If one of them was like me, no wonder I was an only child. It wasn’t like they were chasing me out of the bedroom when I was little. They’d always seemed so kind to one another. But passion? No. They’d been more like best friends.
Suddenly my entire life was twisting and turning in my mind. My mother. She had a mark like mine on her back. She’d had me late in life, been almost forty when she married my papa. Had she been like me and given up on finding passion?
Holy shit. My mother was part alien, too?
Before I could digest that, the warden was talking again.
“Your testing was one of the shortest ever done. That is because you were immediately matched to Everis and, due to your level of sexual experience, they do not wish for you to have any predisposed idea of what will happen sexually with your mate. There is nothing wrong with you. Your match is ninety-nine percent perfect.”
She watched me closely and I gave her a small smile. Predisposed ideas? Like what? Was I supposed to pretend I had no idea what was going on? That I’d never seen porn? Never tried to feel something?
Still, ninety-nine percent perfect sounded really, really good to me.
“Okay.” I didn’t know what else to say. I was matched, there was a guy out there for me. An almost perfect match. It wasn’t as if I could argue with her further. My new mate would find out whether or not I was broken soon enough.
“Okay?” she repeated. I nodded. “Great. For the record, state your name.”
I cleared my throat. “Alexis Lopez.”
“Are you legally married?”
“No.”
“Do you have any biological offspring?” When I eyed her funny, she continued, “I know. A virgin having kids, but I have to ask for the record. You are a special case.”
“No. I’m not the Virgin Mary. I don’t have any children.”
“Do you accept the match that has been given you by the Interstellar Brides Program processing protocol?”
Did I want to leave Earth and go to Everis? To a male who wanted me as pure as the driven snow? Who would revere me for it?
“Yes. I accept.”
“Excellent.” The warden swiped her finger a few more times on the tablet.
“Thank you, Lexi. By accepting the match, you are no longer a citizen of Earth and are now a matched bride of Everis. As Everis requires unusual protocols, you will not be transported directly. You will transport with two other matched women. I believe one is still being processed. When all of you are done, you can meet. Once Everis has given us the transport coordinates for the Touchstone, you will return here to this room for processing.”
She stood, tucked her tablet under her arm.
“If you’ll follow me, we’ll go check on the others.”
I followed the warden down a short, brightly lit corridor. The cold tile floor made me wish for some slippers or booties or something. Feminine voices were muffled by a closed door, which the warden opened without knocking.
“Do you have the birthmark, too?”
I heard the question as I walked behind Warden Egara into the room, one hand on the back of my testing gown to keep my butt from being exposed. The small space was an actual conference room with a table and chairs. Two women were huddled together in gowns that matched mine and looked up at me.
“You’re here!”
They both stood and came over to me, big smiles on their faces. Their easygoing personalities and bright eyes helped soothe my frazzled nerves. Their excitement was a little startling, but it was reassuring to know they weren’t scared of what was happening to us.
“I’m Katie and she’s Dani.”
“Lexi.”
“Did they ask you about the birthmark, too?” Katie asked. She was tall and thin, perfect breasts and curvy hips. Her long brown hair went halfway down her back and was artfully done. Her makeup perfectly framed dark blue eyes that seemed too big in her face. She looked like all the girls in high school who made fun of my curves, but the smile she gave me only felt friendly, not malicious.
I exhaled, not realizing I’d been holding my breath. “It isn’t just me then? Who knew we were all aliens?”
They both laughed.
“We’re all matched to Everis.” Dani went back to her chair, tugging me by the wrist to sit beside her. She was strikingly different than Katie with her gazelle-like looks. Her hair was very blonde and pulled back into a ponytail. There was something graceful about her, as if she were a ballerina. Her body was slim—narrow hips and small breasts—that only added to my perception. She was small and fragile looking, but her gaze was fearless. Katie sat on her other side and I sat beside them, my darker skin, black hair and curves making us all unique. And we were part alien? All three of us?
“Are you guys virgins, too?” I asked. I wanted to know if my lack of libido was just me, or if what the warden suggested was true. What if my lack of interest in guys really was caused by alien DNA? When the other two nodded, something tight and ugly began to unravel in my chest. “So, nobody ever rocked your world? You never had the hots for a guy and went for it?”
“Not me.” Dani glanced away as Katie blushed.
“Um, no. Virgins, virgins everywhere.” Katie tucked her long brown hair back behind her ear. “Do you think this is a little weird? Three virgins with strange birthmarks being sent to an alien world? I feel like a virgin sacrifice. Like they’re going to line us up and march us into a volcano or something.” Her laugh was brittle, and not completely in jest.
“My match was ninety-nine percent,” I admitted, oddly proud of that. “I might be a sacrifice, but the guy is supposedly all mine.”
Dani smiled, rubbed her hands together. “God, I’m so nervous! My match was that high, too, which means…there’s a guy on the planet who will actually think I’m hot!”
I thought she was hot and I didn’t even like women. I had to wonder about the men she’d been around for her to have such a low opinion of herself, and then I realized I was just like her. We looked nothing alike but seemed to have had the same problems with men in the past. And with our own self-esteem issues.
Katie pursed her lips. “My match was only ninety-eight percent.”
Dani rolled her eyes. “Where are you guys from?”
“Denver, Colorado,” I said.
“I’m from Wooster, Ohio,” Katie added.
“Gainesville, Florida.” Dani grinned and I could easily imagine her in a bikini and sunglasses on the beach. “And we’re all going to Everis. Together. You know what this makes us? BFFs.”
I
