Page 5 of Rule

“I did.”

“But you said you would never do that, you saidyou didn’t want to pop out alien babies while living on a strange planet withan alien you didn’t love.”

I shrugged. “I changed my mind.”

“You changed your mind.”

“Yes. Give Roden a glass of gallberry juice.”

She stared at the juice for a moment. “I –this is an incredible gift, Evie, but I -”

“You’re taking it, Candy. No arguing.”

“Fucking right I’m taking it. What I wasgoing to say is that I’ll never be able to pay you back for it.”

“You don’t have to. Give him a glass ofjuice.”

Candy stood and quickly poured a glass ofthe juice before hurrying into the bedroom. I pulled the jug closer and sniffedthe opening. It smelled vaguely of strawberries, and I pushed the jug away beforeI was tempted to try some for myself. I was pretty sure that a gallon would beenough to heal Roden completely, but I wasn’t taking any chances.

Candy returned and gave me a delightedgrin. “You should have seen the look on his face when I gave him the glass.”

I laughed as Candy bent and threw her armsaround me. She hugged me hard. “Evie, you have no idea what you’ve done forme. I will never forget this.” She leaned back and cupped my face as tearsran down her cheeks. “You’ve saved Roden’s life. You know that, right?”

She wiped away the tears that were runningdown my cheeks with her thumbs before giving me a loud, smacking kiss on themouth. “Now, let’s talk about fucking the Draax.”

I burst into laughter as she returned toher seat. “Are you serious?”

“Dead serious. Wait, maybe you should tellme first why you joined the breeding program. Did you do it solely for Roden?Because, sweetie, I -”

“I’m glad I could help Roden, but I didn’tjoin the program because of him.”

“Then why?”

I traced the worn wood of the kitchen tablewith my fingertip. “Alex is going to force me to marry Troy.”

“Fuck.” Candy scowled. “That fucking sonof a bitch.”

“Yeah.”

She paused and then gave me a delicatelook. “I thought that because you weren’t a virgin anymore, Troy lost interestin you.”

“He had at first, but apparently changedhis mind.”

“Well, shit. So, you gave up your v-cardto some random guy for nothing.”

I winced, and Candy gave me a look ofchagrin. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“It’s okay.”

“It isn’t okay.” Candy grabbed my hand andsqueezed it again. “None of this is okay. You shouldn’t have had to find someguy at the bar and sleep with him to avoid that asshole Troy, and youdefinitely shouldn’t have to give up your life to keep from being married offto that scumbag.”

I didn’t reply, and Candy sighed. “I’veheard that some Draax are allowing the women to come back to Earth with theirchildren. That they either stay on Earth with them, or they visit like once amonth or something.”

“You know that’s not true,” I said. “If awoman joins the breeding program, she rarely returns to Earth. Besides, itdoesn’t matter. I signed up for the lifetime program.”

“What?” Candy’s mouth dropped open. “Whywould you do that? You can’t ever come back now, Evie. Not without theDraax’s permission.”

“Exactly,” I said. “I don’t want to comeback. Once I leave, if I even step foot back on this planet, Alex will trackme down and kill me. You know he will. Hell, I’m lucky he hasn’t killed meyet. I need to get out of here before he beats me so bad that he puts me in acoma. I joined the lifetime program because if I didn’t, knowing my luck, I’dend up with some Draax who only wanted me for one kid and then would force meback here without my baby.”

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