The Arrival: A Sci-Fi Alien Warrior Paranormal Romance by Ashley West Page B

what? Sit here twiddling my thumbs?"
    "I don't know what that means."
    She made a noise of wordless frustration and glared at him. "I'm not staying here. What if you need me?"
    "Why would I need you?" It was harsher than he'd meant to be, but his point still stood. There wasn't anything she could do to help him capture a Camador. Except perhaps serve as bait.
    Actually...
    He held up one hand to cut Abby off in the middle of the rant she had gone on while he wasn't listening. "There is something you can do," he said. "But I don't want to hear any complaining about it."
    "I hate you," Abby hissed. "Did I mention that? That I hate you?"
    Sorrin rolled his eyes. "What did I say about complaining?"
    "This isn't complaining, this is me telling you how much I hate you. Totally a different thing."
    He sighed, rubbing at his forehead. The sad part was that this was continuing to remind him of how things had been when he was a warrior. Some of his men hadn't always thought his ideas were good ones. The sadder part was that he was actually starting to enjoy himself. How long had it been since he’d had someone to work with?
    It didn’t bear dwelling on, and he shook his head to clear it, motioning for Abby to be quiet. “You can go back to the ship if you’d rather,” he said, smiling when she scowled at him. It was becoming far too easy to smile at her.
    “Shut up,” she hissed at him. “I’m not going back to the ship.”
    “Then stand there and look like bait. And stop complaining.” He pushed her forward and then ducked back and out of sight. The key here was not to be seen until the last possible second. It wasn’t a sound plan, if anything it was a hastily thrown together one, but it would have to do. “Abby,” Sorrin whispered, holding her gaze when she turned to look at him. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
    Something softened in Abby’s eyes, and some of the irritation drained out of her face. “I know,” she whispered back.
    That was surprising. She had no reason to trust him beyond the fact that he’d gotten her out of the floating city in one piece. For all she knew he was throwing her right back to the Camadors now. But apparently, she didn’t believe that. Apparently, she thought he was trustworthy. Something warmed in him, but he pushed the feeling aside, making himself focus.
    This was the closest location on the map, but it wasn't exactly the easiest one to deal with. It was some sort of warehouse, with one way in and who knew how many ways out that they couldn’t see. Old boxes were strewn about, and everything was covered in dust and grime from years of disuse. Why one of the Camadors would be here, Sorrin didn’t know. They preferred for things to be clean and orderly if at all possible, so this was a very strange place to find one of them.
    But the scanner had been certain, and this was where Abby had led them according to the map, so he was crouched down behind a stack of boxes, watching as she wandered further in.
    “Hello?” she called, her voice echoing slightly in the high ceilinged area they were in. “Is anyone here?”
    Sorrin tensed as they both listened, the sound of footsteps echoing in the distance alerting them to the fact that someone was coming.
    “Hello?” Abby called again. “If you’re there, please help me!”
    “Who are you?”
    A melodious voice, soft and sweet, and Sorrin knew they were in the right place. Only Camadors sounded like that.
    “H-hello?” Abby’s voice wavered with either real or invented fear, and Sorrin mentally cheered her on. “I need help. Someone’s chasing me, and I can’t—”
    “Oh, dear. You shouldn’t be here. You really should not be here.” Out of the shadows stepped a Camador. She was tall and thin, willowy just like the rest of her people, and her hair tumbled down her back in ebony curls. She looked tired and afraid, like she was expecting someone else, and Sorrin wondered if all the Camadors were as united as they