Three hours later, Lucianne’s sleepiness started subsiding, and her senses slowly brought her back to reality. She could gather that she was lying flat on a bed and the quilt covered her body to chest-level. When she slowly opened her eyes, she realized that her right hand was laced with something rough and warm. She gasped and her body shot up in panic.

“Hey, hey. What’s wrong?” Xandar asked softly when he heard his mate’s gasp and felt the tugging of her small, smooth hand in his larger, rougher one.

Lucianne let out a sigh of relief when she saw him. “It’s just you. I’m okay. Sorry about that.”

He...