Read Online Captured: Warriors of Hir, Book 1 by Willow Danes - Free Book Online Page B

exactly what he thought about her having a reaction that could mean any, or all, of the three.
    “Actually, since we’re on the names subject, what are you? I’m human. Bill, remember him?” she asked with a wave toward the front door. “He’s human.” She picked up the case for the movie they’d watched last night and pointed to the photo. “Charles and Nell are human . What are you?”
    He gave a short, clipped growl.
    “Greehaar?” she tried.
    He shook his head and repeated the word. She tried twice more and he seemed pretty satisfied with her third attempt of “grah-here.”
    “How did you come here? To this world?” She realized she was waving her arms around in a way that could probably mean anything. “Wait, I have an idea. Come on.”
    Jenna pulled on her down jacket and zipped it up. He was in front of her as soon as she opened the front door, already scanning the woods and sniffing.
    After a moment he gave her a nod and she stepped out onto the porch.
    “There’s nothing up here,” she said, heading down the stairs. “Sometimes you see a black bear and there’s been some wolves but even they’re rare. Your worst worry is snakes or coming up on a hornets’ nest cause they sometimes build them in the ground but that’s not gonna happen in winter. Now this is my SUV,” she continued with a gesture at it. “Which I really need to clear the snow off of. Man, that’s going to be a pain now,” she muttered, giving the ice crusted over the snow a disgusted push with her gloved fingers. “Anyway, this is my car. It takes me from place to place.” She pointed at the tire tracks Bill’s cruiser had left behind. “That was Bill’s car. What do you have? Where is it?”
    In the sunlight reflecting off the snow he was both handsome and alien to her eyes now. His eyes glowed inhumanly but she recognized the intelligence, humor, and warmth in their blue depths now.
    Was it only yesterday that I was terrified of him?
    He jerked his chin toward the woods in the direction she’d searched. “There,” he rumbled.
    “Will you show me?” She pointed at her eyes then in the direction he’d indicated. “Show me.”
    He gave a short nod. “Will show you, Jenna.”
    She blinked. “Wow, you’re picking up English fast. My language is called ‘English.’”
    “Human language is English ,” he repeated.
    “Uh, no. My language is English. Other humans have other languages.”
    He frowned. “Much languages?”
    She recalled her sociology textbook in college said there was an insane number of languages—some with a very low number speakers, of course—currently spoken on Earth, something like six thousand.             
    “Yeah, but I only know one.” She’d taken a couple years of French but she could barely remember how to ask directions to the ladies’ so that didn’t count.
    “I have much languages,” he said. “English is a pain.”
    “ What? ”
    His alien eyes were puzzled. “To take snow from car— a pain . English is a pain.”
    “Yeah, I did say that, didn’t I?” Jenna shook her head. “Do you remember”—she touched his temple—“everything I say? All my words?”
    Ra’kur looked surprised. “Yeah.”
    She gave a short laugh. “That should be ‘yes.’ And a better word for ‘a pain’ is ‘difficult.’”
    “Yes,” he echoed, a growling rumble rolling his words. “English is difficult .”
    “Yes.” She was hyperconscious of her slang and diction now that she knew he was absorbing everything like a sponge. “English is difficult, even for humans to learn.”
    In his eyes there was a glimmer of amusement and the frustration of not being able to share his humor, the questions he wanted to ask and sorrow at lacking the ability to do so.
    She felt it keenly too, the longing to be closer, to share.
    He caught her hand in his and in silence they continued down the mountain. Ra’kur led her to the place near the creek where she’d been so spooked