Page 7 of Rescued By the Luxirian

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 colonytoday. 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 firestonesorLuxirian 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 thesafestof the neutral colonies—didn’t sit well with me. I’d have to wait with her there, regardless,andeat 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 wasjustabout 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.”

---