But Kirov would take her fury. He would absorb it and bury it inside him until she understood.
He’d been surprised when she’d showed up at his window and he was still wary about what she wished to discuss with him. Especially once she found out he deceived her.
Fabric whipped around his legs and he looked down, his Instinct purring its approval seeing her in a traditional Luxirian dress. It was a deep, deep blue that contrasted beautifully with her red hair. Her skin appeared luminous against the rich, dark color.
“Where did you get this?” he murmured down to her, running his fingers down one of the straps, eliciting a shiver from her.
Whether she wanted to admit it or not, her body certainly recognized Kirov as her mate.
They hadn’t spoken a single word since they left until now and Kirov longed to hear her voice.
“Kate,” she responded, tilting her head up to look back at him.
He tried to read her expression, wondering what seemed different about her. But somethingwasdifferent and it wasn’t just the dress. There was a softness in her gaze that hadn’t been there before.
“Do you like it?” she asked, her voice shy and hesitant, like she wanted him to like it, like she wanted to please him.
“Tev,” he said. “It is beautiful.”
Once they reached Troxva, he would have a couple dozen more made for her from the best seamstress in the outpost.
His female flushed in pleasure and they dropped back into silence.
They had only been flying for another handful of moments before Lani began looking around at the landscape, her neck turning, searching for something that was familiar to her and finding nothing.
“Um, shouldn’t we be there by now?” she questioned, confusion infused in her tone. “Where are we? Are we going somewhere else?”
Kirov inhaled a slow breath. He looked over his shoulder and could no longer see the Golden City in the distance. They were out of sight and safe for the night.
“Kirov,” Lani said, squirming in his arms to face him.
She looked up at him and Kirov saw the exact moment she realized what was happening. Her eyes flickered over to the travel sacks he’d loaded into the hovercraft and she gasped, her lips parting, her eyes darting to his.
“We…we’re not going to the meadow, are we?” she asked slowly, her neck craned up to confront him directly.
He might all well tell her right then, though she already knew.
“Nix, female,” he said, just as slowly. “We are not going to the meadow.”
“You…” she blinked, her eyes widening, and then that familiar spark of anger lit her gaze. “You just kidnapped me without me knowing it! You’re taking me to Troxva, aren’t you?”
He exhaled an impatient breath. “You are hardly a child, sonix, I did not do this ‘kidnapping’ to you.”
“That—that’s not the point,” she returned. “Oh myGod. I can’t believe you. You had me thinking you weren’t even going to say goodbye and you were planning to take me all along, weren’t you?”
Kirov would not deny it. “Tev, I was always coming for you this night. You just showed up at my window first, saving me the trip.”
Lani’s mouth dropped open. “You—you—ugh!”
Kirov looked over her head, to the stars, to his Coms on the control panel, ensuring they were on a direct path for Troxva before he turned on the auto-pilot mode.
If they flew through the night, they would reach his outpost by mid-morning, possibly later, depending on how much drag they experienced with the load he was hauling back.
“You wish to fight about this,” he said. “I am prepared for it.”
“You could have, oh, I don’t know…asked!”
Kirov narrowed his eyes.
