Page 16 of Matched to the Alien King
Thedensefoliageswallowedthe waning sunlight in one gulp, leaving us in almost complete darkness. In the middle of a mysterious jungle. Where screams had supposedly come from no less than thirty minutes ago.
What could go wrong?
“Thank goodness for this.” From the folds of my dress, I pulled out a little flashlight and powered it on.
Maxx squinted against the light, his expression bewildered. “Where are you keeping all this stuff?”
“You play your cards right, I’ll tell you all my secrets.” With a smile, I nodded forward. “The sooner we get to the bungalow—”
“The better,” he rumbled, curling his fingers around my hips with bruising intensity.
I gasped at his strength, at the thrilling heat in his touch. The lightning bolts in his eyes flashed with desire and threw sparks up and down my skin.
I couldn’t wait to be alone with him again.
Miekil stepped toward us, his attention aimed at our surroundings, and I glanced at him to see his mouth move. “Just a reminder, but we’re in a dangerous jungle, so maybe hold off on the eye-fucking for a minute?”
I huffed a laugh. I hadn’t acted like this since I was a teenager. Maybe not even then to this extreme.
Reluctantly, almost painfully, Maxx and I dragged our gazes away from each other and faced the jungle again.
It kept completely still, not a single branch or leaf swaying, as though it held its breath.
And it was growing darker.
“Is it just me,” I whispered, thumping the flashlight’s hard plastic against my leg, “but is the jungle eating the light from my flashlight too?”
“It isn’t just you.” Maxx powered on his communicator bracelet, which emitted a soft orange glow. “Come on. We need to hurry.”
We started forward, Maxx and Miekil taking the lead to clear a path with their towering height and hulking muscles.
It was certainly a strange sight. Two aliens—enemies, no less—walking through the jungle, side-by-side.
I couldn’t keep a smile from blooming across my face. This was great progress.
I liked Miekil, and my feelings for Maxx were too powerful and new to put into words right then, but I enjoyed them working together far more than I did when they were threatening to kill each other.
While they forged a path, I shined my light around, searching for anything that shouldn’t be here, but the glow from my flashlight was steadily shrinking.
Then Miekil stopped. Maxx did too, so suddenly I ran into his back, lips first.
“Oops. Wish I could say I was sorry about that. Why are we sto—”
Without tearing his gaze away from whatever he saw, Maxx reached back and hauled me to his side.
“Look.” He pointed to a small clearing on the right.
I did look, but what I saw took several moments to register.
“It’s a shopping cart.” I huffed a disbelieving breath. “Um, why is there a shopping cart?”
The jungle had adopted it and made it its own with creeping vines coiling in and out of the rusted metal holes, nearly camouflaging it. But the basic shape was still there.
“Was that the cause of that guy’s scream from earlier?” I asked. “Was he just as shocked as us?”
Maxx nodded slowly. “I’ve read that some humans fear shopping carts. Gouwuchephobia.”
I opened my mouth to laugh, but he sure didn’t look like he was joking. “Wait, that’s a real thing?”
