Chapter 23

Xivthar pushed the food around on his plate. He felt downright petulant. It wasn't like him, but he couldn't help himself.

The most beautiful creature he'd ever seen was sitting across from him, making little moans of delight with each bite of the seafoam concoction in front of her. "My God, X, this has to be the most delicious thing I've ever tasted. Better than dark chocolate even. I can't stop myself from eating it all."

And she did eat every last bite, moaning over each one as she gazed up at him. Then she licked the spoon.

His cock twitched painfully under his sarong.

When she'd finally finished torturing him, she hopped up from the table in his sitting room and stood in front of him, her mood having brightened significantly. "Let's go see about my ship.”

X dropped his fork. It clattered against his plate, the discordant noise grating against his already frayed nerves. "As I told you in the Ministry of Science, it isn't safe."

"And as I've told you a hundred times since, we don't have any other options."

The regent ran a hand through his tendrils. They were more agitated than usual, waving against his head in disarray. "I'll think of something. I don't want you anywhere near your ship. It would be too easy to... to..."

"Too easy to what?" She narrowed her vibrant eyes at him. "There's no reason to keep me from my ship. I'm in no more danger there than I am walking the hallways where your subjects keep calling for my exile. Or worse."

She was right, and the crowds were only getting thicker. Xivthar imagined it was only a matter of time before the council was convened and his leadership was questioned. A crisis required swift action and so far he'd done little to protect his people. The defense shield was still down and his planet could be flooded with Hareema agents at any moment, or worse, maybe they'd already arrived.

The point that seemed to stick out the most to his constituency was the fact that he was being seen with the Earthling female. They knew she was in his quarters right now. If his predilections were as widely known as they seemed to be, he had a pretty good idea of what his subjects thought he was doing with her in here.

Which was exactly what he wanted to be doing.

Except they weren't. They were arguing. Again.

X had had enough of this verbal sparring. He'd rather engage in another type of sparring, one that involved his—

"Listen, X, I don't want to tell you how to do your job, but right now you don't seem too focused on the task at hand."

She sat back down, placing her elbows on the table and her face in her hands. Her position afforded him an uninterrupted view of her magnificent chest. Those pale globes, how badly he wanted to taste them, to touch them and see them on full display. She had opened her legs for him earlier. She would do it again.

"You aren't even paying attention to me now!" she yelled, bringing his gaze back to her face. "You're too distracted to be any help to your people!"

"I know!" he bellowed, standing up from his chair and stalking over to her. "You distract me like no other has before. I can't concentrate, all I can think about is possessing you."

She leaned back in her chair to put some distance between them, but he pushed into her space, taking her chin in his hand and forcing her eyes to his. “X… what are you doing?”

"I only know of one way to dispel this hold you have over me. I must have you." He pressed his face against her neck and licked her salty skin.

"Stop," she whispered, her voice lower than moments before. She pushed at his chest, but her actions were futile, the woman barely putting her strength into it.

"My body is screaming for me to take you. I've never experienced anything as powerful as this need I have for you. Don’t deny me, Sylvie. I wouldn’t deny you." He brushed his lips by her ear as she shivered and snuggled into him. He wasn’t alone in his desires, but she seemed the only one willing to fight it. "I know you want me too."

"I do not." She moaned as he slipped the tip of her earlobe into his mouth, her fingers tightening on his back.

"You lie only to yourself, pretty girl. Spend one night with me. One night to get each other out of our systems, to satisfy our mutual curiosity."

"One night?" Her voice was soft, very unlike the woman he had seen only moments ago.

Was she wavering?

"One night."

"And then you'll send me home?"

His grip on her tightened, and so did the clenching in his gut that hadn't stopped since earlier. The clenching that demanded he claim her as his for all time.

"Then I'll send you home," he said after a moment.

"I don't believe you."

Sylvie pulled away from him, slipping out of her chair and walking around the table. "You're the Supreme Regent. I'm sure you promise women the world when you want their bodies. How is it that I trust you to keep your promises afterwards?"

X's skin bristled. Was she calling me a liar?

"I make no other women promises. Any female I might be interested in tells me whether she wants to mate, not the other way around, and as for keeping my word," he moved around the table, his groin throbbing painfully as a light sweat broke out across his skin, "how dare you suggest that I wouldn't?"

"What guarantee do I have? Hypothetically, if I did agree to sleep with you, what guarantee can you give me that will assure me of a ride home, immediately?"

X growled, staring down at her, before walking to the console. He called up a standard order template, input the required information, and then signed it with a flourish. He reached into the image to pull out a hard copy.

"Here's your guarantee," he said, rolling it up and tossing it to her. Why she wanted to get away from him so fast he would never understand. He could offer her everything – anything…

The professor unrolled the parchment and read it carefully. "This says you are granting me immediate transport from Zanthar to Earth."

"Indeed."

She eyed him and he snatched the parchment back.

"And you'll get it after we've spent the night together. As mates." He sucked his bottom lip into his mouth, hanging tightly on the possibility that she would relent. He had already seen her sex up close. Surely it wasn’t about modesty anymore.

Sylvie's eyes narrowed. "And how do I know your people will honor these orders? How do I make it through the mob to the transport?"

X let out a huff of air. Would this infernal female always harass him like this? He strode to the entrance to his chambers and stepped out the door.

The guards standing outside straightened, and the crowd of protesters livened up, raising their signs and starting their chants. He ignored them all and turned to the older guard stationed there.

"Major, if the Earthling female ever gives you this order," he said, showing him the order and his signature, "you are to take her immediately to the central hub. You will fly her on a transport back to Earth. When dropping her off, follow the standard protocol for dispatching undercover agents."

"Undercover agents?" she piped up from beside him, but he waved a hand at her to cut off any questions.

"Make sure you are escorted by two attack-class Teuthidas. I don't want her left defenseless."

The guard, apparently a major, nodded his head. "I'll make sure she gets home.”

X turned on his heel and re-entered his chambers, dragging her with him. Once inside the doors he didn't let her go, but ran his hands up and down her arms as he hovered over the top of her curly blond locks.

Her skin was unlike anything he'd ever felt. His own skin was soft, but slightly more porous. Hers was firm and soft and so easy to caress.

The tightness inside of him clenched down harder. The intense drive to take her slammed into him again. Damn mating. He wouldn’t be able to control himself for much longer.

I must have her. Even if she plans to leave me afterwards. Nothing will stop me from possessing this female. Nothing.