Charming Charly (English Edition) (Lords of Arr'Carthian 3) by Cathy McAllister Page A

she was concerned about what would come out. After all, he was an alien and that was not all. He was a cheetah, a shape shifter, as she had, in the meantime, found out. It had been on their second night together that he had declared his true nature to her. Although she was, by then, sure that she loved him, she still found it a little hard to deal with the idea that her lover had an animal side.  

    “I think it’s great that you’ve come to visit us,” said Lory, pouring them some more tajaka .
    “Yes, I’m looking forward to a few peaceful days,” said Charly, smiling. “It’s really hectic at home. Amano’s having the whole house renovated. He wants to build me a bigger bathroom, as if the bathroom that we already have isn’t huge. Then he wants his own medical unit in case something happens to me and, of course, a wing for our numerous children that I haven’t even agreed to.”
    Charly laughed and hoped that her friend would not be able to tell that the thought of children concerned her.  
    “I wonder what the men are going to bring home,” said Lory.  
    “Yes, perhaps some huge, hairy creature with long, pointed teeth and red eyes. Or something green, slimy. Hopefully not a giant lizard,” replied Charly, laughing. “I think I’ve watched too may sc-fi movies. Amano says so, too, since I told him that …”
    “That what?” Lory probed when Charly stopped speaking.
    “Well, I’m a bit scared about what will come out if I get pregnant by him. I mean, in films the women don’t usually fare very well when they’re pregnant with an alien baby.”
    Lory shook her head. She clearly did not share Charly’s way of thinking.
    “I think you really have watched too many films,” she said. “It’ll be a completely normal baby. Amano is not one of those aliens from the film with Sigourney Weaver.”
    “I know,” Charly replied, sighing. “But he is a cheetah. What if the child is born with claws and fangs?”
    Charly knew that she was probably being silly but she could not get these thoughts out of her head.
    “I’ve learnt from Kordan that the children don’t have the ability to shapeshift until they’re about three years old. Until then they’re completely normal kids,” explained Lory.
    “Oh, Amano didn’t tell me that.   But then I haven’t told him about the fur and stuff, only that I’m afraid about what might come out.”
    All of a sudden a shadow darkened the patio and both women looked up.
    “Oh. My. God!” shouted Lory.
    Charly screamed in fright.
    “What’s that?” she asked, panic-stricken. She did not have a good feeling. Something was going horribly wrong here.
    “A spaceship!” gasped Lory. “And it doesn’t look like the Cordelia.”
    Suddenly a beam came down from the spaceship that was hovering above them and before they knew it they were standing on a platform in the ship’s transporter room.   In front of them, at a control panel, stood a lizard-like creature, and two men, whose entire bodies were covered in hair, approached them.
    “What’s going on here?” Lory demanded to know.  
    Charly admired the calm that her friend radiated. The two hairy beasts uttered only incomprehensible sounds and one grabbed her by the arm whilst the other put his clawed hand round Lory’s throat. Charly could see that Lory was fighting for breath and she began to panic. Would the beast kill her friend? But why? What did these creatures want of them?
    But the creature suddenly let go of Lory’s throat and she would have fallen over if this monster had not grabbed her tightly by the arm to pull her along with him.  
    They were dragged to a lift and pushed in roughly. Charly banged painfully against the metal wall and the shock briefly took her breath away. The two hairy aliens followed them into the small cubicle and stood blocking the doorway until they had arrived at one of the upper floors – the doors opened with a hissing sound. Again they were grabbed roughly and