Ajos: The Restitution - A Sci-fi Alien Romance, Book 1, стр. 6
That darned cat probably turned the TV on again.
Don’t ask her how Cindy did it; she just did. Cats did what they wanted when they wanted.
You know, if she sat and thought about it, Cindy owned the apartment and she was the cat’s roommate.
“Cindyyyy,” Kerena groaned again.
“Nee wekda ji nee foofre xiteeklu.”
Huh?
That didn’t sound like Cindy at all.
She kind of had a deep meow for a female cat, but her arguments never sounded like actual words before—regardless if it came across as utter gibberish.
God, she must be extremely tired.
Granted, she had been putting in a lot of work at the lab.
Going in early, leaving late, and repeat days of overtime. Maybe she’d overdone it.
With a huge sigh and another curse, Kerena squeezed her eyes tight.
Even her bed felt hard, not just the dresser she was pressed against.
Yep, her body was protesting. And not only her body, but her mind as well.
She’d been having the weirdest nightmare—one straight out of an experiment gone wrong.
She’d left the lab a little later than usual, but she’d headed straight home instead of picking up a meal at the 24/7 McDonald’s near her apartment. She hadn’t been far from home when she’d seen a huge alligator.
And get this—as if seeing an alligator in the middle of the city wasn’t strange enough—it had been standing on two legs…and it had been holding a gun.
She’d laugh if it hadn’t felt so real, it’d been terrifying.
Groaning, she cursed underneath her breath again.
Her sleep was broken. There was no falling back into the clutches of much-needed rest.
She was awake.
Fuck that useless dresser. She knew she shouldn’t have bought it at that yard sale. Her friend was the one who’d talked her into it.
Moving to California with nothing, they’d both tried to save as much as they could on almost everything.
LA was an expensive city and the huge pharmaceutical company they worked for paid two months behind.
It’d been tough starting up life in the City of Angels, but it was going to be worth it in the long run.
Yawning, she froze.
Wait a minute.
The dresser wasn’t by her bedside anymore.
She’d moved it two days ago because of the same problem of bumping her head into it at night.
Frowning now, Kerena squinted as she opened her eyes.
Her vision was blurry, but not blurry enough for her not to notice that her face wasn’t pressed into mahogany.
Instead, she was snuggled against something the color of mint mixed with teal.
Huh?
“Nee wekda ji nee foofre xiteeklu.”
The…fuck?
The voice was male, not Maine Coon, and it was coming from above her.
Stiffening, Kerena didn’t want to look up.
“Ji kludanee nee.”
No.
It couldn’t be.
The dream…
It was coming back to her now.
Vividly.
So vividly, it felt as if her soul was slowly leaving her body.
Waking up in a casket, a see-through casket.
The panic that flooded her not knowing where she was or what was happening.
The dull sound of screams and shrieks on the outside of the casket.
The sudden realization she was finding it hard to breathe.
Not being able to get up, not being able to escape…
Then the face…
Taking care not to make any sudden movements or move her head, Kerena looked upward and terror filled her soul.
That same face was above her, and golden eyes locked with hers.
Blinking, she couldn’t move—refused to, as if keeping still would make her disappear.
The man looking down at her was not human.
That thought registered quickly.
Minty-teal skin. Golden eyes that shone from a sclera that was the same color as the person’s skin.
This…was not real.
She was still dreaming, right?
She’d dreamt about aliens before, but this one looked so…real. And handsome.
Whenever she’d dreamt about aliens before, the little green men looked nothing like this green man she was seeing now.
They were all big heads and huge dark eyes—you know, the way they drew them in cartoons.
Such a simple description could not describe the alien in front of her now.
His irises alone were rich, like spun gold.
Minty-teal leathery skin covered every inch of his body she could see—even his lips.
Firm cheekbones, a strong jaw, a straight nose…his face was mostly humanlike.
But his head…
Apart from the fact that no hair covered his crown, there were two protrusions on either side of his head and they seemed to run to the back, leading from his temples. They were pale yellow and the only thing that broke the uniform color of his minty-teal skin.
Her hand moved in her peripheral vision as she frowned at the alien looking down at her.
Her fingers touched the alien’s cheek and he jerked away a little, his gaze registering shock as he stared back at her.
For a few moments, he did nothing.
Instead, he kept staring at her as if expecting her to scream and run away. Then, when it seemed he realized she wasn’t about to do that, he leaned toward her outstretched palm.
His skin was like soft leather and her mouth fell open a little as she stared at the contrast between her hand and his cheek.
His skin was such rich minty-teal, it seemed like body paint or something.
Blinking several times, Kerena slowly became aware that there was some sort of commotion around her.
Screaming, crying, words of comfort, orders being shouted—and words she couldn’t understand.
Turning her head, she looked across the room.
It wasn’t her TV that was on.
Well, duh!
She wasn’t in her room as she’d thought.
There were several people close by. Women. Some on the floor, some standing, but the general similarity was that they all looked terrified.
But that wasn’t what made her eyes widen.
There were…beings…even more aliens and different ones from the one that held her—she was realizing—in…his…arms.
“What—” Kerena began, and the arms that held her tightened a little.
This was some kind of costume party, wasn’t it?
Had to be.
Though, the guy across the room that dressed like C3PO definitely went all out on his costume.
How much did he pay for that?
“Klufoo kluer oh freem kluer neejiem,” the man that held her said.
Kerena’s eyes widened some more.
This one was even talking gibberish to sound like an