Page 24 of The Biker Alien

“Keep telling yourself that.”

“See? This is why they’re coming around on me. First at my house and now here. Leave me the fuck alone.”

“If I knew you were safe, I could and would, but only I can guarantee your safety.”

A guy rushes over from the side of the garage. “Teri, I called it in—”

“They’re long gone, Officer,” she says.

“Alec, you’re—”

“If you think you can arrest me, I’ve done nothing wrong,” I say firmly. “I’m the victim here.”

The cop glares at me. “The victim here is Teri, not you.”

True enough.

I ignore him and face her again. “I know you don’t want to, but you really should skip town for a week. I can give you money, and—”

“And then I would lose all of my clients. If my name is linked to you or to them, I’m fucked. I won’t have my livelihood threatened because of two gangs of thugs,” she hisses. “Leave now before you scare off my clients.”

I grit my teeth. “Teri, please.”

“Be reasonable,” Elden tells her.

Fuck. She’s not going to take that well.

“Be reasonable?” she repeats, blinking a few times. “How about you be reasonable and listen to me. Fuck off. Get off my property or else Josh here will escort you off.”

The cop glares at us. I have to give him props. Not many will be that outwardly angry with us. Earthlings don’t know we’re aliens, but they tend to leave us be, just based on our appearance. He’s not afraid of us.

Neither is Teri.

“Elden, go,” I order.

“And not to watch over my place,” Teri adds.

Elden hesitates, glancing at me. I nod.

“I’m so glad my voice means fucking nothing,” she says, throwing up her hands.

“You don’t understand,” Elden says. “He’s the boss. We have to listen to him and only him.”

“Of course. Puppets. You have no minds of your own. Don’t you hate that?”

“If you only knew what it means to be an Armada,” he says. “It’s a brotherhood. It’s for life.”

“It’s going to cost all of you your lives,” she says. “Not mine, though. I wash my hands of all of this.”

I grunt. “They came for you once here. They aren’t going to let you go.”

“Just like you won’t? One fucking date, and you cat like I’m yours.”

“They won’t hurt you,” I growl.

“They won’t because I’ll keep myself safe, thank you very much. If you don’t leave now—”

“I’ll go, but…”

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