his elbows on the tall bar that formed part of her kitchen as he watched her.

  “Yeah. I know the Ks shut down the chicken and beef production plants, but I know a guy. He has free-range chickens, cattle, and goats. He sells eggs and meat products and goat cheese to the local families. That’s not illegal, so the Ks haven’t shown up to stop him.”

  Seth’s eyes glittered, and he chuckled. “A town of rebels? I like it.”

  Harper almost told him he was more right than he realized. She considered telling him about the local resistance, even though she wasn’t a part of it. It was pointless fighting the Ks, causing unrest and more violence. It wasn’t the answer. The Ks weren’t evil—it wasn’t like they were bent on destroying the world. But they hadn’t been forthcoming with their motivations either. Harper wanted to believe that if the humans and the Krinar could just meet and really talk a few things out, it could go a long way. But the Krinar were so secretive. It was hard to trust a race of aliens who wouldn’t talk to you and treated you like misbehaving children.

  She focused on Seth again as she cut the chicken into strips and placed them on top of the salads. He was classically handsome, with a strong jaw and aquiline nose, but his lips were a little too full, making him look sensual rather than statuesque. They looked kissable and tempting. She didn’t want to focus on his eyes because if she did, she would daydream about their deep, rich blue color. Right now they were almost a rich China blue, but earlier she had seen a darker, stormier color in them at the bar when he had defended her.

  “So, Seth. Where are you from?” She kept her tone casual because he was watching her a little too keenly, like a man who was contemplating the risks and rewards of making a move on her. That would be trouble. There was nothing better and in some ways nothing worse than being the sole focus of a gorgeous man.

  “I’m from everywhere. Military brat. Dad was in the army. Can’t seem to shake the travel bug out of my system.” He shot her a half-cocked smile, somewhere between a grin and a sexy smirk, something that always tore a woman between wanting to kiss a man or slap him.

  Damn, this Seth guy was dangerous. She tugged at the neck of her T-shirt, feeling the telltale flush of arousal flare inside her. Why hadn’t she changed into something more attractive?

  No. Bad Harper. You can’t sleep with him, so there’s no reason to dress up.

  “Army, huh? How about your mom?”

  “She’s an accountant. My dad’s retired, but she still runs a small office. They live in Boulder now.” Seth picked up the two salad bowls and took them to the already set kitchen table, his body lightly brushing against hers from behind. A flare of excitement and wild heat passed between them, and her breath hitched. “Come and sit,” he said. “I bet you’ve been on your feet all day.” He swept his eyes down her body, pausing on her feet still in her strappy sandals before he met her eyes. Harper sucked in a breath. She could’ve sworn his scorching gaze almost touched her in a tangible caress.

  “Thanks. I am pretty beat,” she admitted. “You want a beer or wine?” She started for the fridge again.

 

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