Page 19 of Taken to Voraxia
He pauses mid-step, ridges on his brow bone pulsing with color, white this time. “You will repeat this word,” he says, and the white gets brighter, streaked through with a brilliant lavender.
“I said okay.”
He frowns, and I jump when the color vanishes. He resumes his pacing and as he walks, his tail flicks so quickly through the air, it sounds like a lash against leather.So much control.
He stops abruptly, his nostrils flare and when he glances at my bare, hairless womanhood, I flush and bend my knees towards one another.
“You say your agreement and yet you still hide yourself from me,” he rumbles.
“I agree,” I say shakily, “but with a few conditions.”
He stops pacing then and comes to the edge of the bed, his shins brushing its low edge. With his arms crossed over his chest and his cock jutting out, I can suddenly hear the renewed rumble of his chest. His shoulders have released slightly away from his ears and if I didn’t know any better I’d say he was…relieved.
“You will define your terms.”
Terms. Terms? “I…I want to see my friends. I want to make sure that they’re alright and if they’re not alright, I want you to help them.”
“Fine,” he says much too quickly. “You will tell me if these are the extent of your terms.”
What else? I hardly thought he’d give me that, given that he’s been referring to them exclusively astraitorssince we boarded the ship.
“I want you take Kiki and Svera back to the colony and I want you to apologize to Svera for what you did to her arm.”
“Nox,” he says and he doens’t say more.
“What? These are my terms.”
“You will outline new terms.” His jaw ticks. “The ones with the slave namesKikiandSveraare criminals. They kidnapped my Rakukanna…”
“Ikidnapped myself! They had nothing to do with it…”
“They helped keep you from me and for that they will need to be punished.”
“No! No. No deal. I will fight you to the end if you hurt either of them.” I bang my fist on the mattress. Raku looks at it, then at my face, his ridges flat and colorless.
Finally, he seems to arrive at a decision. His tail flicks and I feel my own tail twitch in response. He glances at it and licks his lips and I freeze as another surge of heat pushes at my lower lips, making it impossible to clench my thighs fully together. I hold my legs open a little more and a gush of air punches out of Raku at the same time that cream drips through my folds.
Raku growls, eyes flashing between my pussy and my face. “They will not be harmed. But they will be brought back to Voraxia where they will receive a punishment befitting their crimes. I can assure you that neither of them will sustain injury or humiliation through this process.”
There’s something he isn’t saying, that I know I need to be wary of, but right now my heart is pounding and I’m not sure I’m going to get a better deal than this one.No injury through the process. No humiliation. How can that be manipulated?
“Alright,” I say shakily, “So long as they aren’t harmed.”
“They will not be. Voraxians do not hurt females.” My jaw drops, prepared to counter, but before I can speak he says, “I would also offer another exchange. You will never try to run from me again. You will accept your place at my side as my Xiveri mate. You will accept your role as Rakukanna to the Voraxian people and when our coupling produces an heir, you will raise our kit in Voraxia.”
What. the. comets.My jaw works. “I…I won’t be able to come home?”
His ridges pulse, flaring a dangerous red. “Your home is by my side. You do not have to like me, or this. But youwillproduce my heir and you will do it willingly and in exchange I will not only extend the pact I made with your Council to provide your colony with supplies each rotation, but I will rebuild your slipshod settlement.
“If I am satisfied with our mating, I will also uphold the offer that any humans partaking in the Hunt be transported back to Voraxia with their breeders, with theirconsent. And they may choose to return to your moon at any subsequent Hunt, freely. Babes born of these couplings will remain with the mothers, regardless of where those mothers choose to live.”
My head spins. It’s a lot to take in and yet strangely the first thing that comes to mind is —he made a pact with Mathilda?That would explain the new houses the Antikythera Council built for themselves, but it doesn’t explain why our rations were just as low as previous rotations. Unless he’s lying.Or Mathilda was…
“You will tell me now if you consent to these terms.” He is tense. He needs this.
Maybe I do to, because I’m damn sure that the colony does. More than the food, more than the equipment, they need hope. Off-planet offers that. Knowing that they can choose their fates offers that.
I nod. “On one condition.”
