school instead of following in his footsteps as a pilot.”
Sophie laughed.
“That’s the first time I’ve ever heard of a parent being disappointed their kid got into law school!”
“He got over it.” Alli smiled. “And I’m glad he taught me how to fly—piloting a Kindred shuttle isn’t that different from flying an airplane.”
“Well, it’s nice that you don’t always have to look for someone to fly you down when you want to go back to Earth,” Sophie remarked. “And I still think it’s a pretty amazing accomplishment.”
“Thank you.” Alli smiled at her warmly.
One thing she really liked about Sophie—and all the women she’d met aboard the Mother Ship—was how genuine they were. There was no cattiness or petty jealousy among the little circle of friends Sophie had introduced her to. They were women who genuinely cared for and wanted to support each other. Alli appreciated that.
“And thank you again for the klava,” she said, rising and brushing the wrinkles out of her conservative black business skirt. There was no real dress code or corporate culture aboard the Mother Ship, but she liked to look professional.
“Have a safe trip down to Earth,” Sophie told her, smiling.
“Thank you—but I’m not going until I’ve gotten the loose ends on the Kramer case wrapped up tight,” Alli told her.
“Of course. But when you do go, please be careful, Councilor Allisandra.”
There was a worried look in Commander Sylvan’s pale blue eyes that made Alli uneasy. But she wasn’t going to admit it—not to herself, or to him.
“Thank you, Commander Sylvan,” she said formally. And nodding her head at both of them, she left.
She’d spent too much time worrying about the silly dreams, she told herself. Now it was time to get down to work. She could forget about the mirror-eyed man and his hall of shadows if she really tried.
Or so she told herself.
Three
Deep in the heart of his Palace of Shadows, Kane opened his eyes.
So the little one was in another universe, he thought. He had suspected as much. The Earth of his own universe had long been subjugated by the Kru’ell Ones. None of the females from the small, blue-green planet would have dared to speak to him the way Allisandra had.
And none would have dared to meet his eyes, lest they see their own forbidden desires reflected back at them.
Speaking of forbidden desires, Allisandra had so many of them. Kane had read her heart of hearts and what he found made him hungry—hungry to taste her, hungry to possess her, body and soul.
It wouldn’t be long now, he promised himself. He only had to pinpoint her exact location and then use his intra-dimensional wormhole generator to open a rift between her universe and his. After that, it would be only a matter of swooping in and collecting her. And when he brought her back to his Palace of Shadows…
Kane licked his lips, his shaft growing hot and hard between his thighs. Gods, the pleasure he would take in her—the heights of ecstasy he would drive her to! He would take her to the brink of desire and leave her there, dangling, begging for release while he feasted on her need and desperation, her never-ending pleasure…
Already his tongue throbbed, filled with the lust-honey he would use to inject her most sensitive areas. After he did that, she would moan and cry his name—begging him to take her—begging him to make her his.
“But I won’t,” Kane murmured to himself, smiling a little in the darkness. “I won’t give her any fucking release. I’ll just tease her until she cries with frustration and desire. Can’t wait to see those pretty green eyes filled with tears.”
He thought of Allisandra saying that he was only a dream—that he wasn’t real. Thought of the way she believed her life was perfect—all neat and orderly and settled with that fool of a fiancé she believed made her happy. Well, he was coming to unsettle her. Soon, very soon, he would take possession of his reluctant little concubine.
The Kru’ell Ones did not take brides—only a series of concubines from among the human women available to them since they had conquered the Earth. But Kane found them lifeless and boring—the energy they gave off was as dull and gray as the constant clouds that covered the planet’s surface, now that the Kru’ell Ones had terraformed it to their liking. (Too much direct sunlight was painful to eyes that could see into the darkest recesses of another’s soul.)
In contrast, he knew that Allisandra’s