Diesel stepped away from the vehicle. “Then help me unlock her door.”
Cam rifled through her purse without remorse. He retrieved her keys, opened the door, put the key in the ignition and stepped back. Diesel carefully placed her in the seat behind the wheel, put her seat belt on and arranged her so she wouldn’t slump over. He smoothed her hair away from her lovely face as Cam whispered, fiercely, “She’s fine. Let’s go.”
They shut her door and backed away from the vehicle. Diesel hated to leave her unattended.
“You can’t be here when she wakes up.”
“I know that, but nothing better happen to her before she comes to. Keep an eye on her.”
Cam gave him a narrow-eyed look. “She’s a human.” His tone suggested it wasn’t important to worry about what might happen to a human who’d been zapped with a Big D.
“I’m aware.”
The flinty gaze continued. “What is she to you?”
The first human I’ve ever kissed. And I liked it. A lot.While Alphas could sometimes read human minds, the same could not be said about each other. Luckily, Diesel’s memories were his alone to ponder and revisit.
“She is someone who came in to ask me for information about Alienn, Arkansas and how it came to be named that and why there’s no cellular service. She’s doing some sort of article for a travel book. I gave her the standard spiel.”
They’d made it out of view of Juliana’s vehicle. Cam crossed his arms. “The standard spiel? Tell me exactly what you said to her.”
“I thought you saw the surveillance.”
“I saw part of it. I didn’t memorize it. Yet.”
“I told her that Alienn was supposed to be named Alienne after a woman who founded the town long ago and not an indication of extraterrestrial life here on Earth. And that a lazy bureaucrat put Alienn in the paperwork, dropping the final E, and that it stuck, and also the ‘ask the phone tower people about the lack of a signal here’ spiel.”
Cam looked dubious. “And did she believe you?”
“I don’t know. Octo-alien with the scaredy-cat squeal came out of nowhere and fainted at the emergency basement exit—which should not have been open, by the way—and then you shot her in the face with the Big D.”
Cam’s mouth flattened. “And here’s something funny and unexpected—you have been rather protective of this human since she arrived.”
Diesel looked over his shoulder in the direction of Juliana’s car. “I don’t want anything to happen to her because of what you did.”
“I had to do it. You know I did. You’re acting like a mama bear that had her cubs stolen. What’s that about?”
“Maybe, I don’t like that it complicates things. Why couldn’t you set it for five minutes instead of forever?”
“It was hardly forever. It was only thirty minutes, which is the longest setting. Tell me the truth, Diesel. What is your interest in this human?”
“None of your business.”
“But itismy business.”
“Fine. I like her.”
“Why?”
“I just do.”
Cam made a face. “Wait a minute. You’re promised to a woman on Alpha-Prime.”
“No.”
“Yes, you are.”
“The contract says it has to be one of us. Doesn’t mean it has to be me. You know the eldest often is excluded because he gets stuck with everything else. Like being the Fearless Leader of the Big Bang Truck Stop for our Earth-bound lifelong career.”
