Free The Alien's Captive by Ruth Anne Scott Page A

to living so high off the ground. Sometimes I just need to feel the earth under my feet again.”
    He cocked his head and blinked his bright eyes at her. “What’s in the basket?”
    She held it up, and her cheeks flushed with relief. “Nothing.”
    He smiled at her, but his eyes kept her pinned to the spot. “You can tell me the truth. What were you doing down at the stream?”
    She stared back into his eyes, straight into the depths of his heart. He’d always been kind to her, and he showed a lot more sense than most other Avitras. He was the one who let Emily cross the border to visit her, even though the foreigners accompanied her. The other factions didn’t threaten Piwaka the way they threatened Aquilla. Those bright blue eyes of his saw farther than any Avitras she’d ever met.
    What if, by some miracle, she could trust him? What if he wasn’t just asking what she was doing down at the stream, but was in fact asking her to open up to him about Menlo? What if his questions were really an invitation to confide in him, to rely on him, to draw him into her circle of allies?
    Everything she knew about him, everything she’d seen him do, encouraged her to trust him. She couldn’t ask for a better ally. He knew everything that went on in Avitras territory, and he had a lot more influence with the Border Guard than Aquilla ever would.
    If she trusted him, if she won his confidence, she might have a real chance of helping Menlo instead of just comforting him through his ordeal. With Piwaka’s help, she might be able to get him out of this horrible situation in one piece.
    The moment the thought crossed her mind, her spirits soared the same way they did when Penelope Ann offered to help her. She never thought she’d be so fortunate as to get Piwaka on her side. If she did, the possibilities were limitless.
    She took a deep breath. “I was burying some egg shells I got from there.”
    He blinked again. “What were you doing with egg shells?”
    He wasn’t asking. He was inviting her to tell him the truth, to unburden herself of her secret. “I gave them to Menlo to eat. I brought the empty shells here to hide them so Aquilla wouldn’t find them and figure out what I’d done.”
    A trace of a smile touched his mouth. “What else have you been doing with Menlo that you don’t want Aquilla to know about?”
    “I untied him last night,” she told him. “I put salve on his wounds, and I kept watch over him while he slept. Then I tied him up again this morning.”
    Piwaka nodded, and the smile spread all the way across his face. “It’s a good thing you told me the truth, because I followed you just now. I watched you bury those egg shells. If you had lied to me....”
    “Would you have told Aquilla?” she asked.
    He cocked his head the other way. “I don’t know what I would have done. But since you did tell me the truth, I won’t tell him. I should, but I won’t.”
    “If you should, why won’t you?” she asked.
    “Probably for the same reason you did it in the first place,” he replied.
    Anna frowned. “I did it because Aquilla is a psychopath who wants to drag this faction into another disastrous war with the Ursidreans. When the Ursidreans find out what happened to Menlo, they won’t rest until they get him back. They’ll punish us for Aquilla’s vengeful folly. You must understand that.”
    He kept his eyes fixed on her face, but he didn’t stop smiling. “Is that why you did it?”
    “Why else would I have done it?” she asked. “Who in their right mind could stand aside and do nothing while Aquilla toys with Menlo like a cat toys with a mouse before he kills it?”
    “I don’t know what a cat and a mouse are,” he replied, “but Aquilla is not a psychopath. He might be a little....” He trailed off.
    Anna waited. “Deranged? Is that the word you’re looking for? He’s more than a little deranged. He’s gone completely off the rails. You heard Menlo say he has no idea who the