Page 13 of Alien Jeopardy (Mated & Afraid #1)

CHAPTER

TWELVE

Ka-Rexsh

My female pats my bicep, then strokes it, the heat of her fingertips finally making me avert my aggressive stare from the Suevan who dared touch her.

Her hand feels heavenly on my skin, and I take a long moment to savor it.

“Rex,” she says, and the side of my mouth lifts in a smug smirk as I realize she’s given me a nickname.

Only the most affectionate of breeding pairs give each other nicknames, and my cock likes that very, very much.

So much that it skiths even harder, pulsing against the firm expanse of her back.

The bud of pleasure even begins to pucker at the base of my cock, something it’s never done for another, and never will.

This human mate is the only one for me.

My Ellison.

The truth of it is like the toll of a bell through me, and I tuck her into my body, my wings flaring around us as I lean down and bury my nose in her hair, inhaling her intoxicating musk.

How is it that I cannot even communicate with my Ellison, but I am already a wing’s tip away from obsession with her?

The Roth takes a step towards us, and I jerk her away from him, snarling again, nearly fully feral in my need to keep her away from them.

“Come now, all contestants to the stage, please,” the Roth from the ship, from before my Ell chose me, stands on stage, a smile plastered over the lingering smell of his uncertainty.

The Roth instigator should be more than uncertain. My wings tremble with the need to teach him a lesson, to show everyone that she is mine.

A mechanized voice repeats his words in what I assume is the females’ language, and Ell pushes against my arms as she attempts to follow his directions.

She’s not leaving my side, not when I am beginning to feel the pull of my rut answering her heat.

Hooking an arm around the curve of her waist, I lift her easily, and she makes an adorable squeak of surprise.

I lower my mouth to her ear as I pad towards the stage, knowing all the males assembled here are watching us, waiting for a glimpse of my female.

Mine.

The last thing I want is for anyone else’s eyes to be on her. She is mine to look at, mine to cherish, mine to touch.

The red Draegon on stage averts his eyes politely, his lightly furred tail flicking behind him.

I jerk my chin at him in a sign of respect as I carry my prize forward, avoiding looking at the female beside him.

He pulls her closer anyway, the fluffed end of his tail wrapping around her waist. The side of his lip curls in a snarl, and I scent his mate’s response to him.

Too sweet for me, much too sugary.

No, I prefer the spice and smokey undertones of my mate to this one.

I lean forward again, her light brown hair tickling my nostrils as I inhale her, dragging my nose against her scalp as she shivers, skin heating.

Gods, but this female sings to my blood, everything about her making my body respond.

The true trial of this contest will not be making it to the end—it will be avoiding my rut until my female wants me as much as I need her.