“No, that’s Santa,” Iyanna corrected him, trying not to laugh. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. First, tell me why you broke things off with me aboard the Mother Ship.”
Dra’vik looked down at the controls. “I did it because I’m a fucking coward.” He raised his head and turned to look at her. “Because I thought what I have to offer wasn’t anything you’d want.”
“Why wouldn’t I want you?” Iyanna demanded. “How could you think that, after everything we went through together on Lix’dor Prime?”
“What we went through together is what made me believe you’d never want me,” he said in a low voice.
Iyanna shook her head, honestly confused.
“Are you still feeling guilty about what happened to me before you got to me in the scanning room at the spaceport? Because I told you, I’m okay and I don’t blame you. I—”
“No, it’s not that.” He was staring down at the controls again. “It’s what happened at the banquet. The fucking ‘breeding party’ we saw the Lix’dorians put on.”
Iyanna stared at him.
“What does that have to do with anything?” she demanded. “I swear, Dra’vik, if you don’t start explaining—”
“I’m fucking trying, all right?” he exclaimed. He blew out a breath of frustration. “Remember how you said you were horrified by it? By that little pleasure slave getting bred?”
“Of course I was horrified!” Iyanna exclaimed. “It was without her consent and there were all those men taking turns with her.” She shivered and then looked at him suspiciously. “Are you trying to tell me you want to share me with some other guy or guys? Is that what this is about?”
“What? No!” He looked over at her, his eyes blazing. “Don’t want to fucking share you with anyone, little girl. You’re mine!”
His possessive words and tone brought back their time together on Lix’dor Prime so strongly, Iyanna felt her breath catch in her throat and her heart stutter in her chest.
“That’s what you said when we were on the mission together,” she whispered. “But then you told me it was over and we had to go our separate ways.”
“I know, little girl—I was such a damn fool!” he groaned. “Look, let me put this thing in autopilot and try to explain better.”
He did something to the controls and then unfastened his harness and stood up. Holding out a hand to her, he said,
“Come with me to the back, will you? We’ll be more comfortable talking in the living area.”
“You have a living room back there?” Iyanna was surprised. She’d only seen the cockpit of his ship and had assumed all the rest of it was filled with alien technology.
“Yeah, this is a long-range craft.” Dra’vik shrugged. “Got a living area, a food prep area, even a bedchamber and a fresher. Come on, let’s go.”
Iyanna unfastened her harness and let him lead her through the door at the back of the cockpit into the midsection of the ship. Sure enough, there was a small—well, small by Monstrum Kindred standards anyway—couch to sit on, as well as a tiny kitchen area. Further back she saw two more doors she assumed were the bathroom and bedroom.
It was nice and cozy—rather like the inside of a camper or one of those tiny houses you saw all over social media, she thought. Only everything was oversized to accommodate Dra’vik’s immense height. But right now she was more focused on hearing what the big Drake had to say than critiquing his furnishings.
Dra’vik sat on one side of the black leather loveseat and she sat on the other. Kicking off her shoes, she curled her legs under her, heedless of the too-big wedding gown she was wearing.
“Okay,” she said. “I’m listening—explain. How did the fact that I didn’t like the breeding party make you think I wouldn’t want to be with you?” She shook her head. “I just have no idea how those two things could be remotely connected.”
“Oh, they’re fucking connected, all right, little girl,” Dra’vik growled grimly. “You see, I’m a Drake Monstrum and we’re pretty fucking rare—always have been. And so our bodies have adapted to carry on our species.”
“Um, okay…” Iyanna had no idea where this was leading but she made a “go on” gesture with one hand to let him know she was listening.
“We carry on the species by impregnating a female immediately when we bond with her.” Dra’vik seemed to be having trouble meeting her eyes again. “And I do mean immediately.”
“So…every time you make love with a woman you get her pregnant?” Iyanna asked, raising her eyebrows as she tried to digest this information.
“Not every time,” he said, hastily. “Just when we bond with her. We can make love without bonding as long as we withhold the Bonding Knot—but without forming a soul-bond, there’s no connection. No permanence in the relationship. Which is why I can’t be with you unless you want to bond with me…and I can’t bond with you without getting you pregnant.”