Odd Coupling Read Online Free

his eyes.
    “ Climb in, hurry. Lie down
on the seat. I’ll get you home.”
    She placed her palm flat against his
broad back to urge him to move faster. The dogs were almost to the
fence. He crawled into the truck and used his hands to pull his
upper body along the seat while he stepped up on the running board.
The soles of his boots were wider than the top of the metal step.
Once he was inside, Bethany almost shut the door, but stopped just
in time when she noticed his tail hanging out the
opening.
    “ You forgot something,” she
muttered and grabbed the middle section. In her haste, she gave it
a firm shove to anchor it between his thighs. He hissed nastily,
and she jumped back. “And don’t hiss at me! I’m trying to save your
damn ass.” And your tail.
    She slammed the door, then
jumped into the driver’s seat as fast as she could, put the truck
in gear and took off down the road. After a few yards, she turned
down a wide sendero , which led to the main road. The tall
brush on each side of the mowed pathway provided much needed cover
and made it impossible for Caleb or his ranch hands to see her
truck. As an extra precaution, she flipped off the one working
headlight and prayed no one had seen them. Starlight would have to
suffice.
    The locals weren’t too trusting, and
they made no secret of their dislike for the Alliance. Bethany
figured she was one of a handful of residents who had an open mind
about the aliens. To her way of thinking, they existed. They were
so far advanced over humans it was almost unimaginable. So if they
came in peace and didn’t want to rape the planet or eat the
inhabitants she was okay with them. Sadly, there were organized
groups all over the world who didn’t think the way she
did.
    Many of the protesters were urged by
religious fanatics, who deemed all the off-worlders to be demons
from the pits of hell, or whatever, who were sent to devour human
souls and prey on virginal women at the same time. Bethany had to
laugh at some of their claims sometimes when she watched them rant
on television, but she realized it was foolhardy to dismiss them
outright. Like an idea or a mob, they could be
dangerous.
    Another group hit far closer to home.
The Purists hated the aliens simply because they weren’t human. To
them, close didn’t count. They wanted to cleanse the planet of all
alien infestation. If you weren’t a true homo sapien, born and bred
on Earth, then they wanted you gone or dead. According to Caleb,
dead was preferable.
    Bethany had good reason to be
cautious. John Clayton gave his foreman free rein when it came to
his sixty-thousand-acre spread. The only town near all the ranches
was small. There was a grocery store, a couple bars, a post office
and an abandoned stone church, and old man Clayton owned it all. So
whatever Caleb wanted, Caleb got.
    Bethany avoided the town at all costs.
She packed in all her supplies, and tried to stay to herself. There
were two entities she couldn’t ban from her property—the Texas game
warden and border patrol. Unfortunately, state law gave them the
right to come onto her land at any time. If she could stop them,
she would. They made her nervous since the two officers had a
tendency to leer. The United States were still united, but the
government had joined the New World Organization. Individual states
were charged with the job of regulating their own
citizens.
    If it weren’t for her own ranch
foreman, she didn’t know what she’d do. Juan had been on the ranch
since her father had bought it thirty years ago. A few years shy of
sixty now, he was still going strong, and she knew it’d be
impossible for her to survive there without him. Thought of him
jarred her memory. He’d planned to deliver feed and corn tomorrow
afternoon. Her problems were multiplying faster than she could do
the math. Bethany had to figure out what to do with the alien
before he arrived.
    At the moment, she didn’t know if she
was more frightened by the sounds