Page 14 of The Alien Warrior's Heart

The evil aliens gathered below them. They looked like her idea of a ‘conventional alien’—tall, thin creatures with beady black eyes and a long neck. Their torsos were so scrawny that it seemed they had no bones. Their color was a light, unbroken green. They wore heavy masks as if they couldn’t breathe the planet’s air.

When she’d heard their guttural voices earlier, she’d assumed that they were more… human-looking. She’d pictured someone who looked like Bob, her sleazy manager in the IT department at the company where she used to work.

Locking someone in a room and spying on them while they were taken advantage of was something she could see Bob doing. It was something similar to what he’d done in the past, if the whispers around their company could be believed.

And she did believe it.

Simone found it easy to believe the worst of people. Her rose-colored glasses broke a long time ago. She’d never experienced the innocence of childhood. Alien planets? Monsters with neon swords? She’d seen them all.

There was evil in space and on earth.

No mercy.

No good.

She couldn’t remember being protected.

Ever.

Until now.

Until this brutish blue alien with the purple eyes and the chest full of tattoos.

But he probably had his secrets too. His skeletons in the closet. His sins.

She hoped she never became a victim of them.

Seeing her struggle, the blue alien removed one hand from the metal dinosaur and wrapped it around hers. With his strength supporting her, she was able to lift the laser sword.

The blue alien’s deep voice rumbled in her ear.

Together, they pulled the trigger.

While he focused on navigating the dungeons, Simone took aim at the evil aliens, emptying bullets as they made their harried escape.

Finally, they shot out of the dungeon through a hatch that opened up into the outside and the sword slid down her lap.

She didn’t even care. The breeze on her face was sweet, sweet freedom. Her mouth fell open and she sucked in deep breaths of the heavy, alien air. The fact that they’d escaped the dungeon blew her mind. The fact that she was even here on this planet still felt like a cruel simulation.

But it wasn’t.

Simone glanced down.

Those strong blue arms were real.

The scales dripping with evil alien blood were real.

The blue tail draping the metal dinosaur was real.

Hewas real.

Who would have thought that the alien her captors had intended to harm her would save her instead?

The blue warrior met her eyes, an eyebrow nub arched. Her breath quickened and she turned completely away, letting the sword slide further down her thigh in the process. He caught it quickly, his fingers brushing against her skin.

Shivers slid up her spine. Not the dangerous kind. Not the ones that erupted when she felt cornered and scared.

No, these tingles were different.