Текст книги "Wed To The Alien Prince"
Автор книги: January Bell
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WED TO THE ALIEN PRINCE
ACCIDENTAL ALIEN BRIDES
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JANUARY BELL
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Wed To The Alien Prince by January Bell
Published by January Bell
www.januarybellromance.com
Copyright © 2022 January Bell
Cover by Natasha Snow
Edited by Belle Manuel
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permissions contact: admin@januarybellromance.com
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CONTENTS
Author’s Note
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Epilogue
Also by January Bell
About the Author
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AUTHOR’S NOTE
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CONTENT WARNING:
Hi readers!
I do my best to write the most fluffy, escapist, fun and romantic science fiction romance possible. The last thing I want to do is ruin someone’s day by surprising them with a plot twist that will upset them, so I’ve included a list of potential triggers on this book.
Please feel free to skip this if you don’t want to be spoiled, or use them if you need to!
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**********SPOILERS AHEAD************
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This book contains references to:
–pregnancy and babies
–violence
–post traumatic stress disorder
–religion
–graphic sex
–emetophobia
–claustrophobia
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CHAPTER ONE
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GEN
I’m gonna fucking kill him.
The thought runs through my head like it has for the last week and a half on this soupy, swamp-ass planet from Hell. The alien—who’s somehow both currently number one on my hit list and the only reason I’m still alive—smirks at me, one fang showing in his stupid lopsided grin.
He jabbers something at me, pointing to the snare I’ve managed to set and spring all in one go, despite watching him carefully every time he’s set one without trapping himself.
I can’t understand a word he’s saying, but I’m pretty damn sure ‘I told you so’ is written all over his stupidly handsome alien face.
“I didn’t do it on purpose,” I tell him, crossing my arms. My blonde hair hangs around my face, and I blow at where it tickles my nostrils, trying not to sneeze. “Stop laughing.”
He’s doing that odd, barking sound, smiling hugely at me now, like this is the funniest thing he’s ever seen.
“I don’t see you trying to catch dinner, fuckface,” I tell him. It’s not true, not at all, seeing as how he’s made sure we’re both fed, but I’m tired of feeling helpless. I also called him limp dick a few days ago, but since that seems to likewise be wildly inaccurate, I had to stop.
I shouldn’t have even noticed anything about his dick, but here we are in alien jungle purgatory.
He prods the ground with a makeshift spear, using it to hold himself up as he laughs and responds, the argument and humor clear in his tone, though my translator completely fails to do its damn job.
“Can you cut me down?” I say, acid in my voice.
He says something else that the translator fails to provide any context for, instead spitting out gobbledygook like ‘cupcake head, pretty frosting, understand bacon.’
It gives me a headache. I swing upside down, dangling by one ankle, for a moment longer. I’m loath for him to ruin the vine-y rope we spent three days braiding together to make this snare from. Well, the would-be snare, anyway.
I mean, it worked…I just didn’t intend to be the thing it caught.
But this asshole doesn’t show any inclination to let me down, so I swing harder, before crunching up to untie the knot—
I give a yelp as the alien’s talon slices through the vine braid, the awful nightmare sensation of falling triggering near panic. I do not want to break a bone out here. With the high humidity and torrential rains, and god only knows what kind of alien bacteria, any kind of injury could turn deadly.
But strong arms catch me, and I suck in a breath as I look up into his green face.
“Thanks,” I say, relieved not to have met the ground head first.
I wriggle, trying to get free, but he holds me fast.
He points at the vine rope, then down at the ground, shaking his head.
“Yeah, no kidding,” I tell him. “I don’t want to fall, either.”
The alien nods his agreement, saying something else my translator tells me is ‘bride fly, not cupcake.’ I growl in frustration, and his arms tighten around me.
A primal roar sounds—closer than it has been the last few nights. My skin prickles, my entire body going into overdrive, screaming that something big and bad is headed our way. The alien crouches, and I try to get free of him, disliking how his over-the-top alien muscles bunch on top of me. They’re huge. It’s absurd. I feel tiny next to him, and fragile, and dainty, and I hate it.
I worked hard to be a badass, and he’s selfishly ruining my self-image.
He tells me something in a low tone, and I grunt in irritation.
“Bad chicken hungry,” the translator unhelpfully provides. “Eat cupcake.”
If I could stick my hand in my ear and dig the fucking thing out, I would.
Bad chicken hungry, indeed.
He motions to the direction the sound came in, muttering something, then points in an opposite direction. We’re in agreement about that, at least.
“Yeah, we definitely need to get away from whatever’s screaming out there. The bad chicken does sound hungry.”
A stream of noises comes from his mouth, his fangs dangerously close to my face as he talks animatedly, still pointing.
He stops, inspecting my expression, though what he expects to get from me is a mystery.
“Sure,” I say, shrugging and only managing to press myself further into his embrace. “If you want to go that way, whatever. It doesn’t matter, anyway.”
It doesn’t. I’ve all but given up any hope of being reunited with my friends. The first few days, I was sure we’d meet up with them, that I’d see them again soon, that they were all fine.
But I didn’t.
I don’t know what happened at the welcoming ceremony. I don’t know why I’m alone with a Suevan in the damn jungle, and even thinking about it makes me slightly nauseated. My teeth grind in frustration.
I’ve been stuck in this primeval alien jungle long enough now that even the Suevan’s green face is looking good. Some nights, I wish I could understand him, just so I wasn’t so damn lonely.
But the translator they gave us is crap, and half the things it spits out are complete nonsense that only manages to give me a splitting headache.
The Suevan takes off at a fast jog, his gait so effortless and smooth that I hardly bounce in his arms. I gave up trying to get him to let me walk a couple days ago.
For some reason, the big scaly dude wants to heft me around like a sack of potatoes, and at this point, I barely have enough pride left to care. I’m hungry, I’m tired, and I’m filthy.
First Officer Potato Sack, that’s me.
So I sigh and close my eyes, nestling deeper into the heat of the Suevan’s bare chest.
Might as well take a nap.
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CHAPTER TWO
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KANUZ
My human’s asleep again, her breathing shallow and swift, her skin dull and pale. At first, she was all angry words and fighting, and I loved it. Her fierceness, her warrior nature—so at odds with her delicate appearance—set my heart aflame. I truly chose the best out of the human females.
But now, after the attack on our mating ceremony, my tough little human wife does not seem like herself. Even the flash of fury at being caught in her own snare disappeared too fast, and though I grew hard when she told me she would fuck my face, her verve was worrisomely short-lived.
She sleeps too much, eats too little. And still, my female does not understand anything I say.
The hunting pair of Crigomar—huge carnivorous reptiles—trumpet at each other. We should have been in Edrobaz days ago, but a flood and resultant mudslide cut us off from the mountain city.
And now the Crigomar, too far north and out of their normal range, separate us from safety and my yellow-haired mate’s friends.
She misses them. She’s grown used to me, yes, I can see it in the way she chatters at me sometimes, not knowing I respond in kind, waiting for her to understand me. She wants her own people. She’s said as much, her full pink lips pressed thin in worry.
My little golden-haired mate acts so tough, but she has a big, soft heart. Even if her tongue is razor sharp.
I need to try harder. I need to start over with her. I need her to trust me.
To want me.
To be mine.
My teeth gnash, my fang drawing a bead of blood on my lower lip. The Crigomar roar again, the change in their tone telling me they’ve scented prey.
I hope it is not us.
Regardless, we need to find shelter. My mate is not as tough as she pretends to be, not at all, and her fragile human constitution is clearly failing her in the wet muck of the deep Suevan jungle. She needs rest, food, and a reason to live.
I will give her all three.
I hold her closer to me. Leaves and brambles lash at my hide as I jog through the thick undergrowth. A thin, drizzly rain begins again, and she stirs as droplets dampen her soft skin.
If I remember correctly, there is an abandoned temple near here. I did not spend as much time in the jungle as the Suevan warlords, so turning this direction for shelter I think I remember is a gamble. As their prince, I was instructed in many things, including survival, but was never thrown into the wilds as they were. The other warlords no doubt know this terrain like the backs of their scales, but my memory is fuzzy.
Irritation sends my tail lashing behind me.
If I had studied Suevan geography harder, perhaps my mate would already be safely ensconced at Edrobaz. Instead, my beautiful yellow-haired female turns pale and wan, her spirit dampened by the endless heat and rain.
Something snags on my scales, a thorned vine prying several from the flesh of my leg. My speed falters, and a zitsu leaf slaps against my face. I growl in impatience, casting a glance overhead, to where the asteroid belt that rings Sueva is barely visible through the thick canopy.
I count the largest of the ice and stone chunks, using the old ways to navigate.
The temple ruins may not be the safest place in the jungle, but it beats sleeping in the open. Even a crumbling roof overhead will be better than resting out here, where the Crigomar hunt and where the endless rain erodes my female’s spirits and saps the heat from her body.
My hands grip my beautiful mate’s flesh, and she stirs in her sleep, muttering something about cupcakes, which are apparently all she’s dreamed about lately.
“That is right, little mate. Have your cupcake dreams. When you wake, I will have you safe and sound.”
And I will truly begin wooing her, doing more than simply surviving and waiting for her translator to work.
Everything about our situation is less than ideal, but my attempts at soothing her are making things worse, I fear.
I will make it better.
I will be better.
Too many days I’ve spent wrapped up in the minutiae of my royal house, of titles and a heritage that does nothing for Sueva. Too long have I spent standing on ceremony instead of making a real difference, instead of bringing all Suevans to heel under the royal house, no matter what tradition dictates. Too many nights have I spent trying to soothe the ache in me with drink and females. And now, the separatist threat has driven me and my chosen mate deep into the jungle.
The tell-tale snap of green wood bent past its breaking point echoes around the jungle. A flock of jewel-like birds bursts into the air, squawking complaints into the uncaring Suevan sky.
The reptilian roar of a Crigomar booms, so loud and close that my heart hammers against my chest.
I break into a sprint.
“What the hell?” Gen asks, her eyes wide open and fiery. “That sounds like a T-Rex, which is impossible.”
She stares up at me, and the beast screams again.
A muscle in my jaw twitches, my talons gripping the slick ground as I push my body further, faster.
“Bad chicken hungry,” she says, her fury-filled eyes melting into pure horror. “Oh god. Chickens. The translator—” She touches her ear, staring up at me. “Dinosaurs. Dinosaurs? Just when I thought this couldn’t get any worse.”
My own implant sends an image of a scaled reptile, huge, in response to the word dinosaur.
“Crigomar,” I tell her. “Di-no-sawer.” I nod vigorously, trying to wrap my mouth around her strange word for the beast. Despite the fact the Crigomar are hunting us, pleasure blooms inside me.
She understood me! For the first time.
“Dinosaurs are out there, and you’re smiling at me?” She squirms so hard against my chest that I nearly drop her, her flesh slick with the slide of rain and sweat.
“I’m taking us somewhere safe.” I hope. She can’t understand me, but I’m not about to give her any reason to stare out at the jungle with more fear.
“We need to get somewhere safe. Where something that big can’t get in.” Her blunt white teeth worry her lip, and I nod vigorously.
“Is that what you’re doing? Taking us somewhere safe?” she asks, squinting up at me.
The fearful look’s been replaced by focus, and her bravery sends a shiver of delight through me. Not many Suevans would respond as well to the knowledge the Crigomar had their scent, but this little human is thinking her way through the problem.
I like that very much.
The trees suddenly give way to brackish water, green scum thick on top. Insects the size of my hands flit about the water on shining wings, unafraid of the creatures dogging our steps. As if I’ve summoned them with my thoughts, one of the Crigomar looses another explosive roar, this time closer than before.
I step into the water.
“What the fuck?” Gen’s little nails bite into my scales, and I clamp down on a moan of pleasure at the strength in her grip. Now is not the time to lose myself to the pleasure of her intensity. Not at all.
“We can’t go in there,” she hisses. “Who knows what kind of disgusting alien bacteria is in that water. Look at the size of those bugs.” Her throat bobs as she swallows.
“Sssssafe,” I tell her, mangling the human word, but she still glances up at me in clear surprise. I jerk my head to the barely visible temple in the distance.
It stirs a need in me, the sight of it. Calls to some latent primal urge in me to seek the goddess, to ask for her help. The Crigomar are her creations, just as all of Sueva is. Perhaps the goddess is in agreement with the separatists, however. In agreement with my father, too.
Maybe I am unfit to rule.
Maybe aligning with the humans to save our species is the unholy act they claim it to be. My father gave his blessing, albeit warily, as it is the only way for Suevan life to continue.
I shake my head, setting my jaw and splashing through the green muck. Something thick coils around one of my ankles, and Gen’s grip on my shoulder’s becomes painful.
“That’s the biggest fucking snake I’ve ever seen.” Her eyes are round as saucers. “What is wrong with flora and fauna on this planet? For crying out loud. I need a weapon. I can’t stand this.”
“Am I not weapon enough?” I huff at her, annoyed at her outburst. “I am the prince of Sueva, the heir to the throne, and I am trained to defend our planet from all threats. I can easily dispatch this snake.” I kick at it with a taloned foot, and it raises a thick head from the water, before disappearing deeper into the muck.
“See?” I tell her, shrugging one shoulder. “They’re not as brave as you are, my ferocious female.”
“Tigress?” Her nose crinkles in confusion, her translator obviously ruining my words. Again. “Are there tigers here, too?”
Weary of my inability to communicate, I sigh, the foul-smelling water now up to my knees. Ahead, the temple entrance yawns dark, mostly obscured by the thick vines. We’re still a good way away, and the muck at the bottom of the stagnant water sticks to my feet. Every step is a struggle, and still, the Crigomar draw closer, judging from the way the birds of the jungle take flight, the way the treetops rustle.
I grit my teeth, glancing over my shoulder at where the creatures last bugled.
They’ve gone quiet, and I do not think this is a welcome development.
Fuck.
Gen follows my focus, craning her neck back to peer over my shoulder. “What are you looking for? You don’t think those things are following us, do you?”
“They’re following us,” I tell her. “The water may slow us down, but it should slow them down as well. The temple should keep us safe. They’re too big to follow us in there.” I point to the stone statues that flank the opening, the carved eyes weathered by time and the elements. A root snakes from one of the statue’s mouths.
She stares up at me, then squints at the temple in the distance. I see the moment my explanation registers, even though she still doesn’t understand the meaning of my words.
“There’s something over there, and you think it’s safer?” She tilts her head, her eyebrows raised. Gen speaks very slowly, as though I’m the one having trouble communicating.
I snort my amusement. “Yes, wife, that is exactly what I think.”
Her eyes crinkle at the corners, and for a fleeting moment, I think she will grace me with her smile. But her gaze slips behind my shoulder, her body tensing in my arms.
“Oh, holy shit.”
Something large splashes into the water behind me, and I don’t have to look to know exactly what it is.
“I need a fucking gun, why don’t I have my gun?” Gen asks, her eyes blazing with a vividness I haven’t seen. “Nature finds a way,” she says, and then sucks in a startled laugh. “Well, I never thought I’d die being eaten by an alien T-Rex, but here we are!”
I throw her over my shoulder, and she makes a soft whoomph as the breath whooshes out of her, and I break into a run, the muck and water slowing my steps.
Behind us, the Crigomar screams its frustration.
We need to make it to the temple, and fast.
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CHAPTER THREE
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GEN
The alien hauls me over his shoulder, and I can’t even find it in me to fault him for it. Do I like being slung from his shoulder like a sentient bag of rice? No. Do I think I can move as quickly as a being made to race through the swamp? Also no.
I’m not an idiot. My best odds right now are to stick like glue to the scaled warlord with his muscly arm clamped around my thighs, his tail swishing through the poison green water as he races to the structure at the edge of the swamp.
The alien growls something at me, same as he has for the last week and a half.
It doesn’t irritate me, not now, seeing as how he’s clearly as focused as I am on getting our asses to that stone house and away from the fucking walking museum exhibit paused momentarily on the edge of the swamp as he sprints away. Mud and viscous green sludge spatter my face and hair, and I brace my hands on the alien’s lower back, watching the dinosaur’s progress.
“This is insane,” I tell him conversationally, my heart pounding so loud it nearly drowns out the frustrated whuffs the T-Rex makes as its huge nostrils flare. “Dinosaurs went extinct on Earth millions of years ago. I can’t believe I’m seeing one in real life.”
“Crigomar,” the alien says, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
“Sure,” I say. “Of course.” Who am I to argue with the slab of scaled meat carrying me through a swamp like a green knight? I’ll play princess if it saves me from getting eaten by the monster staring us down.
The dinosaur isn’t green. In fact, it looks nothing like the T-Rex toys I played with once upon a time as a kid. Its hide is deep, blood red, with long zagging stripes of dark brown like a zebra’s. I’m half-fascinated, half-terrified, and I can’t help wondering why it’s that color.
A movement out of the corner of my eyes catches my attention, and I slowly swivel my head, nauseated from the alien’s shoulder digging into my stomach and the stink of the swamp.
At first, I think it’s another one of the massive dragonflies.
And then I realize why the T-Rex’s coat is red and brown. I never would have thought red would blend into the shadows, but holy shit, does it ever.
A second dinosaur jumps into the swamp, sending a fetid wave of stagnant water toward us. It opens its mouth, lined with yellowed, razor-sharp teeth, and screams.
I clamp my hands over my ears, closing my eyes instinctively.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
The alien pats my bottom reassuringly, never slowing down.
“Go faster,” I tell him. “Run faster, my dude. I do not want to be the main course today.”
He responds in his language, and the translator gives me the usual garbled feedback.
For some reason, probably because we’re being hunted by dinosaurs, I start laughing. And once I start, I can’t seem to stop. I’m on an alien planet, being carried like a damsel in distress, and for once, I actually am a damsel in distress.
There’s no denying that this alien is protecting me, and for all intents and purposes, I’m more of a damsel than I’ve ever been in my goddamn life.
I hiccup a choking sob, both dinosaurs cocking their heads and watching us struggle through the swamp.
When they decide to attack, they do it together.
“Fuck,” I yell. “They’re coming.”
The alien growls something incoherent, something my translator interprets as making love. I laugh again, and it’s a completely unhinged sound. My hair is coated in slime and foul water, my long ponytail slapping against my cheek with every step the alien takes.
“We’re not going to make it,” I tell him. “We’re not going to fucking make it.”
His talons dig into my hip, and I clamp my mouth shut as he rattles off something in a seriously irritated voice. The dinosaurs are gaining on us, their black eyes glittering through the steady pelt of rain that seems to be the de facto weather on this planet.
The closest T-Rex suddenly pauses, cocking its head so severely that my own neck aches to see it.
“Oh my God,” I breathe.
The snake my alien shook off is nothing compared to the massive thing now entangled around the T-Rex’s powerful legs.
“What the hell? Has that thing been there the whole time? Does everything on this planet take steroids? Why is it so big?!” I’m squealing with the shock of the thing, the primordial part of my brain screaming to run.
Which is ridiculous, because I’m already moving much faster on the alien’s back than I could run on my own. I grip his hips harder, and he makes a low noise in his throat.
The huge snake rears its head, and I’m caught between horror and fascination as it plunges thick fangs into the neck of the T-Rex. The other dinosaur roars, heading away from us to attack the gargantuan snake.
“I’m going to have nightmares the rest of my life,” I say. “Oh well. It’ll be a nice change up from all the Roth invasion ones, I guess. Just throw a fucking snake and dinosaur in, mix it up a little!” My laugh trickles out again, my mind wheeling.
The alien strokes a hand down my thigh, making a soothing noise.
Talons screech against stone, gunk sliding from my arm and plopping against the moss-covered steps.
“We made it.”
The alien grunts, setting me down on my feet and tugging me inside the dark maw of the cave. My eyes widen as I register the stone statues flanking the entrance.
This isn’t a cave, or a house.
This is some kind of alien ruin.
A chill goes down my spine. I hesitate, staring at the sightless eyes, the roots scrambling the features of one humanoid statue.
My alien tugs at my hand, and when the dinosaur screams again, I swallow hard and follow him inside. I blink, trying to get my eyes to adjust to the dim light.
“Wow,” I say, staring around.
A tree, roots bulbous and huge, grows from the wall of the ruin, the hole where it’s burst through the stone roof allowing a modicum of light in.
Outside, one of the dinosaurs roars again, the sound sending my heart rattling against my ribs.
The alien puts his arm around me, a stern expression on his face as he checks me over. His forehead furrows, his diamond-shaped pupils expanding as his gaze rakes across my skin.
No one’s looked at me like that in a very, very long time.
Like they care.
He reaches out a taloned hand, and for a split-second, I think he’s going to touch my cheek. Stepping closer, his hand closes around my ponytail, and my heart speeds up for an entirely different reason than the dinosaurs rampaging outside.
Sharp claws dig through my ponytail, and the alien grins at me, showing long fang-like canines, as he draws them away.
An enormous leech is in his fingers.
“That was in my hair?” I ask, and another rasping laugh trickles out. “Awesome. This place gets better and better.”
He grins at me, too, then hurls the leech out the entrance.
“Thanks,” I tell him, and I mean it. “You saved my life. And for getting the leech off me, too. That would have been… unpleasant.” It’s not the first time I’ve thanked him, despite the fact he’s annoyed me more often than not, and now I have to sit with the fact I’m uncomfortable with how grumpy I’ve been.
It’s like the near-death experience has kicked my ungrateful ass, trying to show me how much worse it could get. Like it’s this planet’s way of reminding me that I need to stop bitching and make the best of this.
His smile deepens, and I study him. He’s beautiful, if not strange, but beautiful all the same. The massive tail and green scales are a little freaky, sure, and his bone structure is too severe to be human, but it’s symmetrical and strong and a little bit breath-taking.
And that’s not even touching on the muscled work of art the rest of him is.
I’ve been awful to this alien.
I know I have been. I need to make it right. As much as he laughs at me, the dude’s kept my silly, stubborn human ass alive for a week and a half.
I slump against a hunk of jagged rock that, judging from the overhead hole, must have fallen from the ceiling.
“You can understand me, right?”
He nods slowly, his tail twitching behind him.
I clear my throat, my mouth twisting to the side as I force the words out. They’ve never come easy before, but it turns out that nearly getting eaten by a dinosaur has an effect on a person.
“I owe you an apology, dude.” My nose wrinkles. “I’ve been mean to you. And you didn’t deserve that.”
He steps closer, and my eyes widen a little at the size of him. It’s one thing to be suspended and carried around by the guy, and it’s quite another to have all that shirtless muscle staring me in the face.
“And I also owe you a thank you,” I say. “Several hundred of them, probably.”
He shakes his head, squatting next to where I sit on the slab, so that we’re eye-to-eye.
“You didn’t have to save me, or take care of me, or lug me around, but you did, and as annoying as it is to need to be saved, I’m really glad you did.”
His stare is intent and focused, and when he blinks, it’s slow enough I can make out his third eyelid. It should be weird, but I’ve spent too much time with him now to be anything but used to it.
The alien shakes his head, so close I can feel his warm breath on my face. His long blue-black hair’s pulled up tight in a bun, and a strand falls over one cheek, giving him a rakish air. I don’t know if I’m imagining it or not, but his gaze is heated as it travels over my face.
Tentatively, he reaches out one clawed finger, tracing it down my cheekbone.
My breath catches. Is he going to kiss me? Do aliens kiss?
It hits me like a brick, then.
I don’t even know his name. I am such a terrible person.
“I’m Gen,” I tell him, pointing to my chest. “Genevieve. But everyone calls me Gen.” I point to him. “What’s your name?”
He grins at me, and something tells me he already knew that. Did I tell him at the welcoming ceremony? My mouth twists to the side as I try to remember. The whole thing is a blur—getting off the ship, him bizarrely feeding me, the translator being dumped in, the ship exploding…
I shake my head, trying to clear it, trying to remember, but the memories are fuzzy in the same way all my memories of the Roth invasion are—like I’m underwater and can’t make them out, can’t quite see or hear. Sometimes, though, I’ll hear loud noises and a crystal sharp memory will surface, leaving me shaken and raw, the vision of the Roth in my mind’s eye terrifying and larger than life.
And then, of course, there’s the nightmares, which I can’t ever seem to remember other than a deep-seated feeling of dread, of panic and the knowledge I’m going to die, dragging me from sleep as I choke on nothing at all.
The alien grips my chin, his fingers gentle as his eyes lock on mine.
“Gen,” he says slowly, like he’s savoring the word. He breaks into a grin.
I must be dehydrated, because I nearly swoon.
“Kanuz,” he says, removing his hand to point at himself. Satisfaction plays across his face.
“Ka-nuz?” I repeat slowly, the middle consonant somehow harsher, more guttural, than what I can say.
He laughs. “Kanuz.”
“Right,” I say, slightly breathless from his proximity. Or dehydration. Yeah. That’s it. “Kanuz.”
His fingers grip my cheeks, and he repeats his name again, eyebrows raised.
“Kanuz,” I manage, his fingers squeezing in on my mouth as I hit the second syllable. When I say it this time, he growls his approval, his strange eyes flashing as his tail swishes behind him.
Butterflies explode in my stomach, and I’m lightheaded.
“Kanuz,” I say, and he lowers his hand. “I hate asking you for help. Well, I actually hate asking anyone for help, which is a big personality flaw, to be honest.” Get control of yourself, Gen. I snort, making myself continue. “I need something to eat and drink. I’m weak.”
He makes a soothing noise, patting my cheek again, and the sexual tension disappears in the span of a heartbeat, gone so fast I’m nearly sure I’ve imagined it.
Did I want there to be tension between us?
Am I considering kissing him?
Nah. Definitely not.
Probably not.
He tugs at my hand, and I obediently follow, which is unlike me enough that I know I need some water and food ASAP. The ground is slippery underfoot, and even with my Federation issue boots, I have a hard time navigating the moss-covered stones.
