Page 18 of Alien Jeopardy (Mated & Afraid #1)
CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN
Ellison
Rex is staring at me like I’m disgusting.
My chin wobbles, and I do my best to ignore his studious perusal of me and fight back the tears that threaten.
Maybe kissing is gross to Draegon aliens. Maybe I smell bad.
Furtively, I lift a hank of hair to my nose and sniff it as covertly as I can manage.
Rex is still staring at me with what now looks like pure fury.
Great.
Well, I don’t care what he thinks anyway! I stamp one foot and cross my arms over my chest. I didn’t ask for this; I didn’t ask for any of this!
I didn’t want to be mated.
So, I go back to ignoring him and tune in to the Roth’s speech.
It’s harder to ignore the pain deep in my chest.
“You have won the first challenge, and our judges at home have given you the maximum amount of style points, which means that you also receive a bonus reward in this round. In addition to translators, tonight you will stay in our intergalactic- class accommodations, have a relaxing dinner, a massage, and your choice of new clothes for the rest of your time on Mated and Afraid ,” the tinny mechanized voice repeats the Roth’s words.
A teensy bit of hope shoots through me.
A bed to sleep in?
Dinner? A massage?
Clothes and even shoes?
Hell. Yes.
I pick up one foot and inspect the sole of it, wincing at the damage. A cut runs under my big toe, blood crusting down the arch of it. The other foot’s cut too, but on the heel and not nearly as deeply.
Damn it. They’re going to be bruised and sore for a few days at least, there’s no way one night of sleep will fix them.
I sigh, then a murderous noise sounds from Rex’s direction.
A frown turns down my mouth.
“Why are you mad at me? I can’t help that I don’t have alien skin.” I huff, pushing a dirty lock of hair out of my face.
“Come with me, and we’ll get that translator fitted and inserted, okay?”
I blink, looking away from my so-called partner’s clenched fists.
A human woman, petite but seriously muscled, stands next to the Roth host.
“Hi,” she says softly, a careful smile on her face. “I’m Billie. You must be…” She trails off, then glances down at some kind of tech pad in her hand. “That’s right. You’re Ellison?”
“That’s me,” I confirm, completely taken aback by another human woman’s appearance.
“Don’t be scared,” she says confidently. “I developed this tech. It’s perfect now. Follow me.” Billie glances up at where Rex looms over me.
“I’m sorry,” I start, then stop, trying to figure out how not to be rude. “Who the hell are you?”
I wince. So much for the not being rude bit.
I wince again, because now that I’m not amped up on adrenaline, my feet really hurt, and I’m freaking tired.
Rex rumbles something ominous-sounding, then he grabs me by the waist and hauls me into his arms.
“Awww,” Billie says, one hand on her chest. “That’s so cute.”
“What?” I swat Rex’s hand away from my sore foot on reflex, but he ignores me completely, plucking a piece of gravel out from between my toes.
“He said that you will not walk a step while you are injured, not while he’s around.”
I swing my gaze back to my big alien, who is still scowling down at me with a purely mutinous expression.
I blink up at him, totally thrown off. “He doesn’t think I’m disgusting?”
Billie laughs. Actually laughs, and when I frown down at her from my perch in Rex’s arms, she covers her mouth.
“Oh. You weren’t joking. No, nope, he does not think you are disgusting at all.” She sighs, as though we’re the cutest thing she’s ever seen.
I don’t know how to respond to that.
“Come on, let’s get you fitted.” She trots off, motioning for us to follow her, the Roth host still talking to Rex in another language.
“How are you here?” I ask, trying not to fidget, afraid that if I move while he’s touching me, I’ll spontaneously orgasm again.
“Oh, that’s what you meant when you asked who I was. I was Federation. My unit was taken by the Roth and held captive for months.” She delivers this news in a cheerful tone at complete odds with what she’s saying.
“What?” I explode. “Are you a prisoner? I can get you out of here?—”
She waves a hand. “No, the Suevans rescued us. I work with the Roth now, the ones who overthrew that last asshole. My best friend is the queen, actually, and my other one is a princess. Wild times, huh?”
“Wild,” I agree. It seems like a safer response than the other floating to the top of my brain, the one that wants to scream: what the actual fuck?
“Anyway, me and Bex—” she glances back at us to make sure we’re still following, “we’ve been working on improving the Draegon-to-human omni-language translator for years now. Bex was Federation too, now she’s married to a Suevan warlord.”
“Are you?” I ask, gaping at her. “Married to an alien?”
She flaps a hand at me, her cheeks pinkening. “No, no, I’m just here to facilitate interspecies relationships.” She coughs delicately, glancing at the Roth host still trying to talk to Rex. “This whole show, it was not exactly part of the plan, but I’m here to help anyway.”
I’m not sure what to say to that, so I don’t say anything.
“The plan,” she continues, leading us into a sprawling building I hadn’t noticed hidden in the trees.
“The plan was to build a human understanding of the alien species post-Roth-emperor-death, you know? And then to help match willing human women with alien mates.” She doesn’t quite meet my eyes.
“Then the Roth guys heard about the whole public relations thing after binge watching old human reality shows and here we are.”
“I didn’t know I was going to be mated to a Draegon,” I tell her.
Her eyes narrow, and any hope I had of getting out of my mating bond and getting some kind of antivenin for the heat ramping up under my skin again fades.
“You signed the paperwork.” Her voice is sharp, and I hate that she’s right.
“I was drunk?” I offer up. “I don’t want an alien mate.”
She pinches the bridge of her nose, lowering her voice and motioning for me to get away from Rex.
I manage to do so, gingerly getting down and sucking in a breath at the pain in my feet.
Billie leans close before continuing in a low voice.
“Listen, I get that we all make bad choices. But you’re too deep in it now.
If you still want out of your bond when the show is done, I can figure out a way to make it happen.
But if you fuck him?” She shakes her head, giving me a long perusal.
“I can’t guarantee he’ll let you out of it. ”
I blow out a breath, determined.
I’ve never been a weakling. Mind over matter and all that. I’ve always been strong-willed. I can do this.
“I won’t have sex with him,” I tell her. “I can handle the heat.”
She brightens, giving me a winning smile as she pushes me into what looks like a dentist’s chair. “That’s the spirit, girlie. Now sit down and let’s get this brain implant installed.”
Brain implant? Shit.
I struggle, but bands have latched over my entire body, holding me in place.
Billie holds up a syringe, depressing it until a bead of liquid comes out, and without warning, she jams it into my neck.
The last thing I hear before I lose consciousness is Rex screaming my name.