Page 4 of Thief

“You seem to know a lot about Regha ways, but I know nothing about you. What are your people called?”

“Humans.”

“How long did you live in that house?”

“I can’t tell time. Maybe two weeks. Likely two months.” I eye the open door.

He frowns, meaning his forehead wrinkles, but because he’s got no eyebrows, it looks strange. “Your translator is not working,” he says.

“It is.Two weeksisfourteen spanson Regha. Two months is two cycles.”

He smirks. “You should’ve told me time my way, not yours. If you don’t communicate clearly with me in the future, I will take it as rebellion. Lots can be lost in translation. Don’t let your tongue be among that.”

I stick it out.

He widens his eyes. A smile stretches his face, lifting the mood in the room, and he laughs. It’s a rattle like a rattlesnake shaking its tail, but sounds deeper and wetter.

I cross my arms over my chest. Tap my foot. “It’s not funny. I’m losing my mind, and I gotta pee somewhere on this forsaken land.” I spin on my heel, push past him, and go out to where he and his mother were sitting, trying to find a place away from him to do my business. I expect him to follow me, but he doesn’t, so I walk around the balcony that seems to wrap around the entire house. It’s closed, and theblindsare black, so I can’t see outside. And that’s okay, because at least I have privacy.

Relieved, I return to find him resting on an odd metal lounge chair that seems to mold to his body. As I walk by, he hooks a hand around my waist and the next thing I know, I’m in his lap, his face in the crook of my neck, his dick so hard it feels like I’m sitting on a pole. I wiggle, try to get away, but it’s futile. I’ll break my nails and bleed. I turn up my face and scream until he covers my mouth. Tears flow, and I sniff, cursing my luck. The purr he emits is soft. Since the silence around me is not comforting, I’m forced to listen to it. I can even feel the vibrations from his chest on my back.

He arranges me sideways in his lap, but makes sure I can feel his erection. His arms wrapped around me won’t let me go.

I reach to the other seat for a blanket, but he snatches it from me and covers me himself. I cannot move.

He says nothing, but purrs softly.

My tears dry up, and I stare at the black glass-like walls around us.

“Regha is anything but forsaken,” he says. “I’m offended, on behalf of my people and my country.”

“You should be.”

He chuckles. With his purr, it’s meant to be seductive.

I press my lips together. I don’t want to think of how he’s trying to comfort me, and I don’t want to admit my body comes alive around him. I know he smells the scent of the liquid heat my pussy is leaking, because it sure as hell isn’t my period.

“I will show you Regha.”

I eye him sideways. I was resolved not to speak to him, but the bait temps me. Okay, so I’ll talk. “What do you mean?” Maybe, let me out for a walk?

He looks up at the ceiling, and I follow his gaze to a glowing dark-blue panel that appears there. He asks it to open something that doesn’t translate. The walls around us shift, and I stiffen, nervous about what he has planned for me. His cold large palm rubs my back as the Alpha purrs continuously. “Don’t be afraid. Trust that I will not have risked my life if I didn’t believe in us.”

“There’s no us, my man.”

“I am not a man.”

The walls peel off and retreat somewhere into the roof. The skyline opens, and the male releases me. I move away from him, barefoot, to stand on a balcony turned a platform, not too high but high enough that I see a city in the distance before me. But it’s the sky I can’t stop staring at. A purple sky. It’s beautiful, with streaks of different shades of purple, made brighter by the moons’ glow.

“That city is Ohala. Where you came from.”

“I came from Georgia.”

He grunts.

I turn away from the city, and just as I’m about to tell him I’m unimpressed, I see it—the red sea, the waves, the navy-blue sand that reflects under the light of the moon. I can’t look away. It’s like a fairy tale, and I half-expect Ariel to wave from a rock in the sea.

The Alpha chuckles. “Not ugly, but not as beautiful as you.”

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