Chapter 2

Chapter

Two

DROXAN

" V rax ," I cursed roughly, moving quickly to leap up onto the hull of the silver pod to catch the female before her face slammed into the metal.

She was warm and soft in my arms, her body limp but light.

Disbelief and shock—mingled with unwanted lust—made me peer down at her face.

Nix, nix, nix , I thought. No .

But there was no denying it.

The moment I'd seen her…the Instinct had awakened inside me. Roaring to life like a beast rousing from its dormancy.

It felt like my body had been hollowed out only to be refilled. With purpose. With the need to protect my new little mate. With the knowledge that I would never be the same again, that I would always want her, that I would always need her.

It left me shaken. Off balance. Like a veil on my reality had just lifted only to show me another dimension entirely.

I'd never thought it would happen to me.

Never to me .

And certainly not on this day when I'd spied a streak of fire hurtling across the sky, crash landing not far from my dwelling. I'd expected to find wreckage.

Instead, I'd found my fated mate .

For a brief, hazy moment, I studied her, my grip on her body tightening unconsciously.

She was human . A human female…and exceedingly pleasing to look at. She had a warm complexion with a smattering of dark little dots across the bridge of her nose. Her lips were plump, pink, and soft-looking. Her cheeks were round. Her brow bone had little hairs on them, making sharp little slashes across her face. Her eyes had curled hairs too, fanning across the tops of her cheekbones.

My eyes trailed down. A rough purr that somehow managed to sound like a growl rose from my throat.

Her body was…

Mine , came the possessive thought, even though I fought against it.

She was wearing a strange covering. Thin and strappy, the top portion had triangles covering her large breasts. The bottoms molded to her vaxix and were tight on her wide hips, revealing short legs and thick, perfect thighs.

Her little feet were bare and her toenails were…red? Shiny and red.

My gaze ran back up her body. Curvy and lush and beautiful, she was everything I was attracted to.

And everything I don't want , I thought next, my mouth thinning into a grim line.

I'd come to this planet, Ullima, to get away from people. To get away from females, from the pressures of Luxirian society, and the expectations I'd felt constantly roving in the back of my mind.

People always wanted something from me.

I'd just gotten tired of constantly giving and never receiving anything in return.

And maybe that was selfish. My brothers had certainly believed so when I'd left Luxiria for good.

But I'd purchased this whole vraxing planet to finally have some peace after decades of expectations. I'd lived here for three years…and they were some of the best years of my life, even if my existence might seem primitive and lonely to the high society Luxirians back home.

Looking away from the limp female in my arms, I peered into the life pod she'd come from. It was cheaply made and poorly constructed. A model that was manufactured on G'yop in massive quantities…and then discontinued when the safety inspections turned out to be fraudulent. It looked like the coms were fried. Char marks licked up the sides of the pod and one section was dented in from the landing.

A gruff, displeased growl rose from my throat, my gaze returning to the female.

She was lucky to be alive. I'd heard stories of these life pods disintegrating when they entered the atmosphere.

Which begged the question…where had she come from?

From the Fates , came the unwelcome thought.

But how else could I explain my fated mate literally falling out of the sky on my desolate little planet? A planet that I'd paid a good price for to not be publicly recognized in the Uranian Federation's database.

A moan emerged from her throat. I felt her muscles beginning to twitch and then I was looking into endless multi-colored eyes. Brown and gold and green, swirling together.

For a mindless moment, I felt suspended as our gazes locked and held. My heart gave a loud thump in my chest—had it actually skipped a damn beat?

So vraxing lovely , I couldn't help but think.

Then those eyes went wide and a loud startled shriek rose from her throat. Immediately, her body started moving, thrashing in my arms.

I hadn't expected it and so my balance was off. My feet slipped off the silver hull of the pod. My arms tightened around the female as I toppled off, landing with a grunting huff on my back amongst the ferns.

"Let go of me!" the female was crying out. It took me a second to realize she'd landed on top of me. The warm, feminine body of my fated mate pressing against mine.

Vrax .

And her scent .

My eyes nearly rolled in the back of my head and my cock thickened in a dizzying rush. She smelled divine .

It took me another second to realize she'd spoken the universal tongue.

"Stop struggling, female," I finally growled out. "I'm not going to hurt you."

She wheezed out a stunned breath. She was huffing and puffing, blinking on top of me, but I softened when I saw her fright. When I saw her fear.

I didn't want her to be frightened. Not with me. Not ever.

"Female," I said again, trying to gentle my tone. But my voice sounded scratchy and rough. Underused. "It's all right. I will not hurt you."

She was straddling my waist and didn't even seem to realize it. I felt the crawling vines of the kixia plant begin to move underneath me. While harmless, something about them always unnerved me. I didn't want their vines to start wrapping around my limbs.

Patting her leg, I murmured, "Can you stand up? Or will you faint again?"

Her cheeks flamed. "I didn't faint ."

My brow rose. " Tev . You did. Fainted at the sight of me."

That seemed to embarrass her even more and she struggled to find her balance as she attempted to stand up. But that only caused her to rock over my hips and I couldn't stop the groan that escaped my throat even if I'd tried.

The Instinct's mating pull was… strong .

I couldn't even think straight, dammit!

She froze at the groan, her eyes going as wide as tuxi fruits.

" Vrax , female, don't do that," I rasped. "Get up. Now."

She didn't hesitate. She made a little mewing sound just as the kixia vines began to close around my ankle and she scrambled off me. As soon as she was standing, I pushed off the jungle floor to shake the vines off.

Her eyes went wide when I straightened to my full height and she craned her neck back to meet my gaze with trepidation and wariness.

Humans were small, especially female ones. The top of her head only came up to the middle of my chest. She crossed her arms over her breasts—trying to shield them?—and seemed uncomfortable as I regarded her carefully.

"Who…who are you?" came her question, running her gaze over my clothing. Or lack of, considering I was bare-chested. I'd been repairing the water catch system back at my dwelling. Debris was clinging to the material of my pants and I'd only managed to drag on a pair of my boots and grab my stun gun before I'd taken off towards the crash site.

My gaze narrowed on her, even though my Instinct demanded that I be closer . It roved in my chest, discomforted by the fact that she wasn't in my arms or that a significant amount of distance was separating us, especially after finding one another.

It was…unnatural.

Then again, my fated mate wasn't Luxirian. She would be oblivious to the bond that was beginning to form between us. The connection .

She cleared her throat, my gaze rapt on her in fascination. The question came out a little bolder and stronger when she asked again, "Who are you?"