Alien Protector: Sci-Fi Alien Invasion Paranormal Romance by Ashley West Page A

shift on Friday, so there was plenty of time for him to get himself together.
    Plintos managed to wait until Wednesday before calling again, and Draco answered him with good humor, pleased that he looked like he was at least getting more sleep when he saw his face on the comm screen.
    “Hello, Draco,” he said. “How are you? How’s Earth? Do you see how I’m asking questions about you before I get to the inevitable point of this call?”
    Draco laughed, leaning back on his bed. “Yes, very good, Plintos,” he said. “I’m fine, thanks for asking. Earth...continues to be baffling. I think I have a date, and no, I haven’t gotten or seen the blade yet.”
    “What is taking them so long?” Plintos complained.
    “Well, they don’t know what it’s made out of. In fact, Stephanie was telling me today that they were joking around about the idea that it might be from another planet.”
    “Finally caught on, have they? Humans are rather slow on the uptake.”
    Draco shrugged at that. “You have to give them the benefit of the doubt. They are much further behind when it comes to knowing that there are other things out there besides them.”
    “I suppose that’s true.” Plintos sighed. He opened his mouth and then closed it again, face screwing up in an expression of confusion. “Did you just say you think you have a date?” he asked.
    “I was wondering how long it was going to take you to pick up on that. Yeah, that’s what I said.”
    “Is it with this Stephanie person?”
    “How did you know?”
    “Because you’ve mentioned her by name every time we’ve talked, and your face does that smile thing when you do.”
    He made a face. “I don’t know what you mean. Anyway, it’s not important, really. She’s probably going to be my best bet for getting the blade, so it makes sense to keep her close, doesn’t it? If I can get her to trust me, then she might let me see it, and then I can grab it and go.”
    Plintos looked skeptical, but as the plan was going to get him closer to what he wanted, there wasn’t much he could say in argument. “Just be careful,” was all he said, which Draco took offense to because he was always careful.
    When he ended the call, it was with the distinct feeling that there was something Plintos wasn’t telling him, but he had that feeling a lot and figured it was mostly because one of them was a king and one wasn’t. It was impossible for them to be as close as they had been and share everything, and he was just going to have to make his peace with that.
    In the mean time, he needed to see if Presea had anything he could wear for this date.
     
    When Friday rolled around, Draco found himself nervous. It was ridiculous since going out to dinner with one human woman shouldn’t have been such a big thing, but he didn’t have much experience in this matter.
    He’d kissed females before and done many other things with them as well, but the way humans did dates was different from what he was used to, and it was imperative that he didn’t seem too...well, alien.
    They were meeting at the museum, which was a neutral place, and Stephanie had offered to drive when he’d told her that he didn’t have a car, neatly avoiding the whole thing about not knowing how to drive, and he got the distinct impression that she found his strangeness charming. That boded well.
    For...being able to get close to her to get what he wanted and not for any other reason. Of course. Because it wasn’t like he wanted her to like him, and it wasn’t like he was considering this a real date.
    That would just be silly.
    He walked to the museum that evening, grateful that some of the heat had broken with a late afternoon thunderstorm that had rolled away into nothing almost as soon as it came. The pavement was still wet from it since the sun was setting, and he sidestepped puddles neatly until he reached the front of the museum.
    And there she was. She was standing in front of her car, hands twisting