She denied it even though she remembered.“No, I didn’t.”
His eyes narrowed.“Tev, female.You did.”
Now she knew that when she woke earlier only to find him ‘out of bed,’thathad been in the room with the other women.It hadn’t been in a strange yet familiar bed in a place she somehow knew was far away from there.She could even recall the deep emerald green of the cushions, the softness of the furs beneath her.
Taylor squeezed her eyes shut, panic rising.
What was happening to her?
A touch on her cheek made her eyes fly open and she recoiled from his fingertips, though there wasn’t anywhere to go since she was trapped between him and the metal panel.
When she met his gaze, whatever words she was about to say died in her throat.He was studying her, but his touch never left her cheek.
“You have been dreaming, female,” he stated, his voice a thick, velvety rasp that caressed her skin.The tone of his voice harbored no hesitation.What he said was fact.
Taylor’s breath hitched.Could he help her?Did he know what was happening to her?
But first…she swallowed past the rock lodged in her throat and asked quietly, only loud enough so that he would hear her over the wind, “Is your name Vikan?”
His pupils flared, his eyes drifting to her lips as she asked her question, the answer of which she desperately needed to know.Something rose between them and the first thing that Taylor thought when it did was Cecelia’s words yesterday…that she and Rixavox had an undeniable connection, a strange pull she couldn’t explain.
Taylor’s breaths came out fast, but she couldn’t look away from him.
“Tev,luxiva,” he murmured.“I am called Vikan.”
All of her fears were confirmed with only a handful of words.
“Why did I already know that?” she asked him softly, as though speaking to herself.Her brows furrowed together, trying to make sense of it all even thoughnothingmade sense anymore.“Howdo I know that?How is it even possible?”
“The gift of foresight manifests in odd ways,” he told her, his hand sliding down from her cheek to her shoulder, as if he couldn’t help but touch her.
“Foresight?” she repeated dumbly, shaking her head.“Like seeing the future?That’s crazy.”
He frowned at the word ‘crazy,’ but seemed to understand her meaning.“I have had the gift all my life span, female.It is a part of me.And now, it seems the Fates have connected it to youthroughme.”
What the hell was he talking about?
“I…” her lips moved but she didn’t know what to say.“No, no.I must have heard your name somewhere.One of the guards must’ve said it and I heard it.That’s all.And the blood bond thing…it’s only because Cecelia was talking about it earlier.It just popped up in the dream because she’d mentioned it.”
A stunned growl tore from his throat.“Blood bond?”
But Taylor hardly registered his words or the sudden intensity of his gaze.She felt a little light-headed and she murmured, “I need to sit down.I need to think.This is all too much.”
Vikan caught her against him when her knees began to buckle and his warm hand came down to support the small of her back.The intimacy of him holding her that way jarred her and she extracted herself from his arms, sitting down against the side of the hovercraft, tucking her knees to her chest.
When Vikan crouched in front of her, she whispered, not quite meeting his eyes, “Please.Just give me time to think.”
He frowned, studying her for a long while before he blew out a slow breath, rising to his full, towering height.He was well over seven feet, possibly closer toeight.She relaxed a little, sensing he’d give her some space.
But before he let her have that time, he asked quietly, “Will you tell me your name, female?”
When she glanced up at him, startled by the question, he had a sober, serious expression on his alien features.His tone had been…hesitant, almost like he wasn’t sure he wanted to know it.
“Taylor,” she found herself replying before she could second guess it.“My name is Taylor.”
He lowered his chin to his chest, blowing out a harsh exhale before lifting his eyes to the sky.Taylor almost gasped at the look on his face.He looked so…tormented.So…sad.
But just as quickly as the look came, it was gone.Vikan turned from her, his back muscles stiff as he resumed his post at the control panel, leaving Taylor to wonder what the hell just happened.
