Page 15 of Shadowed By the Alien
CHAPTER NINE
RENIKK
My heart pounds with a fear I’ve never experienced in my life as I stare at the spot I left Raven. I thought she would be safe even though I failed to tie the unconscious Noah up.
I will kill that sartog if he harms her.
Music from the party blares through the back door that I kicked in earlier. I dump the unconscious male inside the house and begin a methodical search of the rooms.
Raven’s smart, not prone to panicking but I don’t know if she left before Noah regained consciousness or if he woke and took her. Would she have left the house or hidden here?
The creak of a wood floorboard, sends me into a roll as bullets whiz past and imbed into the wall behind me.
My knife sails across the room and strikes Noah’s hand dead-center. He yells out in pain and drops the gun—not the one I confiscated earlier—giving me the opening to restrain him. After binding his hands with his belt, I flip him onto his back. His smug expression tells me he has leverage. Raven.
“Where is she?” I demand.
“Release me, then I’ll tell you. And the longer you take, the worse it will get for her.”
I place the nozzle of my blaster against his head. “I don’t negotiate. You have twenty seconds to tell me her location or I’ll blow your head off.”
“Ren, no!” Raven calls out. “Don’t kill him!”
“Raven, where are you?”
Furniture scrapes against the wood floor in the living room off the main hallway. My beautiful Raven slides out from beneath the sofa I passed earlier when looking for her.
I lift her into my arms and bury my nose in her hair, drawing in her scent so my body will catch up with my brain and understand she’s safe.
“I’m fine, Ren. You can let go.”
“Not yet. I nearly lost you tonight.”
Her arms tighten around me. “Thank you for rescuing me. I was so scared.”
“Do not thank me. I failed you tonight. I never should have left you to chase the other male. I thought Noah was unconscious.”
“He stirred just after you left. I ran and hid in the first place I could think of.”
She squeezes me tight, giving me what I need in this moment. Slowly, my horns bend back, away from her.
“I want to hold you forever, Raven.”
“We only just met.”
“And yet there’s a bond between us. Can you feel it?” I ask.
She bites her bottom lip.
“Don’t answer,” I say. “I will not pressure you.
“I feel a connection to you,” she whispers, as if she’s not sure she should admit it.
“Do I scare you, Raven? Is that why you did not call out to me earlier?”
“Noah was searching for me. I was afraid if I answered you, he’d find me first.”
I kiss her forehead, thanking the gods she’s unharmed. “You did everything right.”
