Page 36 of Alien Prince's Claim

And yet, that was exactly what was happening.

“Down here,” Yaltah said, elbowing another male aside and taking us down a quieter corridor.

He removed his arm from my shoulders and ran his fingers down my cheeks and checked me for injuries. “Are you all right? Are you hurt?”

I shook my head. “I’m fine. But how are we going to get out of here?”

He was silent a long moment before he said:

“We’ll find somewhere to hide. Maybe the attackers — whoever they are — will leave us alone once they have whatever they came for.”

But I could tell from that ever-present frown that he didn’t really believe that and was only trying to allay my fears.

I reached up and placed my hand to his cheek. “So long as I’m with you, everything will be okay.”

I had expected my words to break his mask of concern and, for a moment, they did… then he shut his eyes, as if unable to look at me with whatever thoughts were passing through his mind, and shook his head. “I need to get you somewhere safe.”

He took my hand and led me down the hallway.

The facility was a latticework of interlocking corridors and hallways that, to my mind, looked identical no matter where we went or where we looked.

We ran ever faster, ever more hurried.

I couldn’t shake the feeling we were trapped within a giant spider’s web.

My fears were punctuated by distant — and not-so-distant — explosions that rocked the facility, causing waves of terror to spread through the alien males and females alike.

“Down here,” Yaltah said.

We shifted direction.

My lungs hurt and my throat was parched and dry.

And my legs already hurt — not least from the sweet (and savage) lovemaking we’d made earlier that I still hadn’t recovered from.

From that moment to this… with a few grenades and shaking facility ceiling and floors…

From heaven to hell in the space of an inhaled breath of surprise.

Now, instead of racing toward the sweet infinity of everlasting serenity and pleasure, we were racing for our lives — which could end at any moment.

BOOM!

The explosion was so loud it made me scream and my teeth chatter.

The wayward plume of smoke that emitted from the explosion rose like a private dancer.

Whoever these attackers were, whatever they wanted, they were getting closer…

Ever closer.

And the only person who could protect me was my alien male.

We ran until my legs were jelly and my lungs were on fire.

We ran until there were no other mating pairs in sight.

We ran until the explosions became as distant as forgotten memories.

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