Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

KObrIK

K enzie fascinates me. She's both forward and shy, and right now I'm not sure which I prefer in a female. I've never really cared in my past liaisons, but with her I find myself interested in more than arranging a mere pleasure mating.

She is different . Genuine and full of life.

I wish to see her again, after I capture the grud.

"Thank you for waiting for the bus with me. I don't like being the only one here," she says as we wait on a main bus route.

"I would not leave you in an unsafe area."

"You're my knight in shining armor, Kobrik."

"I wear no armor. Only knives and a blaster."

"Spoken like a true alien . " Standing on her toes, she inspects the top of my collar. "You did a fabulous job applying the paint. I swear, you didn't miss a single spot."

Her finger glides along my jaw once more, making it near drekking impossible to keep my horns from bending back.

"How far down does it go?" she asks.

"It's not paint."

"A really good home concoction, then, which is smart. Paint's not good for the skin." She swipes two fingertips over the base of my neck, right above my collar, not realizing how she's stirring me. "Seriously, how far down does it go?"

"Do you wish me to show you, female?"

Her brows scrunch together, then she teasingly slaps my shoulder. "There's no way you painted your entire body."

"You are correct." I painted nothing. I'm wearing what I always wear. A light shirt, jacket, a blaster harness, boots, and trou with many loops and pockets for my knives.

Her smile lifts high, along with a part of me I never expected. Not here on an alien planet.

"I knew you didn't paint everything ." Her eyes dart to my lower half then return to my face. "You should be proud of such a realistic costume. It shows you have talent and attention to details."

"I have many talents, female, but I prefer to show you them in a safer, cleaner environment."

"Female, huh? You're really into this role. Okay, Warrior . I'll bite."

Drekk, the thought of her nipping at me goes right to my pleasure cock. It's as hard as can be and I haven't even told her what I propose.

"Grud do not bite," I inform her.

"I should have been a vampire. Too late. What would a grud do?"

"Kill me."

"I'm being serious. If a grud knew you had vital information on your body, what would he do?"

"Kill me, then strip me."

"Well, I'm a nice grud. No killing."

"There are no nice grud."

"I'm sure there are nice grud somewhere."

Since I like her optimism, I won't contradict her.

"How about this?" She runs her hand down the front of my shirt. "We skip the killing part and go right to stripping."

She waggles her eyebrows, and I swear I'm going to burst out of my trou. I need a distraction, but my eyes run down her body, seeking the female hidden by layers of clothing. As I debate how to ask her where and when I can find her again, my comm vibrates. Updates from the several agencies searching for this grud, namely Earth's military.

"Hey, that's alien tech." Kenzie points at my comm. " Illegal tech."

"All warriors carry comms."

"Okay. Keep playing that game. I'll stop prying."

"Or you can believe I'm an alien."

She scrutinizes me. "More like you got the alien tech on the black market. Or you're in one of the divisions that works with aliens. Hmm. I'm guessing the Department of Alien Affairs."

"Why is it so hard to believe I'm not human?"

"Because the only aliens on Earth these days are here by invite. Aliens have to get cleared by the military or they can't make it past the defense shield."

Unless they have a contact on the inside who lets them in. The humans' planetary shield worked beautifully at first. Then an enemy agent or a traitor infiltrated the facility controlling the shield. Earth is not as secure as the humans believe and they repeatedly turn down Galactic Intelligence's help to root out the infiltrator.

Kenzie slides her hand into mine. "I hope you don't mind. I can't shake the feeling of being watched."

I sense no one nearby, but I never ignore another's instincts. Nonetheless, I do not wish her to be afraid. "You will defend me against anyone who attacks, yes?"

She laughs. "I think I'll need your help."

"Then you shall have it."

As her laughter permeates my being, my comm vibrates twice. A live transmission.

Major Collins, my liaison with the military, appears on the screen. "We've cleared another five sectors with no sign of Amos. Are you sure he's in the L.A. area?"

Amos is the code name Earth's military gave the enemy scout. We're under orders not to let the local population find out there is a grud in their midst. Eventually, someone will spot him. With their scales and yellow eyes, grud stand out among humans.

"Yes," I reply, no desire to recite, yet again, the chain of intel and events that led to me searching this area of Earth.

Lights blind us as a bus turns onto the road. I need to speak with Kenzie before she boards.

Collins scowls at my failure to explain further. "Our logistics and topography consultant Dr. Parsons says there are no good places left to search. That Amos is east of here."

His consultant is a fool. A grud scout ship is small enough to land practically anywhere, including most of the rooftops in this city. But aerial searches revealed nothing.

"Listen to me," Collins says, raising his voice, "Unless you can give me a good reason to continue the search?—"

The bus slows and opens its doors, the squeak drawing my attention.

"I cannot force you to continue searching, Major," I say, barely containing my frustration. I cannot end the call given the threat he's levied. I need all the help I can get in my search. I mute the comm for a second. "Kenzie?—"

"It's okay. Take your call." Without warning, she grasps my hand and pulls me onto the bus with her. "You're coming with me, Kobrik."

I raise a brow at her brazenness, but I don't resist. That would be impolite. And foolish. I don't want to lose her.

"Your consultant doesn't know Amos like I do," I continue my call as Kenzie slides into a row of seats toward the front.

Major Collins shoves his comm at Dr. Parsons, an ordinary looking male with brown hair, brown eyes, glasses, a small scar along one brow, and an unremarkable expression.

"I'd rather not," the consultant says, pushing the comm back at the major. "Just tell him I've run all the simulations and don't believe Amos is in L.A. His calculations are off by a few hundred miles. It depends on more than trajectory. Speed, angle of entry, and?—"

"Enough, Doctor," the major scolds. "This isn't a secure line."

It is, but I'm in a public place, so the major is correct in reprimanding the consultant.

"We need to focus on Oklahoma," Parsons insists.

"Where is Oklahoma?" I ask.

"About 1,300 miles from here," Kenzie whispers. "There's nothing there. Not since the war."

"Major, I'd like to speak with you in private. Without your consultant."

The major faces Parsons. "Dismissed." His focus returns to me. "Go ahead."

"I suspect your consultant is intentionally misdirecting you."

"I vetted him myself. He's human."

I tamp my anger down at this male's presumptuousness. "Species is not the issue. He could be part of the Brotherhood."

"As I said, he's been vetted. And he comes highly recommended."

"I wish to meet him. Assess why he's ignoring the data I sent him."

"He's not ignoring it. I've seen him feed the data into his computer myself. Twenty-four more hours, then I'm reporting up the chain to end this waste of time and resources."

"I'll continue working my way west, toward the Pacific Ocean." There are a lot of parks and abandoned industrial locations, locations with ample debris or foliage to hide a ship.

"That's your choice. Twenty-four hours. Collins out."

"Who's Amos?" Kenzie asks when my comm goes dark.

"I cannot say."

"Alien tech. Work you can't talk about. Cryptic messages. And who can forget how you chased me down with such ease? You're definitely in law enforcement, though not military."

I raise a brow.

"The tone of that conversation would have been different. Namely that major giving you orders and you taking them."

She's quite observant, this female. "I'm a warrior," I assert.

"Stick to that story, Kobrik. I'll figure this out, then you can honestly say you didn't tell me." She squeezes my biceps again. "Undercover maybe?"

If she is proposing we discuss this in bed where no other will hear us, I can tell her some of my mission on Earth. Though talking in bed will be a challenge with my mouth on her pussy.

"I accept."

"Accept what?" she says, drinking from a bottle of water she retrieved from her pack.

"Your offer to fuck."

Water spews from her mouth, then she quickly looks around at the other passengers, all of whom have moved to the back of the bus to get away from me. They don't welcome aliens here. Understandable after how the Grud and the Coalition destroyed much of their planet. It's the reason I must find this grud scout before he causes more damage. Or worse, returns to his planet with intel that leads to another invasion.

"I didn't offer to—" Kenzie lowers her voice, "to fuck, as you so crudely put it."

"Would copulate be better? Or bump uglies?"

"Kobrik!"

"Ah, then these are not appropriate terms. I heard them recently. Language can be tricky, especially in the first few weeks on a new world."

"New world? You're talking like you're an alien."

"A zyanthan warrior, to be precise."

Those stunning green eyes run over me, then she bursts into laughter. "You had me believing you for a minute. You really have to come to this party after you wrap up at work. You've got the alien act down perfectly, and with your costume, everyone will get a kick out of you. Nothing scarier than an alien, right?"

"Is that why you dressed as a grud? To scare people?"

She shakes her head and falls quiet. I fear I've said something wrong, but then she speaks in a soft voice. "I don't have a great imagination when it comes to costumes, and this was easy to put together. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I'd turn the prize down if I won, but I more interested in fitting in."

"Why would you not fit in? You're gorgeous, smart, and easy to talk to."

Her eyes light and with that blooming smile, my surroundings fade away.

"No one's ever called me gorgeous before. Compliments will get you everywhere, Kobrik, but sorry to break it to you. I'm a plain Jane under all this green paint. Nothing special about me. Freckles, lifeless brown hair, and a body that is too thick in some places. Another reason for the grud uniform. It hides all my flaws."

"You have no flaws. Other than getting off a bus without looking where you are."

She chuckles. "Yeah, lesson learned. That won't happen again, I assure you. Speaking of which, this is my stop. Coming, Warrior ?"

She pulls the cord, then rises, and I follow.

"I truly am a warrior. Warrior Kobrik Vardell," I say as we debark. It's a residential area, a mixture of destroyed homes between untouched ones. Adults and children go from house to house, holding bags out as they beg for food.

As the bus speeds away, Kenzie takes my hand again. "Don't worry. I'll introduce you to everyone as Warrior Vardell."

"I must return to work, but I will see you again, yes?"

"Counting on it, Warrior ," she says with a lilt as she bounces her eyebrows. She's definitely flirting with me, but she doesn't believe I'm a warrior. That realization, when it comes, might change how she views me.

"Do you fear aliens, Kenzie?"

"Not all aliens, I guess. They're people too. Good and bad, like humans. At least that's my hope, though at times it's hard to stay positive. I've only seen an alien in person once, when I was a child and had to go to the doctor. I'd fallen down the steps and broken my arm." She flexes her right arm. "We passed a grud in the streets. He scared the hell out of me. It wasn't the glowing yellow eyes or green skin, either. I saw him…"

When her voice falls off, I hold her hand. She takes a deep breath, then continues. "The grud raked his claws down a man's back. The screaming…" She shields her ears as if she's experiencing the trauma all over again.

I ease her hands away from her ears. "You are safe, Kenzie." When her beautiful green eyes meet mine. I run my other hand up her arm. Her soft skin feels like velvet beneath my fingertips. "Your arm healed perfectly."

"That feels nice. You have a gentle touch, Kobrik. You could be a doctor."

"Hussa! I can break bones, sever arteries, even rip off heads, but not heal. That requires a compassionate soul. Not a warrior."

"I love how into role-playing you are. It shows real passion." She presses her body against mine and pushes up on her toes, her lips nearing mine. "What do you do to a prisoner when you capture her?" she asks in a sultry voice.

My pleasure cock's harder than a diamond, and not the version they have here on Earth either. The truly hard diamonds mined on Tunzen.

"I've never had a female prisoner."

"Maybe I should be your first?" Her eyebrows dance for me. My cock is going to burst through my trou if she continues.

I pull a pair of mag cuffs out from a back pocket. "Would you like me to restrain you, female?"

She bites her lip, but the hint of a smile reaches her eyes. I'm about to explode.

KENZIE

I only intended some harmless flirting with Kobrik but there's this crazy pull to him. Off the charts. And when he flashes those handcuffs—which look incredibly real—my lower half wakes up. As in, I'm clenching and eager to spend the night with him.

It's been forever since I've had sex and I've never had a reaction to a guy like this.

Kobrik is handsome, sweet, and caring. There are so few men like that these days. Damn, I'd even take just plain sweet, as looks don't last forever.

I slide my hand over the metal cuffs, then keep going, past his hand, up his arm, finally circling the tribal tattoos on his biceps.

"I don't share my fantasies with men I barely know." I throw him a teasing smile. "I guess you're gonna have to make sure you find me when your job's done, Warrior ."

"Hey, Kenzie," a woman calls from down the street. My co-worker Rayna is walking with four males. "Are you heading to Josh's party?" she asks.

"I'll be there soon."

Kobrik takes my hand and guides me into the shadows of an apartment building. "There will be more males than females at this party? Will you be safe there?"

I press splayed hands against his chest and push up on my toes until my mouth brushes against his. "I'd be safer with you there. Are you sure you can't come with me?"

And yes, I intended the pun.

Did I just see his horns move? The dim light must be screwing with my eyes.

His hand cups my cheek. "You leave me torn."

"I didn't mean to alarm you. I'll be perfectly safe. Rayna's one of several friends going to the party. Do what you need for work. Good jobs are hard to find. But I hope you'll stop by if you get off in time."

His lips press against mine, catching me off guard. A determined tongue takes its time exploring every corner of my mouth before stroking my tongue. Thoughts of skipping the party and taking Kobrik to my apartment fill my head.

My fingers tangle in his hair while my other hand glides over his breathtakingly contoured chest and abdominal muscles. Oh, the power in this man.

His lips slowly pull away and plant a sweet kiss on my forehead. "I'm sorry," he says, puzzling me.

A second later, I feel the snap of metal enclosing my wrists.