Page 16 of Alien's Challenge
Chapter 4
Alice
“Big?”
Alice cringed. Yeah, it was a terrible name. “I’ve been stressed. My creativity is a little lacking.”
“I have been called worse,” he said. “My name is Faris.”
“Owenfaris, fourth child of the Eternal House of—” the one called Kamron explained.
“Faris, only Faris now,” he said, speaking over Kamron.
“Faris,” she repeated. It was a good name. She smiled at him. His feathery quills flexed up. “I’m Alice Serrano.”
“Alice of many syllables. A prestigious name.”
“Serrano is the family name,” she explained. “Well, thank you.” She dug her hands into the coat pockets—his coat pockets. “For everything, really. Fixing this and getting me away from Randevere—”
“Just Rand,” Faris said. “He does not deserve the honor of three syllables.”
“Dishonest male,” Kamron spat. Alice had a feeling that if Kamron considered someone dishonest, they had to be the worst kind of crook. “You took the female from Rand? I approve.” Kamron directed this statement to Faris.
“I have so many questions,” Alice said. Like where the hell was she, what the fuck was going on, and what the hell? Mainly that one.
“We must journey to my nest. I will answer your questions then,” Faris said.
Kamron tapped the window. Outside was a curtain of swiftly falling white flakes. “Good luck getting anywhere tonight. The ferry doesn’t run in a snowstorm like this.”
“It is fine,” Faris said. He pressed his thumb to a device that Kamron handed him.
“Pleasure doing business with ya. I’d offer you a room for the night, but too many people saw you walk in with a human. I don’t need that kind of trouble.”
Frankly, Alice didn’t want to know what sort of rooms Kamron offered. Filthy, judging by the state of the place. The floors were sticky from various…fluids: beer, sweat, blood, and anything that might leak out of a person. Years’ worth of dirt and grime accumulated on every surface. It was clear that no one had ever taken a mop or even a damp cloth to the place.
Not that this place was worse than the rest of the town. The entire town seemed to be a collection of shipping containers repurposed for housing and welded together in a heap that threatened to topple over.
Still, Kamron mentioned trouble for humans, and she needed to know more. “What do you mean?” she asked.
“He means that others will challenge me for you,” Faris said.
“Because I’m your property?” Just saying the words made her angry. Since the moment she woke up, it was a nonstop parade of sexist crap, and she still didn’t have any pants. “This place is the worst.”
“You are not my property, but a foolish male will try his luck to take you. I will protect you.” He growled as he spoke.
Hot. Yeah, definitely hot.
“Hold my hand as we leave,” he ordered.
Hot and bossy. Amazingly, that worked for her.
Conversation fell silent as they entered the main room. Too late to avoid attention, Alice pulled up the hood on her coat.
As predicted, some dirtbag grabbed Alice.
“Pretty human!” Two arms locked around her, and another stroked her hair like a dog. Four arms. The man had four arms, all of which were very busy holding her against him.
“Let me go!” Alice twisted and turned, struggling to grab the knife. The belt of the coat came undone with her efforts. She now had multiple hands on herandwas flashing her business to the crowd. This was a nightmare. “I swear, I will kick you in your alien nuts.”
