“The male knows of another trader who travels to the Fourth Quadrant.This trader comes to Rozun every lunar cycle to deliver fuel.I asked the male to contact me when he does the next drop.”
Cara searched his eyes, his words lodging in her chest like stones.She hadn’t expected the reaction she felt.And she certainly hadn’t expected to want to cry…and not the good kind of tears.
Suddenly, she was questioning everything.
And she couldn’t help but be…hurt.
Because she was now wondering if Devix had always expected her being there to be a temporary arrangement, whether she’d misread the situation between them.
“Cara,” he said, trying to capture her attention.
Jesus, she’d been thinking about opening up a goddamnrestaurantall week, making plans in her mind for their future…and Devix, at the first opportunity, had asked an acquaintance about getting her back home.
Did he want to get rid of her that quickly?
It was all too much.And she’d gotten in too deep and she’d realized it too late.
She was lying there in ‘their’ bed, his cum still inside her, his scent all over her body, and she felt like she was the verge of heartbreak at the thought that he mightwanther gone.
She felt like a fool.
And that was when she realized…she was a pleasure mate to him.Just a pleasure mate.This was exactly how he’d described it to her: a lover with no promises, no expectations.
Well, he’d made her no promises, except that he’d help her search for a way home.
“I—I need some air,” she murmured, sliding out of bed before he could touch her.Quickly, she slipped on her shift dress lying at the base of the bed.
“Luxiva,” Devix said, his feet already on the floor.
“No, please, I just need to think.Alone.I won’t go far,” she said softly, not looking at him, before darting out of the room.
In a daze, she walked out of the house, drawing deep lungfuls of Rozian air, trying to clear her head.Her feet took her in the direction of the valley and she knew the way by heart, since Devix had taken her there almost everyday.
Tears stung her eyes, blurring the path.
What had she truly expected to happen?That she would just live there, on Rozun, happily running her restaurant, doing what she loved, with the male she loved?
The sex had messed with her brain, she decided.And now, she had so many questions, so many doubts.
Just thinking back to earlier that afternoon, when she’d asked Devix about the vacant stall, when she’d actually thought she could build something there…it made her feel so, so stupid.
Cara walked faster, wiping away the tears that fell to her cheeks.How did such a good day take such a dramatic turn?
She was halfway to the valley when she heard the footsteps behind her.
Cara shook her head, staring straight ahead, not breaking her pace.“Devix, I told you I wanted to be alone.”
“Unfortunately, my pet,” a voice rasped from behind her, “you are far from alone.”
She froze, her heart chilling and goosebumps breaking out over her skin at the unrecognizable, hissing, crawling voice.When she whirled around, three alien males were only a couple meters from her.
And she knew who they were.
Azatians.
She recognized their similar forms to the hologram on Devix’s spaceship.The same reptilian features, the same tail jutting from behind, the same red medallion protecting their glowing, blue hearts under slightly transparent flesh.
The Azatian in the middle stepped forward and she gasped, stumbling back against one of thepillervatrees.
