by Draven, Zoey
Cara slumped forward after he wrung every last drop from her. Devix was tempted to make her orgasm again, but she let out a shuddering groan of protest when he lapped at her gently.
Instead, he slowly disentangled her hands from his horns, gritting his teeth as the pleasure zapped down his core, and tucked her naked body into his side.
His female caught her breath, sighing against his flesh.
“That’s what I call a good morning,” she murmured up at him, her voice hoarse and rough from her screams and sleep.
“Good morning?” he asked.
“It’s something people say as a greeting to one another. Do Luxirians say something like that?”
Devix thought about it and said, “Tervax rixa.”
“What’s that mean?”
“In your language,” he began, “it roughly translates to ‘battle well.’”
Cara smiled, a small laugh escaping her and Devix found his lips quirking at the sound.
“Not quite the same thing, but I’m not surprised,” she murmured, leaning up on her elbow, her breasts pushing more fully into his side. “Good morning,” she whispered, hovering just above his lips, before she gave him a kiss.
Devix purred in delight and met her kiss with enthusiasm. But he growled and pulled away when her hand began to stray down, seeking his hardened cock.
“I want to,” she said quietly, flicking her tongue out to wet her lips.
He was already shaking his head, “I still fear—”
“That you’ll lose control,” she finished for him with a wave of her hand. “I’ll be careful. No sex, but I just want to make you feel good too.”
Cara distracted him with a small kiss that she slowly deepened, all while her fingers slowly worked at the laces tying his leg coverings.
“Demanding female,” he hissed in pleasure when her hand rubbed against him.
“Please, baby,” she whispered in his ear, flicking out her tongue to run along the column of his neck.
Fates, he thought, squeezing his eyes shut. The ‘baby’ did him in. As if he could ever deny his female anything when she asked so sweetly.
Still…he needed some assurance.
Reaching out to either side of him, so that his arms were splayed wide, the cords of muscles shifting under his flesh, Devix grasped onto the thick rods that kept the sleeping platform in place.
“I vow that I will not release these without your permission, luxiva,” he rasped.
“Wait,” she said. “Take your shirt off first.”
Devix did as she requested, ripping the material in his haste before he tossed it over the sleeping platform edge. Then, he grasped the rods, his forearms flexing.
In another moment, his female proved herself impatient as she threaded the cords from his leg coverings, pushing them down over his hips until they stretched around his upper thighs.
“Oh my God,” his female breathed, coming up to kneel at his side on the sleeping platform, sitting back on her heels. Cara’s eyes tracked down his exposed flesh, biting her bottom lip.
“What is it?” he asked, frowning.
“You’re…you’re huge,” she murmured, never taking her eyes from his cock, which pulsed from her rapt attention.
Devix raised a brow, glancing down at his cock, bobbing on his abdomen, dripping opalescent pre-cum in between the slab of muscles there.
Trepidation hit him. Was his size not acceptable to his female?
“You do not have to—” he began.
“No,” she said, cutting him off. Before he could move to hitch his leg coverings back up, she grasped the base of his cock, making him hiss with pleasure, his hands tightening around the rods of the sleeping platform.
“Luxiva!”
“I was just surprised is all,” Cara said, her hand, impossibly soft and warm, clenching around him. “I knew you were big, but not this big.”
“Is my cock a problem for you, female?” he gritted out, torn between thrusting into her grip or lying still so he didn’t embarrass himself.
“Oh no,” she breathed, leaning over him to give him a kiss, tangling her tongue with his. He wondered if she could taste herself there, his wicked, wicked female. “Your cock is definitely not a problem.”
Relief flooded him. Perhaps if his female ever honored him enough to accept him as a mate, he wouldn’t hurt her with his size.
Devix groaned when she broke the kiss and then shuffled until she was situated between his spread legs.
“You’re beautiful,” she told him, looking into his eyes. “Truly beautiful.”
Devix felt his chest tighten. It was the first time anyone had told him that.
He couldn’t respond, however, because his female turned her attention to his demanding cock between his thighs. She gave an experimental stroke of her fist down his length and through hazy vision, Devix saw her hand couldn’t wrap fully around.
Then he bellowed to the ceiling when she leaned forward and wrapped her soft lips around his crown, taking him into the warmth of her mouth, as her other hand began to stroke the base.
“Vrax, luxiva!” he cursed, when she began to suckle on his ridged head, stars exploding in his vision.
Panting, Devix struggled to keep his Instinct at bay. The beast within told him to mate her, to fuck her lush little body until both of them were sated and too exhausted to move another limb.
Cara suckled the tip of his cock, gripping it tightly as if she was afraid he would take it away from her.
He wanted to reassure her that nothing, not even the Fates, could make him take it away from her now.
She pulled back, releasing him with a wet pop, only to run her tongue up, back and forth, from the very base of his cock to the crown. Devix’s eyes rolled back in his head when she circled the hard knobs that lined the top and bottom.
“Mmmm,” she moaned softly, eyeing them. Stroking his cock, she murmured, “These would feel so good rubbing inside me.”
Pre-cum pushed from his tip and Cara smiled when she saw it. “Tev?” he growled.
“Oh yes,” she replied, squeezing up at his tip, coating her hand in his pre-cum. “They would hit all the right places.”
Devix tilted his head back, scraping his horns into the wall just imagining it.
“Tell me, baby,” she whispered, giving his head another sweet little lap. “How hard would you fuck me?”
Devix almost roared at the pleasure her filthy words gave to him. “As hard as you wish, female.”
“I’d want you to fuck me hard,” she whispered, eyes wide, lips and cheeks flushed with her familiar pinkened color. “Any way you want.”
His semen began to rise steadily in his shaft. As if she sensed he was near, as if she sensed that her words and the fantasies they brought would be his quick undoing, she returned to suck his cock, her hand quickening over his length at the base.
Relentlessly, she pleasured him until he could speak no more words, until he was just a mindless, bellowing beast. But he never did release his hands from the rods. For that, he was thankful he remembered.
He didn’t have time to warn her as his seed burst from his tip, making his spine arch and muscles tense. Cara moaned, half in surprise, half in delight, as he pumped her mouth full.
He roared as the orgasm racked his body, so much more satisfying than the one he’d given himself in the bathing tube. All because it was his luxiva giving him pleasure.
On and on it went, but finally, Devix collapsed, feeling strength infuse his body. Sexual release, sexual energy even, always strengthen Luxirians. It was why most Luxirians chose to mate shortly before leaving for battle and why the unmated warriors sometimes brought pleasure partners with them off planet.
Devix had never felt the kind of strength that filled him now. It was so unlike any strength his former pleasure partners had ever given him.
Now he knew why warriors with fated mates were always more revered, more feared.
When his eyes refocused, he saw Cara
smiling, swiping a stray drop of his cum that had leaked from the corner of her mouth.
His chest rumbled and he tugged her to him, finally releasing the rods.
“You bent them,” she commented, eyeing the metal.
He grunted. “I am unsurprised.”
“Poor baby,” she teased. “You’ve been so neglected.”
He growled, situating her more snugly against him. “You will make it up to me, luxiva.”
Cara smiled. “Yes, I will.”
* * *
The span passed in seemingly a single moment.
Eventually, they rose from their morning activities and nourished themselves with travel rations. Although now more than ever, Devix wished he’d brought something more appetizing for his female, especially after he’d discovered she was a ‘chef,’ who cooked ‘good food,’ as she’d proudly told him. The travel rations must taste like soil to her in comparison to her usual diet, something he intended to rectify once they reached Rozun.
He would buy her the freshest meats at the market, the most flavorful roots, and spices. Perhaps that would make her happy.
After filling their bellies, they trained. In the back of his mind, Devix knew that she didn’t need to train. Not anymore. He swore to himself that he would protect her…always. No harm would ever come to her as long as he was with her.
But the more rational part of him said that training her would be for the best. He was an infamous mercenary. He’d made enemies working for Sarkon. It would only benefit her if she knew how to defend herself. Or at least, how to create an opportunity for escape.
So they trained hard and only got distracted twice, when they pleasured each other on the floor of the training quarters, sweaty and, in Devix’s case, slightly bloody since his speedy female had managed to slice him in the thigh with her blade…something that horrified her, but made him elated.
It meant she was learning. And Devix knew from his extensive experience that one only needed a single opportunity to fell an opponent.
After three training sessions, with ‘breaks’ in between, they retired to the command center, where they’d spent every night. His luxiva lounged in his lap, watching the stars outside, quiet and tired from their strenuous activities from the span. Nothing had ever filled Devix with more happiness, simply sitting with her, touching her, kissing her.
It was a happiness he would never be able to willingly let go. She was a happiness he would kill to protect at all costs.
After he carefully carried his sleeping mate back to their quarters—because they would never be sleeping apart again—he returned to the command center. Checking his Coms, he saw they were on schedule for an early arrival into Rozun. It would mark the fifth span of their journey, which meant he would have one more to prepare before Sarkon would begin to realize he’d been betrayed by his ‘loyal’ mercenary.
His only loyalty now was to his female, to Cara, and whatever life they could build together.
Or maybe there would be no life at all, he couldn’t help but think. Because if Cara asked it of him…he would find a way to return her to Earth. He would do everything in his power to convince her otherwise, to convince her to stay with him. But he would never be able to live with the guilt, knowing he’d taken yet another choice from her.
He wanted to do the right thing. He wanted to be the just, honorable male he’d been as a warrior once.
And he was slowly coming to the realization that he would do anything to ensure his female’s happiness.
Even if it meant she decided to leave him.
It was a choice only she could make, Devix thought, grim.
But he wouldn’t steal her choice away. Not again.
FOURTEEN
Cara woke to the tips of Devix’s claws tracing her bare hip bone. He was careful not to leave a single mark on her skin, but the tingling sensation was so delicious that Cara arched into him, smiling, sleepy.
“Tervax rixa,” he purred and Cara laughed, remembering their conversation about ‘good morning.’
Her alien was exceedingly charming, she was discovering. And she was more than a tiny bit obsessed with him, especially when he looked at her like she was pure gold and when he gave her mind-blowing orgasms that made her see more stars than they passed in their spaceship.
She would almost be happy. If only her soreness from their training sessions didn’t remind her that her little ‘honeymoon’ would soon be coming to an end. Reality would come crashing back in, bursting her hazy bubble that she’d constructed around her and Devix.
It had been nice while it lasted, she mused, surprisingly level-headed about the whole situation, considering she had no idea what awaited her with this Azatian.
Her thoughts made her smile melt off her face and she sighed, snuggling deeper into his side. They were sprawled together. Devix was naked, as was she, and her eyes traced over the numerous scars etched into his skin. She’d meant to ask him how he received every one, but Cara didn’t think they had enough time for that now.
“What is this for?” he rumbled, running the pad of his index finger over the frown lines carved between her brows. Then he traced her lips, which were probably downturned. “And this?”
“Day five,” was what she replied. “One more and that makes six.”
Six days…the timeline he’d given her for when the Azatian expected her. For when Devix, her kind and gruff captor, who seemed more like a friend, was supposed to deliver her. To drop her off in a strange place and never look back.
And Cara couldn’t even be mad about it, she found. It just made her sad, but not angry. He’d told her from the beginning, straight up, what would happen to her. In a way, she appreciated his honesty. It gave her time to prepare mentally.
But damn, it was beginning to hurt more and more.
“Luxiva,” he murmured. “Turn around.”
Cara’s brow furrowed at the odd request, but she did as he asked until she faced the large, floor-to-ceiling panel of glass that allowed her to glimpse into space. Her first day on the spaceship, she’d spent the majority of her time in that very room, looking out that very window, in awe but also terrified.
And there, she saw it.
A planet. Still in the distance, but she could see it was large, with swirling colors of green and light grey.
Dread pooled in her stomach, making her want to vomit.
“We’re here already,” she whispered. “Azatia.”
“Nix,” he murmured into her ear. His arms wrapped around her front, just under her breasts and even then, Cara didn’t want to push him away. She still wanted to feel his warmth next to her, even when he was showing her her future. His horns tangled in her hair, surprisingly intimate, as he said quietly, “That is Rozun.”
Cara froze, a small breath escaping her. “What?”
“Rozun,” he repeated, his voice rumbly and deep. “My home.”
Immediately, she flipped in his arms, heart pounding, but she tried to keep her hope tamped down. If she finally allowed hope to creep in, only to have it stomped out again, it would ruin her that time.
Cara’s eyes searched his own, but they were so damned unreadable. “What does this mean?”
“I am not taking you to Sarkon,” he told her, lips set in a straight line.
“Like…ever?”
Those lips quirked slightly. “Never.”
Cara sucked in a breath, hardly daring to believe it.
“When…when did you…?” she tried to ask, her thoughts racing a mile a minute.
“Two spans ago, I set an alternate course for Rozun.”
“Two days ago…” she said, trailing off. That was before they had ever been intimate. But it was right after she’d accused him of not being a villain he thought he was.
He’d changed, she remembered. Something about him had changed after that night. Had it been this? Had it been his decision to bring her to Rozun and not to Sarkon?
She’d always been right about him.
&n
bsp; He said, although hesitantly, “Luxirian crystals are scarce, Cara. It may take some time to acquire one to take you to the Fourth Quadrant, but I vow to you that I will try to find you passage, so that you may return to the life you were stolen from if you wish.”
Cara expected elation to swarm her at his words. And she did experience an intense longing for Earth, for her home, her friends. What she hadn’t expected to feel was a sharp pang of loss at the thought of leaving him.
“But it will take a while,” she said, swallowing past the tightness in her throat. “And I’ll be with you on Rozun until then?”
“Tev, of course.”
Relief made her eyes shut for a brief moment, letting that thought settle deep inside, soothing the uncertainty that still lingered.
“I hardly know what to say,” she confessed, looking at him.
Devix frowned. “You are not upset by this, tev?”
“No,” she said, huffing out a brief laugh, and burrowing her face into his chest, her limbs trembling from the intense emotion coursing through her body. “I’m happy. Relieved. Overwhelmed.” She paused and glanced up at him, saying slowly, “But also a little sad, because I’ve felt trapped for so long that the possibility of freedom literally overwhelms me. And no one should ever feel that way.”
Devix sobered, his brow bone squeezing together tightly, the anguish on his features so apparent to her that it made her chest seize.
“I feel shame for the part I have played, female,” he murmured to her, stroking a hand over her forehead, pushing back a stray strand of hair. “I still have much to atone for with you, but I need you to know how sorry I am for what has happened to you, how I only added to your stress and worry.”
Cara bit her lip, touched by his apology. “I forgive you, Devix. You never lied to me about what this was. I know what was what at stake for you.” His features tightened and another realization made her stomach sink. “What is going to happen? With…Sarkon?”
Devix huffed out a breath. “He may try to find us.”
Cara processed the information, but kept her emotions steady in her breast. “And if he finds us?”