Page 10 of Protected By the Alien Space Guardian

“What did you do to me?” I snarled.

Her eyes were wide with fear. “Nothing,” she choked out around my hand. “Nothing, what’s wrong? What happened?”

I pointed my head toward my throbbing arm, and she followed my line of sight. Black lines were still growing and thickening. “Did you poison me?”

“What? No!” She tried to shake her head, but my hand kept her in place.

“Don’t lie to me,” I warned, narrowing my eyes.

“I’m not… lying. Why would I poison you? None of us know how to even fly this damn ship.”

Her logic penetrated my pain, and I loosened my hold on her throat some. I speared her with my glance, but she didn’t flinch. I only saw honesty and some… outrage for manhandling her. I let go, and she slumped down, holding her throat.

I ground my jaw and limped into the bathroom, where a large mirror showed me the same ornamental black lines radiating up from my right loin up to my hip. They looked similar to the ones on my bicep. As I grew accustomed to the pain, I could scrutinize them better. Something niggled in the back of my mind, some deep-forgotten part inside me seemed to recognize them, but I couldn’t get a grasp on it. It tantalized my subconscious, but that was all.

“Can I do anything?” Zoe asked from the doorway, keeping a healthy distance between us.

“I think you’ve done enough,” I choked out. “Leave me.”

“I can’t just leave you here. You’re obviously in pain,” she replied with a look of consternation on her face.

“Leave,” I pushed out. The last thing I wanted for this human was to see me in pain.

“My clothes are wet. I’m not going out there naked,” she stated, pushing her chin forward and giving me a better glance of the stubbornness I had sensed in her.

Iknew from the start that having sex with Raasla wouldn’t end in a long-term relationship. Hell, it probably would not even be repeated, but I would be damned if I let him kick me out right then.

There was no way I would return to the others wet as a cat and submit myself to their ridiculing, no matter how well deserved it might be.

He grunted a response, earning him a glare from me, daring him to physically throw me out. In the end, I stayed, but I wasn’t sure if he just didn’t have the energy to kick me out because he was still in obvious pain or if he relented. Either way, he limped over to a wall and opened a hidden compartment filled with neatly folded Cryon uniforms.

Raasla’s clothes were already dry—thanks to their alien tech, I supposed. Under more grunts, he put them on while I dressed in the Cryon uniform, knotting it in places until it covered me without the pant legs dragging on the ground. I looked ridiculous, but I wasn’t about to enter a beauty contest.

“Are you still hurting?” I asked when his features loosened some.

“It’s getting better.”

“Let me see.” Without waiting for permission, I gripped his forearm and rolled the sleeve up. A decorative black line sneaked up his forearm all the way to his bicep, from where it vanished from sight underneath his shirt. I wanted to ask him to take it off to get a better look, but I thought better of it.

“It doesn’t look like a blood poison line,” I mumbled, remembering the hole in his back. The stripes weren’t spreading from there. But what did I know about his physiology? Other than that his cock could do… nope, wasn’t going to go there.

He dug into the black box and pulled out another shiny instrument with a small screen attached to it that soon filled with alien symbols. “What’s it say?”

He grunted.

Fine.

“You should go get something to eat and rest,” he suggested without taking his eyes off the screen.

I didn’t have another excuse to stay since I was dressed now. Besides, we had both gotten what we wanted, and frankly, his company left much to be desired for, except the sex thing...

“Right. See you around, I suppose,” I muttered, walking to the door and wondering how the hell I was going to find the others. The thought of riding alone in the elevator didn’t appeal to me that much either.

“Hold on.” He sighed. “You’ll never find your way back.”

Oh, he did have some manners after all.

We walked in silence down the corridors, one looking like the next, and I would have walked right by the elevator had he not stopped me. A few minutes later, we found the rest of my group in a large, spacious room that resembled a mess hall.

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