Page 17 of Venomous Lust
“This is going to be the joy of your days for as long as you’re living aboard the Myrador,” Zaxis answered with a wry grin. “You’ll be sick of it after the first bite.”
“I know what these are.” She smiled, but she knew it didn’t quite reach her eyes as Zaxis’s grin faded. “This is what we all used to eat. Before the Eoks came, I mean. Three times a day, like clockwork. Knut liked his property well fed.”
Zaxis’s mouth reduced to a thin line and he sat in front of her, ripping the top off a plastic pouch and taking a long sip as she shoved a spoonful in her mouth. He grimaced and winced as he swallowed.
“Well, then it’s no wonder you humans managed to survive all you did.” Zaxis took another sip, his aristocratic face twisting with dislike as he swallowed. “Any species who can eat this stuff three times a day and find the strength to live to fight another day deserves freedom in my book!”
Hazel chuckled, a bit of the dark cloud lifting from her mind. It was so easy to talk to him, to let Zaxis alleviate all that dank helplessness that had surrounded her life.
As she took another large spoonful of the foul, thick semi-liquid, Hazel looked at him, really looked. Zaxis was attractive, there was no doubt about that. His fine-featured face didn’t lack beauty, in fact, maybe it had too much of it. It was too symmetrical, too harmonious, too perfect. His blazing purple eyes were set on her, vertical pupils slashing the amethyst like lightning bolts. Black, shiny hair fell in waterfalls of smooth silk on either side of his pointed ears. His skin had a texture so fine it was almost like polished stone—a supple, warm, polished stone that begged to be touched.
Only Hazel didn’t feel the desire to touch Zaxis. She didn’t want to touch soft, flawless skin covering fine, elegant bones.
The skin she wanted to touch was rough, marked with thousands of scars, covering heavy muscles and bones large enough to break her own like twigs. The lips she wanted to kiss were hard and full, rough and demanding. Crushing.
This is ridiculous. I shouldn’t even be thinking about it.
But she was. Because no matter how she looked at things, she was sure Khal had been about to kiss her. And that she had been about to let him. To kiss him back like she had never kissed anyone before.
But he hadn’t. And she was glad he hadn’t.
Really? Am I glad he didn’t?
Never before had she felt such all-consuming lust as in the few seconds when the Eok had put his hands on her. When his hard, full lips hovered just above hers, those blue eyes staring at her like he could see all the way to her soul.
In those few seconds, she would have given him anything he wanted and then some.
Just thinking about it made her throat squeeze and she had to force the thick nourishing liquid down. She had to forget about this and focus on her real goal.
She wasn’t going back to Aveyn.
But if she knew where she didn’t want to go, she didn’t know one important thing. One thing important above all others.
What if Sally wants nothing to do with me?
Pain shot through Hazel at the thought of Sally’s rejection. About what Sally had said, that last time they had been together, when Knut’s Ilarian guards had torn her from Hazel, crying and screaming. Begging Hazel to help her.
No. I can’t think that. Getting back to her is all that matters. The rest will come later.
As Hazel forced herself to come back to the present, reality brought her attention back to the male sitting in front of her.
Now that she could eat and wasn’t locked in a cell anymore, Hazel had time to think. And she couldn’t think of any good reason why an Eok commander and an Avonie male would meet in the middle of space in a technological wonder of stealth like the Myrador. She had imagined a few reasons. And a few more. And as the reasons came to her mind, they became darker and darker until she knew she had to know.
Her survival depended on it.
“What is this mission you’re on? I can only assume it’s dangerous, and a secret.”
Hazel stared into Zaxis purple eyes, watching his most minute reactions carefully. His polished face didn’t betray anything, but his pupils slashed thinner in the amethyst sea of his eyes. Hazel didn’t know much, but she knew this meant she’d put her finger on something sensitive. Something worth digging for.
“Don’t overthink it.” Zaxis chuckled lightly but his eyes remained sharp, his look alert. “We’re just on a trading mission.”
“Trading mission, my ass.” Hazel bent over her bowl, bracing her elbows on the table. The memory of another set of purple eyes, cold and twisted, full of sickness, came to her mind. Hazel swallowed as the monster who had ruled over her entire life rushed to her from the dark recesses of her thoughts. “Something is up. I’ve never seen an Eok and an Avonie working together before.”
She watched as Zaxis’ eyes grew wider and he almost choked on his ration pouch. He recovered quickly, placing it gently down on the table before staring straight at her, all traces of subterfuge gone.
“Let this go, Hazel.” His voice was suddenly cold, his tone cutting, and she saw the male he truly was under all that exterior beauty. An intelligent, dangerous male, one she didn’t want to have as an enemy.
“I’d let it go if I wasn’t trapped here with you,” she answered in an even, soft voice. “I need to know what’s ahead of us. I need to know what I’m facing.”
