Page 11 of Claimed by an Alien Warrior

“I’ve just had a really shitty day,” she continued, unable to stop now that she’d started, “and this just made it even worse. If you want silence, well…you’re just going to have to kill me—”please don’t“—or throw me out of the car. I can’t just sit here and wonder what you’re going to do with me, or what’s going to happen. If you’re going to do something bad, get it over with already.”

He was quiet for a time, and utterly still. She glanced in the rearview mirror again to find that he’d changed position, hiding most of his large body in the shadows of the back seat.

“I wish only to return to my home,” he finally said, his tone softer. “Aid me, and I will keep you safe.”

“Safe…from what?”

“Though they are also human, I do not believe the people hunting me will leave you in peace, should they learn you’ve seen me.”

“The helicopters?”

“Helicopters?”

“The things flying in the sky.”

The fingers on her thigh twitched. “Yes. That is but a small portion of them.”

Zoey nodded.

Okay. We’re getting somewhere.

She could do this. This she could deal with, even if it was threatening to get intoX-Files, government conspiracy territory. Too bad she’d never been interested enough in any of that stuff to pay attention.

Zoey caught a glimpse of him watching her in the mirror — that wasdefinitelyblood on his face — and quickly forced her attention to the road. “Did they…hurt you?”

He released a long, slow breath, and withdrew his hand from her thigh. The exposed spot felt suddenly cold.

“There has been much pain, yes. Harder to bear was the shame of being unable to fight back. Of being unable to protect myUmen’rak,” he said.

“Protect your what?”

“MyUmen’rak,” he repeated. “My…team, to put it simply.”

“Where are you from? How did you get caught?”

“I am from someplace very far away from here. Far enough that it is likely beyond your understanding. As for my capture… They discovered me while I was in a weakened state, after crashing on this planet—”

“You’re an alien?” Zoey asked, eyes wide. It made perfect sense, now that it had been spoken out loud.

Monsters aren’t real, but aliens are. Yeah, that makes perfect sense, all right.

“I am an aligarii.Youare the alien.”

“Sorry to break it to you, but on this planet,youare the alien. Not me.” She met his gaze briefly in the mirror; it was riveting and disturbing all at once. “You mentioned your omen…uhmeanr…your team. Are there…more of you here?”

“None living.”

None living?

The tone of his voice spoke far beyond his terse response. There had been others, they had died, and he carried the weight of their loss with him. Zoey could relate to that sense of loss and isolation.

“I’m sorry,” she said gently.

“Sorry for what?”

“For the loss of your people.”

“We are aliens to you. Why should you be sorry for their deaths?”

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