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“Vegas doesn’t want to be with Brigadier Boros.” Heather’s voice had a quaver to it.
“Is this true?” Diadora asked. “You are turning down this offer? You realize he’s a top-ranking Galaxar? He can offer you everything.”
“Including a life in bondage,” Vegas snapped.
Diadora’s face remained impassive. “We all have a burden to bear when we choose an alien to breed with.”
“You think I should accept this?”
“I can’t see you getting a better offer,” Diadora said. “Besides, it’s out of my hands. I agreed to release you from your contract. The deal has been made.”
Forgetting Diadora was her terrifying boss with the ability to rip her head off with her cybernetics, Vegas stomped to the desk and slammed her fists on it. “There is no way in the dark side of Hell’s Moon I will agree to be Boros’s mate. He’s cruel and sadistic. He sees me as a trophy. I hate to think what kind of parent he will make. He could offer you the entire mining rights of the Noned nation, and I still wouldn’t agree to this match. He is not the right Galaxar for me.”
“And Solan is?” Danger sparked in Diadora’s eyes.
“No Galaxar is.” Vegas hoped her cheeks didn’t look as hot as they felt. “I am loyal to My Single Alien. At least I was, until you tried to sell me out of my work contract for a life of horror with Boros.”
“If you’d bothered to read your employment contract, you would have seen that I have the authority to release you early for a number of reasons.”
“Including being sold into slavery to a sadistic Galaxar?”
“There is an any other reason clause.” Diadora smiled. “I added that one myself.”
Vegas cursed under her breath. Of course she did. Diadora had herself front and center when it came to maximizing profits.
“You know we are on an amber alert,” Diadora said. “The Council of Representatives is not happy with our results. Aliens have been complaining that not enough females are coming through the agency.”
“We’re working as hard as we can,” Vegas said. “We have to make sure all matches are fair. The aliens and humans need to go through the induction process. We can’t match an alien with tentacles with a woman not prepared for such a unique experience. The shock could kill her.”
“We humans are adaptable,” Diadora said. “That’s why the aliens like us so much. We survive in most situations, we’re easy to keep happy, and if we complain, they can simply shut us up.”
“If you sell me to Boros, I will not survive. I’ll be miserable, and I definitely won’t shut up. He’ll have to kill me for that to happen.”
Diadora shrugged. “That would be one option.”
Heather approached the desk. “This is wrong.”
“You need to keep quiet,” Diadora said. “I’ve been checking your work records. Some of your matches have been questionable. You missed your targets on two occasions last week. You need to match a minimum of ten aliens a day, or I shall question your competence as a matchmaker.”
“Sometimes the aliens who come to us are unsuitable.” Heather glanced nervously at Vegas. “I’m not putting an alien and a woman together when they won’t make a good match.”
“Lower your standards,” Diadora said.
Heather swallowed loudly. “They’re not my standards. They’re My Single Aliens.”
“We cannot afford to stay on an amber warning. We do not want council officials poking around here and telling us what to do.”
Vegas shook her head. No doubt if they did, they would discover Diadora was not as above board as she claimed to be. Maybe this wasn’t the first time she’d taken a bribe so an alien got what he wanted.
“As I said,” Vegas said, “we’re working as hard as we can. If you want us to go any faster, then you need to spend some budget on additional staff.”
“What I need is to ensure existing staff work to capacity and don’t mess around with their friends when they should be working.” Diadora’s sharp gaze slid from Heather to Vegas. “Perhaps it’s time I had you reassigned to different tasks.”
“I love being a matchmaker,” Heather said. “It’s what I’m good at.”
Diadora was silent for a few seconds. “By taking Boros as your mate, you will bolster our target numbers.”
“By one,” Vegas said. “That’s not going to make any difference to the amber warning.”
