Page 18 of Resisting the Alien Rider

He sighed. “Are we really doing this again?”

“Sorry,” I chuckled. “I just… You don’t exactly seem like the patient, encouraging teacher type.”

Frankly, I could not even begin to imagine the shitshow uptight Garrek trying to teach a wiggly Killian must have been. It was a wonder he had any of thatgorgeous, thick black hair left instead of ripping it all out.

“I’m not,” Garrek agreed. “Luckily, it was a skill Killian actually wanted to learn. There’s no way I would have been able to force him to do it if he hadn’t.”

“Makes sense. What kid doesn’t want to ride around on some big, majestic mount? Even I used to fantasize about riding the horses on the Terratribe II farms when I was younger.” I let out a wistful little sigh. “It’s too bad you don’t like teaching. Otherwise, I’d ask you to teach me.”

“You want to learn to ride?” He sounded surprised, confused, and maybe just a little bit… pleased?

Garrek? Pleased? About something I’d said?

Better mark that shit down on the calendar.

“I’d love to,” I said enthusiastically. “And other stuff, too. I have my own skills, don’t get me wrong. But I’d love to learn more about life here. I think it’d be really great if I could meet Oaken already knowing some of this stuff. Impress him a little, you know?”

“Oaken has not even seen a female since childhood,” Garrek said, his tone flat. “You’ll impress him simply by breathing.”

“You presumably haven’t seen a female since childhood, either,” I replied tartly, “and I certainly don’t impressyoujust by breathing.”

“How would you know?”

“Because I- wait. What?”

I twisted to look at him once more. And once more, he stubbornly avoided my gaze.

“What did you just say?” I prodded when he didn’t add anything else. I sounded oddly breathless.

My heart climbed up to my throat when his eyes finally met mine. I saw them flash white a split second before everything went suddenly dark. I gasped, hands flailing upwards to fight off this sudden fit of blindness Garrek had caused by bopping the brim of my hat down to my nose.

“Eyes forward.”

“But-”

“You said you wanted to learn to ride,” he asked sternly, “didn’t you?”

“Well, yes,” I sputtered, shoving my hat back up so that I could see again.

“Then consider this your first lesson.” His hand plopped down on top of my hat and he aimed my head forward. His hand remained a split second longer than was necessary. A lingering caress of pressure that I felt all the way down to my toes.

“Always keep your eyes on the road ahead.” His voice was gruffer now. “Don’t you ever look back.”

It took longertonight to find a place that Garrek was happy with, so by the time we stopped to make camp the sun had fully set. The three moons and the stars sent pearly light drifting down onto the wild, untamed landscape of Zabria Prinar One. The forest we travelled alongside was a hushed tangle of silver and shadow. The plains on the other side were emptybesides the hardy tufts of grass that fed the shuldu and bracku and the occasional shrub, succulent, or lonesome tree. There were no buildings out here. We’d long since moved beyond the sparsely inhabited area of Warden Tenn’s territory where Fallon, Silar, and Garrek’s ranches lay.

“Does anyone else live around here?” I asked Garrek as he pulled the reins and brought Shanti to a stop. Behind us, Killian was bringing up the rear, keeping the bracku in their formation.

“No,” Garrek said. “Earlier today we passed within a few spans of Zohro’s property, but otherwise, the only one who lives this close to the mountains is Oaken.”

“Zohro… I remember him from the day I arrived.”

He’d been the tall, lean male with fuchsia hide and dark hair scowling in the shadow of the warden’s building when Darcy and I had first met Fallon, Silar, and Warden Tenn. No human had come to meet him. I wasn’t even entirely sure why he’d been there, to be honest, because he’d looked mad as hell the entire time and left before Darcy and Fallon’s wedding.

“Why didn’t Zohro request a wife?” I asked.

“Zohro’s an idiot,” Garrek replied, as if that answered my question.

I laughed.

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