When he looked over at Vikan, the male purposefully avoided his gaze and Lihvan knew better than to confront him about it.He pushed his friend’s odd remark to the back of his mind and continued with his duties.
It was what he was best at, after all.
Once Lihvan felt comfortable that they were far enough away from the Pit and once he confirmed that no nearby allies of the Krevorags were in pursuit of them, he finally retired from the command center.A quarter of the warriors went to eat their third meals on the meal deck and even though Lihvan should join them—he hadn’t eaten since the night before—he decided instead to take two plates of rations back to his quarters.His female, Beks, would be hungry and it filled him with an odd masculine pride to nourish her body.
Nothisfemale, he corrected silently.He couldn’t afford to think like that.In fact, it would be better if Lihvan simply sent her to stay with the other females, but his Instinct didn’t like that thought.
I promised to answer her questions, he reminded himself, as if he could justify his selfish need to be near her.
She was lying down in the middle of the sleeping platform when he entered his quarters.Immediately, his body went tight, his Instinct battling within him, a purr thrumming from his throat.Greedily, his eyes scanned every inch of her body.
- Mine. -
His Instinct was staking its claim and Lihvan already felt like he was losing the battle.He was not used to the feeling of failure.He had molded his entire life around not feeling failure ever again…and he’d been successful, in his military career, in battle and war.
But this little human female, with her soft, long hair and piercing eyes could make him do anything.That thought terrified him.Thepowershe could hold over him terrified him.
Her eyes blinked open when she heard him enter and she sat up, looking to the plates of food in his arms.
“For me?” she asked.
Lihvan swallowed and gave a jerk of his head, his eyes straying briefly to the bare expanse of her legs.His tunic, which he had given her to wear, had ridden up her thigh in sleep.That sight alone thickened his cock in his leg coverings and he clenched his jaw, the pulse of lust sizzling through his blood.
Beks, in his clothing, could make him roar with masculine pride.Her, in his tunic, in his sleeping platform, on his furs…it was enough to make him lose all reason and give into his Instinct.
Somehow, some way, he managed to remain in control and carried the plate over to her, thrusting it in her hands before scuttling to the far corner and putting his back against it.
His female was blinking the sleep from her eyes and every moment that passed, she grew more and more awake.When she noticed his distant position, she smiled and said, “Do you think I’ll bite?”
He frowned.Did humans usually bite others?His gaze drew to her dull teeth and he almost snorted.Those teeth could do no damage.
“Nix,” he said, in his own language.
She cocked her head to the side.“Nix?”
“No,” he corrected, his voice gruff.“I do not think you will bite me.”
Her next question made him stiffen, in more ways than one.“Do you want me to?”
His gaze shot to her across the room and when he inhaled, he almost groaned aloud.Fates…her scent.His female was sitting in his tunic, on his sleeping platform, and she was aroused for her male.
Even Lihvan feared he could not retain control over his own body.
To distract himself, he crammed a large piece oftrixavain his mouth and chewed, an excuse to remain silent.The food’s taste helped dull the scent of Beks, but Lihvan’s gaze refused to move off her small form, no matter how hard he tried.
The female seemed to realize that he wouldn’t answer and mercifully, she eased her teasings.Poking at the food on her plate, her spine straightened and she said, “Right…I have questions that I want answered.And I won’t wait any longer.I don’t like other people being in charge of what happens to me.”
“What do you wish to know, female?”
“Where are the other women?” she asked.
“Safe,” he replied.“They are being housed on the vessel together.They have bathed and food has been brought to them.They are comfortable.”
Beks stared at him from his sleeping platform, not touching the food he’d brought her.“So…why am I not with them?” she asked.
The question was like a knot in his chest.“Do you wish to be?”
“I…I don’t know,” she replied, frowning.“I just…I want to know why you took us.I want to know what you’re planning to do with us all and whether or not we can go home.That’s all that I’ve thought about since I was captured.”
