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The alien slid to a halt and plucked a backpack from under a purple bush.
And that’s when it hit me.I’m really on an alien planet!The colors! The plants! The clean air! No way could this be Earth, which had been nothing but big cities and factory farms by the time I’d left.
Sure the people I’d interacted with this past week had been alien, but the building had been comprehensibly within the realm of human norm. In contrast, everything around me now screamed of somewhere other than Earth.
“This way,” the alien barked, his voice firm and commanding. It reminded me of a drill sergeant I’d once had who’d been a grizzled old vet of the Border Wars. Him I’d listened to, no matter how much I’d bristled internally.
This guy? Not so much.
I followed—I wasn’t stupid; getting away from that hellhole was a good idea—but I asked, “Where are we going?”
“I have a ship that will get us off planet.”
Huh. I’d give him one thing—he was committed to playing his part. But just how far would he take it? Would he really take me off planet just to win my trust?
And if he did, would he only be taking me away from my crew?
I spun around. I’d never seen more than that one hallway, and the building we’d left looked as small as it had seemed from inside—only one storey and not very large. If the aliens had over a thousand of my women somewhere, it wasn’t here.
I might as well continue to play along and see what I could learn from him.
And thankfuckI was out of that small, windowless room. I shivered as my flesh crept at the memory, then shook it off. “Okay, let’s get to your ship.”
“We’ll need to—” His mouth snapped shut, his head tipping backward as he scanned the thin strip of sky overhead. He peeled the pack from his back, pulled out a large blue piece of cloth, and threw it around himself. In a flash, he picked me back up, this time in a bridal carry, and thrust the edges of the cloth into my hands. “Keep this closed around us while I move.”
“Bad noise!”Max called out, emerging from the undergrowth at a run.“Bad noise in sky!”
The combined concern of the two males froze all the questions tingling on my tongue.
The alien took off at a lope. His arms held me close to his wide chest, the muscles firm and warm. Even with all the pine scent in the air, he smelled good, like clean male sweat, and I almost buried my nose in his shoulder to take a bigger whiff.
What the hell are you doing, Viv? Get a grip!
The sound of an engine rumbled through the air overhead. They’d both heard it way before I had. I pulled the fabric closer together in the front, whispering, “How is this helping? The color?” It was the same blue as the trees.
“It’s stealth fabric. It’ll hide our biometrics from scans.”
Even better.
“What about Max?”
“There are other animals in the forest his size. He shouldn’t stand out as odd.”
The engine noise got louder, and he stopped and crouched, his huge body folding around me as if all that muscle could protect me from view. I felt engulfed by him and barely kept hold of the stealth fabric, because my hands wanted to slide up his neck, explore his horns.
Our faces were so close our breaths combined. Only the dimness cast by the cloth kept it from being too intense.
Scratch that. It was still really intense. My whole body tingled when those piercing purple eyes met mine. A mix of emotions whirled through me—anger, confusion, claustrophobia, and desire, desire such as I’d never felt for a stranger.
I latched onto the anger. Anger was the only feeling that offered any sense of control. Why the hell was my body reacting like this? I needed to get away from him, clear my head. I felt trapped, the fabric closing in until I couldn’t breathe.
When I squirmed, his arms tightened. “Shh, shh,” he shushed me, as if I were an animal to be calmed!
I didn’t need to reach for my anger any longer. It roared to life. All the hurt of the past week inflicted by big blue aliens who looked exactly like him filled my chest. With my hands occupied, I kneed him in the ribs. “Loosen the grip, big guy. I didn’t sign up to get mauled by you.”
He let out a soft oof that made my lip curl in satisfaction—I had bony knees—and his arms relaxed enough that I could finally inhale deeply.
“What’s your name?” I asked. “If I’m going to sit on your lap, you can at least tell me that.”
