He reached down between their bodies and Cara gasped when he inserted his fingers with supreme gentleness.He swallowed his growl when he felt her walls clamp down on his fingers, remembering the feel of them around his cock.
“Feel good, female?” he bit out.
“Yes,” she whispered, before biting her lip.“But maybe not for the reasons you think.”
“Do not tempt me,” he warned, leaning forward to nibble on her lip where her teeth had just been.“The salve will help to ease your pain.”
“I already feel it working,” she told him, sighing a bit.Devix retreated from her body, getting more salve before he gently dabbed it around the bruises on her inner thighs, his throat tightening.He hated seeing the marks, but he would trust that she’d tell him if his matings were too intense for her to handle.
When he finished, he tossed the tube over the side of the sleeping platform and pulled her back into the crook of his arm, stretching their bodies out.
Cara sighed into him, snuggling deeper, smiling.And that smile finally made him relax.
“Luxirians like to cuddle?” she whispered, a familiar teasing note in her voice.
“I like to ‘cuddle’ with you,” he murmured, repeating her word, which he’d never used before.
“Charmer,” she said, running her palms down his chest.“You’re an expert at cuddling, which makes sense since you told me you’ve been no stranger to sex.”
Devix stiffened slightly.Yes, he’d told her that he’d had many pleasure mates following his warrior training.Luxirians tended to be open about mating, but were known to be jealous beings, especially with bonded pairs or fated mates.Were humans the same?
“Don’t worry,” Cara said, reading the way he’d reacted to her words.“I’m just joking with you.It’s not like I was a virgin before last night either.”
Devix growled, feeling that jealousy burn in his chest as faceless males entered his mind.“Female.I know I have no right to ask, but Luxirians are possessive of their—,” he’d just been about to saymates, but instead chose one of her English words, “lovers.I do not wish to think of those that came before.”
“Noted,” she said softly, looking up at him.“If it’s any consolation, I haven’t had sex in a while.”
Devix blew out a breath, stroking his fingertip over the tiny shell of her ear that drove him mad.“I have not mated since Arvalla.”
Her eyes went wide.“Seriously?”
“Tev.”
“Why?” she asked.“I mean, I’m sure you’ve had interest.Look at you!”
“Most beings are wary of an exiled Luxirian.You saw even here, at the market, I get a wide berth.The females that have offered to mate are drawn to me because Iwasexiled.I did not want them.I did not want any female…before you.”
“I thought you were intense when I first met you,” she said softly.“A little broody and quiet.Withdrawn.The intensity comes out still, but not the other things,” she said, a small huff of laughter escaping her.“But…I think I was always attracted to you.”
“Your voice made me hard,” he told her, rasping the words in her ears, “before I ever saw your face.”
Cara bit her lip.“Even then?”
“Tev.”
She was quiet and she traced over the gold bars pierced through his nipples, evidence that he’d completed warrior training.Pleasure sizzled down his spine and his cock jerked against her soft belly, pre-cum wetting her flesh.
“Insatiable,” she teased, but then she asked, albeit a little hesitantly, “So if Luxirians get jealous, does that mean your species is monogamous?”
Devix stilled.“Mostly,tev.Are humans?”
“Mostly, yes,” she repeated.
A small relief burst in his chest, but then he swallowed hard.His gaze searched hers as he said slowly, “There are different kinds of bonds on Luxiria.”
“Like what?”
“Pleasure mates or mating partners,” he started, “are what you call lovers in your language.At least I believe so, in the way I have heard you use it.There are no expectations or promises beyond mating, even though there is affection.These partnerings are the least likely to be monogamous.”
