AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He returned the smile, and I held his eye contact for as long as he would let me.“Willy-nilly.”
We stopped as the rush from the stream grew more insistent, barreling over larger rocks.The singing was still coming, louder now, but still somehow playing in the background of my awareness, as though part of a dream.“Don’t get too close.They’ll attempt to seduce you regardless of your gender or species.”
“Vitri, I’m hardly going to fu—”
He slapped a hand over my mouth, and I was too late to stifle my moan at the move.His pupils dilated, and he snarled before closing his eyes and taking a few deep breaths.When he opened his eyes, his pupils were back to normal, but his gaze was still drenched with desire.“I’m going to have to ask you not to say that word around me, Tori.”His voice was heavy with lust, and I trembled under his gaze and the dark intentions behind it, nodding and sucking in a breath when he pulled his hand away.
With a nod, we came out from behind the trees, and I gasped again.
Vitri was right—the asha were beautiful.
Like Vitri and myself, they were humanoid in appearance—two legs and two arms.The four women sat together in the middle of the stream, that beautiful music coming from their mouths which remained open but otherwise unmoving.Only the twitching muscles in their throat showed any evidence they were creating the music.The one closest eyes fell upon me, and I shuddered.Her eyes were pitch black but glittering as though the stars lived in her gaze.Their skin was greenish but almost pale gray as the light shifted around them when they moved, and as they sang, they ran their fingers through their silky black hair that hung down to their waists.They were naked except for a smattering of jewelry-like garments, strings that wrapped around their waists and upper arms laden with beads, feathers, and fur.
Their faces were sheer perfection of symmetrical beauty that was difficult to pull my gaze from.
Compatible or not, I can understand why the Moeks were drawn to them.
The singing stopped, and the one closest dragged her gaze lazily to Vitri.She purred out his name, and although it sounded strange and ethereal, it was definitely his name.Jealousy blossomed in my chest again, and I tried to remind myself that Vitri had communicated with as many species who landed on this planet as he could.Vitri shook his head at her, and when the asha’s gaze returned to me, I grabbed his hand defiantly, making sure she saw.She looked amused for a moment, then turned back to the other asha, and they began to talk to each other, no longer singing.As Vitri had predicted, they were no longer interested in us.
I stared at them for a moment longer.Despite my jealousy at her saying his name, I was still entranced by their beauty before Vitri tugged my hand and pulled me back the way we had come.
“She knew your name,” I said, once I thought—hoped—we were out of earshot of the asha.
“Many species do.I try to talk to as many as I can to protect them from the Ghaal.”He looked down at me, frowning.“You know all of this.”When I was unable to control my expression, he grinned, and I seethed as realization dawned on him.“You werejealous,”Vitri teased, poking my arm gently and chuckling.“Tori was jealous of another female talking to me.”I scowled at his teasing until his grin dropped, and his gaze fell to our intertwined fingers.“You were jealous over me…” he whispered.A shudder ran up his spine, and he pulled his hand from mine slowly and purposefully.
I wanted to defend myself, to say anything to bring back control when my feelings had been so blatantly on display.But all I could manage was his name before he interrupted me.“Vitri—”
“Come,” he said, his tone clipped and grin gone.“We’ll cover as much ground as we can before nightfall.”
Chapter Eighteen
TORI
Vitri’s mood deteriorated as the next couple of hours wore on.His limp hadn’t lasted long after he had stabbed himself in the leg, and while he must be a fast healer, I was glad he was no longer in pain.I gripped my spear at the memory.He told me I might need to be the one to hurt him, to stab at him and inflict pain as though he were the enemy on this planet.
Nothing Vitri had done had led me to believe I was in danger around him.He had even resisted me when I was apparently coming on to him under the influence of that stupid poison plant last night.But he had said things were different now—something had changed after we had fucked, and now he was struggling to keep control.I could see it in his eyes.Vitri watched me as we walked, rarely side by side, and most of the time he was behind me.Now and then I would turn to look at him, and his gaze would be hungry and predatory.Then he would see me watching and shake his head as if to shake his thoughts loose.But he never got rid of them.The dangerous look in his eyes only increased with every hour that passed.
We stopped for a short break, and when I sat to have a snack and a drink, Vitri took several more purposeful steps past me and sat several feet away with his back to me.
Tutting, I stood and came up behind him.As I lifted a hand to touch his shoulder, he whipped around, snatched my wrist, and stopped me before I touched his velvety skin.
“Vitri,” I started, unsure what exactly I was going to say.
“Don’t.”
Anger bubbled inside me, mingling with rejection.“We can’t keep going like this.Let me help you get this under control.”
“You can’t help.”Vitri shoved my hand away, and pain flared in his eyes at the motion at the same time as rage crossed mine.
“You don’t know that.You, yourself, said you’ve never had this reaction with someone else, which, by the way, I find hard to believe.How do you know you can’t be helped?”
The pain in his gaze was replaced with anger.“You don’t believe it’s onlyyouI can’t control myself around?”
“That’s not… Vitri, that’s not even what I’m talking about.I can help.”
He stood, and I took an immediate step back, all at once intimidated and caught off guard by his height and sheer size.I backtracked as quickly as he approached and closed the gap between us until my back hit a tree, and I yelped.Vitri’s hand trembled, twitching as though he wanted to touch me but thought better of it.“You thinkanyfemale would do this to me?”
I was tired of the allegations like this was somehow my fault.“I’mnot doing anything to you.You’re doing this to yourself.”
