SEVENTEEN

Sessela was quiet that night as they made their way to the Rillirax for her soak.

But he was on edge.  For the rest of the span into the night, he’d scented her need.  That scent had wrapped around his mind, addled his thoughts, driven his Instinct into a frenzy.  Even now, he could scent her arousal.

Every time he was on the verge of acting on his desires, he thought of Privanax, of his vow, and it kept him in line.  But only barely.  He still had four spans to spend with her on Velraxa, possibly longer if Privanax decided she needed more time in the Rillirax based on her scans.  He didn’t know if he could last much longer.

Rixavox took carefully measured breaths as they journeyed into the mountain.  Yet, his hands clutched her tightly to him, wanting things he shouldn’t want, maddening his Instinct.

The steady trickle of the Rillirax helped calm his frayed nerves.  He unbundled Sessela from the furs, which made her arousal all the more obvious.

“Female…” he grunted, his jaw ticking.

“What?” she asked quietly, looking up at him.  She seemed slightly jittery that night and she licked her lips to wet them.

He blew out a sharp breath and murmured, “It is nothing.”

Then he turned his back so that she could unclothe.  The routine was familiar to him.  As he stared at the silver pevrilla growing on the walls, he struggled with his control, which was more than familiar to him as of late.  His cock pulsed in his pants, his arousal even more intense at the scenting of her own.  It was unbearable.  He didn’t know how Vaxa’an had dealt with it, when he was courting his own human female.

The Rillirax was warm and humid.  Underneath the scent of his female, he breathed in the air of the mountain and it smelled like the brook he’d played in as a youth.

Rixavox heard the whisper of his luxiva’s tunic hit the stone floor and he swallowed, his gut tightening with want, with need.  He waited for the sound of her bare footsteps towards the water, for the sound of her dipping into the sacred pool, but he heard nothing.

His brow furrowed.  “Sessela?” he questioned, his gaze firmly in front of him, fidgeting to turn and make sure she was well.

“I’m here,” she said softly behind him.

“Is something wrong?” he questioned, voice darkening.

He heard her footsteps then, but she wasn’t approaching the pool.  She was approaching him.

Rixavox stiffened, his breath going ragged before he held it entirely.

“You can turn around now,” she said, her voice soft, steady, low.

“Luxiva,” he murmured, his cock as hard as the mountain stone beneath him.

“I want you to.”

Rixavox closed his eyes, trying to remember his vow, to not know her body in the way he wished to.  He felt it slip from his thoughts like water as he turned.

She was standing there, only a few paces away from him.  She was completely nude…and so beautiful that he almost had to look away in fear that he wouldn’t be able to control himself.

But he didn’t look away.

He looked at her, his greedy gaze sweeping over her since it had been starved.

Her dark hair hung down and tickled over pink, pebbled nipples.  Her breasts were small but full and his mouth watered as he eyed them, wanting to suck on her sensitive flesh, wanting to hear her pleasured cries ringing in his ears.  Her waist was slim but she had wide, flared hips that tapered into soft thighs.  And between those thighs…

He ran a hand over his horn, a purring growl building in his chest.

There was a light tuft of curls covering her cunt.  But even from his distance, he could see her pink lips and how swollen with need they were.

She was perfect.

Never had he been so struck with awe, with desire and hot lust, as he had right then, looking at his fated mate.

Undone.  He was about to come undone.  He could feel his control slowly beginning to fray and unravel.

He felt himself break when she asked, “Will you join me in the Rillirax tonight?”

*     *     *

Cecelia’s heart was thundering in her chest so loudly that she wondered if Rixavox heard it echoing around the cavern.

But beyond her nerves, she felt only need.  She needed him to say yes because she thought she might go crazy if she went another night without him touching her.  Her clit was throbbing in time with her heart and she felt wetness between her legs that the Rillirax would soon wash away.

“You do not know what you ask, luxiva,” he rasped, his gaze flickering down her body in a way that made her even more aroused.  His voice had darkened to the point where it was unrecognizable.

“I do,” she murmured.  “Rixavox, I want you.”

He inhaled a sharp breath and muttered something under his breath that sounded like a curse.  He ran another hand over his stiffening horns, fidgeting in place.

With more courage than she felt, she approached him.  He stilled, watching her with eyes that made her feel like prey…his prey.  She liked the feeling, strangely enough.  It empowered her and she felt her spine straightening in response, encouraging his gaze.

Cecelia reached down to take his palms.  She brought them up and kissed them both, before running her lips over the callouses and scars.  He growled loudly, eyes flaring, and Cecelia felt the power running through him, the energy he was using to restrain himself.  She wanted to unleash it.

It was then she knew…he wanted her just as much as she wanted him.  But he was holding back.  Why?

Slowly, she pressed her naked body into his clothed one, guiding his hands to her breasts.  She let out a shuddering sigh when she felt the strength of them brush her nipples.  He bit out a loud curse, or perhaps a prayer, as his palms closed around them.  Then he bent his head down to run his stiff horns across her cheek.

Into her ear, he rasped, “You drive me to madness, female.”

“Come into the Rillirax with me,” she pleaded, pleasure raking through her body at his touch.  “Rixavox, please.”

He groaned when she pressed closer and his hands ran from her breasts to clutch her behind, his fingers digging into the swells of her ass.

“I made a vow, female,” he said, his voice edging towards desperation, even as he squeezed her to him.

Her hips moved and she gave a feathery moan when he pressed his thigh between her legs, creating delicious pressure.  “W-what vow?”

“I vowed to Privanax I would not mate you while you are under my care,” he said, the words torn from his throat.  “He saw my attraction to you in the Golden City.  He knew…vrax, I told him that I would not mate you.”

“I don’t care what Privanax thinks,” she cried.  “I want you!”

The purr was deafening but it only increased her arousal.  She pulled away from him slightly, her gaze catching on his wild eyes, his tense jaw.  Between them, she tugged at his tunic until he got the hint.

With a groan, he pulled it over his head, baring his chest, those scars and nipple piercings.  Immediately, she did what she’d been fantasizing about doing since she saw them and she leaned forward, lapping at the metal bars with the tip of her tongue.

Rixavox roared.  It echoed around the cavern and she physically felt his cock jump through his pants against her belly.  Cecelia squeezed her thighs together, trying to relieve herself of the building tension, but it didn’t work.

“Say yes.  We don’t have to have sex tonight, if that’s what’s stopping you.  We can just be with each other,” she whispered against his flesh, darting her eyes up at him.  She felt dazed, drugged with pleasure and lust.  The way his body trembled against her, she figured he felt the same way.  “Please,” she begged.

She felt that her body might burn up before he ever answered.

But finally he did.  And his answer was him reaching down to untie his leather pants before he bent down to peel them off.

Cecelia’s lips parted, her eyes going wide when she finally saw him completely naked.

Oh my God.

She would remember the sight of Rixavox, bared and aroused, for the rest of her life.

He was magnificent.  She could see his strength, his power in the lines of his muscles, which were trim and defined, running along every inch of his body.  He was all male, broad and sexy with just enough of an unpredictable edge that made her ache.

And his cock…it was just as massive as she’d originally guessed.  It jutted up, proudly, from between his thighs and she could see it pulse with his arousal, up and down, up and down.

The head was engorged with blood and the very tip was shiny with an iridescent, shimmering fluid.  Pre-cum? She wondered, her mouth watering, wondering what he would taste like.

But the most surprising thing was that his cock, both the top and bottom, was lined with ridges.  Hard knobs that ran from his base to just underneath the smooth head.

Cecelia squirmed in place, rethinking her words that they wouldn’t have sex that night.  Because she wanted to feel that glorious cock inside her.  She wanted to feel those ridges rubbing against her sensitive, clenching walls.

No wonder Kate stayed on Luxiria, she couldn’t help but think in shock.

Cecelia was surprised by how turned on she was.  Never in her life had she felt this kind of sharp arousal, the kind of arousal where if she didn’t do anything about it, she thought she might spiral.  Sex with her past boyfriends had been ordinary.  She’d never orgasmed with any of them, but right then, she felt like she was on the edge of cumming just with Rixavox looking at her.

He let her look her fill but then he growled with impatience and lifted her up in his arms before she could say a single word.  He carried them to the edge of the pool, his steps hurried, and then, with a grace she would never possess, he gently lowered them inside the Rillirax.

That same feeling whenever she went into the sacred pool, that feeling of lightness, of strength, of unknown power…well, she felt it right then.  But it felt changed that time, morphed into something more.  That power felt erotic, that lightness settled around her like a touch, and that strength…it settled deep inside her until it made her feel whole again.

Rixavox was tall enough that he reached the bottom of the pool and Cecelia wrapped her legs around his middle tightly, making him groan.  They were face-to-face, equal, with the water lapping at their shoulders and he eyed her with those deep blue eyes as he settled his hands just below her ass.

Pressed into him like this, as the water of the Rillirax surrounded them, she’d never felt closer to another being in her entire life.  It was indescribable.

“Do you feel that?” she murmured, her entire body tingling with awareness.

“Tev,” he rasped.  “Always with you.”

Once again, she felt that nagging at the back of her mind, like there was another meaning to his words than just what he wanted her to believe in that moment.  Now, however, that knowledge didn’t scare her.  It didn’t frighten her.  She felt stronger from it.

In response, her gaze flickered to his lips and she leaned forward slowly, needing to feel them against her own.

Rixavox purred when she kissed him.  Her eyelids fluttered shut as she moved her parted lips against his.  She’d been right.  His lips were as soft as velvet.

Her spine tingled as he kissed her back, softly at first, before growing in intensity.  One of his hands ran up from her ass to the back of her neck, angling her head in a way she found extremely sexy.  And when their tongues met, she gasped.  His tongue was ridged, just like his cock.

Cecelia sighed and moaned into his kiss, squirming against his body, the throbbing in her clit becoming unbearable.

“R-Rixavox,” she breathed when they broke away for a brief moment.  His eyes were so dark they were almost black as he watched her.

“Please,” she whispered.  “Please.”

He shifted them until his back was against the edge.

“Tell me what you need, luxiva.  What you want,” he ordered.

She groaned in frustration.  She knew what she needed.  She needed to feel that cock inside her, needed to feel whole and young and desired and loved.

But they couldn’t, Rixavox had told her that.  And even though it pained her, she would respect whatever vow he’d made to Privanax.

At least for now.

“Touch me,” she said instead.

“Where?”

“Everywhere,” she murmured before leaning forward to capture his lips again.  She felt in control, one of the very few moments in her life where she’d felt in control of anything.  She liked it.  She was used to other people telling her what to do, where to go, where to be.  She realized, up until that very moment, that she’d taken a passive role in her own life.  It had started with her dad, letting him slowly back away from her life, not demanding that he stay.  It had continued with her cancer, when some days she didn’t feel like getting out of bed to get her next treatment of chemo.  Some days, she had just wanted to die in her bed, quietly, silently, alone.

The back of her throat burned and she found herself torn between anger, sadness, lust, and excitement, as confusing as it was exhilarating.  For once, she wanted to do something that she wanted.

Cecelia kissed him harder, pressing her breasts into his chest, feeling his nipple piercings against her.

And Rixavox did as she asked.  He touched her.  Everywhere.

He began at the nape of her neck and slid his hand down her back, those roughened callouses making her squirm in delight.  He circled her back and then brought his hands around her waist, circling her belly button, making her gasp, before moving again to explore her breasts.  All without ever depriving her of his lips.

Her soft moans filled the cavern as he plucked her nipples.  Cecelia’s legs tightened around his middle at the stimulation.  When he lifted her slightly with a buck of his hips, her nipples broke the surface of the water and then he was there.  With parted lips and a whimper, she could only watch as he bent forward to suck on one breast, laving her nipple with that ridged tongue.  Those hard knobs rubbed over her and she felt sparks of pleasure from the base of her spine, warming the entirety of her body.

He switched to the other breast, a steady growl a permanent fixture in his throat.  Then he ran one hand down as his mouth continued to suck, trailing it down her belly until he reached the place between her thighs.

“Oh,” she moaned, her head falling back, breaking their kiss.

Oh my God, oh my God, she chanted over and over again.  How could it feel so good?

His raspy groan lit her blood on fire as he delved his fingers between her folds.

He bit out something in Luxirian, but when he looked at her expectantly, she murmured, “English, honey.”

“Where?” he rasped.  “Show me.”

She understood what he was asking.  Perhaps Luxirian females were positioned a little differently down there, so she reached between her thighs to take his hand.

“Here,” she moaned, brushing his fingertips over her sensitive, hidden button.  He purred in response before she moved his hand again, showing him her entrance.  “And here.”

“Tev,” he hissed.  And right when her hand retreated, her male went to work.

And she should’ve known Rixavox would be a fast learner.

White hot pleasure burst through her body the moment he touched her clit.  He placed his thumb there, circling gently, but then he flexed his fingers and she felt a digit inside her.

She let out a desperate whimper, her hips bucking against him.

“Tight,” he hissed, his eyes flashing up to her.  She wondered if he was thinking what she’d already wondered: whether his cock would even fit inside her when they eventually got around to sex.

Because there was no doubt in Cecelia’s mind that they would.

Rixavox worked her over swiftly, finding an exquisite rhythm that had her moaning nonstop.  Every brush of her clit, every well-timed thrust of his fingers brought her closer and closer to the edge.

And when he kissed her while doing all this?

Heaven.

Just when she was about to cum, she realized she was being selfish.  In a daze, she reached under the water, reaching around his flexing wrist, to wrap her fist around his impossibly hard cock.

Rixavox bellowed into the cavern, making another sound in the back of his throat, a guttural purr, that she found sexy.

With his other hand, he grasped her wrist, stilling her hand as she moved it up and down over him.

“Luxiva,” he rasped, his horns completely straight, his dark irises flashing.  “Nix.  I will have no control over it.”

“Over what?”

He didn’t answer her question.  Instead he drew her wrist away, even as his hips bucked helplessly with her touch, and murmured, “Let me pleasure my female, tev?”

My female.  She liked those words a little too much.

But she nodded, letting it slide.  Later, she would get her hands on that cock.  She would convince him not to deny her.

“Kiss me,” she commanded.

With a rough groan, he complied, leaning forward to meet her lips.  Their tongues intertwined and it was the most erotic moment of her life: kissing this strong alien male in the Rillirax, the waters lapping at their aching bodies, as his hand worked between her thighs to bring her to an amazing orgasm.

It was still in the cavern as she began to cum.  She pulled away from their kiss, holding her breath, feeling familiar tingles begin to rise from between her legs.

Rixavox’s gaze narrowed in realization and he thrust his thick finger harder until her nipples tingled.

And then she was there…falling over the edge, her stomach muscles contracting in an erratic rhythm, feeling sharp, never-ending pleasure wash over body.

Between them, she felt the power of the Rillirax.  She physically felt that strange water move over her like a touch, increasing her pleasure, driving her up, up, up.  Until she came crashing down.

It was so intense that for a moment, she though she’d blacked out.  She heard a scream echo through the cavern and only belatedly did she realize it was her own.

And Rixavox never stopped, even when she grew sensitive.  He pushed her until she came again and only after that did she babble and beg him to stop.

Finally, he released her and she fell against his chest, limp and panting, shuddering with the last touches of pleasure stinging her body.

Cecelia felt a soft calmness, a happiness, as she pulled back to look at him.  In awe, she traced her fingers down his cheek, over his lips, down his chest.

His chest rumbled, but they didn’t speak.  They didn’t need to speak after something like that.

So, instead, she leaned forward, kissing the lips that were becoming more and more familiar to her.  And there, as the feelings she’d begun to fear grew further and further, she realized they didn’t frighten her anymore.

In the Rillirax, with Rixavox, she felt strong.  She felt like she was the woman she’d always needed to be.

So, when those feelings unfurled and blossomed, Cecelia let them.