by Zoey Draven
His home. The one he’d so lovingly told her about.
Lihvan stiffened, ever so slightly, before he relaxed.
“Nix,” he murmured and disappointment flooded her, stilling her hand on one particular large scar on his torso. “The Prime Leader has arranged immediate transportation to your home planet once we return to Luxiria.”
“If we return,” she said softly, tacking on the statement that she should have added to her first question.
“We will, female,” he said. “I promise you.”
“How can you promise that?”
Lihvan looked down at her, his expression serious. “I sent a transmission to Luxiria with our location. They will find us. It is only a matter of waiting.”
“Really?” she asked, eyes brightening. “You did that?”
“Tev.”
“How long do you think it will take?”
“Soon. A few spans maybe. Let us hope that the Jetutians do not come looking for us first.”
Beks frowned, her relief dampened slightly. “You think they would? Why?” Lihvan hesitated so Beks urged, “You can tell me.”
“Gribrak,” he started slowly, “was the Jetutian you saw in the docking bay. We share a violent history. He wanted to use me as leverage against my people, by taking me aboard his vessel.”
“Leverage for what?” she asked slowly.
“Luxirian crystals,” Lihvan murmured. His voice made her shiver and he pulled her closer, letting his heat sink into her. “A valuable resource for vessel travel. One especially powerful crystal could power a vessel to the Fourth Quadrant and back. There are very few left. He does not know that.”
“You were trying to trick him?” she asked, feeling her lips quirk for some reason.
Lihvan’s mouth twitched and she swore she almost got a smile out of him. “Tev. He would have killed me regardless. I thought I might as well give Vikan time to get the vessel out of their territory before he did.”
That wiped the small smile off her face real quick. “What?”
“Jetutians are notorious for being dishonorable.”
“You…you were agreeing to be taken when you knew he would kill you?”
Why did the thought of him dying send her in a panic? She hadn’t known him for very long, but the thought of him gone sent her heart racing. It felt like she was going to be sick.
“As the leader of that mission and vessel, it was my responsibility and duty to protect every warrior and female on board,” was all he replied, maddening male.
Beks fell silent. When she’d followed him down into the depths of the ship…he’d been knowingly going to his death. His stride had been purposeful and confident, no hesitation. The only moment he’d shown some sort of emotion had been when he’d embraced her. He’d called it his moment of weakness and blamed himself for dragging her into the Jetutians’ grasp.
Her heart ached.
She reached up to touch his cheek and traced her fingers over his deep scar. “Don’t you ever just want to be selfish sometimes? What about those you would have left behind? You don’t think they would want you to be selfish?”
Lihvan went quiet, his gaze burning into hers. After a lengthy pause, he said quietly, “My family died a long time ago. I have no brothers or sisters. I have no mate. I do not have much to lose by offering my life in place of others who have those bonds.”
Her heart twisted again. This guy blew every human man she knew out of the water. He was just so…noble. Beks didn’t think that she deserved him, to be honest.
She sat up on her elbow, even though the hard rocky floor dug into her flesh. He looked up at her as Beks traced the elegant lines of his features and the imperfectness of his scars, which she thought gave him an attractive and irresistible edge. His hair was a dark brown and fell across his shoulders. It was soft and straight. Any Earth girl would envy his hair.
His muscles were generous and had no doubt taken years of hard work to hone and perfect. His body made her mouth water as her eyes trailed over him, getting distracted briefly by the crown of his magnificent cock that was still peeking up at her through his waistband.
One of his horns was chipped, and now that she knew touching them turned him on, she planned to do so at every available opportunity until he let her pleasure him.
“I want to kiss you,” she breathed, her hair falling over her shoulder as she leaned down slightly. When his gaze darkened and flickered to her lips, she smiled and whispered, “Do Luxirians kiss?”
“Nix,” he grunted, voice deepening with arousal. “But I have seen the Prime Leader do it with his human mate.”
Right, she’d almost forgotten about the ‘human mate.’ Beks was intensely curious about how a pairing like that worked on his planet, but she would ask him about it later. Right now, she wanted to show him the simple, wonderful pleasure of an innocent kiss. Or, perhaps, a not-so-innocent kiss…
Beks murmured, her voice husky, “Do you want to kiss me?”
Lihvan growled and heat rose from his body like a furnace. “Tev.”
Beks lips parted, her eyelids going half-lidded, and then she leaned down. Lightly, as they shared breath, she brushed her lips across his full ones. Just a little tease of a kiss. Then she gave his lower lip a small suckle, tasting herself, and Lihvan inhaled sharply.
Her hair curtained around them as she deepened it. His mouth moved against hers, quickly learning the subtle, intricate dance of kissing. And when she stroked her tongue against his, he groaned, soon rewarding her efforts with a swipe of his own. That tongue, with its ridges, was glorious and while Beks had always been a fan of kissing…a part of her worried that she might need it when it came to Lihvan, like food or water or touch. She’d just begun kissing him and she never wanted to stop. Just the thought of stopping filled her with restlessness.
Soon, they repositioned themselves into a more comfortable position. Lihvan sat up, with his back against the wall of the cave, with Beks straddling his lap. She twined her arms around his neck while his snaked down her back, resting on the swell of her ass. It was a possessive touch that drove her absolutely wild. And they kissed…and kissed…and kissed until their gasps filled their echo-y cave and Beks lips felt swollen from her alien’s attentions.
Just before things began to escalate, they stopped to catch their breaths. Lihvan’s cock was swollen and throbbing between her thighs and he groaned as she rocked against him. She nibbled at his ear, sucking on the smooth flesh, and she felt his body shudder.
His words returned to her, floating in her mind, and before she knew it, she was whispering into his ear, “If you were mine, I’d want you to be selfish.”
His gaze burned into her and then his lips were hot on her own. Roughly, he murmured back, “If you were mine, I would have every reason to be, luxiva.”
* * *
Throughout the night, following the aftermath of their spine-tingling, intense, erotic make-out sesh, Lihvan would wake her with his tongue between her legs, as if he hadn’t already had his fill. And she’d lose herself all over again.
She lost count how many times that talented tongue brought her to orgasm. The night, while bitterly cold, was an endless stream of pleasure and touch and the memory of Lihvan’s hot skin against her own.
Morning came to soon, as far as she was concerned, but she woke up refreshed and with a small smile on her face. Not even her sore back from sleeping on the rock could kill her good mood. But a night full of orgasms could do that to a girl.
Lihvan was working at something over the fire and when she shifted to sit up, his gaze was immediately drawn to her. The air in the cave went thick and he started doing that purring growl she’d come to love. The sound was a full-proof way to turn her on.
“I have meat for you, female,” he rumbled.
Immediately, her mind went to a dirty place and she bit her lip, her gaze straying to his perpetual hard-on. Even though Lihvan was a generous lover—a more than generous lover—he’d refused to let
her reciprocate, no matter how many times she’d attempted to get her hands on him the night before. She didn’t even think he’d orgasmed last night. At all. It had frustrated her in the moment, but he’d quickly distracted her with other, more pleasurable things.
Lihvan made a chuffing noise in the back of his throat when he saw where she was looking. With a jerk of his head, he elaborated, “Food.”
Beks’ eyebrows jerked up and immediately, at the mention of food, her stomach rumbled. So that was what that smoky smell was. When she managed to drag her eyes off Lihvan—that alien was the flame to her moth—and focused on the fire, she gasped. There was some sort of animal or bird, the size of a large turkey, roasting on a spit.
“Where did you get that?” she asked, her voice scratchy from sleep and the numerous screams that had sounded around their cave during the night.
“On a hunt,” he said. “Do not worry. I made sure no creature approached the cave.”
“You hunted this? Just now?” How long had she been asleep?
Then she noticed it was warm in their alcove, which meant the sun was probably long up. Apparently, she’d slept like a log.
“Earlier,” he purred, “while you were resting.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, approaching the fire. “I should have helped with something.”
The animal was already cleaned and looked as if it had been roasting for a good hour already. In the corner, she spied the cleanly cut fur and hide, but no sign of blood or insides. On the opposite corner of the cave, she spied a large piling of what looked like cotton.
When she looked back at him, she teased softly, “You’ve been busy. And here I thought you would’ve been tired, given how many times you were up during the night.”
His purring increased and Beks smiled, leaning forward to give him a kiss. Her eyes fluttered shut, a soft sigh escaping her, when he kissed her back, working that tongue with a precision that almost made her jealous, wondering how many ‘females’ came before that had helped him perfect it.
If the women of his race found him as attractive and sexy as Beks did, he probably had to fight to keep them away, morning and night.
When he pulled away, his voice was delicious as he said, “I wish to lick your cunt again, luxiva.”
Her pussy fluttered helplessly, responding to his dirty words and the memory of how very much she liked him ‘licking her cunt.’
But she knew they couldn’t waste away the day like that, which was where the day would lead if they started early. Beks didn’t know very much about survival, but she figured they would need to collect more supplies and have a good stock of boiled water, just in case.
“Later,” she murmured, her mind catching on that last word. He’d called her it before, but she was curious. “And what does luxiva mean?”
His expression went serious and he pulled away, stooping down to check the meat. “Perhaps one span, I will tell you,” was all he said, driving her curiosity up the wall. When she wanted to know something, she was like a dog with a bone. But he changed the subject with haste, gesturing to the cooking meat, “This is done. Are you hungry?”
After last night, most definitely, she thought, letting the luxiva thing slide…for now. She nodded and watched as he plucked the steaming meat right off the spit. A splash of fat sizzled down into the fire.
“You’ll burn yourself,” she exclaimed.
Lihvan shrugged, letting it cool in his fingers. “I do not feel it. Luxirian flesh is thick.”
That’s not all that’s thick, Horny Beks thought. She shook her head, wondering if she’d even be able to get anything done that day, so distracted she was by the hunky alien in front of her.
When Lihvan determined that the meat was cool enough, he crouched down next to her and lifted it to her mouth. Her heart fluttered, realizing that he wanted to feed her. It was so…intimate.
She leaned forward and ate the slice, licking one of his fingers in the process. He suppressed a groan, watching as she chewed. Flavor burst on her tongue and she moaned. It tasted like rich, juicy, smoky pork.
“It’s amazing,” she said, watching as he tore off another piece, letting it cool, before holding it to her again. “You should eat, Lihvan. You must be hungry,” she said, eyeing his bulging muscles. He had to eat a lot to feed those babies.
“Nix,” he said. “You eat first. Always.”
That dangerous feeling bloomed in her chest again. She felt it coursing through her, both exhilarating and frightening. It scared her how quickly she’d developed these feelings for him, in such a short period of time. But she’d never felt so cared for, so protected, so desirable than when she was with him.
“Okay,” she whispered, leaning forward. “But only if I get to feed you next.”
TWELVE
Needless to say, they got a little distracted after ‘breakfast.’
But by the time the sun was high in the sky, they fell into a rhythm of productivity. Lihvan ventured out to cut down a few of the black vines Beks had seen the previous day. It turned out that they had many uses. For one, once Lihvan cut off one of the stems and cleaned out the inside seeds—which he said could be used for washing soap once they were ground up—they could use the vines as tubes to hold water, which Beks immediately set to work on.
Even though Lihvan said his people would be looking for them soon, it wouldn’t hurt to have a back up plan if they were stranded there for longer than anticipated.
The vines could also be used as cordage. Beks, in between boiling down the water crystals, watched as Lihvan carefully and expertly stripped long strings of it with the knife he’d carved before weaving them together. He tested the strength of each thin rope once he was done, muscles flexing as he pulled each end. Every time Beks thought he couldn’t impress her more, he did something that changed her mind.
Once he finished with the cordage, he began cleaning and scraping down the animal hide from his hunt. Her alien was a work horse and he never seemed to slow down, accomplishing one task only to move onto the next.
Glancing at the water, she asked, “Do you think I could use a water crystal to wash with? Once we’ve filled up the vines?”
Lihvan’s eyes flickered down her body and he said, “You wish to wash?”
“I haven’t bathed since…well, since you gave me this shirt. Soon, you’ll make me sleep outside,” she joked.
His nostrils flared and he purred, “You smell good to me.”
Beks almost rolled her eyes, but her smile kind of ruined it. “I’m serious. Just a quick little wash?”
Lihvan jerked his head in a nod. “Tev, but I will take you to the fire falls.”
“Fire…falls?” she repeated slowly, her brow inching up.
“A pool of water, not too far from here. It will be safe there until the sun goes down. Let me finish with this and we will go.”
A pool of water? She would be getting a real bath? It was such a simple luxury to feel clean, but she felt like Lihvan had just offered her a winning lottery ticket.
“Remind me to show you how fun baths can be,” she said in response, raising an eyebrow.
Lihvan’s breath hitched and Beks hid her smile when he started working faster. He finished whatever he was working on in record time and shook out two, almost identical small pieces of hide.
“We can leave now,” he said, rising. “Come here.”
Curious, Beks approached him and was surprised when he dropped down to his knees, lifting one of her legs. She reached out a hand to balance on his wide shoulders and asked, “What are those for?”
“For your small feet,” he said, brushing his fingers over the sole of her left foot. She twitched, a little ticklish, and he wrapped the hide around the bottoms of her feet, tying the cordage around her ankle.
Beks went quiet when she realized what he’d made for her. “You…you made me shoes?”
“Shoes?” Lihvan asked. “Tev, I suppose.”
“I…” she trailed off, her throat
closing a little. God, why was he so wonderful? Why did he have to make her heart do crazy flips and make her stomach feel like it was filled with rabid butterflies? “Lihvan, thank you.”
He fastened the other shoe, but didn’t look up at her. “The hide is strong. You will not get hurt now walking on the rocks.” He finished and stood, grabbing and securing his knife. “Ready?”
“Yes,” she said quietly, still a little thrown by his unexpected kindness. No man she’d ever dated back on Earth had ever been as thoughtful or protective as Lihvan. And maybe that said something about her bad experiences with past men and why she’d begun to swear them off the past couple years.
She’d been happier single, but looking at Lihvan, she knew that wouldn’t be the case with him. For the first time, she wondered what it would be like to stay with him…on his planet. What would life be like there? Would his people accept more humans living among them?
Stop right there, Beks, she chided. She’d heard of girls moving to different states, or hell, different countries to be with their boyfriends. But certainly not different planets.
She was being silly…but for a brief moment, she allowed herself to fantasize about it, even with the warning floating around in her head. It was hard not to think about, especially with someone like Lihvan.
He led her from the cave slowly, letting her eyes adjust to the intense brightness outside. Immediately, she felt the heat zap her. Intense, humid heat that made Lihvan’s shirt stick to her skin assaulted her. She realized that while a bath would feel amazing, they would still have to walk back from it.
Oh well, she thought. Feeling clean, even if it was only for a little while, was certainly better than no bath at all.
Slowly, she tested out Lihvan’s creation on the sharp little pebbles and wasn’t surprised that she didn’t feel a thing. If he said it was thick hide, she definitely believed him. His vast knowledge about this planet had probably saved their lives by now and she was more than grateful to him. For him.