Page 55 of An Alien for the Future

“You’ve really got somenerve!” I shout. I still have the pot in my hands and I’m about to clobber him with it, but I don’t get a chance to.

Tovan tackles him to the ground, landing some hard punches that have blood streaking across the dirt just outside my porch.

The stranger fights back. “Admit it, Tovan Kamesh. You don’t deserve this female.” He punches upward, landing a solid one in Tovan’s jaw.

“You’re right. I don’t.”

The stranger laughs, coughing blood. “Even you know it’s true. You, who spent the war safe in the skies. You, who have never known true hardship, true loss. You think you can just claim this female as your own? You—”

Tovan silences him with a punch. But he doesn’t stop there. I watch, heart in my throat, as Tovan unleashes a torrent of fury, his fists pounding against the other alien’s flesh, each blow punctuated by a guttural growl. It’s terrifying, the raw power he unleashes, the primal rage that contorts his usually handsome features. It’s like a different creature has taken over, a beast fueled by a protectiveness that borders on madness.

He’s going to kill him.

The realization hits me like a cold wave of horror washing over me. I can’t let that happen. Not on my doorstep. Not because of me.

“Tovan!” I scream, my voice barely audible over the roar of their struggle. “Stop it! You’re going to kill him!”

But my words are lost in the wind, swallowed by the chaos. I have to do something, to stop this madness, but what?

Without thinking, I drop the pot and rush forward, throwing myself against Tovan’s back, my arms wrapping around his chest, pressing myself into his spine as I hold on tight.

“Tovan…please.” My voice breaks as I hang on, knowing this isn’t going to work but not sure what else I can do.

But Tovan stiffens beneath my touch. His arm pauses midway in the air, his fist still clenched tight. Beneath my breast, I can feel his whole body vibrating with a tension that makes me tremble. I feel the shift, the slow, grudging release of his fury. His shoulders slump, his breathing becomes less ragged, and the heat of his anger cools as his arms drop to his sides.

He’s still trembling, his breathing ragged, but I hold him tight, my cheek pressed against his spine. “It’s fine. We’re fine.”

“No. I could have failed. It isn’t enough.” I can feel the vibration of his words all the way through his back and I press into him some more. Because his words don’t sound like he’s talking about only right now. It feels like he’s talking about more than just this incident. Of horrors past. Memories. Ghosts that still haunt.

With the pause in the onslaught, the stranger drags himself away. It’s slow, every second like a full minute as I hang on to Tovan, stopping him from moving.

The stranger grunts and anger flares as my gaze slides to him. Every one of his movements is slow and pained as he shifts away, pausing only when he’s far out of reach of Tovan’s fists. He looks like a crumpled broken thing now, far removed from the confident asshole that knocked on my door.

“Leave.” I lift my voice, my anger evident. “And if you know what’s best for you, you don’t come back here.”

As the other alien drags himself to his feet and stumbles away toward his transport, I keep my arms wrapped tight around Tovan, feeling his tension bleed right into me. Feeling his pain.

He watches the other alien leave, his claws still tight fists at his side, and I realize that I’m not just holding him back.

I’m holding him together.

15

TOVAN

It’s quiet in here. Outside, the plains are silent. All is well.

Except it isn’t.

I lie in a bath my lira’an forced me to take, the warm water barely covering my form as I hear her bustling around the lodge.

We still haven’t spoken about what happened, how I lost control. She still hasn’t mentioned the fact she saw me in my anger. The fact that I must have scared her to death.

The fact she must be thinking the worst of me now.

Instead, she led me inside, bolted the door, and started the warm bath. She dropped herbs within, forced me down into the steam, and hurried away again.

My throat feels tight as I listen to her moving around within the lodge. The memory of her cry for help still reverberates in my mind like a haunting signal.

---