Chapter 9

Chapter

Nine

DROXAN

" S torm is blowing in," I informed Lyra. "We should wrap up."

"It is?" she asked, her tone bewildered as she tilted her face up to the sky. There wasn't a single cloud in sight. "Droxan, you're joking."

I chuffed out a laugh, something I found I'd been doing a lot that afternoon.

"I wish I was," I murmured, hauling myself off the bannister, wiping my arm across my forehead, before swiping my tools against a spare rag. Lyra frowned when she saw me doing it because she'd primly informed me about an hour before that that was her job.

My lips twitched and I stopped, deciding to clean the tools while she was sleeping before I incited her wrath.

When I stood, I stretched my back out, the muscles tight from being bent over the water catch tank all day. The last storm had been massive. I'd left a stack of terrace pavers against the wall and a gust of wind had catapulted them at the tank, nearly shredding the metal and severing the wiring, before they'd disappeared into the ravine below.

Ullima's stormy season was here. Luckily, it didn't last long but this would be the third storm this week. The season would stretch for another month or so and then the weather would calm as it got colder.

Lyra was watching me stretch. That charged energy suddenly crackled between us, energy that had nothing to do with the storm.

She was sitting back in a chair I'd procured for her, her legs crossed. My tunic she wore was stained in grease and oil from the machine and the tools. She'd become an expert on the different fittings I had in my tool set and I couldn't remember the last time I'd felt this… light .

The afternoon had been easy.

Easy and fun, even as I performed one of the more mundane tasks of my week. I'd rather haul up the water from the falls because it kept me moving instead of bent over the side of a wall, fiddling with the insides of a machine.

But with Lyra, I would gladly spend an eternity doing just that.

That afternoon had reminded me that I used to talk to people all the time. All day. Every day. Running my business on Luxiria, I'd been surrounded by people every moment. While I'd moved to Ullima to escape some of those people…it felt nice to talk again. It felt nice to learn things about Lyra, to study the way her expressions lit up her face, or even watch her disapproving frown when I reached for a tool myself. It felt good to laugh again when she swatted my hand away. It felt good to tease her, to flirt, to watch that flush crawl up her neck when we held onto one another's gazes for a little longer than necessary.

A grin stole over my face when her eyes dipped down my chest…though it slid off my face when they settled on the tent of my pants. Licking my lips, I tossed my tools next to her chair, crouching low as I slotted them back into place.

"That's my job," she said, just as I knew she would, her voice dropping low. Intimate even, as she smiled at me. "Organization, remember? One of my specialties."

I'd smelled her arousal on and off throughout the day and it was definitely on right now. This morning, I thought I'd been mistaken until I realized that the musky, sweet, tantalizing smell was all Lyra. For me . It filled me with masculine pride, making me want to puff out my chest and roar with satisfaction, to know that she was attracted to me.

Fear, too…because I knew it only brought me one step closer to claiming her for my own. Fear that I would grow too attached to her—my fated mate—and that I'd be left broken when she left.

If I thought I could fight the Instinct's pull…that afternoon had proved how wrong I was. It was a battle I could see myself slowly losing throughout the course of the day. And still, I couldn't find it in me to feel too terribly about it.

What I really wanted to do was sweep her up in my arms, bend her over the terrace wall, and claim my fated mate right there and then. As the storm rolled in, as rain lashed at our bodies, and wind stroked over us. It was unnatural for a Luxirian male to deny his Instinct what it truly craved, especially when it scented its fated mate's arousal.

Would she want that? Would she like that? Would she moan as I sank into her, wet and slick and ready for me? Would she want me as crazed as she made me or would I have to gentle my touch?

We were both staring at one another again. A puff of air left my lips, wondering how much longer we'd do this.

I'd learned more about my mate that day. I'd learned about her life on Wero, why she'd moved there, what she liked about the colony—which was a lot , much to my dismay. Because if she loved living there so much, why would she ever want to leave it?

She told me about her job, working for a textile merchant named Mr. Kee, though I'd never heard of him. A smaller operation, servicing the nearby outposts—though he had been known to travel between Quadrants—for market days and trader auctions. When I'd asked her if she liked her job, she'd told me, "It gives me everything I need and everything I want. There's not a lot of job prospects for human females outside the Fourth Quadrant. Especially ones who live alone because I have to take my safety into account. So I'm lucky to have found this job. I have no complaints."

Her words had filled me with restlessness, but also relief.

They told me that perhaps Wero wasn't as safe as I'd originally thought.

They told me that Lyra didn't have a male. A husband or whatever humans called their chosen mates.

The two emotions completely clashed with one another. The need to keep her safe, the need to protect her while I worried over what would happen if she chose to leave Ullima, all while I wanted to bellow with satisfaction, knowing she had not claimed a male for her own.

Madness , I thought. Complete and utter madness .

In turn, she didn't have to ask if I had a female in my life. It was plainly obvious that I was alone, though she had asked me that afternoon if I'd ever been married before—joined, I assumed she'd meant.

" Nix ," I'd told her, rubbing at my horn. "Never."

There had been plenty of females. Females whose company I'd enjoyed, especially when I was still in the state to enjoy the fruits of my hard work. Now? The thought held little appeal. The females on Luxiria had clamored after me because of my wealth and status. I'd mistrusted everything that they ever said and slowly, I'd stopped taking lovers entirely.

She had probed about my life just as I had hers. I'd answered anything she asked and her curiosity had always started with the word ‘question.' Like she'd needed to announce her intentions as she rapidly fired them at me. Question : did I have siblings? Tev , two brothers. Question : did I miss Luxiria? Nix , I did not, though I did miss the heat. Question : did I study to become a builder? Tev , through intensive and extensive education since I was a child. Question : do you watch any of the Quadrant networks? Tev , I enjoyed the Hyrinn races—which she'd made a face at that had me laughing.

Question : did I ever get lonely?

That question had given me pause. I'd looked up at her, shrugged, and simply said, "I don't feel lonely right now."

That was all that mattered.

We were still staring at each other and I couldn't help but drop my gaze to her lips when she started, "Question."

" Tev ?"

"Can I make you dinner tonight?"

I was already shaking my head, my gut pulling because I wanted to feed her .

"I like cooking," she told me quickly. "And I only ever cook for myself so it'll be nice to cook for someone else too for a change."

I blinked, hesitating.

"Please?" she whispered, her lips curving into that damn smile that practically had me melting at her feet. "I'll make it good."

I nearly groaned at the way her words sounded. A rough sound did make it up my throat.

" Tev , very well," I finally rasped. Standing, before I dragged her out of the chair and pinned her up against the wall of my domed dwelling, I suggested, "Why don't you go bathe and I'll clean up out here. I have to secure some machinery before the storm hits."

Her grin was triumphant, her excitement palpable. She wanted to cook for me. Wanted to feed me. For the first time, I felt a little ray of hope spear through my chest, wondering if perhaps she was growing attached to me too. Wondering if perhaps she did feel the pull between us.

Then she did something I didn't expect. She went up on her tiptoes, curving her hand around my shoulder to tug me down.

She pressed a kiss, soft and sweet, to my cheek, though dangerously close to my lips.

When she pulled back, her eyes caught on mine. She smiled, shy but knowing.

"I had fun today," she told me.

I rubbed at my chest when my heart did a strange little flip.

"Even if you took my job half the time," she tsked , turning on her heel.

She grinned at me over her shoulder before she walked down the pathway, heading towards the front door and her bath. And I watched her go, nearly slack-jawed and drooling, my gaze glued to her backside, memorizing the way her hips swayed, feeling the heated memory of her lips on my cheek. I caught a whiff of her arousal in the humid air.

My cock gave a pulse.

Vrax .