She yelled over her shoulder. “You, you giant purple alien thing.”
There was an audible gasp.
The crowd around them parted as she stormed past, not quite running, but more than walking.
He merely lengthened his stride to catch her.
Every fiber in him demanded that he follow her. Mostly to find out what aBarneywas.
That was his excuse, anyway.
“Wait,” he said.
“No.” And she didn’t look back. “I don’t care how nice everyone is. I’m leaving!”
“Everyone is not nice,” he said.
His words stopped her, and she paused just long enough to turn back and gulp as her gaze wandered over him.
For a moment, everything stopped, and nothing mattered but her.
“I—I have to get…” Her words trailed as she spun around and took off again.
He didn’t let her get far.
“Stop,” he called out and caught up with her very quickly.
She spun around and glared at him. “What?”
“What is your failure?” he said, glaring at this female—Terran, by the look of her. Though he’d never quite seen a Terran with such light skin and hair like that. It was dark on her head and light on the ends. Very strange.
Probably some rare genome.
She put her hands on her hips. “I don’t have a failure! I want off this, this whatever it is, and I want to go home.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Whatever it is?”
“I don’t carewhatit is. I just want to go home! I was taken against—”
He’d heard enough. “Come on. I’ll find you a transport.” The only reason he was doing it was because he already was looking for his own.
That was it.
That was the only reason.
Didn’t have anything to do with his Fever, demanding he protect this female.
Many would take advantage of a distressed female. Try to manipulate her.
And thatwould nothappen on his watch.
"And why should I trust a big purple alien with bones sticking out of his shoulders?"
He blinked. "Why am I the alien? You are just as alien to me, little Terran."
"Hah," she said. "Little. I'm not little. You're just giant-sized." She gestured around the passage. “I’m about the size of everyone here, roughly. You’re like head and shoulders above them all. So you’re the giant. I’m normal.”
He smiled. Had been a long time since anyone stroked his ego.
