“Faye?” He leaned toward me to get a closer look but then seemed crushed when he realized I was not who he was looking for.
I backed up, thinking about sprinting to the back door. Strong arms came around me.
I flailed and kicked, bringing the poker down. “Oof.” The man who had grabbed me moaned and fell forward.
“Oh God, Sam! I’m so sorry, but you scared me!”
“My fault.” He rubbed his shin as he straightened. “I see you met my brother.”
“Your brother?” I looked between the two men. “Twins?”
“Something like that.” Sam stepped forward so he was between his brother and me. His demeanor had changed from the soft lover I’d just been canoodling with to a cold and rigid solider. He strode to his brother and tossed a blanket at him. “Cover yourself.”
I continued to gape at the fact that there were now two of the most beautiful people . . . erm, men . . . or whatever, in my living room. Things were coming up Anna after all.
“Anna, this is my brother. You’ve been calling him Marv. Marv,”—he emphasized the name with some sarcasm—“this is Anna. My Anna. We are mated.”
“Wait, what? Marv, as in my grandmother’s llama?” I asked, realizing belatedly he’d said we were mated. That was the second time he’d mentioned that. But one can’t mate with a different species. Maybe mate didn’t mean the same thing to him. And yet, the thought of carrying the next generation of his kind didn’t terrify me like forgetting my pill in college used to. A warmth spread through me. I lowered a hand to my abdomen and was bombarded with visions of little boys and girls with ice blue eyes and dark hair.
That was weird.
I shook my head and focused on the fighting brothers.
“Yes. You see, my brother has been parading around this planet while my sister and I scoured the universes looking for him.” He spit the words at his brother. Marv. The llama. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve been looking for you? How could you be so . . .”
“I found her.” Marv’s rich voice broke. “I found her, and they took her away.” He collapsed forward and Sam caught him.
“Shit.” Sam brought his brother to the couch. “When? How?”
Marv shook his head back and forth. “I’m not sure about how long. I have been trapped in that miserable form for who knows how long.”
“This is not good.” Sam ran a hand down his face.
“Audrey too,” Marv said.
I blinked back at my former llama. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I mumbled to myself, wondering how many times I got naked or picked my nose in front of what I had thought was my dog.
“Audrey?” Sam asked.
Marv nodded towards me. “That’s what this one calls our sister.”
“Shit!” Sam stood suddenly to pace. “I knew it. I knew there was something about you both. Fuck. My memory was off. I couldn’t—”
“It’s not just you. Those bastards are messing with us. They have some sort of power. I don’t really know. I just know they can hurt us.”
“Who?” Sam asked. His fists balled and his height seemed to grow; his muscles, too. Waves of anger radiated off him. I should have shrunk back at the sight, but to be honest, my horny brain liked it even more.
“Those Montgomery bastards. They tried to get your Anna. But Audrey interfered. She went after that Charlie prick.”
Poor Audrey.
“Why do they want me?” I asked. “When Charlie and I started dating he’d been nothing like that monster over here today.” As I spoke, the muscles around Sam’s neck bulged and he growled. Sparks shot out of his hands.
I put a hand on him. “Calm down there, big guy. It was never meant to be with Charlie. Not like us.” I placed a soft kiss to his shoulder and he relaxed a little.
Marv looked at his brother confused. “Does she not know?”
Sam looked to me. “Know what?”
A sudden trepidation tingled down my spine.
“Shit, do you not know?” Marv shook his head. “And you were supposed to be the smart one.”
“Just spit it out, you cranky shit,” Sam said.
“Didn’t you think it was a little weird that you bonded with a human?” Marv asked, looking between the two of us.
Sam shifted on his feet, not answering.
“She’s one of us. Or at least partly. That’s why I came to earth to begin with—“
“She’s mine!” Sam roared.
The windows shook in their frames. Marv rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I didn’t come for her. I came for her sister.”
The news dropped like a bomb around me. Shape-shifting aliens. Love across time and space. Secret sisters. There was only so much a gal could take.
I have a sister?
The brothers looked at me. The last thing I remember was Sam’s strong arms around me before the world went black.
16
Sam
“Humans are so weak,” Marv said as I grabbed for Anna.
I growled at him as I lowered her to the floor. I brushed back her hair and laid her gently on a pillow. “She is the strongest person I’ve ever met.”
“The effects of Gravity are strong in you.” When I glared at him, he tossed up his arms. “I get it. The longer I’m out of . . . animal form,” he grumbled, “the more I’m dying to find Faye. It’s driving me crazy. My brain is still hazy. Whatever power those bastards have it’s strong.”
“And Audrey is chasing after one of them.” Guilt ate at me. I had been delayed in my mission. If I hadn’t had that accident . . . If I hadn’t met Anna . . .
Marv rubbed at his hair. My anger for him melted. I imagined losing Anna now that I had found her. I would go to the ends of the universe for her, or go mad trying.
“What do you need from me?” I asked.
“I need to find her sister and I need to neutralize the Montgomerys.”
“I didn’t know I had a sister,” Anna groaned as she sat back up. “Sorry about all that. Information overload.”
“You are strong, my love. But the human form does have its limitations.” I kissed her softly.
“She is your half-sister, I believe. There is much to catch up on,” Marv explained. “Time is running out. I feel her getting further away.”
“A half-sister,” Anna mumbled, staring into space. “And wait just a second. Does this mean my grandparents were aliens? And my father too?”
Marv nodded. “I was notified that there was an outpost way out on this random primitive planet. But almost as soon as I found Faye here with your Grandmother Jean, I was ambushed. Somehow, they knew I had arrived. They knew Jean was hiding Faye and set a trap to end us all. But they only managed to take out your grandfather, which left Jean with little time to find you, Anna, and obviously no time to explain. When our mates die, we are soon to follow. Faye escaped and I was trapped here as Marv.” Marv rubbed at his chest with a frown. “As far as I can tell, the powers are only potent in proximity. So that tells me—”
“Audrey and Charlie are not close,” I finished, my worry growing.