“How much wouldsherequire?” Jaxor asked, his eyes cutting to Laccara.
The female’s lips pressed together. She snagged the blade from her mate’s grip and stepped forward.
Jaxor didn’t even flinch when she pressed it deep into his right pectoral, carvingOxandri’smark into his skin. Blood dripped from the fresh wound and Laccara’s eyes flickered to him. He’d mated her once, long ago, long before Kilan began courting her.
He’d lusted for her once and she’d always seemed to hate him for never wanting her again. Now her nearness, her scent, only made him think of therixellain his base.
“I make the vow toOxandri,” Jaxor rasped, his blood hot and slow as it dribbled down his flesh, “that I will uphold our agreement.”
Jaxor had never given much weight toOxandri. His mother had favoredKollasor, the Fate of Rebirth, and when Jaxor had prayed, it had been to her.
Laccara seemed satisfied with his vow. Even Kilan gave him a nod. Tavar, as always, was watching him.
“One more chance,” theMeviraxleader finally said, his eyes flickering toOxandri’smark, thekekevirwounds on his chest, and his shorn hair. Jaxor kept his expression neutral. “You leave tonight. I will give you five spans to track them down and bring them to me. If you fail, then you will never get close to Po’grak and you will never step foot in the Caves of thePevrallixagain.”
Chapter Eighteen
The next morning, Erin found Jaxor gone again.
When she stepped from the cave, the base was quiet, almost eerily so. Even thekekevirwere silent and Erin found she’d grown used to their noises.
The morning sky was still grey, heavy with a dense fog that shielded the sky from her sight.
“Jaxor?” she called out, hesitantly, her voice echoing around the crater, bouncing off the stone walls.
There was no reply. He’d come back last night—from wherever he’d gone—in a strange mood. Well, in a quiet, broody mood, which wasn’t all that different from how he usually was. He’d had blood on his chest from a fresh wound, but he hadn’t answered her when she asked how he’d received it. She wondered who he met with because she wasn’t foolish enough to believe he’d left to scare off ‘intruders.’
She didn’t know how long she had, but she had another rare opportunity to be alone. Navigating her way off the stones that led up to the cave, she got down to the base floor and wound her way through the tunnel, making sure to avoid any sharp rocks in the floor. On her way, she noticed that the pulley system was down, meaning Jaxor had lowered himself again, probably gone off to forage or check his traps.
The hovercraft was still in its place. Last night, she’d followed Jaxor down the tunnel and watched him start up the engine, though his fingers had been a rapid blur over the silver pad screen as he did. Still, Erin remembered. She just had to be certain she did, needed to practice so she wouldn’t forget. She’d traced the motion he’d made on the rock walls of the cave, trying to imprint it on her mind the night before as she waited for him to return, shivering as she tried not to think of what they’d done in that cave or the strange conversation they’d had over the fire.
She jumped onto the hovercraft after checking thekekevirgate and walked over to the controls.
A part of her still thought this was foolish—trying to learn to pilot an alien hovercraft in an attempt to blindly navigate her way back to the Golden City.
Actually, all parts of her thought this was foolish. But she suspected that Jaxor had met with theMeviraxlast night—that him trading her to them was still a possibility.
The thought…stung. She didn’t think it would, but it did. She tried to imagine her friends’ mates exchanging them for something—willingly giving them up—and couldn’t. Lihvan, Beks’ mate, had almost given his life to fight off a dangerous beast to keep her safe. Rixavox had knowingly performed a blood bond with Cecelia when she’d been poisoned, even though losing her would have killed him. Vikan had stolen Taylor from the Golden City, risking his power and position, when he believed she would leave. And Kirov had fought tooth and nail to win Lainey’s heart.
Yet, Jaxor was still in a negotiation with theMeviraxthat Erin suspected concerned her.
He hadn’t told them to go fuck themselves. He hadn’t claimed her as his. He’d done everything in his power to keep her at a distance…because he knew he would give her up?
Erin would have to save herself. She wasn’t relying on Jaxor. If Erin ever wanted to see the Golden City again, her home, her family, her friends…then she would have to act.
Sidling up to the control console, her fingertips hovered over the silver pad. Then she traced the pattern she remembered in her mind—a looping swirl that ended with a sharp slash to the right.
It was almost too easy when she heard the gentle whirring of the engine starting up. Her heartbeat sped with adrenaline and she looked over her shoulder, half expecting Jaxor to come barreling down the tunnel at any moment, to drag her from the hovercraft, and lock her away in the cave.
But there was still no sign of him.
She tapped the pad and simultaneously pressed the clear button directly to the left.
The hovercraft rose. She knew it would. She’d seen Jaxor do it the night before. She kept her finger on the button, kept her other finger on the silver pad. And she continued to rise, so unlike the sharp hurtle that Jaxor had performed.
Erin’s heartbeat was in her throat as panic began to rise. She was afraid of heights and the floor of the cave was growing smaller and smaller, the hole in the mountain above her widening and widening.
Then again, a little voice in her head was telling her togo. Fly away. It would be so easy, wouldn’t it? Then she would never see Jaxor again. He would never be able to trade her, her future would be in her own hands.
