Fates, help him.
“The drug will need time to pass through your system. We cannot travel until it does,” he said.
“I’m fine,” she assured him, even though he heard her breath hitch as she said it.
His lips pressed in a grim line. “It will only grow. The peak of the drug will come hours from now. You will be in no shape to travel further.”
He saw the delicate flesh of her neck bob as she swallowed. Then she said quietly, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know what it was.”
“You could not have known,luxiva,” he told her quietly. “Now, come. We will find a place to settle for the night.”
It took some time to find a suitable camp and Cruxan knew that her desire was only growing, thetevvaxramping up in her system.
“W-what’s going to happen?” she asked quietly, her voice tinged with panic as he looked for a camp.
Cruxan gaze raked through the jungle, desperate to find a safe place for his female.
Softly, he told her, “You will not be yourself,luxiva.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” she whispered.
Right when Cruxan spied a grouping ofnixiatrees close enough together to provide protection, Crystal let out a gasp and wobbled on her feet.
Reacting on instinct, Cruxan snaked his arm around her waist, steadying her when her knees gave out. He cursed under his breath when she moaned at his touch and knowing that she couldn’t walk further, he swept her up in his arms, cradling her warming body against his chest.
“Cruxan,” she said, her voice strained. “It’s getting stronger.”
“I know,luxiva.”
He ignored how right it felt to hold her in his arms. Except for the night when it had been pouring rain and he’d held her to keep her warm, this was the closest they’d been since.
“Cruxan, your horns,” she said softly, looking up at them.
“Ignore them,” he said, gruffer than he intended. His horns were probably ramrod straight right then, mirroring his cock.
He brought them both over to the grouping of thenixiatrees he’d spied. Shoving aside a few large leaves, he peered within and found that there was a suitable place for camp. A protected and private little enclosure, shrouded by thenixialeaves. He was pleased to see that the ground was dry and, with slight reluctance, he settled his female there, with her back to the strong trunk.
“I will need to gather supplies for a fire,” he told her, raking his gaze over her face. Her eyes were unfocused and heavy-lidded. When his eyes went to her neck, he saw her racing heartbeat there. “I will not go far.”
Cruxan ducked and pushed past thenixialeaves, letting them fall back into place once he exited the enclosure. Outside, her scent wasn’t as strong, though it still lingered in the air.
He groaned deep in his chest, wondering how he would survive the night withtevvaxcoursing through his mate’s blood. Undilutedtevvax.
He’d takentevvaxwith pleasure partners before. It created a pinching hunger, a need to mate and fuck and lick and touch. For a few lust filled hours, it would drive Luxirians to mate like they were beasts in heat.
He gathered his supplies quickly, but didn’t hunt. He knew his female wouldn’t have a hunger for food that night, though he would hunt something fresh for her once the suns rose. Even from a distance, he heard her squirming inside their camp, past the heavy and thick leaves of thenixia. He heard her pants, her soft gasps.
It would take every bit of his self-control to keep his hands off her. She didn’t want this. She wasn’t herself. He needed to remember that, even when she inevitably begged for him to satisfy her.
Steeling his spine, praying silently to the Fates, he ducked back inside.
His pupils dilated when her scent hit him like a wall. The muscles in his arms actually trembled and his abdomen clenched at the sublime scent.
She’d taken off his tunic and it lay in a pile next to her. Only clad in her own thin tunic, her back was still to the trunk of the nearestnixia, but her legs were shifting restlessly, her toes curling inwards, her fists clenched at her sides.
“It’s hot,” she gasped out. “Please don’t make the fire.”
Holding his breath, he grumbled out, “It will be dark soon,luxiva. There will be no light source otherwise.”
