A pang went through her. She’d once taken Jake and Ellora to see the giant sequoia and redwood trees in California. Ellora had declared she’d never seen anything more beautiful.
“Why did we stop here?” she asked, unease threading in her belly. It was dawn. Clear, filtered blue light cast the clearing in an almost ethereal glow.
All she got was a grunt and Erin had to call on every ounce of patience she possessed.
He went back to pulling more wires out from the console, obviously looking for something. It was then that Erin realized, lying in that position, that Jaxor’an’s fur loincloth was…well, askew.
Erin froze, catching sight of the side of his—
Holy mother of God, she thought in disbelief, eyes widening.
Then she forced herself to turn her head away, but the image of his cock—all thickness and knobs and heat—was forever burned into her brain and suddenly she needed to move around.
Erin scooted to the edge of the back of the hovercraft before jumping down. Her feet met soft moss and it tickled between her toes.
A moment later, she heard his muttered, almost annoyed curse, and then his arm was snaking around her waist.
“I have to use the bathroom,” she protested, pushing at his chest, her skin feeling too tight with him that close. When she looked up, his bright blue eyes were fixed on her in distrust. “I have to pee,” she amended.
His eyes only narrowed.
“Where am I going to go?” she asked, shaking her head. She raised her bound hands. “I’m not stupid.”
Erin knew next to nothing about this planet. She didn’t know where they were, how far away from the Golden City they were, which direction they were heading. And while she didn’t trust Jaxor’an as far as she could throw him, she realized that if she wanted to stay safe and alive…her best bet was to stick close. At least until she could convince him to take her back.
Which she thought she might be able to do.
If what had happened between them was what Erin suspected it was—a fated pairing—knowing what she’d learned from the other women, she might be able to sway him.
Then again, he’d told her he wasn’t like the other Luxirian males. The way he’d treated her already—the kidnapping, tying her up, threatening her, biting her—told her as much. He was dangerous and, perhaps, a little mad.
But if Erin played nice, maybe she could appeal to him. Maybe she could use the unwanted bond that had formed between them to her advantage.
It was her only option, after all.
“I’ll stay where you can see me,” she told him, their eyes connected. “I promise.”
Erin shivered again but she didn’t think it had anything to do with the cold dawn air. Her head felt like it was swimming the longer she looked at him.
She felt his arm tighten around her waist and for a moment, Erin thought he wouldn’t let her go. But then he released her.
He hadn’t spoken a single word to her that morning, but he jerked his chin towards the line of trees, as if daring her to run.
Erin realized he would watch. His wide arms crossed over his broad chest—those strange blue markings that went from his wrists to his shoulders flashing in the low light. Tattoos, she realized. She wondered what they said.
Steeling her spine, she walked to the nearest tree and scurried around it for privacy. The trunk was wide enough to shield her entire body and she quickly did her business, wrinkling her nose in distaste when she used moss to wipe off. Belatedly, she hoped it wasn’t of the alien poison oak variety. As she was standing, she almost lost her balance because of her bound hands.
When she reemerged, Jaxor’an had ventured closer, his horns straightened, his shoulders bunched.
Erin wondered if he realized his muscles loosened at the sight of her—relief?—but he masked whatever he felt with a scowl and another jerk of his head back towards the hovercraft, telling her bathroom time was over.
“Any chance you’ll take this off now?” she asked him, holding up her bound hands. Her wrists felt raw.
His eyes narrowed. Jeez, he was suspicious of everything that came out of her mouth. She wondered what had happened to him to make him so wary, so untrusting.
Finally, he said, “It stays.”
Erin’s shoulders sagged ever so slightly, frustration fueling that anger in her belly. However, she kept her features even.
“Where are we going?” she asked instead.
“To my home.”
“Where’s that?”
His expression was stony and unreadable. He didn’t reply.
“Who were those males last night? The ones in the forest looking for you.”
“I think they were looking for you, rixella,” he mocked, his lips twisting in a cold smirk.
“Why are you so hateful?” she snapped back, already reaching the limits of her patience with him. “What have I even done to you?”
He grew angry and took a step towards her, though she stood her ground.
“You have ruined everything! That is what you have done to me.”
Shock swarmed her at the malice she heard in his voice. With a muttered curse, he turned from her, jumped back up onto the hovercraft, and stalked over to the console.
Erin’s gaze darted to the edge of the forest, but she knew it was foolish. She’d tried to escape him twice already when she’d been with Crystal—once as they crossed the black sand desert, though admittedly that had been desperate and ill-advised, and the second time when the Luxirian Ambassador had appeared in the forest.
Both times, they shouldn’t have tried to escape. The Luxirian Ambassador had probably been sent to find them. If Erin and Crystal hadn’t run, they wouldn’t have been separated. Perhaps they both would’ve been on their way back to the Golden City by now.
As if reading her mind, Jaxor’an growled, “Run and I will find you, female. You will not like it when I do.”
Another one of his threats. The small bite mark on her neck throbbed a bit as a reminder.
Erin had half a mind to test him. A part of her believed that he wouldn’t truly harm her. The other part cautioned her to be wary.
Erin was trying to decide what to do when Jaxor’an finally wrenched something out from underneath the console. It was small and square, no bigger than the size of her palm.
He crunched it in his fist and then tossed it over the side of the hovercraft. It landed in the moss on the other side of the clearing.
When she turned back to look at him, Erin had such a strange feeling. For a moment, she felt crushing disappointment.
Erin could admit to herself that a small part of her had been envious of the relationships her friends had found themselves in. Kate with Vaxa’an. Beks with Lihvan. Cecelia with Rixavox. Taylor with Vikan. And now Lainey with Kirov, more recently.
What they all had in common was that they were all fated pairings, pushed and sewn together by the Luxirian deities, the Fates.
Erin didn’t completely understand it. She’d listened to each of her friends describe their experiences with their mates, taking silent and diligent notes, but a logical part of her mind always possessed doubts.
What she didn’t doubt was the feeling she’d had when she’d seen Jaxor’an for the first time. Like lightning in her chest, jolting and exhilarating. It had made her hands tremble. For a brief moment, she’d felt relief.