Page 14 of An Alien for the Future

He doesn’t even flinch, just sits there, his gaze fixed on me, a strange intensity burning in those yellow eyes even as I press the gauze to the wound. I work in silence for a few minutes, carefully removing bits of debris and applying antiseptic. The gauze soaks up some of the blood so I can see what I’m working with more clearly and it’s nasty. He’s either got so much adrenaline coursing through him that he can’t feel the pain, or he’s the toughest creature I’ve ever met. Maybe both. The shard went deep, right through the metatarsals—those long bones that connect your ankle to your toes. There’s no way it doesn’t hurt like hell.

I swallow hard, forcing myself to focus so I can help him as best as I can. “Okay, this is gonna sting a bit,” I warn, reaching for a small tool in the kit that resembles tweezers. “You might want to…I don’t know, roar or something. Let it out.”

The alien’s eyes narrow slightly, and I’m sure I see a hint of amusement flicker in their depths. “I don’t usually…vocalize during intense sensations.”

My eyebrows rise and I have to push past a mind laden over years of reading too many smut-filled books. Alien speak isn’t the same as human speak, Donna. Aliens don’t usually speak in innuendo.

Just to be sure, my gaze flicks up to his face, searching for any sign of a double meaning. A leery grin, maybe, or a glint of something predatory. But those yellow eyes are steady, focusedon mine with an intensity that makes my breath catch in my throat. And his jaw, that sharp, chiseled jaw, is clenched tight.

“Alright then,” I say, trying to sound nonchalant. Truth is, I’m unsettled and that’s not normal. “Just…let me know if you need a break. Or, you know, a song to soothe your savage alien soul.”

I’m okay with the fact he doesn’t answer. It allows me to focus. But as I continue treating his wound, I can feel the alien’s eyes on me. I try to concentrate, but I can’t help wondering what’s going through his mind. When I glance at him at different intervals, he’s completely focused on me. Not wincing. Not peering at what I’m doing. Not looking at the hole in his foot.

Focused. Focused on me only.

“What on earth were you doing out in that pasture anyway? You live around here?” I glance up and find those intense eyes locked on me still as if he hasn’t even blinked. The realization sends a wave ofsomethingthrough me that makes the hairs at the back of my neck rise in a way that has nothing to do with fear but some other feeling. I should be afraid, shouldn’t I? Those eyes don’t exactly breed natural trust. And yet, I’m not afraid. I wasn’t lying when I said I wasn’t scared of him.

I’m something else.

I’m aware.

Completely aware of myself.

“No, not around here,” he says, gaze shifting to my hand as I set the tweezers down and stare at the wound, thinking of my next best bet at helping this male.

“Well, you’re a long way from home, then.” I rifle through the first-aid kit, my fingers brushing against bandages, antiseptic wipes, and tubes of alien goo that promise to heal everything from a paper cut to a broken bone. I’d had Xarion help me relabel the items in English but even then, some of the things make no sense to me. What I need is a suture kit, and maybe ashot of something strong for both of us. “What brings you to this neck of the woods, then? You lost or somethin’?”

He chuckles, a low rumble that vibrates through the floorboards, and the sound does strange things to my insides. Strange things that make me even more aware of myself and the fact that this is amaleand I amfemale.

“Not exactly lost,” he replies, his gaze flicking back to mine, a spark of something unreadable there in those eyes. “More like…drawn in.”

“Drawn in?” I echo, trying to ignore the way my heart does something strange at his words. “By what? The scenery? The smell of ooga dung?”

He smiles then, a slow, predatory curve of his lips that sends a shiver down my spine. “Something like that,” he says, his voice a low purr. “Something…unique.”

I glance up at him, dividing my focus as I continue working on his foot. Is he…flirting with me?

There’s a part of me, a small, foolish part, that wonders if he sees me the same way Catherine and Eleanor’s mates saw them—as a potential mate, a solution to his loneliness. But that path…it leads to a place I’ve sworn never to go again. If he thinks sweet talkin’ is going to get me rattled, he’s setting himself up for a whole heap of disappointment. I might not have much, but this girl’s got a PhD in deciphering male BS. Years of bad dates, broken promises, and enough smooth-talking heartbreakers to fill a galaxy have taught me one valuable lesson: trust your gut, not their honeyed words.

“Isn’t it all just the same thing out here?” I peer at his foot. “Tall orange grass, pink sky, and silence? What’s there that’s unique?”

He grunts. “There is much.” I glance at him and he continues.

“Truth is, human, I was surveying the terrain before you found me wounded in that zimi bush.”

“Surveying?” I echo. “Are you some kind of real estate agent? Looking for a prime piece of property?”

His lips twitch, and for a split second, I think he’s going to smile. But then it all closes off, as if he’s retreated to some far-off corner of his mind.

“Something like that,” he murmurs, his attention for the first time shifting to the wound I’m treating. Silence envelops us and soon I can feel those eyes on me again, watching, assessing.

And that’s when I realize…I’m not just patching up a wounded alien. I’m being…studied.

Donna dear, what have you gotten yourself into?

I try to ignore it.Just patch him up and send him on his way, Donna. So I focus on cleaning out the wound. I have a stack of bloody gauze by my side that would make any normal citizen queasy, but the bleeding has finally slowed down.

“You’re lucky it missed any major tendons,” I say, my voice taking on its professional tone as I pack the wound with more gauze. “But it’s gonna need stitches. A lot of stitches.” I meet his gaze. “And I don’t have the equipment for that out here. So, unless you’ve got some kind of magical alien healing mojo up your sleeve, we need to get you to a real doctor.”

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