Mixing It Up — Edie Ramer

Ki Galaxy doesn't want a man -- but her body does.

Ki wants to make muffins, not babies. Thirty-one solar systems from the planet where the Galaxy Girls were created to be broodmares, Ki is content baking muffins in the family's Tea & Comfort shop in Freedom, Kentucky. Then disaster strikes. She's ovulating, her make-me-a-mom genes sending out scents like they're weapons. She's trying crazy hard to stay far away from the two prime breeding candidates: the police chief with a past that haunts him and their new neighbor who's hiding his own secrets. Secrets that could destroy the Galaxy women.

But an eight-year-old girl is in danger, and the Galaxy ladies can't turn away from a child in need. Once again the Galaxy Girls are mixing it up, and it's about to get messy.

30,292 words

Chapter One excerpt

Ki was better today. Normal. Not like yesterday when her insides whirled faster than her industrial cake mixer. It reminded her of the time before she, her daughter, her sister and her niece escaped from Kergeron. Days when fear chased circles around hope.
Thank the Great Mother they lived a calm life now in the aptly named small town of Freedom, Kentucky. Six years without a man, the best years in her life. At peace in her routine. Baking her muffins before the early breakfast crowd descended on their Tea & Comfort diner. Each woman with her own specialty.
She hummed as she swirled blueberries into the muffin mix with a wooden spoon, gently, as if they were newly laid robin eggs. Sending love into the mixture with each twist of the spoon. Her favorite part of the day. The reason she didn't mind getting up while everyone but Andy at Freedom Gas and Groceries slept and the April sun hovered at the edges of the horizon in a red haze.
Far different from the harsh red of the two Kergeron suns with their relentless heat. A place where men ruled and women had no rights.
Her grip tightened on the spoon. Shutting off the memories, she focused on her shiny kitchen. She inhaled the calming scents of the batter. The mix of creamed butter and sugar and blueberries.
Her breathing deepened. Her grip on the spoon loosened.This was her world now, and she treasured it the way a miser treasured gold bars.
She was normal again. She could --
A vision howled into her head. One second she was gazing at the pale brown dough wrapping around blueberries. The next she was in a familiar, grassy area. Two wolves snarled, their eyes glowing yellow. Between them stood a lamb they both wanted to sink their teeth into and devour. She was inside the minds of all three animals. Their anger and hunger and fears screamed at her, pounded at her nerves and smashed down her mental barriers like plywood in the path of a bulldozer.
The bowl crashed on to the floor. She dimly heard the bounce of the metal bowl on the tile. Felt dough splash against her pants legs. Heard whimpers coming out of her mouth.
The vision snapped away, and she was in the kitchen again. She grabbed the counter edge to keep from falling to her knees onto the muffin batter. Bending over the stainless steel surface, she sorted out the meaning of the vision.
She knew three things.
The grassy area was her back yard.
The wolves were men.
The lamb was her.