With a small squeeze of the handlebars, the bike jerked forward. She raised her head in time to see the tiger launch at her. Her hands instinctively flew up to protect her face. It hit her squarely in the chest, knocking her onto the ground. The air whooshed from her lungs and her head bounced on the ground.

Barrick was careful not to land on his mate. She was beautiful. Well, once you got beyond the fact that she didn't have any fur. Her skin was more the color of pure Belusian Cream, the rarest delicacy on his world. Would she be as sweet?

He needed to carry her out of this place. He could hear the roar of several animals nearby but none sounded familiar. His body pulsed with the need to change but it refused to obey. He sat there over her prone body trying again and again to change but nothing happened.

It was that damned mist. It had to be. Once he got free from it, they would be safer. He bent over her prone body and carefully clamped his jaws on her shoulder. He didn't want to risk marring her face.

"Uhhh..." she moaned.

He had no illusions that if she woke, he would be fighting to get her onto his ship. He dragged her through the tall grass and to the barrier of mist. Again as he stepped through it, he felt his body shift again. Once free, he tried to shift again. This time it worked. The fur along his arms and legs retracted. He lowered her to the ground.

The bones in his hands cracked and popped as they shrank. Soon his paws looked like normal hands. He looked around but the mist was gone. The only thing surrounding them was the lush green and red forest he'd run through his entire life.

"What the hell is..." She leaned up into a sitting position. Her gaze swung up to meet his. She stopped talking and scrambled away from him.

"No, you don't." He stalked forward and wrapped an arm around her. He lifted her up and threw her on his shoulder.

"Let me go!" She pounded against his back. She screamed again and again.

"Stop screaming," he said, whacking her on her ass. He wanted to wrap his fingers around those rounded globes, but he wasn't a total asshole. He wouldn't take her here on the ground. He could wait until there was a bed.

"Where are you taking me? Where am I?"

"Home. And home." He whacked her on the butt again for asking stupid questions. There was more anger than fear in her voice.

"Let me go." She beat her small fists against his back. "I'm not going anywhere with you." She screamed several more times but there was no one here to help her.

Another whack on the ass.

"People will look for me. I'm very important where I come from. When they find you, you're going to go to jail."

Another whack followed by a grunt this time. He wasn't amused. The last person to threaten him with prison died before he could follow through on his threat.

When they reached the ship, he dropped her. He typed in a command to close the large window opening before she could jump out of it. He set in the coordinates for the station and turned on the autopilot.

"What is your name?" He sat in the one seat in the little ship and swiveled the chair around to face her.

"Why?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I need a name to call my mate. Some might find it offensive if I just called you 'mate'."

"Your what?"

"My mate."

"Okay, who are you? Is that you, Chuck? Did you slip something in my drink this morning? Rufies, X, what?" she said, pointing her finger at him.

"I can guarantee you I am not this 'Chuck'? Now, your name?"

He watched as her hands went into the 'v' of her tan blouse. Suddenly, invisible fingers rubbed along the outside of his nipples. "Stop."

"What?" She jumped in place, both hands reaching down to steady her.

"You will stop that." No doubt that witch told her how to torture him.

"Stop what?" she asked. "Not only am I being kidnapped by aliens, but they're crazy ones."

It was his heartstone. It peeked from beneath her shirt. "Hand me the heartstone."

"What, my necklace?" She looked down to the stone.

"Don't play games. That is my heartstone no matter what the damned Peddler said." He reached for the heart.

"No." She wrapped her hands around the stone. "She said it wasn't stolen. And I bought it. That makes it mine."

"See that'd work if you were talking to someone who gave a fuck. But seeing as how you're not, hand over my stone."

Her hand tightened on the gem. "And if I don't?"

"Then I will just have to take it from you."

"No." She raced away from him.

"There's nowhere to run." He chuckled as he followed behind her.

"I'll break it on the floor before I give it to you." She yanked on the chain. It didn't break.

Okay. The Peddler never said whether the stone could break or not. Who knew what would happen if it broke? There was too much he didn't know for him to chance it.

"Wait. At least let me look at it."

She narrowed her eyes and shook her head at him. "If it was yours, wouldn't you already know what it looks like? Try again."

"It's not like you have a choice." He advanced on her, moving so quickly she didn't have a chance to move. Her fist was tightly closed around the heart. He grabbed her hand and squeezed. Enough pressure and she'd let it go.

Her knuckles cracked.

"Let it go." He squeezed tighter.

Her fingers loosened around the stone. He pushed it onto her the skin of her chest to try to stop her from closing her fingers back around it. Heat seemed to burn from within the heartstone.

"Stop. It burns. Stop!"

The fire seared the tips of his fingers. He yanked his hand back and watched as she pulled her hands away too. Light blinded him. Water streamed out the corner of his eyes. Another of the witch's tricks.