Stalked by the Alien Assassin (Aliens Among Us, #2)

by Tiffany Roberts

I’m yours. Only yours.

He had a freaking tail! Why wasn’t she racing for the door? And why am I acting like the tail is the part that should make me run?

“Look at me, vaerina,”

“You have nothing to fear from me, Avery. I will never hurt you.”

“I can’t stop thinking about you, vaerina.”

“Every moment of every day, you’re in my thoughts, and all I can do is yearn for my next taste of you. And that was making things very dangerous for me. I thought it was endangering you, too. Thought they were after me, and that you’d get caught in the crossfire.”

All those days without hearing from him, all those days of hurting, of wondering if she’d been the problem, if she hadn’t been good enough, just as she’d never measured up in her family…had been because he was trying to protect her?

They also happen to be aliens.”

Aliens. But aliens didn’t exist…right? Except…

“And…...

“Also an alien, but not a criminal. Well, not technically. Anymore. Sort of.”

“I’ve wanted to tell you the truth for so long now, but my mission, the circumstances…I couldn’t. Couldn’t risk it. Until now.”

“I’ve killed people, Avery. A lot of people, all over the universe. That was my duty as an althicar—to defend my species and keep my people safe by showing our enemies they had nowhere to hide.”

“You will always be safe with me, vaerina. I’ll kill anyone who means to harm you. Just have a bit of a backlist to work through on that front.”

Deep down, she’d known he was keeping part of himself from her.

But she’d never dreamed he was hiding fangs, claws, and a tail from her. She’d never imagined that he was an assassin. An alien assassin.

That he wasn’t human.

“I was sent here to take a human mate and breed with her.”

She’d…she’d just been joking when she’d said that. She hadn’t thought… That panic she’d felt when she woke up returned, like a fist squeezing around her heart.

“Easy, va...

“Y-you were using me? To…to…”

“No. Never.” His voice rumbled into her. “Hear me when I say that, Avery. I wanted nothing to do with that mission. I did all I could to avoid it. When I met you, I didn’t even realize what was happening. I fought it, but I couldn’t stay away. And by the time I realized that being with you would fulfill that mission…I didn’t care. So long as I had you.”

“Because my species has few females left. We’re on the verge of extinction, and the bond we must form with our mates in order to reproduce…it can’t be artificially replicated. Humans are the only race we’ve found that are compatible.”

He lifted his head and again captured her chin, turning her face toward his. Those crimson eyes bored into hers. “I want you, Avery.”

But she couldn’t forget the last week so quickly. She couldn’t let go of the hurt he’d caused her, couldn’t forget how insignificant he’d made her feel by lifting her so high and then dropping her cold on her ass.

And her mind, fuzzy from whatever she’d been drugged with, was still trying to come to terms with everything he’d told her. With the truth of what he was and what had happened to her last night. Her whole world had been turned upside down, and as crazy as it was, the thing that had her reeling the most was his reaffirmation that he wanted her as his.

And she’d only just learned hi...

She just…she needed time...

He slipped that arm beneath her knees and stood up smoothly, lifting her along with him as though she weighed no more than a feather. So why did it feel like each of her limbs was as heavy as an anvil?

“You’re mine, vaerina. I was a fool to think I could live without you.”

Avery knew she shouldn’t forgive him so easily for the emotional hell he’d put her through the entire week, but…she didn’t know if she could stay mad at him. She didn’t know if she even wanted to be mad at him. If it weren’t for him, who knew where she’d be right now? Brutal, unforgiving hands, rough skin, blood in her mouth… Don’t, Avery. Don’t even think about it.

She closed her eyes and let out a long exhalation. I’m safe. And she knew it was true. No matter what happened, Fyran would keep her safe. Despite the secrets, despite everything he’d kept from her, she trusted him wholly.

“You need to eat and drink before you sleep, vaerina.”

“You’ve slept for quite a while. You need sustenance,

“I…could just wait. I’m not hungry.” She was starving. “Bullshit.” She flicked her gaze up at him and arched a brow. “Can’t a girl keep some dignity? I’m not going to waste away skipping a meal.” His expression was hard, unwavering. “Firstly, the drug is still in your system, and your body needs to be at full strength to flush it out. Secondly, you’ve missed more than one meal. I found you just after ten o’clock last night. It’s almost four in the afternoon right now. And thirdly”—he leaned his face closer to her, the red in his eyes suddenly brighter and his voice dropping into a growl—“my mate will not go hungry.”

It will pass, Avery.”

“We…we broke up for a week,”

“and I didn’t even know your real name. I feel like I just met you, Fyran.”

She still wanted him.

“It doesn’t matter if we just met, vaerina. You told me yourself—you are mine.

“I’ll take any chance to have my hands all over you, Avery.”

He’s alien, Avery. What did you expect?

Shiny laser guns that go pew-pew? Fishbowl space helmets? The illudium Q-36 explosive space modulator?

“I…I was… The music?” she said. For someone who wants to be a writer, I sure have a way with words, huh?

Avery’s gaze shifted to one of his pointed ears. All the better to— No more Big Bad Wolf references, dang it!

Didn’t want to disturb you while you were asleep.”

Distance, Avery. You need distance.

“I need my stuff, Fyran. And my cat. I will not leave my cat.”

“Look, I know it’s dangerous out there, and I understand what you’re trying to do. And I’ll agree to stay here with you, I won’t even fight you about it, but you can’t keep me here like a prisoner.”

“Mmm. You’re not my prisoner, vaerina”—his eyes roved over her again, hungry, playful, leisurely—“but you are mine.”