Chapter 3

The automatic doors of the hospital's VIP exit slid open.

A blast of biting, artificial wind hit Allegra the moment she stepped onto the landing pad. She shivered, her shoulders hunching inward as she stumbled slightly on her weak legs.

Benedict caught the movement in his peripheral vision. He immediately slowed his long strides. Without a word, he shifted his massive frame to the left, acting as a physical shield against the wind.

A sleek, pitch-black military hovercar sat idling on the tarmac. Its armored plating absorbed the harsh sunlight, radiating an aura of lethal authority.

Benedict reached the vehicle and pulled the heavy, reinforced door open. He stood back, gesturing for her to enter first. His posture was rigid, demanding total compliance.

Allegra stepped up toward the elevated floorboard. Her knees, still trembling from the crash and the adrenaline, suddenly buckled.

Her foot slipped off the metal step. She pitched forward, the ground rushing up to meet her face.

Benedict's pupils dilated into thin slits.

He lunged. His thick arm shot out, his hand wrapping firmly around her waist. He hauled her back against his solid chest, stopping her fall instantly.

At the exact same moment, his biological instincts completely bypassed his conscious control.

The thick, muscular snow leopard tail behind him whipped forward. Like a heated, furry rope, it coiled tightly around Allegra's left ankle. The black-tipped end of the tail curled upward, intimately stroking the back of her calf.

Allegra looked down at her leg.

To her Earth-trained brain, it was just an animal reflex. A cat using its tail for balance. She didn't feel threatened. She didn't feel violated.

Benedict, however, stopped breathing.

He froze completely. Every muscle in his body turned to stone. The blood rushed to his face, burning his ears a bright, humiliating red.

In Hybrid society, a male wrapping his tail around a female's ankle was a deeply intimate, possessive act. It was a blatant declaration of courtship. It was a physical demand for mating.

He had just aggressively claimed a civilian he had nearly killed an hour ago.

Allegra noticed his rigid posture. She reached down and lightly patted the thick fur of his tail.

"You can move it now," she said softly, her tone casual. "I've got my balance."

Her palm slapping against his tail sent a violent shockwave of electricity straight up Benedict's spine.

He gasped, a harsh, tearing sound in the quiet air. He yanked his tail back as if she had burned him, pinning it flat against his lower back.

"I... I apologize," Benedict choked out. His voice was raw, stripped of all its military authority. "That was entirely involuntary."

Allegra frowned, confused by his extreme panic. "It's fine. It's just a tail."

Benedict stared at her. She wasn't disgusted. She wasn't screaming for the authorities. She had patted him.

His mind spun into chaos. To cover his overwhelming shame, he yanked his holographic terminal from his belt. His thick fingers flew across the light-keys.

"I am doubling your compensation," he stated, his voice tight. "The funds are now in a secure trust."

He shoved a small, encrypted data-key into her hand.

Allegra stared at the key. She blinked. He was paying her more money because his tail accidentally tripped her?

"Okay," she said, slipping the key into her pocket. She wasn't going to argue with an alien billionaire who threw money at awkward situations.

Benedict saw her accept the key. His chest heaved as he let out a shaky breath. She took the compensation. She accepted his apology. She didn't hate his touch.

He stepped back, gesturing rigidly toward the interior of the car.

Allegra climbed into the spacious backseat. Benedict followed, sitting as far away from her as the leather bench would allow. The heavy door hissed shut, sealing them in a soundproof vault.

The hovercar lifted off the tarmac with a smooth, silent surge of power.

Allegra turned her head, staring out the tinted window at the towering, neon-lit skyscrapers of the capital city. She tried to ignore the suffocating heat radiating from the man beside her.

Benedict sat perfectly straight, his eyes locked on the back of the driver's headrest.

But his peripheral vision was entirely consumed by Allegra.

His tail, trapped in the confined space and fueled by his repressed anxiety, refused to stay still. It swept back and forth across the leather seat in agitated, restless arcs.

The tip of the tail brushed against the outer edge of Allegra's thigh. It was a feather-light touch, sending a faint tickle through her pants.

Allegra looked down. The fur looked incredibly soft. It looked like the highest quality plush she had ever seen on Earth.

Benedict felt her gaze on his tail. His jaw clenched. He tried to force the appendage to stay still, commanding his muscles to lock.

The effort only made the tail twitch more violently, the movements becoming jerky and painfully obvious.

Allegra watched him fight his own body. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling. The terrifying, cold-blooded general was currently losing a battle against his own anatomy. He looked exactly like an anxious, oversized housecat.

The hovercar accelerated, pressing them both deep into the leather seats. The silence in the cabin was deafening, thick with a tension Allegra didn't understand, and Benedict couldn't escape.