Page 12 of Xara and the Xenobeast

The male’s eyes gleamed in the firelight, but he remained silent.

“No, I didn’t think so.” She yawned. “I don’t even know if Earth still exists from here. Or how long I’ve been gone.”

The thought brought a wave of grief. Her students, her colleagues—did they think she was dead? Had they given up searching?

One of the pups squeaked softly, nuzzling against her hand as if sensing her distress.

“It’s okay,” she murmured, stroking its back. “We’ll figure something out.”

Her gaze drifted back to her rescuer. He hadn’t moved, still cradling the smallest pup in his lap. Dot was fast asleep, the softest of purrs emanating from its little body. The contrast was striking—those lethal claws, capable of tearing apart a predator,now delicately supporting a creature that could fit in the palm of her hand.

Her eyelids grew heavier. She fought to keep them open, unwilling to make herself vulnerable by sleeping, but exhaustion was winning. The last thing she saw before sleep claimed her was the alien male, still sitting motionless across the cave. His silver eyes reflected the dying firelight, watching over her as darkness fell.

CHAPTER EIGHT

The Xenobeast remained motionless, one pup still curled in his lap as the female slept across the cave. His body was perfectly still, but his mind raced with unfamiliar impulses. The firelight cast soft shadows across her face, highlighting the curve of her cheek, the gentle rise and fall of her chest, the curve of her hips and legs, golden in the firelight.

He had never seen anything so beautiful.

His gaze dropped to the pups snuggled against her breasts, and a deep purr vibrated in his throat. Her care for them—the way she’d defended them, even though it had resulted in her injury—had triggered some type of primal response in him. Her scent carried the complex chemical signatures of a predator-prey species but he had no desire to hunt her, only to protect her.

And she wasn’t afraid of him.

That fact alone disturbed the careful isolation he’d maintained for years. Fear was a weapon he wielded like his claws—a necessary barrier between himself and everything else on thisdeath-world. Yet this small, soft creature had looked at him without terror in her eyes.

His sensory tendrils coiled restlessly. They wanted to reach across the cave, to brush against her skin again, to absorb more of her scent. He forced them back with practiced discipline, but the effort cost him.

The sleeping Graxlin pup in his lap shifted, its tiny claws flexing against his thigh. Its bioluminescent markings pulsed with contentment. The creature should have been terrified of him as well—everything was terrified of him. That was how he’d survived. How he’d kept others safe from what he was.

A low growl built in his chest. He wasn’t supposed to protect. He was built to hunt. To kill. To destroy.

Yet when he’d attacked that predator he’d simply acted on pure, protective instinct.

Dawn light began filtering through the cave entrance. Xara murmured something in her sleep, her brow furrowing. One of the pups nestled closer, its tiny body vibrating with comfort.

He needed to hunt. Needed space to clear his head.

He carefully lifted the sleeping pup from his lap and placed it on the bed. The creature squeaked in protest, its tiny paws reaching for him. He stared at it, perplexed by its reaction. Nothing reached for him. Nothing sought his touch.

Xara was still slumped against the wall and after a brief hesitation, he reached down and picked her up, cradling her gently against his chest. He froze, his heart pounding, waiting for her to wake and protest.

Instead, she sighed softly and nestled against him, her soft curves melting against his chest. His senses were flooded with her scent, her warmth. A strange, possessive satisfaction surged through him, and his tendrils coiled around her, their touch almost possessive.

The remaining Graxlin pups awoke and scurried after him as he strode towards the bed. With great care, he deposited her there. Her eyes blinked open and she gazed up at him, her hazel eyes sleepy and content. One of his sensory tendrils reached towards her, gently stroking her cheek, and she made a soft, contented sound before her eyes closed again. The smallest pup immediately nestled against her stomach and he tucked the other two next to it before covering them with one of his furs.

With silent footsteps, he moved toward the cave entrance, pausing only once to look back at the sleeping forms huddled together on his bed. Something primal and possessive flared in his chest at the sight.

Mine to protect.

He snarled at the thought and plunged into the jungle.

The crimson foliage parted silently before him as he moved through the predawn shadows. This was his territory—every tree, every hollow, every hunting ground. He knew where prey gathered at this hour, knew which predators to avoid and which to confront.

Yet today, his usual hunt-focus eluded him. His thoughts kept circling back to the cave. To her.

She didn’t belong here. No soft creature could survive this place. The planet had been quarantined for good reason—it consumedthe weak. Stripped away pretense. Left only the brutal truth of survival.

He climbed silently up into the canopy, his claws finding purchase in the rough bark. From this height, he could see the faint glow of the Tal’shai village in the distance. They were the only other sentient species that had adapted to survive here. They appeared harmless enough but they were fiercely territorial and quite capable of defending their territory. They preferred to avoid confrontation but if she had accidentally stumbled into their territory...

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