“What do you mean?”
“We landed on Earth in the past as well.”
“I don’t understand. You’re here now. Present day.”
“Close but not quite,” he said gleefully. “Shadow was able to intercept the High Council communications on the day of the bombardment and, by piecing together the time signatures from the Castaway, determined that we landed on Earth an hour before we’d left ’Topia.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means the consortium believes we all died in the bombardment. It means no ship came after us and followed us into jump space. The consortium isn’t searching for us.”
“So you’re free?”
“As free as we can be. We still need to keep quiet about who we are, where we’re from. We don’t want aliens returning to their home worlds and talking about ’Topians on Earth. If the consortium were to hear that…” He shook his head. “The Intergalactic Dating Agency is going to provide all of us with alternate identities. As soon as that comes through, we’ll be able to live openly. Earth is our home now.”
“Everybody is staying?”
He nodded. “Tigre, Psy, Wingman, and Inferno plan to remain on Earth. Shadow is undecided, but he has options now.” There were several Vaporians among Mysk’s people, so Shadow might be able to find a mate.
“That’s wonderful!” Her face lit up, and she launched herself into his arms. He caught her. Now he could always be there to catch her. “I’m so happy,” she said.
Their lips fused, and he kissed her the way a man kisses the mate with whom he could spend forever. Joy, gratitude, and desire crested. She curled up on his lap, and he caressed her, discovering her body all over again because this time she belonged to him. This time there was no specter of departure hanging over his head.
Lavender infused his senses. He nuzzled her neck. “Did I ever tell you how much I like lavender?” he murmured.
She giggled. “You, too?”
When she whispered they should move to the bedroom, he needed no further encouragement. He scooped her up and shouldered his way to the other room.
Clothing, like their doubts, old guilt, and sorrows, fell away, and body and feelings were laid bare. “I never dared to hope I would ever find my mate,” Chameleon said.
“Neither did I.” She pressed her naked body against him and wound her arms around his neck. “I love you so much,” she said.
“Let me show you how much I love you.” He lowered her onto the bed and did just that.
* * * *
Thank you for reading Chameleon (Alien Castaways 1). As you probably guessed, Chameleon’s fellow castaways will each get their own book! Wingman is next. Read on for an excerpt…
* * * *
Wingman
Alien Castaways 2 (Intergalactic Dating Agency)
Chapter One
“If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands. If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands…” A dented white van crept down Silver Avenue for the third time, playing a tinny tune over and over.
“Stop! Stop!” A human girl child raced out of a fenced yard.
The vehicle rolled along, its driver oblivious.
“Wait!” She ran down the cracked sidewalk. “Wait!”
At the end of the block, the driver must have noticed her because the vehicle pulled to the curb and waited. In her haste, the little girl dropped a handful of coins. She snatched them up and took off running again.
Earth culture fascinated Wingman; everything was so alien. Through observation of humans, he discovered many strange and wondrous things—some not so wonderful things, too, but the good outweighed the bad. Curious about the van and what the child wanted so much, he tucked his wings against his body and moved closer. It had rained all week, but today the sun shone bright and warm, causing him to perspire under the concealing cape.
This was one of his rare daytime forays. Usually he ventured out at night when he’d be less visible, but this morning he’d awakened from another bad dream. The helplessness engendered by the nightmare had lingered, so he’d sought some exercise to shake off the emotions. He’d decided to visit Argent, a small town tucked between Lake Coeur d’Alene to the south and Lake Pend Oreille to the north. It had taken less than five minutes to stroll the main street running through town, so he’d expanded his exploration to the surrounding neighborhood.
He and his fellow ’Topians could go out into public now. Yesterday they had received new alien ID cards through the Intergalactic Dating Agency. He’d been assigned an alias and a new planet of origin. It was unlikely the High Council would search Earth for them, but you couldn’t be too careful when the Xeno Consortium wanted you dead.
With their safety as close to assured as it could be, he and the other castaways figured they could begin assimilating into the native population. No one on Earth had wings, though, and he felt conspicuous.
The little girl caught up with the truck.
An odd prescience urged him to duck behind a weathered wooden fence and observe through the cracks.
A man wearing a ball cap with the brim backward leaned out the window. A straggly long beard and sunglasses hid his face. “Well, hello, honey! I didn’t see you there for a minute! What can I get you?”
“Do you have orange push-ups?”
“You bet I do!”
He ducked inside before emerging with a colorful tubular object. “Here you go.”
“Thank you.” She placed her coins into his outstretched palm.
In pulling his arm back inside, he bumped the window, dropping the money onto the street. “Oopsie!”
“I’ll get it!” The girl knelt and retrieved the coins.
The man jumped out of the vehicle. “You live around here?”
“That way.” She pointed with her push-up and handed him the money.
He slipped the coins into the pocket of his jeans. “How about I give you a ride back to your house?” His ingratiating smile caused Wingman’s feathers to sharpen.
She shook her head. “I’d get in trouble. I’m not allowed to accept rides from strangers. Mom’s gonna be mad anyway if she finds out I left the house to get ice cream.”
“Maybe she won’t need to know…if I get you home right away.” He slid a panel open on the van. Hop in. You’ll be home in two seconds.”
“No...I can’t.” She backed away.
He grabbed her wrist. “You need to come with me.” The push-up fell to the sidewalk, and he kicked it into the street.
“Stop it! Let me go!” She hit at him with her tiny fists.
He clapped a hand over her mouth, picked up her thrashing body, and swung around to the van.
“No!” Wingman roared. His cape fell away as his wings unfurled. He leaped into the air, flying across the distance to land between the man and the open door.
“Who the hell are you?” The dagger and gun tattooed on the man’s neck suggested he considered himself some sort of badass, but he had no idea who he was about to deal with.
“Let the girl go.” Feathers sharpened to gleaming points. He hated to dismember the man in front of the child, but he couldn’t allow him to take her.