FIFTEEN
Jostled awake, Cara blinked and looked around, realization of where she was returning in an instant. Devix had her in his arms. His skin was a swirling silver, illuminated by what took Cara a moment to realize was the sky.
It was nighttime, or at least she assumed so. The sky had turned a deep hazy grey, but the same streaks of swirling light lit up the sky, only instead of greens and blues, like it was that morning, it was a luminous silver.
“We have arrived,” Devix murmured to her, carrying her off the transport craft, as he’d called it. His own, not one that they rented, and Cara couldn’t remember where they’d picked it up. They’d taken many that day and she couldn’t help but wonder if it was because it just took a long time to reach their destination…or because Devix was taking extra precautions.
Cara blinked, trying to clear the sleep from her eyes. “We are?”
Her vision was slightly blurry as she looked around and she wondered how hard she’d slept. Obviously all day. The last thing she remembered was the central market that Devix had taken her to.
That memory cleared the last remnants of sleep from her foggy brain. The market had been an adventure, for sure, teeming with aliens of all species. Some looked at her, or Devix, who’d been walking beside her. Others paid her no mind. Either way, Cara was pleased with herself that she hadn’t minded. She’d been too busy trying to take it all in. The beings she’d seen had been dressed in bright, or pastel, or drab colors, all speaking different languages, some languages ethereal and flowing, others made up of guttural grunts and screeching trills she’d never be able to reproduce. Devix had spoken to every vendor they’d visited in the same tongue—Rozian, he’d told her, a language that had grown and evolved just like the colony.
And the vendors…dozens and dozens of vendors selling different wares or food or spices or clothing.
Devix pulled her from one stall to the next. The smells of one stall had drawn her in because the cooking meat smelled like richly marinated beef. Her mouth had been watering even before Devix had purchased lunch for both of them. And there, in the bustling, strange, loud market, she’d eaten her first real meal since she’d been abducted.
And it had been so good that she’d almost burst into tears right there and then.
Thankfully, she hadn’t, but Devix had watched her closely and squeezed her waist when they left.
It would’ve taken all afternoon just to see all the stalls, but by the time they were done, Cara’s feet ached and Devix’s pack was loaded with fresh, cold, raw meat, some strange roots he’d told her he liked, colorful balls of something she assumed was a kind of fruit, three sets of beautiful new clothes for Cara—even though she’d protested and said she could make her own—supplies that Devix needed wherever he lived, and little sacks of spices he’d told her to pick out.
It had been the most fun she’d had in a long time. Too much fun, since she’d fallen asleep like an exhausted baby not long after they took their final transport craft, cruising over miles and miles and miles of deserted, but lush land.
And now, she was in Devix’s arms, being carried bridal-style to wherever ‘here’ was.
“Is this where you live?” she asked, clearing her scratchy throat.
“Tev,” he murmured to her. “My dwelling. Yours now as well.”
Yours.
Cara swallowed, feeling heat creep up her neck. Why did that word feel so good?
Devix stopped, his footsteps soft under what looked like dark blue moss, highlighted from the swirling silver strands in the sky. He set her down gently, but kept her tucked into his side, his pack looped around his other arm.
“There,” he said, gesturing in front of them towards a dense grouping of trees. Except these trees were white and they looked…fluffy. A canopy of branches extended down and from them hung small pods the size of footballs.
But inside the thicket of the wild, tangling branches, Cara spied a small, domed structure. And as they approached, she knew that that was where Devix had chosen to make his home.
The dome was a light grey in color and looked to be made out of smoothed rock. It blended in with the trees so well that she knew Devix chose the color on purpose. Not for the first time, it made her wonder why he’d chosen to live his life in isolation. Or perhaps it hadn’t been a choice…
From the front, the dome had four windows of clear glass, similar to the ones on the spaceship, which would allow ample light to flood in. The door was a dark grey metal.
As they approached, it became larger and larger. And the trees became taller and taller until Cara had to crane her neck up to see the branches clearly.
The home was massive, even hidden underneath those giant trees. Devix glanced at her before tapping on the metal band around his forearm. Cara heard an echoing, thunderous click from the door and Devix unlatched it and pushed it open.
The groaning metal of the door protested and echoed around the small clearing and through the trees. If Cara listened hard enough, she swore she could hear them creaking.
“What’s that sound?” she wondered softly.
“The pillerva trees. They breathe, just like us,” he replied, before leading her inside.
She smiled, thinking that the sound was soothing.
“Let me light a fire,” he murmured to her, brushing her arm when they both stepped inside. It was slightly chilly, but the weather on Rozun was so far very agreeable. Nothing like the extreme heat at the Pit she’d experienced. And she would take being cold over being hot any day, especially if it meant Devix would warm her up anyways.
Cara licked her lips and blew out a breath.
Down girl, she told herself. She should probably let him get situated before she jumped his bones.
Golden light filled the house as Devix made quick work of the fire. Cara looked around after she managed to tear her gaze away from how the fire made golden colors dance over his skin.
The front half of the ‘dome’ was what she assumed was the living room. The floors were clean and a dozen vibrant rugs and furs were laid around the center, radiating out from a fire pit, like a patchwork quilt of deep indigos and emerald greens and eggplant purples. She’d recognized similar rugs from the market, earlier that afternoon. The living room was cozy and warm and she just wanted to sit in front of the fire with Devix all night.
Next to the living room was a slab of a dark rock the color of obsidian. Along the wall were metal hooks of drying plants and, perhaps, seeds or fruits. In the center of the obsidian slab was an even blacker, rectangular pit, and immediately Cara knew that it was used for cooking. The domed area above the ‘kitchen’—and in the living room on closer inspection—had hidden grooves in the stone to allow for ventilation.
The other half of the domed house wasn’t visible. Beyond the living room and kitchen, there was a wall, where she assumed the living quarters were, or perhaps his own version of a training room.
When Cara wandered over to the wall that bisected the house, Devix followed silently, letting her explore at her leisure. She found the hallway that allowed entrance into the back part of the house. The hallway was dark but Devix touched the side of the wall and it illuminated, lit by golden orbs that hung down from the high ceiling. Cara followed their path, her feet brushing against the plush furs and rugs that continued beyond the living room.
There were three doors at the end of the hallway. One revealed not a training room but a room that looked similar to the bridge on the spaceship, complete with a control panel and a large, silver screen that reflected strange writing she instinctively knew was Luxirian. Weapons lined the walls and parchments with ink were stacked neatly on a cleared table.
He has an office, she thought, turning from her inspection and shooting him a small, teasing smile. Although she wasn’t at all surprised.
The next door was a bathroom, similar to the one on the ship. It was much smaller than the office, but had its own shower tube and a silver chamber pot. Still no mirror, however, and she wondered if she could ask Devix to procure one. A girl needed her mirror.
The last room was the bedroom. And the only similarity to the bedroom he had on the spaceship was a curved, floor-to-ceiling window which opened to the dark, beautiful quiet of the strange forest surrounding his house. And just like in the living room and hallway, colorful carpets lined the floors, softening the stone beneath them. And the bed…it was raised on a metal pedestal, but the mattress and coverings themselves looked like heaven. Furs spilled off of it, brushing the floor, and Cara wanted to dive head first into them and sleep with Devix wrapped around her.
A part of her could hardly believe that she was there. That she didn’t have to worry anymore about being another prisoner, for another alien, on another planet. She was on Rozun, free, with an honorable male who’d given her another option, with a male that she was caring for more and more with each passing hour, something that should frighten her, but didn’t. She felt safe, protected, and cared for with him. That was what was most important.
Cara went to the bed and managed to hop up, spreading her palms over the furs, the softest she’d ever felt. They were all colors…white, brown, black, tan, grey.
Devix approached her, pushing off the threshold of the room, where he’d been hovering. Cara widened her legs, sitting just on the edge of the bed, and Devix came between them, pressing their bodies together, as if he needed to feel her against him. And she liked that. A lot.
Cara was almost eye-to-eye with him in that position and she looped her arms around his neck.
“Can you live here in comfort, female?” he questioned, his tone something she’d never heard before. It took her a moment to realize he was nervous.
Her lips parted because she knew right then that he truly wanted her to like it. Her opinion mattered to him.
“I love it,” she whispered truthfully, pressing her lips against his cheek, then the sharp bridge of his nose, and the hard, granite line of his jaw. Then his neck, where she couldn’t resist giving a little nibble. She felt his purring begin before she heard it.
“Tev?” he murmured, his voice changing into something she did recognize. Desire, lust…it roughened his voice and she felt it scrape over her skin.
“Tev,” she repeated in his language, a teasing smile on her face.
He made a sound in his chest, his eyes delighted as they roamed her face. “Do you need your male right now, luxiva?”
Her male. Yes.
She spread her legs wider in answer and was already regretting her decision to wear the pants she’d made. She’d have to stand to unlace them when she wanted him right then.
Devix blew out a breath that ruffled her hair and he tilted his forehead down to touch hers, that heart melting gesture she loved so much. She wondered if it was the Luxirian version of a kiss or a hug, something reserved for lovers and partners.
“I wish to show you something first,” he told her, catching her by surprise.
“Now?” she asked, running her hands down his solid chest, her fingers brushing his own laces on his dark grey pants.
“Tev,” he said. “This time of night in the valley is beautiful. You will like it.”
“Okay,” she whispered, intrigued. She couldn’t help but tease, “Give me a kiss first though, since you’re making me wait.”
Devix grinned then, the first full smile he’d given her and it was just as devastating as she thought. He was relaxed on Rozun, she realized. The lines of his shoulders were not as tight, the line between his brow not as prominent. This place was his peace, his true home.
His lips brushed her own and she drew a shuddering breath between them, tasting him, feeling him.
It was a kiss she never wanted to end…and she knew that it was just the beginning of something extraordinary.