Page 37 of Shielded Heart

Samantha’s brows lowered. For a moment, she could have sworn that she’d seen him before.

I did! He was one of the customers at Sarai’s booth today.

But Sarai’s booth was a twenty-minute walk from Samantha’s apartment; what was this cren doinghere? Why had he approached her?

She swallowed and prayed the sound hadn’t been loud enough for him to hear. “Yes?”

He lifted his hand; Samantha flinched back reflexively until she realized what he was holding—a blue wrapped package containing one of the shirts she’d purchased earlier.

“You dropped this,” he said.

“Oh!” Adjusting the bundles in her arms, she reached out for it and met his eyes. “Thank you.”

The cren nodded and smiled—or at least she thought it was a smile; his tusks made it difficult to tell. Either way, she chose to interpret it as a friendly expression.

“Be safe,” the cren said before strolling away.

Sam watched him until he disappeared around a corner before turning back to her apartment building. The last of the peacekeepers climbed into his vehicle; within a few seconds, both hovertanks lifted off and sped away. The small crowd that had gathered outside—some of whom she recognized as other tenants of her building—dispersed slowly.

Samantha entered the complex and made her way to her apartment. She had no idea what Rakkob had done, but she couldn’t deny her relief; he was gone. It felt good to traverse the corridors without fear of confrontation.

Carefully balancing her packages, she lifted her arm to the scanner beside the door and slipped through once it was open. She had made it several steps beyond the threshold before she realized she wasn’t alone. There was someone seated at her table.

The door closed behind her.

Samantha dropped her packages and whirled around to find another stranger beside the door—a goat-like groalthuun. Her eyes widened with sudden recognition; he was the same groalthuun who’d been taking pictures of her at the Ventrillian Mall. Her heart pounded, its beats echoing like thunder in her chest.

“W-What do you want? Why are you here?” she asked.

How did they get in?

“Have a seat,” said the groalthuun, his dark eyes locked on her.

Samantha stared at him a second longer before she turned to look at the stranger seated at the table. “I…I would rather—”

“He wasn’t asking,” said the other alien. He was huge, with dull orange skin, long white hair, and four thickly muscled arms. It seemed impossible that the comparatively tiny chair was holding his weight.

Samantha was unfamiliar with his species, but she didn’t need to know what he was to understand how dangerous he was. He looked like he could tear her apart with his pinky fingers.

The orange alien lifted a hand, gesturing to the chair across from him. “Sit.”

Trembling, she walked to the table and stiffly lowered herself onto the chair. “Who are you?”

Goat sat on the couch, leaned forward, and rested his elbows on his thighs. “Youare going to answerourquestions, terran. Not the other way around.”

“Who is the sedhi you were with two days ago?” Orange asked.

Samantha’s blood chilled.

Were they after Alkorin? Her mind raced; she couldn’t lie and say she didn’t know who they were talking about because Goat had seen her with Alk, had been taking pictures of them.

“He’s a friend,” she said.

Orange shifted a hand to his face, pinching the bridge of his nose in a veryfrustrated-parentfashion. “Do you just not understand the situation? Your kind are new here, but I assume your people wouldn’t have been invited to Arthos if you were dumb. Give me a name. Give me an address. We’re here for tangible information, not for you to mull over the nature of your relationship.”

Samantha placed her hands in her lap and clutched them together. “I-I don’t know much about him. I only just met him. His…his name isKolthar. That’s all I know.”

“Contact information,” said Goat.

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