of emotion on her face, his eyes shifting over to her hand as it moved and lifted off to the side. He snarled, but this time it didn’t stop her. He raised all four of his hands and slapped them against the glass.
“Do not dare tranquilize me,” he growled.
A roar of outrage burst out of him as her hand connected with where the panel had to be at the side of his cage. The mist immediately descended in a loud hiss. It had a vaguely blue tinge to it as it rolled around him in condensing plumes of vapor. Rhyst continued to beat against the glass as it rose around him, even as his head became heavy and his thoughts muddled.
When his hands finally slipped away, the effort too great to lift his arms, he knew he had lost the battle. Rhyst swayed on his feet, his claws fully extended from his paws as he grappled to find purchase. It was to no avail. He collapsed into the grass, the breath knocking from his lungs in a painful wheeze. His eyelids drooped, first the internal secondary membrane lid and then the outer eyelid, as darkness swept through his mind.
Chapter 11
Charlie winced as the large alien’s body hit the ground. As frightening as its appearance was, and despite the fact that it seemed to go out of its way to scare the shit out of her, she felt some sympathy for it. She wiped the nervous sweat from her palms on her leggings as she took a fortifying breath.
Okay, no delaying it. She had to get in there and do the basic cleaning. She only hoped that it was as out of it as it looked.
She tiptoed to the side and slapped her hand on the glass as hard as she could. Not even a twitch from the big alien. Slowly, she exhaled and returned to the panel. She froze as she heard what sounded like a small herd of people coming down the corridor. She dropped her hand and turned to face whichever scientist she was going to have to ass-kiss until they got out of her hair so she could do her job. She was strictly forbidden to open the habitat for anyone… Going in with others present could easily be construed as such. She wasn’t getting fired for anybody.
Dr. Phillips, the lab’s veterinarian, grinned at Charlie, showing off his perfectly straight white teeth in a genuinely friendly fashion. She immediately relaxed. Dr. Phillips was not only genuinely nice but didn’t take any shit from the scientists who liked to throw their weight around.
Casting an uncertain look at the small group at his heel, she returned his smile. “Dr. Phillips, I didn’t realize you were going to be dropping by tonight.”
“I was commed this evening to stop by and do a basic assessment exam on our new specimen,” he said. His dark brows pulled into a frown as he looked into the cage at the alien. “I confess I was expecting something a little different. It’s unusual to see it on a quadruped.” Charlie cast another look toward his companions and ducked her head. She didn’t want any of these people to report to Dr. Shelby that she was overstepping, but…
“I don’t think it’s an animal. When it woke up, it looked at everything as if trying to study it all. And then just before I tranquilized it… I swear it was trying to communicate with me.” She rubbed her hands against her leggings again. “I think it’s angry.”
His frown deepened with noticeable concern. “I see.” A loud sigh escaped him as he gestured at one of the young men at his side to proceed by Charlie. He keyed in his access code and ducked into the habitat, followed by Dr. Phillips’s other companions. “I’ll file that away in my notes and see what I can infer from my exam. Unfortunately, right now my hands are tied. I have some pull, but if the higher ups are having it secured in the vivarium, I’m not sure if I will be able to change their minds.”
His hand, still retaining a deep golden pigment despite the years spent in space far away from the sun, rested on her arm with a fatherly squeeze. The gesture was small, but she clung to it and soaked in the kindness. He waited by her side as his assistants returned with the alien between them, its enormous form crowding the large hover platform. He gave