Riv had a similar stature.
Geblit moved closer to the box. "Riv would harm no creature. Of this, I am sure."
"But I'm not a creature. I'm a being, an intelligent being, just like you are."
The look on Geblit's face said otherwise, as if he would argue the point.
"I am!"
"Well, I guess you aren't as mindless as the rest of the animals in the sanctuary.” He shrugged. “Riv will adjust."
Geblit suddenly smiled and she wanted to slap the smile right off his face.
He was in such light spirits now that he was ridding himself of trouble. The trouble being her.
"You know, you're being a real dick right now."
Geblit stopped grinning. "A dick? What’s a dick?"
She was about to explain when the surroundings suddenly grew quiet. It took her a few moments, brows furrowed, ears perked, before she realized what it was.
The barrier was no longer zinging—she hadn't even realized that it had been.
It seemed Geblit realized this too because his four eyes lit up with glee as he turned back to face the farm.
"Here he comes," he said, almost too enthusiastically.
Raising her gaze toward the biggest building on the premises, she saw the door open and a large figure step through.
Even from the distance, she could see that the being was male. Large, threatening, and undoubtedly male in his stance.
"Who the hell is that?" she whispered and Geblit cast a nervous glance her way.
"That is Riv," he said. "Now, hush!"
Mouth agape as she watched the alien walk down the path toward the perimeter fence, Lauren’s eyes widened.
Riv was supposed to look like Geblit.
You know, skinny, nervous, and possibly easy to take down in a fight.
This male coming down the path looked nothing like Geblit.
This male looked like he could break her and Geblit in two.
6
The male was big and blue.
As he got closer, Lauren had time to take him in.
He was tall, muscular...she could see his biceps bulging through the simple dark tunic he wore. The tunic hung over his dark trousers, which were tucked neatly into his dirt-encrusted boots.
He was wearing a wide-brimmed hat of some sort with dark glasses covering his eyes. Black hair in partial locs and some loose strands hung over his shoulders, decorated with golden adornments, and over his nostrils and mouth a cloth was tied, like a handkerchief turned into a mask.
One arm hung at his side idly as he approached but the other held a large weapon, a gun of some sort, thrown over his shoulder.
"What the actual fuck?" she breathed. In the corner of her eyes, she could see Geblit glare her way, silently telling her to shut up.
This was the person he wanted to leave her with?
This Riv looked like a bounty hunter—as if one wrong move and she'd be cut down with the weapon slung over his shoulder. The fact she couldn't see his face properly or even his eyes only made the apprehension snake thicken and grow heavy on her spine.
Despite that his shades gave no indication of where he was looking, something told her he was looking her way and she fought the urge to scramble away deeper into the box, as if she had space there.
"Riv." Geblit was speaking, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from the male that was now in their presence.
He was blue all over, it seemed. A cobalt blue that made the bits of visible flesh on his face and arms look inviting to touch.
He came to a stop in front of where the barrier was and she felt, rather than saw, his focus move from the box to Geblit.
"Why are you here? I told you I don't like visitors," he said.
Fun guy, this one. She could already tell.
"This isn't technically a visit. I am merely dropping the human off."
This time, Riv's head turned and she was positive he was looking at the box.
"Human?" The way he said the word, she could practically see his lips curl. "The phek is that?"
"A new species I found at the animal market." When Riv said nothing, his head still turned in the box's direction as if he was trying to see through it, Geblit rushed on. "It is quite tame. It will fit in well with your oogas."
Geblit motioned to the hippo-looking things crazing quietly in the long yellow-orange grass of one of the enclosures.
He thought she would fit in well with those?!
"Looks too small to fit in with an ooga," Riv noted.
Smart man.
There was no way one of those things could even come close to fitting