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

ends, really,” she said. “I was talking to Nate, he’s one of the people in charge of doing research on it, and he was saying that they’re so stumped they’re joking that it might be something from another planet.”
    Instead of laughing like she’d assumed he would, Draco looked thoughtful. “Is that so unbelievable? Logically, if it’s not something you can identify from your world then it has to be from somewhere else, right?”
    “I...suppose so,” Stephanie said, chewing on her lip. “I just. Can we be sure there’s even anything out there to have made something like that?”
    The smile on his face was indulgent. “Well, you almost certainly can’t be sure there’s not.”
    “Point,” she admitted. “I’m not sure how we’d go about displaying something that came from another planet. How would we even be able to tell what planet it was from or who made it? Our knowledge is seriously lacking there.” Stephanie honestly couldn’t tell if she was kidding or not anymore. The thought of there being life on other planets and whole history to go with it was such a big thing to think about, but she knew that the second it was proven she’d want to learn everything she could about them.
    Draco was watching her with a speculative look in his eyes, and she wondered what he saw when he looked at her. “I think you’d like it on other planets,” he said finally. “Assuming there’s life out there.”
    And really, that was the last straw for her. She had to at least ask. If he said no, then she’d nurse her wounds and wait for him to go back to wherever it was he came from. And if he said yes, then…
    Well, she’d deal with it.
    “Would you like to get dinner sometime?” she asked him. “I mean. I know that we don’t know each other well at all, but I’ve really been enjoying talking to you, and I just. I think it would be nice. If you’re interested.”
    He looked taken aback, but then he smiled. “Sure. I’d like that. You can show me what good food is like here.”
    Stephanie felt so light with relief that she thought she might float.
     
     

Chapter 5: The Catch
     
    It really was amazing to Draco that somehow he’d come to Earth to look for one specific thing and wound up with a date. That was another thing he could check off the list of things that had never happened to him before when he was looking for an Artifact. This was turning into the strangest trip he’d had to date, and that included the one where he’d ended up on a planet that was ninety percent water and inhabited by monsters with more tentacles than any living thing could possible need.
    Presea had laughed herself silly when he’d told her (working up to telling Plintos), showing her sharp teeth and throwing her head back.
    Draco still wasn’t sure what to make of her, but she hadn’t done anything to lead him to believe that she meant him harm, so he was treating her like a friend for the moment. After all, being on Earth was lonely since all of his friends were so far away, and he didn’t have to pretend to be human with Presea.
    Still, when she was done laughing, he asked her for advice. She’d been living here for years, and he thought he could benefit from her help.
    “Let her take the lead,” Presea had said. “She knows what she likes probably and you can just say you’re a tourist and don’t know anything about the area and she won’t suspect a thing. Also,” and she hesitated for a second. “Don’t lead her on. If you’re just using her to get close to the blade, then don’t give her false hope. That’s a really crappy thing to do to someone.”
    Draco had nodded and taken that to heart. The last thing he wanted was to hurt her, even if he was technically planning on using her. She was just a nice and bright young woman, even for a human, and he didn’t want her to be caught in the middle of his need to get the blade and get back home.
    They’d made plans to go out that weekend, after her