“Suits are required on the pool deck for the cruise. Regardless of your race’s, uh, customs,” she told me. Speaking of pool decks again. “I don’t usually dress like this, you know.”

So other males saw her like this? I wondered, my Instinct not likingthatone bit.

Other males covetedmymate? Other males lusted after her?

Because what male in their right mind wouldn’t?

This line of thought would only lead to disastrous consequences—especially when all I could think of was throwing her over my shoulder, rubbing my scent all over her body, marking her in my seed, andthenclaiming her with my cock.

Fates, why now? Whyvraxingnow did my Instinct awaken? When I was finallycontentand I’d found somevraxingpeace?

“Come,” I ordered again before I said something I’d regret. Like suggesting that we mate right there and then so that I could actuallythinkstraight. “I’ll show you to the washroom and then get you food.”

Tev. Food. That was what she wanted. She was hungry.

Relief prickled my chest. Food was a distraction to my desire because my Instinct demanded I take care of my mate. It demanded that I feed her, that I please her in all ways.

A reprieve.

For now, I couldn’t help but think.

A reprieve only for now.

I just prayed to the Fates that a Quadrant Patrol was nearby before I did something incredibly, incredibly foolish.

Like—oh, I don’t know—claim her as my mate forever.

Suddenly, I couldn’t get to the coms fast enough.

Chapter

Five

LYRA

Okay, so that was weird. Right?

I bit my lip. Underneath my lashes, I tracked the Luxirian male who wasdefinitelysporting a boner right now.

And suddenly, I was very, very glad that I’d decided on purchasing the bikini. I decided I needed a bit of a mood boost after the day I’d had. And turning on a sexy Luxirian male with pretty eyes? Mood boost of the century!

Then I sighed. Because when I walked forward to follow after him, I realized I was more than turned on myself. Slick between my thighs after that strange, brief, incredibly sexually charged moment that had seemed to come out of nowhere.

I’d never been so affected by a male before. I’d read about attraction like this, of course. But I’d never experienced it firsthand. In fact, I didn’t remember the last time I was this aroused. And by a perfect stranger at that.

It’s the shock, I decided. It had to be. After today, the fierce intensity of my arousal should be the least of my worries. No wonder my brain latched onto something else. He could be my distraction. My very sexy, mildly frightening, massive distraction.

Who cares that I nearly died today in a sketchy life pod after a cruise ship explosion?I thought sarcastically. At least I couldrockthis bikini.

The inside of his home was…surprising.

That was what I realized the moment I managed to tear my eyes off of Droxan’s backside.

I’d expected a messy—or perhaps even spartan—bachelor pad for the lone Luxirian male who’d bought a freakingplanet. The lone chair that faced a huge coms screen to stream all the best live feeds throughout the Quadrants, a cooler of brew at his side.Thatkind of bachelor pad.

But this…

The front door funneled us down a short hallway. At the end of it was the very center of the circular dwelling and it opened up into a surprisingly spacious sunken living room, complete with a glass fire pit surrounded by a plethora of cushions and padded seating. A purely Luxirian feature, I knew, knowledge from the hours I’d spent watching the Quadrants’ home design network, which featured spectacular homes from all over the universe.