TWELVE

Rixavox began taking breaths only when he needed to, relying on old training.  Or else, he feared, he might break his vow to Privanax, his promise to leave Sessela untouched, his mate untouched.  He feared he might rut her on the floor of the Rillirax the way he desired…wild, untamed, thoroughly.

The scent of her arousal was overpowering.  It made his head thick with smoky fog, like he’d drunk too much Luxirian brew at a lunar celebration.

Mating in the Rillirax was not an uncommon practice.  It was a sacred place, but it was also a primal place, a place touched by their ancestors, their creators.  Already, he could feel their power seeping into him, relaxing his muscles, while also making him stronger.  That strength easily fed his lust, as it did all Luxirians.

His cock pulsed in time with his luxiva’s breath and he awaited her response when he told her to unclothe.  Humans seemed more shy than Luxirians about such things and he was intrigued and waiting on how she might react.

Sessela’s back was to him.  She was facing the sacred pool and was as still as the facev they were inside.  Then she turned slightly so he could see her profile.  Their eyes connected and Rixavox couldn’t help the purring growl that reverberated from his chest.

“Turn around then,” was what she said.

His brow furrowed.  “Rebax?”

“If I have to take this shirt off, you’ll need to look away.”

Rixavox cocked his head to the side slightly.  “Why?”

She made a sound in the back of her throat and he didn’t know what it meant.  Embarrassment?  Annoyance?  Nervousness?  It frustrated him because he wanted to learn all of her sounds.

“Because you—you can’t see me naked,” she said, voice rising slightly.

“Why not?” he asked again, lifting his shoulders.  “It is natural, is it not?  If you wished to see me unclothed, I would show you.”

She made that same choking sound in her throat and he caught a hint of pink in her cheeks.  He wanted to grin, but he kept his features neutral.  He’d been right.  It seemed humans were definitely more shy about these matters than Luxirians.

“What is it about nudity that bothers humans?” he questioned, his voice nothing more than a rasp.

“I—it’s…” she took a deep breath and turned around to face him, backing up a couple steps when she realized how close he was.  He frowned, but stayed where he was.  “It’s intimate.  And like you said, vulnerable.”

“Ah,” he said.  “These things are good to feel, nix?  They remind you of your mortality.  They are…” his lips quirked a little, thinking back to their journey to the Rillirax, of her little shriek as they shot up into the Luxirian sky.  “Freeing.”

“Now you’re just teasing me.”

“Nix,” he purred.  “Flirting.”

Sessela tried to hide the smile that started to spread over her lush lips, but she began to laugh and couldn’t.  She shook her head.  “You’re impossible, has anyone ever told you that?”

“Many in my life span, tev.  Now unclothe yourself, female.”

“Only after you turn around,” she insisted, crossing her arms under her breasts.  Rixavox eyed her hardened nipples beneath her borrowed tunic and his mouth watered.  When he got his tongue on those breasts, he might never leave them.

He liked her stubbornness.  It only served to turn him on even more.

“As you wish, female,” he purred, slightly disappointed and yet exhilarated.  Perhaps by the end of her cleansing sessions at the Rillirax, he would win their newfound game.  He could try to convince her every span.  The odds were in his favor.

He showed her his back, staring straight in front of him, his gaze tracing the silvery lines of the pevilla growing across the wall.  He couldn’t help but think that the plant would be soft enough on his female’s back if he ever mated her against the cavern wall.  His fists clenched at his sides, picturing her limbs twined around his hips, her fingers clawing at the pevilla, as he thrust into her aching cunt.

A rough growl tore from his throat and he squeezed his eyes shut.

“Rixavox?” Sessela murmured behind him quietly.  “Are you okay?”

He wanted to laugh bitterly at her question.  Nix, he wanted to say.  Madness was beginning to descend.  He wondered how long it would be before his Instinct took control.  It had been known to happen and it was something he feared.  If his Instinct was in control, he wouldn’t be gentle with her.  Luxirians enjoyed rough, primal matings, but did humans?  His luxiva seemed so small, so delicate.  He worried his darker lusts might hurt her if he allowed his Instinct free reign.

“Tev,” he said instead, not recognizing his voice.  “You may unclothe now.”

“You promise you won’t look?” she questioned.

“I promise, luxiva,” he murmured softly.  “On my honor as a Luxirian warrior, I will not look upon your nudity until you wish it.”

“Until?  Not if?” she repeated slowly, voice slightly breathless.  “You think it’s a sure thing?”

Even now she teased him with her words, when he was hovering between sanity and madness.

“Tev,” he growled out.  “I know it is a ‘sure thing.’”

He listened intently once he said the words.  He’d just as well as stated his intentions.  What she didn’t know was that he could not act on those intentions until she was healed, but he might as well be honest about it regardless.

His female was quiet, but when he drew in a small, rationed breath, he sensed her arousal.  Fates, he pleaded silently, have mercy.  Finally, he heard the slight whisper of her tunic as she began to unclothe.  It didn’t take her long, considering the thin material was all she wore.  He would purchase more coverings for her, he told himself, so she would be warm in his lands.  As soon as the twin suns rose, he would journey to the bazaar.

But there, in that sacred place, when it was only the two of them…he wanted her as naked as nature intended.

The tunic fell to the floor of the cavern with a small hush and Rixavox sucked in a breath, gritting his teeth together.  It was physically painful to know his mate was nude and only a few strides away…and he was looking at a facev wall.

He released a short breath when he heard the faint, glass-like sound of the water as she stepped inside.  Rixavox never thought he’d be jealous of water, but he envied the way it touched her body, how it wrapped around every inch of her soft skin.  He heard a gasp and knew she began to feel the effects of the Rillirax.

After a few moments more, he heard her voice.

“You can turn around now.”

Rixavox didn’t need anymore convincing.  He spun, his gaze immediately seeking her out.  Lust sizzled deep in his belly and he felt his muscles begin to expand, his shoulders bunching until he thought they might snap.

He’d never known lust until that moment.  Every female that had come before his luxiva, every meaningless mating geared to drive him to distraction, to a restless kind of fulfillment, fled his mind, erased into nothingness.  For in that moment, he knew true desire, true need.

Sessela was watching him from inside the pool, her gray eyes luminous with the silver light of the moon.  The water lapped at her bare shoulders, leaving behind a delicate sheen when it retreated, only to return.  The ends of her dark hair floated around her, moving in time with the soft ripples that broke the surface.

His eyes almost mistook her for a Rissatorax, an ancient, beautiful creature that could lure him to the edge of madness with a single look, who could pull him down into the blackworld and feast on his soul.  He would go with her willingly, he realized.  He felt her.  He felt the Fates’ power between them, tying them together in a way that very few could understand.

It was…humbling.  It was beautiful.  She was the only thing in all the universe that he wanted to see.  The only thing.

Sessela’s lips were parted.  And Rixavox swore that they were a deeper pink than they’d been just a few moments ago.  The Rillirax was working.  The Fates would help her.

Relief loosened his muscles and he knew then that she would be fully healed once Privanax gave her the final treatment.

“What do you feel?” he murmured, his throat rough like sand.  The words echoed in the cavern, sounding strange and yet familiar to his own ears.

“I…” she trailed off, a shuddering sigh escaping her.  Her eyes were wide, as if she was finally realizing the power of the Fates.  She could feel them there, as tangible as a touch.  “I feel…”

Rixavox couldn’t help but edge closer.  His legs ate up the distance between them and he felt the hot rush of his blood with every step he took.  Sessela didn’t move an inch.  She didn’t hunch further into the water, as he half-expected of his shy human.  Instead, she stared up at him, his Rissatorax, beautiful and defiant.

His lips curled at the sight of her.  There was her strength.  He sensed that at one time she’d lost it, but he wanted her to discover it once more.  He saw a hint of it now and when it was fully restored…it would be glorious.  His female warrior.

“It is hard to describe, tev?” Rixavox asked, crouching down near the edge of the pool before sitting back, settling into a comfortable position, his leg coverings creaking against the sharp stone.

“It doesn’t feel real,” she finally said.  The water trailed from her hand as she raised it to trace her lips.

Rixavox swallowed, greedily devouring the sight of her.  His female was sensual, devastatingly so.  She might not realize the effect she had on him, and, not for the first time, he was beginning to doubt his vow to Privanax.  Their time in the Rillirax would test him greatly, even more than his warrior training had.

“The water feels heavy,” she continued.  “And yet it feels as light as air.  And I feel…my body feels whole.  Complete.”

“The Rillirax helps heal many things,” he told her.  “Illness, a broken soul…grief or sadness, even.”  He swallowed thickly, remembering the many nights he’d spend in its waters.

She glided closer to him until her body was pressed against the rocky edge of the pool.  Her small, pale fingers grasped the edge and Rixavox traced the ripples that extended from her body.

“And what if you don’t have any of those things?” she questioned, her features relaxed, eyes reflecting the Luxirian moonlight that filled the cavern.

He huffed in slight amusement, not ever having thought about it before.  “I suppose it would just feel like a comfort then.  Nothing more than a soak in warm water.”

Sessela’s smile made his heart throb in his chest.  He moved his knees slightly so she would not see how his body ached for her.  After his own fumbling misunderstanding when they’d first met, when he’d asked her if she wished to mate after he smelled her arousal, he didn’t want to frighten her again.  She certainly hadn’t seemed to appreciate when he’d reached down to undo his leg coverings to free his cock.  And given what he now knew about human shyness when it came to nudity, to intimacy she’d called it, he now knew he’d made a grave mistake when they’d been at the command center.

His actions in regard to her that span shamed him now.  He shouldn’t have acted so carelessly, so impulsively.  With a newly awakened Instinct, however, his thoughts had been muddled.

Rixavox could only thank the Fates that she didn’t shy away from his gaze now.

“Will you be coming in?” her melodious voice asked, breaking him from his thoughts.

Without thinking, he purred in response and he heard her breath hitch.  The water around her moved slightly.  Then, he realized what her question implied…that they would be unclothed, together, in the Rillirax.

It seemed bold, coming from his skittish, shy female, especially since she’d asked him to turn around as she’d undressed.  It was unexpected, maddening, and forbidden to him.

His Instinct raged within him, urging him to wade inside, to pull his naked female against his body so he could feel every inch of her against him, to explore her with his touch, dip into the lush spot between her thighs and make her pleasure echo around the cavern.

Vrax, he cursed, gritting his jaw.  He’d never wanted anything more in his entire life span, even his position as Ambassador.  If given the option, he realized he’d probably relinquish his post if it meant he could have his female.  Right then and there.  If she would have him.

“Not this night,” he growled softly, his gaze glued to her.

Sessela gave a short nod, her gaze sliding away from him.  For a moment, he thought he’d stung her.  Did she believe that he’d rejected her just now?  Had her question meant what he’d hoped it had after all?

“Female,” he rasped.  He decided to be as honest and transparent as he dared.  It was the only way he could get her to understand.  “I do not trust myself with you.  You…tempt me in a way you cannot fathom,” he tried to explain and even then his words couldn’t convey the need he felt for her.  “It is better for us both if I remain right where I am.”

Her cheeks pinkened but her words surprised him.  “You are a charmer, aren’t you?  Kate warned me about you, you know.”

Rixavox stilled, remembering Vaxa’an’s female’s jest that he was ‘a total ladies’ man,’ whatever that meant.  But had Kat said more, once he’d left them to talk?  Vrax, he could only imagine what had been said.

“What did she say?” he forced himself to ask, unsure if he wanted to know.  Of course, he had a reputation.  Privanax had basically sneered down at him for it when he’d confronted him.

“That I should watch out for you,” Sessela said softly, tilting her head back a little to meet his eyes again.  “That you’re somewhat of a womanizer, if you know what that means.”

Rixavox might not have understood the exact word, but he understood her meaning perfectly.  Shame beat at him again, but he returned her gaze, hoping that she would see the truth there.

“I cannot change what I have done,” he said gruffly.  “Luxirians celebrate mating.  We worship sex and touch, the release of it, the strength it provides us.”  She inhaled a soft breath as he spoke.  “I admit that I indulged more than others.  Kat was not wrong in her assessment of me.”

It pained him to say these things because he did not know how his luxiva would react.  Would she shun him now, dismiss him because he’d been with so many others before her?  Would she be wary of him and shy away from his touch?

“She implied that you would try to seduce me,” Sessela murmured softly.  “And I have to admit that it seems you’re trying to.”

Rixavox muscles twitched under her gaze.  She didn’t understand.  She didn’t know what she was to him, what he was to her.  Humans didn’t have Instincts, so of course she wouldn’t feel the intensity of their connection as deeply as he did, at least at first.

What she didn’t understand was that even if he was trying to ‘seduce’ her as she accused, it was because she was his fated mate, because she made him burn with just one innocent look, because he could not shake her scent, her touch, her voice from his mind.  What she didn’t understand was that there would be no others for him, ever again.  He would never touch another female in his life span and—if she chose to stay with him, to stay on Luxiria and bond her life with his—there would be no other males for her either.

His past was hurting him in his courtship, it seemed.  Sessela assumed that this was normal to him, that he chased any female that caught his eye.  Once, it had been true.

“Know this, female, if nothing else…” he started slowly.  “You hold all the control over me.  I do nothing unless you wish it.  If you tell me to stop touching you when you are near me, then I will do it.  If you tell me to stop teasing you, then I will do it.  If you tell me to stop wanting you, I simply cannot, but know that I would try to hide it as best as I was able until I have returned you safely to the Golden City.”

Sessela was staring at him with her mouth slightly open.  Her brow furrowed slightly, but then it smoothed.

He let his words hang in the silence of the Rillirax, let her process them at her own pace.  They were words that needed to be said.  He’d made it fairly obvious that he wanted her, which she’d pointed out.  He’d never been a subtle male about his wants and desires.  But if those needs and desires made her uneasy, he would do anything he could to make her comfortable again.

They were the only words to be said.  He couldn’t tell her that he hadn’t been with another female in the past lunar cycle because it would be a lie.  He couldn’t tell her that she was his fated mate, either, or else it might frighten her away.

Rixavox watched as she wet her lips with her pink tongue.  Beneath the surface of the water, he could just make out the shape of her breasts before he flickered his gaze back to her eyes, trying to read his confusing, tantalizing female.

Her voice was husky and soft when she spoke.

“I don’t want you to stop any of those things.”

He felt her words sizzle straight to his cock.

Unrecognizable emotion swelled in his chest, but before he had a chance to react, she pushed away from the ledge of the pool and swam to the middle.

Rixavox watched with bated breath as his luxiva closed her eyes and fully submerged herself in the waters of the Rillirax.