The Breeding Prize - Aya Morningstar Page 0,2
but if I move quickly and he’s not ready, I might be able to get enough of a surprise head start on him that he can’t catch me before we’re in public again.
I make my move, and he squeezes even tighter. He tugs on me and pulls me against his body. He wraps his arm around me, and his muscular forearm holds me tight and confined against his abs, which I can feel hard and bulging through his clothes.
“I’m not good with people,” Raiska says. “Especially not with humans. Forgive me. I wanted to put you at ease and build some trust by eating cheesecake with you, but I seem to have messed it all up.”
I scream, and his hand covers my mouth. He throws me into the car and slams the door.
He moves around to the driver’s side, and I try to open the door on my side. Maybe this is my chance, maybe—it won’t open. Whatever he did to force the door open, it made it so it can’t open even from the inside. It’s completely jammed shut. I try to jump into the back and get out from there, but Raiska is already getting in. He shoves me back into the seat.
“Put on your safety harness, little human. I am not a good driver.”
He is going to murder me? Isn’t he. Why does he keep calling me “human.” Maybe those eyes are just colored contact lenses and he’s pretending to be an alien. But then what about that orb and those strange colors? No, there’s no way he is possibly an actual alien.
I try to punch him. It’s a lot like punching a brick wall—not that I’ve ever actually done that. He grabs hold of my right wrist and locks those turquoise eyes with mine. “I would throw you in the trunk, little human, but this vehicle does not have one.”
“Let me go!” I shout, hoping my voice catches someone’s attention. Maybe someone is walking through the parking garage and could hear me?
My punches did nothing to him, but what about my teeth?
I lunge down and bite into his forearm. It’s all muscle and sinew, but I bite hard enough to draw blood. I clamp down until I taste his blood, but it tastes almost sweet rather than metallic.
“Are you finished?” he asks. “You cannot hurt me. Put your safety harness on and let me drive the vehicle.”
I bite harder still, hoping he’ll at least wince or swear, or do something that a human man would do in this spot. He doesn’t.
I let go and spit the blood out onto his wound. “Why should I do anything you tell me to?”
He takes in a deep breath, rolls his eyes, and sighs. It’s the most human thing he’s done since first letting his mask slip.
“Listen to me,” he says. “I know you have no reason to trust me. I was attempting to build your trust by appearing like a human you would otherwise be attracted to. I was going to treat you to a cheesecake—”
“You realize this is Pittsburgh, right? Not Philly. And it’s cheesesteak.”
“I’m not good at these things like my half-brothers, Annabelle. I was trained to make people fear me.”
“It’s working.”
“You’re not going to believe me unless I show you my true form.”
God, he’s going to whip his dick out now, isn’t he? I’m going to get raped in a PT Cruiser. This is not how I thought the day was going to go.
The impossible colors flash again, and I raise my hand to shield my eyes. When I bring it back down, I see something more impossible. He has horns, and he’s blue. He’s suddenly shirtless and wearing nothing but a black kilt of some kind.
“Oh my fucking God,” I whisper.
He holds his orb up, the colors flash again, and the car starts.
“Are you an...alien?”
He nods.
“Are you going to abduct me?”
He nods again. “It’s not my choice to do so, human. I’m being forced to. To protect you.”
I bite my lip. Something deep down inside me wants to believe him. At least until I go through the chain of events and realize that if he is telling the truth, then he’s protecting me from something. Something much worse than him.
Maybe I don’t want to believe him after all.
“Why don’t we go get that cheesesteak?” I ask. “You can tell me your story.”
I realize he’s not going to let me go free, but maybe I can convince him to take me out into public again. If