Finding Alien Love (SciFi Alien Romance) by Meg Ripley

inches away from her, and Alexandra tried to focus on him.
    “Suitcase,” she said absently. “I had…a job interview. Shit, I’m probably not going to make it there, am I?” Alexandra slumped against the bed, feeling as if all of the bones in her body had turned to jelly. “I think I left my phone,” she said as an inexorable wave of sleepiness washed through her.

****
     
    Sasha watched Alexandra as she slept, wrapped in the haze of the painkiller she had taken. He was glad that the pill had taken effect so quickly; otherwise, the story would have unraveled. He closed his eyes, trying to breathe shallowly so as not to take in too much of the woman’s scent. If he did, he knew he would be doomed. As the scent of the woman’s fear had receded, more of her natural scent rose up—and the mingling of vanilla, sandalwood, and spice that made up her pheromones were enough to drive him wild.
    Sasha clenched his teeth, remembering the woman’s car. It had been easy for him to track it down, once he had her scent. He’d followed her trail through the woods, taking advantage of the early-morning light and the strength of her smell lingering on the ground, along the trees she had brushed against. The rest of the clan had checked in through the night—verifying that the woman he’d saved was at his house, that she’d been patched up. There was no need for Alexandra to get a rabies shot; Sasha and the doctor alike had been able to smell that the punctures and bites bore no trace of the virus.
    Sasha had retrieved Alexandra’s suitcase, along with her phone and its charger. The scent of her inside of the car had been overwhelming. Does she even know how good she smells? Probably not. Sasha opened his eyes at the sound of a faint murmur from the woman in his bed. That had been a mistake; but he hadn’t been able to bring himself to put her on the couch to recover from the attack. But now—now her scent would be on his sheets, his pillows drenched in it. It would be inescapable. Already Sasha could feel the tug of her pheromones. She isn’t a shifter, he reminded himself firmly.
    She didn’t know about his clan, she didn’t know about his dual nature; her pheromones marked her as strictly human—she wouldn’t be able to understand. She couldn’t possibly be his mate. It didn’t make any sense. And yet, she smelled as though she should belong to him. Even carefully seated across the room from her, Sasha found it next to impossible not to get up, climb into the bed with her, and rub himself all over her to mark her with his own scent, to alert any other bears that she had already been claimed.
    Alexandra stirred, and Sasha sat up in his seat, watching her intently. Her eyes opened after a moment and she groaned, burrowing into his pillows as if she didn’t quite want to wake up. “How do you feel?” he asked. Alexandra started, and turned her bright-eyed gaze towards him.
    “Well,” she said with a sigh. “I feel faintly nauseated, a little achy, and like I have some kind of bizarre hangover.” She gave him a weak smile and looked at the window. “Shit—have you been sitting there all night?” She sat up. Sasha suppressed a groan at the sight of her ample breasts pressing against the fabric of the shirt he’d loaned her.
    “It’s no big deal,” he assured her, smiling away the fatigue he could feel gnawing at him. “I have a couch I could have slept on if I’d wanted to.” The problem was that he hadn’t wanted to. He had wanted to stay in the room with her, breathing in her scent and watching her sleep. Sasha stood; he felt like he needed to move around, do something. “Do you want something to eat? I think I have some crackers if you think it’d settle your stomach.” Alexandra shook her head.
    “I think it’ll pass on its own,” she said. She looked at him for a long moment. “The story you told me—it doesn’t make any sense.” Sasha nipped the inside of his bottom lip. He sat back