NINE
After a short nap cradled against Lihvan’s body, Beks woke to the sight of the fire and the sound of high pitched screams. She jolted, but then Lihvan’s arm tightened around her, his voice murmuring, “It is the wind through the tunnel. Do not be afraid.”
Beks gradually let herself relax, her heartbeat racing, and then she glanced behind her, clearing her scratchy throat. “I’m sorry I fell asleep on you.”
“You needed the rest,” was all he said. He hadn’t moved an inch, from the looks of it, and she probably had sleep hair and a line of drool. She wiped her mouth as discreetly as possible just to make sure and then disentangled their limbs.
She instantly regretted it. While the fire had warmed up their little alcove quite a bit, it was Lihvan’s heat that had been keeping most of the chill at bay. The wind that rattled around in their cave felt like an air conditioning unit cranked to lowest possible setting, blasting across her skin…in Antartica. Goosebumps rose on her arms and a shudder racked her body, but she told herself that she needed to be useful while they were stranded on this planet. She could handle the cold. Beks couldn’t cleave herself to Lihvan the entire time they were there…it wasn’t practical.
When she looked at the alien who continued to be the object of her growing obsession, his eyes were glued to her chest…namely her nipples pebbling his shirt.
Typical male, she thought, lips parting, feeling her body react to his obvious attention. Which was nuts. Completely nuts. They were stranded on a dangerous planet, with virtually nothing, and she was thinking about sex?
Her eyes dropped between his legs and saw his hard cock pushing against his leather pants. Beks blew out a breath, her pussy beginning to flutter with arousal, and she saw Lihvan’s nostrils flare.
“Female,” he grated, his jaw tight. “You must stop.”
“Stop what?” she asked, darting her gaze to him almost guilty. She’d been caught checking out his junk.
“I can smell your cunt,” he growled.
Beks didn’t know if his crude words turned her on even more or not. But she felt his powerful voice to the very tips of her cold toes.
“You…” she licked her lips. “You can…”
“Tev,” he said, his frown not budging an inch. His erect cock was so big that it literally cast half of his pants in shadow from the firelight.
“I can’t help it,” she argued. “Besides, you’re the one who looked at my nipples first!”
Lihvan swallowed and his eyes strayed downwards to her chest again, as if proving her point. Were his horns straightening?
Then he grunted and looked away, pushing himself up in a graceful stand. Their alcove suddenly seemed a million times smaller with his broad chest, muscular thighs, and massive height taking up much of the room. The fire highlighted the eight square muscles lining his abdomen and Beks wondered what it would be like to run her tongue around every defined one.
She remembered her wanton display the last time she’d seen him. She remembered the dent in the wall he’d left behind. She pictured Lihvan pressing himself into it so hard as he watched her masturbate. And again, she wondered if he’d done that because he was taken aback by her actions or because he’d been on the verge of lunging for her…
He said that if they mated…he would never let her go. She’d responded to the possession in his voice then. She’d craved it. Now? She felt like if he did claim her, she’d never be the same again.
That thought was enough to make her back off a little. It scared her. What was it about him that scared her so much?
Dropping her gaze away, she said, “Let’s, um…let’s do something.”
Nice, Beks, she thought with a mental eye roll.
“Are you hungry?” he asked, without missing a beat.
“A little,” she admitted, surprised that after the events of that day, her stomach could want food. “But I can wait until the morning.”
Lihvan frowned, his scar pulling his cheek. “I will hunt for you.”
“No, really,” she insisted, berating herself for not lying in the first place. “It’s dark and way too cold. I don’t want you going out there. Please. Let’s just get some of those water crystals you talked about earlier. I might just be thirsty.”
After all, when they’d crash landed, it had been blazing hot. She was probably just slightly dehydrated.
To her relief, Lihvan nodded but then said, “You stay here. It is dark where the crystals are and they are sharp. I do not want you injuring yourself.”
Beks lips pulled into a frown, but then she agreed, “Okay.”
“No following me this time,” he said, eyeing her.
Her lips quirked the other way. “I promise I won’t.”
Beks watched him disappear out of their alcove and down the cave tunnel. His scaled skin had appeared golden in front of the fire but turned a darker blue shade as he rounded the corner.
Beautiful, she couldn’t help but think. Everything about him fascinated her and she worried that if they ever got off this planet and back to some kind of civilization, would she be able to break this weird little crush she had on him?
Another problem for another day, she decided, her gaze flickering to the fire. Lihvan returned shortly. In one arm, he cradled seven or eight shards of silver crystals. They were about a foot long each and bounced light all over the alcove as he walked towards the fire. In the other arm was a black stone, with a small rounded notch the size of her palm.
“What’s that for?” she wondered.
“We need to boil the crystals to extract the liquid,” he said, setting down the crystals and turning the stone in his hands. “I will need to carve it down more.”
“Let me do it,” she said, wanting to be helpful. “You’ve already done so much.”
He was on the verge of denying. Beks could see it on the tip of his tongue. However, for a moment he eyed her and she got the eerie sense that he could see everything about her. It made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and it had nothing to do with the freezing cold air blowing into their shelter.
Beks was still shocked when he sat down next to her, his thigh brushing her knee. He handed her the stone, which felt about thirty pounds heavier than it looked. Lihvan had carried it with such ease, but her biceps strained until she set it down in front of her.
“You can use this,” he said, handing her one of the crystals. By contrast, the crystal was surprisingly light. “It is very strong until the outer casing is boiled down. It is a good tool to carve with.”
Experimentally, she brought the crystal’s edge down into the stone’s notch, hard. To her surprise, a large piece of stone flaked off, like pastry. Lihvan nodded in approval next to her and Beks felt her chest warm a little, finally feeling like she could contribute.
“On this hunt that you talked about earlier,” she said, intensely aware how close he was to her, “how long did you stay on this planet?”
“Eight spans,” he replied.
In addition to guessing the meaning of tev and nix, Beks had also deciphered that ‘spans’ meant ‘days.’
“Were you alone?”
“Nix,” he said, proving her assumption. “There were three others. One died during the hunt.”
Beks’ lips parted, her hand hovering above the stone. “I’m sorry. Was he—or she—your friend?”
“No, we did not know one another well. It was a military training exercise, early on,” he said. Then he frowned. “Females do not hunt.”
Beks bristled slightly and she turned her head to ask, “Why couldn’t they? You don’t think we’re as capable as men?”
She swore she saw his eyes soften. His hand brushed through the strands of her hair and down her back. His gentle, intimate gesture shocked her into silence and that damned annoying feeling squeezed her chest again.
“Females are much too valuable to be subjected to the possibility of death, Beks. I meant no offense,” he murmured. God, she could listen to him say her name all day. His accent softened the harsh syllable and it floated into her mind. “The thought of an injured female…most Luxirian males would rather offer their own lives in exchange.”
Beks hesitated. “Really?”
Lihvan gave that head jerk. “Tev.”
“Luxirian?” she sounded out slowly. “Is that what your kind is called?”
Another jerk. “Tev.”
“And…” she started, licking her lips, resuming her chipping. “Is that why you saved us? Why you risked your lives to free us from that place? You just go around all the galaxies, rescuing women? You must have quite a fan club,” she joked, but thinking about said fan club made her carve harder.
Lihvan didn’t smile though, not like she’d ever seen him smile. “Our Prime Leader participated at the Pit. He took a human female as his prize.”
Outrage choked her, the crystal clattering to her feet. “You—your leader was one of those brutes? And you say you’re a defender of women?”
Lihvan studied her, but remained calm. He ran a palm over his chipped horn before elaborating with, “His female made him see how wrong he was to participate. She made him understand the wrongdoings committed against females. He immediately entrusted me with this mission, to take the remaining human females from the Pit. Do not judge him so harshly. We did not know the full implications, since some females of certain races choose to be offered in the Pit.”
Beks couldn’t believe that. “I was locked in a cage when I wasn’t standing in that arena,” she told him. “They fed me God only knows what and I fell asleep at night to the sounds of women sobbing. No one would willing want that.”
Lihvan’s fist clenched on his thighs and his body thrummed with a sudden energy. It was the closest she’d seen him coming to completely losing it. In a ragged voice, he said, “I wish I could kill them over again. I would offer you their heads if you wanted them.”
It was probably the closest thing to romance she’d ever get from a guy like this.
Beks blew out a breath. “Let’s talk about something else. Tell me about your planet. What does it look like?”
Lihvan was clearly struggling with his newfound rage, but Beks was impressed by how tightly controlled his emotions truly were. After a prolonged moment of a hardened jaw and the flashing of his strange, yet pretty, gaze, Lihvan answered with, “Just like many planets in the Quadrants, Luxiria is very different geographically depending on the location.”
“Where do you live then? What is it like there?”
Longing flashed across his face, so simple and yet surprising. It was clear he loved his planet, his home, and Beks couldn’t help but feel envious.
Home is where the heart is, she thought sadly.
Her best friend, Kate, had been the closest thing to family she had. She was estranged from her mother, had never even known her father. She’d always kept herself emotionally distant from people, so she didn’t have strings and strings of friends. That look of desire on his face…well, she’d never felt that sure of a home before, even though she loved Chicago. She’d never felt that sure about anything before.
“I have two dwellings,” he started.
“What, one wasn’t enough?” she joked, trying to lighten the mood. Her throat felt tight and she took it out on the stone bowl, once she’d picked up her crystal.
“Out of necessity,” he replied, cocking his head at her in a way she found…sexy. “The Prime Leader made me an Ambassador to our people. I oversee an outpost called Kroratax. My primary dwelling is located there. My other is in the Golden City, our capitol. I journey there often, for council meetings and other political affairs.”
Beks was impressed. And goddamn, if the way he talked about meetings and political affairs didn’t make him sexier, she didn’t know what would. She’d always had a thing for a man in uniform.
She swallowed thickly and teased, “You sound important then.”
Lihvan’s chest puffed out a little at her compliment and she bit back a smile. Even though he seemed proud of her recognition, the way he ran his hand over his horn told her that she’d perhaps also embarrassed him a little…or made him uncomfortable.
That thought only made her smile a little wider and her heart kicked up in pace. Damn, he was cute.
“There are other Ambassadors,” he said thickly, humble as could be.
She shivered and huddled a little closer to him when a high gust of wind rattled down the cave. “Tell me about Kroratax then,” she sounded out slowly, although she was sure she’d butchered the pronunciation.
“Kroratax is…” he trailed off, seemingly at a loss for words, but finally settled on, “beautiful. More so than the Golden City. The air is crisper, the heat is not so intense, and we live in the shadow of a facev…a mountain. There are many…I think you call them trees. But Luxirian trees, with white moss. Luxirians journey to Kroratax for our hot springs. They are said to heal all ailments and promote fertility.”
Beks felt a flush creeping up her neck and she immediately thought, I’d like to try out those hot springs with you, you sexy beast, you.
Clearing her throat, she said, “It sounds lovely.”
“I was birthed there,” he added next, in a quiet voice.
She tilted her head to look at him. “You were born there?”
He jerked his head. “Tev, Kroratax was my mother’s favorite place in all of Luxiria.”
Something shifted in the air and Beks felt his pain as sharply as if it were her own. It descended into the alcove, bitter and full. Deep down, she sensed that he had not meant to say it, to reveal that small part of himself, to reveal his pain.
Inhaling, she reached out to touch his arm, “Lihvan…”
He shot to his feet, avoiding her gaze. “That is large enough for boiling,” he said, gesturing to the black stone in front of her. When she looked at it, she was surprised by how deep she’d managed to carve it in such a small amount of time. He plucked it off the ground and retrieved a fresh crystal. “Come, I will show you how to boil the crystals and strain out the metals.”
Beks could respect that he didn’t want to talk about it, even though a part of her ached at the sadness in his voice.
She shuffled next to him, observing quietly as he talked her through the different steps with infinite patience. Every now and again, she’d glance at him sideways, memorizing his strange, yet beautiful, features. She wanted to know everything that made him who he was, the good, the bad, the ugly.
Because one thing was very clear to her: this crush wasn’t going away anytime soon. And while that scared the shit out of her…true to Beks’ form, she was going to run with it and see where it led.