“Yes. Then that is what it means. You are bound to me, Ariel. I will never give you up.”

“What is Argis?”

“My actual title.”

“And Ral?”

“My name.”

“Should I call you Argis Ral now like everyone else is?”

He grinned. “You are bound to me. You need not call me a title. Ever. When we were captured and taken I ordered my people to drop the title to protect my identity. I was just one Zorn of many.”

“If the Anzons captured you once will they come back to your planet to get you again?”

“No. We were not taken from our home planet. We were taken from another we were visiting. It was our hunting planet. The Anzons made many mistakes with us.

They thought we were not smart enough to deal with technology and they thought we were not worthy to even watch closely. We allowed them to think it. It worked well with us to have good access to escape.”

“What is a hunt planet?”

“My kind vacation on our hunt planet. It is primitive planet without civilization.

The ship that takes us there leaves us for a week. The Anzons thought we were a very basic species with no technology because we don’t allow it on our hunting grounds.

That would ruin the vacation if technology were allowed to poison the planet and the beasts we hunt for sport. The Anzons are seriously learning how they underestimated us now.” He chuckled.

“So they can’t come after us on Zorn?”

Amusement lit Ral’s incredible blue eyes. “No. We have ships far better than this and a defense system that would never allow them to even get close to our planet. They only got us because we were on our hunt planet. When I return home I will have measures taken to defend that planet from now on so this never happens again.”

Ariel was nervous. She sat between Ral’s thighs staring at the planet they were approaching. Zorn wasn’t a blue and white planet. Zorn was shades of red and had three large moons closely surrounding it.

Ral nodded at one of his men. “Open communications.”

“Yes, Argis Ral.”

“This is Argis Ral,” he growled. “We have returned home. Alert Hyvin Berrr.”

A male growled in response. “Argis Ral? Confirm your identity.”

Ral issued some growling. The translator didn’t give Ariel a translation. It was just harsh sounds.

“Welcome home, Argis Ral.” The man sounded happy. “Your father will be very pleased. We have searched for you and our people without success.”

“We have escaped our captors.” Ral hugged Ariel. “We will need transports.”

“Immediately, Argis Ral,” the man said.

They put the ship in orbit over the planet and Ariel couldn’t stop staring at Zorn. It looked so different from Earth—not that she’d ever really seen Earth from space, only movies and pictures of it from space. Zorn was definitely different. The planet looked bigger too than any pictures of Earth. She swallowed.

“Are you all right, Ariel?” Ral softly growled in her ear.

“Yes. I’m just nervous. What is it like?”

He chuckled as he held her tight. “You will like it. It is beautiful.”

That’s all he ever told her about his planet. For the last three weeks while they’d traveled to Zorn Ral had been busy. He’d left her mostly alone in the leader’s quarters, but he’d come to her at night to sleep and make love. He’d avoided all her questions and it was starting to concern her. To just say a planet was beautiful left a whole lot open.

Ral lifted both of them to their feet. He led her to the bowels of the ship with her hand in his. She saw most of his people gathered there. They looked unusually happy and excited, standing in groups. Ral smiled as he nodded at them as he pulled her closer.

“We are home. It has been too long since they have seen their families and friends.”

Ariel missed her home and family too but she smiled at him. Ral was her world now. To go home meant she’d have to leave him. After the almost month they’d spent together she couldn’t imagine life without him.

“They have sent transport ships to fly us to the planet. This ship is too large for our planet docking stations.”

She eyed the ship around them. “What will happen to it?”

He smiled. “We’ll keep it. They took us. We took their ship.”

A loud sound startled Ariel. Ral chuckled. “A transport is docking.” He motioned his head toward the far corner. “We will go first. My father and brothers will be very anxious to see me.”

She gripped his hand tighter, staring up at his face. “How will they feel about me?”

“We are bound. They will have to accept it.”

“Can’t your father unbind us? You said he was leader of this world.”

Ral frowned. “He won’t.”

Dread hit Ariel. Ral didn’t say the man couldn’t unbind them. He’d used the word won’t, which implied it was possible. What if his father wanted Ariel out of Ral’s life?

What would become of her then?

The doors by them slid open and large Zorn men dressed in black uniforms stepped out. Ral smiled. He walked forward, pulling Ariel along behind him as he closed the space between himself and the newcomers.

“Argernon.” Ral chuckled. “You came all this way to see me.” Ral released Ariel to yank the man into a bear hug.

Ariel saw the resemblance between both men then. Argernon kept his smile in place as he released Ral. “You look good, Brother. We feared you were dead.”

Ral laughed. “I am too mean to die.” Ral turned, reaching for Ariel. He pulled her forward.

Ariel stared up at the large Zorn. She saw his eyes widen as he stared back at her.

His mouth opened but immediately slammed shut. His eyes flew to Ral.

“She smells strongly of you.”

“This is Ariel. I am bound to her.”

Horror hit Argernon’s features. “You bound to an enemy?”

Ral growled. “She is no enemy.”

“She is one of your captors.”

“No. She was taken from her world as well as we were.”

Argernon still looked angry. “She is other world. You cannot be bound to one from another world. Father will not allow it.”

Ral growled viciously. “It is done. She is mine. We are bound.”

Argernon took a step back. He put up his hands. “I will let you take it up with Father.” His eyes lowered to Ariel. “She is too small and pale.”

“She is mine.” Ral snarled at his brother. “No one will take her from me.”

Argernon looked concerned and a bit angry. “Is she breeding compatible? Can she carry your offspring?”

Ral hesitated. “I do not know nor do I care. She is mine.”

Argernon sighed deeply. “Let us go. Father is in a strong desire to see you quickly.”

His eyes turned to Ariel. “Can she even understand us?”

“Yes.” Ral focused his attention on Ariel. “Speak to my brother to see if Zorn translators work with your language.”

Ariel swallowed. “Hello, Argernon. It’s nice to meet you.”

Argernon frowned. His eyes slid to Ral. He shook his head. “I cannot understand her. She speaks softly. She does not speak like us.”

Irritation made Ral frown. “We will have to have someone work on this. The translators they fit on us work. We’ll have to modify our Zorn translators for her language.”

“This is not acceptable,” Argernon growled. “You brought a woman home who can’t even speak or understand us.”

Ariel glanced at Ral. “I can understand him.”

Ral nodded at her. “Good.”

“What did she say?” Argernon looked grim.

“She can understand you perfectly. Let’s go. Contact someone and have them work on this immediately. I want my bound woman able to speak so all can understand her and not just the Zorn on this ship.”

Argernon looked furious. His glowing blue eyes narrowed on Ariel for a second and he could sense his direct gaze made her feel uneasy. He jerked his eyes to his brother. His head snapped an affirmative response before the man spun around to stomp for the door he’d come through.