Page 13 of Meteor Storm

I stood, stepping slowly toward him. Nervously biting my lip, I knelt on the cold floor next to his body. The darts those skinny spike-heads had shot into his chest remained. I wasn’t sure if it made a difference whether I took them off or not, but I did it anyway, pulling them from his thick skin and tossing them into the corner. He didn’t bleed, but the punctures were deep.

“What the hell are you?” I muttered to myself, staring at his human-like features.

His gray skin had a metallic quality to it, especially under the bluish light. He had high cheekbones, a strong jaw, and a straight nose. He looked… human… but so alien at the same time. His ears were slightly pointed and those tattoos on the sides of his head did not look like random designs. Lines of symbols were etched into his skin like script. On his abdomen was a star of jagged flesh like a firework burned into his body. And on his ribs in a crescent shape was more script, but it did not match the script on his head. It was more ornate and written in a pale color that seemed to almost glow in the blue light.

Chewing on my lip again, I reached out and placed my palm on his chest. His heat was feverish. Even that small amount of contact got my blood circulating again.

Sighing with defeat, I reached over and pulled the remaining blankets off the bed, draping them over both of us as I lay on the cold metal floor beside him.

Survival mode. I had to be in survival mode and that meant cuddling an alien because he was the only real source of heat I had.

7: Thilar

I hated losing time. When I woke up to the blue lights of my cell above me, I knew I’d been unconscious. It was quiet. I was on my floor, my back against the metal.

But I wasn’t alone.

The scent of my cell had changed drastically, but it wasn’t the scent that really caught me off guard. It was the weight of another body pressing against me under layers of my bedding. Slowly, I turned my head and found my chin brushing over threads of fine, silky hair. I breathed in and I smelled her. The female. They’d put her in my cell with me. Whether it was because they were too lazy to put her somewhere else or if it was Pek-Tol’s idle attempt at making up for overriding my request—something I’d earned through many won battles—I didn’t know, but she was there.

Her form was flush against my side, the blankets pulled halfway over her head. She’d gone as far as putting some furs underneath her to separate her from the metal floor.

I didn’t know much about humans outside of basic physiology, but it was obvious that the frigid temperatures that I found comfortable in my environment did not suit her. In fact, I could hardly hear her breathing. I reached over with my other arm, gently pushing the hair out of her face. She was sound asleep, but alive. She stirred a little when I touched her, her knee riding up along my leg as she adjusted.

She was a very light sleeper.

She slowly opened her eyes, craning her head back to look at me. They were a dark, rich brown surrounded by white, so unlike my own. When she realized I was awake, she rose up with a gasp, snatching the blanket off me and wrapping it around herself as she scooted up against the bed.

I groaned as I pushed up on my hands. My body was stiff and needed to move. Stretching my head from side to side, I relieved some tension in my neck before standing.

Once I was on my feet, the woman seemed no more eager to stay on the floor than I had been. She rose quickly and retreated toward the far wall, putting as much distance between us as the cell allowed. Her wary gaze tracked me as I rolled my shoulders and worked the stiffness from my limbs.

When my muscles finally cooperated, I crossed to the water runoff. Cupping my hands beneath the thin stream, I splashed the icy water over my face. The shock cut through the lingering haze in my head and sharpened my senses.

As I reached for a drying cloth, I noticed the one hanging beside it was damp.

My gaze drifted back to the woman.

Slowly, I took her in, from her bare feet to her exhausted eyes. She looked worn down to the bone. Shadows darkened the delicate skin beneath her eyes, and a quiet heaviness lingered in her expression.

A human had no business being on Mekah Prime.

Whatever chain of events had brought her here, I doubted she'd chosen any of it.

I straightened and used the dry cloth to wipe the water from my hands. The woman's attention never left me. Every movement I made, she followed with a cautious stare, as though waiting to determine whether I was a threat or not.

“I won’t hurt you,” I said, knowing she wouldn’t understand my language.

I barely knew enough words in any human tongue to form a broken sentence. I could learn quickly, but only if she talked to me. She seemed reluctant to do that, so I lifted my hand to my mouth, trying to motion to her.

“Can you talk to me?”

Her brows pulled together in the middle, making two inquisitive lines between them.

“Iduno wutyer saying,” she answered.

I nodded. “Good. Keep talking.”

I moved to the bed, unbuckling the sides of my boots to pull them off, but she hadn’t gotten the hint. Sighing, I looked up at her, perching my elbows on my knees.