The Alien’s Claim by Zoey Draven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

His roar made the kekevir screech, but he hardly heard them over the racing of his blood.

Running from me?

His Instinct was close to the surface and it had taken everything in Jaxor to keep it controlled. But that panic, at seeing his fated mate running from him, had unleashed it. He thought of nothing else but getting her back. And when he did…

She had made it halfway down the tunnel back to the base by the time he catapulted off the hovercraft after her. His ears were ringing, his cock thick and straining beneath his pants. His horns were straightening right off the crown of his head and already, the muscles under his skin grew and strengthened.

He saw the outline of her through the haze in his vision, darting through the base. Where did she think to go? There was no escape. There was no escape from this. Never had it been more clear.

Still, he chased her. He needed to catch her. He needed to show her that nothing would keep them apart, even though he’d only just realized it himself.

His breath came out in rough pants, like a snarling beast. She’d thought to leave him? Nix! In that single moment, when he’d seen her in the hovercraft, he’d felt a million things in a flash. But the one that stood out in his memory, like a brand on his skin, was that he would never let her go.

He thought to give her to the Mevirax? The deadline Tavar had given him was looming tomorrow. He wanted to laugh with bitterness now. He wanted to howl like an animal at his own failings, knowing he was still a disappointment to his people, selfish and single-minded.

He’d mourned in that moment, realizing he never would have given her up. He’d felt sickening relief that made him dizzy. He’d felt a thousand vonnes lift off his shoulders. He’d raged and lusted and came close to the brink of his madness in that moment.

All because of his female, his luxiva, the wicked rixella that had spun him under her spell.

Jaxor caught her near the waterfall.

He bellowed and launched himself at her, wrapping his arms around her waist, hauling her against him, and down they went. Jaxor made sure to turn so she landed on him, but the moment he had her, he reversed their positions until she lay beneath him.

“You think to run?” he rasped, hardly recognizing his own voice. His breaths were ragged, harsh things. His throat felt closed tight as his hands gripped her beneath him. He hardly felt the cool rain sliding over his bare chest. “From me? Never from me, luxiva.”

Looking down, he believed he would find fear on her features. Fear of him, of the beast inside, never more apparent than it was now. She would fear what was to come because he’d spoken the truth before: there was no going back.

Not anymore.

But it wasn’t fear he saw on her face.

Jaxor hovered over her as she stretched her arms over her head, cool droplets of rain sliding from her wrists. The position was vulnerable, sensual.

An offering.

His eyes went wide when he realized it.

“I only ran so you would catch me,” she murmured up to him, looking him directly in the eye. “So you would make good on your promise when you did.”

He shook his head, his Instinct processing her words more quickly than he was able to. “Rebax?”

“Maybe you need a little push. Maybe I do too.”

A push?

She leaned up, trailing her lips across his neck before biting, making him grunt in surprise and desire, making his arms flex around her.

“Enough of this,” she said, the words floating over the flesh she’d just marked for herself. “I want you.”

“You…” he shook his head, fighting his Instinct, growling when it sank its claws deep into him. “You know what this means.”

He said it even as he tore her tunic away from her body like it was made of parchment, tossing it to the side, leaving her naked beneath him. Droplets from the rain ran over her budded nipples, little trails that ran and slid, that mapped out her body for him, as if he needed them to. He’d already memorized her body for himself.

“I know what this is,” she said, a little breathless, when he traced a trail of the rain with his tongue, starting at her collarbones and ending at one breast, which he sucked and nipped and laved.

Her hands were already pushing at the material of his pants. He shuddered and then cut through the laces with his claws, only releasing her breast to drag the pants off his legs, leaving him as naked as she.

This is happening. The thought cut through his mind like a clear flash of realization, like he hadn’t dreamed up this moment, and his Instinct purred its approval. For once, he felt the Instinct retreat slightly, letting Jaxor take control once more.

And when it did, there was a frenzied need in his movements. He worried that he gripped his female too hard, kissed her too hard. But she seemed to like it, arching into his touch and sucking on his tongue in a way that made shivers race through his bones.

Vrax, the things she made him feel!

He couldn’t get close enough. Even pressed against her body, feeling the wet slide of the rain between them and his cock resting on her thighs wasn’t enough.

Her legs widened, wrapping around his waist. His cock nudged her sex and he hissed when she moved against him, squirming.

Jaxor could hardly think with the blood rushing in his ears, with the sound of the waterfall growing louder from the rain, with his female’s scent wrapped around him, with the lingering rage and fear and want that simmered in his belly.

It was too much. It was too much all at once.

But when he met Erin’s eyes, when he felt her hands sliding over his skin, he felt pieced back together again.

“Luxiva,” he growled.

“Yes,” she whispered. Droplets of rain clung to her lashes and she blinked them away, her lips parting in invitation.

“Mine.”

“Yes,” she whispered again, nudging her hips again. Jaxor reached down, his cock throbbing, shifting her until he was positioned at her entrance. Something possessive lit in her eyes. “And you’re mine.”

Relief and something that felt like joy burst in his chest. He closed his eyes at the sensation of it, a lump lodged in his throat.

Belonging. This was belonging, wasn’t it?

Erin thrust her hips down, making his eyes shoot open, stunned pleasure making his vision hazy.

“Rixella,” he growled, looking between them, his breath heaving.

“Yes?” she asked, her voice throaty and strangely…vulnerable.

Jaxor was inside her heat. Only an inch or two inside. Enough, and then again, not enough.

“Please,” she pleaded quietly. Jaxor watched as a raindrop landed on her pink lips and he leaned down to lick it away. He heard her gasp.

“Mine,” he rasped against her mouth, meeting her eyes. They widened at whatever she saw in his gaze, but then they heated with desire. “Tev?”

“Yes,” she whispered, sliding her arms tighter around his neck, bringing their slick, warm bodies closer.

Jaxor bellowed with relief as he thrust his hips powerfully forward, sheathing the length of his cock inside his female.

Claimed, his Instinct purred, finally content.