“Yes?”
“Find that crystal,” their Prime Leader growled.
With that, Vaxa’an strode from the war room and down the corridor, in the direction of the quarters that housed the remaining human females.
Cruxan regarded Kirov when he turned to look at him.
“He took it better than expected,” Cruxan noted.
A buzzing in Kirov’s ears started up, now that his immediate task had been satisfied. His fingers twitched at his sides, his mind drifting back towards the room Vaxa’an was no doubt entering at that very moment.
Only a small glimpse and Kirov would know for certain.
Nix.
He clenched his fingers into his palms, feeling his claws cut into his thick flesh.
Cruxan grinned again. “It hurts, does it not?”
“What hurts?”
“Not knowing,” Cruxan said. “And you, Kirov…you are perhaps one of the only Luxirians who does not know whatthatfeels like, genius as you are. You have lived your whole life knowingeverything. Knowledge is easy for you to absorb. I confess that I like seeing you slum it like the rest of us down here.”
Kirov growled. Cruxan was one of his closest friends and he knew that he could count on him for anything, that he would be loyal until the end.
But Cruxan knew which buttons to push.
“Tell me honestly,” Kirov said. “Do you know who took the crystal?”
“I do not,” Cruxan said, his expression sobering. He ran a hand over one of his black horns that curled around his skull. “But I will not lie and say I am unhappy that it happened.”
Kirov’s jaw clenched and unclenched. Ever since the females had arrived, he’d made almost no progress on the specialized armor he was creating for their warriors. They were a distraction.
One he wanted to thoroughly investigate but couldn’t.
And it was driving him to madness.
Cruxan observed him carefully and advised, “Find a female tonight, Kirov. ALuxirianfemale. Let her release some of this tension. You’re wound tight. We all know what happens when you go too long like this.”
Kirov stilled, thinking over Cruxan’s suggestion. Perhaps a warm, eager female would do him well. He hadn’t mated one in over a lunar cycle and Luxirians were known to be carnal beings. Cruxan released his tensions nightly with a seemingly endless stream of females at his beck and call.
“I will consider that,” Kirov said.
“For all of our sakes,do,” Cruxan replied.
That buzzing was getting louder in his ears and he turned to the door of the war room. “I will see you in the training room tomorrow.”
He didn’t wait for Cruxan’s reply. Out in the long corridor, he took in a deep breath, but then straightened when he noticed the warriors posted along the hallway were watching him. Like he was a weapon about to go off.
Kirov couldn’t help turning his head down the corridor…to where the females were housed, as he often did whenever he was in the command center.
Temptation, in its purest form.
With a growl, he turned away, stalking towards the set of the doors that led to the outside.
Perhaps Cruxan was right.
He needed a female that night.
