That knot tightened in his chest, his Instinct howling when it heard that she wanted to leave, wanted to leavehim…which was madness.
His voice was strained when he replied, “We have come on orders from the Prime Leader of Luxiria, to rescue any unwilling females from the grasp of the Krevorags.We are traveling to my home planet of Luxiria and once we arrive, we will arrange passage for any that wish to return to Earth.”
A breathy exhale escaped her full lips, her eyes wide.“Really?”
Lihvan inclined his head, his food momentarily forgotten at the soft look in his female’s eyes.“Tev.”
“Why would you do that?” she asked.“Why risk your safety to help us?”
The question confused Lihvan, but then he remembered that there was a time when his race had actively participated in the Pit.It was only after Vaxa’an’s mate, Kate, made their Prime Leader question the morality of it that it became obvious what the right path would be.
“Luxirians do not tolerate violence or wrongdoings against females,” Lihvan answered, frowning, feeling his hand clench tighter around the plate when he recalled the frightened faces of the human females, cramped in that room on the Pit…when he saw the Krevorag scum kneeling behind the female in front of him, prepared to do the unthinkable to any Luxirian male.
“So, you or your men won’t hurt us?”
“Nix,” Lihvan scowled, insulted at her question.“Never.”
Beks relaxed, her shoulders dropping.“I’m sorry, I just needed to hear you say it.”
“There are some Luxirians who have committed crimes against females in the past, corrupted males with no honor,” Lihvan said.“But you can be certain that every male upon this vessel is a true Luxirian warrior that upholds the value of honor that the Fates demand.”
“The Fates?” Beks asked slowly.
“Our deities,” he answered.“Our creators.”
Beks studied him and he both welcomed and rejected her perusal.His Instinct demanded it and his spine straightened in response, letting her look over her male at her leisure.The other part of him, the logical part, said that nothing would come from it.He shouldn’t get attached to her, for there was no future.The honorable warrior in Lihvan would never force a female to stay with him, even if his Instinct had roused for her, even if his Instinct recognized her as his fated mate.The female had been through enough.Her only wish was to return to her home and Lihvan couldn’t compromise that, no matter how much he wished to.
“Eat,” he commanded, in a gruffer voice than he’d intended, his eyes sliding away.“You need to rebuild your strength.”
She was a temptation that he couldn’t afford.The sooner he accepted that, the better.
FIVE
Beks ate her food, like Lihvan requested, but she couldn’t help her gaze straying to him the majority of the meal.He was still pressed against the wall of the room, like he was afraid she was contagious.She would have been offended had she not spied a boner the size of her goddamn arm in his tight pants.Or at least what she thought was an erection…perhaps alien physiology was a little differentdown there.
With her heart fluttering in her throat, she found it hard to concentrate on her food when her eyes kept dropping to Lihvan’s impressive size.
What the hell is wrong with me? she couldn’t help but question, pressing a warm hand to her cheek.She was lusting after an alien, who had just saved her from the equivalent of sexual slavery toanotheralien.She shouldn’t be feelinganythingright now.And yet, she couldn’t take her eyes off him.
There was something about Lihvan that called to her.Yes, he was intense and a little broody and he didn’t looked pleased to be in the same room as her even though she thought hemightbe attracted to her.He didn’t make sense.He was a puzzle that a part of Beks was just dying to figure out, even though she knew she should stay far, far away.
She’d never done anything the easy way.
Case in point, when she asked him, “Won’t you come sit down?The bed is plenty big for you.”
A hard swallow from Lihvan.His eyes flickered to hers and held.Beks counted the seconds with bated breath,searedby that impossibly pretty gaze.
“I will stay here,” he finally said, in a gruff tone.
She reminded herself her flirting was harmless, just like when she’d brushed his arm in the command center.She’d just wanted to see him loose a little bit of his edge and see how he’d react.In some ways, the towering alien reminded her of a hardcore, dedicated military man, all rigid rules and harsh lines.Perhaps the risk taker in her just wanted to see those lines blur a bit.She wanted to see who he was behind those lines when he had nothing left to protect him.
Like the plethora of coding languages she’d learned in college, little strings of characters and letters and numbers that dictated how programs worked and ran, she wanted to know what he was made of, what made him tick.
She tried another tactic, curious how he’d respond.“Aren’t you going to shower?” she asked, eyeing the faint streaks of blood on his chest, evidence that he’d killed her captors.He hadn’t washed yet.
Lihvan looked down with a frown, as if he hadn’t even realized the blood was there.“Do you wish for me to bathe?” he asked.
Meaning to tease, she murmured, “Only if I can watch.”
