Page 28 of Riv's Sanctuary

He knew he was.

He probably looked like he was about to pounce on her and snap her neck. He wanted to snap someone’s neck, but it wasn’t hers.

Geblit Cakhura’s, preferably.

Every muscle in his being was tense, anger boiling beneath.

If he could see himself, he knew what he’d see—a large threatening male.

It’s what most beings saw when they looked at him and so far, this persona had served him well.

But the utter fear in the female’s eyes as she stared at him only made him growl again in anger.

Chest heaving, the female’s eyes darted from him around the room to land on his blaster.

She wouldn’t dare.

Gathering himself, he made to stand only for the female to jump suddenly from her box, so suddenly he hadn’t expected the movement, and within moments she was at the table.

Before he could even consider what she was about to do, he watched in shock as she lifted his blaster and pointed it right at him.

His own weapon.

Geblit Cakhura was a liar.

Not a very intelligent species, he'd said.

Well, you wouldn't get one of his oogas pulling a blaster on him any day. Within seconds of freeing this, this … being, it was already threatening him.

The female's breathing was coming hard as she watched him, her brown eyes still wide, and Riv let out a grunt of annoyance as he stood.

He must have stood much faster than she'd expected or maybe she was frightened because she was so small, for as he rose, she took a few steps back, her eyes moving up his frame to only get larger as they landed on his face.

"Look," she spoke.

Her voice caught him off guard...or maybe it was that he hadn't heard the voice of a female in so long, for hers was like music. Soft like a caress, even though she’d hardened her voice to speak firmly to him.

That one word stroked across his body, only making his annoyance grow.

"Ai dohnt meen yoo en-ee hahrm. Ai didnn ahsk fer dis eederr."

What?

She was speaking words, he assumed. The sounds didn't appear to just be random.

The next time he saw Geblit, he was definitely going to snap his neck.

"Put down the weapon." He could barely get the words through his gritted teeth.

The female didn't budge.

Maybe she couldn't understand him just as he couldn't understand her.

Great. The least Geblit could have done was get her a translator chip.

The Torian had been right about one thing, though. He’d said she was a…he forgot the word. He hadn’t recognized the species and now that he was looking at her, it was clear the female standing in front of him wasn't of any species he'd seen before. She was similar to other species he'd seen, of course, but not the same.

One could say she was similar to his species but there were obvious differences.