by Zoey Draven
With a purr, catching her lustful stare, her male caught her hips and tugged her down until she was positioned at the foot of the bed, thighs splayed obscenely wide for him. His strength and need only turned her on more, if possible, and he caught her ankles in his grip, pushing her even wider to receive him.
A choked cry tore from her throat when he thrust inside her without warning and that cry turned into a keening moan as he took her hard, pounding into her sex with single-minded, erotic determination.
Her breasts bobbed with his thrusts and her male growled, his gaze flickering from her eyes, to her tits, to where they were joined together.
Unable to resist, he leaned forward and caught a tipped peak between his mouth, sucking on her nipple so hard that she felt it all the way to her toes. Taylor clutched his neck, keeping him there, allowing him only enough space so he could switch breasts. She listened to the sound of their flesh slapping together as he fucked her thoroughly, that knobbed cock gliding over every sensitive part of her. She felt his long, dark hair tickle her skin and felt his pierced nipples drag against her belly as he never ceased his thrusts.
Heaven.
He felt like heaven.
Finally, he released her sensitive nipples, reddened from his sucklings, and brought his forehead against her own. His purring growl, which she’d come to love so much, reverberated between them and Taylor felt it in her own chest. Softly, with a gentleness that was a direct contrast to his hard, claiming thrusts, he kissed her, moving his warm, velvety lips across hers and Taylor wound her arms around him, getting lost in him, her head swimming with pleasure and love and overwhelming happiness.
Never had she thought to find someone like him. Never had she thought she’d be so happy.
And that intense feeling of love burst through her chest the same moment her orgasm did and Taylor was unable to prevent raking her nails down his back, trying to hold onto him as she began to climb higher and higher.
“Vikan!”
His name tore from her throat, her eyes catching and holding his as pleasure raced through her. Stormy gray eyes saw her through the orgasm and the one that followed. Not once did she ever look away. She never wanted to look away from him.
And when he finally came, his seed poured hot inside her, bathing her clenching, sensitive walls and his roar echoed around their home, as it did most nights—and mornings and afternoons.
Taylor clutched him in her arms, keeping him inside her, and he purred, rubbing his dark horns over her cheek in a possessive and affectionate Luxirian gesture that made her smile sleepily.
And when she dozed off, she felt the pulse of their blood bond between them, felt his love, felt everything, and she fell asleep in his arms, his scent on her skin, and his name a whispering sigh on her lips.
* * *
When Taylor woke next, he was there, crouching beside her, his gray eyes bright even in the darkness of the room.
“Vikan,” she whispered, still half asleep, groggy, and reaching for him. “Why are you out of bed?”
He jolted the moment she said his name. His lips turned down slightly, his brows furrowing. But when her hand touched the warm, strong, velvety skin of his forearm, he stilled, his eyes flickering in the low light.
A slight purr from his chest and then he murmured, “Sleep, luxiva.”
Taylor relaxed, nodding, her eyelids already sliding shut as the warmth of his voice lulled her.
She slept.
When she woke next, she was in Vikan’s arms, bridal style, and he was just carrying her onto a circular vehicle of some kind. A cool breeze washed over her skin that wasn’t covered by her tunic.
In the back of her mind, Taylor thought that sensation was odd, the feeling of wind, considering she hadn’t been outside since…
She inhaled a sharp breath, sucking in cool, fresh air. Clarity returned in a flash, her brain firing on all cylinders as she fully came awake, fighting through the fogginess of the deep dream, trying to discern what was happening, what was real or whether it was still just another of her strange, vivid dreams.
And just as she realized she was outside, on the strange planet that she’d been on for the past couple weeks, that it was nighttime and that no one was around except for the gray-eyed alien that she’d just dreamed about…Taylor gasped and struggled in his steel-like arms.
“What the hell is going on?” she rasped, her voice still scratchy from sleep.
He didn’t give her time to ask much more than that before the circular, open-air vehicle they were on began to hum and vibrate. A moment later, it lifted off the ground and Taylor’s surprised cry was lost in the wind as they hurtled into the sky.
Taylor’s stomach dropped, frozen and still against his chest. Eventually, what she realized was a damn hovercraft leveled off, the gray-eyed alien’s long fingers working expertly over the control panel, even though he still cradled her with his other arm.
When the hovercraft slowed, high above the ground that Taylor hardly dared to look at, the wind finally settled into a hushed whistle as they glided through thin air. Instead of looking down, she looked up at him, trying to figure out what the hell was happening.
“Where are you taking me?” she demanded, her eyes running over features that she’d memorized in her dreams. Strangely enough, a part of her didn’t fear him. Strangely enough, a part of her knew that he would never hurt her in any way. So instead of being frightened, she settled on pissed. “Let me go!”
He didn’t.
Instead, once he seemed content with the direction of the hovercraft’s journey, he turned those startling eyes on her, pinning her into place with only his gaze. Though she was angry, she felt her body settle against him further, suddenly breathless by their intensity.
The familiarity of him shook her, just as, in the back of her mind, she thought, I’m going crazy.
Because God help her, she knew how it felt being carried in his arms. She knew what he smelled like, what his muscled bulk felt like against her bare flesh, what his dark rumbly voice sounded like as he rasped wicked words in her ear.
All thanks to her dreams.
She struggled with the impossibility of it even as her body softened against him, as if it had a mind of its own. How could she know these things when she’d never even spoken to him?
No. She resumed her struggles, pushing his chest away and thrashing her legs until he finally set her down onto the floor of the hovercraft, but kept her pinned between his body and the control panel.
Taylor sucked in a breath, about to tell him off, when he suddenly noted, “You called me Vikan.”
Because that’s your name, she almost bit back sarcastically until her mind caught up with his words, about what they meant.
Her heartbeat thundered in her chest.
She denied it even though she remembered. “No, I didn’t.”
His eyes narrowed. “Tev, female. You did.”
Now she knew that when she woke earlier only to find him ‘out of bed,’ that had been in the room with the other women. It hadn’t been in a strange yet familiar bed in a place she somehow knew was far away from there. She could even recall the deep emerald green of the cushions, the softness of the furs beneath her.
Taylor squeezed her eyes shut, panic rising.
What was happening to her?
A touch on her cheek made her eyes fly open and she recoiled from his fingertips, though there wasn’t anywhere to go since she was trapped between him and the metal panel.
When she met his gaze, whatever words she was about to say died in her throat. He was studying her, but his touch never left her cheek.
“You have been dreaming, female,” he stated, his voice a thick, velvety rasp that caressed her skin. The tone of his voice harbored no hesitation. What he said was fact.
Taylor’s breath hitched. Could he help her? Did he know what was happening to her?
But first…she swallowed past the rock lodged in her throat and asked quietly, only loud eno
ugh so that he would hear her over the wind, “Is your name Vikan?”
His pupils flared, his eyes drifting to her lips as she asked her question, the answer of which she desperately needed to know. Something rose between them and the first thing that Taylor thought when it did was Cecelia’s words yesterday…that she and Rixavox had an undeniable connection, a strange pull she couldn’t explain.
Taylor’s breaths came out fast, but she couldn’t look away from him.
“Tev, luxiva,” he murmured. “I am called Vikan.”
All of her fears were confirmed with only a handful of words.
“Why did I already know that?” she asked him softly, as though speaking to herself. Her brows furrowed together, trying to make sense of it all even though nothing made sense anymore. “How do I know that? How is it even possible?”
“The gift of foresight manifests in odd ways,” he told her, his hand sliding down from her cheek to her shoulder, as if he couldn’t help but touch her.
“Foresight?” she repeated dumbly, shaking her head. “Like seeing the future? That’s crazy.”
He frowned at the word ‘crazy,’ but seemed to understand her meaning. “I have had the gift all my life span, female. It is a part of me. And now, it seems the Fates have connected it to you through me.”
What the hell was he talking about?
“I…” her lips moved but she didn’t know what to say. “No, no. I must have heard your name somewhere. One of the guards must’ve said it and I heard it. That’s all. And the blood bond thing…it’s only because Cecelia was talking about it earlier. It just popped up in the dream because she’d mentioned it.”
A stunned growl tore from his throat. “Blood bond?”
But Taylor hardly registered his words or the sudden intensity of his gaze. She felt a little light-headed and she murmured, “I need to sit down. I need to think. This is all too much.”
Vikan caught her against him when her knees began to buckle and his warm hand came down to support the small of her back. The intimacy of him holding her that way jarred her and she extracted herself from his arms, sitting down against the side of the hovercraft, tucking her knees to her chest.
When Vikan crouched in front of her, she whispered, not quite meeting his eyes, “Please. Just give me time to think.”
He frowned, studying her for a long while before he blew out a slow breath, rising to his full, towering height. He was well over seven feet, possibly closer to eight. She relaxed a little, sensing he’d give her some space.
But before he let her have that time, he asked quietly, “Will you tell me your name, female?”
When she glanced up at him, startled by the question, he had a sober, serious expression on his alien features. His tone had been…hesitant, almost like he wasn’t sure he wanted to know it.
“Taylor,” she found herself replying before she could second guess it. “My name is Taylor.”
He lowered his chin to his chest, blowing out a harsh exhale before lifting his eyes to the sky. Taylor almost gasped at the look on his face. He looked so…tormented. So…sad.
But just as quickly as the look came, it was gone. Vikan turned from her, his back muscles stiff as he resumed his post at the control panel, leaving Taylor to wonder what the hell just happened.
Because the truth was that that dream—and the many more that had come before it—had shaken her. Freaked her out beyond belief. Except the dream she’d had that night had been the most vivid of all. She could remember every detail about it, the smell of sex, the cozy darkness of the room, his heat hovering over her, that feeling of happiness and belonging she’d never felt before that bloomed in her chest.
As she eyed Vikan’s turned back, she wondered why the alien male she’d been dreaming about had stolen her away in the middle of the night like a common thief.
But most importantly, she wondered what it all meant.
FIVE
VIKAN KEPT HIS gaze resolutely forward on the open, darkened horizon of Luxiria. They were facing the western lands, where the outpost he oversaw, Lopixa, jutted high over the shimmering silver sea of Lopitax.
His home.
Vaxa’an had made him Ambassador to Lopixa shortly after Nitav’s death. In hindsight, Vikan had been in no position to oversee an outpost, not in the emotional and mental state he’d been in during that time. But Vaxa’an had known it would be a much needed distraction and in many ways, Lopixa had saved Vikan. Lopixa had given him purpose.
Just behind him, however, curled up against the side of the hovercraft was his new purpose in life. And she could hardly bear to look at him.
Taylor.
She’d been silent ever since she’d told him her name and Vikan waited, just on the edge of his patience, until she was ready to speak. It was not in his nature to wait for others to act first, but he would learn for her.
It was for the best, he reasoned, considering he was still trying to process what she’d revealed to him, unknowingly or not.
She’d been dreaming of him and of their potential future.
Somehow, the Fates had shown her visions through their connection, a connection she didn’t yet know existed.
She’d known his name. When he’d come for her at the command center, silently so as not to alarm the other human females that shared the quarters with her, he’d scented her arousal and it had almost been his undoing. He knew what happened as she slept, because he’d been plagued with the same erotic dreams. But when she’d woken and his name had fallen from her lips so sweetly, he’d felt…strong. He’d felt…not empty, so opposite from what he’d felt for a long while.
Determination had fueled him in that moment. And when she’d reached for him, touching his forearm…her touch had sparked what he had always feared.
An inextinguishable need. And potent, dizzying desire.
Not only lust, but desire for the look in her eyes at that moment when she’d woken from a deep sleep. The look in her eyes had been soft, familiar, welcoming, knowing. It was one of coveted intimacy and it had been meant for him. All for him.
That look had almost brought him to his knees.
If Vikan gave up Taylor, if he let her return to Earth like any honorable male would, he now knew just how much he’d be losing. And he didn’t know if he should be relieved about that, knowing he made the right choice in exploring this, or whether he should feel shame and guilt, for betraying Nitav so easily.
It was a constant war within him, even then. Torn between old duty and new desire.
Just as they were flying over the plains of the Virax, he perceived movement behind him. A subtle shifting as the human female rose to her feet and then slowly approached him, as if he was an untamed beast.
He heard her make an odd sound in her throat and then she said, “I think…I’m ready to talk now.”
Vikan immediately turned to her, tapping on the automatic flight control blindly. The hovercraft slowed in reaction, but it allowed less wind to whip away their words.
He neared her, unable to resist the pull—and honestly, not even certain he wanted to resist—but she held out a hand, pressing her palm into his chest. Her fingers were warm, soft, and Vikan barely held back a pleased growl. She touched him easily, but then she seemed to realize she was touching him and immediately snatched her hand back.
“No,” she said, lifting her eyes. She ran that soft hand through her silky, dark hair that fell just past her slim shoulders. “You…you stay there.”
Vikan’s lips downturned, but he grunted in agreement, crossing his arms over his chest. For a moment, her eyes ran over the cords of muscle that lined his forearms, built and strengthened by rotations and rotations of warrior training and battle. Her pink lips parted as she stared and a purr kicked up in his chest, his Instinct’s automatic reaction to his mate’s blatant perusal.
Vikan stifled the purr when he remember Nitav had also liked to look at his body, had often admired it and his scars after matings.
He l
ooked down to the floor of the hovercraft, his jaw clenching, before returning his gaze to Taylor, waiting for her to speak.
“First,” she started, “why am I here? Why did you take me away from the others?”
A complicated question, but Vikan would be honest with her. He sensed that she needed honesty. And lying to her would accomplish nothing, especially since they had such little time before Vaxa’an would pursue them. Even then, Vikan wondered if Vaxa’an had already been alerted to Taylor’s absence, if one of the other human females had woken only to find one of their own gone.
“You sense that there is an energy between us,” Vikan said, his voice a dark rasp. “You dream of us. You are drawn to me and yet you do not know why.”
He waited for her to deny it, but knew she wouldn’t. Vikan spoke the truth.
“Or perhaps you do know why,” he added, wondering how much the mated humans—Kat, Beks, and Sessela—had told the rest of the group.
Taylor didn’t shy away from his gaze, but her lips pressed together in a thin line. Vikan marveled at her courage.
He heard her swallow before she said quietly, “Even if I suspect…” she shook her head and then, blowing out a sharp breath, said, “We were supposed to leave this planet soon. What did you actually want to accomplish by taking me away?”
“You were set to leave once the twin suns rose,” Vikan told her bluntly. “Vaxa’an told me as much. I could not let you go…not without knowing.”
There was a fire that began to burn in her gaze. “Without knowing what?”
“Whether you were mine,” he growled.
Taylor’s breath hitched, but then he saw her fists clench together at her sides. “You’re out of your mind. You have to take me back. I will be on that ship leaving in the morning. I have to be.”
For the first time, a dark thought crossed Vikan’s mind and he was startled by the intense jealousy that ripped through him.