Page 89 of Claimed by an Alien Warrior

“Are you sure this will work?” Zoey asked. “That we won’t…get caught?”

“I don’t know if it will work,” Ren said from somewhere beside her. One of his hands settled on her hip, and its welcome warmth seeped through her clothing. “But regardless, we will not be captured.”

“Okay. Let’s get this over with.” She battled the urge to look for cameras; the feeling of being watched made her skin crawl, but looking up would only offer a clear view of her face. She’d seen enough TV to fear the government had facial-recognition technology that would allow a computer in some secret base to pick her out of a million simultaneous video feeds if it got a direct image to work with.

She stepped close to the pump and raised her hand as though she were going to insert her debit card.

Ren’s hand remained on her hip, her only source of comfort. The display on the pump flashed, the numbers changing wildly — displaying all eights, flickering out, switching to strange, distorted characters — before the screen prompted her to select her grade of fuel.

“It worked,” Zoey whispered. Her relief was short-lived; she wouldn’t be able to relax until they were back on the road, away from prying eyes…and even then, her relaxation would be minimal.

She hurriedly opened the SUV’s fuel cover and removed the cap. After selecting unleaded fuel, the display changed toBEGIN FUELING. She lifted the nozzle, inserted it into the tank, and pulled the trigger. It began to pump.

Releasing a shaky sigh, she leaned against Ren and watched the numbers run steadily higher. The sound of flowing gasoline and the faint ticking of the pump seemed oddly in-time with the current country song. The more she focused on it, the more soothing it became.

Zoey’s eyelids drifted shut.

Her knees buckled, and her head dipped back, jarring her to sudden alertness.

You’re about to eat pavement, kid.

She threw her arms back to catch herself reflexively, but it was Ren’s unseen hands that prevented her fall.

“Are you all right, Zoey?” he asked, voice thick with concern.

“Yeah. Just tired. Really, really tired.” She smiled slightly, staring at the place she believed his eyes to be as she righted herself and all but one of his hands moved away. “Woke up pretty early this morning, remember?”

And since then, she’d been pleasured well beyond what she’d thought possible, cleaned a house and done two loads of laundry, helped Ren clear snow from around the buried truck, been pulled over and shot at by a cop, been carried through the woods by an alien, stolen a car, and driven for five-and-a-half hours along dark, winding, icy roads.

She didn’t regret the first thing on that list, but she could’ve done without all the rest.

“Then you need to sleep,” he said.

“We can’t stop now, Ren. Not when they got so close. Plus, I don’t have enough money for a room, and I doubt I’d be able to find one that didn’t want an ID and a credit card.”

“Such obstacles have not stopped us before, and they will not stop us now.” His light touch on her cheek gently guided her attention to the convenience store. “They have food and drink in that building, correct?”

Zoey leaned her face into his warm palm and nodded. “Yeah.”

“Do you have enough money to obtain some for us?”

“Some.” She was thankful she’d been in so much of a hurry leaving the last convenience store that she’d stuffed some cash into her coat. It wasn’t much, but it was a hell of a lot better than nothing.

“Go use the restroom. Purchase food and drink for us. When you come back, I will drive.”

“What?” Zoey straightened, her eyes widening. She suddenly feltquiteawake. “You don’t know how.”

“I’ve had plenty of time to observe you. It’s not that complicated, human.”

Zoey snorted, rolling her eyes. “Back to justhuman, huh?”

The automatic shutoff ended the flow of gasoline with apop, signaling a full tank.

“I tend to be terse when I desperately need to relieve myself,” he replied.

She snickered, removing the gas nozzle and hanging it on the pump. “Okay, okay. I’ll hold the door, if you want to slip inside around me.”

He patted her shoulder. “No need to trouble yourself. I think, this time, I will try it in the snow.”

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