Page 9 of Forced to Mate By the Mad Scientist

He had trailed her from the lava fields of Vulrick Six to the dangerous jungles of Pera’tor Beta to the frozen wastes of Harkinor Prime where the deadly sub-zero temperatures could kill in a heartbeat. It seemed that everywhere she wanted to go could kill her…and that in turn, was killing Kross!

How he longed to gather her into his arms and justkeep her safe!He wished she would agree to stay aboard the Mother Ship and do experiments in a lab instead of insisting on going on missions that could get her killed all the time!

Kross knew if anything happened to her, he would want to die too. But it wasn’t just the fact that he was constantly worried for her life that kept him up at night and made his job so difficult. It was the fact that he was relentlessly drawn to her—it felt at times like she had tied a golden cord around his heart and she was tugging on it anytime she was near him.

Every time they were in the shuttle together, her sweet scent invaded his senses. And every move she made—every swish of her long, reddish-gold hair, every movement of her soft, curvy body—called to him like a siren song. It was torture being around her—so close to her—and not being able to touch her. To not hold her and kiss her and Claim her the way every fiber of his being was begging him to do.

To combat his feelings and keep Sylvia from having any idea of his daily struggle, Kross had been forced to become an asshole. He was short and sarcastic with her—he pushed heraway in every way he could think because he couldn’t risk letting her get too close. He knew if he did, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from Claiming her—from admitting how he felt and how badly he wanted her.

And then, on their last mission, he had nearly ruined everything.

It was the damn leeches that did it, he thought, as he input their flight sequence into the shuttle’s control bank and requested that the Mother Ship fold space for them to Gim’bab Orious. Seeing her in pain—in danger—had nearly done him in. All he’d wanted to do was heal her—to comfort her and hold her close.

For a little while, he had allowed himself to do those things and Sylvia had responded to him.Morethan responded. He could still smell the scent of her desire as he had healed and teased her tender nipples. And the way she had looked at him…as though she was melting from the inside out just because they were close…it was Goddess-damned intoxicating.

Kross had certainly felt himself melting. He’d been a heartbeat from kissing her…from confessing how he felt.

And then sanity had reasserted itself, thank the Goddess. He’d been able to pull back from the brink…barely. Ever since he’d had to act like even more of an asshole to keep her off track.

He knew his behavior was hurting the woman he loved and he hated himself for it. But it was better to hurt her feelings than to scar her soul. Or so he told himself.

And in the meantime, they had yet another dangerous mission to get through. He just hoped that he could keep his Fated Mate safe without revealing his feelings.

He had no idea how impossible that was about to be.

6

SYLVIE

Kross was obstinately mute as they took off from the Docking Bay and the long-range shuttle lifted through the invisible atmosphere shield. Sylvie usually tried to make small talk but this time she decided if he wanted to give her the silent treatment that was fine—two could play that game. So they rode in silence through the red, horizontal gash in space that would lead from the Mother Ship directly to the space just outside of Gim’bab Orious.

As always when she folded space, Sylvie felt a stretching sensation—almost as though she was being pulled in every direction at once. It didn’t hurt—it just felt strange. She knew from talking to other people that folding space felt different for everyone. And of course, the only people who couldn’t fold space were pregnant women—it was apparently bad for the baby.

Don’t have to worry about that,Sylvie thought dryly. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been with a man. After suffering through the disastrous dating scene back on Earth, she’d decided to make do with a vibrator and concentrate on her work when she moved up to the Mother Ship. So there was no way she was pregnant.

“Well—there it is.” Kross broke the long silence between them and she turned to see that he was staring at the viewscreen. It showed a smallish purple-green planet spinning like a jewel in the darkness of space.

For a moment, the sight took her breath away.

“It’s beautiful,” she breathed.

“Beautiful and fucking deadly, Princess—if Dr. Barbarous is in residence.”

“He’s not!” Sylvie snapped. “Stop making excuses—the sooner we get to the Northern continent, the sooner I can get a specimen of thetangelinevine and we can get back to the Mother Ship before you mess up your hair.”

Kross glared at her.

“Yes,Your Majesty—your every wish is my command.”

Sylvie bit back the sharp reply that rose to her lips.

I won’t give him the satisfaction of seeing me upset,she told herself.I won’t let him make me angry, no matter what he says!

About an hour later her resolve was truly tested when Kross was hovering over her shoulder in the dense purple-green forest as she tried to find a specimen of thetangelinevine.

“Kross, will you give me some space!” she asked at last, turning to face him. He was so close to her that his broad chest was right in her face—he was irritatingly tall, damn him! Also, why did he have to smell so good? It was distracting when she was trying to work.

“Just trying to be sure you don’t fall into the jungle and get eaten alive by whatever creepy-crawlies they have on this fucking planet,” he growled. “As I recall, you didn’t need much space on Minerva Twelve to get yourself in trouble.”

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