Scowling at her mirrored image, she stuck out her tongue.

Tar jerked back, a little bemused, "This is my life's companion?" he muttered, turning to Mica, high priest of Zylar. "This Earthling? She's so...plain looking."

Mica raised his eyebrows. "What were you expecting, Tar? A Selven Goddess?"

Tar scowled, "I wasn't expecting a Goddess, just something more...you've been looking for my mate for three life cycles, Mica!"

"Yes. For three life cycles, looking through twenty-seven planets, two galaxies, and several dimensions. The reflecting pool will only give you an overall perception, Tar. You can't feel or sense your life companion now. Once you do, as always with our people, you will know she's your mate. But I warn you: she is an Earthling. This won't be an easy task. She will not know of us, or our ways. Some Earth women are extremely hard to tame; it's why Earth is always the last choice in the search for a life companion."

Tar shrugged, "How hard can it be? Once I have the Companion Links on her, she will be mine. She will do as I say. There is nothing to worry about."

Mica smiled, "As you wish, my ruler. As you decree..."

Worn out from worrying, Nyssa was sleeping deeply and completely missed the bright light and the quiet presence in her room. She shivered a little in her sleep, moving her hands down to find the warmth among the blankets.

Tar stood over her and mentally raised the temperature in the room. He removed the blankets and her nightgown with a thought. He wanted her to sleep and not to wake because she felt chilled.

He took in his first sight of her. Wallowed in his first scent of her essence. His mate! His life companion! Mica was right. She was the one. He felt the stirrings and then a slight twinge as the golden strings of the links pushed out of his body and locked to his nipples during that first breath; the spicy, warm fragrance of his mate worked to open his body and mind to the link's tendrils. He leaned over to slowly stroke her arm with a feather light caress. At that first touch, he felt the links move through the skin at the head of his penis. A Zylan male was never fully alive unless connected to his life companion. The senses of smell and touch were never fully developed until the links closed. It would take about four nons--twenty-eight earth days—to govern the links and completely bind his mate. He reverently laid Nyssa's links on her body; she was not Zylan so they could not come from within. They had been made solely for her and would not be accepted by another. In order to aid Nyssa's body with the recognition and acceptance of their bonds, Tar skimmed his hands carefully over her skin.

Nyssa stirred. In her dreams she felt a subtle flowing caress, almost as if someone was petting her. The warm feel of a rough hand smoothing along her body, brushing slowly along every surface, was soothing, comforting, arousing. When was the last time she had been touched? It felt so good...stretching a little, she moaned and moved into that soft contact.

Tar looked closely at his mate. Lying there asleep she looked small, soft. Smirking to himself he thought Mica had worried unnecessarily. They had known each other all of their lives and Mica often acted like a cranky, slightly older brother. No, she would give him no problem with the claiming.

She reacted like a cat to his subtle touch, turning into it and giving him unrestricted access. How could he have thought her plain? Her skin was pale yet slightly flushed a delicate shade of pink, a light dusting of freckles scattered over her from top to bottom. The contrast of her light skin against his darker coloring was a sight that filled him with lust. Even in the dark, her short red hair gleamed like flames curling around her face. High, firm breasts, tipped with pale rose nipples, reacted to his caress and begged for his touch. He didn't dare take her in his arms as he wanted; sweat had already begun to bead on his forehead and he was painfully aroused. He had four nons to claim her and ensure that she accepted him as her mate. He was impatient and eager to start her training. The links were in place and it was time to take her home. Home to Zylar.
*****

Nyssa slowly stretched. She felt wonderful. A little "horny." God, she hated that word but she truly felt as if every nerve ending in her body had been awakened and left her wanting. Felt, well...felt as if someone were still lightly stroking her across her breasts, down her stomach and between her thighs. She moved her hand and frowned when she came across a long, delicate chain that was attached to her nipples.

Opening her eyes in confusion, Nyssa looked down. "What the Hell!" she exclaimed. There was a chain--a very light, finely woven, incredibly ornate golden chain--and it was hanging from...No! Oh. My. God...through her nipples! And...oh Hell...another chain encircled her waist and disappeared between her legs! Nyssa closed her eyes. Okay. Okay. Think, Nyssa. There is no way this is real! No conceivable way. Even if she had been falling down drunk she wouldn't have let anyone near enough to touch her with a needle to do any body piercing. Where the Hell did that other chain go?  "I am not going to look. It isn't real." Nyssa grumbled to herself.

"They are your Companion Links," said a deep, gravelly voice.

Nyssa's eyes snapped open. Screaming, she caught a fleeting glimpse of a man she'd never seen before, a room she'd never seen before, covers she'd never seen before, and then everything went pitch black as she dove under the blankets and disappeared from sight.

She sat there for a few minutes, not moving or thinking and just listened. Oh, this is smart, she thought to herself. Now you can't see where he is or what he's doing.

The bed shifted beneath her and Nyssa shrieked and simultaneously removed the blanket from her head. Without stopping or slowing down, she then shoved up and away from the movement on the bed. As she did, she tumbled off of the bed and onto the floor, blankets tangled in a mass around her legs. Large, strong arms plucked her off the floor as easily as if she'd been a child and set her back down on the bed. Then moved away. Nyssa quickly glanced around and discovered a tall, dark haired man standing in the shadows across the room and staring at her. She could feel the sensual heat from his gaze sear through her, burning every nerve ending. As he shifted slightly from the shadows, the light fell across his face. He had a nose that looked as if it had been broken at least once, and a mouth...well, forget that. His eyes flashed with silver-gray sparks. Waves of dark hair, gleaming and blacker than midnight, slightly curled to brush down past enormously broad shoulders. He seemed huge, with arms that looked like tree trunks. She started to glance lower and barely managed to jerk her eyes back up to his, before he saw where her gaze was headed. His moving closer to the bed had Nyssa shrinking back.

"Who the Hell are you?" Nyssa managed to bite out between clenched teeth. "And where am I?" When the man moved his hand toward her, she shouted, "Don't touch me!" At her command he paused. His ebony brows drew together and there was a look of male satisfaction in those sparkling gray eyes.

"I only planned to soothe you. You are upset," he murmured.

"If you touch me, you'll see upset! Keep your distance. What do you want with me?" Hah! Nyssa shuddered. She was naked; with pierced body parts and sitting in what was probably his bed. What did she think he wanted?

"I will answer your questions. All of them. I am Tar. You are in my separate home on the planet Zylar. As for what I want from you," he paused, shrugged his shoulders, and spoke slowly. He had placed a translator in her temporal lobe as soon as the links had been attached, but it would still take some time for Nyssa to adapt to the Zylarian speech patterns. "It's simple. What I want is to make you happy and to build a life for the two of us. You are my life companion."

Nyssa peered at him. She smacked herself with an open palm a couple of times on the side of her head. "Planet Zylar? You have got to be joking! I did not hear that!"

Tar grinned, lethally. "You are on the planet Zylar. You are my life companion. My mate. I have been searching for you for many of your Earth years--on Zylar we call them life cycles." As Tar spoke, he moved slowly and sensuously from the side of the bed towards what looked like a window. He waved his hand and it became transparent.

Looking, Nyssa saw a scene that could have come from her worst nightmare. Not that it was a frightening sight; it just wasn't like anything on Earth. "Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore," Nyssa muttered to herself. Eyes wide, she saw what appeared to be a lake but it was purple rather than Earth's azure blue. Okay, maybe lilac colored, her brain argued with her. And there was light blue "grass" going down from the house to the shore, with what appeared to be black sand and aqua colored trees, and two suns.

"There are two suns..."

"Yes and, at nightfall, our planet has three moons."

"Three moons..." she murmured. Then more forcefully she cried, "This is completely nuts! I want to go home. I don't believe that is any more than a hallucination. Take these damn chains off me. No! On second thought leave the chains alone. I don't want you touching me. I just want to go home. Now!"

"You cannot go back to Earth. This is now your home. Your body accepted the Companion Links and you are my mate. You are now Zylan. The links are a permanent part of your body and will remain forever. If you had been Zylan born, the links would have been part of your body and brought forward when you found your mate. They provide a sign to all that you are linked to your companion," Tar explained. Leaving out--of course--that in twenty-seven of her Earth days, she would have to accept him and his body in front of Zylar's Council for their union to be completed.

"Companion Links. What the Hell are Companion Links? And what do you mean my body accepted them? You probably had me drugged and pierced. I don't do drugs! And I don't do needles! Now take me home!" Nyssa was almost hysterical by the time she finished ranting. She gave her best 'if looks could kill' stare. It had often worked with her office assistants but didn't seem to have any effect on this big...alien. "Oh my God! You think you're an alien!" she screeched as she scrambled farther up on the bed.

Tar smiled. "There were no drugs. I assisted your sleep for the transfer to my home, but I promise there were no drugs. I am humanoid. Our bodies are of the same type as those found on Earth. We have some different abilities. But, as you live here under Zylar's moons and your body begins to accept the Companion Links, you will develop many of them." Slowly moving closer, but not close enough to make Nyssa nervous, he continued, "Companion Links are placed on the body and, if you are the true companion, they are accepted as part of you. They cannot be removed." At least not by me; it takes the High Priest. "As to what they are.....over time you will come to understand their full function. But let me demonstrate part of their usefulness..."

Nyssa glanced up. Tar was looking at her with an extremely predatory smile; his eyes were closed to small slits and his breathing became more erratic. He was concentrating on her and it made her more nervous than before. He was large enough to make even a professional wrestler nervous. Her fingers ached to run through his hair and to feel if it was as soft as it looked. His face was chiseled perfection. Well...almost perfection...his nose looked like it had been broken before, throwing its symmetry off a little. His skin was several shades darker than hers--a bodybuilder's tan.

Nyssa stilled. Then squirmed. Her nipples started to tingle and throb. Even though he was still across the room, she felt him. He was everywhere--all at once. Slowly closing her eyes, the world went hazy. She felt his mouth moving along her chin, across her mouth, slowly devouring. Leisurely, the wet caress moved lower. Down her neck, sucking lightly, nipping delicately at her skin. Fight this, Nyssa. It's not real. It can't be real.

"Stop that!" Nyssa cried out, breathlessly. "Stop!"