Page 4 of Wrecked By My Alien Mentor

The limo glides to a stop outside my riverboat manor, the Mississippi shimmering under the moonlight. I step out, adjusting my tie, and there he is—Robbie Dalton, standing on the gangplank with his usual cheerful grin. His pudgy human disguise looks especially ridiculous next to the grandeur of the riverboat.

“Evening, Oriyn,” he chirps, his voice high-pitched but annoyingly chipper. “How was the kidnapping?”

I raise an eyebrow. “You know about that?”

He taps his Compad with a flourish. “Veritas monitors everything. You really should’ve called it in.”

“And ruin the fun? No thanks.” I stride past him onto the boat, the polished wood creaking under my weight. “What do you want, Robi?”

He scurries after me, his short legs struggling to keep up. “It’s about the apprentice.”

“No.”

“Oriyn—”

“No.”

“You haven’t even met her.”

“Don’t need to.” I stop at the grand staircase, turning to face him. “Humans are fragile, erratic, and easily distracted. I’m not babysitting another one.”

Robbie’s smile doesn’t waver. “She’s not like the others. Cora’s sharp, resourceful, and?—”

“Let me guess,” I interrupt, holding up a hand. “She’s got a ‘keen mind for business’ and a ‘bright future’ ahead of her. Heard it all before.”

He sighs, pulling up a holo-profile on his Compad. “Just look at her file. Pyke’s already approved her.”

“Of course he has,” I mutter, snatching the Compad. The hologram shows a young woman—late twenties, glasses, messy hair. She looks like she’d faint if I so much as growled at her.

“Great,” I say, handing the Compad back. “She’s perfect for Pyke. Let him train her.”

“Oriyn, we need fresh blood. The Grolgath are getting bolder.”

“So train her yourself.”

“I’m not a warrior.”

“Neither am I,” I snap, my voice sharp enough to make him flinch. “Not anymore.”

He doesn’t respond, just stands there with that infuriating, hopeful look on his face. I turn away, heading up the stairs. “Good night, Robi.”

“Oriyn—”

“Don’t make me throw you in the river.”

He sighs but doesn’t follow. I can feel his eyes on my back as I disappear into the boat’s opulent interior.

The sharp rap on my door makes my claws twitch.

"Oriyn, I know you can still hear me." Robbie's annoying squeak of a voice spills through the wood. "Look, Captain Pyke told me to tell you this is an order. You don't get a choice. She'll be in your office at seven AM sharp tomorrow."

I'm at the door before he finishes breathing, yanking it open so hard the hinges groan. "And what exactly am I supposed to teach her?" My voice drops to a growl even through the disguise. "I can't even mention Veritas, or grolgath, or my real face without proper vetting."

Robbie adjusts his cheap polyester tie. "Yeah, well..." He shrugs, the motion making his human disguise's jowls wobble. "It's up to you how much you reveal and when. But Pyke thinks?—"

"I know what Pyke thinks." My fingers dent the doorframe. "He thinks this will be good for me. That I'm isolating myself."

"You are." Robbie says it without flinching for once. The little furball's got Vakutan stubbornness in him today. "It's been decades since Brakkus. Not every student turns traitor, you stubborn?—"

---