Pounding footfall sounded behind her. She refused to face him and give him the satisfaction of seeing her tears.
“Hey, you forgot your…this.”
She whirled, and her heart sunk into her stomach. Her bow drill. She’d forgotten the one tool she had to make fire. The tool she’d spent days perfecting.
Lily wanted to shriek. She needed to get a hold of her emotions. Her parents would be so disappointed if they could see her now. Letting some man work her up into a frenzy. It was life or death out here. She couldn’t let this alien make her doubt herself.
She reached for the drill, but he hoisted it into the air and out of reach. His brows furrowed, and he scanned her face, likely seeing the evidence of her tears.
Her cheeks heated with embarrassment, and she focused on the ground. “Can I have my drill back, please?” she said, biting out the last word.
He stepped forward, crowding her, but she refused to back away. Her whole life, she’d made sure she was a self-sufficient woman. She could survive in the wild as well as she could survive in a city. She knew how to defend herself, but this situation wasn’t fair. She’d studied both Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and aikido, yet something told her if Verakko wanted to hurt her, she’d have no way of stopping him. Not in her current, malnourished state anyway. “I’m coming with you whether you like it or not. Get used to it. I won’t leave you alone out here. It wouldn’t be honorable.” He held the drill out for her, and she shoved it into her pack.
She closed her eyes and took a calming breath in and out, trying to wash away all her emotion and assess the situation.
He’d gotten free, probably could’ve gotten free last night too, but he hadn’t. A flicker of hope bloomed in her chest. If what he’d said was true, that meant there were good aliens on this planet. Ones who didn’t want to abduct women. And he was one of them. He’d claimed he was honorable, and so far he’d done nothing too concerning, other than proving himself to be a twat. It didn’t matter if she didn’t like him, though; the question was could she use him to help her find Alex and safety? Could he be trusted?
She caught his determined stare, then eyed his body, attempting to keep her perusal professional and failing. The biceps she’d uncovered last night after removing his sleeves were well defined and seemed even larger in the light of day. He was strong. Very strong. That strength would be useful for gathering firewood and carrying extra supplies. Having someone else to feed the fire at night would be helpful too. And God knew she could use a break from the bow drill. It depleted almost all of her energy reserves to start a fire each night.
“Can you hunt?”
“Better than you, I’m sure.”
Lily let the insult slide off her decidedly slippery emotional shield. She would not let him get to her anymore. Instead she eyed him, making it clear she was waiting for him to elaborate.
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “I haven’t done much hunting in the forest, but I could give it a shot.”
“Can you identify edible plants?” she pressed.
His frown deepened, and he crossed his arms over his large chest. “More easily than you.”
She smirked. “So, you can’t hunt, you can’t gather, you don’t know how to purify water, and you don’t know what a bow drill is. What I’m hearing is that I’m now going to have to provide for not only myself but a six-foot-something, two-hundred-fifty-pound man.”
His eyes seemed to glow brighter, and a vein bulged in his neck. Good. He needed to be taken down a peg.
“I’ll make you a deal.” She crossed her arms, mirroring his stance. “You answer all of my questions, and I’ll let you come with me. I’ll even make sure you don’t starve or freeze to death. How’s that?” Fury flared in his eyes, and she had to stop herself from scrambling away on instinct.
He shot his hand out and gripped her crossed forearms, binding them together. Lily pulled at her arms, attempting to wrench them down to break his hold, but it was no use. His one massive palm was an immovable iron band. Why had she taunted him? Had she lost her mind?
Pulling her in close with a quick tug, he growled, “Watch yourself, female. If I wanted to, I could haul you over my shoulder and take you in whichever direction I please. Don’t push me.”
Lily tried to scan her memory banks for all the techniques she’d learned in her self-defense classes, but his damn scent kept distracting her. I can knee him in the balls— Wood smoke? Was that it? But if I knee him, he might crumple on top of me and break— No, cedar! Burning cedar? Focus, woman!
His gaze strayed to her mouth, and the glowing bright green of his eyes darkened. The hand trapping her wrists together squeezed, dragging her forward another inch.
The intoxicating scent of cedar wood smoke intensified, and her breathing hitched. She felt almost dizzy. Lily had always loved that smell.
A memory from the night before played through her mind. “Are you doing something to my head again?” she murmured, eyes locking on his mouth.
“No,” he said simply, meeting her gaze. “Maybe you just don’t want me to leave as much as you claim.” Heat suffused her core, making her cheeks heat in embarrassment. His eyes widened, almost as if he could tell.
He released her, stepping away. Lily had to stop herself from inching
