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CHAPTERTHREE
Mordox
Zoe.I roll her name around inside my mind, savoring the sound of it.
She still slumbers, her breathing steady and her body relaxed in a healing repose as the medical cuff does its job. The primal urge to protect her cascades through my veins like a surging river. My heart races at the thought of her in danger, triggering a fierce drive to keep her safe. It's more powerful than anything I have ever experienced.
I know of a Ziarian male's biological need to protect a mate, yet never knew the intensity of it until I found mine. I'd heard other mated males speak of the swell of emotions that follow when a mate is found, but I never imagined it would be like this.
Perched on the terrace outside my treetop hideaway, I slap my tail on the wooden floor with a thump to relieve the sharp tingles at the base of my spine. Just the mere thought of her sends my mating gland into a frenzy, thickening my cock to mark her as mine.
My desire to be sheathed within her, filling her with my scent, is an unrelenting ache. Even my horns are sore and throbbing with the need to uncurl and straighten, the points eager to shift to the back of my head in preparation for the sacred kiss all Ziarian males gift to their chosen mates.
All of that will have to wait until she's healed.
I peer up at the relentless sun stuck high in the sky, glad for the canopy of foliage that shields me from its harsh rays. The end of the cycle is near and it's time to rest, though darkness will never fall and the sun will never set. On this side of Zune, there is no reprieve from the light of the sun.
I drag in a deep breath. My scentiatry glands sort through the various scents of nature and the ones belonging to potential trouble like the creatures created in the lab. They remain far in the distance, lurking on the dark side of the moon.
The scents of Rooke and his female companion who sprung my trap fade too, as well as Drax's. The threesome now returning in the direction from where they came. Probably back to the lab the fool techy thinks is safe.
If he had seen the vile creatures that emerged from the bowels of that place and what I expect still remains, he would not be leading any females down there in the name of safety. They would be safer surrounded by the criminals at the prison compound.
Zoe longs for her friends, the other females that hovered protectively over her, despite the strength she holds within. It isn't right of me to withhold her from such a reunion, yet the ground is too dangerous a place for her. The lab just as much so.
Drax cannot be trusted to keep my lula safe when he puts his own female in danger. Zoe had called him a boyfriend, the human term translating into the equivalent of a mate. I wondered which of the human females he had claimed.
He's a fool to think, after the abominations created there, the lab could be viewed as a haven. I scoff aloud. And to think, his name is associated with the most brilliant minds on Ziaria.
There is nothing smart about herding a group of females into an underground facility of horrors.
Apparently, the notorious techy hadn't gotten a look at what he'd been hired to download off the General's mainframe, because if he had, he wouldn't have taken his female anywhere near that lab.
It's no coincidence Drax and I were brought here. It was the only way to ensure our silence. He had gotten too close to uncovering the truth, while I had overheard the atrocities they were planning firsthand. We knew too much, and the corrupt members of our government wanted nothing more than for us to disappear.
I turn my head toward the room where my lula rests, pulling greedily at the air. I can barely tease out her scent from the husti flower oil saturating the vines and branches making up the pods of my treetop hideaway.
Her sweet scent stirs my blood, tingling the gland at the base of my spine. I whip my tail through the air, trying to stave off the urge to run to her side and claim her for my own, and accidentally whack a tree branch with a painfulthunch.
Tris lets loose a surprised screech from where she's perched on the branch above.
"Sorry, Tris." I pluck a ripe trugger berry from a nearby branch and apologetically hold it out to her. She leaps from the branch, spreading her limbs wide to catch the air on the webbing in between, landing on her favorite spot on my shoulder. With greedy hands, she snatches the trugger berry from my fingertips and immediately starts to nibble.
I reach over to scratch behind her ear, and she purrs in delight. Tris has been my furry companion for the past fifteen rotations, keeping me company in my solitude. I can't help but smile at the sound of contentment that rumbles from her tiny, fuzzy body.
I'm grateful for her company for all this time and even more so that I have found my mate.
I catch another hint of my lula's scent breezing through the open door, feeling the anxious anticipation of finding a compatible female. She is not Ziarian, but I don't care. My Zoe is a rare and unique beauty. One that I will gladly protect with my life.
I yearn to mark her with my scent. Claim her so every male will know with who she belongs, but mating will have to wait until my female is healed. Until she is stronger. Until she accepts me as hers and opens her lush thighs to me in welcome.
I will have to be careful. She is so much smaller than me. My blood tingles as I imagine how tight she'll be when I finally sheathe my aching cock within her lush little body.
So fragile yet so resilient. My female is tougher than I first gave her credit for.
At first, the lump on her head worried me. No blood came from the wound, which meant an internal hemorrhage. For Ziarian's, that meant pressure was building on her brain, but I know nothing of human anatomy. The medical cuff is my only option to try and heal her. There are no medics on Zune. Not since the guards rapidly evacuated, leaving us all behind. Thankfully, the cuff appeared to be working.
When her sweet voice first called out, I thought I imagined it. Thought I wished so hard for her to wake, the wind whistling through the branches was playing tricks on me. It was a great relief to see her eyes open.
