It took me a moment to translate them, but I’d been forced to learn the alts’ language years ago just like everyone else on Earth.

“You’re perfect.”

My forehead creased, but the man had already lifted his head. He was looking at the woman on the beach. She must’ve been the one who cleared her throat.

“Done?” she drawled the word in her language, the sarcasm in her voice unmistakable.

“Never,” the man rumbled, also in their language. It was different to hear the words aloud from native speakers rather than in the clumsy way our language teachers had said them. My brain couldn’t quite translate them fast enough.

The man’s gigantic hands landed on my waist a moment later, and he threw me over his shoulder. I made a noise of surprise, but otherwise didn’t react. The motion was smooth enough not to cause me any pain, though my nose came precariously close to a gigantic muscle on his back.

He spoke again to the woman who had been giving orders as he strode out of the water, carrying me with him. “Tell the demons to prepare the portal.”

Demons?

So the online conspiracy theories were right about that.

“They’ll be ready, Majesty,” the woman tossed back.

Majesty?

Who the hell was this guy?

Was he a demon too?

The scales on his skin made it seem unlikely, but maybe they were all demons.

The way he spoke about them didn’t make it sound like he was one, though.

He carried me down the beach quickly, hauling me away from the guards, other alts, and human women. He jogged for a few minutes, and I bounced lightly against his back.

I wanted to ask him what was happening and why he’d picked me, but as I finally decided to open my mouth, he called out to someone else.

“Is it ready?”

“Yes, but your human will need to walk through on her own feet. They pass out for days when they’re carried,” someone called back.

I might’ve gotten one or two of the words mixed up, but that was the gist of it. And I definitely didn’t miss that the demons called me his human.

The alt man set me down on my feet facing him, his hands remaining on my waist as I wobbled.

His eyes met mine again and he said in a low voice, “You have to walk yourself through the portal, Sweetheart.”

I blinked.

He was so stupidly gorgeous that it took me a solid thirty seconds to gather my thoughts again. I needed to get my shit together, fast.

“Why do I need to go through the portal at all? My home is here. My car is still in the parking lot. I don’t look like most of the women you guys pick. I⁠—”

“I’ll send someone for your things.”

I blinked again.