Damn Zunix.
I pull him closer. This time, when I kiss him, it isn’t fleeting. My lips linger, and my fingers grasp at the short strands of his hair. And then his control snaps, and he kisses me back, his lips warm against mine. His fingers twine in my hair and my body melts into his.
Here’s a report for the CIA: The aliens are freaking good kissers.
My nostrils fill with the fresh, pine, male scent of his body, and a tremor runs through me. I moan against him, and part my lips, and his tongue slides in, hot and insistent. When Herrix tried to kiss me today, I’d flinched away from him, but I can’t get enough of Zunix. Waves of desire wash over me, and I cling to him, eager for more. My insides twist with need, and I want to suggest we move this impromptu make-out session to his house, where we’ll have more privacy.
Liorax clears his throat, snapping me back to reality. “The detsena,” he says tonelessly. I search his face, wondering what he thinks of me kissing Zunix, but his expression is unreadable. “You must get back before the sun sets.”
Zunix’s eyes slide to Liorax, then back to me. “Or you can come to my house,” he offers quietly. “No more games, Olivia. Tell me what you want.”
But common sense is slowly returning, and I know it would be a bad idea. I’m not capable of sleeping with these guys without my feelings getting involved. They don’t trust me. I really don’t know whether I trust them. This situation is guaranteed to get very messy.
I cling to my rapidly eroding ditz-persona as if my life depends on it, and give Zunix a winsome look through my eyelashes. “My new clothes are so pretty,” I breathe. “I’m really grateful.” Some of my anger from yesterday comes back, and I can’t resist adding, “I didn’t know you had a synthesizer. That’s useful.”
“As is a skimmer. Dariux promised to look for your luggage, Olivia.” Zunix’s lips curl into a mocking smile. “You were concerned about it, weren’t you? Not the four missing human women?”
He’s waiting for me to put my cards on the table, but I’m not ready to do that. Not yet. So I mutter something silly about my clothes and my makeup and make my escape back to Dariux’s treehouse.
I’m really, really aroused right now, and the treehouse is going to be crowded with people, so I can’t even take care of myself.
Damn it.
12
Liorax:
I escort Olivia back to Dariux’s home, my thoughts in turmoil.
When Zunix had kissed her, my stomach had clenched into a knot. I’d wanted to join in, to wind my own hands through her long tresses of red hair, and feel her soft lips on mine.
The silence stretches between us, lengthening and growing until she clears her throat. “Liorax,” she says, sounding hesitant and unlike herself. “Herrix told me about what happened with your bondmate. I’m sorry.”
“I don’t want your pity.”
She gives me a surprised look. “You think I pity you?” Her lips curl into a smile. “Liorax, look at you. You’re totally hot. You’re a super-nice guy. I don’t know what your bondmate’s deal was, but whatever it is, it was her issue, not yours.”
“You think I’m hot?”
Her cheeks fill with color. “I’m not the only one,” she murmurs.
I’d promised Zunix I would fight for Olivia. Today, I’d spent most of the day bitterly reproaching myself for getting so caught up in the past that I’d failed to warn her about Herrix.
Kat’vi left me for my father, and I’ve let the wound fester for sixty-six long years. Maybe it’s time to turn the page on the past and focus on the future. One with Olivia as our mate.
“It’s our turn to court you tomorrow. Zunix and I should help the others with construction in the morning for a few hours, but is there something you’d like to do afterward?”
“Maybe I could practice a bit more with the bow?”
I chuckle. “Well, that depends. Are you going to pretend you can’t shoot straight?”
Her blush deepens. “I’m not very good,” she says, pitching her voice so it’s low and breathy. My cock stirs at the thought of her moaning my name in that same voice, needy and desperate for the pleasure that I can give her.
Focus, Liorax.
“Aren’t you?” I smile at her. “Olivia, I was three when I held a bow in my hand for the first time. I can tell skill when I see it. You can pretend you don’t know what you’re doing, but it won’t work on me.”
“No.” Her voice is rueful. “It didn’t yesterday either, did it?”
“Only for an instant.”
She smiles back at me, a genuine smile this time, one without artifice. “I’d love it if you taught me how to shoot tomorrow. And I promise I’ll behave. If I don’t,” she adds with a wink, “you can punish me.”
She says ‘punish’ but her tone suggests something entirely different, and I know that once again, she’ll be in my dreams all night long.
Olivia:
The next morning, I accompany the other women to the building site. Most of the camp is there, hard at work. The only people who are missing are my two other suitors. Herrix and Belfox. If I had to guess, I’d say that they’re in a snit because this project is Liorax and Zunix’s baby.
Though the Draekons protest, we pitch in. Even Felicity, who, in all fairness, hasn’t said anything catty in the last twenty-four hours. A new record.
As I work, I ogle Liorax and Zunix out of the corner of my eye. The men are hard at work building a section of the outer wall. Their muscles flex as they lift planks of wood, and a thin sheen of sweat soon coats their naked chests. The guys I’ve been with in the past have been quintessential metrosexual types, the kind that wear flannel as an ironic fashion statement and call a handyman for anything more complicated than hanging a picture on the wall.
Dariux is expected back today. I cross my fingers as I knot the ropes in front of me into thick braids for a rope ladder. Rezzix, who is one of Paige’s guys, shows me how to do it, and watches to make sure I know what I’m doing before he nods approvingly and moves away.
I really, really hope Dariux finds the others. I can’t forget the sight of Janet’s body. My agency training is cold comfort at a time like this, because I can calculate the odds of them surviving in the jungle, alone and unaided, for three days, and it isn’t high.
With everyone working together, the structure goes up fast. The sun is high in the sky when Liorax signals for a stop. “We’ve done well,” he says, his voice clear and strong. “I’m really pleased with our progress. We’ll have the roof up tomorrow, and then, we can build the interior walls. Thank you all for your help and cooperation.”
He’s good at this, I realize. Balls mutters something to Nuts, his face sour, and Felicity’s two mates don’t appear thrilled to get their hands dirty, but everyone else looks pleased to be complimented. “Let’s stop for the day,” he continues. “Thank you again.”
“Nice speech,” I say when he comes up to me.
He smiles wryly. “As the Firstborn of Laris, I had to learn a painful amount of protocol,” he says. “This is the most useful thing I’ve done with it. Ready for your archery lesson?”
“Slave driver,” I accuse him. “I’ve been working all morning. I want a dip in the lake first.”
Zunix finishes up his conversation with one of the Draekons and approaches us. “That sounds like a good idea,” he says. “Do you want to take the boat out? I noticed you looking at it.”
He’s scarily observant. “I used to row back home.” I’m slowly getting used to the translator, to the split-second delay between the guys saying something in Zor, and the translator speaking the English version in my ear, but it strikes me that I should learn how to speak their language as a back-up. I don’t want to become too dependent on a piece of technology that might fail. “Can your synthesizer make a copy of this?” I ask Zunix curiously, tapping my ear to indicate what I’m talking about.
He shakes his head. “It’s limited to basic household items,” he says. “And those that existed before we landed here, of course.”
So it’s not connected to the Zorahn version of the Internet. We’re offline. “But the High Empire knows we crashed here?”
“Oh yes.” His smile is grim. “They definitely know. It must be driving them insane. The perfect prison, and the precious human women on the wrong side of the bars.”
It’s rare to find Zunix in a talkative mood. Even though each passing day makes it more and more obvious that I’m never going back home, I’m still curious enough that I want to know as much as possible about the strange alien empire that made contact with Earth. “Why do the Zorahn want us?”
He fixes me with an amused look, and I realize that once again, I’m in danger of completely ruining my cover. “You know,” he says thoughtfully, “in our world, knowledge is power. Carefully guarded and protected.”
“You’re not going to tell me?” He doesn’t sound angry, and his eyes are twinkling. “No, wait. Let me guess. You want to barter.”