The Alien's Revenge - Ella Maven Page 0,10

That was the ultimate act of letting my guard down, and I wasn’t there yet with my warrior. I stifled a yawn.

The sunlight beamed down, making the golden marks on my wrists sparkle. I still couldn’t believe it. The Drixonians said Fatas chose our mates, and the bond began when a female’s blood was spilled. Which, in my case, had been when the Kulk punched me.

I tongued the raw skin on the inside of my cheek.

The bond locked into place when the warrior killed the one responsible for our injury. So, when this warrior of mine snapped the Kulk’s neck, that was it. We were mates, and now he lived in my head. Freaking great.

His aura pulsed with a steady determination, and I felt a stir of excitement from him just before he walked in the door, holding a large leaf cupped in his two palms. As he drew closer, I saw he had a mess of green mud inside. He knelt fluidly and began to lather the mud on my ankle.

I watched with interest as the mud dried quickly and seemed to form a kind of cast. When he was finished, he sat back on his haunches, decorated wrists braced on his knees, and watched me.

I didn’t want to squirm under his gaze, but it was intense. Finally, he reached behind him and flicked his fingers through a small, crude box. He pulled out a pouch made of a large leathered leaf and reached inside. With his thumb and index finger pinched together, he gathered a small bit of brown powder.

He tapped me under the chin and held his fingers toward my mouth. I jerked back, eyeing him. “Uh, I don’t know what that is, so I’m not putting it in my mouth. Never take candy from strangers is like Earth 101, man.”

His eyes narrowed and he gave me a small huff. With his other hand, he placed it on the side of his face and then tilted it with his eyes closed.

“That’s going to make me sleep?” God, I was tired. All I wanted to do was lay back on these furs and rest my eyes. But what if I fell asleep and he sold me somewhere or took me to some cannibals? Anything could happen on this damn planet.

He watched me for a minute, like he was trying to work out what I meant. He pointed to my leg too, then made the sleep gesture again. His aura was insistent.

“So, you’re staying it’ll help with the pain and let me sleep?” I tried to disguise the tremble in my voice, but I missed my girls. I was tired and scared. “That’s nice, but I don’t know I can trust you.”

He blinked slowly, and then his muscles went lax. Purple bled into his black irises and he leaned forward. After a slight hesitation, he picked up my arm and rubbed his thumb along the mark on the underside of my wrist. He stared at the marks there, and then he visibly swallowed before he stretched out his neck and placed my palm on his scarred throat.

I sucked in a breath at the movement. For the Drixonians, exposing their throat was the ultimate vulnerability. In their fighting stance, they crossed their arms in front of their necks, and unleashed their machets, which were the bone blades that rose like daggers from their forearms, head, and down their backs.

The fight I’d been so determined to hold on to fled. While he allowed me to touch his throat, his eyes were wary, his body trembled, and his aura shook. The wicked scar there felt rough under my skin, and I could barely believe he’d survived whatever had injured him. He was letting me touch him in the most vulnerable place, one where he’d been hurt before.

That was when I felt the soft vibration. While he made no sound out of his mouth, the Drixonian purr I’d heard the other males make to calm their mates was unmistakable. While he fought through his fears and instincts to let me touch him, he still sought to soothe me.

If he could do that, then I could take this powder to sleep. I wrapped my fingers around the wrist of his other hand and drew it toward my mouth. He kept his gaze locked on mine. I gave him a brief nod, “Okay.”

His lips twitched, but he didn’t smile.

I opened my mouth and he slipped his fingers inside before depositing the powder on the inside