“What do you mean?”
“I first saw him when he was one of our rescuers, you know?” Beks said. Crystal barely remembered that day. It had been a dull blur. “I do remember feeling like…you know that moment when you anticipate something exciting? You get a little tingly?”
“Yeah,” Crystal whispered, knowing exactly what she was talking about.
“I remember feeling that exact emotion when I first saw him. I felt…awareof him. Although I don’t think our reactions are nearly as powerful as theirs. Lihvan told me that when he first saw me, it was like getting hit by a hovercraft right in the chest,” she joked.
Crystal blew out a small breath and took another piece of meat from the platter because she didn’t know what else to do.
“Why do you ask? Because of Erin?” Beks questioned.
Crystal could lie. Beks had given her a perfect excuse to lie. She could just say that yes, it was because of Erin.
But Crystal remembered what she’d told Cruxan last night. She remembered telling him that she didn’t like the person she’d become with Leo because she’d lied all the time to keep the truth hidden.
She didn’t want to do that anymore.
So, instead of lying, she told the truth for once.
“No, because Cruxan’s Instinct awakened for me,” she said softly, looking over at Beks, whose eyes widened in shock. “I’m his mate and I don’t know what to do.”
“Oh, honey,” Beks said, pushing the tray away, turning her body to face Crystal more fully. “Why didn’t you say anything earlier?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I just wanted to find Erin, I guess. Plus, I’m just really, really confused about it all.”
“Did…did anything happen between you two?”
Her mind flashed to the night when she’d been drugged with thetevvax.
“No,” she said. “I mean…it’s complicated.”
That was the understatement of the year.
“Does he know?” Beks asked next softly, reaching out to touch her shoulder. “About your ex?”
Crystal’s lips pressed together. Even though Beks had never been living with them back in the Golden City, she had come to visit often, considering Kate, the Prime Leader’s mate, was her best friend. They hadallgrown close over time. How could they not?
So, naturally, all of the women knew about Crystal’s ex, though she hadn’t told them as much as she’d told Cruxan last night. She’d told them snippets, whereas Cruxan knew the whole ugly truth.
“I told him last night,” she said, rubbing her hands down her arms, locking eyes with Beks.
“How did he react?”
“He didn’t say anything,” Crystal said.
“What? Nothing?”
She shook her head, feeling that hurt all over again. “After I told him, he just…he got up and made up an excuse and left the camp for a little while.”
Beks frowned, her eyebrows pinching together. “That surprises me. Then again, maybe it doesn’t.”
“What do you mean?”
Beks lifted one of her shoulders. “Luxirian males are…” she blew out a breath, searching for the right word. “They are simple.”
“Simple?” Crystal asked, the word not what she’d expected.
“All they want is peace and safety for the ones they care for, whether that is their mate or their family or their home. That’s it,” Beks said. “Lihvan’s told me many times that my happiness and wellbeing is what is most important to him, that he would give up anything for me.”
