The Alien’s Claim by Zoey Draven

Chapter Twenty-Six

“Do you want to go to the hot springs tonight?” Jaxor asked as they ate their dinner that night. A very quiet dinner at that.

Erin bit her lip. The polli had been slow-roasting on the spit for most of the day. And it was delicious. It tasted like buttery chicken, but with the flakiness of white fish. Jaxor told her he preferred the gamey, tough meat of the kekevir, but the polli just might be her favorite meal on Luxiria so far, even counting the obiraxi fruit.

Even though dinner was delicious, there was distracting tension between herself and Jaxor that was difficult to ignore, that had been building throughout the day after their conversation about sex and the fated bond between them. Erin was sorry for it, not for the conversation, but for the feelings of unease that had sprung up because of it. She’d felt like she’d just gotten used to being close to him. To touching him when she wanted, to kissing him when she wanted, to teasing him when she wanted.

Now, they were back to being quiet, only this time, there was always the threat of them looking at each other and just deciding to rip each other’s clothes off for the hell of it.

Erin had been on edge all day. Yesterday, she’d had three mind-blowing orgasms. Today, she’d had none, only the memory of them. Her sex felt sensitive, primed, like it was beginning to expect relief regularly.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jaxor studying her. He was still waiting for a reply to his question and just thinking about the hot springs, remembering what had happened there between them, was enough for her to shake her head.

“I don’t think that’s the best idea right now,” she answered him. He was close, so close that their thighs were only an inch apart. Erin swore she felt little tingles across her skin there, as if her body sensed how near he was, as if searching for him.

Madness.

She saw his jaw clench at her answer, but he nodded. “Will you be all right to bathe in the falls?”

She’d mentioned she was going to wash after they had dinner and before they went to bed for the night.

“I can heat water for you here if it will be too cold,” he added.

She gave him a small smile and shook her head. “The falls will be fine. Thank you, though.”

She wasn’t particularly looking forward to an icy bath. She’d give anything to go back to the hot springs, but not with Jaxor there, not with him close. Even then, her chest ached to touch him…but she knew she shouldn’t.

Erin had been thinking about their conversation almost all day. Every spare moment, since she didn’t have that much to do around the base. She’d tidied what she could, cleaned where she could. In the afternoon, she’d asked for sewing material to alter the pants she’d stolen from him. He’d given it to her without question and that was what she did for the remainder of the day. It was a work in progress, but at least it would keep her hands busy for a couple days.

They’d avoided one another, tip-toed around each other, all while sneaking hungry glances and practically eye-fucking one another from across the base.

There was a frustrating maelstrom of emotions swirling inside her, so knotted and tangled that she didn’t even want to try unraveling them.

Remembering the way he’d glanced at her throughout the day, the heat in his eyes, made her squeeze her thighs together, but she could only hope he didn’t notice and returned to her meal.

After another moment, she heard his rough growl. When Erin turned her head to look at him, he raked a hand through his hair, pulling a little at the shortened ends.

“This is not working,” he rasped, almost to himself.

Erin’s treacherous little heart sped.

He sighed, as if resigned. “You need release. I have been scenting it all day. Let me just—”

“No,” she said, pulling her knees tighter together.

“Whynot?” he asked, frustrated too. “I can make you come so easily. Then you will not be so on edge.”

If we consummate the bond, rixella, then there is no going back, he’d told her just that morning. His voice had been…matter-of-fact. Final. Grim. He believed with one-hundred-percent certainty that if they mated, then that was it. She was his. He was hers.

Not only that, but she remembered the crazed need last night. Knowing that she wanted him that much, so much that she was considering staying on Luxiria for him, was frightening enough.

If they had sex, which they would if they continued what they’d been doing, it would be the end. At least, it would be the end of her old life, and Erin wasn’t about to give that up so readily.

Her appetite was lost because she was hungry for something else entirely. Something only Jaxor could give her.

“In some ways,” he said, “it is already too late. We have begun feeding the bond and already it grows hungry.”

Erin stiffened at his words, avoiding his eyes, staring into the fire instead. She’d been thinking much the same thing.

That it was already too late.

“Can I ask you something?” she whispered, though she didn’t think she wanted to know the answer.

“Tev,” he said, mirroring her hesitation.

Erin swallowed. “Have you ever heard of a fated pair not giving in?” She turned her head slightly, angling a look at him, searching for the answer in his eyes before he spoke it. “Have there ever been any that could resist it?”

Erin was making it sound like a sickness, a disease. Coupled with the memory of the love-struck faces of her friends with their mates, of observing them with one another, wanting that too, envious over that kind of love, made her feel even more torn.

If she gave in, would she have that kind of love with Jaxor? If they both accepted this and nourished it and watched it grow?

Erin had the feeling that they could have that kind of love. With time and trust.

Her hands shook with that realization and she stared down at them.

Finally, he said, “I do not know.”

“Tell me,” she said, because she heard something in his voice, reading him so easily.

He blew out a harsh breath. “There have been a few pairings over history, but they are stories. I do not know if they are true.”

A few? Over history?

Her gut sank, even as her heartbeat sped in relief.

“What happens if we deny it?”

He hesitated again. He didn’t want to tell her?

“Is it that bad?” she whispered.

“You are human,” he said instead. “There is a very good chance that you will not be as affected.”

Her brows pulled together, her lips pulling down into a frown. “And you? You aren’t human,” she pointed out needlessly. “You have the Instinct. Inside you, right?”

“Tev,” was what he replied with, which only served to frustrate her because he said nothing else.

“Jaxor.”

“I do not wish to lie to you,” he rasped, dropping his gaze towards the fire. Erin’s breath hitched. He sounded so…pained. “I do not know what will happen to me. I cannot predict that.”

Erin’s shoulders dropped. She couldn’t think of anything to say, so she simply nodded.

The fire crackled, smoke rising into the sky. Overhead, it was a clear night, alien stars and constellations she didn’t recognize shining down. Beautiful.

“I’m going to bathe now,” she whispered, standing from the fire. There was a knot lodged in her chest from their conversation. She’d hoped to find clarity from it, but in reality, she was more confused than ever.

Jaxor nodded. “I will go to the cave.”

He didn’t trust himself with her close and naked, it seemed.

“Okay,” she said, watching as he rose, putting out the fire. The base was still lit by a variety of lanterns, so Erin wasn’t worried about it being too dark to see.

Once he disappeared from sight, Erin stripped and bathed quickly, scrubbing at her skin and hair with the lathered soap granules. She shivered wildly in the falls, her nipples painful from how hardened they were. She leaped out as soon as she could and dried off, dressing in a fresh tunic from one of Jaxor’s chests.

When she made her way up to the cave, Jaxor was lying on his back, staring up at the cave ceiling. He had a lantern lit, but the flame was small.

When he saw her, he gestured for her to come. Biting her lip, Erin stepped over him and dropped down in her usual place against the cave wall, furthest from the door, on a plush little stretch of furs. When she lay down, Jaxor’s arms came around her.

Desperate relief made her eyes close. She was still shivering from the falls and Jaxor dragged more furs over them. Even though they’d avoided touching each other all day, they both shook with contentedness as he held her.

It surprised her how addicted she’d grown to his touch. She felt like she’d been going through withdrawals and when she finally got her fix, it made her reckless. It made her daring.

His cock was pressed against her back. She turned in his arms and pressed her face into the space between his neck and shoulder, using his bicep as a pillow. She inhaled his scent, heady and warm and intoxicating. She pressed her lips to his skin there, just a taste, a tease.

It would have to be enough. For now.

Had it only been last night when she kissed him in a much different place? When she’d drawn that thick cock into her mouth and then begged him for more?

“Sleep, rixella,” he murmured, his voice guttural and husky, as if remembering the same thing she was.

“One more question,” she whispered.

“Tev?”

“Would you ask me to stay if you could?”

The muscles in his arm tightened. She felt a short breath rustle through her hair.

“Would you stay if I asked you to?” he countered instead.

Her throat tightened and burned. Tears pricked her eyes.

She felt him press a small kiss to her still-wet hair.

“Sleep, rixella,” he said again, his voice gruffer now. Neither of them answered their respective question.

Finally, she did as he told her.