Chapter Twelve

Quinn opened her eyes, she was in the same bed she woke up in earlier. Tee was lying beside her in her massive cat form letting her know that it hadn’t been a bad dream. What was she going to do with a two-hundred-pound cat? She wouldn’t fit in her small apartment. Thinking of home brought back all the memories of what happened. There was no way she could live there again. Did her mom know? She would be freaking out wondering where she was.

Finally, she turned her head to acknowledge Mekhi, who was sitting on a chair next to the bed.

“None of it is a dream?” Her voice rose to a level of hopefulness before it dropped because she knew better.

“It all happened.”

“Explain, maybe this time I can keep my head together.”

She was stroking Tee loving her deeper purrs.

“You’re bigger, but you're still my snuggle bug.” Tee loved the attention.

“I’m an alien.”

“Glad you started with the thing that was freaking me out the most. Haven’t you ever heard of easing into the conversation?”

“No.”

Aww, he was an alien. What was she thinking? She laughed long and hard before she got herself together.

“I’m handling it a little better than earlier.”

“You had a nasty infection. It was messing with your cognitive abilities.”

“Are you sure it’s better?”

“Yes.”

She shrugged. It was worth a shot. “Then why aren’t I freaking out and hiding? I’m going to do that later, but right now I can’t muster up the energy I need to do all those things. So, tell me the truth while I’m incapable of running.”

“Someone threatened you and tried to kill Tee. They’re coming back for you, Tee told me.”

“Can you talk to her?”

“It’s more like images. She showed me you, running across the room to throw your body over hers saving her from certain death. Now she’s big enough to protect you.”

“She wants to protect me?” Her voice was soft and thick with emotion.

“She loves you.”

“I love you, Tee.” She threw her arms around her. It was true no matter what size she was or what happened to her. Tee would always have her heart.

Mekhi's words were spinning around in her head. The fact that he felt that her being targeted was more important than him being a human eating alien out to destroy all life on Earth confounded her.

She giggled then she wiped tears from her eyes. All she could picture was Mekhi with a robotic body trying to catch humans to eat. Damn even as a robot he was hot.

“Do you want to share?”

“No, keep talking.”

“I am created, which is what we all call ourselves The Created. On a planet, far far away. Yes, I see the humor in that. There was a race that spent so much time pondering new ideas and creating that they lost the ability to fight for themselves. After several inventions that didn’t work, they created us.”

“Created, as in a laboratory?”

“Yes, but worse. They collected DNA from all over the known universe, known to them, not to you. They combined it in a lab and came up with us. We’re fighters, killers, assassins. You name it, and you’ll have us.”

“That’s what you do for the government? You take care of their dirty work.”

“We do. You’re taking this pretty well.”

“It’s all the pain meds you gave me. They are keeping me rational.”

He hadn’t given her any medications, but this wasn’t the time to tell her.

“When the fighting was over, I had nowhere to go, so I drifted around.”

She stared at him. He had been stared down by the enemy and never felt the desire to flinch, but he felt it under his tiny warrior’s stare.

“My brothers, the ones I was created with died. I was all alone after the war.”

She nodded accepting what he said although she knew there was so much more to that story. He had told her some of this earlier, but she couldn't remember much.

“Eventually, I met the males I now call brothers, and we ended up on Earth.”

“Nowhere better to end up. That story has a lot of holes in it, but at least you told me enough to let me know you trust me.”

“There is no human on Earth I trust more than you.”

She nodded it would do for now.

“How did you help us?” She looked at Tee and then indicated her arm.

“On your planet, they would call me a doctor or a specialist with an ability to multi-task. Where I come from they call it normal.”

“Why doesn’t my arm feel broken?”

“It’s not, I sped up the healing. The joint and the tendons are still sore, and you need to wear that sling. Your body is not used to healing so fast.”

“Since all of this happened last night I must agree with you.”

“It’s been five days.”

“What? Please tell me you're joking!”

He shook his head.

“My Mom! I bet she thinks I’m dead. I need my phone.”

He went to a drawer and pulled it out. Thankfully, it was off, so when she turned it on, there was a charge.

“You should have called my mom and told her I was all right.” She was dialing the number shaking as she thought of her.

He opened his mouth. “Don’t Quinn me. If something happens to me, you call her. Do you understand?” She looked at him with fire in her eyes.

He nodded saying nothing.

“Mom, I’m all right.”

“Quinn, where are you? I have the police looking for you.” Her mother was scared, but she could hear the anger in the bottom of her voice.

“I’m with a friend. He should have called you. I already told him off about not doing so. Mom I was out of it. I didn’t know time was passing. Honestly; I'm so sorry.”

“Are you okay baby?”

“I’m fine?”

“And Tee?”

“She’s fine. Why did you ask??”

“They found blood at your apartment. I thought it was yours, but they said it belonged to a cat after they tested it.”

“She’s fine.” Tee was now a little thing standing on her back paws waiting to be picked up.

“Quinn, I need to see you and your friend.”

She smiled, her mom hadn’t missed that one. Quinn didn’t have friends, not anymore.

“I don’t want you going back to that apartment.”

“Where else will I go? I live their mom. It’s the only place I have to lay my head, but not until I get an alarm system.”

Mekhi stood up and walked to where she was standing. He took the phone from her.

“Hi Mrs. Connors, this is Mekhi, Quinn’s friend. I can assure you she is not going back to that apartment except to get anything we inadvertently left behind. We will also give notice to her landlord. Yes, ma’am, I can’t wait to meet you, here’s Quinn.”

“Mom? Yes, he is a nice, polite boy. I think you’ll like him. We’ll see you soon. Yes, I’ll make sure he’s with me.” The phone went dead, and she shook her head.

“Well, my mom likes you after just a few words. Amazing. She has hated every guy, I even thought of for the last four years.”

“That’s because they didn’t belong to you tiny warrior. You were waiting for me.”

She was standing in the middle of the bedroom with her mouth wide open as he turned and left. Tee, the traitor, changed shapes and followed him.

“Where am I going to stay?” She followed him into the living room.

“Here.”

“You have an extra room I can borrow?” Of course, he did. The place was a mansion. “I can’t stay long, just until I find another place.”

“You’ll sleep in my room.”

Visions of him in the bed with her, their legs tangled teased her mind. Stop it, he’s an alien, there must be a law against it.

“You change into a monster.” Her voice shook a little as she remembered the beast he turned into.

He changed in front of her eyes. He stood tall, no wonder the ceilings in this place were so high. At one time, his coat looked like it might have been shiny. Now it was dull and missing patches of fur. When she looked into his eyes and saw Mekhi, not a monster.

He went to the floor lying down. She didn’t confuse the posture with being helpless. Tee went and laid beside him totally unafraid, even though he could tear her in half.

This is stupid as she told herself even as her feet crossed the room. Run screaming into the night. She might have before she had her business torched, and her home searched. Her cat almost died, and her life had been threatened by the good ol’ humans and Mekhi had stood by her every step of the way.

Then there was the fact that he didn’t kiss like a monster, and darn it, she wanted to kiss the male again. She went to her knees and rubbed Mekhi. Before she knew it, she was wondering how to take care of the magnificent beast on the floor.