Bravery was not rewarded in this new life.
The alien didn’t reply. Instead, he stood, his arms outstretched, palms down.
She knew what that meant.
That was universal-speak for “don’t fucking move.”
With the dark glasses, she wasn’t sure if he was looking at her or at whatever was advancing behind her.
“Don’t move, female.” And then he cursed underneath his breath, muttering something to himself that sounded like him saying females were trouble.
In another circumstance, she might have pointed out that she wasn’t trouble at all but whatever was behind her was so close now, she could feel its fur against the back of her legs and it took everything within her not to bolt.
Bolting could be bad. What if it was the sort of predator that wanted you to run so it could chase you and rip you in two?
Fucking hell.
“Grot.” The big alien advanced slowly. “Don’t,” he said.
“Don’t what?” Lauren whispered. “Don’t eat me? Don’t rip me apart? Being specific is probably good here. I’m pretty sure I can feel its teeth on my back.” She took a deep breath. “I’m going to die and I won’t even see what killed me.”
She was pretty sure she was about to urinate on herself right about now.
“Grot…” the alien said again.
As Lauren tried to keep from trembling, movement to her side had her looking down without moving her head, only for her eyes to lock with the four-eyed gaze of a terrible dark beast.
Its teeth were bared and saliva dripped from them to the floor beneath.
It was paying no attention to Riv. Its only focus was her.
Lauren looked at it in horror, everything within her telling her to run, while, at the same time, she was frozen in shock.
The thing was huge, about the size of a great mastiff or bigger. So big, it almost reached up to her breasts and that was the only reason she didn’t run.
If she’d run before, it would have pounced on her in a second.
It looked like a dog—a monster-sized one—only that its snout was a bit rounder than any dog’s she’d ever seen and its four eyes didn’t help either.
Long fangs protruded over its lower lip and right now they were dripping with strings of saliva hanging from them.
From what she could see, it had four legs and a shaggy dark coat. So black, it looked like a shadow demon.
Did Riv call it Grot? It should have been named ‘demon from hell’ instead.
The animal sniffed her as it circled her, its eyes on her the entire time as she tried not to tremble.
“Grot…” Riv said again, his tone firm but reasoning.
The way he called the thing was as if he was asking it nicely not to bite but was pretty sure it would anyway.
Shit.
This was the animal she’d heard trying to break into her room. This was death come to meet her.
As the animal circled her and came in front of her, she just had enough time to blink before the thing pounced on her.
Its weight forced her unto ground and the wind was knocked out of her as she landed on her back, the only saving grace being the fact that the ground was covered in thick blades of cut grass.
Thanks to that, the fall hurt, but not as much as it would if the ground had been bare.
A scream erupted from her as the animal opened its mouth over her head, its sharp teeth bared, and Lauren squeezed her eyes shut, knowing what was coming next.
But it never came. One moment she was looking into the mouth of death-dog and the next a thick, wet, velvety thing moved over her face.
Confused, she opened her eyes as the animal’s tongue descended on her once more.
What?
It was licking her?
Was this some kind of pre-meal ritual?
A sound of annoyance came from somewhere in front of her and the animal was promptly hauled off.
It took a few moments for her to swallow some air, enough so she could raise herself on her elbows.
Still stunned, her gaze landed on the large animal.
Now that it wasn’t snarling and baring its teeth at her, it didn’t look as terrifying—that wasn’t to say it didn’t still make her want to run.
Her gaze moved to the alien standing beside the animal.
Riv was holding the death-dog by the scruff of its neck because—and, in her retreating shock, it took her a few moments to realize this—the animal was still straining to get to her.
Behind it, a shaggy tail wagged and after a moment, its tongue hung from its mouth as it panted.
My God…it was a dog. An alien dog. A very large alien dog. But probably the closest thing she’d find to a dog nonetheless.
Finally finding the energy to stand, Lauren stared at the thing.
It was straining to come toward her so much that it actually pulled its master a little. It moved till it was close enough to brush its head against her skin as it wagged its tail.
It liked her.
Tentatively, she outstretched her hand to touch its cool nose and its tail wagged even faster.
A little laugh left her lips along with the relief that flooded through her.
“You weren’t trying to kill me, were you?” she asked, as the animal brushed its nose against her hand. “You were just protecting your master.”
Her eyes rose to the animal’s master then and she almost shriveled in her clothes.
Even in his shades, even with the cloth covering his nose and mouth, she could sense that he was snarling at her.
What was his problem?
As he released the animal and it moved to rub itself against her, she heard the alien growl before stalking away.
Confused, she watched him leave.
What had she done?
13
“Grot,” Riv called his tevsi as he stormed off, only to glance behind him to see that Grot was still rubbing himself against the female.
Another annoyed growl left his chest as he stalked from the umu building.
What had gotten into the tevsi?
Grot rarely took to strangers.
As a matter of fact, it had
