Page 8 of Alien Jeopardy (Mated & Afraid #1)

CHAPTER

SEVEN

Ellison

I fan my face, trying not to think about how good the alien behind me feels. The thick muscles of his stomach provide the perfect place to lean against, and one wayward hand wraps casually around his thigh as if we’ve known each other for our whole lives.

Gritting my teeth, I force my hand away. There is no reason on Earth, er, on this random-ass moon, that I should be rubbing myself all over him like a cat in heat.

Except for the fact that I am a human in heat.

I scrub a palm down my face, feeling feverish, a light sheen of sweat coating my skin. It’s uncomfortable, a prickling sensation that reminds me vaguely of the time I ran into a patch of poison ivy as a kid and didn’t realize what I’d done until it was much, much too late.

“It’s going to get worse, isn’t it?” The question comes out on a moan, and I lurch away from him, the movement as sloppy as if I were still nose-deep in a pitcher of frozen margaritas.

I wince at the mere thought of more tequila, my stomach flip-flopping.

Ew. I put a hand over my mouth, like that’s going to stop my intestinal revolt.

Big ew.

Ka-Rexsh tilts his head, the small stretch of skin between his eyebrows furrowing just slightly, as if the horns protruding above them stop him from a full-on scowl.

“Mates?” I ask, weary already of all that single word entails, knowing he can’t understand me but needing to talk it out.

Well, can’t be any more one-sided than the last conversation I had with an ex-boyfriend! A mirthless cackle erupts from my mouth, which is better than the other substance that threatened to erupt.

I cock my head at the big alien. At least Ka-Rexsh has a reason for not responding: he can’t understand me.

Alan, the last guy I dated, could.

He was just a run-of-the-mill human asshole.

I arch an eyebrow, my gaze running over Ka-Rexsh’s body. There’s nothing run-of-the mill about him, and his gorgeous body is also definitely an upgrade. Plus, the heated way Ka-Rexsh is looking at me makes my skin tingle all over.

Alan definitely never looked at me like that—like he wanted to eat me up.

Not that I’m truly considering being his mate. I’m not. Nope.

My gaze drops lower, to the definite bulge in his pants, and when I bite my lip, he hisses out a breath. I glance back up at him, his pupils dilating as I watch.

“I didn’t sign up for this,” I tell him, my voice wobbling. “I didn’t know I was getting a mate, or going into heat, or fuck—” I rake my hand through my hair, which is impossibly snarled from flying here.

Flying.

In a dragon alien’s arms.

My dragon alien mate .

Ka-Rexsh.

I swallow hard, dizzy and hot—the flush of what can only be the induced heat making me feverish, and strange—like my skin fits just slightly too tight.

“Hot,” I manage, my voice thick and husky and unusual to my own ears. I fan my face, and when he stalks closer to me, I freeze.

I so do not want to jump his bones.

I mean, I so do want to jump his bones, but that would mean sealing the mate bond that’s already starting to form, and I don’t even know him.

He can’t want this either.

I don’t know much about the alien species besides the Suevans and the Roth, and the Draegon—or Drazox—are arguably some of the most secretive.

Maybe he was abducted too. Maybe he was forced to be here, and he doesn’t want me at all.

The thought chills some of the lava-temperature desire coursing through my veins.

I blow out a giant breath, trying to hold onto that thought, onto some semblance of sanity. Yeah, that’s it. Someone coerced him to be here, and he’s disgusted by me.

My nose crinkles at the idea of it.

Success!

Mind over matter, that’s all this is.

I toss a hand into the air, palm out, in what I hope is the literal universal signal for stop. Stop, because if he takes another step closer to me, I might just get down on my knees and beg him to fuck me.

Urgh.

That was the wrong mental image. I squeeze my eyes shut, like that will help block my stupid, stubborn brain.

Crossing one leg over the other, I try to Kegel my lust into oblivion. It turns out, however, that that’s not a thing, not at all.

At least my lady tunnel will be toned if I ever decide to open her up for business.

I manage to open one eye, and his lips are turned down into a frown, his pointy canines no longer apparent.

Good. I’m much less likely to think about how hot he is if he looks more like a human douche-knuckle.

My nose scrunches up. I don’t know what that word means.

“Dooosh nuckelle?” Ka-Rexsh asks in a plaintive tone.

My jaw drops, and then I snap my mouth shut. Amazing.

I said it out loud, and he’s repeating the shitty made-up word like some wayward alien toddler.

The urge to scream makes me clamp my molars together with a loud clack.

His eyebrows nudge up, both horns raising slightly with them.

“I’m not into this,” I hiss at him, keeping my hand palm out and shaking my head. “I didn’t ask to be put into some alien heat. I didn’t ask for a mate. For a lifetime!”

I scowl, pausing, because I did, in fact, sign up for this.

I just skipped the fine print.

“Shit,” I say, attempting to run my hand through my hair again and failing. I tug my hand out, and manage to pull a ton of loose hair out at the same time. Ew. I shake out my hand, letting the strands fall to the soft earthen ground.

Today is not my day.

A ragged sigh rips out of me.

At least whatever the Roth shot me up with when they told us where we were and showed us the paperwork we’d signed has burned off what was sure to be an unholy hangover.

“Shit,” Ka-Rexsh repeats unhelpfully.

“Shit.” I nod emphatically. “Good pronunciation on that one.”

He beams at me, and damn if my legs don’t try to turn to jelly at the way the smile transforms his face.

“Alright,” I say, making up my mind. My hands fly to my hips, and my mouth scrunches to the side. Overhead, the drone buzzes loudly as it zooms closer. “If I’m here, I’m going to do this. Did I want a mate? No!” I yell, slashing an X with my hands in front of my body. He blinks.

Too loud, okay.

He nods encouragingly, though, and I clear my throat before beginning again.

“No, I did not,” I repeat, because I need to remember that no matter what Little Miss Pussy Galore down below is telling my brain, we are not banging. We are so not banging the hot dragon alien. “Did I know that we would be abducted and put on an alien planet for this show immediately? No!”

“No,” he agrees, just repeating the word like a hot dragon parrot.

I snap my fingers at him. “Exactly. But now that I’m here, am I going to let that stop me from winning?”

“No,” he yells at me, and I nod fervently, pacing and talking with my hands, like I can mime my way into communicating with him.

“So we can’t fly,” I flap my arms at him, and his eyes widen.

“And we aren’t going to bang,” I say, doing some very illustrative hip-thrusting.

“But we can fucking win!” I yell, throwing my arms into a victory V.

“And if there’s one absolutely terrible thing about me, it’s how competitive I am.

I will ruin friendships over Monopoly.” I mime throwing dice, still pacing.

My tone is increasingly unhinged, but I’m going with it.

“And don’t even get me started on Scrabble.

If you can’t spell well, you best not take on the queen. ”

I place an imaginary crown on my head, then pretend to sit my ass on a throne. Nearly immediately, my thighs start to shake, so I abandon the fake throne pretty damn quick.

He stares at me.

I stare at him.

He blinks, then descends upon me in a flurry of whirling limbs and wings.

“What the fuck?” I squeak, taking a step back and falling straight on my ass.