I desperately want to push into her mind and check if she’s telling me the truth. If the intimate bond had been activated, then I would be able to feel it, but for now, I’ll respect her and leave her mind alone unless she gives me permission.
“Okay, well, as long as you come talk to me if you need to. As for my harem, I will need to feed off others until the bond is activated, because if I fed exclusively from you, I’d probably kill you, or at least leave you looking like Mithus because you have no power to absorb.”
“Fuck no,” she explodes and starts to wave her hand around. “It was fine before I knew about this. Well, actually it wasn’t fine, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it.” She gestures between us. “But now that I know you’re mine, you will not be partaking of your harem again. When we get to your home planet to see your parents, they will be asked not so politely to leave the ship.”
I smother the grin that wants to break out across my face at the possessiveness of my intimate, but I contain it. I don’t want her thinking I’m not taking her seriously.
“You can feed from me, Cas, or Link. Oh, and I guess Saxon is an option once he and I do whatever it is we need to do to blood bond.”
I feel my eyebrows jump. “You’ve decided you’re going to bond with him?” I ask gently, and she growls.
“Of course I will. I can’t let him die just because his stupid genetics took the choice out of both of our hands.”
“You know how I told you back in my room earlier this week that I had another option to feed from apart from my harem?”
She nods but wrinkles her nose like she doesn’t really want to hear what I’m about to tell her.
“Well, Saxon is that option, so once you do your thing, he will be happy to feed me as well as you, if Cas and Link aren’t interested.”
Lila lets out a sigh of relief. “Yes, that will work for me.” She picks up my hand again, and we start walking down the street in the right direction.
“So you and Saxon fuck, do you?” she asks bluntly, not hiding her curiosity, and again, I barely contain my smile. Lila really is delightful, and I can see that our joining is most certainly not going to be boring, especially because she will have other mates as well. Play time will most certainlyneverbe boring.
Lila
My dirty mind is still thinking about Saxon and Xavier fucking when he teleports us to an empty elevator in the hotel the circus has a deal with. Our conversation flowed easily after he shared that I’m his intimate, and our hands were clasped the entire time until we had to place the holo emitters and activate the program. Thankfully the area where the circus tent will be didn’t have much foot traffic, so we were in and out with lots of time to spare.
Xavier drags me through the opulent foyer, with marble floors and luxurious drapes strategically placed around the room, to the reception desk, telling them we are checking in before giving his name. The guy behind the desk’s eyes widen, and he scrambles around. “Of course, Mr. Colest, we have the penthouse suite reserved for you and your…” He trails off, and Xavier looks at me with a cheeky grin.
I know what he’s about to say will either force me to smother him in his sleep or jump him.
“Wife,” Xavier tells him with a wink. “We’re newlyweds. You know, with the whole Vegas thing, I couldn’t stop myself from proposing to the most amazing woman I know. Now we just want some alone time away from the rest of the crew, if you know what I mean.” He lays on the act hard for the receptionist, but he seems to buy it. Though I can see him looking at our outfits and judging them.
I giggle but don’t contradict him. It’s fun pretending, and I guess it’s not far from the truth. Instead of freaking out when Xavier told me the story about being his intimate, I decided to just go with the flow. Freaking out and getting upset isn’t going to change anything for me or him, but it explains why I felt connected to him at the very beginning. The Skarrian mark only confirms the physical attraction.
I am also looking forward to meeting his parents and getting my memories back. I know they were just following through on what they promised my mom and dad, but did they have to do such a good job of it? I’m feeling anything but kind and generous toward them at the moment, so I’m pretty sure that meeting with the new in-laws isn’t going to go well. That’s a challenge for future Lila to manage.
“Here are your keys. Just swipe the card and press the P in the elevator, and it will take you right up.” He peers over the desk. “No luggage?” he asks, raising an eyebrow, and Xavier shakes his head.
“No, we’re going to do some shopping. I want to spoil my new wife as a wedding gift.”
“Well, let us know if we can help with anything. If you could just sign here, we can view your credit card.” My heart stops momentarily when he asks to see our credit cards. I try to maintain my carefree smile, but inside, I’m panicking.
My purse is back on the pod with my phone and the rest of my belongings, and do aliens even have credit cards? I shouldn’t have doubted Xavier though. He just reaches into the pocket of his designer ripped jeans and pulls out a wallet, which he opens before taking out a black American Express card. I guess that answers my question.
Minutes later, the two of us are headed to the elevator hand in hand. The sexual tension between us is off the charts, and there’s the giddy feeling of anticipation thrumming through my body. Once we get to our room, I throw myself onto a couch without even looking around, trying to get a hold of myself before I jump him.
“Holy shit, that was nerve-racking. I thought for sure we were going to get kicked out. First, for how we are dressed, and second, for lack of payment. We’d be out on the streets pandering for money, or I could always strip to pay our bills.” I toss an arm over my head dramatically as my imagination goes wild.
“Stripping? No. Oh, Lila, I can’t believe you doubted me.” Xavier goes to the fully stocked mini bar and grabs a champagne glass before pulling open the fridge and grabbing one of the cute mini bottles of champagne. He pops the cork before pouring it into a glass and returning to me.
“Here you go. Why don’t you order some food, and we’ll relax for the next couple of hours. Once the pod lands, we can teleport to it and retrieve some of your things. We will have plenty of time to shop over the next few days.”
“Now that I’m living on the ship, I’m going to need a few more things. I don’t have anywhere near enough to last me months on end,” I tell him while taking the glass.
“Lila, we do have shops on the ship, and the planets we will be stopping at all have city centers with shopping opportunities.”
I wave my free hand at him before I take a sip of my champagne, the bubbles exploding across my tongue. The flavor is a little tarter than I expected, but not awful.
