Still nothing.
Elle drove them out of the parking lot, well aware they were in a stolen vehicle. She’d left the keys in the sedan and the doors unlocked, hoping someone would take it and lead anyone looking for them on a wild goose chase.
When they made it to the edge of town, she was able to breathe a little easier. Feeling his eyes on her, she glanced to the side several times. He stared at her face, not looking around them at the darkening landscape.
“I can’t very well go around introducing you as my boyfriend. What do they call you?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “They call me Elle Sharp, but I’ll let you in on a secret. My real name is Elle Rollins.”
His eyes still stared at her.
Elle pointed at her chest. “Elle.” She pointed at him expectantly before repeating the gesture. “Elle.”
He glanced at her pointed finger.
“Fine. You look like a…” She tried to think of a good name but drew a blank. “You look like a freaking blue alien I helped escape from a secret lab.”
“Ice.”
“Yeah, you look like an ice—” Elle gasped, jerking the wheel in surprise as she realized what just happened. He’d made a noise! She righted the car before she ran them off the road. The alien braced his hand against the dash. “Did you say ice?”
“That is what you may call me.” The words were clear, slightly accented but spoken in perfect English. “My Earth name. Ice Storm Chaos. That is what they call me, but I will also give you a secret. My real name is Izotz.”
“You…” She gripped the wheel tight. He had understood everything she’d said to him. Her mind raced as she tried to remember all the rambling thoughts she’d said out loud as they’d escaped the facility. “You understood… You can speak… Wait, did you say you’re named Ice Storm Chaos? Like some kind of wrestler or something? How?—?”
“The Galaxy Alien Mail Order Brides’ crewman gave me the name. I am from a planet filled with ice. There are storms. They said it was a strong Earth name that women would enjoy.” He turned his eyes forward. “Are you to drive on the painted mark like that? That other vehicle does not seem to be doing the same.”
She glanced forward. The car had drifted into the middle of the highway and she quickly pulled back onto her side of the road seconds before a pickup truck sped past.
Galaxy Alien Mail Order Brides?
Surely that was a mistranslation. That hardly felt like it could be a real thing. An alien matchmaking service? That’s what their visit was all about? Alien guys were coming to Earth to find wives?
“And Chaos?” she asked.
“Frost chose the…” He took a deep breath.
“Surname?” she supplied, thinking he was having trouble thinking of the right word. “Last name?”
“Family indicator,” he answered.
“Family?” Elle nodded, understanding. “Those other men are your family.”
“I will go to them. You will take me.” He nodded as if it was that easy.
“Are they your brothers?” she asked.
“Yes, we come from the same parents.”
“Where are you from?” Elle tried to keep calm. It was one thing to be rescuing an alien from a cage like a liberated animal who could take minimal commands, and quite another to communicate fully with an intelligent life form from another planet.
She was freaking talking to a freaking outer space extraterrestrial alien man.
“Earth does not have a word, but the closest sound would be Sintaz.”
She worked her fingers against the wheel. There were so many logical questions she should ask, but she had a hard time thinking of them.
“Wh-why did you pretend you couldn’t understand what I was saying?” Another car passed, and she glanced up to watch the taillights in the rearview mirror.
“I did not understand why you were helping me. Now I do. You have chosen me to be your boyfriend.”
