Page 19 of Monstrous Heat
I cast another quick glance up at him, trying to gauge his reaction. And almost dropped the phone when I realized he offered the end of a charger. “You… you know what it is? And you don’t mind?”
His upper lip pulled back, baring his teeth a moment. “I’m an engineered soldier enhanced with cybernetic capabilities so advanced that you wouldn’t believe me if I told you all the things I can do. I’ve been sent on countless missions through numerous star systems with technology so advanced you’d think it’s magic and wizardry. Do you really think I don’t recognize a communication device? Why would I mind that you have your device in your possession?” His eyes narrowed, his voice dropping to an ominous slither. “Unless you think I’m holding you against your will, or that you’re in danger with me.”
I forced out a laugh and plugged the charger into my phone. “I didn’t know for sure. You’re… a lot. Different. You said m…mate earlier. That doesn’t imply that you’d let me leave if I wanted to.”
“You’re free to go anywhere you’d like. Just know that I’ll be right behind you.”
He plugged the other end of the charger into a small black power bank, and my phone gave the charging ding. I tried to imagine him getting on an airplane with me to go back to the States. Walking across campus. Going shopping with me. This giant, naked alien soldier. Even if he didn’t shift to the lizard-thing, he’d stand out like a sore thumb anywhere he went. Even with normal clothes, he would just be too big. Too… mean looking.
I cocked my head, studying him more openly with the sunshine coming through the shack’s only window. At first glance, he appeared human, though abnormally large. Sort of like Dewayne Johnson, only taller and wider. The same bald head, massive, bulging shoulders and arms. Platter-sized hands that could palm my head like a basketball.
Even sitting on the floor didn’t disguise his massive size. The proportions of his body were off. His arms were too long, his chest thick and barreled. One thigh was the size of an entire person. I had no idea if I could even find clothes to fit him. No hair, anywhere on his body, not even his groin or legs. The texture of his skin seemed off, somehow thicker yet shiny. In the sunlight, his coloring was a mottled grayish beige.
I looked back into his eyes, darker brown than red now. I tried picturing him sitting across from me at a restaurant, walking down the sidewalk with me to window shop, driving a car, getting a job, buying a house in suburbia somewhere. Normal things married adults did together. All the things I’d planned to do after I got my PhD and accepted a research position, hopefully somewhere in Central America.
I’d worked so hard for that future. Even dealing with Dr. Snyder’s misogyny so I could get here, my first real dig that could lead to publication. Countless hours in the library. All the hours I’d worked since I could drive, saving every penny to cover the tuition and expenses that my scholarships and student loans didn’t cover.
I owed a fortune. I needed a really good job.
I couldn’t see that future anymore.
And it scared the shit out of me.
11
KROKTL
While I loved her eyes on me, drinking in my form, I didn’t like the hesitation in her eyes, mixed with doubt and fear and uncertainty. Not one bit. My instincts roared to life, insisting I should stake my claim on her body again. Remind her thoroughly, exhaustively what I offered her. Keep her climaxing, or exhausted from climaxing, and she wouldn’t doubt that I was the best possible mate for her.
But it wasmatethat seemed to alarm her the most. So a vigorous fucking probably wouldn’t ease her doubts. No matter how much my beast burned with fury at the thought that she wasn’t sure of me at all.
I got it. She had no idea what she was dealing with. I wasn’t hiding anything from her—but I also hadn’t had the opportunity to share much with her yet. An hour or two at most before she’d collapsed into post-coital exhaustion. She’d slept the hours I was away gathering supplies, though I checked on her several times in between trips.
I needed more time to prove that I could protect her. Provide for her. Give her anything in the universe that she desired. Getting hissy and aggressive with my little human wouldn’t help her very justified fears. Lightly, I nudged her knee and gave a pointed look at the food she’d forgotten about. “Don’t forget to eat while you check your messages.”
She pulled her gaze away from me and took another bite. “Aren’t you going to eat?”
“I already did.”
She glanced back up at me, her brow furrowed. “Does human food not agree with you?”
Questions about my eating habits weren’t going to put her fears to rest, but I refused to lie to her. “Humans, yes. Human food, no.”
Her head jerked back up, blood draining from her face. “You… you do eat people. Why didn’t you eat me last night when you first found me?”
She seemed to enjoy my mating sounds as long as I kept them soft and non-aggressive. “You know why, baby. As soon as I caught the first whiff of you, I had a whole different kind of eating in mind. I don’t hunt humans exclusively, but when they’re especially stupid and obvious prey, I take advantage of the easy kill.”
Some of the blood rushed back to pinken her cheeks but her hand trembled as she lifted the spoon to her mouth. “I guess I did look a lot like a prey animal. Lost, defenseless, no weapons or anything to fight with. It was pretty stupid of me to try and walk right past you.”
Another low rumble rattled up out of my throat before I could tame it. “Not stupid at all. Predators respect confidence and brains. You didn’t run. You made yourself as big as possible. If you’d kept on walking, I would have let you pass me unharmed, even if you weren’t my mate.”
Her delicate jaw clenched a moment, and she swallowed the mouthful of food. “Explain what you mean by mate, please.”
“I’m in heat, primed to breed with any compatible females. Dyni are vicious predators, and a breeding frenzy is dangerous, especially on a mission. So we’re usually given supplements to regulate our cycles until we’re in a safe, controlled environment with ready breeding stock.”
She grimaced. “We do stuff like that with horses and other animals. People control the breeding lines of animals, not each other.”
I cocked my head. “I bet it happens with humans more than you think. It’s instinctual to pick a good, compatible partner who’ll make the best children. It’s nature’s way of continuing our species and making us better. Dyni are engineered to be the best. Each of us has a specific purpose on our squad, and we grow and develop together. I have skills that none of the other males in my squad have, and it’s important that I pass those skills on to my offspring.”
