“I knew from the moment I saw you.”
She was his fated mate.
Oh my God.
“How…how is this possible?” she asked, shaking her head.“We would havenevermet if I hadn’t been taken by those other aliens.”
“The Fates,” was Lihvan’s answer.“The Prime Leader’s fated mate is human.Perhaps other Luxirian males will find theirs in humans as well.We do not know why it happens, just that it is rare.”
Beks went quiet, but she didn’t unravel herself from him.There was a weird pull between them, that was undeniable.To know that it was something very serious in his culture…that was what she needed to navigate carefully.
“So, if we have sex…there’s no turning back?”
He didn’t have to answer.She saw the certainty in his eyes.
Okay.She could respect that.Sex was obviously important to Luxirians…they took it seriously.But, Beks still wanted to know, “And the other things…you pleasuring me…that’s not as serious?We could still fool around?”
He frowned at her wording of ‘fooling around,’ but said, “I give you pleasure because I wish to.To Luxirians, while important, it is not as,” he searched for the right word, “sacred as consummating a mating bond.There is a ceremony.It is…intense from what I have been told.”
“What kind of ceremony?” she asked, sliding her arms tighter around his neck.Lihvan swallowed, his cock bobbing just below her.
“It takes place on theRavrax’tor, where we first came into the world.You ask for the Fates’ blessing and if you receive it, you will know.It is said to be one of the purest forms of carnal pleasures.”His voice deepened, growing rough.Beks heard, rather than saw, his longing and she felt it inside her, expanding.“For many spans, you eat and sleep and mate.That is all you do.The Fates’ blessing lasts for a long time and you must see it to the end for the ceremony to be complete.”
Her breath hitched.Daysof mating?Daysof orgasms?Beks wondered if she could even survive something like that with him.Last night had almost killed her.
Something about the way he spoke filled her with understanding.Arousal still pulsed within her, hot and urgent, but it became something softer, something more important as she looked at him.
“You want that for yourself, don’t you?” she asked quietly.The fire falls sizzled around them, hissing and spitting, but the black vine forest behind them was silent.“You want a mate?Children?”
And I could give that to him, she thought.It was a dangerous thought, but it settled deep inside her.
His eyes slid away from her.He did not answer.Instead, he said, “We should hurry, female.I would still like to hunt before the sun descends further.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
Her damned heart started aching again.
THIRTEEN
After a quick, but thorough washing of his female at the fire falls—which she’d seem to enjoy—Lihvan led them back to their cave, making sure to keep his ears pricked and his eyes careful.As the sun descended, more dangerous creatures emerged from their shadowy dwellings and Lihvan did not want to chance an encounter, especially with his female so close.Even though she drove him to distraction, he needed to ensure her safety above all else.
She’d been quiet since their conversation, when he’d finally told her that she was his fated mate, hisluxiva.He hadn’t meant to, but in the moment, it had felt right and only natural that she should know.Or else she would have convinced him with her addictive kisses and teasing touches.He would have mated her right there in the washing pool had he not told her, had he not put some kind of barrier between them.
She wishes to return to her home planet, he reminded himself, over and over again.It wasn’t fair to her if he acted on his lusts and desires.
The knowledge that she would soon leave him, however, was becoming more difficult to cope with.A part of him wished to remain on this hellish planet for all time because it, selfishly, meant keeping her with him.But the honorable warrior in Lihvan would not allow him to do this.His female deserved happiness, even if it meant sacrificing his own.
So why did a part of him believe that, when the time came, he wouldn’t be able to let her go?Would he throw away his honor, his honesty to keep his female with him for the rest of their lives?Or would he keep to his word and see that she returned to her home safely?
He pondered that question once they reached their shielded cave.It was cooling down inside as the sun began to descend and the fire was still steadily burning.Beks had left a water crystal to boil while they were gone and he watched as she knelt to check on it.
He imagined her inside his dwelling inKroratax.He imagined late, peaceful nights lounging in the central hub next to the fire pit, of bathing her in the wash room in his large, sunken pool, of waking next to her as the twin Luxirian suns began their ascent and pinkened the sky.She would warm his sleeping platform and be tucked in his furs and he would wake her by lapping gently at her slick cunt.
The memory of her squirming in his arms, trying to impale herself on his cock in the washing pool, made him jerk and he straightened, tearing his mind away from such unattainable fantasies.
Calming him body and thoughts, he murmured, “I will attempt to hunt, female, before the sun journeys any further.”
She cast him a look and bit her lip.“I should go with you.”
