Page 20 of Taken to Voraxia
He grunts and I swear I detect faint notes of amusement. “Of course.”
“Can women who don’t want to take part in the Hunt, still maybe be considered to go off world?”
“Don’t want to partake in the Hunt? Am I to…” he chokes. “I will ask you a question now and you will answer it. Am I to understand that some females who have taken part in past Hunts have not been willing?”
I scoff. “No. None of them have.”
Bright white lights up his face again. His arms fall slack at his sides. Yellow rides on top of it, followed by grey and then nothing. “You will tell me now if the Hunt is a human tradition.”
Heat blisters me. I lean forward on the bed, feeling strangeld by an impotent sort of rage. I slam my fist again and he watches it dispassionately. “Of course it’s not a human tradition. Why do you think I fought so hard to get out of it? It’s degrading and sick.”
“I thought…” His voice falls away. For the first time since meeting him, he struggles to hold my gaze. Failing, he breaks it. “I had assumed you ran to avoid me, not the Hunt as a practice.”
“You? Why would I…” He thinks I hatehim. Not aliens as a whole, but just the one. My nipples harden and I cover them with one arm. Goosebumps break out all over me.
“No, I didn’t run from you. I didn’t want to do the Hunt.”
His gaze flicks back to mine and I heat from the inside. “It is a common practice between consenting males and females on some Voraxian federation planets like Cxrian and Nobu, but not on Voraxia itself, our principle planet and where my home is located. I did not want to partake in this Hunt either. I was doing it for you.”
He was doing it for me. But why would he… Our gazes still locked, a single word floats through the room and it comes from me. “Bo’Raku…”
Raku growls and his voice sounds like a curse when he speaks. “And he will be dealt with, but for now I can assure you that there will never be a Hunt again if it is not by the consent of your people.”
I take a breath, exhale it shallowly, daring…just daring to believe. “Then…I guess we have a deal.”
“You will tell me if you believe us to have a deal or if we truly do have one.”
The corner of my lips jerk. “Yes. We have a deal. I consent. I will be your…your Xiveri mate and you will stop the Hunt and help my people.”
“Xhivey.” He inhales so deep his chest expands to fill the whole room. At least, his presence does. He takes a step towards me and I blurt out, hoping to stall him as the reality of what I’ve just agreed to sets in. “But I…you never said if you’d apologize to Svera.”
“Nox, I did not and I will not.”
“You shouldn’t have hurt her like that.”
“It was inadvertent and I am Raku. I apologize to no one for anything, except to perhaps, you.”
My fingers crinkle in the mattress. “Fine. But there’s just one other thing…”
“You will tell me of this condition.”
“It’s not so much a condition, it’s just that…you said…you mentioned being satisfied. Thatifyou’re satisfied after the mating, then you’ll help my people, but I…I’ve nevermatedbefore. I don’t know how to satisfy a male…in that way.”
I can build a replica machine from an ancient hologram generator and a few household items — a toaster, a monitor, copper wires from a hair diffuser and a stolen, defunct ion grenade — but I couldn’t even fathom what I would need to do to generatesatisfactionin Raku. And now the fate of the colony depends on it.
The purring in his chest picks up in force, that subtle growl gaining in volume, before finally, he says, “Look into my eyes, little one.” His voice is gentle in a way I haven’t heard it before.
I hesitate, but do as he says. His face betrays a calmness that makes him look like another male altogether. Universes collide in his eyes. His lips are blue and full. I touch my own and the second I brush my bottom lip, his cock jerks.
He grabs it andstarsthe sight of him palming his own manhood in front of me is almost too much. I focus on his face, terrified to look anywhere else as he grips that hard, iron length firmly, like he’s wrangling it into submission.
“So long as I have your consent and your desire, Rakukanna,” he says, husky and deep, “there is nothing you can do to displease me. Nothing.”
I feel warmth grip me, and it’s a pleasant sort of sensation. The first like it I’ve ever felt. I roll forward onto my knees with a confidence that surprises me. It must surprise him too because his left foot shoots a hair backwards and he pivots, as if he’s preparing for a fight. For the male who just tore apart beasts bigger than our colony houses, I can’t help but smirk.
“Then it’s a deal.” I exhale, extending my hand.
He stares at my fingers, head tilted to the left. “Is this the human sign for a pact?”
