Page 17 of Secretly Mated To My Monster Alien Boss
“Maybe you’re just that special,” she said, but the joke lacked her usual vigor. “Deryg…should we cancel the party?”
He swirled around, not because of the question, but because she sounded so defeated. An instinct blared inside of him to annihilate whatever caused her distress.
“Even if we wanted to, we can’t. I spoke to Yakirian.” The moment he’d left her office, in fact. His entire being might’ve been on fire, but he needed to report the breach to the CEO. Trying to keep himself composed while he’d felt like combusting hadn’t been a great experience. “Deruzia wants this party to take place. At all costs.”
Kiara frowned. “Why?”
“Because they don’t understand the costs.” Deryg clenched his jaw. “Until they visit Earth, the elders cannot comprehend how biologically different humans are to Deruzians. You are not that strong.”
Nines, that came out wrong. He ran a hand up one of his horns. “I didn’t mean that. I mean–”
“No, you’re right. We’re not as physically strong as you. I saw you pull out that elevator when it got stuck two months ago. You did it with just one hand. That was really awesome and–” Kiara’s eyes widened and she cleared her throat. “I mean–well done on that. Yeah. Awesome and…yeah.”
One compliment from Kiara was all it took to get Deryg’s hearts racing. No. He needed to remain focused.
“We need to talk,” he said. That was the human saying for when things were serious, yes? This was very serious. He didn’t want to lose the connection he had with Kiara. He was ready to apologize. Beg for her mercy, whatever she wanted.
“Yes, we do.” From the crinkle of her blouse, she rolled her shoulders back, the move she always did when getting ready for something important. That didn’t surprise Deryg. What did take him aback was her walking to stand next to him, facing the map.A few feet separated them, but he still felt the warmth radiating from her body.
He wanted to bathe in it.
He wanted to wrap himself around her and inhale her scent until his mind was overcome with the essence of her.
He wanted to whisper sweet nothings into her ear and revel in the moans and trembles of her body.
“Why is your map moving?” she asked, shattering the silence with her crystalline voice.
Deryg reluctantly tore his gaze away from her toward the parallel red lines that appeared underneath the grand staircase in the atrium. “Because someone has accessed one of the secret corridors. I get an alert whenever that happens.”
“Waaaait.” Kiara moved closer to the map, excited. “Alien Inc. has secret corridors?”
“Every grand building on Deruzia does.” Old habits from their warring days, when you needed to herd the survivors out quickly, so the soldiers could fight their battles without fear of an errant weapon killing the innocent. Deruzian battles got very violent very fast. “Since this is the first building we have on Earth, Deruzia thought it wise to resort to traditions.”
So they’d weaved corridors between levels and rooms, and very few knew of them. Deryg did, of course–and now Kiara knew as well.
“How have I not seen or heard about this?” she went on, in that same awed tone.
“They’re very well hidden. This one right here–” Deryg pressed his hand on the stair corridor, which still glowed bright red. He’s sent Mykon, his teammate that belonged to the shadows, to investigate all corners of the building. “Is activated through a latch just underneath the stairs. It looks like what you callmoul-ding.”
“How many corridors are there?”
Deryg waved his hand in front of the map in a well-rehearsed pattern. Dozens of corridors appeared, entwining between the rooms, each connected in a complex pattern.
“This is cool.” Kiara’s eyes scanned the map hungrily. “Look, this one leads to Darcy and Nazyn’s lab. She isnotgoing to be happy about that. She’s weirdly private about her projects. Oh, this one leads to my office–”
She instantly closed her mouth, her face turning red as her eyes lowered.
Where they’d kissed. Where Deryg had felt her body pressed against his and had known pure pleasure for the first time since coming to Earth. Maybe he’d felt more than that. The sensations in his body were still too erratic to process them properly.
One thing was certain–they couldn’t ignore what had happened in Kiara’s office.
The moment their gazes connected, a bolt of pure lust zapped through him. Deryg swallowed deeply.
“I’m sorry,” he said. Apologies were important for Deruzians. They had to truly mean it and Deryg did. He never wanted to make Kiara suffer or be uncomfortable. “What happened in your office…that was inappropriate of me. I understand if you don’t want to work together after the party. It would pain me greatly, but I will respect your choice.”
Of all the reactions Deryg expected, it was definitely not Kiara starting to laugh. It started off as a few giggles, but it grew until she bent forward, clutching her stomach. Water was falling from her eyes.
What in the Nines…?
