Page 19 of Saved By the Alien Hybrid (Hybrids of Yulaira #1)

“You’re kind of nosy, huh?” Her tone was teasing, a smokescreen for the panic she felt at the thought of pulling that skeleton out of her closet.

He blinked owlishly at the turn of phrase, and she snorted.

“A few, over the years,” she said. “Nothing that lasted. Nothing that felt real, until…”

“Until?”

She rubbed her thumb over his tail, stalling. “His name was Felix. He’s gone now.” That was as much as she could bear to admit.

An uneasy silence fell between them, filled by the sounds of the forest waking for the night.

“I am sorry,” he said at length. “For your loss.”

She grinned, letting her head fall back. “Funny.”

He canted his head at her in confusion, brows furrowing.

“We say the same thing on Earth when someone dies,” she explained. “You know, cause you don’t really know what to say and nothing would make it better, anyway? So, you just say sorry.”

“I see. Yes, it is the same for us. We have seen much of death, but still… I am not always sure what to say.”

He looked down at his hands, cleaning bark from beneath one claw with another. She sensed there was something more he wasn’t saying, but she let it lie.

“I haven’t seen any women down here,” she said.

He hummed. “You are the first.”

“No pressure, huh?”

He looked askance at the turn of phrase, and she shook her head, smiling wearily.

“Lucky you guys aren’t a bunch of domineering pervs,” she murmured. “We had a lot of those back on Earth.”

“What is a ‘perv?’”

“You know what? Don’t worry about it. I don’t even wanna plant the seed.”

He nodded, though his expression was dismayed.

“Your men are stupid,” he said suddenly, startling a laugh out of her.

“I have not known you long, but it is clear to me that you are not ‘less’ than anyone. You are brave, determined, and competent. You leapt into battle to assist me against impossible odds. I cannot imagine how anyone would believe you undeserving of respect.”

She blinked at him in surprise. Clearing her throat, she smiled unsteadily. “Thanks, Rentir. That’s… really nice to hear, honestly.”

“I will tell you as often as you like.” His tail moved sinuously over her leg in an unmistakable alien flirtation.

The tip brushed over her hipbone before sliding back down her thigh.

“If the other human women are even a quarter as competent and beautiful as you are, they are wasted on your men. Better they should come to Yulaira, where they might be appreciated.”

She laughed, but it was a sad sound. “Maybe you’re right—if there are even any left. Considering the last transmissions we received from Earth… I’m not sure there is an Earth anymore.”

“This saddens you. Because you wish to go back?”

She chewed on the question, trying to think over the mesmerizing little circles his tail tip was making over the swell of her hip.

“I don’t know. I mean, being lost in space and shot at by an evil empire of alien fascists isn’t ideal, but…

Maybe you’re right. As planets go… it’s a hell of a lot better than Earth.

You guys seem really decent. Maybe we could make a difference here, help you solidify your freedom. ”

“I would like that very much. You would be welcome here. All of you.”

She grinned, unable to keep her grip on the morose in the face of his opaque attempts to get her to stay. “You’re moving pretty fast, aren’t you? You’ve only known humankind for a day or two. We could be completely insufferable. What if you live to regret granting us Yulairan citizenship?”

He reached out and touched a strip of skin above her boot where her pants had ridden up.

His expression was reverent as he traced her skin, sending little jolts of lightning up her leg.

“The only thing I cannot suffer is the thought of you flying off into that great black expanse where I might never find you again.”

Her heart skipped a beat. Did he have to be so earnest? It tore down her defenses more thoroughly than any appeal to logic he could have made.

His tail slid up her thigh and twitched just right, pressing the seam of her pants against her core.

She gasped, squeezing her thighs together, inadvertently trapping his tail against her.

It continued to move restlessly, spiking her arousal until she had the presence of mind to go lax.

She caught his tail in her hand and dragged it away from her crotch.

Rentir groaned. “Cordelia… that scent…” He rolled onto his knees and crawled closer.

Before she could process what was happening and make a rational decision about how to react, her knees fell open on instinct to welcome him.

It had been years since someone had looked at her the way Rentir did.

Alien as he was, Rentir was a wall of rippling muscle and chiseled good looks. She was only human.

“I need… I don’t know.” His voice was laced with desperation.

“I do,” she whispered.

God, was she really going to do this?

He groaned again, planting a knee between her own as he brought his face to hers. His breath fanned across her lips, sweet and earthy like the nectar from a flower.

A cacophony of rustling suddenly cut through the night, overwhelming the distant animal calls and startling her badly enough that she cracked the back of her head against the tree trunk. Rentir growled as she pressed her hands against his shoulders and pushed him back.

“What was that?” she whispered.

He rose up onto his feet in a crouch, his tail still gripping her as he leaned out over the branch.

“Well? What is it?”

“Haerune calls them lotari—little climbers.” He grinned back at her, his thwarted lust already forgotten. “Come see.”

Reluctantly, she crawled closer to him. His tail shifted to allow her to move, sliding sensuously up her thigh and over her hip until it could wind around her waist. Aside from the unsettling flutter in her core, she was comforted by the gesture.

Her concern about plummeting to her death ebbed.

She didn’t even mind the way her injury twinged at the touch.

Beneath them were creatures that looked like little monkeys, only with four arms instead of two.

They had black fur, but they were glowing all shades of blue and violet, illuminating their spindly limbs and long tails.

They chittered at each other from the low boughs of the trees.

Some carried tiny babies on their backs.

Two of the larger lotari broke out in a spat, chortling wildly as they chased each other.

One dropped to a lower branch, shrieking, tail bristling behind it.

Cordelia laughed softly at the sight until two eerie blue lights came into view on the forest floor behind the angry little creature. Then another pair, and another, until there were six glowing eyes fixed on it.

“Rentir,” she whispered, clutching at his sleeve.

His expression was grim as his tail tightened around her.

The eyes shifted, and a long mouth opened, revealing rows of hooked fangs.

A horrible, deep growl rattled her bones moments before the creature struck, leaping twenty feet clear off the floor of the forest to snatch the little lotari off its branch.

Its body pulsed with light as it struck, revealing a form uncannily similar to a crocodile with limbs as long as a panther.

Several branches cracked under the creature’s weight as it fell carelessly back to the ground with its prey in its mouth.

“What the fuck was that?” she cried, scrambling back from the edge.

He followed her, his tail sliding free as he shushed her. “Yethor.” The word didn’t translate. “It hunts at night.”

“That fucking thing was down there while we were stumbling around in the woods? The whole time?”

“It hunts at night,” he repeated with exasperation.

“Okay, well, it is night.” Cordelia rose to her feet. “And I’m stuck in a tree!” She looked above. “Maybe we should keep climbing.”

“Shhh,” he soothed, catching her hand and pulling her back down. “You are safe with me, Cordelia.”

She wavered, looking down where the yethor had fallen. “The others are still out there. Down there, with whatever the hell that thing is.” Her chest clenched.

When she looked back, Rentir was staring steadily at her, making no argument to the contrary.

“Fuck,” she whispered, threading her fingers through her hair and tugging at her scalp.

“Come. You’re tired and you need to rest. I will watch over you.” He shifted until his back was against the tree trunk, parting his knees wide in invitation.

“What are you going to do if that thing comes up here?”

“It will not. Yethor can leap high, but it is a poor climber.” She opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off. “And I have my blaster. You will be safe, I vow it.” He tugged gently at her hand.

After a moment’s resistance, she allowed him to draw her in, turning in his arms so her back was resting against his chest. He began to purr immediately, his thighs pressing in against hers as his tail wrapped back around her waist.

“If you let that thing eat us, I’ll kill you,” she muttered, annoyed at how his body heat and his inhuman purr pacified her.

He huffed a laugh, bringing his arms around hers where they were crossed over her chest. More of his heat seeped into her, loosening the tension in her muscles. She pointedly ignored his growing hardness at her back and the way her body was beginning to respond to it.

She was sure the hard-on was involuntary. The poor guy had never even seen a woman before she’d crash-landed right in his lap.

What was her excuse?

“We will reach the lodge tomorrow,” he said, his breath stirring her hair and tickling her ear. “Once we heal your wounds, we can try to find another vehicle. Or perhaps Fendar will comm us the all-clear, and we can call for retrieval.”

“Do you think any of the others have been found by your people?” she murmured.

“Yes,” he said with conviction, resting his chin atop her head. “And we will find the rest. For now, close your eyes and let sleep take you.”

With all her obstinacy disarmed by his warmth, his purr, and the rich tenor of his voice… she conceded.