Lion Man's Captive, Kaitlyn O'Connor [top fiction books of all time .txt] 📗

planned her next attack, thinkingshe could grab a couple of fistfuls of dirt and debris from theground and blind him with it long enough to escape. Instead, whenshe thought he might be off balance, she gave him ashove.

She hadn’t miscalculated …completely. He was off balance and the push sent him over backwards.Unfortunately, he still had a good grip on her wrists and he tookher with him. She bumped her forehead on his chin when she landedon top of him.

He glared up at her, the narrowing ofhis eyes making him look just that much more feline—andunnerving.

She gaped at him a moment, wondering ifshe could convince him it had been accidental.

Ok, so she could see right off that hewasn’t going for that. Forcing what she hoped was a seductivesmile—although she found that in itself unnerving considering shewas pretty sure he’d already gotten a woody from wallowing all overher—she hunched him a couple of times and then tried to nuzzle hisneck.

He heaved her up and flipped her off,springing to his feet.

Stunned, Anya lay where he’d dumpedher, gaping up at him.

His lips tightened.“Get up!”

She didn’t know what he’d said, but themotion of his hand seemed pretty self-explanatory. Grunting, shepushed herself upright and finally managed to get to her feet.Realizing he was staring at her, particularly uncomfortable sincehe’d seemed immune to her attempt to seduce him, she covered herbreasts and her mound the best she could with her hands.

Aidan frowned, puzzled at her attemptto cover herself for a few moments. Then it dawned on him that thenanites were already at work. Undoubtedly, she’d been close enoughto one—and wearing clothing made of materials they were designed tobreak down—to lose whatever she’d been wearing and she wasn’t aprimitive as he’d supposed.

The thoughts of theterra-formers abruptly diverted him and he glanced around.“I need to find that damned satellite,”he muttered grimly, “while there’s still a chance that there’s somethingleft.”

He transferred hisattention to the alien female, Fk r slf, when her movement caughthis attention and he realized she was preparing to run.“Don’t even think about it, Fk r slf!”he growled. “If there’snothing left of that gods damned satellite when I find the spotwhere it crashed, I’m going to need something as proof.”

Anya froze, struggling withthe urge to ignore his command, the fear that made her knees weakwhen he growled at her, and the indignation that he was stillcalling her fuck yourself. Her lips tightened. She patted herchest. “My name isAnya, damn it!”

He tilted his head curiously, obviouslyconfused. “Ah-na dam dit?”

Anya stomped her foot in frustration.“No, shithead!” She pointed at him. “Fucktard.” She pointed atherself. “Anya. Anya Dupris,” she added as anafterthought.

Something glittered in his eyes—anger,she thought, feeling her heart trip over itself. It had to be thetone. He couldn’t possibly understand what she’d said.

“Aidan,”he responded, touching a hand to hischest.

Anya smiled a little weakly and decidedto pretend she hadn’t grasped that before. “Uh-dane,” she repeateddutifully and then touched her chest. “Anya.”

“Au-du-ain,”he corrected her.

“Uh-lane.”

He rolled his eyes.

She glared at him and then erased theexpression quickly when he focused on her again. She had thefeeling from the look he gave her that he’d caught the glare.“Ah-na.”

She smiled tightly. “Closeenough.”

Aidan studied Ah-na with an entirelynew perspective. His first guess, not the second, had been correct,he decided. She’d been through hell—probably all because of theterra-formers—and guilt smote him, not because he was personallyresponsible for the disaster but because he’d been against it andhad failed in all attempts to make a change. The terra-formerscertainly explained why she’d looked so primitive, though, and hesupposed she held him responsible for the attack and that explainedher earnest attempts to claw him.

Because he knew it must seem like anattack to her and she’d felt like she was fighting for herlife.

Given her intelligence, he seriouslydoubted that anything he’d said or done had convinced her to trusthim one iota. It might have been easier, upon reflection, if shehad been more animal than intelligent being. No doubt she would’vebeen harder to subdue, but food would probably have convinced herto trust him.

He considered that for amoment and shrugged inwardly. It was worth a try. Lifting a hand tohis mouth he mimed eating. “Ah-nahungry?”

Anya watched him. She was pretty surehe was talking about food, but she couldn’t decide if he wantedsome or he was offering.

Her stomach growled.

At this point, she thought she could bewon over with food … if he hadn’t been a damned alien! She smiledat him, nodding. “I don’t trust you worth a fuck. I don’t care howmuch you offer, you fucktard.”

He eyed her speculatively. “Fk r slf.Fkd ard.”

Uh oh! He might be catching on. Shehadn’t counted on him being intelligent enough to begin figuringout the language that fast!

Aidan studied her reaction and decidedthat whatever it was that she’d said it wasn’t anything flattering.Shrugging off his impatience, he dug into the pocket of his suitfor the emergency rations it should be equipped with. He wasn’tdisappointed. His hand touched a metallic pouch and he grasped itand withdrew it. He curled his lip unconsciously as he read thelabel. The colonists often referred to the emergency rations asshit bars and he had a feeling that meant it wasn’t exactlypalatable, but then again it was more in the nature of medicinesince it had been designed to supply all nutritional and caloricneeds to insure survival, not for enjoyment. Unwrapping it, hesniffed it, tried to hide the distaste he felt at the smell andcarefully broke it in half, offering her the otherpiece.

She eyed it distrustfully and slowlyshook her head.

Since she’d seemed to nod in agreementpreviously, he decided the shake meant negative. Still holding outthe piece, he took a bite of his own to show her it was safe toeat.

It tasted like shit, though, and it wasall he could do to prevent a shudder.

She watched him swallow and finallyheld out her hand.

When she took it, she lifted it to hernose, sniffed it, and made a face.

He looked away, trying to pretend hehadn’t noticed her reaction and been amused by it since he wasafraid she’d interpret his amusement as an attempt atdeception.

“It smells like shit and ifthe look on your