Page 7 of Anna's Bounty
“They cannot hurt you. Please, come closer.”
My teeth sink into my bottom lip, and I shake my head. I’m not thrilled about being nakedand alonewith him.
A low, rumbling growl fills the cage as he wraps his hands around the bars. With a flex of his muscles and little more than a grunt, he wrenches the bars apart with a grating shriek, forcing the door to pop open.
Stepping back, he waves for me to come out. The freedom he offers is enticing, but still I choose to stay right where I am, wrapping my arms even tighter around my knees.
Shaking his head, he huffs before stepping into the cage, and my eyes widen as he closes the distance between us. I hunch further into myself, hiding as much of my body from this alien and his nine-mile stare as possible. The way he’s looking at me, his eyes flashing green in the low light, it’s like he can see right through me, and it’s unnerving as hell.
“You’re safe now,” he says softly, dropping to a crouch in front of me.
I watch him through the curtain of my stringy hair as he tilts his head to the side. Is he curious? Or plotting some nefarious scheme that will land me someplace worse than this cage?
Slowly, as if I’m a cornered animal, he holds one of his hands out to me, large palm up, and says, “I’m not here to hurt you; I’m here to free you.” When I still don’t move, he asks, “Can you understand me?”
I nod and very slowly tuck my hair behind my ear with a shaking hand, showing him the translator they installed.
When Rovos sees the disk behind my ear, he growls low in his throat. Not sure if it’s an angryatme or angryforme kind of growl, I wrap my arms around my bent knees once more.
“The Xar’ad cannot hurt you anymore,” Rovos tells me. He tilts his head to the side and then reaches out to me. The moment his fingers touch the side of my arm, I explode. Turning into a shrieking wildcat, I curl my fingers and do my best to rake my blunt nails across his arms or anything else I can reach.
Rovos stumbles back with a startled grunt, then backs up further, giving me space. “I’m not here to hurt you,” he repeats and holds his hand out to me.
I bare my teeth at him. “How do I know I can trust you?” I growl.
With only a sharp exhale through his nose as a warning, Rovos lunges at me. His enormous hands wrap around my upper arms, and I scream, but before I can claw him again, he lifts me up and turns me so my back is to his chest.
“Let go of me!” I shriek.
“Calm down, Hellcat. I’m not going to hurt you,” he grunts as I writhe against his embrace.
“Let me go!”
I’m not expecting it when he does, and I land hard on my knees before scurrying to the back of the cage again. When I muster up the courage to look up at him, he’s standing in the center of my cage with his shoulders stooped because the ceiling is too low for him to stand straight. His arms hang loose at his sides, and his face relaxes. He’s not smiling, but he doesn’t look angry either. He just looks… calm.
Without a word, he holds a hand out to me, and I look at it for a long time. Should I take it? Can I trust him?
He has done nothing to make me not trust him. And he let me go when I asked. I pull my bottom lip between my teeth and stare down at his outstretched hand.
Sucking a deep breath into my lungs, I grit my teeth and then reach out to take his hand.
5
Anna
Maybe it’s my imagination, but the moment I breach the cage’s door, I can breathe easier. The tension in my shoulders and back ease, and I release a grateful sigh.
My already small hand looks tiny enveloped in the gray alien’s much larger grip. He keeps glancing back at me as he leads me away from the cage and into the cargo area. The way his eyes drag over me leaves me feeling self-conscious, so I hunch my shoulders and pull my hair forward to hide as much of my nakedness as possible. When we are several paces away from the cage, he stops, and I pull my hand from his before wrapping my arms around my chest.
When I look up at him through my lashes, I find him still staring back at me. His eyes look darker than they did earlier, with swirls of gold sparking through the cat-like green. I watch as his slitted pupils flare and contract.
He blinks and then shakes his head. Grabbing the bottom of his tank, he pulls it over his head and exposesa lotof alien male muscle. My jaw drops, and nowI’mthe one staring. I mean, I could tell he was stacked with his tank on, but now that he’s standing shirtless in front of me… Chris Hemsworth has nothing on this guy! I mean…dayum!
“Here.” His voice is gravel-rough as he thrusts his shirt at me.
I force my eyes to the balled-up shirt, still warm from his body, in my hands and resist the urge to bring it to my nose and inhale. Because who does that?
Um, me apparently.
