Page 10 of Chased by the Alien Mercenary (Monster Mercenary Mates #6)

He was a hugger. Who would have thought that?

Honestly, I kind of liked it. I couldn’t recall the last time I’d just sat and hugged with someone, and he was warm, big, and he smelled extremely good.

For the first time since I’d woken up in this nightmare—barely dressed, threatened, clearly sold by my own people—I felt safe.

Safe because the feral, monster alien was hugging me in his big, brawny arms. Huh.

That wasn’t even so weird when I thought about it.

The exhaustion of the past days—the stress—it began to catch up to me then, as if it had been waiting for the chance to pummel me with fatigue now that I felt better.

Also not strange, but damn if it wasn’t inconvenient.

We weren’t safe at all; I just felt safe because he was such a great hugger, and he would bite the head off anyone who tried to approach.

Of course, my thoughts jinxed the moment, footsteps echoed from afar, scuffing against the marble in the fancy hallways above. Someone was coming.

I went tense, and then he went tense. The world tilted and shifted as he leaped to his feet and took me with him.

I stumbled when he planted me on mine, then pushed me into the corner and stood defensively in front of me.

Any doubts that he was protecting me—or himself—went out the window then; he was definitely protecting me.

A warmth filled me at that knowledge, but it did not erase the fear for those about to visit us.

Was it going to be more of the same? How much pain and hurt could my feral alien withstand before they subdued or killed him and took me anyway?

Was it selfish of me to hope he’d last a long time?

Peering around the black edge of his armor, I squinted at the figures coming down the stairs in the distance.

There were several silhouettes, but with the light behind them, I couldn’t even see their skin color, let alone their faces.

Then something shimmered golden. Oh no. Not him.

I had clutched the back of my big protector’s sleek black armor before I could curb the impulse.

“That’s the boss coming down the stairs now.

He’s the one who threw me in here. He’s going to hurt me bad if he takes me.

” I couldn’t even twist my tongue around the word rape —or even assault —as if saying it would make it too real.

My feral protector rattled as he growled, his back hot against my fingers.

It was almost as if he seemed bigger after I’d said that, full of killing intent.

Whoever tried to come through that door first was going to be dead, but they weren’t going to be stupid enough to do that.

They were going to shoot him, from a distance.

Fear for him—for myself—made everything in my chest grow tight.

Agony: there was no other word for this kind of anticipation, fearing the worst.

The lights came on, brighter than before, and I winced back, briefly blinded. An unholy sound reverberated through the tunnel, followed by the groaning of metal as it warped and twisted. I blinked, hearing many shouts go up, and then the heat against my hands was suddenly gone.

In the bright lights, I saw people moving, saw the shadow of something, someone, large, leaping, and then…

red sprayed, screams turned high-pitched and shocked.

Somehow, my protector had wrenched the bars beside the door apart and leaped out before they could so much as raise their weapons.

He was on them, and, like before with the Krektar guards, he was wreaking havoc upon their numbers.

I had to look away; I couldn’t look at the carnage, at the snarling beast that my alien had turned into.

This… this was something else, something nothing in my admittedly adventurous life had ever prepared me for.

I couldn’t help him fight; I couldn’t stomach the sight of what was going on.

I’d just get in the way, and it was dangerous to boot.

So, I did the only thing I could think to do: dive toward the overturned metal cot and hide.

Though part of me wanted to help and do something, the bigger part of me knew the safest thing to do was huddle and wait it out.

I mean, what could I even do? Those guys were armed to the teeth, and all of them were bigger than me.

I was also not sure if my protector would know friend from foe in the heat of things.

When laser fire suddenly erupted, a scream rushed from my throat. I felt the heat of the beam above my head, so close, I was certain I’d lost a few hairs. I could smell the stench of them melting and burning, even over the scent of blood that hung heavily in the air.

My scream had barely tapered off when hands suddenly reached for me from above, claw-tipped fingers carving through the air and snatching me up.

I definitely screamed again, utterly terrified and equally confused.

All this fighting was happening too fast to keep up with; I wasn’t used to this kind of action.

I felt paralyzed without my camera to hide behind.

Brightness clashed with darkness as those claws pulled me from my hiding place.

And then I was suddenly thrown over a shoulder, my legs pinned to a chest, and my nose filled with a scent I was by now familiar with—him.

The feral alien. Had he come for me the moment I screamed?

Maybe he knew friend from foe after all.

The hallway blurred as he began running through it, my body jostling in his fireman’s grip. I was glad I couldn’t see everything clearly, because I’d surely throw up from the horror of it, if I did. There were moans and sighs, though, so not everyone was dead.

At the foot of the stairs, my protector leaped up them two at a time, and I took a final glance at the lit hallway and what we’d left behind.

Dead bodies, yes, but most of them had lived—if badly wounded.

The red and gold male was closest to the stairs, and briefly, his golden eyes clashed with mine, fury and hatred in them that made my skin crawl.

We hadn’t seen the last of him. If he survived his injuries, he’d come after us with nothing but vengeance in his heart.

Then we were turning the corner, my alien’s black boots slapping against the stone, gold veins rushing by at a rapid pace.

I lifted my head just enough to see a pair of blue faces peering at us from around a corner, then they were gone, and we were bursting through a door and outside.

Shouts went up—guards of the property—and laser fire flew again, gravel flying left and right at the impact.

A stone struck my cheek, cutting the skin, and more landed in my hair.

“Supplies!” I shouted when I realized he wasn’t pausing, but barreling straight for the hills.

The laser fire had stopped as he’d ducked around the corner of one of the outbuildings, but he wasn’t stopping for anything.

Those hills looked pretty and lovely, but they’d be freezing cold, especially at night.

I was wearing a slinky nighty, a thong, and a pilfered shirt.

I’d lose my toes out there. I was lucky I’d managed to hold onto my thin blanket in all this chaos, but that wasn’t going to be enough.

Briefly, my mind flashed with images of what it would be like to cuddle with him to stay warm: lying against that big, lean chest and curled inside his arms, wrapped in his scent.

It was a heady picture I was definitely not opposed to.

After our cuddling back in that cell, I didn’t think he’d be opposed either.

But I would still like a few extra blankets, and food.

Food would be good too. When was the last time I’d eaten?