She wondered whatrixellameant and why he called her that.
Erin nodded and took a step around the fire towards him. Only when his nostrils flared dramatically did she realize that she’d forgotten his heightened senses and her inconvenient arousal. As small as it was, it was there. Some primal part of her reacting to him, something that couldn’t be helped.
His eyes flooded with blackness, his pupils dilated dramatically. Erin froze when his growl started and then he made a deep sound in his throat and it was gone.
With a rough curse, he walked around the fire, past her, towards the waterfall. Erin stood staring at the place he’d occupied, feeling her face flame slightly before she pushed her embarrassment away.
It can’t be helped, she reminded herself again. Despite everything, Jaxor was a physically attractive male. He was strong, obviously in his prime. There were bound to beslip-upson her end, every now and again. There was no reason to be embarrassed about it.
She heard rustling. When she looked over her shoulder, her breath hitched. Jaxor was tugging his blood-covered pants down his legs. He’d already disposed of his tunic. The firelight was unobstructed in that part of the base and she saweverything.
Briefly, she’d seen his cock before. In a loincloth, which he’d worn up until that day, it was difficultnotto have wardrobe malfunctions, after all. But she’d never seen it in its full glory until now.
The tip of his cock bobbed against his abdomen as he straightened. The thick shaft was curved and on the underside were hardened knobs running the length of it. Thick and long and hard.
Sweet mother of…
Erin licked her dry lips and looked away, trying to calm her breathing. It had obviously been way too long since she’d last had sex. Jaxor might be attractive and he might have been blessed with a cock straight from the Luxirian gods themselves, but his personality kind of sucked. He’d stolen her and her friend away from the Golden City, had been intent on trading them away to who knew who, for who knew what. She needed to remember that the next time she lusted over him.
He couldn’t be trusted. He was dangerous. The fact that he was apparently her mate only highlighted that, only served to remind her to tread carefully.
Erin’s treacherous eyes rose, despite her thoughts, when she heard a splash. The pool was deep, deep enough for him to dive into, and when he resurfaced, his dark hair was inky and his blue eyes were on hers.
Magnets, she thought, her gut sinking. Their eyes were like magnets, despite their obvious mistrust for one another. Erin’s shoulders sagged. She wondered if it was like this for the others, for Kate, Beks, Cecelia, Taylor, and Lainey. Especially Lainey. That girl didn’t go down without a fight. It had taken a lot for Kirov to win her over.
Except Kirovwantedto win her over, Erin thought.
Jaxor?
He didn’t want ‘to win her over.’ He wasn’t courting her, or wooing her, by any means. The idea was almost…laughable.
That was enough for Erin to break their gaze. She sat back down at her place by the fire, ignoring Jaxor, and trying to ignore thekekevira few yards away.
After another few moments, she heard Jaxor pull himself from the pool, heard him shuffle through a row of chests near his weapons. When he came into her view once again, he went over to thekekevir.
He wore the loincloth again, leaving his chest and legs bare.Isn’t he cold?she wondered, frowning. The wind was picking up. It was howling up the shaft Jaxor had disappeared into earlier.
He brought thekekevircloser to the fire, kneeling surprisingly close to her as he drove the spit through it with force, from one end to the other. Erin pressed her lips together, but she knew that if she wanted meat that night, this was how it was done.
Jaxor set the spit over the fire and turned the crank at the side briefly. He had a mechanism set up so that it turned automatically and for the first time, Erin wondered how he’d done that. He was intelligent, that much was clear.
He settled a short distance away from her. Luckily, her arousal was gone so she didn’t have to worry he’d scent it. Still, evenheseemed wary and Erin didn’t know how she felt about that.
It was the first time she’d seen him rest all day. When she looked up and saw a peek of black sky through the clouds, she knew he’d had a long day. He’d been up long before her. Compared to him, Erin felt lazy. All she’d managed to do was learn two buttons of the hovercraft and cut her foot.
Then again, what was she expected to do? She didn’t even know what she was doing there and Jaxor refused to answer her whenever she askedwhathe intended to do with her.
It was not knowing that frustrated her most.
Magnets, she thought again, jolting a bit when she saw his gaze on her. They regarded one another silently. His knees were bent, his arms locked around them in an almost casual, relaxed position. Erin had been around her Luxirian guards back in the Golden City long enough to not be surprised when his skin took on a golden hue next to the fire. All Luxirians’ skin color shifted with the light, an alien feature to her, certainly, but one she was used to now.
Beautiful. It shimmered, reflecting back shadows and highlights. Erin wondered if Jaxor thought her skin was strange since it didn’t shift with the light.
“Have you ever seen humans before Crystal and me?” she asked softly, curiosity winning over their silent little stare-down.
The question might’ve surprised him. He didn’t respond immediately, long enough for Erin to think he wouldn’t, but finally he murmured, “Tev.”
“Where?” she asked, her lips turning down briefly.
