Chapter 4

Chapter

Four

DROXAN

" T his…this is…" Lyra started, her eyes widening on my dwelling when it came into view and I began to guide her up the stairs to the top landing. "This isn't a home. It's a fortress ."

Did that mean she liked it?

Because I wanted her to. And perhaps it was the pesky, stifling sensation in my chest of my newly awakened Instinct or the pulsing heat in my groin, but it was important to me that she liked the home I'd made for myself here on Ullima.

Then I was annoyed at myself for wanting her to like it. Because she would be leaving soon. As soon as I patched a com call in. Quadrant Patrol wouldn't even need to land on Ullima. I'd take her out to the meeting point myself.

Briefly, I debated firing up my cruiser and flying her to the nearest neutral colony today . That colony would be Hakk, I supposed. But I also needed to top up my fuel if I wanted to make it back to my planet and Hakk didn't sell firestones or Luxirian crystals. I was saving my fuel for the longer journey to Jubi'po for that.

Vrax , I thought.

Plus, the thought of leaving her on Hakk—which wasn't known as the safest of the neutral colonies—didn't sit well with me. I'd have to wait with her there, regardless, and eat up my fuel supply.

Nix , it would be best to remain on Ullima until Quadrant Patrol could reach us. My mind was made up. Nothing would change it now.

"How long have you lived here?" she asked, her voice still holding that note of surprised awe. I found that I liked it. Her voice was exceedingly pleasing to me. Everything about her was pleasing to me, actually. The shape of her body, the deep valley of her breasts, the expressive emotions that flashed over her face, leaving nothing unimagined, the way her hair shone red when she stepped into a ray of sunlight, but then faded to a deep, rich brown when she left it.

"Three years," I informed her gruffly, trudging up the stairs, torn between the maddening need to carry her up myself and running up them in annoyance at the strange, new, protective Instincts that were clawing at my chest.

In the end, I scowled and reached for her hand, guiding her up a patch of the staircase that needed repairs after the last storm. She blinked at the small contact, her cheeks heating an enticing red.

My lack of knowledge about humans was never more apparent to me than right then.

Which came to a crescendo when I heard a gurgle, just as we reached the top landing. A gurgle from her belly that ended on a small squeak. When I regarded her with a tilted head, she pressed a hand to her bared abdomen, her face growing an even deeper shade of red.

"I…I never had lunch," she said.

" Rebax ?" My brow furrowed. Then I translated the Luxirian word when I saw her own mirrored confusion. "What?"

"I was on the pool deck. Obviously," she muttered, waving a hand down her body. As if I knew what a pool deck was or why her body would matter on one. "And I was just about to leave for lunch when the sirens started."

" Rebax ?"

She huffed out a strong breath. "I'm hungry," she finally said, exasperated. And I didn't understand the embarrassment I heard swell in her tone. "And the only thing in that damn life pod was a crusty ration bar that probably expired ten years ago."

It surprised me when I felt a dizzying wave of shame crash over my head. The Instinct in my chest went restless, prowling, like a caged beast.

"You are hungry?" I asked slowly.

" Yes ," she said, looking away from me, crossing her arms over her belly, biting her full, bottom lip.

"Why did you not say so?" I growled.

She swallowed and then blinked at me in surprise.

"Come," I told her, already cataloging every bit of food I could give her so she would be pleased. I didn't know what humans preferred. Luxirians mostly subsisted on a diet of meat and root vegetables. Did she enjoy those things too? I'd just ended a hunt a few days ago. I had an ice cooler full of meat and my garden had had a good yield this year, the first one since I'd begun building on this planet.

On hesitant feet, she followed after me, padding down the stone walkway that had been the bane of my existence my first year here. But now I was pleased with it. It completely surrounded my circular dwelling—made in the Luxirian style but heavily expanded—and allowed for an unobstructed view of Ullima's beautiful valleys and jungles that surrounded it.

"Wow," she breathed from behind me, her voice filled with awe. At the door of my dwelling, I paused and looked over my shoulder. Only to find her standing at the terrace wall, still hugging herself, and staring down at the hills below. She was lucky she crashed at a relatively high altitude close to my dwelling. If she'd crashed into the valley, it would have taken me days to reach her. "It's so beautiful. What is this planet called?"

"Ullima," I told her, my voice deep, my gaze straying from her generous, rounded backside that my claws curled to grip to the gentle curve of her spine. "The planet is called Ullima."

"And it's so private up here," she commented next. "No nosy neighbors looking in on you, huh?"

Her words made my brows furrow.

"My neighbors on Wero…I can hear them through the walls of my apartment," she informed me, sighing. "I always dreamed of a place like this."

"I have no neighbors," I told her.

She turned then, finally breaking her gaze from the green and blue valleys to regard me in the doorway of my dwelling. She gave me a pointed look and a small smile that made my heart pick up. "Obviously."

" Nix , I mean there is no one else living on the planet," I said. Her eyes went wide. "I own this planet. I allow no one to enter."

Except for a beautiful, curvy human female who awakened my Instinct, apparently.

"You—you own this planet?" she asked me, stammering over her words in her bewilderment. "Is that…is that even possible ?"

I raised a single brow. Repeating the word she was so fond of, I said, "Obviously."

She blinked rapidly. "But…but…"

"I like my privacy," I told her gruffly, beckoning her forward when I opened the door to my dwelling.

" Obviously !" She burst out and I had the oddest urge to laugh. "So you bought a whole planet for…privacy? That's a little extreme, isn't it?"

"You don't know my extended family," I muttered.

"Oh," she said, stepping up to me. Then she bit her lip. "You're right. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound…judgmental or anything. I was just surprised. I don't know a lot of people who own planets. I don't even know anyone who owns their own cruiser. Not on Wero."

"I didn't think you were being judgmental," I informed her, rubbing my chest, which drew her eyes. She blinked, the little hairs that lined her eyes fanning quickly with the movement. She licked her bottom lip, which only made my cock thicken further. As if the dart of that pink tongue controlled it.

"Good," she said, giving me a small smile that filled my chest with something that felt curiously like pride . "Um…at the risk of sounding high-maintenance, do you also have a washroom I could use while you make the coms call? And possibly a robe?"

I blinked. A robe?

My gaze tracked down the line of her body. I hadn't realized how close she was to me until that very moment, as we both hovered on the threshold of my dwelling. I watched the tops of her breasts swell with her sudden intake of air and my nostrils flared with want and desire. Her skin was smooth and a warm, tanned color, little brown dots peppering her collarbone, her cheeks, and the bridge of her nose.

Her pupils dilated, the black widening the longer we stared at one another.

So vraxing pretty. I wanted to look at her forever.

That's just the Instinct , I reminded myself. Females brought trouble. People brought trouble. I needed to remind myself of that.

So why did I step closer? Her breath hitched. I heard her swallow hard. I swore I caught the hint of arousal perfuming the air…but it was more likely that it was my own than hers, right? What I did know about humans was that they didn't have Instincts, not like Luxirians did at least.

Vrax , I hadn't fucked a female since I left Luxiria. Three long years of celibacy were beginning to weigh on me. Hard . And now, my Instinct felt like it was controlling my cock, making it pulse and heat, my varx drawing up tight underneath me, filling with my seed, readying .

" Tev ," I murmured. "No robe but I have a tunic you can wear over your…covering."

Her eyes never left mine. "My…my what?"

"Your covering," I repeated. Why were we whispering to one another? Why did it feel like I was being dragged down under water? A rush had started up in my ears. The sudden dizzying tension was making it hard to think.

What had she wanted again?

What was my damn name again ?

Nix , everything I'd read was wrong, I decided. Humans did have Instincts, just like Luxirians. Because it certainly felt like we were on the cusp of something bigger.

"My bikini?" she whispered.

"If that's what you call it."

"It's for swimming."

I grunted. "Luxirians swim naked. You may as well be too."

Her eyes went wide. "What?"

When I looked between us again, I nearly growled with desire. The thin straps of her bikini did nothing to hide the way her nipples pebbled underneath them. My teeth snapped together behind my lips because I wanted to bite them. I wanted to lick at those breasts and hear her moans in my ears.

Madness , I thought, my control beginning to slip, going a little dizzy.

"Suits are required on the pool deck for the cruise. Regardless of your race's, uh, customs," she told me. Speaking of pool decks again. "I don't usually dress like this, you know."

So other males saw her like this ? I wondered, my Instinct not liking that one bit.

Other males coveted my mate? Other males lusted after her?

Because what male in their right mind wouldn't?

This line of thought would only lead to disastrous consequences—especially when all I could think of was throwing her over my shoulder, rubbing my scent all over her body, marking her in my seed, and then claiming her with my cock.

Fates , why now? Why vraxing now did my Instinct awaken? When I was finally content and I'd found some vraxing peace?

"Come," I ordered again before I said something I'd regret. Like suggesting that we mate right there and then so that I could actually think straight. "I'll show you to the washroom and then get you food."

Tev . Food. That was what she wanted. She was hungry.

Relief prickled my chest. Food was a distraction to my desire because my Instinct demanded I take care of my mate. It demanded that I feed her, that I please her in all ways.

A reprieve.

For now , I couldn't help but think.

A reprieve only for now.

I just prayed to the Fates that a Quadrant Patrol was nearby before I did something incredibly, incredibly foolish.

Like— oh, I don't know —claim her as my mate forever.

Suddenly, I couldn't get to the coms fast enough.