by Zoey Draven
“I-I can feel you,” she whispered, shaking her head against his chest. “I don’t understand what’s happening.”
“The blood bond, luxiva,” he said, stroking her hair. “It creates a link between us. It is natural. You will grow accustomed to it and it will not seem so strange with time.”
“Have you forgotten our agreement, Vaxa?” she said, but her voice sounded almost sad.
“This is part of our agreement,” he reminded her, tugging her closer, his Instinct strumming in his chest. The thought of his mate still desiring to leave him after this…it was unfathomable. It hurt.
He didn’t…
He didn’t know how he would be able to carry on with his life after knowing his luxiva.
It was a somber realization, but one that had always teased the back of his mind. Many mated pairs never survived without the other.
Kat fell silent but continued to cry. Vaxa’an felt a helplessness that he had never felt before consume him.
“Please, female,” he begged quietly. “Please tell me what I have done to cause you this pain.”
“I don’t know what I feel anymore, Vaxa,” she said. Her words only served to confuse him more. “I don’t know what I want anymore.”
“Tell me what I can do to please you, luxiva,” he murmured. “I do not wish to see this liquid.”
“They are called tears, Vaxa.”
“I do not wish to see these tears from my female.”
Kat touched his lips. It was dark inside the tent and he would need to make a fire soon to keep them warm throughout the night. But he refused to move away from his female when she was feeling like this, so the fire would need to wait. He could warm her well enough.
“Just kiss me, Vaxa,” she whispered. “Kiss me.”
His brow bone furrowed. He did not understand his human. But regardless, he was happy to feel connected to her. So, he did as she asked and leaned down to capture her soft lips, tangling his tongue with her own.
Kat clung to him, her fingernails digging into his shoulders, but she lay sweetly next to him, accepting his kiss even as tears continued to fall between them.
And when the mating call began anew, neither resisted.
EIGHTEEN
Kate lay on her back, limbs stretched out, her chest heaving from exertion. It was sometime in the middle of night and Vaxa had woken her from sleep to give her another thorough fucking. She watched, half-lidded, as the muscles of his back flexed as he stroked up the fire in the middle of the tent. He’d made it sometime after she’d passed out from pure sexual and emotional exhaustion.
Her body felt changed. Her pussy was still pulsing from the after effects of the cataclysmic series of orgasms Vaxa had given her over the course of the night. She felt sore, but it was the good kind. Mostly, she felt vulnerable. Whatever this blood bond had begun…it was breaking her down, bit by bit. It was a combination of the pleasure—of the most intense, incredible, toe-curling sex of her entire life—and fear that she was developing deep feelings for her alien captor. Combined together and she was an orgasming, crying mess, who’d already had one mini-breakdown earlier in the night.
If they were going to be doing this for a few days…there would be nothing left of her by the time they left.
Stockholm Syndrome? She understood it now.
Kate reached down between her legs and lightly traced her swollen lips, trying to ignore the tension that was once again building within her. How long would this crazed madness continue? Her fingers came away with some of Vaxa’s opalescent seed and then her eyes strayed to the band around her wrist, wondering, surprisingly calmly, whether it would hold up against such an onslaught. Somehow, she didn’t think so.
She felt Vaxa’s eyes on her and once he seemed satisfied with the fire, he returned to her. He was completely comfortable in his nudity and truthfully, he had every reason to be. He was a magnificent male, broad and strong with a potent sexuality that prickled her skin with awareness.
And he’s all mine, the greedy, wanton part of her whispered.
Kate bit her lip as he dropped his weight over her. He leaned down to nip lightly at her throat and she sighed out a breath, stretching her neck to give him better access. Her head swam. Why did he have to make her feel so damned good all the time? He was making it a hell of a lot harder than it needed to be.
When she felt him dip his hips, dragging that amazing cock across her soft belly, she groaned and pushed at his chest.
“Vaxa,” she started, leaning up to kiss his lips. “If I’m going to survive the next few days, I need to rest.”
He made that purring/growling sound in his chest and his cock briefly vibrated on her stomach. Her pussy clenched.
“If you wish, mate,” he said, rolling to the side, sprawling out next to her. He pulled her so that she was half-lying on top of him and she sighed, letting herself relax against him. It was like he couldn’t bear to not touch her. And if she was honest with herself…she loved it.
“Tell me about this place,” she whispered, feeling sleepy but alert, listening to the soft crackling of the fire. “Tell me about the Fates.”
He huffed out a breath. “The story I was told, that all young are told, is that the Fates created us from the facev. The mountains. They crafted us to be unyielding and strong, like all warriors, and breathed life into us so that we may defend and protect our people and other races that seek our aide. Our ancestors were born in this place, from the facev that is directly behind us. This is sacred land.”
“And as warriors…Luxirians fight a lot?”
“Tev.”
Kate frowned. “Against who? Yourselves? Or other species?”
“Both. If it is necessary.”
“You fight other Luxirians? But I thought you were the leader.”
“I am,” he said, his gaze finding hers, trailing his fingertips over her cheek. The glow from the fire turned his skin golden, just like when she’d first seen him. Her golden alien warrior, fierce but gentle. “But like in all civilizations there is unrest from time to time. In my sire’s time, a group of warriors broke away from the whole. They took their females and started a tribe near the caves of the Pevrallix. They prospered, if rumor is to be believed. But their exit was a bloody one. Even now, no one speaks of them.” He stopped talking briefly and then said, his voice gruff, “After my sire and mother passed into the next life, my blood brother dissented as well.”
Kate’s lips parted. “You have a brother?”
His gaze hardened. “Tev. But I have not seen him since after the Jetutian attack, since after my sire and mother’s fire burial. He sought out the tribe and I can only hope that he found them, or else he has been long dead.”
Kate’s heart softened. She realized that perhaps Vaxa was more like her than she’d realized. They both had no family. Not anymore.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured.
“Why?”
“Because…you were abandoned. By your brother, just shortly after your parents died. It must have been sad and lonely.”
His eyes skittered away from her. “Luxirians do not speak of such things.”
Kate’s lips quirked just a tad and she leaned up to kiss him, feeling a surge of affection. “Good thing I’m a human then. And we tend to express our emotions more freely than your kind.”
His eyes grew heated and strayed to her lips, but she retreated before he could react properly. At least there was one particular emotion he had no trouble expressing…
Her arousal was getting harder and harder to ignore. It came in waves, she realized. Her orgasm seemed to stave it off for a brief period of time before her body demanded more. And even though she’d told Vaxa that she needed to rest, she knew it was only a matter of time before she wouldn’t have a choice.
“And what about fighting other species?” she asked, distracting herself. She wanted to know more about him, more about his life there.
“We are in constant war with the Jetutians,” was his an
swer. “Soon, we will infiltrate. We have been making our war plans for some time.”
A spike of dread shot through her and she bit her lip. “And…you will go?”
“Tev,” he murmured, casting a confused look down at her. “I am the xrivix’an. It is my duty, an honor.”
“But…” she trailed off, not knowing what to say. You’ll be gone, she reminded herself, but she was starting to feel like she was telling herself lies, holding onto something she wasn’t even sure she wanted anymore.
“I have been in many wars, luxiva,” he said and her eyes strayed to the scars on his chest. His skin was like armored hide, thick and strong. For something to actually be able to penetrate…it must have been very painful.
“What if something happens to you?” She looked away from him, her eyes straying to the fire. “If I’m still here,” she started hesitantly, “what would happen if you died?”
“That is not something you need to worry about, female,” he said in a quiet voice. “War has not reached us yet. And when it does,” his hand strayed to her belly, “you will either be very heavy with my heir or he will already be born into this world. You will be well taken care of and safe on Luxiria.”
Her breathed hitched. She couldn’t help but ask, even though she knew she was toeing a dangerous game, “And what if your ‘heir’ is a girl?”
Vaxa leaned down to nuzzle her temple. He purred, “Then I will thank the Fates for such a gift, for a female will mean that Luxirians can prosper anew. A female will mean hope.”
Kate’s heart skipped a beat and she allowed herself to imagine it. It was hard not to, wrapped up in his arms, warm and fresh off life-changing sex with an alien sex god who only wanted to protect her.
Suddenly, she moaned, her nipples tightening when she felt it beginning again. Vaxa gave her a growling purr in response and she felt his own arousal deep within her. Her hand reached out and closed over his cock, her pussy growing wetter and wetter by the second. What was happening to them amazed her. It was like his blood was an aphrodisiac and she wondered how much more of this her human body would be able to take.
She’d damned well try to take it all though.
Her gaze was riveted by his pre-cum and her mouth watered, wondering what he tasted like. He’d given her no indication that he would welcome her pleasuring him for a change, but she wondered if, in his culture, oral sex was as commonplace as it was among human couples.
“Vaxa,” she murmured. He groaned when her fist tightened around him. “Will you stand up?”
He huffed out a breath. “What?”
The thought of her on her knees before him, working that huge, ridged cock between her lips, made her clench her thighs together. She wanted that with a ferocity that surprised her.
“Please,” she whispered.
Vaxa rose gracefully to his feet, his erection bobbing against his taut abdomen. Magnificent male, she thought, slightly breathless. The fire played over his skin, reflecting gold one moment and shimmering orange the next. Beautiful. His dark horns stood proudly from his dark hair and she imagined grasping them tightly as she rode his cock, using them to steady herself and add leverage.
Soon, she promised herself.
Kate rose to her knees before him and his brow bone drew together. “Female?” he rasped.
She smiled, taking his cock in her hand. Even though she tried her best to wrap her fingers all the way around, they didn’t even come close to touching and she marveled that this monster had even fit inside her. She looked up at Vaxa, remembering the way he’d fucked her on her hands and knees, how he’d expertly controlled her body and plucked all the right strings, proving that he alone could master her.
Now, she wanted to master him.
Vaxa roared to the ceiling when her lips closed over the head of his cock and she simultaneously dragged her tongue underneath the crown. His whole body went tight and his breathing went ragged, whistling through his nostrils.
“Luxiva,” he growled. He said something in Luxirian, but his words grew strangled as she took him deeper, trying to mind her teeth. His cock filled her mouth and she felt the knobs running along the bottom nudge against her tongue.
When his hands fisted in her hair, she moaned, looking up the expanse of his body to meet his eyes. They were wild, dark, and they glowed with wanting.
“Tev,” he grunted, when she pushed him deeper. She could only handle it for a second before she drew him away, gasping, greedily drawing in air. As she recovered, she ran her tongue along the sides, worshipping the cock that had given her such exquisite pleasure.
Unable to stand it anymore, she reached between her legs and stroked herself, huffing out a soft breath as her fingers played with her clit.
Vaxa’s gaze drew to her pussy and he hissed. In amazement, she watched more pre-cum pool around his slit and she leaned forward to lick it off, only to have more take its place. He tasted musky but not salty like human men. Delicious. His taste lit her blood and when she inserted a finger into her pussy, she clenched around it, a moment away from cumming.
Kate wanted him to cum in her mouth. She wanted to swallow him, take more of him into her body, but she knew that it was unlikely he would lose control.
So, when she closed her lips tightly over his cock, she sucked the head hard. Vaxa’s abdomen contracted and he bit off what sounded like a Luxirian curse, his hands tightening in her hair. She would’ve smiled had her mouth not been full.
Drawing her fingers from between her legs, she reached between his, cupping the dusky sac that was tight against his body. She hadn’t explored him there yet, but she cupped him gently before squeezing.
His hips bucked, forcing more of him in her mouth, and she breathed sharply through her nose. She could feel the knobs and ridges on his cock pulsing, like little heartbeats. And when she moaned around his cock, her throat vibrating, she gave another little squeeze to his balls…and then he was roaring.
Hot cum shot into her mouth, sliding down her throat, and she struggled to swallow it all. Some of it leaked out of the sides of her mouth, running down her chin. It was dirty and filthy and erotic and she loved every moment of it.
His cock didn’t soften, however. When his body jerked with the last pumps of his seed, he withdrew from her mouth and she licked her lips, already missing the taste of him. But then he was on her. Before she knew what was happening, she was on her back, her knees pressed to her chest, and he slid into her with one smooth, teeth-chattering stroke.
Vaxa was merciless. He pounded into her until she was moaning non-stop, until she could hardly form a coherent word.
And when her orgasm crashed down on her, she was already anticipating, craving, the next one.
He was becoming her drug…one Kate was starting to worry she may not be able to give up.
NINETEEN
The next couple days passed by in a soft, pleasurable blur.
Admittedly, neither of them got much sleep. Between bouts of sex, they rested, but only for a couple hours before what Vaxa called ‘the mating call’ began again. Kate had woken numerous times to Vaxa licking between her thighs and in turn, she’d woken him with the same pleasure. She’d lost count how many times they’d had sex, how many orgasms she’d had.
She was sore and achy, but damn she felt good.
They ate simply during their stay: dried meats and odd, delicious fruits and a kind of fermented bread that tasted surprisingly good and kept her satiated. It was enough to fuel them. And every morning and evening, Vaxa would lead her outside towards the mountain and they would bathe in a natural pool, tucked between two tall, jutting rocks.
It was in that pool that he answered her various questions about Luxiria. She learned that the city—called the Golden City, once translated into English—where they lived was just a fraction of their population. Spread across the planet were six outposts, all watched over by Vaxa’s trusted war generals and advisors, all of whom he’d completed military training with. She’d already
met Rixavox, Lihvan, and Kirov. All three of them governed separate outposts. She had yet to meet the other three.
Vaxa said that he’d take her to visit each of them. Apparently, each outpost was widespread enough that the landscape changed drastically, as did the weather.
And then he’d told her about military training, how all Luxirian males were expected to enter once they reached the age of ten rotations, which she’d deduced were years.
“Ten?” she’d asked, aghast, when they’d discussed it. “But that’s so young!”
She couldn’t fathom a mere boy entering something so brutal, which, after Vaxa’s descriptions of military training, it was. Like the fighting pit on the spaceship, only with young men, not grown, muscled warriors.
Vaxa had simply shrugged. “Five completed rotations are required of every Luxirian male. After that, they can decide if they will continue with training or find a different vocation at one of the outposts.”
“And how many stay?”
“Perhaps over half. Luxirians are born warriors. It is in our blood.”
Briefly, in the back of her mind, she thought, And what if we have a son? She wouldn’t want her child to go through something like that. It would scare the living hell out of her.
“And how many…rotations is military training?”
“Twelve.”
Twelve years. Her eyes strayed to the scars across his chest and back. He’d told her about the beatings by some of the older war generals. In military training, they hadn’t cared that he was the Prime Leader’s son. Being the Prime Leader’s son wouldn’t make him any more impervious to death as his peers, he’d told her, and so he was punished alongside them, as their equals.
He must’ve seen her distress because he smoothed a hand down her cheek. “This is normal, luxiva. It is our culture. It is a source of pride for our males and it is the greatest of honors to complete the training.”
“What about those who don’t?” Like Bidan. Vaxa had said something about him not continuing with military training and chose to serve his family instead. “Are they discriminated against?”
