by Zoey Draven
“Cecelia said something about it, when she came back from wherever she’d gone,” Taylor said. “And I know for certain I’d dreamt of it that night, right before you came for me.”
“What did it feel like?” he asked her.
She’d been afraid that he’d ask. But she’d gone this long without fear stopping her, so she found herself saying, “It was like we were one.”
“Tev.”
“I…I could feel you, your thoughts, your emotions. I felt everything you felt for me and I knew that I broadcasted just as much to you. It was equally terrifying and yet, it felt natural. Normal.” She turned to look at him over her shoulder, licking her lips. “I…”
She trailed off, not knowing if she could voice the words.
“Tell me,” he murmured, his free hand coming to caress the space between her brows, where a line had just formed. Then he ran that hand down to her lips.
Her lips brushed his fingers as she said, “I loved you.”
Vikan’s pupils dilated, becoming so black that she could see her reflection in them.
His voice was gruff as he said, “And I am certain I loved you, luxiva.”
Taylor swallowed past the thick lump in her throat, breaking the contact and turning in his arms so that she looked out the window at the dark sea. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she blew out a steady breath, trying to get her heartbeat back under control.
It was quiet for a moment. And then she gasped, feeling the dream changing and shifting. Vikan pulled them from their bed, pulled them out of Lopixa entirely until they stood in front of a circle of giant, stone statues.
Land stretched for miles in all directions, the sea nowhere in sight. And Taylor knew that they were no longer in the western lands, nowhere close to them.
It was dark, the full Luxirian moon still hanging overhead, illuminating the faces of the statues that towered over the both of them like skyscrapers. They were arranged in a perfect circle and Taylor counted six. Three males and three females, their expressions, weathered and smoothed with time and exposure, were calm and serene.
“The Fates,” Vikan murmured down to her, tucking her close to his body. “We are in the plains of the Ravrax’tor. This is where the mating ceremony, the ravraxia, takes place.”
“I…I don’t understand,” Taylor confessed, looking from him to the statues.
“This is where the blood bond begins, luxiva,” he said. “When fated mates perform the ravraxia, they come here, or another sacred place, and ask for the Fates’ blessing.”
“Okay,” Taylor said softly, looking up at the statues. “And how do you know if you get their blessing?”
Vikan purred, making Taylor flush. “You will know, female. It is said that once the Seeing is complete, the mating call consumes the pairing, but it is intensified. A gift from them,” he told her, jerking his head towards the Fates.
“Intensified,” she whispered, thinking back to earlier that night, when she’d been overstimulated with need and desire so potent it had scared her. She couldn’t imagine this ‘mating call’ even more intense than that.
“Tev. The fated pair stay here, on the plains, until the mating call subsides, usually a few spans,” he said.
“It lasts for days?” she gasped, turning on him with wide eyes. “Surely you’re joking.”
“Nix, I am not,” he purred. “And on the first night of the ravraxia, a blood bond is performed. It is when the fated pair, during the first mating of the night, bond themselves to one another forever by drinking one another’s blood, at the same moment.”
“Not going to lie, that sounds a little…gross.”
Vikan smiled, his smile just wicked enough to make her heart skip a beat. “In the moment, I have heard that nothing compares to it, female.”
Her voice went breathless as she said, “So after the blood drinking, what happens next?”
“The fellixix is formed. The bond. That is what you felt in your visions, Taylor. That connection.”
Taylor closed her eyes for a brief moment, remembering the way it felt. That love, that happiness, that warmth. She’d never been so certain of anything in her life, than when she’d been with him, when she’d felt him through that connection only they shared.
Everything was becoming…complicated. So, so complicated.
When she opened her eyes, she stepped forward, out of the circle of his arms. It was hard to think when he was touching her.
She wanted to get a closer look at the Fates, but Vikan snatched her quickly before she stepped into the circle.
“Nix,” he murmured in her ear. “Unless you wish for the Seeing to begin, you cannot enter past the boundary.”
Taylor’s eyes found his own. “But this is only a dream.”
He shook his head. “It does not matter here. The Fates know this is real. They know we are dreamwalking. They will come if summoned.”
“What does this all mean?” she asked softly. “Why did you show me this?”
“You wished to know what a blood bond was, in its truest form,” he replied. “And I wanted to show you this because your visions show you a path of your future. This would be a part of that future, should you choose it.”
If you chose me, was what went unspoken. But Taylor heard it loud and clear.
“Vikan,” she whispered, turning in his arms so that she could face him. “You know I cannot stay here. You know I have to leave soon.”
He went silent. And Taylor’s heart felt so heavy that she wondered if she was making a terrible, terrible mistake.
But what mistake was she thinking of? Did she think it was a mistake to lead Vikan on like this, to pretend that they had a future together?
Or was her mistake thinking that she could leave? Was her mistake thinking that she’d be able to give him up when the time came?
“Our journey is not over yet, luxiva,” he finally said, drawing her close yet again.
Taylor’s eyes slid shut when he dropped his head so he could kiss her and tears burned in the back of her throat at the sweetness of it. She clutched his neck tighter, keeping him against her.
“We still have time,” he whispered against her lips.
SIXTEEN
“VIKAN, WAIT,” HIS female gasped, early the next morning. The suns had just risen and Vikan had slowly brought them out from their shared dream.
He was ready to bring his mate to another few orgasms before they started on their journey for the span, but she’d stopped him before he could get far.
“Tev?” he murmured. “What is it?
Taylor blew out a breath, her cheeks flushed. “I think we need to talk before we do anything more.”
His brow furrowed, but he slowly came up to a kneeling position in between her thighs before sliding up her body. Light was already filtering through the cave and he could see the tide beginning to come in. They would need to leave soon.
She took a deep breath and said, “I know that we said we’d…be more open to this. But it’s just…” Her eyes connected with his. “Whatever this is between us, I feel it getting more serious than I thought it would. It doesn’t feel like we’re just…pretending. Not anymore. Not after last night. And I don’t want to lead you on, Vikan. I don’t want you to think that I’ll stay just because we’re becoming intimate, when I don’t know what the hell is going on in my mind from one moment to the next, okay?”
Vikan ran a hand through her hair. “Are you convinced that you will leave for Earth once we reach the Golden City? Can you tell me right at this moment that you will, without hesitation?”
Taylor shook her head. “I…that’s what I mean! I don’t know. I can’t give you that answer because I simply don’t know what I would do.”
“Then why are we talking when I could be licking your cunt instead?” he purred, his hands straying downwards.
“Vikan! This is serious.”
He blew out a sharp breath. “Luxiva.”
“Yes?”
“All I
need to know is that you are not certain you would leave for Earth if you had the opportunity,” he said.
“Yes, but—”
“Nothing else matters right now,” he continued, leaning down to kiss her lips. “But I warn you, I will not play fair if it means my reward is keeping you here with me. I will fight dirty.”
“Vikan,” she whispered, looking up at him, her beautiful green eyes luminous but vulnerable. She bit her lip and then said, “Just a few days ago, you implied that you still weren’t over Nitav. Even if I did choose to stay here with you…I can’t compete with her. You’ve mourned her for over ten years now. Who could compete with that?”
He frowned. “Taylor.”
“We still have all these things that we would need to figure out,” she continued before he could say anything. “I can’t just forget that because of what happened last night.”
“I am not asking you to,” he rasped. “Female, Nitav was never my fated mate.”
“Yes, but you two chose each other. In some ways, that’s even more powerful. And I will admit that it frightens me. You didn’t choose me. Your Instinct did. How would I ever compare?”
Vikan touched his forehead to hers, his chest aching. “Taylor,” he said softly. “Please listen to what I have to say to you.”
“Vikan…”
“Nix. Listen,” he rasped. “I have never compared you two and I will never. I know this with certainty. Tev, it is true that Nitav and I chose one another. But you are also right in saying that it was a long time ago, another age, even. I was not who I am now. It would be impossible to be that male again.”
He let out a long sigh before he pulled back so that he could look into her eyes, so she would see the truth in his.
“I do not regret knowing her. I do not regret loving her,” he murmured. “I do, however, regret letting her death affect me as much as it did and for so long. I can see that now. You made me see that. I lived in darkness for ten rotations. And then when you came, when I saw you, suddenly everything had changed. I resented it, at first, as you sensed from the beginning. I fought it, or at least tried to. I wanted you, I desired you, but I would not allow myself to take that chance.”
“Until you knew that I would be leaving,” she finished for him softly. “That’s why you took me that night, out of the blue.”
“Tev,” he said, inclining his head. “When Vaxa’an told me he was sending the remaining females home, I panicked. I knew that I would forever regret it if I did not take that chance with you. You had me so out of my mind, so scrambled, that I did not even check to ensure we had enough fuel.”
Vikan was glad when he saw Taylor’s slight quirk of her lips. She’d been so somber before, so serious. He wanted to see her smile.
“If Nitav is who you worry about,” he murmured, “do not. She is dead. Gone from this world.”
He swallowed, feeling that knowledge settle deep inside his chest. Acceptance, he knew, after so long.
“It is you who has hold of me now.”
Taylor’s breath hitched.
“Vikan,” she whispered. “I…”
“If you say that there still is a chance you will stay, with me, even if it is just a sliver of a chance, I will take it. I will take anything I can get with you. Tev?”
She didn’t answer him in words. Instead, she gripped his face and brought him down so she could kiss him. He growled against her and into the wildness of their kiss, something he knew he was growing addicted to. Now he knew why his warrior brothers always kissed their human mates, as if they were helpless not to.
Taylor was panting, her eyes glazed, when they finally parted.
“Now,” he rasped, shifting his body over her. “Are we done with this talk? Because I am impatient for my female.”
And they spoke no more. The only sounds that filled their cave that morning, as the twin suns rose, were the sounds of his female’s moans and breathy gasps.
And as Vikan pleasured his mate, he felt determination, like nothing he’d ever felt before, fill his body. He felt hope, for the first time, strands of attainable possibility just within reach.
He’d been telling the truth to Taylor. If there was even a chance that she would stay with him, that they would spend their futures together, then he would do everything in his power to see that to fruition.
To keep her, Vikan would do anything.
* * *
If someone had told Taylor a week ago that she’d be having the time of her life, hiking through the wilderness, with Vikan, sweaty and dirty and smiling, she wouldn’t have believed it.
She would’ve laughed herself silly until she peed.
But there she was…having the time of her goddamn life with her alien lover who she may or may not be falling head over heels in love with.
Because real Vikan? He was very much the Vikan in her dreams. Or rather, her visions. It had just taken her a while to realize it. But it had been easy to make the connection once he began to open up to her.
It was already nearing nightfall and Vikan had begun to keep an eye out for shelter, once again. The days were shorter in the western lands, he’d told her. The nights were longer. But Taylor didn’t mind. Truthfully, she liked nighttime. Especially when she got to spend the longer hours with a sexy, wicked male with a talented tongue.
Wistfully, she wondered where the day had gone. It didn’t seem like all that long ago when they’d left their cave by the sea. But then she realized that just being with Vikan, listening to him tell her stories of his time as a warrior, listening to him tell her all about the different planets he’d visited or fought on, or him asking her questions about her life on Earth, listening to her as she tried to explain the different countries and languages and cultures…it made the time fly. She’d enjoyed herself. Immensely. She’d laughed more than she thought possible.
Not to mention the fact that every hour or so, Vikan would purr, push her up against the nearest rock or tree, and bury his tongue between her legs. Her sex was continuously wet for him, it seemed, and Taylor had never cum so much in the past 24 hours as she had with him.
As the suns sank lower and lower into the horizon, she couldn’t help but think that they were only one day closer to Lopixa. She had mixed feelings about it. On one hand, reaching Lopixa meant a warm, soft bed. It meant that they might finally have sex, something that Taylor had been thinking more and more about.
On the other, it meant she was one day closer to making one of the biggest decisions of her entire life. And she didn’t know if she was ready for it.
How long would she stay at Lopixa before she would need to return to the Golden City? She thought of Bianca, one of the human women she’d grown close to. Bianca had a husband and a young daughter back at home. Every moment that Taylor spent at Lopixa was another moment that Bianca would have to endure away from her family.
None of the other women truthfully had as pressing of a need to return. They were all in their mid-to-late twenties with full-time jobs that took up most of their time. None had boyfriends even and from what Taylor had gathered, many had very few family members, if any, that were still involved in their lives.
The more she thought about it, Taylor began to wonder why it had ever been so urgent for her to return, especially considering the fact that Vikan was now very much a part of her life.
And possibly a very big part of my future, she couldn’t help but think.
Every moment that she spent with him made it harder and harder to imagine leaving him behind. And if she did leave, what would happen? He’d given her a vague answer when she asked about fated mates separating. He’d told her, the night that he’d taken her from the Golden City, that if she returned to Earth, she would always feel him, their connection.
Except, if she was on Earth, she’d have no way to get back to him.
That thought made her chest physically ache. Just the thought of never seeing Vikan again, never feeling his touch again, or hearing his voice, or feeling that so
ft, warm thrill in her belly whenever he called her his luxiva…it hurt. It hurt more than she thought possible in the short amount of time she’d really come to know him.
Vikan led them down to the sea, once again. The western lands were riddled with caves etched into the numerous cliffs and they found a suitable one to make their shelter in for that night quickly.
As they collected their materials for a fire, Vikan touched her arm, murmuring, “You have been quiet, female. Is something wrong? Have I done something to upset you?”
Taylor frowned, “No, of course not. You’ve been…really, really good to me.”
“Then what it is?”
They’d been honest with each other so far, so Taylor wouldn’t lie to him. “I’m just thinking about what happens next. When we reach Lopixa, I mean.”
He made a sound in the back of his throat, jerking his head in a nod. Then he said, “I do not know what will happen, female.”
“I’m worried that I’ll be selfish if I want to stay with you for a few days. Especially when the other women are so anxious to return to Earth,” she confessed. Or, at least, Bianca was.
Vikan paused in his digging for some of the clay they used for fire fuel to regard her. He was in a crouched position, his thigh muscles straining against his pants. His gray eyes were light, but his expression was serious.
“You may not have to make that decision, luxiva,” Vikan told her.
“What do you mean?”
He inhaled a sharp breath. “Vaxa’an knows I took you, if not that very night, then certainly the next morning. I am certain he knows that you were not willing, either.”
Taylor frowned. “Okay. But what does that matter?”
“He knows I would have taken you to Lopixa. He would wait a little while before departing from the Golden City, but it is possible that he will already be there when we arrive.”
“To take me back?”
“Tev,” he said, jerking his head in a nod. But something in his tone made her stomach churn.
“And what about you?”
