Page 68 of Resisting the Alien Rider

“I can do it,” I told him stubbornly. “I’ve already been walking to the outhouse all on my own lately!”

The outhouse was a pretty decent distance from the house. It had been a major milestone for me to make it all the way there and back without one of the boys supporting me.

“What?” Garrek asked, looking astounded and angry and guilty all at once. “Why did you not call for me? I would have come running.”

“I know you would have. But I wanted to do it on my own. And it was fine. I’m getting better. I promise.”

He gave an incredulous sort of rumble in his throat.

“I’m OK, Garrek. I’m really going to be OK.”

He watched me in the lantern-lit quiet for a moment before sighing and standing.

“Alright. Let’s go. But if I see you wobble even once,” he warned, “I’m picking you up and bringing you right back here.”

“Deal,” I said, excitement zipping through my blood. I couldn’t wait to see how the cabin was looking from the inside. I’d only seen the structure from a distance so far.

Garrek watched me intently as I wiggled out from under the coverings and swung my feet over the side of the bed. If he was waiting for a sign that I was too weak, a sign that I was going to falter, well, he wasn’t going to get it. It was nice to stretch my legs a little as I settled my weight upon them. Even my left foot, which had been tender for a few days, felt pretty much back to normal now.

“Boots,” he growled before I could even take a step.

“As if I would forget,” I chided gently.

I knew that Garrek had been traumatized by what had happened to me. I couldn’t even imagine how I would have felt if our roles had been reversed. If I’d had to stand by and watch Garrek go through something that, by all accounts, should have killed him.

Luckily my boots had been among my things that Killian had retrieved when he’d gone back to our temporary campsite the day I’d been bitten, so they were close at hand. Very carefully, so that I didn’t lose my balance and give Garrek a reason to toss me back into the bed, I put on the boots. By the time I straightened up, Garrek had my jacket ready and waiting in his hands. He stretched it open, and, feeling suddenly a little shy, a little nervous, and more than a little infatuated, I turned around so I could stick an arm in one sleeve, and then the other.

I paused for a moment, just to feel the warm bulk of him behind me. Just to bask in the shivery sensation of his presence. So big and solid and mine.

“Come on,” I murmured.

He took my hand before I could reach for his.

We left the bedroom and entered the kitchen. I struggled to hold back a snort of laughter.

“For someone who said he wasn’t tired,” I whispered, not wanting to wake Killian, “he sure didn’t make it very far.”

Against the wall of the kitchen, in Oaken’s bedding, Killian was curled up into a tight little ball, fast asleep. The ship in a bottle was tucked beneath his chin, held with both his hands.

“I’m not getting my bed back tonight, am I?”

Oaken’s voice made Garrek and I turn in unison towards the door. He limped in, using a crutch, and grimaced down at Killian.

“I will move him,” Garrek said, already bending to do it.

“Don’t,” Oaken said softly, grimace shifting to a smile. “He worked hard today. I saw him busting his tail to put up those walls with you.”

“Can’t blame him,” Garrek replied. “He was excited to help build his own room.”

“Sorry, Oaken,” I said on a hush. “You keep losing your bed!”

He turned his lovely smile on me.

“I’ve been alone here a long time,” he said. “I find that I don’t mind so much.”

Please, please, let him get an awesome human wife.

He deserved one. Even if it wasn’t me.

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