Rogue Warriors of Lorr
Captured By the Alien Chapter 2

As soon as the door to the bar chimed open, Scarlett smiled, glancing at the clock that hung over the Leaning up from the table that she'd been wiping down, she shoved the rag into her apron and turned "Welcome back."

The Lorr traveler, Grux, as he'd introduced himself a few days prior, nodded at her.

"Evening."

He made his way over to his corner and settled down into the chair that had been tucked against the She walked over to him, knowing exactly what he was going to order since he ordered it every single n "Find anything new to try?"

"What's this cherry bomb... thing...?"

She pressed her lips together to keep from cracking her smile wide. "It's a mixed drink. It's pretty tart. "Hm." He pressed the menu back together. "I think I'll just go with what's on tap, then."

"How did I know?" She smiled.

"You must be a good guesser."

f the bar. It was 9:58, right on time.

ile.

he could face the entire rest of the space, having a clear view over everything and everyone.

e popped in. By now, she'd poked fun at him for it a few times. Though, he did humor her by opening the small table-side menu and flipping through it idly.

u."

She grazed her hand over his table, close to his own that was resting on top of it. "I'll get that right ou She felt his stare burning a hole in her back. It caused butterflies to kick up in her stomach while her face fushed under the hot lights overhead. She grabbed one of the glasses from the top shelf and turned around to the tap. Scarlett knew that getting attached to the Lorr traveler was a bad idea. He'd only be on this planet for short amount of time-however long he still had. Getting involved with him would only lead to her getting her heart broken. She had to admit to herself that ever since he'd been frequenting the bar, no rowdy customers or ever disrespectful ones tended to be handsy while she served them. That all had stopped the minute he stepped foot in the door. Almost like his presence had an overwhelming "behave" attitude that meant if anyone stepped out of hey'd end up being thrown out the front doors and onto the streets. She didn't doubt that the traveler kept his eyes locked on every single customer who came through those doors. It made her feel like she had some kind of guardian angel with her while she worked. Since she worked alone most nights, she'd never felt that safe. Scarlett filled his glass up to the brim, spilling out some of the foam before pulling it away and walkin around the bar to deliver it to him. She wished that there was some way she could get him to stay on Xoyosis, but that was stupid and too wishful to be

hoping for. It wasn't like this planet had anything to offer anyone.

Since it wasn't much more than a convenient stopping point for travelers to more desirable parts of the galaxy, few residents came here and stayed willingly. You either were born here and died on this planet, or you came here to stay because you had nowhere else to go. She was in the latter half of that, unfortunately.

She had to come to terms with that piece of her past, wrestling with the idea that getting off this planet and going somewhere else wouldn't be because she wanted to. The desire would be born out of self-preservation and the need to survive. She'd be damned if she was forced to go back to the hellhole that she'd just barely gotten out of. She'd rather exile herself to planet X8-9009, where literal hellfire rained from the skies daily.

When she walked back across the bar, Scarlett set Grux's beer down on his table and slid it over to him. "Can I get you anything else?"

He looked down at the glass, inspecting it for a long moment. After an inordinately long pause, he said his usual thanks and nodded for her to head off back to the bar.

It made her tilt her head. "Something wrong?"

He didn't say anything again, just breathed out slowly through his nose and tapped his fingers along the table in a strange beat that she couldn't exactly place but sounded familiar, nonetheless. A march of some kind, a national anthem. Finally, when he looked up, he spoke in that delicious rasp of his. "What are you doing after your shift?"

It hadn't been Grux's intention to ask Scarlett out on a date, but now that they were walking side by side to the nearest open diner, something in him struggled to justify his decision. He wanted to pretend that this had given him a convenient excuse to get her to open up to him more and to trust him enough so that taking her back to her owners would be less stressful for both of them.

Because if he could convince her somehow that he'd been hired because the family was worried for her safety and wanted her back before she could get hurt... it would make for the perfect excuse as to why he was doing any of this in the first place and not simply throwing her over his shoulder kicking and screaming.

However, the more he spent time with Scarlett-in the little side glances and small interactions they had talking in between her needy customers-the worse it made his guilt over the inevitability that he was only doing this because he'd been hired to return her. She seemed sweet and-for the most part-happy. He had no idea what she'd done to get herself into being an indentured servant, but whatever it was, it couldn't be good. Terrans weren't typically seen off their home planet. The galaxy was much too difficult of a system for them to handle.

But here Scarlett was, millions of lightyears away from her home planet and thriving despite her living conditions.

"This is the place." She pointed to the corner diner at the end of the street.

Grux moved in front of her, grabbing the door and holding it open for her to sneak through. She gave him a sheepish smile and headed inside with him following right behind.

The diner was pretty much empty save for a single Xoyosan sitting at the front counter eating some kind of pile of mush on the plate in front of him. They both headed over to one of the booths by the windows, taking a seat on opposite sides. Grux looked around, spotting a single cook through the service window. "You come here often?"

Scarlett shrugged at him and grabbed one of the menus already sitting on the booth. "Sometimes when I'm feeling like greasy diner food. It reminds me of home. Or... well, the closest thing to it."

He nodded, grabbed a menu of his own, and flipped it open. "Where's home for you?"

He glanced up from his menu, taking in her pinched expression. "You heard of Earth?"

He tilted his head, remembering that's what the Terrans called their home planet. "I have, yes."

"You ever go there?"

"Can't say I have, no."

"Hm." Scarlett flipped the page of her menu, her eyes scanning over the rows of food listed. "I guess that's fair. It's pretty far from here."

Setting the menu down on the table, Grux laced his fingers over it. Even though getting attached to her wasn't the brightest idea, he couldn't help but want to know more about what had happened to her before she'd been placed under the Xoyosan family who'd bought her. "Were you born on Earth?"

Glancing up, Scarlett raised her eyebrow. "I mean... I am human."

He smiled a little. "I know. But I've heard of some humans reproducing while traveling to other planets."

She blinked, leaning back into her seat. "Oh, that's true. I didn't think of that. But yeah, I was born there."

He nodded. "When did you leave?"

That question made her hesitate. She looked away from him, her hands tightening around her menu enough that her knuckles turned noticeably white. An uneasy feeling grew in Grux's stomach. Had something terrible happened to her that had forced her to leave her home planet?

Scarlett was saved from his further questions when the waitress came over and interrupted them to take their orders.

When she relaxed back into her seat, she looked at him again.

"What about you? It seems you've been on an extended vacation. How long are you planning on staying here?"

"Trying to get rid of me?" he teased.

She laughed and waved her hands. "Not at all. I'm just surprised that you came to this planet for a vacation. It's not exactly, uh... a sought-after destination."

He wanted to snort at the truth of that statement. This place certainly wasn't the tropical destination his brother was currently residing in, that was for sure. "I suppose I'll be here as long as I want in order to avoid my responsibilities back home." She leaned forward, putting her arms on top of the table and folding them together. "And what kind of responsibilities might that be?" That made Grux pause.

Not only did he have PAPS-their private investigation firm-to deal with, but ever since Kozien had stepped down from his role as next in line, their father had started putting the pressure on Grux's shoulders. As suddenly the next in line to inherit the throne, he'd never expected or prepared himself for the quick change in power.

He had no idea how to be a king, let alone someone that Lorr depended on for everything. He'd never been groomed for that kind of life and had always lived contently, watching his brother stumble through it from the sidelines.

When he was younger, of course, he'd been jealous of the attention Kozien constantly received from their father. But now that they were older and he was experiencing it firsthand for himself, he knew how burdensome it was. guess... it'd be rather complicated at the moment."

“|

She nodded. "I'm kind of in the same boat."

He smiled a little, knowing exactly what she was talking about even without her saying so. "Avoiding responsibilities as well?"

"I guess you could call them that. More like I'm trying to get away from something that I was forced into. Now I'm trying to create my own destiny."

Her own destiny. To him, that sounded way too naive and childlike. Wanting to follow far-fetched dreams or goals had never appealed to him before. Though maybe that was because he hadn't allowed himself to think that way in the first place.

It made him wonder what kind of dreams his younger self would've had if he'd been a regular Lorrian and not a prince.

Would he still have ended up in the same place he was now? Running PAPS and sitting in a seedy diner with a pretty Terran girl talking about the future neither of them had?

"Do you have dreams, Grux? About what you want to do with your life?"

He stared deep into her eyes, a weird pit forming in his stomach. She had such beautiful and captivating eyes.

"No. I don't."

She tilted her head. "Do you want them?"

He swallowed, that tightness in his chest returning, much like when he'd witnessed her being harassed the first day they met. That protective instinct came out, roaring to bash in the heads of those who demeaned her and treated her poorly. He wondered for the thousandth time since stepping onto this planet just what the hell this Terran woman was doing to him. "Yeah. I guess I kind of do."