Riv's Sanctuary - A.G. Wilde Page 0,60

of rai.

"Like what?"

"The food. Did you like it?"

Oh.

For a second there he thought she was asking…

He looked down at his food. He'd finished the entire bowl.

"It tasted…okay."

A small, almost imperceptible smile graced her lips.

“It was nice to cook. The last time I cooked was when I was back on Earth.”

Earth. Such a strange name for a planet.

Her eyes focused on nothing as she thought about her home world. He bet it was a wonderful place, free from all the things that made his world so phekked up.

She didn’t belong on this side of the phekked up universe.

“What are you doing here?”

She blinked at him, a slight frown crossing her face. “You say it as if I just got on a shuttle and left.” Her brown gaze got hard. “Do you really think I’d willingly leave my planet to hop into a zoo so I could be stared at by aliens?”

Riv shrugged. “Some beings have weird fetishes.”

As she glared at him, he almost smiled.

Almost.

He was riling her up but it was no laughing matter.

“I know you were taken. You said so.” He rested his hands on the table and studied her.

When she cast a wary glance his way, he knew there was something she wanted to say.

What now?

The more she looked at him, the more he knew he didn’t want to talk about whatever she was going to bring up.

Distract her.

"You..." he cleared his throat. "...you cleaned."

Her face suddenly lightened and she glanced around the room.

"Yea, I...I hope you don't mind. I just thought..." She trailed off.

Even sitting at a chair behind the table, he could see she was wringing her hands in the new trousers she now wore.

Her top was a long-sleeved tunic and it bothered him that he was noticing such a thing.

"You thought what?" He scowled and she seemed to stiffen.

"You've been very kind to me. I didn't want you to think I didn't appreciate that. I can help around here, you know. In fact," her small chin rose and he realized she was exerting some sort of challenge, "I intend to. I don't know much about tending to animals, but I can learn. My grandfather had a farm back in Texas...has a farm..." She trailed off again, thoughts clouding her eyes.

Riv resisted the urge to growl at her.

This wasn’t a permanent situation.

Right. He needed to nip this in the phekking bud before it got out of hand.

"I don’t need your help. You're not staying for long, remember? In this, you have no choice."

Her shoulders stiffened some more, her eyes turning to slits as she regarded him.

As they glared at each other, he got the distinct impression that she heard his words but that didn’t mean she was going to listen to them.

"I know you don't want me here. You've made that very clear.” She leaned forward, her gaze never leaving his and Riv had to raise an eyebrow.

“I know you'll kick me out soon. I know it isn't my choice." She spat the word and if it could materialize, he felt it would have smacked him right across the face.

Crossing her arms, she pushed her chair back. "But until then, until I find my place in this messed up world, I refuse to be a burden."

"Fine."

Her eyes widened a little, her stiffened shoulders slackening somewhat. "Fine?"

"Do what you want, just stay out of my way."

Her lips formed a thin line, her eyes narrowing once more.

He refused to break their eye-lock. Let her drop her gaze first.

But then movement lower on her face caught his attention, movement that shouldn't have caught his attention but it did.

It phekking did.

Her pink tongue slipped out of her mouth as she ran it over her lips and he found himself watching it move before it disappeared into her mouth again.

"Thank you," she finally said, rising and moving toward him.

Every bone in his body wanted to jerk backward and away from her intrusive presence but she only took up his bowl and headed toward the cook room.

She'd come so close to him, he could smell the strong scent of flowers that now followed her around.

Frowning, Riv pushed back from the table and stood.

At the disturbance, Grot raised his head and looked at him.

“You.”

Grot blinked at him before resting his head once more. He guessed the tevsi wasn't going to sleep in his room for another dark-cycle.

Fine.

Whatever.

His mood was sour now and he didn't know why.

When he retreated to his room, it only got worse.

Stripping off his clothes, Riv fell back against his sleeping