TEN
Lihvan cursed himself when he introduced his mother’s memory. He kept her tucked away in his mind, in a safe place, where he could visit her and remember her in peace. Now, she was floating around on this hellish planet, when all Lihvan had wanted was to keep her safe. Raw emotions were building up in his chest, like they always did when he remembered his family. Whenever his grief had reared its head before, he’d retreated to work out his frustration and sadness and anger in private.
Now there was nowhere to run.
Lihvan looked at Beks, at her golden hair, and watched as she mimicked what he’d shown her with a furrowed brow. She’d insisted on trying, even though a part of Lihvan ached to provide everything for her. He was learning, however, that she was an independent soul and the other part of him liked that she didn’t shy away from working hard.
Beks tapped the crystal at its weakest point with another one, loosening the strong membrane around it, before setting it inside the notched stone. The fire worked its magic and the membrane began to dissolve with the heat, leaving behind a filmy metallic liquid. Once it boiled down, she used the clean piece of Lihvan’s tunic to strain out the metals.
“Good,” Lihvan said, jerking his head down.
Beks looked at him with a small smile, tucking a golden strand behind her ear. Her cheeks turned an enticing pink and Lihvan’s Instinct prowled inside of him. His hands twitched, wanting to reach out and hold her close. He wanted to kiss her on her pink lips, like he’d seen Vaxa’an and Kate do, a human gesture that looked like a mating of the mouths. The thought set his blood on fire and his cock throbbed at the image in his mind.
“You learn quickly,” he said, trying to shake off the arousal that coursed through him like Luxirian brew. His voice sounded so thick that he was surprised his female understood him.
“You are a patient teacher,” she replied, looking up at him underneath her thick lashes. Another punch of lust hit him hard in the belly and he breathed deeply, trying to regain control, but then regretted it. Her scent was all over the alcove. He couldn’t draw in a breath without her filling his nostrils. It made his muscles bunch and strengthen as his body and his Instinct prepared to mate her.
Lihvan almost laughed. What did he know about mating? Absolutely nothing.
His shameful secret, that none but him knew, was that he’d never mated with a female in his life. It was unheard of, especially for a Luxirian. Their race revered the elementals: food, war, and sex. It was why Lihvan had kept it to himself. After he’d been scarred, after his horn had been chipped, females rarely showed interest, even with his high status and rank as not only an Ambassador, but a war general.
Of course, the Jetutian virus that wiped out most of their females and rendered the remaining ones infertile certainly hadn’t helped. But Rixavox and Cruxan, two fellow Ambassadors that he considered brothers, still managed to have their share of females, Luxirian and otherwise.
So, as he looked at Beks, at war with his body and Instinct, he wondered if he would even be able to bring his female pleasure. He was inexperienced. And she was not even of his kind.
“It’s gone up, like, twenty degrees in here,” she murmured, eyeing him. She licked her lips and Lihvan began purring before he made an effort to stop. He may not have experience when it came to mating, but his Instinct knew what it would do.
Lihvan pictured Beks on her hands and knees. He imagined how it would feel to be buried in her hot cunt, to feel her around him until he lost his mind at the pleasure. He wanted to take her hard. Lihvan had always been so tightly controlled, always the logical one, the sensible one…but when he thought of mating his female, he wanted to mark her, bite her. He wanted to hear her screaming his name, wanted to give her so much pleasure that she became as mindless as him. He wanted to shoot his seed so deep inside her that she would always feel him there.
A sweet, musky scent filled the air and when he inhaled, he groaned, his pupils dilating, his fists clenching. It was her arousal. She was getting aroused, probably in response to the pheromones his own body was giving off. His Instinct had chosen her as a compatible Breeding partner, but his gut told him that she was something more. They would respond to one another. It was only natural.
Beks lips parted, her eyes going slightly glassy. “Lihvan…”
With a growl, Lihvan pushed off the floor of the cave and said, “I am going to find something to make into a weapon. I will return shortly.”
“But—”
He turned his back, practically stumbling down the tunnel to the open clearing. He felt drunk on her arousal and he needed fresh air to clear his hazy mind. When he reached the entrance of the cave, he drew in deep, greedy breaths and let the biting cold numb his body and calm his blood.
The planet was a nightmarish place…but he was thankful for the intense chill that sank into his bones. He needed focus.
When he felt his control return, he ventured into the howling, frosted winds. Always keeping an eye on the entrance of the cave to make sure Beks was safe, he searched for something he could make a spear or dagger with. He would need to hunt once the sun rose. If the Jetutians found them, he would also need a weapon to defend his female with.
Once he located a stone he remembered from his hunting spans, he collected it and returned to the cave. He wouldn’t be able to make a throwing spear, but it would do nicely for a sharp dagger, once he carved it to precision.
Beks was watching the fire when he returned and he felt a measure of guilt that he’d bolted out so quickly. He’d never been a coward and he didn’t want to start being one now.
He sat down with his back against the cave wall, near her.
“I apologize, female,” he murmured quietly. “I need to clear my mind sometimes. I do not like feeling my control slip.”
An emotion he couldn’t recognize flashed in her eyes. “You need to be in control all the time?”
“What makes me a good war general and warrior is that I always have control…over my mind and body. Without it, I am nothing but a thoughtless beast, acting on impulse.”
Beks looked at him for a long time before she murmured, “That might not be a bad thing every now and again.”
Lihvan inhaled sharply. Mere moments ago, he’d returned to her and already, he was losing it. Vrax, he cursed, grabbing at a water crystal so he could start carving a weapon. Dark desires danced in his veins, quickening his blood and heart. He needed a distraction.
They lapsed into silence. Every single moment made Lihvan’s cock grow harder and harder until he feared that it would rip through his leg coverings. Never in his entire life had he been this aroused and for so long. It was a constant state around his female and for a moment, he took pity on Vaxa’an. His friend and the Prime Leader of Luxiria had probably suffered the same unrelenting condition while courting his human mate.
Lihvan had just managed to shape a rough version of his weapon when Beks asked, “Are you thirsty?” Lihvan slid his eyes to her. “This water is cooled down.”
She held up the notched stone and Lihvan saw the clear water. Beks lifted it and approached him on her knees when he nodded. Her full, tantalizing breasts swayed with her motion and Lihvan swallowed a groan.
“You first, female,” he commanded when she reached him. He helped her steady the stone as she tipped it slightly, taking a mouthful of the liquid. “More,” he murmured.
Obediently, she took another sip. Then she tipped it forward for him and he drank the water, never taking his eyes off her. Something settled in his bones, a simple and intense satisfaction, just by sharing something necessary with his female. It called to him, the rightness of it.
Beks lifted the stone away and set it back on the ground. Before she returned to the fire, she eyed the drop of water that spilled from the corner of his mouth and swiped it up with her finger…before sucking it clean.
Lihvan couldn’t contain his groan that time and he closed his eyes.
Control, control, control, he told himself. He’d told her the truth on board the Luxirian vessel. If they ever mated, he didn’t think he could let her go. If he lost control…their mating would be inevitable, the proper Luxirian customs be damned. For both of their sakes, he couldn’t afford to spiral.
But he had never seen a more tempting sight.
His movements were jerky, not smooth, when he returned to shaping the dagger and silence fell again, as Beks prepared another water crystal in the stone.
When she was finished with her task and was letting it cool, Lihvan could feel her eyes on him. She wasn’t shy about it and Lihvan found that he liked her boldness. His flesh prickled in awareness as her gaze traveled over him, flitting from his face to his bare chest, his shoulders, his arms, his thighs…between his thighs. When her eyes settled there, Lihvan could pick up the subtle shift in her breathing, could see her shifting her legs from her position near the fire.
Lihvan stared at his hands as they shaped the stone. It was then that he knew his control was doomed. He couldn’t be this near to her, smell her, see her without eventually breaking. To think that he could had been foolish.
“Can I ask you something?” came her husky voice.
Lihvan swallowed. When he looked up at her, his Instinct called to him. It said:
- Mate. Fuck. Possess. -
“Tev,” he said quietly, voice darkening, her arousal beginning to register.
“Are you attracted to me?” she asked, her gaze level, observing quietly, even though her lips were flushed red. “Or do I look too strange to you?”
Dangerous ground, he thought. “We do not look so different.”
“And yet we do.”
“Why do you ask me this?” he asked, his mood turning slightly sour because he knew he would lose this battle of wills. And losing was something that Lihvan wasn’t used to…but he would gladly learn with this female, he realized.
“Because your cock is always hard,” she said, bluntly, and Lihvan felt a thrill of shock and lust twirl inside him. “But you don’t seem to want to do anything about it. At least with me. I can’t get a read on you because sometimes I think you are attracted to me, but sometimes I think you’re not. Is it because I’m not a…a Luxirian?”
“Nix,” Lihvan burst out roughly, feeling that spiral coming on as disbelief plagued him.
His female didn’t think he was attracted to her.
That was not something that he could fathom. Perhaps he had done this all wrong. Perhaps he should’ve claimed her, should’ve made his needs and lusts clear from the moment he saw her. Instead, he’d tried to hold back, tried to be an honorable Luxirian warrior, tried to give her space—or himself space—so that the inevitable separation would be easier.
Lihvan didn’t know how much more he could take.
“So which is it? Because if you’re not attracted to me, then I—I understand. And I won’t come on so strong, I promise. My best friend always said I was too flirty for my own good,” she continued, watching him.
“Flirty?” he grunted.
“Yeah…with men. I don’t mean to most of the time, but I do things without thinking on occasion.”
All of Lihvan’s breath left him and he growled, hackles rising as her meaning became clear. His jealousy pulsed in time with his cock and Beks looked at him in surprise, lips parted.
“With…males,” he repeated, his voice unrecognizable.
The thought of his female with other males, even human ones, made both him and his Instinct want to roar. He wanted to track down every last male that had been flirty with her and rip them into a thousand pieces.
“Lihvan?”
He was growling now, his muscles growing, expanding. The sensible part of him worried that he might frighten his mate with his jealousy, but when he scented her spiked arousal, it put his mind at ease.
Which gave his less sensible part free reign.
In an instant, Lihvan lunged for her, tossing his not even half-finished weapon to the ground. His female gave a little squeak of surprise when he caught her around the waist, pinning her to the ground of the cave. She looked up at him with wide eyes when he pressed his lower half into her body, between her splayed thighs. He groaned when he perceived her heat and then rasped, “Does this feel like I am not attracted to you, female?”
“N—no,” came her shuddered, half-choked whisper and Lihvan inhaled another wave of her arousal, fueling his own. He rocked his hips against her, building up a friction between them, and he wanted to toss his head back and roar at the pleasure. “Ohhhh,” his female moaned and Lihvan had never felt so much satisfaction. Not even when he’d been granted his rank.
“Let me show you how attracted I am to you, luxiva,” he growled, grabbing the hem of his tunic that shielded her body from view. He yanked it over her breasts, his Instinct purring at the sight. Full and round and lush.
“Oh my God,” she gasped when he suckled on one of her pebbled nipples. They had been driving him to madness every time he’d caught a glimpse of them puckering his tunic. He lashed one with his tongue, his breaths harsh and eager against her warm flesh, before switching to the other. “Oh yes!”
Leaving her breasts, his Instinct guided him down between her legs, anticipation running high. Rixavox had once told him that he loved licking a female’s cunt, that it brought the female great pleasure. Even though Lihvan knew he couldn’t mate her fully—not without claiming her as his until the span they passed from this life—he wanted to bring Beks pleasure. He wanted to feast on her arousal until it became a part of him.
Her cunt was glistening and swollen. For a moment, Lihvan rested his head against her inner thigh, rubbing his horns across her flesh. Equal parts of him wanted to savor this yet set upon her like a beast. He reached his threshold of waiting when he saw her cunt gush in response to his gaze.
With a growl, Lihvan dove forward and licked up the trail of cream. Beks’ entire body bucked, her back arched, and for a moment Lihvan thought that he’d hurt her. He was just about to apologize when she gasped out, “Your…your tongue is ridged.”
Lihvan’s brow furrowed. “Tev.”
Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes bright. Her lips curled. “What are you waiting for? Do you want me to beg? Because I will.”
Lihvan huffed out a breath sharply, thinking that his female would never be one to beg. Still, her taste was like the finest brew on his tongue and he craved more.
“I will make you beg later,” he purred.
Her breath hitched and then her mouth opened in a wordless scream when Lihvan latched his mouth over her cunt. And then he didn’t let go.
He lapped at her quickly, his tongue exploring every part of her. He learned that she moaned uncontrollable when he licked a little hidden nub of flesh and that her head thrashed from side-to-side when he dipped his tongue into the very depth of her, tasting her heat and feeling her tightness.
He couldn’t help but wonder whether his cock would even fit inside her, but then he shut down those thoughts. He would never know her that way and the sooner he accepted that, the better for the both of them.
Instead, he savored her taste and memorized her sounds. His female tasted divine. He imagined waking her like this, with his head buried between her thighs, worshipping her the way she deserved. Her breathy, soft moans filled his ears, making his chest rumble and a purr rose in his throat. When his tongue began vibrating over her cunt, her moans turned to screams and then she froze, back hunching, toes curling.
His female exploded on his tongue and he lapped at her, not wanting to waste a drop of her arousal as it flowed from her body. Her breath was ragged when she finally fell limp but he continued between her legs, rocking his hips against the hard stone of the cave.
“Lihvan,” she breathed. When his eyes flashed up, he saw that despite the chill, a slight sheen of sweat had broken out across her forehead. “Lihvan…I d-don’t know if I can cum again so soon…if you…uhhh—”
A groan was pulled from her throat as he snaked his tongue inside her, as far as he could go. Beks grasped his horns mindlessly, trying to push him away but also bringing him closer, torn between the two actions. What she didn’t know was that Luxirian horns became sensitive during arousal. When her hand curled around them both, he could feel her touch travel down to his cock.
Lihvan rocked his horns into her hands, acting on pure, selfish instinct. When her grip tightened, he growled against her, a moment away from shooting his seed inside his leg coverings.
Nix, he thought. This was about her pleasure, not his own. He needed to show restraint and control. So, with every muscle in his body tight, he resisted the urge to orgasm, even though he was licking his female’s cunt. That thought alone would have fueled his filthiest fantasies for rotations.
And it will, he thought. Once she had gone, he would think of this moment.
Her hands squeezed his horns harder as she orgasmed a second time. Lihvan groaned roughly, but continued to devour her, straining not to follow her into pleasurable bliss.
Still, he didn’t let up once she recovered. Her third orgasm came more quickly…and then her fourth followed.
It was only after that, once she was begging in between gasps and shuddering moans, that he showed her some mercy.