Page 86 of Claimed by an Alien Warrior

“Let us honor him by pressing on. We’ll see to the vehicle first.”

Based on her coloring — where her skin wasn’t an irritated red, it was paler than ever, taking on a faint blue undertone — and her shivering, she was suffering from the cold. Trudging through the snow wasn’t likely to help with that. With his nyros functional, Ren’s body adjusted its temperature to counteract the conditions, but the chill in the air was still uncomfortable to him despite his adaptations.

He picked her up and carried her down the hill, only setting her on her feet when they reached the road below — which, like the other roads in town, had been cleared of snow. All was quiet save for the gentle wind rustling the boughs of the nearby trees.

Zoey leaned against his side, wrapped in his long coat, as they walked. He swung his gaze between the many vehicles parked in front of the dwellings along the road.

The distant wail of enforcer vehicles carried faintly over the treetops. How long would it be before Stantz’s soldiers arrived in their helicopters?

“How are we going to get a car?” Zoey asked.

“We must focus on finding a suitable vehicle first,” he replied, “and then we’ll figure out how to take it.”

“That one, the SUV.” Zoey pointed at a large vehicle with black windows. “It’s got tinted windows, so we won’t have to worry about people seeing you from outside, and the interior should be big enough for you to have some leg space.”

TheSUVvaguely reminded Ren of the truck they’d left behind; it had a similar, somewhat blocky front end and was of comparable length. However, this vehicle had four doors rather than two, and its back end was closed in. Its exterior was black, and reflective silver metal gleamed on its wheels.

They approached the SUV cautiously. The windows in the dwelling behind it were covered and there were no lights on, and a quick check of the area revealed no nearby humans.

Ren shifted his primary attention to the vehicle, though he continued to watch their surroundings with his side-eyes.

He opened his nyros, allowing it to enter an automatic scanner mode for only the second time since he’d crashed on Earth. He didn’t understandhowit worked — the technology was so intricate and advanced that it was beyond his comprehension — only that itdidwork. Here, in a more densely populated area, his nyros detected countless signals being broadcast, many of them easily accessible with limited security. Some came from devices inside the dwellings, some were transmitted in the air from far-away sources, and some came from the vehicles.

Like the black SUV.

His nyros interfaced with the vehicle through its over-air signal, breaking through its simple security system and delving directly into its core controls. His nyros had already encountered human language and coding, thanks to what he’d done at the cabin, and the process was even faster now.

Ren’s interaction with it occurred on an instinctual level. The characters flitting through his mind’s eye were unfamiliar to him, but his nyros knew them, and it granted him an intuitive understanding of the systems. He instructed it to deactivate the security and tracking and block any further interfacing with over-air signals.

He touched the handle, engaging a direct, physical connection with the internal computer, and the locks disengaged with a popping sound. He pulled it open for Zoey and stepped aside to allow her entry.

She climbed in, and Ren’s gaze locked on her backside; it was absolutely not the right time or place, but he couldn’t pass up the opportunity. His cock didn’t care whether it was appropriate. He barely withheld a groan. She deposited that luscious ass in the seat and adjusted its position. With her body in profile, he took a moment to follow the curve of her legs. He frowned when he noticed how wet her pants were; that couldn’t be helping her stay warm.

“Are you…going to get in?” she asked, staring at him.

“Yes.” He tore his gaze away from her legs, closed her door, and walked around the vehicle. With a final glance at the surrounding area, he tugged open the passenger door, slid the seat back as far as it could go, and pulled himself in.

Zoey rubbed her hands together before lifting them to blow into her cupped palms. “So…now what?”

Ren took her hands between two of his and gradually increased the temperature of his skin. He placed another hand on the SUV’s control panel, which was currently dark.

A connection crackled through his fingertips like a spark, producing a faint, fleeting tingling in his fingertips. He held it for only a fraction of a second; just long enough to start the vehicle’s engine. The instruments came to life, lighting up across the console, and cold air blew through the vents.

“How are you doing all this?” Zoey asked, wide eyes flicking between Ren and the console.

“It is mynyros,” he said. “My understanding of how it works is little better than yours. I know how to wield it as a tool…the same way you know how to operate one of these vehicles, but not how to fix it.”

“So, you did the same to the car as you did to the security system at the cabin?”

“Yes. And, like the system at the cabin, I disabled its ability to communicate with any external systems.”

“Good idea. I think most of these new cars — especially higher-end ones like this — can be tracked by GPS, or whatever.”

“How do your hands feel, Zoey?”

She looked down, and a small smile appeared on her lips. “Better. Thank you.”

He released her hands, telling himself that it was necessary — she needed them free to drive, and theyhadto move. To ease the sudden feeling of emptiness, he dropped a hand to her thigh, raising the temperature of his palm further to warm the cold flesh beneath her wet legging.

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