The Healer's Hellion - Miranda Bridges Page 0,57

my breaths sound loud and obnoxious. I don’t detect anything, but my gut screams at me to get away because there is a predator nearby. The last time I didn’t listen, I ended up regretting it.

I spin, pulling my knife from my belt, and almost drop it. There’s an alien male standing not two feet from me. And he’s definitely an alien because his shoulder-length hair is fucking icy blue. And so are his eyes, which are narrowed at me. He doesn’t say anything, just continues to stare at me as though I’m a piece of lint on his elegantly tailored clothes.

“Hey there, Jack Frost,” I say, pasting a wobbly smile on my face. “I just wanted to see your ship, and it’s amazing. Sorry to intrude.” I lift my foot to take a step back when he arches a brow. That single action has me going statue still.

“You are as poor a liar as you are a thief.” His voice is silky, caressing me. It’s seductive like the call of a male siren, and even though I long to smack his arrogant face, I’m momentarily transfixed. But only for a moment.

I spin in the direction of the ramp, sending my brown hair flying. My steps are fueled by sheer terror, and it’s more tangible than the knife in my hand, which gives me little comfort. There’s not much I can do against a male of his size, but he’ll have to catch me first. What I lack in strength, I make up for with speed and wit.

From one blink to the next, he’s standing in front of me, and I throw out my arms to keep from colliding with him. Before I make contact with his chest, he clasps his hands around my wrists like a set of manacles, his hold unforgiving. My knife falls to the floor, clattering loudly, the sound echoing in my chest.

I glance up at him, ready to beg, to do anything if he’ll let me go, but he’s not looking at me. His gaze is transfixed on the neon-blue tattoos glowing on his wrists. They pulse underneath his pale skin as though in sync with his heartbeat. And then they flare, growing brighter with every second. I swear my own heart is now in tune with his, only each beat could be my last.

I will be dead soon. I’m certain of that.

“It cannot be,” he whispers.

He raises his hands without releasing me, inspecting his skin as though it doesn’t belong to him. Something is seriously wrong. I may not know what’s going on, but if this guy is freaked out, then I am too. But like in epic proportions.

The second he releases me, the light begins to fade, but his upset seems to grow.

“Please let me go,” I say, my tone coated in desperation. The tears welling in my eyes are not fake. He’s right; I’m not a good liar. But I’m not a good actress either. “I have someone I need to get back to. He’ll die without me.”

The alien tilts his head ever so slightly, and I know I’ve said something he finds distasteful but damned if I know what.

“Who?” The question is simply asked, without inflection, and yet I feel as if he struck me. There’s a dangerous undertone to his voice that I didn’t notice before. Or maybe it was there and I just missed it.

“What does it matter?” I ask.

He shakes his head as if to clear his thoughts. “It does not.”

Hope rises in my chest. “Then you’ll let me go? I’ll leave the food, and I promise not to come back here.”

“You may have the food.” He runs his gaze down the length of my body, and I clench my teeth at the piteous expression that crosses his face. “But you will not be leaving.”

My elation shrivels, causing a pang to streak through me. Right before panic sets in. “What? Why?” I take a step back and remove the satchel from my shoulder, offering it to him. “Here. Take it.”

“I have no need for that, but I do require some testing,” he says.

“You’re not probing shit.” I toss the satchel at him and make a run for it.

As before, he’s blocking me before I’ve had a chance to get far.

“Fuck, you’re fast,” I say, clutching my chest as my heart beats frantically.

“It would behoove you to keep that in mind.” He holds out his hand, indicating the direction I should take. “You are not leaving this ship unless