Page 41 of Alien Jeopardy (Mated & Afraid #1)
Selene: We had some trouble at dusk
Selene: Did you all get reward challenges
Lucy: Oh we got one. We did not win it.
Lily: We did
Poppy: We had some trouble too
Poppy: I’m using the word trouble very, very loosely
I keep scrolling. I missed a lot. Anything that might have details in it is blacked out.
“It’s weird, right?” I ask Rex. “All the censored messages. Ken really doesn’t want us to meet up with the other couples, it seems like. Anything that might give away where they are… he’s just blacked it out.”
“Created sentient beings like Ken have their own reasoning, and often it has nothing to do with the way you or I would reason.” Rex does look troubled by it, his gaze far away.
“I mean, it must have to do with the way he wants to run the show, right? Like, he is keeping us separate for a reason. Maybe it’s just for the, uh,” my brain stumbles over the word I want. “Story arcs.”
“Maybe,” Rex concedes, but he doesn’t look convinced.
Selene: We made it through the night
Made it through the night? I cringe, feeling something that must be akin to survivor’s guilt. Hell, maybe it is survivor’s guilt.
Lucy: So did we
Lily: We’re good here too
Poppy: Same.
Poppy: Anyone heard from Ell?
Lucy: Is anyone else still in heat
Lucy: It’s horrible
Lucy: I’m considering banging him just to feel better
I pause the message I’d been tapping out, completely thrown by Lucy’s. I don’t know why I didn’t stop to consider they were probably all in heat and struggling with it. It didn’t even occur to me that they:
were also in heat
were likely feeling horrible because of point number one
weren’t in love with their partners
Which leads me to point four: I am falling in love with Ka-Rexsh
It’s funny how it bubbles up to my consciousness fully now, the truth of it.
“Are you going to tell them you are safe, hyrulis?” Ka-Rexsh prods, a quizzical look on his face. His tail wraps around my ankle, an alien gesture that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside all the same.
Ellison: We’re safe
I bite my lip. It feels wrong to tell them we won the luxury reward challenge. It would feel even worse to not tell them I’m not in heat.
Ellison: Rex and I mated. I’m not in heat
Lucy: Holy shit Ell are you okay
Lily: I’ll come find him and kill him if I have to
Ellison: I’m better than okay
Ellison: It was my choice, and I have no regrets
Lucy: Once again, and I cannot emphasize this enough, holy shit. You are the queen of regret when it comes to men. Are you okay?
Lily: I would ask if you’ve been abducted by aliens, but uh…
Selene: Congratulations
Selene: Whatever you do, don’t go back to their planet with him
“That’s ominous,” I say out loud.
Selene: That is, if you get off this one
Right. Let’s borrow that trouble. Sheesh. Selene is a real ray of sunshine. I frown, thinking it over. How the hell would she know enough about the Draegon to advise me not to go back to their planet?
Weird.
Lily: It’s a space station, not a planet
Poppy: I think our next challenge is starting. Be safe. Check in tonight.
The ground rumbles, and Rex grips my arm to keep me from falling, his tail still anchoring my leg.
“We better get up there,” I tell him.
“You are upset. Which of them upset you?” He narrows his eyes at me.
“We can talk about it later. The earthquake shit is freaking me out. Can we go upstairs?”
“I do not understand what earthquakeshit is.”
I don’t bother answering—I’m throwing on my boots which, blessedly, weren’t stolen with the rest of the comfortable hiking clothes.
I might be in my damned pajamas, but I’m not barefoot.
Thank Ken No Privates for small miracles, I guess.
I clutch the tablet to my chest, and Rex grabs the rest of our belongings and helps me hustle up the narrow stone stairs.
“I should have fed you before now,” he growls, his wings twitching in irritation.
“You need food too,” I tell him.
He sprints for the insta-pantry, and it dings as his fingers fly across the screen. Whatever he programmed into it didn’t need a whole lot of time to make.
I have a feeling it’s not going to be alien lasagna.
Dust fills the air, and I cough as the little hut continues to shake.
My feet are braced a bit wider than my hips, and I have one arm outstretched just so I don’t lose my balance and eat dirt.
The formerly polished surface of the alien hut’s now covered in clods of dirt, and I pull the neckline of the pajama shirt over my face to avoid inhaling space station dust.
I’m quite sure I don’t want that in my lungs, thank you very much.
Thankfully, the insta-pantry chimes nearly right away, and Ka-Rexsh scoops whatever he ordered out and drags me outside.
Not a minute too soon, too, seeing as how the hut starts to cave in on itself right away.
Ken appears a second later, and I shriek at the hologram’s sudden appearance.
“I don’t think that’s a normal good morning, Miss Price, even for a human.” Ken glares at me, like my shriek of utter terror ruined whatever greeting he had planned.
“I trust you slept well, contestants?” he finally asks.
Rex hands me half of what looks like a protein bar, and I shove it in my mouth instead of answering. Calories are important.
Especially considering I have no idea when we’ll get to eat again.
“Since you two have successfully completed two challenges I’ve put before you, and because you placed first in the childish performance the, ah, former producers arranged for you, I’ve decided that you two have made it to the fast track.”
Does that math add up? I’m not sure.
“Fast track?” I try to repeat. My teeth are stuck together thanks to the protein bar. It tastes like bananas and pineapple and, strangely, peanut butter.
I’m doing my best not to think about what it tastes like at all, actually.
“Yes. You two are the only mated pair, and for whatever reason, the audience reaction isn’t nearly as good as it is for our remaining unmated couples. I suppose the tension is gone. You two work well together.”
Ken announces this with the air of someone who has been fully deprived of seeing us suffer.
I decide that Ken isn’t my favorite non-person person.
It doesn’t matter that he’s the only non-person person I know.
“What does fast track mean?” Rex asks, his tail tight around my ankle.
“It means, my surly Draegon friend, that today’s challenge will be your last! Because I’m sick of you two.”
“Rude,” I tell Ken. I make a face and bite off another chunk of the godawful protein bar.
“Would you prefer to continue to compete, Ellison Price?” Ken’s hologram eyes seem to glow.
“No, Ken, I would not,” I make myself say. “If you want us to win the competition, that’s fine by me.”
“Oh, don’t be so hasty, Ellison.” Ken smiles, and I step back.
His teeth aren’t right. They’re pointy. Pointy, and there’s too many of them, like the AI had no idea how to make teeth look right.
The overall effect is truly freakish.
“Uncanny valley, much?” I mutter.
“Today’s challenge is unlike any the two of you have faced so far.”
Rex reaches for my hand, but the hologram raises one finger, shaking it at him like he’s a naughty child. “Ah-ah!”
We both freeze.
Literally.
I try to blink, but I can’t move.
“There. Today’s challenge, your final challenge, your capstone assignment, your senior reality thesis?—”
I glare at Ken, and he narrows his eyes at me, pausing before he picks up his speech again.
“Will be conducted separately. The challenge is simple. Find your way back to each other. When you find each other, the challenge is complete, and you will be rewarded.”
No. I don’t want to be separated from Rex. We’re supposed to be together.
No.
I don’t want to do this alone!
Ken claps his hands.
Whatever I want doesn’t matter because when I’m finally unstuck and able to blink, Rex is nowhere to be found.
I’m alone.