Page 30 of Resisting the Alien Rider

Magnolia’s human legs stood absolutely no chance against Killian’s, but you’d never know it by the look of her. Her hair flew behind her, her arms pumped swiftly. One hand was curled into a fist around a container of sorts. Her face glowed with a beautiful, fearsome sort of determination that drew me up short.

I paused inside the treeline, just for a moment,watching. When Magnolia ran by me next, the tip of her boot caught on a stone, and then she was reeling, falling, flying forward.

My tail was a whip and it snapped faithfully forward without me even having to command it. It looped tightly ’round Magnolia’s waist, halting her chaotic tumble before she could get hurt. I wrenched her back and she collided with my chest. When I wrapped my arms around her, I told myself it was merely to steady her.

Even though I did not let go right away, even once she was steady.

“Garrek?” Magnolia asked, breathing heavily in my arms. She turned her face up to mine, exhibiting surprise, and then an expression that could only be described as elation. She was happy to see me, and her happiness punctured something in me. Letting light into places that should have stayed hidden in the dark.

“Why do I have a naked child tearing up my camp?” I asked her. Horrendously, my voice did not come out as the stern growl I was accustomed to, but rather a warm rumble that was entirely unfamiliar to me.

“He doesn’t want the ear drops,” Magnolia lamented, her smile dropping. She sighed, and briefly leaned sideways against me, as if I were something solid to support her. I felt her next breath against my skin.

My arms and tail were still around her. Why, why were they still around her?

Why could I not let her go?

“I just about had a heart attack trying to chase himaround,” Magnolia said, chucking her chin towards the escapee in question. Killian had halted his mad dash and was watching us warily, eyes bright and hair wild from wind, from across the camp.

“And I definitely would have broken my head open, or at least broken a tooth, if I’d taken that fall,” she went on. “Thanks for grabbing me.”

I ignored her thanks, because they made my stomach hurt. Instead, I darkly muttered, “I, for one, am glad you are finally getting a glimpse into what my life has been since before the winter. You have had things far too easy with him so far. Now you can suffer his defiance like I usually do.”

She laughed, loudly and freely, and the sound was a pour of glorious heat over my skin. I wanted to catch the sound in my hands, hold it tight, keep it somewhere safe.

Her laughter died down, and she stilled in my arms.

“Well, it’s good that you’re back. There’s no way I’d be able to catch him on my own.”

“You can’t catch me with him, either!” Killian howled from across the camp. For a brief moment, his frantic gaze went to where the shuldu were tied, as if he meant to mount one and gallop far away from here.

But he no doubt knew that would be a mistake. For his age and experience levels, he was a good rider.

I was better.

“I’ll get him,” I said to Magnolia. My tail reluctantly unravelled from her waist. I gave her back a hesitant pat, the way I’d pat a nervous shuldu, before I moved to let her go.

Before I could do so, Magnolia threw her arms around my ribs and squeezed. When she released me, she was smiling broadly, revealing the tiny dark gap between her blunt front teeth. A space I wanted, rather horrifically, to trace with the tip of my tongue.

“Just for the record, Garrek,” she said, beaming and backing away from me. “Thatwas a hug.”

13

MAGNOLIA

Garrek had said, “I’ll get him,” with the weary sort of certainty that came hard-won from a man who’d apparently had to do things like this often. It gave me the unfortunately false idea that he’d be able to catch Killian quickly.

He didn’t.

Killian, it turned out, could be one hell of a wily little bean. He bounced and bopped and changed direction so fast it made me nearly dizzy to even try to keep up with him. Garrek was fast, and strong, and the hard muscles in those legs kept him going long after I would have collapsed into a puddle of human goo.

But he never quite got there. At one point, when Garrek nearly had him, Killian managed to jump right over Garrek’s reaching arms and tail, drawing his legs up against his body and smacking Garrek on the top of his head with the end of his tail for good measure as he sailed by before landing in a puff of dust and taking off again.

“I’m too old for this,” Garrek panted, skidding to a stop and instantly reversing course.

“Oh, come on!” I cheered merrily from the sidelines, glad that Garrek was now the one epically failing instead of me. “You sound like my grandpa! You can do it, Garrek!”

“No, you can’t! And youaretoo old!” Killian screeched. The kid didn’t even sound like he was out of breath. “You’re so old you already smell like you’re dead. You should use some of Magnolia’s nice soap.”

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