The sun was fully up when the door to Alex's apartment opened. Rile shoved ahead of Cale.

"At least you made progress and you're both on the couch this time," Rile said and laughed when Alex fell off the couch, confused and startled by his rude awakening.  He laughed more as he avoided the staccato of Alex's blasts. He looked surprised when Alex disappeared with her speed burst. Then he disappeared.

They both appeared as Alex slammed him into the wall. The drywall cracked from the impact. Alex's hands glowed as she strangled him. Rile head-butted her and she fell back, holding her bleeding nose. He swept her feet and pounced on her, but she blasted him backward. This time, he lay on his back, still as a stone.

"Jerk, one time I might lose control and you won't get up." Alex stood over him, eyes wild and breathing hard. "Nobody wants to see that. Save yourself and stay away from me: I'm nothing but a time bomb." She wiped the blood trailing from her nose to her lips.

Cale knelt by his fallen brother and checked his pulse. "Heart beat strong and breathing regular."

"He's just stunned. I'm not too far gone to hurt him. Yet. I was sleeping next to, not with, your brother. I'm taking a shower. Someone explain to him that I'm not coherent when I first wake up and I overreact. He's a very slow learner. Y'all are too, since you're still around me." Alex stalked into the bedroom.

Stop being heroes and run, run, run away from me.

"I agree with Alex," Cale said. "I know you, Gabe. You two were only sleeping. What happened that you ended up on the couch?"

Gabe stood and stretched. "Alex came out of her bedroom at night weeping from nightmares. She lay on the recliner, but the nightmares continued, so we sat on the couch and she fell asleep. Then Rile and his big muzzle came in." He looked down at his brother and shook his head. "He's finally met his match in a female who fights back instead of fawning all over him. Good."

******

Shaken, Alex's shower ritual took on a new urgency.

Filthy, disgusting whore, sleeping on the couch with someone, attacking innocents, gotta get clean, can never get clean...

Morgan's voice competed with her own internal condemnation, clamoring over each other and filling her head with pressure. Alex wielded the razor clumsily in her trembling hands, the shield on the blade keeping the cuts superficial. The blood swirling down the drain caused her to stop while there was still hot water running.

When Alex walked out from her bedroom, Cale was speaking with Rile, who was on the floor as he carved the wooden feet of Alex's couch. She stayed stock still to avoid notice.

"Brother," Cale said. "Alex's extreme reactions speak of prior abuse, most likely sexual as well as physical and emotional. Please be more cautious and gentle with her."

"She's not a delicate flower like Agama females," Rile replied and dug harder into the wood.

"Agama females have their own strengths. Please listen to me."

Rile shrugged and attacked the wood with more fervor, small chips of wood flying.

Gabe was the first to notice Alex standing in her doorway, quietly watching them. "Alex, you are steaming. Are you okay?" Gabe eyed her.

"I like my showers boiling," she replied. "What is he doing on my floor?"

Rile pocketed his knife. "Apologizing by carving the couch feet. My comment was meant for my brother, not you."

"As I was the one sitting on the couch with him, I can't see how it was meant for only him. Unless of course, I'm just an object. That doesn't help your case either." Alex crossed her arms over her chest.

He knows... he knows I'm a whore, keep him away, talk nastier to him, blast him...

"I'm sorry," Rile said.

"First you call me whore, and next you call me either whore or object." Alex tapped her chin. "Not making any progress, are you? Who made you a Guardian of the universe? Something with atrocious judgment, I'm thinking. I can't believe it was female."

"Alex, please. I really, really didn't say or imply those things." Rile stood up and held out his hands in supplication. "I'm tweaking my brother."

"So you don't care who gets hurt in the crossfire during a family fight," she said. "Nice. When you save the universe, what's the body count of innocent victims?" She swept past him into the kitchen. "Who wants boudin with their pancakes? Cale? Gabe?"

"I warned you," Cale whispered to Rile before standing up. "What's boudin? I want to learn how to make it." Cale followed her into the kitchen.

"It's a type of Cajun sausage. I don't know how to make it. I buy it and cook it in a separate pan."

"Alex, what can I do to apologize?" Rile asked from the living room.

You don't have to apologize for speaking the truth...

Alex ignored her inner voice and instead said, "I don't know. Gabe? Cale? Think of something suitable."

"Carry all these boxes into the garage," Gabe said.

"Scrub Alex's bathroom. Again," Cale said. "Every week for a month."

" I like how y'all think," Alex said in that slight Southern lilt. "But that's not necessary. Boxes are enough."

He might see my blood in the tub...can't have that...

*****

Alex, Cale, and Gabe were eating at the battered table when Rile finished moving the boxes.

"Would you like some pancakes and boudin?" Alex asked. At Rile's wary look, she said, "You're welcome to some. That was a lot of work. Help yourself."

He filled his plate. When he sat down at the table, Alex stood up. When he looked up at her, she looked back with a bland expression.

"I have to go to work," she said. "Temp job at the doctor's office."

"Morgan followed you from that job," Gabe said.

"Good. I'll kill him," Rile hissed.

Alex sat back down. "How?"

"Any means necessary," Rile said. "Dagger in neck most likely, given this society. Humans don't use swords and staffs here. I'll follow you to work and hide outside the building. I'll shadow you and execute Morgan when he makes his move."

"I'm Clan Head and I make the decisions," Gabe said in a cold voice.

Alex pursed her lips but said nothing.

"Alex, drive there and back. Park in the parking lot," Gabe said.

"That's against the rules," she said. "The lot is small and only for patients. Employees park where they can on the street. It's why I walk." She waited a moment. "Can't killing Morgan be part of your objective, please?"

"We'll see how well he fights. If he employs lethal level force, we will return it and end the matter," Gabe said. "We'll take turns shadowing you there and back. Do you have breaks at this job?"

Alex shook her head. "We work through lunch. We have short breaks, but I eat snacks in the lunch room and don't leave the building. So I'm there 7:30 am to 6:00 pm. In fact, I need to leave now." She stood and grabbed a small purse on a long string strap. "Bait purse," she said with a malicious smile.

"I'm on it," Rile stood. "I'll apologize more thoroughly."

Gabe watched him with clear displeasure, but didn't argue.

*****

As Alex and Rile walked down the steps from thesecond story of the carriage house, Alex said, "I wish I could control my, uh, reactions,to, uh, certain types of, uhm, subjects, but when I first wake up, I can't control much. Certainly not about, you know, that type of, uh, stuff. You can tease me about all other kinds of things: my clothes, my hair, my flat shoes, and that'll be okay."

"I don't want to tease you," Rile said. "You don't deserve that. And I'm sorry I upset you. Killing Morgan is my objective, no matter what. That's how I apologize."

Alex flashed him a smile over her shoulder. "That's the nicest apology I could ever think of. You don't have to carry boxes and certainly never clean my bathroom."

She then hurried ahead of him down the driveway, so Rile said, "Now I'll disappear. I'll see you at 6:00 pm, but you won't see me."

"Guess I'll have to trust you." Alex looked distinctly unhappy.

"You can trust me as much as my big muzzle."

Alex snorted and started walking.

*****

A/N What do you think of Rile's plan?

Will it work? Or at least warm up Alex to him?

Do you want Alex to warm up to Rile?

dedicated to @EGTczarzenskawitz whose military fiction is lavish with details and I can't pick a side to cheer for! If you want to escape to a detail rich world, "Transformation" is the book for you!