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eye, giving her a moment to gather her composure.
    “Brooke, please let us explain.” Galen sounded oh-so sincere. Brooke ignored him.
    27

     
    Jade, it had been one night of fun. Now the next day had arrived. She wanted to close her eyes, but instead focused on the colors of the hyperspace window. She wasn’t up to seeing their faces when they explained their lies.
    She straightened her shoulders.
    She’d get away from them. It wasn’t the first time she’d found her way out of a tricky situation, and it wouldn’t be the last.
    Clinging to the thought and the growing confidence, Brooke relaxed more and more, even began to smile. Once she was done with them they’d wish they’d never met her.
    She finally looked back at the two men who had knocked her out of orbit, metaphorically speaking, and froze.
    Silver-green light surrounded Galen, strands of it arrowing toward her and wrapping around her body like gentle ribbons. Galen no longer appeared to be the charming man who’d made her come repeatedly throughout the night.
    Brooke had seen him as the less aggressive and more balanced part of the duo.
    Where Nikolai exuded confidence and a cocky sexuality, Galen seemed more contained and centered. He’d reminded her of the two Kalogeros monks she once met. They’d had an inner stillness she envied. Galen had shown something similar.
    His presence still made her blood pump just as powerfully, but he’d missed that harder edge Nikolai carried.
    Big mistake. Talk about still waters running deep.
    Galen practically brimmed with power. Brooke’s jaw dropped when she realized that the gorgeous blue-green shadows behind him were wings.
    Wings.
    He looked magnificent framed by the large viewport, the colors of the hyperspace window behind him echoing in his wings.
    “You’re a fucking Naema.” Going by the amount of power she felt, maybe even an ArchNaema.
    Brooke had never met a Naema before. They tended to stick to the so-called civilized planets far from the outer rim’s more colorful way of life. When humans first encountered this alien species, they’d called them demons or angels. Demons because their extraordinary physical beauty supposedly led mere mortals off their paths, and angels because of the wings they sometimes displayed.
    As far as she understood it, the Naema cared for neither comparison and they definitely didn’t bother to seduce humans into sin. They kept mostly to themselves and had little regard for other species.
    Brooke frowned. She didn’t know much about Vampire or Naema social rules, but she was pretty sure that cross-species dating was frowned upon.
    As much as she tried, she couldn’t drum up any indignation or anger about Galen hiding his true nature. On the contrary, she had to curl her hands around her elbows to 28

     
    stop herself from touching his wings. They were a midnight blue that matched his eyes, and had green shadows run through them, making her think of a dark and thundery night on Arkiko II.
    She clenched her hands. Brooke needed to touch those wings. She was desperate to know if they felt as soft as they looked.
    Nikolai appeared to suffer from the same weakness. He stepped next to his partner and gently stroked along the edge of one of the wings. The silver light around Galen dimmed. Galen threw back his head and moaned.
    Nikolai chuckled and continued his caress. Galen twitched his wings away.
    “Don’t expect to get away with your tricks. You know, I always get even,” Nikolai extended his hand and touched the wings again.
    Galen groaned once more. “Having you explode like a faulty engine wouldn’t have been very helpful,” he growled. “I had to do something.” His big cock grew even bigger behind his tight suit. Jade, he looked mouth-watering.
    Brooke remembered the delicious taste. For a second she wanted to sink to her knees, pull the piece of flesh from behind its covering, and suck it like an ice cream.
    Taste it, lick it, until she brought him to his