She found one. “Three dead at a tattoo parlor,” she said, marking it. “Massive head trauma, one guy with his throat cut.”

“Cut thus?” Tagen interrupted. He drew his claw across his own neck to demonstrate, and then put one claw at the hollow of his throat and made a pushing gesture. “Or cut so?”

“It doesn’t say. Why?”

Tagen tapped his throat thoughtfully. “This is often done,” he said, speaking low, as if to himself. “So that the victim cannot scream.”

“Sounds like our guy, then, doesn’t it?” Daria looked down. “And he’s definitely got a car.”

“Yes. And a pilot.” Tagen bared his teeth and stood up. “And is no more traveling on one road only.” He paced out the perimeter of the living room, deep in thought. “He could go anywhere. Anywhere.” Finally, he faced her. “I will hear suggestions,” he said.

Daria considered the map, heavily aware of Tagen’s eyes on her. “Well,” she said slowly. “He may not be on one road, but he’s still traveling in straight lines. And considering that he could go anywhere he wanted to, he still seems to be sticking relatively close by. Maybe…maybe if he turns around again, and if the distances are more or less equal, maybe we can use that to figure out where his ship is.”

Tagen actually gaped at her for a second. “That,” he stammered, “That is brilliant, Daria! Of course he has a sacrat!” He stared down at the map, his eyes wide and searching. “And it has a limited range. I…” He looked up at her again. “I think I would never have thought of that,” he said, wonderingly.

She half-shrugged uncomfortably. “Even if we can’t backtrack to his ship, if we knew how far he likes to travel before he turns, we can use that to get in front of him on the road he’s on.”

Tagen gaped at her again and she looked away, blushing.

“Of course,” she went on, “it does mean waiting around here for him to kill a busload of nuns first. I kind of hate that. I guess you do, too.” She risked a glance at him; he was watching her with grim understanding. “You’re in a hard position,” she said grudgingly. “I realize now you’re doing your very best to bring him in.”

“Had I but known that Earth possessed cars, I could have been better prepared for this mission,” he said. “And I, too, hate that I must sit idle while he hunts.” He gazed down at the map, then met her eyes again. “I am grateful it was you I found, Daria Cleavon. When I catch E’Var, it will be your influence that put him in my hands.”

It was easily the strangest compliment she’d ever received, but she blushed with pleasure anyway.

“Come to me, my clever human,” he said, stepping over the map. “Let me show you gratitude. Let me hold you while it is cool.”

“You can’t mean it,” she said, startled, trying to ignore the leap of excitement her body sent out at his words. “We just spent all morning…I mean…You just aren’t serious, are you?”

He stopped where he was and looked at her uncertainly. “You…do not want to make love to me?”

He didn’t sound hurt so much as just requesting clarification, but Daria found it a tough one to answer anyway. She stammered a little, feeling that shivery heat bloom out insistently inside of her, and finally blurted, “Well, damn fella, aren’t you tired?”

He drew back and said, “Of you?” in tones of such astonishment that no woman hearing him could help but feel desirable.

She blushed even hotter and dropped her gaze. “Women,” she stammered. “Earth women, I mean, like me…we’re not supposed to…I mean, there’s only one kind of girl who…so often…”

“Ah,” said Tagen. “I have forgotten. On Earth, it is the male who commands.” He closed the distance between them in two steps and caught her arm when she tried to back away. “So I will command. Daria Cleavon, remove your clothing.”

He said it like an officer, like a man who was used to giving orders and seeing them obeyed. Daria’s hands responded to that voice, even before her brain could help her form a word of protest. He watched, his lips curving in a smile as she stripped to the skin. She was trembling a little already, amazed and bizarrely proud to see the desire in the eyes that moved over her.

She’d never undressed so brazenly; she tried once to hide behind her hands and Tagen growled a warning. “I shouldn’t,” she said, hugging herself.

“Why not?”

There was no easy way to answer that. “I’m not supposed to want to,” she said helplessly.

“Do you want to?”

She looked away.

“I want you to,” he said evenly. “I could look all day at your beautiful body.”

She bit her lip and continued to stare at the far wall.

“But I remove you of choice, Daria. I am male. I command. Lower your arms.”

She did, slowly, shivering in the heat.

He growled again, an appreciative ribbon of quiet sound, and ran his fingertips very lightly down her hair. “My beautiful alien,” he murmured. “How can you bear to be covered?” He took her hand in his, his thumb caressing her palm, and placed it over her breast. He stroked, compelling her to caress herself, and bent to brush his lips over hers. “Tell me you are beautiful.”

She wanted to. She couldn’t.

He found her other hand, set it under his on her side and drew it down, over her belly, over her hips. “Tell me,” he insisted. His hand and hers slipped between her thighs, and when she tensed, his tongue darted into her mouth. He stroked, soft and slow, as he kissed her, and gradually, she relaxed. Her fingers parted her folds; they were soft as petals. His hand slid back up, savoring every inch of skin, to plunge into her hair, but hers stayed where it was. “Tell me you are beautiful. I command you.”

“I’m beautiful,” she whispered, and flames rushed across her face, burning the lips that had admitted such a ridiculous thing.

“You are.” He kissed her again, breathing for her, tasting and exploring her, and then standing away from her. “Touch,” he said, when she tried to reach for him. “Your hands are mine. Let me see you know your beautiful body.”

She shook her head, embarrassed and eager all at once, clenching her hands at her sides because they wanted so badly to rise and obey him.

“Show me how you want me to touch you,” he said. “And tell me you are beautiful.”

That was the breaking straw. She thought she would do anything at all to have his hands on her right now, with his eyes burning on her with such desire. She cupped her breasts, gazing at him imploringly, but he did not move. “I’m beautiful,” she said.

“What is beautiful? Tell me.”

“My breasts are beautiful.” She caressed them, her breath quickening. “My body is beautiful.” She ran her hands down the rise and fall of her ribs to her waist. “My hips are beautiful. My thighs are beautiful.”

“Yes.”

“My…my…” Every word she could think of was ugly. “My sex is beautiful,” she said at last. She watched him watch her touch herself, emboldened by his smile and burning eyes. “My sex is beautiful,” she said again, brushing through the down of her pubic hair to cup the gentle mound. “I’m beautiful.”

“You are,” he said again. “Remove my clothing.”

Her hands were shaking, which made finding the unfamiliar fastenings even more difficult. Tagen stood quietly under her increasingly anxious attempts, offering no advice. He seemed to be enjoying her frustration. “I like to see you bare your teeth,” he said, when she shot him an irritated glance.

She blushed and bared them more. “You like it when I look fierce?”

He laughed. “You do not look fierce,” he said chidingly. “You look…cute.”

She gave up on his uniform jacket, cupped his neck and bit him on the jaw, smiling as his muscles locked tight. “Was that cute?” she asked.

He growled, louder this time, and looked down at her with hunger. “Let me show you how these open,” he said, and guided her hands to the fastens of his uniform.

Inch by inch, she brought his jacket off, kissing and biting at each new precious point of skin. She could hear his breath quickening, his heart racing, and it filled her with pleasure. He wasn’t in Heat now. All these reactions were for her alone. She found herself exhilarated and amazed by her power over him. When she had him fully bared to her, she hesitated. He had been naked beside her for hours outside, but this was the first time she had really looked at him, and when she actually saw the greater proof of his passion, her nerve began to fail.