The Alien's Revenge - Ella Maven Page 0,9

me, his movements halting, which was in direct contrast to the confident way he killed and climbed.

His hand closed around my neck, and the warmth of his palm seeped into the delicate skin there. My pulse, which had been pounding in my ears, slowed. I blinked at him, thoroughly baffled at my response to him. I didn’t want this. I didn’t want a mate, or loks, or to have to decipher a male’s feelings. I wanted to go home to my girls and my little room with all my plants…

But when he took a deep breath and pressed our foreheads together, I closed my eyes. A soft wind blew through his aura, and I could just detect a solid structure there, begging for me to lean on it, to give it my weight, to give up my control for a moment.

As much as I wanted to sink into him, I jerked back. The fear was too much, and I hadn’t let anyone prop me up in … well, ever. I was the only person I needed: a motherfucking island. I didn’t need anyone, especially not some warrior who lived in a treehouse.

He must have sensed my resistance—well, of course he did as he had my own aura in his mind—because his eyes darkened again and his lips thinned.

He didn’t speak, but when he reached for my ankle again, his movements were rougher. I gritted my teeth and let him rip my pants up to my knee to expose the injury. I’d let him give me some physical relief, but that was it. I couldn’t give him my emotional load, my fear over what could have happened and my worry over what was to come. I’d deal with that when I didn’t have to grit my teeth in pain.

He worked quickly, ripping the leg of my antella-skin pants that Naomi had bled over when she stabbed herself with the animal-bone needle. Oh, sweet Naomi. My heart ached at just the thought of her. She’d taken to this life well in her quiet sort of way, but everything about her made me want to shelter her. Despite everything we’d gone through and seen on this planet, she maintained an innocence about her. I hoped I got to see her again.

I wanted to get back, more than anything, but there were several major complications. I forced myself to think clearly rather than act on emotion and scream, cry, and flee.

First, I couldn’t communicate with this warrior. He didn’t understand me, and he didn’t talk.

Second, I didn’t know his story. I assumed he was a lonas, but what if the Night Kings were his enemy? I didn’t want to do anything to harm them by leading him toward their compound.

And third, I had what was likely a broken ankle. Even if I knew my way back, I couldn’t climb down this freaking tree and track all the way home on one good leg. That was asking for something terrible like a salibri to eat me as I limped home. There was also the minor problem of me not having any idea how to get there…

And fourth—we were connected now. I didn’t know everything about the loks, but I knew both of us would experience pain if separated as part of the mating bond. I wasn’t eager to be in more agony, and I didn’t want to put this warrior through that. So far, he hadn’t hurt me.

He’d killed the Kulks, carried me to his home, and right now, seemed to be working on my leg. He prodded it with a gentleness I wouldn’t have expected him to possess. After placing two flat boards on either side of my ankle, he lashed it all together with a thick vine. After that, he left. Just … walked out. No words, no nothing.

With my hands braced behind me, I took stock of my surroundings. He had carved a round window on each wall and the ceiling even held a skylight. As far as furniture, he didn’t have much. A small stone structure sat in the corner with a crude spit with a bowl over top, so I assumed that was where he made food. Other than that, he had a few boards stacked in the corner, as well as several jugs of liquid.

As I sat there alone, fatigue set in. It’d been a long damn day, and my muscles ached as I fought through the dull aching throb in my ankle. I didn’t want to fall asleep.