Page 10 of Unfinished

Tasha pressed a hand over her heart and exhaled. “Give me a minute. I’m still trying to process…all this,” she said with a swirling motion of her free hand in Sienna’s direction. A shake of her head later and she started to laugh. “You’re only telling me this now? Let’s start with Edgar. He was waiting here like some stalker last night? Why?”

Sienna waved her hand like she was shooing off a fly. “That’s not important right now. He was just trying to get under my skin. He claimed he was willing to forgive me if I apologized and that he’d take me back.”

“Ugh. Five years, Sisi. How?”

Sienna slid the side of her fork with the uneaten tofu against the plate just to hear it scrape. “I don’t know. I guess I was just happy to be oblivious. It didn’t seem so bad in the thick of things, you know? Now, I don’t know what the hell I was doing.”

“How did he get in? Did you alert security?” Tasha asked, sitting up straighter as she gave Sienna her best protective big-sister style stare.

“I’d forgotten to revoke his access from the bio-lock. Don’t worry. It’s the first thing I did after he left last night.”

“And the next was to sign up to be an alien’s mail order bride?”

Sienna’s lips cracked into a smile despite herself. “Yep,” she said, “I did. I figured it was time for a fresh start.”

Tasha tilted her head back to look up at the ceiling and mimed praying before she fixed her gaze on Sienna again. “A fresh start, she says. Okay, fine. Get your viewscreen. Let’s find your alien husband.”

Sienna laughed and finally took a bite of her tofu. It was just as good as she remembered. She was still smiling as she pulled out a portable viewscreen from her workbag. She’d known asking Tasha to come over had been the right idea.

“It’s just something to try. You have to communicate six months before anything can even happen.” She shot a brief look at Tasha. “Most likely nothing will come of it.”

“No—nope. You’re not going to do that. You already did the hard part. You signed up for the Mate Portal. Don’t assume it’ll fail. I mean, I’ve got to be honest. I never pegged you for someone who’d be interested. You’ve always seemed so strait-laced—Edgar’s pretty much exhibit A there—but I think it’s great you’re willing to consider one of those freaky fanged guys. They seem a little intense for me, at least from the news-vids, but damn, girl,” she said, fanning herself, “at least if we had to make contact with aliens, they ended up being hot ones.”

Sienna activated her viewscreen and pulled up the Mate Portal site. She bit the inside of her cheek while she input her credentials, finishing with a fingerprint swipe. “I checked the box to go to their planet,” she blurted out.

Tasha’s fork clattered against her plate. “You what now?”

She chanced a glance in her friend’s direction. Tasha looked just as perturbed as Sienna had thought she’d be. “I just felt like, well, go big or go home, you know? If I want a brand new life, how better to get it than on a brand new planet?”

Tasha didn’t look impressed.

“Can you change it?”

“Maybe? I’m not sure,” Sienna said. Then she looked down.

Exhilaration hit her hard, leaving her shivering like she’d just stepped out into the December cold. She didn’t have to worry that none of the Xithilene men would contact her. Fifty-four messages.Fifty-fourin less than twenty-four hours.

“Okay, flip that screen around. I need to see what put that expression on your face. Is it good? Bad?” Tasha was already up and walking around to her side of the table before Sienna could answer. She still didn’t speak as she heard the dull scrape of her friend pulling out the chair beside her.

A low whistle finally cut through the haze she’d fallen under. She’d just never expected so many replies, from so many different men. If she’d thought all Xithilene men would be the same, she knew now they must be nearly as varied as men on Earth and Mars. Some had the glorious wings of the men on the vid-ads, while some seemed to have hardly any feathers at all beyond those on their heads, and altogether they encompassed a veritable rainbow of colors, from their scales to their bright eyes and feathers.

A quick glance at their pictures revealed outfits ranging from black military uniforms to pirate-like, low-slung pants to one man in a skimpy looking loincloth situation. Sienna blinked twice, averting her eyes from that gentleman. He had one leg lifted up, his rather rough looking scaly foot propped up on a branch. Apparently, he’d chosen to pose in a tree.

“Hmm…maybe I should consider signing up for this, too. Just look at all of them. That one with the green wings could get it. Look at his little smirk. Hey, sexy, I see you—”

“Tasha!”

“What?” she asked with a laugh.

Sienna pushed the first set of men to the side. Maybe it’d been a bad idea to have Tasha here. She didn’t want a man like Mr. Loincloth. Although he did have a drool worthy figure, that sort of cocky arrogance reminded her too much of Edgar. She wanted someone handsome, yet understated. Calm, collected, dependable, and just…good.

“Oh, look at that guy! Do you think that’s his kid in the image?”

Tasha’s exclamation brought her attention to a match displayed at the very bottom of the viewscreen. She couldn’t help her soft gasp. He looked just a little bit awkward. He looked uncomfortable and determined all at the same time. He lookedperfect.

“I hope so,” Sienna whispered.

The man wasn’t as exotic or alien as the others. His scaled skin still gleamed in an inhuman way, golden bronze and metallic, yet nothing about him appeared cold. It was obvious he was no SciFi android, that beneath those scales he was all warm man and muscle.

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