Taken by the Alien Next Door (Aliens Among Us #1) - Tiffany Roberts Page 0,33

piercings.

Tabitha couldn’t move, couldn’t take her eyes off Logan, as he stood up. Two things struck her immediately—his nipples were pierced, too, and he had a freaking tail flicking through the air behind him like he was an agitated cat.

No, not a cat. A lion. Complete with a tuft of fur at the tip of his tail.

He and the man in the hologram exchanged a few more words, and the hologram vanished.

Logan sighed and lifted a hand to the back of his neck, rubbing it and shaking his head. There were dark claws on the tips of his fingers.

Just when she’d thought he couldn’t possibly get any hotter…

What was she thinking? He…he wasn’t human!

Maybe he’s just a secretive but really, really serious cosplayer?

Damn it, Tabby, get the dog and get out of there!

Dexter, ever helpful, chose that moment to bark.

Logan’s head snapped toward the door.

Tabitha’s heart stopped. For an instant, all she could see of his face were those glowing orbs, so inhuman, so terrifying, so breathtaking. Ice formed in her veins.

Tail stilling, Logan spat a single word—one with which Tabitha was quite familiar.

“Fuck.”

He darted toward the door.

Tabitha let out a little cry that was definitely not a frightened shriek and shoved away from the house. Dexter leapt from the chair and ran in front of her as she raced back toward the fence.

The screen door slammed against its frame. “Tabitha!”

Arms pumping, breath short, and heart pounding, Tabitha pushed her ass faster than she ever had in her life.

Why did I never take that horror movie advice and work on my damned cardio?

Dexter, the traitor that he was, crawled through the hole under the fence, disappearing.

Tabitha threw her arms out, grabbing at the top of the fence as she lifted a foot to step on the lower support beam. She was almost there, just a little farther…

A powerful arm banded around her middle from behind. She gasped. As though her strength and weight were meaningless, she was plucked away from the fence. Both her feet were suddenly a long way from the ground.

Before she could even scream, a big hand clamped over her mouth.

I’m dead.

Eight

Curse words in half a dozen languages tumbled through Zevris’s mind as he pulled Tabitha against him. She struggled wildly, kicking her legs and swinging her arms. Her breath was hot against his palm as she tried to scream.

He couldn’t help but notice how well she fit against him—how her luscious backside was pressed firmly to his pelvis, as though it were meant to be there.

Damn it, if there is a right time for such thoughts, this is not it!

He knew what he had to do in this situation; he’d trained for this inevitability, had dealt with it in the past. He’d been exposed. He’d exposed himself.

That thought only had him cursing in his head again—the English phrase exposed himself was often used with a very specific meaning by modern humans, and he most certainly hadn’t done that.

Zevris gritted his teeth and growled in pain as Tabitha grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked. He turned his head sharply, rewarding himself with another flare of pain on his scalp, but thankfully broke her hold.

As her struggles intensified, he tightened his hold on her and said, “Enough, Tabitha. I am not going to harm you.”

For a moment, it seemed as though she were complying. Her thrashing ceased, and she drew in a deep, ragged breath through her nostrils.

“Good,” he soothed. “Just breathe, and—”

She released that breath in a scream so powerful that it nearly forced his hand away from her mouth. Her muscles strained, and her body trembled against him.

Zevris’s brows fell low. He glanced from side to side and up at the nearby second-story windows, scanning his surroundings; he was tall enough to look over the six-foot-tall privacy fences, and no other humans were in sight. But it was only a matter of time before one of the neighbors was alerted to this situation and it became even messier.

Tabitha’s muffled scream finally ended, and she relaxed. The reprieve was short lived. Not a second later, she resumed her struggles with renewed strength.

Releasing another growl, Zevris turned and carried her toward his dwelling.

As they reached the open door, Tabitha lifted her legs and spread them wide, planting one foot on the door frame and the other on the screen door. That stance only pressed her more firmly against him. This was not how he’d envisioned having her body flush with his; these were not the circumstances