Riv's Sanctuary: A Sci-fi Alien Romance

by A. G. Wilde

  His back was turned to her as he pinged what she assumed was Geblit’s number.

  A tone sounded, and then a click.

  A growl so deep it felt like it moved the air and brushed against the hairs on her skin left him as he pinged Geblit again.

  It took three more pings and three more tones before the comm device went hurtling through the air to smash against the far wall.

  Eyes wide, Lauren gulped.

  Shit, he was frickin’ angry. Frickin’ frickin’ angry.

  She was going to have to bear the weight of this blaster if he turned on her.

  Edging a little farther backward, she only stopped when the back of her legs bumped into something soft. When that soft thing proceeded to lick her, she almost leaped from her skin as she jumped and yelped.

  Turning on the thing, she didn’t know what she expected to see there, but she definitely didn’t expect to see a plump little fur ball with small round eyes looking up at her.

  For a moment, she couldn’t even determine if it was a real animal or not. It was literally a round ball of white fur, like wool, but with eyes. And it had definitely licked her.

  When the little fur ball blinked at her and proceeded to move, on legs she couldn’t see because it was just so furry, Lauren’s wide eyes followed it as it moved farther into the room, straight toward the angry male.

  Her host was rigid as he watched the animal approach.

  Breath held as she waited to see what he would do, she was surprised when he bent and lifted the little fur ball, growling something underneath his breath as he walked directly toward her.

  Reflexively, she raised the blaster, only to hear him grunt as he passed her to move down a corridor to her right.

  The sound of a door opening and slamming shut echoed back into the room and Lauren released her breath.

  She needed a plan.

  Glancing at the front door, she moved toward it. She could leave now but where would she go. He had a perimeter barrier that looked like it would fry her if she got too close and outside the farm there had been nothing except for the grassy plain.

  Letting the blaster sag in her tired arms, she began to pace.

  This was really, really a bad situation.

  She was stuck on a farm with a male that didn’t want her there. What the hell was she going to do?

  A sound in the corridor had her raising the blaster once more, her shoulders rigid as she waited for Riv to appear. Soon he was standing in the room once more, his presence filling it so quickly it was difficult not to stare at him—not that she would have let her eyes drift anywhere else anyway.

  His shoulders lifted and fell in a sigh as he crossed his arms and looked at her, his eyebrows diving toward his nose. His eyes were still dark and they were boring into her.

  Lauren swallowed hard.

  “You ready to talk now?”

  No response.

  “Are you going to let me stay?”

  Still no response.

  “I won’t be any trouble. I won’t even eat that much and anything I eat I’ll find a way to pay you back for.”

  At that moment, her stomach decided to grumble. So loud it was, that it sounded as if she had a baby dragon roaring in her gut.

  From across the room, Riv’s grumble followed her stomach’s growl.

  His teeth bared and Lauren took a step back.

  Shit.

  “Hey, that was my stomach growling. I wasn’t like, challenging you or anything.” For fuck’s sake, she needed a plan.

  As her stomach growled again, she tried to tense her stomach muscles, as if that would stop the sound.

  Not now.

  Not the right time at all.

  Stop challenging the man, you idiot organ!

  Riv snarled again.

  Dammit.

  This wasn’t getting her anywhere.

  The blaster was also weighing her down and she contemplated resting it on the table.

  Thinking about it, he didn’t seem too bothered by the fact she was holding a weapon against him. He’d walked right by her to pick up the pom-pom on legs.

  That made up her mind.

  Moving forward with cautious steps, wary eyes cast his way, she rested the blaster on the table.

  Riv moved forward, his arms falling to his sides, and for a moment, she considered grabbing the blaster again.

  But he didn’t move her way. Instead, he walked past her into another room without so much as a backward glance at her, and Lauren was left to stare at the space he was standing in.

  Well, at least, he hadn’t tried to snatch the blaster away and he hadn’t attacked her either.

  One point for Lauren on the survival meter.

  Maybe if she got enough points, she’d win this game.

  Riv moved around in his room, muttered curses slipping from his lips as he searched for the backup sat phone.

  The female had been yammering away something he couldn’t understand but at least she’d put down the blaster after she’d challenged him and backed down.

  This is why he didn’t like visitors.

  He’d stepped outside to return the baby umu to its enclosure and when he’d returned he could already smell her presence in his space.

  That and her incessant yammering were going to do his head in.

  He hadn’t heard so many words said in a short space of time for many months.

  He hadn’t been around anyone but his brother, Sohut, to hear conversation.

  There was a reason he lived in the middle of nowhere. A reason he had only animals as company.

  Animals didn’t yap away and they tended to keep to themselves once they were fed and happy.

  Well, every animal except the little umu that refused to stay in its enclosure. That umu was almost as annoying as the presence of the female in his main room.

  Maybe if he fed her she would do like the animals—keep quiet and to herself—until he figured out what to do with her.

  Finding the sat phone, he pinged Geblit as he headed back to the main room.

  The female had been pacing and she stopped as soon as he entered, her wide eyes cast his way.

  He kept his eyes on her and realized only a few seconds later that her gaze didn’t falter.

  She was scared, but she was also watching him as if should he try anything, she was ready to retaliate.

  It almost made him laugh.

  Almost.

  The phone pinged and the signal dropped.

  Growling at the phone, he pinged Geblit again.

  The ping bounced back and forth for a few seconds before Geblit picked up the call.

  “Riv!”

  “You excrement pipe.”

  “You can’t send her back. I called in the favor.” Geblit dropped all pretense of friendliness.

  “My sanctuary is for abused animals.” Riv’s eyes narrowed, his gaze falling on the female. “Not wide-eyed yammering females.”

  “Riv, I had no other choice. I only went to the creature exchange to find a companion for Cargga. I didn’t expect to see the human there and the zookeeper gave me a good price. I thought she’d be a good buy!” Geblit wailed as if he was the victim in this and it only made Riv’s nostril’s flare. “Cargga doesn’t want her and I can’t take her back. Riv,” Geblit paused, “you have to honor the favor.”

  He didn’t have to do jack shit. Especially when it involved having a female living on his farm.

  The only thing holding him back from demanding that Geblit return and take her away was the fact that he did owe Geblit a favor.

  Phekking hell.

  Pulling out one of the hover chairs by the table, he sat on it as he ended the call. He set the sat phone down and crossed his arms, his eyes on the female.

  She was standing in the corner like a scared umu. But he knew all about umus. He had several of them on the Sanctuary.

  They may look soft and innocent but they could turn into terrible little beasts in a second.

  She was
no different. Most beings weren’t.

  He knew this from experience.

  As he stared at her, eyes narrowed, he watched her shoulders straighten slowly as her throat moved.

  Wide brown eyes glanced around the room before they landed on him once more and her fisted hands opened to flatten against the strange material of her trousers.

  Her pale chest was on display and he realized she was missing half of her dark tunic, leaving her exposed. Her torso was soft, he saw no muscle definition there and it surprised him a little.

  Females of his kind, the Merssi, were almost as strong as the males, with muscles to show for it.

  This female, she looked soft all over.

  And she’d had the audacity to challenge him?

  Maybe that’s why she’d gotten caught in the first place. Maybe her survival instincts were lacking.

  What had she been doing at the creature market anyway? She was no animal. This was an intelligent being.

  The female’s throat moved again as she rubbed her hands against her trousers, her gaze fastened on him.

  She was terrified of him. He wouldn’t be surprised if she was stuck in that corner all night.

  Riv stiffened because as soon as he thought it, the female took one tentative step forward.

  The corner of his lips curled in irritation almost immediately.

  But that didn’t stop her.

  She took another step forward, closing the gap between them, her eyes focused solely on him.

  She was being cautious, watching him for any changes in his stance, but she was still walking forward.

  That made him outright growl in her direction.

  She paused at that, her eyes widening a little and he waited to see what she would do.

  Instead of running back to the corner, the female took another step forward till she was by the chair on the other side of the table.

  Her throat moved once more as she took a seat in front of him.

  Now she sat looking at him and he realized that she was studying him as much as he was studying her.

  She was either brave, or foolish.

  Pity she wouldn’t be around long enough for him to find out.

  “Uhm…” she said, and his ears, normally flat against the sides of his head, pricked.

  She was going to start yammering again, wasn’t she.

  “Ai dohnt noh waht to sey.”

  Riv’s brows dived a little as the female continued speaking. The more she spoke, the braver she got. He could see it.

  Her eyes weren’t so wide anymore and her face was becoming expressive. She was even using her hands now, to gesture as she spoke.

  He let her natter on, his gaze on her face the entire time.

  He had no idea what she was talking about and he didn’t really care. He could admit though that she came from a strange species.

  Every time she opened her mouth, her flat teeth showed. She had no fangs and all of her teeth looked incredibly blunt. How did she defend herself?

  He had to assume her species survived mostly on fluids and did not rely on their teeth for tearing into food.

  It didn’t look as if she had claws either. Her nails were short and looked uneven, as if she’d used those blunt teeth of hers to grind them off.

  No horns, no pattern of ridges along her nose or brow.

  The more he looked at her, the stranger she became.

  “Waht do yoo thingk abowt dat?”

  She was looking at him with an expectant expression, as if she wanted something, and another growl rumbled in his throat.

  Blinking at him, her eyes widened just a little but then her mouth spread, her lips twisting upward to show her teeth.

  White flat teeth were bared at him in a display of obvious aggression and Riv stood from the hover chair so fast, the thing almost lost buoyancy.

  He didn’t know what to make of it.

  She had no fangs to challenge with, yet her teeth were bared.

  It was so ridiculous, it was almost unbelievable.

  He reacted the only way he knew how.

  Slamming his palms flat against the table, he leaned in so he was face to face with her, a snarl on his own lips.

  Wide eyes blinked back at him and her challenge died as the color drained from her face.

  8

  Fuck.

  This guy, Riv, was intense.

  Lauren swallowed hard.

  He was so close, she didn’t even dare move.

  Don’t grin. Never grin. And don’t let your stomach growl.

  Good thing she’d had a year with nothing to do but watch and learn from the many aliens that passed by her terrarium.

  But she could have done with Geblit giving her a heads up about this guy. She already had enough disadvantages as it was.

  Lauren fought to keep her breathing level as she waited for Riv to back away. She was pretty sure he could rip her throat out with those fangs he was baring so close to her face.

  And dammit. She’d just opened her soul to him, giving him the best proposal she could think of concerning why he should let her stay and what had he done? He’d just narrowed his eyes at her and was now snarling in her face.

  It was almost as if he didn’t give a shit what she was saying or he didn’t understand what she was saying.

  Crap.

  She was an idiot.

  Of course, he didn’t understand what she was saying.

  He didn’t have English downloaded on his translator, she was sure.

  That put her at an even greater disadvantage.

  Biting her bottom lip, she tried to keep her breathing level.

  Green eyes fell to the movement of her lips and she watched in surprise as his snarl died a bit.

  His nostrils flared as he suddenly inhaled deeply and his gaze shot back to hers.

  Something passed before his eyes before he leaned back, closed his palms into fists, and sat back in the chair, crossing his arms as he did.

  He was just staring at her now, and Lauren wasn’t sure what to do.

  So they were back to this? Him just looking at her, studying her?

  She guessed she should do the same?

  Leaning back, she crossed her arms and his gaze followed her movement.

  His eyes were so green, they were startling. They stood out from his blue skin.

  Looking at him now, she realized he wasn’t much older than she was, either, or if he was, he aged really well.

  His nostrils flared again and she noted that the bridge of his nose was a bit wider than a human’s. There was also a column of bumps—ridges?—that ran up his nose and over his brows.

  A similar column ran from his bottom lip and down his chin.

  With his mouth closed, she’d have never guessed he hid fangs underneath.

  His eyes narrowed, a low grumble starting in his chest, when he noticed her gaze lingering on his lips and Lauren looked away quickly.

  Maybe that was a challenge too.

  Shit.

  She was in deep trouble, wasn’t she.

  They sat there for many moments, with him just staring at her, until his shoulder heaved in a sigh and he stared at the device he’d used to call Geblit.

  For a second, he gripped the device and she wondered if he was going to throw it against a wall like the other one. But he didn’t. Instead, his gaze rose to hers and again she was arrested by his eyes.

  He wasn’t snarling now, just looking at her as if wondering what to do with her.

  She hadn’t settled enough to realize it before, but…he was handsome. And that was saying something.

  Since she’d been taken, she hadn’t noticed any handsome aliens. Attraction hadn’t been on her mind.

  It wasn’t on her mind now so she didn’t know where the thought came from, but he was handsome, in a dangerous, forbidden kind of way.

  “You kind of remind me of that guy in Avatar,” she said, breaking the silence. “Well, you’re not very similar, you’re just both blue.” She p
aused. “Was that a bit insensitive? I shouldn’t have said that. I know you can’t understand me either, I don’t even know why I’m talking—”

  She was cut off by a growl as Riv stood suddenly.

  He looked at her as he passed her. “Follow me,” he motioned with his hands. “And stop nattering.”

  The female blinked at him with those large brown eyes of hers.

  He couldn’t believe he was about to do this but what choice did he have?

  He still had no idea what he was going to do with her, but he couldn’t sit staring at her all day.

  And, the more he stared at her, the more her strangeness was beginning to become interesting.

  He didn’t need interesting right now.

  He had animals to feed and chores to complete.

  She stood and followed him without him having to mime what to do and he was happy for that.

  Walking down the corridor, he passed his room, as well as the cleansing room, and made his way towards the spare room.

  His brother’s bedroom was on the other side of the dwelling and this was the only other room available.

  It’d have to do for now.

  The light came on as he stepped into the room with the female following behind him and when he stopped walking, her soft body bumped into his from behind.

  Turning, he glared down at her and she paled.

  “Saw-ree.” She flinched a little under his gaze then flashed her blunt teeth at him again.

  Catching herself, she paled even more, eyes going wide as she put a hand over her mouth.

  Riv frowned as he watched her through wary eyes.

  Moving to the side, he gave her enough space to enter the room.

  Her eyes grew even larger as she looked inside.

  Her gaze moved over the elevated sleeping cushion, to the chest in the corner and to the window that looked outside.

  When she turned back to him, she was smiling, her eyes glassy.

  Riv glanced around the room.

  There wasn’t anything special about it. Not that if she’d complained he’d have changed anything.

  She was lucky he didn’t drop all he had to do and take her back to Geblit, because he’d been very phekking close to doing so.