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or installed in the Dark Lands.”
    Her eyes narrowed with defiance. “I’m an
American citizen, and I choose to remain here.”
    “It’s not that simple. You’re now a target of
the Cult and a danger to the rest of us. How do you propose to
defend yourself?”
    “I’m skilled at making myself disappear,” she
said grimly. This time she would stay that way.
    Kindly, Azion asked, “But what kind of life
is that, running and hiding? Living in fear? Do you feel you’d be
happy?”
    “I’m happy if I’m free.” She tried to ignore
the hollowness his words invoked. It had been so long since anyone
had cared, so long since she’d had friends. Experience told her
that friends would be difficult to make on the run.
    “What of a family? Most of our young men have
already left. It will be difficult for you to find a mate here on
Earth.”
    Her heart twisted, and she answered harshly,
“I choose not to have one.”
    Her words caused a murmur to go through her
audience. Azion’s brows rose. “Why is that? You are young, pretty
enough to easily attract a husband. Even if you aren’t ready for
children now, you may be later.”
    Feeling sick, she looked aside. She wasn’t
going to win unless she confessed.
    Her father had warned her, once she’d finally
learned the truth. It had been horrible enough finding out what he
was, but he’d warned her that his kind wouldn’t take well to
knowledge of her. Some of them might be incensed enough to kill
her, and he’d loved her too well to let that happen. He’d installed
the escape tunnel in the house and secrecy in her heart. Flinging
it away now was ten times worse than giving away her virginity
could ever be.
    The silence stretched. They were content to
wait her out. Clearing her throat, she said hoarsely, “My mother
was human.”
    A flurry of murmurs followed her confession,
making her shift in her seat. She almost expected someone to strike
her dead on the spot. Her father told her shape shifters hated
mixed blood. Little as she knew of the race, she didn’t doubt it.
Surely this would result in freedom, one way or the other.
Personally she hoped Fallon would kick her out; her blood would
make an awful mess of his carpet, and he had gone through a lot of
trouble to save her hide in the first place.
    Her father had told her that mixed-blood
children rarely survived the first trimester, as the seed did not
mix gracefully. She’d been born two months premature and her mother
had never really recovered from the pregnancy. She’d died when Rain
was five, leaving a grieving husband and a sad little girl in her
wake. Her father had concealed the knowledge of what she was from
her when she exhibited little of his race’s characteristics,
thinking that she’d be happier believing she was fully human. He’d
been right, for the day she had learned otherwise had sent her
world into a tailspin from which she’d never recovered.
    The murmur died down. Azion considered her
thoughtfully, and she had the sudden suspicion that he already knew
about her mixed blood.
    “Interesting revelation, but to my mind it
makes little difference. You’ve got our blood. As rare and
impossible as that may seem, when combined with your susceptibility
to the male charmer, it makes you our responsibility. I do not
believe you will be happy here. Indeed, it’s clear that you’ve been
miserable for some time. I move to extradite you to the Dark
Lands.” One by one, the Elders voted to send her through the gate,
sealing her fate.
    Her lips parted on a silent protest. They
were crazy! She was not about to meekly go along, dumbly complying
with their stupid decree. She knew nothing about the Dark Lands,
only that it had a creepy name and was inhabited by a race of
beings her father had warned her wouldn’t appreciate her existence.
Gritting her teeth, she fought the urge to tell them where they
could shove their verdict. The less she said, the less they would
know of her plans.
    She wasn’t