Then he returned to the control panel, stooping down to pick up the sack they’d thrown at him and tossing it to the side like it was as light as a feather. Once he was situated back at his post, he allowed Erin to slide down the front of his body and he encased her between his arms, her belly pressed into the metal of the control panel, her back pressed against his chest.
“Youstay here,” he growled.
Erin craned her neck around his massive body to look at her. Relief went through the brunette’s eyes when she saw Crystal was unharmed, only tied up.
“I’m okay,” Crystal mouthed. “Are you?”
Erin nodded hesitantly but then tilted her chin up to give their captor a withering glare.
“Turn forward, female,” he barked.
Erin’s jaw set, but after a moment of defiance, she did as he said and Crystal lost sight of her behind the Luxirian’s massive bulk.
Crystal’s shoulders sagged, but she wasn’t surprised. At least they’d tried. And if another opportunity presented itself, they would try again. Because there was no telling what this Luxirian’s plans were for them.
Whowashe?
Helplessly, Crystal watched the mountain city grow smaller and smaller in the distance as the male revved up the engine again and they began racing across the black sand once more.
An idea came to her. A small one, but one worth a try regardless. Maneuvering her fingers against her ties, she managed to grip the bottom of her tunic and pull off an uneven, large strip. With a quick peek to make sure the Luxirian hadn’t heard, Crystal began ripping the material into little strips.
Then she let one go into the gusty winds filling the hovercraft. With bated breath, she watched it flutter in the air, dancing wildly, going this way and that way, before landing in the sand, far behind them.
She breathed a small sigh of relief. It was something. And maybe someone would find it. Eventually.
With her hand clenching a fistful of breadcrumb strips, Crystal prayed that someone was even looking for them. She prayed that someone would find them before it was too late.
Chapter Four
Jaxor’an had always been intelligent, Cruxan knew. He’d been a warrior, a natural born leader, and he’d had a bright future ahead of him, serving his planet.
Until he threw it all away, seeking out theMeviraxand turning his back on his city, on his blood brother, shortly after the Jetutians unleashed their plague on Luxiria.
Cruxan’s lips pressed together as he examined the tracks left in the black sand. Careful not to disturb them, he crouched, trying to decipher what had happened there.
There’d been a struggle. Small tracks—human footsteps, though they dragged long through the sand—running back towards the city. They’d tried to escape, Cruxan realized, and Jaxor’an had caught them and continued on his way.
What purpose did he have taking the females, if not to deliver them to theMevirax? It didn’t make sense. Nothing did anymore.
Cruxan launched himself back into the hovercraft, but only rose far enough above the sand so as not to disturb the tracks. It was more difficult to catch the strange scent that had been in his nostrils since the terrace from higher up, but he needed to preserve the sand tracks for as long as possible, in case he needed to circle back around.
It was only a short distance later when, by complete chance, he saw something white laying in the black sand. He descended, hopped out, and carefully scooped it up, letting the sand trickle through his fingers.
Cloth. From a tunic.
Its scent was strong and when Cruxan brought it up closer to his face, it muddled his mind again, fogging it over. He shook his head at his strong reaction, but wasn’t concerned. He’d been gifted with strong senses. An abnormality, but one that had served him—and Luxiria—well since they could be of use.
Clenching the cloth between his palm, he took to his hovercraft once more and kept his eyes peeled more closely.
He found more. Two more, leading north, strangely away from the Caves ofPevrallix, which was where theMeviraxwere rumored to live. The pieces of cloth were dropped close to the sandcraft’s tracks, an easy road left by Jaxor’an.
But Cruxan knew that Vaxa’an’s blood brother was more intelligent than that.
So when he came across a series of similar tracks, branching out in five different directions, that would take him to five different places in Luxiria, Cruxan wasn’t surprised.
Jaxor’an had made them earlier that morning, he realized. They were fresh, though they had all been slightly smudged by the wind. A deterrent, meant to buy time.
But which tracks were the freshest? Which path did Jaxor’an take?
