“You are Megan Simmons of Earth. My mate.” I glanced down at her perfect body, bare to me. “Gods help me if you become more anything than you already are.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I do not want you to be anything but what you are.” I slid a hand down her arm, felt the silky softness of her skin. “I do not care what you wear, mate.” I cleared my throat, tipped her chin up and called up every ounce of courage I possessed. I’d felt less vulnerable staring down a swarm of Hive soldiers than baring my soul to this woman. “I love you just the way you are. I love your sassy mouth and full, perfect lips. I love the dark softness of your skin and the way your eyes breathe fire when you’re challenged. I am proud to call you mine, mate. I love you. And I submitted your service record to the Atlan military training commander. He agreed. You are spectacular, and he offered you a job training the new recruits headed out to serve the Fleet. It’s yours if you want it.” I kissed her quickly on the shoulder, needing to adore her. “If not, we’ll find something else, love. Anything you want.”
Tears filled her eyes, welled over. I cupped her jaw and swiped them away with my thumbs. “I do not mean to make you sad. I’m trying to say—”
She put two fingers over my lips. “I know what you’re trying to say. I love you, too.” She stepped back. “I will be right back.” When I reached for her, she moved farther away and shook her head. “No. Please, I must get something. Stay right there.”
“But—”
“Count to ten. I will return before you finish.” I watched as she dashed to a chair and pulled a blanket around her to hide her perfect body. She opened the door and darted out of the room. I started to count aloud.
“Slower,” she shouted from somewhere in the house.
She returned when I got to eight, her breathing ragged and a wild smile on her face. She held up her cuffs.
“I’m surprised you didn’t notice.”
I was too. Her wrists were bare and I had missed that. My body still burned with constant pain, but that pain meant I was hers and I’d grown accustomed to it. Welcomed it.
With deft fingers, she opened one cuff, put it about her wrist and we both watched as the ends sealed. “Doctor Helion had to take them off as soon as we arrived at I.C. I don’t remember much. He said they would cause me pain, but it was nothing. I tried to stop him, but—”
Had she truly fought Doctor Helion’s attempts to remove the cuffs? That was insanity. I held her hand, stilled her movement. “Don’t. Don’t put them back on. I want no pain for you.”
She shook her head. “I’ll never take them off again. How else will everyone know that I belong to you?”
She threw my words back at me and my beast prowled, pleased. It wanted the visible mark on her body for all to see. I shook my head, not liking the idea of her suffering. She shushed me with a finger over my lips.
“I wanted to wait for you before I put them back on.” She looked up at me, her eyes serious now. “Nyko, my mate. I love you. I am yours.”
The other cuff went easily about her wrist and my beast awoke, howled. I grinned, feeling as if I’d defeated the entirety of the Hive forces, sent them into oblivion. No victory had ever tasted so sweet.
“You don’t need to wear those.” I couldn’t allow her to feel pain ever again, not for me. She’d sacrificed enough.
She moved closer, then closer still. “I do. You said your cuffs were the sign that you belonged to me. I wish the same. I’m proud for everyone to know that I am the mate of Warlord Nyko.”
My heart filled, burst with joy. This was exactly what I wanted but never knew I’d been missing. I grabbed her and pulled her into my arms, held her close. Her cheek rested against my chest as I placed a kiss on the top of her dark hair. I took a moment just to breathe in her clean scent, to feel her slight size in my grasp.
“Show me what Helion did to you. Let me see that you are healed.”
She turned for me, slid her hair over one shoulder so the sleek line of her neck was exposed. She lifted her hands and separated her hair, lifting some of it away. There, at the back of her skull, was a white sliver of a scar about the length of her thumb. The presence of a scar meant the wound had been severe since the ReGen pod eliminated most scarring. Not hers. While she couldn’t ever see it, I would look upon that line as a battle scar, a sign of her bravery. Of her insanity, too, perhaps. But it meant she survived, that she was here with me. Yes, I wanted to revel in that, sink into the idea of being here with her. I wanted to sink into her.