Page 76 of Saved By the Alien Hybrid

“She got snatched right in front of me. Rentir killed the bastard, but… they took her. I couldn’t stop it.”

“What do you think they’re doing to her?”

“I don’t know. Rentir doesn’t think they’ll hurt her, but he doesn’t know why they want her, either.”

Someone cleared their throat, prompting Cordelia and Nyx to lift their bowed heads. The males were all standing to the side of the seating area. Some she recognized, but others were unfamiliar to her.

Rentir stepped forward from the throng, and she went to him, studying his somber expression.

“What is it?” she asked.

He ran a hand over his jaw, tail twitching in the way she’d come to recognize as discomfort. “We need to speak with you all.”

“So, speak,” Nyx chirped, crossing her arms over her chest.

The other women murmured their assent. Lyra rose to her feet, shrewd eyes taking in each of the males as though she were looking for something.

“There is something… strange happening between us,” Rentir tried haltingly. “Something biological that changes within us when we are too close to one of you women.”

Her stomach sank at the revelation. She really was the reason he’d been acting erratic. What if his fascination, his warp-speed devotion, was all just some weird symptom? She was suddenly grateful for the compulsion to shield her heart.

“We do not yet understand what it means,” he continued, “but we believe it is in everyone’s best interest to try to limit contact.”

“So, what? Is this where you lock us up for our own good?” Lyra asked, the fury in her eyes at odds with the neutrality of her tone.

The women began to speak over one another, chattering unhappily. This was what they’d hoped to leave behind on Earth; a society that wanted to tuck them away in a box, out of sight and out of mind.

“Rentir?” Cordelia looked up at him, willing him to correct Lyra.

“We will not imprison anyone,” he said, raising his voice to be heard over the infighting. “We only ask that you be mindful to keep a distance from the males. We’re not sure what’s happening, or if it can be reversed. If we are careful, we can avert any chaos in the meantime.”

“What kind of chaos?” Pandora asked, sitting forward on the edge of her seat. “What biological changes are you referring to?”

“Hormonal changes,” Haerune answered. She noticed that the male’s eyes gentled when he spoke to Pandora—she was the only woman he didn’t glower at. “The sort that make the males stronger, faster, more aggressive. More… easily aroused. Less rational.”

Pandora hummed thoughtfully. “Sounds like some kind of biological imperative to me.” She stroked her delicate chin. “Perhaps some kind of mating bond? If so, perhaps copulation would ease the effects. On Earth, most of these things come in cycles. If the urge to breed is satisfied, the hormonal changes may resolve.”

“I can’t believe you can make sex sound so lame,” Nyx said flatly.

Pandora grinned at her.

“I am not having an alien baby,” Lyra interjected. “Not on your life.”

The three-eyed alien with red hair and skin barked a cough into his fist that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.

“No one is suggesting that,” Haerune corrected quickly.

“Someone might be,” Sophia murmured, her eyes sliding toward Cordelia.

Rentir’s tail wrapped around Cordelia’s thigh, squeezing. His eyes had turned molten at the suggestion that they bang it out; he was clearly on board with the idea of making his own mini-me.

She huffed, pulling his tail away before it got any ideas about exhibitionism. “Very funny,” Cordelia replied, offering Sophia a rude gesture.

Sophia didn’t quite manage to hide her grin behind her hand.

“I do hate to rain on your parade, but each one of us is on birth control,” Pandora interjected. “There won’t be any babies unless someone decides to remove their implant.”

A murmur went through the aliens at that revelation.