Page 18 of The Alien Warrior's Heart

Lifting her chin, Simone strode up to the blue alien warrior. He turned swiftly to her and, for a second, fear flashed through her body.

He’d saved her at least twice in the last hour, but who could blame her for being cautious? This blue alien was a hunk of pure, bold muscle. The tattoos that covered his blue skin looked menacing. His thinning hair was long and blew freely in the wind, but eventhatcouldn’t soften him up. He was too big. Too muscular. Too… much.

Too much alien for her to handle.

Not that shewantedto handle him.

Her eyes dropped to his pants and then darted back up.

She meant…

Simone’s heart started racing as she struggled to catch her breath.

Insane.

She was officially insane.

Why on earth would she eventhinkabout this alien sexually? He probably wasn’t into humans. Of course not. And even if he was, he would never be intoher.After all, she was the reminder of that horrible time in the prison. Of the shock collar. Of the pain.

Running a hand over her cornrows, Simone licked her lips.

Focus, girl.

“Hey,” she strode up to him, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt, “can you drop me off somewhere safe?”

He blinked steadily at her.

“Saaafe.” She drew the words out. “Preferably with other humans.” From the organized way the octopus aliens had captured them, Simone had a dark feeling that they’d kidnapped humans before. Plenty of them. Those octopus aliens had been too calm. Too in control. Too knowledgeable.

She hated the thought, but she also knew that humans were scrappy and resourceful. They might have built their own colonies here. Hopefully, noteverywoman on this planet had been locked in cages and forced to endure harrowing…

No.

She wouldn’t think that.

There had to be survivors.

And if there wasn’t, she’d be the first.

She already was a survivor on earth anyway.

The blue alien just kept staring at her.

“Hey.” She waved a hand in front of his rugged face. Where this confidence was coming from, Simone had no idea. But he hadn’t hurt her yet and she’d bank on the fact that he wouldn’t do so in the future. “Mr. Alien? Yes. You with the tail. Is there some way—?”

Her words got caught in her throat when his big thumb landed on her cheek. She stopped abruptly, her entire body shutting down and focusing on the gentle sensation.

The alien tilted his head and brought his thumb up between them. She winced when she saw that he’d scraped off blood from her cheek. Simone rubbed her skin and more blood caked off her.

The alien’s eyebrow nubs pulled together. Thin lips pressed into an angry line. She saw the blaze sparking to life in his purple eyes and it made her smile.

“It’s not mine,” she said, holding her cheek up for his inspection. “See?” She scrubbed harder and the rest of the blood came off. “It’s from the fight. It’s evil alien… spatter.”

He turned abruptly and walked away.

“Hey!” Simone followed him. “Look, we need to talk.”

The alien flipped open another one of his cool boxes that expanded at his touch. His back muscles rippled in the early morning light. Cords and cords of muscles.

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