THE ALIEN'S CLAIM

WARRIORS OF LUXIRIA - BOOK EIGHT

ZOEY DRAVEN
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are the product of the author’s
imagination. Any resemblance to actual events, places, or persons are purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner
whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations
in a book review.
Stock Art: Depositphotos
Cover Design: Zoey Draven
Copyright © 2020 Zoey Draven
Created with Vellum
 CONTENTS

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Epilogue
Afterword
More From Zoey
Thank You!
About the Author
 CHAPTER ONE

B
her spine.
lack night encased her, pushing against her legs, her chest, her arms,
making it difficult to run. It tangled in her hair, gripping it tight,
pulling her this way and that way, as fear and worry shivered down

Erin couldn’t see anything. And if it weren’t for the ferocious pumping of
her heart, the sickly-sweet smell of the forest around her, and the dizzying
knowledge that he was coming for her, she would think she was dropped
straight into a nightmare.
Which is exactly what this day has become, she thought, her breath
escaping her in little gasps as she tugged at the bindings on her wrists. They
wouldn’t budge.
Earlier that morning, she’d woken to bright Luxirian sunlight in the
Golden City. She’d bathed, half-thinking about breakfast and whether it
would include the tart purple fruit she enjoyed, and chatted with Crystal as
they washed…and then everything had changed. Once again. She’d been
stolen away for the third time in her life.
Stumbling over a root arched from the earth, Erin barely managed to right
herself. She brought her bound hands to her mouth, trying to tear at the cloth
with her teeth.
The back of her neck tingled.
It was her only warning before she slammed into a warm body, the air in
her lungs whooshing out from the impact.
Her only stunned thought was, how did he manage to get in front of me?
“Mine now, female,” the male growled, his voice hard and unyielding.
No.
 Desperately trying to drag in breath, Erin struggled against him as his
arms wrapped tight, easily subduing her with his strength. In the next
moment, she was in the air, hauled over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes,
his arms wrapping around the backs of her thighs so she couldn’t thrash.
The moment Erin could breathe, she pushed at his back and yelled,
“Crystal!”
Her blood froze when, in the distance, she heard Crystal scream, “Let go
of me!”
Someone had her. The other Luxirian that had appeared in the forest that
night?
“Crystal!”
“Cease,” the male growled and Erin felt the tips of his claws against the
bare flesh of her thighs. He began to run from the clearing, farther away from
Crystal.
“I need to go to her,” Erin said. “Please, you don’t underst—”
“Cease!”
Erin fought harder, struggling, frustrated cries escaping her as it became
more and more apparent that her strength meant nothing when it came to him.
A roar echoed through the forest.
“Jaxor’an, stop!” came a familiar male voice.
It was the other Luxirian male, the one who had Crystal.
Had he come to rescue them? Was that why he was here?
The day had been one long blur of confusing events, but a couple things
were absolutely certain.
The first was that the Luxirian who Erin assumed was named Jaxor’an,
the Luxirian whose shoulder she was ungracefully thrown over at that very
moment, had come to kidnap her and Crystal that morning from the Golden
City, racing them over a black sand desert all afternoon until they settled deep
inside a strange, eerie forest in the dead of night.
Why?
She didn’t know. But she’d had the distinct impression that they’d been
waiting for someone, crouched in the forest, in shrouded darkness. Had
Jaxor’an been about to trade them both for something? To who? To the other
Luxirian male that had suddenly appeared, seemingly out of nowhere?
Erin didn’t think so, but she and Crystal had used the welcome distraction
to make a run for it.
Another thing that was a certainty?
 Erin’s gut churned just thinking about it, so she pushed it from her mind.
She’d heard a lot about Luxirian Instincts since arriving on the alien planet.
She’d heard a lot about fated mates, about an undeniable connection, a
feeling, with another when these pairings were brought together. She’d felt
something when she’d first seen the male who was currently carrying her on
his shoulder.
No, she definitely needed to push all of that from her mind and into a
padlocked chest. Another time, she might be brave enough to open it.
“Please, she’s scared,” Erin told him, her voice strangely calm, given her
rapidly beating heart. I’m scared too, she thought. “I need to go back. I need
to make sure she’s safe. Then I’ll go with you, I swear it!”
Her plea was met with silence and Erin felt that deep, burning acid of
anger resurface, anger she’d felt for almost her entire life.
She let it sizzle and ache and claw at her as she listened to Crystal’s
echoing cries begin to drift farther and farther away.
“I will never forgive you for this,” she breathed softly.
Erin didn’t know if her words were meant for Jaxor’an or for herself.
His body tensed beneath her but then a growl tore from him, animalistic
and roughened. When unfamiliar voices reached them—male voices,
speaking in Luxirian—she froze again, her fingers curling unexpectedly into
the hardened expanse of muscle underneath her. There were more Luxirians
in the forest with them? Searching for them?
Or were they the original party Jaxor’an had set out to meet?
“Vrax,” Jaxor’an rasped and changed directions, heading south. Back
towards where they’d been waiting initially.
Another thought occurred to her. What if Jaxor’an was still planning to
trade her off? He no longer had possession of Crystal, but he still had Erin.
I can handle whatever comes, she thought, steeling herself. I’ve made it
this far.
The voices were closer and Erin struggled in Jaxor’an’s grip again. His
claws pricked the back of her thigh in warning and before she knew it, he
leapt high, reaching up to grip a sturdy branch from the nearest tree.
Somehow, someway, he managed to haul the both of them up the tree
with a single arm. His strength palpable, Jaxor’an made a small grunt as he
climbed up yet another set of branches, bringing them at least twenty feet off
the forest floor.
Once he was stabilized against the trunk, Jaxor’an slid Erin off his
shoulder, her tunic riding up in the process. But her bared ass was the least of
her worries as the Luxirian male positioned her so that her back was against
his front. His hand, impossibly large and covered in scars, closed over her
mouth, another warning.
In her ear, he rasped, his hot breath brushing the sensitive flesh, “If you
scream, it is them you will fear, female.”
Erin’s heart pounded faster in her chest and her eyes flickered down to
the dark forest floor, not that she could see anything.
But a moment later, she froze when she heard them. Males. Speaking in
Luxirian, though…it sounded different. She’d heard a lot of the Luxirian
language since arriving on the alien planet.
A different dialect? she wondered. Were they from one of the outposts
she’d heard so much about? But then why were they roaming around that
forest in the middle of the night?
Jaxor’an’s grip tightened on her mouth and she realized his other hand
was clasped around her hip, as if reminding her to keep quiet.
What if he’s lying? What if they are a search party? What if Jaxor’an is
the one I need to fear the most?
She reached her bound hands up to push his palm away from her mouth
and whispered, “Where’s Crystal?”
She turned her head to look at him. He was close enough that she could
smell him and feel the warmth radiating off his skin like a furnace. His eyes
were a bright blue, eerie in the low light.
Her stomach tightened, her breath quickening, but she ignored her body’s
response to him, just like she had since the first moment she saw him.
“Tell me where she is and I won’t scream,” Erin whispered through a
tight jaw. “I promise.”
The other Luxirian males were closing in on the clearing. Their voices
were clear now. The closest one was only a couple yards away from the base
of the tree.
Jaxor’an’s eyes flashed. The fur from his loincloth tickled the backs of
Erin’s legs as he moved ever so slightly.
“I do not take kindly to threats, female,” he growled in her ear.
With a quick inhale, she filled her lungs, about to scream.
His eyes widened ever so slightly as his jaw ticked. Was that panic in his
gaze?
In a moment, Jaxor’an pulled her flush against him, replacing his hand
over her mouth as his other arm wrapped around her midsection, just
underneath her breasts.
Something hard pressed against her lower back. She knew what it was.
She was just surprised she hadn’t seen it tenting his loincloth before now.
And then he bit her. On the side of her neck. Erin felt his teeth squeeze
against her unprotected flesh with just enough force that it would probably
leave a mark.
But what surprised her the most was her reaction to that bite. Erin felt her
nipples pebble under her tunic and desperate, frantic heat slid into her belly.
Which only made her furious.
She glared and bit his hand which once again covered her mouth. She
didn’t think she’d bit anyone in her entire life, but damn, did it feel good
when he stiffened. And still, she didn’t remove her teeth from the hardened
flesh of his palm. She only clamped down harder.
Unmistakably, she felt something twitch against her backside in response.
He likes it, she thought, realization crashing down on her, and she
immediately released her bite, stunned.
A group of males, at least five, were now walking past the trunk of the
tree. Wind rustled the branches.
Again, Erin made a show of filling her lungs with air, threatening to
scream. Jaxor’an rasped in her ear, “Vrax, female, he was the Prime Leader’s
Ambassador. He will take her back to the Golden City.”
Was that so hard, asshole? she wondered, but profound relief made the
built-up air huff from her nostrils. Crystal would be safe.
The males below were moving on. The last of their group was just on the
edge of the clearing, heading in the opposite direction of where they’d
initially been waiting.
Her neck felt hot where Jaxor’an had bitten her. After several moments of
quiet, she finally felt his grip loosen away from her mouth and he brought his
palm up to inspect the bite she’d given him.
Erin did the same, brushing her fingertips over the side of her neck. He
didn’t bite hard enough to leave teeth marks—which she knew she had left on
his hand—but it felt sensitive to the touch. It had been a warning.
She glared as she said, “Bite me again and I’ll bite you back.”
Erin had always prided herself on being in control of her emotions. She
had also prided herself on being calm, on keeping a level head even in the
most difficult of times. Like being abducted by aliens, for example.
 But looking at this alien male with bright blue eyes, her chest was in
turmoil. She felt like a smug, wild little beast as he inspected his palm. Her
emotions felt like they possessed raw, serrated edges as they dragged through
her mind and body, leaving fresh marks along the way as they passed.
His gaze leveled at her. He was handsome in a grim way. His mouth
seemed perpetually downturned into a scowl. His black horns curled proudly
from his head and his dark hair was loose and wild, trailing to his waist. He
was half-feral…half-wild.
She remembered seeing him for the first time that morning, in the Golden
City. As she and Crystal had bathed, he’d appeared in the washing room after
knocking out their two guards with unfathomable ease.
Erin remembered the jolt in her body when their eyes had connected for
the first time. She’d had the wild, stray thought that he was a puppeteer
because that was what it felt like. It felt like he’d tugged on an imaginary
thread that ran between them, that had always existed, that she hadn’t
discovered until just that moment.
And he’d seemed equally stunned, unable to pull his gaze from her.
“I warn you now, female,” Jaxor’an said, his voice edging closer to a purr
than a growl. It made her belly flutter anew and she hated it. “I am not like
the Luxirian males you have encountered so far.”
Erin bristled at his thinly veiled threat. She’d always heard that Luxirian
males would never hurt their females in any way, that they would rather die.
She saw the way her friends’ Luxirian mates treated them and knew it to be
undeniably true.
No, he wasn’t like any Luxirian male she’d encountered before, that
much was certain. He didn’t dress like them, he didn’t act like them, he didn’t
speak like them. Except for the piercings through his nipples that told her
he’d completed Luxirian warrior training, he was a complete and utter
mystery.
What frightened her the most, however, was that he seemed completely
aware but also…unpredictable, like a feral animal. There was a quiet
wildness about him that put her on edge.
“If you act out against me again,” he continued, those bright, electric eyes
glinting, “I will punish you. And next time, I will bite even harder.”
 CHAPTER TWO

O nce he was certain the Mevirax were far enough away, Jaxor hauled
the human female over his shoulder once more, ignoring her muted
sound of protest, and maneuvered her back down to the forest floor.
Once there, he gashed the trunk of the tree with a fast swipe of his claws
for no other reason than that it made him feel slightly more in control. He
didn’t even know why, but immediately, that turbulent beast rising within
him quieted and stilled.
The female froze when she witnessed his small outburst, but Jaxor didn’t
give her a chance to say anything before he was running again. His sandcraft
wasn’t far and he needed to reach it before the Mevirax gave up searching
and circled back.
Jaxor could smell her even as he raced through the forest. Her scent clung
to his skin and his nostrils flared, inhaling deep, almost groaning with the
rightness of it. Then anger consumed him again—at her, at himself, at the
blasted Fates for tying the two of them together, thereby ruining his ultimate
plan.
Vrax, he thought, only to realize he’d grated it sharply out loud when he
felt the female tense against him.
He almost laughed. Madness of Mevirax? Perhaps he’d become more like
them than he’d realized.
The human female was wary of him. Good, she should be.
Jaxor wasn’t completely convinced that he wouldn’t give her up to the
Mevirax, after all. His mind was muddled. Perhaps a full night of sleep and
time would help him think straight and give him the guidance he needed.
And when was the last time you slept for a full night? his mind taunted.
 All he wanted was to look at her for hours…and all he wanted was to
pretend that he’d never seen her in the first place.
“You’re hurting me,” came her voice. It was soft yet strong. Jaxor had the
distinct impression that she was trying to convey her anger and displeasure
with him, but her voice was too lyrical for it to achieve its desired effect.
He growled when he realized he’d been gripping her thigh too hard,
pricking her with his sharpened claws, and loosened his grip.
“Just let me down,” she urged. “I won’t run. Where am I going to go?”
He wouldn’t believe anything she said. When was the last time someone
had told him a truth?
Well, the Mevirax, perhaps. For all their faults, at least they weren’t liars.
“We are almost there,” he grated out instead. It hurt to talk. He’d talked
more that span—in a strange, new language no less, a gift from the Mevirax
for his ‘mission’—than he had in the past rotation alone.
“And then where will we go?” she asked. “What do you plan to do with
me, exactly?”
“Cease speaking,” he growled, reaching the limit of his patience.
His priority was getting the both of them out of the forest and then back
to his home. Discomfort and unease coiled in his belly, knowing that he’d
just betrayed the Mevirax’s trust and the agreement made between them.
Luckily, Jaxor had never told them the exact location of his base, but a few
among them knew that he’d settled close to the Pass of Kokillix.
Jaxor was confident his little sanctuary was hidden enough, but he would
take extra precautions in the coming lunar cycles.
No one had ever seen his home. And now he would bring a female to it.
My female, the strange beast inside him purred.
Jaxor shook his head and felt her arm brush against his straightened horn.
He almost closed his eyes at the sensation of it.
Nix.
The edge of the forest came into view and just beyond it was his
sandcraft. Glancing around in the darkness, he didn’t see any sign of the
Mevirax’s sandcrafts. They must have entered through the south.
Jaxor slid the female off his shoulder once he jumped onboard, but kept
her tucked against him, pressing her into the console just as he’d done on
their journey across the Black Desert. A primal, stubborn part of him needed
her to be close, enclosed, protected by him. He didn’t understand it. He didn’t
want to understand it.
 I should have given her over to the Mevirax, he thought. At least one
female would’ve been better than none. Perhaps they still would’ve given
him the opportunity to—
Enough.
What was done was done.
He started the sandcraft before a thought occurred to him—another
opportunity he might not be able to pass up.
With a huff, he turned the sandcraft around and raced south, towards
where the Mevirax may have entered the forest…but also where Cruxan
would’ve entered as well.
It was a risk. He didn’t have much time. The Mevirax could’ve already
begun to circle back and the possibility that they’d heard him start up his
sandcraft was high, the piece of utter shit that it was. The night was still and
quiet and the engine was loud.
A dark grin stole across his features when he finally spotted what he
sought. Cruxan’s hovercraft. In perfect condition, straight from the command
center itself. He would never have another opportunity to steal one like this
again.
If only mother and sire could see you now…how proud they would be, his
mind whispered, wiping the grin off his face entirely. With an anguished
growl, he hit his temple hard, as if it could help erase the stray thought. He hit
it again when the first time failed.
“Stop,” the female cried out, frowning, reaching up to grip his forearm.
“Why are you doing that to yourself?”
Jaxor snarled at her, pulling his arm away.
Halting his sandcraft next to Cruxan’s much-improved model, Jaxor
gathered the few belongings he had onboard and, with his temple throbbing,
grated down to the female, “Come.”
Her eyes went to the hovercraft. She was intelligent, he would give her
that.
“No,” she murmured. “Crystal needs that to get back.”
“I am leaving this here for Cruxan,” Jaxor told her. “They will still make
it back to the Golden City safely.”
His fingers dipped underneath the console when she eyed the hovercraft
warily and plucked the starter pod from its place. He crushed it in his palm
before he replaced it. He wouldn’t take the chance that Cruxan would pursue
him, especially if Vaxa’an had tasked it to him, but she didn’t need to know
that.
“It was not a request,” he informed her, taking her by the arm and pulling
her off more roughly than he intended. His stomach squeezed when she
stumbled in the sand, but the withering glare she threw at him helped ease his
concern.
“You’re a real asshole, you know that?” she seethed, pushing her hair out
of her eyes with her bound hands.
He figured it was an insult in her language, not to be taken literally, and
he bared his teeth at her in reply. He threw his travel sack into the back of
Cruxan’s hovercraft—Jaxor’s hovercraft now—and lifted her up by her small
waist, his grip lingering.
She shook him off, her displeasure evident, and she plopped down close
to the side of the hovercraft. Jaxor wanted her close to him but knew that
once they got into the air, there would be nowhere for her to go.
Something uncomfortable, something he didn’t recognize, tightened his
chest when he saw her looking down at her bound hands. He’d tied the knots
tight earlier that morning, so he knew they were irritating her delicate flesh.
Still, he didn’t release her.
Walking past her to the console, he started up the hovercraft with minimal
effort. It was new technology to him, but he’d tinkered with wreckage he’d
come across often enough to be able to navigate it easily.
In another moment, the quiet engine kicked up and they shot off from the
ground, hurtling above the forest, and into the quiet night sky. The wind
rushed loudly around his ears as adrenaline pulsed through him. He hadn’t
been this high off the ground since warrior training.
Jaxor shook his head and looked over his shoulder to distract himself. The
female was still there, curled close to his travel sack, her face turned from
him. Unease prowled in his chest as the newfound sensation inside him gave
warning. It warned him not to push her too much…or else he might lose her
forever.
With a huff, he turned. It couldn’t be helped. Not right then. Jaxor didn’t
know what he intended to do with the female…whether he would hand her
over to the Mevirax after all, or if he would take her back to the Golden City.
Or if he would keep her all to himself.
His claws dug into the brushed metal of the console, already marking his
newest possession.
Jaxor’s eyes returned to the female again.
 He wondered how much longer it would be before she, too, was marked
by him.
 CHAPTER THREE

W hen Erin woke, it was to stillness, warmth, and a lack of rushing

wind.

Jaxor’an, who was—

Her breath hitched and her eyes immediately flashed to

“What are you doing?” she asked in alarm, though her voice remained
steady.
A fur blanket had been draped over her in sleep and she struggled to push
it off with her still-bound hands.
Why had he covered her?
Jaxor’an’s eyes met hers as she pushed to a sitting position. He was on his
back, underneath the hovercraft console, pulling strands of metal and wires.
When Erin looked around, they were landed in yet another forest clearing,
but the trees were much larger and the air was much crisper. She shivered,
craning her neck to spy the tops of the trees…and couldn’t. They were
massive.
A pang went through her. She’d once taken Jake and Ellora to see the
giant sequoia and redwood trees in California. Ellora had declared she’d
never seen anything more beautiful.
“Why did we stop here?” she asked, unease threading in her belly. It was
dawn. Clear, filtered blue light cast the clearing in an almost ethereal glow.
All she got was a grunt and Erin had to call on every ounce of patience
she possessed.
He went back to pulling more wires out from the console, obviously
looking for something. It was then that Erin realized, lying in that position,
that Jaxor’an’s fur loincloth was…well, askew.
 Erin froze, catching sight of the side of his—
Holy mother of God, she thought in disbelief, eyes widening.
Then she forced herself to turn her head away, but the image of his cock
—all thickness and knobs and heat—was forever burned into her brain and
suddenly she needed to move around.
Erin scooted to the edge of the back of the hovercraft before jumping
down. Her feet met soft moss and it tickled between her toes.
A moment later, she heard his muttered, almost annoyed curse, and then
his arm was snaking around her waist.
“I have to use the bathroom,” she protested, pushing at his chest, her skin
feeling too tight with him that close. When she looked up, his bright blue
eyes were fixed on her in distrust. “I have to pee,” she amended.
His eyes only narrowed.
“Where am I going to go?” she asked, shaking her head. She raised her
bound hands. “I’m not stupid.”
Erin knew next to nothing about this planet. She didn’t know where they
were, how far away from the Golden City they were, which direction they
were heading. And while she didn’t trust Jaxor’an as far as she could throw
him, she realized that if she wanted to stay safe and alive…her best bet was
to stick close. At least until she could convince him to take her back.
Which she thought she might be able to do.
If what had happened between them was what Erin suspected it was—a
fated pairing—knowing what she’d learned from the other women, she might
be able to sway him.
Then again, he’d told her he wasn’t like the other Luxirian males. The
way he’d treated her already—the kidnapping, tying her up, threatening her,
biting her—told her as much. He was dangerous and, perhaps, a little mad.
But if Erin played nice, maybe she could appeal to him. Maybe she could
use the unwanted bond that had formed between them to her advantage.
It was her only option, after all.
“I’ll stay where you can see me,” she told him, their eyes connected. “I
promise.”
Erin shivered again but she didn’t think it had anything to do with the
cold dawn air. Her head felt like it was swimming the longer she looked at
him.
She felt his arm tighten around her waist and for a moment, Erin thought
he wouldn’t let her go. But then he released her.
 He hadn’t spoken a single word to her that morning, but he jerked his
chin towards the line of trees, as if daring her to run.
Erin realized he would watch. His wide arms crossed over his broad chest
—those strange blue markings that went from his wrists to his shoulders
flashing in the low light. Tattoos, she realized. She wondered what they said.
Steeling her spine, she walked to the nearest tree and scurried around it
for privacy. The trunk was wide enough to shield her entire body and she
quickly did her business, wrinkling her nose in distaste when she used moss
to wipe off. Belatedly, she hoped it wasn’t of the alien poison oak variety. As
she was standing, she almost lost her balance because of her bound hands.
When she reemerged, Jaxor’an had ventured closer, his horns
straightened, his shoulders bunched.
Erin wondered if he realized his muscles loosened at the sight of her—
relief?—but he masked whatever he felt with a scowl and another jerk of his
head back towards the hovercraft, telling her bathroom time was over.
“Any chance you’ll take this off now?” she asked him, holding up her
bound hands. Her wrists felt raw.
His eyes narrowed. Jeez, he was suspicious of everything that came out of
her mouth. She wondered what had happened to him to make him so wary, so
untrusting.
Finally, he said, “It stays.”
Erin’s shoulders sagged ever so slightly, frustration fueling that anger in
her belly. However, she kept her features even.
“Where are we going?” she asked instead.
“To my home.”
“Where’s that?”
His expression was stony and unreadable. He didn’t reply.
“Who were those males last night? The ones in the forest looking for
you.”
“I think they were looking for you, rixella,” he mocked, his lips twisting
in a cold smirk.
“Why are you so hateful?” she snapped back, already reaching the limits
of her patience with him. “What have I even done to you?”
He grew angry and took a step towards her, though she stood her ground.
“You have ruined everything! That is what you have done to me.”
Shock swarmed her at the malice she heard in his voice. With a muttered
curse, he turned from her, jumped back up onto the hovercraft, and stalked
over to the console.
Erin’s gaze darted to the edge of the forest, but she knew it was foolish.
She’d tried to escape him twice already when she’d been with Crystal—once
as they crossed the black sand desert, though admittedly that had been
desperate and ill-advised, and the second time when the Luxirian
Ambassador had appeared in the forest.
Both times, they shouldn’t have tried to escape. The Luxirian
Ambassador had probably been sent to find them. If Erin and Crystal hadn’t
run, they wouldn’t have been separated. Perhaps they both would’ve been on
their way back to the Golden City by now.
As if reading her mind, Jaxor’an growled, “Run and I will find you,
female. You will not like it when I do.”
Another one of his threats. The small bite mark on her neck throbbed a bit
as a reminder.
Erin had half a mind to test him. A part of her believed that he wouldn’t
truly harm her. The other part cautioned her to be wary.
Erin was trying to decide what to do when Jaxor’an finally wrenched
something out from underneath the console. It was small and square, no
bigger than the size of her palm.
He crunched it in his fist and then tossed it over the side of the hovercraft.
It landed in the moss on the other side of the clearing.
When she turned back to look at him, Erin had such a strange feeling. For
a moment, she felt crushing disappointment.
Erin could admit to herself that a small part of her had been envious of
the relationships her friends had found themselves in. Kate with Vaxa’an.
Beks with Lihvan. Cecelia with Rixavox. Taylor with Vikan. And now
Lainey with Kirov, more recently.
What they all had in common was that they were all fated pairings,
pushed and sewn together by the Luxirian deities, the Fates.
Erin didn’t completely understand it. She’d listened to each of her friends
describe their experiences with their mates, taking silent and diligent notes,
but a logical part of her mind always possessed doubts.
What she didn’t doubt was the feeling she’d had when she’d seen
Jaxor’an for the first time. Like lightning in her chest, jolting and
exhilarating. It had made her hands tremble. For a brief moment, she’d felt
relief.
Relief that, maybe, it was her turn to have a true partner in life, one that
would love her and protect her, as all of her friends’ mates did.
Her relief was short-lived, however. She’d soon realized that Jaxor’an
was not her knight in shining armor. Instead, he was a half-crazed, angry
brute in a loincloth.
So yeah, for a moment, Erin was disappointed.
Then she pushed that feeling aside with a decided shove and, with as
much dignity as she could muster with her hands tied together, she shuffled
back onto the hovercraft, trying to keep the hem of her dirty, ripped tunic
down.
Whatever Jaxor’an had thrown over the edge, she assumed it was a
tracker of some sort. She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of asking
and having him ignore her question. Nothing else made sense as to why he
would want to dispose of it so quickly.
Which meant no one would know where she was. Not anymore.
The grim severity of her situation made her shoulders sag. She truly was
at the mercy of her would-be mate and he didn’t seem to know whether he
wanted to stare at her all day or throttle her because she’d apparently ‘ruined
everything’ for him, whatever that meant.
For once in her life, Erin didn’t know what to do.

JAXOR WATCHED the subtle emotions play out on the female’s delicate
features.
His chest ached, his mind in turmoil again.
Wrong, wrong, wrong, the wild beast inside warned him. Yet, that wild
beast seemed more sane than he was.
Vrax, she was lovely and Jaxor didn’t think that word had ever tumbled
its way into his mind before now.
Through his glare, he studied her wide eyes. They were deep brown in
color, expressive and dizzying, but only if he looked too long. She was small,
too small next to him. His eyes flickered to her smooth skin, which didn’t
shift in the light like his. Her lips were reddened and looked impossibly soft.
Then he spied the bite mark he’d given her the previous night. It had
begun to bruise and the sight tore him in two. All at once, he felt a rush of
arousal further thickening his cock, a primal satisfaction at knowing she wore
his mark coursing through his body.
The sight also filled him with fury and disgust. Not at her. No respectable
Luxirian male would ever willingly mark a female in that way, much less
their own female. Not like he had.
When the female shifted back, Jaxor realized he’d taken a step towards
her.
He heard rather than saw her thick swallow.
She’s frightened of me, he thought, his claws digging into his palm.
He didn’t want that…and yet he did. He needed her to be afraid.
Why?
Because I still might betray her.
With a growl, he turned to the dismantled console of the hovercraft. It
would still run and he would reassemble the wiring panel once he returned to
his home. They were landed too near the Kroratax outpost for Jaxor to feel
comfortable.
They were a full day’s travel from his base and Jaxor was eager to reach
it quickly.
 CHAPTER FOUR

E xcept to give her a handful of dried meats and a skin of water,

Jaxor’an hadn’t so much as acknowledged her presence for the rest
of the day and evening. He stood at the console, his shoulders stiff,
legs spread shoulder-width apart, braced.
Erin studied him at her leisure that day from the safety of her spot at the
back of the hovercraft, the fur blanket he’d draped over her in her sleep
curled protectively around her shoulders. The blanket puzzled her most of all.
It was a kindness she wouldn’t have expected from someone like him.
Night had fallen. There were thick black clouds obscuring her view of the
darkened sky, but every now and then, she caught a glimmer of starlight
piercing through the covering. It was difficult to process that they were
hurtling at high speeds on nothing more than a hunk of metal, suspended
miles and miles above the ground. If Erin didn’t think about it too much, she
could handle it. She was afraid of heights, after all. She just refused to look
down, keeping her eyes on the dark sky above, or on the back of the Luxirian
that had threatened her, kept her captive, and was now taking her to God only
knew where.
Erin lurched when the hovercraft suddenly came to a halt. Except for the
gentle humming and pulsing of what she assumed was the engine, the world
was momentarily silent. With a steady gaze, she eyed Jaxor’an’s turned back
and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear as she questioned, “Why did we
stop?”
As predicted, he didn’t answer her, didn’t look at her. Like she didn’t
exist.
My new superpower? Invisibility, she thought wryly, wondering why
she’d even bothered to ask.
Pushing up to her knees, she braced herself as she dared to peek over the
edge of the hovercraft. Below was a wide mountain range. At least that was
what it looked like at first. Thick fog rolled between softened peaks, unlike
the jagged edges of the mountains she’d spied in the Golden City. Without
the light of the moon, however, she could discern nothing else. It was just a
darkened landscape below her, like a wide, gaping mouth, intent on
swallowing them both.
With an audible gulp, she pushed away from the edge…
And just then, Jaxor’an shifted something on the console—and they went
hurtling down towards the blackness. It was so fast and so unexpected that
Erin had an intense panicked feeling that she would fly right off the
hovercraft. Scrambling to grab onto something, she felt a scream lodge itself
in her throat. Her hand gripped onto Jaxor’an’s travel sack, the only thing she
found in her panic—
Then it was over.
Just as quickly as it had begun, Jaxor’an pulled the hovercraft to a halt,
lowering it down onto something solid before powering it down. Erin still
had the travel sack in a death grip. She was frozen, eyes squeezed shut. The
air had changed. It was cooler. Once she was certain they were landed on
solid ground, she warily opened her eyes.
Walls, she thought, not processing what she was seeing. Not yet. Her
hands were still shaking.
She heard him approach her. It was then that her anger snapped and she
pushed his shoulders when he crouched down in front of her. He seemed
surprised by her sudden movements, but he didn’t so much as rock back on
his heels.
She pushed again and hissed, “Don’t ever do that again!”
Erin was surprised by the severity of the emotions pulsing inside her.
She’d dealt with a lot of shit in her life—her mother, the twins, the courts—
and never had she felt this thing building inside her, growing with every
passing moment.
But one thing was clear. She was fucking tired of being a second thought,
of having others control her life, take away her choices until she had no
choice but to fight back.
To her mortification, tears sprang into her eyes and she closed them
immediately. Even the twins had never seen her cry and she didn’t want to
give Jaxor’an the satisfaction of knowing that he’d gotten to her.
She felt his clawed hand on her face, tilting it back, and she shook him
off, dislodging his strangely gentle grip.
“Stop,” she whispered when his hand returned.
Both hands now, cupping her face. She refused to look at him.
Suddenly, an echoing cry bounced off the walls, reverberating all around
them. Erin stilled, her wet eyes flying open, chills running down her arms.
“What...what was that?” she whispered, her voice ragged and scratchy.
More sounds came. Sounds of creatures, she realized. Alien creatures.
She hadn’t seen any sign of a single one that day, even in the dark forest. But
they weren’t in the forest anymore. Where were they?
Sounds of scratching and clamoring came next, growing closer and
closer. Little feet. Little clawed feet, it sounded like. Dozens of them. More
cries followed, loud and growling, funneling towards them. Their cries
sounded like a cross between a bird call and a gorilla roar, something
unfathomable and impossible.
Her body moved of its own accord, her hand wrapping around Jaxor’an’s
wide wrist, instinctively seeking protection from a male who’d made it clear
he wanted nothing to do with her. Jaxor’an murmured something under his
breath, standing immediately, dislodging her grip.
“Wait,” she pleaded when he moved away quickly. It was dark wherever
they were. When she looked up, she saw a twinkle of a star before it was
covered again by the thick fog. They were in a cave of some sort. A
mountain? There was an opening at the top where he’d navigated the
hovercraft down, only big enough to fit the width of it and not an inch more.
They were surrounded by cavernous mountain walls and there were alien
creatures down there with them.
Jaxor’an moved out of sight, jumping down from the hovercraft, his feet
making contact with stone. She heard him pad away, swallowed by darkness.
For a brief, dizzying moment, she wondered if he would leave her there.
Her heartbeat was thrumming loudly in her ears as the sounds of the
creatures drew closer and closer. Now, she realized they must be scurrying
down a tunnel in the mountain. One that led right to them. That accounted for
the way the sounds echoed.
Closer and closer—
A scraping sound came and then bright light burst in her vision, making
her eyes water as she quickly turned her face away. Blinking against the
sudden, blinding assault, she saw Jaxor’an standing a handful of yards away.
His hand—the one she’d bitten the night before—was wrapped around a
torch flickering brightly with orange flame. He lit two sconces made of metal,
which were embedded at shoulder height into both sides of a long, dark
tunnel before him.
Suddenly, those cries changed, turned into surprised hisses and screeches.
As her eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness, Erin saw a flash of slimy black
flesh in the illuminated tunnel. It was a creature with pure white eyes,
scrambling on six legs, scurrying back the way it’d come, back into the
darkness. It was the size of a dog, of a fully-grown retriever or a German
shepherd…large next to her own barely five-foot frame, but small next to
Jaxor’an’s.
She caught sight of at least five more creatures, shrinking away from the
light. The sounds echoing around the tunnel made her think there were many,
many more.
Erin’s heart felt like it was clogged in her throat. Her pity party from just
a few moments before was forgotten as fear pulsed through her body.
When the sounds retreated far enough away, Jaxor’an turned back to look
at her, half of his strong profile cast in darkness from the torch light.
“What…” Erin cleared her throat when it cracked. “What were those
things?”
There was a metal barrel underneath one of the sconces. Erin watched as
Jaxor’an took the cup dangling from its edge, scooped it into the barrel, and
dug out something that resembled wax, yellow in color and shimmering with
iridescent oil. He fed it to the flames in both sconces before he dropped the
waxy cup back into the barrel.
Then he turned to her, leaving the twin fires burning, though he snuffed
out the torch against the tunnel wall. Her tears were dried streaks on her face
and he pulled her—surprisingly gently—from the hovercraft, grabbing her
around the waist as he lowered her down onto the stone floor.
“Kekevir,” he replied. “The fires should always be lit after nightfall.”
That was all he said about the terrifying beasts. Erin didn’t take her eyes
away from the brightly lit tunnel entrance. When she looked deep enough
into the darkened places the light didn’t reach, she thought she saw the flash
of their white, eerie eyes. She shuddered and forced herself to look away.
“Where are we?” she asked next, keeping her voice at a whisper. As if,
were she to speak too loudly, those beasts would burst from the tunnel and
consume them both.
Jaxor’an was studying her. Those blue eyes glowed.
“My home.”
Erin inhaled sharply. “You live here? So close to those things?”
“Kekevir are a good resource to have, if you are not overrun with them.”
Resource? she thought, incredulous. He turned his head away and began
walking. “Come.”
What choice did she have?
She followed, clumsily navigating the rocky floor with her hands still
bound. Jaxor’an walked ahead of her and the back of her neck prickled,
thinking about those creatures in the tunnel behind her. She almost would
have preferred to be in front, if only to have Jaxor’an at her back as
protection.
There was a wide cave mouth in front of them, not another tunnel. It
wasn’t far from where he’d landed the hovercraft and there was a dull light
spilling in from whatever lay beyond it. His ‘home,’ she assumed.
But when they stepped from the cave mouth, she couldn’t see much of
anything, given the darkness. She heard rushing water somewhere to her left
and saw shadows of structures.
What she did notice, however, was that they were in some sort of wide
crater. The walls of the mountain encircled them and Erin could make out the
very tops of them if she craned her neck back far enough. Above, the night
sky reflected back, cast in clouds and shadows, but Erin felt a gentle breeze
brush her cheeks and she heard it whistle through the crater. They were
protected on all sides, except for the cave mouth and the darkened tunnel
with the kekevir that lay just beyond it.
But Erin didn’t feel safe. She didn’t feel protected.
She felt trapped. She felt tired and emotionally drained. All she wanted to
do was sleep. All she wanted was to see Jake and Ellora. All she wanted was
to feel normal again.
Staring at the broad back of Jaxor’an and thinking over everything that
had happened in the last couple days…Erin wondered if she would ever feel
‘normal’ again.
 CHAPTER FIVE

“I …I think we need to come to some sort of understanding.”

Her voice was quiet yet unyielding.
Jaxor stilled, his gaze flickering over his home base, looking
for stray kekevir. He had a shield in place over their tunnel entrance, invisible
to the eye, one repurposed from an old, unusable hovercraft he’d come across
a couple rotations ago. Sometimes, however, the power on it failed and a
brave kekevir slipped past. He’d been meaning to install a metal gate as a
failsafe, but had yet to get around to it.
Seeing none, sensing none, his shoulders relaxed ever so slightly, relief
coiling in his belly. He was safe. She was here. The Mevirax hadn’t caught
onto his trail. The kekevir were assuredly held back for the night with the
help of the fire if the shield malfunctioned, as it often did.
In the walls of his home, he finally felt stable. As stable as he could
possibly feel.
“I need sleep, rixella,” he growled. He hadn’t slept in…three—nix, four
spans.
“And I want these off,” she said. When he turned to her, she held her
bound hands for his inspection. Something tightened in his gut when he saw
red marks around her wrists. He’d tied the scraps of her tunic tight and they
were chaffing her delicate skin.
He ignored whatever displeasure he felt. He needed to sleep so he could
think clearly—about her, about the Mevirax, about what he would do next.
He needed to eat. He needed to plan. He needed…
He growled, turning from her.
“Nix, it stays.”
 Jaxor had only taken two steps from her when her voice stopped him
cold.
“I know what I am to you.”
His fists tightened at his sides, his claws pinching his skin. He’d
wondered how much she knew of Luxirians, about the beasts inside them,
about their mating customs. She was a species from a planet called Earth—in
the Fourth Quadrant, an almost unfathomable distance to him. But with the
help of Luxirian crystals, not an impossible distance. The Mevirax had seen
to that.
He wouldn’t have believed it was possible to be bound to a different
species had he not seen his own blood brother bound to his human mate.
Then the other Ambassadors found their human mates. Jaxor hadn’t seen
those humans for himself, but he’d heard the gossip when he’d last traveled
to an outpost.
The Fates always had a plan. The Fates had chosen human females to
help carry on the Luxirian line. In choosing the Prime Leader and the
Ambassadors beneath him, the Fates had crafted a certain future. They had
made it not only certain, but powerful. Luxirian history would forever be
changed.
Circumstance had changed. That much was clear. But why had the Fates
given Jaxor a human mate?
Jaxor turned to the female. The golden-haired female—Crystal, he
guessed—had called her Erin. He’d heard it numerous times after he’d taken
them both from the Golden City yesterday morning, but until now, he hadn’t
acknowledged her name.
Erin.
He thought rixella better suited her, especially since she was staring at
him with a relaxed expression, though searing fire burned in her gaze. When
she saw him watching, her chin rose, ever so slightly. Her lips parted. The
small hollow at the base of her throat bobbed when she swallowed.
Realization hit him. She was affected by this too. By him.
He ignored the way his pulse sped. He ignored the way his cock further
thickened with that knowledge. He ignored the dark, wicked need that flowed
beneath his skin, hot like his roaring blood.
Jaxor stepped towards her until he could touch her. He hoped she
understood it for what it was: a warning.
“What is it that you think you are to me?” he questioned. “Other than my
captive?”
She didn’t even blink. She simply said, “I’m your mate.”
“You seem certain,” he murmured, reaching out to thread his hand around
the back of her neck. Her breath hitched at the contact. He pulled her closer,
scenting her. If he listened closely enough, he swore he could hear her
heartbeat, thundering in her chest, in time with the pulse that flickered in her
neck.
“Aren’t you?” she asked, her voice quiet.
Jaxor stilled. He caught her eyes and though her voice was steady and
strong, it was there that he saw the uncertainty. The fatigue. The fear. She put
up a strong front, but inside, she was vulnerable. Soft. How easily he could
fix this. How easily he could get inside that mind and make her think
something different.
His hand flexed around the back of her neck.
“You are,” he confirmed, seeing no reason to deny the truth. It was
obvious.
She didn’t blink. “Even still, you were planning to give us to those males,
weren’t you? Why?”
Jaxor almost laughed. And he hadn’t laughed since…he couldn’t
remember.
Why?
It was strange to hear another voice in his home base. He’d lived there for
so long, alone. It was a foreign sensation—the nearness of another—one he
craved and one he hated.
“I need sleep,” he repeated, leading her to his main shelter. His base was
large and sprawling, but he slept in one of the caves that tunneled into the
crater. It wasn’t large, but he’d lined it with furs to help with the cold and
he’d blocked off the opening with a door that bolted shut.
He opened that door now, snagging one of the lanterns he kept just
outside and lighting it. He ventured in, holding the lantern with one hand and
holding the back of Erin’s neck with the other. The cave was tall enough that
Jaxor could stand without crouching and wide enough that it doubled as his
sleeping space and his emergency storage—water gourds, dried meats, cold
season clothing—complete with a handful of weapons.
He set the lantern down within, illuminating the room, and bolted the
door behind them, ensuring it was secure. Paranoia from his time living with
the Mevirax still hadn’t left him in the last five rotations. It was probably for
the best.
Erin stiffened under his touch when she saw the furs rolled out on the
cave floor. He knew what she thought, but he didn’t bother to assuage her
fears. Any other male would’ve soothed her, especially if it concerned a fated
mate. He felt that impulse even now, deep within, to calm his female’s fears.
He released her, pushing her towards the furs. He felt the loss almost
immediately, the loss of contact with her. Pushing it from his mind, he
dropped down by the door, leaving the lantern lit. He made sure it had
enough fuel to burn through the night. There was nothing he hated more than
waking to darkness. Because then he would remember that place.
Erin was still standing, watching him as he unhooked his travel sack from
his shoulders and tossed it into an empty corner. The furs he’d lined the floor
with tickled his bare flesh as he stretched out on his back. The dim light cast
deep shadows on the cave walls. Her shadow did not move once.
“Sleep, female,” he murmured, deep, drugging drowsiness already
tugging on his eyelids.
A moment later, he slept.

JAXOR WOKE to a serrated blade at his throat.

Enemy near my mate, he thought immediately.
Acting on instinct, he grabbed the wrist attached to the blade handle, his
mind still in a deep fog. He heard a startled gasp. When he touched smooth
skin and registered delicate bones, he growled, his heart stopping, his grip
easing. His jerky motions caused the knife to press into his neck, a thin line
of blood no doubt appearing in its wake despite the thickness of Luxirian
skin.
His gaze flashed up to Erin, who was kneeling over him. Her bonds were
cut. Her eyes were wide, but her lips were set in a stern line.
“Are you out of your mind?” he rasped. “I could have killed you!”
Anger and frightened realization made his hands shake. His heart
thundered when he realized he could’ve broken her bones with a simple twist
of his fingers. He’d been about to! Vrax!
“I want to go back to the Golden City,” she informed him, her voice
slightly breathless. From fear? “You will take me back.”
 Jaxor’s gaze narrowed and he tilted his chin, baring his throat for her. “I
will not, so you may as well cut my throat now, rixella.”
“You don’t think I will?” she whispered, looking down at him. Jaxor took
note of their position now that his mind was waking up. How long had he
been asleep? Through the crack of the door, he saw it was still dark outside.
He still felt tired, his energy extinguished. He couldn’t have been asleep for
longer than an hour, he decided.
And his little mate had already gone snooping and found herself a
weapon in his stores. He’d been too tired to even consider that she would take
one, or wield it against him. An oversight he would not make again.
She was kneeling at his side, her knees dug into the furs. Close enough
that the tops of her bare thighs were pressing into his arm. Jaxor could easily
roll her over and loosen the blade from her grip, but he was curious to see
what she would do.
He didn’t answer her. To spur her on, he snaked his hand, the one lying
closest to her legs, up her left thigh. Her flesh was warm and soft, supple. He
gripped her hard, pulling her closer, ignoring her surprised gasp. His hand
was only inches from her cunt. Frustration tore at him. Tension ran from the
tips of his horns all the way to the hardened soles of his feet.
His sleeping quarters were quiet. The lantern flickered. Her eyes were
wide and soft and Jaxor thought, strangely, that he could look into them
forever.
“Why couldn’t you be like the others?” she whispered. Then her brow
furrowed, like she didn’t understand her own words.
His hand spasmed on her upper thigh, surprised, disturbed, cowed by the
question. Because he thought he knew exactly what she meant.
“You wish for me to be kind?” he murmured. “You wish I were a gentle
beast and completely besotted with you?” He pressed his neck further into the
blade, beginning to rise up from his supine position, forcing her to ease her
grip. “You are the one with a knife to my throat making demands, luxiva.”
Luxiva. Fated one.
He used it mockingly and he saw her flinch at the word. So, she knew
what it meant. She heard the way he twisted a sacred word into a joke. For a
moment, Jaxor felt guilty. Then he steeled his resolve.
His voice was rough as he growled, “Make the cut or take the blade away
from my fucking throat!”
It was better this way. If he didn’t give into the Fates’ decree, then it
would be easier to live without her. He could still make good on his deal with
the Mevirax. He could still secure the vaccine. He could still take his revenge.
She wanted to do it. He could see it in her eyes. Her hand shook, making
the knife tremble. He dared her with his gaze. Perhaps, he pleaded with her
too.
“It doesn’t matter,” she finally said quietly, lowering her eyes from him.
“I would have never chosen someone like you anyways.”
The words stung but Jaxor didn’t react to them. Who would she have
chosen, if given the choice? He couldn’t help but ponder that question as she
tossed the blade at his side and slipped from his grip.
A male more like my brother, he concluded, ignoring the ensuing jealousy
from the realization. Someone stable. Sane. Someone who didn’t get off on
arguing at knifepoint. Someone who could treat her well, who would protect
her at all costs.
“Don’t ever tie me up again,” she tossed over her shoulder. His gaze
strayed to the reddened marks around her now-bare wrists. Even he had the
decency to hate the sight, to feel the rumble of discomfort from his Instinct.
With a growl, he turned over, facing the door.
It would be easier if she hated him. That way, at least she wouldn’t be
disappointed.
 CHAPTER SIX

I ’m not like this, was Erin’s first coherent thought when she woke the
next morning. Last night returned to her and shame colored her cheeks
as she lay on top of thin furs, staring at the grey of the cave wall.
She’d actually threatened Jaxor’an with a knife. A knife. She’d drawn his
blood. He’d called her bluff.
Except, a part of her wondered if it had been a bluff. She’d felt this thing
rise inside her. More potent and consuming than normal anger. She wasn’t
even certain she could call it anger. It had been something deeper, fiercer. It
had frightened her. It had exhilarated her.
He had brought it out of her, coaxed it from her.
She lifted a trembling hand to scrub her eyes and chanced a peek behind
her, only to find Jaxor’an gone and daylight peeking through the slivered
crack underneath the heavy door. She pushed up from her position, her mouth
dry and her stomach cramping from hunger.
She wasn’t like this. She was…calm. She’d always prided herself on
being a calm person. Logical, reasonable. Controlled.
Perhaps, I’m more like my mother than I originally believed, she thought,
swallowing past the lump in her throat, fear rising in her breast.
Her eyes strayed to where she’d tossed the knife away last night only to
find it gone. Outside the door, she heard something clanging. For a brief
moment, Erin wondered if Jaxor’an had locked her inside, if this was to be
her prison now that her hands were no longer bound.
Rubbing her wrists, she rose from the furs, ignoring her surprisingly sore
muscles, and walked to the door. There was a bolt, not a lock, and when she
slid it open, the door unsealed and she pushed it without resistance.
 The light was blinding, though it was dull and grey. It took a moment for
her eyes to adjust and when they did, she stilled, looking at what could only
be described as a base around her.
It was situated within the crater. It was a concave shape, like a shallow
bowl, the edges sloping gently down towards the middle. And yet, mountains
towered all around her, circling the crater and beyond. It would’ve felt
claustrophobic had the crater been smaller, but it was wide and spacious and
surprisingly organized.
Erin was tempted to try to look at everything all at once, but it would’ve
overwhelmed her. So, she deliberately slowed her flickering gaze and took it
in small doses. First, she checked the tunnel they’d come down last night, the
tunnel that led to those frightening creatures. It lay to the right, dark and
small, and just looking at it made shivers run down her back, remembering
the creatures’ calls and shrieking cries.
Next, she looked for Jaxor’an. She spied him to the left, next to a thin
waterfall that floated down into a shallow pond. She looked at the water
longingly, desperately wanting a bath, before she returned her gaze to the
male.
Her heart thudded in her chest at the sight of him but she ignored her
body’s reaction to him. He was watching her as he filled a metal bucket with
the falling water, his chest and hair getting soaked from the spray. Again, she
remembered how recklessly she’d behaved the night before.
The waterfall was towards the west of the crater base, a fair distance that
would probably take her a few minutes to reach. Once she was able to tear
her eyes away from Jaxor’an, they flitted over everything that lay between
them, cataloguing anything she thought she recognized.
There were crops growing to the north in rectangular planter boxes with
dark, rich soil that reminded her of coffee grounds. Indigo-colored vines
snaked up the north slope of the crater, almost reaching the mountain that
blended seamlessly into it. There were three different crops, she surmised,
based on color alone, but what did she know of Luxirian gardening?
Next to the crops, to the northwest, were a collection of chests and
stockpiles of what looked like weapons or, perhaps, metal parts.
Towards the center of the crater was a large fire pit—one similar to those
in the Golden City—and a metal spit with something roasting on it, the spit
turning on its own.
To the east, near the tunnel, was a tanning rack with some unlucky, beige-
colored creature’s hide stretched tight across it—though, admittedly, the fur
looked impossibly soft. Not far away, there were two more racks laden with
dangling bits of drying meat.
Erin couldn’t help but notice the plethora of lanterns and torches scattered
around. At night, there would be enough light to see every inch of the base.
There were also a variety of chests, though most were closed so she couldn’t
deduce their purpose.
There were a few large sections of the base where she’d drawn a blank.
Like the pulley system towards the tunnel entrance. Or the round metal slabs
that covered the ground every so often—she counted three in total.
Lastly, she craned her neck up to the sky, which she couldn’t see. A thick
fog bank hung over them, masking the tops of the mountains. She wondered
if they were up high or closer to ground level. She couldn’t be certain and it
was mildly disconcerting.
Jaxor’an was approaching her as she managed to navigate her way down
the short incline from the cave she’d slept in. There were small, smooth,
rounded stones placed like a staircase leading to and from the cave entrance.
Erin eyed Jaxor’an, stopping next to a metal barrel, though she didn’t know
what was inside it.
When he got close enough, she eyed the thin cut she’d made last night on
his neck and swallowed. She remembered how feral he’d gotten, how intense.
She remembered crouching over him, pressing the blade down, and the way
he’d gripped her thigh in warning, his fingers just a whisper away from her
sex.
In the light of day, Erin felt shame and confusion and longing. Because
she could admit to herself, silently, that a part of her had felt sparked last
night. She didn’t know how else to explain it. She was equally afraid and
intrigued by the blaze that he might create within her.
“I’m sorry for cutting you last night,” she said quietly, holding his eyes
though she wanted to shy away.
“Nix, you are not, female,” was his reply.
His words made disbelief rise in her chest and she almost sputtered as she
stared at him.
“I think you wish you’d cut me a little more,” he murmured, his fingers
coming up to trace the line at the base of his throat. He dropped them when
he saw her looking.
“I’m trying to apologize, Jaxor’an,” she countered, already feeling her
hackles rise. What was it about this alien male that made her want to scream?
He stilled at her words, his eyes suddenly sharp and cutting.
“Do not call me that,” he hissed. Until he spoke, she hadn’t even realized
she’d used his name for the first time.
Her cheeks burned and she said, “That is your name, isn’t it?”
“Jaxor only,” was all he bit out before he turned from her, heading north
towards his crops, the bucket of water still in his grasp. She didn’t know what
to make of that.
Erin followed after him. “Who are you?”
He tossed her an unreadable look. His black hair dripped water from the
falls as he walked and she stepped in a small puddle of it on the smooth rock
slabs beneath her feet.
His crops were in a raised bed and she watched as he carefully poured
water from the bucket over the nearest one, darkening the soil to a pitch
black.
“Jaxor,” he said finally, moments later, watching the soil bloom and
darken. “That is all you need to know.”
She didn’t know why dropping a single syllable off his name meant so
much—or why his temper rose when he heard it—but what did she know of
Luxirian culture? Next to nothing.
Erin sensed she wouldn’t get anywhere with him that day on the subject.
Nevertheless, she catalogued what she knew about him.
“Okay, I suppose I’ll have to fill in the gaps myself then,” she murmured
quietly.
“Gaps?”
She ticked off the things she knew about him on her fingers as she
recounted, “You knew that Ambassador from the Golden City. You knew the
secret passageway on the Ambassador terrace in the Golden City. Yet, you’ve
obviously been living here a long time.” Her eyes flickered to his chest. “And
you, um, have your nipples pierced, which means that you finished warrior
training.”
But he wasn’t like any of the warriors she’d met. Not their guards or her
friends’ mates. Jaxor’an—Jaxor—was different. He’d told her so himself. So
who was he? And why was he living all the way out here when it was
obvious to her that at one time, he’d been integrated into Luxirian society?
“Are you from an outpost?” she questioned, though it was mostly to
herself, knowing he wouldn’t answer.
 He growled, though the sound didn’t seem like a warning. It seemed more
like…interest.
“But if you live here, I’m assuming that at one point, you left that
outpost.” Another thought occurred to her and she swallowed. “Or you
were…kicked out.”
Jaxor grinned at her. She’d seen a similar one when he’d first hijacked the
other Ambassador’s hovercraft. It was a dark smile, devoid of joy. It was
almost mocking.
“I will save you time, female,” he rumbled, crouching so that they were
eye-level, and her breath hitched when she saw silver flecks in his blue eyes.
“It was the latter.”
He was exiled? she questioned.
“What…what were you kicked out for, exactly?”
“You talk too much,” he noted, that grin disappearing and annoyance
emerging once again.
Patience, she told herself, taking a deep breath. Jaxor was like…a feral
dog. Untamed, a little wild, but she had to believe that there was good in him.
She had to. Or else it didn’t mean good things for her.
Maybe he just needed time, patience, and a gentle touch. Erin worked
with children. She had patience and she was gentle. The only variable she
didn’t know was time. How much time did she have? And before what?
Gentle, she reminded herself. Then her face flamed because she
remembered last night. Her hands squeezed as if remembering the handle of
the knife.
Clearing her throat, she decided to change tactics.
“I’m hungry,” she murmured. His brow knit together. She chose her
words carefully. “Will you feed me?”
For a moment, she watched him. For someone that seemed cold and
detached, it was fascinating to watch the subtle emotions play across his
features. It seemed that, in his home, he forgot himself. He seemed more
relaxed here, despite the cold indifference that poured off him in waves.
His reaction told her what she needed to know…that somewhere deep
down, Jaxor was not all that different from the males she’d come across on
Luxiria. For reasons unknown, Erin had awakened his Instinct and there was
a deep-seated drive to care for her, whether he wanted to admit it or not.
The startled shame that crossed his face told her as much. Didn’t it? A
part of Erin relaxed, if only a little.
 Erin wished they had a ‘reset’ button. They needed to reset the past
couple days. But perhaps, building trust wasn’t out of the question. If he still
planned to give her away to those males in the forest, then she had to believe
that she could sway his decision, that she could change his mind.
It was her only hope. Until then, no more late-night knife-wielding
threats. No more bursts of anger and arguing. If she had to play the ‘mate’
card and try to sway the Instinct inside him, then she would. And she
wouldn’t feel guilty about the small manipulation. She refused to.
“Tev,” he murmured, his voice like gravel, rubbing his chest briefly as if
something felt wrong. “I will feed you, female.”
 CHAPTER SEVEN

“W ho were they?” she asked after a swallow of the dried

kekevir meat. Jaxor watched her delicate throat bob, desire
tightening in his gut.
Vrax, he hadn’t mated with a female in what seemed like rotations. The
last he remembered was with a female named Lakor during one of his visits
to the Mevirax. Before everything had changed. When had that been? Or had
it been during one of his visits to the outposts?
Though his brow was furrowed as he tried to remember, he never took his
gaze off the human female seated across the fire pit from him. Tomorrow, he
was planning to cull the kekevir. They would have fresh meat soon.
“Who were who?” he replied, stumbling over the words in her language,
though he knew perfectly well what she asked.
“You know who,” she challenged, though her voice was even and light.
He found that he liked her voice, though he thought she spoke too much. He
was unused to so much talking. Had Lakor, or any of the other Mevirax
females he’d bedded, spoken so much?
“Mevirax,” he said.
Rixella, he thought, almost angrily, as he found the word being pulled
from him, as if she truly was an enchantress or possessed some power over
him.
“Mevirax?” she repeated, nibbling on her bottom lip for a brief moment.
Her dull, white teeth flashed and Jaxor unconsciously leaned towards her,
fascinated. With a scowl, he forced himself to lean back, to look down at his
uneaten food and away from her.
He only lasted a few moments before his gaze sought her again.
 “Is that one of the outposts?” she asked.
Jaxor made a sound in the back of his throat. “Nix.” As if the answer was
pulled from him, again, he murmured, “They are a people. Far from here.”
Not that far, his mind amended. Now that Jaxor possessed Cruxan’s
hovercraft, he would be able to travel to the Caves of the Pevrallix in a little
over a full span. He only wished he’d been able to see Cruxan’s face when he
realized his hovercraft had been stolen.
“Are they a different race of Luxirians?” she asked, curious.
Jaxor didn’t know how to explain, or why he was even thinking of trying
to, especially when the beginnings of the Mevirax were so closely tied to his
blood line.
“More by choice,” he found himself saying.
She didn’t understand. He could see that written plainly on her face. And
Jaxor found that he didn’t want to speak of the Mevirax anymore.
“Were you going to give Crystal and I to them?” she asked next, meeting
his eyes. Her voice was calm, matter-of-fact, even.
“Enough questions for this span, rixella,” he growled, standing, deciding
he would eat on his patrol. He needed to ensure everything was in working
order after his week-long absence.
“I just want to understand,” she said, her gaze flickering away, down to
the fire. The air was cold and, for the first time, Jaxor noticed how closely
she sat to the flames. Shame and unease made him pause. His eyes slid over
her bare feet and legs. She wore nothing more than a tunic in the Kokillix
region that time of the rotation. She hadn’t complained once.
Jaxor was used to it. He embraced the cold, actually. But she was small
and her flesh was soft and vulnerable.
Swallowing, he went to his storage of spare furs. He had many, some
he’d been planning to trade in Kroratax on his next visit. He took out a heavy
black pelt from the chest. It was his finest one of libellex’a fur, one that he
could’ve bartered a lot for in Kroratax.
He stroked the soft pelt, clenching his jaw, and then brought it over to
Erin. He dropped it around her shoulders without a single word and she
almost dropped the rest of her dried meat in surprise, catching and holding
the furs swiftly.
Then Jaxor turned, striding towards the only exit off his home. Well, the
second exit now, he thought. The main tunnel that led to the kekevir nest was
one, now that he had a hovercraft, considering it only had a single opening at
the top. But before, when he’d only had a sandcraft at his disposal, he used
the exit accessed by a wide hole in the ground towards the east of his base.
With the help of a pulley system, he could lower himself down to ground
level and then navigate his way out of the mountain pass to the shores of the
Kokillix and the sand banks below.
“Where are you going, Jaxor?” she asked. Hearing his name on her lips
felt almost like a sin.
“To patrol,” he grunted, not turning to look at her, lest she pull more
answers from him than he was willing to give.
When he reached the pulley, he peered down into the opening, the dark,
cool, quiet entrance below. Wind whistled and rushed up towards him. Jaxor
gritted his teeth, hating the descent and the ascent in that tunnel, but it was
necessary. He wanted to conserve as much fuel as possible in the hovercraft
until he could source and create more.
He grabbed a long blade he kept sheathed near the entrance, attaching it
to the slot at his hip. He had another weapon at the bottom, along with a
storage chest with provisions just as a precaution, but he didn’t plan to be
gone for long.
Unable to help himself, he looked back at Erin, who had stood, clutching
the furs around her shoulders, watching him with a small frown, her brown
hair long and loose, hitting just above her breasts.
Longing and need and rightness burst in him, momentarily stealing his
breath. It was the same emotion he’d felt when he’d fought with Cruxan a
couple nights before, when he’d realized that he’d been fighting against the
other male to keep her, so that he wouldn’t take her from him, which the
Ambassador had threatened to do.
Mine, his Instinct bellowed inside him.
And yet, Jaxor still considered the idea of giving her to the Mevirax. So
that the Mevirax could trade her to…them.
He swallowed, fists tightening, growling the thought away and taking a
deep breath in through his nostrils. A different kind of longing consumed him
then. A longing that had been with him for ten rotations, buried deep in his
soul like a blackened lust. It was that that he had to fear because he wasn’t
certain what he would give up to feed it. Would he even give up her?
His voice was rough, almost violent, when he rasped, “The only other
way off this mountain is through that tunnel.” He jerked his head towards the
darkened space, the one they’d come down last night. “You can take your
chances if you wish. But kekevir are vicious things when they smell blood.”
I am sick in the head, he thought, watching her eyes widen as they
flickered to the entrance. For the first time, Jaxor felt sorry for the female the
Fates had chosen for him.
“You’re leaving me here?” she asked, her voice rising in what he thought
was worry. Or distress.
He didn’t answer her. He jumped into the hole, landing on the metal plate
a few feet down—something he’d scavenged from a wreck he’d come across
rotations ago. The pulley system had taken him almost three lunar cycles to
complete, but it had been worth it. Cables ran down the entire length of the
vertical tunnel, attached to the system embedded in the facev wall of his base.
He could easily descend and then ascend with little energy spent.
“Jaxor,” she said, regaining his attention. “Please.”
Please. She was begging him? But for what? To not leave her? Or to let
her go?
He could do neither.
And so he pulled on the metal cords, losing sight of her as he descended
into the darkness.
Monster, he thought. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
He ignored those thoughts too.
 CHAPTER EIGHT

E rin stood, frozen, watching the space that Jaxor had disappeared into.
She listened to the gentle creaking of the cables as he descended
until she could hear them no more.
Then her eyes flickered to the dark tunnel.
A part of her was in disbelief that he’d left her there. Alone. With those
things such a short distance away. A part of her was hurt that he had, which
was a ridiculous feeling in itself. Perhaps it was because she’d been jealous,
hearing about the way her friends’ mates—Kate, Beks, Cecelia, Taylor, and
newly Lainey—all doted on them, protected them, cherished them.
And there Jaxor was…threatening her, leaving her, glaring at her every
moment he could, like he couldn’t get away from her fast enough.
Erin allowed the self-pity for only a handful of moments, wondering what
it was about her that made others just not want to care.
First her father, then her mother…each leaving her in their own ways,
letting her fend for herself in many ways.
She’d sworn to herself that the twins, Jake and Ellora, her half-siblings,
would never know that feeling. Ever. She’d always fought for them, cared for
them. They were her true family, the true loves of her life. And if she ever
wanted to see them again, she had to get back to the Golden City. Away from
the cold, surly male she’d found herself unwillingly tied to.
A crazy plan formed in her mind, dangerous and reckless. But maybe it
was her only choice.
Swallowing, she realized the dried meat she’d eaten felt like a rock in her
belly now that she considered what she’d have to do. She didn’t know how
long Jaxor would be gone. To patrol, he’d said, whatever that meant.
 She pushed off the heavy furs he’d placed on her shoulders and then
padded over to the dark hole he’d descended into. At least now she knew
what the pulley system was for. When she peered inside, it was so dark that
she had to step away. She couldn’t see any light at the bottom and she no
longer heard the mechanical creaking of the ropes as Jaxor lowered himself,
though she saw the cables still moving. She didn’t know how far down it
went but hopefully, she would never have to find out.
Drawing in a deep breath, she knew that she couldn’t waste this
opportunity to be alone. She turned her gaze to the darkened tunnel where the
hovercraft was parked…where those creatures lived.
Fire, she thought quickly. Jaxor had said to always keep the fires lit to
keep them away and she swung her gaze around the empty base, searching
for something she could use. Her eyes landed on a torch, propped against the
crater wall nearest the tunnel entrance, and she snagged it quickly.
It was heavy and smooth in her hand. She brought it to the fire and dipped
in the end, watching it spark to life almost immediately. Slowly, she walked
back to the tunnel entrance, peering into the darkened depths, trying to
remember how far back it went from the night before.
Erin’s heart was thudding an erratic rhythm in her chest, but she had to be
quick. She didn’t want Jaxor to discover her gone or else he might never
leave her alone again. And she needed him to leave her alone to do what she
needed to do.
She thought of the twins and that was all it took for her feet to start
moving down the tunnel entrance. The firelight illuminated every deep, dark
crevice. Her breath hitched when she heard a slight hissing sound, only to
realize a moment later it came from the torch in her white-knuckled grip.
Relax, she told herself. As long as the fires are lit.
The tunnel curved slightly and she pressed herself into the wall, peering
around the darkened corner. Relief burst in her when she spied the hovercraft.
It was parked just a handful of yards away. It looked like it had a spotlight on
it from the grey light filtering in from above—the single, vertical entrance
Jaxor had hurtled them into.
And next to it was the other tunnel. The one with the kekevir.
“Good,” she whispered, seeing that the sconces on the walls flanking it
were still roaring brightly, no creatures to be seen—or heard. Gingerly, she
stepped around the corner and propped her torch against the wall before
sliding up to the hovercraft. Without making a sound, she pulled herself up
onto the back end, her feet finding cool metal.
I can do this, can’t I? she questioned once she stood, once she walked to
the control panel and peered down at the very alien technology.
Could Erin, a second-grade teacher from Northern California with a
dizzying fear of heights and flying, learn to pilot an alien hovercraft and
navigate a planet she’d never truly seen back to the Golden City, all without
alerting Jaxor to her plans?
Thinking about it like that, her shoulders almost sagged in defeat before
she ever even tried. But as she studied a silver pad on the console, a perfect
square the size of a tablet screen and the color of brushed steel, she
remembered the way Jaxor had piloted the sandcraft. He’d dragged the pads
of three of his clawed fingertips over a very similar pad. When they’d veered,
it had been because he’d made an arcing motion on it.
Shortly after Jaxor had kidnapped Erin and Crystal from the Golden City,
they’d been skimming over the black sand desert in his sandcraft. They’d
attempted to escape—a reckless plan, admittedly—by jumping off the back
after lobbing a heavy sack at him. Jaxor had retrieved them laughably easily,
but as punishment he’d made her stand in front of him at the console, her
back to his front, surprisingly close given his obvious disdain for her now.
She’d watched his hands as he’d navigated the sandcraft because there’d
been nothing better to do. But the question was whether the hovercraft would
work in a similar way. It was like comparing driving a car to flying a plane,
wasn’t it?
She blew out a small breath, her eyes flickering to the kekevir tunnel,
making sure the sconces were still lit.
It was a risk she would have to take, wasn’t it? And while she wasn’t
going to be piloting out of there that day, she could at least memorize the
controls—the pad, the layout of the console, maybe even take the chance to
see how to start it up before Jaxor returned.
She had to do something. She couldn’t just wait around, twiddling her
thumbs.
Erin only wished that she’d paid more attention when Jaxor had piloted
the hovercraft yesterday.
There were no buttons on the console, only clear blocks of a material that
felt tacky to the touch when she skimmed her fingers over them. When she
dared to press one of them with more force, the block grew warm to the touch
and she suppressed a surprised cry when beams of blue light suddenly shone
in front of her, outlining—she peered closer, frowning—terrain, it looked
like. A map?
It certainly resembled one, but unlike any map she’d ever seen before.
When she applied force to the clear block again, it disappeared.
Okay, the map button, she thought. Progress.
There were six clear blocks in total, three on each side of the silver pad.
One down, five to go. Her finger hovered over the next one, just to the right.
Inhaling a small breath, she pressed down before she lost her nerve…but
nothing happened.
Then she moved on to the next. Again, nothing happened.
Moving to the ones on the opposite side of the silver pad, she pressed one
—and then yelped when a rush of something coming from the front of the
hovercraft whooshed her hair back. Her alarmed cry echoed around the tunnel
and she held her breath, not daring to move, listening.
Her shoulders relaxed, though her heart still stuttered in her chest. A faint
humming sound met her ears and she noticed that the air seemed to shimmer
towards the front of the hovercraft. Lips parting, she lifted her hand to touch
whatever it was and her fingers met slight resistance. It was the strangest
sensation. When she pushed her hand farther through the shimmering air, it
felt thick.
It’s some kind of shield, she realized excitedly, peering down at the block.
A blue glow emanated from it and—
A familiar hissing shriek came from deep within the tunnel to her left.
A shiver raced up her spine, her blood chilling with the sound. She had no
weapon, had nothing to defend herself with except for a torch.
Fool, fool, fool, she chided herself mentally, fumbling with the block,
pressing it with force. There was a slight hiss and the shimmering in the air
fell away, but Erin hardly noticed. She was already scrambling down from
the hovercraft and snagging her torch.
She didn’t spare the kekevir tunnel a second glance as she ran back
towards Jaxor’s base, her footsteps echoing as they slapped on the rocky
floor. A biting pain registered when she felt something cut into the bottom of
her left foot, but she bit her lip, ignoring it as she stumbled into the
brightened clearing. Cold air whipped across her cheeks, unshielded by the
rocky walls.
Her eyes alighted on the cave she’d slept in the night before, on the thick
door that could offer protection just in case one of those things managed to
slip past the protection of the fire sconces.
Hurriedly, she snuffed out the torch against the wall and propped it back
into place, hoping Jaxor wouldn’t notice she’d used it. There was still no sign
of him. Although, Erin had probably only left for five or ten minutes at most.
Racing towards the cave, scrambling up the makeshift staircase, she
opened the door, slipped inside, and then sealed it behind her. Only when it
was bolted did she relax, drawing in lungfuls of air. She stood there,
listening, but after a few minutes of hearing nothing, she finally turned and
sat at the back of the cave, her spine curving against the hardened, cool stone.
She felt a tingling pain and, remembering she’d cut her foot, she lifted it
and inspected the bottom.
Wincing, she saw the cut wasn’t too deep, though there was a smear of
blood across her sole.
“Shit,” she murmured, watching more well up. She hoped she hadn’t left
a blood trail leading from the entrance tunnel for Jaxor to find.
There was a chest next to her that she’d snooped through the night before
as Jaxor slept. Inside were supplies and rations…and weapons. Though,
rummaging through it now, she saw that those were gone. Jaxor must’ve
hidden them after the stunt she’d pulled last night.
There was, however, a skin of fresh water and strips of what she hoped
was clean cloth. Rinsing her foot with the water, Erin gingerly wrapped her
foot, knowing it was all she could do for it now.
She blew out a small breath, remembering the panel of the hovercraft
console in her mind.
Far right is the map. Third from the left is a shield, she recited,
swallowing.
Then, since there was nothing else to do, she waited for Jaxor to return.
 CHAPTER NINE

W hen Jaxor returned to his base, something squeezed in his chest

as he realized that the female was nowhere to be seen.
“Vrax,” he rasped, hauling himself out of the tunneled pit
and throwing the sack of fire fuel onto the ground, some of the freshly dug-up
contents spilling out. “Erin!”
He’d been gone a couple hours, at least. The twin suns had already
descended and he was in a foul mood, considering all of his traps had been
empty and one of the shield links he used to hide his base from prying eyes
above needed replacing with parts he didn’t have.
Now, his female was nowhere to be seen and—
His eyes caught on something near the fire pit. A dribble of something
red. Blood? Her blood.
Panic and fear shot through him, his Instinct roaring inside him that his
mate was injured—hurt and gone. That sheer panic twisted in his chest,
making it difficult to breathe, and when he saw another patch of blood, he
damn near lost what little he possessed of his mind. His vision went dark, his
claws curling into his flesh, and he tracked the trail all the way to his sleeping
quarters.
“Erin!” he bellowed, tugging on the door. It was bolted from the inside,
but he easily tore the heavy metal away. He heard a gasp and his nostrils
flared when he scented her.
When his dilated pupils adjusted to the darkened space, relief made him
dizzy as he saw Erin, blinking, dazed. She’d been sleeping, he realized, his
heart pounding in his chest, his breath ragged, the door still hanging from his
grip.
 He scanned the cave. He saw nothing, no threat. A weird sense of
disbelief went through him. A part of him had believed that he could dull his
Instinct when it came to her. That he could fight the Fates’ pull, that he could
fight her when the time came.
Dread pooled in his belly next, even as he dropped the door and
approached her, still scenting the faint trace of metallic blood in his nostrils.
“Jaxor?” she questioned, her eyes going from the door, which he would
now have to fix before nightfall, to him. “What in the world—”
She was laying underneath the furs, though she’d pushed up onto her
elbow in alarm the moment he’d charged inside.
“Hey!” she cried in surprise when his hands delved underneath the furs,
ripping them away from her body. “What are you doing?”
He lifted her tunic until she snatched it down, fighting him. He ignored
her, pressing his hands to her, inspecting her. Where had the blood come
from? Was she hurt? He flipped her over on her stomach, the tunic riding up
until it displayed the bottom curve of her buttocks.
He growled, but ignored the way the sight of her bared flesh made him
feel. His gaze ran down her legs and then, peeking up from the furs that
bundled around her feet, he saw cloth wrapped around her left foot.
Jaxor moved closer and bent her leg up, bringing her impossibly small
foot closer. She was still struggling to turn over, making little sounds of
frustration, but he held her down with his other hand easily.
Unwrapping the bandage, he gritted his teeth when he saw a cut adorning
the sole. It wasn’t deep enough to need stitching, but there was still blood.
When he prodded the area around it gently, his female hissed and stilled on
the furs.
“There was blood,” came Jaxor’s voice, deep from his chest,
unrecognizable. Dark and changed. His own voice threaded with the beast’s
inside him.
He heard Erin swallow. “I cut my foot by the fire. I didn’t realize I’d left
a trail.”
Jaxor’s lips pressed together. His eyes flitted to the two chests he kept
inside his sleeping quarters. One that had contained weapons until that
morning when he’d removed them, the other with food and water rations and
supplies for wound care. Every now and then, a kekevir had made it past the
tunnel and into his base. Sometimes, it would catch him by surprise before he
managed to get a weapon. He kept the bandages and healing salve as a
precaution. Now that Erin was here, he would need to begin work on a gate to
ensure her safety.
Rising away from her briefly, he rummaged through one of the chests and
took out the last clean cloth—he’d have to boil more later—and a bottle of
healing salve he’d traded a fur for in Lopixa last rotation.
In his absence, Erin had rolled over, pressing her back to the wall of the
cave and watching him warily as he approached her. When her gaze went to
what he had in his hands, she said quietly, “I can do it.”
When she reached out a hand for the cloth and salve, he ignored it and
knelt before her. It took him a moment to realize he was growling. It was a
rumbling deep in his throat and he pressed the palm of his hand to his eyes in
an attempt to calm the beast inside him. As if Jaxor wasn’t mad enough as it
was, his Instinct felt like another being’s will had burrowed deep into his
mind, tearing at it, clashing with it, changing it.
He made a concerted effort to stop growling and only when it was silent
did he take his hand away. Erin, surprisingly, let him take her left foot in his
hand. He slid it onto his lap and her foot twitched when it brushed against the
furs of the pants he’d pulled on that day.
That small twitch made his brows furrow. He looked down at her foot and
for the first time marveled at the strangeness of it, how small it was, how
delicately the bones sloped and arched, how soft the sole was, obviously
without callouses to help with the hardness of walking on the rough facev
floor of his base.
Strangely, it was the first true realization that she was of a different
species. That he didn’t truly know a single thing about her race, except for
what he’d gathered from the Mevirax, who’d gathered it from the Jetutians,
who’d gathered it from the Krevorags.
Jaxor felt frozen as he looked down at her foot, nestled against his thigh.
When he looked up at her, she was watching him. She was neither frowning
nor smiling. Her lips were parted slightly, as if she’d come to a similar
realization…that this should never have happened. That the Fates should
have never given Jaxor something so precious, so valuable to protect and care
for.
He swallowed. The growling started again and Erin jolted, beginning to
pull her injured foot away.
Jaxor kept it in place, pushing those thoughts from his mind. He felt
unsettled. Something in him felt wrong. It had felt wrong since the moment
he’d seen her, when, for the better part of five rotations, he’d been so certain
in his destiny.
Almost methodically, as if it were his own wound, he washed it, brushed
a thick layer of healing salve over it—ignoring the way her first toe, the
largest of them all, twitched when he did—and wound the clean cloth over it,
securing it tightly.
When he was done, he rose, not quite meeting her eyes. Not sure if he
didn’t want to or simply couldn’t.
“Thank you,” she whispered, so quiet he barely heard it.
“Do not ever thank me,” he murmured just as quietly back, turning away
from her, replacing the supplies in the chest before closing it. He was met
with silence and in that silence, he felt himself grow angry. At her, at himself,
at the Fates, at the Mevirax, and beyond all, at the Jetutians.
Always so fucking angry, he thought. But he needed that anger, he needed
to hold onto it or else everything he’d worked for would be for nothing. He’d
developed the trust of the Mevirax, which were a people that did not trust
easily, especially a direct descendant of Kirax’an. It had taken him twice as
long. And it had paid off. He’d made the agreement with Tavar, the leader of
the Mevirax. It would be Jaxor that would deliver the females to the Jetutians.
After so long, not only could he finally avenge his mother, he could finally
help his people. He could help restore what had been ripped away from them.
Hope.
But this female, this rixella, threatened everything. Already, his trust with
Tavar was fractured. He hadn’t met with him that night in the forest. Jaxor
could only imagine what the leader was thinking.
Vrax, he cursed silently.
Jaxor knew what had to be done, but he didn’t know if he had the will or
the strength to do it. Even scenting her blood, even thinking she was injured,
sent him into a frightened panic.
He eyed the door lying halfway inside the cave. He needed to repair the
hinges before nightfall, which wasn’t that far away.
“Is there somewhere I can bathe?” came her voice. His abdomen
tightened.
“There are no hot springs here,” he returned, his voice still foreign to him.
“Only the falls.”
Then he left, stalking out to where he worked metal, plucking the bent
hinges off the ground on his way. As he stoked up a fire in his makeshift
furnace, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the female slink from the cave,
limping. She walked on her toes to keep from putting pressure on her wound.
Jaxor tried to ignore her, as best as he could, but every few seconds, he
found his gaze drawn helplessly back to her. In another moment, she reached
the falls. The water flowed down from the facev directly above the crater,
misting her dark hair as it landed in the pool beneath.
Early on, he’d dug out some of the facev floor to deepen and widen the
pool, and chiseled a larger drainage line through the crater so it wouldn’t
flood his base. During the hotter lunar cycles, he would swim there, cooling
off. For a brief moment, he imagined Erin doing the same. He imagined
swimming with her, touching her, seeing her smile. He imagined that his
touch wouldn’t make her stiffen and pull away, but that it would please her,
that she would want it. That she would want him.
In another life, perhaps, he reminded himself, regret mingling with loss.
Not in this one.
Erin turned her back to Jaxor and knelt near the edge of the pool, though
she was mindful not to get her bandaged wound wet. He watched, strangely
fascinated, as she cupped water in her palms, leaning over the side. Even
from a distance, he watched her shiver as she splashed it against her skin,
starting with her face, her hair falling forward, getting in her way.
Next, she splashed her arms, soaking her tunic. Despite himself, Jaxor
remembered the moment he’d first seen her. It had been after he’d broken
into the Golden City, accessing a forgotten and unused escape route leading
to the Ambassadors’ and Prime Leader’s terraces. After he’d dispatched the
two warrior guards at the domed house, he’d snuck inside, following a
strange, tantalizing scent he now knew was hers. He’d located the two
females in the bathing quarters, Erin and her friend, Crystal, Cruxan’s new
mate.
They’d both been nude, in the process of washing. When he’d first
appeared at the threshold of the room, Crystal had balked, immediately
ducking into the water in fright.
But Erin…
Even as Jaxor’s Instinct had roared to life at the sight of her, pulsing hot
in his blood, as disbelief and anger and desire and need mingled in his mind
and body, as foreign sensations and wants assaulted him, almost bringing him
to his knees…his fated mate had simply looked at him. Calm, even then.
Steady. She’d been completely naked, her hair wet, droplets of water tracing
down her body, but she hadn’t seemed afraid.
Her full breasts on display. Brown, small, pebbled nipples that his mouth
had watered for. A tapered waist that flared into wide hips his claws curled to
grip. Dark, sparse curls that concealed her sex from his gaze. Her eyes had
been wide but knowing. As if she realized too what was to come next.
That image, that first moment, was forever imprinted on his mind.
It took a moment for Jaxor to realize he’d turned to her completely,
watching as she washed herself, turning his back to the furnace, wasting
precious fuel. Her spine was curled, the bones poking through the back of her
thin tunic. He watched a shiver rack her body and he worried that the water
was too cold, especially with the chill in the air.
As if sensing his gaze on her, Erin’s head turned, pausing. Wet tendrils of
hair framed her face. Her spine straightened as her head craned towards him.
And again, she simply watched him from her kneeling place.
Steady. Calm. As if she knew he needed to watch her, as if she knew it
pleased the beast inside him. And she allowed it.
Balanced. The stray thought came to him. And suddenly, he knew why
the Fates had chosen her for him. Because she would be sane when the
madness overtook him. And when that temporary madness overtook her, like
last night when she pressed the blade to his throat and cut him, he could
challenge her.
He brought a shaking hand to run over his right horn and then he forced
himself to turn away, forced himself to refocus his scattered thoughts on the
furnace. What had he been doing?
Hinges, he remembered.
He wrapped his hand in a protective hide, took up his tongs, and thrust
one of the hinges into the flames, watching the metal brighten and loosen.
Jaxor’s gaze went back to her. She was still watching him, but when he
caught her looking, she jerked her head away, as if surprised, as if
embarrassed.
His jaw ticked. Relief filled him. Perhaps this obsession was not only his
own. Did she feel the depths of it too? Did humans feel the Instinct’s pull
too?
When he managed to refocus his attention on the furnace, he cursed and
realized his mistake. He’d left the metal too long. It sat in a melted, unusable
pool at the bottom. He’d have to start again.
As he looked up at the sky to gauge the time, Jaxor knew there would be
a storm soon. He felt it in the air. How violent it would be was unknown, but
he would open more drainage lines as a precaution. At the very least, he
could prop the door against the cave wall as protection from the storm if he
couldn’t finish the hinges in time.
The sky was darkening quickly. Nightfall approached rapidly during that
season.
Just then, he heard the kekevir begin to rouse. Small chirring sounds
echoed down the tunnels, spreading into the base. They knew night came too.
They could also sense the storm.
Jaxor looked at the furnace. The hinges could wait, he decided. But he’d
left the kekevir too long. They bred and grew rapidly and needed to be culled
on a regular basis, especially with the storm approaching. It would be a long
night otherwise.
 CHAPTER TEN

J axor had been gone a long time.

Erin sat in front of the fire, facing the main tunnel. He’d gone
down it without a word after picking up a long blade from where he
stored his weapons—a sword, really, though it’d been curved.
Her tunic and her hair had long dried. The fire Jaxor made that morning
still burned bright and it burned hot. Even the fires back in the Golden City
hadn’t been this hot and she wondered if it was because of the type of fuel he
used.
She rubbed her hands down her legs, a little uneasy. She wished that he
would stop doing that…going off on his own without an explanation.
Especially since the kekevir seemed to be going crazy. Every second, she
heard echoing hisses and shrieks.
Is he in there with them? she wondered, shuddering at the thought,
wondering what would have possessed him to do such a thing if he was.
The air felt sticky that night. Cold, yet sticky. Glancing above her, at the
brief sliver in the fog bank, she saw the sky had changed to a deep indigo.
Then the wind shifted and covered the gap. When she looked around the
base, the darkness combined with the intense firelight cast deep, menacing
shadows.
A part of her was tempted to hide in the little sleeping cave again, but
there was no door to protect her now and she didn’t want to get trapped if one
of those creatures managed to find her there. She’d even plucked a knife from
Jaxor’s weapon stores, though she knew he’d probably be angry once he
found out. Still, having it at her side made her feel slightly protected, even
though she hadn’t the faintest clue how to use it to protect herself.
 Another eerie cry emerged from the tunnel, though it sounded closer than
the others. Erin straightened, peering at the entrance, her heart picking up in
her chest. Her hand closed around the handle of the knife at her side.
Then she heard other sounds. Different ones. Scraping. Metal. Something
wet dragging across stone.
She saw his eyes glowing from the darkness before he fully came into
view. And when he did, she almost gasped. Streaks of dark blue blood
painted the tunic he wore. His pants were in a similar state. He even had
some on his cheeks and arms. Blood dripped off the sword dangling in one
hand at his side. In his other, dragging behind him, was one of them. The
kekevir. Or at least she thought it was. Then she realized Jaxor had already
butchered it. Were they eating it? Was this what he meant when he said the
kekevir were a good resource to have?
Erin stood hesitantly, favoring her right foot, eyeing the creature.
“Are you hurt, Jaxor?” she asked, furrowing her brow, inspecting him.
“Nix,” he grunted, depositing the kekevir close to the fire. Its shiny meat
gleamed in the firelight. His eyes were on her when she looked up at him.
There was something different in the way he looked at her and Erin’s arms
prickled with goosebumps, her pulse throbbing.
She swallowed thickly. It reminded her of…
The first time he’d looked at her. Possession. Want. Those things were in
his gaze.
The sight of him should make her afraid. Deeply afraid. He was covered
in blood. He had a dead creature at his feet. His lethal blade was covered in
blood and other things she didn’t want to identify. He looked unhinged.
Insane.
So why did her body respond to that look? Why did her breath quicken,
knowing that she had his attention so fully?
Erin licked her lips, remembering that Luxirians could scent when their
mates were aroused. She squeezed her thighs together and asked, though her
voice came out huskier than intended, “Are there more?”
“Nix,” he grunted. “We only need this one tonight. The rest I disposed of.
Off the facev, to keep predators away.”
How many had he killed? she wondered, looking at him.
Many, she decided, a moment later.
“Predators?” she repeated.
His brows lowered. “There are worse things than the kekevir, rixella.”
 She wondered what rixella meant and why he called her that.
Erin nodded and took a step around the fire towards him. Only when his
nostrils flared dramatically did she realize that she’d forgotten his heightened
senses and her inconvenient arousal. As small as it was, it was there. Some
primal part of her reacting to him, something that couldn’t be helped.
His eyes flooded with blackness, his pupils dilated dramatically. Erin
froze when his growl started and then he made a deep sound in his throat and
it was gone.
With a rough curse, he walked around the fire, past her, towards the
waterfall. Erin stood staring at the place he’d occupied, feeling her face flame
slightly before she pushed her embarrassment away.
It can’t be helped, she reminded herself again. Despite everything, Jaxor
was a physically attractive male. He was strong, obviously in his prime.
There were bound to be slip-ups on her end, every now and again. There was
no reason to be embarrassed about it.
She heard rustling. When she looked over her shoulder, her breath
hitched. Jaxor was tugging his blood-covered pants down his legs. He’d
already disposed of his tunic. The firelight was unobstructed in that part of
the base and she saw everything.
Briefly, she’d seen his cock before. In a loincloth, which he’d worn up
until that day, it was difficult not to have wardrobe malfunctions, after all.
But she’d never seen it in its full glory until now.
The tip of his cock bobbed against his abdomen as he straightened. The
thick shaft was curved and on the underside were hardened knobs running the
length of it. Thick and long and hard.
Sweet mother of…
Erin licked her dry lips and looked away, trying to calm her breathing. It
had obviously been way too long since she’d last had sex. Jaxor might be
attractive and he might have been blessed with a cock straight from the
Luxirian gods themselves, but his personality kind of sucked. He’d stolen her
and her friend away from the Golden City, had been intent on trading them
away to who knew who, for who knew what. She needed to remember that
the next time she lusted over him.
He couldn’t be trusted. He was dangerous. The fact that he was
apparently her mate only highlighted that, only served to remind her to tread
carefully.
Erin’s treacherous eyes rose, despite her thoughts, when she heard a
splash. The pool was deep, deep enough for him to dive into, and when he
resurfaced, his dark hair was inky and his blue eyes were on hers.
Magnets, she thought, her gut sinking. Their eyes were like magnets,
despite their obvious mistrust for one another. Erin’s shoulders sagged. She
wondered if it was like this for the others, for Kate, Beks, Cecelia, Taylor,
and Lainey. Especially Lainey. That girl didn’t go down without a fight. It
had taken a lot for Kirov to win her over.
Except Kirov wanted to win her over, Erin thought.
Jaxor?
He didn’t want ‘to win her over.’ He wasn’t courting her, or wooing her,
by any means. The idea was almost…laughable.
That was enough for Erin to break their gaze. She sat back down at her
place by the fire, ignoring Jaxor, and trying to ignore the kekevir a few yards
away.
After another few moments, she heard Jaxor pull himself from the pool,
heard him shuffle through a row of chests near his weapons. When he came
into her view once again, he went over to the kekevir.
He wore the loincloth again, leaving his chest and legs bare. Isn’t he
cold? she wondered, frowning. The wind was picking up. It was howling up
the shaft Jaxor had disappeared into earlier.
He brought the kekevir closer to the fire, kneeling surprisingly close to
her as he drove the spit through it with force, from one end to the other. Erin
pressed her lips together, but she knew that if she wanted meat that night, this
was how it was done.
Jaxor set the spit over the fire and turned the crank at the side briefly. He
had a mechanism set up so that it turned automatically and for the first time,
Erin wondered how he’d done that. He was intelligent, that much was clear.
He settled a short distance away from her. Luckily, her arousal was gone
so she didn’t have to worry he’d scent it. Still, even he seemed wary and Erin
didn’t know how she felt about that.
It was the first time she’d seen him rest all day. When she looked up and
saw a peek of black sky through the clouds, she knew he’d had a long day.
He’d been up long before her. Compared to him, Erin felt lazy. All she’d
managed to do was learn two buttons of the hovercraft and cut her foot.
Then again, what was she expected to do? She didn’t even know what she
was doing there and Jaxor refused to answer her whenever she asked what he
intended to do with her.
 It was not knowing that frustrated her most.
Magnets, she thought again, jolting a bit when she saw his gaze on her.
They regarded one another silently. His knees were bent, his arms locked
around them in an almost casual, relaxed position. Erin had been around her
Luxirian guards back in the Golden City long enough to not be surprised
when his skin took on a golden hue next to the fire. All Luxirians’ skin color
shifted with the light, an alien feature to her, certainly, but one she was used
to now.
Beautiful. It shimmered, reflecting back shadows and highlights. Erin
wondered if Jaxor thought her skin was strange since it didn’t shift with the
light.
“Have you ever seen humans before Crystal and me?” she asked softly,
curiosity winning over their silent little stare-down.
The question might’ve surprised him. He didn’t respond immediately,
long enough for Erin to think he wouldn’t, but finally he murmured, “Tev.”
“Where?” she asked, her lips turning down briefly.
“At the Lallarix,” he said, as if she knew what that meant.
“Is…is that in the Golden City?” she asked, confused.
“Nix. It is in the wild lands.”
Did he see one of the others with their mates? He must’ve.
Erin was about to speak again, but he added, “It was the Prime Leader’s
mate.”
“Kate?” Erin asked, cocking her head. “You saw Kate with Vaxa’an?”
Jaxor seemed to start at the name. He didn’t reply, but she figured it was a
yes regardless. There was only one Prime Leader on Luxiria, as far as Erin
knew.
“Do I…do I look very strange to you, then?” she asked, wanting to know,
curious again. “Since you’ve only seen one other human before?”
Jaxor exhaled a sharp breath. “Humans compared with Luxirians are not
so different. There are many species spread throughout the universe. Some
that look very different.”
A flash, a memory from the Pit, a place she would rather never
remember, returned to her. The darkness of the cages. Seemingly thousands
of beings, all congregated in one place. Hot, burning sand. The feel of hot
wind across her naked flesh as thousands of eyes were on the line of women.
Inhuman howls and grunts and roars. The fear, the uncertainty. The scent of
blood, of—
 Erin squeezed her eyes shut, locking those memories away.
“Yes,” she said quietly. “I know.”
There were many species at the Pit that day. Thanks to the Luxirians, they
were freed of that place. And until Jaxor, she’d been very close to returning
home, back to Earth. Back to California, back to Jake and Ellora, back to her
students, her old life.
Now what?
A drop of fat fell from the meat and sizzled in the fire. A shriek from the
tunnel came echoing down. The kekevir seemed more active that night and
she spared the darkness behind Jaxor a nervous glance.
“Are they…” she trailed off, not quite sure how to phrase her question.
“I will work on a gate in the morning,” was all he told her.
His response gave her pause and she tilted her head as she looked at him.
A gate?
“Why haven’t you built one before?” she questioned.
“Because I can handle a kekevir if it makes it into my base,” was what he
said in reply. His unspoken implication was that she could not.
Erin’s brows furrowed, not certain whether to feel thankful or insulted.
Even still, him building a gate…that was a big undertaking, wasn’t it? Did
that mean he expected to keep her around? That she would remain here? And
for how long? Did that mean he’d decided not to trade her off to the Mevirax?
She processed this quietly, trying to decipher what this meant.
Erin decided to change the subject. If she questioned him about it, he
would close off. He was finally speaking with her and she couldn’t waste the
opportunity.
“Where did you go today?” she asked instead, pulling the fur he’d draped
over her shoulders earlier closer as the wind howled louder. She didn’t know
how long he’d been gone, just that she’d slept and then awoken to him
tearing the door off the cave’s entrance. At least a few hours, she decided,
especially since it got dark not long after he returned.
Jaxor watched as she draped the fur over her body, huddling into its
warmth. She still wore the tunic she’d gone to sleep in the night before he’d
abducted them. Her legs were bare, the material was thin. If she was going to
be there for a little while—at least until she saw her crazy plan through to the
end—she would have to try to procure more suitable clothes. These were
beginning to smell.
“To check traps and get more fuel,” he replied, sliding his arms away
from his knees, planting his hands behind him and leaning back. The muscles
in his chest shifted with the almost lazy movement, but Erin darted her gaze
away.
“And now is when you finally rest for the day?” she asked, seeing a
heavy trail of blood leading from the tunnel entrance. She wondered if it
would seep into the stone of the crater floor. She’d found the droplets of her
own blood she’d left behind and had scrubbed at them with a spare rag she’d
found until they were clean. She didn’t need Jaxor inspecting them close
enough to see she didn’t cut her foot near the fire pit, but rather in the tunnel.
“For tonight. There is a storm coming. It will hit soon.”
Erin tipped her head back, exposing the column of her throat. The air felt
humid but cold, a strange combination. Was that how he could tell? There
was still a heavy cloud covering, no different than it’d been that morning.
“Where are we, exactly?” she questioned. She thought it was innocent
enough, until he exhaled a rough breath.
“Nix, rixella,” he rasped.
Erin returned her eyes to him, pressing her lips together. “I just meant are
we north? I heard it’s colder in the north on your planet.”
“Tev,” he finally said. “We are north of the Golden City.”
It told her nothing, just as he knew it would…which was why he told her
in the first place. Anywhere was north of the Golden City, it seemed, based
on the locations of the outposts she’d gleaned over time.
He was watching her, as if waiting for her to make a biting comment back
or rise to the argument. Perhaps he liked fighting. Maybe he got off on it.
Erin wouldn’t give him the satisfaction, though the need to make a retort
burned in her blood. Instead, she forced a small smile and said, almost
sweetly, “That was all I wanted to know.”
He mumbled something under his breath, in Luxirian, rubbing a hand
over his right horn. His horns were dark, lifted off the crown of his head, the
points curled. Erin suddenly had the strongest urge to touch them, to stroke
them, to feel them, but she squeezed her fists tight.
And since she truly couldn’t help herself, she found herself asking, “Are
you always this surly? Or is it just because you haven’t really slept much?”
“Maybe because my sleep was interrupted last night,” he bit back, his
voice edging on a growl though his eyes shone with the firelight when he
looked at her.
He definitely gets off on arguing, she thought, her breath hitching. She
paused. And maybe I do too. But only with him.
“It won’t happen again,” she said, remembering her shame that morning.
Her eyes narrowed, however, and she added quietly, “You took all the
weapons out of the cave, after all.”
Even as the words left her mouth, Erin wondered why she said them.
What was it about Jaxor that just made her want to test him?
Erin swore she saw his lips twitch. Ever so slightly. And her heart raced
at the sight. Something in her bloomed. Delight? Amusement? Whatever it
was, it was ridiculous to feel, especially in that place, with him sitting so
close, with a frightening creature roasting on a spit in front of her, and her
future so uncertain.
Regardless, her shoulders relaxed a fraction. His lips had twitched and so
an odd truce stemmed between them, though it was precarious at best. It
could break at any moment, especially given both of their mercurial tempers
around one another, but it was still a reprieve.
The sudden memory of him biting her neck rose, as if in reminder of who
she was dealing with. Her fingers floated up to the soft bruise, remembering
it was there for the first time in a couple days.
Jaxor made a sound in his throat. A purr? A growl? She couldn’t be
certain. Erin’s lips parted at that sound, at the tender pain that sizzled to her
belly when she pressed the bruise ever so slightly.
When she removed her hand, it was trembling. Jaxor’s eyes were glued to
her, that sound in his chest never letting up. He didn’t even seem to realize he
was making it.
She remembered the sharp prick of his teeth. The dull throb of shock. She
remembered her sex clenching in response.
A sudden dizziness made her head swirl.
I’m not like this, she thought. But even in her mind, her voice sounded
small and quiet, as if she already knew it was a lie.
Erin looked into the fire. And then she squeezed her thighs together so
Jaxor wouldn’t know how disturbingly aroused she was, thinking about that
bite.
I’m not like this, she thought again. The words sounded firmer, louder in
her mind.
But then another voice whispered back.
Yes, you are. And what’s more…you like it.
 CHAPTER ELEVEN

E rin was five when she first saw John hit her mother. She’d been
peeking through the doorway. Her mother had been pregnant with
Jake and Ellora at the time—they’d been due in another month. It
was the first time she’d actually seen it, but not the first time she’d been
aware of the abuse.
The thing was that children saw a lot, they just responded to it in different
ways. Even then, Erin knew it was wrong. She knew it was a terrible thing.
But after John left that day, off to work in a fancy office in San Francisco,
Erin had gone into her mother’s bedroom. Quietly, she’d crawled into bed
next to her. Her mother had been crying, but Erin hadn’t been. Even then,
she’d held her emotions tight and close, never letting them peek out. Even at
five. She’d known her mother needed her close and so she’d run her small
fingers through her long, black hair. Erin liked when her mother did that to
her, so she thought it would make her mother feel better.
For some reason, that was the first thing that Erin thought of the next
morning, when she woke in the cave. Running her fingers through her
mother’s hair after John had left a large, angry red mark across her temple.
Erin’s eyes watered and then a drop escaped, sliding across her own
temple as she stared at the stone of the cave’s ceiling.
Then she squeezed her eyes tight, wiped her face, and sat up.
It was cold in the cave and she pulled the furs around her shoulders. It
was cold because the door was gone and buckets of rain fell just outside the
entrance. The storm had come in the middle of the night, just as Jaxor said it
would.
The male himself was leaning against the mouth of the cave, looking out
towards his drenched base. During the night, he’d propped the door up to
help shield the entrance from rainfall, but it was morning now—a dark
morning—and he’d moved it out of the way again.
Erin bit her lip, rising slowly, a shiver prickling its way up her spine. The
muscles in Jaxor’s back contracted when she approached, as if his body
sensed her near. She didn’t look at him as she stepped beside him, inhaling a
long breath when she saw the state of his base.
Most of it was flooded, the water a foot or more deep. The waterfall to the
east was pouring down twice as much as it’d been yesterday—though now
the pool’s bank had all but disappeared—and when she looked up at the
mountain it came from, she saw the tips peaked in a cool blue. Frost? Snow?
She couldn’t be certain.
The rain was loud. It was a thunderous roar that she’d gotten used to in
the middle of the night. She’d never quite seen anything like it. It looked like
solid sheets of water as it poured. It had even drowned out the shrieks of the
kekevir, which seemed like an impossible feat. If she concentrated hard
enough, however, she could still hear them.
The cave was high enough off the ground that flooding inside wouldn’t
be a concern for quite some time, even if the downpour continued at the same
rate. The entrance was sloped downwards, so the rain sluiced right off the
stone.
“Will we be okay?” she asked quietly, surveying the base. A fur floated
near the fire pit. Just last night, they’d been sitting there, dry.
“It will take another three spans of this until it will become a problem,”
was what he replied, his voice surprisingly…gentle.
Erin tilted her head to look up at him. She appreciated his honesty. It also
told her that he’d experienced this type of storm before.
Those electric blue eyes were on her. They scanned her face, as if
searching for something. When he moved, his arm brushed her side and Erin
realized how close they were. The entrance to the cave wasn’t that spacious.
“What do we do?”
“Wait,” he said. “There are drainage lines. It will take time.”
“What about all your things?” she asked, nodding down below, into the
crater. Chests and weapons. His crops. The tanning station, the furnace.
“The stores beneath the ground are sealed tight. Everything else will keep
until the storm passes.”
He was being oddly calm about this. But it was obvious he’d been in this
situation before, perhaps many times. Maybe it was Erin who was more
concerned than necessary.
“Alright,” she said quietly.
“You are worried?” he asked next, his voice gruff but soft.
Was she?
Erin met his eyes and said slowly, “I trust that you’ll keep me safe.”
It was only after she said it that she knew she honestly believed that. At
least, in regard to the storm. Beyond that…Erin didn’t know.
His pupils darkened at her words. They flickered back and forth between
her eyes, as if he was trying to discern the truth. His full lips were pulled
down into a frown. His jaw tightened.
He really is handsome, Erin thought, almost sadly. His hair was a little
wild, knotted in places—she itched to give it a long-needed trim—but there
was a strong elegance to his features that she thought seemed familiar.
His gaze changed from suspicious to something else that threatened to
consume her. She exhaled a small puff of air as his eyes went to her lips. She
was getting dizzy again, the rain roaring in her ears alongside her heartbeat.
“Rixella,” he rasped, the word almost an accusation, whatever it meant.
This is madness, isn’t it? she wondered. She thought that if he reached out
to touch her right then, she might start trembling. The strangest part was that
she wanted him to…just to see what it felt like to let that madness consume
her. She wanted to feel wanted, needed.
He reached out and touched her cheek. Her lungs filled with crisp air,
with relief—
A familiar hissing sound echoed and Jaxor broke her gaze, his hand
falling away. His head snapped towards the entrance of the main tunnel.
Splashing came next and Erin gasped when she turned her head and saw a
kekevir.
On all six of its legs, it paced the edge of the entrance tunnel. The water
came up to the middle of its thighs and it squinted its four white eyes as it
shook its shiny black head. It was what she remembered, only it looked more
fearsome in daylight. Unnatural. It shrunk back from the dim morning light,
sticking close to the shadows of the blackened tunnel. It paced, making those
muted roars and hisses in its throat.
“Vrax,” Jaxor murmured. He was already jumping down to the crater’s
floor, weaponless, water splashing up around his ankles. “Stay in there,” he
ordered.
 “Jaxor,” she exclaimed, watching in alarm as he trudged his way towards
the beast. When the kekevir spotted him, its mouth pulled back in a low snarl
and it crouched in the shadows. Preparing to leap at him?
Erin’s heart pounded in her chest. The furs she’d been clutching fell
away. The rain picked up, a solid haze in her vision, and she struggled to
make out Jaxor as he approached the main tunnel.
Something flashed after Jaxor crouched. It was the knife she’d had last
night, when she’d been waiting by the fire pit for him to return. It was a small
relief that he’d managed to find a weapon in the flooded base, but the knife
was small. More of a paring knife for food than an actual weapon.
Jaxor approached the kekevir without hesitation, attempting to block its
way into the base.
But he didn’t get there fast enough.
Erin’s heart leapt in her throat when she heard the creature roar. In the
blink of an eye, the creature lunged from the shadows.
Jaxor dodged easily, though narrowly. The water around his ankles
slowed his movements, but the kekevir seemed unaffected. The beast pivoted,
its six legs proving to be an advantage, bouncing through the water with ease.
It lunged before Jaxor fully swung around to face it.
A cry escaped Erin’s lips when the kekevir slammed into Jaxor, attaching
the front of its clawed legs into the side of his chest and raking down.
“Jaxor!”
Through the heavy curtain of rain, she saw blood bloom across Jaxor’s
skin.
The kekevir’s head snapped to her after it detached from Jaxor. Erin
didn’t even have time to process those eerie white eyes until it was racing
towards her.
Erin gasped, stumbling back, going down hard when the furs she’d
dropped tangled around her feet. The kekevir was fast. It was already at the
fire pit. Another long leap and it would be at the base of the cave’s entrance
—
The creature shrieked and jerked back with the undeniable sound of
cracking bone. Erin heard it even over the roar of the storm.
Jaxor had lunged for the creature. He had a grip around one of its hind
legs, had broken it with his strength as he pulled it back from the cave, away
from her.
The kekevir hissed, lashing out at Jaxor with its claws, struggling as the
Luxirian male brought it down, pinning its front to the ground. It thrashed in
the flood, water spraying up in chaotic, frenzied arcs.
With a rough bellow, Jaxor jammed the knife into the back of the
kekevir’s head. It went deep. In a single moment, the creature slumped, quiet.
It had all happened so fast that Erin was still frozen on the floor of the
cave, her hand still stretched out towards the furs around her ankles.
There was a ringing sound in her ears as she stared down at Jaxor and the
dead kekevir. A swirl of dark blood moved in the water beneath the both of
them. She didn’t know whose blood it was.
That thought jolted her into motion and she tore the furs away from her
ankles quickly, climbing to her feet, ignoring the dull ache in her backside
from falling hard on her ass.
The moment she stepped from the protection of the cave, she was soaked
to the bone. The rain was that thick and heavy.
“Jaxor!” she called out, carefully navigating her way down the staircase
that led up to the cave’s entrance. Erin ignored the way her foot throbbed,
putting her full weight on it. She needed to reach him and fast. “Are you
okay?”
The Luxirian male was still hunched over the kekevir, his hand still on the
handle of the knife wedged into the creature’s skull. When he heard her, he
finally pushed to his feet. At first glance, Erin thought she’d been mistaken
that the kekevir had slashed him at all. His skin was clean. But she’d seen the
blood, hadn’t she?
Then she realized the rain was washing everything away. When she
jumped down to the base floor, she trudged through the heavy water until she
reached him. His hair was inky black, tendrils plastered to his features.
Erin’s eyes scanned the front of his bare chest, trying to swallow the
panic that was rising. Up close, she saw the two deep gashes, raking from the
middle of his left pectoral all the way down to his hip bone.
“Vrax,” he cursed.
“Jaxor,” she breathed, blinking away the rain in her eyes. It was deep.
Too deep. She watched dark blue blood push up between the gashes before it
disappeared into the rising water at their feet. “That needs stitches. I—I can
do that.”
Erin knew it was bad when Jaxor nodded his head without a single
argument. He jerked his head up to the cave’s entrance and Erin remembered
that he had medical supplies in one of the chests.
 He staggered forward, seemingly dizzy, and Erin, acting on instinct,
wrapped her arm around his hips, minding the deep wound. She wondered
how much blood he’d lost already…and how much it would take until he
passed out from the loss. If he’d been human, he would have already, surely.
Leaving the kekevir, Erin helped lead him up to the cave, though it wasn’t
easy. The stone was slick and she had a seven-foot-tall alien male leaning on
her.
Jaxor groaned when they made the final push up the last stone and then
they both stumbled inside.
He dropped on the furs towards the back of the cave—where Erin had
slept last night—leaning against the wall.
Out of the rain, Erin watched with dread and dismay as the blood began
to pool.
 CHAPTER TWELVE

O kay, that’s a lot of blood, Erin thought, pushing back the tangle of
wet hair that hung in front of her eyes. But she didn’t hesitate to
kneel before the chest, grabbing everything that looked useful. A
silvery, metallic thread. A hefty-looking needle. There were no more clean
cloths, though—she remembered that Jaxor had used the rest of it bandaging
her foot yesterday.
Quite the pair we are, she thought shakily, bringing her haul over to
where Jaxor was sitting. He looked relaxed. His limbs were loose, his eyes
were studying hers. Though he had to be in pain, he didn’t show it.
“You’ll be okay,” she said softly. She had to believe that.
Oh God, she thought, her eyes flickering down to the wound. Erin had
never considered herself squeamish. Jake, when he was five, had cut open the
palm of his hand on a sharp can lid. She’d stitched a cut on her mother’s
forehead after John had thrown a bottle at her, after her mother had begged
her not to take her to the hospital. One of the children in her class a couple
years back had broken his arm on the playground, falling off the monkey
bars, and though it had hung at a grotesque angle, Erin hadn’t even blinked as
she’d rushed towards him.
But nothing had truly prepared her for all the blood.
She inhaled a long, even breath, kept her voice steady, as she asked Jaxor,
“What should I do?”
The end of the silver thread was pinched between her thumb and her
index finger. The needle was in her other hand.
“I will do it,” was what he said.
Erin gaped at him and held the needle away from him when he reached
for it.
“Stop,” she said, pushing him gently back. He inhaled a sharp breath
when his torso twisted slightly, the only sign that he was in a lot of pain.
“Just…just sit still.”
There was so much blood, but it wouldn’t lessen until she stitched some
of the wound closed. So Erin immediately set out to work.
The first stitch made her stomach churn. Jaxor’s skin was…thick. Much
thicker than her own. Now she knew why the larger needle had been
necessary.
Erin leaned over him, kneeling at his side. He lifted his left arm up so she
could get better access and Erin refused to be distracted by the heady,
delicious musk that floated off him. She’d almost forgotten his scent in the
past couple days.
The second stitch was easier, and the one after that. Erin worked quickly
and methodically, starting at the bottom of one of the gashes and stitching
upwards until she ended near his nipple. At times, she lost her grip on the
needle since her fingers were slippery with his dark blue blood, but soon
enough, the first gash was closed and she hurriedly moved on to the next one.
Jaxor hadn’t said a word when Erin closed the first gash. When Erin
finally caught her breath and managed a peek up at him soon after she began
on the second, she saw, with relief, that he hadn’t passed out.
Those blue eyes glowed in the low light. The look he was giving her
flustered her, which wasn’t ideal given the current situation. There was no
malice in his gaze, only a gentle curiosity, a contented perusal.
“Doesn’t it hurt?” she whispered. She didn’t know why she bothered to
whisper, but speaking seemed too…jarring.
In the distance, she heard another kekevir’s roaring hiss, but it was faint,
mercifully far away. It was the first time that she realized if another one made
it past the protection of the fire sconces, Jaxor was in no condition to fight it
off. However, something told her that he still would.
“You wish that it hurts, do you not?” he replied.
Erin almost laughed. In the chaos of that morning, her hysteria had
transformed into a frantic kind of amusement. Maybe because she was so
desperate for him to be okay. Maybe it was because of her concern for him
that laughing would make everything seem…normal.
That thought made her pause. Nothing about this was normal. And why
was she so concerned for her alien captor? The same male that had kidnapped
her, that had dragged her all the way up here, that had been surly and cold at
almost every turn, that picked a fight at every opportunity?
Including this one, she thought.
Erin wondered if it was because of the bond between them. The other
women—the ones that had already gone through this whole fated mates
business—had called it an ‘undeniable connection.’ Was she concerned for
Jaxor’s well-being because of it? Because some primal, invisible part of
herself recognized him for what he was and cared for him, regardless of their
strange circumstance?
“You like fighting,” she pointed out, swallowing the thick lump in her
throat, piercing his skin with the needle and pulling it through.
When a still-soaked tendril of her hair escaped from behind her ear, it was
Jaxor who reached out and tucked it away, his clawed finger brushing the
sensitive flesh. Erin was so surprised that she looked up at him, the needle
frozen. Before the kekevir had made it into the base, he’d reached out to
touch her cheek, the movement gentle and…wonderful.
“Maybe you like fighting too,” he commented.
“I don’t,” she denied without missing a beat, her brow furrowed in
concentration.
“Maybe you think you don’t.”
Erin sighed, but inside, his words struck something in her.
“Why do you live all the way out here?” she asked, thinking he wouldn’t
answer. “So close to those things…”
His skin was still drenched in blood. She was halfway up the second gash.
“I already told you. Because I was exiled.”
Something in his voice seemed off to her. And when he’d ‘told her’
yesterday morning that he’d been exiled, she’d gotten the impression he’d
just been mocking her, playing into her assumptions about him.
“I don’t know if I believe that,” she said honestly.
Jaxor went quiet, as she knew he would.
“You know, you’re going to have to tell me more about yourself
eventually,” she noted softly.
He grunted, but she didn’t know if it was from the needle piercing into his
skin or because he disagreed. “Why is that?”
Erin chanced a glance back up at him, her hand stilling. But she didn’t
reply.
His nostrils flared and he shook his head. “Because you believe you can
tame me? Because you believe that, as my fated mate, you can make me do
anything you wish? Because you think we can be like the others?”
Her brow furrowed, her lips pulling into a frown. His voice was gentle,
but his words held bite.
The others? He knew about Kate, but did that mean he knew about Beks,
Cecelia, Taylor, and Lainey too?
“No,” she said softly, swallowing. For some reason, his words hurt. Even
though she knew none of those things were a possibility. She didn’t even
want those things with him. “I know better. I know you don’t want me. I
know you don’t want this.”
Jaxor blinked at her, slowly. He made that growling sound in his throat
again and Erin dropped her gaze, hunching her shoulders over him, so she
could finish up the last of the stitches.
But he cupped the back of her neck and made her look at him.
“We,” he rasped, “cannot have those things, rixella.”
“Who are you trying to convince?” she whispered back, looking him
straight in the eyes, glaring. “Me or you?”
His pupils widened, darkened.
“In case it’s not clear, Jaxor,” she said, keeping her voice steady even as
her heartbeat raced in her throat, “I don’t want this either. All I want is to go
back to my planet. My home. I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t ask for you. I
didn’t ask for any of this.”
“Female, you—”
“All I meant was that we don’t have to be at each other’s throats all the
time. We can talk and it doesn’t have to mean anything.”
Erin’s cheeks were burning when she was done. He’d embarrassed and
hurt her with his words. All she wanted to do was turn her face away and
pretend that he hadn’t.
Jaxor was looking at her with an expression she couldn’t decipher.
Inhaling a slow, even breath to try to combat her racing heart, she
softened her tone and said, “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to finish
stitching you up before you flood this whole cave with your blood.”
He held her gaze for a moment longer, his eyes darting back and forth
between her own. Back and forth. Back and forth.
Erin didn’t know what he was looking for. She told herself she didn’t
care. She told herself it didn’t matter that she had this strange connection with
him. He would always be cold to her. She would always be wary of him.
 Jaxor released the back of her neck and she immediately looked down at
the gash. She felt his gaze on the top of her head. She imagined he was
glaring at her.
A few moments later, he spoke, his voice quiet.
“I was raised in the Golden City. I was not exiled. I left willingly shortly
after I completed warrior training.”
Erin’s hand stilled for a fraction of a moment. She swallowed and then
made another stitch into his skin.
“It was after the Plague,” he added.
Erin didn’t look up at him. She had the odd sense that if she did, it would
make him cold again.
“What made you leave?” she asked softly, leaning closer to his side.
“Too many things. Things I have no wish to speak of now.”
Erin recognized his words for what they were: an apology. An olive
branch, even. It was probably the closest she’d ever come to an ‘I’m sorry’
from him.
“And you settled here,” she commented. “In the north.”
“Eventually,” he said.
“You lived somewhere else before here?”
He was hesitant now. “Tev.”
But he didn’t say where and Erin wouldn’t press him.
Baby steps, she thought.
“You must understand something, rixella,” he said, just as she reached
the last stitch. She made it quickly, relieved that the wound was finally
—mostly—closed, that the stitches were tight and clean.
Erin looked back up at Jaxor, despite her better judgment.
“I have lived here on my own for a long time. I have become accustomed
to the silence of it and to my own way of life. I have my routines because
they keep me sane. Most importantly, I do not trust anyone,” he said, those
blues eyes burrowing into her. Even you, was what he implied. “What I am
trying to say is that it has been a long time since I have simply talked for the
sake of talking. I am not certain I know how anymore.”
Whatever Erin thought he was going to say…well, it hadn’t been that. It
was a strangely vulnerable, somewhat heartbreaking confession.
Jaxor himself seemed surprised by the omission. He didn’t quite flush,
but he made a deep sound in the back of his throat and looked down at the
wound, at her handiwork.
 Changing the subject, he noted, “You did well, female.” Then he added,
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she said quietly, tucking an invisible strand behind
her ear, only to realize, belatedly, that her fingers were covered in blood and
it now smeared her cheek. “Um…can you stand? You should probably rinse
the blood off in the rain before I put that salve on it.”
Her eyes sought out the clear pot. He’d used it yesterday on her foot, so
she figured it couldn’t hurt.
Jaxor nodded and pushed off the cave wall, using it to keep himself
steady as he rose. Erin dropped the needle and thread on the ground and
followed him the short distance to the entrance. They both stepped out into
the downpour together.
Erin tipped her face back to the rain, refusing to look at the kekevir below.
Then she scrubbed at her hands, rinsing and rubbing off the last reminders of
his blood. It had even gotten underneath her fingernails.
When she glanced over at Jaxor, his chest was clean of blood, though she
knew it wouldn’t remain like that.
“Do you have any spare bandages?” she asked, raising her voice so he
could hear her over the rain. “There’s no more in the chest.”
He shook his head, leaning heavily against the rock wall. Erin worried
about the amount of blood he’d already lost from the attack.
“I have clean tunics, but not in the cave,” he replied.
“Where are they?” she asked, her eyes already surveying the base below.
He shook his head. “I will get them.”
“Jaxor, no,” she said. “I’ll get them. Where are they?”
He was already walking towards the edge, obviously intent on doing it
himself. Why? Because he was embarrassed he needed help?
Or because he’d always needed to do everything himself? she wondered,
the thought appearing suddenly. Perhaps he’d never had anyone that could
take care of him, at least not since he’d left the Golden City.
“Stop, just let me help you,” she ordered, her voice firm, catching him
around the wrist and tugging him to a stop. “I’ll be quick. Where are they?”
His expression was grim, his lips pulled down into a frown. Then his
shoulders sagged slightly, resigned, probably from the determination he heard
in her voice.
His chin jerked. He raised his clawed finger—the same one he’d used to
brush back her hair—towards the wall of chests near the crops. “The first
one.”
Erin nodded and moved down the stone. It didn’t take her long to reach
the base’s floor and, with a single glance at the main tunnel entrance, she
quickly strode to the chests, trudging through heavy water with effort. She
found the tunics, fresh and dry. She was tempted to bring the whole chest, but
it had to have been over fifty pounds of solid metal, not to mention the
weight of the material inside. Instead, she grabbed bundles, wrapping them,
hunching her body over them so they wouldn’t get soaked from the rain, and
then shoved them underneath her own tunic.
Then she turned and jogged back towards the cave, splashing water in her
wake. She probably looked ridiculous and the cut on her foot ached as she
went. In no time at all, she ascended the cave’s entrance and saw Jaxor there,
frowning, hovering on the very edge, as if worried for her.
He seemed relieved when she was next to him again but she hurried
inside, pulling the tunics from underneath her soaked shirt. The outer layer of
one was wet, but the ones underneath were, mercifully, completely dry.
Erin smiled, pleased, looking back at him. He ducked into the cave and
she motioned for him to sit, though she frowned when she saw all the blood
on the furs. She would have to wash them out in the rain later.
Now that some of the adrenaline from the kekevir attack was beginning to
wear off, she noticed how cold it was. Especially with her tunic soaked
through. There was a small area in the cave that she assumed Jaxor had used
for fires before. They would need one soon if they were going to be stuck in
the cave for most of the day.
Jaxor repositioned himself. Just as Erin suspected, the wound was still
bleeding through the stitches, but not nearly as much. She snatched up the pot
of salve off the ground, dipped her fingers in. But just when she reached out,
she froze, thinking it was probably best that he did it.
“Maybe you should…” she trailed off. “Unless you want me to.”
Jaxor studied her. She swore she saw a challenge in his gaze, one that
made her spine stiffen and her fingers twitch forward. But at the very last
moment, he grabbed the little pot and smeared the salve over his own
wounds.
When he was covered, Erin took in a deep breath and, after ripping one of
the tunics into one long strip, wound it around the middle of his bare chest
with his help, knotting it at the end.
“There,” she said, rocking back on her heels, surveying her work. Dark
blue blood was already dotting through, but hopefully it would begin to clot
soon with the pressure from the wrap. “Are you in pain?”
“Not more than expected,” was what he replied, almost wryly. Reaching
out behind her, he dragged over the nearest chest, metal scraping on the
stone. It was the chest that she knew contained food rations.
She watched as he fished out a dark bottle. The neck was slim and long.
The bottom was round.
When he saw her looking, he rasped, “Luxirian Brew. From Otala.” At
her blank look, he added, “The strongest of them all.”
Realization hit her when he uncorked the bottle and lifted the neck to his
lips. “You’re drinking at a time like this?”
After a healthy chug, he noted, “This seems like the perfect time to drink,
rixella.”
Erin paused, cocking her head to the side. Well, he had a point there. He
was in pain after the kekevir attack, they were rained in for the foreseeable
future, and neither one of them seemed to know how to act around the other,
despite a mutual attraction and a mutual dislike.
Maybe it was the perfect time to drink. Hell, she didn’t remember the last
time she’d had a drink.
Erin sighed, sitting down in front of him, shivering.
And when Jaxor held the bottle out to her, those blue eyes knowing, Erin
took it without hesitation.
“Cheers,” she murmured and then took a swig.
 CHAPTER THIRTEEN

H is human female was a happy drunk, Jaxor realized as he watched

her without hesitation. Erin was flat on her back, smiling up at the
ceiling of the cave, talking about something he didn’t understand.
Something called a ‘show’ on ‘tv.’ Apparently, she liked this ‘show’ a lot and
had been recounting an ‘episode’ in full detail for the better part of the last
hour.
“And then he goes, ‘Through concentration, I can raise and lower my
cholesterol at will.’ And Pam asks, ‘Why would you want to raise your
cholesterol?’” Erin was laughing now, full body-shaking laughs that filled
Jaxor with something warm and unfamiliar. “And he responds, ‘So I can
lower it.’”
She peeled off in another bout of laughter. Meanwhile, Jaxor had no idea
what ‘cholesterol’ even was but she obviously found it very amusing.
“God, I love Dwight so much,” she said, her words slightly slurred, her
eyes bright when she turned her head towards him, as if to ensure she still
had his attention. As if he could ever look away from her, though he had no
idea who this ‘Dwight’ was or what she was even speaking of.
Jaxor wondered about the tolerance of humans when it came to Luxirian
Brew. She’d had a couple sips, at most, but was the Luxirian equivalent of a
couple bottles deep.
He shifted against the stone wall, bringing his knee up. A sharp twinge in
his side made his jaw tick, but he’d had worse injuries. Much worse.
Luxirians healed fast regardless. He would snip the stitches in the morning
and, with the healing salve, the skin would be mended the day after that. Like
the attack never happened. The only evidence of it would be a faint scar.
 But damn that kekevir. He should have built a gate a long time ago. If
Erin had been down there and been caught unaware, she would be…
He growled, which made the female stop talking. She frowned and then
said, “No, no, don’t get all huffy on me again. You get all growly when you
get angry.”
“I am not angry,” he rasped, making an effort to stop. At you, he added
silently. He was angry at himself. At that reckless part of him that enjoyed
living so close to such dangerous things. Maybe he was tempting the Fates.
Maybe he hadn’t built a gate because secretly he wished the kekevir would
finally end him. Once and for all.
She turned over on her stomach until she faced him, propping her head up
in the palms of her hands. Her small feet waved in the air behind her and
Jaxor’s gaze caught on one of them, seeing the cut he’d bandaged the day
before. She’d taken the cloth off sometime that morning, probably since it got
soaked in the storm.
“You’re always angry,” she murmured softly, a small, almost
conspiratorial smile darting over her features. “Just like me. Maybe that’s
why your Fates clumped us together. Because we can be angry together.”
Jaxor blinked. He’d had enough of the Otalian Brew to relax his limbs
and dull the pain in his side, but not enough that he would let her strange
comment float from his mind.
“You are always angry, female?” he asked quietly. “Because you were
taken away from your planet? Because I stole you from the Golden City?”
She was shaking her head, waving her hand in the air flippantly before it
settled back underneath her chin. “No. No. I was angry a long time before
this.” A speculative look came next. “I don’t think I’ve ever admitted that
though. Before here, at least.”
Jaxor wondered if ‘here’ meant Luxiria, or if ‘here’ meant in that cave,
right at that moment, with him.
“Tell me why,” he commanded, his voice thick. Unconsciously, he leaned
forward, towards her, ever so slightly. His Instinct thrummed with the
knowledge that she was close, that he could reach out and touch her. Despite
the blood loss and the pain from earlier, his body still recognized Erin as his.
And he needed her. Desperately.
“What will you give me if I tell you?” she asked, giving him a small,
unabashed, buzzed smile he felt straight in his cock.
Jaxor could think of a few things…
 Erotic, dark thoughts swarmed his mind. He imagined biting her neck the
way he did in the forest. He imagined leaving an even bigger mark and
imagined that she would crave that. He imagined—
Jaxor’s claws bit into his thigh when he curled them and he rasped,
“What do you want?”
“Bargaining with me?” she asked, tilting her head to the side, her eyes
glued to his. This intrigued her, he realized, his heartbeat quickening. And
seeing her this way intrigued him. “I want you to tell me why you left the
Golden City.”
Jaxor’s lips pressed together. He brought the bottle to his lips and took
another healthy swallow. The fermented drink burned down his throat but he
welcomed it.
“I left because…” he started.
Jaxor had left for a variety of reasons. The Plague. His mother’s murder
by the Jetutians, followed shortly by his sire’s willing death to join her in the
blackworld. His older blood brother’s ascension to the throne as Prime
Leader.
Then came the anger. The grief. The knowledge that his sire had never
thought Jaxor capable of ruling, that he’d simply been the spare heir, if
anything had ever happened to Vaxa’an.
Because Vaxa’an had always been more. More than Jaxor could ever be.
He’d been born first. He’d been the better warrior. He’d been level-headed
and calm, where Jaxor had been impulsive and mischievous.
Then came the longing for revenge for his mother’s death. And Vaxa’an
had brushed aside this need, wanting instead to not pursue war with the
Jetutians, their oldest enemy. The enemy that had threatened their entire race,
that had caused the countless murders of their females and of the males that
loved them.
And his brother had chosen to do nothing.
Jaxor had been young then. He’d been impulsive and emotional. And like
always, though he’d suffered the same loss Jaxor had, Vaxa’an had been
logical. To invite a war with a shockingly powerful enemy—more powerful
than the Luxirians had given them credit for—when a large portion of their
race had been wiped out, when their planet still grieved and most were still in
shock, when the throne was changing hands…that war would not have ended
well.
Jaxor realized that now. But he’d been blinded in his youth, fresh from
warrior training, with bloodlust and sorrow as his only companions.
“I left because the Golden City seemed haunted after the Plague,” he
finally settled on. “By my mother, by my sire, by the countless we lost. The
terraces were quiet. Unbearably so. And I could not take it.”
He’d left to seek out the Mevirax. Jaxor’s nostrils flared and he took
another swig of the Otalian Brew.
Erin was studying him to the point that it made him shift. Jaxor wasn’t
used to being looked at. Not so closely. All his lifespan, his brother had been
the one to claim most of the attention. At every Lunar Celebration, at every
dinner, in the streets of the Golden City, even during mock battles in warrior
training, Vaxa’an was the future Prime Leader. Jaxor loved him, just like
every other being on Luxiria.
But later in life, Jaxor could never look his blood brother in the eye,
knowing that a part of him hated Vaxa’an. Knowing that a part of him wanted
everything he had, wanted everything he would have. Jaxor wished he could
be happy and proud to have such an accomplished brother, but all Jaxor could
feel was loathing mingled with his love and adoration.
He’d hated himself for it.
Erin was still looking at him, her eyes gleaming with knowing, as if she
could hear every last unspoken thought in Jaxor’s mind.
“I always liked being on my own, anyways,” he finished lamely,
unsettled by her scrutiny.
She didn’t comment on his answer, nor did she comment on his
blackened mood, though she was probably used to it. Instead, she held up her
end of the bargain, saying, “I am used to being angry because my father left
my mother and me when I was baby. Then my stepfather, the father of my
half-siblings, whom I love dearly, was an abusive cheat. And then my mother
fell into depression and became a little too dependent on certain drugs to keep
her going. Then came the neglect, not only of me, but of Jake and Ellora.”
His happy drunk of a female was becoming decidedly less happy the
longer she spoke.
“I am angry because I was forced to grow up too fast. I am angry because
I’m always expected to be good. Be the good person. Do the good thing. The
right thing.”
She was frowning now, her eyes misting with human tears. Tears that
Luxirians did not shed.
“And sometimes, I don’t want to be good. Sometimes I dream of doing all
the things that I know I shouldn’t. And then I feel terrible because what kind
of person wants to be bad?”
Erin reached for the bottle hanging from Jaxor’s hand, her movements
slow but jerky. For a moment, with dread coiling in his belly, he almost
pulled it away from her. But he let her take it and watched as she craned her
neck back and swallowed the drink, her eyes squeezing in an expression of
distaste when she settled it on the cave floor.
A long moment of silence passed between them. Jaxor thought over her
words, looking at her as she looked at him. He hadn’t expected her answer to
make him feel…well, angry. Angry that she’d had that life. Angry that he
couldn’t wipe away the look in her eyes or make the tears go away.
You are getting too deep, his mind whispered. Wade in too deep and you
might never want to come out.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered after another moment, her words lilting and
barely there. “I didn’t mean—”
“Now is the time to do something you want to do,” he told her, cutting off
her apology. “Do you honestly think that I care whether you are good or you
are bad?”
Her brow rose, interest entering her gaze. “What do you mean?”
“What do you want to do? That you shouldn’t?”
Her lips parted. Her tears were almost dry and that gladdened Jaxor.
Relieved him and quieted the prowling beast inside.
She stared, their eyes glued to each other. Tension rose between them, hot
and prickly. Jaxor’s belly clenched, he felt desire and lust grow and heat.
Her lips parted and he leaned forward unconsciously again, ignoring the
way the stitches in his side pulled. Erin was on the verge of saying
something, but then her breath whistled from her lips.
Cheeks warming, her chin lifted. Her eyes flicked to his hair. Her voice
was breathless, full of things that went unspoken between them just moments
ago, as she asked, “How about a haircut?”
Her question was so ridiculous and so out of place that he actually
laughed. Which seemed to shock them both.
Jaxor cleared his throat, slightly embarrassed. “Rebax?”
“I…I’ve only seen Luxirians with long hair,” she said. “Never short. I’ve
been wondering what you would look like with short hair.”
She had?
“And this is something bad that you think you should not do?” he asked
slowly, trying to understand her reasoning, cocking his head to the side. He
couldn’t help but recall her brief moment of hesitation, that heated look in her
hungry eyes.
She shrugged one shoulder. She was still lying on her stomach facing
him, her feet still swaying behind her. Back and forth. Back and forth.
Methodically. Like she was lulling him into a trance, the rixella that she was.
Because he would cut his hair for her.
“Of course,” she said, frowning. “When was the last time you asked
someone if you could cut their hair? It’s a terribly rude thing to ask,
especially of someone you hardly know.”
Confusion dropped his brows. He couldn’t tell by her tone if she was
teasing him or testing him. Or both.
“Tev,” he rasped.
“What?” she asked, cocking her head to the side, surprised.
“You may cut my hair, rixella.”
Long hair, especially among Luxirian warriors, was desirable. It was seen
as a sign of wisdom, which came with age, considering Luxirian hair grew
slowly compared to some species. And among unmated warriors, it was seen
as a sign of virility, based on the shine and the length. Jaxor had known a
Luxirian warrior who had claimed a mate without speaking to her once.
She’d accepted him just from his hair alone.
No unmated Luxirian warrior would ever willingly shear their hair. Only
those exiled, disgraced, or insane would.
Considering Jaxor was an odd combination of all three, perhaps he should
have cut his hair long ago. He hated it anyways. It tangled in his horns and
fell into his eyes at inopportune moments.
“I can?” she asked, pushing up from her spot on the floor, shuffling
towards him on her knees. She looked thrilled, shocked, excited at the
prospect. Jaxor wondered if short hair among human males was seen as more
desirable.
Jaxor couldn’t deny her now.
He inclined his head and said, “There is still a small knife in the other
chest. I shoved it inside the lump of fuel.”
Now, he was testing her. She would have a knife very near his throat. She
was drunk. She could get very brave, very reckless ideas in her head…and
not the kind he would welcome.
Erin was already crouching in front of the chest. She dug through its
contents, shuffling aside rations and water gourds, until she found the lump
of kibbisa that held the knife. The soft fuel crumbled in her hands and she
returned to him with the blade.
“Are you certain?” she asked, kneeling by his side, the side where she’d
stitched him up. She reached forward, swaying a little as she repositioned
herself, and picked up a handful of his hair.
Little pricks of pleasure tingled his spine. Her hands in his hair felt
sublime and Jaxor jerked his head once, in a nod. “Do it.”
Erin hesitated for just a moment. She whispered, “This is ridiculous, you
know. I can’t believe you’re letting me do this.”
“It is just hair, rixella. It does not matter,” he said. At least, it didn’t seem
to matter to him anymore. Not when her fingers were sliding through his hair
and she was so close that he could scent her.
“It’s just…” she trailed off. “Your hair is so pretty and I’m a little drunk
off that horrid stuff. What if I mess up?”
“Are you scared, rixella?” he asked, turning his head carefully to look at
her. She was eye-level with him, kneeling at his side, with him sitting down.
She was so close that he saw flecks of gold in her dark eyes and saw the way
her eyelashes fluttered at his words.
“No,” she said, frowning, that delicious anger rising in her eyes. “Now
I’m gonna give you a hack job because you said that.”
He gave her a dark grin. “Do it then.”
The challenge in his tone was unmistakable. Jaxor didn’t remember the
last time he’d had this much…fun. He wanted to laugh again at her ruffled
expression.
“Do something bad to me,” he rasped, his voice lowering. “I know you
want to.”
 CHAPTER FOURTEEN

E rin’s spine steeled in determination even as her heartbeat thudded

wildly in her chest. Her head swam pleasantly from the alcohol,
though her vision was beginning to blur and swirl.
Tomorrow, she would think that this was a terrible decision. To challenge
Jaxor to a drunken haircut just because she could. But right now, this seemed
like the best decision.
He was so close to her that they shared the same breath. She could feel
his heat. She could see the way his flesh wavered in the light, going from
shadowy blue to a darkened silver. The rain still roared outside, a chill
weaving around her, but she felt decidedly very warm at that moment. The
alcohol and Jaxor banished all the cold.
Gently, she brought the strand she was holding up higher, so he could see
out of the corner of his eye.
He stiffened when she flashed the blade, but then relaxed. Did he worry
she would try to cut him again?
But she only used the sharp knife to shear off the strands. The blade was
sharp and the cut was clean. She let his beautiful, dark hair fall to the floor of
the cave and Jaxor watched it fall, his eyes unreadable. Erin watched it too
before she met his gaze, looked at the little tuft at his temple that was now
only a couple inches long.
“Maybe I should leave you like this,” she teased, brushing her fingers
over the shorn hair. “It’s payback for you kidnapping me. Every time I look
at you, I can laugh. You would hate that, wouldn’t you?”
She laughed at the amusing picture he made, her blood rushing from the
alcohol, her head fuzzy and pleasant. She wanted him to laugh again. She
wanted to make him laugh. He had such a nice laugh.
But he didn’t. He simply watched her with narrowed eyes. He was a
proud male. He wouldn’t stand to be laughed at for long, but Erin was
pressing her luck.
“You are as mad as I am,” was what he said, but he didn’t say it unkindly.
It seemed almost…affectionate.
Erin sobered in a rush, licking her lips. Her eyes flitted over the cut hair.
She’d given Jake many haircuts since he was young. She was good at cutting
hair.
The space between them was beginning to feel different. Warmer. Closer.
Her fingers smoothed the little tuft down and his breath hitched at the
contact.
“We really can’t help ourselves, can we?” she whispered to him, awed,
frightened, curious about what rose up in her breast. Her gaze flickered to his
lips, want and desire blooming with it.
He growled again.
“Huffy male,” she whispered. She’d always thought ‘huffy’ was a funny
word and she only seemed to use it when she was drunk. She wanted to laugh
again, she wanted to tease him. But everything suddenly felt so serious.
To distract herself, she took another strand and she couldn’t help but run
her fingers through it. Another growl from him, though it was mingled with a
purr. He liked it. Erin almost mourned what she was about to do. She
wouldn’t be able to run her fingers through his hair like this again until it
grew back.
She wisely chose not to linger on that thought and sliced another section
of hair. It fluttered to the floor.
Then she cut another and another, all too aware that his eyes were on hers
until she forced him to look away so she could reach the back sections. It was
difficult to maneuver the blade around his horns. She worried that she’d
accidentally nick one, especially since her fingers felt swollen from the
alcohol. But she managed just fine and she couldn’t resist running her finger
over the smoothness of one. It felt like ivory, cool and silky.
A ragged groan tore from his throat and Erin snatched her hand away,
jolted into remembering that she was supposed to be cutting his hair, not
stroking his horns. Not meeting his eyes, she went around to his other side,
cutting the hair there too.
She worked in silence. She worked in rhythm with the rain, with the
heartbeat under his skin she swore she could hear—or maybe it was her own
—with how many times he caught her eyes when she least expected it. He
seemed to like looking at her. That knowledge filled her with something she
didn’t want to dwell on.
It was growing darker and darker in the cave, but she managed to make
his haircut clean. She shifted until she was kneeling close to his side, her
knees pressing into his outer thigh, leaning in front of him to even out the
front. Goosebumps blossomed over the skin of her arms when his hand
brushed her side. Her eyelids felt heavy. She swayed a little as she looked
down at him. There were little hairs sprinkled across the edge of his nose and
without thinking, she reached forward to brush them away, not realizing how
intimate it seemed until afterwards.
The knife drifted down until it was in his line of vision. His eyes flickered
to it, then flickered back to her. He hadn’t spoken this entire time—neither
had she—but when he did, his voice was like rough velvet as he said, “You
could cut my throat right now, rixella, and I would let you. When my only
ambition in life has been to survive. That is the power of this.”
His voice made her feel like she’d just had another swig of the alcohol. It
made her burn. His voice was almost…awed. As if he was faced with some
terrible thing he couldn’t help but respect. That he couldn’t help but give in
to.
“What else would you let me do?” she asked quietly, hardly recognizing
her own voice. Her head spun, her flesh felt tingly, but she didn’t think it was
from the bottle. Not anymore. She felt powerful. She saw the desire in his
eyes—that terrible, terrible desire—but she saw her own reflected back.
This was the male that had kidnapped her. The male who had probably
ruined her chances of ever finding her way home again, of ever seeing her
family again. This was the male who wouldn’t tell her what his plans were
for her, and yet…
She’d never felt like this. So torn between hatred and need. That part of
herself—which she’d confessed to him—wanted to hurt him for taking those
things away from her, while also needing to drag him close so she could feel
his heartbeat, so she could taste his tongue.
Madness.
You are as mad as I am, he’d told her. Her head swam as she looked at
his lips.
“I hate you,” she breathed. “I really do.”
 She didn’t know if she was talking to him or herself.
And then, before she could hesitate, she leaned forward and took the one
thing she wanted but shouldn’t have. His kiss.
He’d told her to do something bad to him. This probably wasn’t what
he’d had in mind, but she was just drunk enough that it didn’t matter. At least
not right then.
Jaxor froze when her lips crashed onto his, but then she felt his claws
pierce her tunic, coming up to drag her closer. He’d been waiting for this
closeness, perhaps longer than she had, Erin realized.
The knife clattered to the stone as her hands dove into his freshly shorn
hair. She gripped the strands hard, clenching her fists in deep, pulling. He
growled—huffy—but finally moved his mouth against hers hard. As if
punishing her.
When Erin closed her eyes, she relied on him to keep her from toppling
over since everything spun. She tasted the alcohol on his tongue when she
met it and she pressed closer. Sounds were coming from her throat, little
desperate sounds she’d never heard before, because she couldn’t get close
enough.
“Vrax,” Jaxor hissed when she pushed between his thighs, placing herself
in his lap. Dimly, she wondered if he was in pain from the wounds, but then
his mouth was on hers again and the thought was wiped away.
His cock was hard underneath her—still hard despite the blood he’d lost.
It pushed up from his furred loincloth between them and a reckless part of
Erin just wanted to shift her body over it. The reckless, dangerous part of her
craved taking him into her body, feeling that thick, hot length inside her,
because she knew that was the only way this desperation would lessen. Only
then would he be close enough—when he was completely inside her.
Madness, she thought.
She didn’t care. This felt good. This felt like something she wanted to do
for once, not something that she should do. This felt bad, bad, bad in the best
way. Mutually hate-kissing this dangerous male. It felt good because it was
something she’d never done before.
Warning bells were going off in her head, but she silenced them.
Tomorrow, she would feel differently. Tomorrow, once the lust had died
down and the alcohol was gone from her system, and once she didn’t feel so
damn reckless, she would regret this.
Wouldn’t she?
 Jaxor hissed when she ground her hips over his cock. Her tunic had
ridden up her thighs, but the hem still covered her sex. It was the only barrier
between them.
“Ohh,” she moaned, breaking their kiss, when tingles erupted over her
skin. Intense waves of pleasure were rising up, pulsing from her clit. She was
wound tight, but the alcohol had relaxed her limbs. Her hands dropped to
Jaxor’s shoulders, her fingernails digging into the muscles there, and she used
the leverage to grind harder.
His mouth came to her neck as his hands squeezed her hips. Erin’s breath
hitched, her mouth falling open, when he bit her there, at the sensitive flesh
just underneath her earlobe.
“Yes,” she breathed, the pain mingling with the pleasure until they were
interchangeable. Erin had never given herself permission to explore her kinks
with a partner. She’d been too embarrassed, too self-conscious. She’d told
herself that no good girlfriend would want the darker things she craved in
bed. But Jaxor biting her, giving her a little prick of pain, was doing it for
her. And he seemed to know it.
His hips thrust up underneath her, the thick, mushroomed head of his
cock sliding over her throbbing clit through the tunic’s material. The friction
was unbearable and frustrating and so, so right.
She needed to taste him again. Pulling on his horns to get him away from
her neck, she guided his mouth to hers, feeling the vibration of his low
tumble of a groan caught between their lips. He liked his horns touched,
pulled, it seemed.
The heat was rising. She didn’t hear the rain over the thunder of her own
heartbeat. All she smelled and tasted and felt was him.
She kept her eyes open as they kissed and he did the same. Those piercing
blue eyes had deepened into indigo and she saw every dark want and wicked
thing he needed to do to her. To his mate. Because that was what she was.
Erin wondered if he would come like this. They were dry humping like
teenagers in the back seat of a car, but Erin was about to come like there was
no tomorrow.
His brows drew together and her vision wavered when he sucked
wickedly on her tongue. His features took on a desperate, needful expression
just as his hips quickened, just as his claws pricked into the tunic around her
hips, poking holes in the cloth.
He drew a little blood with his claws, but Erin didn’t care. It was what she
needed, just as she needed his eyes to act as her anchor when her whole body
began to tremble. Her back hunched and then bowed, her abdomen
contracting. Her nipples tingled and pebbled so tight they ached.
“Oh God,” she whispered, her eyes wide, on Jaxor. And then she was
coming.
The orgasm ripped through her body, tearing her, breaking her. She
might’ve screamed, she couldn’t remember. Distantly, she heard Jaxor’s
responding bellow, felt something warm lash over the tops of her exposed
thighs. Erin was still grinding on him, chasing that pleasure even as it began
to fade. And even after that amazing orgasm, she somehow knew it wasn’t
enough.
Her head dropped to Jaxor’s bare shoulder, her chest heaving. She felt
something on her cheek and when she reached up to touch it, she realized
they were tears. She was crying. Why?
I’m a fucking mess, came the tired thought, wiping the tears away. Jaxor’s
skin was warm, his shoulders moved up and down as he tried to regain his
breath.
When she pulled back to chance a peek at him, his eyes were glowing.
They seemed different, changed, luminous. Like something else was inside
them, staring back at her. His Instinct? she thought, her lips parting in
realization.
She’d never realized how close it could be.
Erin swallowed, shaken, and then looked between them. His cock was
pulsing on his abdomen. His seed was slick on her thighs and part of her
tunic, shimmering even in the dim lighting. Like a pearl. And there was
blood. Dark blue blood.
He’d popped a couple stitches, she realized when her gaze darted to his
wound.
Jaxor turned her face up until she met his eyes again. Erin was struck by
how different he looked with short hair. His features seemed sharper, more
angular, more…regal. His granite jaw and sharp cheekbones stood out more
and Erin felt her belly quiver. Even his eyes seemed brighter, but perhaps that
was the Instinct’s doing.
Erin was tempted to reach for the bottle of alcohol again. After what
she’d just set into motion, she felt like she needed another drink. Or two. Or
three.
Panic wasn’t rising yet. Instead, her chin lifted, as if daring him to say
something. They’d just used each other to get off. Erin’s body was still
humming from that orgasm. It made her feel sleepy and sated.
“I’m not embarrassed,” she felt the need to inform him.
His eyes narrowed. “I am not either.”
“Well…” She didn’t know why, but she hadn’t expected him to say that.
“Good.” Then she added, “Don’t expect that to happen again.”
His smirk was so smug she wanted to smack it off. “I would not dream of
it, rixella.”
She realized she was still straddling his hips. She’d left a little wet spot of
her arousal on his thighs, his cock was still out in its full, ridged glory, and he
was bleeding.
And because Erin couldn’t think of what else to say, she cleared her
throat and decided on being practical.
“I’ll get the needle.”
 CHAPTER FIFTEEN

E rin barely suppressed a groan when her eyes flickered open the next
morning. At least she thought it was morning. The light was low, but
at least the rain had stopped.
It was becoming a habit…waking up in that cave with the memory of bad
decisions making her want to curl up in a ball. Only that morning, she had a
nasty hangover to go hand-in-hand with her regret.
She blew out a rough breath and tilted her head back, searching for Jaxor.
He was still sleeping, for once, not far away, close to the entrance. He’d built
a fire last night when it got too chilly in the cave, shortly after Erin had
stitched up his wounds a second time. She refused to dwell on why she’d had
to.
It happened, there’s nothing I can do to change it, she told herself
instead. Best to move on.
She felt nauseous, but surprisingly well-rested. Her body was still
humming after that orgasm last night, but her mouth felt like it was stuffed
with cotton and her limbs felt unsteady.
Erin pushed up from her position, glancing around the cave. It was a
mess. Jaxor’s hair littered the floor, two empty bottles of that horrendous
alcohol among the dark, silky strands. After Erin had stitched Jaxor up, he’d
gone all moody and quiet, and had fished out a second bottle from one of the
chests. Erin didn’t remember if she’d watched him finish it. She’d probably
passed out before then.
Blood was streaked on the floors and on the furs. There was even some
on her own legs—from rolling in it during the night?—in addition to Jaxor’s
dried seed on her tunic.
 “Damn,” she muttered, raking a hand through her tangled hair. She didn’t
know how she felt about what happened last night. Strangely, she thought
she’d be filled with more mortification and regret. Instead, she only felt a dull
pang of reluctant acceptance. Erin was a firm believer in not dwelling on
things she couldn’t change.
And last night?
She couldn’t change it.
A part of her didn’t even want to, if she’d had the choice. Because she
remembered how it had felt. She’d felt…free. She hadn’t cared about what
Jaxor would think of her. She’d wanted something from him and she’d taken
it. Erin had never done anything like that in her life. She’d never been so
forward or bold or reckless. Ever.
She nodded to the quiet cave, blowing out another quiet puff of air, and
pushed up to stand. The fire was still going, giving the cave a delicious
warmth, giving her light with which to study Jaxor. In sleep, he still looked
grumpy and broody. His lips were turned down, his eyes flickered back and
forth underneath his eyelids. Erin traced the sloping lines of his face with her
eyes, licking her bottom lip. Something like longing went through her, faint
but present.
If Erin found out that she was stuck on Luxiria, that there was no way of
returning to Earth, would she want someone like Jaxor? Would she want him
to be her partner in life, as a mate? Could she envision him as the father of
her children, if she ever had any?
Her shoulders sagged, refusing to answer that because she would be going
home. She had to believe that. Quietly, she crept around him before stepping
from the entrance of the cave, her eyes darting around for signs of a live
kekevir.
She was relieved when she saw none. Instead, she saw that most of the
flooding had gone down through the night, no doubt due to Jaxor’s drainage
holes, one of them being the pulley system to the east of the base. It had
stopped raining and slowly the base was clearing out, leaving behind a
sodden mess in its wake.
Erin wanted a proper shower. Desperately. She wanted fresh clothes. But
she didn’t dare venture down to the base. There was a dead kekevir still down
there, a reminder of the always-present danger. When Erin forced herself to
look at it, she saw Jaxor’s knife still embedded in its skull.
Behind her, she heard him begin to rouse, as if his Instinct sensed her
missing from the cave.
“Rixella,” he rasped, his voice drowsy from a deep sleep. Was it bad of
her to wish he was as hungover as she was?
“I’m here,” she called softly, looking over her shoulder at him. When he
finally located her, relief entered his gaze. Perhaps he was too tired to shield
it from her.
When he stood, Erin saw his wounds—he must’ve taken the bandage off
after she went to sleep. The two deep claw marks from the kekevir were well
on their way to healing. Erin knew Luxirians healed fast. One of her guards
back in the Golden City had sliced his hand on the edge of a knife once. The
next day, the wound was gone, as if it had never happened. She would need
to pull the stitches out that morning, so Jaxor’s skin didn’t grow around them.
Erin placed her hand on the nearest stone wall, still feeling a little
nauseous. Looking at his wound, remembering how slippery her hands had
been with blood, didn’t help.
Her eyes darted up to his hair instead as he approached, as he looked out
over the mess of his base and let out a sharp sigh. His haircut suited him—
just as she’d thought last night. Just looking at him made her heartbeat pick
up in her chest. Handsome male, she thought. It was almost unfair.
There was a long stretch of uncomfortable silence between them. Erin felt
her cheeks heat briefly, but it was he that broke it.
“Last night was a mistake,” he rasped, studying her face closely as he said
it. “It will not happen again, tev?”
She froze but managed to shield her expression—one of disbelief and hurt
and anger—before he could see it. If she’d been the gaping sort, her jaw
would’ve dropped.
His tone was dismissive. As if what happened between them last night—
that world-spinning kiss and the orgasm that followed—meant nothing.
She should be relieved. She should be agreeing wholeheartedly with him
to save some of her dignity. She should be the one saying last night had been
a mistake. He was the asshole who had kidnapped her in the first place.
Erin hated that she felt hurt by his words. She couldn’t stand it.
Then again, there was nothing for her to do but nod. “Right,” she said
softly, looking away from him. It wasn’t like she’d been planning to hate-kiss
him again, anyways. Right?
“Rixella—”
Erin cleared her throat, hoping it would clear away some of the awkward
tension between them. It was a hard thing to do, considering she was standing
there in a tunic stained with his seed. And he was telling her last night was a
mistake?
“I should probably clean out the cave,” she said, since she couldn’t think
of anything else to say. It would give her something to do, help keep her
mind off him. “It’s a bit of a mess in there.”
Just what does he plan to do with me? she wondered, turning away from
him, her head swimming. A part of Erin had believed he’d brought her there
because…because he planned to keep her. She was his fated mate. He’d
admitted that much himself. And one thing she knew about Luxirian fated
mates was that it was a forever type of deal. There was some major cosmic
voodoo at work when it came to fated mates.
But if he told her getting to second base last night had been a mistake,
that it wouldn’t happen again…then what the hell was he planning?
Regardless, Erin knew she should be on her toes. He was keeping her in
the dark. If he didn’t plan on keeping her as his mate, then it meant he would
use her for something else.
Fear jolted in her belly. She felt his gaze on the back of her neck, but she
hurried inside the cave quickly. She looked around at the mess. Mess she
could handle. Mess could easily be cleaned, fixed, tidied. There was nothing
she liked more than cleaning.
Pushing back her hair, ignoring the way her head pounded, Erin got to
work.

JAXOR WAS WORKING at the furnace when she finished clearing out the
cave. Earlier, after she’d dumped all the bloody furs out, with a plan to wash
them that day, she’d seen him pumping out water from the base near the
waterfall. When she emerged then, she saw the thin layer of water was mostly
gone, leaving the stone floor of the crater wet and shimmering, but flood-free.
Now, the stone was beginning to dry, albeit slowly. The suns were
peeking out every now and again from behind a thick shield of clouds.
Jaxor had changed his clothes, donning a pair of brown hide pants and a
loose, dark grey tunic with a hole near his shoulder. She was still unused to
seeing him with short hair. She wondered what he thought about it, if he liked
it, but figured it didn’t matter. She’d already swept his hair out of the cave,
piling it near the entrance until she could dispose of it. It had brought a flush
to her face, looking at those silky strands, knowing what had happened after
they’d fluttered to the floor last night. Remembering the heat between them,
the intimacy of being so close to him…
Jaxor was hammering something near the furnace. Around it, the ground
was dry, so she knew it burned hot. For the first time, she noticed that the
kekevir was gone. There was no evidence that it had ever been there. The rain
and the drainage holes erased any trace of blood and gore.
Erin allowed herself to watch Jaxor for only a moment before she turned
to go back inside, planning to scrub the cave floor clean of his blood with an
old tunic of his, one from the bundle she’d brought inside the cave yesterday.
It didn’t take her long to do. By the time she was done, her knees were red
and roughened and she felt even grimier than before she’d started. But she
looked around at her work, proud.
The walls and floors were spotless, she’d reorganized both chests and
pushed them back against the wall, she’d shaken out all the bloodless furs,
she’d cleaned the ash from the little fire pit. Now all that was left was to wash
the dirtied furs. And bathe.
It was all very domestic, but at least it gave her something to do. She
thought she’d go insane if she puttered around all day. And since Jaxor
wasn’t leaving the base that day, she couldn’t go explore the hovercraft
again. Though, after what happened yesterday, Erin thought she should wait
until he had a gate in place for the kekevir before she traveled down that
tunnel again. Just thinking of being trapped by one of those things, alone and
weaponless, made a shudder run down her spine.
Outside, she balled all the furs up and maneuvered her way down to the
ground level from the cave entrance. It was early afternoon, she guessed,
judging by the positions of the suns, which she’d tracked in the Golden City.
There had been little else to do, after all.
Jaxor paused in his work to look at her when she approached. He was
either fixing the cave door or working on a gate, she couldn’t be certain
which.
Erin cleared her throat, suddenly nervous to have to speak with him after
a morning of complete silence. He’d left her to her work and she’d left him to
his. If he felt the tension between them, he didn’t comment on it and neither
did she.
 She stepped around a bucket that had floated all the way from near the
crops and regarded him. “Do you have any soap?”
“Soap?” he repeated. His voice sounded more like a grunt.
“For washing,” she said patiently. “I need to get the blood out of these
furs and,” she tucked her hair behind her ear, “I also want to bathe.”
His brow was sweating from the heat of the furnace. He paused to rake a
hand through his hair and Erin’s mouth went a little dry. The muscles in his
arms flexed as he did…and that haircut was just unfair. Why did he have to
look the way he did while also having the grumpiest and moodiest disposition
ever?
His lips, which she now unfortunately knew were surprisingly soft and
plump, pursed and he nodded.
Stop staring at his lips, she ordered herself silently. Her eyes immediately
cut to his eyes and her swallow sounded more like a gulp.
Last night was a mistake. She remembered his words, remembered that
they should echo her own sentiments too. But it was difficult.
Now that they’d kissed, there always seemed to be the unspoken
possibility that they’d kiss again. And again. It made her belly jolt with
awareness, with little, terrible, crazed butterflies that battered at her bones.
Jaxor’s gaze locked on her but she turned towards the waterfall, which
was pouring down more water than yesterday, a roaring, white rush. The pool
was still overflowing, but Erin would make do.
She sensed Jaxor moving and when she chanced a peek at him, he was
near the multitude of chests, rummaging through one. He brought out a large
black vial with what looked like little pebbles rolling around inside. Erin
recognized it from the Golden City. It was the same soap they’d used in the
washing room.
For the first time, she wondered how Jaxor had accumulated all of these
supplies. Did he still journey to the Golden City? Or even to the outposts
spread across Luxiria? He’d admitted to her that he hadn’t been exiled after
all, so that meant he was still allowed to go wherever he pleased, right?
When he handed it to her, Erin murmured, “Thanks,” and then walked
over to the waterfall, all too aware of his gaze on her back.
She’d tucked one of his clean tunics and one of the cleaner furs in among
the ones she needed to wash. That way, she could dry off with the clean fur
and dress in fresh clothes after her bath. Studying the waterfall, she decided
to bathe first because she didn’t want to wash in bloody, dirty water after she
scrubbed the furs in it.
There wasn’t exactly a lot of privacy in Jaxor’s base, but Erin was,
frankly, beyond caring. He’d seen her naked before—when he’d first seen
her. He’d made it clear he didn’t intend to take her as his luxiva—not that she
wanted that, anyways—and he’d also made it clear that they wouldn’t be
hooking up again after last night.
So what was the harm?
None at all, that small, wicked little voice whispered in her mind as she
stripped off her tunic.
 CHAPTER SIXTEEN

W icked rixella, Jaxor thought, his jaw gritting so hard he was

surprised his teeth didn’t get pulverized in the process.
The rixella in question was undressing next to the pool of
the waterfall. Unlike yesterday, it seemed she had every intention of going in,
not simply crouching at the edge, rubbing her flesh with water in an attempt
to clean herself fully clothed.
Jaxor wiped his forearm over his brow, stepping back from the furnace to
cool off, his eyes glued to the bared curves of the female’s body.
My female, his Instinct corrected, purring.
Vrax, she was pleasing to look at. His fists clenched at his sides and Jaxor
had to physically stop himself from taking an unconscious step towards her,
towards the falls. His hand came to his workbench and he squeezed the
Luxirian metal until his claws gouged into it.
Her flesh was tan like the delicious nectar from puxia fruits. Her hair was
dark, but shimmering gold from the suns when their light managed to break
through the clouds. A tapered waist, full hips, thighs he could grip as he—
Not yours, he reminded himself, squeezing his eyes shut. She is not yours.
And yet, she’d certainly felt like his last night. Just remembering her
moans, her blunt little claws buried deep enough in his shoulders to leave
marks, the frenzied, needful way she’d ground down on his cock’s length…
Her soft, warm lips on his own, the way his head spun when she suckled
on his tongue.
Many lunar cycles ago, he’d traveled to the pools of the Lallarix. It was a
scared place, touched by the Fates, and a secret place that only his family
knew of. Often, his mother and sire would travel there. Sometimes, Jaxor and
Vaxa’an would accompany them.
Not long ago, Jaxor had gone there to remember. The pools had been
untouched, as if a span hadn’t passed since his mother had been there. But
instead of finding her spirit there, he’d discovered a human female. The first
he’d ever seen. And she’d been accompanied by none other than his brother.
Jaxor had watched them from shadows, his heart thrumming in his chest
when he realized he was gazing on his brother for the first time in almost ten
rotations. And he had found his luxiva, his fated mate, in a human female he
called Kat.
He’d seen them press their lips together as they soaked in the Lallarix,
though it had baffled him at the time. It was not a way that Luxirians showed
affection to one another. It had seemed strange and foreign to him. Alien.
Until last night.
When Erin had leaned forward and kissed him, brushing her bottom lip
over his top, drawing him in so deep he felt his heartbeat throb in his tongue,
he’d finally understood the appeal. The heat. The closeness. The intimacy.
The wicked way it had felt like mating. Soft at first, before demand and need
overpowered it.
Jaxor swore he could still feel her there. He could still taste her on his
tongue, scent her arousal in his nostrils, feel her fingers pulling at his newly
shorn hair.
When he opened his eyes, Erin was, mercifully, in the pool. Covered.
Only the tops of her shoulders and the delicate bones at the base of her neck
were on display. When she turned, he saw the mark he’d given her last night,
the blooming bruise where he’d bitten her neck in the heat of the moment.
She was watching him, but her expression made him pause.
She is teasing me on purpose, he realized, his brows lowering, his lips
pulling down into a frown.
But there was no mistaking the challenge in her eyes. His female was
intentionally tormenting him. Why? To make a liar out of him? Because he
might have hurt her pride that morning when he attempted to brush off what
had happened between them last night?
Jaxor growled and he turned from her, his cock pulsing, his blood hot and
thick. What was he doing? What the fuck was he doing?
He didn’t know. He was wasting time. Procrastinating. He was not like
this. When he made a decision, he committed to it. One way or another. He
didn’t hesitate. He just…fucking did it.
 So why couldn’t he do the same where Erin was involved?
Why couldn’t he decide to uphold his agreement with the Mevirax or
keep her for himself? Or, the most honorable option of all, return her to the
Golden City, far away from him and the Mevirax and the dangers that were
connected to them?
He knew why. Because Jaxor was a selfish bastard. But, grimly, he
realized that there was more at stake here. This was beyond her. Beyond him.
Beyond any connection the Fates had given them.
This was about the future of the Luxirian race. It was about justice for all
those lives lost, all those families destroyed. Giving Erin up to the Mevirax,
who had a standing deal with the Jetutians, might be the only way Jaxor
could get close to them. It might be the only chance the Luxirians had to
seize the treatment, the cure.
Even knowing that, Jaxor tilted his head. The rixella had swum over to
the falls, had perched herself on one of the rocks there, her full, perfect
breasts on display, water lapping around her waist. She was massaging her
long, wet hair with the soap granules he’d given her, scrubbing at her scalp
before using the waterfall to rinse it from the strands.
Then she lathered up her hands and scrubbed at her flesh. When her
hands trailed over her breasts, he felt a drop of his seed push from the tip of
his cock, a small, rough sound escaping his throat. He didn’t think she heard
it, but her eyes darted over to him regardless.
She’d been so different last night. So changed. But he wondered which
version of her was the truest to her character. Was it the female who had
stared him down in the Golden City when he’d first come to take her away,
steady and calm? Was it the female who had worried over him after the
kekevir injury, working diligently and without hesitation to stitch him up?
Was it the female who had straddled his hips and had moaned when he
marked her neck with his teeth? Or was it this temptress, who was massaging
her slick breasts beneath a waterfall, knowing he was watching, knowing he
desired her beyond reason, beyond logic?
The Fates had given him a beguiling, frustrating, and fascinating creature.
With a curse, Jaxor turned back to his work.
I will not look at her again while she is in that pool, he made himself
promise. He repeated it in his mind, as if to make it stick, as if to steel his
resolve. As if it would work.
But Jaxor felt like he was fighting a losing battle of wills. He wondered
how much longer it would be until he broke.
Because it would happen. She would break him. And when she did, Jaxor
prayed that she was prepared for the beast she would unleash.

THE SKY WAS black when Jaxor finished with the kekevir gate.
He was sweating, his chest heaving, his limbs aching with the amount of
effort it took to embed it in the stone wall of the tunnel. But it was the only
way it would be strong enough against the kekevir. They had watched him
from the darkness of their nest. Jaxor had always wondered why they chose
to stay so close to his home base when they had large caverns and endless
tunnels all throughout the Pass of the Kokillix to explore.
But they’d proven useful over the rotations. Their meat might not be the
most delicious, but it kept him fed most cold seasons. Their skin made good
armor that he traded at the outposts and their sinewy muscle tissue made
excellent fire fuel when his stores ran low. Having them close was beneficial.
For the most part, he thought, feeling his wounds pull slightly. He’d cut
the stitches already and pulled them out, but the flesh was still tender as it
mended. He would have to remember to put healing salve on it later that
night.
The gate was sturdy, though it had used up the majority of his metal
stores. It bolted and braced into the tunnel wall. Immovable. It would keep
Erin safe. Now Jaxor wouldn’t have to worry about being gone from the base.
Still, Jaxor refueled the burning sconces on either side of the gate, casting
light into the tunnel. By force of habit. He still didn’t want the kekevir
anywhere near the gate, no matter how strong it was. Kekevir could be
cunning and intelligent when it suited them.
When he returned to the base, he saw his female huddled by the fire he’d
made in the early evening, staring into the flames. His chest clenched,
watching the light play over her features. She didn’t look at him and Jaxor
kept his distance from her, going to bathe in the waterfall pool, rinsing off the
sweat and grime of the day, remembering the erotic vision Erin had made in
that same place earlier.
Underneath the water, he squeezed his stiff cock once, as if in warning.
Even that small contact made him groan. Even after the mind-numbing
orgasm last night, his body was still charged and ready for another.
He hauled himself out before he was tempted to bring himself to release
right there and dressed in loose pants, forgoing a tunic since he felt
overheated from working in the tunnel most of the day. Cool, chilled air felt
like a relief.
Inhaling a deep, steadying breath, feeling as though he was going into
battle, he approached his female at the fire. He’d laid out dried meats and the
best of his fruit stores for her earlier and he saw that most of it was gone.
Good. She’d eaten well that night. She hadn’t seemed to care for the fresh,
roasted kekevir meat, so until he could fish, his dried rations would have to be
enough.
“Hello,” she greeted softly when he sat on the opposite side of the fire.
“You’ve been working hard today,” she commented.
Jaxor’s eyes went to her lips. “So have you, rixella.”
They hadn’t spoken once since that morning, but he’d caught glimpses of
her as he came and went from the tunnel. She’d been cleaning and scrubbing
the furs voraciously and he saw that she’d set them out along the pulley
system to dry.
“What does that mean?” she asked, her eyes like dark, glittering little
jewels in the night. “Rixella?”
They had seemingly called another of their truces, Jaxor realized. It had
happened before…when both of them just simply gave in to the other. Like
last night. When they were too tired to argue.
“It means…” he trailed off, trying to think how to translate it into her
language. “Enchantress. Wicked one. Or like a witch.”
She laughed, the sound momentarily stunning Jaxor.
“You’ve been calling me a wicked witch this entire time?” she asked,
shaking her head.
Jaxor hesitated. Her tone implied something he didn’t think he
understood. He couldn’t discern if she was genuinely amused…or insulted.
So, he explained, “To Luxirians, rixellas are only in stories. Old stories and
legends. They beguile males, using their wiles and their magic to control
them.”
Her lips quirked. Those eyes shined. “And that’s what you think I can do
to you? You think I can control you? Beguile you?”
Haven’t you already? he asked silently, his brows furrowing. At the way
her lips twitched, he knew that she’d heard the unspoken question.
 “I see,” she murmured.
“I do not think you do,” he returned, just as quietly. She had no idea of
the power she held over him.
Erin looked into the fire again. She was dressed in one of his tunics, her
skin flushed from the heat.
“Can I ask you something?” she murmured.
Jaxor grunted, but he flicked his gaze to her, half in wariness, half in
intrigue.
“Have you ever been in love?” she asked softly, her head tilting in
curiosity.
“Love?” he repeated, the word whistling from his lips in a deep exhale.
“Yes.”
Jaxor tossed more fuel into the fire, though it was burning hot and bright
already.
“I thought so. Once,” he replied.
Her brows rose. “Really?”
“You seem surprised,” he commented wryly and he raked a hand through
his hair.
“No, it’s not that,” she said. “I guess I just…I can’t really imagine you
away from this place.”
With people, she meant. Among people.
“I told you I was born and raised in the Golden City,” he said. “Most who
knew me would actually have called me…mischievous. I was always getting
into trouble. I was never still.”
“That I can imagine,” she teased softly. His lips quirked again. “So, what
was her name?”
He sobered slightly. “Sarcalla.”
“How’d you meet her?”
“She was the daughter of my mother’s friend. I was in warrior training
then, but would come home to the Golden City when we were on break. I had
just come of age. Though technically, warriors in training are not allowed to
have relations with females, I broke those rules for her.”
“Was she your first?” Erin asked.
Jaxor swallowed. “Tev.”
Sarcalla had been his first everything. Everything had seemed so new, so
exciting. Because Jaxor had been due back to Otala for warrior training the
following lunar cycle, they hadn’t had much time together. Every moment
with her had seemed perfect, yet bitter because he knew their time would end.
“What happened?” Erin asked next.
Jaxor blew out a sharp breath and met her eyes. “Before I returned to
warrior training, I caught her trying to slip underneath my brother’s furs.”
Her lips pressed together, understanding dawning in her gaze.
“Once I confronted her, she tried to say she’d gotten confused, that she
thought his sleeping platform had been mine. But I knew better. She’d
wanted him all along. I had been the means to get her closer to him,” Jaxor
finished, remembering that night. Remembering Vaxa’an, angry at Sarcalla
on Jaxor’s behalf. Sarcalla had believed that Vaxa’an wouldn’t have turned
her away, but Jaxor knew his brother would never betray him in that way,
especially knowing his feelings for her.
But Sarcalla had wanted to bed the future Prime Leader…not the future
Prime Leader’s brother.
“I’m sorry,” Erin said, her melodic voice floating over the fire. “That
must’ve been awful, to be betrayed like that by someone you loved.”
Jaxor shook his head. “Looking back, I do not know what I felt for her, if
it was just lust or the excitement of being young and foolish. Maybe it was
not even love.”
Erin regarded him, her expression serious yet calm. She looked at him
almost…gently.
“I teach young children on Earth,” she started, sliding her arms over her
knees. “That’s my job. And over the years, I’ve seen all sorts of things, all
sorts of interactions, but one thing I will always remember is this little boy
named Nate and a girl named Julie. Nate was convinced he loved her and she
was convinced that she loved him…and that’s what they told everyone who
would listen. And all the teachers would smile about it, thinking it was a silly,
young kind of love. Because when you’re that young, how do you even know
what love is?
“One day, Nate got hurt during recess and Julie immediately went to
comfort him. She hugged him and bandaged his knee and fussed over him
and even started crying herself, seeing him so upset. And looking at them
both, I thought, why did everyone doubt they loved each other? It doesn’t
even have to be romantic love. If they said they felt love in that moment, then
they did. Everyone has this grand idea of love, that it can’t be something
unless it’s a specific, intense feeling. But you can love someone for a short
period of time and it doesn’t make it any less real. If you love someone in a
single moment, then that feeling is valid, isn’t it?”
Erin gave Jaxor a small, sad smile, regarding him over the fire. Jaxor’s
heart was beating like a war drum in his chest as he watched her.
“So maybe you don’t think you loved her after all. But maybe you loved
her in little bits and pieces along the way.”
Jaxor wondered if she’d loved any male in ‘little bits and pieces’ as her
words sank in. As her meaning sank in. He looked at her steadily, feeling that
finally, he understood a small part of her.
“And you, rixella?” he murmured, his voice raspy and soft. “Have you
ever loved someone in singular moments?”
A soft laugh tumbled from her throat, the sound husky. She paused, like
she’d done last night when he asked her what bad thing she wanted to do. She
bit her lip, looking at him.
“Maybe I loved you a little bit last night, when you looked so ridiculous
with a little tuft of your hair cut, when the rest of it was long,” she teased,
making his heart pump even more ferociously in his chest.
Jaxor growled, amusement welling in his chest. He thought, with
stunningly bright clarity, that he wanted to kiss her again, right then. That he
would last less than a span after declaring that morning that nothing would
happen between them again.
Fool. Did he honestly think he—
He saw something out of the corner of his eye, behind her.
Jaxor stood suddenly, his eyes narrowing on the thin stream of curling
grey smoke in the distance. It was lifting higher and higher in the sky on that
clear night.
“Jaxor?” she questioned, frowning, craning her neck around quickly to
see what he saw. “What is it?”
It was a message, only for Jaxor. Beyond the walls of the crater and
between two of the mountains of the Pass of the Kokillix, he saw the
beckoning, the calling. He’d seen the smoke every so often, sometimes
during the day, sometimes during the night. But it always meant one thing.
The Mevirax had come…
And they wanted to speak to him.
 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“S tay here,” Jaxor commanded, walking down the long tunnel

towards the hovercraft, Erin following behind him. The
contented ease he’d felt with her only a moment before had
vanished, another threat taking its place. Jaxor mourned the loss of it. “The
kekevir are gated in. You will be safe.”
“Where are you going? What did the smoke mean?” she asked, stubborn
determination coloring her tone.
“I have something to take care of,” he said. “Trespassers. I do not want
them finding the base.”
A partial lie. The Mevirax were trespassers in a sense—expected ones—
but he did indeed not want them to find his base. He’d taken great care to
hide it from them, using valuable shield links over the top of the crater so that
if any passed over in a hovercraft, it would look like the mountains
surrounding it.
“Other Luxirians?” she asked, her eyes narrowing. He turned towards her,
sensing the interest in her voice.
He took her chin in his hand, tilting her face upwards. Her lips parted and
Jaxor remembered the way she tasted, the breathy little sounds she made
when he suckled on her tongue and ground the head of his cock against her
sex. He remembered her husky laugh, her face lit by firelight just a few
moments ago.
“They are dangerous, rixella,” he rasped. Even the prospect of seeing the
Mevirax did nothing to lessen his need for her. The clawed tip of his thumb
stroked over her cheek as she quieted. His tone was gentle as he said, “Stay
here.”
 She blew out a long breath.
“I will be back soon,” he assured her, releasing her, turning towards the
hovercraft. With a quick look at the gate, he saw the kekevir were nowhere in
sight. Erin watched him climb on board, watched as his fingers flitted over
the controls.
“And what if you don’t come back?” she challenged.
“Nothing will stop me from coming back,” he rasped, starting up the
hovercraft. He didn’t want the Mevirax to know he had one in his possession.
He would have to be careful about his approach.
Without another word, he shot from the tunnel, hurtling straight up
through the single opening. It was the only entrance into his base that wasn’t
covered in shield links—he hadn’t been able to find enough—but it wouldn’t
look like anything from above. Just a darkened hole in the mountain.
Once he rose, he couldn’t see his base from above. The shield links
covered even light. All he saw was dark, rocky terrain below. Though if one
studied it very closely, every now and again, the shield links wavered,
making the surface shimmer. He gritted his jaw, knowing that he would have
to make repairs soon—only he didn’t have the parts he needed.
Looking northeast, to where he’d seen the Mevirax’s signal, he
approached, though he kept the hovercraft low to the ground once he cleared
the Pass of the Kokillix. They always met him near the shore of the vast
Lopitax Sea and there was an outcropping of dunes where he could hide the
hovercraft.
He navigated to one, landed, and then exited. He made the rest of the
distance on foot, plunging through thick, soft sand, snagging a few obiraxi
fruits from the spindly bushes he passed. His female might enjoy them,
hopefully better than the kekevir meat.
Only three Mevirax had come. Jaxor’s lips pressed together when he saw
Tavar among them. The leader of the Mevirax, the one whom he made the
original agreement with. For him to journey all this way did not bode well for
the trust he’d placed in Jaxor, trust that had taken him a long time to build up.
The other two Mevirax were Laccara and Kilan. Laccara was one of their
females, the next one slated for the Jetutians to heal. She was mated to Kilan,
Tavar’s warrior general, of sorts.
Jaxor knew why Tavar had brought Laccara. As if to remind him what
was at stake.
They were sitting around a small fire, waiting. They’d burned tillia leaf to
make the large plumes of smoke and the air seemed grey around them. Grey
and thin. The first thing that Jaxor did when he stepped towards them was go
to the fire and crush the burning leaf with his foot.
Tavar stood, gazing at him. Observing. Jaxor hated it. It made his skin
crawl.
“Where are the females?” Tavar asked, straight to the point. He spoke in
the old dialect, one that had taken Jaxor time to pick up. The Mevirax were
not an ancient line of people. Tavar was the youngest—and last—son of the
male who led the original rebellion against Jaxor’s own sire, Kirax’an. And
yet, they adhered to the old customs of the Luxirians, to the old language,
passed down among very few.
Jaxor had to tread carefully. Tavar was intelligent, not easily fooled,
though the older brother he’d taken power from had been.
“Cruxan, one of Vaxa’an’s Ambassadors, has them. He ambushed me in
the forest before our meeting.” Tavar’s gaze flickered down his bare chest, at
the kekevir wounds adorning his flesh. They could pass for blade marks and
Jaxor wouldn’t correct his assumptions. “I am tracking them south.”
“Then why are you here?”
“I needed to refuel,” he said.
“They could already be back to the Golden City by now,” Kilan
commented, frustration coloring the male’s tone. His hair was plaited, wixa
beads threaded throughout. Jaxor’s stomach jolted when he realized his own
hair was now shorn. Surely that would seem suspicious to Tavar, who had
only seen him a handful of spans ago. His eyes cut through Jaxor, narrowing.
“You failed. You failed Laccara. Now the possibility of our child is lost.”
Jaxor’s eyes went to Laccara, standing next to her mate. Her hands were
clasped in front of her, looking every bit the docile Luxirian female, but Jaxor
was not fooled. He’d learned long ago that most Mevirax females were just as
cunning and vicious as their males, if not more so.
“I have not failed,” Jaxor told them. “Our plan is only delayed. Cruxan is
on foot with the females. His hovercraft was damaged. He will try for one of
the outposts before risking the Black Desert back to the Golden City.”
Jaxor could feel Tavar’s unflinching gaze. When the Jetutians had first
approached the Mevirax, it had been to Tavar’s older brother. The previous
leader. His brother had almost run through the Jetutian messenger with his
blade. Jetutians and Luxirians had a long, ugly history. The most recent
attack on their females was still fresh in the Luxirians’ minds—and always
would be.
But Tavar saw opportunity where his older brother had seen only hate.
Tavar had pushed his brother out as leader within the rotation, sowing doubt
and rumors among the Mevirax. After Tavar had taken control, his brother
was never seen again.
Jaxor held no doubt in his mind that Tavar had killed him. His own
brother. That was why Jaxor would never trust him. To his people, he seemed
a just, fair leader who was restoring hope and life. Jaxor believed that Tavar
wanted the females cured of the virus that had left them unable to conceive—
but Jaxor knew it was power that the Mevirax leader craved most of all, and
that he would give anything for it.
And what was more powerful than Mevirax females giving life, once
more, while the females in the Golden City and the outposts could not? It
would shake the very core of their society. There would be uprisings, more
rebellions, probably bloody. The Mevirax would grow more powerful,
drawing in new factions from all over Luxiria, with the promise of restored
health, a restored future. Already, there had been whisperings through the
outposts.
Tavar wanted to be Prime Leader of Luxiria. Tavar wanted Vaxa’an dead
and the Golden City under his rule. He believed he could get it, if he played
the Jetutians just right. If he could steal away the vaccine that would heal
Luxirian females and use it as a bargaining chip for the throne.
That was why Jaxor could not allow Tavar to claim the cure for himself
and himself alone.
Tavar believed that Jaxor only wanted revenge on Po’grak, the Jetutian
who had ordered the attack on Luxirian females, the war commander of their
race. And that was true. Jaxor wanted to run him through with his blade, one
he’d crafted with his sorrow and grief. Only then would he feel like he had
avenged his mother. Only then would he feel like he could breathe again.
Only then would he feel like he could look his blood brother in the eye
again.
But there was more at stake. The future of their race, one that hopefully
wouldn’t be under Tavar’s rule.
It was a roundabout, twisted plan.
But his plan hinged on Tavar’s trust in him, while Jaxor wondered if the
Mevirax leader was even capable of it.
“I will get the human females back,” Jaxor said, looking him in the eye, if
only to buy him more time.
“Vow it to Oxandri,” Laccara finally said, her voice hard and unyielding.
“Give blood to Oxandri and if you go back on your word then she will strike
you down.”
Jaxor saw the flash of impatience on Tavar’s features, though he hid it
quickly. Most of the Mevirax revered and prayed to Oxandri, the Fate of
Sacrifice, and her alone.
Jaxor’s jaw clenched, but he looked at the dagger that Kilan pulled from
the sheath attached to his leg.
“How much would she require?” Jaxor asked, his eyes cutting to Laccara.
The female’s lips pressed together. She snagged the blade from her
mate’s grip and stepped forward.
Jaxor didn’t even flinch when she pressed it deep into his right pectoral,
carving Oxandri’s mark into his skin. Blood dripped from the fresh wound
and Laccara’s eyes flickered to him. He’d mated her once, long ago, long
before Kilan began courting her.
He’d lusted for her once and she’d always seemed to hate him for never
wanting her again. Now her nearness, her scent, only made him think of the
rixella in his base.
“I make the vow to Oxandri,” Jaxor rasped, his blood hot and slow as it
dribbled down his flesh, “that I will uphold our agreement.”
Jaxor had never given much weight to Oxandri. His mother had favored
Kollasor, the Fate of Rebirth, and when Jaxor had prayed, it had been to her.
Laccara seemed satisfied with his vow. Even Kilan gave him a nod.
Tavar, as always, was watching him.
“One more chance,” the Mevirax leader finally said, his eyes flickering to
Oxandri’s mark, the kekevir wounds on his chest, and his shorn hair. Jaxor
kept his expression neutral. “You leave tonight. I will give you five spans to
track them down and bring them to me. If you fail, then you will never get
close to Po’grak and you will never step foot in the Caves of the Pevrallix
again.”
 CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

T he next morning, Erin found Jaxor gone again.

When she stepped from the cave, the base was quiet, almost
eerily so. Even the kekevir were silent and Erin found she’d grown
used to their noises.
The morning sky was still grey, heavy with a dense fog that shielded the
sky from her sight.
“Jaxor?” she called out, hesitantly, her voice echoing around the crater,
bouncing off the stone walls.
There was no reply. He’d come back last night—from wherever he’d
gone—in a strange mood. Well, in a quiet, broody mood, which wasn’t all
that different from how he usually was. He’d had blood on his chest from a
fresh wound, but he hadn’t answered her when she asked how he’d received
it. She wondered who he met with because she wasn’t foolish enough to
believe he’d left to scare off ‘intruders.’
She didn’t know how long she had, but she had another rare opportunity
to be alone. Navigating her way off the stones that led up to the cave, she got
down to the base floor and wound her way through the tunnel, making sure to
avoid any sharp rocks in the floor. On her way, she noticed that the pulley
system was down, meaning Jaxor had lowered himself again, probably gone
off to forage or check his traps.
The hovercraft was still in its place. Last night, she’d followed Jaxor
down the tunnel and watched him start up the engine, though his fingers had
been a rapid blur over the silver pad screen as he did. Still, Erin remembered.
She just had to be certain she did, needed to practice so she wouldn’t forget.
She’d traced the motion he’d made on the rock walls of the cave, trying to
imprint it on her mind the night before as she waited for him to return,
shivering as she tried not to think of what they’d done in that cave or the
strange conversation they’d had over the fire.
She jumped onto the hovercraft after checking the kekevir gate and
walked over to the controls.
A part of her still thought this was foolish—trying to learn to pilot an
alien hovercraft in an attempt to blindly navigate her way back to the Golden
City.
Actually, all parts of her thought this was foolish. But she suspected that
Jaxor had met with the Mevirax last night—that him trading her to them was
still a possibility.
The thought…stung. She didn’t think it would, but it did. She tried to
imagine her friends’ mates exchanging them for something—willingly giving
them up—and couldn’t. Lihvan, Beks’ mate, had almost given his life to fight
off a dangerous beast to keep her safe. Rixavox had knowingly performed a
blood bond with Cecelia when she’d been poisoned, even though losing her
would have killed him. Vikan had stolen Taylor from the Golden City,
risking his power and position, when he believed she would leave. And Kirov
had fought tooth and nail to win Lainey’s heart.
Yet, Jaxor was still in a negotiation with the Mevirax that Erin suspected
concerned her.
He hadn’t told them to go fuck themselves. He hadn’t claimed her as his.
He’d done everything in his power to keep her at a distance…because he
knew he would give her up?
Erin would have to save herself. She wasn’t relying on Jaxor. If Erin ever
wanted to see the Golden City again, her home, her family, her friends…then
she would have to act.
Sidling up to the control console, her fingertips hovered over the silver
pad. Then she traced the pattern she remembered in her mind—a looping
swirl that ended with a sharp slash to the right.
It was almost too easy when she heard the gentle whirring of the engine
starting up. Her heartbeat sped with adrenaline and she looked over her
shoulder, half expecting Jaxor to come barreling down the tunnel at any
moment, to drag her from the hovercraft, and lock her away in the cave.
But there was still no sign of him.
She tapped the pad and simultaneously pressed the clear button directly to
the left.
 The hovercraft rose. She knew it would. She’d seen Jaxor do it the night
before. She kept her finger on the button, kept her other finger on the silver
pad. And she continued to rise, so unlike the sharp hurtle that Jaxor had
performed.
Erin’s heartbeat was in her throat as panic began to rise. She was afraid of
heights and the floor of the cave was growing smaller and smaller, the hole in
the mountain above her widening and widening.
Then again, a little voice in her head was telling her to go. Fly away. It
would be so easy, wouldn’t it? Then she would never see Jaxor again. He
would never be able to trade her, her future would be in her own hands.
Just as she reached the mountain’s entrance, just as a chilling wind
whipped at her face, stinging her eyes, just as she saw the endless fog that
looked like pillows stretched out before her, she remembered last night.
Jaxor’s face flashed in her mind, firelight reflecting in his darkened eyes,
staring at her like…like he was seeing her for the first time.
She lost her nerve.
Her finger slipped off the button as fright replaced her sudden
recklessness. She dropped fast, back inside the mountain, and she barely held
back her shriek, diving for the clear block of a button, before the hovercraft’s
descent froze in mid-air, only a few feet from the cave floor.
With her blood roaring in her ears, she gently slid her finger down the pad
and the hovercraft came to a gentle landing. When she repeated the pattern on
the silver pad…the engine died.
Silence deafened her. Almost in a state of disbelief—she’d actually done
it—she jumped down from the hovercraft and walked back down the tunnel
on trembling knees.
Erin wasn’t so foolish as to not prepare for a long journey. She had
nothing but the tunic she’d stolen from Jaxor. She would need rations,
clothes, fuel, maybe even weapons.
She went to the fire, one that Jaxor must’ve made before he left that
morning. She stoked it, watching the embers glow. Adrenaline was making
her giddy and excited, but also focused.
Her crazy plan might work. She just had a few kinks to work out—well,
more than a few. And she needed to practice piloting the hovercraft more,
even though she dreaded the thought. It made a shiver run down her spine.
Jaxor returned a short while later and her greedy eyes drank him in as if
parched. She ignored the relief she felt when she saw him—that was a part of
her that she couldn’t turn off even if she tried.
Instead, she cleared her throat—and hopefully the longing with it—and
asked, “Where did you go?”
Inwardly, she cringed. She didn’t mean to sound like she was keeping
tabs on him, but it certainly came out that way.
His appearance gave her pause. She saw—with that same annoying relief
—that the kekevir wound looked like it was healing nicely. He’d taken out
her stitches himself sometime yesterday. And the mysterious cut on his
pectoral muscle had faded considerably. However, he looked tired. Drawn
around the eyes. She wondered if he’d slept at all last night.
“Is something wrong?” she asked softly.
He shook his head, dropping a sack next to the fire, though what it
contained remained a mystery. She assumed it was fuel or food or water
gourds.
“Nix,” he grunted. “I want to take you somewhere.”
Dread seeped into her. Did this have something to do with whoever he
met with last night?
“Where?” she asked slowly.
“There are hot springs,” he informed her. “Not that far, so we can go on
foot.”
Whatever she’d expected him to say, it hadn’t been that. Her excitement
at the prospect of a hot bath? Undeniable. But she didn’t trust him, despite
feeling comfortable with him last night. And his sudden suggestion made her
wary.
“I don’t believe you,” she put it simply.
His brow rose.
“I’m not stupid, Jaxor,” Erin said quietly.
“What are you speaking of?” he rasped, frowning. “I never said you were
‘stupid.’”
“I know you met with the Mevirax last night,” she said, watching him
carefully. She wasn’t certain, but when his lips pressed together…something
in her sunk. “And for some reason they want me. And you’re still talking
with them, which leads me to assume that you’re willing to give me to them.
For something you want, or something they have over you.”
Erin swallowed, looking down at her lap, unable to look him in the eye
quite at that moment. Because a part of her was frightened of what she might
see if she did.
 “If you’re going to give me to them, I can’t stop you. I know that. You’re
stronger, faster, and bigger than me. All I ask is that you don’t lie to my face
about it. If you’re planning to take me to them right now, then just say it.
Don’t give me a lie about some hot springs to try to make me more docile.”
Erin’s mind was racing and her chest was hurting. She was kicking
herself. Not that long ago, she was hovering over the mountaintop, staring
into the endless sea of fog. She’d had opportunity then. Now, she was at his
mercy. Again.
She should’ve been reckless and just gone. Jaxor would’ve come back to
an empty base.
“I am not lying to you, Erin,” he murmured, his voice almost…soft.
Gentle. It surprised her so much that she looked up at him. He seemed
embarrassed at her shock, a muscle around his jaw twitching. As if he wasn’t
used to being…kind, as if it was a vulnerability he’d rather not have. “There
are hot springs nearby. I wish to take you to them.”
“Why?” she whispered.
Jaxor blew out a breath, running a hand over his horn. He looked so tired.
So drained. Erin almost felt bad questioning him so much.
“Because I think you would enjoy them. Because I am tired of this,
rixella,” he told her, those blue eyes burning into her.
“Of fighting?” she asked, frowning. “With me?”
“Tev,” he rasped. “Against you. It is not natural, in the position we are in.
I am wondering what would happen if we just...give up.”
Her belly fluttered and she pressed her hand to it in surprise, as if it would
stop the uncomfortable sensation.
In the position we are in.
That position, of course, being fated mates. They were bound to one
another by magic or fate or dreams, or all three.
“Give up,” she repeated softly, wondering what he meant by that, or what
it would mean. Her mind raced with possibility. A part of her cautioned that
this was a trap.
The other part was intrigued at the prospect, breathless with butterflies.
Erin recalled with dizzying detail—though she’d been half-drunk on
Luxirian liquor—the way his mouth felt against hers. Clumsy at first, as if
he’d never been kissed before, then taking control with need and efficiency
and making her fingers curl into his shoulders. She remembered feeling
sympathy and understanding as he talked of his first love, of feeling her heart
speed when he asked her if she’d ever been in love.
“I am asking you to trust me,” Jaxor said. “Will you come?”
Jaxor had everything to gain. Erin had everything to lose.
So why was she tempted to do as he asked? To give in? When, just a
moment before, she wondered if he was betraying her by leading her into a
trap?
Madness.
And maybe Erin was stupid because she found herself saying, “Yes.”
 CHAPTER NINETEEN

“T his is what’s down here?” Erin asked, gazing around at the

strange landscape when they reached the bottom of the pulley
system. Outside the short stretch of cave, they were surrounded
by tall mountains on all sides.
A white fungus—or perhaps a type of plant—stretched along the base of
the mountains. Jaxor led her through a pass. The mountains were so high and
there wasn’t a clear view of what lay beyond or above. It was claustrophobic.
There was no life down here. Perhaps that was what made it so eerie. No
cries of the kekevir, no chittering little bugs. The whistling wind winding its
way through the pass was the only sound. And their footsteps.
Not for the first time, she wondered why Jaxor had chosen this place of
all places to settle on Luxiria. Surely there were nicer locations, places not
threatened by predatory beasts or plagued by torrential downpours. A place
not so…lonely. So empty. So void of life.
Erin watched him from the corner of her eye. For a moment, she was
struck with longing. Longing to reach out and touch him without fear.
Longing to speak with him openly, as they had last night by the fire—talking
about love and memory. Longing to know him.
Do I really have anything to lose by asking him what I want to know? she
questioned next.
Not particularly. He could either ignore her or answer her. Or lie to her.
“Do you miss the Golden City?” she decided to ask. She hadn’t seen
much of it during her time there, but the glimpses she’d had were beautiful.
“Tev.”
His answer surprised her. She hadn’t truly expected him to answer. But
he’d been different that day. Different since last night. Erin would give
anything for a glimpse inside his head.
“Do you think you’ll ever go back?”
“Not now,” he said, helping her over a boulder that blocked their path, his
hand lingering on her waist after he pulled her over. Erin looked up at him,
found his eyes on hers. “I can never go back now.”
“Because you took us?” Erin asked. “Would you get…punished?”
Jaxor let go of her waist and walked on, continuing down the pass. “Tev.”
Erin’s gaze went to the injury he’d come back with last night. He was still
bare-chested, despite the cold. He’d wrapped a blanket around her shoulders
before they departed the base, but the cold still wound up her legs. His only
protection was his thick hide pants and the travel sack he’d filled with furs,
soap granules, and spare clothes.
The mark on his chest was healing, but she could still make out the
swirling lines in the flesh.
“What is that?” she asked, risking the question.
“The mark of Oxandri, one of the Fates. The Fate of Sacrifice.”
Erin’s lips parted. She stopped walking, making him pause and face her,
and she asked, “Why are you answering all my questions now?”
The Fate of Sacrifice?
Why had he marked it on himself?
“I already told you,” he rasped, his brows furrowing. Erin blinked, her
eyes straying to his lips. A tendril of his freshly cut hair blew over his
forehead and Erin ached just looking at him. “I am tired of fighting.”
“So what does this mean?” she asked quietly, pulling the blanket tighter
around her shoulders. Her feet were freezing cold—her tender, healing cut
stinging—but she didn’t move. She was rooted in that place, held frozen by
his gaze.
“I…” he trailed off. His hand ran over one of his horns, the blue tattoos
adorning his arms gleaming in the low light. Not for the first time, she
wondered what the markings meant. “I do not know.”
The torment in his voice made her breath hitch. So, Jaxor had been
conflicted. About the trade?
Tentative hope began to rise, speeding her heart.
Was it possible he would return her to the Golden City? Was it possible
she wouldn’t have to risk her life trying to make it back there by herself?
Slowly, as if approaching a wild, untamed beast, she stepped towards
him. His eyes flickered, his back straightening at her nearness. Did he even
realize the things he did unconsciously when she was near?
Then again, maybe she did unconscious things when he was near, things
she didn’t even realize.
Reaching out, she traced the mark of Oxandri on his pectoral. The flesh
was healing, but the wound might be deep enough to scar. His skin was warm
and velvety smooth. Then her fingers went to his shoulder, where the tattoo
started, and she traced part of it.
Jaxor held still and though Erin’s eyes were on the mark, she felt his gaze
like a touch.
Finally, she let her hand drop. When she craned her head to look back at
him, she remembered the night they’d kissed—the night they’d done a lot
more than kiss—and she felt a shiver of anticipation run down her spine.
She stepped back and faced the pass again. Jaxor stood still a moment
more before she sensed him moving again, leading her down between the
mountains, cutting through a slim, jagged alleyway.
They were quiet the whole way. Erin guessed they walked another ten
minutes, going over rocks and boulders, and navigating the maze of the
mountains. Erin wondered how long it had taken him to learn it. She
wondered if he’d ever been lost.
Finally, they reached another cave entrance, though it seemed to lead
down, not through.
Erin was a little nervous as she watched Jaxor jumped down through the
hole first. But the drop was short and she could still see the tops of his horns
in the darkness.
He held out his arms for her and she slid down inside. He caught her
easily, his arms wrapping around the backs of her thighs before letting her
slide down his front. Her tunic rode up on the way down, their eyes locked
because he knew it too, and Erin’s brain felt a little muddled afterwards.
From the entrance, the hot springs weren’t far. The ceiling was low,
however, and Jaxor had to crouch, though Erin could stand. From his travel
sack, he drew a lantern and lit it easily. Warm, golden light illuminated the
cave and just feet away, there was a pool with steam curling from its surface.
It wasn’t as large as the bathing pools in the Golden City, but it looked deep.
For a moment, an image of an alien creature swimming up and snagging
her down to the depths made her swallow.
“There’s nothing in there, right?” she asked quietly. The surface was
black and inky, but it was nice and warm inside the cave. Humid. Her cold
feet were already beginning to thaw on the warm floor and the healing cut on
her sole gave a small throb in response.
“Nix,” he said. But he tilted his head to her and asked, “Would you like
me to check?”
“I have a fear of sharks,” she informed him, which seemed ridiculous to
say out loud, on an alien planet, after everything she’d experienced. “And
heights,” she added.
He paused. “Sharks?”
“They’re a type of creature on Earth,” she explained. “In the ocean. On
occasion, they attack people in the water.”
Erin would’ve laughed at herself, but Jaxor’s expression was serious. He
looked at the hot springs, then back at her. “There are no ‘sharks’ in there,
rixella. No creatures of any kind. It is too hot. And we are underneath the
mountain, so you have no reason to fear heights here.”
“Okay,” she whispered, feeling foolish despite Jaxor’s attempt to assuage
her fear. She dropped the blanket from her shoulders, then paused.
She hadn’t really given thought that she would bathe in front of him. Or
that they would bathe together. After all, she’d knowingly washed herself in
the waterfall the afternoon after they’d kissed. After he’d told her that it had
been a mistake…after he’d made her feel surprisingly rejected. A reckless
part of her had wanted him to eat his words, had wanted to test his restraint.
Yet, he hadn’t made any advances towards her since. Neither had she. So
it didn’t really matter if they bathed together, right? He’d already seen her
naked. Twice. The first time had been in the Golden City. He had kidnapped
her and Crystal while they’d been bathing, after all.
Erin had never been so liberal with her nudity before Jaxor. She’d rarely
shown much skin. Back on Earth, she taught second graders for a living. Her
wardrobe consisted mostly of midi-length dresses, cardigans, and blouses that
revealed only her collarbones. After work, her choice of clothing mostly
consisted of pajamas. On the rare occasions when she went out at night, her
most scandalous outfit was a black sheath dress that hit just above her knees
with a sweetheart neckline. Her friends had all lovingly teased her about her
grandmother-esque wardrobe, but Erin liked her clothes.
So Erin thought she’d be more shy about her nakedness around Jaxor, but
she found the opposite was the case. Parading around in nothing but tunics,
sans underwear, had certainly helped.
 “Will you go in first?” she asked.
The corner of his lips quirked. “Still do not believe me about sharks,
rixella?”
Was he teasing her?
Erin suppressed an amused smile before he could see it. “Well, if there
are none, then you don’t have anything to worry about.”
Erin’s mouth went dry when Jaxor loosened the tie around his waist and
stripped out of his pants. Her eyes swept over his firm ass, solid thighs, and
narrowed, sculpted waist, before dropping lower to his seemingly perpetually
hard cock.
Her fingers curled, as if imagining grabbing for it.
Jaxor walked forward and dropped into the hot springs. A groan of
pleasure escaped his throat and Erin’s breath hitched, her body throbbing
with that sound, remembering a similar one he’d made as he climaxed all
over her thighs.
“No sharks, female,” he rasped after a moment, those blue eyes piercing
into her. She couldn’t tell if he was teasing her again or not.
The lantern’s light wasn’t bright. It flickered off the cave walls like a
candle might, casting most of the space behind the pool into darkness. When
Jaxor dunked his head beneath the water and then resurfaced, he raked a hand
through his short hair, pushing it back, that golden light reflecting off the
water on his arms. The tattoos seemed to glow from it.
Erin’s heart was beating fast. A sound escaped her—it sounded
embarrassingly like a whimper. But why, oh why did he have to look the way
he did? It made everything so much harder.
Before she lost her nerve, Erin got close to the edge, sitting, dangling her
legs in the pool. Jaxor hovered close, looking up at her. She realized he
wouldn’t give her the luxury of looking away as she undressed. He wanted to
see her. He was going to see her.
A stray thought came to her. She wondered what he would do to her, right
then, if there was nothing lingering over them. No promises, no memory of
past actions, no expectations, no threats. If they were just two beings,
impossibly and insanely attracted to each other, promised to one another
through magic and something that felt a lot like destiny.
She wondered what she would do to him. Her blood was roaring and
pulsing hot with all the possibilities.
This felt like one of those moments in life…the point where something
would irrevocably change. For better or worse, but definitely permanently.
Something unchangeable.
Erin reached for the hem of the tunic she’d stolen from Jaxor, one of a
thicker material than the one she’d been wearing. She pulled it over her head
and let it drop.
Then she pushed off the edge, hot, steaming water greeting her,
blanketing her limbs, relaxing her muscles. Despite the heat, her nipples were
pebbled underneath the water.
The water was deep. She searched for the bottom, but found none.
“Come,” he murmured, that voice weaving through her body. “There is a
ledge so you can sit.”
He surprised her—again—by taking her hand away from where it was
clutched to the edge of the hot springs. He guided her over to a place at the
back of the pool, nearest the darkness that the lantern’s light couldn’t reach.
She thought of the kekevir, but Jaxor seemed to read her thoughts.
“They do not live in this mountain,” he soothed, bringing her to sit on a
little nook in the pool underneath the surface of the water. It was perfect for
sitting, for soaking. The water lapped at her collarbones. “My female fears
many things,” he noted softly, looking at her.
My female.
Her stomach clenched in longing and she sunk into the water until it came
up to her chin. Her face felt flushed, but at least she could pretend to blame it
on the heated water.
“Maybe with good reason,” she finally said. She determined he was tall
enough to stand at the bottom and it made her feel slightly better—that there
wasn’t this endless abyss beneath them. The water came up to the tops of his
shoulders. Erin found herself relaxing.
“I do not like the dark,” he confessed, reaching forward to rub a strand of
her hair between his fingertips, the action strangely intimate, but not out of
place. As if he’d done it a million times before.
What is happening? she wondered, blinking. He was willingly telling her
a fear, a vulnerability?
“It’s dark back here,” she whispered, feeling a little breathless. He’d
come closer. She was acutely aware of how naked they both were. How easy
it would be for him to reach out and widen her legs. How much she wanted to
feel him there, how she could almost imagine how his hips would feel
digging into her inner thighs.
 “I do not mind it so much right now,” was his reply. “Because you are
here.”
The water was a blessing because it hid the scent of her arousal, which
was becoming harder and harder to control around him. In her mind, she
struggled with processing it all. He’d kidnapped her, threatened her, and
wouldn’t tell her what he planned for next. But the warmth in her chest told
her she would still accept him. That she would love to touch him, that she
wanted to hear his laugh again, that she needed his eyes on her and she
needed to feel his touch.
When she put her mind and her soul together, when she tried to mix them
both and form her wants into something tangible and certain, she failed.
Because nothing made sense.
So which one did she listen to? Her mind or her soul?
His fingers brushed between her brows, smoothing out the lines that had
formed there. “What are you thinking of?” he murmured, coming even closer
still.
She took a deep breath. As if under some kind of trance, her honest
answer came easy, “I’m thinking that I want you. And I’m thinking that I
shouldn’t.”
A sound rumbled from his throat. One of agreement? As if his thoughts
mirrored her own.
“You told me it was a mistake,” she reminded him, feeling oddly
panicked but oddly calm. There, in that place, with the darkness at their
backs, whatever was going to happen next seemed inevitable. As if his Fates
had already written it and they were actors in a play, performing exactly what
they were meant to. “That it wouldn’t happen again. Just yesterday morning.”
His jaw ticked, as if he regretted his words.
He drew closer, or maybe she did. All Erin knew was that suddenly her
knees were brushing his thighs under the water. All she had to do was part
them. All he would have to do was tilt his hips slightly and he could make
both of them burn.
Something feral and dark entered his gaze. Something wild. She felt his
hands come around her waist, felt him pulling her closer and lifting her,
despite the fact that he’d just situated her on the little ledge.
Erin was in his arms now, holding her against him. His head bent. One of
his horns tangled in her hair when he ran the angled tip of his nose across her
neck, over the hickey he’d given her two nights ago, dragging his nose up
until his sharp exhale tickled the sensitive shell of her ear.
He was…scenting her?
She heard his swallow, felt his hands tighten around her waist.
When he inhaled, her lips parted, her eyes fluttered shut. The soft
whistling sound of it, knowing he was so close, feeling those strong arms
around her, made her head swirl, made a shiver tingle all the way up to her
scalp.
“Vellixa,” he groaned in his language. Erin didn’t know what the word
meant, but she heard the awe in his voice.
Tentatively, she clasped her arms around his shoulders. Her eyelids felt
heavy when she looked at him.
“Jaxor…” she trailed off, unsure of what she was going to say.
“Do you think I could deny you?” he rasped in her ear. “Do you think I
have the strength to? It has been mere spans since I first saw you and already,
I am weak.”
His head moved again. He shifted her higher in his arms.
Erin’s lips were parted from his words…but then a soft moan escaped
them when his lips found her breast.
Her nails dug into the back of his neck as his tongue flicked over her
exposed, hard nipple. The warmth of it, the texture of it was amazing. She’d
already known it was ridged from when they’d kissed, but feeling it on her
skin, on such a sensitive place, was divine.
A breathy sigh was pulled from her lungs as he sucked gently. She
wondered if she might come from this. That was how good it felt.
She tried to keep her head, tried to focus even as she held him in place, in
fear he would pull away.
Another one of my fears? she couldn’t help but question, adding it to the
rest.
“Inevitable,” she whispered, as he switched to her other breast, wetting it
with his tongue. He was almost lazily suckling her, as if this was just normal.
And perhaps it was normal between fated mates. This proprietorial,
possessive intimacy.
“Rebax?” he rasped against her flesh before sucking again.
“This was always going to happen,” she whispered, realization jolting
her, just now discovering the power of the bond, though Jaxor had hinted that
he’d felt it before. She felt insignificant in comparison to the inevitability.
She wondered if Jaxor felt the same way.
 He had told her he was tired of fighting against her. Was this what he
meant?
“Tev,” he murmured. His eyes met hers, even as his cheeks hollowed as
he sucked hard. “It was.”
 CHAPTER TWENTY

“W ait,” Erin gasped, gripping his horns and pulling him away
from her breast. “J-just wait.”
Jaxor groaned, the feel of her soft hands around his
horns traveling straight to his cock. Didn’t she know anything about Luxirian
males in this state? She may as well have been stroking him.
Then again, why would she know? Unless she’d had affairs with other
males during her time in the Golden City. The thought made his claws curl,
made hot jealousy rise in his chest, when the only thing he’d ever been
jealous of in his entire lifespan had been Vaxa’an.
“I need to think,” she rasped, blinking though her lids were heavy. Desire
was dizzying. It fogged the mind and dulled the limbs. Desire was dangerous,
but Jaxor felt it coiling in his belly and he wanted to give in to it. Just for a
little while. He was so tired of fighting it.
“About what?” he questioned, his head dipping again. He trailed his
mouth over her throat before his teeth nipped at her flesh. She moaned, the
sound breathless and desperate.
He wanted to put his mouth on hers again. Had thought of little else.
When his head pulled back, his eyes dropped to her lips. They were flushed
pink and looked soft.
“You’re…” she started, shaking her head. “You’re making it hard to
think.”
Jaxor grinned and he heard her breath hitch. Then he didn’t hesitate. He
slanted his head and kissed her, brushing his lips against hers the way she’d
done a couple nights ago.
Her hands went to his bare shoulders and squeezed. He felt the slide of
her peaked nipples across his chest and the feeling made him crazed. His
Instinct was pushing, pushing, further and further into the forefront of his
mind. Reason was becoming lost. All the reasons why this was a terrible idea
became faded.
If Jaxor mated her, he would never let her go. His deal would be forfeit
with the Mevirax. They would brand him a traitor. His opportunity to help his
people and to take revenge for the lives lost would be gone.
And yet, Jaxor was tempted.
So tempted.
Erin kissed him back, finally. Her hands delved into the hair she’d cut and
gripped him, angling her head so he could kiss her harder. It was a wild,
desperate thing, their teeth clashing together, more carnal than tender.
They might not like each other—they might fight more than anything—
but Jaxor had never doubted this. That she wanted him and he wanted her
with an intensity that seemed impossible.
“I need to taste you, rixella,” he murmured, pulling away, his lips feeling
stung and swollen. Hers were red. He may have nibbled on them in the midst
of it all, he couldn’t remember.
Her brows furrowed in confusion, but then she gasped when he lifted her
from the hot springs, settling her generous backside on the stone of the pool’s
edge. Her back was to the looming darkness.
“J-Jaxor?” she whispered, questioning.
Then he spread her thighs and understanding dawned in her gaze. She
looked down on him with a glowing gaze, the golden light from the lantern
reflecting in her eyes. He waited, wanting to see if she would push him away.
Jaxor looked up at her, her heaving breasts swollen, her lips bright red, and
her cunt…her perfect sex was on display, inches away, glistening and pink.
Erin said nothing. All she did was spread her thighs a little wider and lean
back on her elbows.
The beginnings of his seed pushed from his cock at the sight, at the
knowledge that his female was allowing him this luxury for the first time.
Jaxor wasted no time. He slung her legs over his shoulders, positioning
himself closer.
Then his head dipped. His tongue flicked out.
Erin’s stunned gasp quickly turned into a moan, reverberating around the
cave. Jaxor tightened his hands around her thighs, so much so that he was
afraid he’d cut her with his claws. His blood roared in his ears. She tasted
divine. Sweet and musky and perfect.
He groaned, lapping inside her cunt, deeper and deeper. The muscles in
her thighs squeezed and loosened. When he looked up at her, her eyes were
squeezed shut, her head tilted back, her plump, soft lips parted in a soundless
cry.
Jaxor felt on the verge of coming just looking at her. He wondered if he
would, without any physical stimulation at all.
Her inner walls were slick and wet, ready for him. With a growl, he
pulled his tongue from her and then lapped at her folds. She jerked when he
reached a small area, a tiny bundle of nerves.
“Good?” he rasped, flickering his gaze up at her.
“Yes,” she breathed. So he repeated the movement, licking at the spot.
Luxirian females didn’t have it, but his human female seemed to enjoy its
stimulation tremendously. “Oh!”
Jaxor’s horns were pressing into her belly, they were so stiff with his
arousal. He made a dark sound in his throat when her hand came to one,
guiding his head to that little spot, holding him there.
Vrax. Jaxor’s horns had always been particularly sensitive during
matings. He was helpless against her when she touched them in that way and
his tongue licked wildly at the spot that seemed to bring her the most
pleasure.
“What do you call this?” he murmured, raising his head briefly. Softly, he
placed his finger on it, mindful of his claws, and her hips bucked upwards,
her back arching.
“My clit,” she whispered, as if she didn’t trust her voice.
Jaxor made another sound in his throat. “And you like it when I lick you
here, rixella?”
Her eyes met his, her hand tightening on his horn, as if afraid he’d move
away. “Yes.”
“How much?”
“Very much.”
He grinned, his lips wet from her arousal. “Ask me.”
Her gaze narrowed, though he saw the way they lit with interest. “You
want me to beg?”
He trailed the calloused pad of his finger over her clit and her brows drew
together, pleasure erupting over her features just from that light touch.
Fascinating and arousing. Jaxor’s other hand delved beneath the water,
squeezing his cock tightly when he felt like he might come.
Erin saw the hasty movement. Her back seemed to arch a little more,
drawing Jaxor’s gaze to her breasts, to her brown-tinted hard nipples, and his
jaw clenched, wanting to draw them into his mouth once more.
“I would not be opposed to hearing you beg,” he finally said, his voice
deep and roughened.
“I won’t beg,” she whispered, a challenge in her gaze.
His nostrils flared. “Nix?” Stubborn female.
Her smile was languid. Jaxor swallowed hard. Already his mouth was
watering for more of her taste, but now there was a challenge between them,
one he’d foolishly issued.
“No,” she murmured. She laid back, off her elbow, keeping her hand on
his horn. “If you won’t make me come, I’ll have to do it myself.”
His pupils went wide with her words.
“Wicked rixella,” he rasped, though it almost sounded like a curse to his
ears. She kept him in place, poised between her thighs, but her fingers
replaced his on her clit. Slowly, she rubbed, circling the flesh as Jaxor’s
heartbeat thundered in his chest.
He would’ve grinned, showing his delight, but she held his eyes, as if
wondering whether he would break.
Unable to help himself, his hand moved over his cock. Erin’s eyes
flickered to the ripples the movement made in the water, to the way his
muscles flexed and shifted in his arm. A hint of a smile touched her lips—
was she as delighted in him as he was in her?—before they parted and a soft
moan escaped her.
His nostrils flared when her hand tightened on his horn, stroking over the
smooth, sensitive bone. Then her fingers moved, trailing over her folds,
before she inserted a finger into her sex.
“Vrax,” he bit out, his free hand gripping her thigh.
“You would make me come right now if it was your tongue and not my
finger,” she murmured, gaze half-lidded.
A frustrated groan escaped him, his Instinct pushing at him, urging him to
pleasure his female.
“Tev?”
“Yes.”
“All you have to do is ask.”
“All I have to do is beg, you mean,” she replied, shaking her head, a
shuddering sigh escaping her when she added another finger, stretching her
sex. Jaxor was so close, he saw the way her fingers came away slick before
she plunged them back in. He felt something he hadn’t felt over the past few
spans…that crazed, mind-numbing feeling. She’d kept him calm, hadn’t she?
But not right now. He felt it rising with his Instinct. “Maybe you should beg,
Jaxor.”
She pulled her fingers from her sex. They were glistening with her
arousal and Jaxor’s lips were around them before she had a chance to pull
them away.
He groaned when she gasped. He was right on the edge of orgasm. He
feared tasting her would send him over the edge before she found her own
pleasure.
Maybe he would give in, after all.
He shook his head, trying to clear some of the fog. That crazed feeling
was growing. A part of him worried that if it grew too much, he would leap
from the springs, turn her over, and fuck her like some wild beast. He would
only be calmed by her moans and cries echoing in the cave, from her cunt
squeezing him tight.
Vrax!
Her fingers, now slick from his tongue, went to her clit. He let out a
guttural, rough sound, his jaw clenching so hard he was surprised he didn’t
break bone and teeth.
His seed was rising in his shaft. He would shame himself because he
desired her so much.
With a soft groan, he batted away her hand, deciding to give in to her
because if he did not, he would lose his fucking mind.
Erin’s cry of pleasure, of victory, reverberated in his ears as he suckled on
her clit, tasting her heat and musk and need.
“Oh God,” she choked out before her hips bucked. In a wordless cry, her
back arched, her fist squeezed on his horns, and she began to orgasm on his
tongue.
It set into motion his own orgasm, blinding pricks of pleasure making his
cock spasm underneath the water. He roared into her flesh as she gasped
helplessly. Over and over again, he pumped his seed into the water. Even
when his varx were empty of it, his body still jerked.
His wicked, wicked rixella was descending from her own orgasm, little
shivers racking her.
 Jaxor’s forehead dropped to rest on her inner thigh, still scenting her
arousal. His chest heaved. He closed his eyes, wondering if he’d ever known
this kind of pleasure before her.
He feared he wouldn’t be able to live without it now.
Without her.
 CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

E rin blinked up at the dark ceiling of the cave, watching as the light
from the lantern danced across, producing interesting shadows and
patterns on the stone.
One of Jaxor’s stiffened horns was pressing into the soft flesh of her
belly. A stray thought came to her. That he could move the wrong way and
cut her deeply. It only served to remind her of how different they were.
She swallowed, knowing she should be frightened, but she couldn’t bring
herself to be.
He hadn’t moved from his position. She felt his breath fanning out along
her inner thigh and though she’d just had the orgasm of the century, she felt
her body impossibly readying for more.
Her friends had told her about this. This insatiable, driving need. A
couple nights back, when they’d been dry humping each other like teenagers,
that had only been like jiggling the handle of a door better kept locked.
Now?
It was like the floodgates had opened. Burst open, blowing that door off
the hinges. They hadn’t had sex, but anticipation was making her shiver.
What would it be like if he was inside her? Filling her, stretching her?
Feeling his seed inside?
What is wrong with me? she questioned, her face beginning to flush from
the thought.
The realization of what they’d just done was slowly rebooting her mind.
He’d been different that night. He’d been open to her, open to possibility. But
what did it mean?
Erin cleared her throat. Her hand was still wrapped around one of his
horns and she slowly released it.
Whenever Erin had done something stupid, or something out of her
control, her motto had always been: it happened…move on.
Only, Erin wasn’t so sure she wanted to move on. What if she let this play
out? What if she explored this with him?
Jaxor moved, slowly lifting his head to peer up at her. His eyes were so
dark they appeared black, his pupils blown wide.
Erin licked her bottom lip, tasting him there. “That was…”
Nice? Fantastic? Mind-blowing? Out of this world? Fucking life
changing?
Jaxor straightened and before she could blink, he lifted her from the edge
of the hot springs and maneuvered back into the steaming water.
Erin was surprised when he brought her against him, but slowly she
relaxed in his arms, holding onto his shoulders as her legs wrapped around
his waist. She felt his still hard cock pressing into her belly.
Surprised confusion made her brow furrow. “You didn’t come?”
His voice was gravelly and rough as he said, “I am surprised you ask me
this when I bellowed so loud, I am certain the kekevir heard it.”
Erin blushed. “Oh.”
But she was pleased—and perhaps more than a little turned on—with the
knowledge that he’d orgasmed hard. Just like she had.
“You are my temptress tonight,” he murmured, leading them to the other
side of the hot springs, where his travel sack was. He’s getting the soap, she
realized, watching as he took the vial out. They’d come there to bathe, after
all, not to fool around.
Temptress? she questioned silently, still liking it entirely too much when
he called her his.
“What do you mean?”
“Sometimes you are…steady. Calm. You look at me and I feel not so out
of control.” Her lips parted, surprised by his confession. “Other times, you
show me how uncontrolled you can be too.”
Erin swallowed, remembering crouching over him in his sleep, pressing
the knife to his throat. He didn’t say it in a way that made her feel
embarrassed. Rather, his tone told her it was acceptable to be that way. But
perhaps he recognized that same impulse in himself. Perhaps he understood.
“And then there are times when you test my control entirely. When you
tempt me beyond reason,” he murmured, his lips at the shell of her ear, softly
pressing the words there, though they made her shiver. “The image of you in
the waterfall, watching me as you bathed, will forever be imprinted on my
mind.”
His voice sounded like a groan and Erin gasped, feeling his words burn in
her belly.
“I had never thought it possible to envy water until that moment,” he
confessed.
Erin was dizzy with his confessions. She was so used to him putting a
wall up between them, so used to him not speaking about things like this.
Hell, she was so used to putting a wall up too. But now, when he was tearing
both of those walls down, it was both thrilling and terrifying.
“Tonight, you are that female—my temptress, teasing me beneath a
waterfall and forcing me to beg for her—but I wonder which I will have
tomorrow.”
“Maybe you’ll have all three,” she said.
He didn’t smile. He simply smoothed back her hair away from her face
and her heart went wild with that gentle, intimate touch.
“I welcome all three,” he told her.
Those words gave her a lump in her throat. Erin looked down at the vial
in his hands, watched as he unstoppered it and shook the black granules
loose.
“Back on Earth…” she started, not quite knowing how to say what she
wanted to tell him.
“Tev?” he murmured, lathering the soap in his hands while she held onto
his shoulders.
“My siblings, my friends, anyone that knows me would tell you I was
only one of those things. Definitely not two and certainly not all three.”
His eyes lifted to hers, pausing. “And which one would they say you
are?”
“You know already,” she said, because she was certain he did. “I have
never been called a temptress in my life. And the craziest thing I’ve ever
done was try surfing once, though you know I’m terrified of sharks.”
He probably wouldn’t understand what surfing was, but he caught her
meaning.
“What I’m trying to say is that I had a…a role,” she finally said,
struggling to find the right word. But sometimes that was what it had felt like.
A role. A part in a play. “I grew up trying to be responsible. Then when I
grew up, I had to be responsible because otherwise…”
She trailed off but she didn’t look away from him. Because otherwise, her
family truly would’ve been broken. She would have failed Jake and Ellora.
But now, Erin recognized that she was proud of them. Proud of the life she’d
been able to give them, though it hadn’t been perfect. Far from it.
Looking at Jaxor, she knew there was so much they didn’t know about
each other. So much they’d both kept secret. Erin was tempted to ask him
everything.
At the same time, she wasn’t such a complete fool as to believe that what
had just happened between them changed anything. It might change a little. It
might have chipped away at the barriers between them. But there was so
much that he still wasn’t telling her. And thinking about her short joyride in
the hovercraft just that afternoon, Erin still held onto her secrets too.
Would that change? Could it? More importantly, did she want it to?
Yes, that little voice whispered in her mind.
Jaxor surprised her by leaning forward in that moment. Surprised her
when he kissed her, softly, gently. Her fingers gripped his shoulders as she
returned his kiss, her chest aching.
She wanted to test their new boundaries, she realized. Pulling back, Erin’s
gaze darted between his eyes and she requested, “Tell me something you
don’t want me to know.”
Jaxor’s gaze flickered, as she guessed it might. Then he said, “I want you
more than I should.”
The corner of her lips tugged up. “I already know that.” To emphasize her
point, she squeezed her legs tighter around his waist, highlighting their
position. “Try again.”
Jaxor sighed, the sound whistling out of him. Finally, he said, “I have a
blood brother. He still resides in the Golden City.”
Erin’s brow furrowed. “Why wouldn’t you want me to know that?”
“Because…” he trailed off and then said, “Because most of my lifespan, I
have been envious of him. He is more intelligent than I. He is a better warrior
than I. He is loved more than I.”
His gaze found hers and Erin’s lips pressed together, her chest aching
more, when she saw the shame there. And now she realized why he didn’t
want her to know. Because it made him ashamed to envy his brother, to want
the things that he had.
Sympathy rose in her chest. Because she knew what it felt like.
 “Like what happened with Sarcalla?” Erin asked gently. His first love had
turned her back on him and tried to pursue Jaxor’s brother. That would cause
ripples between them, surely.
“Tev,” Jaxor said. “He was angry for me, angry at her for what happened,
but it did not stop me from feeling…cast aside. But there were many
moments like that when we were younger. He was one of the reasons why I
left the Golden City when I did. It became difficult to look him in the eye,
feeling the way I did. It was a cowardly thing to do, but I cannot change what
happened between us.”
His arms shifted and the water trickled off his forearms. When silence
stretched between them, he filled it by smoothing his lathered hands over her
body, washing her, as if they’d done this a million times before.
A distraction, perhaps, but Erin wouldn’t let him get away with it.
“Would you mend what happened between you if you could?”
He hesitated, but then he gave a slight incline of his head. “Tev. I would.”
“Then why don’t you?”
He ran one of his sudsy hands over his horn, something he did when he
was nervous or frustrated, she realized. One of his tells. “It is complicated.”
“It always is,” she said softly, though affection bloomed in her chest,
watching soap drip from his horn onto his cheek.
She’d never thought she would feel affection for someone as broody and
closed off as Jaxor, but perhaps that was just a type of armor for him. Perhaps
there were many, many sides to him, just like there were to her.
“I know what you feel,” she said softly, wiping away the soap.
His brow furrowed. “Rebax?”
“I have two younger siblings and sometimes I was very jealous of them,
though it’s a terrible thing to feel about those you love, isn’t it?”
She was tempted to look away, but she watched him steadily, despite her
fear and her need to retreat whenever she spoke of her family and every ugly
little crevice within it.
“I never knew my father, but my mother remarried when I was young.
And when I was five, she gave birth to Jake and Ellora. Twins. My brother
and sister,” she told him. “But their father was violent, just because he
wanted to be. He would abuse my mother.”
His claws pricked her when they curled. She sensed his muscles
bunching, as intertwined as they were. “Did he ever hurt you?”
“No, only her,” she said, swallowing. “He left us shortly after the twins
were born. And shortly after that, my mother began to…pull away from us.
She was depressed and liked her pills—any pills, really—a little too much. I
was six or seven when that began happening. She would sleep all day,
missing work. There would be no food in the cabinets because she’d
forgotten to go shopping or because she couldn’t afford it. All the while, the
twins were so young.”
“You were so young, rixella,” he rasped.
“Yes,” she whispered, conjuring a small, sad smile. “I just remember
them crying all the time. I remember hating them because they made so much
noise, all while loving them because they would smile up at me when they
weren’t crying.”
“Vrax,” he murmured, looking away from her momentarily, shaking his
head.
“I had to take care of them because my mother wasn’t doing enough for
all of us. Because their father wasn’t around. And that continued until I was
eighteen-years-old, the legal age of an adult where I lived. And then I fought
for custody of them in family court, which I think broke down my mother
even more.”
Painful memories. Erin could still feel the pain of watching her mother’s
face, of hearing the judge call her ‘unfit.’ Erin had wished for so long that she
could be detached from those feelings, but despite everything, Erin still loved
her, still cared for her.
“What I’m trying to say,” she continued, clearing her throat, “is that I
know what envy feels like. I gave up a lot raising them the best way I could. I
had to grow up too fast. I never got to be a child. I never got to play sports or
have after-school clubs or make friends I could hang out with on weekends. I
had to work two jobs in high school because we needed money. But I
watched them have those things as they grew older. And I’m not proud that
some days I felt a lot of bitterness because of that, because of those small
things I never had. But it never made me love them any less.”
He watched her quietly for long moments before saying, “And your
mother? What became of her?”
Erin sighed. “I’d been mending that relationship when I got abducted. She
wanted to be in our lives, but I told her she had to get help, stay clean, no
more pills…which she did. I was proud of her. And though it will never be
the sort of relationship I want, she was in our lives. She’s made a lot of
progress. I just hope that she’s continued to be there for the twins now that
I’m gone.”
Moonlight slanted into the overhead entrance to the cave, piercing and
silver. His skin flickered between a grayish-blue and a golden yellow as he
told her, “You should be proud of what you have done. It was unfair what
you endured, but you are strong because of it, rixella.”
Her throat felt tight with those words. She’d kept that story so close to her
that not even her friends there on Luxiria knew the whole truth of it, just bits
and pieces she’d mentioned over time that could be pieced together into a
fragmented picture.
Perhaps she’d been too closed off at times, she realized now. She didn’t
have the openness of Beks or Cecelia. She rarely wore her emotions on her
sleeve. She’d kept them close, guarded, and because of that, her friends saw
her much like her siblings probably did.
But Jaxor had already seen past that, to the darker parts of her, to facets of
her that she’d perhaps never realized she’d had. It was a relief. It was freeing.
“Thank you,” she said softly, sliding her arms around him.
And she might not trust him completely, but that night, she might have
lost a tiny piece of her heart to him nonetheless.
 CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

S omething had definitely changed between them, Erin knew. It was

apparent, that night, the following morning, the rest of the day.
For one, she’d woken in Jaxor’s arms. No longer did he sleep by
the mouth of the cave, but rather pressed up against her, tucking her between
the wall and his warm body.
It had made her a little shy at first, but considering what had happened the
night before, she realized that was the last thing she should be shy about. The
hot springs felt like a dream. She’d felt open and honest, maybe for the first
time in a long time. And she’d revealed things to Jaxor that not even her best
friends back on Earth knew.
She’d laid still in his arms, feeling his even breaths rustle her hair,
memorizing the scent and warmth of him. Erin felt like they were on
borrowed time. She believed that there was no future for them there, but she
couldn’t help but lie still and pretend that there was. Pretend that they loved
each other, pretend that she had no responsibilities back on Earth, pretend
that there were no Mevirax, pretend that they could be happy right there,
forever.
It was a wonderful little daydream, if only for a moment.
Erin had slipped from his arms before he woke and went down to the base
level.
It was there that he found her when he rose, huddled into furs, next to a
pitiful fire she’d tried to make. He crouched by it, watching the flames, still
bare-chested from the night before while she shivered in the cold morning air.
“I tried,” she said, remembering too vividly the look in his eyes as he
licked between her thighs. The memory made her cheeks burn, made her feel
a little less chilly.
His nostrils flared, perhaps scenting her arousal, though his eyes were still
on the fire.
“Cold?” he asked, his voice still husky and rough from sleep. His gaze
rose to her. His hair was wild, curling up around his horns, and she ached just
looking at him.
“Yes,” she admitted.
“Let me warm you, then,” he said, sliding over to her, loosening the furs
from her shoulders and spreading them across the smooth stone floor of the
crater behind her.
“Jaxor? What are you—”
But then a shocked gasp escaped her when realization set in. He laid her
back, inched up the tunic she’d stolen from him, until her sex was bared.
Then his mouth was on her and all she felt was heat exploding across her
sensitive flesh.
“Ohh,” she moaned, blinking in disbelief up at the dark fog bank
overhead, which blotted out any sun, and cast his skin in silver.
Her last coherent thought, even as he lapped at her clit and licked her
arousal away, was that she could get used to mornings like that.

MUCH, much later, Jaxor fed her something called obiraxi. Her body was
still humming from the two orgasms he’d pulled from her, but she was
decidedly less cold. When he looked at her, her mind felt a little muddled, but
she tried to focus as he demonstrated how to cut the dark grey skin of what
she assumed was a type of fruit, based on how he’d described it to her.
Erin was distracted because Jaxor hadn’t orgasmed with her. When she’d
reached for his cock, straining from the waistband of the loose pants he was
wearing that morning, wanting to return the favor, he’d taken her hand and
pressed his lips to it instead. Then he asked her if she was hungry.
“You did not enjoy the kekevir meat,” he said softly, sitting close enough
that their thighs were pressed together and all Erin had to do was look over
and see the head of his cock pushing up.
She bit her lip, raking a hand through her clean hair.
“Was it that obvious?” she asked, a little embarrassed he’d noticed. She
didn’t want to seem ungrateful for the food.
He’d fed her kekevir the night he’d ‘culled’ them. It seemed like so long
ago, but it had only been a handful of days since then. The meat had a gamey
flavor. It was hard to chew, though Jaxor had seemingly had no issue with his
sharper teeth.
“Do humans not eat a lot of meat?” he asked, handing her a section of the
grey fruit that didn’t look particularly appetizing. The flesh looked soft and
mushy and there were little white seeds dotted throughout.
“I eat meat,” she told him. “But our meat tastes a little different. I like the
jerky you gave me before.”
He licked his fingers when she plucked the fruit from them, cleaning the
juices away, and her breath hitched at the sight, remembering him doing
much the same last night, though it had been her fingers he’d licked and her
juices.
It seemed she had a one-track mind lately.
Forcing herself to look away, she popped the piece of fruit onto her
tongue. Delicious flavor burst in her mouth. Despite the strange texture, it
was heavenly. It had the sweetness of a pineapple, the tang of an orange, and
something indescribable, something that was completely alien to her, and
something she knew she would never find on Earth.
“Good?” he asked, his lips quirking when he saw her expression. Her
eyes were wide with pleasure when she met his gaze. There was a soft look
on his face, one of affection, she realized.
“Very good,” she told him, smiling once she swallowed. “Can I have
more?”
“Tev,” he murmured. “I have three here. I will get more for you later
today. They grow nearer to the Lopitax Sea.”
A sea was near there?
“Can I come?” she asked, wanting to see it. She lived in the San
Francisco Bay Area, but hardly had time to go to the beach. Even though the
beaches there tended to be dreary and cold, she still loved the smell of the
saltwater and loved watching the waves and hearing the hiss of them as they
slid over the sandy shore.
He darted a curious gaze over to her. “You wish to?”
“Yes,” she said, wondering if they would use the hovercraft to fly there
and feeling strangely guilty for the thought. So much so that she had to look
down at her sticky fingers resting in her lap.
 He inclined his head. “Then tev, I will take you.”
He handed her another section of the cut fruit and after she devoured the
whole thing, he watched patiently as she cut the next one for herself, piercing
the hard, shell-like skin, revealing the contents beneath.
After they both finished the last of the obiraxi, they started for the
hovercraft. Erin found herself still studying the way his fingers traced over
the silver pad, starting up the quiet hum of whatever powered it, though she
had already memorized the gesture. Though she was standing near him at the
console, keeping the furs he’d given her around her shoulders, she still
watched and studied. Though they had been intimate, though they had shared
things with one another last night in the quiet of the hot springs, Erin still
catalogued every movement he made as he piloted the hovercraft.
“What is wrong?” he asked over the gentle whistling of the wind. They
weren’t flying fast through the fog bank over his base. It was a slow, gentle
pace.
She stepped closer to him, further away from the side of the hovercraft.
She hoped he hadn’t noticed her interest in the controls. Instead, she said,
“I’m afraid of heights, remember?”
“Ah,” he murmured, tucking her close to his side, his arm bracketing
around her, and Erin’s eyes slid away from the controls, a feeling of warmth
taking the place of guilt. “I had been wondering.”
“About what?”
“The first night I brought you here,” he mentioned. “You were angry with
me when I descended into the tunnel. Now I know that it frightened you. I
descended too quickly and you thought we were falling.”
Erin tilted her head back to look at him. Their position was similar to the
one they’d had in the sandcraft after he’d taken them from the Golden City.
After her and Crystal’s first escape attempt, he’d forced her to stay in front of
him so she wouldn’t make trouble, so she couldn’t escape. It just now
occurred to her that he’d let Crystal stay at the back of the sandcraft. He’d
only wanted her close.
“Yes,” she said, a little embarrassed thinking about her overreaction that
night. Truthfully, her overreaction stemmed from an outpouring of
frustration, of the events leading up to that moment, but she kept those quiet.
“I wasn’t prepared.”
“I am sorry, rixella,” he said, his tone sounding a bit unsure, awkward
even. As if he wasn’t used to apologizing. And Erin realized that he wasn’t.
He’d lived alone all these years. “You should know I am sorry.”
His tone implied he was sorry about a hell of a lot more.
Erin believed that. She swallowed, looking forward. The fog bank was
beginning to clear, though it was difficult to make out the landscape beyond
that. “I know, Jaxor.”
She thought of him being alone out here, thinking how restless and sad
that made her, especially now that she knew he had a blood brother in the
Golden City, one he wanted to make amends with.
Before, when she believed him cold and detached and mean, she could
see him living this life of isolation. But now, she wasn’t so sure. He was a
healthy male in his prime. Didn’t he want companionship? A family of his
own? Children?
Because Erin wanted those things. She’d always known that she wanted a
family. She wanted a career, true, she wanted to be self-reliant and
independent, given her past. But she’d also aspired to be a wife, a mother.
But did Jaxor want those things too? Even then, if there were children, what
kind of life could this be, living so alone in the wild lands of Luxiria?
Erin was stunned by the direction of her own thoughts. Children? With
Jaxor?
Shaking her head, she ignored it, knowing it was dangerous territory.
Territory that was impossible to reach, frankly.
The landscape was just now coming into view and the engine flared to
life. Wind rushed through her hair as Jaxor picked up speed now that they
were clear of the fog bank. Her head swiveled, but all she saw was empty
land, stretches of mountains, and beyond them, to the north, a hint of
glittering water. But she saw nothing else. No outposts, no signs of life. Just
them.
“Don’t you ever get lonely here?”
His arms tightened slightly around her. But then, because something had
changed between them, he said, “Tev, often.” Her heartbeat fluttered
pathetically at that. “When it becomes too much, I go to the outposts for a
few spans. To trade, to drink and eat, and to…”
He trailed off suddenly, curiously, and Erin looked up at him again. “To
what?”
But the look on his face made Erin suddenly realize what he was about to
say. To have sex. To mate.
“Oh,” she murmured, whipping forward again. “Right.”
 Of course he would. It was only natural and Erin knew that he would
have his pick of partners. Yet, they hadn’t talked about this. How many past
partners they’d had.
What Erin hadn’t expected was this overwhelming feeling of jealousy.
She’d never quite felt anything like it. A little ball of flames that seemed to
grow the longer she imagined how many Luxirian females had known him in
that way, how many females had stroked his skin and dug their fingernails
into his back and felt him sliding between their thighs.
There was a long, awkward stretch of silence.
“Rixella, I—”
“You don’t have to explain,” she hurriedly cut him off. “Of course, you
don’t. I understand.”
What disturbed her the most was that she had no right to feel jealous.
Absolutely none. Because while they’d both acknowledged what they were to
one another, there were no promises made. They both knew what this was.
Temporary. And what had happened last night was only a perk during their
limited time together, wasn’t it? A way to relieve frustration and loneliness?
So why did Erin feel so empty trying to diminish their connection?
Her breath hitched when his clawed hand wrapped around her throat and
turned her face to meet his eyes. Erin’s lips parted, her pupils dilated, the
action strangely hot and possessive and primal, though a bit high-handed.
Her clit pulsed, looking up at him. She knew he’d be able to feel the way
her heartbeat thudded beneath his fingertips.
“Jealous?” he asked, his eyes narrowing, searching for something in her
gaze. He wasn’t taunting her, only curious.
Her lips pressed together. The question sparked something rebellious
inside her. Jaxor had called it her uncontrollable side, hadn’t he? The side
that liked to fight with him. On purpose.
“Wouldn’t you be?” she challenged. “Imagining countless faces of males
I’ve been with and—”
He growled and then silenced her with a kiss. Relief exploded inside her,
but Erin wasn’t even sure why she was relieved. About what?
She didn’t know how long he kissed her—how had he grown so good at
it, in such a short amount of time?—but when he pulled back, her eyes were
unfocused and her limbs felt loose. All the fight had gone out of her and he
searched her gaze, as if looking for more, and seemed satisfied when he
finally released her throat.
 Erin blinked, coming back to reality. “Did you…” she licked her lips,
tasting him there. “Did you seriously just kiss me into submission?”
“Tev,” he rasped. “It worked, did it not?”
A sharp intake of breath whistled through her nostrils and she was just
about to turn to give him a piece of her mind when he laughed. The sound
was husky and warm. Erin’s insides felt like melted butter just listening to it.
So she let it slide. She faced forward so that he wouldn’t see the way her
lips quirked up, so he wouldn’t see her little smile and her pleasure at
listening to his rare laugh. She couldn’t be mad at him when he laughed.
Erin liked him, she realized. She liked him prickly and she liked him like
this. And that was a dangerous realization. Because it meant she would miss
him and she’d planned to leave Luxiria with her heart intact.
“You can kiss me into submission if you so desire, rixella,” he rasped in
her ear, his lips caressing the shell of it, making her shiver. “I welcome it.”
Erin swallowed, the sound audible. “Duly noted.”
“Are you angry with me?” he murmured, now trailing his lips over her
ear. Down and up, down and up. Her breathing went a little heavy and she
shifted to squeeze her thighs together.
Erin tried desperately to summon her anger, but couldn’t. Not when he
was pressed behind her, not when he was taking her to see the sea and pick
the fruits that she really, really liked. Not when he’d given her two amazing
orgasms that morning and the memory of his laugh was still ringing in her
ears.
“No,” she whispered, her head tilting to the side as his lips trailed down
her neck. Yes, she decided, he’d probably had many, many female
companions in his lifetime. Because he was practiced in seduction and she
didn’t know whether it made her burn with further jealousy or rejoice that he
was unleashing his finely honed skills on her.
Her eyelids fluttered shut when his mouth pressed kisses along the
column of her throat, and she gasped, her nipples tingling, when he lightly bit
down. Hard enough to leave a mark? That dark side of her, the one she’d
tried so hard to repress, hoped so.
Maybe we really are perfect for each other, Erin mused suddenly.
“We are here,” he murmured and she felt the vibration of the words
against her back.
Her eyes flew open and she gasped, taking in the beauty of the landscape
before her. That glimmering hint of water in the distance had turned into an
expansive sea.
“The Lopitax Sea,” he said.
 CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“I want to know about the Mevirax,” Erin requested softly, looking

out over the sea, perched next to him at the peak of a sand dune
they’d climbed.
Jaxor was leaning back on his hands, his belly full from the obiraxi,
which they’d gorged themselves on that morning and even into the afternoon.
Their thighs were pressed together and his female was sitting close.
Jaxor had never felt more at ease, but then her question made his chest
jolt.
Erin watched him carefully. She was her steady self right then, quiet but
expecting him to answer her, knowing that he would. He hadn’t denied her an
answer in the past couple spans.
“About their history?” he hedged.
Her lips quirked and she nodded her head. “About their history…and
about yours with them. Because I sense there is a story there and much you
haven’t told me.”
Jaxor’s heartbeat sped in his chest, wondering if he should lie to her. He
believed that if the Mevirax appeared right then to demand he give them
Erin…he wouldn’t. He would fight for her. He would fight to keep her.
And yet…he hadn’t consummated their bond, had he? Because he knew
that if he mated her fully, he would never let her go.
So had he made a decision?
Jaxor hated it, but he hadn’t.
He could be selfish and claim her as his. But he’d been selfish ten
rotations ago in turning his back on his brother and his people, and he didn’t
know if he could bear it again. For once, he was trying to be selfless.
 Only, it would cost Erin just as much as it would cost him, if not more.
Would two sacrifices be enough? For the future of the Luxirian race? Is
that what Oxandri would demand?
It was late afternoon. The suns had arched across the sky and were just
beginning to descend. It had been a perfect span. Relaxing. Jaxor had kissed
his rixella when he felt like it, touched her when he felt like it, and the
strange, foreign feeling of happiness had stayed with him, as long as he was
next to her.
Yet, Jaxor still thought to betray her.
“About fifty rotations ago, a male named Likar organized a rebellion in
the Golden City. The Prime Leader at the time, the current Prime Leader’s
sire,” his own sire, “fought back. Crushed it before it could take root, though
many lives were lost. The surviving males and females, Likar included, were
banished from the Golden City and the outposts, defeated, and so they were
forced to travel across the Black Desert and start anew in the wild lands.
They made their home in the Caves of the Pevrallix, rumored to be a favored
place of Oxandri, the Fate of Sacrifice.”
He watched Erin’s gaze drop to his pectoral, where the mark Laccara had
given him still remained, though it had mostly healed. He’d told his rixella it
was the mark of Oxandri and she’d remembered.
“Why did they rebel in the first place?”
“Luxirians were not always so…civil,” he told her. “We are a warrior
race, built and bred for violence and war. Many believe that our destiny is to
conquer, to become one of the greatest powers in the universe. For a long
time, we were not so different from the Jetutians, seeking battle where we
could find it for the sole purpose of victory. But three hundred rotations ago,
our ways began to change, minds began to change. Most began to pray to the
Fate of Prosperity, not the Fate of War or the Fate of Sacrifice. And now,
many Luxirians only want to use our power to promote peace in the
universe.”
“And which Fate do you pray to?” she asked. He knew what she assumed.
That he was among those who still sought bloodshed, given Oxandri’s mark
in his flesh.
“I have not prayed to the Fates in a long while,” he confessed, turning to
look across the Lopitax Sea. “But when I did, I prayed to Kollasor. As my
mother did.”
“And which Fate is Kollasor?” she asked quietly.
 His eyes burned into hers as he murmured, “The Fate of Rebirth.”
Something flickered in her eyes. Relief?
“So the Mevirax rebelled because they wanted to return to the old ways?
They wanted to conquer, to extend their power across the universe, because
they were not satisfied with peace?”
Jaxor inclined his head. “You must understand that there has been a long
history between the two sides. The modern and the old ways. The rebellion
was always going to happen. Many had happened before, even, but Likar
proved to be a capable and strong leader. He was determined and driven to
create a people who could prosper without the aid of the Golden City. And he
did.”
“How many of them are there?” she asked quietly.
“Hundreds now,” he said, inhaling a long breath.
Erin hesitated, but he knew what she would ask next. “And do you
consider yourself one of them?”
His hands dug into the black sand behind him, the grit digging into his
palms.
“Once,” he confessed. “I sought them out when I left the Golden City. I
wanted revenge against the Jetutians, as many did. That hatred fueled me for
a long time and I knew that the Mevirax would understand that need for
violence.”
Erin touched his arm. Just one simple touch. As he spoke, he hadn’t
realized the way his muscles had bunched tight, but she helped relax him.
“But I realized my mistake, perhaps too late,” he told her, not looking at
her. “They were not what I believed they were. Likar had created a place for
his people, tev, but they had descended into rage. They were unpredictable.
They had no weapons, or technology, no means of transportation or space
flight. Nothing. Without those things, war—revenge—was impossible.”
But they had those things now. And it was perhaps Jaxor’s own fault,
though he hated to admit it. It had been a harmless, frustrated remark, made
in the presence of Tavar about three rotations into his leadership. War with
the Jetutians had always been the common ground between him and the
Mevirax, though they’d had no means of bringing the Jetutians there.
Jaxor had thought that in luring the Jetutians to Luxiria, perhaps the
Golden City—and his brother—would finally realize the threat they posed,
entering their atmosphere at will. Perhaps then, his brother would declare war
and use their vast resources to take their revenge.
 The comment Jaxor had made while he’d been in talks with Tavar had
been just that…why not lure the Jetutians here instead of trying to acquire a
spaceship to meet them on their own planet?
Unbeknownst to Jaxor, Tavar had begun to think of how to do just that.
And his answer had been the one thing Luxiria was known for, a resource
prized across the universe.
Luxirian crystals.
The Caves of the Pevrallix were riddled with them.
“The leader of the Mevirax now is a male named Tavar,” he told Erin.
“The youngest son of Likar. It was under his guidance that the Mevirax were
able to contact the Jetutians, to gain access to technology and weapons.”
“How?” she asked quietly.
“There are those even in the Golden City that are sympathetic to the
Mevirax’s beliefs. Even in the command center. One such male there was
able to contact the Jetutians with the promise of Luxirian crystals and allow
their vessel to enter our atmosphere undetected while Tavar met with them on
the surface.”
Realization was spreading across her face. But then she looked down in
her lap and said, “And were those the crystals that allowed them and the
Krevorags to travel to Earth?”
Dread churned in his belly, but he didn’t want to lie to her. “Tev.”
“I see,” she whispered, raking a hand through her hair, blowing out a
small breath. “Tell me what happened next.”
This was where he needed to tread carefully. He hated that he needed to,
but too much was at stake.
“I left the Mevirax five rotations ago. Most held radical and dangerous
beliefs, Tavar most of all. So I left. I journeyed from the Cave of the
Pevrallix and made my way here. I settled here, building my home slowly
over the rotations. I trade with outposts, I scavenge for spare parts, I make
traps…I survive.”
“It’s a hard way of life,” she noted. “A choice not many would make if
there were other options.”
His lips pressed together. He could have lived at one of the outposts, but
the Ambassadors would not have welcomed him, given their relationship
with his blood brother. Even now, he snuck in and out, keeping a low profile.
Most had forgotten his face over time, had forgotten the spare heir to the
throne of Luxiria. His only real danger would have been if he’d come face-to-
face with any of the Ambassadors—Lihvan, Rixavox, Vikan, Kirov, Cruxan
—males he’d known well during warrior training.
“But even being out here, being away from them, you still meet with the
Mevirax. You still communicate with them,” she continued.
Jaxor blew out a breath, knowing he would have to lie to her. Hating the
churning in his gut at the thought of it.
“I meet with them to try to get information,” he said. A partial lie, then. A
half-truth. “Because if I truly believe that they are close to endangering the
whole of Luxiria, I will return to the Golden City myself and tell the Prime
Leader. But for now, they are no great threat.”
She seemed to buy his answer, which only made the guilt so much worse.
It was unnatural to lie to a mate. To keep things hidden. His Instinct was
punishing him enough for it, the way it prowled in his chest and beat at his
mind.
“And us? Were you planning to trade Crystal and me to them?”
She was looking at him, straight in the eye. She would believe him,
whatever he told her. He could see her desire to trust him, and that nearly
broke him down completely, nearly made him want to confess all so they
could begin anew. Would she even want that?
“At first,” he found himself saying. Another half-truth? “They knew of
your presence in the Golden City. They had planned to ransom you to the
Prime Leader in exchange for technology they did not yet possess. That was
all.”
Her lips parted. He hated the dawning of understanding that entered her
gaze. Jaxor had never hated himself more than in that moment, a terrible,
horrific feeling when just moments before, he believed he’d never been
happier.
Wrong, wrong, wrong, his mind screamed.
Just like he was. Wrong in the head and wrong in the heart.
“And what was in it for you?”
“I had worked so long to gain their trust. They asked this of me, as a test.
They needed to believe I was loyal to them, or else I would not have been
privy to their plans.”
“You were a spy,” she said, tilting her head to the side.
Jaxor couldn’t look her in the eye. “It was what they asked of me,” he
finally said, feeling the lies growing and growing in his mind.
A part of him couldn’t help but wonder if, when his rixella found out the
truth—because eventually she would—she would ever be able to look at him
again.
“But you didn’t go through with it,” she said, hope tinging her tone.
He swallowed. “Nix.”
“When they came that night in the forest, you kept me hidden from
them.”
The guilt was making it difficult to breathe. He didn’t say anything. For
all his faults, that night, he wouldn’t have been able to hand her over. Not
when so much had changed, not when so much was uncertain.
Perhaps he did need to start praying to Kollasor again. Because after this,
he might not have a soul left.
Erin sighed when he didn’t answer. She surprised him by brushing back a
strand of hair that fell across his forehead. When he could finally meet her
gaze, she was looking at him with understanding and he wished she would
look at him with disgust. After finding out about the Luxirian crystals
especially, she should never want to touch him again.
“Thank you for telling me,” she said softly.
And slowly, as if he would be spooked by the movement, she leaned
forward to kiss him.
Though she was sweet like the obiraxi, all Jaxor could taste was the
bitterness of his lies.
 CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

L ater that night, after they’d both eaten their fill of obiraxi and jerky
and the crunchy tubers that Jaxor grew in his base, they retreated to
the small cave. Jaxor had fixed the door after pulling it off its hinges,
keeping out most of the cold once he secured it tight.
The single lantern flickered softly as Erin crawled into Jaxor’s lap and
straddled his thighs.
He’d been quiet the rest of the day, after telling her about the Mevirax and
his involvement with them. She’d sensed the truth in his voice. Her gut told
her that he spoke the truth, that perhaps, this was his way of mending things
with her. For the first time, Erin wondered if there really was something to be
explored with him.
Of course, there were so many other things to consider. But that night,
she just wanted to be present with him and not worry about what would
come.
Sitting in his lap, she tugged her tunic over her head. It was dark enough
in the cave that she didn’t feel an overwhelming sense of self-consciousness
about her body, which she was aware was very different than Luxirian
females. But heat flared in Jaxor’s eyes, telling her everything she needed to
know.
That he desired her greatly, that he wanted her just as much as she wanted
him. Things had changed between them so rapidly. The past couple days had
felt like weeks together. She wondered what the next couple days would
bring, the feelings that would he would stir.
Jaxor didn’t touch her though. He remained still—though she felt his
cock straining in his loincloth, which she realized he mostly wore at night—
and simply gazed at her bared body, at her breasts, her waist, the flare of her
hips, her sex.
“You haven’t had any release today,” she murmured, leaning forward to
drag her lips across his granite jaw. She heard his deep swallow, felt the way
his muscles tightened. She smiled. He’d called her a temptress last night and
for the first time, she actually felt like one. “Don’t you ache?”
He’d brought her to two orgasms that morning, but he’d denied himself
entirely. She wondered why.
When she reached down, he bit out a quiet curse as her hand wrapped
around his straining cock. His hand came to hers, his eyes a little wild.
Her lips parted, swallowing when she realized how hard he was. Heat was
pouring from him and when she looked down at the tip, pre-cum shimmered
there, leaking down the sides.
“You have been aching,” she whispered, raising her eyes. She almost felt
ashamed that he’d been like this without her knowledge.
Even though his hips jerked when she tightened her grip, he attempted to
pull her hand away.
“Rixella, I do not think we should—” Erin stroked down and up quickly,
making him hiss in pleasure. “Vrax!”
He was sensitive. He needed to come, that much was obvious. It turned
her on just thinking about pleasuring him.
Erin smiled, her nipples tingling, her belly fluttering with anticipation.
Slowly, she stroked his cock, up and down, tightening her grip around the
head and at the very base. The knobs and ridges that lined the top and bottom
of his shaft felt good across her palm. She could only imagine how exquisite
they would feel inside her.
He shook his head, again trying to pull her hand away. “Rixella, you do
not need to do this.”
“I want to,” she corrected. “Do you want to feel how much?”
Jaxor said something in Luxirian, looking down between their bodies as
she slid her sex against his cock. The heat made her moan, made her pussy
clench with want and need as she left a trail of her arousal on his cock.
His expression was one of desperate disbelief when he met her eyes. He
wanted this, but for some reason, he was trying to dissuade her.
“Let me make you come first, luxiva,” he said, his tone hurried and
pleading.
Erin stilled. He’d called her luxiva. And this time, it wasn’t in mockery.
He’d called her fated mate in his language, and he’d meant it.
Did he even realize?
“No,” she whispered, pressing her lips to his, softly stroking his tongue
with her own, making him groan into her mouth. “This time, I get to make
you come first.”
When she pulled back, his head fell back, resting on the stone wall of the
cave, the column of his neck exposed, the strong line of his jaw even more
prominent. His eyes were hooded in defeat and his abdomen clenched
violently when she gave him another long, hard stroke.
“Yes?” she whispered.
His eyes closed for a brief moment. For some reason, Erin thought she
caught a flash of guilt on his face, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared,
making her think she’d imagined it.
“Tev,” he rasped.
She grinned in triumph as his hands finally came to her. One curled
around her hip, the other toyed with one of her nipples, making her bite her
bottom lip.
When the stimulation became too much, too soon, she quickly slipped off
his lap and knelt between his legs, which she moved until they bracketed
around her.
His eyes were burning into her, his pupils blown wide again, dilated. She
threw her hair to one side, over her shoulder, and then leaned down.
Jaxor hissed when she ran her lips over his shaft, his thighs tensing
around her.
She grinned. “Sensitive?” she asked, quirking a brow.
“Wicked rixella,” he murmured, though he said it like a curse.
“Yes, I am,” she whispered. And then she opened her lips and drew the
head of his cock inside, sucking softly.
His bellow echoed in the cave, his hips hitching ever so slightly, though
at the last moment, he stopped himself.
Erin moaned around him, her clit throbbing, arousal beginning to coat her
inner thighs, and the vibration made him hiss.
This was fun. Watching such a powerful male lose control, knowing she
was the cause. She tried to widen her jaw, to take as much of his cock into
her mouth as she could, but he was big. Her jaw was already aching with his
sheer size, but she wouldn’t let that deter her.
Her cheeks hollowed as she continued to suck, bobbing her head over his
hot, thick length.
Luxirian words she didn’t know poured from him. His eyes closed when
she suckled on his sensitive head, lapping at the pre-cum there, before they
opened immediately, as if he needed to witness every moment of what she
was doing to him. That action alone made her feel confident and sexy and
desired.
It didn’t take much. Jaxor had seemingly been on edge all day, ever since
that morning. Before long, a wildness entered his gaze, his throat bobbing,
his jaw gritting.
She licked a line up the side of his cock, her eyes shining with desire that
sizzled through her entire body. She was soaked and aching too. “Are you
going to come now?”
“Tev,” he grunted. “You make me crazed, rixella.”
She squeezed her thighs together and sucked on his head, wrapping one
of her fists around his base and stroking quickly.
“Ahh,” he bellowed, dragging deep lungfuls of air into his lungs. “Vrax,
luxiva, I am—”
His body bucked, his muscles seeming to grow in size. She felt the way
his cock grew, swelling between her lips, before hot lashes of his come began
to pump inside her mouth.
A surprised noise came from her, her pussy fluttering helplessly, as he
filled her. His expression was one of ecstasy, though his eyes were dark and
promised revenge. Eventually, she had to pull away and his seed continued to
arc from the tip of his cock, shimmering as it landed over her breasts and
stomach.
Eventually, it stopped and Jaxor slumped, a deep groan echoing from him
when he watched her throat bob, knowing she’d swallowed his seed.
His cock was still hard and Erin was still very turned on. That kind of
arousal made her want to be reckless, made her want to do things she knew
she shouldn’t for a variety of reasons. When she straddled his hips again, she
pressed close, ignoring his seed coating the front of her body, and pleaded, “I
want to feel you inside me, Jaxor. Please. I need to. I need to so much.”
Erin felt like if she didn’t get him inside her right then, she would never
be satisfied. Never in her life had she ever felt this kind of crazy need. She
almost felt panicked, needing him that much. Was it the Instinct’s doing?
Just as she was reaching for his cock, he rasped, “Nix.”
Frustration ate at her. “Why?” she cried.
 She watched as he brought one of his hands up and tore off the pointed
tips of two claws with his teeth, dulling them.
Realization made her roll her hips over him. Delicious heat was still
pouring from his cock and it would be so, so easy just to feed him slowly
inside her.
But Jaxor, for whatever reason, wouldn’t allow it, perhaps because he
was too sensitive after coming that hard.
Instead, he placed his fingers against her sex and Erin didn’t hesitate as
she rocked her hips against him, sliding down onto the claws he’d dulled for
her, to prevent hurting her.
Moaning, she thrust against him. His fingers filled her, a poor
replacement for his cock, but they still felt so good.
“Vrax, you are so wet, rixella,” he murmured, his brow furrowing in
disbelief.
“Your cock would slide right in,” she said, still trying to persuade him in
her recklessness.
He hissed out a sharp breath, as if imagining it. Instead of giving her what
she wanted, however, his fingers curled ever so slightly, and her body jerked
when he, perhaps unknowingly, hit her G-spot.
“Oh God,” she whispered, squeezing her eyes tight. “Yes, right there!”
She ground her hips down, fucking his fingers, pretending it was his
mouth-watering cock. She still tasted his seed on her tongue. When she
reached down with her hand to rub her clit, it only took a single moment
before a violent orgasm was racking her body.
Erin cried out, only dimly aware that Jaxor steadied her when she was on
the verge of toppling over. Her thighs trembled, her belly clenched, light
burst in her vision, and it continued to build and build until there was nothing
left of her.
When it was finally over, she slumped forward into him, breathing hard
against his slick chest.
His fingers left her—leaving her achingly empty—and his other hand
came to her hair, stroking his fingers through it. He was gentle as he soothed
her, a deep, relaxing purr starting up in his chest, rumbling underneath her
cheek.
She could hear the way his heart thundered in his chest. She saw the mark
of Oxandri, centimeters from her eyes.
That was the last thing she saw before she closed her eyes.
 And her last thought before the world disappeared was: I better be careful
or I will want him forever.
 CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

J axor pressed his forehead against the stone of the facev. His horns
scratched the surface, but he savored that grating sound. Next to him
was the pulley back up to his base. Three polli that had fallen victim
to his traps were slung over his shoulder. He hoped that his rixella
enjoyed them more than she had the kekevir. Polli had a milder flavor,
tasteless to Luxirians, but perhaps better suited for his human female’s tastes.
He needed that moment to himself, knowing he would return to his base,
knowing that the moment he caught sight of her, caught her scent, and the
small, secretive smile that she’d begun to wear around him—he would be
lost. He wanted nothing more than to be lost in her.
Jaxor growled, gouging his horns further into the stone, the discomfort
helping him focus.
In two spans, Tavar was expecting him to deliver Erin. And Crystal. Jaxor
wouldn’t even attempt to track down Crystal. If she was Cruxan’s fated mate,
the hard-headed male would never let her go. The journey would be
pointless.
As for Erin…
Ever since waking that morning to find her in his arms, sleeping
peacefully, Jaxor had felt gutted. Ripped in half.
He remembered the night before, the intermingling of desire and guilt,
watching her lips around his cock, feeling heat rise in his varx. He
remembered afterwards when she sought her own pleasure, when she wanted
his cock instead, and he wouldn’t give in.
“Vrax,” he whispered, his cock already straining at the mere thought of
mating her. His Instinct made his chest rise, his spine straighten. Already, he
felt his muscles begin to expand, as if readying for it.
But Jaxor knew that once that final bond was made, the promises he’d
made ten rotations ago to himself would be forfeit. Any possibility of giving
her up would be gone.
Jaxor never wanted to give her up. But duty and responsibility and a
potential future for Luxiria was hanging in the balance. He couldn’t forget
that.
With one last, steadying breath, he pushed away from the wall and
boarded the circular platform of the pulley. The muscles in his arms flexed
and shifted as he quickly pulled himself up, his pace quickening when he was
nearer to the top.
Only a short moment more and Jaxor was able to secure the metal rope
and pull himself from the hole.
Relief and warmth infused in his chest when he caught sight of Erin. She
was standing near the raised crop beds, pouring water over the blossoming
leaves. Soon, they would bear more tubers, which she seemed to like.
A part of Jaxor sobered, knowing that when they were ready for harvest,
his world might look different. It might never be the same again, depending
on which decision he made.
“Rixella,” he murmured, dropping the polli by the fire pit. It was an
unusually warm morning, so he hadn’t started it. The air felt humid and
sticky and he wondered if there would be another storm soon.
“Good morning,” she said, watching as he approached her. His chest
ached when that smile—one he knew was only for him—spread across her
features. “I didn’t hear you leave earlier.”
He looked at the raised bed for the crops, something he’d built early on,
and saw the black soil was fragrant and shining. A sudden image of her
sharing life with him right there, of her watering the crops every morning
while he went out to check the traps and walk the perimeter, made his fists
clench with want. A simple life. But it would be everything he dreamed of, as
long as she was there.
“You were tired,” he told her, reaching forward to wrap his hand around
the back of her neck, pulling her into him, leaning down to touch his forehead
against hers—when only recently, he’d had his forehead pressed to stone.
It was a Luxirian embrace. The Luxirian equivalent of a human kiss,
perhaps. Affection and warmth built inside him, making his heart speed,
making him want too many things.
 Panic built with it, but he tried to keep it controlled.
“This is nice,” she whispered. His eyes had been closed but when he
opened them, he saw her watching him, so near that he saw every strand of
color in her eyes. There was a strange vulnerability in her gaze, one that he
felt too, but she didn’t pull away from him.
Jaxor pulled away first. He released her neck, stepping back. Avoiding
her eyes, he said, “I brought polli. I think you will like them better than the
kekevir.”
“Oh,” she said. Her eyes didn’t go to the polli, however—she kept her
gaze on him. “Do you need help preparing them?”
“Nix,” he said, turning to go back to the fire pit, knowing she could
handle the crops on her own.
He drew in a small breath and began prepping the polli. He heard Erin
hesitate for a moment, the back of his neck prickling as she did, but then he
heard the slide of the metal bucket as she went back to the waterfall to refill
it.
After she was finished, she came to sit next to him at the fire pit. For the
first time, he noticed that she was wearing a new tunic, one she’d probably
found in his storage chests, and a pair of his fur-lined pants, though they hung
off her and she’d tied rope around her waist to secure them.
Jaxor felt even guiltier when he saw the clothes. Shame burned in his
belly, anger quickly rising with it. He should’ve known to provide her with
better clothes. Just because he was used to the cold, used to the elements, it
didn’t mean that she was. She deserved rich, luxurious furs, smooth silks,
tunics that didn’t scratch at her delicate skin.
It was on the tip of his tongue to inform her that he’d travel to the
outposts soon, that he would bring back material for her if he couldn’t find
anything that would fit her properly.
Then he bit his tongue, his jaw clenching, because he couldn’t make
further promises to her that he didn’t know he could keep.
“Are you okay, Jaxor?” she asked quietly, watching as he finished
butchering the feathered polli.
“Tev.”
“You seem…quiet,” she observed. Then her lips quirked a little. “Well,
more quiet than usual.”
Jaxor grunted, wiping his hands on a rag. He tried to think of something
to say, an excuse, but couldn’t think of a good enough one.
 He wasn’t good at this. Vaxa’an had always been better with females.
Vaxa’an would probably know exactly what to say at that moment. But, after
Sarcalla, Jaxor had very little experience that went beyond mating with
females. He’d never felt that inexperience more acutely than he did at that
moment.
“Does it have something to do with what happened last night?” she asked
quietly, her gaze dropping down to the polli, though he was under the
impression that it was only so she wouldn’t have to look at him directly.
“Last night?” he repeated, frowning.
Her face was a little red but she didn’t say anything further.
Now Jaxor was confused. Did she think his quietness meant that he
hadn’t liked what had happened last night? Did she believe that she’d done
something wrong?
“Nix, rixella,” he said, his brows drawing together. “Why would you
think that?”
“You’re hard to read sometimes,” she confessed softly. “I worried that
maybe I was pressuring you into something last night. That maybe that was
why you left early this morning. That it made you…”
Bewildered, Jaxor could only stare as her words churned up the memory
of last night.
Vrax, he thought, his fists clenching. Two of his claws were dulled so
they didn’t prick into his flesh, as he was used to.
He was really fucking this up.
His Instinct demanded that he soothe his female, that he calm her fears.
And Jaxor tried to do just that, giving in to it for once. He drew her close,
ignoring her surprised expression.
“Last night was…” he trailed off, shaking his head. “I liked what we did.
Loved it.”
Her breath hitched at that. Finally, her eyes rose to him. Her expression
was shy and hopeful and it made him want to kiss her until she never second-
guessed herself again. “You did?”
“Of course,” he growled.
“But…” she trailed off. “But you didn’t want to have sex last night?”
He couldn’t help the purring sound that rose unexpectedly at her words.
The sound of his Instinct’s need.
He licked his lips, wondering how best to answer.
“We only recently began this between us,” he finally said when his
silence grew too long. “I thought that, perhaps, we should take more time.”
“You want more time?” she asked. There wasn’t judgment in her voice,
only curiosity.
Vrax, nix, he did not want more time, he thought. If he threw caution to
the wind and decided once and for all to keep her for himself, she would be
on her hands and knees, taking him at that very moment. He would get her
heavy with his seed just to make sure their bond was unbreakable. Just the
vision of that made his head swim in desire.
Offspring? he questioned. Jaxor had never considered that he would sire
them at all. But now…there was possibility. Possibility that made hidden
wants enter the forefront of his mind.
“Nix,” he said, his treacherous mouth disconnected from his mind. He
cursed himself silently after that, especially when he saw the way her brows
quirked.
“I don’t need more time,” she said quietly. His chest heaved, panic and
desire and dread and elation making him unsteady, even sitting down.
“Nix?” he rasped.
“I think,” she started, “that sex is important in a relationship, isn’t it? To
explore it.”
His heart pounded hard at relationship. His claws curled tighter.
His voice came out rougher than he’d intended when he asked, “And if
you have an opportunity to return back to your home planet? What then?”
She frowned, hesitation entering her gaze. “What do you mean?”
Perhaps she didn’t understand the finality of this, he realized. He
wondered if humans mated and bonded the same way that Luxirians did.
Because his Instinct, their connection, their bond decreed by the Fates? It
would never go away. Even in death, it would always be there. Which was
why so many fated Luxirian partners followed their mates into death, into the
next life.
It was what his own sire had done, after all, turning his back on his duties
as Prime Leader, leaving them to Vaxa’an. In the blink of an eye, his sire had
made that decision. He’d followed their mother into the blackworld moments
after she traveled on, as if he couldn’t bear to live without her for mere
seconds.
“If we consummate the bond, rixella, then there is no going back,” he told
her, his voice dark with the memory of his parents. Of their love for one
another.
 She understood. He could see the realization in her eyes and it brought
him momentary relief. Maybe if she understood the magnitude of it, she
wouldn’t want to jump beneath the furs with him so willingly.
“I know,” she murmured, dashing that hope.
He blinked, looking at her in surprise. “And you would so willingly give
up your home, your family, for that?”
She bit her lip. “I don’t know yet. It’s an impossible question.”
“Until you know the answer,” he said, swallowing, “we cannot go
through with this.”
“Everything is so new,” she said, flushing again. He’d never seen her
blush so much in their time together. She brought her hands to her face,
pressing the coolness of her hands to her cheeks. “But last night…if you had
asked me that same question, I might have even said yes, just to get you
to…”
Jaxor sobered. So, the Instinct did affect her?
“You felt the pull?” he asked.
She nodded. Then she lifted her gaze and admitted, “I felt like I would
never be whole if you weren’t inside me. That’s crazy, isn’t it? I think I
would’ve done anything you asked of me. It frightens me sometimes,
thinking about what this is.”
Jaxor swallowed, the sound loud between them.
“It frightens me too, rixella,” he said, his chest aching, wanting to
comfort her in the best way he could.
Unfortunately, the only way he could think to comfort her was with lies.
And he’d already told her so many.
 CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

“D o you want to go to the hot springs tonight?” Jaxor asked as

they ate their dinner that night. A very quiet dinner at that.
Erin bit her lip. The polli had been slow-roasting on the
spit for most of the day. And it was delicious. It tasted like buttery chicken,
but with the flakiness of white fish. Jaxor told her he preferred the gamey,
tough meat of the kekevir, but the polli just might be her favorite meal on
Luxiria so far, even counting the obiraxi fruit.
Even though dinner was delicious, there was distracting tension between
herself and Jaxor that was difficult to ignore, that had been building
throughout the day after their conversation about sex and the fated bond
between them. Erin was sorry for it, not for the conversation, but for the
feelings of unease that had sprung up because of it. She’d felt like she’d just
gotten used to being close to him. To touching him when she wanted, to
kissing him when she wanted, to teasing him when she wanted.
Now, they were back to being quiet, only this time, there was always the
threat of them looking at each other and just deciding to rip each other’s
clothes off for the hell of it.
Erin had been on edge all day. Yesterday, she’d had three mind-blowing
orgasms. Today, she’d had none, only the memory of them. Her sex felt
sensitive, primed, like it was beginning to expect relief regularly.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jaxor studying her. He was still
waiting for a reply to his question and just thinking about the hot springs,
remembering what had happened there between them, was enough for her to
shake her head.
“I don’t think that’s the best idea right now,” she answered him. He was
close, so close that their thighs were only an inch apart. Erin swore she felt
little tingles across her skin there, as if her body sensed how near he was, as
if searching for him.
Madness.
She saw his jaw clench at her answer, but he nodded. “Will you be all
right to bathe in the falls?”
She’d mentioned she was going to wash after they had dinner and before
they went to bed for the night.
“I can heat water for you here if it will be too cold,” he added.
She gave him a small smile and shook her head. “The falls will be fine.
Thank you, though.”
She wasn’t particularly looking forward to an icy bath. She’d give
anything to go back to the hot springs, but not with Jaxor there, not with him
close. Even then, her chest ached to touch him…but she knew she shouldn’t.
Erin had been thinking about their conversation almost all day. Every
spare moment, since she didn’t have that much to do around the base. She’d
tidied what she could, cleaned where she could. In the afternoon, she’d asked
for sewing material to alter the pants she’d stolen from him. He’d given it to
her without question and that was what she did for the remainder of the day.
It was a work in progress, but at least it would keep her hands busy for a
couple days.
They’d avoided one another, tip-toed around each other, all while
sneaking hungry glances and practically eye-fucking one another from across
the base.
There was a frustrating maelstrom of emotions swirling inside her, so
knotted and tangled that she didn’t even want to try unraveling them.
Remembering the way he’d glanced at her throughout the day, the heat in
his eyes, made her squeeze her thighs together, but she could only hope he
didn’t notice and returned to her meal.
After another moment, she heard his rough growl. When Erin turned her
head to look at him, he raked a hand through his hair, pulling a little at the
shortened ends.
“This is not working,” he rasped, almost to himself.
Erin’s treacherous little heart sped.
He sighed, as if resigned. “You need release. I have been scenting it all
day. Let me just—”
“No,” she said, pulling her knees tighter together.
 “Why not?” he asked, frustrated too. “I can make you come so easily.
Then you will not be so on edge.”
If we consummate the bond, rixella, then there is no going back, he’d told
her just that morning. His voice had been…matter-of-fact. Final. Grim. He
believed with one-hundred-percent certainty that if they mated, then that was
it. She was his. He was hers.
Not only that, but she remembered the crazed need last night. Knowing
that she wanted him that much, so much that she was considering staying on
Luxiria for him, was frightening enough.
If they had sex, which they would if they continued what they’d been
doing, it would be the end. At least, it would be the end of her old life, and
Erin wasn’t about to give that up so readily.
Her appetite was lost because she was hungry for something else entirely.
Something only Jaxor could give her.
“In some ways,” he said, “it is already too late. We have begun feeding
the bond and already it grows hungry.”
Erin stiffened at his words, avoiding his eyes, staring into the fire instead.
She’d been thinking much the same thing.
That it was already too late.
“Can I ask you something?” she whispered, though she didn’t think she
wanted to know the answer.
“Tev,” he said, mirroring her hesitation.
Erin swallowed. “Have you ever heard of a fated pair not giving in?” She
turned her head slightly, angling a look at him, searching for the answer in
his eyes before he spoke it. “Have there ever been any that could resist it?”
Erin was making it sound like a sickness, a disease. Coupled with the
memory of the love-struck faces of her friends with their mates, of observing
them with one another, wanting that too, envious over that kind of love, made
her feel even more torn.
If she gave in, would she have that kind of love with Jaxor? If they both
accepted this and nourished it and watched it grow?
Erin had the feeling that they could have that kind of love. With time and
trust.
Her hands shook with that realization and she stared down at them.
Finally, he said, “I do not know.”
“Tell me,” she said, because she heard something in his voice, reading
him so easily.
 He blew out a harsh breath. “There have been a few pairings over history,
but they are stories. I do not know if they are true.”
A few? Over history?
Her gut sank, even as her heartbeat sped in relief.
“What happens if we deny it?”
He hesitated again. He didn’t want to tell her?
“Is it that bad?” she whispered.
“You are human,” he said instead. “There is a very good chance that you
will not be as affected.”
Her brows pulled together, her lips pulling down into a frown. “And you?
You aren’t human,” she pointed out needlessly. “You have the Instinct.
Inside you, right?”
“Tev,” was what he replied with, which only served to frustrate her
because he said nothing else.
“Jaxor.”
“I do not wish to lie to you,” he rasped, dropping his gaze towards the
fire. Erin’s breath hitched. He sounded so…pained. “I do not know what will
happen to me. I cannot predict that.”
Erin’s shoulders dropped. She couldn’t think of anything to say, so she
simply nodded.
The fire crackled, smoke rising into the sky. Overhead, it was a clear
night, alien stars and constellations she didn’t recognize shining down.
Beautiful.
“I’m going to bathe now,” she whispered, standing from the fire. There
was a knot lodged in her chest from their conversation. She’d hoped to find
clarity from it, but in reality, she was more confused than ever.
Jaxor nodded. “I will go to the cave.”
He didn’t trust himself with her close and naked, it seemed.
“Okay,” she said, watching as he rose, putting out the fire. The base was
still lit by a variety of lanterns, so Erin wasn’t worried about it being too dark
to see.
Once he disappeared from sight, Erin stripped and bathed quickly,
scrubbing at her skin and hair with the lathered soap granules. She shivered
wildly in the falls, her nipples painful from how hardened they were. She
leaped out as soon as she could and dried off, dressing in a fresh tunic from
one of Jaxor’s chests.
When she made her way up to the cave, Jaxor was lying on his back,
staring up at the cave ceiling. He had a lantern lit, but the flame was small.
When he saw her, he gestured for her to come. Biting her lip, Erin
stepped over him and dropped down in her usual place against the cave wall,
furthest from the door, on a plush little stretch of furs. When she lay down,
Jaxor’s arms came around her.
Desperate relief made her eyes close. She was still shivering from the
falls and Jaxor dragged more furs over them. Even though they’d avoided
touching each other all day, they both shook with contentedness as he held
her.
It surprised her how addicted she’d grown to his touch. She felt like she’d
been going through withdrawals and when she finally got her fix, it made her
reckless. It made her daring.
His cock was pressed against her back. She turned in his arms and
pressed her face into the space between his neck and shoulder, using his
bicep as a pillow. She inhaled his scent, heady and warm and intoxicating.
She pressed her lips to his skin there, just a taste, a tease.
It would have to be enough. For now.
Had it only been last night when she kissed him in a much different
place? When she’d drawn that thick cock into her mouth and then begged
him for more?
“Sleep, rixella,” he murmured, his voice guttural and husky, as if
remembering the same thing she was.
“One more question,” she whispered.
“Tev?”
“Would you ask me to stay if you could?”
The muscles in his arm tightened. She felt a short breath rustle through
her hair.
“Would you stay if I asked you to?” he countered instead.
Her throat tightened and burned. Tears pricked her eyes.
She felt him press a small kiss to her still-wet hair.
“Sleep, rixella,” he said again, his voice gruffer now. Neither of them
answered their respective question.
Finally, she did as he told her.
 CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

S trange dreams plagued her that night but when Erin woke the next
morning, she felt surprisingly…all right. Refreshed. And the dreams
she had were erased from her mind, leaving her to wonder if whatever
she had dreamt had given her a sense of peace…and if so, what had they been
of?
Jaxor was gone again that morning. Erin noticed it was raining. Not like
the torrential downpour that had occurred a few days prior, but a soft trickle.
The air felt sticky but cold with it. When she rose and peeked out into the
base, he wasn’t there and the pulley was once again lowered. He’d probably
be gone for some time. He’d stayed out yesterday until early afternoon.
Her gaze went to the tunnel where the hovercraft was landed. Erin bit her
lip, feeling strangely guilty for even considering taking advantage of her time
alone.
Yet, she had to consider all the possibilities and weigh them carefully.
For example, what if Jaxor decided that he wouldn’t let her go, after all?
She’d been planning to broach the subject of them returning to the Golden
City together, but now she wasn’t so sure he would take her back since he’d
told her he would be punished if he was caught there. She still didn’t know
their future. He’d continued to keep quiet about what he planned for her,
though she no longer believed the Mevirax were as big a threat as she
assumed, given what he’d told her about them.
It was the responsible thing to have a way out, right? Just in the case? The
logical part of Erin knew that. Yet, it still felt like a huge betrayal. A heavy
pit was in her stomach.
But if life had taught her one thing, it was this: never rely on anyone but
yourself.
Erin had been independent nearly her entire life.
She wouldn’t give that independence up for anyone. Not even her alleged
fated mate.
Which was why she made up her mind and headed towards the tunnel.

HER ADRENALINE WAS RACING, churning her stomach, making her

feel like her skin was buzzing as she slowly lowered the hovercraft from the
opening at the top of the mountain down to the floor of the tunnel. She was
shivering. Not because of her wet hair and damp skin from the rain, but with
accomplishment.
She’d done it. She’d actually done it. She’d piloted the hovercraft,
making a small loop around the entrance of the tunnel in the thick fog bank.
Not once did she take her eyes off the entrance she’d come from, in fear that
she’d lose sight of it forever. When she’d made her loop, she slowly
navigated back down, descending into her landing. Then she did it again, her
fingers becoming more comfortable with the controls, with the looping
movements she had to make with her fingers, movements she’d memorized
when Jaxor had taken her to the Lopitax Sea.
Erin grinned, blowing out a long breath that seemed to push from her
lungs. She laughed, her head falling back, staring up at the entrance that
seemed miles above her.
She was trembling with excitement, with victory. But when she powered
down the engine and turned, all that excitement left her, turning to cold dread
when she saw Jaxor standing at the tunnel mouth.
Furious.
“Shit,” she breathed, too shocked to filter the curse that fell from her lips.
Jaxor straightened and then he stalked over to the hovercraft, stepping up
until he was inches from her.
“What the fuck do you think you are doing?”
Erin flinched at his tone, staring up at him. His body was trembling too,
but most likely from rage, not adrenaline, like hers was. This was the Jaxor
she’d first met, the angry one, the crazed one, the cold one. His eyes were
like flint, or like sharp shards of ice that could pierce her clean through.
 When she didn’t answer, he turned to the wall of the cave—as if he
couldn’t bear to look at her—raking both hands through his shorn, inky hair.
He let out a short bellow of anger, the sound echoing through the mountain,
stirring the kekevir, who gave responding hisses.
Erin tried to stop her hands from shaking, squeezing them into fists at her
sides.
“Tell me now!” he roared, his eyes pinning her back in place.
Her temper pricked, but she forced it back. “Only when you calm down.”
Which only seemed to enrage him more. Erin actually saw the way his
eyes unfocused with that wild beast that was always lurking inside him. Her
heart thudded in her chest. This was what he’d become. Her lonely, slightly
mad, devastatingly handsome male. He made her hurt when she looked at
him. He made her heart stutter and her toes curl too.
She liked him more than she should, Erin realized. She remembered the
night they’d talked about love and he’d asked her if she’d ever loved anyone
in singular moments…and she realized that she had. Him. She’d joked about
it at the time, but a part of her had fallen a little in love with him in small
moments.
And all she wanted to do right then was wrap her arms around him, even
though he looked like he wanted to tie her up again.
“Jaxor—”
“How long?”
She swallowed but didn’t say anything.
When he realized she wouldn’t answer, he clutched one of his horns, his
claw curling into it, leaving a small mark, making her wonder if it hurt.
She went to him, taking his hand away. “Jaxor, stop,” she said gently,
trying to keep calm. Trying to keep her temper in check, especially given the
state he was in. He needed her to be the calm one here.
He didn’t hear her.
“Do you know how dangerous that is?” he bellowed, barely looking at
her, his gaze going to the tunnel entrance. “What would have happened had
you…vrax!”
Realization went through her. “You’re mad because I could’ve gotten
hurt?” she asked dumbly.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” he hissed, turning those wild eyes on
her. He came forward, gripping the back of her neck, his thumb coming to the
pulse that was pounding hard in her throat. As if he needed to ensure it still
beat.
He was worried for her. Insane with it, even though she stood in front of
him, safe, unharmed. Erin swallowed, her hand coming to his wrist. He shook
his head, growling like he was trying to keep something back, like he was
trying to maintain his own sanity.
“Leaving me too,” he murmured, his pupils dilating, his eyes seeing her
but also not. “Leaving me. Of course, she is.”
Her heart throbbed. “Jaxor,” she whispered softly, reaching out to touch
his cheek, feeling his claws prick her slightly. It wasn’t hard enough to hurt,
but given the state he was in, he might cut her accidentally and he might not
realize it. “Your claws.”
He laughed, the sound bitter and sad. It left her aching. Even still, he
heard her. His grip loosened even as he leaned down and bit the side of her
neck.
Erin gasped, stiffening, her body pulsing.
Not fair, she thought, feeling arousal flow from that claiming bite. And
that was what it was. He was deliberately marking her as his in one of the
most animalistic and primal ways she could think of, short of sex.
He rasped against her skin, “Leave me then. Fucking go.”
She called his bluff. “You don’t want that. And I wasn’t leaving.”
Not yet at least, she silently added, feeling insanely guilty for it since his
body seemed to relax slightly at her words. The fact was that she’d been
caught red-handed.
Only…
Why feel bad about it?
He wasn’t giving her a lot of options here.
Pulling away, she felt her temper prick again. “If you tell me nothing,
what else am I supposed to do? Wait until you decide my future? Wait and
see if I’ll have any choices left after you’ve taken them away?”
“If you left right now, I would tear this planet apart searching for you,” he
threatened, descending into his anger once more, his eyes burning with it.
“You just told me to leave,” she challenged, knowing she was pushing
him and equally wanting to. This was the madness in both of them, that
sometimes they liked fighting, that sometimes they needed to do this.
“So I could find you and punish you, rixella! Which is no less than what
you deserve!”
“You’re insane,” she said, even as she felt hot excitement light in her
belly. This was wrong, wasn’t it? To feel this way with someone, much less
someone who was a potential life partner?
“And you fucking like it,” he roared.
She was breathing hard. He was too. Her body was pulsing with
awareness. With guilt and lust and feelings she didn’t want to unpack.
Her instinct was to deny his words. That was what her old self would’ve
done. But now she knew better. She’d always worked so hard to be the
woman people believed she was—the stable friend, the responsible sister, the
teacher dressed in pencil skirts and cardigans, who never did anything to be
embarrassed about—that she hid parts of herself that she thought would bring
her shame.
Now, she didn’t fucking care anymore.
Jaxor saw her for who she was, not who she thought she should be.
And the truth was…she was the daughter of a recovering addict, one she
used to stitch up after her husband beat her, someone who sometimes envied
her siblings so much it was difficult to breathe, who had harbored so much
anger year after year, who had formed herself into someone she’d always
wanted to be, even while feeling like she was living a lie. She was someone
who had been captured by aliens, who had lived her life one day at a time
since then, and now she was standing in front of an enraged alien male that
made her physically ache.
The truth was…all she wanted was to be weak for once. She wanted
someone else to take care of her for once. She was tired of thinking all the
time, of planning. She wanted to be selfish and do what felt good, not what
was right or even smart. In fact, she wanted to do something entirely stupid.
Do it then.
That was what Jaxor had told her in the cave the night she’d gotten drunk.
“What would you have done?” she asked, eyeing him.
A steady rumbling growl was emerging from his chest, as if he couldn’t
stop.
“What would you have done if I had left?” she asked, trembling.
“Come after you. Always.”
“Why?” she challenged.
“Because you are mine,” he hissed, as if it were obvious.
Erin swallowed, her lips parting. “And when you found me?”
“Tev?”
“What would you have done then?”
 His jaw hardened, his voice unyielding as he rasped, “Mated you on the
earth like a beast. So you never forget what this is.” He thumped his chest,
his eyes still wild. “So you never forget me! Us.”
As if she could ever forget him. She knew that if she closed her eyes, she
would see him there. She would hear his voice, smell his scent. He would
never be gone from her. She didn’t know how she knew that. But she did.
Do something bad to me. I know you want to, he’d challenged her that
night in the cave.
“Jaxor.”
That rumbling, purring growl was all she heard.
Bite me again. Mark me. Make me yours. Those thoughts made her burn,
made her want him so fiercely she shook with it.
But she didn’t voice them.
Instead, she whispered, almost frightened, “Let’s do something bad
together.”
And then she took a chance, knowing the reaction it would elicit,
knowing what she wanted at that moment.
Without a second thought, she jumped from the hovercraft…
And then she ran from him.
 CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

H is roar made the kekevir screech, but he hardly heard them over the
racing of his blood.
Running from me?
His Instinct was close to the surface and it had taken everything in Jaxor
to keep it controlled. But that panic, at seeing his fated mate running from
him, had unleashed it. He thought of nothing else but getting her back. And
when he did…
She had made it halfway down the tunnel back to the base by the time he
catapulted off the hovercraft after her. His ears were ringing, his cock thick
and straining beneath his pants. His horns were straightening right off the
crown of his head and already, the muscles under his skin grew and
strengthened.
He saw the outline of her through the haze in his vision, darting through
the base. Where did she think to go? There was no escape. There was no
escape from this. Never had it been more clear.
Still, he chased her. He needed to catch her. He needed to show her that
nothing would keep them apart, even though he’d only just realized it
himself.
His breath came out in rough pants, like a snarling beast. She’d thought to
leave him? Nix! In that single moment, when he’d seen her in the hovercraft,
he’d felt a million things in a flash. But the one that stood out in his memory,
like a brand on his skin, was that he would never let her go.
He thought to give her to the Mevirax? The deadline Tavar had given him
was looming tomorrow. He wanted to laugh with bitterness now. He wanted
to howl like an animal at his own failings, knowing he was still a
disappointment to his people, selfish and single-minded.
He’d mourned in that moment, realizing he never would have given her
up. He’d felt sickening relief that made him dizzy. He’d felt a thousand
vonnes lift off his shoulders. He’d raged and lusted and came close to the
brink of his madness in that moment.
All because of his female, his luxiva, the wicked rixella that had spun him
under her spell.
Jaxor caught her near the waterfall.
He bellowed and launched himself at her, wrapping his arms around her
waist, hauling her against him, and down they went. Jaxor made sure to turn
so she landed on him, but the moment he had her, he reversed their positions
until she lay beneath him.
“You think to run?” he rasped, hardly recognizing his own voice. His
breaths were ragged, harsh things. His throat felt closed tight as his hands
gripped her beneath him. He hardly felt the cool rain sliding over his bare
chest. “From me? Never from me, luxiva.”
Looking down, he believed he would find fear on her features. Fear of
him, of the beast inside, never more apparent than it was now. She would fear
what was to come because he’d spoken the truth before: there was no going
back.
Not anymore.
But it wasn’t fear he saw on her face.
Jaxor hovered over her as she stretched her arms over her head, cool
droplets of rain sliding from her wrists. The position was vulnerable, sensual.
An offering.
His eyes went wide when he realized it.
“I only ran so you would catch me,” she murmured up to him, looking
him directly in the eye. “So you would make good on your promise when you
did.”
He shook his head, his Instinct processing her words more quickly than
he was able to. “Rebax?”
“Maybe you need a little push. Maybe I do too.”
A push?
She leaned up, trailing her lips across his neck before biting, making him
grunt in surprise and desire, making his arms flex around her.
“Enough of this,” she said, the words floating over the flesh she’d just
marked for herself. “I want you.”
 “You…” he shook his head, fighting his Instinct, growling when it sank
its claws deep into him. “You know what this means.”
He said it even as he tore her tunic away from her body like it was made
of parchment, tossing it to the side, leaving her naked beneath him. Droplets
from the rain ran over her budded nipples, little trails that ran and slid, that
mapped out her body for him, as if he needed them to. He’d already
memorized her body for himself.
“I know what this is,” she said, a little breathless, when he traced a trail of
the rain with his tongue, starting at her collarbones and ending at one breast,
which he sucked and nipped and laved.
Her hands were already pushing at the material of his pants. He
shuddered and then cut through the laces with his claws, only releasing her
breast to drag the pants off his legs, leaving him as naked as she.
This is happening. The thought cut through his mind like a clear flash of
realization, like he hadn’t dreamed up this moment, and his Instinct purred its
approval. For once, he felt the Instinct retreat slightly, letting Jaxor take
control once more.
And when it did, there was a frenzied need in his movements. He worried
that he gripped his female too hard, kissed her too hard. But she seemed to
like it, arching into his touch and sucking on his tongue in a way that made
shivers race through his bones.
Vrax, the things she made him feel!
He couldn’t get close enough. Even pressed against her body, feeling the
wet slide of the rain between them and his cock resting on her thighs wasn’t
enough.
Her legs widened, wrapping around his waist. His cock nudged her sex
and he hissed when she moved against him, squirming.
Jaxor could hardly think with the blood rushing in his ears, with the
sound of the waterfall growing louder from the rain, with his female’s scent
wrapped around him, with the lingering rage and fear and want that simmered
in his belly.
It was too much. It was too much all at once.
But when he met Erin’s eyes, when he felt her hands sliding over his skin,
he felt pieced back together again.
“Luxiva,” he growled.
“Yes,” she whispered. Droplets of rain clung to her lashes and she
blinked them away, her lips parting in invitation.
 “Mine.”
“Yes,” she whispered again, nudging her hips again. Jaxor reached down,
his cock throbbing, shifting her until he was positioned at her entrance.
Something possessive lit in her eyes. “And you’re mine.”
Relief and something that felt like joy burst in his chest. He closed his
eyes at the sensation of it, a lump lodged in his throat.
Belonging. This was belonging, wasn’t it?
Erin thrust her hips down, making his eyes shoot open, stunned pleasure
making his vision hazy.
“Rixella,” he growled, looking between them, his breath heaving.
“Yes?” she asked, her voice throaty and strangely…vulnerable.
Jaxor was inside her heat. Only an inch or two inside. Enough, and then
again, not enough.
“Please,” she pleaded quietly. Jaxor watched as a raindrop landed on her
pink lips and he leaned down to lick it away. He heard her gasp.
“Mine,” he rasped against her mouth, meeting her eyes. They widened at
whatever she saw in his gaze, but then they heated with desire. “Tev?”
“Yes,” she whispered, sliding her arms tighter around his neck, bringing
their slick, warm bodies closer.
Jaxor bellowed with relief as he thrust his hips powerfully forward,
sheathing the length of his cock inside his female.
Claimed, his Instinct purred, finally content.
 CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

T he pain was manageable, but even still, she squeezed Jaxor’s

shoulder.
His pupils were dark and so reflective that she saw herself in
them. His eyes had never left her, so he caught the wince and immediately
stilled. Erin was still in disbelief that somehow their bodies had fit together,
and at first, she hadn’t noticed the concern on his face.
“Luxiva,” he whispered down to her, his big palm coming to cup her
cheek.
“I’m okay,” she replied. It took a moment for the dull pinching to fade,
but when it did, she said, “Try.”
When he slid out and slowly thrust back inside, she felt her muscles
clench tight but eventually relax around him. There was only a dull ache,
which faded in a few moments…and then all she felt was him.
“Tev?” he rumbled down to her, petting her, nuzzling the sharp edge of
his nose across her temple and jaw. Jaxor was incredibly affectionate, she
was realizing, and the thought made her smile.
In response, she bucked her hips against him, making him give out a
sharp, surprised groan.
He seemed to act on instinct when he pulled from her and gave another
powerful thrust, one that made her moan out loud this time. But she was so
full of him. The circular knobs and the ridges lining the top and bottom of his
cock slid and caressed and stimulated nerve endings inside her that she didn’t
even know existed. And it felt divine, now that most of the pain had passed.
“More,” she urged, her fingernails curling into his wide, broad shoulders.
He made a deep purring sound that made her sex clench around him and his
pace quickened, his strokes deepened.
Every thrust made goosebumps break out over her skin that had nothing
to do with the rain sliding over their bodies. Her scalp tingled and her belly
burned with the pleasure.
Oh my God, she thought, her eyes widening. He was already building the
orgasm up inside her, stroking it, tending to it, feeding it. Again, she had the
stray thought that she should be jealous of his skill as a lover. How many
females had he perfected this with?
But then she moaned and she bit into the ball of his strong shoulder
before kissing and laving the bite away.
“Wicked rixella,” he grunted, his hands planted on both sides of her face,
those eyes searing her. “Open wider for your male.”
Her lips would’ve curled in delight at his request had she not felt the
overwhelming need to do as he said. And quickly. She unclasped her legs
from around his taut waist—not even remembering when she’d wrapped
them around him in the first place—and let them fall wide.
Jaxor hissed and Erin cried out when he used the position to drive into her
deeper. As deep as he could possibly be.
“Tev, brixav ta, luxiva,” he groaned, the tendons in his neck straining. Out
of the corner of her eye, she saw the way the muscles in his arms trembled
and flexed with his pleasure. “Vellixa.”
She didn’t know the Luxirian words that he spoke, but she heard the
reverence in his tone. Bringing their bodies closer, he ground his pelvis into
her clit with every lingering thrust and when she looked up at him in surprise,
his gaze was knowing and challenging.
Like he was daring her to orgasm first.
The nerve of this male, she thought, delighted.
“You drive me mad,” she hissed.
“You like it,” he rasped, those dark eyes never leaving hers, that voice
caressing her like crushed velvet.
“I do,” she whispered, her lips parting, feeling the orgasm he was so
expertly trying to wring from her beginning to rise. “Oh God.”
His eyes were victorious even as his head lowered to her breasts. He
nudged the tip of his sharp horn against one of her nipples and she froze,
hardly daring to breathe, even when she felt the heat in her belly explode
from the erotic sight.
Had he guessed that she might like this?
 Of course he did, she thought, breathless.
His horn pricked her a little, gently, just enough pain for her before his
mouth was soothing it, his wet, warm tongue taking away the sting.
“Bite me,” she challenged softly, her fingernails leaving half-moon
crescents in his back. She wanted to explore this with him. For the first time
in her life, she wasn’t too afraid or self-conscious to ask for these things of a
sexual partner. “Mark me as yours.”
He growled against her flesh, perhaps liking that idea entirely too much
too. He sucked hard on her nipple, his sharp teeth grazing it, but he pulled
away. Instead, he nibbled at the fleshy underside of her breast, applying just
enough pressure that she knew it would leave a mark, a bruise, just enough
pressure that it made her hips buck and her toes curl before he released her.
Then he buried his head into her neck, biting her there too, adding to the
collection of hickeys on the column of her throat. Erin wished she had a
mirror there on Luxiria, if only to look at them whenever she pleased.
“Like this?” he rasped in her ear when he finished. “You like my mark on
you?”
“Yes,” she whispered, gasping when he thrust into her harder, her breasts
bobbing with the power of it. “Just as much as you like seeing it on me,” she
challenged.
He groaned, feeling her muscles beginning to clench around him with her
impending orgasm. “Soon, I will mark you in the most permanent way,
rixella. But not here. The blood bond is only performed in sacred places.”
Blood bond.
Erin’s lips parted, looking up at him. She’d heard of it, of course, from
the other mated women.
“Now, come for me,” he growled, pulling back. He changed their
positions. He went to his knees between her splayed thighs, lifting her hips,
wrapping his arms around her back. “Put your arms over your head and keep
them there.”
She felt a rush of wetness at his command.
“You want me tied up?” she huffed out, thinking back to when he’d first
taken her from the Golden City, of him keeping her wrists tied up.
He didn’t say anything, but she saw the way his eyes burned with the
thought. So, it seemed her alien lover had kinks of his own. Her lips curled in
delight and she did as he demanded, mirroring the position she’d assumed
when he’d first caught her by the waterfall.
 It was a position of vulnerability, of surrender. But Erin didn’t feel weak
in that position. She felt unbelievably powerful. Jaxor looked down at her,
never ceasing his thrusts into her body. With her hips raised, he used his
kneeling position as leverage to fuck her thoroughly. With every teeth-
chattering, mind-numbing, spine-tingling thrust of that glorious cock, her
breasts bounced and their bodies slapped together, primal and invigorating
and right.
Feminine power coursed through her. She’d never felt as desired or
wanted or beautiful or sensual as she did in that moment, with Jaxor’s eyes
on hers. She knew what this was. He was claiming her as his. But what Erin
hadn’t expected was to feel like she was claiming him too.
His claws pricked into her hips. She felt her clit flutter once, felt the deep,
delicious slide of his cock inside her—
Jaxor tensed, leaning forward, sensing she was on the edge.
And then Erin was crying out, her back arching on the cold, wet stone of
the base. Pleasure ripped through her, tearing her apart until it built her back
up. She never tore her gaze away from Jaxor, even as her breathing went
ragged, even as her body thrashed. Her skin grew so sensitive that she could
feel every drop of rain on her skin, sliding down her body like little caresses.
“Vrax,” he murmured, his tone desperate, feeling her body tighten like a
vise around him. “I feel you, luxiva. Following you—”
He broke off his strained words, his hips quickening between her thighs.
Then he was roaring to the dark sky, his head thrown back, the column of his
thick neck strained.
Erin’s breath hitched, feeling his seed shoot into her body, warmth
coating her inner walls, lash after lash, impossibly hot. It filled her as he
shook over her, continuing and continuing.
She’d never seen anything so erotic as watching Jaxor lose himself
between her thighs.
And she received every last drop from him.
When it was over, he sank down next to her, spent. He never left her
body. In fact, even after that orgasm, his cock was still hard, still pulsing
inside her.
Jaxor pulled her into his arms, his breathing ragged, hers too. Now that it
was over, she felt the way she trembled. She felt his mark on her neck, on her
breast. She felt the heat leaking from between her legs, running down
between them.
 She felt high on sex. She’d expected that she might feel dread or fear over
what they’d just done, but…she didn’t. She only felt the warmth of his skin
and the way his breath fanned out heavily on her skin.
She whispered, “Why haven’t we been doing this from the beginning?”
Erin felt him press a kiss into her soaked hair, felt his palm glide over her
arm, her breasts, her waist, until it settled on her hip. She swore she felt
tingling sparks follow in his hand’s wake.
“It is done now,” he murmured.
But as Erin settled in his arms, she realized he sounded almost sad as he
said it.
 CHAPTER THIRTY

L ater that evening, Erin was tugging on Jaxor’s stiffened horns, trying
to pull him from between her thighs.
“Jaxor, please!” she begged.
He growled, but finally did as she wanted, releasing her clit, which he’d
been gently lapping and suckling with that long, warm tongue.
They’d moved into the cave sometime after the first mating and Erin’s
palms found the stone of the floor when Jaxor flipped her onto her hands and
knees, pulling her hips back so he could thrust inside her.
A moan tumbled from her lips, low and throaty. Her voice felt scratchy,
well-used, considering she’d been crying out and screaming her pleasure for
the better part of the day.
They’d hardly taken a break since that morning. Jaxor had been
insatiable. And so had she. It was like this driving need to mate, no matter
what. No matter how sore or tired she was, she needed him inside her.
Those feelings were alarming, admittedly, but Erin had decided to give in
to this, into him, and see where it led. Which was why she arched her back,
why her head tilted to the side when he began fucking her from behind, why
she moaned and whispered his name like a prayer.
Erin didn’t know how much longer her body would hold out, but she met
him thrust for thrust. Every one of his growls met one of her moans. And
when she sensed that he was near, she began to come on his cock—her
seventh, eighth, ninth orgasm of the day, she couldn’t be certain—and he
shortly followed, releasing himself into her body until nothing was left.
“I need to r-rest,” she whispered to him, panting, feeling him maneuver
her down to the furs, which had bunched up a little during their mating. He
smoothed them out before cradling her in his arms. “Just for a little while.”
“Tev, rixella,” he rasped, his own voice changed. “I promise I will give
you reprieve.”
For now went unspoken, but they both heard it.
She gave an exhausted sigh, her eyes fluttering closed. Then she felt his
kiss and her lips quirked up, meeting it. His tongue stroked hers, soft and
slow and wonderful. It made the back of her throat tingle, like she’d had too
much sugar.
They’d hardly spoken since he’d found her on the hovercraft. Their
mating had happened so quickly, the result of a quick decision and
heightened emotions. Erin didn’t regret what she’d done, though. She didn’t
regret this, though she remembered Jaxor’s soft words.
It is done now.
Was a part of him still angry with her after finding her in the hovercraft?
Erin lay in silence in his arms, listening as his thundering heartbeat finally
slowed and returned to normal. They were both slick with sweat and she was
fairly certain that the cave smelled of sex, but she never wanted to leave his
arms. She felt happy and sated. When she reached up to stroke his jaw once
he was done kissing her senseless, he caught the tip of her thumb between his
teeth. She froze, watching with parted lips as he sucked and nibbled on it
lightly.
A shiver raced down her spine, already feeling her clit throb and her sex
begin to the stir.
“You promised,” she whispered.
He gave a small grunt and released her thumb. She stroked his lips with
it, marveling at their softness, feeling his eyes burn into her as she did it.
This little ball of warmth and affection had taken up residence in her
chest. Her hand pressed into his chest, feeling the strong vibration of his
heartbeat.
“I never knew it could be like this,” she whispered softly.
“Rebax?”
“Sex,” she amended, knowing there was a lot about this situation that she
hadn’t known could be like this.
His forehead met her own and he confessed, “I did not know either.”
His words made her happy. She heard the quiet truth in them.
“I have heard stories all my lifespan,” he continued quietly as his hand
came up and threaded through her hair. It had finally dried from the rain.
“But to know now, what it is, is still…stunning.”
Erin flushed, feeling his touch in her hair. This was so new between them,
but for once, Erin didn’t feel all that afraid. There was still a lot that they
needed to talk about, a lot that they needed to decide—both independently
and together—but…this, their bond, the connection that she’d sensed since
the beginning, would guide them, wouldn’t it?
She thought back to that morning and said, “I’ve never seen you that
angry before.”
It needed to be discussed. Now seemed as good a time as any.
Jaxor didn’t even tense when she said the words. Erin wondered if she’d
fucked the anger out of him, or perhaps, it had been the other way around.
“You wish to speak about this now?” he asked, the tone of his voice
changing slightly. “Or later?”
Because they would have to talk about it.
“Now,” she whispered, sliding her hand down his chest to rest on his
lower abdomen. He groaned when her fingers brushed his still hard cock.
“And if you get angry, I will have a fun way of calming you down.”
His eyes flashed.
Erin sobered, licking her lips, tasting him there. She felt physically tired,
but mentally invigorated. Like she wouldn’t be able to stand because she was
so tired, but she felt like she could tackle the world right then.
“Very well,” he rasped.
“I wasn’t leaving,” she said quietly.
“Then what were you doing in the hovercraft?”
His body was tensed already and she stroked his abdomen almost
unconsciously. “I wasn’t leaving yet,” she amended.
He growled.
“I don’t want to lie to you,” she said quickly. “I want to be honest.”
“Then tell me.”
“I’ve been practicing piloting the hovercraft,” she admitted. “As a back-
up plan.”
His nostrils flared, his jaw tensing. But he took a deep breath in and held
it, waiting for her to continue.
“You wouldn’t tell me what you had planned for me,” she said. “When I
suspected you would still deliver me to the Mevirax, I decided that it
wouldn’t hurt to know how to fly it just in case I needed to use it.”
“Then why did you fly it this span?” he rasped.
 “Because you still haven’t told me anything,” she whispered. He went
silent. “Even now, everything still seems so uncertain.”
“Last night,” he started, “do you remember what you asked me?”
Erin frowned but nodded. “If you would ask me to stay. Here on Luxiria.”
“Can you envision yourself living here?” he asked. “With me?”
“Here?” she asked. “In this place?”
He nodded.
“I still don’t have an answer,” she whispered, realizing it was the truth.
His jaw tightened.
“Do you?” she asked quietly. “Have your answer, I mean.”
He didn’t say anything for a long time. When he spoke, he said, “When I
saw you in the hovercraft, I have never felt such fear. Though it was two
separate kinds of fear. One for you and one for myself.”
Her brow furrowed.
“For you because it is dangerous. I learned how to pilot the xrellexax
during warrior training. For ten rotations, I mastered it. It is deceptively
difficult to pilot them. If anything had happened to you—”
He stopped before he finished, his eyes closing. Erin held her breath,
feeling a little ashamed now.
“But you are unharmed,” he said, looking back at her. “By your own skill
and perhaps the Fates’ protection also. For that, I am endlessly thankful.”
She wanted to tell him that she’d barely traveled anywhere on the
hovercraft. Only up and then down the tunnel shaft, and she’d taken a small
circle around the opening. But now she understood his fear—it had been
ignorant of her to believe she could have navigated the hovercraft back to the
Golden City with little training or knowledge of how to operate it. It had been
foolish and Jaxor had been frightened just thinking of everything that could
have gone wrong.
Obviously, he would know what could have gone wrong. She didn’t.
“I’m sorry,” she said, running her other hand into his short hair, curling
her fingers around the strands. “You’re right, it was foolish of me. It was
reckless. I could have gotten hurt.”
He shivered, but she had a feeling it had nothing to do with her touch and
everything to do with the lingering fear he felt.
“And the second fear, the one that was perhaps more selfish, was that I
would never see you again. That you would leave me and not look back,” he
admitted gruffly. “That I had wasted my time with you, a gift from the Fates
themselves. That you took my life with you, my purpose.”
“Your purpose?” she whispered, hearing the soft anguish in his voice.
“To protect you, to cherish you, to love you,” he said and her breath
hitched, longing bursting through her at his words. Because she wanted those
things, didn’t she? Hadn’t she always desired to be loved and to love in
return?
“Wouldn’t that be my purpose too?” she whispered quietly, her heart
thudding.
“Rebax?”
“To protect you and cherish you and love you too? To be equal partners
in that?”
He closed his eyes at her words and a lump lodged in her throat. When he
finally spoke, it was to say, “I never imagined, in a thousand rotations, that
the Fates would tie me to another.”
“Why not?” she asked.
“Because of all my mistakes. Because I had turned my back on my
family, on my people, on the Fates,” he told her, his voice ragged. “This life
was supposed to be my punishment.”
He didn’t believe that he deserved a life partner. That was what he was
telling her. That he had isolated himself here, in this place, as a kind of
penance.
“Jaxor,” she whispered, touching his jaw.
“I want you,” he rasped. “I want this with you. But I fear that I do not
know how to be what you need. Not anymore.”
“Don’t think like that then,” she told him. “Maybe you’re exactly what I
want and what I need, as you are now.”
“You want me angry?” he asked quietly. “Because you have seen my
temper perhaps more than anyone in the past ten rotations.”
“I like your temper sometimes,” she said softly, truthfully. “Sometimes I
like when we fight. I like when we don’t fight too. I like when you smile and
I like when you’re a little broody.”
He frowned, his brows furrowing.
“My point is that you’re not perfect and I don’t expect you to be, or want
you to be. Not for me. Because I’m far from perfect too.” He opened his
mouth, like he was going to argue with her, which made her lips quirk and
made her kiss him before he could. It silenced him long enough for her to
whisper against his lips, “I like you right now, as you are right now. Okay?”
 When he pulled back to look at her, he exhaled a long breath and kissed
her again. It was his acceptance.
“This is all new. For both of us,” she said softly. “For now, let’s just take
it one day at a time and see what happens.”
Jaxor’s arms tightened around her briefly. “No more going to the
hovercraft?” he asked, as if he needed to be completely sure. He obviously
still worried about the dangers.
Erin nodded. “I promise I won’t. As long as you’re here in the mornings
when I wake up,” she added, tossing him a small smile, wanting to lighten the
expression on his face.
His lips quirked in response and a part of her melted at the sight.
“Then tev, rixella,” he finally said, capturing her lips again. “One span at
a time. We can do that.”
 CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

“T his is beautiful,” his female exclaimed, twirling around in the

grove in that forgotten place.
Jaxor had stumbled upon the ancient ruins a few rotations
ago. It had been a temple, he guessed, a large one centuries ago, but now,
only columns of old facev stone and the pedestal for offerings—or perhaps
even sacrifices— remained. Cracked and crumbling. Everything else was
overgrown in that place, as if the planet was trying to erase the fact that it had
ever been.
The ruins were not far from his base, a half-span journey, perhaps.
They’d been scavenging that morning and afternoon, almost about to turn
back when he remembered the ruins were nearby and thought that his female
might like to see them.
“What is this place?” she asked, turning to him, taking his hand in hers,
something that seemed to bring her comfort since she’d been doing it often
the past few spans.
Jaxor could hardly take his eyes from her, rubbing at that spot on his
chest that always warmed whenever he looked at her.
“A temple, I believe. A place of worship. Or sacrifice,” he said.
That pulled her up short. “Sacrifice?”
His lips quirked. “An ancient place. Remember, our ancestors were a
more violent people who revered blood and war.”
Erin shuddered a little at that. “Right,” she said, looking around the grove
with fresh eyes. “Maybe not so beautiful then. But still fascinating.”
He caught her around the waist, pulling her into him. He tucked his nose
into her long, dark hair, inhaling its scent, before he trailed his lips down her
neck. She’d been driving him mad all morning. Most of the time in the
hovercraft, he’d been tempted to put it on automatic navigation and mate her
on the floor of it.
“We can’t have sex here, you know,” she informed him, her tone teasing.
He grunted. “Why not?”
His hand was trailing to the laces of the pants she’d altered for herself.
They clung to her like a second skin. He mourned that it wasn’t just a tunic.
He couldn’t simply lift up the material and sheath himself inside her, where
he always wanted to be, but the thick pants shielded her delicate skin from
the cold and Jaxor was happy for it.
She caught his hand, turning in his arms, pulling away. But she was
smiling when she told him, “Because you said it’s a temple. We are not
having sex in a temple.”
His brow rose. Was this another thing about humans he did not
understand?
“I am certain orgies took place here at one time,” he told her. “Sex would
be most welcome.”
Her eyes bulged at that, but she dodged his hands when he made to reach
for her again, laughing. He feinted left, but snagged her around the hips when
she went right.
“I can bend you over the pedestal,” he suggested softly in her ear, his
heartbeat thundering. She stilled. “It’s a perfect height so I could lick you
while you screamed.”
Even under her thick tunic, Jaxor felt the way her nipples pebbled at his
words. They’d hardly spent a moment away from each other for the past five
spans. Most of that time, they’d been having sex, or lying in each other’s
arms, talking. Jaxor felt he was well-versed in his female’s needs, in the
things that turned her on.
And she had darker desires, fantasies that he loved to indulge in. And
Jaxor had them too.
“I could make you my sacrifice to this place,” he rasped, his hands finally
undoing the laces of her pants, his fingers dipping inside the material, finding
her sex. “I could punish you too, if you’d like. Bent over the pedestal, you
would be at my mercy.”
Erin gasped when his fingers found her swollen clit. It was a breathy
gasp, one that made his cock throb against her backside. And just when he
was sliding his fingers between her thighs, she grabbed his wrist and twisted
away.
Jaxor let her go, watching as she retied the laces, though it was with
trembling fingers and flushed cheeks. He grinned even though hot lust still
coiled deep in his belly.
When she looked back up at him, she saw his smile and said again,
though her voice was shaking and almost unsure, “We are not having sex
here.”
“Very well, rixella,” he murmured, deciding it was apparently a human
aversion to have sex in places touched by religion.
She bit her lip. “But when we get back home, there is that rock by the
cave that looks like the pedestal. And we can always pretend.”
Jaxor wanted to laugh and groan and purr in agreement all at the same
time. But what struck him the most was that she’d called his base ‘home.’
And that word alone filled him with hope, with longing, and possibility.
Was it possible that she was beginning to envision a life with him? A future?
On Luxiria?
He’d learned a lot about his luxiva during his time with her. He’d learned
that she liked quiet mornings, but that she also liked spending her nights by
the fire, watching the flames flicker, wrapped in heavy furs. He’d learned she
liked something called ‘ice cream’ back on Earth and that she’d kill for
‘coffee.’ He’d learned that she cried whenever she spoke of her memories of
her siblings, of Jake and Ellora, and that she missed them. He’d learned that
when she looked at him, deep and soft, he felt whole and right, possibly for
the first time in his lifespan.
Five spans together felt like rotations and Jaxor couldn’t remember a time
he’d been happier or more content. As promised, they were taking it one span
at a time.
His voice was guttural as he said, “Tev, we can.”
But as the spans drew on without incident, so did Jaxor’s worries. There
was an unease in Jaxor that he couldn’t shake. It wasn’t only that Tavar’s
deadline had passed. By now, the Mevirax leader would know of Jaxor’s
betrayal. Without the human females in their possession, they had nothing to
bargain with the Jetutians, with Po’grak. Would Tavar retaliate?
Jaxor also couldn’t stop thinking about Vaxa’an. Before, he’d thought of
his blood brother almost every span, but lately, the thought of him was a
constant presence in his mind.
Erin had asked Jaxor if he could mend the broken bond between himself
and his brother, would he? Jaxor had replied on instinct. Tev. Of course he
would.
And she’d asked why he hadn’t already.
In that moment, a thousand reasons why had flooded his mind. A
thousand reasons why Vaxa’an would not wish to see him. A thousand
reasons why Jaxor could not return to the Golden City—stealing away Erin
and Crystal and the attack on their guards adding to that long list.
In his own mind, bringing the human females to the Mevirax, to the
Jetutians, would help his people. He would kill the Jetutian leader responsible
for the attack on his race and secure the cure for the virus before Tavar could.
That had always been the plan.
Now, Jaxor was ashamed to admit that he’d barely given the human
females a second thought. Not until one of them turned out to be his fated
mate.
Ever since they’d consummated their bond, the guilt was eating him up.
How many times had it been on the tip of his tongue to tell her of his deceit?
How many times had he wanted to confess that even when he’d first brought
her to the base, a part of him was still thinking of giving her up? Of
sacrificing her well-being, her future, her life to the Jetutians in exchange for
his revenge?
Sometimes, he was so ashamed he couldn’t look her in the eye.
And at night, as she slept in his arms, he was plagued by nightmares of
darkness, of the dungeons deep below the Caves of the Pevrallix. He was
plagued by memories of his blood brother.
Jaxor watched as Erin turned back to the crumbling temple. He rubbed at
that aching spot in his chest again and followed behind her, navigating
through stone and dense foliage and the black trees that surrounded it. Again,
he was tempted to confess everything in that quiet, eerie place.
But the words stuck in his mouth and he stayed silent instead.
“How old is this place?” she asked, trailing her fingers over ancient stone.
Jaxor tried to see it with her eyes. This strange place. He tried to see what
she saw, but couldn’t.
“I do not know,” he said.
“How’d you find it?”
“The circumstances were much like this span,” he said. “I was out
looking for supplies and stumbled upon it.”
“You didn’t have a hovercraft then, though, did you?” she questioned.
 “Nix,” he said. “I had the skimmer then.” The one he’d left behind for
Cruxan after he’d stolen his hovercraft. “Even then, most of my travel
happened on foot anyways.”
The past few spans, Jaxor had been lazy. He’d not gone on his patrols,
he’d not checked his traps. Instead, he’d barely been able to pull himself from
his female, away from their furs in the cave. But that morning, he’d known
that in order to keep them safe and secure, he couldn’t spend the day between
her thighs again, no matter how much he wanted to.
The failing shield links were his primary concern, one that had been on
his mind since first bringing Erin to his base. They shielded his base
overhead, protected it. Which was why Jaxor needed to scavenge for parts to
repair them, though he’d mostly picked his way through the wreckage sites
he’d found over the rotations. Erin had wanted to accompany him and they’d
set off in the early light of morning.
But the suns were setting low now. Soon, it would be dark and Jaxor
hadn’t found the parts he needed. Still, he wouldn’t consider this span
wasted. He’d spent it with his rixella, after all, with Luxirian wind in their
hair and views that stretched for miles.
Jaxor had never been happier. He knew that with certainty. It was why he
couldn’t shake the feeling in the pit of his stomach that their time was
limited. That soon, everything would change.
Erin looked around the ruins one last time and then looked at him. Her
expression softened when she met his eyes—did she even realize that?
Jaxor didn’t deserve a female like her. She was too good for him. But
being with her, being near her, seeing her smile, hearing her melodic laugh,
feeling her soft, exploring touch…it made him want to be better. It made him
want to be the male that deserved her.
When she came to him, when she slipped her hand into his own, he
confided, “I have been thinking about my brother.”
Her expression remained the same, but she simply waited for him to
continue.
“I have been thinking that I want to see him,” he said, the words draining
from him like pus from a wound. “There is much I wish to tell him. Need to
tell him.”
“That’s great,” she said softly, running her other hand to his side, holding
it there. “But…”
But?
 “Tev?”
Her lips pressed together. She gave a small look around the clearing and
admitted, “If you go back to the Golden City, will it be safe for you?”
Realization hit him.
“You worry for me now, female?”
“Well…yes,” she said softly. He could see himself in her dark eyes, the
little mirrors that they were. “The Ambassador knows you took us, knows
that you were responsible. He has to be back by now. Won’t they be looking
for you?”
“They will not be looking for me in the Golden City,” he told her.
She frowned. “That doesn’t make me feel better.”
“I thought you would want to return,” he admitted. “I…I realize that this
is not a life that a female would wish for herself.”
“What are you talking about?”
“There are no comforts here,” he said, a little ashamed of that. “You bathe
in icy water, you sleep on stone. There are no feasts here, no celebrations,
and very little contact with other beings.”
Erin shook her head. “I—I don’t care about baths or parties or where I
sleep, Jaxor.”
“You know what I am trying to say,” he said, cupping the back of her
neck. “Tev?”
She blew out a long breath, but eventually, she nodded. “Yes, I know
what you’re trying to say.”
“If you decide to stay on Luxiria,” he started, “I would not want this life
for you.”
Jaxor had known all his life that though he would not be Prime Leader, he
would still be an appointed Ambassador and a leader of an outpost. That
outpost would have been Jiralla, on the edge of their world. The sixth and
final outpost of Luxiria.
But with his defection, Jaxor had turned his back on that future, on that
responsibility. Instead, he assumed the five Ambassadors and his brother took
turns overseeing Jiralla, though Jaxor had always wondered why Vaxa’an
hadn’t assigned a new Ambassador in his place.
That life was lost to him now, but it was still the life that he wanted for
his mate if she chose to remain with him. A life of never needing to fear
kekevir, a life of never needing to worry about patrols or scavenging for
repair parts, or whether that rotation’s frost would kill off their crops.
 Erin didn’t nod in agreement, or shake her head in disagreement. “If I
decided to stay on Luxiria, it would not be for comforts, but for you.”
That warmth in his chest grew. He rubbed at it even as he said, “I want to
make things right with you. I want to make things right with my brother. The
Golden City is a risk, but I believe it is necessary.”
It was very likely Jaxor would be thrown in the holding cells to await trial
and execution or exile. The elder council would not care that he was a son of
Kirax’an, a descendant of the throne.
Vaxa’an, on the other hand…
Would his brother want him dead? Exiled?
But there was much at stake. Even now. Because he’d begun to believe
that maybe the cure for the virus was not lost to them after all. There was still
time.
Erin sighed, squeezing his hand, nodding. “Then we will go.”
So why couldn’t he shake the feeling of dread?
 CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

H
slide deep.
e looked up at her like nothing else in the universe existed, Erin
realized. Like it was just the two of them and nothing else.
In response, she snapped her hips back down, feeling his cock

“Tev,” he hissed, his strong abdomen clenching, the tendons in his neck
straining. Erin liked being on top, liked that she could tease him, liked that
she got a front-row seat to watch him lose all control.
Which he was about to do. She could feel his release coming. It was in
the little things, the way he gripped her hips harder, the way his brows pulled
down ever so slightly, the way his throat bobbed with his swallow. His cock
was swelling, readying.
She’d already come twice, riding his cock. Now it was his turn and
anticipating it was making her breathless.
Squeezing her inner muscles brought a curse and a growl from his throat.
He was holding back like he was waiting for her to come again, but she
wouldn’t let him. That challenge sparked between them and his eyes
narrowed when he realized what she was doing.
“Nix,” he growled.
“Yes,” she whispered, smiling.
She increased her pace, using his chest to rock and grind on his cock.
“Vrax,” he rasped. “Vrax, vrax, vrax.”
She leaned down, her breasts brushing against the metal piercing through
his nipples, markings from warrior training completion, she knew.
“Come, please,” she whispered against his lips before kissing him.
His gasps turned into groans. Erin smiled again, her cheeks flushed, a fine
misting of sweat gleaming across their bodies. She dropped her forehead to
his, their eyes never leaving each other.
And then she felt him jerk, felt the rush of his seed filling her.
“Rixella,” he gasped, though the word sounded like both a caress and a
curse. She continued to rock her hips, wringing every last drop from him until
his body relaxed and his chest heaved.
She wrapped her arms around him, falling away. It was morning and they
would have a long day ahead, but there was a need that stretched between
them. The need for connection and sex. Erin had grown so used to having
him inside her, to feeling his kiss, his touch, that some moments, she
marveled that she’d gone so long without them.
They only lay in the silence for a moment as Jaxor recovered. They
looked at each other quietly. He stroked her cheek, her lips, and Erin thought
that she could stare at him for the rest of her life and be perfectly happy. With
a sigh, she realized in that moment she was losing yet another piece of her
heart to him…and she wondered how many more pieces she had left until he
owned them all.
She felt his seed leaking from her body and when they both finally rose,
knowing there was much to be done, she took a clean cloth and water and
washed it away. In the back of her mind, a part of her feared pregnancy.
She knew that Luxirians and humans were compatible in that way. But
the logical part of her knew it was impossible, at least right then. She hadn’t
had a period since…well, since her abduction from Earth. She couldn’t get
pregnant if she didn’t ovulate, after all. Once she began to bleed again, then
she would revisit that possibility.
They both dressed in comfortable silence, sparing lingering glances at
each other. Because she couldn’t resist, she quickly darted over to him, went
on the tips of her toes, and gave him a quick peck, watching the amusement
and the warmth filter across his features afterwards. She loved that expression
of his.
“How long do we have?” she questioned, following him out of their cave,
looking back one last time. They were leaving for the Golden City that
morning. Most of the supplies—clothing and food for the journey mostly—
had already been loaded onto the hovercraft the night before.
“I will do one last patrol and try to keep the other shield links supported,”
he said, his eyes going to the sky. He’d told her that was how he kept the base
hidden from above. Shield links acted like mirrors. But even now, as she
followed his gaze, she saw one section of them flickering. “I will be back
within the hour, tev?”
She nodded. “I’ll fill up our water and make sure we didn’t miss
anything.”
There was a lingering question between them, one they hadn’t voiced.
She wondered if they’d ever be coming back here.
He nodded once, sweeping his eyes around the base. She bit her lip, still a
little hesitant about going to the Golden City, especially given that they didn’t
have much of a plan. She didn’t understand the sudden urgency in returning
either, but Jaxor had said it was necessary. It was crazy to think that just last
week, she would’ve given anything to return to the Golden City. Now, she
was dragging her feet because it posed a risk to Jaxor.
“We will leave as soon as I return,” he said, brushing her cheek with his
fingers, and then he was turning for the pulley that would take him down to
the bottom level.
Erin watched him descend and then she took a deep breath, looking
around at the quiet space. She listened to the silence when she couldn’t hear
the chains from the pulley turning anymore. She felt a small gust of chilly
wind on her face. It was lonely here, but it hadn’t felt lonely with Jaxor.
She only ached when she thought about her affectionate and grumpy male
living here all by himself for so many years.
He doesn’t have to be alone anymore. And neither do you, that voice
whispered in her mind.
She took in another breath and made herself useful. She checked the
crops for the fifth time, wondering if there would be rain and thinking it was
more than likely. She refilled their water skins, packing extras for the
journey. They’d already packed dried meat and an armful of obiraxi.
Erin checked the cave one last time, more out of boredom and nerves than
actual necessity. She knew there was nothing that remained there that they
needed to bring. She was folding up the furs in neat squares when she heard a
sound in the base.
Thinking Jaxor had returned, she stepped out of the cave, calling out,
“Are you back alre—”
But her breath hitched and the words fell away.
There was a male, one she didn’t recognize, in the base. In their base. He
didn’t look like a Luxirian from the Golden City and when his eyes cut to
her, fear jolted in her belly.
 And she knew this was one of the Mevirax. Curling blue ink ran up his
arms, similar to Jaxor’s own faded markings, ones she’d never asked him
about because he seemed ashamed of them.
Her swallow was loud. Movement from the corner of her eye made her
look up and she saw a hovercraft, another one, parked precariously on the
cliff of the crater. Another male was standing next to it, looking down into
the base. And all at once, Erin knew that the shield links had failed. She knew
that they’d just happened to spot the base from above as they were flying
over.
“What is it that you want?” she called out, trying to keep her voice level
and even. As if it was a perfectly normal occurrence for strange males to be
in the base.
The one on top of the crater called down to the male closest to her. It was
Luxirian and yet it was not. A strange dialect.
“We are here for what Jaxor promised to us,” the male in the base said.
He had blue eyes and long hair, his English heavily accented.
“And what is that? Perhaps I can find it for you,” she said, hoping that
was all they wanted. Maybe they would take it and leave.
The male was approaching the steps leading up to the cave. Erin took a
step back, her hands curling around the handle of the door. If he tried to harm
her, she could lock herself in. Except there was nothing in there that she
could defend herself with. They’d taken everything to the hovercraft.
“He promised us you,” the male informed her, his voice deceptively calm.
In the blink of an eye, he made two large leaps until he was only an arm’s
length away from her.
Erin gasped and whirled into the cave, tugging the door behind her—
But the male caught it in his grip and tore it away. Erin cried out when
she felt something in her arm pop. When she darted her gaze to the male, she
saw the door hanging from his grip. Just like Jaxor, he’d torn it from the
stone with his strength. He threw it aside as Erin backed farther in.
“I—I’m sure you’re mistaken,” she said softly, her breath heaving, her
heart pounding. Her arm was limp at her side and she knew that her shoulder
must be dislocated, but she tried to ignore the icy pain that tingled up her
spine.
The male’s eyes watched her like she was prey. Like the kekevir eyes in
the darkness, always tracking, always waiting. There was a small opening to
the left of him, one that led out into the cave.
 Erin didn’t think, she just acted. She tried to dart out, past him, before he
could react. She needed to get to the hovercraft. She could pilot it if
necessary.
But he caught her easily. Laughably easily. Fresh waves of pain went
through her arm when he slammed her into the wall of the cave, her head
cracking into it, making stars burst in her vision.
Then she was up and over his shoulder, even as she kicked and struggled,
even though the pain from her shoulder made her want to vomit. She heard
the unmistakable sound of a hovercraft. The male from above was coming
towards them. So they could take her away.
That thought brought a fresh wave of panic and she fought harder,
struggling against her captor.
Tears blurred in her vision, but even still, she saw the pulley. And she
remembered. He wasn’t far away. He would hear her, wouldn’t he? He would
come.
“Jaxor!” she screamed as loud as she could, her voice echoing against the
crater walls. “Jax—”
Pain exploded at her temple. Everything went dark.
 CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

H er scream pierced through him like a blade.

Jaxor didn’t freeze with the deep, chilling fear that threatened to
still his bones. Instead, he sprinted, still hearing the echo of her
voice reverberate through the mountains of the Kokillix. As if the mountains
wanted him to hear.
He’d gone too far from base, but he sprinted as fast as his body would
allow, his heartbeat drumming in his ears until it was the only thing he heard.
“Erin!” he bellowed when he saw the crater come into view. “Erin!”
He heard nothing, which made him curse. When he saw the pulley, he
launched himself onto it and pulled himself up to the base, bloodying his
hands on the chain with his frenzied pace.
“Erin!” he called out, his eyes scanning the place he’d called home for the
past five rotations, seeing it with new eyes. It was no longer his sanctuary,
but the place where he might have lost her forever.
There wasn’t a kekevir in sight, which was what he’d originally feared,
but when his eyes went to the cave, his heart froze as he saw the door torn off
its hinges.
He sprinted there, launching himself up the steps, fearing what he might
find. Profound relief and mind-numbing terror met him when he saw it was
empty.
Jaxor cut a look back to the base. It was empty too. When he looked up at
the sky, he saw it. The shield link in the northwest corner, the one over his
crops, had failed.
“Vrax!” he roared, launching himself off the cave platform, quickening
his pace towards the tunnel that led to the hovercraft.
 Maybe she escaped. Maybe she was able to escape them.
Because he knew. Tavar had come, or he’d sent his warriors to search for
him, to punish him. Only, they’d happened upon his base instead…and in the
process, they’d happened upon her.
The gleam in Tavar’s eyes the night he’d met them by the Lopitax Sea
had been one of distrust. Jaxor had always known the Mevirax leader was
intelligent, not easily fooled. When Jaxor betrayed him, when he hadn’t
delivered on his promise though he knew how much Jaxor wanted his
revenge—the only thing he’d ever wanted—it told him everything. Tavar
would have questioned what changed. Had he guessed that he kept a human
female for himself?
Pushing his body faster, Jaxor sprinted down the tunnel, but the
hovercraft was still there. They hadn’t taken it, but it almost certainly meant
Erin hadn’t escaped.
His anguished bellow made the kekevir screech. They clamored down the
tunnel, their claws scraping at the stone, their eyes flashing behind the gate.
Launching himself into the hovercraft, he powered the engine on and shot
up through the entrance of the tunnel. It was a clear span, perhaps another
reason why the Mevirax had spotted his base.
“Erin!” he bellowed into the endless sky, wind rushing. He knew where
the Mevirax base was. But looking in that direction, he saw nothing. Not a
glimmer of metal on the horizon. He’d strayed too far from base during his
last patrol, had taken too long to return.
Jaxor couldn’t think. Rage and worry and dread filled him. He needed to
think.
His hand shook when he brought it up to his horns, when he clawed at the
thick bone. Just that morning, he’d had her in his arms. Just that morning,
she’d smiled and kissed him and looked at him like—
Vaxa’an.
His brother’s name cut through his jumbled thoughts and he latched onto
it, desperately.
Even in the frenzied state he was in, Jaxor knew he couldn’t very well
storm Tavar’s base alone. He had planned to tell Vaxa’an everything in the
Golden City, which was what he should have done from the very beginning.
But would his brother listen to him? Would he help him? Or would he turn
his back on him, just like Jaxor had done to Vaxa’an ten rotations ago?
But he couldn’t do this alone.
 As much as his Instinct clawed at his chest to go hurtling after his female,
he couldn’t take on over two hundred of the Mevirax alone. He had a single
weapon on the hovercraft.
He turned his sight south, towards the Golden City. His brother would be
there. If he flew through the night, he could be there by morning. He would
beg if he had to, he would agree to anything, as long as Vaxa’an would help
rescue Erin from the Mevirax…before they had the chance to hand her over
to the Jetutians.
He didn’t have time to think about it. There was such little time to be had
and he didn’t know what Tavar knew or if he’d already been in contact with
Po’grak.
But if he reached the Golden City, he could out the spy in the command
center. They would realize Luxiria had been breached multiple times and they
could ensure that no vessels entered. If only he could reach the Golden City
before Erin was delivered to the Mevirax base.
He didn’t have a choice.
He would be punished for his crimes, along with the Mevirax. It might
mean death, it might mean exile, but he would sacrifice whatever he needed
to to keep his female safe and out of harm’s way.
Without another moment’s hesitation, he began the long journey to the
Golden City.
The mark of Oxandri seemed to burn on his chest, where Laccara had
pressed the blade to his flesh.
Sacrifice. Perhaps this was what Oxandri had wanted all along.
 CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

E rin woke to darkness, which she knew wasn’t right. Jaxor always had
a lantern lit in the cave as they slept because he couldn’t stand the
darkness.
Then she remembered and she lay perfectly still, blinking, willing her
eyes to adjust to the almost nonexistent light.
Her temple was throbbing, a headache blooming behind her right eye. Her
shoulder was sore, though when she chanced to move, she saw it was in a
sling. It had been popped back into place, thankfully while she’d been
knocked out.
Wherever she was, it was humid. Her skin was sticky with it. She heard
the distant sound of rushing water. A waterfall or a river? And she smelled
wet stone—like rain on concrete after a storm. Wet stone and fragrant earth.
She couldn’t pretend to be asleep forever and as her eyes slowly adjusted,
she saw a sliver of light to the left, out of the corner of her vision. Daylight.
Or moonlight. It was filtering in through a crack in the stone.
When she didn’t sense any movement, slowly, she pushed up from the
ground. It was dirt, she realized. Packed earth. So dark it looked black. But
the walls were stone. Was she in another cave?
Blinking in the darkness, she saw she was alone. But she was caged.
Trapped. Mercifully, it wasn’t like the cage at the Pit, small and cramped.
Instead, she was sitting in a cave the size of the one in Jaxor’s base and black
metal bars enclosed the entrance.
It was a dungeon.
Erin was thirsty, her throat parched, and she felt slightly nauseous from
the intense headache. She tried to think back. Back to Jaxor’s base. The male
had caught her—she’d screamed out Jaxor’s name, hadn’t she?—and then
she didn’t remember anything else. He’d hit her to knock her out, she
realized. Hard enough for the pain to linger.
Panic was beginning to make her heartbeat pound in her chest, but she
took a long, deep inhale through her nostrils. Panic would get her nowhere.
She needed to remember the calm she’d felt stitching up her mother, or
putting the twins to sleep, though they’d been hungry and wailing.
It wasn’t long before she heard noise, footsteps on stairs. Stone stairs. She
couldn’t tell which direction they were coming from because everything
seemed to echo around her. Two sets of them?
Light came with the footsteps, a blue glow. She saw two figures
emerging, shadows at first, but then they came into view. The blue light
blinded her for a moment and she shielded her gaze, her eyes watering.
After her eyes adjusted, she heard a latch rising, a door opening. Slowly,
she rose to her feet, reaching out a hand to help steady her on her wobbly
legs.
A male was entering her prison cell. Not one she recognized, and there
was something about him that put her on edge. His black hair was long,
plaited in three sections, some of the strands laced with blue glass beads. He
looked to be around Jaxor’s age, in his prime but old in the eyes. There was a
small scar across his forehead, one that looked like a crescent moon.
“What do you want with me?” she asked, speaking first, hoping that he
spoke English. Was this the Mevirax leader? What had Jaxor said his name
was?
Tavar, she remembered.
He simply cocked his head to the side, studying her. She didn’t want to
take her eyes off him, but she cut a quick look to the second figure. A female
this time.
But what shocked her the most was that she was pregnant.
Erin’s breath hitched, staring down at the rounding of her belly before
meeting her eyes. Erin had never seen a Luxirian female before. Only males.
She was smaller than the male she assumed was Tavar, but her build was
strong. Her hair was loose and long. Her large breasts were bound in brown,
cracked leather, leaving her shoulders and growing stomach bare. A long
skirt, also of leather, brushed the tops of her bare feet.
She was carrying a tray with a small handful of dried meat, something
that looked like bread, only it was grey, and a skin of what she hoped was
water.
At the male’s nod, the female entered the cell and deposited the tray
within the doorway before backing out to safety. Was she afraid of Erin?
That couldn’t possibly be right. Perhaps she feared for the child, thought that
Erin would attack her.
Swallowing, Erin’s eyes returned to the male.
“Are you Tavar?” she asked, trying to keep her voice strong and even.
His eyes narrowed. He seemed more annoyed than surprised that she
knew his name, as if a human like her shouldn’t dare to speak it.
“What do you want with me?” she asked again, briefly looking back at
the female in the darkness.
Tavar was holding the lantern of blue light and it cast shadows over his
skin, making him seem even more intimidating. It made her nervous, seeing
the mild disgust on his face.
He still didn’t answer.
“Jaxor will come for me,” she told him, her façade beginning to crack
with her fear.
His smile was sinister, mocking even.
“How do you think you are here, female?” he asked instead, his accented
English soft, though it also seemed to cut like a blade. “Jaxor gave you over
to us. As he promised he would.”
Her mind swam a little. She remembered the male who’d come to kidnap
her from the base had said something similar.
She dismissed Tavar’s words immediately.
Her jaw clenched, her back straightening. “You’re wrong.”
Tavar simply cocked his head to the side, that smile growing. “I am
wrong? Yet, you are here. In my keep.”
Erin was still shaking her head in denial, though the motion coupled with
her headache made her want to vomit. Bile was rising in her throat. “No. He
wouldn’t. I’m his mate. And he will come for me.”
Tavar blinked, like the knowledge that she was his mate didn’t surprise
him. “What exactly did he tell you?”
His tone implied that her steadfastness amused him. She bit her tongue,
refusing to give in to his taunts. She had to stop herself from biting too hard,
or else she might draw blood.
“We made our agreement when we first heard of your existence on this
planet,” Tavar said, his tone changing, hardening. “He would bring whatever
human females he could find in the Golden City to us. He told us that there
was another, but that the Luxirian Ambassador got to her first.”
They knew about Crystal?
Then she remembered. He’d met with the Mevirax near the base. But why
had he told them about Crystal? And Cruxan? What purpose would that
serve? Unless…there was an inkling of truth to what Tavar was telling her.
A sick feeling spread in her gut, one that had nothing to do with her
pounding headache.
Still, she shook her head.
“He will not come for you, female,” Tavar said. “At least not to rescue
you, as you desperately hope. When he comes, it will be to collect on my side
of the bargain.”
“And what is that?” she hissed out, glaring at the Mevirax leader, her
frustration and confusion overriding her fear.
His smile returned. “Po’grak. What else?”
Po’grak?
What the hell was going on? What was Tavar even talking about?
“Oh, he did not tell you that part?” Tavar asked. “About his hatred for the
Jetutian that killed his mother?”
What?
“Jetutian,” she whispered, fear beginning to chill her once more. They
were in league with the Krevorags, the ones that had abducted her from
Earth. They ran the Pit with them, keeping a steady supply of females from
across the universe. Only, human females specifically seemed to be a rare and
highly sought after commodity during her time there.
She was going to be sick.
“No,” she said softly. “H-he wouldn’t.”
“Regardless,” Tavar continued, that smile dropping, “Po’grak will be here
in a few spans to collect you. If Jaxor shows—”
“No, you were going to ransom us!” she cried out, desperation coloring
her tone. Now she couldn’t keep the panic down. “You were going to ransom
us to the Prime Leader in exchange for technology.”
That was what Jaxor told her, right? The Jetutians weren’t coming for
her. She would be back in the Golden City soon, despite her capture.
Tavar laughed, the sound booming off the cave walls, making her flinch.
Out of the corner of her eye, even the Luxirian female seemed to flinch, but
when Erin cut her a glance, her expression was unreadable.
 “The Jetutians supply us with technology. What use would we have for
his brother’s?”
Erin froze, her stomach dropping.
“What?” she whispered.
Tavar’s laugh faded, though he still seemed amused by her. Erin watched
as he walked back out of the cell, taking the blue light with him.
“Wait!” she pleaded, walking up to the bars, locking eyes with him
through them. “What do you mean, his brother’s?”
Tavar studied her. She wanted to smack the expression right off his face,
but her shock froze her limbs. “Are you even certain you are his mate?”
Tavar asked, brows raised. “Or was that just another lie he told you? I
underestimated him. I should have made him a member of my council when I
had the chance, even with the royal blood coursing through his veins, the
same blood that doomed us from the beginning.”
Erin couldn’t breathe. The darkness was creeping in from around the cave
walls, threatening to swallow her whole.
“Jaxor is Vaxa’an’s brother?” she whispered. “His father was…”
“You know nothing at all,” Tavar told her, looking like he actually pitied
her. That look made her skin crawl. “And you still question how you came to
be in my possession? You remain loyal to a proven liar, a liar who turned his
back on his own blood, and not only betrayed him, but betrayed you?”
The bile was rising. And rising. Her mouth flooded with saliva and then
she dropped to her knees and vomited what little food remained in her
stomach. The acid made her throat burn.
Tears welled in her vision and she heard their footsteps retreat, the only
source of light going with it, leaving her in darkness. She heard Tavar’s laugh
echo and a sob crawled up her throat, her chest aching with the memory of
his words.
Jaxor.
As she cried, as fear and sorrow and heartbreak curled inside her, making
a home, Erin wondered…had she known him at all?
Or had everything just been a lie?
 CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

J axor was dragged into the command center of the Golden City with
heavy chains draping his wrists. The two guards flanking him wore
cold expressions, but Jaxor paid them no mind.
The moment he’d landed outside, on the black sand, and
requested to speak with his brother, they had secured him, as he knew they
would. They had ensured he carried no weapons. They knew who he was—of
course they did. One of the warriors he even recognized. They’d gone
through training together.
He was exhausted, mentally and physically, and he could sense Erin’s
distance like it was a tangible thing. He was frustrated because it had taken
longer to reach the Golden City than expected and it was by sheer luck and
perhaps the Fates’ blessing that he had made it at all, considering he’d run
low on fuel just as he’d begun to cross the Black Desert. He’d skidded in on
fumes and a moment later, he was in chains.
Jaxor could hardly comprehend that he was about to see his blood
brother, that he would speak with him for the first time in over ten rotations.
He didn’t know what to feel. All he felt was the pressing need to reach Erin
before…before it was too late.
They made the short walk to the war room, where Vaxa’an often met with
the council and his Ambassadors.
But when the doors opened and his brother looked up from the Coms,
Vaxa’an was alone.
His brother stood from behind the circular table and they stared at one
another for several long moments. Jaxor’s throat closed up and he had the
strongest urge to look away, but he didn’t. He couldn’t.
 “Leave us,” Vaxa’an finally ordered the warriors.
The warriors hesitated, obviously loathe to leave their Prime Leader alone
with a known traitor, even if that traitor was his brother.
“Now,” Vaxa’an clipped and the guards inclined their heads and left,
pulling the two heavy doors closed behind them. No doubt they would alert
the council and perhaps the Ambassadors that Jaxor had returned to the
Golden City, that he was in the Prime Leader’s custody.
Jaxor had forgotten how large the war room was. Cavernous, even. Coms
lined the walls, but the ceiling was so high that Jaxor couldn’t even see where
it ended. The light would not reach there. And in that massive space, he
thought that his brother would seem small, but he did not. He had become the
great leader that their sire had always known he would be.
Jaxor had the stray thought that they were strangers to one another now.
They might as well be.
Vaxa’an’s swallow was audible in the thick silence as he rounded the
circular table, an unforgiving slab of Luxirian steel.
“A part of me,” Vaxa’an said, “believed that I would never lay eyes on
you again, brother.”
Jaxor’s chest heaved with unnamed emotion and a thousand thoughts
flooded his mind as he studied Vaxa’an’s face. Standing before him in chains
was not how he envisioned this reunion, but it was no less than he deserved.
Erin.
“I know I have no right to ask it,” Jaxor started, his voice low as he
connected his gaze with his brother’s. Twin eyes. They had always had the
exact same eyes. The shade of their mother’s. Many had commented on it
when they’d been younger. “But I am in need of your help.”
Vaxa’an looked at him. Something flashed in his gaze. Anger. Fury.
“This is what you have finally returned home for?” his brother asked. “So
I can be of use to you?”
“I have not returned home,” Jaxor said quietly. “I came here, though I
know the consequences of returning, to seek your help.”
Vaxa’an’s hands shot out so quickly that Jaxor thought his brother would
strike him. But instead, he placed his hands on the sides of his neck, touching
his flesh for the first time, and Jaxor felt the agony in his brother. Blood was
strong. It was why fated mates performed a blood bond, the fellixix. Siblings
shared blood and so they already shared the bond. They’d been connected all
their lives, since the moment Jaxor was born. He could feel his brother’s soul,
felt it taken up by another—his human mate—just as certainly as Vaxa’an
felt Jaxor’s soul consumed by another, by Erin.
Touch helped connect them and Vaxa’an’s nostrils flared with the
realization that Jaxor, too, had a mate. Jaxor brought his chained wrists up,
clasped his hands on his brother’s forearm, felt the heat of him and the
pulsing of his heart.
“I need your help,” Jaxor pleaded. “She is in danger.”
“What have you done?” Vaxa’an asked him, his pupils wide.
“More than she will forgive me for,” Jaxor said, inhaling the same air
between them. “But I will spend the rest of my lifespan making it up to her.
However short that life may be,” he added softly, knowing that his execution
was very probable now that he had returned.
Vaxa’an seemed to realize this too and he released Jaxor, but didn’t step
away.
“There is much you are not telling me,” Vaxa’an accused softly.
“I will tell you everything you wish to know,” Jaxor replied, “but first
know that the Jetutians have breached our atmosphere on multiple occasions
over the last ten rotations.”
Vaxa’an shook his head. “Not possible. We would have—”
“There is one male I know of that has been coordinating with the
Mevirax. A male stationed here at the command center. There may be more,
but I have no way of knowing.”
“Rebax?” Vaxa’an asked softly, absorbing his words. “You are telling me
that the Jetutians have breached our planet’s surface with the aid of a
Luxirian warrior. One of my warriors?”
“Tev,” Jaxor said. “Bring Kirov here. Have him scan the surface
manually. That is the first step.”
“Kirov is not here. None of the Ambassadors are. Cruxan just…”
Vaxa’an trailed off. “The Lunar Celebration is tonight.”
Vrax.
Which meant the Ambassadors were at their respective outposts.
Jaxor swallowed this news down and said, “You must summon him.
Immediately.”
“Why?”
“I fear that the Jetutians will come. Soon. If they are not here already.”
Vaxa’an looked at him like a stranger. His brother had remained
unchanged—at least physically—but Jaxor knew that he was different. Jaxor
felt the long rotations like they were lashes against his back, felt them stretch
tight.
“Do you believe me?” Jaxor asked, looking him straight in the eyes.
Through their blood connection, he felt Vaxa’an’s unease.
“I do,” his brother said, without hesitation. Relief made Jaxor close his
eyes. “But I worry what I will think when you tell me everything else.”
Jaxor nodded. “First, ensure Luxiria is secure. Only allow those you trust
in the command center until Kirov arrives.”
“Why come to me now with this information?” Vaxa’an asked. Jaxor
sensed his rage then. A tangible thing between them. “You have known this
entire time. You have put countless at risk in not telling me. Why?”
Jaxor felt the metal biting into his wrists. He knew the answer but he
didn’t want to say it. He knew it wouldn’t make a drop of difference in his
brother’s eyes.
“The Jetutians have only ever come to speak with the Mevirax,” Jaxor
told Vaxa’an. “Three times that I know of.”
“Were you there during these meetings?” Vaxa’an asked him.
“Nix,” Jaxor said. “They happened after I had already broken away from
the Mevirax.”
After he learned what Tavar had planned to do with the Luxirian
crystals…
Vaxa’an was shaking his head, frustrated. “You need to tell me
everything.”
“And I will, brother,” Jaxor said, that same frustration rising in him. “But
the Mevirax have Erin.”
“Rebax?”
“They took her, just yesterday, from my base. That is why I need your
help. To get her away from them. To keep her safe.”
Vaxa’an was already walking over to the wall of Coms. “I will send for
Kirov.”
“And the others?”
“There are already plans in place, Jaxor’an,” he said and Jaxor flinched at
his proper name. It mocked him now, a symbol of his family, of his lineage,
of his place in their world. “We were planning to storm the Mevirax’s base in
seven spans. This will move up the timeline, but I am not certain how much.
But tonight, with the exception of Kirov, I will allow the Ambassadors their
night. Tomorrow, I will send for them.”
 “Seven spans?” Jaxor rasped. “Erin cannot wait that long!”
Vaxa’an turned from the Coms after he’d presumably called for Kirov,
studying Jaxor in the dim light. “I will ensure the planet is secure now. Kirov
will double-check when he gets here to tonight. I will send warriors to scout
near the Caves of the Pevrallix,” he paused, “if that is still where the Mevirax
are.”
“It is,” Jaxor said, distracted, unable to shake the feeling of dread and
unease. Was Erin safe? Was she fed, cared for?
His only comfort, if it could be called that, was that Tavar wouldn’t abuse
her. He needed her for the Jetutians. As long as the Jetutians had not
breached their atmosphere already, it would give them time to prepare.
Vaxa’an turned back to him, looking at him with a blank gaze, as if
preparing himself for what would come next.
“Now tell me everything,” his brother ordered softly. “From the moment
you left the Golden City, ten rotations ago, until the moment you stepped
inside here, this span.”
“Even though you will hate me more for it?” Jaxor asked, his tone quiet.
He was exhausted, but this could not wait.
“I could never hate you, brother,” Vaxa’an said, approaching him again.
There he was. His brother. Inherently good, always better than Jaxor
could hope to be. His love for him burned brightly in that moment, love Jaxor
was not worthy of.
“Even still,” Jaxor said, feeling his heartbeat drum in his chest, “you
might, after you learn what I have done.”
 CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

T he Luxirian female returned later that night. Only this time, she came
back alone, carrying yet another tray of food—though Erin hadn’t
even touched the first one.
The female watched her from behind the bars, easily balancing both a
lantern and the tray, using her pregnant belly to support the latter. Her
features were unreadable when she saw the food Erin hadn’t touched.
“You are hungry, tev?” the female asked quietly, her voice hesitant in a
way that made Erin think she was embarrassed.
Erin was leaning against the wall of the cave, just underneath the sliver
where she could see the light streaming through. She thought it was morning
now, or perhaps afternoon. The only difference was that the cave had become
somewhat warmer and the stench of her vomit had permeated the air.
“What do you want with me?” Erin whispered.
The female cast her gaze down. She set the tray outside the barred
entrance and turned to leave. Erin watched the lantern’s light retreat, thought
about Jaxor’s fear of darkness, until the memory of him physically hurt—and
she tried to not think at all.
A few moments later, the female returned, this time with a Luxirian male.
Not Tavar. A guard, perhaps. He looked at Erin with intense curiosity mixed
with mild distaste. He looked away after a couple minutes of studying her, as
if he knew he shouldn’t be looking at her, but then his head turned back with
a frown.
He stood away from the cell, watched intently as the female unlocked the
door and toed the tray of food across the floor, into her cell.
“I’m not hungry,” Erin said.
 The female had brought a basin of water and a large grey cloth with her.
Erin watched as she knelt on the dirt of her prison, watched as she began to
clean the remnants of her vomit, wiping it away.
Erin wanted to feel mild embarrassment that this female was cleaning up
her filth. But she couldn’t bring herself to. She didn’t owe this female
anything. She didn’t owe anyone anything.
She just wanted to go home.
Back to Earth. To see Jake and Ellora…even her mother. She couldn’t
believe that, in moments of weakness with Jaxor, she’d believed that it was a
possibility she’d choose the stay. Especially when he’d been planning to
betray her all along.
Hot tears burned her eyes, her chest aching. She thought she might vomit
again, but forced herself to tilt her head back, to look at the sliver of light
pouring in through the crack in the ceiling.
“You eat,” the female said after the sounds of her scrubbing the floor had
stopped.
Erin looked back at her. Looked at her rounded belly. The female was
still kneeling on the floor, the dirtied rag deposited in the basin. The guard
was still standing watch at the base of the staircase. The lantern cast him
mostly in shadows, but Erin felt his presence.
“Where’s Tavar?”
The female’s face had no reaction to her question. “Busy.”
“Who are you?” she asked next.
The female looked back at the guard. Then she pushed the tray of food
towards Erin. “I will talk with you, but only while you eat.”
“Why do you care if I eat or not?” Erin asked, even as she pulled the tray
towards her. If she could ask questions of the female, she’d take the
opportunity, even though she didn’t quite know what she wanted to know the
most. “Won’t you get in trouble for speaking with me?” she asked, looking
back at the guard.
“He does not speak your language,” the female said, her expression still
carefully blank.
“And how is it that you do?”
Erin took a chunk of the dried meat and began to eat. The female watched
her and said, “I was one of the ones chosen to receive a language implant.”
“From the Jetutians?” Erin asked, her voice lowering, thinking back to
when Tavar had said they’d received ‘technology’ from them. She’d always
been under the impression that the Mevirax had very little. “Is that when
Jaxor got his language implant too?”
The knowledge cut deeply. How easily he’d fooled her. How easily he’d
lied to her.
How he must’ve been laughing, even as he kissed her.
The female inclined her head and Erin asked, “Why you?”
The female’s gaze dropped back down to the tray and Erin bit off another
mouthful of dried meat.
“Because I am meant to care for you while you are here,” the female told
her.
“You were expecting more women,” Erin guessed. Instead, they only got
one. Her.
The female didn’t reply.
Erin swallowed the meat. Her stomach growled and for the first time, she
realized how hungry she really was. As if simply chewing had reminded her
that she hadn’t eaten in…who knew how long.
She reached for another piece and that one she washed down with water
from the skin the female had brought.
“Who are you?” Erin asked once she’d wiped her lips. They felt dry,
scratchy across the back of her hand.
“I am Kossira,” the female replied.
“And how the hell are you pregnant, Kossira?” Erin asked, leveling her
with a steady gaze.
Kossira’s eyes flashed. For the first time, Erin recognized herself in this
Luxirian female. A moment later, the carefully blank mask was back in place
and she began to rise from the ground, using the bars of the dungeon to help
lift her. Erin thought of the way she’d flinched at Tavar’s laugh.
“Are you his mate?” Erin asked, looking up at her, her words quick and
quiet. Kossira said nothing. She reached down for the water basin instead. “I
can help you.”
That got her attention, but not the kind Erin wanted. Kossira’s gaze was
like a blade. “You cannot even help yourself.”
Erin’s words had been scrambling and desperate. She heard the
unbending truth in Kossira’s tone. Of course she couldn’t help herself. When
she’d first arrived, she’d believed with every part of her that Jaxor would
come. That she would see him walking down those stairs, coming for her.
Always.
 Her heart felt like a ragged, torn thing now. Like a moth with broken
wings, fluttering helplessly in her chest. Tavar’s words kept coming back to
her.
You know nothing at all.
The questions, the lies kept coming back to her, making her feel like she
would suffocate underneath them. Why hadn’t Jaxor told her his brother was
Vaxa’an, the Prime Leader of Luxiria? Why would he keep that from her?
“Then will you help me?” Erin whispered.
Kossira locked eyes with her. In a moment, Erin saw her mask slip, saw
the fear in her gaze. Erin saw the answer in her eyes.
No, because I cannot even help myself either.
Erin’s shoulders sagged. Kossira placed a hand on her belly before
shoving the basin of dirtied water out of the cell, taking up the lantern in her
hand.
“Eat,” Kossira said. “I will summon Tavar if you do not.”
The words were meant to be a threat, but Erin couldn’t stop looking at her
belly. Realization cut through her.
“Was it the Jetutians?” Erin whispered.
“Rebax?”
Jaxor had said something about crystals. Luxirian crystals. He told her
they’d traded the crystals for technology and weapons from the Jetutians…
but what if they’d traded them for something else as well?
“The crystals…” Erin said, trailing off, her heartbeat thundering in her
ears. “They cured you. They cured you for the crystals.”
Kossira was already walking through the door of her cell, shutting and
locking it behind her. Erin got up on wobbling knees and approached the
bars, trying to capture her attention.
“Nix,” Kossira said quietly. “They did not. Not for the crystals.”
“Then for…” Erin trailed off. She swallowed back the words,
understanding what Kossira was not saying. “But…but you have not taken
any others before. We are the first humans here.”
“They had to prove that they could,” Kossira told her, her voice dropping.
Erin took a step back from the bars, watched as Kossira cut the guard a
look and said something in Luxirian—or a dialect of it, at least—and then
they both turned towards the staircase, disappearing from view.
Erin stood, stunned. She recognized that her own freedom—and the
freedom of many others—had been sacrificed for…technology. That was
why the Mevirax had given the Jetutians the crystals in the first place, wasn’t
it? And now, Erin’s newfound freedom would once again be forfeit…so that
children could be born.
She didn’t know how to feel about that.
It was a strange pulling inside her. A part of her wanted to scream, to
make her fear and anger known.
Her head swam, suddenly dizzy. She lay down on the floor and when she
was finally able to sleep, she dreamed that she’d been buried in the earth like
Jaxor’s crops. And when the earth was uncovered, a crying newborn child,
covered in soil, had taken her place.
 CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

J axor sat on the soft bed, his head hanging between his shackled
wrists. His claws—his dulled claws, since he kept them short for Erin
—were curled into his shorn hair.
Vaxa’an had left him hours before. Jaxor couldn’t stop
remembering the look on his face after he’d told him everything. From the
beginning. He’d told him only the facts, however brutal they might have
been. About seeking out the Mevirax, about Tavar, about the crystals. About
leaving the Mevirax, and returning when Tavar sought him out with a
proposition. He told him what he knew of the traitor in the command center
—though he had no name—about how the male would make sure to be on
duty whenever the Jetutians met with the Mevirax so he could shield their
vessel’s signal as they entered the atmosphere.
Finally, he told his brother about Kossira—Tavar’s mate. The only
pregnant Luxirian female in existence on their planet. He told him about the
deal Tavar had made with Jaxor—that he would bring human females to the
Caves of Pevrallix and in exchange, Jaxor would be the one to confront
Po’grak, that he would have his chance at revenge.
“Why would Tavar betray Po’grak?” Vaxa’an had asked when Jaxor had
first spoken of it. “It seems foolish.”
That was when Jaxor told him of the cure for the virus. Kossira had told
them that the Jetutians only gave her a small vial—black in color and thick—
injected into her bloodstream. Nothing more. The realization that the cure for
their females was so simple was…rocking.
Vaxa’an had seemed dumbstruck by it as well. He’d shaken his head at
first. “Privanax has worked tirelessly on a treatment. I cannot imagine that—”
 “The Jetutians have one. One that works.”
“You have seen Kossira?” Vaxa’an had demanded, standing to pace.
“Tev,” Jaxor said. “Before I left for the Golden City, before I came for
Erin and Crystal, she looked as if she was just two lunar cycles away from
giving birth.”
“This vaccine…you were planning to steal it?” Vaxa’an had asked him,
cutting him with a sharp look. “That is what you and Tavar plotted?”
“Tavar believed that you would bend your power to him if he brought you
the cure for our females,” Jaxor had said quietly. “He seeks power. He still
hates the Jetutians, but he was willing to work with them for one purpose
only.”
“He wants to be Prime Leader,” Vaxa’an had said, his expression grim.
“He would have demanded nothing less once he had the vaccine,” Jaxor
had said. “He would have made you choose between your position and your
people. And I know you would have relinquished the title to him.”
“All while plotting to get it back,” Vaxa’an had finished for him. “And be
assured, brother, I would get it back.”
Jaxor had looked at his brother in that moment and realized that there
were some aspects of Vaxa’an that Jaxor saw in himself. All of the bad of
Vaxa’an, Jaxor saw in himself.
“I was going to bring it to you,” Jaxor had admitted softly. “I was going
to take the vaccine and bring it to you instead.”
“Rebax?” Vaxa’an had asked quietly, stilling in his pacing.
“Tavar is dangerous,” Jaxor told him. “In some ways, he is worse than the
Jetutians and I would not allow him near the throne our family’s blood has
built.”
Vaxa’an had blown out a breath, but had asked, unflinchingly, “And what
of the human females? In all of your plans, what of them?”
Jaxor had looked away from his brother’s gaze then. “I knew that it was
always a possibility I would not be able to get them back after I killed
Po’grak. The exchange was to take place on their vessel. We were to bring
the Luxirian female of our choosing along with the human females we had
taken so they could administer the treatment. There were many variables,
many things that could go wrong.” His gaze had connected with Vaxa’an’s
then. He’d forced himself to look him straight in the eye and say, “My
priority was the cure, not the human females.”
“Not even Po’grak?” Vaxa’an had asked quietly.
 Jaxor’s revenge had weighed heavily in his mind for ten rotations. But as
he was looking into his brother’s identical eyes, Jaxor felt relief when he said,
“I would have chosen the vaccine,” because he knew, without a shadow of a
doubt, it was the truth.
Vaxa’an seemed to realize the same thing in that moment. Vaxa’an had
then asked, “And how does Erin fit into all this?”
And that question was the one haunting him presently. Vaxa’an was gone
now, left to speak with the council, and all Jaxor had was his thoughts, his
regrets, and his dread.
Jaxor couldn’t stand the soft cot he sat on, so he rose, pacing the floor just
as his brother had done during their conversation. His wrists were still
shackled, but at least Jaxor wasn’t being kept in the dungeons below the
command center. Instead, Vaxa’an had led him into one of the empty quarters
—warrior barracks—and locked him in. The space was bare. There was a
small washroom attached. But nothing that Jaxor could use to get the
shackles off, which Vaxa’an had probably already thought of.
I should get used to them, Jaxor thought. Because after this, it was very
likely he would be wearing them until his death.
Before Vaxa’an had left to meet with the council, he’d looked at Jaxor
and said, “Even if we manage to get to Erin in time, even if we manage to
take Tavar into our custody and kill Po’grak and get the vaccine…even if
everything goes perfectly right,” Jaxor had closed his eyes, imagining that
very situation, knowing that it was too good to be true, “you will still go to
trial before the council and the elders. Even I will not be able to pardon you.”
“Would you, though?” Jaxor had asked quietly. “Pardon me if you
could?”
“You are my brother,” Vaxa’an had said, his tone final. And then he’d
left, but Jaxor still wasn’t quite sure what he’d meant.
Did he mean that Jaxor, who shared the Prime Leader’s blood, was not
above their laws? Or that Vaxa’an would undoubtedly do anything he could
to save him?
On top of it all, Jaxor kept trying to search for Erin. As if they had blood
bonded, as if they had performed the fellixix. Jaxor cursed himself for it now.
If they had performed their ravraxia, their mating ceremony, under the eyes
of the Fates, he would be able to feel her. To sense her.
But all he felt was a dark emptiness, as if she should have been in his
mind, but had already gone.
 He punched the wall of his prison at the thought, wondering for the
thousandth time whether he’d made the right decision in coming to the
Golden City instead of straight to the Caves of the Pevrallix.
Jaxor could’ve reached her by now. His brother, on the other hand, was
chained by responsibilities, by plans. He had the lives of his warriors to think
of, whereas Jaxor only had his own. And he would undoubtedly give it up, if
it only meant Erin was safe.
He punched the wall again, cursing softly at the agony coursing its way
through his body. His Instinct was restless. He felt all wrong, not having her
close, not knowing that she was safe. They were wasting time. They should
have already started their journey towards the Caves—
The door to his quarters opened and his brother stepped back inside,
followed by Kirov. Seeing him, Jaxor paused, his brow furrowing. How long
had it been already? Kirov wasn’t supposed to be in the Golden City until
later that night.
Had the hours passed without Jaxor knowing?
Immediately, Jaxor asked him, “You checked that there were no Jetutian
vessels on the planet’s surface? You ran your scans?”
“Tev,” Kirov replied, inclining his head, though he never took his gaze
away. “The surface is clear.”
Relief, however brief.
Vaxa’an said, “We need you to come to the war room.”
Jaxor was already approaching the door. Vaxa’an stopped him with a firm
grip on his upper arm. He had something in his hand and when he held it up,
Jaxor knew it was the key for the shackles.
He knew what Vaxa’an asked. Gaze narrowed, Jaxor said, “You think I
would risk her life and try to flee now?”
Vaxa’an studied him. Kirov studied him. Jaxor could feel those eyes
sizing him up, trying to see something that even Jaxor couldn’t. Kirov had
always been that way. Too intelligent, too observant, too knowing, perhaps
even for his own good.
“The council wishes to speak with you. We need information on the
Mevirax base, information only you can give,” Vaxa’an told him, unclasping
the shackles that bound his wrists. Jaxor rubbed them, the skin raw, but when
he tried to step past his brother, Vaxa’an squeezed his shoulder, keeping him
in the quarters. “You should wash first. And eat something.”
Jaxor paused, cutting his brother a look. Did Jaxor look as terrible as he
felt? Shame bit into his chest. He must look like one of the Mevirax in his
brother’s eyes, untamed, unpredictable, uncivilized with his well-used clothes
and shorn hair. He hadn’t bathed in two spans, hadn’t eaten in just as long.
What would the council think? That was what Vaxa’an was asking him.
Because sometimes, appearance was everything, especially in the Golden
City. If he looked like an untamed barbarian, then that was the only thing the
council would see. But if he looked like a son of the Luxirian throne…
Was Vaxa’an already anticipating the council’s verdict in his trial? Was
he already trying to sway their opinions of Jaxor?
Something lodged in his chest at the thought and he reached out, clasping
his hand around his brother’s wrist. Understanding was dawning, now that he
was thinking about it. He only wished he hadn’t wasted time, that he had
thought of it before.
He had to play the part of the Prime Leader’s brother. Not Jaxor, the
traitor who’d left to seek out the Mevirax, who had their ink on his skin, but
rather, Jaxor’an, son of Kirax’an.
Jaxor made for the washroom quickly. He turned on the bathing tube,
marveling at the steady, warm stream that poured out. He’d forgotten about
the tubes, so used to the iciness of the waterfall back at his base. He washed
quickly, scrubbing at his dirty skin and unwashed hair. The water went
cloudy before it ran clear and the moment Jaxor felt clean, he stepped out and
dried himself off.
When he stepped from the washroom nude, Kirov was sitting on the
sleeping platform. Vaxa’an had been speaking with him, but they ceased
whatever conversation they’d been having when he reappeared. Next to
Kirov on the cot were clean clothes—a dark tunic with long sleeves and hide
pants, along with sturdy boots.
Jaxor pulled them on quickly, lacing the pants in a tight knot, his fingers
remembering the pattern he’d always used, the same pattern of knot his
mother had taught him before warrior training, the same pattern Vaxa’an no
doubt still used.
Alongside the clothes was a tray of fresh, braised meat, still steaming,
with fatty broth and a goblet of watered Brew. Jaxor made quick work of the
food. Though it was delicious—he’d almost forgotten the skill of Luxirians
when it came to braised meats—the moment he swallowed the last of it
down, he nodded at his brother.
“I am ready.”
 CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

E rin tracked time with three things. The first was the light through the
sliver in the ceiling—though at times it could be misleading. It was
so small that sometimes it was difficult to ascertain whether it was
moonlight or sunlight. So she also tracked the temperature in the dungeon—
warmer in the days, cooler at night.
And the last was Kossira’s visits. The female was punctual, she’d
realized, coming twice a day, once in the mornings and once in the evenings.
Given these three things, Erin had decided she’d been in the dungeon for
five days already. Five days since she’d been blissfully unaware and happy
with Jaxor at his base. Five days since she’d last seen him or touched him.
Five days since the Mevirax had taken her from him.
On the morning of the sixth day—the light coming through the crack in
the cave was slightly warmer than silver—Kossira came down the steps, the
same guard in tow.
When the Luxirian female saw that the tray from last night was cleared,
that the skin of water was empty, she almost looked pleased, relieved. She set
the lantern down and Erin looked at it, needing to see it. They left her in
darkness, except for the small sliver of natural light. At times, she’d felt
panicked and unbelievably frightened, feeling like the darkness was clasping
her around her ankles, chaining her, slithering down her throat until she
choked on it.
Again, she wondered about Jaxor’s fear of darkness. It was something
she’d never asked him about. And the first question that Erin asked Kossira
that morning, once she stepped into the cell and deposited the new tray on the
floor, was, “Was Jaxor ever kept down here?”
 Whenever Erin mentioned Jaxor, Kossira got uncomfortable…as if she
wasn’t allowed to speak about him. Even the guard at the base of the stairs,
though he didn’t know English, shot them a look at the name that fell from
Erin’s lips.
A name that she’d whispered and cried out and moaned and smiled as she
said it a short while ago. Remembering brought back that familiar, dull ache,
but mostly, she felt a little numb thinking about it, thinking about him.
“When he first came here, I believe he was,” Kossira said. “Pivar was
leader of the Mevirax then. He believed that Jaxor came to spy on us. It took
time for Jaxor to prove that he would be loyal to the ways of the Mevirax.”
“How long?” Erin whispered, fearing she knew. “How long was he kept
down here?”
Kossira shrugged, though her lips pressed together. “A rotation. From
what I have heard.”
The breath was squeezed from her lungs and her fingers dug into the dirt
of the floor. Earth that Jaxor would have laid upon, in darkness.
A year.
No wonder…she thought.
She closed her eyes, feeling pain pour into her belly, making her want to
vomit. She’d talked to him of her fear of sharks and he’d told her he was
afraid of the dark. How silly, how small her fear must’ve seemed to him
when faced with the reality of this. This endless dark. Now she understood
why he always kept a lantern lit where they slept. She felt even more like a
fool now.
“Tavar saw Jaxor as a weapon. A useful one. After Tavar took rule from
his brother, he released Jaxor from the dungeons, brought him up to the
surface to live among us.”
So, of course, Jaxor would be loyal to Tavar. He’d saved him from this
darkness, this loneliness, this madness. Otherwise, he could’ve rotted alone
down here.
Erin felt that loneliness creeping, like little fingers trailing along the
ground towards her. How had Jaxor withstood it? Especially since he’d just
lost his family back then?
Because mentally, he was strong, she decided. Erin believed he could
probably withstand anything.
Yet, he’d also confessed to her about his loneliness, living at his base.
And right then, Erin wanted to curse him for making her begin to love him,
while also wanting him so much that she ached with it.
“Do you love Tavar?” Erin whispered to Kossira.
The female went still. “Of course I do.”
Erin watched as her hand went to her lower belly, cupping the swell
almost protectively. She’d learned a little about Kossira over the course of the
last five days and nights. Every time she came, she answered a couple of
Erin’s questions, but ignored others.
She’d learned that Kossira had been born in the Caves of the Pevrallix,
just like Tavar. That her father had been one of Tavar’s father’s allies in the
rebellion at the Golden City. Their families were closely linked. Kossira had
always known she would be the chosen mate—or rather, breeding partner—
for one of the sons. She’d told Erin it was an honor, but her eyes had seemed
hollow as she said it.
Erin wanted to hate her. But she couldn’t. Kossira had been somewhat
kind to her—disregarding the whole imprisonment situation. She’d made sure
she was well-fed, though sometimes Erin had a difficult time holding down
the food, and Kossira always sat with her as she ate…talked to her.
“What…” Kossira trailed off, frowning, then looked down at her belly,
thinking over something.
She’d been about to ask Erin something, which she’d never done before.
Erin had always asked the questions.
“Yes?” Erin prompted quietly, dragging the tray over to herself, reaching
out to eat some more dried meat, which tasted like ash on her tongue, as
though it would make Kossira ask her question.
“What is the Golden City like?” Kossira asked softly, not meeting her
eyes. It wasn’t quite a whisper, but with the guard looming near the stairs, she
still felt the need to lower her voice. Why? Were they not allowed to talk
about the Golden City?
Erin licked her dry lips, taking a swig of the water. Her heartbeat had
raced a bit at Kossira’s question. A tiny bloom of hope swelled in her heart.
Would Kossira help her?
“I didn’t see much of it while I was there,” Erin answered truthfully. “But
what I did see was beautiful. Otherworldly, like something out of a book.”
Kossira frowned.
Erin realized belatedly that they probably didn’t have books and even if
they did, it was a human projection to assume those books held fantastical
stories within them.
 Quickly, she continued, “It’s a city carved out from the side of a tall
mountain. With views of a black sand desert that stretches on for miles. And
the sun is so bright there that everything seems warm and golden…hence the
name, I assume.”
Kossira drew in a deep breath, her eyes flittering cautiously up to Erin’s.
She went on. “The house that we lived in had all sorts of colorful things
in it. There was a fire pit, where we’d spend our evenings, and plush rugs
stretched out along the floors and tapestries on the walls. And the
washroom…it was this giant pool of steaming, hot water that you could swim
in, it was so big.” Kossira’s mask slipped again, that careful mask she hid
behind. And what Erin saw was longing. For something new? Or for
something just…not here? “And I’ve never seen it, but I know there is a
marketplace on one of the lower terraces. They sell silks and fruits and
jewelry from all the outposts.”
Kossira stood then and Erin thought she’d said the wrong thing. Her mask
was back in place.
“Wait,” Erin said, her eyes flickering to the lantern, to the light. “Don’t
go. Please.”
Kossira’s gaze went to the lantern too. In the blue light, Erin saw her
frown, her anger. Erin didn’t understand it at first, not until Kossira said,
“When Tavar takes control of the Golden City, I will see it all for myself
anyways. I will raise my son there. We will,” she amended quietly. Meaning
Tavar. “My son will be a prince of Luxiria, the first born in the new age.”
Then she left so quickly that Erin hardly had time to process her words.
She watched Kossira look back at her and then she ascended the stairs with
the guard. The guard said something in their language, but whatever Kossira
replied made him fall silent.
It took Erin a moment to realize that she could see.
It took her another moment to realize that it was because Kossira had left
the lantern behind. That was what the guard had questioned, no doubt.
Erin dragged the lantern towards her and prayed, perhaps even to
Kollasor, the Fate Jaxor had prayed to once, that it would never go out again.

ERIN ROUSED from a deep sleep when she heard the door to her cell open.
Groggy, she saw it was twice as bright, but that was because there was
another lantern.
“What—”
It was Kossira. But she was alone, without a guard. And she had already
come by to give Erin her dinner, though after that morning, her visit had been
brief. Still, she’d let Erin keep the lantern again, which she’d been worried
about.
So why was she here now?
Have the Jetutians come? was Erin’s next panicked thought.
Kossira cast a glance over her shoulder at the stairs. The pregnant female
crouched low and said softly, “I cannot save you, but I can warn you.”
“What?” Erin asked, scrambling to push up to a sitting position. Her head
spun when she rose too quickly. She felt weak, her limbs heavy. “Warn me?”
“The Jetutians will come. Tomorrow, once the sky is dark. But when they
do, Tavar is planning an attack.”
“Why?”
“It does not matter, but he is,” Kossira whispered. “And when it happens,
that is when you can try to make your escape, while the Jetutians are
distracted. Their vessel usually docks east of here. That is where Tavar will
take you. There is a long hallway on their vessel, one with shapes like this,”
she turned to the dirt and drew a circular pattern with two vertical lines
running through it, “etched into the floor. Follow them until you find a large
white door. Once you see it, do not go through. Instead, turn left and go
through the grey door. That will lead you off the vessel. And if you escape,
head west. Follow the brightest star in the sky. It will lead you towards the
Golden City.”
Erin absorbed her words quickly, her mind working, realizing the severity
of this situation.
Her eyes flicked down to the shape in the dirt and then Kossira wiped it
away.
“Why are you helping me?” Erin whispered, taking her hand through the
bars.
Kossira looked at her. Her mask slipped. Erin saw the sadness in her eyes,
the fear.
“Because I know what the Jetutians do to females,” Kossira said, her
voice rough yet brittle. “They kept me for some time on their vessel before
they cured me. Tavar knew, but he still let me go to them, knowing what they
would do.”
Erin’s blood turned to ice in her veins and she squeezed Kossira’s wrist a
little tighter. She knew what the Luxirian female was telling her. That the
Jetutians may have healed her, given her the ability to bear children once
more, but they had taken much from her as well. And Tavar had allowed it.
“Come to the Golden City with me,” Erin whispered, her voice firm.
“You do not have to stay here. You do not have to stay with him.”
A long, sharp breath escaped Kossira. She pulled her hand away from
Erin’s grip and then stood to her full height.
“I am Mevirax,” Kossira said, her voice wavering slightly. “My place is
with him. I have accepted it.”
Erin heard the certainty in her voice, a certainty that Erin didn’t think she
would ever understand.
They held one another’s gaze for another moment. Then Kossira left. She
was gone, but her words hung heavy in the air.
 CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

“M y luxiva gave birth to our son shortly after you took the
females from the Golden City,” Vaxa’an told him quietly.
A sharp breath whistled through Jaxor’s nostrils and he
stopped his pacing of the command center’s quarters he’d been living in.
“We went to the Lallarix,” Vaxa’an murmured, “where our own mother
brought us into this world. There, my Kat brought our son into the world.
Your blood too.”
It had been seven spans since Jaxor had arrived at the command center.
Seven spans since meeting Vaxa’an again, face to face, for the first time in
ten rotations. Seven frustrating, agonizing spans of planning, of distrustful
looks and comments from the council and the Ambassadors when they finally
arrived from the outposts. Seven spans of dread and worry for Erin, of feeling
powerless to protect her, to help her.
Yet, in those seven spans, this was the first mention that Vaxa’an had a
son.
“Rebax?” Jaxor asked quietly, looking across the room at his brother.
“I would like you to give Kollasor’s blessing to my son,” Vaxa’an said. “I
have spoken with Kat about it—”
“Nix,” Jaxor rasped, his hands suddenly trembling. Grief and anger and
every emotion that he’d felt over the course of the last lunar cycle washed
over him—even elation and joy. They mingled together until Jaxor couldn’t
breathe. “Nix. You know I cannot.”
Vaxa’an frowned. He pushed away from the wall where he was standing,
grasped Jaxor’s forearm to feel their sibling blood bond more fully. Vaxa’an
stiffened at what he found in Jaxor’s mind and released him.
 It was just the two of them. They were on a meal break from the war
room, from their planning and re-planning, but Jaxor hadn’t any appetite the
last week. Every time he went into the war room, he saw a map of the
Mevirax base at the Caves of Pevrallix. He’d given Kirov every detail, to the
last hidden tunnel and passageway winding through it, and it reflected back at
him, a floating map, outlined perfectly by crisp streams of blue light. It
looked so real that Jaxor could almost envision walking the stone corridors.
And whenever he looked at the lower quadrant of the map, he could
almost feel the way the darkness of the dungeon pressed against his chest.
He’d always forced himself to look away, but he knew that was where Tavar
kept Erin. Remembering every moment spent there, knowing that Erin
experienced that darkness too, made him feel enraged and helpless.
“You are my blood,” Vaxa’an said, catching his gaze. “I want you to
bless my son.”
“After everything that I have done,” Jaxor said, his voice ragged, torn,
“you still want me to give the blessing? You should not want me close to
your son!”
Vaxa’an growled, taking him by the shoulders. They were the same
height now, but Jaxor sometimes still felt like the little brother, craning his
neck back to lock eyes with him, like he’d done when he’d been young.
“Enough,” Vaxa’an hissed. “I have forgiven you and you know this.”
“Nix.”
“You do not want my forgiveness?” Vaxa’an asked, his voice hard. He
shook Jaxor’s shoulders. “Is that what it is?”
Jaxor had hated himself for so long, hated the decisions he’d made, hated
the lives he’d affected.
“You want my hatred too?” Vaxa’an asked, feeling the emotions coursing
through his body. “You wish I hated you instead of loved you?”
“Tev,” Jaxor admitted softly. “I wish that.”
“Do you hate me then, brother?” Vaxa’an asked, still, his claws gripping
Jaxor’s shoulders tight.
“Rebax?” Jaxor rasped, brow furrowing. “Nix. Of course not.”
“Have you ever hated me?”
Jaxor paused. He could see himself in Vaxa’an’s eyes.
“It was not hate,” he finally said. “It was envy. It was grief for our
parents. It was feeling so powerless, when all our lives we were raised to be
strong. I do not know what to call that, but it was not hate.”
 And as he said the words, Jaxor realized they were true. When he’d left
the Golden City, he’d blamed his brother for his inaction against the
Jetutians, an impulsive, immature decision on Jaxor’s part. He’d been young
then, the angry son of the late Prime Leader.
And in Jaxor’s own mind, killing Po’grak, eliminating the threat that
hung over their heads, that had taken the lives of so many Luxirians, their
parents included, and bringing the vaccine that could heal their females back
to the Golden City…Jaxor had seen it as his apology. He’d been too ashamed
to face his brother, his home, his people, not unless he had something to offer
them as atonement.
Then he’d seen Erin in the washroom in the Golden City and his entire
world had tilted. And nothing had been the same since.
“You have always been too severe on yourself, Jaxor’an,” his brother
said. “Even as a child.”
Jaxor frowned.
“I remember you once broke our mother’s favorite trinket box. The one
she’d received from her mother.” Jaxor remembered that incident well. “You
were so ashamed and upset that you scoured the marketplace for another like
it. For hours on end, in the height of the hot season. And when you could not
find one, you went from dwelling to dwelling, asking to buy one similar,
though you were not even seven rotations old at the time. When you finally
returned home, you expected the worst. You walked through the doorway
with your head hung, empty-handed, ravenous since you had not eaten all
span, and do you remember what our mother said?”
Jaxor swallowed hard. He replied, “She said that she didn’t need to
forgive me because it had been an accident. She said that instead, I needed to
forgive myself because it was I that was doing the punishing.”
“Tev,” Vaxa’an said. “You feel so deeply, Jaxor’an. Mother knew that.
She knew that your emotions were pure, but sometimes cutting. That you
could love deeply, but also react too strongly.”
“Erin believed I was cold and detached when I first took her away,” Jaxor
told him.
Vaxa’an inclined his head in agreement. “Perhaps because it was the only
way. You had to dampen your emotions to go through with the task you had
set before yourself. But once she unlocked those repressed emotions, it was
too late. There was no going back.”
His ears were buzzing with his brother’s words.
 “You need to forgive yourself, Jaxor’an,” Vaxa’an said, his tone
unyielding. “You have made bad decisions, decisions you regret. We all
have. You have hurt those closest to you. We all have, one way or another.
But I am standing in front of you now, saying that I forgive you. Now, I am
asking you to forgive yourself because living with this guilt, with this
shame…it’s not a life I would wish for you.”
Jaxor felt his heart thudding in his chest. Could he forgive himself? He
didn’t know. But he understood what Vaxa’an was saying…that Jaxor was
his own enemy in all this.
“It will take time,” Vaxa’an said. Time I may not have, Jaxor thought.
“But there is hope and possibility ahead. I want you to focus on that.”
“I want to be a better male,” he finally admitted. “I want to be a better
male for her. And for myself.”
“Once this is all over,” Vaxa’an said, “once we return from the Mevirax,
once we get back your mate, I want you to meet mine—properly this time.”
Jaxor blew out a short breath, remembering that he’d spied on them both
at the Lallarix, long before he’d even known of Erin’s existence.
“Tev,” Jaxor said, his voice low and quiet.
“And I want you to bless Kollix’an, my son,” he continued. “Will you do
this for me? For us?”
Kollix’an.
The given name of their sire’s sire. A great leader of their time.
“Kat calls him Ollie,” Vaxa’an told him, his lips quirking at the corners.
Jaxor saw the deep, deep happiness and pride on his brother’s face. “A
human name, I think.”
Jaxor’s throat felt tight. He reached out to squeeze his brother’s shoulder.
“Tev,” he said, the word guttural, filled with the overwhelming emotion
he saw on his Vaxa’an’s face. He felt it thread through his own blood. “Tev, I
will. Once this is done, I will meet your mate and your son. And I will bless
him in the words of Kollasor, the favored words of our mother. She would
have liked that.”
They stood there for a long time in quiet, hearing and seeing all the
memories between them, memories only they had.
And for the first time, Jaxor felt hope. For the first time, Jaxor saw the
future that he wanted.
THE NEXT MORNING, the plan was set into motion. In exchange for exile,
not execution, the warrior male responsible for shielding the Jetutians’ entry
into Luxiria’s atmosphere three times in the past five rotations—Jaxor didn’t
care to remember the warrior’s name—told them when the planned meeting
would take place on the surface. The male was placed under careful guard, so
he could not alert the Mevirax to their plans, and his final act as a warrior of
Luxiria would be allowing their most reviled enemy entry, as planned.
During one of the multiple and endless meetings with the council, they’d
realized that their only opportunity for accessing the vaccine was to ensure
the Jetutians landed on Luxirian soil. The elders on the council had been
fiercely against it, but Vaxa’an had eventually made them see reason. Erin’s
rescue was obviously pressing…but the vaccine was an opportunity they
could not squander.
The exchange would take place near the Caves of the Pevrallix, a half-
span journey by hovercraft. Early in the morning, Vaxa’an, Jaxor, three of the
Ambassadors—Lihvan, Cruxan, and Rixavox—and nearly a hundred of the
Golden City’s best warriors took to their hovercrafts and then the sky. Kirov
and Vikan, the remaining two Ambassadors, would remain behind in the
Golden City as a precaution. Another hundred warriors were prepared to
leave at a moment’s notice and would travel to the Caves of the Pevrallix as
the night drew near in case their swords were needed.
As the hovercrafts passed the shining terraces of the Golden City, cheers
raised into the sky, but Vaxa’an’s face remained grim. When Jaxor looked at
the place he’d once called home, he saw crowds had gathered to see them off,
lining the terraces, the courtyards, the marketplaces. Many were relieved that
Vaxa’an was finally taking action against the Mevirax. But not many knew
that the Jetutians were also involved in this plot. Only the warriors did. Only
the warriors knew what was at stake if they failed.
The Mevirax numbers had grown considerably since their defection from
the Golden City. And while a hundred of the best-trained Luxirian warriors
should be enough to subdue them, Jaxor didn’t know how many Jetutians
Po’grak would bring with him, an unknown variable. One of many.
He flew in one hovercraft with Vaxa’an and two warrior guards. He
assumed the council had placed them there because they still didn’t trust
Jaxor’s intentions, as if he was leading all of them into a trap. The guards
eyed him warily whenever Vaxa’an’s back was turned, but Jaxor paid them
no mind. He knew—Vaxa’an knew—that he was not lying.
 He would have to come to terms with the fact that it was a possibility no
one would fully trust him again. Especially Erin.
His fists clenched at his sides. They still had a long journey to the Caves
of the Pevrallix, but he knew that every moment brought him closer to her.
 CHAPTER FORTY

E rin had just finished vomiting into the basin Kossira had left for her
when she heard familiar footsteps begin to descend the stairs. Erin
shivered, feeling her nausea rise again, and she held her breath so
that the stench wouldn’t make her hurl again.
Shakily, she climbed to her feet, unsteady and weaving slightly. But it
wasn’t Kossira that appeared. It was Tavar and the guard.
This is it, she knew. She thought that it would make her nervous, but all
she felt was numbness. Tiredness. When she’d first woken in her prison,
she’d only had thoughts of leaving. When she’d learned of Jaxor’s betrayal,
she’d only had thoughts of him, memories of him, of them, replaying
everything in her mind until she passed out from exhaustion—looking for
something that would give her perspective, that would make her understand
why he’d done it. And now...
She remembered Kossira’s warning the night before. In her jumbled
mind, still feeling the burn of stomach acid at the back of her throat, she tried
to recall if Kossira had said to turn right or left after the white door on the
Jetutian vessel.
Tavar opened the gate, his lip curling in distaste when he saw her. He
hadn’t come since that first day. The days and nights had started to blur
together.
Kossira had tried to keep her clean and fed. Most mornings, she brought a
fresh basin of water and a clean cloth and wiped down her body. But she was
still wearing the tunic and the pants she’d altered at Jaxor’s base. She must
reek. Her hair hung in greasy tendrils. Her skin felt tight, stretched.
Tavar’s gaze was like a sharp blade. Erin suppressed the urge to shiver
again when he looked at her.
“He did not come for you after all,” was all he said. Humid air whistled
into her nostrils at her sharp intake, the words surprisingly cutting. Pain
curled in her stomach, her heart thudded pathetically.
“No,” Erin whispered. “He didn’t.”
“It is time,” Tavar said, grabbing her by the arm, the sensation of his
strength jarring.
Erin had no choice as he led her out of the dungeon and up the stairs—
though she was so out of breath at the top that Tavar was forced to pause.
Another dark hallway stretched in front of them. And then another.
She thought the darkness would continue endlessly, but eventually she
stumbled out—into fresh air?
She almost cried with delight as a cool breeze brushed across her face,
winding through her hair, caressing it like fingers. Air so crisp that it stung
her lungs.
And she could see. Moonlight blanketed the dark forest they were in,
highlighting dark, towering trees. Erin saw at least forty or fifty males
grouped in a clearing.
Erin remembered what Kossira had said, that Tavar had plans to attack
the Jetutians that night. Were these his warriors? Most had weapons—long,
curving blades with serrated edges, though most looked dull or the metal was
chipped. And they weren’t like any Luxirian warriors she’d seen. There was a
wild desperation in their eyes.
Tavar didn’t say anything to them as he walked her past, but she felt the
way their eyes stayed on her. She wondered if it was the first time they’d ever
seen a human.
Erin didn’t know how long they walked, but eventually, the trees began to
thin. And wedged beside a tall, towering boulder, a few trees toppled and
flattened beneath it, was a spaceship.
She didn’t know what she’d expected, but in her mind, she’d pictured it
much, much smaller. For the first time, a piercing of dread stung her belly.
How would she ever try and find her way off it? It was massive. In some
ways, it seemed larger to her than the Golden City, as big as a mountain, and
she craned her neck up to try to see the very top. Standing before it, it took up
the entirety of her vision.
Focus, she urged herself. Looking to the night sky, she located the
brightest star Kossira had told her about. It hung low on the horizon, to the
left of the spaceship.
As they drew closer, she saw that a Luxirian female—not Kossira—was
waiting beside another male she didn’t recognize. Erin looked at her, but all
she saw in her eyes was a cold determination. Erin wondered what she was
doing there, but as she fell into step beside Tavar, it became apparent. She
was the next female whose fertility would be restored. Erin wondered if this
female knew Tavar’s plan, however. Erin wondered if she knew what the
Jetutians did to the females in their care, which Kossira had hinted at.
At the base of the spaceship, Tavar called out suddenly, making Erin
flinch. His words echoed around the clearing and Erin breathed in the sharp,
cold air once again, closing her eyes.
And in her mind’s eye, she saw Jaxor. Saw those blue eyes she had
memorized and felt the way his voice floated over her. How was it possible to
ache for someone who had lied to her? But she did.
Longing and grief shivered down her spine, but she pushed the thought of
him away, opening her eyes just as a ramp began to snake out from the metal
of the ship, eerie and fluid. She’d never seen metal move that way before, as
if it were liquid. When Tavar pulled her onto it, she expected her foot to slide
right through, but it was solid as he dragged her up, the Luxirian female still
at his side and the male guard at their backs.
The forest was quiet, the night clear, and then what few sounds there were
fell away as they walked through a shimmering veil at the top of the ramp.
They were in the belly of the spaceship and when Erin craned her neck
behind her, she saw the air move, the darkened forest right there, but she
couldn’t hear it. She swore she saw familiar blue eyes in the darkness, but she
knew it was just a trick of the light, bouncing off whatever technology the
Jetutians had placed there.
Ascending the ramp had once again winded her and her knees trembled,
unused to the physical exertion. Tavar jerked her forward and she stumbled,
falling to the floor of the ship.
“Get up,” Tavar hissed, but he pulled her up anyways without waiting.
Erin scrambled to regain her footing, walking quickly, and then a moment
later, they were before a door flanked by two Jetutians.
Seeing them brought a wave of fear. She hadn’t seen one since the Pit.
But she saw their mottled grey and green skin, their feet ending in clawed
talons, long reptilian tails dragging across the floor. They looked similar to
Krevorags, but the difference was in their size. They were much larger and
their textured flesh looked thick, like a crocodile’s.
Yet, these two Jetutian guards had blue eyes, like most Luxirians she’d
seen. They allowed them entry with narrowed gazes and behind the door
were more Jetutians. Three of them.
Erin wanted to flee. Her heart was pounding so fast in her chest now,
panicked, her instinct for survival beginning to kick in. There were in a
sterile, mostly empty room. Like a lab. Or a medical bay. Again, Erin
couldn’t help but glance over the Luxirian female that accompanied them.
Her blue eyes were wide, greedily drinking in the room.
The Jetutian dressed in green, with plates of gold armor covering his
chest and the front of his thighs, looked at her and rasped out words that
slithered across her skin. He looked annoyed or angry, gesturing to her before
glaring at Tavar. By the way the other two Jetutians sunk back, it was
obvious that this was the male in charge of the spaceship, the one with whom
Tavar had been making deals.
Tavar spoke something back in the same language. He’d seemed to have
received the Jetutian language implant as well as the English one.
The Jetutian made a chuffing sound and then his eyes were back on her.
Those blue eyes that seemed to crawl over. He asked her, in strangely
accented English, “Where are the others?”
Erin’s chin lifted slightly, but she said nothing.
Pain exploded across her cheek as the Jetutian struck her and Erin fell
from Tavar’s grip, onto the floor of the medical bay.
“Where are the others?” the Jetutian hissed.
Her head swam, dizzy, and she tasted blood in her mouth. She’d bitten
her cheek when he struck her. As her gaze refocused, she saw a familiar
pattern etched into the floor. The one Kossira had drawn in the dirt of her
cell. The pattern ran across the room, but stopped at a closed door to the left,
not the one they’d come in from.
Tavar dragged her back up. The Jetutian’s gaze was still leveled at her
and she said, her voice husky, “They are mated to Ambassadors of Luxiria. I
doubt you can reach them now. There is only me.”
A half-truth. Crystal and Bianca still remained, though Crystal had
disappeared with Cruxan into the wild lands shortly after Jaxor had taken her.
The Jetutian seemed impatient and easily angered.
The Luxirian female spoke for the first time, in English.
“She is here now. A human female for one Luxirian female healed. That
was the agreement, Po’grak,” the female said.
“Laccara,” Tavar warned quietly, but the female never looked away from
the Jetutian, whose name she now knew was Po’grak.
The one who’d unleashed the virus on Luxiria? The one who’d killed
Jaxor’s mother? The one he’d been willing to trade Erin to, in order to get his
revenge?
His eyes were narrowed. Erin thought that he might strike Laccara as
well, but he seemed to restrain himself, as if striking a Luxirian female was
much worse than striking a human one.
“That agreement was made when we were promised at least two human
females,” Po’grak hissed. “You bring one. Therefore, you will need to pay
for the other human in crystals if you cannot bring her here.”
She was being bargained over like a commodity, like a roll of silk in the
marketplace. Tavar’s fists squeezed into Erin’s arm and she bit her lip to keep
from crying out. The Mevirax leader didn’t even seem to realize he was
hurting her.
But when he said, “Very well, Po’grak,” his voice was steady and even
sounded…apologetic.
Po’grak’s back straightened, his tail slapping loudly on the floor. “Good.”
“I will send my guard for the crystals. A vonne.”
Po’grak’s eyes narrowed, “Two vonnes of crystals.”
Dread shot through Erin. How many times could they travel to Earth with
that amount of Luxirian crystals? Could they? How many more women could
they take? Erin had always been under the impression that only a
significantly sized crystal was enough to power a spaceship to Earth.
“That will clean out most of our stores,” Tavar argued.
Po’grak replied, “It would not have been necessary if you brought the
other human as promised.”
Tavar made a show of sighing. He paused, as if thinking over the offer.
Po’grak’s eyes glinted in the light, his greed evident. Erin wondered how
such a male had ascended to leadership when his emotions were so plainly
obvious.
“You will start administering the vaccine to Laccara while they are
retrieved then,” Tavar said, somehow making it seem like both a demand and
a question.
Po’grak’s slim, almost nonexistent lips thinned. Then he gestured to one
of the other Jetutians in the room, who went over to the far wall. The same
shimmering veil from the entrance covered a hidden compartment there.
When he reached his hand through it, Erin heard a clink and then the Jetutian
stepped away, a clear vial between his clawed talons, filled with a black
liquid that looked thick like molasses.
Laccara stepped forward as the Mevirax guard went from the room, back
down the long hallway, off the ship to presumably retrieve the crystals. Tavar
stayed, watching as Laccara sat down on the slab of the metal table in the
room. She seemed confused when the Jetutian made her lie down, even more
so when he strapped her limbs down tight, but she didn’t seem to be afraid.
“How long will it take?” Tavar asked, his voice rumbling, sounding
impatient and annoyed. Erin saw the way his eyes strayed to the shimmering
compartment on the far wall when Po’grak was not looking.
Po’grak didn’t answer him. Erin watched the other Jetutian fill a slim
black device with the liquid from the vial, the end of which pointed into a
thick, shining needle.
Laccara’s anticipation filled the room. Erin could almost feel her longing
as the Jetutian slipped the needle into the softened flesh of her hip.
Then her body jerked, something changed in her face, and Erin went pale
as a bloodcurdling scream escaped her throat.
Tavar dropped her arm in shock as Laccara’s body began to tremble and
convulse, even as the Jetutian continued to inject more of the thick molasses
into her.
“What is this, Po’grak?” Tavar demanded, his brows furrowed in anger,
stepping forward.
“It is part of the changing,” Po’grak replied, looking not at all concerned
with her screams. He bared grey and sharp teeth when he studied Tavar.
“Your own female did the same. It will pass. Eventually.”
It was obvious the Jetutian male delighted in her pain, in her screams.
Erin saw Tavar’s fist clench, perhaps the only emotion he showed that made
Erin believe he cared for Kossira at least slightly.
Laccara’s screams were getting louder and louder the more the Jetutians
flooded her with the vaccine, her body thrashing on the slab of metal, her
limbs twisting against the restraints the other Jetutian had put on her. Now
Erin understood why they’d been necessary. Horror filled her, freezing her in
place.
“Stop this!” Tavar shouted, approaching Po’grak. “This is not—”
“This is exactly what you wanted!”
 “Nix!” Laccara screamed when Tavar approached her. She didn’t want
Tavar to intervene. “Nix, leave it!”
Suddenly, a loud boom reverberated around the spaceship and Erin lost
her balance, stumbling to the floor when it swayed too much.
Po’grak went dangerously still, then his eyes cut to Tavar, fury rising in
them. “What did you do?”
For a moment, Tavar looked just as surprised and furious as Po’grak. “I
did nothin—”
Another thunderous boom came, this one so loud and so powerful that
Po’grak lost his footing, and vials and equipment rattled and shook from their
hidden places.
The Jetutian leader stalked to the door leading to the hallway, throwing it
open. Beyond it, Erin saw hordes of Jetutian males racing down the hallways,
armed, pouring from the spaceship in all directions, down towards the
shimmering entrance they’d come through.
Where had they all come from? she wondered, dizzy with dread,
wondering how she would escape now with so many roaming about.
Po’grak yelled something at them and they sped their pace at whatever
order he’d given them. When he turned to face Tavar, even Erin could sense
his fury.
“You think to betray me?” he rasped, stalking towards the Luxirian male.
“You would be nothing without me!”
Another explosion came. Erin cried out, lurching forward, her eyes
catching on the pattern pressed into the flooring. Follow the hallway until the
white door, Kossira said. But was it right or left to the grey door?
The Jetutian hovering over Laccara lost his balance with that last
explosion and the device he’d poured the vaccine into tore from her flesh,
dark blue blood spraying in its wake, and it skidded across the floor. Erin’s
breath went shallow, seeing the black liquid leak from the tip of the needle.
She needed to get to it.
Before she knew it, Po’grak lunged for Tavar, who was hurriedly
unstrapping an unmoving Laccara from the table as the third Jetutian in the
room reached for a blade at his hip.
This is my chance, Erin thought. As a fourth explosion rocked the
spaceship, so much so that she thought it lifted from the ground only to thud
violently back down, she used the distraction to push herself from the ground,
the muscles in her weak arms almost giving out on her with the effort.
 She lunged for the vaccine as Po’grak reached for Tavar. She heard a
gasp of air and when she looked, Po’grak had a curved blade jutting from his
side—right between the plates of his armor—just as the Jetutian lingering in
the corner knocked Tavar off his feet.
Erin didn’t wait a moment more. She scrambled across the floor—
keeping her grip on the vaccine—towards the door to the left. She threw it
open, her heart thundering in her throat, and saw there was a darkened
hallway stretching before her, the same circular pattern Kossira had drawn
out printed into the floor. At the end of it, she saw Jetutian males racing past,
but they didn’t see her. She kept to the shadows.
Without a backwards glance, as piercing, guttural yells and cries and the
ringing of blades began to echo throughout the spaceship, Erin bolted down
the hallway, the black device pressed tightly in her grip.
 CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

“E rin!” Jaxor called, his voice carrying across the hallways, over
bloodied and dead Jetutians and Luxirians alike. Their blank,
lax faces stared up at him as his belly coiled with dread.
Most of the battle had taken place outside, but had slowly spilled into the
ship as they drove the Jetutians back, which was what they hadn’t wanted.
Vaxa’an wanted the fighting outside, on Luxirian soil, so his warriors could
storm the vessel afterwards with little resistance.
“Erin!” he called again, tearing through the vessel, checking every
hallway, every room he passed.
Vrax, vrax, vrax, he chanted over and over in his mind, the panic rising.
He refused to think the worst. She had to be on the vessel! He’d watched her
step on board from the shadows of the forest, though Vaxa’an had to
physically hold him back from storming after her.
He circled back, going down the second hallway that led to the main
entrance of the vessel. One of the first rooms was the medical bay and he
stilled when he came across it, cursing himself for not following this hallway
first. Because once inside, he knew this was where Erin had been.
There were two dead Jetutians inside. Laccara was on a metal table, her
limbs loose, her face slack. For a moment, he thought she was dead, but then
he saw her chest rise and fall. Blood coated the walls, thankfully none of it
red, so it wasn’t human blood.
Another pair of legs was sticking out from the other side of the table.
Jaxor jumped over one of the dead Jetutians and he stilled when he saw it was
Tavar.
There was a blade in his back. He was lying face down on the floor, blood
pooled around him. When Jaxor rolled him over, he saw his eyes were open
and unseeing.
Gone then, Jaxor thought, blowing out a short breath. Gone to the
blackworld.
Jaxor rose, casting a glance at Laccara. She was alive. Tearing the Com
band off his wrist, a communicator, but most importantly a tracker, he placed
it next to Laccara. It was the best he could do for her—Vaxa’an would find
her. But Jaxor wouldn’t risk Erin’s safety for her.
Turning from her, he scanned the rest of the room. His stomach dropped
when he saw another trail of blood, this one leading from the medical bay to
a different door on his left. Po’grak? he wondered.
It was entirely possible. Jaxor hadn’t seen him—or his body—all night.
Had he carried Erin away from here? Or had she managed to escape and he’d
followed?
His blood went cold and without another thought, he stormed through the
door and followed the trail of blood down a long hallway. There wasn’t a
Jetutian in sight. In this part of the vessel, it almost seemed deserted.
The blood led him to a white door, but the blood trailed left, down
another corridor, which took him to a grey door.
Behind the grey door was a storage room.
“Erin,” he called out, but the room was empty. He turned, frowning,
peering at the walls, the ceilings, the floor, wondering if there was a hidden
entrance somewhere. It was only after searching the room a second time that
he saw a latch in the floor and he scrambled for it, lifting it open.
Cool air whistled up to meet him and without hesitation, he jumped
down, landing on his feet, on Luxirian soil.
All that way just to end up in the forest again, he thought.
It didn’t take him long to get his bearings. He was at the back of the
vessel, far away from the fighting, which had seemed to lessen considerably,
judging from the sounds ringing through the air.
That was when he heard it. A soft cry, barely discernable, from within the
thickness of the forest looming in the distance. But he recognized it
immediately.
Jaxor sprinted for it, his heartbeat pounding in his throat.
Nix, nix, nix, let her be safe, he prayed. I will give anything as long as she
is safe.
ERIN CRIED out when Po’grak managed to take hold of her ankle and
yanked her back down to the ground.
He found me, he found me, was all she could manage to think. He must’ve
seen her leave the medical bay, had followed after her.
The force of hitting the ground knocked the air out of her lungs and,
panicking, she gasped, desperately trying to breathe. She was already so
weak from her captivity in the Mevirax dungeons. She was winded and her
limbs felt like they weighed a hundred pounds each.
“Give that to me,” Po’grak hissed, reaching for the needle gun in her grip
half-filled with the vaccine.
The only reason why she wasn’t dead already was because he was injured
himself. Tavar had stabbed him in his side. That same blade was in his grip
now as he crawled towards her on the ground, lime green blood gleaming on
its tip. There was a trail of the blood inside the dark forest. It seemed to glow
in the low light.
Still gasping for air, Erin drew back her leg with whatever remained of
her strength and kicked him as hard as she could across the jaw. Erin heard a
snap, heard his hiss, but she was already scrambling up from the ground, her
fingernails clawing at dirt and moss, all while keeping the needle gun in her
grip.
She only made it a couple strides away—her heartbeat felt like it would
beat its way from her chest or simply burst from the exertion—before
Po’grak slammed into her, using the overwhelming bulk of his body to take
her down to the ground again.
“No!” she rasped. “No!”
Po’grak clawed for the vaccine but she struggled against him, kicking her
legs beneath him, trying to get free. His claws raked down her arm as he
grappled for it, icy hot blood spilling. Her blood this time.
Po’grak’s bellow of anger and rage almost made her eardrums burst.
“You are not worth this!” he yelled.
Then she gasped, feeling pain explode in her chest. Time seemed to still.
Even Po’grak stilled over her. When she looked down, disbelief and shock
raced through her, seeing the blade jutting from her chest.
Po’grak grabbed for the vaccine and he easily pried it from her loose
fingers this time. In her shock, she released it.
 “Now I must find another,” he cursed, looking down at her, but not really
addressing her.
In the whirring, frantic state of her mind, she knew he meant another
human. Another human woman. Because that was all she was to him. Cattle
for slaughter. A prize to be won. There was no difference in his eyes. He’d
wanted her for the Pit, nothing more.
Another bellow rang out through the clearing, one achingly familiar. Erin
felt the trickle of her own hot blood leak out from the wound and she lay
perfectly still, strangely calm, knowing she shouldn’t move too much, in case
her movements pushed the blade deeper.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught movement, but her vision had
begun to blur, her eyelids growing heavy. She felt something wet track down
her cheek. She thought it might be blood too because it felt hot, but then she
realized she was crying.
“I don’t want to die,” she whispered, her heart twisting at the thought.
Po’grak’s body rolled off her suddenly, the weight of him gone so she felt
like she could breathe again.
That was when she saw Jaxor.
He was on top of Po’grak, his face contorted in fear and rage. Erin
watched as he plunged a long, gleaming sword straight into Po’grak’s chest,
pinning him to the earth. Jaxor pushed the sword so deep that the hilt was
flush with the Jetutian’s plated armor. He’d pierced it through the armor in
his strength and in his fury.
Erin’s vision wavered again and she blinked, looking at Jaxor. Po’grak
was still on the ground, and his breaths sounded raspy and thick.
Jaxor was off Po’grak in an instant and at her side. Erin looked up at him,
her lips dry, her tongue tasting strangely metallic.
Blue eyes and a grim, handsome face. The sight of him made her cry
harder, made her heart flutter and clench in sorrow and relief.
His hands shook as they smoothed back her hair. “Rixella, oh Fates,
you…you need to lie very still, tev?”
“You did come,” she whispered, reaching up towards him.
He grabbed her hand, holding it, his grip strong and warm. She was
starting to feel cold, but she wasn’t shivering.
“Vaxa’an!” Jaxor bellowed loudly, his voice echoing through the line of
trees. To her, his voice was hoarse and raspy when he said, “I will get you
help, luxiva. You will be well.”
 There was something important and then she remembered. Her eyes
flicked toward Po’grak and she said, “The vaccine, Jaxor. Get…get the
vaccine.”
She saw it then, the glimmer of the needle in the moonlight. She tried to
reach for it, but her limbs were heavy and weak. She was so, so tired.
Her eyes fluttered shut. Then she heard, “Nix, look at me, rixella. Look at
me.”
“You did come,” she whispered.
Then everything faded.
 CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

W hen Erin woke next, it was to bright light and her first thought
was: is this heaven?
But if this was heaven, surely it wouldn’t hurt this much.
That was her second realization as she groaned.
“Oh my God, she’s waking up,” came a familiar voice. A flash of red hair
appeared. “Erin, Erin it’s Lainey. How are you feeling?”
“Lainey,” came a second soft voice. “Don’t crowd her. Give her some
space.”
Cecelia, Erin knew, that soft voice unmistakable.
Her vision sharpened, though the room still swam a bit. “Where am I?”
she whispered, her throat so dry that she imagined it could tear like paper.
“In the command center,” another voice chimed in. When Erin’s gaze
connected with Kate’s, the brunette smiled gently, something wrapped tightly
in her arms. She was cradling it like…like a baby. “In the Golden City.”
Erin’s breath hitched, but her head gave a hard, dull throb.
“Enough. Out. All of you,” came a fourth, hardened voice. When Erin
looked over at the new voice, she saw it was the old Luxirian doctor. What
was his name again? “Even you, lavrix’an. I am sorry.”
“Of course, Privanax,” Kate said, inclining her head. Privanax, that was
his name. From the bundle she was cradling, Erin saw a small, chubby arm
emerge, the flesh tinted a soft blue from the light.
“Wait,” Erin whispered, struggling to sit up, confused and disoriented and
dizzy.
Privanax forced her back down into a supine position and Erin turned her
head to see that all the women were there, now filing out the silver door.
Kate, Beks, Cecelia, Taylor, Lainey, Bianca, and Crystal.
“Crystal,” Erin whispered, stunned and relieved. The blonde came over
before she left, pressing her lips to Erin’s forehead. Tears swam in Erin’s
vision and she grasped for her hand. “You’re okay.”
“Yes, I am,” Crystal whispered, squeezing her hand, though Privanax
frowned at the blonde, giving her a hard look. “I’m here and safe. Now, you
rest. We can talk later.”
Then Erin watched as she, too, left. When the room was cleared, all
except for Privanax, Erin felt a little more centered, a little less overwhelmed.
“I am sorry for that, female,” Privanax said. “I told them they could wait,
but I did not want them here when you woke. I did not expect you to wake
for another span.”
“I—it’s okay,” Erin said, finding her voice. She looked down at her body.
She was in a light-colored tunic, her legs bare and strangely pale. There was a
heavy ache just over her right breast, and when she peeled the neckline of the
tunic back, she saw a white bandage pressed there.
Then she remembered. Po’grak had stabbed her. In the forest. The
spaceship, Laccara, the vaccine. And then Jaxor—
She inhaled a sharp breath. “Where’s Jaxor?”
Privanax frowned before he turned his attention back to his glowing
screens lining one of the walls of the small room.
“In his cell, I imagine,” Privanax said.
“His…cell?” Erin whispered. Then she remembered the dungeon. The
darkness. The vomiting, and then she gasped, pressing her hand to her
stomach.
Privanax peered down at her as she struggled to form words.
“Is…” Erin trailed off, wondering how to ask something she hadn’t fully
accepted for herself. “Is there a…a baby still?”
Privanax’s lip pressed together and Erin felt a sharp relief, tears stinging
her eyes, when he said, “Tev, the offspring is well. Surprising, considering
the state that you were in.”
Erin hadn’t even admitted it to herself. That the bouts of her sickness in
the dungeon hadn’t had anything to do with the food Kossira had been giving
to her. She’d reasoned that surely it would be too soon to have morning
sickness if there was a child…then again, she remembered that Luxirians
grew quickly—the baby Kate had held in her arms just now was evidence of
that.
 “You knew you were pregnant,” Privanax said.
“I thought it possible,” Erin whispered. Well, technically speaking, she’d
thought it impossible because she hadn’t had a period since arriving on
Luxiria. But there she was…pregnant. “Does he know? Did you tell him?”
“I have told no one,” Privanax said.
Erin didn’t know what to make of that. It hurt to swallow and she asked,
“Do you have some water?”
Privanax filled her a gobletful and watched as she sipped it. The cool
water felt heavenly as it slid down her raw, dry throat.
“I must ask,” Privanax started carefully, “if the child was conceived…
willingly.”
Erin stilled, her eyes flashing up to his.
“And whether the sire is Mevirax or Jaxor’an.”
He thought she’d been…
Her voice shook with sudden anger as she said, “I was more than willing.
Jaxor would never…”
“I mean no offense, female,” Privanax said softly, his expression neutral.
“You were kept in the Mevirax dungeons for some time. I thought that
perhaps—”
“How long?”
“Eight spans, we believe.”
“Eight days,” she whispered in disbelief.
It had seemed longer. Much longer. Eight days and nights had seemed
like an eternity. She cleared her throat, feeling it tighten.
“I want to see Jaxor,” she said, looking at Privanax. Her heart gave a dull
little thud at the thought of seeing him, like it was trying to flutter back to life
and failing.
“I do not think that is best right now, female,” he said, his voice gruff and
stern. “You are still recovering.”
“I need to know what happened,” she countered. “I need to know—”
Another wave of dizziness made her close her eyes as the room swayed.
Now that the memories were returning, she had so many questions they
seemed to want to explode from her mind. And yet, she couldn’t form the
words.
“Rest,” Privanax said. A sharp pinch came at her arm and when her eyes
snapped open and she looked down, she saw that the doctor had injected her
with something. “When you wake next, you will feel better.”
 Her mind immediately went fuzzy. She closed her eyes and sleep took her
again, the jumble of questions dying on her tongue.

WHEN SHE WOKE, only Crystal was in the room this time.
“Hi,” Erin whispered, reaching out with slow limbs to grasp her hand.
Crystal was sitting close to the bed and the blonde squeezed her hand tight.
“We were so worried about you,” Crystal said, leaning forward. “Ever
since we heard…”
Erin struggled to sit up. Her muscles were sore and aching. Her whole
body seemed to throb.
“How long have I been asleep?”
“It’s been five days since they brought you back to the Golden City.”
She blew out a long breath and nodded. She might’ve been asleep for that
long, but she still felt tired and groggy.
“What happened?” Erin asked.
“From what Cruxan tells me—”
Erin shook her head, “I meant what happened after that night, after Jaxor
took us from the Golden City. In the forest. Were you able to get back all
right with Cruxan?”
“Well, no, not exactly. We had to take a long detour thanks to that asshole
of yours,” Crystal said softly. Then she smiled, a small, secretive little smile
that made Erin’s heart speed. “But I’m kind of glad we did because well, I’m,
um…I’m kind of hitched, I guess.”
“What?” she breathed. “To who?”
Crystal was mated?
“To Cruxan,” Crystal said, unable to wipe the grin off her face.
“Oh my God. What…how…” Erin trailed off. “His Instinct woke for
you?”
“Yes,” Crystal whispered, a little shy.
Now that Erin was studying her with new eyes, she saw it. She was
radiating happiness and contentment. Her whole face was glowing with it.
“Oh, Crystal,” Erin whispered, happy for her friend, even though a
treacherous little ache threatened to spoil it. Tears welled in her eyes and she
struggled to breathe through a tight throat.
 “It’s still new, but I’ve decided to stay,” Crystal confessed softly,
squeezing her hand.
“You too?” Erin questioned. Only Bianca would be going home now, it
seemed. Back to her family on Earth.
Crystal’s lips quirked a bit. “Aren’t you staying too?”
There was a knowing smile in her voice and Erin wondered what she
knew. Did Privanax tell her that she was pregnant? Is that why she assumed
Erin would stay?
“I’m sure the council will let the charges go,” Crystal continued, her
voice soft yet strong. “You don’t have to worry for him.”
Erin’s brow furrowed. “What charges? What are you talking about?”
“Well…Jaxor’an’s charges,” Crystal said, nibbling her lip.
That was when Erin remembered Privanax saying something about a cell.
Jaxor was being kept in a cell.
“You…” Erin was breathing a little heavier now. “You think I’m staying
because of him?”
Crystal stilled, peering at her, suddenly unsure. “Aren’t you? I thought…I
thought you were his mate. I mean, it was obvious when he first saw you in
the Golden City. I was there. I saw how he looked at you.”
Erin remembered it well. But she also remembered everything that came
after it too.
She recalled Tavar’s mocking voice as he said, “How do you think you
are here, female? Jaxor gave you over to us. As he promised he would.”
She remembered Jaxor’s lies. The lies he’d told right to her face. His
cutting betrayal. The heartbreak she felt, the numbness that followed. She
remembered the darkness, the feel of the earth beneath her fingernails as she
retched into the basin Kossira had left for her.
“I’m not staying for Jaxor,” she whispered. “I’m staying for my child.”
Crystal’s face went slack. For a moment, joy sprang up on her features,
but when she saw the look in Erin’s eyes, that joy slowly disappeared.
“You know I can’t raise a half-human, half-Luxirian child on Earth,” Erin
said, her voice ragged. She tried to lighten the mood with a small, quirked
smile she didn’t feel. “I have to stay now.”
She would never see Jake or Ellora or her mother or her other friends
again. She’d never see her students again. She’d never see her home, her
town, the little park across the street where she took her morning walks again.
All the little things she’d taken for granted…
 Erin realized all this with a small, bitter ache, even as she pressed her
fingers to her belly.
“Oh honey,” Crystal breathed, swallowing hard. “What…what
happened?”
Erin licked her lips. “He betrayed me. He gave me over to the Mevirax,
knowing that they had a deal in place with the Jetutians. He was going to
knowingly send me back to the Pit.”
Crystal gasped, the color draining from her features even as she shook her
head. “No, Erin, he wouldn’t do that. He’s your mate. You should have seen
him when he came back here with you. When Privanax tried to keep him
from you, they had to sedate him to get him back to his room.”
Erin was shaking her head. Maybe it was guilt that drove him to that. She
remembered the hilt of the sword, gleaming from Po’grak’s body in the
moonlight, right before she passed out. He’d gotten his revenge, finally.
Maybe now that it was done, he was trying to make amends. But his revenge
had always come first.
“What happened?” Erin asked, changing the subject, not wanting to think
about Jaxor because it hurt too much, like her heart was this shredded thing
barely hanging on. “Did…did they get the vaccine?”
“Yes,” Crystal said softly, squeezing her hand. “Thanks to you.”
“There were more vials,” Erin said, a small headache blooming when she
pressed herself to remember. “In the medical bay. Did they find those?”
“Cruxan said Po’grak took them. Vaxa’an searched all over the spaceship
for them, but Po’grak must’ve gotten rid of them. Or destroyed them. The
only vaccine that remained was with you. And because of you, there…there
might be hope for the Luxirian females. Privanax is already trying to create
more. He’s barely rested at all.”
“And…and Kossira? Laccara? The Mevirax?” Erin asked, faces flashing
in her mind.
“The Mevirax warriors that survived the battle were taken into custody.
They are here. As are the ones that were at their base. The females too.”
Erin’s eyes closed. “Do you know what will happen to them?”
“No, I don’t,” Crystal confessed. “The council had been deliberating.
Endlessly. I’ve hardly seen Cruxan the past few days.”
Erin nodded. She needed to talk to Privanax as soon as she could. She
needed to tell him what the vaccine had done to Laccara, the pain she’d felt.
Though the vaccine had obviously worked with Kossira, she wondered if it
was truly safe.
“And,” she started again, “what about the Jetutians? Their ship?”
“Those that survived have already been shipped off to the Uranian
Federation. I think that’s what it’s called. It’s this separate governing body,
overseeing politics and war matters for the universe. Can you imagine the
headache of working there?” Crystal tried to joke.
Erin conjured a small laugh, though it made the wound over her chest pull
sharply.
“Luxiria gets to keep their spaceship though,” Crystal added. “One less
spaceship in the universe that can travel to the Fourth Quadrant, at least.
That’s a silver lining.”
Erin nodded.
“Bianca will be leaving soon,” Crystal said softly. “If you’re staying,
there’s no reason to delay her departure.”
Erin gave her a small smile. “They recovered the Luxirian crystal?”
The blonde nodded. “At the Mevirax base. They were just waiting for
your decision.”
A tear escaped, tracking down Erin’s temple. She didn’t think she’d cried
so much in her life, much less in front of another. But she couldn’t help it.
Knowing that Bianca would be reunited with her family, knowing that she
herself would never be reunited with her own, was a bittersweet feeling. It
choked her. The pain of it was hard to swallow.
“Tell them to go,” Erin whispered, squeezing Crystal’s hand, looking at
her through watery eyes. “She shouldn’t have to wait any longer.”
Bianca had a family of her own, a daughter, a husband she loved dearly.
She had waited long enough to see them again.
“I wrote a letter to Lauren, to my sister,” Crystal said softly. “All of us
have written letters and given them to Bianca to deliver. I thought you’d want
to do the same too.”
A sob rose in Erin’s throat and she nodded. “Y-yes, I’ll do that. I’ll do
that now.”
When she struggled to rise, Crystal pressed her back and said, “Bianca
won’t leave until she knows you’re fully recovered, that you’re okay. You
don’t need to do it now. Give yourself time, Erin. You were kept as a prisoner
for over a week and stabbed for God’s sake.”
Erin drew in a long, slow breath.
Crystal stroked her hair, sitting quietly beside her.
 Then she said, “Jaxor’an has been asking about you. Almost every
moment. I think Vaxa’an is going to have him gagged soon because he’s
been driving his guards crazy.”
Erin’s lips pressed together. She wished she didn’t feel the flutter in her
belly at the thought that he wanted to see her. She hated that she felt it.
“Do you want me to,” Crystal took in a deep breath, “send for him? So
you two can talk?” When she didn’t reply, Crystal bit her lip again, her gaze
dropping to her belly. “Does he know you’re pregnant?”
“No,” Erin whispered.
“Do you want to see him?”
Erin huffed out a small laugh, but she felt no amusement. Did she want to
see him?
Yes. She wanted to see him so she could look him in the eye and ask why
he’d betrayed her, why he’d lied to her at every turn. She wanted to see him
to ensure that he was alive and unharmed, even though she wished she could
hurt him. She wanted to see him to ask if he’d ever had any feelings for her,
or if he’d just been lying about that too.
Mostly, she wanted to see him because she longed to see him and she
hated that desperate need inside her. She longed to see those blue eyes, hear
that dark voice.
What she needed was the truth, however.
“Yes,” she whispered to Crystal. “I need to see him.”
 CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

H is rixella was watching him as Vaxa’an led him into the room. She
was small and observant and beautiful.
And though his wrists were chained, it didn’t stop him from
crossing the short distance to her, his heartbeat thrumming in his chest
wildly, and dropping his forehead to hers.
Her skin was warm. For spans, he’d been haunted by the memory of her
lying on the forest floor, Po’grak on top of her, a blade jutting from her chest.
He hadn’t been able to sleep, knowing she was a short distance away,
knowing that he could not see her, be near her after so long apart.
“Rixella,” he murmured, peering into her eyes, seeing his own reflected in
her dark orbs. “I have been so worried.”
But his words conveyed nothing of what he’d felt since she was taken
from his base. Not even close to the fear, the guilt, the horror, the rage.
Her own gaze shuttered closed and Jaxor retreated slowly, unease curling
in his belly. With a glance at Vaxa’an, standing with his arms crossed over
his chest in the corner of the room, he asked him, in Luxirian, “Can we have
a moment in private?”
Vaxa’an blew out a sharp breath, but Jaxor was relieved when he inclined
his head in a nod. “I will be outside the door.”
Then he left, leaving Jaxor alone with his mate. His mate, who would not
quite meet his eyes.
“Erin,” he said. “Look at me.”
Dread was roiling in his belly like waves against a cliff, violent and
cutting. But she did look at him, though it felt like she was far away.
“What is it?” he asked softly, pulling a chair up beside her bed so that
their eyes were level. His chains clinked together as he did, drawing her
attention to them.
“Did you ever care for me?” she asked, looking at the chains. “Or was it
all a ploy to get me to trust you? I need to know and I need you to tell me the
truth. For once.”
A ringing started up in his ears and Jaxor sat, frozen in place, staring at
her in disbelief.
“Rebax?” he asked quietly, not entirely sure he’d heard her right.
Finally, her eyes connected with his and he held them fast, afraid she’d
retreat again. “Am I really your mate?
Jaxor jerked, as if struck. “Of course you are. How can you even ask
that?”
“I don’t have an Instinct. Not like you,” she murmured. “Maybe what I
felt was just strong attraction. Nothing more. How could I be certain?”
He stood from the chair, his unease doubling. “What is going on,
rixella?” he asked. “Why are you even saying these things?”
Her chin quivered. The first show of emotion from her. Whispering, she
said, “Because you lied about everything else, didn’t you?”
Pain struck him in the chest, a desperate ache that spread and spread. He
took her hands, gripping them tight, though the icy coolness of his chains
made her flinch. At least, that was what he believed. Perhaps it was his touch
that made her react.
Tavar.
“What did he tell you?” he rasped.
“Everything you wouldn’t,” she snapped, anger finally rising within her.
Jaxor gave a helpless look at the monitors lining the walls, not wanting her to
get upset. She was still recovering.
He cupped her cheek but she turned her face away.
“Don’t,” she whispered. “Just—just tell me. Once and for all.”
The truth.
Jaxor sank into the chair again. She wasn’t looking at him anymore. Her
jaw was set, though her lips trembled slightly. He didn’t want to see her cry.
He didn’t want to be the reason she cried.
“Ask me anything,” he finally said, his shoulders sagging. “Ask me
anything and I will tell you the truth, however ugly it might be.”
He’d clearly lost her trust. She could barely look at him, so he guessed
whatever Tavar had told her had cut her deeply.
 She inhaled a long breath and then asked, “Am I your fated mate?”
“Tev. Of course,” he hissed out—the thought that she doubted that was
physically painful. To think that he’d lied about something like that told him
how little she thought of him now. What had happened at the Mevirax base?
She nodded, bringing him some semblance of relief. “And even though I
was your mate, you were still thinking of handing me over to the Mevirax?
Knowing what Tavar’s plan was? Knowing that in giving me to them, the
Jetutians would come for me?”
A sharp inhale filled his lungs. His voice came out ragged when he
replied, “At first, tev.” A sound escaped her and he raked a hand through his
hair, needing her to understand everything that went through his mind. “But I
would have never allowed you to leave with the Jetutians. That was never
part of the plan.”
“So, what was I then?” she asked, her eyes shining with angry tears when
she turned her face to regard him. “Bait? Bait, so that you could finally get
your revenge after all these years?”
“It was more than revenge, luxiva.”
“Don’t,” she hissed, “call me that.”
Jaxor ran a shaking hand down his face.
“You were always going to give me to them, weren’t you?” she
whispered.
“Nix,” he said.
“Then when did that change?” she cried.
“The night I met with them near the base,” he said. She remembered that
night, when he’d come back with the mark of Oxandri on his flesh. “Maybe
even before.”
“Why then?”
“I was always conflicted about it, Erin,” he burst out, standing from the
chair as his voice rose. “From the moment I saw you in the Golden City, I
was never the same. I need you to understand that!”
Erin’s lips parted. For the first time, he saw doubt in her features where
there’d only been hurt and anger before. She was eyeing him as he paced the
room, but there wasn’t enough room to take more than a few strides, just like
in his own quarters in the command center. His cell.
“I told you I left the Mevirax to live on my own when I realized that
Tavar intended to supply the Jetutians with Luxirian crystals,” he started,
trying to calm the thundering in his chest. “But Tavar sought me out when he
learned that Vaxa’an had taken a human female as his queen and that there
were rumors of other human females living in the Golden City. He told me
that Po’grak wanted them back, so much so that the Jetutians would heal a
select number of the Mevirax females in exchange. They’d had the means to
cure our females all along.
“Tavar knew I was familiar with the Golden City,” Jaxor continued,
“because I grew up here. He tasked me with finding and taking the human
females that remained. And then we came up with a plan. To renege on the
agreement with Po’grak and to secure the vaccine for ourselves. Tavar
planned to use it to secure what he’d always wanted: the position of Prime
Leader, to return the Mevirax to their rightful home, the Golden City. But I
planned something different. I knew Tavar was dangerous, that he could
never be the Prime Leader that Luxiria needs—the leader that Luxiria already
has. Tavar would never get close to the Golden City with the vaccine because
I planned to give it to Vaxa’an myself.”
Erin watched him, staying silent as these things poured from him. He
wondered how much of this she already knew, what Tavar had told her.
“And then,” he continued, swallowing hard, “I saw you. My Instinct
awakened and I was suddenly faced with the possibility that in continuing
with my plans, your safety could not be guaranteed because sometimes even
the best laid plans do not unfold as expected.
“So, tev, when I first brought you to my base, in those first few spans, I
was struggling with the decision. I tried to keep you at a distance, thinking
that it would make my decision easier.”
“Because it wasn’t just me,” Erin said finally, softly. “It was the vaccine
too.”
“Tev. The vaccine,” he said, his voice twisting the word bitterly. “I
thought I was being selfish, turning my back on my people, if I chose you.
But how could I give you up, knowing what might happen? The very thought
of handing you over to the Jetutians filled with me with such disgust and
rage, yet I thought of my own people too. That this was our only chance to
help our females. And then you…how could I trade your freedom for that?
What right did I have to make that choice for you, when you’d already had so
many choices ripped away from you?”
Erin looked down into her lap and he hoped that she was beginning to
understand why he’d done what he’d done.
“So, tev, I lied to you when you asked of the Mevirax, but when I told you
those things, I had already decided to keep you safe from them,” he said
softly. The torment of feeling intense relief and shame from that decision still
burned in his chest. Erin met his eyes, something like surprise in her
expression. “I thought that you did not need to know about the previous plan
because it was never going to happen.”
Jaxor couldn’t have won either way. The moment he’d chosen his female,
he’d turned his back on his people. But now, his female didn’t trust him
because he’d lied about it. He’d lied about so much.
“When you ask me if I ever cared for you,” he said, his voice so ragged
that he heard the pain in it, “maybe now you will understand.”
“Because you chose me over the vaccine,” she whispered, stunned, her
eyes shining and wet.
“I am not a good male,” he said softly. “I have lied. I have betrayed those
that were once close to me. I turned my back on my brother when he needed
me most. I have grown angry and callous with time and there is no possible
way that I will ever be the male that deserves a female like you, but I hope
that you never need to question what I feel for you again. No matter what
happens.”
Erin stared at him for a long time, processing his words. He could see
how they exhausted her, how they took a toll on her.
Finally, she asked, “And what of your brother?”
“What about him?”
“Why did you lie about that too?” she asked, though her voice didn’t hold
the venom it held earlier. “Maybe you didn’t exactly lie, but you certainly
didn’t tell me.”
“It did not…” he trailed off, unsure how to put it into words. “It no longer
seemed important who my brother was.”
“You don’t think it’s important that your brother is the Prime Leader?”
she asked.
“In my mind,” he started, “that life was no longer mine to claim. I used to
be a prince of Luxiria. But I stopped being one the moment I left to seek out
the Mevirax. It was like a death. I would not sully my brother’s name in
returning to the Golden City as Jaxor’an.”
“So you became Jaxor,” she finished. “It was why you were so angry
when I called you by the name Cruxan had given you. I heard him call you
Vaxa’an. I thought…”
She trailed off.
 “In our language, only the royal bloodline can add on the clarifier to our
chosen names. It is a sign of high respect.”
“And you didn’t think yourself worthy of it,” she whispered, finishing the
thought for him.
Jaxor’s gaze went down to his chains.
“I could not offer you that life,” he said softly. “The life you would have
had as my mate, if I were still Jaxor’an. It embarrassed me, just the mere
thought of telling you about who I was. Because you would see how far I’d
fallen.”
“You thought I would reject you because you were no longer a prince of
Luxiria?” she asked.
He blew out a breath. “I should have told you regardless, rixella. I know
that. There is much that I would change if we started again.”
“I don’t think that’s possible for us, Jaxor,” Erin said softly. “To start
again.”
The words hurt more than Jaxor expected. They felt…final. And though
he would rather eat shards of glass than ask the question, he still asked it.
“Will you return to Earth now that the crystal has been recovered?”
He hadn’t thought much beyond seeing Erin again. But now, he knew that
his trial loomed. He knew that he would either be exiled or sentenced to death
for his crimes against the Golden City, for his crimes against Erin and
Crystal. There was very little chance he’d be pardoned.
“Is that what you want?” she whispered.
Maybe it would be better if she left before the trial, so she doesn’t see the
verdict, he thought. But Jaxor was trying to take his brother’s advice. He was
trying to forgive himself for his actions, to make peace with them. He’d told
his brother he wanted to be a better male for Erin’s sake, to be worthy of her,
to be proud of the male he was.
“I want you to be safe,” he rasped, his gaze connecting with her own. “I
want you to be happy, no matter where you might be.”
She was crying again, soft tears tracking down her face.
And because he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he didn’t ask it,
he asked, “Is there no hope for us, rixella? Have I ruined this beyond repair?”
He didn’t know if they’d even have time to repair it, but he needed to
know regardless. She’d once asked him, would you ask me to stay if you
could?
Right then, Jaxor had nothing to lose.
 “I don’t know,” she whispered, wiping at her damp cheeks. “Hearing the
things that Tavar told me…it broke my heart thinking that I never really
knew you at all.”
Anguish burst in his chest at her words.
“And then I saw you in the forest after Po’grak attacked me,” she said,
looking at him with glittering eyes, “and I felt all these things come back to
me. And even then, even when I believed that you had betrayed me, I was
still so relieved to see you, so happy even though I felt it tear me in half. I
just don’t know. I’m so confused.”
A sob tore from her throat and Jaxor went to her, pressing his forehead
against her, trying to calm her. And though she might not want him near, she
still seemed to settle down at his touch.
Erin cried softly for long moments as Jaxor stroked her hair. He
remembered the sight of her that night. She’d looked haunted. She’d lost
weight. She’d been so weak, her skin as thin as parchment. And all Jaxor had
wanted was to protect her at all cost. All he’d wanted was to tear the throat
out of anyone who had brought her harm—even himself.
He’d realized in that moment that he loved her. He loved her as her blood
was pooling around her in that dark forest. He would never forget the terror
he’d felt right then, thinking that she would be lost to him forever.
It marked him like a physical scar.
And right then, holding her as she cried…Jaxor felt like he was losing her
all over again.
 CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

“W hy didn’t you tell him?” Crystal asked softly, gently.

It was two days later and she hadn’t seen Jaxor since
he’d come to her room. Hadn’t seen him since Privanax
came inside and told him to leave, that he was upsetting her too much in the
state she was in.
The torment on Jaxor’s face as he left, as if there were a million things he
still needed to say, stayed with her. She saw his expression every time she
closed her eyes. She saw him when she dreamed.
“Why I didn’t tell him that I’m pregnant?” Erin asked. “I don’t know. It
wasn’t…it wasn’t the right time.”
And didn’t that make a hypocrite out of her? Keeping something that
important from him, when she’d been angry that he hadn’t told her about his
brother?
“Everything is just…so wrong right now,” she added.
Lainey was also in her room. She and Crystal had come earlier with food
and to keep her company. After her conversation with Jaxor, Erin had been
asleep for a long time—no doubt because Privanax had pumped her with a
sedative because she’d been so upset. He’d told her to keep her stress levels
down, that the baby had already been put under a lot of it.
All the women were present in the Golden City apparently. Vaxa’an had
called his Ambassadors to the Golden City, in preparation for their attack on
the Jetutians and the Mevirax, and they had stayed for the week, considering
there was much to be done. Considering they still didn’t know what to do
with the remaining Mevirax or how they would handle the distribution of the
treatment once Privanax ran his tests on it.
 But she had learned that Kossira was present in the Golden City too. She
had learned that Tavar had died on the Jetutian spaceship and Erin wanted to
speak with her, wanted to make sure that she was okay. Laccara had also
survived, and though she was apparently also in the medical bay in
Privanax’s labs, Erin hadn’t seen her. All she remembered of Laccara were
her screams and the determined gleam in her eyes when the needle slipped
into her flesh.
Erin swallowed, bringing the cup of hot tea to her lips for a sip. It tasted
bitter, but apparently it was Privanax-approved.
Lainey had been uncharacteristically quiet during their visit. Erin had
already noticed the change in her since she’d joined with Kirov. A positive
one. And while Lainey would always be Lainey, there was a calmness to her
now, whereas before, she’d been a little confrontational, a little angry.
“Do you love him?” Crystal asked.
“Sometimes I feel like I don’t even know him,” Erin confessed instead of
answering the question since it made her feel restless and achy.
Erin had told Lainey and Crystal everything since their capture from the
Golden City. About Jaxor, about his base, about their time together, even
about the sex. Then she’d told them about the Mevirax. About the dungeon,
about Kossira, about that night on the Jetutian ship. She hadn’t even told
Jaxor what she’d experienced.
Crystal had been crying as she told her story and Lainey had sat very still
with pressed lips and clenched fists, as if she wanted to punish the Mevirax
and the Jetutians herself.
She was grateful to have friends like them. Friends that cared for her, that
loved her, just as she loved them.
“I don’t know what to do,” Erin confessed.
“You don’t have to decide now,” Lainey said. “You’re staying on Luxiria
because of the baby and I’m selfishly pretty happy about that.”
She was trying to make Erin laugh and it worked.
“You have time,” Crystal assured her.
“Do I, though?” Erin asked, nibbling her lip. Her back hurt from being
laid up in bed all day, but at least the wound on her chest had started to ache
less. Sometimes she forgot that she’d been stabbed at all, but then she’d have
nightmares of Po’grak on top of her, and—
She shook her head, inhaling a deep breath through her nostrils. No stress,
she reminded herself. For the baby’s sake.
 Which was easier said than done. Jaxor’s trial was looming. Crystal had
learned that it would take place sometime next week. And her stress levels
shot through the roof when she thought about that. So she tried to avoid
thinking about it…which was almost impossible.
“Privanax said you’ll be released from the labs tomorrow,” Lainey said,
changing the subject because she knew it was a touchy one. “You’ll come
stay with us on the terrace and you’ll get some much-needed sunshine and
food and you’ll feel better. It will clear your mind, I promise.”
Erin nodded, understanding what went unspoken. Maybe then she’d be
able to think more clearly about the situation with Jaxor. Maybe then she
would be able to make a decision…before it was too late.
 CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

“I was hoping to speak with you,” Erin said in a breathless rush after
she approached Vaxa’an on the terrace in his hovercraft. He was
helping Kate off the back. He dropped her off in the mornings so
she could be with the other human females while he went to the command
center. The baby was in her arms.
He was cooing and babbling, waving his arms, which reflected golden in
the sunlight. Ollie was his name. Technically, it was Kollix’an, but that was a
mouthful, so the human women simply called him Ollie. And he was the
sweetest thing.
Vaxa’an looked down at Erin. She marveled that she hadn’t recognized
the similarities between him and Jaxor. They had identical eyes, for one. And
while Erin had thought Jaxor looked familiar to her, she hadn’t known
Vaxa’an very well, or studied him very long, to make the connection.
But now, it was undeniable. It was even difficult to meet his eyes.
Vaxa’an jerked his head in a nod, powering down the hovercraft and
jumping down. Erin released the nervous breath she’d been holding.
Kate touched Vaxa’an’s arm, looking at Erin, and said, “I’ll leave you
two alone.”
Vaxa’an watched as she disappeared into Lainey and Kirov’s home,
where Erin had been staying. Most of the women gathered there during the
day, to spend time with each other, to marvel at Ollie, and talk and laugh and
eat. Erin had to admit…it felt good. To be with her friends, to not think of her
time in the dungeon, or her heartbreak. It was a welcome distraction. She’d
been out of Privanax’s labs for two days, but every moment that passed, Erin
grew more and more restless, more and more anxious.
 “We have not found the time to talk,” Vaxa’an said, returning his gaze to
her. “I regret that.”
“You’ve been busy. You all have,” Erin said. She’d been waiting for
Vaxa’an’s hovercraft most of the morning, sitting outside, though she felt a
little sweaty from the heat. Even still, she vastly preferred the blinding
sunlight and the warmth…to anything.
“You wish to speak about my brother,” Vaxa’an knew.
“There is a chance for a pardon during his trial, isn’t there?” she asked,
not even embarrassed that she didn’t want to waste time with pleasantries.
Vaxa’an was a difficult male to pin down, considering he was the Prime
Leader. Given everything that had changed—the attack on the Mevirax and
the Jetutians, the decisions that needed to be made afterwards, the stress of
Jaxor’s trial, and the fact that Vaxa’an had a newborn baby—he was a busy,
busy male.
His nostrils flared, which she didn’t take as a good sign. Even still, he
said, “It is possible, tev. Likely? I am not so certain.”
“But you’re the Prime Leader,” she said. Because even after everything
Jaxor had done, the thought that he could be sentenced to death or exile for
his actions was…unfathomable. Even excruciating to think about. It kept her
up at night. “Don’t you have some sort of veto power?”
“Veto power,” he repeated. Then he shook his head. “Matters of justice
are handled by the elder council. It is our way. They know my feelings and
desires about the trial. I have made that abundantly clear.”
“And what do you want to happen?” she couldn’t help but ask.
“He is my brother,” he told her softly, spearing her with a look that
almost made her gasp…because he looked so much like Jaxor in that
moment. “Of course I want him pardoned.”
“Even after everything he’s done? To you?” she tested.
He let out a short exhale. “You know Jaxor as well as I. You know his
motivations. I told him I have forgiven him for his actions because I
understood them, but I fear that he will never be able to extend that same
forgiveness to himself.”
Erin stilled.
“He wanted revenge on the male who killed our mother. Our sire. So
many Luxirians. He wanted to help the females that survived. Those
motivations are just…but what he is truly on trial for are two things.
Endangering you and Crystal—”
 “But he—”
“And knowing that Jetutians were entering our atmosphere undetected,”
Vaxa’an continued. “The council would have been likely to pardon him for
this second offense, given that his aid led to the vaccine. But the first…”
“Because of Crystal and me?” she said, shocked. She shook her head.
“That’s ridiculous. He didn’t hurt us.”
Well…at least not physically, she amended silently, thinking about the
constant ache in her chest.
“The council sees it another way. Crimes against females are not taken
likely.”
“Can I talk to them?” Erin asked, her eyes pleading up at Vaxa’an. “And I
know that Crystal will offer the same. I mean, because of Jaxor, she has
Cruxan now. She doesn’t have any lingering feelings about it. Besides, how
is it any different than what Vikan or Kirov did? They both took Taylor and
Lainey from the Golden City without your knowledge! But are they on trial
for it?”
She didn’t mean to throw her friends’ mates under the bus, but she was
trying to make a point.
Vaxa’an’s lips pressed together. “I never said the trial was fair.”
A drop of sweat ran down her back. There was a long stretch of silence
between them.
“Kat told me you don’t plan to leave on the vessel for Earth,” Vaxa’an
broached quietly.
Erin’s brow furrowed, confused why he was bringing that up now. “No, I
don’t.”
“Because you love my brother and you wish to stay here with him?”
Vaxa’an asked. Erin looked down at the terrace, at the feather-light slippers
protecting her feet from the heated stones. “I must warn you, female, that you
might not like the council’s decision. There might not be a life for him here.”
He was telling her to leave? Go back to Earth? Abandon Jaxor?
Erin felt anger rise up in her and it felt good. It felt…surprising.
“I’m pregnant,” she told him, peering up at him.
His brows rose. So, Kate hadn’t told him. Or perhaps Crystal and Lainey
hadn’t told anyone after their conversation a couple days ago.
“He doesn’t know,” Erin said, seeing the question form in his mind. “Not
yet. I—I haven’t told him.”
Erin had to give Vaxa’an credit. He took things in stride, but she
supposed a Prime Leader would have to.
“Then do not fear, female, for your future here,” he said, inclining his
head. “Your child will be of the royal bloodline and because of that, you will
have—”
“I don’t care about bloodlines,” she said softly, frowning. “And I’m not
angling for a secure future because I’m pregnant with your brother’s child.”
“My apologies, I did not mean to imply that. I am just…surprised by the
news.”
“I know,” Erin said, feeling a little of her temper melt away. “It’s just…
I’m scared. For Jaxor. For the baby. For this damn trial. He might’ve hurt me
and lied to me, but that doesn’t mean that I want him…gone.”
Just the thought made her throat close.
“It doesn’t mean…there’s not a future for us,” she whispered, her vision
blurring with tears. More tears. She’d never cried this much in her entire life.
At least now she could blame it on hormones.
She allowed herself a small cry, all too aware that Vaxa’an was standing
helplessly by, probably wishing that Kate was out here to console her.
Luxirians weren’t exactly masters of showing emotions and it seemed to
make them uncomfortable when others did.
Pull yourself together, she told herself. And slowly, she did, blinking
back tears, wiping her face dry.
She turned her gaze towards the Black Desert, remembering when Jaxor
had taken her and Crystal across it in his sandcraft. It seemed so long ago
now.
“Do you think you could let me see the elder council?” Erin asked
quietly, calming. Only after a good cry did she feel this calm. She felt…okay.
Like everything might be okay. She turned to look at Vaxa’an. “To speak
with them?”
Vaxa’an inclined his head. “I can arrange it, tev. But I do not know if—”
“I just have to try,” Erin said. “I know it might not make a difference, but
I won’t give up trying to get him released.”
She took a deep breath and nodded, certain of what she wanted to do.
“Are you going to the command center?” she asked.
“Tev.”
“I’d like to see Jaxor,” she said.
I’ve left this too long, she thought, a little ashamed.
The last two nights, she’d lain in bed and asked herself if she could
forgive Jaxor.
After hearing about his motivations, she believed that she could.
Especially after knowing that even after everything, he would have still
chosen her over the vaccine for his people. That spoke volumes.
So, yes, she had left him too long…and it was time to see her mate.
Vaxa’an studied her, his head tilted to the side. Erin wondered what he
made of her. Crying one moment, then demanding to speak to his council and
his imprisoned brother in the next.
“Very well,” he said. “I will take you to him.”
“Thank you.”
 CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

T he water ran over him in an endless stream. Jaxor had stood in the
shower tube for far too long, as if it would cleanse his soul and not
just his body. Because isn’t that what he wanted? To be clean? To be
rid of the grime and muck that he’d willingly waded through for all these
long rotations?
He slapped at the console and the stream ended. He went from the stall,
dried off, but his movements were slow, his thoughts carefully suppressed.
When he walked from the washroom, steam billowing out in his wake,
his heart gave a treacherous thump, almost painful and violent, when he saw
Erin standing in the middle of the quarters.
And all at once, those carefully dampened thoughts and feelings returned
to him in a rush, making him dizzy as he approached her—and then he
stopped short, his hands outstretched, reaching for her, when he realized that
maybe she didn’t want his touch anymore. That maybe she was repulsed by
it.
There was no one else in the room.
“How…” he croaked, fearing for a moment that he was simply imagining
her. He used to do that, when he’d been in the Mevirax’s dungeons. Imagined
things that weren’t there. He wondered if his isolation was bringing back old
habits he’d long thought dead. “Are you…are you real?”
Something pulled in her expression, something tight and painful. When
he inhaled, her scent was real enough and he dragged it into his lungs.
“Jaxor,” she whispered, her eyes shimmering.
This was definitely a dream. It made him ache, knowing that when he
woke from it, he would hurt even more. And if it was a dream, then she
would want his touch…and that was why he pulled her into his arms, holding
her tight.
Her cheek pressed into his chest, just beneath his pectoral. He felt warm
breath brush across his skin, felt clean, brushed, soft hair trail over his arm.
“I love you, rixella,” he rasped. She further stiffened in his arms. “I
promised myself I would tell you the next time I saw you. Even if you were
in my imaginings. I think this counts.”
She waited a moment as he stroked her hair.
“You don’t think I’m real? Right now?”
“I have dreamed things before. Seen people that were not there. Talked to
them when they were not there. In the darkness,” he answered easily and he
heard her whistled inhale against his skin. “It will pass, but for now, I will
savor you.”
“Oh, Jaxor,” she whispered, pulling back, shaking her head. “I am real. I
am here.”
He blinked, swallowing.
“I asked Vaxa’an if I could see you,” she continued. “He brought me
here. There’s a guard just outside the door. You can check if you don’t
believe me.”
“Rebax?” he asked softly.
There were fresh tears in her eyes and certainly, if this were in his mind,
he would not be making her cry. Realization pierced his gut and he went still.
“I know perhaps only a fraction of what you experienced in the dungeon,
Jaxor,” Erin said quietly and his breaths went short. “You were there a long
time and I was there only a week. I cannot imagine…”
Her voice trailed off.
It shamed him that she knew. He had never planned on revisiting that
time with her.
“You are real?” he asked.
“Yes,” she replied.
He closed his eyes.
“Did you mean it?” she whispered. “That you love me?”
Jaxor swallowed. “Tev.”
Erin sighed and she was out of his arms in the next moment, putting space
between them. Jaxor wanted to follow, but he clenched his fists at his sides,
feeling the distance like it was a punishment.
He looked down at the sterile white floor of his living quarters, his jaw
clenching. He told her he loved her and she pulled away.
Of course she would, he thought.
Water droplets from his hair trailed over his shoulders before dropping to
the floor. Distantly, he remembered he was naked. He knew that she might
not react well to that, so he pulled on pants as silence stretched between
them.
When he glanced over at her, she had her arms wrapped around her
midsection, biting her lip. Jaxor felt…numb. A flash of a memory came to
him. Of Erin, her cheeks flushed, warmth shining from her eyes, as they
whispered into the night, only two spans before she was taken. A part of him
believed then that she could love him. That she might stay for him and their
future had never seemed so bright.
But those thoughts and dreams shattered in an instant.
“Let me help you,” she said quietly, though her voice sounded so far
away.
“Help me?”
His rixella peered at him, her expression suddenly serious. “I’m sure we
can get you out of here. Before the trial,” she whispered.
“Rebax?” he asked, shaking his head.
“Your brother will help, won’t he? We can sneak you out from the
command center, you can get a hovercraft and just go,” she said, but her lip
began to tremble a little and Jaxor saw the fear in her eyes.
Pain was starting to pierce the blanket of numbness. “And what about
you?”
She swallowed. “What about me?”
Jaxor clenched his jaw, but he made himself ask the question. “Would
you go with me?”
Jaxor felt like his whole future balanced on her answer.
Her eyes closed and he felt like the air was ripped straight from his lungs.
“You…that’s not…” she trailed off, thrown by the question, telling him
everything he needed to know. That she wanted him to live, perhaps, but that
she didn’t want him. That she didn’t want them. Not anymore. “Don’t ask me
to answer that.”
“I will stay,” he informed her, his voice steady. Sure.
“Why?” she cried out, her eyes flashing open, angry and afraid. “So that
they can sentence you to death or force you to leave your planet? For what?
For nothing!”
 “Nothing?” he rasped, shaking his head. “Not nothing, rixella.”
“Yes, nothing. Even Vaxa’an said this trial isn’t fair,” she whispered. Her
eyes were getting glassy again. “Please. We can help you. Before it’s too
late.”
“I will stay here,” Jaxor rumbled, shaking his head. Determination
colored his tone. “I am done running. I am done hiding. I will face the elder
council and accept their decision, whatever it may be.”
“Jaxor—”
“I am not above our laws,” he rasped. “And I told you, I am done
running. It is past time that I face the judgment of my people. Even if the
worst should happen…at least I will know that my sins will go with me. That
this will be done. I must do this.”
Whatever she saw in him made the impending argument die in her throat.
Jaxor swallowed and forced himself to say, “You should keep our
matehood private, Erin.”
She froze, her gaze flashing. “What?”
“Only Vaxa’an knows for certain. Perhaps the Ambassadors as well, but
the council will not know. The public should not know either.”
“Why would I keep it secret?”
Jaxor said, “You will be treated differently if Luxirians know that you are
connected to me.”
Erin stared at him, her chest rising and falling.
Jaxor wanted nothing more than to have her accept him. But it was too
late. That much was obvious.
“Until you leave, being associated with me could make life difficult for
you here,” he said. “I just want you to be safe.”
Her eyes were glassy and she looked down to the floor, breaking their
gaze.
“No matter what happens, I am glad the Fates led me to you, rixella,” he
said softly. A small breath escaped her. “I want you to know that.”
When she looked up, Jaxor was surprised by the desperation, by the flash
of determination and fear in her gaze. But the longer she looked at him, that
emotion faded slowly. She looked on the verge of saying something. He’d
seen it before…back at his base, when she meant to say a different thing, but
decided not to at the last moment.
“I know, Jaxor,” was all she said.
He was left to wonder what went unsaid between them.
ERIN WAS JUST LEAVING Jaxor’s room in the command center when she
saw Vaxa’an striding towards her. The only guard that stood watch inclined
his head to the Prime Leader, keeping his gaze averted to the floor.
Vaxa’an was alone, his gaze flitting to the door his brother was behind.
“How is he?” Vaxa’an asked.
Erin couldn’t quite meet his eyes. Her face felt heated and her belly roiled
in nausea. She felt like her heart was breaking all over again…except this
time, she was the cause. And it stemmed from knowing that she was causing
her mate unfathomable pain.
I’m a coward, she thought. She was nothing but a coward. She’d come
there with the purpose of telling Jaxor that she was pregnant, that she would
help him at whatever cost.
Instead, she made him think that she didn’t care for him.
Erin didn’t know how to answer Vaxa’an’s question. “I just want to help
him,” she finally whispered. “But he…he wants…”
He wanted her to forget him. He wanted her to deny that their bond had
ever existed. He wanted her to turn her back on him.
Why?
To make life easier for her.
And she’d said nothing. She’d stood there, frozen like a fool.
What must he think of me? she wondered, ashamed.
“I will take you back to the Ambassador terrace,” Vaxa’an said, leading
her through the command center. When they were outside the door, Erin was
startled to see that it was already dark. Night and sparkling stars were laid
before her, stretching over the Black Desert.
After they boarded the hovercraft, she looked over her shoulder at the
doors leading to the command center. She felt the distance stretched between
her and Jaxor. It made her ache. It made her want to vomit.
Vaxa’an said to her, “I had a thought while in a meeting with the council
this span. Something that could help Jaxor’an’s trial.”
For the first time, Erin heart thudded not with pain…but with hope.
“What is it?”
“Public opinion can sway the council’s decision during trial periods. Not
often, but it has happened in our history,” Vaxa’an said quietly, the words
quick.
 “What…what did you have in mind?”
Vaxa’an piloted the hovercraft, using familiar motions with ease over the
silver pad. Only when they left the command center did he say, “The public
of the Golden City does not yet know about the vaccine we acquired from the
Jetutians. That you acquired.”
Erin went still, her mind racing with that news. She wondered why the
city had seemed…quiet. “You didn’t want them to know?”
“Not yet. They do not know about Kossira either. Privanax is running his
tests on the vaccine, but I did not want it announced until we were certain.
But it could be lunar cycles…rotations even for Privanax to replicate it.
Jaxor’an does not have that time.”
They were approaching the Golden City fast. It was beautiful. Erin had
never seen it lit up at night from afar, but the whole terraced mountainside
glowed in soft yellow lights. Vaxa’an pulled the hovercraft to a stop and they
floated in mid-air, the soft rushing of the wind quieting around them.
He turned to her and said, “If the public knew that Jaxor’an had a hand in
procuring a treatment from the Jetutians—a treatment that could help restore
the fertility of our females—I am certain there would be protests about his
trial. He would be seen as a hero, a defender of his people. Not just in the
Golden City but throughout the outposts as well.”
Erin reached out a hand and clasped it on the console of the hovercraft.
“You…you think that could work?”
“It is worth a try,” Vaxa’an said, his jaw gritting. “Along with your
testimony to the elder council, and his help in capturing the Mevirax and
leading us to the Jetutians, it could be enough to grant him a pardon. He
could be free.”
It sounded almost too good to be true, but it was everything that Erin had
been thinking about.
“So,” Erin started, understanding what he was saying, “we need to spread
the word around the Golden City. About the vaccine. About Jaxor.”
“Jaxor’an, female,” the Prime Leader corrected. Erin looked up at him in
surprise. “The people need to remember that he is my brother and the heir of
Kirax’an.”
“Jaxor’an,” Erin repeated softly. “Right.”
“I can have no part in this,” Vaxa’an told her gently. “It will be up to
you…and those that help you.”
Erin nodded, realization blooming.
 “It was you that took the vaccine from Po’grak’s vessel and though the
council would rather you remain silent about its existence…they cannot force
you to.”
For the first time, Erin shot a small, conspiratorial grin up at him, her
heart speeding. “Jaxor’an also killed Po’grak. I saw him.”
Vaxa’an nodded, pleased. “I am certain there are many Luxirians who
will rejoice in that fact.”
Erin’s lungs swelled with breath, with hope, her mind racing. They
needed a narrative. A strong one. One that would force the council to take
notice that the people of the Golden City would fight for Jaxor’s—Jaxor’an’s
—freedom.
Would they?
Vaxa’an seemed to believe so. And that was enough for Erin.
“I’ll rally the troops tonight,” she said, setting her sights back on the
Golden City, a plan already forming in her mind.
This will work, she thought.
It had to.
 CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

I t started with a whisper. Just a small, innocent comment made by Erin to

a Luxirian female named Bruxilia, who oversaw the Archives in the
Golden City. Kate had brought her there the very next morning after her
talk with Vaxaan. The night before, Erin had burst inside the dwelling where
all the women were gathered and told them of her plan.
And Kate had known the perfect female to set that plan into motion.
Kate adored Bruxilia and Bruxilia adored Kate. The older Luxirian
female was grouchy but hilariously blunt. The moment Bruxilia met Erin,
she’d told her she needed to eat more and sent for a huge, heaping platter of
food.
It had been Erin’s first time in the Golden City, beyond the housing
terrace. She tried not to be distracted by the grand Archive building, with its
rows and rows of scrolls, but it was difficult. But she was there for Jaxor and
Jaxor alone.
During their mealtime, Erin let it slip. They were talking about the battle
that had taken place and Bruxilia was especially interested since Kate told her
Erin had been there. Bruxilia had questioned her relentlessly, trying to gather
every last piece of information, and it was then Erin realized why Kate had
brought her to the Archives. Because Bruxilia loved gossip and would spread
it far and wide.
“I wonder what the Prime Leader will decide about the Mevirax,”
Bruxilia had commented, her eyes shining on Erin, leaning forward ever so
slightly.
It was almost too easy.
“Yes, especially since one of their females is pregnant,” Erin said, her
tone nonchalant, reaching forward to take a hunk of braised, delicious meat
from the platter Bruxilia had ordered.
Bruxilia froze, her eyes widening like saucers. “Rebax?”
Erin could almost sense her racing thoughts. She was already thinking
about who she would tell.
Erin frowned. “You didn’t know? But that’s why the battle took place to
begin with. To get the vaccine from the Jetutians.”
Bruxilia sputtered, “The—the vaccine? What vaccine?”
Erin blinked. Kate cut in, “Erin, I don’t think Vaxa’an would—”
But Bruxilia had already latched on. “Nix, nix, nix, you tell me right
now,” she said, waving a hand at Kate, shushing her as she locked her gaze
on Erin. “What vaccine?”
And so, Erin had told her. Everything. While Kate bit her lip, rocking
Ollie, feigning discomfort, Erin spilled all the details, making sure to
emphasize that it was Jaxor’an who led the Prime Leader and the warriors to
the Jetutians, that it was Jaxor’an who discovered the existence of the
vaccine, that it was Jaxor’an who killed Po’grak and brought the vaccine to
the Prime Leader after the battle. That it was Jaxor’an who’d very likely
saved her own life.
Erin also heavily implied that Jaxor’an had been a spy for Vaxa’an—
which wasn’t entirely untrue. Jaxor had been planning to steal the vaccine
and bring it to his brother, after all, so it fell surprisingly easily off her lips.
Then she took a deep breath, deciding to reveal one more thing. Jaxor had
warned against it, but Erin had decided that she was no coward. She wasn’t
ashamed that she was Jaxor’s mate, though that was what he might believe.
“And now, I’ve been so stressed about the trial that Privanax fears for the
baby’s health,” Erin said. “Jaxor’an and I never even got to perform our
ravraxia.”
Their mating ceremony.
“Oh Fates,” Bruxilia said, leaning back against the fire pit cushions where
they were sitting in the middle of the Archives. “Oh Fates.”
The older Luxirian female was shaking her head, her eyes wide, stunned.
For a moment, she was entirely speechless.
Then she swiveled her head to Kate and asked, her voice a little weak,
“This…this is all true?”
Kate pursed her lips, leveling Bruxilia a familiar look. Kate’s silence was
almost as good as a ‘yes.’ Being the Prime Leader’s mate and the queen of
his people put her in an awkward position, but she’d offered Erin her help
regardless. She couldn’t outright confirm or deny it, but her silence was
enough for Bruxilia.
“This is outrageous!” Bruxilia sputtered. “And the council is still putting
Jaxor’an on trial? It is…it is unheard of!”
Relief coiled in Erin’s belly and she sank back into the cushion propped
against her back. The healing wound over her right breast gave a small throb.
They left shortly after. Ollie got fussy and the guard that Vaxa’an
assigned to Kate gave them a ride back to the Ambassador terrace, where the
other women were waiting.
“Well?” Lainey demanded when they returned.
Erin and Kate exchanged looks. Erin gave them a small, tired smile.
She’d barely slept the night before and had terrible sickness that morning.
“We’ll have to wait and see,” she said softly.

“I HAVE NEVER UNDERESTIMATED THAT FEMALE,” Kate said,

returning from the meal hall, her gaze tired. Not one but two guards had been
trailing her and they remained stationed outside the dwelling door. “For good
reason.”
Erin stood immediately and approached her. “How did it go? What
happened?”
The sky was dark; night had fallen. Just a half-hour ago, Kate had
ventured to the meal hall to see if the news was already beginning to spread.
“Oh, it’s spreading all right,” Kate said as Erin helped her to sit. Cecelia
had been rocking Ollie and handed him over to his mother. Kate looked down
at her son, pride and love shining in her gaze, before looking up at Erin. “It’s
spreading fast.”
“Really?” Erin said, her chest squeezing.
Kate nodded. “I didn’t even reach the food. Right when I stepped inside,
everyone looked at me. Then a group approached, asking me if it was true.
About the vaccine. About Jaxor’an. They were frustrated when I couldn’t say
anything. Angry even. My guards had to step in to escort me out.”
“Oh my God,” Erin whispered, dropping down to the fire pit, looking
around at all seven women present: Kate, Taylor, Lainey, Cecelia, Beks,
Crystal, and Bianca.
“Sorry, ladies,” Kate said, “but it might be a long night for your mates.
Right when I was leaving, I saw a group of hovercrafts approaching the
command center and more were going on foot.”
“To get answers?” Taylor guessed, pressing her lips together.
“Undoubtedly,” Kate said.
“I’m sorry,” Erin said, looking at Kate. “I don’t want to put you in
unnecessary danger. You have a son now—”
“Nonsense,” Kate said, taking her hand. “Jaxor’an is my mate’s brother.
He loves him. Dearly. I can’t just sit by and do nothing.”
“Thank you,” Erin said. She turned her gaze to the rest of the women. “To
all of you too. For helping me with this plan. For supporting me though I’ve
been kind of a mess lately.”
All of them had contacts in their respective outposts. Over the course of
the day, they’d called in over the Coms to help share the news that was
spreading within the Golden City. Although, it had probably been
unnecessary. Many Luxirians had family and friends spread across the planet.
News would’ve reached the outposts regardless.
Not only that, but when Erin had come back to the house after visiting
Jaxor last night, she’d broken down. She’d been so ashamed by how she’d
acted, so ashamed that Jaxor still didn’t know that she was pregnant, that she
was staying on Luxiria. It hurt knowing that he hurt.
Lainey waved her hand. “You’re like a sister to us. No ‘thank you’
necessary.”
Erin gave her a wobbly smile.
Beks asked softly, “Now what?”
Erin said, “We wait. Again.”
The trial was scheduled to take place in four days. Would four days be
enough time for Jaxor?

THE STORY SPREAD LIKE WILDFIRE, engulfing the entire city. Erin got
reports from Kate, who mostly got them from Bruxilia, considering she’d
barely seen Vaxa’an. All the women barely saw their mates, since the
command center was apparently on lockdown, which meant that Erin
couldn’t see Jaxor either, no matter how much she pleaded.
Luxirians from all over the city—and apparently even some of the
outposts—were stationed outside the command center, still demanding
answers. Hundreds of them. Males and females—young and old alike—
wanted to know about a potential vaccine, wanted the truth about the
Mevirax, about the Jetutians, about Jaxor’an. At night, Erin would go out on
the terrace and hear their chants and cries echoing around the city, bouncing
off the mountain, and she’d sit there for hours listening to them, wondering if
it would be enough. They seemed to never stop.
One night, as she listened to the noise, she looked up at the sky and
recognized constellations that she’d seen at Jaxor’s base. It made her miss
him. Terribly. She pressed a hand to her stomach, knowing that it was already
growing.
She would be a mother. Sometimes, she forgot that. Sometimes, she
forgot that she was pregnant. Just that afternoon, she’d held Ollie in her arms
while Kate ate and she’d been overwhelmed with the jolting knowledge that
she’d have her own child in her arms soon. One that might have piercing blue
eyes and dark horns, just like Ollie.
Jaxor took up most of her thoughts. For good reason.
And that night, as she listened to the Luxirians’ protests, as she sat out
there alone on the Ambassador terrace, looking up at familiar constellations
with a cool wind whipping through her hair…she found the clarity that she’d
been desperately seeking.
She’d found a male who loved her, who wanted her safe and happy even
if it meant giving up his own happiness, his own life. She’d found a male who
had lied to her, who had made some admittedly bad decisions...but she had
the choice to forgive him and move on. And isn’t that what she’d always
done? Move on?
Except, she knew that she didn’t want to ‘move on’…unless Jaxor was
right there beside her.
And when Erin realized that, she took in a deep breath, deciding right
there and then that she forgave him. She decided right there and then that she
wanted to start fresh. She wanted him. She chose him.
I’m sorry, Jaxor, she thought, biting her lip, feeling her throat begin to
burn.
She was sorry that she’d been a coward, that she’d been too afraid to get
hurt again. She was sorry that she’d been quick to believe everything Tavar
had told her, that she hadn’t considered what Jaxor’s motivations had been.
She was sorry that her mate still didn’t know that he would be a father. She
was sorry that she’d kept silent when he told her he loved her.
Looking up at the night sky, she knew that if he was exiled, she would go
with him. Wherever that might be. Though it was a frightening thought, to
journey to a new planet when she’d just become comfortable on Luxiria, she
would do anything for him…and for their family.
Because that was what they could be. That was what she wanted to be.
A family.
She just hoped it wasn’t too late for them.

THE NEXT MORNING, three days after Erin had spoken with Bruxilia at
the Archives, two warriors from the command center appeared on their
terrace.
“The Prime Leader and the elder council are requesting your presence at
the command center,” one of them said, looking straight at Erin once he’d
entered their dwelling.
Erin’s heart thudded in her throat. “Me?”
“Tev,” the warrior said, inclining his head. “Immediately.”
Has something happened? She wondered, rising to her feet, her breath
quickening.
The other women watched her quietly. Lainey caught her hand as she
passed, “Will you be all right?”
Erin squeezed her hand. “Yes. Don’t worry.”
Erin didn’t know whether she was shaking with anxiety or relief. It had
been three days of endless waiting, all while counting down the minutes to
Jaxor’s trial. Three days of not seeing him, not hearing his voice or feeling
his touch, of not telling him all the things she wanted to. Would she be able
to see him now if she was going to the command center?
She’d insist on it.
The two warriors boarded her onto a hovercraft and they flew off the
terrace, heading in the direction of the command center. The pale blue dress
she wore billowed with the wind. It was in the Luxirian style, light and airy
and silky, flowing to her ankles.
 A gasp escaped her when she saw the crowds…when she saw the sheer
amount of Luxirians outside the main entrance of the command center. She’d
heard the chants, had known that there was a large gathering, but nothing
prepared her for the size of the protests.
It looked like over a thousand Luxirians were gathered there, spread
across the black sand, billowing out from the entrance. When the hovercraft
began the descend, cries went up into the air, angry words and chanting being
hurled at them. There was a line of guards keeping the entrance to the
command center cleared and they landed in the only open patch available,
just before the doors.
Erin got the strangest sense of claustrophobia as one of the tall warrior
guards helped her down. It felt like she was surrounded on all sides as the
guards ushered her towards the entrance. Some Luxirians cried out her name
when they saw her, though it shocked her that they knew it. A wave went
through the crowd and questions were thrown at her, some in English, some
in Luxirian.
With her ears ringing, she heard them. Is there a cure? Did Jaxor’an kill
Po’grak? Were the Jetutians planning another attack? Was Jaxor’an a spy
for the Golden City? Is a Mevirax female pregnant?
Her heartbeat was thumping so hard in her chest by the time the guards
led her through the command center doors. When they slid closed behind her,
she heard the voices still. They seemed to echo down the mostly empty
corridors as the guards led her to another twin set of doors.
When they opened, she was guided into a bright room, so bright she had
to blink back sudden tears. But she saw that the ceiling resembled a solid
sheet of glass, strengthening and funneling the light of the twin suns inside.
For a moment, she was confused. They had to be in the command center, but
the command center was inside a mountain, wasn’t it?
As her eyes adjusted, she saw that the room was circular, metal benches
lining the outer walls, though no one sat on them. The guards led her down
steps as Erin took in her surroundings. There were five seated Luxirian males
in a row on a raised dais in the center of the room. All older males, so she
guessed they were the members of the elder council. The males that would
decide the fate of Jaxor’s future and by extension, her own.
Off to the side, she caught sight of the Ambassadors—all of them—and
Vaxa’an.
Then her breath hitched because she saw Jaxor.
 He was standing on a slightly raised circular platform before the dais,
dressed in black pants and a dark grey long-sleeved tunic. He turned when he
heard her and she saw that his wrists were attached to a chain imbedded in
the platform.
Erin drank in the sight of him, her heartbeat pounding wildly when their
eyes locked.
Our gazes are like magnets, she remembered. She’d always be looking
for him. Always.
His expression was carefully blank as he regarded her from his platform.
That expression broke her a little. She’d seen it before…during their first
encounter and the days afterwards when he’d admitted that he’d been trying
to keep his distance.
That expression told her that he was trying to keep himself emotionally
distant right then because he believed that she no longer wanted him as her
mate.
When she veered towards him, needing to speak with him, the guard took
her arm and halted her progress. She heard the rattling of Jaxor’s chains, no
doubt in response to the fact that another male put his hands on her. His
Instinct was very much still alive within him, no matter how hard he tried to
dampen its power.
Erin frowned, looking up at the guard, but he said, “I apologize, female,
but you cannot speak with him until after the trial concludes.”
“What?” she repeated, her eyes going to Jaxor, shaking her head. “That’s
ridiculous. Let me go. I need to talk to him.”
The guard’s grip on her was steadfast. A familiar rumbling growl rose
into the air and Erin froze, knowing it was coming from Jaxor and realizing
that she didn’t want to cause trouble for him.
Thankfully, Vaxa’an approached and the guard immediately released her.
Jaxor’s growls quieted until they ceased.
Erin licked her lips, sudden tension filling the circular, domed room.
“What’s going on?” she asked the Prime Leader when he stopped in front of
her.
“The council decided to expedite his trial,” Vaxa’an said, his voice low.
Erin froze, her breath hitching. Dull chants and cries reached her ears.
Erin realized she could still hear the protests from outside. For the first time,
she took in the room with new eyes. It looked like…a courtroom. A grand,
alien courtroom, but a courtroom nonetheless. The elders were even dressed
in long, white robes.
“To when?” she asked dumbly, shocked.
Vaxa’an said, “It has already begun.”
 CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

B efore she knew it, she was standing before the elder council, looking
up at them from her place below the dais.
The circular platform that Jaxor had been standing on had moved
over to her left. It floated like a hovercraft, with Jaxor still standing on it. She
was intensely aware of his gaze on her like a touch, her body always knowing
when he was near. She could see him on her periphery.
Erin clenched her hands into fists when she felt them tremble.
One of the elder council members spoke, the one directly in the middle of
the row. “We summoned you here after the Prime Leader requested your
testimony be included within Jaxor’an’s trial. Did you ask this of him?”
“I…” Erin’s mouth felt dry, but she took in a deep breath, knowing that
this was it. They were out of time. “Yes. I did.”
“Tell us why so it can be recorded.”
Recorded?
That was when she saw Coms systems placed on the outer walls of the
domed room. They were filming the trial? For their records? Or so that it
could be broadcast later?
Erin’s swallow seemed to echo in that massive space. She glanced over at
Jaxor before looking back up at the elders.
“Because it’s my understanding that a large reason why he’s on trial is for
taking Crystal and me from the Golden City. And I wanted you to understand
that he didn’t hurt us.”
“Arguably because Ambassador Cruxan of Otala reached you before he
could trade you to the Mevirax,” the elder said.
Erin kept her breathing steady. “No, I believe that he wouldn’t have, even
if Ambassador Cruxan hadn’t found us.”
“What makes you so certain?”
“Knowing what I know now,” she started, “knowing that he’d always
been conflicted about it, I believe that he would have broken his agreement
with the Mevirax that night.”
The elder’s nostrils flared but he went on with his next question
regardless. “Would the other human female say the same if we questioned
her?”
Erin’s gaze flitted over to Cruxan, his blue eyes flashing at the mention of
his mate.
“She offered to testify on his behalf, yes. In fact, she told me that had it
not been for Jaxor’an’s actions, she would not have found her fated mate,”
Erin said. One of the elders at the end of the dais cleared his throat. “And I
would not have found mine. She holds no ill will towards him because like I
said, he didn’t hurt us.”
The silence that followed allowed the chants and cries to permeate the
courtroom once again. Jaxor’s chain jingled lightly when he shifted. The
elder in charge of the trial asked, “You are confirming that Jaxor’an is your
fated mate? That his Instinct awakened for you?”
“Yes,” Erin said, keeping her voice firm and clear. Even as a part of her
ached, remembering that she’d questioned that very thing in the Mevirax
dungeons. She’d let Tavar get into her head. Remembering the agony on
Jaxor’s face when she’d confronted him about it made her stomach hurt,
made her think her morning sickness would rear its head right there in the
courtroom on the shining white floors.
“Was it you,” the elder asked, tilting a long gaze down at her, “who
leaked the information about the unknown vaccine currently being tested in
the command center’s labs?”
Jaxor jerked his head towards the elder, sharp and quick.
Erin’s chin tilted up, leveling the elder with a knowing look. This was
what they really wanted to know, wasn’t it? Not about how Jaxor had treated
her, or about their relationship. For a moment, Erin felt like she was the one
on trial.
The pressure of the protests might’ve expedited Jaxor’s trial, but would it
sway the council’s decision, like Vaxa’an believed?
“I didn’t know the vaccine’s existence was supposed to be keep a secret,”
she lied.
 “You have created a dangerous and unprecedented situation within our
city, female,” the elder said.
“Why?” Erin asked softly. “All they want are answers. All they want to
know is whether there is a treatment being tested. All they want to know is
why a Luxirian male is on trial for charges that are beyond ridiculous,
especially when that same male helped obtain that vaccine from your
enemies and killed the Jetutian male responsible for horrific crimes among
your people. None of what I ‘leaked’ was a lie.”
The silence was deafening.
When Erin looked over at Jaxor, his careful expression had morphed into
something else. Its intensity made her skin prickle with longing.
She was still looking at Jaxor when the elder asked, “Even your
pregnancy?”
Erin inhaled a sharp breath as Jaxor’s head snapped towards the dais, the
chains jingling together. His brows drew down low. For a moment, he was
confused. Then realization made his whole body freeze and then his eyes
flicked back to her.
Words were lodged in her throat. Shame made her cheeks burn. This was
not how she’d wanted him to find out.
“I…that is…” Erin trailed off, her mind temporarily shutting down as she
pleaded with Jaxor silently.
Please, please understand. I will tell you everything. I promise.
His expression was thunderous. He was angry. Rightfully so.
But then his gaze dropped down to the floor of the platform he was
standing on, his neck craned, his shoulders tensed. Everything about his body
language made her want to cry out to him, to explain.
“Answer the question for the recording,” the elder ordered.
Erin’s heart felt like it was lodged in her throat when she turned her head
to look up at the dais.
“Yes,” she said.
“Tev, your pregnancy was a lie? Or tev, it was not a lie?”
“Yes, I am pregnant,” she amended, her voice rising. When she cast a
glance over at Jaxor, she saw his jaw ticking even from ten feet away…and
he still wasn’t looking at her.
“Who is the sire of the child?” the elder asked pointedly.
She was all too aware that she was in a domed room full of Luxirian
males. The Ambassadors stood with Vaxa’an to her right, Jaxor was to her
left, the elders were in front of her, and the two guards were behind her.
“Jaxor’an,” she said, a piercing anger jolting through her. She leveled a
hard gaze at the elder. “My fated mate.”
“And was the conception willing?” the elder asked, his tone sterile and
cold.
Erin’s breathing went rough. Privanax had asked her much the same thing
and it infuriated her that the elder would ask something so personal and so
insulting, especially in front of Jaxor.
“Of course it was,” she bit out.
“When were you first aware that you were with offspring?” he asked,
ignoring her tone.
Her fists were clenched at her sides. “I began to suspect it when I was in
the Mevirax’s dungeons. Humans can get morning sickness.”
“So, for the sake of the recording,” he repeated again and Erin’s lips
pressed together, “you have not fabricated your pregnancy in order to make
Jaxor’an’s trial seem more sympathetic to the public of the Golden City?”
“No!” Erin exclaimed, not sure whether to be insulted or horrified. “I
would never make something like that up. I am pregnant. You can ask
Privanax if you need it confirmed.”
Jaxor had been standing before the dais when she’d come in. Had they
already questioned him? Had he already given his side of the story to the
elders? If so, she could only imagine the grilling questions they’d had for
him.
When she looked back at Jaxor, he was at least looking at her now, but his
careful expression was back in place. He was numbing himself, wasn’t he?
He’d just found out she was pregnant in the worst, most humiliating way
possible, knowing that she’d had not one, but two opportunities to tell him in
private…and he was probably already drawing his own conclusions as to why
she hadn’t told him when she’d had the chance. Because she didn’t think he
was a suitable enough partner? A suitable enough father?
“Very well,” the elder said. He jerked his head at the guards standing
behind her and they stepped up beside her. “Please escort the female back to
her dwelling. That will be all for her testimony.”
“Wait,” Erin breathed, her mind racing. “Wait, that can’t be it!”
The elder said, “That is all we needed to hear from you.”
“I need to talk with Jaxor—with Jaxor’an. Please. I haven’t been able to
—”
 “You cannot speak with him until the trial concludes and a decision is
made, as the guard told you before.”
Erin swung her gaze over to Jaxor as the guards began to lead her away.
There was so much that she needed to tell him. But there was too much and it
got clogged in her throat. All she could do was helplessly stare, trying to
think, as the guards guided her up the stairs.
All Jaxor did was incline his head at her. An acknowledgement? An
acceptance? What did that mean?
“Wait, when will the decision be made?” she asked, fighting against the
grip of the guard to swing her gaze back around at the elders.
But he didn’t answer her and the guards led her through the doors of the
courtroom. They closed behind her almost immediately.
“Jaxor!” she called.
The guards kept her from going back inside and she struggled to keep her
panic from rising. When she managed to slip from their grip, she tugged hard
at the door…but it was locked. It wouldn’t budge.
“Dammit,” she whispered, tears flooding into her eyes, pressing her
forehead against the metal. “Dammit.”
He was right there…and yet, he was still so far away.
 CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

“T hey are ready,” Vaxa’an said.

“So soon?” Jaxor asked, standing from his sleeping
platform.
There was hope in his brother’s eyes. Tentative as it was. He clasped a
hand on his shoulder and Jaxor even felt it through the fellixix.
“To be blunt, they want your trial to disappear,” Vaxa’an said. “The
protests are making them nervous. And with the decision about the Mevirax
looming, they do not want to take on the added stress.”
Jaxor didn’t want to get his hopes up. He was exhausted, emotionally and
physically.
“Did you know?” Jaxor asked Vaxa’an.
After Erin had spoken with the elder council, they’d whisked Jaxor out so
they could make their final decision. He hadn’t been able to speak with his
brother.
“That she was pregnant?” Vaxa’an asked quietly. Their eyes connected
and held. “Tev.”
Jaxor closed his eyes, not certain what to feel anymore. His emotions felt
ragged, frayed at the edges. He felt crushing hope, elation, anger, grief,
confusion, disappointment, fear.
I am going to be a sire, he thought, the idea strange and foreign. It was
something he never thought possible, so he hadn’t thought of it at all.
Why did she not tell me? he’d wondered endlessly.
But only she could answer that.
“I am ready,” he said, nodding at his brother. He wanted to hear their
decision, if only so that he could speak with Erin sooner. Regardless of the
outcome, he would have time to speak with his loved ones.
Vaxa’an inclined his head and led him from the quarters, walking side by
side with him down the hallway of the command center. In a short time, they
were walking through the doors of the council room. The Ambassadors were
gone. Only the elders remained, still in their places on the dais. It was unlike
any trial he’d ever been witness to. The council room was usually packed
with Luxirians, especially for rulings.
Jaxor stopped at the foot of the dais but Vaxa’an didn’t withdraw. He
stood beside him, even then, as they waited for the head elder to announce
the council decision.
The magnitude of the moment hadn’t fully hit him yet. Jaxor was still
reeling over Erin’s pregnancy, that it was her that had spread the rumors in
the Golden City.
In fact, the council’s ruling, as monumental to his own lifespan as it was,
happened so quickly that Jaxor was entirely unprepared for it.
“Jaxor’an, son of Kirax’an,” the head elder began, “the Council of
Virzalla has decided to grant you a full pardon for your crimes against
Luxiria.”
Jaxor didn’t react. Not at first. His ears started ringing when he perceived
Vaxa’an’s breath quickening, when he felt his brother squeeze his shoulder.
The black metal of the chains clasped around his wrists jingled when his
hands shook in disbelief.
“Rebax?” he rasped.
The head elder—the male’s name was Duvira, he knew—pressed his lips
together. Jaxor met the eyes of the other elders and he wondered whether any
had voted against a pardon.
“You will be released from the command center’s custody effective
immediately.”
Vaxa’an moved to take the chains from his wrists, the metal scraping
when he turned the key. They fell with a thud onto the marbled flooring of
the council room, echoing.
When Jaxor looked over at his brother, he was still in shock. His wrists
were rubbed raw from the cuffs, but his arms had never felt lighter.
“Can I ask why?” Jaxor murmured.
Vaxa’an stilled next to him.
“Why?” Duvira repeated slowly, peering down at him from the dais.
“Tev.”
 “Given the circumstances of your trial, given your aid in recovering a
potential treatment for our females and the capture of the Mevirax, and given
the testimony of your fated mate,” Duvira continued, “we could not, in good
conscience, sentence you to exile or death. Especially considering that your
fated mate is with offspring and we do not yet know the effects of a broken
bond pairing among humans.”
Jaxor swallowed. In a way, he’d been pardoned because the council
hadn’t wanted Erin to suffer for his crimes, because she carried a half-
Luxirian child…his child.
“Do you accept the council’s ruling?” Duvira asked, peering down at him
with an unreadable yet stoic expression.
“Tev,” Jaxor said, the word tumbling from his lips. His ears felt like
they’d been stuffed with fur. “I do.”
“Then be away,” Duvira said, dismissing him, the elders rising from the
dais. “And let it be known that the Council of Virzalla pardoned you.”
Jaxor didn’t quite know what he meant by those last parting words, but
their meaning became clear the moment he stepped from the command
center. Jaxor didn’t even remember Vaxa’an walking him from the council
room, or down the hallways of the command center, but then bright, warm
Luxirian sunlight washed over his body and a warm wind threaded across his
skin. And the only thing that would have felt better than that was his rixella
safe in his arms.
When the ringing in his ears ceased and he was confronted with hundreds
and hundreds of Luxirians sprawling across the Black Desert, when their
shouts and cries abruptly quieted as both he and Vaxa’an emerged from the
command center, he understood what Duvira had wanted from him.
A young female near them—with long, dark hair and tired eyes—stepped
forward, past the line of warrior guards that had held the crowd away from
the doors of the command center.
“Is it true?” she asked, voice quiet, looking from one brother to the next.
A hush rippled out from her words and Jaxor’s chest tightened when he saw
the longing on her face. “Is there hope for us?”
Erin’s words from the trial came back to him.
All they want are answers.
Vaxa’an looked over at him and inclined his head. His brother might’ve
been silenced by the elder council, but Jaxor was not. In fact, Duvira had
encouraged him to speak, so he would.
“Tev,” Jaxor rasped, locking eyes with her. “There is hope.”
 CHAPTER FIFTY

I t was late afternoon. All the women were in the common room, but Erin
only wanted to be alone. She was hiding away, holed up in the spare
back bedroom in Lainey and Kirov’s home, watching the twin suns’
light track across the plush rugs lining the room.
Hours earlier, she’d come back to the dwelling after Jaxor’s trial, numb.
She’d told the women only the bare basics of what had happened and then
she’d retreated. Kate had tried to bring her a tray of food earlier, but it sat
next to her, untouched.
And now, Erin was tucked in the ring around the fire pit, her back to the
cushions, staring out the window. There wasn’t much of a view. She only
saw the mountainside, but the sunlight cast interesting shadows along the
stone.
She heard movement behind her, heard her door sliding open. Maybe one
of the women were checking in on her to see if she’d eaten.
Only, the back of her neck tingled in a familiar way and she gasped,
turning her neck so sharply she was surprised she didn’t injure herself.
And there he was.
Jaxor, standing on the threshold of the room, unchained, and regarding
her with an unreadable expression.
“Jaxor,” she whispered, immediately rising from her position and striding
towards him.
A lump in her throat made it hard to swallow as she walked into his chest,
threading her arms around him. Her hands shook against his back and she
heard his heartbeat when she pressed closer.
The trial.
 Sucking in a sharp breath, she pulled back and asked, “What happened?”
“I have been pardoned,” he told her. “Fully.”
Hearing it didn’t seem real.
“What?” she asked, reaching up to clasp his face.
The way he said the words made her think a part of him didn’t believe it
himself. It was everything she’d hoped for. Even if it had been exile, she
would have been happy…because at least it meant she could still be with her
mate.
“Oh my God,” she whispered, her tears finally spilling over. “Really? It’s
over? You’ll…you’ll be okay?”
He inclined his head. “Tev. It is over.”
The stress and worry lifted off her shoulders like they had weighed a
hundred pounds. She grinned through her tears, her breath coming out quick
and fast. And when she smiled, his lips quirked, as if her reaction to the news
was finally making it real for him.
But then she watched his small smile slowly fade.
And she was reminded of her testimony. She was reminded of what she’d
done, or rather, what she hadn’t done…which was be honest with him.
And that was what had gotten them into this mess in the first place,
wasn’t it? The lies? The half-truths?
So, she said the one thing that she’d been thinking repeatedly the last few
days.
“I love you,” she told him, her hands still clasped to his cheeks so that he
wouldn’t look away when she said those words. “I promised myself that I’d
tell you the next time I saw you,” she continued, watching his brow furrow,
mirroring words he’d said to her when he’d confessed his feelings, “only, I
made a mess of the trial and I didn’t get the chance to. So I’ll tell you now
and hope that you can forgive me for not telling you sooner.”
“Rixella—”
“Wait, please,” she said hurriedly, needing to get it all out. “And I’m so
sorry that I didn’t tell you about the baby.”
Air whistled through his nostrils and his gaze burned bright into her.
“I’m so sorry, Jaxor. I meant to tell you, I really did,” she whispered, her
voice anguished. “And there’s no excuse for it. Absolutely none.”
“Why didn’t you?” he rumbled, his hand curling around the back of her
neck, the movement so familiar. In a strange way, it was comforting. It made
her feel safe.
 “I was still so confused. About us. About what happened,” she confessed
and he stiffened ever so slightly, but his gaze was steady. Those bright blue
eyes that she wanted to look into forever. “And a part of me couldn’t think
past the trial. That was all that mattered…that you would be safe.”
She breathed in his scent—that musky, delicious, warm scent all his own
—and felt her heart thud with longing and memory. What she wouldn’t give
to go back in time, to start over, to start fresh.
But Jaxor was safe, he was free. He was here.
And Erin realized that she wouldn’t trade this moment for anything in the
world. Because this moment was important. For both of them. She needed to
make amends, to make sure that he would never doubt her again.
“When Privanax confirmed that I was pregnant…no, even before then,”
she corrected. “When I was in the dungeons and I began to suspect that I was,
I knew that I couldn’t go back to Earth.”
Jaxor swallowed.
“So, I already knew that I would be staying on Luxiria when you first
came to see me when I was healing in the labs. It was overwhelming.
Everything that was happening. The Jetutians, the Mevirax. Knowing I would
never see my family again, my home planet again. All while being in awe
and, to be honest, in disbelief about the baby,” she whispered, watching as his
eyes flickered with realization. “And then us. And your trial.”
“Vrax,” he cursed softly.
“It’s no excuse,” she finished, “but when I came to see you in your room
that day, I had every intention of telling you about the baby. Everything else
just seemed so much more…pressing.”
“I understand,” he murmured, his voice low.
But Erin still remembered the hurt in his eyes when her pregnancy had
been revealed at the trial.
“I know what you thought,” Erin said, wiping away her tears with the
back of her hand. “But Jaxor, I didn’t keep it from you because I was
ashamed of you. Because I didn’t think you’d make a good father.” She gave
him a small smile. “Quite the opposite, actually.”
Jaxor’s eyes closed and Erin’s chest ached, knowing that her assumptions
had been true. That was exactly what he’d feared.
And for the first time, Erin sensed her mate’s exhaustion. Her brows
pulled and she bit her lip, reaching up to stroke his hair. He’d been locked
away since he’d arrived in the Golden City, seeking his brother’s help to
rescue her from the Mevirax. That was what the other women had told her,
who’d learned it from their mates.
Even knowing that he’d be put on trial for returning, he still did because
she’d been in danger.
There had always been the threat of death lingering over him. Erin
couldn’t imagine the strain it must’ve put on him, especially considering that
he believed their relationship was over. She remembered the way he’d asked
her not to reveal their matehood, telling her it would make life difficult for
her.
Always, he’d had her well-being in mind, and that knowledge cut her
deeply. He’d been caring for her all along, though she’d perhaps not realized
it…and now she only wanted to care for him.
“Come,” she whispered. “You need rest.”
His grip loosened as she pulled him towards the bed she’d been sleeping
on. She hadn’t had much sleep either. Most nights, she’d tossed restlessly
without him beside her.
She drew him down beside her and he looked up at her, his eyes
flickering over her features, as if he needed to memorize her all over again.
They lay side by side, the late afternoon sun gently drifting down the
walls of the room as they stared at one another.
“Did you mean it?” he murmured finally.
She knew exactly what he was talking about.
“That I love you?” she whispered. She ran her hand through his hair. It
didn’t look like it had grown at all since she’d cut it. That moment seemed so
long ago now. “Yes. I love you, Jaxor.”
That intensity she loved in his gaze flared to life as she pressed closer,
bringing their foreheads together because she knew it brought him comfort.
Winding her arms around him, she felt his thigh come down over hers,
tucking her in place.
Though their position was relaxed, her heartbeat was thumping wildly in
her chest. She knew that Jaxor could feel it, that he could possibly even hear
it.
“Even if you’d been exiled,” she whispered, “I would have gone with
you.”
His brows drew lower as his lips parted. “Tev?”
Leaning forward, she hesitantly pressed a small kiss to those lips,
watching him as she did. He made a rough, startled sound in the back of his
throat.
“I would have followed you anywhere, Jaxor,” she murmured. She took
his large palm, trailed it up her pale blue dress—hearing his breath quicken as
she did—and rested it on the flesh of her growing belly. “We would have.
And we would have been happy anywhere, as long as it was with you. I know
that.”
“Luxiva,” he rasped.
But she didn’t let him finish. She leaned forward to give him a proper
kiss, a long overdue one, one that hopefully conveyed everything that went
unspoken between them: her regret, her apology, her love, her hope for their
future, her relief…her happiness.
Need was growing between them. Desperate, aching need. They’d been
without one another for too long. That time was stretched between them and
Erin wanted to make it disappear.
When Jaxor’s hands grew bold on her flesh, she slipped off her dress
quickly as golden beams of sunlight slid across the bed. Jaxor groaned,
moving over her between her spread thighs, undoing the laces on his pants,
his cock springing forward from the confines.
And then Erin gasped when he drove inside. It was sublime pleasure, but
it also felt like relief, to feel him this way again. This moment was more
about reconnecting than it was about sex.
“Yes,” she breathed, spreading her hands across his back. He still had a
long-sleeved tunic on and all she wanted was to feel his skin, so she pulled it
off, revealing scarred golden skin, every inch of which she’d already
memorized.
He wasn’t close enough. Even plastered against her body and deep inside
her, he wasn’t close enough.
Jaxor tilted her head back and claimed her lips. His kiss, just like always,
made her head spin, made the whole world seem to disappear. And Erin
clung to him. Even now, even after he told her he’d been pardoned, that it
was over, she still felt anxious that she might lose him. But she figured that it
would take time for that feeling to disappear. This time had marked both of
them, but Erin was looking forward to their future, one they would fill with
memories not related to the Mevirax, the Jetutians, the trial—but rather
memories of their family, their friends, their new life together.
Their mating was quick and filled with need. When Erin felt her body
tighten around him, when she cried out softly—trying to hold back a scream
—as her orgasm washed over her, she felt Jaxor jerk. His groan and ragged
breaths followed as heat exploded inside her and when she looked up, her
flushed lips parted, their eyes locked.
Like magnets, she remembered.
Jaxor collapsed, though he’d managed to roll before he crushed her with
his bulk. His breath rustled her hair when Erin wedged her face into the space
between his neck and his shoulder, one of her favorite places. Her hands were
still gripped tightly around him, as if he would pull away.
“I love you too, rixella,” he whispered. “Always.”
And Erin knew they still had so much to discuss, so much more to talk
through. But that afternoon, she fell asleep in his arms completely happy for
the first time since…ever.
 CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

E rin woke to midnight blue darkness and an empty bed.

“Jaxor?” she called softly, but silence met her.
She was still naked and she slipped from bed to pull on her dress
from earlier. Walking quietly out of the room, she looked to see if Jaxor was
in the washroom or the common room, but she grew nervous when she
realized the domed house was empty—though Kirov and Lainey’s door was
closed, so she figured they were sleeping.
Then she saw the front door was cracked open slightly and when she
peeked outside, relief made her shoulders sag as she saw Jaxor standing at the
balustrade of the terrace, looking down at the Golden City from above and
the Black Desert that stretched before them.
He turned when he heard her bare footsteps padding towards him on the
stone and Erin’s heart thudded when his expression softened.
“There you are. For a moment, I thought I lost you again,” she whispered.
“You know I don’t like waking up without you.”
He pulled her forward, reaching out to hold her hand as she stepped up
next to him. Erin liked holding his hand. She remembered the first time she’d
done it, back at his base in the north, and he’d seemed so confused by the
simple action…but then he’d begun to reach for hers as if on instinct.
“How could I forget?” he murmured.
Erin smiled, suddenly shy, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as her
eyes went to the familiar view. It was beautiful that night. A clear sky with
sparkling stars.
“I have not seen this view in over ten rotations,” he told her. “I would
always come out after dark when I was younger to look at it. Though I lived
up there,” he said, gesturing behind them at Vaxa’an and Kate’s home on the
highest terrace of the city, “at the time.”
“Now you can look at it all you want,” she said quietly, feeling her chest
warm at the thought.
He went quiet at her words, his gaze going back out to the scene before
them. Golden lights glowed from below, tall lanterns carving out the
pathways and winding roads of the terraces. Erin itched to explore the Golden
City, but she figured she had time now. It was hard to wrap her mind around.
They had time.
“Is this where you want to settle?” he asked her.
Erin’s brow furrowed and she turned to face him fully, her hip pressing
into the stone balustrade.
“I haven’t thought about it much,” she said, squeezing his hand. “I guess I
just assumed you’d want to be here since this is where your brother lives. I
just…”
“Tev?” he asked, turning to face her as well.
“I’ll go wherever you want, as long as you’re there,” she said, giving him
a small smile.
Jaxor made a sound in the back of his throat and his voice came out
ragged when he said, “Sometimes, you still feel like a dream. Sometimes, it is
hard for me to tell if you are real. Sometimes, I think I will wake up in the
command center, only to realize that the trial never happened at all. Or worse,
that you are still in the hands of the Mevirax.”
He still felt the fear too then.
Understanding went through her and she stepped closer, winding her arms
around his neck, pressing a kiss to his lips. Was that why he hadn’t slept?
Because those thoughts still plagued him, even when she’d been lying in his
arms?
“I’m real,” she told him, clutching him close. “The council pardoned you
and we have an entire future ahead, Jaxor.”
He shook his head, dropping his forehead down to hers. “Even that does
not seem real.”
“Do we need a word?” she whispered. “A word that I can say, so that if
you ever feel this way, I’ll say it and you’ll know it’s real?”
“Tev, I think so,” he murmured, amusement coloring his tone, even
though she knew he was serious.
“How about…” she thought about it and then gave him a small grin only
he would understand, “kekevir?”
A surprised laugh burst from him and the sound filled her with good
memories. “Tev. Kekevir it is.”
“I’ll pinch you too when I say it,” she teased and then she leaned forward,
kissing him softly. When she pulled back, her heart was fluttering and she
whispered, “I love you.”
His brows drew down deep and she almost gasped at the raw emotion she
saw in his eyes.
“Real?” he asked, his voice ragged.
She smiled. “Kekevir.”
“Will you ever forgive me, rixella?” he rasped, bringing his hands up to
cup her cheeks. “For the lies, for the way I treated you when I first brought
you to my base, for the Mevirax? And for everything else in between?”
“I already have, Jaxor,” she said softly, truthfully.
He stilled.
“And will you forgive me?” she asked quietly.
“For what?” he rasped.
“For believing Tavar,” she said, her lips pressed into a solemn line. “For
doubting you, for thinking the worst.”
“Luxiva—”
“For not telling you about the baby. For making you think that…that I
was giving up on you, on us. And for almost completely messing up your
trial. There’s a lot I’m sorry for.”
“What are you talking about?” he asked softly. “You are the reason I got
pardoned in the first place. Do you not realize that?”
Erin inhaled a slow, ragged breath. “Can you forgive me?”
“Tev,” he rasped. “Tev, rixella. Of course I forgive you.”
She let out a shuddering, relieved sigh, another weight lifting off her
shoulders. Forgiveness was the only way they could move forward. Move on.
Together.
“Thank you,” she whispered. He tilted her face up and she gave him a
wobbly smile.
“I do not even know how to start making the past lunar cycle up to you,”
he confessed to her. “I think about it constantly.”
She tightened her arms around his shoulders. “Then how about we make a
deal?”
“Rebax?” he questioned, interest shining in his gaze.
 “No more trying to make it up to one another. I propose that we start
fresh. Everything wiped clean. All of it.”
Jaxor’s swallow was audible. “You…you would do that?”
“Absolutely,” she whispered. “Of course, we can remember all the good
bits still. Like getting drunk on Otalian Brew during that storm—”
“You got drunk, rixella,” he murmured, his lips quirking.
“Or kissing you for the first time,” she continued, making him growl. “Or
spending that night in the hot springs. Or those nights we spent around the
fire just talking. You taking me to see the Lopitax Sea…and that temple
where all the orgies took place.”
He chuckled and Erin was glad to see that playful warmth in his eyes,
especially when he murmured, “We still need to act out that sacrifice scene at
the altar.”
Erin grinned even when she grew aroused at the memory. “Yes, you’re
right. So we can remember all of those good things, but anything having to
do with the Mevirax, or the Jetutians, or the trial…let’s just forget those. All
right?”
Jaxor dropped his forehead down to hers again and he rasped, “What did I
do to deserve you, rixella?”
Erin smiled, her belly fluttering. “I was wondering the same thing. What
did I do to deserve such a handsome, strong, protective, caring mate? One
who makes the whole world disappear when he kisses me? One who loves
me?”
His voice was ragged when he asked, “Real?”
They still had so much to figure out together. Like where they’d settle
down, when they’d perform their mating ceremony, how they would prepare
for the child, what their lives would look like after that moment.
But Erin wasn’t afraid. How could she be when she had Jaxor by her
side? How could she be when she had faith that everything would fall into
place, just as it was meant to?
Erin grinned and then she kissed him. Against his lips, she whispered,
“Kekevir.”
When she pinched him for good measure, his soft laugh made that night
shine even brighter.
 CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

O ne week later…

ERIN HAD NEVER KNOWN the docking bay existed, but it was accessible
only by hovercraft and was hidden within the mountain to the right of the
command center.
There was a small group gathered to see Bianca off. The Luxirian
spaceship was fueled by one of the most powerful Luxirian crystals in
existence and there was an armed escort, not to mention at least twenty
warriors that would be accompanying her on her journey. They were already
onboard, but Bianca was lingering as they said their goodbyes.
The males hung back. Jaxor, Vaxa’an, Lihvan, Rixavox, Vikan, Kirov,
and Cruxan were all on the outskirts of the docking bay, giving the women
time to say goodbye.
Bianca’s eyes were glimmering in the bright morning sun. She was
nervous, but excited, sad but joyful. This was the moment she’d been waiting
for all these long months: to return home.
“This is harder than I thought it’d be,” she confessed to the seven women,
standing in a small, semi-circle around her. They were lingering at the base of
the ramp leading up to the massive spaceship.
Erin avoided looking towards the north of the docking bay since she saw
the Jetutian spaceship on her periphery. It was under command of the
Luxirians now and, thankfully, it wouldn’t be the vessel Bianca was returning
home on. The Luxirian spaceship was smaller and its design was sleeker.
Kate pressed a kiss to Bianca’s cheeks, whispering something in her ear.
All the women did the same in fact, but over the course of the last week—
after Jaxor’s trial had concluded, after Vaxa’an had finally been able to make
a formal announcement to the people of Luxiria about a potential treatment,
about the Mevirax, about Jaxor’an, and after the nerves and fear surrounding
the trial had begun to die down—they had all been saying goodbye in their
own way. The last week had been a long goodbye.
But Bianca was right. It was harder than Erin thought it’d be. It was
emotionally difficult for them all. Because Bianca was returning to Earth…
and they wouldn’t be. They’d chosen not to. They’d chosen a future on
Luxiria with the males they loved instead.
All of them were mourning their old lives as they said goodbye. Their
families, their friends, their homes. It was bittersweet, all while knowing their
fated mates were behind them, just a few steps away.
Erin was the last to step forward and Bianca looked at her with shining
eyes. Erin gave her a wobbly smile and wrapped her in a tight hug.
“Take care all right?” she whispered. “I’ll miss you. We all will.”
She could feel Bianca’s heart pounding in her chest as she sniffled.
They’d all become like sisters. Saying goodbye to her was like losing a
family member all over again. But Erin knew that this was what Bianca
wanted, above all else.
Erin was loathe to pull away. Eventually they had to. Bianca kissed her
cheek and said, “You’ll make a great mother, Erin.”
Erin’s tears finally spilled over at that small, meaningful comment.
“Thank you,” she whispered, squeezing her friend’s hand before stepping
away.
To them all, Bianca said, “It might take time to go see all your families
once I get back, but I promise that I will.”
Bianca had offered to do it. To travel to all of their homes, to speak with
their families about what happened.
It wouldn’t be easy.
Erin thought about how her family would react if a total stranger came to
their door and claimed that Erin wasn’t missing, but instead had been
abducted by aliens, had been rescued by another race of aliens, and had
chosen to live with her fated mate on his home planet of Luxiria.
It was far-fetched and frankly crazy but it was all true. All of them had
written extensive letters to family and friends, which would hopefully make
Bianca’s task a little easier.
But Erin hoped that the truth would bring their families peace and
acceptance about what had happened, so they wouldn’t always wonder, so
they knew that they were safe and happy and loved, though far, far away.
“You’re sure you don’t want to stay?” Lainey joked, trying to lighten the
mood, though her voice was scratchy and her eyes were glassy as she said it.
“Last chance.”
Bianca laughed. She looked around the semi-circle at all of them, her
affection apparent in her eyes.
“I have a fated mate of my own back on Earth,” she told them. Her
husband, Daniel, who she loved dearly. “And a beautiful daughter that I can’t
wait to see.”
Cecelia sniffed.
“They are my home,” Bianca said softly. “And your home…well, they
are standing right behind you. My place isn’t here, but yours is.”
Erin looked over her shoulder at Jaxor, who was standing next to
Vaxa’an. Those piercing blue eyes were on her. His concern, his love was
right there. While Luxirians weren’t quick to show their emotion, Erin read
Jaxor’s like he wore his heart on his sleeve. But he only wore it on his sleeve
for her.
Bianca began walking up the ramp. At the top she turned around. Erin
thought she looked beautiful in her flowing lilac dress. Her cheeks were
flushed with excitement.
“I love you all,” Bianca called down.
“Bye, Bianca,” Erin whispered, lifting her hand in a flutter of a wave.
Bianca gave them all one last, lingering smile and then she rounded the
corner of the spaceship. The ramp began to retract silently.
The women looked at one another. They were all red faces and shining
eyes. It was bittersweet indeed, but Erin realized that, though they might have
lost Bianca, they still had each other. And the things they’d experienced
together, shared together, would bind them to one another forever.
Erin blew out a small breath and she heard the spaceship began to power
on, the sound like a roar in comparison with the noise of the hovercrafts.
The women retreated back towards their mates, whom led them outside as
the docking bay ceiling began to peel back, revealing a bright morning sky.
Jaxor took her hand and she squeezed it.
 And all of them watched in silence as the spaceship launched from the
docking bay. Erin had to shield her face from the gusts of wind it created in
its wake, pressing her face into Jaxor’s chest, as the whole mountain seemed
to rumble and vibrate beneath them.
A moment later the winds stopped. The mountain stilled. There was only
quietness and the beating of Jaxor’s heart beneath her cheek.
When Erin looked above the docking bay, the spaceship was gone. All
she saw was a brief twinkling in the sky before a passing cloud erased it from
view.
Jaxor cupped the back of her neck, lowering his forehead down to hers.
Erin closed her eyes, a swell of emotion pushing at her chest. Her mate
knew what that moment had meant. Because it wasn’t only saying goodbye to
Bianca. It was a final goodbye to her old life.
Without saying anything at all, he comforted her in a perfect way.
Erin didn’t know how long they stood there, but when they pulled away
she realized that, though it may be a goodbye, she had a fated mate who
loved her, a baby on the way, friends she loved like family, and endless
possibilities for their future.
That day was a day for celebration, not tears.
When she turned, all of the women and their mates remained on the
terrace of the docking bay where their hovercrafts were parked. They all
looked around at one another, understanding passing between them.
Erin smiled. She looked back at the sky, a clear beautiful sky. She
thought of Bianca, already starting the long journey back home, and thought
about how happy she was for her.
“Let’s go back to the Golden City,” Erin said to her mate. “You promised
you’d show me the marketplace today.”
“Tev, I did,” Jaxor murmured, his gaze softened.
She pressed a kiss to his lips.
“I’ll drive,” she said.
Then she pulled him towards the hovercraft.
 EPILOGUE

T wo weeks later…

STEPPING foot inside Jaxor’s base was surreal.

It had been over a month since they’d been there, but they’d decided to
make the pit stop, though it was out of their way on their journey.
They parked their hovercraft in the same place—in the tunnel next to the
kekevir, which immediately roused when they heard the noise. The gate was,
surprisingly, still in place, shut tight.
They both walked in silence down the tunnel and Erin squeezed Jaxor’s
hand, looking up at him.
When he met her eyes, she asked, “Are you okay?”
He’d become quieter and quieter as the Pass of the Kokillix drew closer.
“The last time I was here,” he said, “it was one of the worst moments of
my lifespan. Realizing that you had been taken. This place had once been my
sanctuary. It had once brought me peace. But returning…it only makes me
remember that span.”
Erin had feared as much and she bit her lip, wanting to comfort him, but
knowing that he needed to do this.
There was something of his mother’s that he’d left behind. A old jewelry
box, he’d told her. He’d had it packed but had left it behind in his rush to
reach the Golden City, to try and save her.
She saw the travel sack at the entrance of the tunnel and watched as Jaxor
knelt beside it, rummaging. Then he nodded. He held up a small, beautiful
box, though the lid was damaged and bent. He inspected it and then carefully
placed it inside, padding it with spare furs.
Then he stood, taking in the sight of his base. Surprisingly nothing had
changed. There hadn’t been a huge storm. It wasn’t flooded. Nothing was in
disarray. In fact, in some ways, it remained completely unchanged. She still
heard the kekevirs’ hisses. The waterfall still trickled. There was a quiet,
hushed peace to the little place that Jaxor had made his home.
Only upon closer inspection did she see the little cracks. The door to their
sleeping cave was off its hinges from when the Mevirax male had chased
after her. Their crops were withered and dead. Another of the shield links
above had lost power completely, so only half of his base was hidden.
She’d hated Jaxor in this place. She’d fallen in love with Jaxor in this
place. They’d conceived their child in this place. It was strange to see it with
new eyes, especially with her rounding belly and the knowledge of
everything that had come to pass since the last time she’d been there.
But Jaxor needed to say goodbye to the place that had been his home for
five years. Especially since they were journeying to their new home, to begin
their life as a mated pair. It would be in the outpost of Jiralla that they would
raise their child. It was there they would begin again, begin anew.
Vaxa’an had offered Jaxor his old title, his old life. After word spread that
Jaxor had killed Po’grak and was partially responsible for obtaining the
treatment that would help restore Luxirian females’ fertility, he’d become a
hero.
Everywhere they went in the Golden City, he was greeted with thanks and
awe and support, which had only served to make him uncomfortable—
considering he didn’t see himself as a hero at all. He’d confided in her that it
made him feel like a fraud. Her mate wasn’t used to the attention and she
knew that a part of him longed for the quieter life he’d once led in the Pass of
the Kokillix.
So, when Vaxa’an had offered him the position of Ambassador of Jiralla
—which had always been his to claim since his birth—he’d been tempted.
Jaxor had always been meant to oversee the outpost. While he hadn’t been
the firstborn son of Kirax’an, Jaxor’an was always meant to rule in his own
way.
Jiralla was a smaller outpost to the east, the last remaining and
sometimes forgotten outpost of Luxiria. From what Jaxor had told her, it was
situated deep within the Forest of Olara and protected by ancient stones of
the Fates. Its main purpose was to import fire fuel to the Golden City and the
remaining outposts because of its proximity to ancient bogs.
The only thing that kept them in the Golden City had been Vaxa’an and
Kate. Jaxor was loathe to leave his brother considering the two had just
reconnected, but since the other women had returned to their respective
outposts with their Ambassador mates—Beks and Lihvan to Kroratax,
Cecelia and Rixavox to Velraxa, Taylor and Vikan to Lopixa, Lainey and
Kirov to Troxva, and Crystal and Cruxan to Otala—Erin knew it was only a
matter of time before they moved forward with their own lives too.
Erin wrapped her arms around Jaxor from behind, pressing her forehead
into his back as he looked around the base.
“I am ready to go,” Jaxor said quietly after another moment.
Erin nodded and threaded her hand with his again. “Do you need to grab
anything else?”
“Nix,” he said, blowing out a small breath. “It is time to leave this life
behind.” He looked down at her, brushing his fingers across her cheek.
“Especially when I am eager to start this next one with you. With our
offspring.”
Erin smiled, her stomach fluttering. He still made butterflies burst in her
belly. Every single day.
“Okay,” she said softly and, with one last look at Jaxor’s base, they
turned back towards the tunnel. When they reached the kekevir gate, Jaxor lit
the sconces on the wall, casting light into the tunnel…and then she watched
as he unlocked the gate, swinging the door open.
“It is their facev,” Jaxor told her, climbing onto the hovercraft after her,
carefully tucking the travel sack with his mother’s heirloom with the rest of
their baggage. “Once the fires go out, they can reclaim it.”
Erin nodded. Jaxor turned on the hovercraft engine and they rose
vertically until they emerged from the overhead entrance. It was a clear, crisp
day, no fog bank overhead for once. Erin could even see the glimmering
Lopitax Sea from that distance.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she murmured, sighing.
Jaxor leveled a grin down at her and she was pleased to see that his spirits
were lifted again. It was as if a weight was released from him and her heart
skipped a beat just looking at her handsome mate. He’d make a wonderful
father. He’d make a strong Ambassador. Because she already knew that he
was the most perfect mate and life partner that she could ever have hoped for.
Erin couldn’t help but let her eyes stray east from that view. Towards
Jiralla…but also towards the Caves of the Pevrallix.
It had been decided by the Council of Virzalla, by Vaxa’an, and the
Ambassadors that any Mevirax who wished to pledge themselves to the rule
of the Golden City would not be exiled. Those who remained loyal to Tavar,
however, would be.
Over fifty Mevirax warriors chose exile. They’d been loaded onto a
Luxirian spaceship and sent off to a neutral colony, to begin a new life in the
vast universe, wherever that might be. Their names and information had been
logged into the Uranian Federation’s vast database and they would be
branded with their exile wherever they went…but at least they chose life.
The Mevirax that remained had more options. They could settle in the
Golden City—though that had its own consequences, since some in the
Golden City were angry and mistrustful about their presence. They could also
settle among the outposts, as well. In fact, a few Mevirax had chosen to settle
in Jiralla.
Most, however, had returned to the Caves of the Pevrallix, which was
now officially under control of the Golden City. There was even talk that it
would be made an outpost with time, considering that it was close to a sacred
place of the Fates and that it was rich in Luxirian crystals. For now, the
responsibility of overseeing the Caves of the Pevrallix fell to the
Ambassadors, who would take turns visiting. The Mevirax might not like the
intrusion, but they’d been able to return to their home. Most of them had been
born in those caves.
There was still so much that had to be determined and decided about the
Mevirax, but for now, it was a temporary solution. Luxiria was ever-
changing, just like all planets and civilizations. That much was obvious to
Erin.
Still, as she looked east, towards the Caves of the Pevrallix, she
remembered back to a few days ago. She’d been in the marketplace with
Jaxor in the Golden City and they’d been purchasing some material for
clothing to take to Jiralla.
And that was when Erin had seen her.
Kossira.
She’d been one of the few that chose to stay in the Golden City. A
warrior guard had been assigned to her, watching over her since many did not
know how to react to her presence. A pregnant Luxirian female.
They’d connected eyes across the plaza. Erin remembered Kossira’s
longing when she’d told her about the Golden City, in the darkness of the
dungeons. And despite the stares and looks that the Mevirax female was
receiving, her expression had been curious and riveted as she’d gazed around
the marketplace, at the bustle of the people. There was a hunger and a
longing in her eyes even then.
But right then, Kossira had looked at Erin and Erin had looked at Kossira.
She was reminded that her mate, Tavar, had been killed in the battle with the
Jetutians and she wondered if she still mourned for him.
Kossira inclined her head at Erin, her hand going to her round belly. It
was an acknowledgement. A greeting. A simple recognition.
Erin had nodded back and then Kossira had slipped into the crowd, her
guard trailing her, his hand placed protectively on her back, and then she’d
disappeared from view.
Jaxor hadn’t seen Kossira. He’d been busy purchasing silk for her new
dress, but he saw something in her eyes that made him worry.
“What is it?” he’d asked, brushing his hands across her cheek as the stall
vendor had looked on.
“I’ll tell you later,” she’d promised, giving him a smile. They didn’t keep
secrets from one another anymore. She wasn’t sure how to feel seeing
Kossira, because she brought up memories Erin would rather forget. But she
couldn’t deny that a part of her was relieved to see her well, happy even.
Because she’d always been in the back of Erin’s mind.
And after it was announced that Lacarra, the second Mevirax to receive
the treatment from the Jetutians, was pregnant, that she and her mate would
also be remaining in the Golden City, there was a surge of breathless hope
that seemed to overtake Luxiria.
News of the cure that Privanax was working tirelessly to replicate was all
that people talked about. He was trying to make a treatment that wouldn’t
cause pain and suffering when administered to females, but Erin knew that
many would take that sacrifice willingly, if only they could have children of
their own once more.
So, yes, Luxiria was ever-changing. Its history was being written, right
before their very eyes.
Jaxor brought her back to the present, however, dragging her gaze away
from the east. They were still hovering over Jaxor’s old base.
 He brought her in front of him, pressing her gently into the console of the
hovercraft, his chest to her back.
Pressing a kiss to the shell of her ear, he asked, “How about we go grab
some obiraxi from the coast while we are here?”
Erin looked back at him, a slow grin appearing. His blue eyes were
knowing. “We have time?”
“We will make time,” he said, his finger dragging across the silver pad,
the hovercraft moving towards the shimmering sea in the distance. “I know
how much my luxiva loves obiraxi.”
“You spoil me,” she teased, leaning back in his arms. “Let’s take back a
whole bag, okay?”
His soft, husky laugh made her shiver. “Whatever you desire, rixella.”
His hand settled on the gentle swell of her belly. She felt his heartbeat
thud against her back and she smiled as the Lopitax Sea came further into
view the farther they went.
When she could smell the salt of the sea, she breathed it in deep.
Once, she’d been disappointed that the Fates had chosen Jaxor as her
mate. Once, she’d thought him a half-wild brute in a loincloth, who was cold
and unfeeling and detested the very sight of her.
Now?
She wondered how it was possible she’d ever felt that way.
Now?
All she saw was the Jaxor she’d fallen deeply, deeply in love with.
He loved her for all her flaws and she loved him for all his.
She wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Is this real?” she whispered, tilting back her face to look into his eyes,
smiling. “Are you real?”
He grinned down at her.
“Kekevir.”
It was the word that they said to each other when things felt like a dream,
to remind them that this was their reality. That this wonderful happiness was
actually real.
They said it to one another almost every day.
“Kekevir, rixella,” he murmured again, unable to resist giving her a small
kiss.
Erin still pinched herself, just to be certain.
 AFTERWORD

It’s bittersweet finishing the Warriors of Luxiria series. My debut into

Science Fiction Romance was with The Alien’s Prize, which was Book 1 of
this series, back in 2017. That was three years ago. Three years of constantly
thinking about this series and this world and these characters that I’ve grown
to truly, truly love.
To my readers, thank you so much for sticking with me! Your messages,
support, and enthusiasm for my books keep me writing. I love what I do—
I’ve dreamed of being an author since I was young—and that dream has only
been possible because of you, so thank you, thank you, thank you!
While I’m sad to say goodbye to this series and these characters, I’m
incredibly excited to continue on with my Horde Kings of Dakkar and The
Krave of Everton series...and the many more books that will come. <3
Love,
Zoey
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WANT MORE SEXY, ALPHA ALIENS FROM ZOEY DRAVEN?

Horde Kings of Dakkar:

Captive of the Horde King
Claimed by the Horde King

Warriors of Luxiria:
The Alien’s Prize
The Alien’s Mate
The Alien’s Lover
The Alien’s Touch
The Alien’s Dream
The Alien’s Obsession
The Alien’s Seduction
The Alien’s Claim

Warrior of Rozun:
Wicked Captor
Wicked Mate

The Krave of Everton:

Kraving Khiva
Prince of Firestones
 Did you like T HE A LIEN ’ S C LAIM?

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Love, Zoey
 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Zoey Draven loves reading about sexy, insatiable, alpha aliens and loves to write about them even
more. She is the author of the Warriors of Luxiria, Horde Kings of Dakkar, Warrior of Rozun, and The
Krave of Everton series.

Email: zoeydraven@gmail.com
Website: www.zoeydraven.com