Free Sweet Alien by Sue Mercury

Excerpt:
     
    Joseph found he couldn’t force himself to leave her quarters. He wanted to spend every moment of this trip with Angie, and he wanted to know why she feared him. Or perhaps, he thought with a bit of clarity, it wasn’t just him she feared. Perhaps she feared all men. Male humans weren’t always honorable and from what Joseph had learned during his studies of Earth, it wasn’t uncommon for a male to be violent to a female, particularly a wife.
    His gaze darted to her left hand and he spotted no wedding band, though her ring finger had a pale circle around it, as if she’d recently taken a ring off. She shifted on the bed and he sensed her heart beating wildly in her chest.
    “Why did you faint, Angie?”
    Her eyes widened and she glanced around the room for a while, until finally meeting his gaze again. She shrugged. “Space travel doesn’t agree with me, I guess.”
    “I sense you are lying.” He stated this kindly, not at all angry she hadn’t confided in him. But oh how he wished she would trust him.
    “Yeah, well, I don’t know you and you sort of just let yourself into my room. I’m feeling better now.” She blinked rapidly after a sheen of moisture appeared in her eyes. “How did I get in this bed anyway?” Fear tinged her voice.
    “I caught you before you fell and carried you here. I also summoned a doctor who told me you had a panic attack and fainted, and he said you would awake soon. He also said you might be weak after you regain consciousness.”
    “I’m not weak!” As soon as she yelled the words, she clamped a hand over her mouth and her expression became a mixture of fear and regret. When she uncovered her mouth, she said, “I’m sorry I yelled at you. Please don’t be angry. I’m sorry. Can you just leave me alone now? Please?” She retreated to the other side of the bed.
    “I cannot leave you alone, Angie. I find I do not have the strength to leave this room.” His nostrils flared as he inhaled her intoxicating female scent. Flowers and grassy meadows and fresh air. He wanted to bury his face in her hair and her neck, all the while running his hands over every inch of her body. And he still wanted to lick her freckles.
    Her lower lip trembled. “Wh-what do you mean?”
    “I will protect you. You are afraid of all males, yes? The Reestrians and the human men on this ship?”
    She exhaled a shaky breath and regarded him with suspicion. “How do you know that?”
    “I sense your fear, sweet one. I believe you fainted because my maleness scares you, but I promise on my life I would never harm you. You are the dear friend of my brother’s mate, and I will stay with you during the trip to Reestria, and then I will personally deliver you to my family’s home where your friend’s human wedding ceremony is to take place.”
    “Why do your eyes keep changing color?”
    He froze and met her nervous stare. There was only one reason why.
    His mating urge was coming upon him.

Chapter One
     
    Angie stared out the window of her private quarters aboard the massive Reestrian spaceship, the Raavika . At any moment they would be leaving Earth behind, and nerves fluttered in her stomach at the thought. She had heard tales of Reestrian space folding technology, and although Kira, her childhood friend who had mated with a Reestrian from the Galattak Clan, promised their method of space travel was safe, that didn’t calm the worries whirling through her head.
    She supposed she should be happy right now. She was one of few humans to be granted passage to Reestria. Most of her friends back in Florida envied her little adventure, but aside from her apprehension over space travel, she felt unsettled around the immensely tall Reestrians.
    They looked human enough, but man oh man were they huge, and the knowledge that they experienced some sort of primal mating urge that bonded them to their females for life … well that scared the bejesus out of her.
    She used to think marriage was for