Page 30 of Riv's Sanctuary

A tone sounded, and then a click.

A growl so deep it felt like it moved the air and brushed against the hairs on her skin left him as he pinged Geblit again.

It took three more pings and three more tones before the comm device went hurtling through the air to smash against the far wall.

Eyes wide, Lauren gulped.

Shit, he was frickin' angry. Frickin' frickin' angry.

She was going to have to bear the weight of this blaster if he turned on her.

Edging a little farther backward, she only stopped when the back of her legs bumped into something soft. When that soft thing proceeded to lick her, she almost leaped from her skin as she jumped and yelped.

Turning on the thing, she didn't know what she expected to see there, but she definitely didn't expect to see a plump little furball with small round eyes looking up at her.

For a moment, she couldn't even determine if it was a real animal or not. It was literally a round ball of white fur, like wool, but with eyes. And it had definitely licked her.

When the little furball blinked at her and proceeded to move, on legs she couldn't see because it was just so furry, Lauren's wide eyes followed it as it moved further into the room, straight toward the angry male.

Her host was rigid as he watched the animal approach.

Breath held as she waited to see what he would do, she was surprised when he bent and lifted the little furball, growling something underneath his breath as he walked directly toward her.

Reflexively, she raised the blaster, only to hear him grunt as he passed her to move down a corridor to her right.

The sound of a door opening and slamming shut echoed back into the room and Lauren released her breath.

She needed a plan.

Glancing at the front door, she moved toward it. She could leave now but where would she go. He had a perimeter barrier that looked like it would fry her if she got too close and outside the farm there had been nothing except for the grassy plain.

Letting the blaster sag in her tired arms, she began to pace.

This was really, really a bad situation.

She was stuck on a farm with a male that didn’t want her there. What the hell was she going to do?

A sound in the corridor had her raising the blaster once more, her shoulders rigid as she waited for Riv to appear. Soon he was standing in the room once more, his presence filling it so quickly it was difficult not to stare at him—not that she would have let her eyes drift anywhere else anyway.

His shoulders lifted and fell in a sigh as he crossed his arms and looked at her, his eyebrows diving toward his nose. His eyes were still dark and they were boring into her.

Lauren swallowed hard.

"You ready to talk now?"

No response.

"Are you going to let me stay?"

Still no response.

"I won't be any trouble. I won't even eat that much and anything I eat I'll find a way to pay you back for."

At that moment, her stomach decided to grumble. So loud it was, that it sounded as if she had a baby dragon roaring in her gut.

From across the room, Riv's grumble followed her stomach's growl.

His teeth bared and Lauren took a step back.