by Zoey Draven
“Rixavox…” she whispered.
“It came to the point where I could not rest. Every moment I was not fighting for Luxiria or performing my duties, I was searching for him. I knew I had to stop. Finally, I let him go. I have not searched for him since.”
He knew not if his blood brother was still alive. He sincerely hoped he was. He hoped he’d built himself back up from the state that Rixavox had last seen him in. It hurt to think of other outcomes.
Sessela was quiet and then she murmured softly, “It’s more difficult choosing to let each other go. Sometimes you don’t have a choice and it sounds like you didn’t in this situation. I understand. You did the right thing, Rixavox.”
Hearing her say that soothed him to some degree. Words would never heal the wounds his family unit had endured in the past ten rotations, but they helped. Especially from his mate.
“You say you understand,” he noted, dread forming in his gut. “Who chose to leave you?”
She stilled, as if she did not expect such a direct question. But she didn’t hide anything from him. Instead, she said, “My parents.”
He cocked his head to the side, his chest beginning to rumble. “How?”
She shifted in the water, her eyes flashed to the side, and Rixavox observed it all. She was not used to speaking about this, he realized. He wondered how long she’d hid it, like how he’d hid his brother.
“My mother left my dad and I when I was two-years-old,” she said, her shoulder lifting out of the water in a shrug. But Rixavox heard the pain in her voice. “She’s never contacted me, so I don’t know much about her.”
Rixavox furrowed his brow, his back straightening slightly. It was unfathomable that a mother would leave her young at that age.
“As for my dad…” she trailed off, her arms moving under the water to wrap around her body. Rixavox shifted, restless, not liking to see his female in distress. “He’d always been a little distant after my mom left. He got remarried to another woman my first year of college and he became even more distant after that.”
Rixavox didn’t understand what ‘college’ meant but he knew it wasn’t the time to ask. She’d explained to him what marriage was, however, similar to Breeding partners in Luxirian culture where both parties could separate by choice. He was realizing that humans didn’t seem to have fated mates, or perhaps they were even rarer than Luxirian couplings.
“What about during your treatments?” Rixavox asked. “He was there then, tev?”
Sessela gave him a small smile, but instead of making his heart stutter in his chest, it made it feel heavy. “Yes, for a little while.”
Only ‘a little while.’ Rixavox understood what that meant: that she had gone through the majority of her treatments alone…treatments that she’d told him made her sick and tired and afraid.
The swell of anger rising within him was surprising. It made sense to him now, why she’d taken the time to thank him for accompanying her to the Rillirax. At that moment, he’d been slightly…insulted that she thought it was an inconvenience for him, as she’d described it. Now he understood.
“I think I’m ready to get out now,” she said softly. Rixavox swallowed and jerked his head, rising from his sitting position. He laid out one of the coverings he’d bought for her that morning near the edge of the Rillirax before turning his back.
He calmed his breathing as Sessela emerged from the pool and slipped her coverings back on. He swallowed when he heard her approach him, inhaling a sharp breath when he felt her hand on the middle of his back.
Rixavox turned to look down at her. Her covering was clinging to her body, wetting the light fabric, outlining the shape of her breasts and slim waist and flared hips. Her hair was wet and her eyes shone silver.
Beautiful, he thought, awed by this creature standing before him.
Slowly, she walked into him, nudging into his body until every soft curve of her was pressed against him. Her arms came around his sides until they clasped around his back and she leaned her cheek right over his heart.
A hug, he remembered dumbly. Vaxa’an’s human mate had called these hugs. An intimate embrace.
Without further hesitation, he returned it, his chest purring against her cheek, as his arms enveloped her.
His Instinct quieted within him, content. He had his mate in his arms, safe and protected, as the Fates worked to heal her body.
Everything stilled around them as he felt her warmth and no more words needed to be spoken.
* * *
When they returned to the dwelling, they were still quiet but they never strayed too far from one another’s touch. Sessela disappeared into the washroom briefly to change her tunic but then returned to watch him start a fire in the central hub. He led her down into his quarters and he flared up another fire in the pit, letting the space soak up the golden light it produced, chasing away the chill of the northern night.
Sessela looked up at him when he stood from his duties and the look in her eyes was soft as she took his hand.
“Come on,” she said. “Let’s go to bed.”
And he followed her as she guided them over to the sleeping platform, piled high with soft, warm furs and cushions. She let go of his hand to climb inside and his breath hitched when he saw her there. Never in all of his imaginings did he think he would see his luxiva, lying back against his furs.
Normally, he slept nude, but he didn’t want to frighten her, so he sank down to his knees, fully clothed. Sessela helped him slide underneath the furs, next to her.
She squirmed closer until she was nestled just beneath his chin, her face buried into his chest. His arm came around her and nudged her even closer.
“Goodnight,” she whispered against him.
The human term translated through his language implant and his belly warmed.
“Goodnight, luxiva.”
Then he fell into the most restful sleep of his entire life span.
FIFTEEN
Cecelia woke before Rixavox did.
She guessed it was still early. She craned her neck slightly so she could look out the window and saw the beginnings of the suns rising. She knew the one on the left rose first and ten minutes later, the other began its ascent.
Cecelia looked back over at her Luxirian. He was sleeping on his stomach, his face turned to her, one broad, heavy arm slung low over her hip. Under the warm furs, she felt his legs intertwined with her own and she wondered how they’d gotten into this intimate position without waking.
Her blood felt warm, slow. She’d had no night sweats and only felt a slight stickiness between their bodies. Perhaps the Rillirax was truly working.
Her eyes fanned over his features. She had such little opportunity to study him, even though she was with him most of her waking hours. She always felt like a creeper if she flat out stared, not to mention self-conscious since he was always so…intense.
So, Cecelia took the time to study him, to memorize his proud, angular face. His skin was darker near the furs, but the very top of his forehead had already begun to shift and change colors, reacting to the peachy light of the suns. His horns lay flat against his skull, but she’d seen them standing straight up before. She wondered what that meant, whether it was emotion that made them move or not. They were beautiful, smooth like a black ivory, with a single thread of silver running from the very base to the very tip.
His eyes were tilted and wide and even though his brows were sparse, she knew that they could still be expressive. His nose was sharp and straight, the bone underneath impossibly smooth. Male models on Earth would kill for such a nose, she thought, smiling a little.
And his lips…they looked soft for someone so hard. Too soft. She wondered if they would feel like velvet against her own, if she’d ever have the guts to kiss him, or if he would ever make the move to kiss her. She wondered if Luxirians kissed. It could be strictly a human gesture of affection. She had absolutely no idea and she didn’t know of a way to ask without sounding like she
was propositioning him.
Which is exactly what I want to do, she couldn’t help but think.
When she was around Rixavox, he made her feel like a woman. Like a desirable, sexy, red-blooded woman.
No one had ever made her feel that way before. None of her past boyfriends, which was probably why she’d had such a lackluster sex life up until this point in her life. The cancer certainly hadn’t helped…
But I’m here now, she thought, something like relief, happiness, hope taking over her body instead of her disease. She was lying in bed with a strange alien male that she was intensely attracted to. Every night, she got naked with him only a few feet away and he watched her soak in a sacred pool of his people.
Would she be brave enough to make the first move? Perhaps, that very night?
Cecelia swallowed, a few nervous butterflies revving up in her stomach. Then she couldn’t help but sober. If this treatment didn’t work…how long would it be until she would feel this way again, this young again? From her past experience with lymphoma, it started out slowly but then began progressing rapidly. It started with the night sweats at first, with the unexplainable weight loss. She hadn’t thought anything of them, hadn’t even seen a doctor, until it started becoming harder and harder to breathe. Her lymph nodes began to swell, she started having racking, ugly coughs, coughing so hard sometime she thought she might pass out from them because she couldn’t get enough air.
It was only then that she’d gone in to be diagnosed. Now, she recognized the signs. She knew what her body was trying to tell her: prepare.
A few tears swelled into her eyes and she blinked them away. Even if this treatment didn’t work, she thought, she didn’t want to waste the very short period of time where she still felt somewhat healthy.
Rixavox’s breathing was slow and steady and quiet, which helped calm her worries. She inhaled a deep breath and felt relieved when she didn’t feel her throat constrict.
Don’t waste this, she repeated to herself silently. Don’t waste this.
A loud shrill from the direction of the central hub made her jump slightly and Rixavox jerked awake, his eyes automatically flashing to hers. His gaze was clear, no hint of fatigue, like the previous night when she’d awakened him and he’d reached for his dagger.
“Luxiva,” he rasped. His voice sent a shiver racing through her body. It sounded like pure sin, all dark velvet and deliciously husky.
Another jarring trill sounded and he let out a rough sigh, rolling over and out of bed.
“What is it?” she asked, coming up onto her elbows, the furs falling away from her body. His eyes flared as he looked down at her, raking his gaze over her disheveled hair and wrinkled shirt.
“The Coms,” he grunted. “I will return shortly.”
Cecelia gave him a nod and once he saw it, he turned from the bed and strode down the hallway. She heard his voice in the distance, speaking with whoever was on the other end. Cecelia pushed the furs off and stood, stretching slightly, before heading for the bathroom. She used the toilet and scooped up some water from the bubbling springs to splash her face, drying it on the cloth she’d hung up.
She felt refreshed when she returned to the bedroom, only to find Rixavox stripping off his clothes from the day before.
Her breath hitched in her throat and he turned at the sound. Thankfully, or unthankfully, he’d already changed his pants to another form-fitting leather-like material, this one in a soft smoky gray. But he was in the process of fetching a shirt when she walked back in.
Even though she’d seen him shirtless before—hell, their entire first encounter had been with him shirtless—she’d almost forgotten how massive, how utterly ripped he was. And the scars…there were more scars than she remembered lining his back. She wanted to trace them with her fingers and ask about each one, her heart aching a bit at the pain he must’ve endured. She knew little about the life of Luxirians, but she knew enough to know they were a warrior culture, like the Spartans of Earth’s own history.
And she’d taken Classics in college. She knew how brutal that culture had been.
Rixavox turned to face her, those pierced nipples flashing, and Cecelia stood frozen, on the threshold of the bedroom.
“I apologize, luxiva, but I must begin my duties for the span,” he told her, unconcerned with his half-nudity. Then again, he had no reason to be. He shrugged on a tight shirt that clung to his muscles before bending to secure his boots.
“I-It’s okay,” she stuttered before clearing her throat. “I know that you must be busy.”
Rixavox straightened and approached her, his mouth set in a grim line. Her eyes couldn’t help but stray to his nipples, which poked through the thin shirt. She met his eyes again, swallowing.
“I think I will send for companionship for you,” he murmured. “Levrix has said that she would like to meet you. I have known her for many rotations and I would feel better knowing that you have another here with you.”
Cecelia frowned a bit. “I don’t need a babysitter, Rixavox.”
His brows furrowed at ‘babysitter,’ but he seemed to understand her meaning well enough. “I know. But it is hard for me to focus when I worry about you here.” Her gaze softened a bit. “I thought perhaps you could learn more about Luxiria from her as well. She likes to talk. She will love the attention.”
“Wait,” Cecelia murmured. “Levrix…is this the…the woman that was here? That was…”
Rixavox blew out a breath. “Tev.”
Cecelia’s lips parted and an ugly flash of jealousy slammed into her breast like a sledgehammer. “Are you serious? You want your lover to come babysit me?”
“She is not my lover,” he growled.
“She was,” Cecelia corrected, crossing her arms. He was so close that they brushed his chest.
Rixavox looked about to argue but then he cocked her a strange look, tilting his head in that maddening way.
Then he let out a huff of laughter, which only served to irk her even more.
“You are jealous, female,” he purred down at her, his neck craning so his face was only inches from her own. Those brilliant blue eyes flashed in what seemed like…delight.
“I…I am not,” she replied, but the way she sputtered gave her away. Ugh.
“If you are not jealous, as you claim, then why should Levrix not come over and entertain you?”
Cecelia marveled that she’d woken up to peace just a few moment ago and now she felt like a dragon with fire shooting out of her nose whenever he mentioned his ex-lover’s name. How crazy was that?
“Okay, fine,” she bit out, the words tasting like vinegar in her mouth. “Invite her over then. I don’t care.”
“I will,” he purred. He leaned forward and her breath hitched, thinking that he was going to kiss her. Instead he turned his head slightly so that his horns rubbed against her forehead and their cheeks were pressed together.
And just like that, Cecelia felt a little of her irritation drain out of her. She’d never suspected she was an easy woman by any means, but Rixavox had a way of making her melt at his feet like a human puddle.
He breathed her in and she felt his exhale blow a strand of her hair, tickling her ear. “Have patience, luxiva. I will finish my duties as swiftly as I can so I can return to you.”
Cecelia sighed, letting her tense body relax. “Okay.”
He pulled back to look down at her, his expression serious. “Female…you do know I would rather spend the spans with you and only you, tev?”
Her heart beat a little faster at his words, at the soft tone in his voice. Even if she didn’t understand what it was, she knew that there was something more to his words, something more that she didn’t understand.
“Yes,” she murmured, slightly dazed, unaware that she’d even spoken until he jerked his head in a nod.
“Good.”
Cecelia walked with him quietly through the bedroom, down the hallway, and to the front door of his house.
&nb
sp; When he turned to say goodbye, he stroked the center of her palm and said, “Levrix will arrive shortly. I will have her bring you your meal.”
And because it seemed important to him that she had company while he was gone, she nodded. Yesterday had been quite boring, she had to admit, broken up only by his visits throughout the late morning and afternoon.
“Okay,” she said.
He squeezed her hand and then he was gone, slipping through the door that shut heavily behind him. The howling wind that slipped past him was bitter and cold and she worried about him flying the hovercraft in conditions like that. But she knew he’d lived in this place for a long time and was used to it.
With a sigh, she turned back to the empty house. The fire in the sunken pit had been reduced to embers throughout the night, but she went to go sit there, regardless, while she waited.
And when she heard the familiar heavy thud of a hovercraft landing on the patio outside, she took a deep breath in, slightly nervous if she was being honest. She didn’t know what to expect out of Rixavox’s ex.
Levrix didn’t knock or alert Cecelia to her presence before she pushed open the heavy door and stepped inside. Cecelia stood from her position in the fire pit and then approached her.
The Luxirian female was wearing a heavy, rustic fur coat and she saw little silver snowflakes trapped between the hairs.
“Hello,” Cecelia said hesitantly, unsure of what else to say. Can I take your coat? Please, won’t you sit down in your ex-lover’s house?
Levrix studied her from the doorway, her gaze raking over her in a way that made Cecelia shift. But then the Luxirian gave her a smile and said slowly, “Forgive me if I jumble your language. I just got the language implant and it is always strange at first.”