The Alien’s Obsession by Zoey Draven

Chapter Seven

Crystal kept giving her the side-eye. All morning long. But all throughout breakfast—which consisted of smoked meat, smoked meat, and more smoked meat—Crystal thankfully kept her mouth shut about whatever she’d seen between her and the alien Ambassador when she’d interrupted them.

Lainey could tell she was itching to say something about it, however.

All throughout breakfast, Kirov watched over them from his spot near the front door, with his arms crossed over his chest and his legs spread wide. Most of the time, Lainey could feel his eyes on her, though she did her best to ignore it. To ignore him.

Other times, whenever she peeked up at him and he wasn’t looking at her, she found him…lost in his own mind. But it didn’t seem peaceful, though his gaze seemed far off. He would shift from side-to-side, his fingers would tap a rhythm on his folded arms, and his lips would downturn every so often.

He seemed restless in those moments. Though every time Lainey happened to glance up at him—which, to be perfectly honest, was more often than not—and she found his gaze on her, he was still. He seemed…present.

Lainey couldn’t help but wonder what he thought about in those moments of restlessness. She wondered what made him like that, what worries and responsibilities a male like him had to deal with.

Then she would shake herself, tell herself to stop thinking about him, even though he intrigued her on a level she’d never felt before.

After breakfast, Kirov actually left them alone for a brief moment. It was during a moment of restlessness and without a word, he went out the front door, though he left it open behind him. Through it, Lainey saw him go to the balcony on the terrace, where he gripped it with both hands, his head dropping between his shoulders. As if he needed a moment of quiet to recompose himself.

Lainey was watching him, her eyes glued to him, when Crystal suddenly whispered, “What the hell is going on with you?”

Lainey swallowed, her attention jerking from Kirov to the blonde sitting beside her on the cushions surrounding the fire pit.

“Nothing,” Lainey immediately answered. “Why?”

“Why?” Crystal repeated slowly. “You’ve been weird all morning. Not to mention that I walked in on you and that alien…having a moment, or something.”

Lainey scoffed. “We were not having a moment. Please.”

“That’s not what it looked like to me,” Crystal argued, her tone serious. She was usually playful and upbeat, but right then, her expression wasn’t either of those things. “Please tell me you won’t be the next one.”

Lainey played dumb. “The next one?”

Crystal sighed. “Beks, Cecelia, and now Taylor. Not to mention this woman named Kate. One-by-one, they’ve left with these aliens and they’ve come back…different. Completely and utterly infatuated. In love. Whatever you want to call it.”

“Not to mention high off alien dick,” Lainey tried to joke.

“I’m serious, Lainey,” Crystal said. “The way you were looking at him this morning…”

Thatwiped the teasing smile off Lainey’s face. She looked down at her empty plate.

“You have nothing to worry about,” she said, trying to reassure the worried blonde.

Lainey decided in that moment not to tell Crystal what had happened the previous night. Not to tell her what she already feared, that something had shifted in her the moment she’d seen Kirov. That what Cecelia had said about an undeniable connection might be true.

Because Lainey felt it too. And that scared her most of all.

“They will find that fuel source,” Lainey said, noticing that Kirov was pushing away from the balcony and returning back to them, to her, “and then we will be off, back to Earth. And I’m going to come visit you in Los Angeles and you’re going to take me to the beach and the Walk of Fame and the Disney Concert Hall, just like you said you would. Okay?”

That brought a smile to Crystal’s face, the longing for her home city evident in her eyes.

“Okay,” Crystal said, her shoulders sagging with relief. That twinkle that Lainey had witnessed often during the past few weeks reentered the blonde’s eyes and she whispered, “Tell me the truth though. You totally want to bang him and see what all the fuss is about.”

Lainey laughed. Kirov was a few steps away from the front door but he froze when he heard her laugh, his blue eyes zeroing in on her. She shivered at his look because everything about him was just so intense, so focused. She wondered what a male like that would be like in the bedroom and she decided right then that he would be good. So damn good.

Lainey couldn’t help but let her eyes run down his body because let’s be real…he was a fine male specimen.

“I never say never,” she whispered back.

* * *

Kirov shutthe front door behind him before approaching his female. She was standing at the terrace edge, her arms draped over the balcony, her backside on full display, which had maddened him from the very first moment she’d positioned herself that way. He’d kept sneaking peeks outside the window like an untried youth.

The suns were just beginning their descent and Kirov knew that his time with her was running out. At least for that span. Vixron would return soon and already Kirov had had to field hailing calls from Vaxa’an to return to the command center. Kirov didn’t relish the thought of lying to his friend, but he knew that if Vaxa’an knew the truth about his Instinct awakening for Lani, the Prime Leader would be put in a very difficult situation.

Lani’s shoulders stiffened at his approach and he frowned, wondering if there would be a time in their future when she reacted differently. Because there would be a future, that much Kirov was certain of.

“Where’s Crystal?” she asked when he appeared next to her, throwing a nervous glance back at the dwelling. Kirov leaned his back against the balcony so that he had a direct line of sight to the house. It was still his duty, after all, to protect both females.

“She sleeps,” Kirov said. “She sleeps much of the time.”

Lani’s eyes caught on his for a brief moment before she tore her own back to Luxiria’s landscape. She fidgeted a little to the side, putting space between them. Kirov allowed it, though his Instinct told him to be as close to her as possible.

She replied with a shrug and said, “There’s not much else to do. It’s not like you have Instagram or books or Netflix.”

More human things, he decided, that he might not ever grasp the meaning of, but he liked hearing her voice. Liked hearing the softness of it, the way her tongue pronounced words differently than he did, though he was becoming more comfortable with her language.

She surprised him when she continued, softly, “She likes to draw. She told me that. Maybe you can find her a notepad and a pencil. Do you have something like that here?”

“Manual writing implements?” he asked, furrowing his brow. “Nix, only perhaps at the archives. But I can procure something that will suffice. A slim Com…a…” he searched for the word in her language, “like a computer that she can make symbols and images on.”

Lani’s lips quirked up and it sent his heart racing. He would give her friend a million Coms if it meant seeing that small smile again.

“Like an iPad?” she asked, her features beginning to relax. It was obvious to Kirov that she was uncomfortable around him and it frustrated him that he didn’t know how to put her at ease. His experiences with females tended to be firmly physical, for his mind was too preoccupied with his inventions and programs that he didn’t have space in it for a partner.

“I am not certain,” he confessed.

“No, of course you wouldn’t know,” Lani said, partially to herself.

A slight shame filled him. Not knowing something was novel for Kirov. If he didn’t know something, he learned as much about it until he did. He liked knowledge, he liked information, and he was used to knowing. And the fact that he knew so little about her, about her culture, about her species and her world…it grated. It frustrated him.

Already he could feel an irritating buzzing in his mind at that fact and he shifted on his feet.

Not now, not now, he told himself, closing his eyes briefly to regain control. When it didn’t work, all he had to do was look at his female’s profile, the way her lips and nose softly curved, to quiet his mind. His muscles relaxed.

She saw him looking but quickly averted her gaze.

Kirov had always been a direct male so he said, “I make you nervous. Why?”

Lani made a sound in the back of her throat and she looked over at him again. Then he watched with fascination as her spine straightened and she turned her whole body to face him, turning away from the view she’d come to the terrace to see, as if to prove his words wrong.

Maddening female, he thought, delighted, unable to look away from her.

“You don’t make me nervous,” she argued, her tone barbed. A warning, Kirov knew.

But he wanted to push a little, to see what she gave back.

“Is this because of this morning?” he questioned, taking a step closer. Lani dropped her gaze between them, at the closing space, but she stood her ground. He said more quietly, his voice going a little rough, “Or last night?”

Again, she made a little sound in the back of her throat and it was enough to make Kirov smile.

Lani sputtered, “Of course not! Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I dreamed of you, female,” he told her, taking another step closer, delicious desire coursing through his body. “My dream began with you watching me from the window, but you ended up somewhere else entirely.”

She went silent, her mouth opening and closing, though no sound came out. Her cheeks flushed that bright red again, coming close to matching her magnificent hair.

That wasn’t what made Kirov growl. Because a moment later, a heady, intoxicating scent met his nostrils and sent his Instinct onto the verge of a frenzy.

Her arousal.

Lani looked away from him, turning her body back to its original position, her front pressed against the balcony. Kirov growled again, knowing that she was retreating when he wanted her claws.

“I can smell your desire, luxiva,” he rasped, that word flowing from his tongue, as natural as breathing. “You need to mate. Do not deny it.”

Lani sucked in a breath, her gaze widening. “You can smell it? God, is there no privacy anymore?”

“Not with me,” he said softly.

Her shoulders stiffened. “What does that mean?” she asked, her tone quiet.

“You feel it,” he murmured. “After this morning, I know you do. Perhaps the other females have already told you what it means.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She said the words quickly, as if she’d been anticipating saying them, as if she’d had them ready.

“Denial will not help you, Lani. Not with me. I will not lie to you.”

“I don’t even know you,” she cried. “So I don’t care if you lie to me. And I sure as hell don’t care if I lie to you.”

Kirov blew out a breath. “I do not think you understand what this means. For both of us. It does not change that my Instinct—”

“Stop,” she said, her teeth gritted.

He continued, pushing forward, needing her to understand, “My Instinct awakened for you. For you, Lani.”

“Stop!”

“You do know what it means,” he said, his suspicions answered.

Lani looked at him and his shoulders sagged at the fear in her eyes. He hated seeing it there, wanted to take it away, but knew that he couldn’t. Only she could take the fear from herself.

“You’re mistaken,” she finally said, her voice breaking. She cleared her throat and her tone was more even as she repeated, “You’re mistaken, Kirov.”

It was the first time she said his name, but he vowed to the Fates that it wouldn’t be her last.

She continued, “Besides, I’ll be leaving soon. It won’t matter anyways. Once you find that crystal, I’ll be gone.”

Kirov growled, a frustrated breath escaping his nostrils. She didn’t understand that this was forever, not just a temporary affliction. Distance didn’t matter. It would only ever be her.

He needed to change tactics. Kirov studied his fated female. She was intelligent, that much was obvious. She had a sharp tongue—which he loved—and even sharper claws—which he loved more.

Kirov realized she liked to be challenged. She liked to be tested. He’d seen the spark in her eyes when he’d outed her for spying on him last night. Despite her embarrassment, Kirov sensed he’d intrigued her, whether she admitted to it or not.

He could play games. To win her, he would play them very well. And it was very clear to Kirov that he would have to win his luxiva, because she wouldn’t make it easy for him.

“Even if that crystal is ever found and brought back to the Golden City,” he said, never breaking her gaze, “I guarantee that by then you will never want to leave my side.” He leaned closer, dropping his voice. “Or the warmth of my furs.”

Shock widened her eyes, followed by outrage. But Kirov searched for it in her gaze, what he was looking for, and he found it. That spark he wanted, the one that made his lips lift and his cock throb with anticipation.

He was further rewarded when her arousal became even more evident, perfuming the air around them, making him growl as his horns began to rise from his crown.

Her blue eyes narrowed and then, ever so slowly, her pink lips curled into a smile, her tongue darting out to wet them. Kirov’s pupils dilated as he watched that tongue, his muscles growing underneath his tunic.

“Well, I’ve got news for you, darling,” she purred, leaning close, so close her hair brushed over his forearm. Kirov stepped forward eagerly and he almost groaned when she ran a finger down the center of his chest. His abdomen clenched when she stopped the descent there. “No man has ever had that kind of control over me and none ever will.”

Immediately, her smile dropped and she stepped back, leaving him reeling and frustrated and aching for her.

Lani turned back to the view, seemingly unaffected by their brief conversation, as if they’d just spoken of how warm it was outside and not the prospect of them fucking.

Kirov now knew better. Her arousal still hung in the air and her fingers immediately set about the balcony, her graceful, long fingers moving across the stone like an intricate dance.

He grinned. He decided he would leave her alone, give her space to reassess their situation and how hopeless it would be to deny what was happening. The Fates simply wouldn’t allow it.

But before he left, he reached out a hand and curled it around the back of her neck, feeling the softness of her skin and her warmth. Her eyes went wide and her fingers stopped dancing on the stone, stumbling to a halt.

Against her ear, he rasped, “It is fortunate for me then that I am not a human man. I am a warrior of Luxiria and I have earned every scar that crosses my body. I have battled and warred. I am used to victory. I expect it.”

She gasped and he pulled back to look into her flustered gaze. Though Kirov could tell she desperately tried to steel her voice, it still came off breathless as she commented, “That sounds like a threat.”

“Nix,” he said, her eyes so blue and dark that he saw his reflection in them. “A promise. And I promise you this, luxiva…I will win you. I will win your soul, your mind…your body.” Her breath hitched. “And you will like it.”

Then he stepped away, leaving her swaying.

As he was walking back to the dwelling, he heard her yell, “Y-yeah…well…we’ll just see about that!”

Kirov grinned.