TWENTY-TWO
Cara felt the cold sting of the blade at her throat, felt the cold body of the Azatian who’d tried to purchase her for his harem, to fuck at his leisure and cage.
And she could only look at Devix, who’d just burst from the edge of the forest, with his hands and claws covered in sticky black blood, not his own. Already, Cara knew he’d killed the other two Azatians and he didn’t have a scratch on him. He didn’t even have a weapon. He’d killed them with his bare hands.
One look was all it took to know that he’d do anything for her.
One look told her that she’d doubted him when she shouldn’t have.
Cara stopped her struggles, knowing they wouldn’t get her anywhere. Like Devix said, she only had so much strength. And hers was poorly matched against the alien holding her in the cage of his arms.
The few times she’d broken out of Devix’s hold during their training had been when she’d surprised him, taken him off guard. She could use that to her advantage against Sarkon. Maybe it would be enough.
Devix was perfectly still on the edge of the forest, but his gaze held a deadly intensity that almost made her shudder.
“I thought it would be beneath you, Sarkon, to come to Rozun,” Devix murmured quietly, his voice unrecognizable in its coldness. Cara realized then that she’d heard it before. When she’d first met him, he’d used that voice on her. Controlled, monotonous.
Slowly, it had warmed for her, as the days passed. She hadn’t even realized.
“When I have been betrayed,” Sarkon hissed in her ear, addressing her lover, “I will come to punish.”
“You believe you are a match for a Luxirian warrior?” Devix questioned. He raised his claws. “Your scouts were not. Their armor felt like parchment to me as I ripped through their chests and crushed their hearts.”
Cara sucked in a breath as the blade tightened against her throat.
Devix continued, “I made it quick for them. Your death, however, will not be if you do not release my female.”
Sarkon was quiet, but Cara could feel the way his heart thundered against her back. She could feel its unsteady throb even through his plated armor.
“Your female?” Sarkon repeated. Then he barked out an unexpected laugh, making her flinch. “I understand now.”
“You understand nothing,” Devix growled.
Sarkon addressed her, his voice mocking in her ear, “No wonder he kept you. No Luxirian would relinquish his fated mate.”
Her head swam.
Fated mate.
Oh my God.
Cara’s wide eyes sought Devix and he was watching her. He’d heard. And she knew, right then, that it was true.
And to think that just a moment before Sarkon had followed her, she’d thought she was just a pleasure mate to him.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. She’d been so wrong. About everything.
“I was planning to take her back to Azatia,” Sarkon said to Devix, the tip of the blade running down her throat in a caress. The hand that wasn’t gripping the blade came around to grasp between her legs, but Cara forced herself to hold still even as her flesh crawled from his touch.
Devix’s horns were ramrod straight in his fury, but Cara knew that her male was intelligent. He wouldn’t give in to the blatant provocation and she wouldn’t make it harder on him by showing her fear. So, she held his eyes, steeling her expression, giving him a brief nod, even though the blade dug into her flesh harder.
“I was planning to fuck her until I tired of her. If the rumors about human females are true, I would not tire of her cunt for a long, long time,” Sarkon rasped, his grip between her thighs tightening, but Cara showed no reaction. It was clear that Sarkon wanted her to, to rile up Devix. But she wouldn’t. “Now, however, I may just kill her, knowing you would take your own life afterwards. A perfect punishment for your betrayal, mercenary.”
“My betrayal must have cut you deep,” Devix growled, “for the lengths that you have gone. I did not know you valued my loyalty so much, Sarkon. I am just exiled Quadrant scum, after all.”
Sarkon stiffened against her and Cara saw Devix move slightly, readying.
Sarkon bit out, “You had your chance, mercenary. All you had to do was deliver her to me and Pidixa’s confession was yours. You chose wrong.”
Cara’s lips parted in realization. Pidixa. Arvalla’s brother, who’d lied and accused Devix of rape, who’d gotten him exiled from his planet, from his family.
Devix had said all he’d wanted was peace. He’d told her early on that when he delivered her to Sarkon, he’d have it.
But had he truly meant the chance to clear his name, if Sarkon had offered him Pidixa’s confession?
Oh, Devix, she thought, tears clogging her throat.
“I did not choose wrong,” Devix growled. She moved her head forward slightly, the blade pressing deeper into her neck. “I would always choose her.”
Sarkon barked out a rasping laugh and his chest moved against her, his grip loosening ever so slightly.
“You are a fool,” Sarkon said. “You—”
Cara took the opportunity. That was what Devix had told her, that all she needed was one little, tiny opportunity to escape.
So, the blade pressed into her own neck a little harder as she moved her head forward, but it allowed her greater force as she slammed her skull back into Sarkon’s face.
It took the Azatian by surprise, but Devix had expected it.
The moment that Sarkon’s grip loosened enough, Cara spun out of it. The blade caught her across the arm during Sarkon’s flailing to capture her again, slicing open the flesh, but her only thought was to get away.
Everything happened so fast.
And behind her, she heard Devix rush her captor the moment she was a safe distance away. She didn’t see Devix kill Sarkon, but she heard it. She heard the slash of claws, the crumbling of metal armor, and a sickening, gushing pop that she’d probably remember for the rest of her life.
And then she heard silence.
Cara halted, her hands trembling.
“Devix?” she whispered, eyes staring out at the vast expanse of the valley, at the shimmering lake below.
Please answer, please answer, she thought, dazed.
“I am here, luxiva,” he replied, his voice strong and quiet.
A sob tore from her throat and she spun around to look at him. He was standing between her and Sarkon’s still, lifeless body. Fresh blood coated Devix’s right arm, but otherwise, he was unharmed.
Cara rushed him and he caught her against his chest, squeezing her tightly in his arms. She didn’t care if he got blood on her. She was just so relieved.
“Are you okay?” she asked, reaching her hands up to his face. “Are you okay?”
“Tev,” he murmured, his eyes scanning her face. His voice was guttural with emotion when he asked, “Did he hurt you?”
“No, no,” she said softly, shaking her head. “I’m fine. You got to me in time.”
“You did well, luxiva,” he rasped, burying his face into the crook of her neck. His arms trembled around her and she realized she’d never seen him so shaken. “So well.”
“I’m sorry,” she murmured up at him, running her hand down his chest, as if trying to assure herself that he was okay. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left like that. I didn’t know—”
“We will talk about it, Cara,” he said. “For now, let us get back to the dwelling. I will need to make sure there are no others.”
* * *
There were no others. Cara had locked herself in Devix’s ‘office,’ the only room in the house that had a separate lock, as he’d gone out to patrol his land. Waiting there had almost been as nerve-wracking as those moments when Sarkon had been at her back, but she knew that Devix was stronger than them.
But she didn’t need to worry. He’d cased the entire area quickly and had found a small transport craft, only big enough for a few aliens the size of Azatians. He’d scented no others and in the morning, he’d go to Rozun’s center to ensure there were no other scouts left behind.
He’d told her this when he returned to her and immediately, Cara went to him, needing to feel him, safe, against her.
His arms were still coated in blood and she murmured, “Come.” She led him into the bathroom, concerned that he was so quiet, and she turned on the shower tube.
She unlaced his pants and undressed him before herself and then led him inside to wash away the blood.
“Are you okay, Dev?” she asked, feeling the water sting the slice on her neck and arm, which she’d wrapped while she waited for Devix.
“I—I could have lost you tonight,” he said, his voice guttural, echoing in the enclosed space as steam rose between them. “I have never known such fear, luxiva. Nothing has ever come close to that fear.”
Cara’s heart softened and she swallowed the lump in her throat.
“I’m here,” she told him, taking his hands, watching the dark blood lighten before swirling away. “I’m here.”
Devix wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his body. Slowly, he lowered them to the floor of the shower tube, his back against the glass, her in his lap. Water continued to spray from above, darkening his hair, which he hadn’t shorn in the past week. The strands were thick and lush and beautiful.
Slowly, Cara leaned forward and kissed him, trying to assure him that she was there, safe. He returned her kiss before dropping his forehead to her own, sharing her breath, holding her in the circle of his arms.
“I was hurt earlier,” Cara whispered, deciding she might as well be honest, considering everything that had happened that night. Devix met her eyes. “That’s why I left. When you told me about the trader who could get me back to Earth, I was surprised at how disappointed I felt.”
“Luxiva, I—”
“No, wait, let me get this out,” she said, touching his lips. He inclined his head and she continued, “I was hurt because all of sudden I started to wonder if you wanted me to leave. And it’s ridiculous thinking back on it now, but that’s what I thought at the time. I realized that you’d made me no promises about a future with you, even though in my mind, I’d started making plans,” she confessed. “It hit me all at once and I kind of freaked out. I thought that I was only…a pleasure mate to you, nothing more.”
Devix’s brow furrowed, his expression growing grim.
“But I’m not, am I?” she whispered, the words that Sarkon said bouncing around in her mind.
He swallowed. “Nix, you are not just a pleasure mate.”
“I’m…I’m your fated mate,” she said softly, her eyes searching his as she spoke the words. “I’m to you what your parents were to each other.”
The confirmation was in his gaze. He inclined his head and his eyes burned brightly as he murmured, “Tev, my luxiva.”
Her lips parted. That was what luxiva meant? But he’d been calling her that since…
“How long have you known?”
“From the first moment,” he answered and a prickle of awareness rushed over her arms. “My Instinct began to awaken before I had ever even heard your voice.”
“But that was…”
That was at that disgusting bar on Petrika. She’d spoken to him for the first time after he’d taken her from there, when they’d been walking down the empty, filthy streets.
He’d known even then.
“It awakened fully when I saw you for the first time,” he added, “at the night rooms, after you fought against me.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked, dazed, but even as she asked him that, she knew why.
“How could I?” he replied. “I hated myself for even thinking that I could give you up to that Azatian filth. I tried to deny what was happening, but in the end, I could not. I would not. Then, when I brought you here…I had vowed that I would find you a way back to your home. If I had told you that you were my fated mate…I could not take another choice from you when I already had much to atone for.”
“You don’t owe me anything, Dev,” she said softly, gripping his shoulders. “I already forgave you for that. I understood why. And now I understand even more…after what Sarkon said.”
“About what?”
“Pidixa,” Cara murmured and Devix’s eyes slid shut for a brief moment, his head dropping back to the glass of the shower tube. “Sarkon had him?”
“His confession, tev.”
“You could have cleared your name with that,” Cara said softly. “And instead…you chose me.”
“Always,” he said, his gaze snapping open to regard her. “Nothing matters more than you, female.”
“But…you could’ve returned home. You could’ve seen your brother again,” she whispered.
“Rozun is my home now,” Devix said, stroking down her bare back. “I have made peace with my exile. I would have liked to see my blood brother, to speak with him and apologize, but I would have never given you up for the chance. You must understand that. Tell me you do.”
“I do. I do understand,” Cara whispered, leaning her forehead against the side of his neck, wrapping her arms around him. “I don’t know what I did to deserve such a wonderful…well, mate, I suppose,” she murmured, smiling a little.
It was bittersweet for her, knowing that he’d given so much up for her.
“Will I be your mate then, female?” Devix asked quietly. “Will you accept me as such?”
She pulled back to look at him and she cupped the side of his face, her fingers tracing over the scar that his brother had accidentally given him.
Cara smiled and said, “I realized this past week that I couldn’t imagine saying goodbye to you, even if you’d somehow found me a way back home. I’m falling in love with you, Devix.” His chest rumbled in a purr, pupils flaring. She continued, her voice dropping to a whisper, “And I’d already made my mind up to stay, even before I knew what we are to each other. And I think that maybe I have an Instinct of my own and it chose you too.”
“Luxiva,” he rasped.
“Now, shhh,” she murmured, kissing the side of his face, brushing her lips over the bridge of his nose. “We have a lot to figure out, but we have time. Lots of it. And right now, I just want to cuddle because you’re so damned good at it, among other things.”
Devix huffed out a surprised laugh and Cara had never heard anything more beautiful. She had it so, so bad for her Luxirian.
“You say you did not know what you did to deserve me,” he murmured, his arms wrapping around her, the water still cascading over them from above.
His lips pressed against hers and she felt his words whisper across the space between them.
“But, luxiva, I do not know what I did to deserve you.”