by Zoey Draven
“I’m glad to meet you,” she said softly, once they pulled away.
“As am I, Cara,” Rixavox returned, straightening to his full height. Both brothers had similar builds, similar heights. Cara was surprised they weren’t considered twins. “My luxiva, Sessela, awaits your arrival once we return to the Golden City. She is human, like you.”
It was difficult for Cara to wrap her mind around the fact that other human women resided on Luxiria, that they were also mated to Luxirian warriors. The last time Cara had spoken to a human had been to the woman Vaxa’an had taken from the Pit. It would be strange to speak with someone of her own species, but welcome.
And if there was one thing she’d learned since her capture from Earth, it was that she could handle basically anything that came next. She’d been caged, captured, abused, saved, and loved. She could handle anything, especially with Devix at her side.
Vaxa’an stepped forward then. He was bare-chested, the golden bands she remembered cutting into his biceps, similar piercings through his nipples to indicate he’d completed warrior training, or so Devix had told her. All the warriors were similarly dressed—or rather, undressed. All wore similar pants of a leather material that encased their thick, muscled thighs.
“Devix,” Vaxa’an greeted.
“Prime Leader,” Devix responded, inclining his head in a bow. Cara marveled at his restraint, at the level of respect he showed a male that had exiled him. Cara didn’t think she would be as…agreeable.
“Your presence is required at the command center,” Vaxa’an started, “while Privanax examines your female.”
Cara’s heart jolted. “I stay with him, Prime Leader. Remember our deal?”
“Tev, female, but you will be in the same building. We have matters to discuss with your mate and you agreed to be seen by Privanax immediately to ensure the offspring is safe and healthy. It is only for a short time and then you will both be taken to Ambassador Lihvan’s residence to rest.”
“Lihvan is in Koratax,” Rixavox murmured to Devix. “He told me that you may stay at his dwelling with your female. He will not return to the Golden City until the lunar celebration.”
“He agreed to this?” Devix questioned, brow furrowing.
Rixavox said, “He never believed Pidixa’s claims. He knows who you are.”
Devix inclined his head and Cara watched the way the brothers’ gaze connected and held. They had much to talk about, Cara knew. A lot to say to one another. And she was glad that Devix would finally be able to get everything he’d bottled up over the years off his chest.
Devix’s hand spanned her lower back and he jerked his head in a nod at Vaxa’an. “Let us depart for the command center then.”
Vaxa’an turned and spoke in Luxirian to the five armed guard behind him. Then he motioned for Devix and Cara to follow him.
Once they cleared the docking bay doors, Cara got her first, clear, unhindered view of Luxiria.
Two suns shone down, already high in the sky. And Cara finally processed how hot it was on the surface. No wonder the Luxirians present were all shirtless.
Her second realization was that they were on the cliff of a mountain, the docking bay for the spaceships perched high above the land, offering her a vast view of the planet.
And it was beautiful, in its own strange, alien way.
The surface was covered in what looked like black sand, but it was hard to tell since they were so high up. And for as far as she could see in the distance, the sand created rolling waves over the ground, softly lapping at the base of jagged, dark, majestic mountain ranges, like black, ocean waves crashing on cliffs.
And on one such mountain, to her immediate right, was a city. A terraced city that was actually carved out of the face of the mountain. Even from that much of a distance, Cara could perceive buildings, some domed, some towering high, some narrow and stout, winding along the terraced sections.
And to the right of the city, at the very base of the next mountain over was another set of buildings, also carved into the mountain.
Cara could only stare, trying to commit everything to memory, as sweat beaded across her forehead. It was beautiful, more majestic and dramatic than their peaceful colony of Rozun. But it was also overwhelming, due to their situation and the uncertainty they faced.
Cara felt Devix brush her hair at her back and she looked over at him, at the Luxirian warriors behind him, at Vaxa’an and Rixavox and realized they were all letting her get her fill of the planet’s landscape.
“What do you think?” Devix asked her quietly, but she knew the others could hear.
“It’s not as beautiful and lush as Rozun and this heat is killer,” she teased softly, “but I can see the appeal.”
Devix huffed out a surprised laugh and Cara was glad to hear it. He’d been so tense since they left their home that it was nice to see him somewhat relaxed.
“I had forgotten the heat,” he admitted. “I am not used to it anymore.”
“Rozun?” Rixavox questioned suddenly, stepping up beside his brother. “That is where you have lived since…Petrika?”
Devix’s smile left his face at the mention of that filthy colony he used to live on, the colony where he’d first encountered Cara.
“Tev, Rozun is our home,” Devix answered.
“I had searched so long for you,” Rixavox admitted softly. “That was one place I had not looked when I decided to stop.”
Devix clasped his brother’s forearm, his voice suddenly gruff as he said, “We have much to speak of, brother. And I will tell you everything you wish to know.”
Rixavox stared at Devix and jerked his head in a nod. With a look at Cara, he motioned them over to what looked like a transport craft back on Rozun, but larger and circular.
They climbed inside. Cara looked around in confusion, for some sort of road that would lead them off the mountain. But the moment that Devix, Rixavox, and Vaxa’an stepped onto the transport craft, leaving behind the five armed guards to their own vehicle, Cara realized they wouldn’t need a road.
Because when Vaxa’an stepped up to the control panel, the transport craft started humming…and then it started hovering off the ground.
With a gasp of delight and surprise, Cara’s hand curled around the edge of the hovercraft as they shot off the mountain, flying in mid-air with a hot breeze brushing her cheeks.
The hovercraft was fast yet stable. And in seemingly no time at all, Vaxa’an slowly brought them down to the set of buildings she’d seen next to the mountain city. As they neared the ground, Cara peered over the edge and saw that the black sand was indeed black sand, so finely ground and glinting under the hot twin suns.
The hovercraft landed next to the base of the mountain and the sand billowed out from underneath them, floating in the air for a brief moment before settling.
“The command center,” Devix told her softly when she regarded the set of doors carved into the mountain. “Privanax’s labs are also here.”
“Labs?” she questioned.
“He is a researcher as well as a healer,” he told her. “The best on Luxiria.”
The nerves that had been briefly distracted by the newness of Luxiria slowly began their return and Cara nibbled on her lip. She didn’t like that they would be separated so soon into their arrival.
Quietly, she whispered, “You’re sure this isn’t some trick, right? To get you away from me?”
“Nix, luxiva,” he said. “I trust my brother with my life. I have never doubted him and he would never betray me this way. And despite what you think, Vaxa’an is an honorable male. I believe his word.”
Cara blew out a breath as Rixavox and Vaxa’an disembarked from the hovercraft and went to stand near the command center doors.
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll trust them. Just be careful.”
He gave her a small smile but a long kiss, trying to ease her nerves, she knew.
Then, under the watchful and curious gazes of his brother and his
Prime Leader, Devix helped her down from the hovercraft and they approached the command center doors.
Cara took one last deep breath. And together, they stepped through.
EIGHT
“THE OFFSPRING IS well,” Privanax told her after spending most of the time with her in silence. Despite a couple questions the older healer had asked her about the estimated time of conception—much to her embarrassment—he’d been a male of very, very few words. And she’d once thought that Devix was quiet when she’d first met him. Privanax had nothing on him. “It grows quickly within your womb.”
The healer was wearing white robes, his horns so long that they completely curved around his skull and touched the base of his ears, like a ram. His eyes were a light blue and his skin looked dry, probably due to the intense heat on the planet.
He wasn’t quiet in a standoffish way, Cara knew. He was quiet because he was focused. He’d barely said anything when Vaxa’an, Rixavox, and Devix dropped her off in his ‘labs,’ didn’t say anything about an unknown human female in his presence. He took it all in stride, told her to hold still as he drew her blood, and then began to run his tests.
Cara liked him. He seemed like a no-bullshit type of male, exactly like the men she’d grown up around, exactly like her father.
“Yeah?” she murmured, trying to look past him at the screens he had set up in the otherwise sterile room. As if she could read Luxirian or interpret what the strange symbols on the screen even meant. “How long will it be until I give birth?”
“The lavrix’an gave birth after three and a half lunar cycles,” he replied.
“Three months,” she said slowly. “Three and a half months, I mean. That seems…crazy.”
“Tev, the other human females said much the same,” he told her.
“Others?”
“There are two other human females gestating offspring right now. The mates of two Ambassadors, one being your mate’s blood brother, Ambassador Rixavox.”
“Right,” Cara said slowly. She’d known Rixavox’s mate was pregnant, but who was the other woman? “So the pregnancy will follow how Luxirian females’ cycles were as opposed to humans? Devix told me females were only pregnant for about three months.”
“Less than three lunar cycles, typically,” he replied. “But tev. Your gestation will be rapid compared to normal human pregnancies. I will need to monitor you closely over the gestation.”
“We aren’t staying here for the whole pregnancy,” Cara told him, furrowing her brow. “We just wanted to get another opinion, to make sure that the child was safe.”
Privanax frowned. “I do not advise that you leave, female. Kat—our lavrix’an—had trouble after a full lunar cycle of gestation. She bled. I feared the offspring was lost, but the Fates were kind. The Fates might not be as kind for you, considering your mate’s past actions.”
Cara stilled and all liking for the healer flew out the window.
“My mate’s past actions,” she repeated, her voice deathly still. This was exactly why she didn’t want to stay on Luxiria, because she knew that they would get this kind of ignorance from all sides.
“Tev.”
“And you believe it? That he was capable of rape?”
He turned his gaze on her, icy and steady. “It was decided at the tribunal that he had committed the unspeakable crime. I remember it. I was there.”
“Let me make this very, very clear,” she said softly. “He is my mate. I know him better than anyone else, probably even better than his own brother at this point. And he did not rape Arvalla.” Privanax’s eyes narrowed at the name. “Yes, I know her name. Devix told me all about her and her lying, piece of scum brother. Frankly, I wish that I see them while we’re here. Because I have a few choice words for them. And right now, I have a few choice words for you. I won’t say them, but don’t you ever accuse Devix of doing something that he was not capable of. Ever. He has been punished in ways you cannot even imagine. And the fact that he’s here, on this planet, with his people that betrayed him, and the fact that he’s not tearing everything to the ground just speaks of his character and his restraint.”
“Female—”
“So if these Fates are truly kind and all-seeing as you say,” she continued, “they already know he’s innocent. And they wouldn’t punish an innocent male, now would they?”
Privanax looked at her, his face unreadable. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she knew she had to get out of there. She needed to see her mate, needed to feel his touch to calm her down.
They’d only been on the planet for a couple hours, at most, if she had to guess. But already, she was longing for Rozun. Her home. Their home.
“Are we done here, healer?” she asked, her voice like steel.
“Unfortunately, female, we are not,” he answered. “The Prime Leader gave me instructions that you are to wait with me until he has met with your mate. So, it seems you will have to endure my company for longer.”
“Terrific,” she answered.
* * *
“And how did you find your luxiva?” Vaxa’an questioned, his voice echoing in the small, dark quarters of the council room.
It was just Vaxa’an, Rixavox, and Devix inside, something he was grateful for once the Prime Leader began to interrogate him about his actions the past eight rotations.
Already, he’d told them about his time on Petrika, though Rixavox had known he’d been there. Devix realized that Rixavox had searched for him in secret after his exile, since Vaxa’an didn’t seem to know that he’d been at that vile colony.
Already, he’d told them of Sarkon’s offer of employment, that he’d been working as a mercenary across the Quadrants for six rotations, doing whatever Sarkon requested.
And he’d told them of making a home on the colony of Rozun.
And finally, Vaxa’an reached the topic of his mate, his female.
“Much like you, Prime Leader,” Devix said, “I am not proud of the way I discovered her.”
Vaxa’an’s jaw ticked and Rixavox was watching Devix carefully across the steel table they were sitting at.
“How?”
“Sarkon had purchased her,” Devix said. “He paid for a Baquarian to win a human female from the Pit. The Baquarian was victorious and took the only human female left…my Cara.”
“When was this?” Vaxa’an questioned, his gaze intent.
“Over two lunar cycles now,” Devix returned.
“Impossible. We led an attack before that. We saved the human females that were at the Pit, and could find no others.”
“Then you missed her.” Devix brow furrowed. “She had been there for a long time. Sarkon heard about the raid, but still sent the Baquarian to find a human female. He had the first fight and she was the last human, or so he told Sarkon in a Com connection later.”
Vaxa’an exchanged a look with Rixavox, but then nodded his head at Devix to continue.
“Sarkon sent me to retrieve her from the Baquarian. On Petrika,” he said, running a hand over his horn. “Her face was covered when I first saw her, but even then I felt my Instinct begin to waken. Yet, I tried to deny it.”
“Why?” Rixavox asked softly. “Why deny a gift from the Fates?”
“It was my last task for Sarkon. My debt to him for taking me from Petrika would be paid,” he said. “After I delivered her, I could live in peace on Rozun. It was the only thing I wanted. I did not believe I deserved a luxiva at that time.” His eyes slid to Vaxa’an. “Also, Sarkon told me that if I delivered her, he had proof that I had not raped Arvalla, so that I could clear my name.”
The Prime Leader’s face remained unreadable. “How did an Azatian come about proof? In a Luxirian matter?”
“He had scouts. Numerous scouts. He told me that a few found Pidixa when he was off planet, when he was drinking Brew, and that they…extracted a confession from him.”
Rixavox’s fist clenched on the table. “Do you think he was lying?”
“No
,” Devix replied. “Sarkon was manipulative, but he never betrayed his word. He valued loyalty and I believe he knew the reasons for my exile before he ever approached me. Getting a confession from Pidixa was the only way he could have my complete trust. He would not have lied.”
“You speak of him as if he has passed into the blackworld,” Vaxa’an commented.
“He has,” Devix replied. He turned his eyes to his Prime Leader and said, “I killed him.”
Rixavox grew still. “Why?”
“I spent six spans with my luxiva journeying to Azatia,” Devix said. “Only two made me realize that I would never be able to deliver her to Sarkon. I betrayed him and routed us to Rozun. It was my plan to find Cara passage to Earth if she wished, though I was hoping to convince her to remain with me,” Devix said, looking down at the table, tracing the swirls of metal with his eyes. “It was not long before Sarkon came for her. He knew I had taken her to Rozun. Human females are expensive,” he said, gritting his jaw. “He wanted what he paid for. And he wanted to punish me for my betrayal.”
“He threatened your luxiva?” Rixavox asked, his voice a growl.
“Tev,” Devix replied, looking up at his blood brother, who had his own eyes. “He brought two scouts with him. They had tracked us to our home from the capitol one span. Cara got upset when I told her I had found a trader who could take her to the Fourth Quadrant,” he murmured, remembering that night. “She left the dwelling to walk. I was about to go after her when I heard her scream.”
An unexpected growl tore from his throat at the memory. That sound would be permanently imbedded in his mind. He would never be able to forget the terror he felt, the icy grip of fear and panic tearing at his throat.
“I went after her. I found the two scouts first. I crushed their hearts in their chest,” he said. “My luxiva had ran from Sarkon, had managed to get away, but he caught her. I found them and he had a blade against her throat. Cara managed to break away, to stun him for a brief moment. And I killed him without a second hesitation,” he said.
