Page 5 of Rescued By the Luxirian

The Luxirian raised his brow.

“You were exiled!” I exclaimed, lifting my hands to keep them between. “Just…just stay there and…don’t come closer.”

Shit. I had no weapon, no way to protect myself. This was bad, bad, bad. Of course my last hurrah of a vacation before I decided to get pregnant would end this way. The cruise was a bust—and literally busted. All I could remember were the blaring of the sirens as I was lounging on the pool deck and then running for my goddamn life towards the escape pods with a crushing crowd of other people.

And now, I’d crashed onto an alien jungle planet and an exiled Luxirian had stumbled onto me. I had no clothes. But Ididhave a chalky ration bar and a bag of thickened water. Perfect.

What the hell was I going to do?

He can do whatever he wants with me, I realized, the thought sending a prick of panic rushing through my veins.

“I am not in exile, female,” came his gruff, rumbly voice. He sounded…offended. Like I’d insulted him. “Where did you get that idea?”

“Your hair!”

His hand came to the shorn locks. Luxirian males’ hair often ended at the middle of their broad backs or lower. Long hair was seen as an attractive trait, one that announced their strength and sexual prowess in their society. I’d never seen a Luxirian with short hair, as appealing as this male looked.

“I work all day,” he told me, his gaze narrowing, even as I got the distinct impression that he was holding himselfawayfrom me. “It gets in the way. This is easier.”

Was…was he telling the truth?

“Who are you?” I asked again, suspicion making my voice climb higher. “What is this place?”

A branch snapped somewhere in the jungle and I swung my head in alarm but didn’t see anything. Unconsciously, I took a step closer to the Luxirian, especially when I felt those creepy vines wiggle around my toes again.

“I am Droxan,” the male rasped. “And you just hurtled onto my planet, female, so perhaps I should be askingyouwho you are and whyyou’rehere.”

Droxan.

What did he mean byhisplanet?

Suddenly, a wave of dizziness washed over me. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off, I thought. I’d never feltsuch terror and fear as I’d felt today. Knowing that my life was in the hands of space—a merciless, terrible place—and the thin walls of a cheap escape pod from an even cheaper space cruise line.

“Female?” Droxan asked, his voice tinged in concern as he stepped closer. A warm hand clasped around my forearm and I jolted in surprise when I felt a flash of…familiarity. Like he’d touched me a million times. “Are you hurt?”

“No,” I croaked, deciding to give him the benefit of the doubt. I didn’t know why I believed him when he said he wasn’t in exile. But I liked to think that I could read people well. That I could judge their character well. “I’m not hurt.”

He jerked his head in a sharp nod.

I licked my lips, swallowing a thick lump in my throat. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry if I scared you. And I’m sorry for, um, fainting. It’s just been a shitty day. And I have no idea what to do.”

A purring sound rose from his chest and I blinked. It was something Luxirians did to calm their mates or their family members. I remembered it from the fact sheet about the sperm donor.

And…I felt my muscles loosening with that sound. Damn, it reallyworked. I had the strangest urge to press my face into his bare chest and smother myself with that purr. Heat was pouring off him and I shivered. It wasn’t too cold out but I was only in a damn bikini.

He wanted to know who I was and it would be rude if I didn’t answer.

“My name is Lyra,” I informed him. “I was on a galaxy cruise. Something went wrong this morning—an explosion. The hallways started filling with all this smoke. And then everyone was running for the life pods…and I got the faulty one. Something was wrong with my trajectory because my pod justkept going when we were shot from the ship. The other pods were clustering together, but not mine. And…now I’m here.”

I was so scared, I wanted to add, but I bit my tongue. I’d never been more scared in my life when I saw my pod drifting away from the others. Terror I never wanted to experience again.

Droxan’s face softened ever so slightly when I gazed up at him. Though, I had to crane my neck back to do even that. I barely came up to his pecs.

“What cruise line?” he asked.

I sniffled. “Starlight United.”

Evenhisbrow shot up in a look of cynical disbelief. “Starlight United? Fates, female. I’m surprised the ship made it out of its docking sequence.”

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