Page 8 of Alien Noble's Pretty Human

“What were you doing there?”

“We lived with the Imani settlement there. The clans have a legend of a great healing crystal in the area that my father was looking for.”

“Did he find it?”

“No.” He goes quiet, but somehow, it’s comfortable.

Through the chatter of the hotel bar, growing with the triumphant calls of the aspirants as they prepare themselves to charge into the unknown, I find myself staring at him.

And the look he gives me matches it, as though now I’m daring him and he’s as ready as I am to spar here and now.

He clears his throat. “Anyone else here catching your eye? As far as competition?”

“Well, the competition is the mountain. I’m sure you know that. But yeah. Some people, I think, are interesting.”

“Such as?”

“Well,” I start, turning my back to the bar and placing my elbows on the bar top. A cool breeze passes between my naked shoulders. The hulking warrior’s presence to my right fills me with tension that wasn't there before. We’re not touching, not quite, but it's electric all the same.

“There’s an interesting brother-sister combo. Lila and Davin. Davin’s pretty observant, and Lila seems to know just about every plant up here. There’s another guy, Jorath, who might be about as knowledgeable as you.”

He grunts slightly, and I smile at his unbothered reaction.

“This fella.” I point discreetly to a slender, shifty-looking Kiphian near the holo-billiards. “I’m not sure about him.”

“I don't know him either,” he says, looking at all our fellow aspirants. “I met a guy named Maxe this afternoon.”

“Yes. Maxe and Thippe. Did you hear? So fascinating.” The juicy gossip that caught my ears that morning on the training grounds sticks in my mind. “They’re married. Fated mates,apparently. They’re doing the Challenge together this year. Can you believe that?”

“They’re fated mates?”

“Uh, yeah. They’re so cool. They’ve been everywhere and lived all over Kiphia with their two kids.”

His face pales, but for some reason, my stupid mouth continues. “They have a deal with each other that if one of them gets lost, or too hurt to continue, they’ll leave them behind.”

“Why would they do that?”

“I guess so the kids have at least one parent to take care of them? It's kind of romantic, in a way.”

Suddenly my Kiphian friend’s ashen face tells me he’s not the romantic type. He drains his glass and, wrenching his grip on the bar, mutters something I can hardly interpret.

“I guess I’ll see you out there,” I tell his back, unable to read his face to see what happened. The tone between us has profoundly shifted, but I can’t really put my finger on just what it was.

Was it something I said?I keep wondering as many of the other racers slowly drink themselves into an unhealthy stupor. I did think Rylan and I were on the same page, until all of twenty seconds ago.

No matter. I’m here to win a race, not make friends.

5

RYLAN

The sun has barely risen as I make my way into the stone arena, aspirants slowly filling rows of rough-hewn benches. I take a seat near the edge of the group, hoping the long shadows will hide me from her.

I realized to my horror one terrifying thing when I got closer to her at the kick-off party last night. This human, this Iara, is my fated mate. I’m sure if I told anyone, they would think it was cause for celebration.

Not for me. I’ve seen in my parents what fated mates turn into. Finding the one person you can’t live without, the person you are destined to spend life with knowing they complete you, can be more of a curse than anything. Especially if that person is anything like my father, or like me.

I don’t even dare tell her. What kind of life could I offer her? I like doing things on my own. I don’t need or want the burden of a fated mate.

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