Chapter 3

Paige

I take another quick step forward and raise the pipe.

“Get out of here!” I shout.

My voice shakes. The alien thing doesn’t make a move. Its chest rises and falls with a deep breath as it watches me, its catlike eyes raking up and down my form.

It’s seven, maybe eight feet tall—hunching slightly to fit inside the ship. Dark gray skin stretches taut over a chiseled, muscular body. Short, straight black hair frames a stern face. My gaze lowers down its broad chest and tight stomach to the dark leathers that cover thick thighs.

It’s a male. I don’t know how I know.

But I definitely do.

“Leave us!” I find my voice again, but even to myself, it doesn’t sound convincing.

My heart is pounding, roaring in my ears as the alien cocks his head as if trying to understand me.

He takes another step forward and my heart nearly stalls. He’s cut the distance between us in a single, graceful step. My fingers tighten around the pipe as I act like I’m going to swing it.

“Stop!”

He doesn’t.

“I said stop!”

He takes another step and he’s in my space. Too close.

He smells of light rain and upturned dirt. And something else with a little decadent spice.

Unconsciously, I take in a deep breath and my muscles ease. The scent is… intoxicating.

What the fuck?

All of a sudden, the thing grunts and groans—a sound so deep and guttural I swear it shakes the floor beneath our feet. Across its chest, a pattern appears. Bright, shining green circles tear through the gray skin across his pecs like scars. He sneers, showing his teeth as the patterns stretch and unfurl, lighting up the skin of his chest and down his biceps.

It’s luminescent and something about it calms me. Draws me in.

I watch as the patterns—almost like tattoos—grow and shine brighter as I take a hesitant step forward. They are… beautiful.

I’m so entranced that at some point, I dropped the metal pipe and am now reaching for this strange alien being. I want to touch him. I want to feel him.

He’s…

Like a switch flips, the alien throws his head back on a roar that sends chills down my spine. I curl back on myself as he dashes for me, wrapping a long, muscular arm around my midsection. I scream as he yanks me into the air and tosses me over his shoulder as if I weigh nothing.

“No! No! Oh my God! Let me go!” I scream and bash my fists into the thing’s back.

It doesn’t seem to mind.

I reach for something, anything to hold onto. My fingers slip past the hanging wires and broken wall panels as he turns and heads for the gaping hole where the door should be.

“Let me go!” I scream again, kicking and scratching at this thing’s back. His gray skin is soft and down the line of his spine is a build-up of fur standing on end like an angry dog. I shout like a banshee and fight against him but he doesn’t seem to mind. He ducks and walks us both out of the door frame and into the mystery planet our ship landed on.

The sky is gray. Cloudy—dreary. We’re surrounded by thick jungle underbrush, a deep green covering every surface. I look around and see a line of trees off to the right but the rest of the landscape is flat. Marshy. With no trees to protect us, the ship sticks out like a massive target.

I brace my hands on the alien’s back and look back at the ship through the tears brimming my eyes.

Suddenly, Ryan peeks around the corner of the open door, watching me with a horrified look on her face.

My stomach drops.

I shake my head.

Stay.

Her brows furrow and she peeks out a little further like she plans to come after me.

I shake my head again, my fingers digging into the alien’s skin so I don’t lose eye contact with her. I need her to see me..

I’m the only one he’s taken. Maybe he thinks I was the only one on board. If the girls stay put and protect themselves on the ship, maybe they will be safe.

It’s a long shot, but I have to cling to something.

I want to call out to her, to demand that she stays inside the ship. That she’s strong for the other girls and that I’ll return as soon as I can, but I can’t risk this alien knowing that I’m trying to communicate with anyone else.

I shake my head again, mouthing the word no as clearly as I can.

I lift my hand and show her my palm as if to say stay.

Ryan slowly nods and heads back inside, disappearing behind the view of the battered, smoking ship.

They’ll be safe.

I tell myself the lie over and over again as I try to calm my breathing. I squeeze my eyes to fight back the tears as we move further and further away from my only tie to my old life. My only tie to humanity.

The alien is sprinting. My body shakes on his shoulder and the nausea is back, rolling through me and reminding me just how violent our entry onto this planet was. Everything hurts as he readjusts me across his shoulder, hoisting me on a grunt.

I hiss as pain shoots through my midsection and he slows.

Another grunt and he’s pulling me forward, sliding me down his chest and nudging my arms around his neck. He smacks the back of my thighs and then grabs them, forcing my legs to spread around his midsection to hold on.

I freak out a little and try to jump down but he uses one arm to pin me to his chest. His hold on me is firm but no longer painful. We lock eyes and for the first time since I woke up from the crash, I take in a deep breath.

The air is cool. Misty. Raindrops flutter around us and fall from the sky, clinging to my wild brown hair. His gray skin is slightly damp, but the pattern across his chest is as bright as ever.

So bright it nearly burns to look at.

As if satisfied that I wasn’t going anywhere, he resumes his punishing pace away from the ship.

I cling to him because there’s nothing else to do. He stole me. Kidnapped me from the ship and I can’t imagine he plans to take me back. I have no idea where we’re going but the further we go, the heavier my chest feels.

The more reality is setting in.

I’m on an alien planet and I’ve been kidnapped.

By a massive, gray, shining male that doesn’t seem to want to let me go.