Page 40 of Claimed by an Alien Warrior

Rendash released his cloaking field gratefully. Despite his recent experiences, he hadn’t realized how difficult the field would be to maintain. His nyroswere behaving like a muscle that had atrophied after a long period of disuse. It seemed to be improving with time, but at much too slow a rate. Without desperation to fuel him, his nyros was unreliable at best.

He lifted Zoey’s suitcase onto the bed and turned to face her.

“Thank you,” she murmured, stepping close and resting her hand atop it.

Rendash frowned; her behavior was strange, but his experience with humans was too narrow to tell whether this was normal or not. “I’m going to clean up, Zoey. I will be out shortly.”

She nodded without looking at him.

After lingering near her briefly, Rendash walked into the bathroom, closed the door, and leaned over the sink to scrub the makeup off his scales with one of the folded cloths hanging nearby. The substance hadn’t been comfortable from the beginning, but it had grown increasingly itchy and dry as the day wore on. He understood the necessity and would do his best to avoid complaint when she inevitably wanted to apply more makeup on him the next day, but he couldn’t get it off quickly enough now.

Once his face was clean, he divested himself of his human garb and entered the shower, making the water as hot as it would go. After washing, drying, and relieving himself, he wrapped a large cloth — atowel, as Zoey had called it — around his waist and exited the bathroom.

He frowned. Zoey was sitting on the inside edge of the farthest bed, staring blankly at the floor.

Rendash crossed the distance between them and sat across from her on the other bed. “You’ve barely said a word since we entered the truck, Zoey. Speak to me now.”

She looked up at him and attempted a smile. Her blue-gray eyes shimmered, standing out in sharp contrast to her dark brown hair. “Guess my mind has been preoccupied.”

“With what?”

Her jaw muscles ticked. “I’ve made a lot of stupid choices in life, but tonight… I think that was the dumbest yet. I should have just listened to you. We could have walked.”

“No one could have guessed what he was going to attempt.”

“I should have known. I did know!” Zoey hung her head, closed her eyes, and pressed the heels of her hands to her eyelids. “I just keep thinking about what would have happened if you hadn’t been there.”

Detachment.

But that wouldn’t work now, would it? He’d been unable to detach himself from the details of the situation, had been unable to focus on the simple task at hand:protect Zoey. All that should have entailed was the assessment and elimination of threats.

Killing the male human should’ve been quick and efficient, should’ve been clean.

The truck’s unexpected stop had confused Rendash. He’d guessed by the roughness of the ride that they’d left the main road, but there was so much unknown to him about humans and their planet that he couldn’t risk alerting the driver by moving. The human voices had been muffled by the enclosed cab of the vehicle, and the music had been just loud enough to distort their words.

Even now, Rendash cursed himself for taking so long to respond.

By the time he’d dragged the struggling male into the brush, rage had overpowered all the tenets of his training but one —instinct. Rendash’s instinct had been to tear the human apart for daring to lay hands onhisZoey. His nyros had responded to that rage by pouring excess strength into his limbs. Even after the kill had been made, Rendash had continued his assault with two thrumming vrahsks.

Though it had been far from painless, the human’s death had been too swift for Rendash’s liking. Zoey’s fearful scream had repeated in Rendash’s head over and over — it continued even now, when he stilled his mind and pushed aside his other thoughts.

He leaned forward and clasped her wrists in his lower hands, guiding her arms down before cupping her cheeks with his free hands.

“All that we have is whatdidhappen, Zoey. Difficult as it may be, we must detach ourselves from what might have been and accept what is. Whatever dark thoughts you might have are a product only of your imaginings and not reality. You are safe.”

When she raised her arms, he released his hold. She covered his upper hands with her own, pressing them against her warm cheeks. Then she slid her palms slowly along his arms, over his shoulders, and up his neck to cradle his face. She locked her eyes with his. “Thank you, Ren.”

Rendash explored the depths of her alluring, alien eyes. He longed to feel her soft hands elsewhere on his body. Longed to touchherelsewhere, without the barrier of her clothing to separate them.

She lowered her hands and stood, stepping out of his reach. “I’m going to take a shower.”

After gathering clothes from the open suitcase on her bed, she walked to the TV, grabbed the remote, and tossed it to him. “I’ll order us some food when I get out. The lady at the front desk said there are a few pizza places nearby that deliver.”

“I do not know what that is, but I trust it will be adequate.”

Zoey shook her head, offering a fleeting glimpse of her smile in profile as she stepped into the bathroom. The door closed, and soon after, the shower came on.

Rendash picked up the remote. He pressed the red button at the top — the only one he knew, after his experience at the last place they’d slept — to turn the TV on, but that exhausted the full extent of his knowledge. All the symbols on the remote were alien to him. Stantz’s scientists had taught Rendash to speak their language, not to read it.

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