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Rael scowled. "I'm a warlord, not a politician. I fight for what's mine, not sit around listening to a hundred other blowhards tell me why I can't have it."
There was real heat in his voice, real disdain. For a moment, the fierce alien in front of Elian wasn't a monster, there to sell Elian for his own skin. He was something else entirely — a wild creature, walking into a cage.
It was a glimpse behind the mask, and something about it tugged at Elian. It was a feeling he quickly tried to squash. If he felt sorry for Rael, then that was a slippery slope.
Sympathy for the guy who was going to turn him in? No way.
Elian looked at the outpost. One more day, and then Rael would hand him over.
Over the days that Elian had been in Rael's possession, there had been moments of peace. After Rael had set up camp in the evenings, the danger of the journey seemed to bleed away a little.
Elian had never expected to find anything in common with an alien warlord, but as the days passed, he'd found himself enjoying those moments more and more.
That night, they sat by the fire, watching the stars come out. Finally, Elian dared to ask a question that had been burning at the back of his mind.
"About… about the rumors," he said. "About your kind. Eating humans."
Rael's scowled, his gaze snapping to Elian's. "That again?"
"I— I don't know what to believe," Elian said hurriedly. "It's not like I've had a lot of chances to ask aliens about their diets. But there's got to be some kind of truth to it, right? Those rumors have been around for years."
"I cannot fathom any Borraq eating a human," Rael said, and then he paused, as if he was choosing his words. "But… your human scent is… intoxicating to us. It's a lure that's hard to resist. A call to something deep in our blood."
Elian's heart beat a little faster. There was something both fascinating and dangerous in the way that Rael spoke, something that sent a shiver down his spine. "And what happens when your kind gives into that lure?"
Rael's gaze was intense. "Do not plan to find out." There was a warning in his tone— and something else, too.
Elian hurriedly looked away, staring into the depths of the night. The firelight danced over the bizarre shapes of the alien vegetation, but Elian didn't see it. He was too busy wrestling with his own emotions: fear, and a fascination that warred with his better judgment.
He'd been right to be curious about the rumors. But now that he had an answer, he wasn't sure that he liked it.
Elian's heart thudded in his chest. Rael's gaze was fixed on him, pinning him in place by the campfire. In the depths of those golden eyes, there was a desire that was unmistakable — and yet utterly alien.
It should have been terrifying. No-one had ever looked at Elian like that. No-one had ever made him feel so small, so vulnerable, like he was a rabbit caught in the sights of a predator.
And yet…
Elian's heart raced, a surge of adrenaline mixing with something else. Something hot and heady, itchy under his skin. It was a feeling that he'd never experienced before, a strange cocktail of fear and excitement, drawing him towards the alien warlord like a magnet.
The silence between them was charged, thick with unasked questions and rising desire. In the heat of the alien night, neither of them moved to break it.
Elian cleared his throat, trying to keep his tone light. "So if humans smell so distracting to Borraq, how do you manage to stay in control the way you do?"
Rael's eyes flashed with heat. "I'm an alpha. I'm in control of my own body."
Despite his words, there was something in the way that Rael looked at him, something in the way that Rael's gaze followed the line of Elian's throat as he swallowed, that suggested otherwise.
Elian was getting to Rael.
Rael had been controlling himself, but it took effort.
The idea that Elian was desirable to anyone… It was insane at the best of times. He was just some run-of-the-mill warfront trash, volunteering for a generation ship to terraform for the people who were actually worth anything.
No-one wanted him. He was a war orphan, left behind by everyone he'd ever known. It was why he'd signed up for the colony ship — but the family it promised had gone up in smoke, just the same as every other hope of a family that Elian had ever had.
And now an alien king was telling him he was tempting.
It was insane.
