your fancy friends and try to sell me for sex, I’m out of there.”
Dexx stiffened and opened his mouth to reply, but I squeezed his arm. “It will take time,” I told him.
He nodded. “I know.”
“What about the other street kids,” Vihn practically bellowed. He sounded angry, but I knew he was simply afraid. “There are still a bunch of them out there. What about them?”
“I’m working on it,” Dexx told him, and there was nothing but truth in his voice.
“You could’ve done something a long time ago,” Vihn muttered.
“Vihn,” I said, gently. “He is doing something now.”
Vihn crossed his arms and looked away. “What about my mo? She dead?”
Dexx softened. “She tried to kill Kreia, kid. She’s not dead, but she is going to prison.”
I was glad he didn’t say prison planet. Vihn didn’t ask anything else, but before he turned away from us, I saw his eyes water. I tugged Dexx’s hand and we left the kid to his thoughts. He’d have time to accustom himself to his new life, and I’d visit every day until they released him to us. He would be all right.
But it would take time.
“Now,” Dexx told me, leading me around the various people walking the busy halls, “I have something to show you. Something to give you.”
“Oh,” I said, as excited as a child about to get a present. “What is it?”
“A surprise. I want to make you happy, Kreia.”
I laced my fingers through his, taking note of the females who slid their admiring and heated stares over his body when we passed them. I couldn’t blame them. “You make me happy every moment of every day,” I told him, then added, “but surprises certainly don’t hurt.”
His chuckle was low and silky and made my stomach tighten. My gaze snagged on his sexy, masculine lips, the heat in his eyes, and the way his dark hair fell across his shoulder, and I forgot what we were talking about until he spoke again.
“You will love this one,” he promised.
He’d showered me with presents since we’d returned to the city, perhaps hoping to make up for the fact that I was living at Eastmeadow. He knew I didn’t really want to be there. I didn’t feel like I belonged there and I didn’t fit in. Not that I wanted to live in Corsov, either. I shuddered just thinking about it.
After we left the medical center he turned suddenly and lifted me into his arms. I wound my arms around his neck and inhaled his crisp, familiar scent, almost unable to come to terms with the absolute joy in my heart. Part of me was afraid it would all go away. That he would go away.
Vihn wasn’t the only one who needed a little time to get used to things.
Finally, he lowered me to the ground and led me toward the waiting vehicle. The driver stood outside the car, and after he’d handed me in, Dexx murmured something to him that I didn’t hear.
And when he climbed in after me, his eyes were sparkling.
“I can’t wait,” I declared. “I can’t wait another moment. What is it?”
But he refused to say, and he took my mind off my impatience quite nicely by pulling me across his lap and kissing me until the car stopped.
“We’re here,” Dexx told me.
I sat up, dazed, my lips swollen, my top gaping open, throbbing between my legs so hard that I was sure he could feel it. “What?”
He grinned and began buttoning my shirt back up. “Your present.”
“You’re such a tease,” I complained, but as soon as I was presentable and he pushed open the door, I practically fell out of the car in my hurry to see the surprise.
The driver had taken us out of the city and had parked alongside the quiet, empty road. Dexx took my arm and led me into the woods and as we walked, I began to feel the peace I’d felt when I’d first entered Corsov. Apparently I was a child of nature.
He stopped walking, at last, then leaned against a tree and watched me as I inhaled deeply, pulling in the scents and peace of the woods.
“It soothes my soul,” I told him. “I can actually feel the tension melting away.” I went to stand beside him, my gaze flitting from the slightly barren trees to the colorful, dry leaves carpeting the ground, to the occasional small creature that scurried away, likely in search of dinner.
“I bought it,” he said, snaking his arm around my waist.
“What?”
“I bought this land. For you. For us. I’m going to have a house built for you here. Any kind of house you want.”
I wrinkled my nose, still not understanding. “Like a…a real house? I’ll live here?”
“We will live here.”
“You would leave Eastmeadow?”
“Yes.”
I tried to see any hint of sadness in his eyes, any indication that he was doing this out of guilt or that he was reluctant to leave his home, but I saw none. “What will you do with Eastmeadow?”
He shrugged and smiled lazily. “What do you think?”
I put my hand on my chest. “You’re going to run a home for struggling street kids.”
“No.” He caressed my cheek, his stare tender. “You are. I thought you might name it after your brother.”
I couldn’t breathe. I burst into noisy sobs, finally, my heart exploding with every imaginable emotion. Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined I would be given such a life. It was something I would never take for granted.
Sometimes I felt like I was still a little street thief—and still a great one—and I’d stolen this golden happiness. I was afraid the theft would be discovered, the joy would be snatched away, and I would be punished for having dared to take it.
But that uneasy fear wasn’t enough to dim the joy in my heart. Not for long.
So I danced through the woods—my woods—with the love of my life, making plans, chattering nonstop until he held me up against a tree and fucked me, and I knew that every day for the rest of my forever would be just this perfect.
~*~
If you enjoyed Kreia and Dexx’s story, would you leave me a review? <3
—Get Alien Mate, book 3 in the Alien Mates of Xaensskar series.
Read on for the blurb for Alien Mate…
Blurb for Alien Mate, book 3 in the Fated Mates of Xaensskar series:
Blurb, book 3--Alien Mate
ZYVA AND ISCER
----
Fate decided long ago that Iscer and Zyva belong together.
Good thing Fate loves a challenge, because the cold mercenary and the woman who hates him may be her biggest challenge yet...
After she attacks her tentacled Aktovi owner, kills his wife, and escapes the city of Agroeos, Zyva Tanza knows her time on Xaensskar is coming to an end when she's quickly and violently captured. Treated and held in a hospital in the city of Brighmin, all she can do is wait for a fate that will, for her, be worse than death.
But Fate has something else in store for Zyva.
She's aided by a kind Drimuti female who tells her about a place called Corsov, and Zyva runs once again--only this time, she has a place to run to.
But the cruel man who'd enslaved her is not about to give her up, and he knows one sure way to get her back.
He hires XCRU.
♥♥♥
Iscer is a mercenary of the group XCRU, and when he's hired to do a job, he does the job--no matter what. He doesn't let his feelings interfere. Ever. Some might say he has no feelings. And he might agree with that.
When he goes after a fugitive who escaped the law—twice—he doesn't care that she's female, or that she's a slave, or that the man she tried to kill believed it was his right to hurt her. That's not his concern. He enjoys the chase, true enough, but in the end, completing the job he accepted is all that matters.
She leads him on a wild chase, gaining his respect--and maybe a little something more--along the way.
Still, he'll capture her, return her to her master, and never think of her again.
Sure he will.
-
Want to read Zyva and Iscer’s story? You can get it here!
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About Jude Gray
Jude Gray is the author of steamy, romantic fantasy and enjoys nothing more than losing herself in exotic new worlds, dreaming up fascinating characters, and penning satisfying happily ever afters where love always wins.
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Jude’s Books
Series by Jude Gray:
SAVAGE WARRIORS
RENEGADE CYBORGS
WARRIOR CLANS OF MAEKON
FATED MATES OF XAENSSKAR
The Savage Warriors boxsets are also available:
Savage Warriors boxset volume 1—books 1-3
Savage Warriors boxset volume 2—books 4-6