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“It seems impossible that you heal this quickly. Did you use any medicine?” I ask him.

When Ariana came back to the village injured, she applied some kind of gel to her wounds, healing them in miraculous time. The kind of speed that you can only expect from fantasy stories, not real life. Twice now I’ve witnessed the impossible.

“I did not,” Volan replies. “When you’ve used the medicine enough, it becomes a part of you. Only in extreme circumstances do I need more. That was but a small cut.”

I snort at his admission of a small cut. I’d hate to see what he classifies as extreme.

“Why? How long do humans take to heal?” He asks.

“A wound like that… weeks, I’d guess,” I reply absently.

“Then from this moment on, I shall keep you even closer to my side,” Volan rasps, his breath fanning over my cheek as he leans in closer. “I vow that nothing will harm you, little halvi. On this, you can trust me.”

I meet his luminous gaze, wanting to believe I can trust him fully. He’s been true to his word thus far, guiding me through the perils of this planet. I reluctantly acknowledge I have little choice but to rely on him out here. But can I trust him? How much do I know about him, or his people? Everything, and I mean everything, I know about this planet at the moment is a lie. I need to get to that building, I need to know what Earth’s government is searching for.

As much as I fear the answer, I think I already know. It’s been right under my nose the whole time. I just need to confirm it.

I pinch my nose. How the hell am I going to complete my quest when I keep getting sidetracked by this hunk? Even now, my fingers stroke along his forearm, caressing the prominent veins and taut muscles that flex under my half-distracted ministrations.

Having Volan around is supposed to make this easier, safer, not harder…

And I am certainly making him harder. The giant object glaring between us really makes that obvious.

I need to focus. I can’t be distracted like this!

If I get him out of my system, will things just go back to normal? The normal me; the quiet girl that no one pays attention to, that doesn’t go on crazy wilderness adventures and definitely doesn’t lust after some male.

It’s a hypothesis worth testing.

First quest: save the colony.

Second quest: seduce Volan the alien.

ChapterFifteen

VOLAN

Isee the change overcome Maya. My little halvi firms her chin and looks me straight in the eye. Gone is the fear and hesitancy she normally shows.

A thrill runs along my spine. She looks at me as if I’m prey. I’ll gladly have her chasing me down, even if I’m the one that will have her begging for mercy in the end.

Maya wades her way through the water toward me until she reaches my side. Water sloshes around my thighs as she stands on the rock ledge beside me. She tries to appear graceful, but the heavy weight of her sodden clothing makes her movements difficult for her. If anything, that vulnerability, that hint of her not being perfect, is what I find so endearing about her. She’s real. She’s true to herself. She does what she wants because she’s honest with herself and others…

She places her hand firmly against my chest, right over my frantically beating heart.

“You saved me. Again,” she says. Despite her spoken words, I get the strange sense that she’s not entirely talking to me but to herself. “Until now, I think I’ve sort of treated you a bit like an enemy. At the very least, someone that I wasn’t sure I could trust. Now, now I just think you are someone who drives me absolutely crazy.”

I bow my head, leaning closer to her. My breath ghosts over her hair, stirring the hair at her temples. “Crazy in a good way, right?”

Maya snorts her chuckle. It’s the most undignified noise I’ve ever heard from her; completely unguarded and purely her. It’s adorable.

“How can I thank you?” she asks, her voice husky.

“Your words are enough,” I tell her, frowning. I didn’t fight the scampers because I hoped to simply strip her of her clothing. I want her to give herself freely to me, completely willing. I don’t want her to be like the other females of my clan, so quick to seduce just to get some personal gains out of the act. I want Maya, completely. Never before have I had the desire for a female to give herself to me so willingly, so purely.

Maya’s eyes flash up to mine, slightly widened. It’s like she didn’t quite expect me to say what I did.

“Volan…” She licks her lips, and the sight of that little pink tongue darting out has my cock hardening all over again. “Will you shut up for a moment? I’m trying to seduce you.”