Taken by Anya Bast

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Anne's morning starts like any other normal day--and ends in a race for her life. The surprise that interrupts her regular date with a latte looks a lot like Frankenstein, except this monster is for real. And it chases her straight into the arms of two mouthwatering hunks who whisk her away from everything she knows. That would be Earth. Suddenly life isn't so normal anymore. Caleb and Van have been watching Anne for several weeks. Women are scarce in their world, a situation that sometimes forces two or more males to share one wife between them. Anne is their perfect match. Now all they have to do is convince her of that--while trying desperately not to let their intense desire for her scare her away. Then there's the little matter of protecting her from the Guardians, who want to make sure no match is ever made...

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When she'd been standing in line for her non-fat latte that morning, Anne had never expected to be running for her life only moments later.

Latte long since splattered on the sidewalk, Anne careened around the corner of a random alley, scraping her bare arm on the corner of a brick building in the process. She stifled a cry of pain and nearly collided with a banged-up silver trash can, nimbly dodged the object, and then leaped over a puddle of dank, cold water on the pavement.

She'd exited the coffee shop near her office and was headed to her car when a man had approached her. Only once he'd grown near enough, she hadn't been sure he was a man at all. Male maybe, but not human male. Her mind had tripped over itself for a moment as she tried to make sense of that. The thing, whatever it was, had insinuated itself in a menacing fashion between her and her car. When she'd run, he'd chased her.

Her high heels already long gone, the only sound she made was the almost imperceptible slap of feet to concrete and her regulated breathing. She'd been on the track team in high school. She could outrun this thing ... whatever it was that chased her. Behind her, footsteps sounded. It was gaining on her.

Correction, maybe she could outrun it.

Squashing that deadly flicker of uncertainty, she pushed herself faster. Anne vaulted over two abandoned pallets and stumbled on her landing. Expensive material tore as her skirt ripped up the seam. Designer clothing simply wasn't made for this kind of abuse, curse it. At least now that her skirt was split she could run faster.

At the end of the alley, she turned a corner, catching a glimpse of her pursuer outof the corner of her eye. He, it, whatever was on her tail and quickly catching up to her. Her heart thumped harder ... from fear, pure and simple, not from physical exertion.

Out of the darkness, a hand reached out and snagged her arm. Anne screamed in spite of herself--a full, open-mouthed screech of terror that could've been heard in a five-block radius if this hadn't been the commercial part of town and it hadn't been six in the morning. Strong arms closed around her, and Anne fought with every ounce of strength she had. The grip only tightened, squeezing her air passage closed. Her head swam, her vision dotted.

"Sleep." Rough male voice. Low and commanding. Scary.

Her head dropped as if on his order and exhaustion dragged her under as though she lay tucked into her own bed after a long night out and she was safe ... No. Her head jerked up as she fought the impulse. If she slept, she lost control. She couldn't ... couldn't ... Her head lolled to the side, so tired.

"Sleep," came the voice again, this time more gentle. "You're safe now."

Her pursuer came around the corner of the alley and she had the utter horror of seeing him again. "Frankenstein," she whispered. Tall, green. Thick shoulders and square head. This guy couldn't be human, he just couldn't.

"Sleep."

The pull toward slumber increased; made an offer she couldn't refuse. Right before her eyelids slid shut, she saw another man step out in a menacing fashion right in front of the man/it/whatever.

She slept.

"You frightened her."

Caleb looked up from where he stood at Anne's bedside and regarded Van, his best friend and, right now, his bane. "It was your fault the Guardian was chasing her at all. You're the one who wanted to wait to contact her. We waited too long."

Van stared down at the woman, their woman, his long multi-shaded blond hair falling into his face. "I had no way to know that the Guardians would have located her so quickly."

"We did what we had to do to keep her safe. Now we will have to pick up the pieces when she awakes."

"This could have gone smoother."

"But it didn't. The important thing now is to help her become acclimated to her new life with us."

In fact, he couldn't wait to get Anne home with them. He'd spent the last three weeks in this place and he'd had enough. He missed Valencia, missed the colorful lands, the wonderful food and his own, comfortable home. Earth was far from charming, though it did have Anne, which meant it was good in some ways.

Caleb shifted his gaze back to Anne, from whom it had hardly budged since they'd brought her to their hotel room. She looked so fragile, so different from the few Harmon females that remained. This had been done numerous times before, but, now, looking at this tiny, breakable Earth woman, he wasn't sure how. Her body was of average size for her kind, not especially slender, but she still seemed fragile.

Her dark brown hair spread over the pillow like the wing of a glossy bird. Dark eyelashes swept down over pale cheeks. Her face was oval-shaped and pretty, though in an ordinary way. Her lips were full and pouty, and Caleb was sure the Earthian's Christian heaven lay between them. Soon enough he would find out. She'd been on her way into her office and wore the remnants of a burgundy skirt that was now split almost all the way up her thigh, revealing a lickable swath of creamy skin. Her filmy matching blouse was torn and dirty and she'd lost both her shoes. Never fear, soon she'd be outfitted like the princess she was, their princess.

Every morning for many mornings they'd followed her to work, but today ... so had the Guardian.

"How will we tell her?" Van pushed a hand through his hair and glanced at him. "Our way breaks all their ways. Normally human women only take one lover at a time. One husband. So infrequently will a human female bind herself to two men at the same time for always. The relationships that are like that here are considered outside the bounds of normality. How will she ever come to accept us both?" Open challenge passed over his face but was gone in a moment.

They'd had time to come to terms with having to share her. It wasn't the Harmon way normally, but circumstances had forced them into it. And even though they'd been best friends from childhood, it was still difficult. Even more difficult to be in the same room with the woman the oracle had found for them, their perfect match. The scent of her alone was an aphrodisiac and they'd both gone a long time without a sexual partner.

"I don't--"

Anne lunged across the bed, grabbed the phone and smashed it into the side of Caleb's face. Pain exploded through his head--along with utter surprise--and he staggered back, catching himself on a nearby chair before he ended up on his ass on the floor.

Caleb heard Van restraining the woman, but she was screaming at him and fighting him tooth and nail. She sounded like a wild animal. Good thing the walls were soundproofed. He put a hand to his head and thought for a moment about mischiefing her mind the way he had in the alley when he'd made her sleep, but that seemed wrong somehow. It took away her choice.

Which was stupid, since they were about to take away all Anne's choices. The survival of their species depended on it. It didn't make him feel any less guilty, though.

"Calm!" he commanded, manipulating her emotions just a little bit, just enough to break the worst of her panic. "Calm, Anne."

He raised his reeling head, blinked blood out of his eyes and saw Anne go still in Van's arms. Van breathed heavily and his arms were scratched and bloody. He moved her back onto the bed, where she sat placidly.

Van turned once he'd settled Anne into her place, and got them both a couple damp towels to wipe up the blood she'd drawn from them. "She's a fighter," Van said under his breath, tossing him the towel. "She'll not go meekly."

That was apparent.

Caleb pressed the towel to his forehead, wincing, and walked over to kneel by her. He put his hand on her knee and sent her nice, calming vibes. "We're not going to hurt you, Anne Michaels, I promise you. You don't need to fight us."

"Who are you?" Fear flickered in the depths of her green eyes. "What are you speaking and why can I understand it? What am I speaking for fuck's sake and how am I speaking it?"

"We are speaking Valencian. You can understand it and speak it because it's in your blood. I am Caleb Verona and that is Van Childress. We've come from far away, looking for you. We're here to protect you."

She shook her head. "Protect me from what?"

The superficial tweak he'd given her emotions was wearing off. He just hoped her violent outburst was finished now. He had a splitting headache from taking a phone to the forehead. "Do you remember what happened in the alley? Do you remember"--what had she called the Guardian? Oh, yes--"Frankenstein?"

Terror glimmered in the depths of her eyes and he braced himself in case she bolted for the door. "Yes."

"Those creatures want to hurt you, Anne. They want to kill you. We're here to make sure that doesn't happen."

"I remember that you"--she looked at Van--"You fought that thing, didn't you?"

Van inclined his head a degree. "I killed it before it could kill you."

She shifted on the bed, confusion marring her face. She rubbed her hand over her eyes. "Look, I'm tired. I need a shower. I just want to go home. I don't know what's going on or who you guys are, but I can't stay here any longer." She stood and walked toward the door.

Caleb was on her in an instant. "We can't allow you to leave."

She jerked her arm away. "Excuse me? Do you know who I am? Do you know that I'm an attorney, buddy? I know the law from here and back again and I could have you strung up by noon."

Van stepped toward her. "It's already noon."

"It's already..." She glanced out the small opening of the curtained window where bright sunlight filtered in. "Okay, by twilight, then." She glanced at the floor, looking lost. "I was unconscious for that long?"

"We know who you are, Anne Elizabeth Michaels. We know everything there is to know about you."

She made a scoffing sound and turned toward him. "Oh yeah?" She raised an eyebrow. "Who was my twelfth grade art teacher?"

He searched the memory bank that contained all the info he'd memorized about her. "Mr. Youngers."

She gaped.

"We know that you graduated University at the top of your class and are the youngest partner in your law firm. We know that you love to pick the chocolate chunks out of your Chunky Monkey ice cream but leave the nuts, your favorite music is the blues, and you want to go to Italy, China, and Australia but you never take time off from work to do it. When you were nine you thought you saw a ghost in your attic, but didn't tell anyone because you were afraid they would think you were crazy."

She blanched. "Who are you?" Then louder, "Have you been keeping me under surveillance or something?" She frowned. "But--"

"But there's no way we could know some of those things, is there? Not unless we'd planted a listening device inside your head."

Anne swayed on her feet. Caleb caught her and eased her into a chair.