Riv's Sanctuary: A Sci-fi Alien Romance by A.G. Wilde (best books to read TXT) 📕

She didn’t meet his gaze. Her head was hung, her breaths coming ragged.

She wanted him to leave and he would.

He’d never force her to do anything she didn’t want to do.

And she didn’t want him.

As he walked away, he knew right then.

There was no way his life would return to normal after he’d tasted her.

That one taste had pushed him past a barrier he’d been standing behind for so long.

Now, his world as he knew it was shattered.

27

Lauren stayed in the room for most of the next two days.

She couldn’t exit.

She could still feel his lips against hers and her body responded every time she thought about it.

She couldn’t allow herself to fall for a guy who didn’t want her in his life.

Life out here on a new world was complicated enough.

Every decision she made now was going to affect her future and God knew she didn’t want to be nursing heartbreak while trying to navigate a new world.

It wasn’t until the late evening when she heard voices in the main room that she thought of leaving the room after her two-day absence.

Thinking it must be his brother, Sohut, that returned from his mission, she slipped on her trousers and put a smile on her face.

She had to exit her room some time. Better to do it when there was someone else there to absorb some of the tension, which she knew was bound to fill the room.

Silent barefooted steps took her toward the main room when she slowed her pace.

There were more than two voices and she didn’t recognize them except for Riv’s.

Not wanting to interrupt his meeting or eavesdrop on his conversation with whomever, she turned around and was about to tiptoe back when she heard the next line.

“We have intelligence that you may have a human at the Sanctuary.”

Lauren stiffened.

That didn’t sound like a meeting with friends.

It didn’t at all.

Peeking as far as she could without being seen, she could only make out a long reptilian tail and her heart stopped beating for a second.

It was one of those guards—the alligator-looking ones. It had to be.

The same ones that had helped abduct her. The same ones that had been on the alien ship.

The same ones she’d seen at the market.

THE ONES THAT HAD KILLED THE CHILD.

Plastering herself against the wall and out of sight, she dared not even breathe lest they hear her.

“I don’t know what the phek a human is,” Riv said, his voice cool.

“It is a female. Pale skinned. Light colored hair,” one of the guards said.

“If something like that was hiding among my animals, I think I’d see it,” Riv quipped.

Lauren bit her lip as she listened, her palms closing into nervous fists.

“Looks like your species,” another guard spat. “Not one of your useless animals.”

Riv released a mirthless laugh. “Do you see how lonely it is out here? If I had a female like that,” he stressed the next words, “I’d tell her to hide away and don’t come out.”

That was a message for her to stay out of sight.

She was sure of it.

Well, message received.

She wasn’t a fool who wanted to die.

She hadn’t been planning on making her presence known, anyway.

One of the guards piped up, “The Merssi with no tail having a woman?” The guard guffawed. “Humorous.”

Lauren tensed.

These guards were real douchebags in every sense of the word.

However Riv had lost his tail, it must have been traumatic for him.

To be making fun of Riv because of something he had no control over, something he could never change…they were real dicks.

The other’s joined in the laughter and she wished she could see Riv’s face.

He didn’t reply to their jeering.

“Looks like we chose the wrong farm,” one of the guards said. “There’s another close by, we should search it.”

“If we find you have somehow hidden the human from us, Merssi, you will face the wrath of Ambassador Klupengi,” said another.

“If you come willingly with information, the Ambassador will be quite generous.”

“Yes,” Riv said, “I know. I have seen the Tasqal’s generosity firsthand.”

There was a pause and Lauren held her breath.

Then one of the guards laughed. “Phekking idiot. Let’s go check the other farm. I do not wish to be caught in these barren lands when the day ends.”

With that, she could hear footsteps and shuffling as the guards left.

Still holding her breath, she remained plastered against the wall till the room grew quiet once more.

Even then, she was afraid to move.

It wasn’t till, minutes later when Riv walked into the corridor, that her shoulders finally sagged with relief.

Riv’s eyes fell on her, a stone coldness there.

“Were those who I think they were?”

“Hedgerud fighters working for the Tasqals, yes.”

“What were they doing here? How did they find me?”

“I don’t know, but you aren’t safe here anymore. Not unless you get registered.”

Lauren swallowed hard as Riv turned and headed back to the main room. She followed him there and found him punching in a code into his comm unit.

The other line picked up immediately.

“Riv?”

She didn’t recognize the masculine voice on the other line.

“Ka’Cit. No time to explain. Hedgerud fighters are on their way to your farm. I need you to stall them for me.”

There was a pause, then a curse on the other side of the line.

“What are they doing so far out? Nobody comes out here.”

Riv’s eyes met hers.

“They’re looking for someone.”

“Who tha’ phek would they be looking for so far out here?”

Riv’s eyes never left hers.

“I’m looking at her right now.”

Riv took the next few moments explaining to his friend, she supposed, of her existence and why he needed to stall the guards.

No doubt they would return to search his Sanctuary again once they realized she wasn’t at Ka’Cit’s.

Ka’Cit agreed and they ended the call.

Lauren stopped pacing and looked at him.

“They searched the Sanctuary?”

Riv nodded.

“Then how did they not find me? I was in the room.”

Pointing behind her, Riv moved forward and took up a small cube that was hidden behind some gadgets on the floor.

He pressed a button on the top