Page 12 of Rescued By the Luxirian

“Vrax,” I growled under my breath.

“My thoughts exactly,” the human said.

Then I steeled my spine. I looked back at the screen and inclined my head, knowing there was no way around it.

“Very well,” I said. “I’ll wait until the Quadrant Patrol arrives for her.”

“Remember about the credit application,” the human supplied unhelpfully.

If only he knew how insulting it was, telling me to apply to be reimbursed for taking care of my own damnmate.

“I’ll alert her kin if she has any, to let them know she’s safe,” the human said, already distracted by something he spied on his other coms screen. “Thank you for calling Quadrant Patrol.”

I stiffened as the line went dark.

Kin.

For the first time, I wondered if shehada mate already. A male. How could she not?

I didn’t like the thought of that building in my gut. Thinking of another male’s hands onmyfated mate. Marking her withhisscent. Plantinghisseed deep in her belly. But what right did I have to her? She had her own life. I would’ve never known of her existence had Starlight United not been the biggest joke in the Quadrants’ history.

Standing from my coms, I navigated back out to the central hub. Coming to terms with the fact that she’d be here for the foreseeable future, all while knowing my Instinct would refuse to let her go when the time came.

Lyra was still washing so I went to the kitchen, rummaging through the cold box to find her the best cut of meat from my hunt and the tenderest, most flavorful vegetables I’d harvested from the garden.

The meat was already seared, drizzled in fat and seasoned withkashaflakes I’d dried myself, and the vegetables were roasted on the hydro-flame when she finally appeared.

I could hear her stomach growl again when I plated the food. Catching her gaze, my belly clenched with tight need when I saw her dressed in my tunic. White in color and soft, it was spun for hotter Luxirian summers and as such, it was thin, grazing her peaked nipples and curving lovingly along her full breasts. The length stopped just above her knees and she seemed less self-conscious in it compared to the ‘bikini,’as she’d called it.

Had I picked that particular tunic on purpose to give to her?

Perhaps.

Her cheeks were flushed from her shower. Her skin clean, her face practically glowing. Her hair was washed, completely dry already since she used the heat blast in the shower pod.

“It smellsamazing,” she exclaimed, throwing me a disarming smile that had my cock twitching again. She slid up to the counter and I set the plate down for her, watching her hop up onto one of the stools that swung out at my touch on the control panel.

“I figured humans must eat meat,” I murmured. “Considering our shared ancestry.”

She eyed me knowingly. Human females had once helped restore my own race after a deadly toxin from our enemies had nearly wiped out our entire female population. My great, great, great grandmother had been human, after all.

“I haven’t had it in a while. It’s hard to come by on Wero,” she admitted. “But I do love it.”

I grunted. “I hunted recently. This is fresh.”

She picked up her eating utensils and I leaned against the counter, watching as she sliced a delicate piece off and lifted it to her lips.

“You hunt too?” she asked.

Shrugging, I murmured, “There’s no food supply line here. No marketplace. If I want fresh meat, I have to get it myself.”

“All while building your own fortress,” she added with a smile that struck me as teasing. My Instinct went prowling in my chest again and I pressed my palm into the edge of the counterhard, the pain helping to dull some of my desire. “When do you find the time?”

I shrugged again.

She gave a little moan of delight when she finally ate the piece of meat and my cock nearly exploded out of my pants. My nostrils flared, my gaze pinned to her intently as I watched her tiny jaw work as she chewed.

“It’s so good!”

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