The Alien’s Seduction by Zoey Draven

Chapter Two

Ambassador Cruxan knew something was wrong the moment he jumped down from his hovercraft onto the quiet terrace.

The air felt too still and everything in him—his training, his instincts, his gut—told him what he needed to know. That feeling had never led him astray before, a reason why Vaxa’an, their Prime Leader, relied on him so much.

He’d come from Menira’s dwelling, a female he liked to visit whenever he came to the Golden City. He’d just come from his outpost, had travelled through most of the night on his hovercraft, and all he’d wanted the moment he reached Luxiria’s capitol was to mate Menira, to bite and lick and fuck, to release the tension that had been building and building, and she’d been more than willing to help him ease the restlessness inside.

It was their arrangement. One of many arrangements he had with various females across Luxiria’s surface.

He’d been calm, had been downright relaxed and loosened from their vigorous mating session, until the moment he stepped foot onto the terrace where his home in the Golden City was. The terrace where all the Ambassadors’ dwellings were. The terrace where the remaining human females—females that no unmated males were allowed to see—resided.

With a curse, he scrambled for the Coms on his hovercraft, patching a connection directly to Vaxa’an.

His Prime Leader’s voice pierced the still air on his panel. “Have you arrived back already?” his friend and warrior brother asked.

“Something is wrong, Vaxa’an. I feel it,” Cruxan said quietly. “Come to the females’ dwelling immediately.”

All he heard was a curse before Cruxan disconnected the Coms and then silently made his way over to one of the last dwellings on the terrace, scanning the alleys between each home, looking for anything out of place. He found none, but there was a strange scent in the air, one that grew stronger the closer he crept towards the females’ dwelling.

With a silent curse, he saw the door was wide open. In the distance, with his ears perked, Cruxan heard the telltale signs of a hovercraft approaching fast from the command center and he knew Vaxa’an would be there shortly.

Through the doorway, he saw the still bodies of Horex and Vixron and he grit his teeth together, but passed them on his way to check the rest of the dwelling. The females were his priority.

But his dread deepened the more he searched. The back quarters were empty, looked to be unused even, the bathing room revealed no sign of them, though there were puddles of water on the stone floor, telling him they had been there recently. The strange scent that he’d picked up was strongest there and he paused for a moment, his brows furrowing, trying to place it, wondering why it muddled his brain. When he finally reached the second sleeping quarters, he found the furs in disarray, a bed roll on the floor.

That scent was everywhere and his nostrils flared, unease spiraling down his spine.

He paused, hearing a slight sound, which would be undetectable to most. But Cruxan wasn’t ‘most’ and he crouched down, peering underneath the sleeping platform.

A human female had tucked herself away underneath it. Frightened eyes stared back at him and in a low voice, he said, “Come out. You are safe, female.”

“I’ve never been safe. Not here,” she hissed back. The rage he heard in her voice surprised him. “This is all your fault.”

The words cut him deep, momentarily making him freeze.

“Come out, female,” he murmured. When she didn’t move, he asked instead, “Do you know where the other two are? What happened here?”

Outside, he heard a hovercraft land on the terrace, heard Vaxa’an race towards the entrance of the dwelling, heard his low curse when he discovered Horex and Vixron.

“Someone took them,” the female said. “Get them back.”

“I cannot if you do not tell me everything you know,” Cruxan said softly, frustration eating at him. He’d never been a patient male. One of his many faults. “How many? Where did they come from? On hovercraft?”

They would’ve had to come by hovercraft, Cruxan realized. There was no access to the terrace otherwise, unless they scaled the mountain.

“I heard none,” the female said, her eyes still gleaming with mistrust, but her body shifted. Slowly, she wiggled herself out from beneath the sleeping platform and sat up. “And I only heard one male. No others.”

Cruxan frowned, just as Vaxa’an appeared in the doorway behind him.

One male scaled the Golden City facev? One male had taken down Horex and Vixron, two of the best trained warriors on Luxiria? One male had stolen both females without a trace? Impossible. Even if he had, how did he get both females off the mountain?

That scent filled his nostrils and Cruxan uncurled from his crouched position, taking it in deep. He exchanged a meaningful look with Vaxa’an and he returned to the central hub at the front of the house, knowing he would receive no further information from the human female.

Crouching over Horex and Vixron, he was relieved to see they were still drawing breath. Peering at them, he frowned when he saw a familiar black chip implanted onto their necks and he plucked them away quickly.

“Vrax,” he cursed softly, frustrated.

They were a weapon that Kirov, another of Vaxa’an’s Ambassadors and the latest to have his Instinct awakened, had designed himself not too long ago. A small, yet powerful weapon that pulsed a debilitating current through its victim’s body, rendering them unconscious immediately. Though it would leave them unharmed once they woke, they wouldn’t regain consciousness for another half span.

Vaxa’an appeared with the human female just behind him.

“What is it?” the Prime Leader asked.

Cruxan held up the chip. Not many knew about the relatively new weapon and they were only kept at the command center. Only Luxirians with access could acquire them.

“One of our own?” Vaxa’an growled.

“I do not know,” Cruxan replied, something pulling at the back of his mind. Something still felt…strange. Off.

“Can you track the scent?”

Cruxan nodded and caught onto it once again. It was light, but traceable and he followed it from the central hub, back out to the terrace. Vaxa’an followed him, keeping the human female close.

Cruxan’s brow furrowed as it led him to the backside of the facev. There was no place for a hovercraft to land there, nor did it have access down the mountain.

The most puzzling part of it all was that the scent simply…stopped. Right at the back of the dwelling.

Cruxan peered around, looking for any sign of something amiss, but he found none.

“Here,” he said, frowning, looking at Vaxa’an, who suddenly looked very somber. “What is it?”

“This is where the scent ends?” the Prime Leader asked, the human female with dark hair shifting at his side. “Right here?”

“Tev,” Cruxan said, inclining his head. “Why?”

Vaxa’an’s lips pressed together and he turned to the stone of the mountain wall beside them, which had once been chiseled down long ago to create that very terrace.

He searched for something, though for what, Cruxan was unsure.

Then his friend placed his palm on the stone, long fingers spread wide. Cruxan saw a blue flash and his breath hitched. A reader? Hidden into the stone of the facev?

Much to Cruxan’s astonishment, part of the facev wall slid open, revealing a dark passageway. A strong gust of wind whistled up through it and Cruxan was hit with that strange scent again. It momentarily stole his breath.

“There it is again,” Cruxan murmured to the Prime Leader, turning to him. “What is this?”

He’d never known about a hidden entrance onto the Ambassadors’ terrace. Especially one that wound down the mountain.

In Luxirian, the Prime Leader said, “It is an old passageway that leads from my dwelling to the bottom of the facev.”

“Why did we not know about this?” he questioned, frustration rising again. This was a serious concern, one they should have all been informed about.

“It was a family secret,” Vaxa’an answered. “My sire’s sire had it constructed during the Polikim Wars, as a way for his mate and his offspring to escape, if the Golden City was threatened. It connects only to this terrace, to one in the marketplace, and then one at the very bottom.”

Cruxan’s lips pressed together, realization hitting him. “No one knows about this entrance?”

“I did not even tell you, any of my trusted Ambassadors. My luxiva does not even know because…” Vaxa’an trailed off, staring down the dark tunnel stairs. “I have not thought about it in a long time. Since I was a youth.”

“Vaxa’an…” Cruxan said lowly, understanding what he was implying. “Then this was not one of our own.”

“Nix,” Vaxa’an said, his tone heavy and low. “The only other soul in this universe that knows about this entrance, about how to access it, is Jaxor’an.”

Cruxan’s jaw clenched again.

Jaxor’an. Vaxa’an’s only blood brother. A close friend until…

Until he defected to the Mevirax after his mother’s and sire’s deaths, abandoning Vaxa’an to rule during his grief. The Others. The Mevirax, who they strongly suspected had possession of the crystal. The Mevirax, whose females’ were rumored to be able to bear offspring.

The Mevirax, who now had two of the human females, stolen right out from their protection in the Golden City.

Cruxan’s rage unfurled, but he kept it tightly controlled. The Mevirax had been left unchecked for far too long. And now, two innocent human females were paying the price for it.

His eyes connected with Vaxa’an’s. Cruxan was Vaxa’an’s fixer. Out of all of the Ambassadors, it was Cruxan who did most of the dirty work that no one else wanted to do. He was the tracker, the one who pursued dishonorable Luxirians and punished them accordingly, who led them to execution or exile, whatever the trials decided. It was Cruxan who oversaw the most unforgiving and roughest of all the outposts on Luxiria, who had to travel the longest of distances to reach the Golden City.

It was Cruxan who’d gone to retrieve Lihvan and Beks when they’d been stranded on Jalun. It was Cruxan who had led Levrix to exile after she’d tried to poison Rixavox’s mate, Sessela. It was Cruxan who’d discovered the truth from the Luxirian warrior who’d taken the crystal, with less than honorable methods.

It was what he did. He cleaned up Luxiria’s messy situations. It was his duty.

Sometimes, he envied his fellow Ambassadors. Sometimes, he wished things were different. But he owed it to Luxiria. He owed it to Vaxa’an. After Cruxan’s sire’s betrayal, after his cowardice when Luxiria needed him most, Cruxan felt he owed everything to his planet and to his planet’s leader, to atone for his sire’s actions, to atone for the shame it brought.

So when Vaxa’an’s gaze went from the hidden tunnel leading to the base of the mountain and then latched onto Cruxan, when his Prime Leader simply said, “Find them,” Cruxan said what he always did.

“I will.”