TWELVE
WHEN THE SUNS began to sink, Vikan found them shelter for the night. Fortunately, they had begun to pass into Loniva territory, on the very far edges of Lopixa. It meant the landscape had started to alter. Since his outpost sat on the very western tip of Luxiria, it meant his land was rocky and filled with steep cliffs that melted into long stretches of shoreline.
The nights were longer in the western lands, which meant they needed to find shelter quickly. And since they were in Loniva, Vikan easily found an empty cave, burrowed in the face of a large, dark cliff, formed by years and years of wind and battering surf.
To reach it, however, they’d had to climb down a worn, steep path to reach the shoreline. It was an arduous hike, but once he saw that the cave was empty of any creatures, he was certain they would be safe and even warm for the night, considering the cave was deep and wide enough to escape the roaring winds and spray from the sea, with plenty space for a fire.
Once they were safely situated inside, his luxiva rested against the floor of the cave for a brief moment. It had been a long day and the only reprieve she’d had was their swim in the inlet earlier that afternoon.
Again, Vikan felt a sense of shame that he’d put his female through this experience. He desperately wished it could have been different, that he could give her warmth and hot meals and soft furs instead of cave floors and small game.
But his female had not complained once. Even when she was sweaty with exertion and breathing heavily from the terrain.
Affection welled up in his chest, sudden and startling. He approached her, dropping down to give her a drink from the water gourds he’d save in his travel sack from the previous night. She took it gratefully and tipped her head back once he made a notch with his claws.
“You humble me, female,” he told her, needing to tell her, pushing back a strand of her hair. He couldn’t stop touching her. And the more he did, the more he craved it, like an addiction. “I put you in this situation foolishly and yet you have shown me how strong and resilient you are.”
Her cheeks flushed an enticing shade of pink, her lips wet from her drink of water. He growled, rapt, as she licked them.
“I just like moving forward,” she told him after a brief pause. “To me, there’s no sense dwelling on the past. It doesn’t accomplish anything so what’s the use?”
Vikan thought that, before Taylor, all he’d done was dwell on the past. He’d been so consumed by it that he’d allowed the past ten rotations to pass him by.
It was ironic, considering he had the gift of foresight. But when had he ever been excited for his future?
Not until now.
He only had two spans left before they reached Lopixa. At the pace they were going, they might even arrive earlier than expected.
“I could learn from you,” he finally murmured, their eyes connecting. She watched him, her eyes lightening with an emotion he couldn’t recognize.
Then, she took another sip of the water gourd before handing it back to him.
“Will you teach me how to make a fire?” she asked.
Vikan struggled with that. She’d already insisted on helping him, but on Luxiria, it was the male’s responsibility to take care of their female, to provide everything for her.
It was an instinct instilled in him since birth.
But his mate was not Luxirian. She was human. Now, he understood why Vaxa’an, at times, had been frustrated by his luxiva’s need to work and to contribute equally to their partnership.
It was different on Luxiria, but his female was proving to be independent and strong-willed. Just like how she’d adapted to Luxiria, he would adapt for her.
“Tev,” he finally murmured after a lengthy pause. “Come.”
He rose from his crouched position in front of her, taking her hand to help her from the ground. With his palm on the small of her back, he led her from the cave after leaving his bag behind.
There, on the shores of Loniva, he was at home. He knew the vegetation, knew what was edible, and what could most easily hold a flame. And eyeing the waves lapping at the shore, he knew what he would catch his female for her meal that night.
So, he showed her all of this. He explained that the long fronds of illix he’d used for her feet coverings could be used as tinder, but only the rough, gritty protective layer. Then, he showed her how to dig into the sand deep enough to find reverax’a, a type of clumped mixture of very old sand and clay that kept a flame burning for two spans. He helped her gather some rocks so they could make an enclosed fire pit and then they returned to the cave.
And once there, even though it took slightly longer, she started her first fire with two of his blades and she seemed so delighted by it that Vikan himself felt her satisfaction.
Glad that she would be warm while he caught their meal, Vikan left her, albeit hesitantly.
Usually, he enjoyed diving in Lopitax. He enjoyed the hushed quiet of being underwater, where even his visions didn’t dare enter. That evening was no different, but he felt a driving need to return to his mate, to be in her presence. So, he made quick work of their meal, managing to ensnare a large grimivala that swam unknowingly by, a few mervi still enclosed in their protective shells, and one bibivax.
When he emerged from the ocean, he was soaking wet, his hair hanging down his back, but proud of his catch. He would feed his female well that night.
He returned to her quickly, his eyes immediately seeking her out once he ventured deeper into the cave where they would nest for the night.
Taylor was watching over the fire, but the moment she saw him, a flash of emotion crossed her features. Relief, he realized, feeling that knowledge settle.
“You are still worried I will leave you, luxiva?” he questioned softly as he stepped towards her, dropping his catch on the ground beside the fire.
The firelight softened her face and made her eyes gleam gold.
“No, not that,” she answered. Her eyes traced the lines of his body and trailed over the droplets of sea water that ran down his torso. Even past the smell of the sea, he scented her interest, her arousal. He had scented it at odd times during the span, which had driven him absolutely mad.
“What then?” he asked, his voice dropping slightly as his Instinct perked up in his chest.
“I was…worried for you,” she admitted, nibbling on her full bottom lip.
“I have lived in the west for many, many rotations, luxiva,” he murmured. “I know these lands well and not much can bring down a Luxirian warrior.”
Taylor blew out a breath, watching him shake out his hair by the fire. The flames sizzled whenever a drop of sea landed into it, briefly turning it blue.
“What does luxiva mean?” was her next question. It took him by surprise, his shoulders bunching.
“Mate,” he rumbled in reply.
She sucked in a breath. “Did you…did you call Nitav that?”
The cave went quiet. Both of them had frozen. Even the fire seemed to be waiting for his reply.
“Nix,” he said softly. “Luxiva means mate, but more specifically, it means ‘fated one.’ Nitav…” He trailed off before trying again. “Nitav was not my fated mate. She was a Breeding partner, a chosen one.”
Taylor’s gaze flicked to the fire, her expression unreadable. “Why do you think she wasn’t your fated mate?”
Vikan had often wondered the same thing during their time together. “The Fates had other plans for me,” he answered, holding her gaze, hoping that his unspoken meaning reached her.
“What happens,” she started slowly, “when fated mates part ways?”
Death, he immediately thought, but didn’t voice this to her. He wanted Taylor to choose him willingly, not because she felt obligated to.
But the fact remained the same. Many fated pairings didn’t survive without the other. Although, Vikan did not know if this went both ways if one side of the pairing was not Luxirian. But many males, once their fated mates died during the Plague, decided that they could not and would not live without their other half. They’d not only lost many females during that period, but many males as well.
“They survive if they can,” was what he told her.
When he saw her brow furrow in confusion, he quickly unsheathed one of his blades, settling beside her so he could begin preparations on their meal.
“Now,” he murmured, “let me feed my mate.”
* * *
Taylor wasn’t used to being taken care of. She’d been independent from the time she was young, ever since her dad died and her grandmother had taken her in.
She told Vikan this as she watched him prepare what looked like a monstrous fish from the Jurassic period. He expertly plucked out long, white spines, and scraped away the gray, shimmering scales before filleting it with clean, confident strokes.
The sound he made was almost like an incredulous snort when he replied, “Your previous males did not take care of you?”
“Well they didn’t go hunt things for me to eat, if that’s what you’re asking,” she replied, her tone slightly teasing.
A scowl appeared on his lips and he turned his horned head to regard her. “How many males came before me?”
Taylor made a surprised sound in the back of her throat. “Are you asking me how many boyfriends I’ve had?”
His expression was quizzical at ‘boyfriends’ but he seemed to grasp her meaning. “Tev.”
She swallowed, but decided to tell him. “Five.”
His hand stilled on his blade, but his fist tightened on the handle. “Five,” he repeated.
“None of them lasted very long,” she murmured. “Why? How many females have you had?”
“If you are speaking of partnerships, then just Nitav. If you are speaking of matings…” He trailed off, blowing out a breath. “I do not know.”
Taylor’s mouth parted. “You don’t know how many sexual partners you’ve had?”
Why did she feel a hot streak of jealousy run through her veins at that? She was picturing hundreds of females in her mind who had known him intimately.
And she’d never even kissed him.
Well, not in real-life, at least.
“Luxirians are liberal with matings,” he told her. “We are one of the more free species in that regard.”
“But…but,” she sputtered.
“I have not had a female since Nitav,” he confessed, searing her with a gaze. “But before her, I was a young warrior. Does this bother you?”
“I’ve had sex with four of those five boyfriends,” she told him, eliciting a growl from him. “You can’t be mad about that, considering you just told me you have no idea how many females you’ve had sex with.”
He was still growling low in his throat and suddenly, he caught her around the nape of her neck, drawing her close. He pressed his forehead against hers and Taylor gasped, inhaling the scent of his skin, fresh from the sea.
“You feel that jealousy, do you not?” he rasped. “That burning sensation at the thought others have touched me and you have not.”
“Vikan,” she said softly, eyes wide on his.
“You can touch me whenever you wish, female,” he rasped and she felt those words pool in her stomach like lava.
“I’m afraid to,” she admitted, her head spinning, wondering what the hell was happening.
“Why?”
“Because…because I’m afraid I won’t want to stop,” she confessed, her brow furrowing. “I admit that there’s something between us. I feel it constantly, even before you took me a couple nights ago. And I’m afraid of what would happen if I gave into it. I’m afraid what it would do to me.”
Vikan’s eyes slid shut and he took a deep breath in before exhaling. Then he released her, his heat gone in the blink of an eye. Taylor swayed a bit before steadying herself.
Vikan picked up his blade like nothing happened and resumed his preparations.
“It is inevitable,” he said softly. “I cannot think of a fated pairing that resisted the Instinct’s call.”
In a flash, the memory of his naked body from earlier that afternoon flashed into her mind. She remembered his cock, impossibly large and thick, with hard knobs lining both the top and bottom. The head had been shimmering with pre-cum.
She bit her lip, her skin buzzing so much that she wrapped her arms around her body, despite not being cold.
She had a feeling he was right.
“I…I don’t know if you’d fit,” she confessed.
“Tev, I will,” he murmured almost immediately, as if this was the most natural thing to discuss. “Your body was made to receive me.”
Taylor sucked in a breath as arousal flooded her. His hand slipped on the blade but then he caught himself and resumed.
He continued, “You know we are compatible in that way. You have seen it, how good it will be.”
Will be. Not might be.
As if it was a sure thing they’d eventually have sex.
And in a way…she knew that was true.
Taylor almost whimpered but she squeezed her thighs together, trying to prevent him from scenting how turned on she was just thinking about it, just remembering her dreams.
Damn, she wanted him.
She chalked it up to sexual frustration and being around him for the past two days straight. But Taylor had always known what she wanted. And right now it was him.
Even she knew that would be a terrible idea.
“You fight it,” he noted, pausing in his work to look at her. His thigh pressed into her own and she didn’t move away. “Why?”
“Because we hardly know each other!” she exclaimed. “Because I’ll be leaving soon anyway.”
Vikan’s nostrils flared and in a low voice he murmured, “Let us pretend that you chose to stay with me.”
She shook her head, “Vikan…”
“Let us pretend that you wanted to stay. Would being with me be so terrible?”
Taylor’s brow furrowed. “No. I just…everything has happened so fast. And I don’t know what’s happening half the time. Hell, I don’t know what I’m feeling half the time.”
“You promised you would be open to this,” he gently reminded her. “At least until we reach my outpost.”
“It’s not that easy,” she told him, but then swallowed. He’d been so different that day, not as tense as he’d been before. More…open. And she hadn’t held up her end of the deal. She let out a heavy sigh, looking into his eyes. “But you’re right. I did promise.”
“Then for tonight,” he started, “let us pretend.”
“I…I don’t know if I’m ready for sex,” she admitted, a flush rising up her neck.
He shook his head. “We will not mate this night. Let us just see how it can be between us without any distractions.”
As she looked at him, his skin glowing from the fire, she wondered if she could do that. Could she really forget everything, all her worries, and pretend with him? Just for one night?
When he reached out to touch her collarbone, feeling the softness of her skin there, as if he couldn’t help himself, her body seemed to answer for her. Her muscles loosened, her heart jumped with anticipation.
I’m due a night of fun, she reasoned. She didn’t remember the last time she’d just relaxed with someone, no strings attached, no expectations of sex or the awkwardness of unspoken things.
Her dreams rose in her mind, remembering how carefree, how happy she’d been with him. She wanted to see if she could feel that way right then.
And if she could? She acknowledged it would complicate things.
But she’d never know if she didn’t take the chance.
“Okay,” she said, giving into him once again. Why was he so damn persuasive? “Just for tonight, we can pretend.”
Vikan purred.
And Taylor got the sense that what she just said would be classified under ‘Famous Last Words’ by the time he was finished with her.