Page 24 of Claimed by an Alien Warrior

He’d encountered plenty of humans in his time on this planet — even if they were often in black uniforms and the lighting was usually poor — but Zoey was unlike anyone, human or aligarii, he’d ever seen. Aligarii females were built much like the males; lean, tough, and strong. There was nothing soft about them.

Everything about Zoey — at least outwardly — was soft and smooth. Where aligarii had angles and planes, she was all curves. There was something refreshing about that. Something appealing, something alluring. His brief contact with her before she’d left for the water had been a taste that only strengthened his curiosity. He wanted to touch her more, to hold her, to feel her softness against him.

He ate the rest of theburgers, unable to ignore his own ravenousness. They’d kept him underfed and weakened in the facility. He needed nourishment to recover his strength, to keep himself moving. The food was at once disgusting — dripping with grease and encased in what the humans calledbread, an unappetizing creation to say the least — and ambrosial. The best he’d ever tasted, after surviving for so long on bland, unidentifiable food.

The shower turned on in the bathroom. He twisted to look at the door. Had she removed her garments before entering the water? It would make sense if she had, though he wasn’t aware of the washing customs practiced by these strange beings. Thoughts of her bare body were too intriguing to entertain for long; human anatomy was unfamiliar to him, and his imagination would never conjure the correct images.

How simple would it be to slip into the bathroom and obtain a glimpse? The noise of the water was enough to mask the opening door, and she wouldn’t be able to see through his cloaking field…

Honor.

Rendash didn’t understand her preoccupation with covering herself and keeping him covered, but it wasn’t a large leap in logic to guess she wouldn’t appreciate him stealing a peek at her naked form. Even if she weren’t helping him, he possessed more honor than that.

He finished the first bottle of water and picked up another, draining half of it in a single draught. Why was the air on this world sodry? His attention fell to food again; only the small items in smooth, glossy wrappers remained. The items she’d obtained while he snuck into her car.

He lifted one of the packages, gold with red human lettering. A pair of long, thin objects were inside. Curious, he tore the wrapper open, revealing a pair of narrow brown sticks. Though the food looked unappetizing, its smell was intriguing.

Pushing the end of one of the sticks past the wrapper, he lifted it to his mouth and took a bite. To his surprise, it was layered — the soft brown exterior hid some sort of chewy, gooey substance, which rested atop a crunchy center. Each layer combined with the others to create a taste like he’d never experienced. Sweetness burst across his tongue, overwhelming enough that his vision blurred for a fraction of an instant.

Before he was conscious of it, he’d devoured both sticks and had one of the other wrapped items in his hand. He stopped himself from opening it; she’d obtained them for herself, and even though she’d told him to eat, it was not right to finisheverything. He returned the food to the bed as he ran his tongue over his teeth, sweeping away any lingering traces of sweetness.

Rendash realized only then that the water had been shut off in the bathroom. He gathered the discarded food wrappers and stuffed them into the empty bag for lack of anywhere else to put them before turning toward the bathroom, eagerly awaiting Zoey’s emergence.

Why was he so attached to her already? It was a dangerous sort of bond to form, especially given his circumstances. She was helpful for now, but eventually he’d be on his own again, the only aligarii on a hostile planet.

Without an Umen’rak.

The reminder of their deaths stung. He’d carried the weight of their loss throughout his time on Earth, but that loss only became truly painful when he looked toward the future. When he thought about returning home, to Algar, where he would have no companions to share in the joy of his homecoming. Where the peace he’d earned would be diminished by the knowledge that all the rest had died. Rendash hadn’t been better or more deserving than any of them, only luckier — though whether the nature of that luck was good or ill could be argued in either direction.

A strange sound came from the bathroom — a loud, high whine, like the blaring of some alien engine.

Rendash’s senses shifted into high alert. Suddenly unaware of his aches, pains, and exhaustion, he leapt off the bed and skidded to a halt in front of the bathroom. He nearly tore the door off its hinges as he pulled it open.

Zoey screamed, stumbling back from the doorway to hit the wall behind her. Her eyes met his.

“What the hell, Ren?” she demanded over the loud whining sound.

His eyes darted to the object in her right hand. It looked like some sort of large-barreled blaster; an energy weapon being charged, perhaps?

He slowly extended a hand. “Give me the weapon, Zoey. It will only draw attention to us if you utilize it.”

Her delicate brows lowered. “Give you the—” She looked from him to the gun in her hand. “You can’t be serious. You think this is a weapon?” She directed it toward her head.

Rendash lunged forward to stop her, catching her arm before she pointed the barrel at her face and harmed herself.

In response — with her expression startlingly flat — she twisted her wrist and aimed the blaster at him. He tensed for impact; he wouldn’t be able to form a shield in time.

He was struck by a blast of…warm air? His tension faded, free arms sagging in his ensuing confusion. “I…don’t understand.”

“It’s a hairdryer.” Zoey lifted a clump of her long, dark, wet hair — another oddity for him, as female aligarii did not grow crests like males. “I was drying my hair.”

“I see.” He released her wrist and straightened. “I’ll leave you to continue, then.”

As he was retreating through the doorway, his eyes flicked over her, and he paused.

Zoey was wearing only one of the cloths that had been hanging in the bathroom. She had it wrapped around her torso, and it revealed much of the pale flesh of her shapely thighs and calves. He followed her legs down to her dainty feet; she had five toes on each foot, and the nails at their ends were colored bright green.

She cleared her throat.

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