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had gathered, so we loaded her up. From what we were told, her family is dead. She has nobody on Earth to care for her.”
    “Dammit,” Kosmas spat, running a hand through his hair in frustration. He slung the clipboard against the far wall, as papers flew everywhere. Nobody moved to pick them up. “Didn't it ever occur to you to just leave her?” He stopped to shake his head, his nostrils flaring as he inhaled deeply. “What are we supposed to do with a human child? She's too young to be mated.”
    The guard sighed. Keely hadn't seen him before, but it wasn't unusual. Kosmas had a lot of guards, far too many for her to ever be able to identify. “I overheard two of the humans talking,” he explained, in a toneless voice. “It was while we were loading up the space plane. The mortals are having problems locating enough concubines to meet our demands. Part of it is from laziness, but part of it is simply due to their diminishing population. Earth's leaders have no contact with those in their general population, and they don't have the resources to force them to submit to blood tests. Not anymore. They've lost interest in providing us with concubines, and they don't believe we will hold them to it. They plan on sending what they have, but that's all. Once they've run out of women, they don't plan on sending anymore.”
    Kosmas looked... furious. In the muted lighting, the planes of his well-defined face looked harsh and shadowed. During the guard's speech, his fangs had erupted. “Oh, really?” he asked, in a cold, dangerous voice. “It sounds as if I'm long overdue to a trip back to Earth. Their arrogance is astounding, especially considering how close they are to extincting themselves. I won't tolerate this type of defiance, be it from vampire or human. We bow to nobody.”
    The thought of Kosmas returning to Earth chilled her, despite her anger with him. She was quickly regretting her rash assumption that he approved of the girl being taken, but what other kind of conclusion could she have reached? Not much occurred on Golden Harbor without Kosmas' approval, especially when it came to the concubines.
    Kosmas coldly ignored her, as if she weren't even there. It was clear to all of them that he was furious with her. Despite his anger, though, Keely wouldn't back down. “You have to send her back,” she broke in, holding her head high as she slowly looked at each vampire. “You have no choice. She has to be returned.”
    “I could organize a crew,” Zander interrupted suddenly, raking a hand through his own hair. Keely was surprised by his offer. She shot him a grateful look, but he didn't appear to notice. “If I get started now, we could leave within the hour. We'd be back in plenty of time for your Christmas celebration.”
    Kosmas sneered at Keely and Zander, shaking his head vehemently as he released a sharp bark of laughter. Finally, he settled his gaze on Keely, the angering simmering in his dark depths almost like a slap. “You're so quick to believe that we're the animals, but it was your own precious humanity that sent this girl to us. But you, my little self-righteous hypocrite, want to send her back to the very people that were only too happy to hand her over to a group of vampires? What do you think they thought they were sending her into?”
    He stopped for emphasis, letting his words sink in deeply. Keely blinked in shame and humiliation, her eyes overflowing with tears. He was right, she realized belatedly, filled with dismay. It was likely they'd believed they were sending the girl into certain death, at the very least, but they hadn't blinked an eye about doing so. Her own people had sacrificed a child to protect themselves, not caring about what kind of horrors awaited her.
    And she wanted to send the child back to them? Not anymore, but she didn't want to see the girl mated before her time, either. Despite how foolish she felt, she refused to back down to her mate. Maintaining her composure,