3. Iris

THREE

Fear for Lordek gnawed on the back of my throat as I quickly peeled off my red dress and tugged on jeans and a t-shirt. I ditched the heels—forever, probably—and stuffed my feet into sneakers.

After watching him breath for a few moments, wishing I could do more for him than leave him lying in my bed bleeding, I raced through the house.

Katie scampered after me, shooting terrified glances toward the bedroom. I paused only long enough to pat her a few times and murmur reassurance. She'd soon figure out he was too out of it to harm her. If I knew her, she'd leap up onto the bed and slowly make her way toward him, sniffing his feet first before approaching his face. I hoped she didn't scare him too much if he woke up to her batting his nose with her paw, something she did with me when dawn was cracking the sky and she wanted me out of bed to open a can of wet food.

Loading his ship onto the big wagon wasn't easy, but my grandfather's winches helped. I was never more grateful that I'd worked with him during most of my summers while growing up.

As I dragged the ship up onto the wagon, I prayed it wouldn't collapse beneath the weight. This thing was huge. Although, oddly enough, when I banged on it, it didn't sound as if it was made out of metal. Not plastic, but something like it. Lightweight and slightly flexible. I guess something like that would work best when traveling through space.

I covered it with a huge tarp I found in one of the barn's storage rooms, tying all the sides with bailing twine. Thanks, Gramps, for never throwing anything away.

As I worked, my heart froze at each random sound, and I kept second guessing what I was doing. Maybe I should call the government and tell them to come and take him. He might hurt me once he was able to move about. But something told me to protect him at all costs, and I trusted my instincts.

I sensed he'd do me no harm.

To avoid being seen hauling a tarp-covered spaceship down the road, I took the logging trail between the field and the back of my property and drove in through the back doors of the barn.

Rumbles echoed around me in the narrow space, and my heartrate slowed once the wagon was inside and I'd shut the doors and braced them closed with a bar.

I wanted to rush inside and make sure he was still breathing, but I had more work to do.

I unhitched the tractor and mounted the blade I used to plow my driveway in the winter, just like Gramps had done. The tractor sounded much too loud as I took it back down the logging trail to the field, and the engine whined as I shoved the dirt along the scrape made by Lordek's spaceship. I wasn't sure this was making much of a difference, but maybe someone seeing it would think I was prepping the field for planting crops.

With a pruning saw, I cut a bunch of evergreen limbs from the surrounding forest and covered the deep furrows etching across the meadow, hoping to make it look like the stubby trees and raspberry bushes overgrowing the area. It wouldn't stand up to close scrutiny, but short of furrowing the field and planting corn or some other crop, there wasn't anything else I could do.

My hands shook as I returned the tractor and saw to the barn and crept back inside my house. I couldn"t shake off the mixture of fear and curiosity that coursed through me since finding Lordek. A freakin' alien! I should be running away from him.

Instead, I ached to be with him.

Katie met me inside the kitchen, giving me a disgruntled look. Yup, I'd left her alone with a stranger. Stooping down, I scratched her neck to comfort her. After giving her some canned food to keep her occupied, I texted Tessa, telling her I couldn't make it to the party after all. I had GI distress, something they talked about on TV all the time. Couldn't get away from the toilet. I cringed as I typed the words, but I couldn't tell her I'd found an alien and was hiding him inside my house.

I finished the text with sorry, see you Monday. Then I grabbed my first aid kit from the bathroom and hurried to Lordek.

The sight of him lying unconscious on my bed crushed my heart against my ribcage. How could I be this emotionally involved with someone so fast?

His features were both striking and foreign, undeniably alluring. His vulnerability stirred something within me, something feverish and protective. I'd do all I could to protect him, shield him.

"Hey, Lordek," I whispered as I approached the bed. "I've got to take care of your wounds. We can't leave your leg like that." Doubts bullied my mind. I knew nothing about medicine. It was all I could do to put a bandage on a cut.

ShouldI take him to a hospital? If it was a choice of him dying or them helping him even while they'd then call the authorities, how could I do anything else?

"Check his wounds before deciding," I announced to the room. "Maybe you can handle this yourself."

Protect him.The feeling surged higher inside me.

After tugging back the blankets, I set to work, carefully cutting away his clothing, a challenging task in itself. The material was thick, almost as if metal threads had been woven into the fabric. Was it made of something similar to his spacecraft?

I was curious about everything. He was a stranger in my world, and I wanted to know where he'd come from, why he was here, and how long he hoped to stay. Although, his ship had crashed. Maybe he didn't want to be here at all.

As his clothing fell away, I couldn"t help but admire his muscular frame. He was breathtakingly gorgeous in an otherworldly way that left me both captivated and intimidated.

I made myself remain dispassionate about what I was doing. He was unconscious. What kind of person would I be if I ogled him at a time like this? But I couldn"t shake the feeling that a bond was forming between us, one that wouldn't be easily broken. It felt strange to think that, but there it was.

We were strangers…yet not.

Once his clothing was removed and tossed into the trash, I assessed his injuries closely. Since his leg lay at an odd angle, it was obviously broken, and numerous cuts and bruises marred his otherwise flawless green skin.

He wore some kind of armor on his shoulder, a golden, scaled thing that extended to his chest and partway down his arm. When I tried to pry it off, it appeared fused to his body, so I left it alone. It reminded me of some sort of cyborg thing from a sci-fi movie. Strange, a bit terrifying, yet equally intriguing.

This man fascinated me like no other.

In the shed attached to the small cape cod house, I grabbed a sturdy yet thin strip of wood and straightened his leg. I cringed when he groaned, but he remained unconscious. I used a long strand of cloth to wrap around his leg and the stick, splinting his leg as best I could. Hopefully, the bones were now aligned properly, because resetting them more than I had was beyond my skill.

He moaned and thrashed on the bed but soon settled once more.

Distress gnawed away at my confidence, but there wasn't anything else I could do for him than this.

"Stay with me, Lordek." My voice trembled with emotion I couldn't define. I felt a huge amount of sympathy. That was it. Curiosity was natural. And wonder. There couldn't be anything else. "I don"t know what brought you here, but I'm going to do all I can to help you."

As I finished covering his wounds, I wondered what fate had in store for us. Would the government dismiss his crash as a computer glitch or falling meteor, or would they know a ship had crashed and do all they could to find it?

Only time would tell.

Unease prickled across my skin as I sat by his side, watching him as he settled once more and slept. If I kept him in view, he'd get better, right?

The darkness outside pressed against the windows. Had it really only been a few hours since I left for the party?

Fear chewed away at my belief that I was doing the right thing.

Then someone knocked on the front door.

My lungs froze. It was the government. They'd stomp inside and drag him from my home. They'd arrest me. Cuff me. Take me to a lab and run all sorts of test on me, though I didn't care about what they did to me.

I only worried about Lordek.

I slipped off the chair and tiptoed to the front door. I'd left the light on, and my breath whooshed from me when I spied two people in costumes standing on the front steps.

"Party, party," they cried out.

That's right. Tessa's party. I'd completely forgotten. "You've got the wrong place."

"Oh, shit, really?" The woman dressed as an alien smacked Frankenstein, though not too hard. "You insisted this was the right place."

"I thought it was. Number one-eleven, isn't it?" he asked me.

"One-hundred-and-eight-two," I said, pointing to the left. "Keep going down the road and when you hit a sharp turn, it's not far after that. She was going to put balloons on her mailbox. You can't miss them."

"Alright, thanks," the alien said.

Her green skin didn't match Lordek's, but it was pretty close. Lordek, however, didn't have antennae on his head.

"You both look amazing," I said.

"Thanks. The costumes are left over from Halloween."

They returned to their vehicle idling in the driveway and climbed inside, the driver backing back out into the road.

I waved, pretending nothing odd had happened here tonight, realizing how surreal this was. A fake alien had come to my home looking for a party and a real one lay in my bed. Who would've thought something like this might happen?

As the car continued down the road, I shut off the outside light and locked the door.

When I turned, someone loomed over me, a weapon raised.

I shrieked, but sagged against the door when I realized it was Lordek. He held one of my kitchen knives, and the feral look in his eyes would make even a Marine take cover.

"What are you—" I jerked forward, catching him as he started to fall.

"Protecting," he slurred. "Protecting you."

They were little kids, but I appreciated his determination to come to my defense.

"We need to get you back to bed." I pried the knife from his fingers and tossed it onto the couch. "Can you walk? I need your help to get you there." There was no way I could carry him.

He huffed, and I assumed I'd insulted him by suggesting he was anything but strong. Funny thing, that. He might be alien, but inside, he was just like any other man.

We wavered and staggered, him hobbling on his broken leg, barely putting any weight on it. It must feel awful.

"You probably rebroke it," I fretted as I urged him back to my room where he collapsed on the bed.

He snorted. "Leg's fine."

I rolled my eyes. "You broke it."

"Healing."

"Yeah, sure. It's only been a few hours. It's going to take weeks for it to heal." After propping his leg up on a pillow, I slumped in the chair again.

He watched me before his eyelids slid closed and he drifted to sleep again.

At least he was still alive.

I dozed, waking a few hours later, peering around frantically before noting Lordek still slept. After tugging a quilt over my chilly body, I stared out the window. Katie stalked over and after giving the bed a long, disgruntled look, curled up beneath my chair.

Darkness still encased the world, either holding it secure or unleashing horrors I wasn't eager to explore until dawn.

A person always felt their most vulnerable before light bled into the sky, as if the night was eager creep inside you to capture your soul. I couldn't wait for sunlight to send that feeling away.

"Iris." His eyelids fluttered open, his dark, glazed eyes meeting mine. Pain etched across his face, and he sat up, clutching his leg. His moan wrenched up his throat.

Rising, I eased him back down onto the bed. "Hey, it's going to be okay." Silly to think I had much control over this. All I could do was take care of his wounds and hope fate would watch out for the rest.

"Zor... vatt..." Sweat trickled down his face, and I wiped it away with the edge of the blanket before tucking it up beneath his chin. He thrashed beneath the covers, flinging them off and trying to sit again. His groan rang out, shooting through me like a spear. His head swiveled, and his gaze locked on mine. "Iris. Iris. Fated one. Fated..."

A shiver ripped through me. What did he mean? He must be delirious.

He slumped back on the bed, his hand reaching toward me. I took it, holding tight as if doing so would keep his nightmares away.

The room shrunk around us, the shadows deepening and the air growing colder. My skin quaked and quivered.

"Something brought you to me." I stroked his hand, a fierce need to protect him solidifying in my bones. There wasn't anything I wouldn't do, anyone I wouldn't battle to keep this man safe.

When he started thrashing again, his hand was wrenched from mine. His body shook, and I suspected he had a fever. Could I get him to take some pills? I didn't want him to choke. I'd have to wait until he woke up again or was at least conscious enough to understand my directions.

If I was going to tackle whatever came tomorrow, I needed to rest. Sleeping in a chair wasn't doing it, but I didn't want to leave him. I lifted the covers and slipped under them fully clothed, easing into his side and placing my arm around him to hold him in place. He settled immediately, turning toward me and wrapping me up in his embrace.

It felt too good to lie beside him. Why was that? I didn't want to think about why. I only wanted to feel. Breath in his scent. And take in the wonder of him holding me.

Sleep claimed me.

I woke to sunlight streaming through the window and him braced over me, his face dark with fever and his eyes aflame with an unholy light.

"Vektor abslam," he growled.

"Shh. It's okay." I stroked his face. He was hot, burning up. "You're safe here."

But was he?

Panic scorched across my belly. I had to do something for him, but what?

"Iris." The tension fled his body, as if hearing my voice was all it took to reassure him.

His gaze fell on my mouth. He leaned closer and paused as if awaiting to see what I'd do.

I should get out of bed, but I could only stare up at him. I stroked my fingertips across his shoulders. Shove him away, I told myself.

Instead, I held on tight as the wonder of this moment filled me.

His face descended, and his mouth captured mine.