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“Nice to meet you, Mica Roberts.”
I stare at him, amazed at how quickly this guy is morphing from dangerous looking into handsome in front of my eyes. “I need somewhere safe to hide,” I blurt out. “I was traveling alone in the wildlands because I’d recently escaped from a bad situation and was trying to stay off the main roads so I couldn’t be found. I thought the rains had ended but there were more and I was caught unaware. Also, I have no map of this area.”
He nods. “The rainy season always lasts longer on this side of the planet. But that was the last storm. I was out checking the fencing on that edge of the property after the storms, for damage, when I found you. You were running from someone who was trying to cause you harm? Do you need me to call the peacekeepers?”
I think about that for a moment and then decide it’s not the best solution. Rokena and her son used to routinely brag about how they’d bought off the peacekeepers and could do what they wanted without repercussions. I shake my head. “You live in the middle of nowhere on the edge of the wildlands?”
“Yes, I live on this cattle ranch on the edge of the fire preserves. There are no large towns nearby. I am the owner and my line has worked these lands for generations.”
It sounds like the perfect place to hide. He doesn’t seem to be bought or paid off by the mafia. If so I’d already be on myway back to the mansion. There’d be no need for him to play this game where he pretends to be a friend or protector. He does appear to really be a rancher out here with property that is reasonably close to where the mansion was, but far enough away to be entirely separate. This could be a good place to hide while I figure out next steps. “Can I stay here with you for a while?” I boldly question.
He blinks. “Don’t you need to get somewhere and meet up with your friends and family?”
I shake my head because I can’t return home yet to New Earth. I can’t lead the mafia to the exact location of anyone I care about that they can use as hostages to get me to comply with turning over myself or the evidence. Also, I need to remain on the planet and find a way to secretly get in touch with the Tarvos government and military and warn them of the assassination attempt.
I can’t tell this male, Thorn Flagstone, about who I am running from. He seems nice and telling the truth about who he is, but I thought the same thing about the Brimstones until it was too late. Obviously, I have a hard time deciding who is nice and who isn’t on this planet. I can understand and speak their language due to the universal translation chip in my brain, but that doesn’t mean I understand all their facial tics and body language. Plus, I don’t totally understand their society and social structure. It’s all new to me. “No, I don’t need to meet up with anyone right now, instead my priority is that I need to hide until I can decide on what to do next. Can you please allow me to quietly stay here on your ranch for a time without letting anyone know? I promise I won’t be a bother. If you would like to hire me, I would prefer to work for my way. Or I can pay you outright for room and board. Well, I can’t use my accounts right now, but later, when all this blows over, I can pay you back for room andboard. Or, like I said, I can barter my time here for me working for you. I promise I won’t be a burden.”
He looks stunned. “You want to stay on my ranch and work for me?”
“Yes.”
Thorn Flagstone thought he was helping a mysterious human get healed and pass me off to either peacekeepers or whoever I needed to meet up with and then he’d be rid of me. And now I want to stay, on terms he never saw coming. I feel bad for burdening him like this, but I’m desperate. Plus, I wasn’t kidding, I really will do my best to be no bother and I will work for him if he’ll let me. We could be employer and employee.
He gives me a deep look and then his heated gaze darts down my neck and lingers on my chest, then back up to my eyes.
Uh oh. My jaw clenches. “This would just be a job, right?” I question. “This isn’t a situation where you want me to be your pleasure mate, is it? Because that’s not happening and I want to say that up front.”
Chapter 3
Thorn
Heat spreads across my cheeks and down my neck.
I cough and respond, “No, you have no worries, female. I apologize. I have never met a human before and find you interesting. Nothing will happen to you on this ranch that you do not want to happen. If you want to work here, then you will work here, and our interactions will remain entirely professional.”
I try my best to act normal and friendly towards this female, but her exceptional beauty is most distracting. I found her in distress on the edge of my property. She wasn’t following a road through the wildlands and had no transportation and was traveling on foot. She was also hurt. Bruises in the shape of a claw grip were scattered on her arms as well as scratches. None of these came from trees or plants. They were not wounds made by the wildlife here on the planet but were obviously trauma caused by other males treating her poorly. Fire churns in my chest, which I must tamp down to not cause her more fear. Rage floods my system at the thought of her being hurt by others. How could anyone have mistreated this delicate female?
Stubbin, my riding beast, sniffed the air and snorted in distress, alerting me that something was wrong. We had been following a section of the remote back fence, looking for holesand anything that needed maintenance. Ranch hands also do this chore, but I find it calming, visually confirming the boundaries of my vast section of the ranch. My brothers do the same for their parcels of the Flagstone Fire Ranch.
I’d learned long ago to follow Stubbin’s directions. He can sniff out trouble better than I or any other riding beast I’ve ever had. I let him take the lead and soon he had me moving faster, in a particular direction. He got me to Mica’s location just in time to save her from being attacked by a hungry locat looking for food after hibernation.
I scooped up the fragile, hurt human and brought her to the med lab between the bunkhouses and maintenance bay. She would’ve died if left out in the wildlands by herself for much longer.
Burl, my ranch manager and a male five years my senior, saw me arrive with my unusual package and jumped to help. “Who is this?” he questioned, pointing at the sleeping female slumped in front of me. “Should I contact the peacekeepers?”
“I found this human alone and hurt, about to be attacked by a locat. Don’t call anyone yet. Let’s get her medical attention first.”
Burl offered to carry her inside, but I growled my refusal. For some reason I had to do it myself. And that’s when I discovered how good she felt in my arms. Delicate and yet curvaceous. Her odd human follicles that cover the top of her head felt soft against my red skin.
I carefully deposited Mica Roberts onto the med bed and started the equipment, making sure she was taken care of. I took off her unusual foot coverings, washed her hands and face, all the while gazing at her beautiful features. I was forced to tear her pant leg so the med bed could heal her bleeding wound. She also had a broken wrist, and many other deep cuts on her arms and feet. She remained passed out in the med bed for a few hours while the machines performed their health plan.
Mica is healed now and appears to be an outspoken female who knows what she wants. And she’s declared she wants to remain on the ranch and become my employee?
This is unexpected.
I’d heard of the humans. They are a newly discovered species, formerly enslaved by the Hurlians. Their home planet, New Earth, has only recently received status as a full member of the four sectors. It’s all the rage on Tarvos to take a human female as a mate, or to hire one to be a nanny to Hyrrokin offspring, but I’ve never met one in real life. Their females are considered kind and protective towards both the young and elderly, and extremely beautiful and charming.
My gaze lingers again on Mica’s beautiful facial features. I can see the attraction. She appears very fragile and small. No claws or fangs for protection. Humans can’t even flash flame, which is why it was lucky that I found her before the locat could attack. Normally even a Hyrrokin child could flash flame and easily run off a locat, but for a defenseless human the jungles of Tarvos are much more deadly.
