The dinosaur flavour-of-the-month appeared to be big and herbivorous, apparently, because this was the sixth anomaly featuring a massive prehistoric herbivore, and it was only the eleventh. Jenny was just glad they hadn't pulled the 'big and toothy' card, because she'd had just about enough of bloody predators. This one was a club-tailed creature – Connor had identified it as Ankylosaurus – and it was really starting to look pissed off. It was huffing and snorting, head low between its massive shoulders.
"What's wrong with it?" Connor asked, his voice kept low.
"It's in unfamiliar surroundings. It doesn't know what we are or whether we're a threat. We're making it nervous," Abby murmured back softly. "If we all just stay very still, no loud noises or quick movements, he'll probably just go back home to get away from us."
"Somehow I doubt it'll be that easy," Cutter said, his voice low.
Jenny agreed with him, though she'd never tell him that aloud. In the past several weeks, things between her and Cutter had become somewhat more…she couldn't say professional. Or easy. They'd become…manageable. She'd go with that one. Manageable. Now she only thought about throttling him maybe three times a week, and he'd stopped baiting her at every bloody opportunity. Still, there was something about him that just drove her utterly crackers, and she wondered just how long Stephen had to play dominance games with the stupid git before they'd settled to the easy friendship they had now.
And what was worse, there was a part of her that, besides wanting to kill him, wanted to claim him. More than once she'd caught herself unconsciously eyeing his shoulders and arms, and even watching his arse when he walked away. He was a powerful Alpha male that was very much available, and for as much as she hated it, a part of her instincts made her notice a potential – shudder – mate.
Jenny was drawn sharply out of her inner musing as the Ankylosaurus let out a deep bass roar that she could feel in her bones, lowering its head and stamping its massive feet. Snorting loudly, it lunged forward with incredible speed for a creature so big, thundering towards them.
"Get down!" Cutter shouted, then caught her around the waist and yanked her down with him, pulling them both over and rolling beneath the truck. The Ankylosaurus thundered past, snorted, and spun, whipping its heavy, tremendous tail; the solid club of fused bone and keratin plowed into the side of a nearby ATV with a sound like an anvil being dropped in a skip. The all-terrain vehicle flipped thrice, digging deep gouges in the earth, sending clods of mud and grass flying. It passed so close that Jenny actually felt the air stir as a broken piece of metal whipped past them. Had they been standing, they'd be crushed to gravel.
"You're welcome," Cutter coughed out, his breath fanning warmly across her face.
"You're bleeding," Jenny said. She lifted a hand to his face, and his breath caught slightly as she pressed cool fingertips to his cheek just below his cheekbone. A piece of glass must have caught him when the ATV was smashed, because there was a small cut there, oozing blood down the side of his face. She also became aware of the fact that she had her body flush to his, that one of her thighs was pressed between his own, the rich scent of an Alpha male filling her nose. Staring at him unblinking, she took one finger and drew it up his cheek, catching the thick, dark drops of his blood on her fingertip. And still not looking away from him, she stuck her finger in her mouth, cheeks hollowing slightly as she sucked the blood off her fingertip. It was sweet and coppery, like sucking on a new penny, and she could almost taste the power he carried.
A low growl rumbled out of his throat, and she saw his pupils dilate.
Strong. Male. Alpha. Ours. Mate.
What? No. Not ours. Down, girl, Jenny thought, pushing down the instinct, that Alpha urge to mark and claim. He was hers. His scent had thickened, like smoke and frost and spice, and she longed to bury her nose into his neck, mark him, scent him, roll her body against his like a great cat in her own personal catnip until she smelt of him and he smelt of her, unable to be told apart.
Cutter wasn't blinking, keeping his eyes on hers, exuding those raw Alpha pheromones like heat. She hated to be the one to look away first, but she pulled her gaze away, looking out from beneath the car. "It's gone. I think they've got it back through the anomaly," she said and tried to ignore the way her body slid against his as she wriggled out from beneath the vehicle.
The Ankylosaurus was gone, though it'd wrecked another vehicle in the process. Or at least, she thought it was a vehicle. It was metal and had tyres. Stephen and Becker were rounding everyone up again, looking for any injuries. The anomaly had gone, too. Brushing the bits of dirt and grass off her clothes, Jenny straightened herself out and went to work, pointedly not looking back as Cutter got to his feet, staring at her with dark eyes.
When she ran her tongue over her teeth, she could still taste his blood.