“They are preoccupied. It will only take a moment,” Arbon said. Something about the way he spoke, about the way he looked at Branton, set him on edge.
“Fine.” He was going against his better judgement by going with them, but he had no reason to assume something deeper was wrong. He doubted they knew about his hidden human.
They let him lead. As the second in command of the Rainar fleet, he was due that respect. If his men did have a problem with something he did, they were not within their rights to act on their anger.
Several minutes later, he walked into the infirmary. They followed him into the hall. When he asked which room the issue was in, they told him—and it was the same one he had first brought his human to. There was definitely something going on. The closer he got to the room, the more activity they should have had.
The only problem was…there was no sound. No activity. Nothing but him and the group of five alien warriors.
They entered the empty room and he turned to them, his expression calm.
“What is this about?” he asked, already knowing.
“You’re harboring a human,” Arbon spat. “You’ve been lying to us all.”
“That is none of your business,” Branton reminded him calmly. The four others behind Arbon stood there anxiously, most likely wondering if they were really going to gang up on a commander. By the look on Arbon’s dark face, he planned to.
“It is if she’s the enemy. You should have let me kill her when I had the chance—she’s gotten into your head if you don’t think anything about this is wrong.” She had gotten into his head, but not the way he thought. Still, Branton remained silent and calm.
“How did you know?” he inquired. He was honestly curious. Had she been sneaking out without him knowing, or had he really been that careless about keeping her a secret? Either way, there was no way out of this now.
“It was obvious. You would eat a meal with us, then leave with a spare. We never see you after last supper anymore, and you are distracted. Did you really think we wouldn’t notice?”
“The fact of the matter is,” Branton said quietly, “regardless of whether she’s with me or not, my private business is no concern to you.”
Chapter Eight
Amber paced around the lounge room. It might be ridiculous of her, but she had a horrible feeling in her gut. He had never been called from the room while he was off duty. And to be gone for two hours? It just didn’t sit well with her.
She tried to watch TV; that didn’t work.
She tried to sort through Branton’s boxes; that didn’t work.
She tried to decipher some of the papers on the dresser; that didn’t work.
Nothing worked.
Luckily, she didn’t have to wait long. A few seconds after she had plopped on the bed, the door opened—and slammed shut. Angrily.
“Branton?” she called, rushing into the lounge room. “Are you oka—Oh, my god. Oh my god, what happened to you?”
Her alien warrior was covered in blood, and she knew for a fact it wasn’t anyone elses put his own. Both of his eyes were swollen, his whole face purple under the dripping blood. He had cuts all over his body—his thin black shirt had been torn and hung off of him like rags. Through the tears, she could see the skin that was split from being hit so hard. His arm hung loosely at his side, with his holding the elbow.
All in all, it looked like he had been attacked by a pack of vicious dogs.
“I am alright,” he said, his voice as calm as ever. He didn’t look alright, and he certainly wasn’t acting alright. He was limping and dripping blood. Nothing about him seemed alright.
“Let me help you,” she whispered, horrified. She had passed out from the pain when she had been attacked, and he wasn’t even asking for help? She slid her arm around the back of his waist, trying to guide him to the bathroom. “Why did this happen? Who did this?”
“My men. They know about you—they know I am harboring a human.”
She felt the blood drain from her face.
Branton stopped limping to the bathroom and held her cheek. She didn’t even care that the hand he touched her with was bloody. “They will not hurt you, nor tell the LC. I lied to my brothers, and I had to pay for it.”
“I have to leave now, don’t I?” she whispered, heart dropping to her stomach. She had grown to care for this man, this alien warrior—and now she had to leave. If only to protect him from further harm.
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “You cannot leave yet. I will keep you safe, human. Don’t worry about that.”
“Okay,” she said, not caring about herself at this point. She was more worried about the man who had saved her, who had taken a beating for her. Guilt eating at her, she helped him to the bathroom, until he stopped at the entrance and moved away from her.
“Go lay down, human. Rest. I will take care of myself.”
She shook her head. “You’ve done nothing but take care of me. Let me help you for once, Branton,” she said softly, barely able to talk. It felt like her heart was choking her, the guilt making it hard to breathe.
“That is not necessary, human.” She would have believed him, had he not suddenly grabbed the wall for stability. When he gasped in pain, Amber shook her head.
“No, it is necessary. Get in the bathroom, alien.”
“If you lay down.”
“You know what’s hilarious?” she said, relieved when it barely took a push to get him into the bathroom. She followed, putting her hands on his shoulders. “For once, I actually think you are too out of it to remove me from the bathroom. Because that’s what you would do, right? Pick me up and move me?”
He didn’t put up a fight when she forced him to sit, and sat in silence when she started the shower.
“Maybe,” he finally admitted when she turned back to him. There was only one way to help him in the shower, and that was to get in with him. They hadn’t had sex since that first night, but she was used to being naked in front of him. As much of a stranger as he was, she was comfortable with him.
That was the only reason she lifted the shirt above her head and shimmied out of the jeans.
When she was fully undressed, she turned around and started to move towards him—only to pause when she saw the intent look on his face. That was different.
Normally he kept his cool when she was naked in front of him. She had only caught a stray look a handful of times, but nothing that intense. For the first time since being with him, she blushed.
“Let’s just get you undressed and into the shower, yeah?” Amber tried to find the best way to get the shirt off him without requiring him to lift his arm, but the only way she found was to just tear it off—so that’s what she did.
“You don’t mind do you?” she asked, grasping the collar of his shirt. He went back to being stoic, the expression he normally had on his gorgeous face. It totally belied what he did with his hands, though. Branton nodded his head while placing his good hand on her hip.
Her bare hip.
She shivered.
“Alright,” she said uneasily, then pulled as hard as she could. Thankfully, it was already torn up enough that it split down the middle with no ease.
His chest was worse than she thought—but most of it was old damage. Underneath the blood and fresh wounds, he was covered in scars. Some worse than others, but all of them had the same pattern—she could only assume it was from a sword.
As advanced as his kind was, she had learned that they only used swords to fight. Bullets didn’t do much to their skin—only specialized blades could actually hurt them. And they had done a number on him. The worst part was, they did just enough damage to make him hurt, but not enough to end him. They wanted him to suffer.
“Pants gotta come off,” she said, mostly to herself. With a groan, he got to his feet, one hand already working at the tie used to keep them together. Once the tie was loose, they slid effortlessly to the ground. At least she hadn’t had to undress him all the
way.
Not that it would have been a bad thing, she thought. No way! It was just too close of a proximity to…to his member.
“If you are fatigued, you will go rest.”
She rolled her eyes, taking his hand and pulling him into the shower.
The water touched her first. When it got to him, he gasped but didn’t flinch away from the water.
“Have fun making me,” she said, laughing. She backed away when the water started to really wash away all the blood, falling to the floor and covering both their feet with red water. It was grisly. She turned sober, watching him as his head fell back in the stream of water.
“I’m scared.” That was the first time in her life she had ever admitted to it. But now, she honestly, truly was. Even as she tried to joke with him to keep the situation light, fear was sitting heavy in her gut, and she didn’t know what to do. Everything felt out of her hands, away from her control.
Branton turned in the water and looked down at her. Then, he opened his good arm, an invitation.
She gladly curled into his embrace, minding his wounds.
“There is nothing to be scared of. I can and will protect you, human.”
“But why? Why go through all the trouble? You got hurt because of me,” she said quietly. Her hair slicked down her face because of the water, and she had to push her bangs out of her eyes.
“I do not know,” he admitted. “Listen, human. My shoulder has been dislocated. I need you to assist me in putting it back into place.”
“Don’t you have to be like, super strong to do that? I couldn’t do it. That’s—that’s something I’ve never done before.”
“You’ll be fine. Take my elbow,” he said, grabbing her hand. She nervously took his arm, swallowing. She was going to pass out. She was going to break his arm in half or something. She had never done this before—hell, she’d only seen it in movies!
“Now make sure my arm is against my side and bend my elbow. There you go… You got it. Keep my upper arm against my side and pull my forearm out until…okay, stop. Stop.”
She started to shake her head in denial, but she was too scared to actually let go of his arm. What if she hurt him when she let go? Amber felt her face heat up and swore she was going to pass out. This was bad, this was so bad.
“You have to go see a doctor about this-”
“I can’t. I have to suffer for betraying their trust. Just listen to what I say, human. You are doing an exceptional job of it.” Even though he sounded more like he was an employer than a naked alien warrior in a shower with dislocated shoulder, she smiled nervously.
“Keep my arm out like that, but use your other hand to take my upper arm. Rotate that—other way—Yes, there. Okay. Stop. Keep my upper arm like and rotate my forearm so that it goes across my stomach.”
“Like this?” she asked anxiously, following his directions.
He nodded, waited a second, then rotated his shoulder.
“Thank you, human. It will heal up much quicker now. You did well.”
“I didn’t know it could be so…gentle. The movies I always see it in makes it look painful.”
“There are other methods,” he said quietly, giving her a look. Much quicker than she would have thought possible for him, he used that same arm that had been dislocated to reach just outside of the shower, to a black shelf.
“This soap will disinfect my injuries. I cannot reach my back,” he said, jaw ticking. “Would you wash it for me?”
She knew how much it hurt him to ask for help, so she held back her smile. “But of course. Turn around, and I’ll do it first.”
He nodded shortly, then turned around.
Okay, maybe he was a little taller than she had originally thought. Amber hadn’t realized just how tall this man was until she tried to reach for his shoulders. To reach the back of his neck, she had to stand on her tip toes and press her chest against his back.
She felt him tense against her, but ignored it and continued washing his back. After the second day of her being with him, and him not initiating any kind of sex or showing sexual interest, she had resigned herself to the fact that he did regret his first time with her.
Maybe she just wasn’t his type, she thought, running the bar of soap gently over the wounds on his back. Maybe he regretted it because she was a human. Or because… She didn’t know why, really. All she knew was that he wasn’t affected by her unless it was negative.
Like now. His body was absolutely stiff, almost like he had turned to stone. Like he was so displeased with her touching him that he froze up.
It didn’t make sense to her. He always gave her massages, always hand fed her food. He treated her like she was a queen who deserved to have everything handed her—yet he was somewhat disgusted by her? It just…didn’t make sense.
Feeling disheartened and embarrassed, she set the bar of soap down.
“I think you got it covered from here.” Amber walked out of the shower without another word, feeling like the most absolute worst person in the world. He had implied from the beginning that he did not want her help, and she had forced herself on him.
Realizing that was like a slap to the face. She was disgusting—to both of them.
She grabbed a towel off the counter as she walked out, and made sure to close the door behind her.
“Human?” he called, sounding confused.
Amber just wrapped herself in the towel and laid on the bed, facing away from the door. He had saved her life and risked his own for her. Yet he obviously didn’t want her around him unless he had questions about objects.
He really felt nothing towards her. He just wanted her as an informant.
That wouldn’t be so bad if she wasn’t starting to have feelings for him—feelings that she’d never had about anyone else.
She heard the shower turn off. The door opened shortly after.
His hand touched her shoulder. “Amber,” he said. “Why are you upset?”
“I’m not upset,” she said, shrugging his hand off of her. She rolled over, keeping the towel secure around her. “Let me get dressed and then I’ll help you get your wounds healed.”
As much as she wanted to sound casual, her voice cracked. Shit, she thought, clearing her voice.
“Do you have a first aid kit or anything like that?” When she would have moved away from him, he took her hand. She stilled, staring at the comforter. It was a mix of beiges and browns, matching the room perfectly. She focused on a patch, heart thumping.
“I know that I was not truthful with you about the treaty, but I have been about everything else. So I would prefer if you did not lie to me. We will be honest with each other. So, why are you upset?”
She looked at him, meeting his gaze. For once, she saw concern. Besides their brief moments of banter and the occasional times she caught him staring intently, he never expressed anything except stoniness. She had grown used to it, had learned that it was just him.
“Do I disgust you?” she asked bluntly. “Because I can’t tell with you, and it’s messing me up. One second, I feel like we’re getting close, and then the next, you’re getting all…weird on me. Like, you just get so still and I feel like you can’t stand my presence sometimes. I feel like you regret that we had sex because I’m just…disgusting to you.”
He drew back. “You do not disgust me, human.”
“And then you do that—you don’t even call me by my name. I just don’t understand what is going on! You treat me like I’m a princess and take care of me, and yet… Sometimes you are so disconnected.”
“Disconnected? Human—Amber. Our kind is not…emotional. We do not express ourselves as you humans do. And I take care of you because-” He stopped abruptly.
“Because?”
He stared down at her, and for the first time since she had met him, he gave her an inkling of what it looked like for him to be nervous. His hand swiped over his face and he sighed.
“Because I do. I would for any woman.” Sh
e would have believed that, had his eyes not flickered to the side.
“I thought you said we had to be honest with each other,” she pointed out softly.
“Fine,” he said, his voice harsh. “Every day I walk into this room, I see you here, waiting for me. I want you more than you could possibly know, and I hate that. Why? Because it is wrong to sleep with you. You’re not only my enemy, but I am keeping you here even when you want to leave. Even though you want to leave here and you want to leave me. I will not take advantage of an innocent.”
“I do not regret that we had sex,” he said firmly, taking her face in his hands. A thumb smoothed over her cheek. The flash emotion in his eyes was hard to look away from. “I regret that I took advantage of you when you were weak. That I gave in so easily when that was the last thing you needed at the time.”
She took a moment to digest all of that, then asked, “What makes you think I want to leave?”
“You ask if we can leave here all of the time,” he pointed out. She shook her head, sighing at him. “And even though my kind do not express ourselves often, we like permanence. This…this is not permanent.”
She nodded, looking away from him.
“I understand,” she said. And she did—but that didn’t mean she had to like it. She tried to drop the conversation, heart actually hurting. For whatever reason, she was starting to care for this alien warrior. At least he did not regret that first night, though. That was something.
“Amber,” he murmured, taking her face by the jaw and making her look at him. “I do not want you to be hurt by our ways. We are loyal till the death and we do not have casual affairs.”
“It’s okay,” she said, giving him a smile. “I understand. And I don’t want you to think I’m just a sex-crazed human, or that we are all this desperate. I just...I was so confused. I never knew if you wanted me or not, so I never knew how to act. You would have me stay naked, and touch me, and I would feel...safe.”
“And you are safe, Amber. I will always keep you safe, for as long as you let me.”
She smiled, then looked back down at the comforter again.
“Come here,” he said, opening both of his arms.
The Beast's Chosen (Astral Heat Book 3) Page 5