Wicked Mate

by Zoey Draven

  “It’s worth it to me,” she said quietly, looking straight into his eyes. “I hate the way Privanax judged you. I hate that others will do the same. Why doesn’t it bother you?”

  “It bothers me. Of course it does,” he said. “But I have lived for the past eight rotations as an exile. I have come to terms with it.” His grip around her tightened. “Besides, how can I be that angry when I have you now? Because if I hadn’t been exiled, I never would have found you.”

  “Devix…” she whispered.

  “I would not change anything,” he confessed, stealing her breath. “Let them think what they will. I am the one that has been blessed with a mate like you.”

  “Charmer,” she grumbled.

  “I speak the truth, female.” He ran a hand over his horn, but then said, “What Privanax said, it enrages me more that he implied our child would not survive the gestation period.”

  “He said the baby is fine, Dev,” Cara said, trying to reassure him. “There’s no reason why I couldn’t deliver a healthy baby, just as Vaxa’an’s mate has.”

  “There is one reason,” Devix said after a brief pause. “It is what I need to discuss with you.”

  Cara straightened in his arms at the seriousness in his voice. “What is it?”

  “Sessela mentioned a blood bond earlier. Do you remember?”

  “Yes,” Cara said slowly. “I meant to ask her about it. She said it helped her adapt to the heat better?”

  “A blood bond happens during the ravraxia. The mating ceremony. It is something that is performed only between mates.”

  “Okay,” she said slowly, her tone encouraging him to continue.

  “During the ceremony, the pair lets the Fates inside them, called the Seeing. It allows the Fates to pass their judgment and they decide whether to bless the union or not. If they bless it, then the ravraxia continues.”

  “Continues in what way?”

  “It is a mating ceremony. I have heard that it becomes very intense if the Fates bless a union…that for a few spans, the pair does nothing else but mate, rest, and eat.”

  Cara’s breath hitched and she moved her legs around him. “How is that any different than what we already do?”

  Devix huffed out a surprised laugh and he touched his forehead to hers. “During the mating ceremony, you are compelled to mate. It is like the Instinct, like a force inside you that is not completely you. And during the first mating, a blood bond is performed.”

  “And what is that?”

  “It is when you take my blood into your body. And when I take yours into mine,” he murmured, his voice becoming deeper, rougher. “I have heard it is…unparalleled.”

  Cara’s voice sounded a little breathless when she said, “That’s…that’s…interesting.”

  Devix purred as he murmured, “Through the blood bond, it creates a further connection between mates. A link in the mind.” Then he paused, pulling back to look in her eyes. “But Vaxa’an believes that my blood would help strengthen your body, that it would help you grow our child more easily. And yes, that it would help you adapt to the heat here.”

  “You want to do the ravraxia with me?” she asked quietly.

  “I have always wanted to perform it with you, luxiva,” he admitted. “It is one of the highest honors our race experiences and an opportunity to strengthen our bond.”

  “Then why haven’t we?” she asked.

  “The ravraxia can only be performed on Luxiria, in our sacred places where the Fates’ presence is the strongest.”

  “And you…you thought you could never return here,” she finished for him.

  “Tev,” he said, jerking his head in a nod. “It was something I believed was lost for both of us.”

  “Until now.”

  “Tev.”

  Cara wrapped her arms around him tighter. “Of course I will perform it with you, Dev,” she said softly.

  “You will?” he asked, his breath quickening.

  “Yes,” she answered, leaning forward to brush a kiss over his lips. Her mate deepened it, angling her head so he could take her mouth more fully. She gasped when his ridged tongue ran over the roof of her mouth.

  “Wicked male,” she teased, pulling back a bit after that kiss made her head spin.

  His only response was a rumbling, deep purr that made her sex ache even more.

  “Will it hurt?” she whispered, knowing they didn’t have that much more time to talk before they both grew too impatient. They hadn’t mated at all that span, something that was unheard of. “The blood bond?”

  “Nix,” he rumbled. “I have heard it is the most pleasurable act of all.”

  Cara heard a whimper and belatedly realized it came from her own throat. She simply couldn’t imagine sex being even more pleasurable than it already was between them. Simply unfathomable.

  “Okay,” she whispered. “When should we do it?”

  “Vaxa’an is making preparations. We can leave in two spans.”

  Another thought occurred to her and she said, “Wait, no one is going to be watching us, right?”

  “It is a private ceremony, so it will only be the two of us,” he answered, a slight amusement in his tone. “As if I would let another male see you that way.”

  Cara relaxed. No, Devix wouldn’t, of course. He was just as possessive of her as she was of him.

  “Just the two of us?” she asked.

  “Tev. Always.”

  “Okay,” she said, relaxing against him, but the throbbing between her thighs was starting to become unbearable. “Dev?”

  “Tev, female?”

  She slid her hand between them to grasp his stiff, pulsing cock. “Do you think Lihvan will mind if we christen his bath tub?”

  Devix might not understand what ‘christening’ was, but he sure responded to the grip she had on his thick cock.

  “Nix, luxiva,” he growled, palming her waist to align her with his cock. “I do not think he would mind.”

  TEN

  “YOU’RE A CHEF?” Cecelia asked, wide-eyed, after she nibbled on a meat called trixava, which was apparently the most widely-used and popular game meat on Luxiria.

  Devix certainly seemed to like it. It was the food he’d grown up eating, or so he’d told her. He hadn’t had trixava since his exile and he’d hardly spoken a word during their dinner, too intent on vacuuming down his meal.

  It was heavily spiced, but delicious. It reminded her of alligator meat, a little tough, but it sure filled the stomach.

  “Yep,” Cara replied, smiling. Cecelia and Rixavox had arrived back at their temporary home with plates and plates of food for dinner a few hours after they’d left. They were sitting around the fire pit, their backs to the plush cushions. Devix’s thigh was pressed into her own. “I worked at a restaurant in Seattle. This Asian fusion place.”

  Cecelia groaned. “I miss Asian food. All Asian food. Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese. I would kill for a sushi roll and orange chicken.”

  Cara laughed, relaxing. She was already full from the trixava. Cecelia finished hers off as well, but both their mates continued eating. They seemed embroiled in some sort of contest to see who could eat the most meat and drink the most Luxirian Brew that Rixavox had brought along.

  “I do miss sushi,” Cara said, sighing. A thought occurred to her. Maybe she could make some. “Is there fish here?”

  “Not that I’ve seen,” Cecelia said, shaking her head, which disappointed Cara. “Mostly meat and roots.”

  “It’s the same on Rozun, although there’s a lot of edible plant life too,” Cara told her. “We’re starting a restaurant there, in the capitol.”

  “Really?” Cecelia asked, visibly perking up.

  “She is,” Devix corrected, taking a brief pause with his dinner to chime in. “She has worked hard. I only helped with fixing up her ‘kitchen.’”

  “And eating all my food,” she teased.

  “Tev,” he purred. “I like your food.”

  C
ara nudged him in the side, smiling, before returning her gaze to Cecelia and Rixavox, who were seated across the fire pit. The flames reflected in Rixavox’s eyes, so similar to Devix’s. Throughout the evening, she’d caught Rixavox looking at his brother, as if he couldn’t quite believe that he was seeing him. Devix had done the same.

  They hadn’t had time alone yet, Cara remembered. And she was sure that there was much to say.

  Cecelia seemed to have the same thought, since after a few more moments of conversation about her restaurant on Rozun, and after the two males finished their meal, the brunette asked her, “Would you like to come see our house? It is a little more comfortable than Lihvan and Beks’ but we are here more often in the Golden City than they are.”

  With a sideways glance at Devix, who returned her gaze, Cara nodded and slowly stood. “I’d love to.”

  “Sessela,” Rixavox said, exchanging a look with his mate, but he didn’t make a move to stand with her.

  “We’ll be fine,” Cecelia said, brushing her fingers over her mate’s horns.

  “Pivke?” Devix asked her, in Rozian. It was one of the first phrases he’d taught her, essentially asking if she was well, or felt safe.

  “Pivke,” she replied, smiling. In English, she said, “Come find us when you’re done.”

  Then, they left their two mates behind as they headed out of the dwelling and into the night of Luxiria.

  When the door closed behind them, Cecelia gave her a mischievous smile, as if they’d just done something naughty. Cara chuckled at the expression, finding that she quite liked the human woman, that she could see them becoming close friends.

  “They needed time alone, didn’t they?” Cara whispered once they were out of earshot of the dwelling. Slowly, they walked the short distance to Cecelia and Rixavox’s home. The terrace was wide and to their left was a vast, open view of Luxiria’s landscape. It was nighttime and the silver moon illuminated the jagged mountain peaks and sparkled off the black sand.

  And the temperature felt heavenly, nice and cool, instead of the unbearable heat of the day.

  “They definitely did,” Cecelia replied.

  They stopped at the terrace wall, leaning their forearms on it so they could look down below. The city was carved from the stone of the mountain and it too shone in the moonlight.

  “It’s beautiful here,” Cara commented softly. “Strange, but beautiful.”

  “I’m so fascinated that you two live on a different planet,” Cecelia admitted. “Though, to be honest, I’m still fascinated that I live on a different planet. That’s not Earth, I mean.”

  Cara understood what she meant. “Sometimes, I’m still wrapping my mind around the fact that this all exists. That we all lived on Earth a very short time ago, but now, we live so far away. And that we have mates that aren’t human.”

  “And that we’re both pregnant with their babies,” Cecelia finished for her, sending her a small smile, touching her own round stomach. “I know what you mean. Kate’s been here the longest and sometimes she still says that it doesn’t feel real.”

  “Kate,” Cara repeated, her gaze sliding over the various terraces before darting back over the horizon. “I saw her, you know. I was there that day when Vaxa’an took her as his prize.”

  Cecelia sucked in a breath. “Really?”

  “Yeah,” Cara replied, blowing out a breath. “I never saw you though.”

  “They rescued us not too long ago. We were all kept in a dark room, in cages. And they came for us and brought us here,” Cecelia said softly, her voice nothing more than a whisper. “Had you been taken already? From the Pit?”

  “No, I don’t think so,” Cara said. “I was kept in another room. Alone. I think they thought I was wild or something. I bit the first alien that tried to take me from the Pit. I did it again, after Kate was taken, and I was never kept with the other women after that. When the Luxirians came, they probably didn’t know I was still there.”

  “I’m so sorry, Cara,” Cecelia said. “I couldn’t imagine going through that alone.”

  Cara blew out a breath, trying to clear the fog from her mind. “It seems like so long ago now, even though it wasn’t. It led me to Devix anyways. That’s all that matters.”

  Cecelia went quiet as they both took in the view, probably remembering their individual experiences in the Pit.

  “I had cancer,” Cecelia said suddenly. Cara started, turning to look at her. “I think about this all the time, that if I hadn’t been taken by the Krevorags in the first place, I wouldn’t have met Rixavox. I wouldn’t be pregnant and I would still have cancer.”

  “They cured you?”

  “Yes,” Cecelia said, smiling. A soft breeze pushed back her dark hair. “They did. I also thought that I’d never have children. The doctors back on Earth told me that it wasn’t possible anymore, after the radiation therapy and the chemo. Yet…here I am. Everything happened for a reason, in the universe’s strange way.”

  “I agree,” Cara whispered.

  “And now you’re here,” Cecelia added, reaching out to squeeze her hand, which was resting on the terrace’s banister.

  “And perhaps there’s a reason why,” Cara said, blowing a breath. She was beginning to feel better about the whole situation, even though she’d been overwhelmed earlier that afternoon. But Cecelia had worked hard throughout dinner, drawing her into easy and comfortable conversation, to put her mind at ease. And Cara appreciated it. “At least Devix and Rixavox can see each other, after all these years.”

  “Rixavox told me about the tribunal and his exile,” Cecelia admitted quietly. “Rixavox said he knew Devix never would’ve done what he was accused of. He’s missed him so much. I could tell just by the way he talked about him. It ate him up inside that he couldn’t find Devix.”

  “Devix was a victim in all this,” Cara said. “I still can’t believe the injustice of it all sometimes.”

  “Luxirians are very set in their ways,” Cecelia told her. “Kate told me that, before the rest of us were rescued, that a few warriors challenged Vaxa’an because they didn’t believe he should take a human mate and sire children with her. The mixing of blood and all that apparently didn’t sit right.”

  Cara frowned. “But I thought all their females were infertile. If they couldn’t have children, what would become of their race?”

  “Exactly,” Cecelia said, sighing. “But like I said, some are very set in their ways. Not all, thankfully. Change takes time. And us? Being here? That’s a big change.” Cecelia looked over at her. “And hopefully, over time, Luxirians will change the way they see Devix too.”

  Cara knew they wouldn’t be there long enough for that change to take place. But she kept that thought silent.

  Instead, she admitted, “I think…I think I am glad we came. I had my doubts, especially earlier, as you saw, but if only to meet another woman who actually understands all the words I use,” Cecelia laughed, “and so our two mates can reunite, I’m glad, no matter what happens.”

  “And we’re basically sisters now, you know,” Cecelia teased. “I always wanted one.”

  Cara chuckled. “Me too.”

  * * *

  “I searched for you, brother,” Rixavox said suddenly from this place across the fire pit. “After Petrika, I still searched for you. I wish for you to know that.”

  Devix’s expression turned grim. He regarded Rixavox, unsure of where to even begin, despite hoping for the past six rotations that he’d have the chance to say what he needed to say, that he’d have the chance to see his brother once more.

  And now, there they were. Together again.

  The bond of siblings on Luxiria was powerful. They were of the same blood. No one else would share what they already shared. Much like bond of fated mates, the bond between siblings was sacred.

  He always knew that was why Arvalla never denied her blood brother’s word. She would have never betrayed Pidixa like that.

  “I fought you on Petrika,”
Devix started quietly, slipping into Luxirian easily enough though stringing full sentences together in his native language felt strange and almost unnatural. English felt more right to him now than Luxirian. “Not just the fighting we used to partake in, sparing for fun and for skill. I fought you with the intent to hurt you, to drive you away. I said words to you that have haunted me for rotations and I thought those would be the last words I would ever say to you. It sickened me if I thought about it too deeply.”

  “Why?” Rixavox asked. “Why did you do it?”

  “I was ashamed,” Devix admitted. “I was the first born of our family unit. I was to be the example for you, that is what mother told me from the time I was a youth. I tried so hard to be throughout our life spans. And in such a short amount of time, I became unrecognizable, even to myself. I was disgraced, a fallen Luxirian warrior with shorn hair. I was a drunk on Petrika, living in filth, and allowing myself to. Fighting underground for coins and not for honor or peace. I did not want you to see me that way.”

  Rixavox’s shoulders bunched, a sign Devix recognized as anger. “I only wanted to help you, brother. You were not a stranger to me. It was not shame. It was your pride. That mattered more to you than I did.”

  “That is not true,” Devix growled.

  “If it was not true, then why has it been six rotations since I last saw you or heard from you? You know I never believed what Pidixa claimed. You knew that I would help you. Why turn to Sarkon? Why not turn to me?”

  Devix realized that his brother’s anger stemmed from hurt and so he calmed his own.

  “Brother…”

  “Tell me,” Rixavox growled. “You returned to Luxiria because of your mate, because you worry for her. I understand that. I do not understand why you cut me out, when you were my only family left. You could have opened a Com line to me here, even from Rozun, if only to let me know you were safe. I imagined the worst scenarios every single span about your fate.”