The Alien’s Obsession by Zoey Draven

Chapter Eleven

Kirov - 4…5?

Lainey - 0

She exhaled a slow, albeit shaky breath, but it was difficult to pout about that lackluster score when she was flying on a freaking hovercraft, with the moon their only source of light, with a crisp Luxirian breeze whipping through her hair.

Oh, and a Luxirian male behind her, keeping her pressed between the control panel and his warm, hulking body, as they hurtled to their unknown destination.

A Luxirian male who gave her a hat to shield her from the sun.

A Luxirian male who drove her crazy, who pushed her when she didn’t want to be pushed, but needed to be.

A Luxirian male whose huge cock vibrated when he purred and growled.

Lainey’s cheeks flushed all over again, still unable to believe that things between them had escalated that far and that fast.

One moment he’d been pulling her through a window, trying to sneak her out like she was a teenager going for a ride in her boyfriend’s Mustang at midnight. The next moment, he was looking at her accidentally-exposed pussy and growling with a sexy scowl about whether she had another male.

Lainey would never admit to him that she’d liked seeing him a little jealous. It just made him even more…intense. And he was already crazy intense.

It had turned her on even more and before she knew it, she was in his arms, pressed against his cock, and her clit was being vibrated.

Yep, things had definitely, definitely escalated.

Now she knew that his voice deepened, that his muscles grew, and his eyes became so dark they looked black when he was turned on, when he purposefully played with her body, when he asked her if she wanted to cum.

Thank God for the cold breeze because Lainey might just spontaneously burst into flames.

Kirov’s arms tightened around her and in her ear, he growled, “Female, I know what you are thinking. I can smell you.”

Lainey bit her lip.

She didn’t know why she turned down his offer to make her cum. Heaven knows she needed it. Wanted it.

Maybe before the night was over, she might want to fool around with him a little bit. It was a date, after all.

Handjob in a hovercraft, anyone?she thought, unable to help the amused smirk that crossed her lips.

Besides, she couldn’t deny that she was curious. She was curious about what sex with him would be like.

Not like I’m going to have sex with him, she amended silently.

At least not tonight, the little devil on her shoulder whispered in her ear.

Lainey exhaled a shaky breath.

“Vrax, luxiva,” he said, his voice going husky, inhaling deeply, his breath whistling in her ears.

“Sorry,” she whispered, though the word was whipped away by the wind, wondering what luxiva meant in his language. Lainey wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to know.

She couldn’t help but smile when his hand clenched on her waist, a warning to behave. But even Kirov should know by then that she didn’t like being told what to do.

“Will you tell me where we’re going now?” she asked, to distract herself, to distract him. She had a feeling if he propositioned her again, if he growled at her in that sexy, dark voice, if he slid his hand slightly lower…she wouldn’t be able to resist him a second time.

Behind them, the Golden City looked like a speck, although they hadn’t been traveling for more than ten minutes.

Kirov relented and pointed in the distance to a mountain range.

“At the base is a stream,” he said. “I go there often. It calms my mind when I need it. I wish to show it to you.”

Her heart skipped, liking that he wanted to take her to a place that was special to him entirely too much.

It was sweet. And Lainey wasn’t used to sweet.

If she was being honest, she’d never met a male like Kirov. All her ex-boyfriends, if they could even be called that, were...not good. But Lainey hadn’t been allowed boyfriends during high school—her mother claimed she needed to focus on her music more than flirting—and the moment Lainey had moved out at 18 and quit piano, she’d gone through a rebellious phase.

After her early-twenties, she’d sworn off men altogether after an incident with her then-boyfriend, when he’d gotten drunk and dislocated her shoulder when he shoved her into a wall.

Like she said, her taste in men had been bad.

Lainey liked to think she’d grown up since then. It was perhaps why she hadn’t had sex in two years, why she turned down dates from men she knew wouldn’t be good for her. Why she’d closed herself off and kept her heart encased behind a steel wall.

Then Nadine had died. And the world got darker.

Lainey shook herself and blew out a breath, not wanting to think about it, not right then at least.

“Thank you, by the way,” she said, tucking a rebellious strand of hair behind her ear. She turned a little, tilting her head up to look at Kirov. “For my hat. I never thanked you this afternoon.”

Kirov’s eyes warmed with pleasure and Lainey could feel herself melt a little at that look.

This is bad, bad, bad, she thought.

“I was pleased to see it functioned properly,” he told her. “I hadn’t had much time to test it properly before I had to be at the command center this morning.”

She frowned. “Test it?”

“Tev. The idea came to me when I left you last night.”

Her lips parted. “Don’t tell me you actually made that thing last night.”

He looked down at her, assessing her expression, before his eyes returned to the horizon. The hovercraft veered right, taking them closer to the mountain, and they began a slow, descent.

Lainey had always thought men driving cars with confidence were sexy. But Kirov expertly controlling a goddamn hovercraft?

Mindblowingly erotic.

Lainey swallowed and tried to focus on the conversation, but it was hard watching his large, masculine hands move in front of her on the control panel.

“I did create it last night,” he said. “I used a similar material from armor technology I am developing for our warriors. Then I programmed it accordingly.”

Lainey’s brows rose.

Forget flying a hovercraft. Knowing he was apparently crazy intelligent was…damn, Lainey had a feeling she was already a goner.

He’s definitely getting a handjob in this hovercraftlater.

“That’s…that’s…” she swallowed.

Use your words, girl, she thought.

Kirov’s gaze returned to her and that crooked smile returned, though there was a confidence behind it that almost bordered on arrogance.

Her knees trembled.

“Does that impress you, luxiva? Does it make you soften towards your male?”

Your male.

Jesus H. Christ.

She reached up and shoved his shoulder a little, though when she turned around, she couldn’t help but grin. God help her, but she liked when he flirted with her.

“Is that what a technology advisor does then?” she asked.

“Tev. And I oversee the technology branch of our labs, the majority of which is based in Troxva.”

“Troxva,” she repeated, remembering last night, when he’d informed her that he had to return there in three days and that she would be going with him. “What is that?”

“My outpost,” he said, lowering them further as the mountain drew nearer and nearer. “I am one of the Prime Leader’s Ambassadors.”

“And what does that mean?” she asked, her voice quiet, though her mind was soaking in everything he said. She wanted to learn about him, though in the back of her mind, she told herself it might not matter, that she’d been leaving him soon anyways.

She frowned at the thought, her chest tightening unexpectedly.

“There are six outposts spread across Luxiria.”

“Like other Golden Cities?”

“Tev, but slightly smaller. The Golden City is the hub of our planet, the capital. Outposts have significant populations but each has a specific purpose.”

“What’s the purpose of Troxva?”

“Technology. It is the furthest outpost to the east, nearest to the Jaxvara. It is…” he seemed to search for a word in English. “It is a sacred place of the Fates, but specifically a sacred place of Jaxveer, the Fate of Knowledge. A long time ago, males and females that dedicated their lives to the pursuit of knowledge congregated there, where they could feel the pull and influence of Jaxveer most. It was there that our first vessel, that could breach our atmosphere and travel in space, was created.”

Lainey liked hearing him talk about these things. It fascinated her, but also overwhelmed her, knowing that there was so much still to learn about Luxiria and its people.

“And you said it’s your outpost?” she asked, blinking.

“Tev,” he said, jerking his head in a nod. “I was born there, raised there, until I left for warrior training. Once Vaxa’an appointed me Ambassador, he gave me control of the outpost. Troxva is my home and my responsibility. It is why I must return soon. I have been away far too long already.”

There was a strange tone in his voice at the end, like he was speaking to himself, like he needed to remember that was why he had to return.

“Why has it been so long?” she asked.

He glanced down at her, his arms tightening briefly, telling her that the question might’ve caught him off guard. It only made her more curious.

The mountain range loomed next to them, so much larger than she could’ve imagined. They were so close that Lainey felt she could simply reach out in front of her and touch it.

“For reasons you may see, since you will be coming with me,” he murmured.

Lainey couldn’t help but roll her eyes, though she was itching for an actual answer. “Yeah, okay.”

“Look, we are almost there,” he said next.

Lainey went on her tiptoes, her butt brushing against his crotch as she did, and then gasped.

Because at the very base of the mountain they were closest to was what she could only describe as a meadow. A little, lush, moonlit meadow.

A little oasis amid the black sand desert that they’d traveled over.

“How?” she whispered.

“The stream,” he answered, pointing at something that Lainey didn’t think was a stream, but rather resembled a river. It ran straight through, cutting through the meadow, until it disappeared behind the next mountain over. “There is a spring inside that trickles out. That gives this place life. That draws life.”

Kirov lowered them further until they were hovering just overhead. He landed the hovercraft next to the mountain, in a flattened area that told Lainey he’d parked there before, many times.

Like a gentleman, he helped her step down until her feet sunk into the impossibly soft sand. Soon, that sand gave way to what looked like blue moss. Blue moss that shimmered in the moonlight. It covered the entire floor of the meadow, crawling up from the banks of the river, drinking and sustaining itself on the water, stemming and growing in all directions.

When Lainey closed her eyes for a brief moment, all she heard was a gentle breeze and a babbling brook. And another sound that had her cocking her head in puzzlement.

“What’s that whispering sound?” she wondered aloud, though she kept her voice quiet.

When she opened her eyes and looked at Kirov, he was watching her, his expression something she couldn’t read, but an expression that made her straighten in awareness.

With his hands on her shoulders, he turned her until she faced where the stream came out from the mountain. And there, every so often, she saw gently flashing pink lights.

Just like…

“Are those fireflies?” she asked, wanting to chuckle.

“Fireflies?” he asked.

“Little bugs that fly, that light up.”

“Tev, they are a kind of insect,” he said. “They come a long way to drink from the stream.”

Lainey found comfort in that, in a strange way. That even in a different part of the universe, on this strange alien planet she was only beginning to understand and experience…there were fireflies.

Pink fireflies.

Lainey cast her eyes around the rest of the meadow, hardly knowing where to look next. It wasn’t huge by any means, but it was surprisingly colorful.

As Lainey walked closer to the gentle flowing stream, she saw that the bottom was covered in what looked like stones, not sand. And those stones resembled moonstones, shifting in color, from blue and green and milky white, depending on how the moon hit them.

Every so often, from the blue moss, grew sprigs of what she could only describe as mini-blue pine trees, no taller than her waist. And on these pine trees, grew little round berries that shimmered like opal gemstones.

From blue moss, to pink fireflies, to a river full of moonstones, to opal berries, the only word Lainey could think to describe this place was magical.

Kirov gave her time to look around, to process what she was seeing. Her senses were overloaded, considering she’d only just moved out of the room they’d all been kept in for the last several weeks.

Because the best part about the meadow? There were no walls, except for the mountains

She could see as far as the moonlight would allow her in the darkness, far into the black, vast plains of Luxiria, where she could make out other mountain ranges and hills.

Lainey shivered a bit with the breeze. A moment later, she felt Kirov envelop her from behind, wrapping his warmth around her, squeezing her to him.

She pressed her cold hands into his strong arms, letting him warm her, taking what he was offering so generously.

Why did it feel so right, so natural with him? It was as if they’d known each other for far longer than a few days.

Was it his Instinct? she wondered. It was the first time she’d allowed herself to acknowledge whatever was happening between them. Had he been right? Was a great force binding them together, a force she didn’t yet understand that both frightened and intrigued her?

Lainey shivered, despite Kirov’s heat, looking at the magnificent view in front of them.

Again, he’d given her another gift. An unexpected one. And the sweetness of it made her throat close.

He’s really good at this first date thing, she thought, blowing out a breath in defeat.

Kirov - 6

Lainey - 0

“Thank you,” she said, tilting her head to look back at him.

His beautiful blue eyes glowed in the moonlight and she remembered the first night they’d met. Of him, standing naked, on the terrace, his body drenched in light.

“Thank you for taking me here,” she continued, feeling like she might’ve just lost a piece of her heart to him. A piece she might not ever get back.

“You are welcome, luxiva.”