When he reached the pulley, he peered down into the opening, the dark, cool, quiet entrance below. Wind whistled and rushed up towards him. Jaxor gritted his teeth, hating the descent and the ascent in that tunnel, but it was necessary. He wanted to conserve as much fuel as possible in the hovercraft until he could source and create more.
He grabbed a long blade he kept sheathed near the entrance, attaching it to the slot at his hip. He had another weapon at the bottom, along with a storage chest with provisions just as a precaution, but he didn’t plan to be gone for long.
Unable to help himself, he looked back at Erin, who had stood, clutching the furs around her shoulders, watching him with a small frown, her brown hair long and loose, hitting just above her breasts.
Longing and need and rightness burst in him, momentarily stealing his breath. It was the same emotion he’d felt when he’d fought with Cruxan a couple nights before, when he’d realized that he’d been fighting against the other male to keep her, so that he wouldn’t take her from him, which the Ambassador had threatened to do.
Mine, his Instinct bellowed inside him.
And yet, Jaxor still considered the idea of giving her to the Mevirax. So that the Mevirax could trade her to…them.
He swallowed, fists tightening, growling the thought away and taking a deep breath in through his nostrils. A different kind of longing consumed him then. A longing that had been with him for ten rotations, buried deep in his soul like a blackened lust. It was that that he had to fear because he wasn’t certain what he would give up to feed it. Would he even give up her?
His voice was rough, almost violent, when he rasped, “The only other way off this mountain is through that tunnel.” He jerked his head towards the darkened space, the one they’d come down last night. “You can take your chances if you wish. But kekevir are vicious things when they smell blood.”
I am sick in the head, he thought, watching her eyes widen as they flickered to the entrance. For the first time, Jaxor felt sorry for the female the Fates had chosen for him.
“You’re leaving me here?” she asked, her voice rising in what he thought was worry. Or distress.
He didn’t answer her. He jumped into the hole, landing on the metal plate a few feet down—something he’d scavenged from a wreck he’d come across rotations ago. The pulley system had taken him almost three lunar cycles to complete, but it had been worth it. Cables ran down the entire length of the vertical tunnel, attached to the system embedded in the facev wall of his base. He could easily descend and then ascend with little energy spent.
“Jaxor,” she said, regaining his attention. “Please.”
Please. She was begging him? But for what? To not leave her? Or to let her go?
He could do neither.
And so he pulled on the metal cords, losing sight of her as he descended into the darkness.
Monster, he thought. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
He ignored those thoughts too.
Chapter Eight
Erin stood, frozen, watching the space that Jaxor had disappeared into. She listened to the gentle creaking of the cables as he descended until she could hear them no more.
Then her eyes flickered to the dark tunnel.
A part of her was in disbelief that he’d left her there. Alone. With those things such a short distance away. A part of her was hurt that he had, which was a ridiculous feeling in itself. Perhaps it was because she’d been jealous, hearing about the way her friends’ mates—Kate, Beks, Cecelia, Taylor, and newly Lainey—all doted on them, protected them, cherished them.
And there Jaxor was…threatening her, leaving her, glaring at her every moment he could, like he couldn’t get away from her fast enough.
Erin allowed the self-pity for only a handful of moments, wondering what it was about her that made others just not want to care.
First her father, then her mother…each leaving her in their own ways, letting her fend for herself in many ways.
She’d sworn to herself that the twins, Jake and Ellora, her half-siblings, would never know that feeling. Ever. She’d always fought for them, cared for them. They were her true family, the true loves of her life. And if she ever wanted to see them again, she had to get back to the Golden City. Away from the cold, surly male she’d