The Alien’s Claim by Zoey Draven

Chapter Thirty

Later that evening, Erin was tugging on Jaxor’s stiffened horns, trying to pull him from between her thighs.

“Jaxor, please!” she begged.

He growled, but finally did as she wanted, releasing her clit, which he’d been gently lapping and suckling with that long, warm tongue.

They’d moved into the cave sometime after the first mating and Erin’s palms found the stone of the floor when Jaxor flipped her onto her hands and knees, pulling her hips back so he could thrust inside her.

A moan tumbled from her lips, low and throaty. Her voice felt scratchy, well-used, considering she’d been crying out and screaming her pleasure for the better part of the day.

They’d hardly taken a break since that morning. Jaxor had been insatiable. And so had she. It was like this driving need to mate, no matter what. No matter how sore or tired she was, she needed him inside her.

Those feelings were alarming, admittedly, but Erin had decided to give in to this, into him, and see where it led. Which was why she arched her back, why her head tilted to the side when he began fucking her from behind, why she moaned and whispered his name like a prayer.

Erin didn’t know how much longer her body would hold out, but she met him thrust for thrust. Every one of his growls met one of her moans. And when she sensed that he was near, she began to come on his cock—her seventh, eighth, ninth orgasm of the day, she couldn’t be certain—and he shortly followed, releasing himself into her body until nothing was left.

“I need to r-rest,” she whispered to him, panting, feeling him maneuver her down to the furs, which had bunched up a little during their mating. He smoothed them out before cradling her in his arms. “Just for a little while.”

“Tev, rixella,” he rasped, his own voice changed. “I promise I will give you reprieve.”

For now went unspoken, but they both heard it.

She gave an exhausted sigh, her eyes fluttering closed. Then she felt his kiss and her lips quirked up, meeting it. His tongue stroked hers, soft and slow and wonderful. It made the back of her throat tingle, like she’d had too much sugar.

They’d hardly spoken since he’d found her on the hovercraft. Their mating had happened so quickly, the result of a quick decision and heightened emotions. Erin didn’t regret what she’d done, though. She didn’t regret this, though she remembered Jaxor’s soft words.

It is done now.

Was a part of him still angry with her after finding her in the hovercraft?

Erin lay in silence in his arms, listening as his thundering heartbeat finally slowed and returned to normal. They were both slick with sweat and she was fairly certain that the cave smelled of sex, but she never wanted to leave his arms. She felt happy and sated. When she reached up to stroke his jaw once he was done kissing her senseless, he caught the tip of her thumb between his teeth. She froze, watching with parted lips as he sucked and nibbled on it lightly.

A shiver raced down her spine, already feeling her clit throb and her sex begin to the stir.

“You promised,” she whispered.

He gave a small grunt and released her thumb. She stroked his lips with it, marveling at their softness, feeling his eyes burn into her as she did it.

This little ball of warmth and affection had taken up residence in her chest. Her hand pressed into his chest, feeling the strong vibration of his heartbeat.

“I never knew it could be like this,” she whispered softly.

“Rebax?”

“Sex,” she amended, knowing there was a lot about this situation that she hadn’t known could be like this.

His forehead met her own and he confessed, “I did not know either.”

His words made her happy. She heard the quiet truth in them.

“I have heard stories all my lifespan,” he continued quietly as his hand came up and threaded through her hair. It had finally dried from the rain. “But to know now, what it is, is still…stunning.”

Erin flushed, feeling his touch in her hair. This was so new between them, but for once, Erin didn’t feel all that afraid. There was still a lot that they needed to talk about, a lot that they needed to decide—both independently and together—but…this, their bond, the connection that she’d sensed since the beginning, would guide them, wouldn’t it?

She thought back to that morning and said, “I’ve never seen you that angry before.”

It needed to be discussed. Now seemed as good a time as any.

Jaxor didn’t even tense when she said the words. Erin wondered if she’d fucked the anger out of him, or perhaps, it had been the other way around.

“You wish to speak about this now?” he asked, the tone of his voice changing slightly. “Or later?”

Because they would have to talk about it.

“Now,” she whispered, sliding her hand down his chest to rest on his lower abdomen. He groaned when her fingers brushed his still hard cock. “And if you get angry, I will have a fun way of calming you down.”

His eyes flashed.

Erin sobered, licking her lips, tasting him there. She felt physically tired, but mentally invigorated. Like she wouldn’t be able to stand because she was so tired, but she felt like she could tackle the world right then.

“Very well,” he rasped.

“I wasn’t leaving,” she said quietly.

“Then what were you doing in the hovercraft?”

His body was tensed already and she stroked his abdomen almost unconsciously. “I wasn’t leaving yet,” she amended.

He growled.

“I don’t want to lie to you,” she said quickly. “I want to be honest.”

“Then tell me.”

“I’ve been practicing piloting the hovercraft,” she admitted. “As a back-up plan.”

His nostrils flared, his jaw tensing. But he took a deep breath in and held it, waiting for her to continue.

“You wouldn’t tell me what you had planned for me,” she said. “When I suspected you would still deliver me to the Mevirax, I decided that it wouldn’t hurt to know how to fly it just in case I needed to use it.”

“Then why did you fly it this span?” he rasped.

“Because you still haven’t told me anything,” she whispered. He went silent. “Even now, everything still seems so uncertain.”

“Last night,” he started, “do you remember what you asked me?”

Erin frowned but nodded. “If you would ask me to stay. Here on Luxiria.”

“Can you envision yourself living here?” he asked. “With me?”

“Here?” she asked. “In this place?”

He nodded.

“I still don’t have an answer,” she whispered, realizing it was the truth.

His jaw tightened.

“Do you?” she asked quietly. “Have your answer, I mean.”

He didn’t say anything for a long time. When he spoke, he said, “When I saw you in the hovercraft, I have never felt such fear. Though it was two separate kinds of fear. One for you and one for myself.”

Her brow furrowed.

“For you because it is dangerous. I learned how to pilot the xrellexax during warrior training. For ten rotations, I mastered it. It is deceptively difficult to pilot them. If anything had happened to you—”

He stopped before he finished, his eyes closing. Erin held her breath, feeling a little ashamed now.

“But you are unharmed,” he said, looking back at her. “By your own skill and perhaps the Fates’ protection also. For that, I am endlessly thankful.”

She wanted to tell him that she’d barely traveled anywhere on the hovercraft. Only up and then down the tunnel shaft, and she’d taken a small circle around the opening. But now she understood his fear—it had been ignorant of her to believe she could have navigated the hovercraft back to the Golden City with little training or knowledge of how to operate it. It had been foolish and Jaxor had been frightened just thinking of everything that could have gone wrong.

Obviously, he would know what could have gone wrong. She didn’t.

“I’m sorry,” she said, running her other hand into his short hair, curling her fingers around the strands. “You’re right, it was foolish of me. It was reckless. I could have gotten hurt.”

He shivered, but she had a feeling it had nothing to do with her touch and everything to do with the lingering fear he felt.

“And the second fear, the one that was perhaps more selfish, was that I would never see you again. That you would leave me and not look back,” he admitted gruffly. “That I had wasted my time with you, a gift from the Fates themselves. That you took my life with you, my purpose.”

“Your purpose?” she whispered, hearing the soft anguish in his voice.

“To protect you, to cherish you, to love you,” he said and her breath hitched, longing bursting through her at his words. Because she wanted those things, didn’t she? Hadn’t she always desired to be loved and to love in return?

“Wouldn’t that be my purpose too?” she whispered quietly, her heart thudding.

“Rebax?”

“To protect you and cherish you and love you too? To be equal partners in that?”

He closed his eyes at her words and a lump lodged in her throat. When he finally spoke, it was to say, “I never imagined, in a thousand rotations, that the Fates would tie me to another.”

“Why not?” she asked.

“Because of all my mistakes. Because I had turned my back on my family, on my people, on the Fates,” he told her, his voice ragged. “This life was supposed to be my punishment.”

He didn’t believe that he deserved a life partner. That was what he was telling her. That he had isolated himself here, in this place, as a kind of penance.

“Jaxor,” she whispered, touching his jaw.

“I want you,” he rasped. “I want this with you. But I fear that I do not know how to be what you need. Not anymore.”

“Don’t think like that then,” she told him. “Maybe you’re exactly what I want and what I need, as you are now.”

“You want me angry?” he asked quietly. “Because you have seen my temper perhaps more than anyone in the past ten rotations.”

“I like your temper sometimes,” she said softly, truthfully. “Sometimes I like when we fight. I like when we don’t fight too. I like when you smile and I like when you’re a little broody.”

He frowned, his brows furrowing.

“My point is that you’re not perfect and I don’t expect you to be, or want you to be. Not for me. Because I’m far from perfect too.” He opened his mouth, like he was going to argue with her, which made her lips quirk and made her kiss him before he could. It silenced him long enough for her to whisper against his lips, “I like you right now, as you are right now. Okay?”

When he pulled back to look at her, he exhaled a long breath and kissed her again. It was his acceptance.

“This is all new. For both of us,” she said softly. “For now, let’s just take it one day at a time and see what happens.”

Jaxor’s arms tightened around her briefly. “No more going to the hovercraft?” he asked, as if he needed to be completely sure. He obviously still worried about the dangers.

Erin nodded. “I promise I won’t. As long as you’re here in the mornings when I wake up,” she added, tossing him a small smile, wanting to lighten the expression on his face.

His lips quirked in response and a part of her melted at the sight.

“Then tev, rixella,” he finally said, capturing her lips again. “One span at a time. We can do that.”