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Mere dropped his hand and jumped back. “What the hell?”
His blood was green. Green! Who had green blood? Who?
The possibilities rushed through her brain, all the monster movies she’d ever seen, all the modern vampire and werewolf books she’d read, and then it caught on an idea. Green-blooded Vulcan. Alien. Alien?
Anders calmly—too calmly, in Mere’s estimation—turned off the water and picked up the bandage. He wrapped it around the cut and took a deep breath before facing her. He took no steps toward her, which was good. If he came any closer, she was out of here. She glanced at the doorway, which led to the living room, and from there it was a straight shot to the front door. She could be outside and in her car in seconds. But were aliens faster than humans?
Aliens. Holy crap.
“I mean you no harm, Meretta. In fact, I had no intention of getting romantically involved with anyone while I was in town, but here we are.”
She licked her lips. Not only was there an alien in her kitchen, but she had slept with him last night. Thank God they’d used condoms.
“What—”
“You are a highly intelligent woman. You have guessed what I am.” He leaned against the counter and stared at her toes. If she made a run for it, she might have a chance. “My parents were on a scientific mission with a dozen others, and I was onboard to learn, a school holiday of sorts common with my people. The ship was damaged traversing the asteroid belt and crashed.”
“School?”
“I was an adolescent, and it was customary to learn on the job. Before we enrolled in what you would consider high school, we tried out different jobs. See what we might be interested in, so we could focus our studies appropriately. Usually, you began with your parents.”
He’d been a kid when his ship crashed. But when? Surely a UFO falling from the sky would make the news.
“Were you the only survivor?”
Staring at his clasped hands, he spoke in a monotone. “I am now. Several survived the initial crash, but the military arrived as we tried to salvage what we could from the ship. My parents grabbed me and ran. The soldiers caught us a hundred miles from here. My parents made me promise to survive, hid me, and sacrificed themselves to save me.”
Mere’s hand went to her heart without conscious effort. The poor kid he used to be.
“I’m sorry. That must have been terrifying.”
Alone on an unknown, hostile world. Anders was a brave man.
“It was. Then I stumbled upon kind Mr. Reed. He took me in, allowing me to hide in the barn until the hullabaloo died down.”
“But Mr. Reed died in the seventies. How old are you?”
“My best guess is about eighty of your years. But in my culture, I would still be considered in my prime. Mr. Reed must have died within a couple of years after I left.”
Eighty. Dear lord, Talk about a May-December romance.
At no point in their discussion had he made a move toward her. His voice was even, almost clinical. And other than lie to her about who he was, he’d done nothing to show her he meant to hurt her. Mere let go of some of the tension in her body. She leaned against the counter behind her, mimicking his posture.
“What’s with the green blood?”
At her question, he finally lifted his gaze to hers. A quick grin flashed across his lips. He stayed where he was, but a tiny bit of the tension filling the room evaporated.
“Symbiotic algae to help move oxygen around our bodies.”
Mere wasn’t a scientist. Hell, she’d struggled with science in high school and took the easiest science classes she could to earn her degree. But algae was a plant, and plants gave off oxygen, so it made a kind of logical sense.
“That’s weird.”
He shrugged and a little more tension left his posture. “No weirder than an iron-based molecule. Evolution can only use whatever resources are available. For humans, it was iron. For the Qilffir, it was algae.”
She looked him over. “You look human. You act human. If evolution can only use whatever resources available, how come you look so much like us?”
His lips thinned and his body stiffened once more. “My people have a natural camouflage ability, usually to change color and blend into the background, but we created a device that uses DNA to give us the appearance of a native species. It’s skin deep but has helped our scientists study sentient and near-sentient species across the galaxy. Since we shared a similar body type, Mr. Reed agreed I could use his DNA to blend in. It is one reason I am here. I would prefer not to return to my homeworld still looking like a human.”
