His only response was a grunt of pain as the medics lifted him onto a medical stretcher to take him for whatever healing he needed in a ReGen pod.
I ignored all of them, my eyes only on my mate. “Kira.”
She turned from greeting the Vice Admiral and congratulating her team on a job well done. She did all the things she was supposed to do, the things a leader would do.
But she hadn’t thrown herself on that grenade for her team. She hadn’t positioned her body to shield them from the blast. She’d done that for me. And she was going to get a fucking spanking for that.
“Kira.” The beast spoke now, unhappy with the wait. We were furious with her for risking her life that way. And humbled. Her love wasn’t fabricated or manipulated. It was real. So fucking real she’d thrown herself on a grenade to save me.
She must have heard the tone of my voice, for she walked to me but didn’t say a word, just wrapped her arms around my waist and snuggled into my chest. Our weapons bumped and our armor was in the way, but she was warm and alive and in my arms. It calmed my beast as nothing else could as I digested the truth.
She loved me. Would kill for me. Fight beside me.
Die for me. This part didn’t sit well with either me or my beast, but I would talk with her about it later. She might fight beside me, but that didn’t mean she took ridiculous risks, like falling on a fucking grenade. Yes, a spanking would definitely be in order.
I would have held her for hours, content just to hold her, but the Vice Admiral walked to stand beside us.
“Still want to kill me, Warlord?”
I grunted, but the woman had earned my respect. “Not at the moment.”
“Good, because you’ll not be staying.”
“What?” Kira lifted her head and I placed my hands on her shoulders to hold her back. Seemed I wasn’t the only one still a bit angry with the Vice Admiral and her meddling.
“We need you on one of the Karter’s outer ships in Sector 216 as soon as possible.”
Kira’s shoulders slumped and I knew I was not going to get a chance to rest. And spank her ass. And fuck. And sleep. And feast on my mate’s pussy. Fill her with my cock. Sleep. Eat. Massage every inch of her in warm bath oils. Plans. I had plans and the Vice Admiral was getting in the way of every one of them.
“When do we leave?” I asked, my teeth gritting together.
The Vice Admiral checked her wrist comm. “You have an hour.”
“Great,” Kira mumbled, but she was speaking to an empty room. The Vice Admiral was already gone.