Page 16 of A Darkside Interlude

You’re the one who’s being stubborn, she thought, sensing an iron-clad will behind that steely red gaze. “I can’t go to a facility,” she admitted, spelling it out for the alien. “I’m Unregistered.” Most humans would understand the situation immediately, but he was Kordolian, and she doubted he would understand the difference between an Unregistered and a true Federation citizen.

“You do not have equal rights?”

“No.”

Instead of probing her further, he looked over his shoulder and sighed. “Where is your home? Is it nearby?”

“Huh?” Mari leaned against the alien, becoming keenly aware of his warmth. Kordolians definitely weren’t cold-blooded. “It isn’t far.”

The stranger sighed again. “I will take you.”

“What?” she blurted, her voice rising an octave. She couldn’t help it. That was the last thing she’d been expecting him to say.

In the background, Mad Jeff’s eyes went wide. “Don’t let him find out where you live,” he mouthed in Eskulin. “He’s dangerous.”

Dangerous? No shit.

“Everything will be okay,” she replied, knowing the alien couldn’t lip-read Eskulin. She gave Mad Jeff a reassuring smile, feeling guilty for leading the Kordolian here.

Jeff would probably consider the alien’s arrival as a sign that the dreaded invasion was imminent. He’d rave on about it for days.

“I insist.”

“But—” Before she could protest, the Kordolian swept her up into his arms. Suddenly, Mari felt weightless, her long legs dangling in the air as he pulled her in, holding her close to his chest.

Huh? Wasn’t there a bullet-wound in his shoulder?

“Oi, oi, you’re not gonna fuckin’ abduct Maribel on my watch, alien!” Jeff picked up his long-barreled gun.

Almost disdainfully, the Kordolian looked over his shoulder. “What are you going to do, human? Shoot me? If you follow me, you’re dead.”

Then he turned and stepped out into the night with Mari in his arms, and there was nothing she could do about it, because the soles of her feet were on fire, and she desperately needed help, even if it came from the most unlikely of sources.

Jeff ran to the door. “I’ll call your boss,” he shouted at Mari.

“No!” she yelled back as a blast of dusty desert wind hit her in the face. “Whatever you do, do not call that bastard. I already told you, I’ll be fine.”

“Left, or right?” the Kordolian asked softly, ignoring Mad Jeff.

“L-left.”

He broke into an easy run, reminding her of a loping wolf. His movements were so damn graceful and swift and effortless—all the things she wasn’t right now—that it occurred to Mari that she wouldn’t have outrun him even if she’d been wearing proper shoes.

Not in a million fucking years.

“Tell me where to go. I will take you there.” And now he was helping her. How had it come to this?

“Why are you helping me?” The suspicious Darksider in her couldn’t believe he would offer his assistance without expecting something in return. A hard-as-nails, dangerous alien like this couldn’t have a shred of kindness in him… could he?

And yet he hadn’t harmed her. She’d stolen something that was obviously important to him. He could have beaten her up, had her arrested, or even killed her, but he hadn’t done any of that.

Mad Jeff had even shot him, and yet he hadn’t flinched, hadn’t retaliated.

The obsidian pendant was still inside her belt-pouch…

And she was in his arms.

If she ignored the circumstances, she might have felt pretty good about being in his arms. He was warm and solid, and he smelled faintly of sandalwood and spice and heady male musk. Although he was injured, there was an air of invincibility about him; a feeling that he would do as he liked when he pleased, without a care for any of Earth’s laws or regulations.

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