The Alien's Captive by Ruth Anne Scott Page B

hand. “You do it.”
    She couldn’t help but smile again. She cradled his hand in hers and rubbed the salve into the purple line around his wrist. When she finished, he offered her the other one. “You really know how to make Aquilla mad.”
    “He’s mad enough already,” Menlo muttered.
    Anna chuckled. “You gave perfect answers during your interview. Piwaka is defending you now. Aquilla won’t be able to keep you much longer.”
    “He’ll keep me as long as he wants,” Menlo returned. “He won’t let me go until he gets his revenge.”
    “He can’t exactly revenge himself on you,” Anna replied. “You don’t know who killed his brother, and he won’t find out by torturing you.”
    Menlo’s head shot up. Then his shoulders slumped. “This is the second time you’ve done me a good turn, Anna. I feel honor-bound to return the favor.”
    “What do you mean?” Anna asked.
    “I lied to him,” he replied. “I do know who killed his brother.”
    Anna’s jaw dropped. “You do? How could you? You said you were only a foot soldier in the war. How could you know who was the division commander along the Eastern Divide?”
    He must have been feeling better, because he smiled. “Everyone in that war knew where the Eastern Divide was. It’s the main border feature between our two territories. I would have to be dead not to know where it was. And I know who the division commander was because I served under him. I fought with him along the Divide, and I was there when he killed the Avitras Alpha. Aquilla’s brother Erius was Alpha before him.”
    Anna stared at him. “Then why did you lie? Why don’t you tell Aquilla what he wants to know and save yourself all this trouble?”
    He gazed into her eyes. “You really care about what happens to me, don’t you? I wasn’t expecting that, even from you. I lied because, the moment Aquilla finds out who killed his brother, he’ll get rid of me.”
    “He’ll.....get rid of you how?” Anna asked.
    “He’ll kill me,” Menlo replied. “Once he knows the identity of the killer, he won’t need me anymore.”
    “But that would spark a war with the Ursidreans,” Anna pointed out. “He wouldn’t want to risk that.”
    “He doesn’t care if he sparks a war,” Menlo replied. “All he cares about is getting his revenge. In fact, sparking a war is exactly what he wants to do.  Then the man who killed his brother will have to cross the border to fight it. He’ll have to come to Aquilla instead of Aquilla having to go find him somewhere. It all fits in with his plan.”
    Anna’s head fell into her palm. “This is terrible. This is the worst thing that could possibly happen. What if he keeps attacking you until he finds out the truth? It would be better if you didn’t know anything. Then he couldn’t force you to tell him.”
    Menlo shook his head. “He won’t stop, and eventually, I’ll have to tell him what I know.”
    “What about your Alpha?” Anna asked. “When he finds out you’ve been taken prisoner, he’ll come for you.”
    “That’s exactly what Aquilla wants,” Menlo replied. “The sooner our factions go to war, the happier he’ll be.”
    “What are we going to do?” Anna cried.
    Menlo looked down at his hand still cradled in hers. All of a sudden, she became aware of her skin touching his. “There’s nothing we can do.”
    She pulled her hand back. “We can’t just sit around waiting for disaster to strike. We have to do something.”
    “Like what?” he asked.
    Anna opened her mouth. Then she shut it again. “I don’t know.”
    He took her hand again, and this time, he cradled her hand in his. The salve radiated its heat into her fingers. “You’ve already done more than any one person could be expected to do under the circumstances. You should be careful not to endanger yourself any more than you already have.”
    This time, she forgot to pull her hand back. “I’m not in danger.”
    “You’re in more danger than you