The Alien's Equal (Drixonian Warrior #7) - Ella Maven Page 0,10
she was forced to look at me.
Her eyes swam with unshed tears, but she kept her jaw clenched. “I will never be tired of you. You might not believe me, but I’ll prove it to you.”
She jerked out of my hold and turned her head, clearly avoiding my gaze. “It’s fine. I believe you. No need to prove anything.”
“I’ll enjoy every moment of showing you the proof.”
Her gaze slid to me and her eyes narrowed. “Why? We did each other a favor. Now, we’re even and—”
“You know why, Justine.”
“Nero,” she whispered, and closed her eyes right before I caught a wave of sadness in her brown eyes. “Please don’t.”
“I can’t fulfill that request,” I cupped the side of her head, and relished the tremble in her body. “Especially now that I know how you react to my touch.”
I expected her to pull away, to deny it, but she opened her eyes to gaze up at me with hope and desire beaming out of every pore. She exhaled a low, barely audible moan, and leaned into my touch, nuzzling my palm.
My cock jerked and my mouth filled with saliva as I yearned for her. I leaned down, intending on sampling her lips when my door flew open with so much force it slammed against the wall.
We jerked apart, and I whirled to find Xavy strolling through my doorway like he owned the place. “Hey, where’ve you been all morning?”
I was going to slam my fist right into his face. I imagined his nose bleeding as he crumpled to the floor for interrupting my time with Justine. I turned to apologize to her only to find her no longer in front of me. When I whirled toward the door, I caught the ends of her hair just as she fled my hut.
Xavy was at my table, shoveling the rest of my eggs in his mouth. “These are good, right? Tab made ‘em.”
I answered him with a growl.
Three
Justine
Thank God for Xavy and his aversion to knocking. I skated out of Nero’s hut by the skin of my teeth. At least, that was what I told myself when my body screamed at me to run back to Nero. Even now, his husky voice whispered in my ear, You know why, Justine.
I raced back to my room, keeping my head down and hoping I avoided detection from any of the busy bodies around here. Intending to stew alone, I’d just slammed the door shut behind me when it opened, and Tabitha breezed through. “Where did you run off to after breakfast?”
Speaking of busy bodies… This was the problem about living behind walls. There was no privacy. The women gossiped like hens and the men weren’t much better. And everyone was always in each other’s business.
On Tabitha’s heels was Hap, because if those two weren’t with their mates, they were with each other. I glared at my friends. “Hap, don’t you have something to do? And Tab, don’t you have more eggs to ruin?”
“They were terrible, weren’t they?” Tab wrinkled her nose. “Xavy told you all to eat them anyway, didn’t he?”
“He promised bloody retribution if we hurt your feelings.”
She clasped her hands to her chest. “That’s so romantic.” She flopped down onto my bed with a dreamy sigh.
I rolled my eyes at Hap who only laughed and joined Tabitha on the bed. Gesturing at them making themselves comfortable in my space, I huffed, “Is there a reason you two are here?”
“I saw you go into Hap and Shep’s hut last night, but he—” Tab pointed at Hap with a pout, “—won’t tell me why you were there.”
Nothing was secret in this damn place. “And I won’t tell you either.”
“Come on! Tell me,” she drew out the last word as she kicked her feet. “I’m bored. Xavy is always in meetings. I need some excitement and drama in my life.”
I fussed with a plant I’d hung near my window. “Make up a story.”
“I did, but real life can be stranger than fiction.” She batted her eyelashes at me and propped her chin in her hand. “So? Out with it. Does it have anything to do with you sneaking into Nero’s hut after breakfast?”
I spun to face her. “Are you spying on me?”
“No, but Rokas saw you and he told Val, who told Frankie, who told me.”
This place was worse than small town America. “That’s a ridiculously fast grapevine. I just left his hut, and I was there for ten minutes, tops.”