The Alien’s Seduction by Zoey Draven

Chapter Thirteen

It was a long, draining, miserable night.

But eventually, as time proved over and over again, the night passed and the morning soon took its place.

Crystal didn’t know how long she managed to sleep. She seemed to doze on and off, for minutes at a time, before jolting awake. But the last thing she remembered was a howling, biting wind and curling more deeply into Cruxan’s warmth. The next time she woke, it was morning.

A gentle, hushed, quiet morning.

It was still raining, though it wasn’t as harsh or violent as it’d been the night before. More like a heavy drizzle that coated the air with a white, almost silvery mist, dense like fog.

In sleep, she’d pressed closer to Cruxan. She blinked, her eyelashes fluttering against his upper shoulder, her head wedged in that space by the thick column of his neck. Their fronts were pressed together, her arms at her sides. Her front was warm, but her legs were cold, from the pants he still wore. It took her a moment to realize their legs were threaded together.

Just like last night, her wariness, her fear returned. And even though she was warm—so warm—she hesitantly pulled her head back to peer up at his face.

His blue eyes were open and watching her, though he didn’t move a single muscle.

Crystal was at a loss for words. But true to his word, Cruxan’s eyes never left her own. There was something different about his gaze that morning. Though why…well, Crystal wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to know.

“I, um,” her voice was scratchy and husky from the cold, from the lack of sleep, and from nerves, “want to get dressed now.”

It made her a little ashamed that the first words out of her mouth weren’t a thank you.

He nodded and, closing his eyes, he unwrapped his body from hers and turned. His back was to her, giving her the privacy and space she desperately craved. She immediately reached for her soaked clothes. She didn’t relish putting them back on, especially since the drizzle began to coat her skin and wet hair, especially when there was still a chill in the air.

What she wouldn’t give for dry clothes and a steaming cup of hot chocolate right about then…

She put on her tunic first, the thin, light material clinging to her body. When her hands skimmed over Cruxan’s tunic, guilt ate at her and she said, “You should have your shirt back. You must be cold.”

“Nix, female,” he murmured, his back still to her. “You wear it.”

“But—”

“Do not worry about me.”

Crystal sighed but then hefted his shirt over her head, though it felt like it weighed twenty pounds wet. Wrinkling her nose as she felt the cool, unpleasant wetness over her skin, she said, “Okay, I’m done.”

Cruxan turned to look at her, his back muscles bunching and flexing under his skin as he did so. She didn’t want to think about last night, didn’t want to think about the hours and hours where she’d laid naked beside him, pressed against him.

But it seemed virtually impossible not to…not when those blue eyes were on her.

She hadn’t been naked with a man…not since Leo. A part of her had missed it. The warmth of flesh, the feeling of another body next to her own, the weight of one.

An awkward silence stretched between them before Cruxan broke it. “How do you feel this morning?”

Truthfully, she felt exhausted. She felt sore. Not just from their trek the day before, but from all the shivering and tensing her muscles last night from the cold.

“I’m fine,” she told him, giving him a tiny smile that felt as awkward as it no doubt appeared.

“Are you hungry?” he asked next.

Mist swirled behind him, the small gust of sudden wind making it dance.

Her eyes went to the remains of their fire, to the stone where they’d cooked the meat. Cruxan had her eat it all, though she’d protested many times, which had fallen on deaf ears. She’d been hungry enough to eat it all, but she didn’t want him to suffer for it.

He’s been kind to me, she realized suddenly. He tended to her cut, he knew she’d been tired from their trek yesterday, he made sure she was fed…he made sure she was warm. At his expense.

Shame made her cheeks heat. She shook her head in answer to his question and then said quietly, “Thank you.” She swallowed before meeting his gaze. “You’ve been generous and kind…and I feel that I’ve been cold to you.” Her lips quirked a little. “Both literally and figuratively, perhaps.”

He was still watching her in a way that made her spine tingle with awareness.

“Who was it that hurt you, female?”

The question made her breath escape her.

“What?” she whispered and she felt like there was an imaginary hand at her throat.

“Someone hurt you. I want to know who.”

Her heart fluttered with nerves, with memory.

“Why do you think someone hurt me?” she asked quietly.

Cruxan looked at her. That was what she’d seen in his gaze upon waking. A dark understanding. A dark knowing.

Please don’t take advantage, she’d whispered, pleaded to him last night. Had he put together the pieces? Her strangeness around him? Her hesitation and, at times, her fear?

Her lips pressed together, panic rising in her veins, though she knew how to stop it. She took a deep inhale, held it, slowing down her racing heart.

They would be traveling together for some time. Yesterday had been cut short. Judging by the weather, it would add more time onto their journey, unless they caught a break. She didn’t want to be this way for that long. She didn’t want to be that frightened girl she’d been before.

She let out her held breath.

“Can I ask two things of you?” she ventured, looking at him. They were only an arm’s length distance away and she could see the tension in his face, could feel it radiating off him.

“What are they?” he questioned.

“The first is…please don’t ask me that question again.”

His gaze narrowed and he bit out something in Luxirian, before saying, “I am your mate. Do not ask that of me.”

He said it so easily, without hesitation.

“I want to know everything,” he continued, stepping closer. A strange energy was pouring off him. “I need to.”

Crystal looked past his shoulder, finding his gaze too intense. She inhaled a sharp breath when his hand cupped her jaw, gently, making her look back into those deep blue eyes.

“I want to know why you do that,” he murmured, his tone almost anguished. “I want to know why you look away from me when you feel vulnerable.”

Her gaze slid, as if proving his words right, before she caught herself. She forced herself to look back into his eyes.

“Just because you believe I am your mate,” Crystal said softly, “it doesn’t mean you have the right to demand to know everything about me.”

She could see the argument in his gaze, his jaw clenched in protest.

Still, she amended, “How about if I want for you to know, I will tell you in my own time?”

His jaw didn’t unclench, but he did ask, “What is your second request, female?”

She blew out a breath but said simply, “I want to start over.”

He looked perplexed at that. “Start over?” he repeated slowly.

“We’ll be with each other for a little while. Traveling together, I mean,” she amended quickly. “It doesn’t need to be so tense between us. I realize that. I’m…I’m not usually so guarded.”

Cruxan thought over her words. Then he ran a sweeping hand over his left horn, which curled around his head.

“I have two requests of my own,” was not what she expected him to say in response.

It was only fair, she supposed.

“What are they?” she asked, her tone tinged with hesitation.

“First, you must believe that every action I take, every decision when it comes to you, is for your benefit, for your safety and comfort,” he rumbled.

Surprise made her lips part.

“It is my duty and my need as your mate,” he told her. When she parted her lips to speak, he said hurriedly, “And I know that you do not accept it. Yet. But I have accepted it and I take that responsibility seriously.”

Her mouth closed. She couldn’t argue with him. Not about that. Not when she suspected, deep down, that he was right, despite what she wished.

“You are hesitant with me because you are wary of me,” he said, though it was obvious by his tone that he hated that truth. “But I give you my vow, female, not only as a warrior of Luxiria, not only as the Ambassador of Otala, as an Ambassador to the Prime Leader, but as your male, as your mate, that I will never hurt you. I will never touch you if you do not wish to be touched. I will never give you reason to mistrust my intentions. Over time, I hope that you will come to trust me, that you will come to trust my promises.”

His words brought something roaring to life in her, but she swallowed it down and asked, with a shaking voice, “And what is your second request?”

“That you allow me to call you luxiva.”

She blinked.

“You asked me not to,” he murmured, running another hand over his horn, his expression almost sheepish. “But I fear that sometimes, I will let it slip.”

Crystal let out a shaky breath. She didn’t know why, but that request tore at her heart, at the barriers that surrounded it.

It’s just a word, she thought.

What harm could it do? And it was obviously important to him.

“I agree,” she murmured. “Do you agree to mine?”

“Tev,” he rasped.

“Then let’s start over,” she said, though she didn’t truthfully know how she would go about it. Even though it was cheesy and ridiculous, she extended her hand out towards him and said, “My name is Crystal.”

His brow furrowed. He looked at her outstretched and took it, though not in a handshake. His fingers were warm, reminding her of last night.

“I know,” he said slowly, perplexed.

She couldn’t help but give a small, embarrassed smile at his reaction. “Never mind. It’s a silly human thing. A joke.”

“Oh,” he said, frowning. Then he hesitated, saying, “I am called Cruxan.”

He was playing along. Her smile widened a little. “Nice to meet you, Cruxan,” she said quietly.

“It is nice to meet you, luxiva.”