Vikan stilled and growled.Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his erect cockpulse, the movement so obvious, so telling of his arousal.
“I’m full now,” she murmured, holding his gaze.“Thank you for dinner.”
It had been a feast.At first, she’d been hesitant to try the odd, strange looking creatures he’d caught right off the shore, but she was glad she did.The textures hadn’t been unlike flaky fish and chewy clams and the flavors had been fresh and delicious.
“It was my honor, female,” he purred to her.
Taylor smiled.“You really liked feeding me, huh?”
“Tev,” he rasped.Then he explained, “It is an intimacy shared between mates on Luxiria.”
Her cheeks flushed.She hadn’t blushed so much in her entire life than in the past few days.“Oh.”
She watched him finish the rest of the food quickly, wondering how much he usually ate.To fuel that body, those muscles, he had to eat an enormous amount.
“So,” she started, “you said that Luxirians are warriors.What does that mean exactly?”
She wanted to know more about him, beyond what she knew about him in her dreams.Because, whether she’d chosen it or not, she’d ended up on this alien planet and she realized she knew next to nothing about it, about his race.
He dragged her closer to him, unashamed, and Taylor let him, enjoying his heat and attention.
“We aid our allies and the Uranian Federation in times of war,” he told her.“Luxirians are known across the Quadrants as the best warriors.We train from a young age, dedicate the entirety of our life spans to honing our strength and skills.”
“So you actually fight in wars,” she murmured, furrowing her brow.Why did the thought of him doing that make dread pool in her stomach?“In battles?”
“Tev,” he said.“We are summoned when needed.But I am an Ambassador now and there are other warriors that would be called upon first.”
“An Ambassador?”
“One of Vaxa’an’s Ambassadors.There are five of us.We run and oversee the outposts spread across Luxiria.My outpost isLopixa, in the western lands.These lands,” he said, “are my responsibility.”
Her lips parted.“It is actuallyyouroutpost?I thought you just meant you lived there.”
“I do live there,” he told her, his arm tightening around her waist, nuzzling the side of his head into her own.A few days ago, Taylor would’ve never guessed how affectionate he could be.He’d seemed so…coldto her before.
Now?She could never use that word to describe him.
“Vaxa’an made me Ambassador ofLopixashortly after Nitav died,” he admitted to her.“I have grown to love it and it is the only home I could ever imagine.I hope to show it to you, in its entirety.”
“Maybe you will,” she said softly, after a moment.“But I suppose I’ve already seen some of it.”
In her dreams, at least.
He grunted.“Tev, that is true.”
“It must be a lot of work,” she commented.“Running an outpost, I mean.”
“When I do not need to travel back and forth from the Golden City toLopixa, it is manageable.It is a peaceful outpost.We train a section of young warriors there, but we also import food and fire fuel to the other outposts and to the Golden City.”
“Consider me impressed,” she teased lightly.
He huffed out a breath, sounding amused.Then he murmured against the shell of her ear, making goosebumps prickle her skin, “My rank gives me privileges and luxuries that you would share in.I could care for you well,luxiva.”
Taylor bit her lip, her stomach fluttering at his voice.It seemed that all he wanted was to take care of her.But what about him?
And because they were pretending, she turned to look at him and whispered, “I would want to take care of you too, Vikan.”
“You will,” he said immediately, his hand sliding down.“In other ways.”
