She wrapped her arms around him, falling away. It was morning and they would have a long day ahead, but there was a need that stretched between them. The need for connection and sex. Erin had grown so used to having him inside her, to feeling his kiss, his touch, that some moments, she marveled that she’d gone so long without them.
They only lay in the silence for a moment as Jaxor recovered. They looked at each other quietly. He stroked her cheek, her lips, and Erin thought that she could stare at him for the rest of her life and be perfectly happy. With a sigh, she realized in that moment she was losing yet another piece of her heart to him…and she wondered how many more pieces she had left until he owned them all.
She felt his seed leaking from her body and when they both finally rose, knowing there was much to be done, she took a clean cloth and water and washed it away. In the back of her mind, a part of her feared pregnancy.
She knew that Luxirians and humans were compatible in that way. But the logical part of her knew it was impossible, at least right then. She hadn’t had a period since…well, since her abduction from Earth. She couldn’t get pregnant if she didn’t ovulate, after all. Once she began to bleed again, then she would revisit that possibility.
They both dressed in comfortable silence, sparing lingering glances at each other. Because she couldn’t resist, she quickly darted over to him, went on the tips of her toes, and gave him a quick peck, watching the amusement and the warmth filter across his features afterwards. She loved that expression of his.
“How long do we have?” she questioned, following him out of their cave, looking back one last time. They were leaving for the Golden City that morning. Most of the supplies—clothing and food for the journey mostly—had already been loaded onto the hovercraft the night before.
“I will do one last patrol and try to keep the other shield links supported,” he said, his eyes going to the sky. He’d told her that was how he kept the base hidden from above. Shield links acted like mirrors. But even now, as she followed his gaze, she saw one section of them flickering. “I will be back within the hour,tev?”
She nodded. “I’ll fill up our water and make sure we didn’t miss anything.”
There was a lingering question between them, one they hadn’t voiced. She wondered if they’d ever be coming back here.
He nodded once, sweeping his eyes around the base. She bit her lip, still a little hesitant about going to the Golden City, especially given that they didn’t have much of a plan. She didn’t understand the sudden urgency in returning either, but Jaxor had said it was necessary. It was crazy to think that just last week, she would’ve given anything to return to the Golden City. Now, she was dragging her feet because it posed a risk to Jaxor.
“We will leave as soon as I return,” he said, brushing her cheek with his fingers, and then he was turning for the pulley that would take him down to the bottom level.
Erin watched him descend and then she took a deep breath, looking around at the quiet space. She listened to the silence when she couldn’t hear the chains from the pulley turning anymore. She felt a small gust of chilly wind on her face. Itwaslonely here, but it hadn’t felt lonely with Jaxor.
She only ached when she thought about her affectionate and grumpy male living here all by himself for so many years.
He doesn’t have to be alone anymore. And neither do you, that voice whispered in her mind.
She took in another breath and made herself useful. She checked the crops for the fifth time, wondering if there would be rain and thinking it was more than likely. She refilled their water skins, packing extras for the journey. They’d already packed dried meat and an armful ofobiraxi.
Erin checked the cave one last time, more out of boredom and nerves than actual necessity. She knew there was nothing that remained there that they needed to bring. She was folding up the furs in neat squares when she heard a sound in the base.
Thinking Jaxor had returned, she stepped out of the cave, calling out, “Are you back alre—”
But her breath hitched and the words fell away.
There was a male, one she didn’t recognize,in the base. Intheirbase. He didn’t look like a Luxirian from the Golden City and when his eyes cut to her, fear jolted in her belly.
And she knew this was one of theMevirax. Curling blue ink ran up his arms, similar to Jaxor’s own faded markings, ones she’d never asked him about because he seemed ashamed of them.
Her swallow was loud. Movement from the corner of her eye made her look up and she saw ahovercraft, another one, parked precariously on the cliff of the crater. Another male was standing next to it, looking down into the base. And all at once, Erin knew that the shield links had failed. She knew that they’d just happened to spot the base from above as they were flying over.
“What is it that you want?” she called out, trying to keep her voice level and even. As if it was a perfectly normal occurrence for strange males to be in the base.
The one on top of the crater called down to the male closest to her. It was Luxirian and yet it was not. A strange dialect.
“We are here for what Jaxor promised to us,” the male in the base said. He had blue eyes and long hair, his English heavily accented.
“And what is that? Perhaps I can find it for you,” she said, hoping that was all they wanted. Maybe they would take it and leave.
The male was approaching the steps leading up to the cave. Erin took a step back, her hands curling around the handle of the door. If he tried to harm her, she could lock herself in. Except there was nothing in there that she could defend herself with. They’d taken everything to the hovercraft.
“He promised usyou,” the male informed her, his voice deceptively calm. In the blink of an eye, he made two large leaps until he was only an arm’s length away from her.
Erin gasped and whirled into the cave, tugging the door behind her—
But the male caught it in his grip and tore it away. Erin cried out when she felt something in her arm pop. When she darted her gaze to the male, she saw the door hanging from his grip. Just like Jaxor, he’d torn it from the stone with his strength. He threw it aside as Erin backed farther in.
“I—I’m sure you’re mistaken,” she said softly, her breath heaving, her heart pounding. Her arm was limp at her side and she knew that her shoulder must be dislocated, but she tried to ignore the icy pain that tingled up her spine.
