Her lilting voice pulled his attention away from the strange furnishings. “I’m renting this place for a couple of weeks. The owner said that the kitchen was stocked with everything but food, so I had to bring my own. I wasn’t expecting company, so I hope you like canned soup.”
Soup he knew. He’d never heard of an animal called a “canned” before, but he would eat what she put in front of him, even if he had to choke it down. Gaining her trust was vital if he were going to return home and seek justice for his murdered sister.
Again, rage churned in his gut, combined with a frantic sense of urgency. The longer he stayed here, the weaker he would become, and the longer his sister’s true killer would walk free. But if he pushed this human woman, he feared her mistrust of him would flare and he would have to seek out the aid of another. There was no guarantee he would have that kind of time before he became a shell of the man he was now.
Because of that, he stilled his anger, shoving it down deep where it would not show.
Adreeahbenwah began unpacking her sacks, setting out items he did not recognize. Metal cylinders with brightly colored wrappings, boxes covered in words he could not read, and a variety of things inside shiny, transparent film.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked. “I didn’t see any blood or feel any bumps, but there’s no way you could have fallen in that hole and not been hurt.”
“I am whole.”
Her gaze traveled up and down his form, skipping quickly over his groin. She licked her lips and then flattened them into a disapproving line. “What you are is naked. The man who owns this place still visits often. He may have some clothes left tucked away. Why don’t you go check the bedroom for something you can wear? There’s a shower in there, too. You should clean off so you don’t get soot all over the furniture. I doubt Mr. Corey would thank us for the mess.”
She pointed to a doorway on the far side of the room.
Toren went to investigate as he was told, using the wall twigs as she had to light his way. He had to conserve his magic. Once it was depleted, he would not only be powerless, he would also forget his entire life on Sorsca. He would forget all about his murdered sister and the sight of Grynar’s hand wrapped around the thalac blade dripping with her blood. He would forget his quest for justice and vengeance. He would forget he even had a sister to avenge.
That was not something he would allow.
Toren did not waste time investigating his surroundings or letting his curiosity consume his attention. He would not be here long enough to have the need to fit within their world. For now, all his focus had to be on gaining Adreeahbenwah’s help.
He solved the puzzle of getting water out of the spigot to wash himself, and then found a pair of short pants that covered his groin. None of the shirts in the drawer would go over his shoulders.
Perhaps all humans were as small as Adreeahbenwah.
If she was upset by a man’s bare chest, he would wrap himself in that blanket again, no matter how awkward it felt. He would do nothing to slow his return home.
When he came out, she looked up, going still as soon as she saw him. A look of shock slid over her features, and a warm flush crept up her neck.
“Aren’t you cold in just a pair of shorts?” she asked. “It’s freezing in here.”
He was not cold, but if she was, he would warm her. Without thinking, he sent a spark of power to the logs laid inside the hearth. Fire blazed up in a heated whoosh.
Her eyes widened, and her full lips parted on a terrified squeak of sound. “What the hell did you just do?”
Toren’s carelessness hit him hard. Not only had he wasted precious strands of power, he had also frightened the one woman who might be able to save his life.
He started toward her, fumbling for human words of apology. Instead, his own language spilled from him, low and fervent. By the time he crossed the small space, she had pressed herself into a corner and was clutching a tiny knife in her fist.
“It was nothing,” he said, finally finding the human words he needed. “Only magic.”
“Magic?”
“There is nothing to fear. I will not hurt you. I swear.”
“Get back,” she ordered, her dark eyes wide with panic. “I will fucking stab you if you take one step closer.”
Chapter Three
The man wasn’t human. Adria realized that in a heartbeat, putting all the clues together in a terrifying rush.
First there was the way he looked. He was too big to be real, with pale skin that had an odd, almost bluish tint to it that she now realized had nothing to do with the cold. He towered over her, babbling incoherently in a language that sounded more like music than words. And his hair. It was inky black, shining with purple highlights. It swayed even inside the cabin, with no breeze, as if it had a life of its own.
But the biggest clue that he was not human was the smoking crater with him lying naked at the bottom. She’d thought he’d fallen in, but now she was beginning to wonder if he had made the thing by slamming into the ground. Landing here from… somewhere else.
A human wouldn’t have survived that, and yet here he was, seemingly fine, with little more than the purple scratch on his chin.
Alien.
The word rang through her mind, clanging around with all the attached implications.
Her mouth went dry with fear. Her body quivered, rooted in place. She wanted to run or scream, but her legs and voice betrayed her, leaving her standing there like a frightened rabbit.
“I will not hurt you,” he said, and while his deep tone was reassuring in its gentleness, she wasn’t buying it.
She unglued her tongue from the roof of her mouth, but her voice was a thin, wavering thread of sound. “What are you?”
“Trapped,” he said, clearly misunderstanding her question. “I was sent here unjustly, against my will. I need you, Adreeahbenwah.”
“The door is right there. I won’t stop you from walking through it.” Please, God, let him leave. She would pack up and go back to work like a good little girl and never take another vacation ever again. She’d learned her lesson.
He frowned for a second as if trying to make sense of her words. “No, not trapped in this structure. It is Obliterra that chains me, muting my power. I must leave your world before it is too late and all that I am is lost.”
That sounded bad—almost bad enough for her to feel sorry for him. If not for the fear stampeding through her, she might have. “I have no clue what you’re talking about. And I really don’t care. Just go, please, and forget you ever saw me.”
He stepped closer without seeming to. One second he was six feet away, and the next he was right in front of her, his long fingers wrapped around her wrist, controlling the knife easily, as if she were a child.
“Please,” he said, his tone desperate. “I need your help. I need to go home before home and all those I love are lost to me forever.” The blue ring around his pupils shrank, and taking its place was a vibrant red band.
Definitely not human.
Adria looked down at the knife. He hadn’t taken it from her. He’d only kept her from stabbing him with it. That wasn’t much to go on, but it was better than nothing. Barely.
“Please,” he repeated with genuine need.
She knew what it was like to ache for something she couldn’t have—to have the one thing she’d wanted most stripped away from her. She knew the helpless rage and the hollow sense of hopelessness that loss left behind.
That was all William had left her, and now, more than two years later, she was still trying to repair the damage that losing him had done.
She couldn’t knowingly let another creature suffer the way she had if there was anything she could do to stop it. Even if that creature wasn’t human.
“Where is home?” she asked him. As stupid as it was to get sucked into someone else’s problems—especially on her first vacation in years—the desperation on his face was more than she could ignore.
His eyes lit with hope. “Sorsca.”
“Is that a place or a name?”
“It is both.”
“How do you get back?”
“Magic.”
She shook her head, sorry she’d asked. “Then you’re on your own. I can’t help you there.”
“You humans are devoid of magic, but you have vital knowledge. I need items.” He frowned as if searching for the right words. “Ingredients. Elements.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know how you name them, but I can show you. Once you find them, I will leave you in peace. Will you help?”
What choice did she have? There was no one around for miles, which was why she chose this place for her vacation. She couldn’t just let him loose on the world to stumble around half naked until he found someone else to help. What if someone shot him simply because he looked odd? Besides, walking away wasn’t in her genetic makeup. She’d been raised better than that, which was why she’d stayed by William’s side through every moment of his cancer. To the sad, ugly end.
Adria pulled in a deep breath, hoping she wasn’t making the biggest mistake of her life. “What do you need me to do?”
“Trust me.”
She glanced pointedly as his hands wrapped around her arms. “Easier said than done.”
He nodded slowly, and then after a moment’s hesitation and a deep exhalation, he released her and stepped back.
In the bright kitchen lighting, she could see his body clearly now. The stretchy gym shorts he’d borrowed were so tight they left nothing to the imagination. The thick bulge of his penis was as evident as his extravagant, cover model hair. He seemed out of place among the butcher block counters and worn tile floor. There was something majestic about him, something powerful and predatory in the way he stood there, simply breathing as he watched her. His ribcage expanded and contracted with each breath, casting deep shadows across his abdomen every time he exhaled. A pale, bluish scar ran down his ribs, making her wonder what had happened.
“What are you?” she asked again. “I mean you’re clearly not human.”
“I am like you, had you been born in a place where power flowed, rather than in this desolate desert of weakness and forgetting.”
If he realized he was insulting her home, he gave no outward sign. “You don’t look like me.”
He waved his hand, drawing her attention to his long, thick fingers. “Exterior wrapping. A container, nothing more. If I stay here long enough, my coloring will change beneath your sun. My power will fade. My memories of who I am and who I love will die. I will become no more than you.”
“Gee. Way to make a girl feel good about herself.”
He winced as if just realizing the barb he’d cast at her. “I intend no insult, but this is not my home. I have family I love—family who is in a time of need. Staying here will remove memories of them from my thoughts. They will be dead to me. Worse… forgotten, without even knowledge of our time shared together.”
“Wait. You’re saying that if you stay here it will erase your memory?”
