Page 65 of Saved By the Alien Hybrid

“Hold on tight.” He flicked a button, and the bike roared to life in earnest. They hovered off the ground for a moment, only a foot or so, but Rentir did something with his foot and cranked his hand back on the handle and they were rocketing up into the air.

She couldn’t help the shriek that escaped her at the sudden climb in altitude, but it gave way to panicked laughter as they shot forward above the peaks of the trees. Rentir patted her hand.

Her eyes were everywhere, so drunk on all the beauty that she didn’t know what to take in first. Had Earth been like this once? Had it really ever been so lush, soalive?

She’d been so excited just to breathe fresh air on Lapillus, even knowing it would only be for a year. Now… she couldn’t imagine ever leaving a place like this behind. Would she have been able to do it? Would any of them? Or would they have mutinied against Lyra’s plans, refusing to leave the moon that hadn’t yet been corrupted by corporate greed?

She wound her arms tighter around Rentir and pressed her cheek between his shoulder blades as tears pricked in her eyes. The day the ship crashed, she had been so ready to die. She was resigned to it, as though it had been her fate all along. Because of Rentir, a complete stranger charging in to save her, she was alive to enjoy this.

He glanced back at her, his dark brows knitting together over his goggles. He said something to her, but the wind tore the words away. She shook her head, squeezing her thighs against his as she pressed in closer. His tail tightened in answer.

There were still so many things looming over her. Thea’s abduction, the missing passengers, the small matter that they’d all drifted through space for centuries just to wander into a battle for alien liberation. But up high, in that moment, it all felt so small.

Surmountable, even.

Cordelia couldn’t help squinting as Rentir brought the bike down into the forest, despite the goggles shielding her eyes. Sediment pelted at her exposed skin; she could feel it settling in at the roots of her hair, undoing the work of her bath already. A small creature that looked like a six-legged lizard scuttled away as they touched down. The propellers of the bike slowed with a loud whine.

“We’ll continue on foot from here,” Rentir told her, tugging down his collar and helping her slide off the bike. “I have a short-range transmission link to the bike, so we’ll know if someone approaches.”

“Roger that.”

“Roger?” He echoed her, wearing a confused frown. He slid his goggles up onto his head until they caught against his horns.

“It’s just something we say. It means I understand.”

He nodded stoically.

She turned away and bit her lip before she laughed. Using the gestures Rentir had shown her, she pulled up her short-rangescanner. They were a little east of where they’d found Thea’s pod.

“Should we split up?” she asked.

He could head north, and she could go south, and they could meet in the middle. She wouldn’t get lost with the navigation at her disposal.

Rentir looked affronted by the question.

“No,” he said immediately. “We stay together. Always.”

Those words, spoken so fervently, made her heart flutter in spite of the distance she was trying to keep between them.

“Besides,” he said, his voice dropping as a lazy grin stole over his face. “Have you forgotten about the yethor already?”

“You said it only hunts at night!”

He laughed, a rich sound that was pleasing to her ear. He seemed so much more at ease now that Melam wasn’t around. “I did, and so it does. That doesn’t mean the forest is without peril. The yethor is not her only predator.”

Cordelia shuddered, scanning the area. Her new knife suddenly seemed woefully inadequate.

“You’re sure I can’t borrow that blaster?” she muttered.

“I am sure.”

He held aside a tall fern aside with his tail so she could step over it. When the tip of her too-big boot caught the edge of a root, he stepped into her, catching her before she could tumble. Flush against his chest, she craned her head back to meet his gaze.

His pupils expanded as he looked down at her. The moment stretched too long for a casual touch. As he shifted to move away, Cordelia knotted her fingers in his shirt.

“Cordelia?” His voice wavered.

She could feel his erection growing against her stomach; he was so sensitive to her simple proximity. His hands skimmedup to cup her cheeks as his lids grew heavy. That black tongue flicked out to wet his lips as he ducked his head.