SEVENTEEN
Beks came awake suddenly, dread making her eyes dart around the room, looking, searching, needing to see Lihvan. Her breath shuttered out of her when she saw him and she felt peace return, loosening the knot in her stomach and calming her heart rate.
He was resting on a pristine cot…in the medical bay…on a Luxirian space ship.
His people had finally found them. And just in the knick of time too. Any later and Lihvan wouldn’t have made it.
She’d refused to leave his side. One Luxirian male, named Cruxan, who had identified himself as a close friend of Lihvan’s and a fellow Ambassador to the Prime Leader of Luxiria, urged her to rest in her own private room, saying that Lihvan would want her to recover her strength.
But she knew she wouldn’t be able to get a lick of sleep unless she was near him. After many attempts, Cruxan finally gave up and had another cot brought in for her, which they had placed right next to Lihvan’s. It was where she curled up and rested and slept, while Lihvan did the same. Although he hadn’t woken since that night he’d defended her from that werewolf-like creature. And that night had been almost two days ago.
Beks still recalled the sheer burst of relief when she spied tall figures searching through the black vine forest on the planet they’d been stranded on. She’d been so much of a bawling mess that she’d actually startled a few Luxirians, so torn between gratitude and fear for Lihvan. He’d been bleeding out, growing more and more incoherent with every passing moment, and they’d saved his life by stabilizing him with an injection that immediately clotted his blood. Then, they carried him back to the ship, with Beks hot on their heels, fussing over her alien.
She was bathed, had on a fresh shirt, and fed…but Lihvan still hadn’t woken. And she’d give anything for him to be okay. She’d rather be back on the planet with him, before he’d been injured hunting, because at least he’d been there.
The door to the medical bay whooshed open and Cruxan and the Luxirian doctor they’d sent aboard this rescue mission stepped inside. Cruxan’s lips tightened when he saw that she was still in the room, but wisely kept his comments to himself.
“Has he woken yet?” he asked her instead, as if he hadn’t just been in the room a couple hours ago. It was obvious that Lihvan meant a lot to him. Cruxan had let slip that he’d gone through military training with Lihvan, that he’d been on the planet—which she now knew was called ‘Jalun’—during the hunt with him, which was why their Prime Leader had sent Cruxan instead of another Ambassador…because he knew the planet.
“No,” she said softly, watching as the doctor, whose name was Privanax, examined Lihvan and checked his readings on one of the ‘Coms.’ Privanax had given her an examination as well to ensure they hadn’t picked up any viruses from Jalun, and ever since, she’d been wary of the guy. She’d always hated doctors.
“Anything?” Cruxan questioned him.
“Nix,” Privanax replied. “Time is all he needs. The infection is still healing even though the wound from the prikkrax has closed over.”
Cruxan jerked his head in a nod, his gaze straying to his prone friend. Then his eyes rested on her, studying.
“Privanax, I need to speak with Beks,” Cruxan said.
Privanax inclined his head, casting her a look, and left the room.
Why was she suddenly so nervous?
Cruxan crossed his arms over his chest, managing to take up almost the entire medical bay with his sheer bulk. Were all Luxirians built like absolute tanks?
“Is this the ‘what are your intentions with my friend’ talk?” she tried to joke when he didn’t say anything.
His gaze narrowed in what she now recognized as Luxirian confusion. “What?”
“Never mind,” Beks mumbled, her gaze straying to Lihvan. “What did you want to talk about?”
He cut right to the chase. “Do you know about Luxirian mates, Beks? Did he explain it to you on Jalun?”
Her fingers twitched, heart aching. She remembered Lihvan finally telling her what luxiva meant…fated one. It had hit her. Hard.
She’d completely spiraled out of control for him in that moment. He’d been dying and she realized that love had very much entered a part of their equation right then.
“Yes,” she said softly. “He did.”
“There are four kinds of partnerships on Luxiria,” Cruxan continued, like she hadn’t answered. “The first, mating partners…or pleasure partners. Not for the purpose of producing children, as Breeding partners are. Then, there are joined mates, individuals who chose to live their lives together until the span they enter the blackworld. Finally, fated mates. The most rare partnership on Luxiria and the most special because it combines all three forms. Pleasure, breeding, but most importantly…choosing.”
“What’s your point?” she asked.
“I heard him,” Cruxan stated slowly. “I heard him call you luxiva. Back on Jalun.”
Beks swallowed, tears springing into her eyes. Jeeze, she was a crying mess lately. She’d never cried so much in her life than in the past week.
“I know what I am to him,” she said softly. “He told me.”
Cruxan’s head tilted back, studying her. She couldn’t get a read on this guy. One moment, he seemed kind, the next…closed off.
“The span after our planned arrival onto Luxiria, a vessel will be departing. All the human females from the Pit that wish to return to Earth will be on that vessel. We offer safe passage to your home planet, a chance to resume your life with your family and friends,” Cruxan said. He walked to the door of the medical bay and Beks looked at him with her heart in her throat. He glanced back at her and said, “I suppose what I wish to know is whether you will be on it or not.”
With those parting words and with one last cursory look at his friend, the Luxirian left. But his question remained inside the room, lingering, filling out the empty, quiet space.
She’d been asking herself that same question for the better part of the past two days, when she wasn’t fussing and worrying over Lihvan.
Beks imagined it. She imagined boarding that space ship once they reached Luxiria. She imagined turning around and seeing Lihvan wave her off, knowing that she would never see him again, knowing that she would return to her life on Earth.
She missed her home. She missed the city she’d grown to love and her apartment that she’d painstakingly decorated over the years. She missed the guys at work who always taped silly little jokes onto her three desktop screens. She missed her morning coffee shop runs and the ridiculous amount of aisles in American grocery stores and she missed driving around, blasting music, singing at the top of her lungs.
She missed her best friend, Kate, who wouldn’t be there anymore, who had either been kidnapped by aliens and auctioned off to God knows what or she was…gone for good. It was something Beks couldn’t think about.
She thought about her mom, in her home town, working at the local deli. She thought of their yearly calls, just to check up on one another and she wondered if her mother had ever regretted the way their relationship had turned out, like Beks always had. Beks wondered if she was lonely or if she was happy.
She looked down at Lihvan and watched the soft rising of his bare chest. She traced the defined muscles, the scars she’d come to memorize. The sure, steady pounding of his heart reassured her, calmed her.
Then she let herself imagine a life with Lihvan…the good, the bad, the difficult.
By the end of it, the truth became clear to her, a truth that had begun to shape and take form on Jalun. It was a gut feeling, something that had driven her her entire life and had never let her down when it mattered.
She’d never taken the easy road…so why start now?
* * *
Lihvan woke that evening, when the space ship was quietly humming along as the stars seemed to part for them.
One moment, she was staring out into space—literally—through the tiny window in the medical bay and the next, she noticed that Lihvan’s eyes were on her.
“Lihvan,” she gasped, scrambling over the side of her cot to his side. “You’re awake!”
“Luxiva,” he rasped, his voice scratchy and guttural. His eyes tracked over her, slowly, no doubt still a little groggy from the drugs Privanax had pumped into him. “You are unharmed?”
Beks gave a soft laugh from sheer relief. It figured that the first thing he would want to know after a deadly infection, after battling a monster three times his size, after bleeding out on Jalun…was about her well-being.
“Lihvan,” she breathed, leaning over him to lean her forehead against his. His skin was warm, but his usual warmth, not the sickly heat from the infection. His fever had broken only hours after Privanax had started working on him and for that, Beks would always be thankful for the doctor. “I’m fine…you’re fine. Cruxan found us. Your markers led him right to us and we’re on a ship heading for Luxiria.”
Lihvan’s eyes slid shut and he let out a shuddering breath. “Good. That is good, Beks.”
“Good?” she asked, smiling. That was her alien. “I’d say it’s better than good. You really scared me!”
His eyes flashed open. “I am sorry that I could not protect you better, female.”
Beks shook her head, disbelief coursing through her. “Lihvan, you—you killed that beast when you were delirious and weakened from the infection. You not only protected me, but you saved me. You saved both of us.”
“I should never have even put you in a situation like that.”
She sighed, running her fingers through his hair. It was tangled, but if he was feeling up to it, she could help him bathe. She’d only been able to wipe him down since Privanax didn’t want to move him until his body healed itself.
“You’re…impossible,” she murmured, but affection burst in her chest.
Her eyes ran over his body. He was mostly nude, except for small brief-like underwear that molded over the area she’d come to know very, very well. The wound on his side, the viscous bite he’d received from the monster was already closed, a scar beginning to form. Considering what it looked like just two days ago, she finally believed Lihvan when he said Luxirians healed quickly.
When she looked at his arm, it was healed as well. Privanax had cut away the rough moss thread that they’d threaded it closed with and instead used a laser to mend the skin.
Lihvan had been right. Infection on Jalun had most likely been inevitable for a injury like that. She was just so thankful that they’d been found in time.
Cruxan took that moment to appear, the door swishing open.
“Brother,” he nodded, walking to the foot of his bed. A term of endearment, Beks had come to realize, even though they weren’t related. “Privanax’s readings indicated your increase in heart rate. I figured you had finally done us all a favor and woken.”
Lihvan’s chest huffed. “I understand I should be worshipping the ground you walk on for finding us.”
Cruxan cracked a smile easily and Beks was surprised to see it. “That would be a fit payment, if only you were the type of male to be brought to his knees.”
“Perhaps I have been,” Lihvan murmured. Beks looked at him in surprise, a flush coloring her cheeks, and Cruxan’s gaze cut to her before returning to her alien.
“I am glad you are well, brother,” Cruxan said, gruffly. It was obvious to Beks that the two Luxirians had a history and knew each other very well. “Vaxa’an sent me immediately when we received your distress call. I just wish I had reached you with more haste.”
“You did reach us. That is all that matters. You have my eternal gratitude.”
“We are passing through the Nerolla territory,” Cruxan said.
“What does that mean?” Beks questioned.
Lihvan answered her, “It means we will reach Luxiria by the morning.”
“So soon?” she asked, furrowing her brows.
“Tev,” Cruxan said, jerking his head. “Vaxa’an has had your dwelling prepared in the Golden City. You may rest there and return to Kroratax after…” he trailed off, waving his hand in the air.
Lihvan’s gaze slid to her and Beks’ chest ached at his expression.
“Thank you, brother,” Lihvan said quietly.
Privanax entered just then, breaking the sudden tension that had fallen in the medical bay. With surgeon-like efficiency, Privanax gave him a full exam, scanning his body from head-to-toe with his instruments to ensure that no infection remained and that his wounds had healed properly.
By the end of it, Privanax gave them the all clear, unhooked Lihvan from the machines, and her alien thanked him as well.
“We will give you some peace,” Cruxan said. “Your quarters are prepared if you wish to rest there. We will be home shortly.”
With that, both Luxirians left and it was just the two of them. Silence stretched between them as Lihvan swung his long, muscular legs over the bed. He stood, while Beks hovered anxiously, but he seemed steady on his feet, strong. It took him a few moments to collect his bearings but then he said, “Come.”
She took his hand and they both left the medical bay, barefoot, practically naked. He walked them down the hall and took many twisting turns until they finally landed in front of a door. Even though this wasn’t the same ship that Beks had originally been on, the room inside was almost identical, except this one had a small window as well.
“Are you hungry?” she asked, when the door closed.
“Nix,” he said. “You?”
Beks shook her head and then she went to him, tenderly wrapping her arms around his torso, afraid for a moment that she might hurt him. But he crushed her to him, their bodies sticking together like glue, like he never wanted to let her go.
Tears welled up in her eyes and she buried her face in his chest. She didn’t know how long they stood like that, but finally, Lihvan murmured down to her. “Let us wash. And then rest. We have a busy span tomorrow.”
They entered the shower stall in the washroom that Beks remembered. The layout was the same as the other ship and she watched as Lihvan got the water running with just a few clicks on the silver pad installed on the door.
They stripped off, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Her alien warrior was still moving a little slowly, but unbelievably, she saw that his cock was hard.
“Does that thing ever go down?” she teased softly when they stepped underneath the hot spray.
Lihvan gave a soft grunt. “Nix, not around you.” He tilted his face back and Beks’ eyes tracked every drop that ran down his face, that wetted his dark brown hair into an inky black. It was stuck to his broad shoulders, but slicked back, it seemed to sharpen his masculine, strong features.
Beks went on her tip toes, pressing her breasts against his chest, and kissed him. Lihvan responded and the kiss was so sweet that it brought even more tears to her eyes. She thought that she’d be completely tapped out right about then, but apparently, her body had been hoarding tears for years, only to open the floodgates now.
That feeling came back to her, the one that had been growing and growing until it was an unstoppable force inside her, hard to contain. Instead of voicing those words, that she’d never said to any man before, she whispered against him, “I—I don’t know what I would’ve done if you…if you’d left me.”
They didn’t say anything else. Lihvan showed her how much he cared for her as he gently washed her body, running his warm hands over her flesh. When he massaged her scalp, she moaned and tilted her head back. She wanted to gasp out loud with each new inch he touched.
She did the same for him once she was cleaned, slowly exploring every last part of him. He kneeled as she washed his hair and rinsed out the soap and she felt him brush his surprisingly soft, full lips just below her breasts.
It was…overwhelming. His tenderness for her. Her feelings for him.
When he stood, he whispered down to her in a rumble, “Are you needing, female?”
Beks gave him a soft smile but nuzzled more closely into his arms. “Always, with you. But I just want to stand here. I just want to be here with you.”
Lihvan seemed to understand what she was asking for…and they both did just that. She savored it.
And even though she didn’t know what the next day would bring, with Lihvan at her side, she knew she would be ready for it.