Page 31 of Haunted By the Alien
“You do?” I pop a grape into my mouth. Hmm. I like it without the skin, but that’s too much work.
“The ship’s computer announced something in grud while we were aboard. I’ve since run it through my comm to translate. Someone had set the self-destruct sequence. I doubt it was the grud.”
“Spider King,” I say, the answer as clear as day.
“Who?”
“Nelson, the guy I told you about. I think of him as Spider King because of the spider costume he wore at the party. Anyway, after he set me up to get kidnapped by the grud, they argued in a language I didn’t recognize, but the conversation got heated.” I take a deep breath. “I’m sorry I was so stubborn about taking that knife. You were right about the dangers here.”
He growls. “I should have been on time. You would not have been kidnapped.”
“Or you could have run right into them and been hurt.”
“Better that than risking you.”
I take his face in my hands. “Stop being so hard on yourself, big guy. You can’t guard me 24-7. The knife was a good idea. I’m not very skilled at escaping. Maybe you should tie me up and give me a chance to practice.”
He slides from my hold. “That is not funny. You could have been killed.”
I lean my face against his back as I wrap my arms around him. “And I could get killed by a speeding bus just as easily.Look, Kobrik, one of the first things we learn in the E/R is that you can’t save everyone. The same goes for you. And youdidsave me, several times. From the explosion, and earlier?
“Earlier?”
“When the grud kidnapped me. I wanted to panic, but that knife made me think of you. Don’t you see? You gave me the determination to escape.”
A slight smile forms on his face and his horns tilt back slightly, making my insides tingle with delight. He affects me so easily. “I might have made it, too,” I add. “except when I cut through the ropes, Nelson heard them fall. I’ll sure of one thing; he’s not some higher up who never gets his hands dirty. He got the knife from me, turned me around, and retied the ropes wickedly fast. It was like he truly had the six arms of a spider.”
“Did he say anything else?”
I rub the bump on the back of my head. “No, he knocked me out. Then I woke up aboard the ship with you leaning over me. I guess he planned to kill all of us with that explosion. But if he set a timer on the self-destruct, how did he know when you and the grud would arrive?”
Kobrik scrubs his face. “He likely set it to trigger when we opened the door to the ship. I should have run the warning through my comm immediately.”
“You had a lot going on. Fighting that grud, for one. Don’t fault yourself for his death.”
“I’m upset about nearly getting you killed.”
“Stop being so hard on yourself.”
“My cock is very hard whenever I’m near you.”
“It’s an expression.”
“But Iamvery hard around you. Always.”
I bite my lip, trying not to blush. “Open.” I hold a grape out to him to distract myself from how this gorgeous guy has me envisioning a long night in bed with him… and very little sleep.
When he opens, I feed him, but he captures my finger along with the grape. Andsucks. Other parts of me start tingling like crazy.
“I guess Nelson double-crossed his partner.”
“It would appear.” Kobrik’s lips slide to my neck.
“The question,” I continue talking as if he isn’t nibbling on me. “is why Nelson is working with a grud.”
“The only question which interests me right now…” He kisses his way down my neck to the top of a breast. “…is where I’m sleeping tonight.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
