Page 32 of Rescued By the Alien Bull Rider

“No. Ugh. Don’t look at them. They’re probably all ugly and red from crying.”

Ugly? An absurd adjective to choose. I would not assign it to any part of her.

But she felt she was. Because she’d been crying. Because ofme.

I’d watched a man die by my own hand and I’d never before felt a regret quite like this one.

But what was I to say to her? “Sorry that I am a convicted murderer?” It was not something I had done to her. It was simply what I was. I had tried not to deceive her, did not hide it from her overly long. I’d handed her the truth. And had watched that truth crumple something in her.

“Where is the knife?” I asked her.

“Oh. I don’t know. Um…” She rubbed her eyes again then squinted uncertainly out the window. “I think I left it by the laundry tub.”

Well, that was something, at least. She did not feel the need to sleep with it beside her, fearing that I might come back and murder her in the bed.

The slicer engines suddenly cut, flooding the night with silence.

“What the heck was that sound?”

I stood.

“Come,” I said grimly. “The warden is here.”

Jolene padded behind me. We found Warden Tenn and his human wife, Tasha, already standing uninvited in my kitchen, lamp and candles lit.

“I see you’ve let yourself in,” I muttered.

“And I see you’ve got a guest,” Warden Tenn said, his orange eyes going beyond me, tracking Jolene’s movements as she came out from behind me and hurried to Tasha’s side.

I supposed it made sense she would gravitate to a fellow female of her own kind, especially one that had not been convicted for killing someone. But it still made me grind my fangs together.

“Found this on the ground outside,” Warden Tenn said lightly, but his eyes were keen and probing as he lifted up my knife.

“Oh. Sorry. That was my fault,” Jolene said. “Pregnancy brain.”

Tasha’s attention whipped to Jolene.

“It sounds like we have a lot to talk about,” the warden’s wife said. “Here. Why don’t you have a seat?” Tasha pulled out a chair for Jolene and gestured for her to sit. Jolene did so, and at thesame moment the warden stepped between us, blocking my view of her while he handed me my knife.

“We’ll talk, too,” he said, staring me down. “Outside.”

Once I’d sheathed my knife, he walked to the door and opened it. I followed. The last thing I saw before I closed the door behind us was Jolene’s face. And her eyes, watching me leave.

“So,” Warden Tenn said once we were outside. “What happened to you?”

“Handed my knife to a human woman and got gutted,” I spat.

“Your guts look fine to me,” he mused, cocking his head slightly. The moon and starlight made his white hair shine. “I was talking about your chest and your hand.”

“Oh.” I’d nearly forgotten my own injuries. “I got between a bracku bull and Jolene.”

His white brows rose. “Willingly?”

“Of course, willingly! Why the blazes else would I be injured if I hadn’t jumped right into the fray? It was about to charge her!”

“Surprised you’re still standing.”

“Well, technically I did not get between them,” I amended. “I jumped from Wyn onto its back. Its antlers caught me as I roped it. And my palm got all torn up.”

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