Page 50 of Riv's Sanctuary

As she entered the building, she stopped in her tracks.

In front of her was enclosure after enclosure of round, furry...no, woolly animals just like the one that had licked her leg on that first day.

The din was coming from the round animals and further into the building, she could see why.

The big blue alien was there, opening what looked like a bag of grain.

He was wearing his shades and face covering again so she couldn’t see his expression but it seemed he was completely focused on pouring grain into the first enclosure. As he did, the round animals in that enclosure stopped screaming and raced to devour the grain.

The same thing happened for the next enclosure and the next one. The animals were all so eager to get their food that the scene made a laugh bubble within her.

As she moved to the enclosure closest to her, the animals within the space looked up at her, doing their wheak-whistle thing, no doubt demanding that she feed them too.

Stretching down, she patted one of them on their furry head and it paused for a second before whistling at her indignantly.

It wanted food, not love.

Lauren giggled and a deep masculine rumble reached her ear.

Looking up, she realized the noise in the "barn" had lowered considerably now that most of the animals were eating and that Riv had finally become aware of her presence.

And...he didn't like that she was touching his animals?

Raising her hands, she backed away from the enclosure, only for the little round animals to whistle-wheak even louder.

Riv was glaring at her, she could feel it without even being able to see his eyes, and she could hear him curse as he moved toward the animals and gave them their grain.

He said nothing to her as he continued feeding the others and she kept out of his way, opting to just watch him instead.

This close, it was hard not staring at him—his presence dominated the space, demanding that she keep him in her sight.

She was so caught up watching him work that she didn't hear the deep rumble behind her.

As the growl sounded again, this time much closer, a chill ran down her spine.

Huge bass speakers.

It was definitely a large, predatory animal of some kind.

Eyes widening a little, she froze. Everything in her being told her not to move and when the blue alien raised his head and looked her way, whatever he saw behind her had him freezing as well.

"Phek," she heard him mutter.

"What is it?" she whispered. "It's something bad, isn't it?"

She knew she should have stayed inside. Staying inside was what had kept her safe for a year.

Bravery was not rewarded in this new life.

The alien didn't reply. Instead, he stood, his arms outstretched, palms down.

She knew what that meant.

That was universal-speak for "don't fucking move."

With the dark glasses, she wasn't sure if he was looking at her or at whatever was advancing behind her.

"Don't move, female." And then he cursed underneath his breath, muttering something to himself that sounded like him saying females were trouble.