Ahhu was frowning. “Then why did you bound to her?”

Ral lifted Ariel up off the table to help her put on her pants. “Seeing her was enough. I was drawn to her fragile beauty. She smelled good and I wanted her intensely. When we were alone I got to know her very well. I knew she was mine to keep. I knew she was the woman I wanted bound to.”

The scientist studied Ral. “She pleases you?”

Ral nodded. Now that Ariel was dressed Ral’s anger seemed to dissipate. “More than I have ever been pleased in my life.” He looked down at Ariel. “Let her look at your implant.” He eyed Ahhu. “Can you download the program and load her language into our translators so all Zorn can understand her? How long will that take?”

Ahhu walked to a wall and got another device. She walked to Ariel. “Tell her to sit.”

Ariel sat. “Please remind her that I can understand her.”

Ral chuckled. “She can understand you, Ahhu. You just can’t understand her.”

The woman ran the device over the wrong ear. Ariel pointed. “This one.”

The woman moved and ran it over the right ear. The woman read the small screen and frowned. She looked at Ral. “Let me see you.”

Ahhu scanned both ears on Ral and frowned. “They put a new implant in your left ear, Argis Ral. I would like to remove the other-world implant from you. We do not know what their technology can do. It could be dangerous.”

“No. If you do I could not understand Ariel.”

“Your father is going to order all of the implants removed from the other world. We do not know if they contain tracking devices or even harmful tendencies. They could release poison.”

“What are the chances?”

The woman hesitated. “Good. Remember history.”

Ariel frowned. She met Ral’s eyes. “We won’t be able to able to understand each other, will we?”

“No. The Zorn translators obviously don’t know your language or they’d be able to understand you.”

“At least let us remove them for testing. We might be able to download their program to adapt it to our translators,” Ahhu said softly.

Ral frowned. “Remove the other implants from our people and test those.”

“They all must be removed, Argis Ral. I swear to you that I will work very hard to find the way for our translators to work for your bound woman.”

Ral growled. There was no translation. “Leave us and lock the door. We need some time together.”

Ahhu nodded. “The other Zorn recovered are coming in right now. I’ll remove their implants first.” She left the room.

Ral met Ariel’s eyes. “We need to do this. She could be right. We have had something like this happen before to some of our warriors who were captured by other world species. They were given alien implants that released poison that killed them all.

It happened days after they escaped.”

“But we’ve been traveling for three weeks.”

“We have been aboard their ship. We are out of range of any signal it could have sent out now that we are on the planet. It is safer if we do this. I won’t take the risk with your life or mine.”

“I understand.”

Ral reached for her. “It doesn’t matter if we can talk or not.” He pulled her into his arms. “We know how it is between us.”

“We do.”

“I will take care of you. It shouldn’t be too difficult for them to get a working translator. We have the Anzons ship as well with their programs. We’ll find your language and work it into our translators. We can do this together, Ariel.”

“We can do this,” she echoed, hoping they were both right.

“It won’t be long before they figure it out.”

Ariel stared up into his eyes and cupped his face with her hands. “I love you.” One of her hands lowered from his face to his heart. “I love you so much, Ral.” She touched his chest. She wasn’t sure his heart was where she touched but she’d heard a thump there under her ear when they slept. “My heart to yours.”

Ral smiled. “I am in love with you too, Ariel.”

She forced a smile that she didn’t feel. She was a little afraid of not being able to talk to Ral for a few days. Ariel wondered if Ral was putting up a brave front as well. She just had to have some faith that they’d make it work somehow.

“Just don’t feed me hot things that make my mouth burn. I won’t be able to understand you when you describe my food choices this time.”

He laughed. “I’ll remember. I’ll take good care of you.”

Ariel hated not being able to talk to Ral. After their implants had been removed, he had led her outside where a driver and vehicle waited. They’d left the city for a forested area. Ral’s home was at the edge of a village. Other large homes were within sight, but they were distant enough that there was privacy.

Ral had a beautiful home, though Zorn homes were not like houses back on Earth.

Zorn homes were made out of a pretty red stone. The walls were smooth to the touch as if they had been polished. They had wood furniture but the colors didn’t come from any type of trees Arial had ever seen—shades of red and deep purples, some were even black. The cloth material on the couches and on the Zorn clothing was thick, soft cotton-like blends.

Ral gave Ariel a tour of each room in his house. He smiled at her as he led her to a large bedroom last. He softly growled at her as he swept her into his arms, taking her to the bed. He growled at her again. She knew he was talking—it wasn’t just him growling at her—but she couldn’t understand him.

Their eyes met as Ral pinned her under him. He touched her throat with his finger and ran it up to her mouth. He growled at her.

“Do you want to hear what I sound like when I talk without the translator on?”

Nodding his head, Ral grinned. He either understood what she was asking or maybe he just wanted to encourage her to keep speaking.

“I love your house. It’s bigger than I thought it would be and I love the darker tones. I never really enjoyed the color red or thought there were so many shades of red but there are. I love them. I also never thought purple would be in a straight man’s home, but we’re not on Earth. Purple definitely is sexy around a hunk like you.”

Ral chuckled. No translation was needed for that sound. His amazing eyes sparkled with amusement as his head lowered. He brushed his lips over hers. Ariel wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer. She was addicted to sex with the man since she’d met him. They had no problem communicating when they touched. They both knew exactly what they were saying as the kiss deepened. They wanted each other.

A loud buzz sounded. Ral’s body tensed. He broke the kiss, reluctantly pulling his mouth from hers. He snarled something as he climbed off her. He eyed her body with a long hungry look. Holding his hand palm out to her, he turned around walking out of the bedroom. She stayed in bed like his hand indicated.

Minutes passed until Ariel heard a loud sound. It sounded like glass smashing.

Snarls were the next thing she heard. She jumped off the bed to run out of the bedroom.

Panic washed over her—something was wrong. She came to a halt as she saw the living room.

Ral was facing off with a snarling Zorn woman. The female was tall and muscular.

She was attractive. Dark brown hair flowed down her back to her knees. Much of her athletic body was showing in the dress she wore, low cut at her breasts and raised high on her shapely legs. Both of them were oblivious to Ariel.

The woman grabbed Ral’s arm with a snarl. He slapped her hand away, snarling something back at her that didn’t sound nice. The woman let her hand drop. They glared at each other. The woman’s nostrils flared. She snapped her head in Ariel’s direction to glare at her. Ariel didn’t need a translator to understand the woman hated her. Rage was evident. The woman snarled and took a step in Ariel’s direction.