A sharp intake of breath whistled through her nostrils and she was just about to turn to give him a piece of her mind when he laughed. The sound was husky and warm. Erin’s insides felt like melted butter just listening to it.
So she let it slide. She faced forward so that he wouldn’t see the way her lips quirked up, so he wouldn’t see her little smile and her pleasure at listening to his rare laugh. She couldn’t be mad at him when he laughed.
Erin liked him, she realized. She liked him prickly and she liked him like this. And that was a dangerous realization. Because it meant she would miss him and she’d planned to leave Luxiria with her heart intact.
“You can kiss me into submission if you so desire,rixella,” he rasped in her ear, his lips caressing the shell of it, making her shiver. “I welcome it.”
Erin swallowed, the sound audible. “Duly noted.”
“Are you angry with me?” he murmured, now trailing his lips over her ear. Down and up, down and up. Her breathing went a little heavy and she shifted to squeeze her thighs together.
Erin tried desperately to summon her anger, but couldn’t. Not when he was pressed behind her, not when he was taking her to see the sea and pick the fruits that she really, really liked. Not when he’d given her two amazing orgasms that morning and the memory of his laugh was still ringing in her ears.
“No,” she whispered, her head tilting to the side as his lips trailed down her neck. Yes, she decided, he’d probably had many, many female companions in his lifetime. Because he was practiced in seduction and she didn’t know whether it made her burn with further jealousy or rejoice that he was unleashing his finely honed skills on her.
Her eyelids fluttered shut when his mouth pressed kisses along the column of her throat, and she gasped, her nipples tingling, when he lightly bit down. Hard enough to leave a mark? That dark side of her, the one she’d tried so hard to repress, hoped so.
Maybe we really are perfect for each other, Erin mused suddenly.
“We are here,” he murmured and she felt the vibration of the words against her back.
Her eyes flew open and she gasped, taking in the beauty of the landscape before her. That glimmering hint of water in the distance had turned into an expansive sea.
“TheLopitaxSea,” he said.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Iwant to know about theMevirax,” Erin requested softly, looking out over the sea, perched next to him at the peak of a sand dune they’d climbed.
Jaxor was leaning back on his hands, his belly full from theobiraxi,which they’d gorged themselves on that morning and even into the afternoon. Their thighs were pressed together and his female was sitting close.
Jaxor had never felt more at ease, but then her question made his chest jolt.
Erin watched him carefully. She was her steady self right then, quiet but expecting him to answer her, knowing that he would. He hadn’t denied her an answer in the past couple spans.
“About their history?” he hedged.
Her lips quirked and she nodded her head. “About their history…and about yours with them. Because I sense there is a story there and much you haven’t told me.”
Jaxor’s heartbeat sped in his chest, wondering if he should lie to her. He believed that if theMeviraxappeared right then to demand he give them Erin…he wouldn’t. He would fight for her. He would fight to keep her.
And yet…he hadn’t consummated their bond, had he? Because he knew that if he mated her fully, he would never let her go.
So had he made a decision?
Jaxor hated it, but he hadn’t.
He could be selfish and claim her as his. But he’d been selfish ten rotations ago in turning his back on his brother and his people, and he didn’t know if he could bear it again. For once, he wastryingto be selfless.
Only, it would cost Erin just as much as it would cost him, if not more.
Would two sacrifices be enough? For the future of the Luxirian race? Is that whatOxandriwould demand?
It was late afternoon. The suns had arched across the sky and were just beginning to descend. It had been a perfect span. Relaxing. Jaxor had kissed hisrixellawhen he felt like it, touched her when he felt like it, and the strange, foreign feeling of happiness had stayed with him, as long as he was next to her.
Yet, Jaxor still thought to betray her.
“About fifty rotations ago, a male named Likar organized a rebellion in the Golden City. The Prime Leader at the time, the current Prime Leader’s sire,”his own sire, “fought back. Crushed it before it could take root, though many lives were lost. The surviving males and females, Likar included, were banished from the Golden City and the outposts, defeated, and so they were forced to travel across the Black Desert and start anew in the wild lands. They made their home in the Caves of thePevrallix, rumored to be a favored place ofOxandri,the Fate of Sacrifice.”
