Khol (Rescued by the Alien)

3. Nancy

Chapter 3

Nancy

A gorgeous, blue-skinned alien with silver hair and a muscular body one-and-a-half times my size wrapped his arms around me and lifted me out of the water.

His soft gaze went from me to Flora. “Hold on. I’ll get you to shore.”

“I can swim,” I said. It wasn’t that I didn’t want his help, but if I’d learned nothing else over the past five years, it was that I needed to rely solely on myself.

No trusting anyone, not even a hot alien.

His unibrow ridge lifted. “But what about the youngling?”

Youngling? He must mean Flora.

“Thank you, but I can do this.” I turned onto my back and started paddling with Flora draped across my chest. Why wasn’t she waking up? She was breathing .

Those robocops better not have hurt her or I’d . . .

There was nothing I could do about it right now. They’d kidnapped me and dumped me in an alien world. I’d do all I could to find a way back, but with the tiny spaceship I’d arrived in sinking into the depths and more alien shark fins cutting through the water, heading my way, the odds of me returning to Earth were less than . . . Well, less than me surviving long enough to reach shore.

Khol kept pace with us, swimming easily while shooting glares toward the sharknados. He was attractive in an alien way, with a strong jawline and a slight beard, plus gorgeous dark blue eyes. I didn’t know his intentions, but his eagerness to help me spoke well of him.

The small ship we’d arrived on disappeared beneath the water, taking our only chance of returning to Earth along with it. Even if I could bring it up from the bottom, would it function? I was no engineer. It was all I could do to drive a stick shift back home.

It looked like I was stuck on this planet for the foreseeable future.

A large fin rose above the water about thirty feet away, and the alien shark darted toward us at a feverish pace.

“We need to get out of the water,” I cried, flailing toward shore with my arm snug around Flora snug in my arms.

With a growl, Khol intercepted the water beast, diving down to meet up with it before it could reach us.

The water boiled, and I should help him. He’d placed his own life in danger to protect mine and Flora’s. But there was no way I could fight off alien sharks and keep my daughter from drowning. She couldn’t swim, though lessons at the Y were on my agenda.

So much for my Earth agenda.

If I didn’t keep moving toward shore, I’d risk both our lives. I didn’t care about myself, not too much, but Flora would not survive on an alien planet alone.

Flora stirred, whimpering, turning onto her belly and wrapping her arms around my neck. When she flailed, she shoved me beneath the surface. I kicked my legs, shooting our heads back up, and she coughed and started crying.

“It’s okay, sweetie.” I stroked her back, hoping she’d stop moving. “Hold still.” The shore seemed too far away, though it couldn’t be more than twenty feet.

If she kept struggling, we’d both drown.

As I held her with one arm while stretching the other out to drag us toward shore, I kept looking back.

Khol didn’t come up for air, and a stark, sad feeling shot through me, as if I’d lost something precious. I tried to shrug it off, but it persisted as the water continued to churn in that area. A shark’s tail whipped against the surface, its body twisting as it battled with the blue alien male who’d made himself our savior. Others swam closer, drawn by the fight.

His arm snapped above the water and his hand holding a blade dove back down. He came up for air before plunging below again. Water splashed, and a dark purple liquid swirled among the male and creature battling for their lives .

My feet hit sand, and I struggled up the sandy bank, clinging to my daughter.

Flora looked up at me. “Mommy?” she asked in a sleepy voice. “Time ta go to daycare?”

“Not right now, sweetie.”

“Why are we wet?” Frowning, she peered around as I strode up the shore, shooting looks back at Khol. He hadn’t come up again, but the water still churned. “Dis isn’t daycare.”

Anything but.

“We . . .” How could I explain this to a child? “We went swimming in a new place.” I lowered her to her feet and held her shoulders, meeting her blue eyes she’d inherited from me. Her brown hair came from her dad, but her high cheekbones and petite frame were pure me. I adored every bit of her, however. He hadn’t wanted her, but I did. “I need you to wait here.”

Did I dare leave her alone?

I scanned the jungle about fifty feet away, and I didn’t see anything lurking among the thick vegetation, but after what attacked us in the water, I’d be foolish to trust anything about this strange new world.

“Okay, Mommy.” Still sleepy, Flora dropped down onto the sand and picked up a shell the size of her hand, frowning at it. “Pwetty.”

“Yes, it’s pretty. Stay here.”

“Okay.”

Most of the time, my daughter could win awards for being cooperative. Even the terrible twos hadn’t been much more than a blip. She was an easygoing child, and as a single mom struggling to make ends meet, I was eternally grateful for that.

Would she do as I asked this time? I’d risk it, though I’d keep an eye on her while I tried to help Khol. I couldn’t get rid of the feeling that I had to do what I could to save him.

I grabbed a piece of driftwood off the sand and spun, but before I could splash back into the water, Khol emerged from the waves like King Triton come to plunder on shore. For a moment, my heart thrilled, and it was all I could do not to swoon.

I’d fallen for a bad boy once and look where it got me—raising a child alone. I told myself I’d never give into a guy’s dubious charms again. But damn. Khol could be featured on the cover of a magazine as hot guy of the year .

He was a drool-worthy hero in a TikTok video. Someone to fantasize about while lying alone in bed at night.

He wore only a dark purple loincloth that clung to his narrow hips and outlined a sizable bulge in the front, and water sluiced down his muscular chest and rippled along the defined grooves of his abs.

He was a Greek statue come to life. A portrait of manliness I could stare at forever.

My stick dropped from my limp hand, thudding on the sand by my feet, and I tried to drag my gaze away from him. Behind me, Flora chattered about the shells, the sand, the water, and who knows what else.

How could anyone expect me to think at a time like this?

He sheathed his blades at his waist as he strode toward me with complete confidence, as if he hadn’t just defeated a creature who would’ve eaten me and Flora in one bite.

Behind him, the sharknados swarmed the carcass he left behind.

Stopping in front of me, he stared, taking in my face and my body, and it was only then that I realized I wore a white nightie and nothing else. The thin fabric clung to my skin, and the stiff wind made shivers erupt from deep inside me. My nipples beaded from the cold, and my body shook with spent adrenaline.

I should be afraid of this obviously virile alien male’s interest, right? Instead, all I could do was stare at him with the same greedy gaze he used on me.

“Welcome to Zuldrux,” he said in a husky, smooth voice. His throat worked with a deep swallow, and he flicked his gaze away from mine. “I will . . .” He trailed off, and I got the sudden impression he was shy.

“I’m Nancy,” I said, grateful I could speak even if I couldn’t think of much to say.

Flora got up and patted my leg. “Mommy. Mommy! Look what I got.” She held up a pink shell the size of her fist. “Look, blue man. Look!”

“This is my daughter, Flora,” I said, stroking her long, wet hair. She wore the same pink princess dress she’d insisted on wearing to daycare. Flora insisted all girls were royalty, and all royalty adored pink. Who could argue with something like that?

Khol stooped down in front of her and held out his hand.

“Pwetty,” she said. Frowning, she poked his arm. “Blue. Mommy, I want blue skin too.”

Her lower lip trembled, and she burst into tears.