Page 28 of Cursed Alien

Their lips touched.

The contact was gentle at first, tentative. Her lips were soft, warm. She made a small sound in the back of her throat—surprise or pleasure, he couldn’t tell—and then she was kissing him back, her hand sliding to the nape of his neck.

The beast inside him surged forward, not fighting for control but demanding more. The kiss deepened and became hungry, desperate. His arms tightened around her waist, lifting her off the ground. Her body pressed against his, soft curves against hard muscle.

Claim her. Mark her. Make her ours forever.

The intensity of his need shocked him. Horrified, he wrenched himself away, setting her back on her feet and stepping backwards until he hit the opposite wall. His chest heaved as if he’d been running for miles again. His claws—still present despite his partial transformation—had extended, nearly piercing the fabric of her coverall.

He could have hurt her. Could still hurt her.

She stood where he’d left her, cheeks flushed, lips slightly parted. She looked dazed, breathless. Beautiful.

“I’m sorry,” he managed, his voice a rough approximation of speech after so long communicating only in growls. “I shouldn’t have?—”

“Don’t.” She took a step toward him, then stopped when he flinched back. “Don’t apologize.”

“Dangerous.” The word came easier this time. “I’m dangerous.”

“You won’t hurt me.” She said it with such conviction, such certainty.

If only she knew how close he’d come. How the beast inside him had howled for him to claim her, to sink his teeth into the soft skin of her neck, to mark her as his mate for all to see.

“You don’t understand,” he growled, frustration mounting as he struggled to form the words, to make her see. “The beast—it wants—I want?—”

He couldn’t finish. Couldn’t tell her what he wanted to do to her. With her.

She took another step towards him, her expression softening. “I think I understand more than you realize.” She gestured to his face, his partially transformed body. “This is happening because of me, isn’t it? I’m affecting you somehow.”

He closed his eyes, unable to look at her. She was too perceptive, too unafraid. And she was right. Her presence was changing him, awakening parts of himself he’d thought lost forever.

“The curse,” he said finally, the words dragged from some deep part of his memory. “Unmated Vultor. Beast takes over.”

Her sharp intake of breath told him she understood the implications. “And I’m… what? Breaking the curse?”

“Or making it worse.” He opened his eyes, forcing himself to meet her gaze. “The beast wants you. Wants to claim you. As mate.”

The word hung between them, heavy with meaning. Her eyes widened, but she didn’t back away. Didn’t run. Instead, she took another step toward him, close enough now that he could feel the warmth radiating from her body.

“And what do you want, Malrik?” she asked softly. “Not the beast. You.”

What did he want? He barely remembered how to want anything beyond the beast’s primal needs. Territory. Food. Safety.

But looking at Bella—brave, brilliant Bella with her grease-stained coverall and questioning eyes—he found he did want. Wanted with an intensity that had nothing to do with the beast and everything to do with the male he had once been.

He wanted her smile, her touch, her mind. Wanted to hear her talk about machines and replicators and all the things she loved. Wanted to protect her, provide for her, prove himself worthy of her.

“Everything,” he whispered, the truth torn from him. “I want everything.”

Her expression softened, a small smile curving her lips. She reached for him again, but he caught her wrist before she could touch him.

“Not like this,” he said, voice rough with restraint. “Not with the beast still so close. Not until I understand what’s happening to me.”

Disappointment flickered across her face, quickly replaced by determination. “Then we’ll figure it out together.”

CHAPTER14

Bella stepped back from the small cleaning robot, wiping her hands on her coveralls and admiring her handiwork as the little machine whirred to life, its sensors blinking as it oriented itself to the dusty room. It wasn’t much—just a basic maintenance unit she’d cobbled together from parts she’d found in a storage closet—but it was a start.

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