Page 44 of Riv's Sanctuary

It took a few long moments for her to berate herself enough to lift her head and look out the window once more. But when her gaze moved back to the spot he’d been standing, she realized he was no longer there.

Letting out a breath, Lauren frowned at herself shortly after.

She’d dealt with a disagreeable alien before—the zookeeper, specifically. So why did this one make her so nervous?

* * *

He didn’t mind it, but it puzzled him a bit.

He’d expected the female to leave the room, but she hadn’t.

Granted, he’d spent almost all day tending to the sick ooga, which had somehow gotten its leg broken, so he hadn’t been inside the dwelling.

He only knew she hadn’t exited because he’d seen her watching him from the window.

Every time he went to check on the ooga and the cast he’d put on the animal’s leg, she’d been watching him from the window.

Usually, that sort of thing would piss him off and annoy him to no end, but somehow it didn’t this time.

Instead, he was curious.

Curious as to why she’d spent the entire time in the room.

When he entered the dwelling after spending all day outside, he was sure she hadn’t left the room.

Her scent was faint, which meant she hadn’t been walking about.

Not even for food, and he was sure she was hungry.

Her body was small and frail. From his experience, such types of creatures needed sustenance regularly.

She wasn’t of the type bred for resilience.

Setting down his gloves on the table, he stretched his arms, reveling in the ache of his muscles.

That ache felt good.

Nothing felt better than exhausting himself so much that he knew he’d fall asleep when he went to his sleeping cushion. It was one of the reasons he worked so hard every day. It was almost a guarantee that he’d fall asleep. His eyes would close and his brain would shut own when he went to bed.

Beside him, Grot settled down on the floor.

The tevsi was tired too, it seemed. He’d been in the fields chasing the robots and hunting small game, no doubt.

Rubbing a hand over his jaw, Riv cast a glance down the corridor toward the room he knew the female was in.

If Sohut was here, he’d be able to help him navigate this problem that had happened upon their doorstep courtesy of Geblit Cakhura.

He still didn’t know what he was going to do with the human but the longer he had her at his residence, the more she was going to settle in and that was the last thing he wanted.

Moving to the cook room, he washed his hands and pulled out a premade bowl of dried rai from the food box. Reaching into the cooling unit, he grabbed a can of gada paste and poured it into the bowl, waiting for it to reach an acceptable level before he lifted the bowl and brought it to the table.

The hover chair slipped out easily and, as he sat, he stared at the bowl of rai in front of him.

The female was still on his mind.

Why hadn’t she left the room?

Wasn’t she hungry?