On shaking legs, Crystal quickly emerged from the bath and Erin gave her her tunic first, using her own naked body to shield her as she changed, something Crystal was immensely grateful for. Then Erin pulled her own tunic over her head and then cut the Luxirian male a glare.
“Happy now?” Erin asked softly.
His eyes narrowed onto her. Instead of responding, he approached Erin and with a swift motion, ripped the bottom hem of her long tunic off in one long strip. Erin didn’t even flinch.
The male’s eyes never left hers as he ripped the strip into two.
“Hands,” he barked.
Erin’s lips pressed together, but she did as he said and held out her hands, her wrists touching. Quickly, he bound them together, tying them tight, before looking at Crystal.
Dread filled the pit of her stomach, but she needed to be strong, like Erin. She didn’t want to show this male her fear. That made it feel like he was winning, like he was in control.
He was even larger up close and Crystal did her best not to flinch when he tied her wrists together too.
He jerked his head to the door and all of them walked through. Crystal glanced down the hallway that led to their bedroom, praying that Bianca would stay quietly inside. There was no sign of her, which was a relief.
In the living room, Crystal’s breath hitched when she saw Horex and Vixron sprawled on the floor. On the sides of their necks, a small black square, like a chip, was attached to their skin.
“What did you do to them?” Erin asked, her voice quiet yet angry.
The male grunted but didn’t reply. Crystal remembered that he said they would reawaken, so she had hope that they were alright, simply knocked out.
Quickly, the male ushered them outside, but before he did, he turned to them and growled, “Make a sound and you will regret it.”
Crystal swallowed as he led them around the side of the house, shaded from the sun, out of sight. She knew it wouldn’t matter if she did try to scream. No one else resided on their high terrace and the Luxirian city was farther down the mountain, many, many levels below. Her scream would be carried away by the gentle breeze before it ever reached anyone.
They approached the same hidden entrance into the mountainside Crystal had seen him emerge from.
The Luxirian placed his hand onto the stone just to the right of the door. She saw a blue light flash from underneath his palm, just before the door slid open silently. Completely hidden, completely secret. But how didheknow about it? Who was this male?
Wind rushed up from the entrance, blowing back their hair, and Crystal stared into the cool, quiet darkness andheardthe emptiness of the tunnel.
“Down,” their strange Luxirian captor growled out. “It is a long way down, so you better start moving, females.”
Chapter Two
Ambassador Cruxan knew something was wrong the moment he jumped down from his hovercraft onto the quiet terrace.
The air felt too still and everything in him—his training, his instincts, his gut—told him what he needed to know. That feeling had never led him astray before, a reason why Vaxa’an, their Prime Leader, relied on him so much.
He’d come from Menira’s dwelling, a female he liked to visit whenever he came to the Golden City. He’d just come from his outpost, had travelled through most of the night on his hovercraft, and all he’d wanted the moment he reached Luxiria’s capitol was to mate Menira, to bite and lick and fuck, to release the tension that had been building and building, and she’d been more than willing to help him ease the restlessness inside.
It was their arrangement. One of many arrangements he had with various females across Luxiria’s surface.
He’d been calm, had been downright relaxed and loosened from their vigorous mating session, until the moment he stepped foot onto the terrace where his home in the Golden City was. The terrace where all the Ambassadors’ dwellings were. The terrace where the remaining human females—females that no unmated males were allowed to see—resided.
With a curse, he scrambled for the Coms on his hovercraft, patching a connection directly to Vaxa’an.
His Prime Leader’s voice pierced the still air on his panel. “Have you arrived back already?” his friend and warrior brother asked.
“Something is wrong, Vaxa’an. I feel it,” Cruxan said quietly. “Come to the females’ dwelling immediately.”
All he heard was a curse before Cruxan disconnected the Coms and then silently made his way over to one of the last dwellings on the terrace, scanning the alleys between each home, looking for anything out of place. He found none, but there was a strange scent in the air, one that grew stronger the closer he crept towards the females’ dwelling.
With a silent curse, he saw the door was wide open. In the distance, with his ears perked, Cruxan heard the telltale signs of a hovercraft approaching fast from the command center and he knew Vaxa’an would be there shortly.
Through the doorway, he saw the still bodies of Horex and Vixron and he grit his teeth together, but passed them on his way to check the rest of the dwelling. The females were his priority.
