“Ten seconds. We are ready. I will alert our people to hold on.” Ral tucked Ariel tighter to his body. “Hold on, Ariel. This ship has strong engines and we are not easing out. We want to cause damage when we leave here. It will burn up their docking bay.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck to cling tighter to him. The engines of the ship vibrated harder as the ship shot forward into space. Her body was slammed into Ral’s. He held her tighter. She turned her head to look at the view as the ship flew into space.

“They have one weapon that didn’t blow,” a man snarled. “Evasive maneuvers.” Ral growled. “Can we avoid being hit?”

The man laughed. “Not a problem. We are out of range in three, two, one, now.

We’re free.”

Ral laughed. He held Ariel in his arms as he stood up. He grinned at her. “We are free, my Ariel.”

Shock hit Ariel. She stared at Ral. He winked at her. “Open full ship communications.” He gently sat Ariel in the seat he’d vacated.

Emotionally Ariel was reeling from the shock. They’d escaped the Anzons. She hadn’t known they were even trying to escape. Ral hadn’t told her. That was what that meeting had been about last night. The Zorn hadn’t been excited about new prisoners.

They had been excited about a large ship being prepared so they could use it to escape.

Hurt washed over Ariel. Why hadn’t Ral told her? Hadn’t he trusted her?

“This is Argis Ral,” Ral snarled. “We are free. In three weeks we will be returning to our home. We will see Zorn again.”

The men threw back their heads in the room and howled loudly. Ariel started. Ral smiled widely at her. He ran his hand over his throat. The man to the left nodded.

“Communications are off, Argis Ral.”

Ral glanced at one of his men. “Any pursuit?”

“No, Argis Ral. We damaged them too well.”

Ral nodded. “Keep a sharp eye on it. I don’t want any surprises.”

“Yes, Argis Ral.”

Ral turned to stare at the large window facing space. He crossed his muscled arms over his chest. Satisfaction was the clear emotion displayed on his face.

Ariel swallowed. “Ral?”

He grinned at her as his arms dropped to his sides. “Yes?”

“Are you taking me home?”

He nodded. He moved toward her and crouched down in front of her. His hands gripped her face gently. “We are bound. You will be very welcome on my planet.”

“I meant Earth,” she whispered.

Ral’s smile died. “We are bound, Ariel. I don’t know where your world is or where to even look. I am sorry. My home is now your home.” She nodded feeling a little numb. What else could she do? Ral smiled at her and released her as he stood up. He headed for one of the stations and spoke softly to his men.

Ariel sat in the chair he’d placed her in and just watched Ral. He was taking her to his planet. She wasn’t going to ever get back to Earth. Pain and anger filled her as she realized that his men had access to the Anzons Charts to find his world but he wasn’t even going to look for her planet. She shut her eyes and fought tears that burned behind her eyelids.

She finally opened her eyes and stared out into space when she had her emotions under control. She turned her head sometimes to watch Ral. He looked excited as he moved around the room from station to station. He finally walked toward her and held out his hand. Hours had passed.

“We are not being pursued. They don’t have anything faster than our ship and we have been watching for them. We made a perfect escape. I have memorized the floor plan of the ship. We are going to the leader’s sleeping quarters.”

“All right.” She let him pull her up to her feet.

Ral retrieved his blanket-wrapped clothing by the door. They left the command center and walked down a hallway. Ral stopped by a door and opened it. It wasn’t locked. Ral stepped in first and dropped his clothes. The lights automatically came on.

Ariel eyed the large room.

“Nice.” The room was huge and looked fitted with every comfort the Anzons had to offer.

“They put us in rock rooms with thick mats.” Ral looked pissed off. “Yet they lived in luxury.”

Ariel looked at the room again. It had a living room area with comfortable chairs and then there was a bedroom area with a large bed. One wall was a window of space.

It was beautiful. When they lay down in the bed they would face the view of space, staring out at it, she knew it would be an experience. Ral reached for her, pulling her into his arms.

“You will love Zorn.”

She locked eyes with Ral. “You could find Earth if you wanted to.”

“I can’t let you return to Earth.”

“I don’t understand.”

He held her tighter. “I could find your planet, but I can’t let go of you now, Ariel. I am in love with you. You are everything to me. We are bound.”

“What does that mean? Bound?”

“It means I have taken you as mine until death. It means we are together until death. I have committed my life to yours.”

“You mean we’re married?”

“Married?”

“That means committed to each other until death.”

“Yes. Then that is what it means. You are bound to me, Ariel. I will never give you up.”

“What is Argis?”

“My actual title.”

“And Ral?”

“My name.”

“Should I call you Argis Ral now like everyone else is?” He grinned. “You are bound to me. You need not call me a title. Ever. When we were captured and taken I ordered my people to drop the title to protect my identity. I was just one Zorn of many.”

“If the Anzons captured you once will they come back to your planet to get you again?”

“No. We were not taken from our home planet. We were taken from another we were visiting. It was our hunting planet. The Anzons made many mistakes with us.

They thought we were not smart enough to deal with technology and they thought we were not worthy to even watch closely. We allowed them to think it. It worked well with us to have good access to escape.”