Page 63 of Wanted By the Alien Warden

“I don’t know!” I exclaimed. “I tripped and fell in this bramble bush from hell! And now I’m stuck!”

“Stuck?” His brows lowered heavily. “How are you stuck?”

I tugged my head, making the branches shake with ominous meaning.

“My hair is stuck, that’s how!”

Tenn’s eyes flamed white for a moment before he cast his gaze up at the sky. He pressed his lips together. His throat tightened.

“Oh my God,” I breathed, affronted. No, I was more than affronted. I wasoffended.Shocked, appalled, and aghast.

This insufferable warden was laughing at me.

Or, trying not to, I guessed. But pretty much failing.

“Tenn!” I shouted. “Stop laughing! I’m really stuck!”

“I can see that now,” he said on a funny-sounding gasp.

Ooh. Fuck this man. Fuck this man so hard he… he…

Great. Now all I can think about is fucking him. And that is not going to help me get out of this stupid bush. Especially if he won’t help me!

I used Tenn’s laughter to fuel me, letting rage stoke the fires of strength in my body. Yes, I could do this. I was righteous in my fury. I was invincible.

I girded my loins and put all my strength into wrenching my head forward.

I gave up almost instantly, tears flooding my eyes. My scalp was going to fucking fall right off at this rate.

My attempt did, however, pull me free of one little brambly branch. It came loose from the trap of my hair with a wickedsnap!Momentum sent it flinging away, and then violently back towards me. It smacked me right in the middle of my forehead.

“Ouch!”

Well, that seemed to get Tenn’s attention, at least. He sobered instantly.

“Are you alright?” he asked, crouching before me, his eyes still white.

“I will be,” I hissed, “when you help get me the hell out of here!”

He ignored my words for a moment, staring intently at my forehead where the branch had so rudely smacked me. His eyesmoved from my forehead to the other branches that held me fast.

Then, without even seeming to have moved, he suddenly had a knife in his hand.

“How did you do that?!” I gasped, flinching despite the fact that this was Tenn. And Tenn would never hurt me.

I may not have known him long.

But that much, I did know.

“Don’t move,” he murmured, leaning in close.

Heat simmered beneath my skin. I gazed at the open collar of his uniform’s shirt, where the base of his thick, purple throat was exposed. His leather-and-spice scent washed over me.

I wish I could bottle that scent. Take it with me when I go.

“Are you going to cut my hair?”

He looked horrified by the suggestion. Absolutely stricken.

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