Page 34 of Alien Jeopardy (Mated & Afraid #1)

CHAPTER

THIRTY-THREE

Ellison

The sky is a freakishly bright purple, the sun setting impossibly fast.

It gets colder the moment it starts descending behind the treetops, much higher now that the water has completely disappeared.

I fell asleep against Ka-Rexsh, and only woke up when the boat bumped against the ground.

It wasn’t a solid sleep, and I’m still exhausted from everything today, so the thought of getting a full night’s sleep on solid ground without worrying about being attacked by something awful the AI throws at us sounds phenomenal to me.

“It makes me uncomfortable,” I say out loud.

“What does?”

“The path. It’s unnatural.”

He grunts, nodding and squeezing my hand. “Ken is leading us somewhere.” Ka-Rexsh’s wing looks like it must be getting better because he’s holding it up, though it’s still at an awkward angle.

“Are you in pain?” I ask him.

“Yes,” he says, and it’s matter-of-fact. He’s not complaining, not whining, not throwing a fit about it. He’s in pain, and he’s handling it.

“You’re very strong,” I tell him.

He shoots me an amused look.

“In the physical sense, obviously,” I rush on. “But mentally, too. You haven’t complained about your wing, or any of those cuts from that awful snake, and you’re taking care of me.”

I run out of words, wrinkling my nose in irritation at myself.

How embarrassing can I be?

“Taking care of you is an honor, Ellison. The pain in my wing isn’t worth wasting more energy complaining about, especially when I could spend the time hearing your voice instead of my own.

I will not lie, though, I am pleased that we are on the way to a safe place to sleep for the night, and I am pleased that your friend Poppy was able to reason with Ken.

” He shakes his head, frowning. “It’s odd. All of this.”

“I worry about Billie and Ayro and the rest of the crew.”

“You have a kind heart,” he tells me, squeezing my hand again.

“No one has ever accused me of that,” I say with a laugh.

He gives me a quizzical look, and I assume that particular colloquialism didn’t translate quite right.

The light’s fading. “We should walk faster. I can’t see in the dark.”

“I can,” he says easily. “I think the campsite is directly ahead.”

He puts an arm around my waist, leading me to the site. While I can’t see the campsite, I don’t really need his help walking, but it’s nice to be helped.

It’s nice to be cared for.

I’m not sure I remember the last time I let someone take care of me.

I’m not sure I remember if anyone ever wanted to.

A branch snaps in the distance, and if it startles Ka-Rexsh, he doesn’t show it. Our steps are loud, too, but unlike the previous nights here, there are a multitude of forest noises now. Soft bird calls—at least, I hope they’re birds—and rustling leaves, the susurrus of insects.

“How did they live through the flood?” I ask out loud, surprising myself.

“I don’t know,” Rex answers grimly. “I have a feeling that Ken is populating the surface of this place as he sees fit.”

“What do you think happened here?”

It’s a dangerous question to ask, considering Ken is likely listening in, and setting him off would be a definite hazard to our health.

“I don’t know.” He shakes his head, giving me a meaningful look.

It’s funny how we’ve only been together a couple of days because I know exactly what he’s thinking—Rex also thinks pissing off Ken is a bad idea, and the topic of whatever happened to all the people who once lived here is absolutely a no-go topic of conversation.

Still. I can’t help wondering.

“How many?” I ask, and he shakes his head again.

I don’t blame him. “Curiosity killed the cat,” I say out loud.

“You brought a cat?” he replies, thoroughly flummoxed.

A laugh bursts out of me, and I’m grinning at him as we step into a clearing. Rex stops, and I look around warily, then realize this is a pretty good approximation of a campsite on Earth. A pile of rocks circles a round pit, and a couple of sleeping bags are rolled up next to it.

It’s barebones, but it’s dry, and at this rate, that’s a shit ton more than I expected.

Ka-Rexsh is already kneeling by the firepit, and I’m pleasantly surprised to see there’s even wood in it already.

The tacklebox sits next to him, and he digs through it and quickly finds the fire starter.

With an expert flick of his fingers, the fire starter sparks, and before I can so much as blink, the kindling ignites.

“That was impressive,” I say, hugging my arms against my chest to ward off the cold.

He grins at me, the firelight gleaming off his sharp canines. “You are easy to impress, then.”

“Maybe I am.” I laugh, shrugging slightly. “Do we need more wood?”

“I’m not sure we want to burn any of these trees,” he says, frowning at them. “This type of tree, on my planet, is full of sap. It’s not good to burn. Beside, I don’t want you to be alone here while I search for wood.”

“I could help you look.” I’m slightly miffed that he would leave me here.

“You cannot see in the dark.”

“That is a problem. You’re not wrong,” I admit, laughing at myself. “Will you hand me the comms tablet, please? I’m going to check in with the other women.”

He nods and hands it to me wordlessly, and the tablet screen shines bright enough that I have to back out and adjust the settings so it doesn’t blind me in the darkness.

I scooch back to the main screen, fingertip hovering over the comms app, when I see something that makes me squeal in utter delight.

Which, of course, freaks poor Rex out completely.

“What is wrong, hyrulis?” he asks, head swiveling so fast as he tries to figure out where the danger is coming from that I can’t help laughing again.

“Nothing is wrong, I’m sorry I scared you.

Look.” I hold up the comms tablet, pointing to the app I just noticed.

“This is my favorite reading app—it’s for fanfiction.

I mean, I have no idea how this could possibly work here, but if it does?

I’m going to be so happy.” I hug the tablet to my chest, absurdly pleased.

“Fanfiction?” he asks. “This word does not translate.”

“Oh.” My nose wrinkles, and I tilt my head.

How the heck am I supposed to explain that I’ve been reading fan stories about humans being abducted by sexy aliens since the Roth invaded and we realized aliens were real?

Every new tidbit of information we learn about the aliens led to new stories being written at such a rapid-fire, frenzied pace that it provided me with hours of entertainment.

And then there are the other fanfics, too, all about popular series or books that people wanted to change to make the characters do something different, or the fics about celebrities, or the alternate universe fics—but I never really read any of those.

Nope. I’m an alien fanfic girlie through and through.

“It’s stories,” I say in a hoarse voice that sounds guilty even to my ears. “I mean, it’s more than that, but it’s just made-up stories, basically.”

How the heck do I explain the gold that is fanfic to an alien?

“You screamed in excitement.”

“They’re the best stories,” I gush, plopping on the ground and opening up the app.

I have my username and password memorized, of course, and the app lets me log in with no issues.

“It’s all these writers who love these really specific ideas or certain characters and they just write them with wild abandon.

They write for themselves, and to have a good time, and you can tell. It’s just fun.”

He sits next to me, the fire dancing merrily as more of the logs in the pit catch. “What’s your favorite?”

I squirm, uncomfortable. “You don’t want to know that.”

Rex gives me a long, searching look. “Why would I ask you that if I didn’t want to know?”

“You can’t make fun of me,” I tell him, drawing a circle in the dirt with the toe of my shoe. “I should probably take these off so they can finish drying.”

Call me the master of the subject change.

“I won’t make fun of you.” He scoots down, unlacing my boots and pulling them off, setting them next to the fire. The socks follow, and I cringe at the sight of my water-logged skin. I have blisters. My blisters have blisters. “Hyrulis. Why didn’t you tell me your feet pained you?”

“We’re both hurting. The blisters will heal.”

“You’re taking another gel pack.”

“We should save them?—”

“No. You risk infection. We are not saving them when you need them now.”

Grumbling, I take the foil pack from his hand and slurp down the bitter stuff, because he’s not wrong.

I just sincerely hope we don’t wish we’d saved them.

“We have one left,” he says, closing the tacklebox. “Now tell me about your favorites. I will not make fun of you, I swear.” He raises three fingers and holds them sideways.

“Three?” I cock my head at him.

“It’s a symbol of honor with my people. Stop changing the subject.”

“Fine,” I exhale. “My favorite are the alienabductionfanfics.” The words bleed together as I say it as fast as I can.

He leans forward, his dark hair falling around his face. “What? I did not understand.”

“Alienabductionfanfics.” It comes out even faster.

“It is not translating.” He points to his ear. “You might have to explain it differently.”

I’m saved from that particular mortification by swirling, glowing dust motes. They rotate like a tornado, casting a green light as they fuse together, moving faster and faster.

“What fresh hell is this?”I screech and hop into Rex’s lap, which is probably stupid, because now his hands are full of me instead of weapons.

The light solidifies, making a shape that’s vaguely hominid.

“Good evening, contestants. I’m here to present you with a special luxury reward challenge for your evening.” The face in the light is spooky, a cross between a person and a freaky noseless mask.

That voice, though. I recognize it.

“Ken?” I ask, my voice ratcheting up a few octaves.

“The one and only,” he says cheerily.

“Ken No Privates?” Rex stands up, still holding me as he circles around the figure of light.

“Just Ken,” he tells Rex, sounding annoyed.

“Are you a hologram?” I ask, fascinated.

“He’s Just Ken No Privates,” Rex tells me.

Ken ignores that. I bite my cheeks to keep from laughing out loud.

That’s probably not the ideal response with him standing right there. Er. Projected right there.

Whatever.

“Contestants, tonight your luxury reward challenge is a puzzle. If you finish the puzzle within the time constraints, you receive both a meal and a luxury shelter for the night.”

“And if we don’t finish it in time?” I ask.

Just Ken No Privates ignores that, too.

A grinding sound begins near the fire, and Rex takes several big steps back as the ground parts, a table of rock rising out of nothing. Pain streaks across my palm, and I loosen my too-tight hold on the tablet when I realize I have the darn thing in a total death grip.

“You have one hour to complete the puzzle. Good luck.”

“Wait, you said we’d get a reward for, er, consummating—” the word sticks in my throat, but I push it out anyway, “the mate bond.”

“Your reward is a slightly easier puzzle, in line with your lack of mental acuity.”

I wince. “Ouch.”

With that, the green hologram fizzles out, leaving us alone.

Though we’re not, not really. Ken is watching. Good ole AI Big Brother. Oh, and whoever else is watching the show, too. We are far from alone, and I should remember that. I swallow hard, my jaw tight.

A chime comes from the table, and Rex slowly puts me back on my feet. He takes my hand, then presses a kiss against my knuckles, almost mindlessly, as we both approach the new stone dais.

The sweet gesture eases my nerves slightly, and I feel better.

Until I see the puzzle.

There’s no way we’re getting that luxury reward.