by Karen Kelley
“Oh, sweetie, you look awful.”
Carly opened the door wider, then covered her mouth with a tissue when she began to cough. “I feel awful.”
“I brought sustenance.” She raised the white carton.
Carly puffed her cheeks out. “Blah. Food.”
“You have to eat.”
“I’d rather lie down and die.” She moved to the sofa and collapsed on it. “How was the parade?”
Ria took the carton to the kitchen and put it in the fridge for later. “My alien was there,” she said over her shoulder.
Carly sat up with a start, then grabbed her head, and lay back down. “I can’t believe you sprang that on me.”
“Sorry.” Ria went back to the living room and curled up on the chair, keeping a safe distance from any germs floating in the air.
“This was the naked guy you saw in the woods? What happened? I want all the details.”
She had already told Carly everything. Ria had known she could count on her friend to believe her. Now, she quickly related what happened in the park, what Kristor had told Ria about her parents, and then the lies he’d told Heath.
“I take it that you don’t think he’s using a new line to come on to women?”
Ria shook her head. “I think the guy is crazy. Mom doesn’t though.” She grimaced. “You should’ve seen her gush when she talked about him. You’d think he was a god or something. Apparently, he’s casting a spell over the town. Well, at least my parents and Heath. I know why Heath thinks he’s great. He agreed to play in their flag football game this afternoon. But my mom? She should know better.”
“She’ll come to her senses when the newness wears off.”
“If she’s still alive.”
“So what are you going to do?”
Ria sighed. “I don’t know.”
“Know thy enemy.”
“Huh?”
“Go to the football game.”
Ria’s stomach twisted in knots. “I have to. Remember? I’m a cheerleader.” It was Mary Ann Proctor’s fault. That, and the fact Ria had turned down a post on the Women’s League board, which meant if she missed a meeting, she got volunteered for whatever everyone else didn’t want to do. Drat, how could she have forgotten about the football game? It was a community event, and therefore, the league was obliged to participate.
Carly clutched her chest as deep hacking coughs wracked her body again. Ria’s chest ached just watching her.
Carly waved her hand. “Go away before you catch my cold.”
Ria hated leaving Carly, but she probably needed more rest anyway. After making sure Carly had a hot cup of soup, a glass of 7-Up over ice, and a new box of tissues, Ria left. Carly might be right. She was sure she could point out enough faults that people would start to despise Kristor. She nodded. It might just work.
Kristor looked around the locker room. Benches sat low to the floor making his back and legs ache, so he had chosen to stand. A distinct odor hung thick in the air, as though something had died, and they’d forgotten to bury the carcass. Not that he expected a room that housed warriors to smell sweet. He’d been around men long enough to know their body odor was not always pleasant.
That was something else that bothered him. These men did not look like warriors. Heath maybe, although he had gray running through his hair. His reflexes were sharp, though. When someone had tossed him an oddly-shaped, brown ball, he’d caught it.
And there was the man called Neil. He was younger. Heath said he was a deputy. Kristor understood most of the language and knew that probably meant second in charge.
But the others. He shook his head. They had let their bodies go. How did they expect to win a battle? Unless the ones they would battle were in worse condition.
These men came in different shapes and sizes: tall, skinny, short, fat. One man bent to tie the strings on his shoes and when he rose, his face was red, and he could barely draw in a deep breath. No, Kristor couldn’t imagine them winning a battle.
“I want to introduce y’all to Kris. He’ll be taking Smiley Wilson’s place, since Smiley has that bug going around,” Heath said.
“You ever play football?” a short, balding man asked.
“Play? I thought we were here to win a battle?” Kristor turned to Heath.
“Yeah! That’s the kind of attitude we want on this team,” another man yelled.
Kristor relaxed. Heath hadn’t lied. He did not come to play, but to fight. He was a warrior.
“We’re the shirtless team this year, guys, so take ’em off,” Neil told them.
“Anybody bring sunblock?” a pale man asked.
“I got plenty,” another answered.
Maybe they had powers since they could block the sun.
The men began to remove their shirts. They must be braver than he’d first thought if they planned to go out on the field without armor. They earned a measure of his respect for their act of courage.
“Y’all ready to win?” someone called out.
“Yes.”
“I can’t hear you.”
“Yes!” echoed through the room.
“Yes!” Kristor jerked his shirt open, buttons flying, material ripping, growling from the energy that burst from him. “Fight, kill, destroy!” He threw his shirt on the floor, raising his fists in the air and shaking them.
The men stilled.
It got deathly quiet.
“Can I put my shirt back on?” a scrawny man squeaked.
“Good Lord, man. I ain’t never seen muscles like that. What do you lift?”
“Lift?” Kristor thought for a moment. “Anything I want.”
The room exploded into laughter. Heath clapped him on the back. “I would imagine so.”
Heath quickly explained the rules of football. Kristor was disappointed to hear they couldn’t do anything more than steal a flag. A game of wits and speed. His brothers had often engaged in such sports.
This would at least pass the hours until he could convince Rianna it was time to go home to New Symtaria. The Queen Mother would be proud that he wasn’t using force—yet.
Chapter 4
There were already a few spectators sitting in the bleachers when Ria made her way to the sidelines. She noticed several women in the stands were talking on their cell phones: hands waving in the air, eyes twinkling, laughter erupting. She knew the symptoms well. They must have something new to gossip about. That was fine with her as long as she was off the top of their lists.
Then again, they could still be talking about her. Nah, the Miller Bend grapevine moved faster than the speed of sound—meaning they only heard what they wanted to hear. That was life in a small town. On the other hand, people were quick to help when someone needed a hand. She figured you had to take the good with the bad.
She tugged on the hem of her short skirt, feeling ridiculous wearing the blue-and-white cheerleading uniform. One of the women in the Women’s League had delivered it to her earlier in the week. As soon as she’d taken the skimpy, midriff-showing top out of the box, her heart sank.
It wasn’t that she was a prude. She had a dozen or more thongs and a couple of bikinis in her dresser drawer. For some strange reason wearing the cheerleading outfit made her think about strippers, poles, and men shoving money into the waistband of her skirt.
Her eyes strayed to the field. Some of her tension eased. She looked a hell of a lot better than the no-shirts team. Neil wasn’t bad. She could certainly tell he owned a set of weights and used them.
And for an older guy, Heath looked in pretty good shape. Some of the others should’ve left their shirts on, though. The next time Ben Dansworth made a smart-assed remark about her seeing an alien, she was going to mention his beer gut. That should shut him up.
Her gaze skidded to a stop when it landed on Kristor. No shirt. Bulging muscles as he stretched and turned. God, he was tanned and delicious.
Oh, baby, stretch a little more to the right.
He did.
/> Her mouth watered.
Get a grip! He could quite possibly be a serial killer. Just because he’d gotten Fluffy out of a tree, and had helped a little old lady up a small hill, didn’t mean he wasn’t a murderer. That could be a cover.
But it was difficult for her to believe that when she was staring at hard…sweaty…sinewy muscles. Her breath caught in her throat. “Now more to the left,” she murmured. “That’s it. Right there. Yum.”
So maybe he wasn’t a serial killer. Just crazy. Was it horribly wrong to lust after a guy if he was just a little off kilter?
Kristor suddenly stopped stretching as though he sensed someone watching him. Pffttt, as if everyone wasn’t. The guy had some seriously sexy moves.
Kristor scanned the area until his gaze stopped on her. He stared, apparently not caring that he was being rude. Yeah, right, why should someone who thought he was an alien care if he was being rude or not?
Turn away from him, she told herself. But it wasn’t so easy when he looked at her as if she was an earthly body he wanted to explore and conquer. That wasn’t going to happen.
His brain had probably been fried by too many Star Wars movies, and she was not about to play close encounters of the sexy kind with him. She didn’t want him pulling her against his strong chest, and she most certainly didn’t want to run her hands over all those muscles or…God, she couldn’t stop staring at him! He was like a freakin’ drug and she an addict looking for her next fix.
Heath pulled Kristor’s attention away, and she could finally take a deep breath. What had just passed between them? A blast of electricity?
No, she’d only reacted to a gorgeous body. The guy was built, she wouldn’t deny that.
Built? More like sculpted from fine marble, Shintara broke into her thoughts.
“Shut up!”
“Shut up is right,” Mary Ann said as she stopped beside Ria. Her hungry gaze latched on to Kristor like a starving cougar.
This was not the plan. Ria was supposed to make people question Kristor, not drool all over him. Not that any woman wouldn’t foam at the mouth. She sort of believed him about the warrior stuff. He had the broad shoulders of a man who would take command during a battle. But she refused to get the hots for a lunatic.
“I heard your mother rented your old room out to him.” She delicately dabbed the corners of her mouth. “Lucky you.”
Didn’t anyone get anything around here? She dragged her eyes away from Kristor. “The man is a stranger, Mary Ann. We know nothing about him. He could be an escapee from a mental institution for all we know.”
She was such a slut. When they were in high school, Mary Ann would go into heat every time a jock passed by. Nothing had changed.
Mary Ann turned, giving Ria the once-over. “I heard you saw an alien. They have great doctors in Dallas. One of them might be able to help you.”
“I didn’t see an alien.”
“That’s not what my sister told me. She heard from Tilly that you were all hysterical when you called the sheriff’s office saying you’d seen a naked alien with hawk wings in the woods behind your house.” Her gaze returned to Kristor as he did the warm-up exercises with the other men. “I wouldn’t mind seeing him naked.” Mary Ann raised her pom-poms and shook them.
Seeing Kristor that day in the woods was a vision Ria wouldn’t soon forget. She shook her head, then looked at Mary Ann. “You wouldn’t mind seeing any man naked.”
The other woman sighed. “True.”
Ria arched an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t let your husband hear you say that.”
“Oh, honey, Bobby Ray doesn’t care where I get my appetite as long as I come home to eat.”
She was probably right. Bobby Ray adored Mary Ann. She had him twisted around her little finger.
“Besides, I keep my man happy. Where do you think I came up with the design for these uniforms?” She gave a sly wink.
Eww.
“You comin’ to the Women’s League meeting Tuesday night?” Mary Ann asked. “We need to vote how we’re going to raise money for the new x-ray machine at the hospital.”
“Why not give blow jobs?” Ria smiled sweetly.
Mary Ann stooped to re-tie her tennis shoe. Her expression was thoughtful when she straightened. “That’s an idea. You think Bobby Ray would mind?”
“I doubt it. He hasn’t seemed to mind too much in the past.”
“Ohh, good one.” She chuckled. “You know, I’ve always liked you, even though we all know you’re crazy.” Her arm suddenly went up and she waved. “There’s Becky, and Laura.”
Bitch. Ria turned and smiled at the other two ladies. The last two arrived as the guys took the field.
“Wow, look at the crowd,” Laura said.
What had started out as a few loyal, bored relatives in the bleachers had grown to overwhelming proportions. Ria had a feeling Kristor was the reason for the rise in popularity of the game today.
The next hour was filled with cheers and jeers. For an alien, Kristor had picked up the game pretty fast. Let him explain that.
Hmm, it might not be as easy as she’d hoped to convince people he was one crayon short of having a full box. The way everyone clapped him on the back, he apparently was making friends.
Her plan had backfired. No one wanted to hear that he might be a serial killer or even crazy. They were more interested in watching his moves on the field. Not fair. Kristor looked like he belonged more than she did.
“I do like the way they huddle,” Mary Ann said.
Kristor’s butt faced them. So what if he had a hot butt? It didn’t make him any less mental.
Mary Ann’s eyes widened. “Surely they aren’t going to try for a field goal. It’s insane. That has to be at least sixty-five yards. The record is what? Sixty-three?” She chunked her pom-poms on the ground in front of her and slapped her hands on her hips.
Mary Ann always amazed Ria. As slutty as she acted, the woman still knew her football. Which was probably because she had slept with every football player in high school.
“He is,” Mary Ann said with disgust.
Now maybe Ria could convince people that Kristor was crazy. If they were pissed at him because he’d lost the game for the team, it wouldn’t be that long of a stretch for them to believe the guy should be locked away. Texans took their football seriously.
Heath knelt, ready to catch the ball. Kristor walked back, knelt down, looked at the ball, and then the goalpost. Ria smiled. Victory was in the air, and it would soon be hers.
The ball was snapped. Heath caught it, and quickly placed it. Kristor was already running forward. When he was in back of the ball, he brought his right foot back and kicked. She watched the ball. It went higher and higher.
That wasn’t possible. Was it?
She glanced at Kristor. He’d knelt on one knee, his arms stretched toward the ball as if he were willing it to cross between the goalposts. Her eyes narrowed. There was something really strange going on. She looked at the football again just as it sailed between the two posts.
The crowd erupted with screams of amazement flowing down the bleachers and onto the field.
Kristor stood, chest puffed out, and gave a battle cry. The other men surrounded him, clapping him on the back, and attempting to copy his victory cry but sounding more like a bunch of mice escaped from the lab.
Kristor met her gaze again and grinned.
Now she was pissed.
She would have to think of something else before her parents’ party tonight. Something that would blackball Kristor. He was the crazy one, yet the town acted as if she was the mental case. Life was so not fair!
Chapter 5
Kristor eased his arm into the shirt, wincing as he dressed for Maggie and Ron’s party. One of the men had barreled into him, hitting Kristor just where it would hurt. If one of his brothers saw him right now, they would laugh themselves silly. The man had been scrawny, his bones poking out, which is probably what caught him in the ribs.
You’re out of shape, Labrinon commented.
Kristor glared at his reflection, and for a moment saw the eyes of a hawk staring back at him. I have no war to fight. It isn’t my fault. It was actually. The borders of New Symtaria were secure. No one dared attack them.
Just don’t let your body grow weak. It would be embarrassing.
“Silence,” he growled.
You grow irritable. Maybe because you haven’t had sex in a while.
I mated only days before I left.
Then you had to find Rianna. That has taken many weeks. Maybe if you mate with her, she will go with you to New Symtaria.
Silence! His guide made him weary.
But Labrinon was correct that Kristor grew irritable. The clothes he wore were uncomfortable. But it was what everyone in town chose to wear. Kristor had shifted into his animal guide, and Labrinon had flown over the town. Through the hawk’s eyes, Kristor had seen how people acted, and what they wore.
It was easy to insert the information into his database when he returned to his craft, then punch in what he needed, and have everything appear.
Driving had been a little more difficult. Earth crafts weren’t the same, very antiquated and cumbersome. He found he preferred the looks of the smaller craft so had searched until he found a picture of what the database called a motorcycle. He’d pushed another button and the motorcycle had appeared in front of him. He’d been right about it. Once he drove the machine, it reminded Kristor of when he flew with Labrinon.
Learning so many new things drained him. He would rather be home, protecting his planet. Sometimes, Kristor did not understand his father’s commands.
He flung open the bedroom door and stalked down the hall. Labrinon could also be quite infuriating at times. He turned the corner, and ran into a soft feminine form. There was an oomph from her as she landed against his chest. He grabbed her arms to steady her, and looked down into the warm brown eyes of Rianna.
“Rianna, I’m sorry.” But he didn’t let go. Her skin was as soft as a rabbit’s fur.
