Page 27 of Beauty and the Alien Beast
Yep… he thinks I’m his girlfriend.My eyebrows went up. He seemed so vehement about me being his sheleki—almost angry.
How did I end up with a damn alien boyfriend?
Then he said something in his own language that I couldn’t fully understand, but I got the gist of his words and it startled me.
Did he say, “If I claim you, I cannot protect?”I bit my bottom lip.Claim? As in I belong to him—no one else?
Fuck. My. Life. This lack of effective communication thing is going to be the death of me.
He glanced away in what I realized was a gesture of deference—and possibly a touch of self-consciousness.
Yes.There was no mistaking it. Teken thought I was his girlfriend.
I liked him a lot, but I wasn’t interested in changing my status from “single” to “in a relationship.” Besides, getting attached to Teken would only hurt both him and me when I had to leave him to go back to Earth. But I also knew nothing I said—even if he could understand—would change his mind.
We’d better get out of this forest fast and find me another communication device, because this mate shit is annoying like fingernails on a chalkboard.
“Okay,” I replied, giving him a smile to show I wasn’t upset with him. There was no need to make waves over this. It could be fixed—hopefully real soon.
His brows drew together again, but the faintest smile curved his lips. I took a few more swallows from his water purifier. I wanted to ask him where we would be going from here, but I was starting to get tired.
I was stifling a yawn when we heard the familiar whine of an engine. The slave catchers were on the move again. Teken shooed me back against the trunk of a tree, then shielded me from sight. Around us, I heard the stirring of foliage as their flying bikes blew past overhead. Then it was gone, finally, and we both heaved a sigh of relief.
“Gone, sheleki. We go.” He climbed back on Brax and offered me a hand-up.
“Ella. Not sheleki.” I reminded him.
“Yes, sheleki.”
Damn stubborn but caring alien.I shook my head as I let him help me into my seat. If he wanted to keep calling me sheleki, I wasn’t going to waste a lot of time arguing over it.
Brax took off like lightning once we got on the trail Teken directed him to. The journey was dark, so Brax’s eyesight had to be sharp because he kept us from smacking into anything. Teken assisted by ducking us under branches and shielding me from any foliage sticking into our path.
With eyes closed, I bent low over Brax’s neck with Teken’s muscled torso pressed against my back. Only the comfort of his body kept me from being terrified. All this excitement and drama had exacted its price on me—I was exhausted.
My eyelids snapped open at the faint hissing sound up ahead. Teken stiffened, shouting an order. I glimpsed a shadow shaped like a thick rope or a snake darting past overhead. Brax snarled, leaping aside. Blind in the dark, I hung on and struggled not to panic.
Calm. Keep calm. He will handle it. I’m not about to die.
Dammit. I’m not. Keep calm!
But I was shaking like a leaf.
I could hear more slithering and rustling up ahead, and Brax turned, his claws scratching on stone as he bolted up a steep slope. I heard the rasp of steel on leather as multiple blades were drawn from their sheaths.
“Ella. No move.”
I didn’t know the next few words he spoke, but they were spat in frustration and disgust.
Teken slashed with two of his arms. I smelled the scent of plant sap, but I also heard a weird, echoing screech from up in the trees.
Brax ran on, dodging and growling, while Teken lashed out with his blades at whatever was attacking us. I tangled my fingers in Brax’s coat and hunched down as best I could, trying not to flinch whenever something sticky and chlorophyll-smelling spattered on me.
Are we being attacked by plant monsters?
Finally, the squeals of pain grew louder, and I heard the noisy rustling of something far too animallike to be a plant dragging itself away from us through the brush. Teken panted for breath as he sheathed his blades and then shouted an order to the dog, who changed direction and started running steadily again. There was pain in Teken’s voice, and I began to worry.
The sky was starting to lighten by the time I realized something was very wrong. Teken was panting harshly. Carefully reaching one hand back, I splayed my fingers against his side, feeling that something had torn his armor. As the light brightened, I peeked back and spied a dark wetness seeping through several gashes.
