Page 35 of Alien Jeopardy (Mated & Afraid #1)
CHAPTER
THIRTY-FOUR
Ka-Rexsh
Ellison is mumbling about poop and building blocks under her breath, according to the words my translator is supplying.
“Shit… bricks?” I repeat, thoroughly amused. Ellison is more than I bargained for—pretty, smart, brave, and endlessly entertaining, especially when she’s grumpy like right now.
“Exactly.” She nods furiously. “Shit bricks.”
“I do not think bricks made of shit would help us right now,” I tell her delicately, trying not to laugh at her.
She rakes a hand through her hair, which make it even more tangled and poufy than it was. Adorable.
“I just, I thought it was going to be a puzzle, you know? Like, a jigsaw puzzle. We could have a cozy night, put together the jigsaw puzzle, make a picture, and go to sleep.” She waves a hand at the puzzle in front of us, irritated. “This isn’t a jigsaw puzzle.”
“A jigsaw puzzle? You humans make puzzles out of construction equipment? Do you actually use said shit bricks?”
She makes an indistinct noise of frustration, her brow wrinkled, then she stares at me a moment longer and lets out a long laugh. “No. No—I don’t know why it’s called that. It’s just a picture cut up into little pieces and then you put them together.”
“Why would you cut up art?”
Her lips purse. “The whole thing is just for fun.” Brown eyes narrow. “Why aren’t you worried about this puzzle?”
“Probably because I am not being squeezed to death by a serpent while my mate bleeds into the water and I can’t get to her.”
“Ah.” She nods. “That does sound slightly more stressful.”
The way Ellison says it is so dry that I can’t help a laugh of my own.
We both grin at each other across the puzzle table, and then she taps the little screen displaying a ticking clock.
“We better get to work.”
I nod, turning as much of my full attention to the puzzle on the table as I can. There are two screens, one with the clock, and the other displaying what I can only assume is the puzzle we’re supposed to solve. It’s a diagram of sorts, a series of rectangles, each with an opening.
“It says: draw a continuous line through each of the doors without the line ever intersecting or using any door more than once.” Ellison drags her finger through a series of the doors, and a trail of color follows the motion.
Soon, though, she’s stuck, and the screen flashes red before the line erases.
“This isn’t going to be easy,” she mutters. Her stomach growls, and she claps a hand over it, cringing. “Ignore that.”
I won’t. I can’t. How can I ignore the fact my mate is hungry and that I have the ability to earn a meal for her, if only we can solve this?
I trace my finger over the diagram, thinking hard. No one has ever accused me of being overly intelligent. In fact, very much the opposite.
“When I was on the streets, I was smart enough to make myself smaller, to do what I had to do to survive. I didn’t start fights I couldn’t finish, and I stayed away from those who were always looking to start one.”
Ellison looks up from where she’s examining the screens, a curious look on her face.
“I did not attend any of the fancy schools for the young in the capitol,” I tell her by way of explanation. “These sort of logic problems, they wouldn’t have fed me. I will, however, do my best to make sure you are fed tonight.”
Her cheeks turn a bright pink, her eyes shining. Without a word, she walks around the table, cups my face in her hands, and pulls me down to plant a kiss on my lips.
It sets my soul on fire.
It also gets my cock incredibly hard, which is a distraction I don’t need.
Not that I’m going to tell her to stop, not when her mouth meets mine like that.
“You are full of surprises, Ka-Rexsh,” she says.
“So are you,” I tell her, and I mean it.
“I hope we get that luxury tent.” Ellison’s teeth flash as she nibbles her lower lip.
“No matter what happens, I will ensure you are safe and comfortable this night, I promise you that.”
Giving me a mystified look, she turns back to the screen.
I spend a moment just watching her. The beautiful slant of her cheekbones illuminated by the light of the fire, the warm brown of her eyes and the lush curve of her lips.
She doesn’t have horns, like a Draegon female would, but there is something delicate about her smooth forehead that makes me want to take care of her even more.
She is mine .
From the ragged, tangled ends of her silky brown hair to the dirty soles of her feet, Ellison is a dream come true. Capable, smart, brave and kind.
I want to give her everything she dreams for, from dinner and excellent sleeping accommodations to as many orgasms as her human body can take.
While I’m glad she’s out of heat, and while I will never regret being able to please her last night, I wish it had been under different circumstances.
“I am sorry I was not able to court you as you deserve,” I say out loud, surprising both of us. “I hope that you know, if circumstances were different, I would.”
A finger twirls the ends of her hair, and she glances shyly up at me, through her dark lashes. It makes my breath catch, the flirtatiousness in that little look, the small smile dancing over her lips.
“There are reality shows on Earth, where they date different people. They aren’t much different than this.
” She pauses, looking up at the night sky.
“Well, other than the near-death experiences, and the flooding, and the blood, and the whole Ken thing. And usually the people know they’re going on the shows and have time to prepare… ”
“That is not the same as this at all,” I tell her, not understanding her comparison.
“It is, though, because some of those couples, they end up falling in love. The show brings them together.” She plops down on the ground, scratching out a rough diagram of the puzzle on the table into the dirt, working her way through multiple possibilities.
I watch her for too long, absorbed in the elegant way she uses her hands, the rise and fall of her pert breasts, the way her mouth moves as she thinks.
My attention finally switches back to the puzzle, and I draw multiple different lines, none of them correct.
This task is impossible. There is no way to solve it; either that, or I am as foolish as I feared.
Ellison even throws her hands up in frustration, sitting back, her legs splayed in front of her as she frowns down at her drawing in the dirt. Her wingless back heaves as she lets out a huge sigh. Her shoulders are so pretty. She has no wings, but I can be that for her.
I will show her how to fly.
“Five-minute warning,” the alarm on the table intones, sounding exactly like Ken No Privates.
I’m still watching my mate.
Ellison is flightless, fangless, and her little fingers are soft and without talons.
All in all, she’s defenseless, and used to seeing the world from one angle, from the ground.
“From the ground,” I say out loud. “That’s it.”
“What’s it?”
I register her question, that she has spoken, but my brain has finally caught up to the trick of this puzzle.
“We’re looking at it wrong,” I say out loud, talking at her excitedly. My wings flap slightly, and I hiss in dismay at the fresh wave of pain in the injured one. “The plane is the problem. It shouldn’t be flat.”
Out of my periphery, I see her shake her head in confusion.
Ellison asks something else, but I’m too busy. I have this. I can do it.
Carefully, I run the fingers of both hands across the screen, bringing them together.
The diagram distorts, now forming multiple planes.
“See? More than one level. That is how this puzzle is supposed to be solved.” I’m grinning so wide my cheeks hurt, my heart pounding as I drag my finger across the now three-dimensional screen, the line following all the directions as I pull it through each opening.
Finally, I pull my hand away and wait, holding my breath.
The screen flashes green.
The clock stops at 2:11.
We solved it.
Ellison jumps up and down, wrapping her arms around me. “I know just how I want to celebrate,” she says.
“I do too,” I tell her, grabbing her hips and pulling her up to my waist.
She wraps her legs around me, careful not to kick my wings, and I meld my mouth to hers, savoring the perfect feel of her tongue, the delicious taste of her.
I don’t need any other reward.
All I want is her.