Taken: Warriors of Hir, Book 2

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Authors: Willow Danes
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He lifted the component again.
    That’s why you couldn’t get yourself a local girl. There aren’t any to be gotten. Me and my big, stupid mouth . . .
    “But,” she began awkwardly, “you said you had allies, other species, I’m guessing. I mean, aren’t there any females that your people could, uh—?”
    He paused in his work, his hand hovering over the component. “None are compatible.”
    “But human women . . . we are?”
    “Yes.” His head came up and he met her gaze. “Ra’kur, of the Erah enclosure, ventured far from our space, seeking a mate. He was gone years but he found your world, and his Jenna.”
    “And that’s why you came to Earth. Why you hunted a wo—uh, me.”
    “I fought in contests, competed in tests of speed and strength for the honor to go. The competition to be selected to travel to your world is fierce. Of those few chosen I was the first.” He gave her a faint, bitter smile. “And I will return with a mate who does not want me.”
    Hope swallowed hard. “It’s not you, I—”
    “Yes,” he growled, turning his attention to his work, his shoulders hunched again, his grip tight on the tool. “You are promised to another. One who now couples with your friend. But he is human .”
    “What did you expect?” she demanded. “That you could just show up on another world and steal yourself a woman?  That she’d be happy to be yanked right out of her life?”
    His head came up, his eyes flashing. “I did not steal you!”
    “Really? What would you call just grabbing me off my planet?”
    R’har’s fangs bared. “And I have taken you from so much joy! From a male who promises you himself then bonds with a different female. From a trusted friend who would take your promised for her own!”
    Hope folded her arms, glaring at him.
    “Well?” he snarled. “You do not deny it is so?”
    “Oh, hell, no,” she snapped. “I’m just waiting for you to remind me how the company I’ve worked for since college threw me out on my ass too. I mean, we don’t want to leave that out, do we?”
    He blinked. “Your employers assaulted you?”
    “Assaulted—? They didn’t literally throw me out. It’s an expression. They fired me.” Seeing the alarmed look in his gaze she quickly amended, “They dismissed me.”
    “Ah,” he said, the tension in his shoulders easing. “Why did they dismiss you?”
    “They had enough people who do what I do so they needed one gone. Lucky me as always, I’m the one they picked to go. Guess I’ll be blowing the dust off my résumé and finding a new job as soon as I get back.” She sighed. “I’m going to move too. I lived in that apartment before I met Brian but—I don’t know, maybe Alexandria or downtown. I’ll get a new place, a new job, put my life back together and never, ever ”—she gave a short laugh—“go back to North Carolina again.”
    He regarded her for a moment, his gaze thoughtful. “What were you employed to do?”
    “My job? I was a graphic designer.” From the expression on his face it was clear he had no idea what that was. “I did artwork. Commercial art, intended to get people to buy things or purchase another company’s services.”
    He tilted his head. “Were you happy in that task, Hope?”
    “Trading virtually all my waking hours to get other people to buy crap they don’t really need or want? Yeah, not so much.” She gave a short, surprised laugh. “You know, nobody’s ever asked me that—if I was happy at my job. Not even Brian. Not even the cheating tool of a boyfriend I had before him, or the one before him .”
    He gave a chin jerk. “You were not happy.”
    “No, and it’s stupid and naïve but . . .” She looked down, plucking at the shoelace of her hiking boots. “I went to art school to be an artist. The commercial stuff just sort of happened.” She sighed again. “No, it didn’t. I wanted to be an artist but so many artists can’t even support themselves. I wasn’t brave enough

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