Worse than the stage is the heat.
My physical, sex-needing heat.
Whatever Draegon venom runs through my veins, cooking me from the inside out. It’s like a hormonal rave in there, and the DJ’s putting on a hell of a show. Every time Vael-Torin shifts beside me, the furnace-like warmth of his ruby-red scales sends a violent spike of lust through me.
A quick glance up tells me he’s not doing any better. He stands over me like a wall of muscle, jaw locked, eyes dark with blown-out pupils. The fluffed end of his red tail snakes around my waist, yanking me against his side. I can feel his anatomy doing that franticmovementthing right through his pants and straight against my hip.
We are swimming in hormones, trying to play it cool, but the second the rest of my friends stumble onto the set, my horny brain-short takes a backseat to absolute horror.
Oh, god. What have I done?
I choke back a sob, clapping a hand over my mouth as I take them in.
They look like they've been dragged through a garbage disposal. Ellison is covered in dirt, her hair a giant nest, limping on her bare feet. Lucy looks pale, slung over the shoulder of a peachy Draegon like a sack of flour. And Lily? Lily looks ready to commit a felony. There are actual twigs falling out of her bob while a white-haired, purple alien trails her with a predatory stare.
Guilt hits my chest so hard I can't breathe.
This was supposed to be a fun prime-time dating adventure. Glamorous, fun, with a ticket off Earth at the end.
Except… my friends are bleeding. They're terrified. And I'm the one who put their names on those digital waivers while we were blasting through margarita pitcher number six.
I did this to them. I messed up. The urge to burst into tears and beg for forgiveness nearly drops me to my knees.
Seeing Ellison and her green alien emerge from the brush, I wave my arms, my voice cracking. “Oh, there you are! Hi Ell,” I call out, trying to project total confidence.
I fail.
Lily stumbles up the steps a second later, dried blood crusting her shins.
“What happened to you?” Ellison asks, rushing forward.
“I fell,” Lily mutters, her eyes flashing with an anger that makes me flinch. She rakes her fingers through her messy hair, glaring at the alien behind her. “Thank fuck this is the translator challenge. Not being able to talk to this dude is driving me fucking nuts.”
My panic amps up. If I break down right now, on camera, in front of a live audience of aliens, we are doomed. I need them to focus. I needmyselfto focus.
“I’m so sorry,” I tell Lily, trying to force my pageant smile back on. “You look beautiful?” I try, because even bloody and dirty, she does. “Your partner is hot…”
Lily whirls on me, her gaze dripping venom. “Don’t even fucking start with me, Poppy.”
I wince.
She has every right to hate me. I want to throw my arms around her and apologize, to tell her I’ll find a way to fix this, but the drones are hovering inches from our faces, catching every twitch.
And I’m not sure I can fix this, not anymore. Fuck.
Lucy’s partner bridal-carries her up the stairs next, and she offers a tired smile. “Hi, you guys. These guys are handy to have around, huh?”
“More like handsy,” Lily mutters, glaring at her mate. He snaps his teeth at her, muttering in his language, his purple taildoing it’s best to sneak around her ankle as she does her best to stomp on it.
“Welcome to the inaugural season ofMated and Afraid.” The host, Ayro, who I recognize from their site, steps to the front of the stage, his voice cutting through our conversation. He flashes a smile that sets me slightly more on edge. “And welcome to our first challenge! We begin by randomly selecting your event.”
The stage groans as a wheel rises from the floor, flashing with alien script and English letters.
“Approach and spin the wheel,” Ayro says, announcer voice on full display. Billie, the human woman who’s I think producing or masterminding the show, is talking into a headpiece just off stage. She’s former Earth Federation, if I remember correctly, now positioned on Roth, one of the humans who are trying to help diplomacy along there after the freakin’ Roth dictator was overthrown. Ugh. This is a mess.
My heart’s pounding frantically in my ribs, because it’s just now hitting me what I’ve gotten us into. This isn’t just some show or a fun way to get a trip to Sueva— this is a full on diplomatic propaganda piece to show interspecies collaboration, and I got me and my friends all tangled up with it.
Out of sheer boredom with my life.
