Chapter 3

They drove in silence for quite a while, Jovan feeling calmer with each mile. When Liberty’s eyes had lit up, saying he was shocked would have been the understatement of the year. There was also a moment of inner struggle for him. He knew he couldn’t leave the female to fend for herself with her eyes glowing pink, but at the same time, he didn’t want to get involved with her. Sure, he had stepped in with those two guys, but any male worth the mud on his boots would have done the same, SR44 or human. But he rolled alone. He liked being alone because it helped him keep his sanity. When he was alone, he didn’t have to worry about people’s thoughts or feelings.

However, he really didn’t see that he had much of a choice but to take her with him. There was simply too much at stake, namely the necessary secrecy that humans didn’t find out there were aliens living among them. Hell, the Six Saviors had kept tabs on people who claimed to have seen aliens, as well as the aliens themselves that had been caught. The government was not nice to either, and Jovan and the other Six Saviors had no desire to be sliced and diced in the name of science or some other bullshit.

He sighed. If humans knew what was living among them, there would be nothing short of a witch-hunt, with Jovan and his fellow Warriors on the top of the list, followed by the vampires. Or maybe the vampires would take first place. Either way, Jovan knew he and his fellow Warriors would be in the top two.

The news at home hadn’t been good. He hadn’t gotten the full story from Noah, but Noah said something about the FBI being at the outside gate of the missile silo where they lived in Phoenix. Not a swarm of them, just one guy peeking around in a blue jacket with a blazing FBI logo.

Just over a year ago, Hudson had killed his brother, a Colonist, who had told him before he died that Hudson had “no idea what’s coming for you.”

Maybe the eagle had landed, and that fuck-all was about to begin.

Noah had made it crystal clear that Jovan was to stay away from the Phoenix silo due to the FBI guy trolling around the property. Thankfully, Noah was always looking for investments and had recently bought a house in the Phoenix area he planned on renting out as a high-end vacation house. And that was where Jovan was headed.

He rubbed the two-day stubble on his face and glanced over at his passenger. She twirled one of those ringlets around her finger and stared out the window while chewing on her bottom lip, looking very innocent and sweet, yet tired and worried.

He was glad his so-called gift had apparently decided to cease and desist because he couldn’t hear her thoughts.

Again he wondered what the hell she was doing working in a strip joint, and then he realized he didn’t know her name. He had gone through the evening calling her the French maid.

“What’s your name?” he asked quietly.

“Liberty,” she said, glancing at him, then bowing her head.

“It’s nice to meet you, Liberty. I’m Jovan, in case I didn’t tell you beforehand.”

“You did, sir,” she replied demurely with a small smile.

He grinned back. It had been a long time since anyone had spoken to him with deference. He certainly didn’t get that from his fellow Warriors, and he was trying to blend in with humans, not be treated differently by them. In fact, the last time he had been addressed with a title had been on SR44, where he was treated with reverence because of his standing as one of the Six Saviors. “You don’t need to call me sir, Liberty. That’s a sign of deference, and I don’t need deference. We’re equal here, okay?”

She turned and stared out the window, chewing on her lower lip, looking troubled.

“What did you do on SR44?” he asked.

After a pregnant pause, she said, “I was born into servitude.”

There was a moment of silence, and Jovan let that one sink in. “Servitude? Are you kidding me? I didn’t think that happened anymore.”

“Truly, Warrior, it happens. Before I left, the custom had become more popular.”

Being born in to servitude was a long-ago tradition—the male of a royal family joined, or slept, with a female servant to produce a child. This ensured that the female servant would not leave the male’s employment, and it also gave him the right to give away the offspring to another male relative, or to keep the offspring for his own use. Jovan thought this custom had been thrown out eons ago, but obviously there were still some assholes practicing it, and it pissed him off.

“To whom?” he asked through gritted teeth.

She sighed. “It is a long story, sir . . . I mean, Jovan, please excuse me. I would prefer to only tell the story one time as it is so painful. If perhaps we could get to our final destination, then I could administer the story and be done with it.”

Jovan nodded, his gut tightening. If she was here, there was obviously something going on at home. “What’s happening to SR44?”

Liberty sighed heavily. “One time, sir. One time. The story makes my chest ache and my stomach feel ill.”