“Which planet are you from?” His gaze was intense and unreadable like his brother’s.
“Earth.”
A light frown marred the smooth skin of his forehead.
“Never heard of it.” His frown disappeared. “Did you come to Hudo III through the hyperspeed tunnel?”
Lauren blinked. “Hyperspeed tunnel? No. I caught a cab,” she answered bitterly and immediately felt bad about it.
Her mood was suddenly sour. And it might be because his brother was planning on sending her away or the fact it didn’t feel like she belonged anywhere anymore but it felt as if the sun was going down on her.
It was a chilling feeling knowing your life hung in the hands of other beings.
Sohut blinked. “I do wish I could understand you. I can’t.”
Lauren huffed out a laugh. “Nope. Better you don’t hear what I feel like saying right now.”
Sohut frowned a little once more as he continued studying her. “I’d head to the exchange to get your language download but if you’re not staying for long, I don’t see why I should make the trip, unfortunately.” He frowned a little more. “It’d be interesting hearing about your world.”
Her world.
Earth.
As far as she knew, Earth had moved on without her and the thought only made a sinking feeling start in her stomach.
Sohut leaned off the wall, his gaze still on her. It was obvious he wanted to say more but the language barrier was a hindrance. He settled for smiling at her a little before stepping out of the room.
Lauren stayed seated for a long few minutes, depressing thoughts flowing in her mind like water through a broken tap.
When Grot lifted his head from the floor, his four-eyed gaze on her, he made a low boom in his throat as if to comfort her and Lauren smiled a sad smile.
“It’s almost like you’re the only one who can understand me here,” she said to the dog.
Releasing a sigh, she glanced around the room.
She guessed she should get ready to leave but she didn’t have any worldly possessions, so packing was easy. All she had to do was make sure she had her watch, which never left her wrist unless she was taking a shower.
Heading back out to the main room, she saw Sohut there, searching through the piles of gadgets they had stacked all over the room.
He glanced at her as she entered and offered her another polite smile, before he set a square gadget on the table and began looking through the others.
The square gadget looked like some alien cube that belonged in a crypt in Tomb Raider. If she touched it, she was pretty sure it would start moving on its own to unlock some combination that summoned a curse from the pits of hell.
“That’s a helix cube,” Sohut said over his shoulder. “It can create a shield that’s almost impenetrable.”
He brought another gadget to the table and set it down. This one was smaller and looked like a ninja throwing star.
“Net,” Sohut said. “Deploys once thrown.”
He smiled again, his eyes lighting up this time as he spoke. “It’s made of nobrac fibers. Can only be cut with blades made from talix metal.”
He really liked the gadgets, it seemed, and he was going all out to prepare to catch this elusive animal he was going after.
Turning, Sohut searched for something else, moving excitedly over the piles of stuff she thought’d been junk.
His delight with the gadgets was distracting enough that she could stop thinking about the mess that was her life for a second.
As she moved to stand beside him as he searched, he began pointing at things and telling her what they were.
Some things had useful descriptions, some she didn’t know why they bothered to keep them.
“This one catches the flatulence of ooga.” He held up a machine that looked like a horn attached to a balloon.
“Flatulence?” She couldn’t help but chuckle. What use would anyone have for a fart?
She was chuckling when a shadow seemed to come over the room and she turned to see Riv standing in the doorway, his furious gaze on her.
Well, no. His furious gaze was on her lips, as if he hated that she was smiling.
She could almost feel the energy emanating from his presence.
His shirt clung to his chest from whatever exertion he’d been doing outside and it outlined the cords of muscles on his chest.
He was all sexiness and rage. And that was confusing.
She liked him and she didn’t as well.
She couldn’t decide.
Lauren’s smile died on her lips and Sohut turned.
Riv growled when he met his brother’s gaze.
He actually growled and it was unlike any other time she’d heard him growl before.
It was an animalistic sound that spread through the air and made it vibrate against her skin.
“Stop fraternizing with the female,” was all he said before he turned and stormed back out the door.
17
After Sohut left on his assignment, the grumpster had still not returned. Against her better judgement, Lauren ventured outside.
As she passed the enclosure with the tall purple giraffe-like things, one popped its long neck over the barrier so it could look at her. She wasn’t sure if it was the same one that had licked her before.
Off in the distance, she could see Riv hauling what looked like large bales of hay toward another enclosure.
She moved forward a little and Riv glanced in her direction. His shoulders stiffened, his irritation evident, but he didn’t say anything. She realized he wanted his space.
She could do that.
As she neared the enclosure he had disappeared into, she saw a new type of animal she hadn’t seen before.
These ones were shaped like large crocodiles, and she’d have been alarmed that he’d entered an enclosure filled with about twenty of them if they didn’t look so…docile.
They were shaped like crocodiles but without the hard edges. Their skin looked soft and brown and when one opened its mouth to grab some of the hay, she saw large flat teeth.
Definitely not a carnivore.
As her
