Page 21 of Alien God

My laughter died, giving way to cold impatience.

She’s slow. But wily, this one.

“Ready rooms for us upon our return. I want her in the highest chamber of the Dawn Tower. I will stay in the chamber directly below hers.” I strode across the hall. It was only when my feet slipped slightly on the smooth tree tile that I looked down. Melting snow had mixed with my blood, leaving wet silvery streaks along the floor. “I will require bandages.”

Aiko gasped.

“My lord! The blood! In all the commotion, I hadn’t noticed!”

“Apologies for the mess,” I said, frowning at the streaks on an otherwise spotless floor. “I can tell you’ve worked hard to keep things clean.”

“Do not apologize for that, Lord Wylfrael!” Aiko sputtered. “Please, rest now, and let Shoshen retrieve the prisoner!”

A mirthless smirk played about my lips. Shoshen looked like a strong enough Sionnachan lad. But he was young even by a mortal’s standards. A dewy, unsure innocence in his wide eyes made me think my escaped human, weak though she was, might be able to evade him.

“Prepare the rooms,” I reiterated as I resumed walking across the hall. My voice hardened when I reached the kitchen and saw the far door flung open, tiny footsteps leading out into the snow. “I will bring her back.”

CHAPTER TEN

Torrance

I staggered out into the snow without a plan, simply needing to get as far away from those people, those aliens, as I could. Some dull, distant part of me recognized I wasn’t thinking straight. That shock and trauma and adrenaline had reduced the rational part of my mind to a blubbering mess, allowing panicky instinct to take over. I just need to get away. If I can only be on my own for a bit to fucking think...

I trudged through shin-deep snow, knowing I wasn’t fast enough but not having any clue as to what to do about it. Any minute they’re going to come out that door and follow me...

I didn’t allow myself to look back. Just kept ploughing forward towards the treeline, grown dark and ominous. The sun had nearly entirely set, a bloodied streak of crimson glowing behind the mountains under an otherwise dark and starry sky. This planet had no moon, and I found the absence of it disorienting in the extreme.

How the fuck did we not know there were alien people so close by?

I’d seen the towering structure shimmer into existence, as if out of thin air, myself. Whatever shielded it must have also hidden it from our ship’s scanners. No way would the military have just let that go without investigating it if they knew how close it was to our base. They probably would have taken the aliens prisoner to study them...

Which is exactly what was happening to me, wasn’t it? I was the alien here. I was the one out of place. The one they wanted to trap. Maybe to study. Maybe to punish.

Why else would the winged one have saved me? I knew I couldn’t have gotten out of that snow alone. When I’d come to, he was there. He was the one holding me upright.

Saved me...

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