Isla

“Come on,” Yarrel says with some urgency as he slaps a button on the gray wall beside us.

The ramp we just walked up begins to retract and the hydraulics of the door hiss as it begins to lower down.

I cast one last look back at all the carnage we left behind us. It looks like a bomb went off in the cargo area. There’s bug blood, limbs, and heads everywhere.

Ryock did that… well, most of that, and I don’t know how I feel about it.

“Izlah,” Ryock rumbles, pulling my attention back to him.

He grips my arm and tugs, dragging me away from the door. We’re forced into a slow jog as we try to keep up with Yarrel as he races down the main hall of the ship.

All around us, men and women scramble about, going about various tasks as if their very lives depend upon it.

I nearly crash into a couple of people as the hall becomes narrower and narrower. There’s just not enough room to have a dozen people rushing about in different directions.

Yarrel leads us deeper into the ship, around a curve, and then stops in front of a door. He slaps his hand on the little pad beside the door and the door slides open.

“Here,” he says, motioning for me to enter ahead of him.

Not thinking twice about it, I walk through the door with Ryock a step behind me.

“I’ll be back when we’re in the clear…” Yarrel says and the door slides shut.

What the hell does that mean?

I shoot Ryock a worried look and walk up to the door, placing my hand on the little pad beside it.

The light on the pad blinks red.

“Shit. He locked us in.”

Ryock makes a sound in his throat before he hobbles over to the bed. The room is small and cramped, smaller than the glass cage we were trapped in. The bed takes up most of the room, pushed up against the back wall with about a foot and half space left on the floor to move around it.

To the right, I notice another door and walk up to it. Sensing my motion, the door automatically slides open revealing a small lavatory. Inside the lavatory there’s a toilet, sink, and shower enclosure.

“A shower!” I say excitedly to Ryock. “I can totally take a shower and get the grime of the last few days off of me.”

Ryock grunts, not sounding nearly as excited, and behind me I hear the bed creaking in protest as he settles his weight on top of it.

I turn away from the lavatory to look at Ryock and the door slides automatically shut behind me.

“Are you okay?” I ask, approaching the bed.

Ryock is propped up against the headboard, his eyes are closed and his head is tipped back.

“Ryock kaak,” he says without opening his eyes and I’m afraid he’s only telling me what I want to hear.

I climb up on the bed and crawl towards him. When I reach his side, he sighs and his eyes pop open to watch me.

“Are you sure?” I grab his hand and pull it towards me as if I have every right to do it without asking permission.

I’ve become so comfortable with him, so adapted to our situation, I don’t think twice about touching him.

Pulling his hand up, I closely examine his fist. The injuries that were there are completely healed over now.

I rub my thumb along the smooth skin of his healed knuckles.

“You’re amazing,” I say in awe and look up.

Ryock’s other arm snaps out and he grabs me, pulling me closer to him. I squeak in surprise as he smashes me against his warm chest.

“Your stomach…” I protest and try to pull away but the muscles in his arm tighten around me.

“Ryock kaak,” he repeats with a smile and my eyes drop down.

Dropping his healed hand, I press my palm against his chest. Ryock immediately purrs and my skin tingles from the vibrations.

I rub my hand down his chest, telling myself I’m just looking for injuries, but truthfully there’s something about my skin touching his skin that’s hard to resist.

There’s something about his body that pulls at me. Tugs at me.

Sucks me in.

My hand dips lower, gliding over all the hard dips and grooves of his abs. Once I reach the softer, smoother flesh of his stomach, I search for the area where he was shot but I just can’t find it.

“Where—” I start to ask only to be cut off by the ship shuddering.

I glance up at the ceiling automatically as if whatever is up there could tell me what just happened.

“Izlah kaak,” Ryock says, grabbing my chin and pulling my eyes down to his. “Izlah kaak,” he repeats firmly as if he’s trying to tell me not to worry.

The ship shudders harder and the bed trembles beneath us.

“What’s going on? Are we being attacked?”

I really hate that there are no windows in this room. But then again, maybe it would be worse if I could actually see what’s happening…

Ryock bumps his forehead against mine and begins to purr. I swear that purr of his is like a drug that’s growing stronger and stronger the longer I’m with him.

Despite my worry, despite the shocks and bumps of the ship, I feel the tenseness flowing out of me.

Pulling me up against his chest, he cradles me, and I begin to relax.

Despite the little wiggling worry in the back of my mind telling me we could die at any moment, my eyes begin to grow heavy.

With the sound of Ryock’s strong, steady heartbeat pumping in my ears, I begin to drift off knowing that everything will be okay as long as I’m with him.

* * *

I jerk awake at the sound of the door sliding open. Yarrel steps into the room as I sit up and wipe at the strange wetness at the corners of my lips.

I glance down at Ryock’s chest and my cheeks warm. Yep, I drooled all over the big guy while I napped.

“Sleep well?” Yarrel asks, and I look back at him to see a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.

Ryock stiffens beneath me and shifts. Grabbing the sheet on the bed, he yanks it up to cover my nakedness.

Yarrel’s eyes glitter with unrepressed amusement.

Choosing to ignore Yarrel’s question, I frown at him and take in his fresh clothes and brushed back hair. Looks like someone had time to shower and put himself together while we were trapped in this room.

My eyes narrow accusingly. “You locked us in.”

“It was for your protection,” he says smoothly, too smoothly, as he takes another step in and the door slides shut behind him.

I know the guy just went through a bunch of trouble to rescue us, but there’s just something about him I don’t trust. Why go through so much trouble for someone he doesn’t know?

What does he get out of all of this?

“You said earlier that my sister sent you to rescue me…” I prompt.

Yarrel’s face immediately goes blank. So blank in fact that the lack of any and all emotion is more than a little disturbing.

“Yes,” is all he says, giving me very little to work with.

I shift on Ryock’s lap and draw the sheet further up. Funny, I didn’t even feel naked until Yarrel walked into the room.

Yarrel’s eyes move down, following my movement, and something flickers inside them before disappearing.

“How do you know her?” I ask, clutching the sheet up to my shoulders.

The last time I spoke to my sister, she didn’t mention anything about hanging out with aliens.

Then again, the last time I spoke with her we were fighting. She wanted me to come home, and I wanted my independence. I was convinced she was trying to become my mother with all her rules and restrictions…

Fuck, I was so young and stupid.

I know now she just wanted to protect me. Protect me from something like this happening…

God, if I ever see her again, I’m going to get down on my knees and apologize for all the stupid, mean shit I did.

The blank expression on Yarrel’s face fades away as he flashes a grin. “We worked together.”

“Doing what?” What was Lexi up to?

“I helped train her. I trained her to infiltrate an illegal slave market…” Yarrel’s grin grows. “To find you.”

“What?” I blink at him. Is he saying what I think he’s saying?

“Look…” Yarrel says and glances towards Ryock. His grin is still in place but his voice is serious. “I’m going to fulfill my promise to your sister and return you to Earth. What do you want to do about him?”

“Wait a minute.” I frown and shake my head. “Back up. How did you train my sister to infiltrate an illegal slave market? What did she do?”

Yarrel stares at me and then he blinks, but it’s not a normal blink. No, it’s a sideways blink, like he’s a lizard wearing a human skin suit or something, and it’s seriously creepy. “She did what she had to do.”

That non-answer of his fills me with a sense of foreboding and dread. My stomach clenches with apprehension at the thought of my sister putting herself in harm’s way to rescue me from evil, human enslaving aliens.

What the hell did Lexi do?

“What do you want to do about him?” Yarrel repeats his earlier question without looking at Ryock.

“What do you mean?”

With all the stuff going on in my head, I’m so not following.

I glance back at Ryock. He’s been quiet, unusually quiet, and there’s a deep wrinkle between his bushy brows as he tries to follow along with our conversation.

“Do you want me to lock him up in the cargo hold?” Yarrel continues to grin and then it clicks. He’s purposely making himself look pleasant so Ryock doesn’t get a hint of what he’s saying. “I’ve got a cage I think can handle him…”

“No!” I burst out and sit up.

Lock Ryock up like he’s an animal? My blood boils at just the thought. I knew, I knew Yarrel was up to something and couldn’t be trusted. He’s been giving me bad vibes ever since he stepped in the cage and pointed a gun at Ryock.

Ryock growls and rumbles something at Yarrel.

Yarrel throws his hands up, chuckles, and takes a step back. “Okay, no cage, got it.”

Ryock pulls me back until my spine is against his chest and his arms wrap protectively around me.

Yarrel’s chuckles fade away and his big eyes narrow as he takes in the possessive way Ryock is holding me. “He seems awfully… attached. If we drug him, I think we can get you away without a fight.”

Jeeze. What is up with this guy? First he talks about locking Ryock up in a cage, and now he’s talking about drugging him? What does he have against him?

I scowl at Yarrel. “That won’t be necessary.”

I’ll have to warn Ryock somehow when Yarrel’s not around.

Yarrel frowns and nods his head. His eyes flick towards Ryock and back. He smiles. “We still need to figure out what to do about him.”

I stiffen. “Do about him? What’s there to do about him? Just fulfill your promise and take me home.”

Ryock saved me and protected me. He’s put himself in harm’s way and killed for me. If it wasn’t for him, I’d be alien mincemeat by now. I owe my life to him, and if I’m completely honest, I kind of want to keep him… Not like a pet… more like a boyfriend. I’d like to see how this thing we got going on works out in the real world.

Yarrel shakes his head at me and it makes me angry at first.

But then my heart literally drops when he points out, “Isla, you can’t take him back to Earth.”

At first I want to say, why the hell not? But then it sinks in.

Fuck, he’s right. I didn’t even think about that. I’ve been in survival mode for so long, I’ve been stuck in the here and now.

I want to go home… I want to see Lexi again… but I can’t take Ryock with me.

He’d never fit in. Sure, I could shave him down and maybe pass him off as human in the looks department, but personality-wise, he’s too… alien. Ever since we made contact with the Tribunal, the people of Earth have been more vigilant.

I know it wouldn’t be long before Ryock got picked up and deported.

“Shit,” I curse. What the hell do I do?

Ryock’s head comes down and he rests his chin on top of my head as he purrs. This time though his purr does nothing to soothe me.

The thought of leaving him, of walking away from him, leaves me feeling empty and cold. I never even considered that if we were rescued, we’d have to be separated.

“Fuck,” I sniffle, and damn if I don’t feel tears beginning to prickle at the corners of my eyes.

Ryock makes a sound in his throat and his purrs deepens. He pushes his nose through my hair, nuzzles his cheek against my cheek, and bumps his forehead against my forehead.

He does everything he can to soothe me.

When it doesn’t work, he says something that sounds admonishing to Yarrel.

I can’t keep him. I can’t expect him to come to Earth and hide out forever in my apartment. I can’t expect him to live in fear that one day the government would find out and arrest him.

Yarrel’s eyes soften in sympathy and it only makes me feel worse.

Part of me hates him for putting me in this position. Hates him for rescuing us. And it’s stupid and unfair. He risked his ass to rescue us.

But I can’t stop the unjustified resentment because I know I have to walk away from Ryock…

And I don’t want to.