The Alien’s Obsession by Zoey Draven

Chapter Nineteen

Lainey woke sometime the next morning to the sound of gentle wind and the beauty of an even gentler sunrise.

Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, praying she hadn’t been drooling in her sleep, she looked up from her position on the floor of the hovercraft to see Kirov, still standing at the control panel, still awake.

Blinking the sleep from her eyes and immediately combing her fingers through her hair, she pushed up from the floor, her back twinging with discomfort. She didn’t remember falling asleep, but there was a blanket pushed underneath her head and another draped over her body to keep her warm.

Her heart thumped hard at the knowledge he’d tried to make her comfortable.

“Where are we?” she asked, her voice scratchy, feeling oddly vulnerable that she’d slept in front of him. She just hoped she hadn’t been snoring.

Still sitting with her back to the wall of the hovercraft, keeping the blanket secured around her shoulders, she peeked over the edge to see an entirely different landscape than what she’d been expecting. Whereas the land surrounding the Golden City was like a desert, with sand spreading in all directions, peaked with gothic, yet lovely, mountains, wherever they were had given way to lush greenery, huge lakes of water so dark, they looked filled with coffee, and meadows and fields.

“Come,” he murmured, holding out his hand for her. After a moment of hesitation, she took it and let him secure her between his body and the control panel. He lifted his arm and said, “A pack of trixava. It is rare to see them this east. We near Troxva.”

Lainey peered to where he was gesturing and a little thrill of excitement went through her when she saw a large herd of dark-haired beasts, not unlike buffalos, drinking out of one of the lakes they passed over. They were too high to see their features, but even from this distance, Lainey could see they were huge.

“We are almost there?” she repeated, looking from the herd of animals to the surrounding area. The sunrise made everything ten times as beautiful and Lainey had a feeling that even if she could take a picture of the view, it would never capture everything.

This place had to be experienced, not captured.

“Tev,” he said, looking down at her. Always direct, he asked, “Are you still upset with me?”

“Maybe,” she whispered, though if she was being honest, a little bit of much-needed sleep had helped dull it.

And yeah, Kirov had totally tricked her and kidnapped her from the Golden City.

Then again, Lainey had lied to his face about believing in the whole Instinct thing and had hinted that the night they’d been in the meadow hadn’t meant anything to her.

So really, she figured they were kind of…even? Still, Lainey had a lot to apologize for.

Besides, she’d made up her mind when it came to him and she intended to follow through with that commitment.

“If you would’ve asked me, I would’ve said yes, Kirov,” she told him quietly.

She felt his arms tighten around her middle and he turned her to face him, studying her features with a frown.

“I do not know if I believe you,” Kirov admitted.

That stung, but in time, Lainey hoped to earn his trust.

“It’s the truth,” she said, taking a deep breath, bringing her hands up slowly to place them on his chest. Ignoring the way he tensed, she felt his heartbeat pulse against her palms and said, “I wanted to apologize for how I treated you a couple nights ago. I got scared and I tried to push you away. It’s what I do. And it tore me up inside, knowing that I’d…that I’d hurt you.”

Kirov’s brow furrowed and his eyes flickered back and forth between her own, as if trying to figure out what her motives were. As if he was mistrustful of her words.

“Why this change so suddenly?” he asked, his tone low and deep. He cocked his head to the side, his long hair tickling the backs of her hands.

“I’ve just been doing a lot of thinking since that night,” Lainey said, swallowing past the lump in her throat. “Reflecting on how I treat others and why. I’ve been a coward and I’ve been mean and I try to cut other people before they have a chance to cut me.” It was hard saying these things to him out loud, but Lainey needed to. She just hoped that he believed her. “And…I—I want to be better. I want to not be so afraid anymore. I don’t want to hurt people anymore, especially you. I’m sorry, Kirov. I hope you can forgive me.”

Lainey didn’t realize that she was trembling. She’d never been good at confrontation, about admitting her wrongs. She was so bad at it that her body was literally rebelling against her.

Something in Kirov’s gaze softened and hope lit up her chest when he stroked one of his hands through her hair. He let out a deep exhale that softened his tight muscles and he grumbled, tilting his head down, “Kiss me, female.”

Hope.

Lainey’s breath hitched and she immediately leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, her eyes fluttering shut as he moved his mouth against hers.

His hands came to her waist and the blanket dropped from her shoulders when she slid her hands from his chest to wrap around his neck. Head spinning, she smiled and he licked her teeth with his tongue, asking for entrance, which she gave without hesitation.

When Kirov pulled away, she swayed a little on her feet, her eyes dazed, her lips stinging.

“Does…does this mean you forgive me?” she asked, breathless. “That you’ll give me another chance?”

“Tev,” he murmured. “With a condition.”

She frowned.

“You must forgive me too,” he rasped and she bit her lip, trying to hide her smile.

“On a condition,” she said.

“You are giving my condition a condition?” he clarified, his lips twitching, shaking his head.

“Yes, and it’s that you can never kidnap me again without my knowledge, that you have to ask about things like this. Okay?”

“Fair enough, female,” he murmured. Then his expression went a little serious as he asked, “What does this mean then?”

“Wasn’t the kiss obvious?” she asked, a little shy again. Shy about these kinds of things, in general, really.

“Say it, female,” he demanded and Lainey would never admit it, but she might really like when he was a little bossy. Just not too bossy. When he was like that, she would just sass him until he stopped.

She bit her lip and said softly, “I’ve noticed you haven’t called me luxiva yet.”

His expression tightened. “Nix, I have not.”

Lainey licked her lips and said, “I…I wish that you would again.”

Her little confession would tell him all he needed to know.

Kirov closed his eyes, a tremendous amount of tension releasing from his body at her words. Lainey hadn’t realized how much he’d been holding it in, how much he’d needed to hear her say it.

A guilty ping radiated in her chest, but she would make up for it. She needed to. She wanted to.

“Luxiva.”

She smiled, her heart fluttering. “Yes?”

“Tell me again what this means.”

Lainey fiddled with a lock of his hair and behind him, she saw the sky turn a glorious bright pink.

“It means,” she started, “that I’ll be open to this, to you. That we can take this relationship one day at a time and see where it leads. And I promise I won’t fight with you about it and I’ll do my best not to freak out on you. But just a warning in advance, that if it does happen, I just need you to push against me and tell me I’m being an asshole, okay?”

That crooked little grin returned and Lainey felt like she’d won something when it appeared.

“I like when you fight with me,” he said.

Lainey chuckled. “Fine. I promise I’ll still fight with you. Better?”

“Better.”

“So, we’re all made up, then?” Lainey asked. It was her turn to ask for clarification.

“Tev, luxiva, we are all ‘made up.’”

Bright relief went through her and she smiled up at him in a way that made him growl, his hands flexing at her waist.

Slowly trailing her hands down his chest, stopping at his tight abdomen, she said softly, looking up at him underneath her eyelashes, “You know, when humans make-up after fights, there’s usually make-up sex involved.”

Kirov purred in his chest. “Tev?”

“Oh yeah.”

She ached for a repeat of their time in the meadow, but she wanted more. All of him. She wanted to feel him against her body, wanted to feel his heavy weight between her thighs, his warmth covering her, as he slid deep inside.

That crooked grin reappeared, making her heart pound with excitement.

“It is unfortunate then, luxiva,” he began, dropping his voice in a way she found irresistibly sexy, “that we will not mate until our ravraxia.”

Cue record screech.

“What?”

Kate had told her about the ravraxia. It was the mating ceremony. The one with the Fates entering their bodies, or something like that. The one with the blood bond.

“Kirov, we just talked about taking this one day at a time,” she said, her mouth hanging open.

He looked a little smug as he said, “Tev, and we will. You may take all the time you wish to take. But like I said, we will not mate until the ravraxia. We can still pleasure each other in other ways until then, but in this, I stand firm.”

“Are you serious?” she asked, still a little dumbstruck. “Because I’m pretty sure you would’ve banged my brains out the other night if I had asked you to.”

“Tev, most likely,” he answered, which further boggled her mind.

“Then why do you want to wait now?” she asked, incredulous.

His eyes focused on something in the distance, his jaw setting, before looking back down at her.

“Because, luxiva,” he said, “you have forgiven me and I have forgiven you. However, what you said on the terrace that night made me realize that you might not revere intimacy with a mate as I do. Perhaps humans are more lax about these things.”

“Of course I—”

“I believe you called it fooling around,” he said, making her mouth snap shut. “A human slang, tev?”

“But I—”

“Sex between fated mates is sacred,” he said, his expression serious, almost grim. “Considering that fated mates are more likely to produce offspring more quickly, I can not risk you changing your mind if you decide to leave in the end. I would lose not only you, but my child as well.”

Lainey hadn’t even thought about children. And looking at Kirov, she realized this was important to him, realized that he was still scared that she could leave.

Swallowing, she realized she held the power in this relationship because she had the choice to leave, not him.

“If I ever got pregnant, Kirov,” she said slowly, a little hurt that he would think what he did, “I would never take the child away from you.”

“Tev, I know,” he said, which confused her.

“Then why would you say something like that?”

“I meant that you might not even realize you were with offspring when the time came to choose,” he amended. Then he confessed, “Cruxan believes he is close to finding the crystal.”

Her lips parted. So that was what it was all about. If they had sex and Cruxan returned with the crystal, Lainey could go back home, possibly within the week. Kirov believed they were running out of time.

Wanting to comfort him, she pressed a kiss to his chest and, looking up at him, said, “I meant what I said Kirov. I’m giving this my everything, okay? I’m not thinking of this in the short term.”

“Then perform the ravraxia with me. Tonight.”

She bit her lip.

She paused too long.

Kirov stroked a hand down her hair, exhaling. “You see? I am certain about you, Lani, about a future with you. When you wish to perform the ravraxia with me, I will know you feel the same.”

“I just need time, Kirov,” she whispered, not wanting him to think that she was already backing out. “Everything has happened so fast.”

“You have all the time you need,” he reassured her. “But until then, no mating.”

Because he didn’t want to get her pregnant, because he wanted her to fully give herself to him, without worrying she would leave right afterwards.

Lainey blew out a breath of frustration.

“Okay, I understand,” she said, but she looked up at him and said honestly, “But I warn you that I will do everything in my power to make you change your mind about this whole mating thing.”

His lips quirked. “You are welcome to try, luxiva.”

“I won’t play fair,” she warned.

“I look forward to that,” he murmured, tilting his head down to give her a small peck of a kiss, which she happily received. “Now, look. We are here.”

Lainey turned, curious. In the distance, she saw a city, sprawled out in a beautiful valley between two green, massive hills. And just like the Golden City, this city crawled up these hills in terraces, utilizing them for space and marketplaces and homes.

Beyond the city lay the biggest lake she’d ever seen. If they weren’t so high up, she would think it was the ocean. Shimmering waters and calm shores.

Beautiful, she thought, her lips parting.

“Troxva,” Kirov said quietly in her ear, pressing a kiss to her temple. “We are home.”