CHAPTER3
What the hell just happened?
Inhaling a harsh breath, Leya sagged against the shop front, a hand pressed to her thundering heart.
The blue-haired pinup with the compelling accent had come after her with her forgotten coffee, which now lay wasted. And he’d saved her from crashing into the building and definite bruises.
She slid her heavy tote to her shoulder when loud curses reached her.
The pinup—heck, he turned out to be more like a savior—headed back to her, dragging the foulmouthed jerk along by the collar of his shirt.
Compared to her rescuer, the skinny man was like a fly ensnared in a web, fighting a deadly spider for freedom. Pinup shoved the belligerent man in front of her. “Apologize.”
“Fuck you!” the jerk snarled, then whimpered, his face crumpling in pain. “I-I’m s-sorry.”
A flood of prickles skittered through her, unlike the ones she usually experienced. This was worse. Painful. She gasped, and it suddenly disappeared. Shaken, Leya rubbed her arms, trying to rid herself of the odd sensation. She should just walk away, hating the mess this was turning out to be with onlookers staring, but she couldn’t.
“Please, please,” he whined. “I didn’t mean it…”
Her savior finally released the sniveling ass. “Have a care at how you speak to females or what you call them in the future.”
The guy stumbled away, shooting terrified glances over his shoulder.
Females?
Who spoke like that? With the hard-to-place accent and the fact he didn’t know what ‘ho’ meant, he had to be from some foreign land.
“Who are you?” Leya asked, brushing back her overlong bangs.
His eerie silver eyes came back to her. A tic worked his rigid jaw. His anger seemed barely leashed, making him appear older than she’d initially thought. “I’m Aerén of Élendium.”
“Élendium?” A rock group? She’d never heard of them, and she listened to music across the board.
“It’s where I come from.”
Oh. She’d never heard of the place, either. Probably a tiny country tucked somewhere in Europe. “Thanks for saving me from bruises.”
“Thefossershould watch his mouth,” he muttered, expression dark.
“Fosser?”
“Idiot.”
Right. “Thank you again.”
“Allow me to walk you to your destination.”
Destination? Man, he confused her more and more. He glanced both ways as if to make sure it was safe. The people who stopped to watch the unexpected sideshow finally strolled away.
“I’ll be okay. This is New York. There are always pests like him around.”
His light eyes glittered, throwing out all sorts of perilous vibes. He didn’t say anything; just waited for her to start walking.
It didn’t matter he’d turned out to be her savior; she had no plans to show him where she lived. Safety rules drilled into her and her sister by their protective father were hard to ignore. Besides, she would have handled the ass. Appa had taught her and Hana how to protect themselves, or run if need be.
Furtively, she eyed her rescuer,Aerén, again.
Jeez, the guy was immensely tall and even more gorgeous up close with that lightly tanned skin and pretty blue hair, like some fairytale hero dropped in her path, rescuing her from aggressive a-holes and all. Heck, to be saved by a guy like him only happened…well, never.
