Page 19 of Treasured By the Alien Rogue

We walked for at least another hour. I was dragging by then, and he kept shooting me concerned looks.

“Let me carry you,” he also kept saying.

“No,” was always my reply.

Finally, in a big open meadow ahead, I spied purplish white structures the size of two-story houses growing in a circle in the center of a big open field. I picked up my pace, taking care where I placed my slippers. Hopefully, his clan could provide me with boots or something similar to sneakers.

“Are those your shrooms?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“They’re pretty. Did you know that you can make tea with nonpoisonous mushrooms?”

“I did not know that. Please don’t cut into our homes to make your tea.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” I peered around, though I didn’t recognize even a single leaf growing on the forest floor.

For my tea shop, I’d planned to work with suppliers to obtain stock, but I’d hoped one day to travel around the world and make arrangements with small organic suppliers who could ship more exclusive teas. I wanted to buy leaves direct and craft my own specialty blends.

My throat closed off with sadness. My dream had popped.

We rounded a thick stand of trees and stopped at the edge of the woods. Late day sunlight pierced my eyes, and I shielded them with my hand.

My gasp rang out. “Amazing,” I breathed.

“See?” he said with a tusky grin. “I told you you’d like it here.” There was something about him that made me itch to step closer. I wanted to stroke my fingertips across his muscular shoulders, slide them to his chest, and play music on his taut abs. I had a feeling the tune would be stuck in my head forever, and I’d never want to nudge it away.

Danger, danger. Red lights were flashing in my mind, but I couldn’t make myself step out of his orbit. Fortunately, he didn’t appear to notice my falling smile.

“Come. I’ll show you,” he said.

I followed him along a narrow track weaving through tall, golden strands of grass, gaping at the circle of shrooms ahead made up of milky white stems and wide caps in every shade of purple imaginable. They really did resemble huge alien mushrooms.

“They’re incredible.” I tipped my head back to study them. They’d been planted in a ring, each about a house-length apart, a good thing since the mushroom tops stretched well beyond the sides of their thick stems. Lush vegetation grew around each, the golden plants speckled with lavender and pink.

He continued forward, aiming toward one of the mushrooms on the opposite side. “It’s not usually this quiet. More often, my clan members are outside, either enjoying the nice evening or working in their gardens. We grow our own vegetables and hunt for meat. Others collect tubers near the lake or gather berries in the forest.”

“Maybe everyone’s sleeping? Naps are a wonderful thing.” I needed one badly.

“While our shrooms care for us like the crystal or wooden gods do in other clans, we still have many things we need to do during the day. We’re much too busy to nap.”

That was a shame.

“What sort of things do your shrooms do for you?” I asked.

“They provide and clean our clothing.”

“Not to be unkind, but you’re wearing a scrap of fabric tied around your waist.” Not exactly what I’d call an outfit.

He glanced down. “Loincloths are comfortable.”

“Do females wear loincloths too?”

“Tunics that come to here.” He tapped the skin above his knee.

I assumed a dress like some wore on Earth.

He had thick thighs, bulging with more muscles as if he worked out all the time.

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