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Wouldn’t it?
There is no reason I should feel any sort of safety or peace right now, but I do. My gut tells me this alien won’t hurt me, and I believe it. Peace flows through me and I feel my shoulders relax. I meet its eyes and it feels like its cold gaze grows warmer, and weirdly, my belly flutters in response.
The silence between us stretches on. I want to speak, but I don’t know what to say or if I should. What do you say to an alien, anyway? I come in peace. Take me to your leader. Yeah, I’ve tried that once already, and it didn’t exactly help matters.
Moving slowly, the alien sheaths its sword in a holder hanging on its back. That’s when I notice he – because it’s obvious he’s male based on the large bulge at his groin – is almost naked except for what looks like a long loincloth that stretches nearly to his knees. Seriously, a freaking loincloth.
The alien shifts his feet, his muscles rippling under his skin, and I feel my cheeks flush a deep red as I gape at his massive chest. Holy shit. I did not expect teal bodybuilder aliens in loincloths to be anything I’d ever encounter.
The alien reaches up and places a balled-up fist against his massive chest right over a pec, and the deep growling sound of his voice emerges making goosebumps rise on my arms. “Draggar.” He raps his fist against his chest and repeats the same word again.
Ohhhh, that’s his name. Draggar.
Oh my God, he’s introducing himself. Surprisingly, I feel a smile spread across my face. Well, I guess I should try to be polite and reciprocate. So, I do.
I ball up my fist and place it on my chest in the same manner he did and say my name. “Haley. My name is Haley.”
“Hell-lii.” He repeats my name, mangling the pronunciation a little and drawing it out until it has twice as many syllables and sounds decidedly hellish.
I repeat my name again, and with his eyes focused on my face in deep concentration like it’s the most important thing he’s ever done, he repeats it. “Hell-lii. Hell-lii. Haley.” I nod my head in excitement when he finally gets it. The corners of his lips tip up just the slightest and I wonder if he’s smiling.
I point at him and say “Draggar.” I turn my finger to point at myself. “Haley.”
His smile widens at my words making a dimple appear on one side of his mouth, instantly transforming his fierce appearance, and I laugh giddily. I can’t believe I’m actually standing here introducing myself to an alien. I realize that in the time we have been standing here staring at each other the sun has risen and a weak band of light cascades down to illuminate the space around us, and I can see the details of his face that I missed earlier.
A strong, square jaw that would be at home on any model, a broad nose with large nostrils that flare out wide, and wide silver eyes that almost seem to glow. His eyes have large, nearly vertical pupils like a cat, and I immediately wonder how good his night vision is.
There’s a prominent ridge of flesh – or maybe bone, I don’t know – where his eyebrows should be and it tapers up across his wide forehead before disappearing into a lush shoulder-length mane of hair that is a sparkling silver. Despite the silver hair, I don’t get the impression that he’s elderly. His muscular physique, quick reflexes, and alert gaze indicates someone much younger, probably even close to my own age.
Studying his wide mouth, I shiver when I notice that in addition to a full set of normal-looking teeth he also has two slightly elongated, sharp teeth on bottom and two on top – he has freaking fangs! – that look like they could easily tear through meat.
His ears are larger than a human’s and pointed at the top like they would be more at home on an elf, and as I watch, they twitch, almost as if he’s filtering through the different sounds of the jungle as it wakes up around us. It is an alien, otherworldly face that would not at all be considered handsome by human standards, but somehow, it’s striking, and I can’t tear my gaze away from this man.
This alien, I remind myself.
My eyes drift lower of their own accord, and I realize the ridges continue down his body. Over his abdomen where his heart and lungs would be if he was a human and along his very thick, muscular thighs. It looks almost like built-in body armor.
Now that I can see him better, I realize his skin has a sheen that makes it shine like chrome – holy freaking shit, he has metallic skin – and he’s not one solid shade of solid teal like I thought at first. Instead, there are areas of his body that are darker and others are lighter, almost aqua. I quickly realize between his coloring and his color-changing skin, he’s probably able to camouflage himself into his surroundings.
No wonder I didn’t realize he was there until I nearly walked on top of him. He’s perfectly designed for this planet with its jungle and dinosaurs. Unlike me.
For a guy from what seems to be a pretty dangerous world, he’s been surprisingly friendly. Even now, the corners of his lips are tilted up in a boyish grin that makes my stomach clench.
I wonder. . . He might have seen Zoe or maybe he could help me look for her. I open my mouth to ask him, ready to mime out whatever I need to to get my meaning across. “Have you seen. . .” My words end in a strangled gasp as a large hulking shadow darts out from the bushes behind the alien.
It’s a dinosaur, and unlike the pterodactyl-ish creature yesterday, this one looks like it stepped right out of a movie. Well, if dinosaurs had blue polka dots on them, that is.
Fucking hell, it’s an actual dinosaur. Like with teeth and claws and everything.
My brain seems to freeze for a split second as it tries to reconcile the fact that there is a freaking dinosaur just yards away with its cold, reptilian eyes trained directly on me as it lowers its head and begins to charge straight toward us.
I open my mouth to scream, but the sound is cut off as Draggar pushes me out of the path of the beast and I land with a grunt onto the soft ground.
The dinosaur pounces on the alien just as he pulls his sword free. Its sharp claws swipe across his flesh and leave a bloody streak behind that stretches across his chest. I feel my stomach roil as blood pours from the wound, but the only reaction Draggar has to the injury is a slight wince and then he’s off. He feints to the left, slashing at the dinosaur with his sword, but the blade glances off, barely leaving a mark on the beast’s thick scales.
I resist the instinctive urge to get up and run away and instead I crab walk over to a fallen log and crouch down next to it, in an attempt to make myself as unobtrusive as possible. I don’t want to risk the massive beast noticing me and chasing me down or distracting Draggar and causing him to be further injured.
I watch as Draggar jabs his sword into the dinosaur’s neck, but the sharp blade barely penetrates the thick hide. It’s like it’s covered in bullet-proof – uh, sword-proof - material. The dinosaur shakes its head as if it’s stunned that Draggar is actually fighting back, and then it opens its mouth and releases a vibrating roar that sounds almost like a foghorn and I slam my hands over my ears.
