Page 11 of Alien Jeopardy

He smiles at me, gently, as if he sees how scared and unprepared the four—er, five—of us are. A minty sage green, his strange skin is a refreshing color against the vivid and aggressive shades of oranges and reds and purples. Stripes start on the sides of his chest and stomach, growing darker as they travel towards his back.

I’ve always been a face card kind of girl, and his is immaculate, if strange. Not that there’s anything to complain about when it comes to his body.

A strong jaw, more angular than any I’ve ever seen, fangs, not dissimilar to the Suevans Poppy’s so fond of, golden eyes and thick brows.

Horns seem to sprout from his forehead, arcing over and away from his dark, thick hair. It’s tied half up into a bun, and there’s something wildly approachable about that despite the male’s size and, well, alien-ness.

Not sure that’s a word, but last night’s tequila does not a poet make.

“Choose,” a voice intones, the clock down to five seconds. I point immediately, because I’ve only really looked at him.

His smile deepens, and something like desire heats my blood.

“The green one,” I say.

“Step through and claim your mate,” the announcer says, and the alien doesn’t hesitate. What I thought was glass ripples like water as the winged green alien steps through it.

“On your mark,” the voice continues, and an X glows bright red in front of me.

I step on it, assuming this is some kind of camera-work stage-direction-type thing.

“Good grief,” I say, because the moment I look up, the green alien’s all but on top of me. “You’re huge.”

The alien says something I don’t understand, and disappointment fills me, followed by anxiety.

We don’t speak the same language. My heart pounds against my rib cage, adrenaline and anxiety mixing up and sending my pulse racing.

How are we supposed to win if we can’t even communicate?

Shit.

The alien’s wings go around me, and I flinch as the tips of them scrape the backs of both my thighs.

“Get set,” the voice says.

I scream as the floor opens up, swallowing us whole.

I throw myself at the huge alien in front of me, at a total loss for anything else to do as we freefall through the floor.

“They forgot to say go!” I yell, the words lost to the wind, not that he would have understood them anyway.

His arms wrap around me, holding my weight effortlessly, all while I scream like a wet cat.

Something else wraps around me too, and I kick my leg, panicking completely, trying to get it off before I realize it’s his tail.

He’s murmuring to me in a soft, steady stream, and though I don’t understand a single fucking word he’s saying, I know he’s trying to comfort me.

Unfortunately for both of us, we’re still falling, and I don’t exactly relish the idea of splatting onto a random moon’s surface.

No sooner has the word ‘splat’ gone across my mind than his wings snap open.

I whimper, burying my face into his chest, and trying to breathe as we sail upward.

His tail strokes my calf in some sort of attempt at comfort.

Instinctively, I wrap my legs around his waist as best I can. Not an easy thing to do, considering the freaking size of him.

He groans, and I freeze.