Page 16 of Tempted By the Alien Warrior

His words cut deeper than I expected them to. I’m not like some of my friends who can’t stop dreaming about finding a way back to Earth. Aside from the threat of the alien dinosaurs on this planet and the tension with the Pugj, I’m not in any rush to go home.

What would I even be going back to?

A run-down farmhouse my grandparents left me that’s just a hollow shell of what it once was, the surrounding farmland long sold off to cover their mounting medical bills. A job I hated at Dwight’s Hickory Pit BBQ, the barbecue joint owned by Lily’s ex, where I spent endless shifts handing out Boston butt sandwiches to people who barely looked at me. All while wearing a uniform that reeked of hickory smoke and fryer grease no matter how many times I washed it.

I don’t miss any of that. Not the aching feet, the endless repairs on a house that was crumbling faster than I could fix it, or the way every day blurred into the next, leaving me with nothing but the hollow ache of life slipping through my fingers.

Failure. That word haunted me back home. It whispered through my mind as I lay awake at night, staring up at a cracked ceiling. I’m twenty-nine, and this isn’t what I thought my life would be like. I thought I’d have a job I actually liked, a happy relationship, and a family. But none of that happened.

Instead, my grandparents got sick right after I graduated high school. They didn’t ask me to take care of them, but I did it anyway. I thought I’d pick up with my plans later, after they got better. But they never did. Time slipped by, and now, I’m almost thirty.

And what do I have to show for it? A CPTSD diagnosis. Not exactly shocking considering my childhood.

It’s strange, but for the first time in a long time, I feel like I have a purpose. Here, in this wild, unforgiving place, I have something to fight for.Someoneto fight for.

Still, it feels disloyal not to point out the good things about my own species.

“It’s not all bad,” I counter. “There’s kindness, too. People who fight for what’s right. Who protect others, who build instead of destroy. People who give their lives to help others, like Haley. She worked for a charity back on Earth.”

Vrok studies me. It’s a slow measured look that makes my skin prickle with goosebumps. Finally, he asks in a low growl, “And which kind are you?”

I blink, startled by his question. “I—I don’t know,” I stammer, suddenly unsure. “I guess I’d like to think I’m one of the good ones.”

His gaze lingers, heat simmering in those inhuman eyes—eyes I can finally see clearly for the first time. Tiny golden flecks glint in the silver of his irises, and his pupils aren’t round like a human’s. They’re elongated and vertical, giving his eyes an almost feline look.

At last, he nods. “Eat,” he says, before tossing me a bag of dried dicro meat. He turns back to Dania without another word, like whatever passed between us has already been dismissed from his mind.

I exhale sharply and sink onto a thick tree root. My stomach churns at the thought of the gamey meat, but I tear off a piece and chew. It’s fuel, and I’ll need every bit of energy to keep going.

Vrok leans against a tree with his arms crossed over his broad chest, his sharp gaze scanning the dense jungle like he belongs to it. He’s completely at ease here, as if the dangers in the jungle don’t faze him at all.

“How much farther?” I ask, hoping for an answer that doesn’t make me want to give up entirely.

“Farther than you’d like,” he says without looking at me. “And the terrain will only get worse.”

I sigh and drag a hand through the tangled strands of hair that have slipped loose from my braid. Sweat clings to my skin, trickling down my back and pooling beneath my breasts. “Great.”

Vrok’s gaze snaps to me. “This isn’t a game, little female. The jungle doesn’t care about you or your cousin. If you’re not ready, it will kill you without hesitation.”

His words sting, but it’s the cold finality in his tone that really pisses me off. Something inside me bristles, and I can feel heat rising in my chest before I even realize what I’m about to say.

“Then, it’s a good thing I have you,” I snap back, surprising even myself with my sharp tone.

He stills. For a split second, a gleam of surprise flickers behind his expression, but it’s gone almost as soon as I recognize it, replaced by that ever-present disdainful scowl.

The old me—the girl who spent years keeping her head down, taking whatever was thrown at her without a fight—would’ve looked away and let it go. But I don’t. Maybe it’s exhaustion, or maybe it’s that I’ve already survived too much to let someone like him talk down to me like I’m some helpless child. Either way, I hold his stare, my spine stiffening.

Long seconds pass. The jungle hums around us, alive with the chatter of unseen creatures. Then, just when I start to wonder if I’ve actually managed to stun him into silence, he snorts. It’s a low, dismissive sound, like the idea of me standing up to him is more irritating than surprising.

“Finish eating,” he sneers. “You’ll need your strength for what’s ahead.”

I take another bite of the meat, my resolve hardening with every chew. He may think I’m weak. That I shouldn’t be here. But I am, and I’m not stopping until I find Lily.

I’ll show him.

We don’t seeour first dinosaur until later in the day. I was beginning to think—no, to hope—that we wouldn’t encounter one at all during this road trip from hell. But Laedirissae, being the unpredictable place it is, was never going to let me have that small mercy.

It starts as a low vibration, so faint I almost mistake it for the steady clomp of Dania’s hooves. But then the sound deepens, reverberating through the ground, and turning into a rhythmic thud that grows heavier with each passing second. Each beat lands harder than the last, sending a prickling down my spine. My fingers tighten around Vrok’s waist.

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