Mari's Mistake - Ruby Dixon Page 0,4

filters the air, makes the body work optimally, and ensures the propagation of the species. I didn't resonate the moment I got my cootie, unlike Veronica, and there were only three unmated aliens on the shore, so I thought I'd dodged that bullet. I don't want a mate—I can't even take care of myself right now, so adding another person to the mix is just something I don't need.

Apparently my khui has decided things for me, though. Because it starts purring harder, and I stare at the second alien in shock as my chest rumbles with what must be resonance. He's rumbling too, this stranger, and I think this has just complicated things a dozen-fold.

At least my new mate is…handsome?

Or as handsome as an alien could be, I suppose. I'm still not used to the whole “tall and looming” thing. Or the horns. Or the tail. This one has incredibly long, black hair that has bits of shell woven into the occasional decorative braid. His horns skyscrape up from a proud forehead and his eyes are piercing. His nose is aquiline and his jaw is as cutting and sharp as any telenovela actor. His mouth is a little harder than I'd like and his expression is…brooding. Beautiful, yes, but not friendly.

Somehow, this is disappointing. I'd rather he be friendly and cuddly. I need a friend right now.

I cringe back when he reaches for me, glancing around the beach. "L-Lauren? Lo? Are you out there?"

There's no response. One of the other males makes a disgusted sound in his throat, spits some words, and then gets to his feet, walking away. The other three still hover near me, including my new unsmiling mate. He watches me for a moment longer, and then offers me a hand.

I don't take it. "Lauren?" I cry out. The need to run and hide is overwhelming, but I don't see anywhere to go. I'm…alone. That's terrifying.

Not really alone, though. I now have a resonance mate. Even more terrifying.

The alien I resonated to grunts something under his breath. He gets to his feet, and when I skitter backward on my hands, he slides his arms under me and picks me up, bridal style, and begins to carry me down the beach. Er…okay. The urge to run away hits me again, but where would I go? I look at my surroundings but there's nothing familiar. For the first time, I realize I'm not anywhere near the beach that my friends were at.

I don't know where I am.

Beyond the stretch of beach, I see trees. A great many trees, all of them green and lovely and as tall as any jungle on Earth. They grow thickly together, and I hear birds and other things calling to each other as they move through the branches. There's brightly colored ferns dotting the ground and flowered vines hanging from branches. On the other side of the beach, the water is a crystalline greenish-blue unlike the dark, bottle-green waters on the shore I remember.

Where the hell am I? And why is it so hot? I tug at the neck of my leathers, because they feel uncomfortably gross and sweaty. Maybe it's a side effect of the khui lighting up for resonance—I'm having a hot flash of some kind.

The man holding me says something under his breath, the words unintelligible. He glances down at me, and his expression is almost…stern. Definitely forbidding.

"I'm sorry," I whisper. "I don't understand you. And I'm more than a little scared of you."

He says something again and I just shake my head. I hear the frustrated breath he lets out, but he doesn't try to talk to me again. I have no idea if that's good or bad. At least he seems to be strong? He carries me easily through the sand, and as he walks, I notice he's heading up what looks like a long, sloping cliff off the shore. At the top of the rocky cliff, I see what looks like a cluster of huts.

Okay. Shelter is good.

Or is it bad? Is he taking me home because he wants to mate with me? I let out a terrified little squeak and clutch the neck of my wet, gross leathers even tighter against my skin…and try to ignore the hot little pulse of arousal between my thighs. That's not me. That is the cootie.

Real Mari is NOT turned on by a hot, forbidding-looking alien with long, sexy hair and a firm jaw. She knows better.

(Unless she swallowed a ton