Page 27 of Haunted By the Alien
“Don’t worry, Kobrik. I’ve treated worse injuries than this.”
Once I grab my emergency kit from beneath the sink, I spread out what I need and get to work. As I irrigate the wound, my thoughts wander. He risked so much for me tonight. If he hadn’t carried me off that ship… I shiver, and immediately he’s on his feet, wrapping his arms around me.
“You are safe, my sweet Kenzie. No one will harm you ever again.”
I needed to hear that from him. Nothing feels as perfect as being wrapped up in Kobrik and all those muscles. I haven’t felt this safe since I lived in my parents’ home, surrounded by family.
“I’m fine. I flashed back to the ship exploding.”
“You’re not used to combat.”
“I should be. I see the results every day in the E/R.”
“That is not the same as being in direct danger. You were very brave.”
A chuckle escapes me. “Hardly. What kept me from melting into a puddle of useless quivering goo was that knife you gave me and the fact that I was pissed off at being kidnapped.”
“You’ve mastered how to use your anger. True warriors learn to use their emotions, to control them so they do not control us.”
While I clean his wound with antiseptic, he contacts the major he spoke with earlier on his comm and updates him on the grud and the explosion. I wonder if Kobrik is military intelligence, an agent from the Department of Alien Affairs, or works for a secret agency.
Either way, he’s one of the good guys. That’s all that matters. That, and how much I care about him.
As he finishes his discussion, I use a special glue for sealing superficial wounds. Not that this wound is shallow—it’s fairly deep—but I don’t have a needle and thread to stitch him up.
“The bleeding has already stopped, so I’m hoping this will hold,” I say as I bandage his forearm.
“You are a skilled medic. The wound will heal.”
“Are you always so confident?”
“I do not worry about what I cannot control.” He rises from the chair. “At least not as far as my own safety is concerned.”
“Meaning what?”
“This building, this room is not secure for you. I will find you another place to live before I leave Los Angeles.”
My heart sinks. “You’re leaving?”
“Soon. My mission is complete. Since I failed to capture the grud, there is nothing more I can do here.”
“What about the other guy? Nelson?” As I tell Kobrik everything that happened to me earlier, especially about the grud’s human partner, his face sours. I run my hand down his arm. “You did everything you could. Don’t beat yourself up about the outcome.”
“I’m warrior trained, and yet I’ve made too many mistakes.”
“Warrior trained? Are you part of some group like the green berets or army rangers?”
“I’m not familiar with those groups.”
“They were special military forces before the invasion.”
“Ah. In a way, yes. But warriors work for many law enforcement agencies across many planets in and outside the Galactic Alliance. Ultimately, we take our orders from the ZDC.”
My mouth drops, but this time he doesn’t make a joke. It finally sinks in.
The horns that I swear moved earlier, the face paint that never smears no matter how many times I kiss him, and then there’s the knife wound. Not a speck of that bluepaintwore off or washed away despite his injury. No paint would withstand all that.
“You really are an alien.”
