Chapter 2 Grogen

Grogen had been on his way out of the colony when the alarm to his repair shop blared from his comm unit. There was someone in his repair bay. What in the Stars? The shop was supposed to be completely empty for the next five days.

His first instinct was to call the colony guards and send them over to arrest whoever was breaking in, but then he decided to check the video feeds first. A good thing, too—it hadn’t been a thief at all but his little human receptionist Abby. She must have forgotten something and gone back to the office to grab it.

Against his better judgment, Grogen stopped his vehicle at the side of the road and continued to watch her on the video feeds as she went to the staff room. The white azak bloom in her hair caught his attention.

Did she plan on giving that to someone?

A bolt of jealousy speared through him at the thought of her with anyone else. It had been difficult enough watching the two junior mechanics he’d hired wrap berry garlands around her neck every year. The only thing that had kept him from turning on the two younger males was the fact that Abby herself never came in with the large white flowers in her hair.

In Tallean culture, males would wrap strings of winter berries around the neck of a female if they were interested in bedding her during the winter solstice. Tallean females, meanwhile, wore a large, white azak flower in their usually dark hair to signal their availability. The contrast made it nearly unmissable. Throughout the festivities, they’d offer a bloom to a male if they wished to spend the night with him. Usually, they’d offer it to a male who’d given them berries, but not always.

Did Abby plan on giving that flower to anyone?

Grogen considered turning his vehicle around, even though it would mean he wouldn’t reach his cabin before the big storm hit. But it soon became apparent that she wasn’t going anywhere. She removed the outer layers of her clothing and flopped down onto the couch wearing nothing but the azak bloom in her light brown hair and a silky sheath dress with tiny straps.

She planned on staying all night! Did that mean she had nowhere else to go? Had something happened at home?

Grogen knew her home life was stressful. It hadn’t been when she first started working for him, but then she found her sire in a recent group of rescued slaves and had allowed him into her apartment. Since then, he’d noticed that her smile had become less frequent.

It was hard for Grogen not to notice. It was impossible for him to ignore Abby even though he knew he wasn’t the right male for her. Someone as perfect as her should be with someone better than a grumpy, washed-up ex-mercenary with neither family nor friends.

That was why he left the colony every winter solstice to hide out in his cabin: he had nobody to celebrate with, and he couldn’t bear seeing everyone else so fucking happy.

Before he knew what was happening, Grogen had turned the vehicle around and was on his way back to the colony. An alert blared out from his personal transport’s comm, warning that the storm would arrive tonight rather than tomorrow as originally forecast.

Fuck.

He couldn’t let her stay in there alone all night. The heat was still on for now, but it was common for the power to go out for hours at a time during these winter storms. She could freeze in there.

Compared to many colonies, Reka 5 generally had relatively mild weather, but the one time the cold was bitter enough to kill was during the storms that almost always hit like clockwork right before the winter solstice festival.

He pulled up the report with the updated forecast. If he turned back now, there was a good chance he’d have time to make it back to the repair shop, get Abby, and take her somewhere safe on time. If he pushed it, he’d even make it to his cabin ahead of the storm front.

He’d need to drive like the wind, but it was doable. Glad for the extra tread on his transport tires, he urged it faster, slicing through the snow that was already sticking to the ground.

And now he was standing in the door between the repair bay and the staff room, staring down at the very female he’d been trying to avoid being alone with for years.

“What in the Stars are you doing here, Abby?”

The words came out sounding much angrier than he intended. Not that he was upset at her, but the way she was sprawled on the couch meant he had the perfect view up her thin dress and of the red, satiny scrap of fabric that covered her sex.

She gasped and straightened, cutting off the delectable view. “I thought…” Her cheeks turned a delightful shade of pink, and her hand went up to cover her face. “I’m sorry…I didn’t… I’ll go now.”

Stars, she was so cute when she was flustered. “You have not answered my question,” Grogen said, frowning. “What are you doing here? Why are you not at home?”

“I was just picking up something I left behind,” she said.

“Do not lie to me. I have been watching since you set off the alarm when you came in. You have been here for a while. I’ll ask you again, why are you here?”

Grogen could tell from the look on her face that she wasn’t going to tell him. Fine. If she didn’t want to tell him now, he wouldn’t push her, but he’d get to the bottom of this eventually.

She grabbed her coat and threw it on over the thin, barely-there dress. Then, without a word she tried to slip past him. But he moved to block her exit.

“What do you think you’re doing? You are not going out there on foot. Colony transports will not come in this weather, and you do not have your own. Come with me,” Grogen said decisively. He gestured to her bag and clothes. “Grab your things.”

Her shoulders sagged in defeat. “Okay. I guess. But can you bring me to the inn? I can’t stay at my apartment.”

“No.” He wasn’t going to drop her off at a place full of strangers.

As if to punctuate his words, a gust of wind rattled the shop. Fuck. The storm really was coming in earlier than expected. Perhaps the updated forecast was wrong, too. Was there even time to drop her off somewhere safe? He might miss his window to get out of the colony completely. Perhaps he’d just have to bring Abby up to the cabin with him.

She frowned, the expression making her look adorable rather than fearsome. “Fine,” she huffed, pulling on her boots. “Just drop me off anywhere.”

“No. You are coming with me.”

“Excuse me?

“I said you are coming with me. You will not be safe at the inn. And you are not safe at home. You won’t tell me why, but I can feel it.”

“Touché.”

“What?” According to his translator, that meant to touch. Grogen doubted she’d meant she wanted him to touch her.

“Never mind. But I can’t go up to the cabin with you. You value your time there. I’ll only be in your way.”

Didn’t Abby realize she could never be in his way? Instead of saying that, Grogen said gruffly, “If I do not take you, I will worry about your safety, and it will ruin my trip.”

“Oh. I don’t want to do that.”

“Then you will come with me.”

She chewed on her lip as he grabbed her bag from the table and headed out of the staff room and toward the back door. “I guess beggars can’t be choosers,” she remarked.

Grogen found the human phrase confusing, like so many of them were. She was not begging for anything. But he did not correct her because he was too busy wondering what in the world he was getting himself into.

How was he supposed to stay away from her when they’d be in that tiny cabin together for days? It was hard enough in the garage. He’d always deliberately kept interactions with her short so he wouldn’t be tempted to do to her all the things he secretly wanted to. He was sure that one time together wouldn’t be enough, either—not with the way his body reacted around her.

Spending any time together was dangerous. It might trigger a mate bond, something Grogen had never once worried about before. After the thorough experimentations of his youth, a phase every Tallean went through, he’d lost interest in finding a mate. When he was a young mercenary, many females had been interested in him, but only as a sexual conquest and some fun, nothing more. He was older now, retired, but that was because of an injury and not because he’d made his fortune.

His mind returned to his predicament. How was he going to survive four full days with Abby alone in his cabin?