For now, she was enjoying her time with him.
They were talking now.Even though the sun was high in the sky and they should’ve been doing more practical things, they were lounging around in their warm cave and talking on their moss bed.It felt natural, right.
He was telling her more about what he called ‘military training,’ that Luxirian warriors were sent from home to attend it from a young age and had to complete a required number of ‘rotations’ before deciding to opt out—and go onto another profession—or stay in and finish the training.Lihvan had not only finished the training, but he’d been promoted to war general and Ambassador to their Prime Leader once he was done.It spoke of his determination, his drive, his skill, and it impressed her more than she could express.
In turn, she told him about Chicago, of her work for a start-up company as a front end web developer, whichheseemed impressed by after she tried to explain some more specifics.
“Is that why you could break out of my quarters on the vessel so easily?” he murmured, gazing down at her.There was a fine sheen of sweat on his body as she snuggled closer.
“That was mostly by luck,” she said, smiling.“Lotsof buttons were pressed.”
Lihvan smiled and she realized that it was the first time she’d seen it.It melted her, that smile.
She watched it fall off his face, however, as he said, “Your mother and sire must be worrying about you.Back on your home planet.”
Beks sighed.“My father left when I was just a baby.I never knew him.And my mom and I are…estranged.I haven’t seen her in person for a few years.She lives a few states away and well, we’ve never been too close.If someone reported me missing though, she probably has been notified by now.”
It made her sad, her relationship with her mother.It had never been a hostile, argumentative relationship.They were just both so different and her mother had never been a mothering type.Beks believed in experiencing different things, putting herself out there, meeting new people,living.
Her mother had always been scared of everything.She lived in the same one-bedroom apartment, in the same town she’d grown up in, working the same job she had for the past thirty years, a cashier at a local deli.She’d never traveled out of the state, never dated, and the most exciting food she’d probably ever tried was orange chicken at the local Chinese place.
And still, that had always been okay with Beks.Her mother didn’t like change.She understood that.But what she had never understood was that she had no ambition.She never wanted anything more for herself and she’d always criticized Beks for the decisions she’d made.For going off to college out-of-state, for choosing Chicago over moving home, for taking five months off to go traveling in South America and Europe.
Beks had never regretted her choices.Ever.She’d met amazing people, she’d learned amazing things.But ever since she’d left home, her mother had slowly and gradually drifted out of her life until the only contact they ever really had was a stilted phone call every now and again.
Now, she may never see her mother again.
She told Lihvan all these things.They came pouring out of her and when she was done, she wondered what he thought of her, if he judged her for not being closer to her mother and for being okay with the distance between them.It was an ugly part of her, but she’d accepted it a long time ago.
When she was finished, he simply told her, “I was never close to my sire.After my mother died, he fell apart.I hate to say this, but I became ashamed of him.He became a shadow of who he used to be and when he died, I felt a bitter relief.It is difficult to see your parent in a different light as you age, but it is inevitable,luxiva.”
“What happened to them?” she asked quietly.“How did they die?”
“My father took his own life.My mother was killed when the Jetutians spread a virus among our female population.”
“What?” she whispered, eyes widening.
He continued slowly, “Most of our females died that span.The rest that survived…they became infertile.Our race would have been doomed, but with Vaxa’an’s mate pregnant, it gives us hope again.”
Beks pushed up on her elbow to look down at him.“That was a lot you just told me, Lihvan,” she said quietly.She shook her head, trying to process everything.“First…your father killed himself?”
“Tev.”
Tev?That was all he was going to say?
He must’ve read the expression on her face because he added, “My mother and sire were a mated pair.Afatedpair.It may seem odd in your culture, but among Luxirians, it is not uncommon for one to follow the other when death claims the first.It was hard for him.He struggled greatly and in the end, he simply wanted to be with her again, in the blackworld.”
Oh my God, she thought, feeling an intense sadness bubble up inside her.And then she thought about Lihvan, about what he’d said at the fire falls.
She was his fated mate.That was what he told her.
But he also promised to return her to Earth when they reached Luxiria.
So where did that leave him?
“And the other thing?” she asked softly.“The Jetutians?Those were the ones who took you and I?”
“Tev.”
