“I suppose you want me to get in there,” I tossed over, frowning at the lean-to.

He didn’t reply. He simply cocked his head, his one eye locking even more tightly on my face. As if he could understand what I was saying if he only listened hard enough.

I shook my head, reminding myself not to get too comfortable with the fact that he seemed to be mostly conscientious. If he were really someone to be trusted, he wouldn’t have abducted me in the first place.

I’d already been taken from everything I knew once, when Earth forces kidnapped me and forced me into this mission.

And he’d gone ahead and done it again. Only it was even worse now, because now I truly had nobody left. At least on the ship, I’d had friends. Other women in the same situation as me.

Here... I had no one.

No one but my alien abductor, staring at me with a single golden eye and waiting for me to crawl like a dog into the shelter he’d built.

Do I have any choice?

I could refuse, I supposed. I could scream at him, make him take me back to the planet where he’d found me. But even in the thickness of my grief and denial, I had to acknowledge that the ship had been lifting off. The other humans had likely moved on to another world by now, and there would be no way to get back to them.

And even if there was a chance, I just didn’t have the fucking energy. I’d never been a fighter. I’d always been happier talking soothingly to plants than confronting other people. Elvi had been the strong one, the one who’d raised me even though she’d been only eight years older than me. When I’d been bullied, she was always the one who’d stood up for me. She was the one who put me into hockey to try to build some confidence in myself. Paska, even when she was dying, she was the one comforting me.

But she was gone now. And so were the last friends I’d had in this universe.

I choked back a sob and crawled into the shelter.

In the darkness, I huddled into a ball, too worn-out to even take off my soaked boots. I lay on my side, staring at the black underside of the wood wall of the lean-to. It was so dark that I couldn’t even tell if things got blurred when tears filled my eyes. I blinked the moisture away angrily, hugging my knees to my chest.

Exhaustion became so visceral and thick that it was like a force outside my own body. It pressed down on me from above. It seemed like I would sink right into the ground with the bitter weight of it. My whole body hurt with cold.

A sudden sound made me stiffen, jaw clenching and eyes going as wide as possible in the darkness. A scraping sound, then a grunt, then the unmistakable drop of a hefty alien body behind me told me the creature had entered the tent. As he got all the way in, the golden lights scattered across his body cast a warm glow over the dark interior.

No way... he plans to sleep in here with me?!

His scales were as hard as metal. He looked more animal than man. Other than some signs of physical weariness, he didn’t seem bothered by the cold at all.

I assumed he’d stay outside...

So what the hell was he doing in here?

I tried to remain frozen, but a vicious tremor wracked my muscles, forcing a sharp gasp from my lungs. The alien stilled at my back before muttering a sentence I didn’t understand. A moment later, something thick and leathery and so warm I wanted to weep covered my entire curled-up body. He’d draped one of his wings over me like a blanket, and heat was already seeping into my shuddering bones.

I tried to ignore the physical comfort of his proximity. Because he was the one who’d done this to me. The one who’d brought me here, dragged me into the river, and ruined my shirt. He was why I was cold in the first fucking place.

He was the reason for it all...

And he was the only remedy.

Other than a few lingering shivers, I didn’t move. I didn’t speak as he got into a more comfortable position behind me, his broad chest cupping my back, his thighs drawn up under my feet. Beneath his wing, he tossed his arm over my body, his forearm and wrist plastered against my own crossed arms, his fingers coming up to rest at the base of my throat.

Why was he holding me like this? Why had he brought me here when he seemed to have absolutely no idea where to go now or what to do with me?

“What do you want?” I whispered.

He gave me no answer.

And neither did my dreams when they came creeping in.

CHAPTER NINE

Suvi

Iwoke up slowly and then all at once.

At first, I relished the feeling of half-sleep. I was so warm. The blankets on our bunks on the ship were pretty sad, thin affairs. I wasn’t usually this cozy when I came to. It was nice. I didn’t want to wake all the way back up.

But when the blanket moved of its own accord, I did. My eyes flew open, not seeing anything but a wall of gold-spangled green. The alien’s wing was still tossed over me in a warming embrace. So was his arm and even his tail. It almost felt protective.

Or possessive.

Probably the latter, considering he’d taken me from my people and seemed to have no intention of letting me out of his sight.

Is he asleep?

There was no movement behind me apart from the even rise and fall of his chest against my back. I turned slowly and carefully, heart like a hummingbird in my throat, until I was facing him.

He appeared to still be asleep. I’d been right last night – he really had exhausted himself with everything that had happened yesterday, and maybe whatever else he’d been doing before that. I paused to study him. It was clearly morning outside, as sunlight was spilling through cracks into the lean-to. It dimmed the bright effect of his lights, but not by much. Before I could stop myself, I reached forward and tentatively brushed one of the glowing spots on his chest. I breathed in sharply, feeling what could only be described as energy buzzing in that spot. The light was warmer than his scales, and it almost seemed to vibrate softly under my touch.

I withdrew my hand, feeling almost guilty for touching him, even though he was the one who’d come in here and smooshed himself up against me all night. Thankfully there was still no evidence of male genitalia – nothing seemed to be poking or prodding me from anywhere – and that was an immense relief. I began to wonder how his biology and reproductive system worked before I shut down that line of thinking like dropping a dark curtain on my own brain. I did not need to go there right now. What I needed to do was figure out my next steps.

Do I really risk it – trying to get away from him?

So far, this planet hadn’t proved as hostile as I’d feared. I wasn’t much of a survivalist, but I could probably figure out how to catch fish in the river. The cottony puffs on the plants could be used to make clothing or bedding. There would be no way to know what food here would kill me, of course, but I wouldn’t have a better chance in that department even with the alien, considering I was a completely new and different species.

He hadn’t really seemed fazed by how different I was, now that I thought about it. He didn’t exactly appear to consider me an alien, not in the way I thought of him being alien, at least. Maybe there were bipedal, human-like animals where he was from. Maybe he thought of me as some sort of pet...

I stared at his sleeping face as these thoughts rolled through me. His thick dark hair was cast back from his face in a way that almost looked elegant, in a wild and undone sort of way. His brow was smoothed in sleep, his thick lashes cast downward on the right side of his face. On the left was the mangled pit of where the other eye had once been. I felt my mouth pulling in a sympathetic grimace because the wound looked like it had healed badly and it had to have caused an immense amount of pain. I shouldn’t have felt sorry for him – I knew that. But I did. I’d always been like that. I was the kid who cried over things like flowers getting crushed underfoot.