Page 2 of The Alien Warlord's Fated Mate

Kira waved an elegant hand at the glass wall, jangling the dozen or so bangles she wore. “Or look.”

Mia turned toward the glass wall, aware now of a distinct thrum reverberating through her bones. The manicured lawn stretching between them and the other CAH research buildings was dotted with people staring into the sky. A few started yelling, a few more running, and soon, the entire quad emptied.

Mia followed the glass wall up and goggled. A huge, ovoid aircraft slowly descended from the sky, its metallic surface seeming to absorb sunlight. Gusts of heated exhaust roiled around the strange craft. The trees lining the sidewalks bent and shook in its wake.

“Look at the size of that thing,” Kira whispered. “I’m surprised it fit.”

“I heard you said the same thing to your last lover,” Leona said dryly.

Mia shot them both a quelling glance. “Is the tech wing working on a new airplane design?”

“Oh, hon,” Leona said. “That’s not an aircraft.”

“More like atake me to your leadercraft.” Kira snagged Mia’s elbow and squeezed gently. “I’m getting a bad feeling about this.”

Mia placed a hand over the knot in her stomach. “I think your bad feeling’s catching. Maybe we should leave and let security deal with this.”

Leona shot them both an exasperated look. “Are we scientists or what? Especially you, Kira. What happened to exploring the stars, meeting alien species, and all that Star Trek jazz?”

“It’s a little different when the aliens show up on your front door,” Kira muttered.

“We don’t know that they’re aliens,” Mia said. “It could still be a tech-side experiment.”

Her voice trailed off as an opening appeared in the side of the craft. Roughly a dozen humanoid creatures stepped off the edge and dropped into crouches beside the ship.Humongousmale humanoid creatures with gray-brown skin, horns curving away from their foreheads, and the muscled builds of weightlifters barely contained by what looked like skintight wetsuits.

Leona sucked in a sharp breath. “My panties just melted off my hips.”

“You don’t wear panties,” Kira reminded her.

The men stood and split up, most skirting the ship while two approached Research Building 3.

Straight toward where Mia and her friends stood.

“First contact time,” Leona breathed. “Dibs on the big one.”

Mia eyed the two males rapidly striding toward them. “Whichbig one?”

A low murmur filled the lobby and several of the other scientists gathered there began backing away.

Kira shifted her stance and glanced nervously around. “Can we leave now?”

Mia risked another glance outside. The two males were already at the top of the steps, just a few feet from the double-doored entrance. A moment later, one yanked the left door open and stepped inside, followed closely by the other.

Up close, they appeared far larger. Nearly seven feet tall, Mia thought faintly, and starkly beautiful in a very alien way. Their features vaguely resembled humans, with two bright green eyes, long, hooked noses, and strong, sensuous mouths. Five fingers on each claw-tipped hand, enough muscles for three men each, and a promising bulge at the juncture of their thighs.

Despite the warning growing in her gut, Mia’s heart stuttered into a full gallop and butterflies danced in her stomach. Holy Hannah. Those guys were potent, and they were just as clearlynot human.

The men, or whatever they were, stopped just inside the entrance, their gazes dispassionately scanning the crowd. The one on the right glanced down at the oversized watch affixed to his wrist.

“We are looking for females,” he said in lightly accented English. “Surrender peacefully and you will not be harmed.”

The lobby broke into chaos as people turned and fled.

If that bothered the aliens, it didn’t show. The one on the right ran his flat gaze across the lobby, going straight past Mia and her friends. Immediately, his gaze swung back, focusing on her with an intensity hot enough to melt steel. His odd green eyes flicked down her body and up, then locked onto her face.

Their gazes met and held. Something zinged between them, a hint of recognition or rightness orsomething. Mia’s breath fled and her head went dizzy. A scene from a RomCom flitted through her mind, of a love at first sight meet-cute. Two strangers locking eyes across a crowded ballroom.

But she didn’tbelievein love at first sight. She believed in mutual respect and friendship and a long, slow-build courtship involving pizza, shy kisses, and romantic walks along the river.

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