“See anything?” I asked.
“No. Your logic is sound, Sophia.” He turned back to me and lifted his arms to the wall on either side of my head, caging me. “But I’m not letting you go until Erik and Rolf arrive. I can’t take the chance.”
I didn’t argue or struggle, simply leaned forward and plastered my body to my mate’s much larger, stronger frame, eager for the comfort he offered. Even if the sniper was gone, the adrenaline pumping through my body made me shake. I knew it would take a long time for me to process this, to get the image of Dorn’s death out of my mind. But relief rushed through me, making my knees weak. I was safe now. No one out there trying to kill me.
I could just be a mate, a normal citizen. A big, fat nobody.
I lifted my hand so I could rasp my thumb over his whiskers.
“I guess I’ll have to thank the Corellis.” I gave a small smile, knowing how lucky I’d been to leave Earth. “I’m sure they don’t even think about me anymore. But thanks to them, I was mated to some crazy space alien I adore.”
That got Gunnar’s attention and he pulled far enough away to press his forehead to mine. “You said you loved me, mate.”
Lifting both hands to his face, I held him to make sure he felt my touch. I wanted him to feel my words, too, all the way down to his soul. “I love you, Gunnar. I know it’s crazy, and too fast, and totally illogical, but…”
Gunnar shut me up with a kiss that curled my toes. I wrapped my arms around his head and held on tight as he pulled me close and made me forget all about the last few minutes of hell.
“Gunnar!” Erik shouted.
Gunnar stepped away then, and I took a deep breath. Before me was Erik, Rolf standing over Dorn’s dead body with a host of guards. Royal guards swarmed both sides of the street, running into buildings and shining searchlights down alleyways and into dark corners. Both Erik and Rolf wore their Viken United guard uniforms, complete with weapons and the light body armor I’d come to recognize.
After a minute, Rolf came to stand beside us, the entire time his pistol was up, his gaze searching the buildings around us.
“Sophia is safe now,” Gunnar said. “And the sniper is long gone.”
Both men frowned and didn’t stand down.
“Explain it to them, Sophia,” Gunnar ordered.
All three men glanced at me, but once I started speaking, telling Erik and Rolf what I’d said to Gunnar, they remained vigilant.
“The VSS only cared about eliminating Dorn. Not me. He’d been identified. He was the liability. I was just a stupid mistake,” I insisted.
“But you can implicate them,” Erik said, lowering his weapon.
“No. I could only implicate Dorn. The VSS has no reason to kill me now. Unless they kill for sport, I’m safe. They won’t want anything to do with me.”
“It makes sense,” Rolf said, pulling me in for a hug. I felt the frantic beat of his heart as he held me. He was warm and I reveled in his familiar scent.
“So the VSS continues. We’ve done nothing to bring them down,” Erik said, disappointed.
“No, they lost a high-ranking council member from Sector Two. And we’re free,” Gunnar said. “Sophia is safe.”
Rolf passed me to Erik, who also held me close. “That scared ten years off my life.”
Gunnar grunted his agreement.
The men stood around me in a protective circle. People started to come out from hiding, voices speaking, someone loomed over the body until a member of the Royal Guard chased him off and set up a perimeter. I ignored them all. I didn’t care what they did. I had my men. We were safe once and for all. The VSS might continue to be a scourge on Viken, but it was not my fight, at least not right now. I didn’t have a target on my back any longer.
“Can we go home now?” I asked.
“Yes,” Gunnar answered. “We’ll have you home as soon as possible.”
“Didn’t you have me just a little while ago?” I asked, teasing.
“You didn’t have me,” Rolf replied.
“Or me,” Erik added, raising his brows. “What did Gunnar do to you in there? I want a detailed account, mate, and I want you to tell me every naughty detail.”
That was Erik, talking dirty. My pussy and bottom clenched, remembering. “He…he prepared me for all three of you.”
Erik growled. “For us to claim you together?”
I nodded.
“Then you accept us as your mates? No second doubts? No denial?”
Rolf stroked a finger down my cheek. Erik’s hands were on my shoulders. Gunnar didn’t touch me, but his eyes were filled with lust.
But he would touch me, fill me, fuck me. I wanted all of them.