Her stomach tightened, her breath quickening, but she ignored her body’s response to him, just like she had since the first moment she saw him.
“Tell me where she is and I won’t scream,” Erin whispered through a tight jaw. “I promise.”
The other Luxirian males were closing in on the clearing. Their voices were clear now. The closest one was only a couple yards away from the base of the tree.
Jaxor’an’s eyes flashed. The fur from his loincloth tickled the backs of Erin’s legs as he moved ever so slightly.
“I do not take kindly to threats, female,” he growled in her ear.
With a quick inhale, she filled her lungs, about to scream.
His eyes widened ever so slightly as his jaw ticked. Was that panic in his gaze?
In a moment, Jaxor’an pulled her flush against him, replacing his hand over her mouth as his other arm wrapped around her midsection, just underneath her breasts.
Something hard pressed against her lower back. She knew what it was. She was just surprised she hadn’t seen it tenting his loincloth before now.
And then he bit her. On the side of her neck. Erin felt his teeth squeeze against her unprotected flesh with just enough force that it would probably leave a mark.
But what surprised her the most was her reaction to that bite. Erin felt her nipples pebble under her tunic and desperate, frantic heat slid into her belly.
Which only made her furious.
She glared and bit his hand which once again covered her mouth. She didn’t think she’d bit anyone in her entire life, but damn, did it feel good when he stiffened. And still, she didn’t remove her teeth from the hardened flesh of his palm. She only clamped down harder.
Unmistakably, she felt something twitch against her backside in response.
He likes it, she thought, realization crashing down on her, and she immediately released her bite, stunned.
A group of males, at least five, were now walking past the trunk of the tree. Wind rustled the branches.
Again, Erin made a show of filling her lungs with air, threatening to scream. Jaxor’an rasped in her ear, “Vrax, female, he was the Prime Leader’s Ambassador. He will take her back to the Golden City.”
Was that so hard, asshole? she wondered, but profound relief made the built-up air huff from her nostrils. Crystal would be safe.
The males below were moving on. The last of their group was just on the edge of the clearing, heading in the opposite direction of where they’d initially been waiting.
Her neck felt hot where Jaxor’an had bitten her. After several moments of quiet, she finally felt his grip loosen away from her mouth and he brought his palm up to inspect the bite she’d given him.
Erin did the same, brushing her fingertips over the side of her neck. He didn’t bite hard enough to leave teeth marks—which she knew she had left on his hand—but it felt sensitive to the touch. It had been a warning.
She glared as she said, “Bite me again and I’ll bite you back.”
Erin had always prided herself on being in control of her emotions. She had also prided herself on being calm, on keeping a level head even in the most difficult of times. Like being abducted by aliens, for example.
But looking at this alien male with bright blue eyes, her chest was in turmoil. She felt like a smug, wild little beast as he inspected his palm. Her emotions felt like they possessed raw, serrated edges as they dragged through her mind and body, leaving fresh marks along the way as they passed.
His gaze leveled at her. He was handsome in a grim way. His mouth seemed perpetually downturned into a scowl. His black horns curled proudly from his head and his dark hair was loose and wild, trailing to his waist. He was half-feral…half-wild.
She remembered seeing him for the first time that morning, in the Golden City. As she and Crystal had bathed, he’d appeared in the washing room after knocking out their two guards with unfathomable ease.
Erin remembered the jolt in her body when their eyes had connected for the first time. She’d had the wild, stray thought that he was a puppeteer because that was what it felt like. It felt like he’d tugged on an imaginary thread that ran between them, that had always existed, that she hadn’t discovered until just that moment.
And he’d seemed equally stunned, unable to pull his gaze from her.
“I warn you now, female,” Jaxor’an said, his voice edging closer to a purr than a growl. It made her belly flutter anew and she hated it. “I am not like the Luxirian males you have encountered so far.”
Erin bristled at his thinly veiled threat. She’d always heard that Luxirian males would never hurt their females in any way, that they would rather die. She saw the way her friends’ Luxirian mates treated them and knew it to be undeniably true.
No, he wasn’t like any Luxirian male she’d encountered before, that much was certain. He didn’t dress like them, he didn’t act like them, he didn’t speak like them. Except for the piercings through his nipples that told her he’d completed Luxirian warrior training, he was a complete and utter mystery.
What frightened her the most, however, was that he seemed completely aware but also…unpredictable, like a feral animal. There was a quiet wildness about him that put her on edge.
“If you act out against me again,” he continued, those bright, electric eyes glinting, “I will punish you. And next time, I will bite even harder.”
Chapter Two
Once he was certain the Mevirax were far enough away, Jaxor hauled the human female over his shoulder once more, ignoring her muted sound of protest, and maneuvered her back down to the forest floor.
Once there, he gashed the trunk of the tree with a fast swipe of his claws for no other reason than that it made him feel slightly more in control. He didn’t even know why, but immediately, that turbulent beast rising within him quieted and stilled.
The female froze when she witnessed his small outburst, but Jaxor didn’t give her a chance to say anything before he was running again. His sandcraft wasn’t far and he needed to reach it before the Mevirax gave up searching and circled back.
Jaxor could smell her even as he raced through the forest. Her scent clung to his skin and his nostrils flared, inhaling deep, almost groaning with the rightness of it. Then anger consumed him again—at her, at himself, at the blasted Fates for tying the two of them together, thereby ruining his ultimate plan.
Vrax, he thought, only to realize he’d grated it sharply out loud when he felt the female tense against him.
He almost laughed. Madness of Mevirax? Perhaps he’d become more like them than he’d realized.
The human female was wary of him. Good, she should be.
Jaxor wasn’t completely convinced that he wouldn’t give her up to the Mevirax, after all. His mind was muddled. Perhaps a full night of sleep and time would help him think straight and give him the guidance he needed.
And when was the last time you slept for a full night? his mind taunted.
All he wanted was to look at her for hours…and all he wanted was to pretend that he’d never seen her in the first place.
“You’re hurting me,” came her voice. It was soft yet strong. Jaxor had the distinct impression that she was trying to convey her anger and displeasure with him, but her voice was too lyrical for it to achieve its desired effect.