I walked to the window and the small table nestled just below. A bottle of our finest wine sat open and ready—a servant had prepared for our arrival—and I poured two glasses of the dark purple liquid, turning to offer one to my mate.
Our fingers grazed as
she took it from me and the beast stirred with joy at that lightest of touches.
This woman had already wrecked me. I was hers, utterly and completely. I didn’t need the cuffs about our wrists to convince me. Although she did not yet appear to understand the depths of their significance, or of my complete and unyielding devotion.
“Anything you want, mate, all you need do is ask.”
“How about a superhero cape?” Her green eyes brightened with humor and I wished I knew her better, understood why she laughed.
I did not understand her reference, but would do what I could to please her. “I’ll summon a tailor. I do not know to what you refer, but if you can draw it out, or explain it to him, he will make it for you.”
She laughed, and the sound made something tight unravel in my chest. “That’s all right. I wouldn’t have anywhere to wear it.” She sipped at her wine and looked up at me over the rim of her cup.
“Sarah has said she wishes to hold a party in celebration of our mating.”
“You blush,” I said, stating the obvious.
“I’m… embarrassed.”
“For a party?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Because everyone will know what I did. What we did.”
I frowned then. “No one will shame our union. They will think you brave and courageous, as I do.”
She flushed even brighter, but she smiled.
“I’m not usually so brave,” she admitted. “I usually just let things go, let people have their own way.” She bit her lip and stared down into her wine; the sadness in her eyes made my heart ache. “Especially men.”
“What are you talking about? Men on your world hurt you?” I asked, my eyes narrowing as the beast stirred, upset by her obvious hurt. The beast wanted to kill anything and anyone who’d dared hurt her. Ever. Which was stupid, irrational, and completely illogical, especially when those men were halfway across the galaxy on another planet.
She shook her head. “Not like you think. But I’m not a virgin. I tried—I wanted sex to mean something. But the men I chose, they had other ideas. I was never what they wanted.” She looked up at me then, her deep green eyes haunted by the pain of rejection. Idiots.
My beast growled at the idea of her being used in such a way. I grabbed her cuff, lifted her hand to my mouth, kissed the palm. “Never again. I want you, Tiffani. You are mine. Never doubt my desire for you.”
She shook her head at the vehemence in my tone. “That’s why I went to the Bride Processing Center. I wanted to find the one. To know that the match would be… perfect. She promised you would want me, that you wouldn’t mind—”
“What? Finish your statement.” The beast growled again.
“My size.”
I lifted the wine from her hand and set both cups down on the table. Pulling her to me, I wrapped my arms around her, sank into her softness, and lowered my forehead to hers. “You are perfect. Do not worry that you are smaller than Atlan women. I love your body.”
“I’m nowhere near small.” Her cheeks blushed a deep shade of pink, but she held my gaze. “And you’re the first to say that.”
I lowered my head to her neck, tracing her jaw with my lips, enjoying a gentle exploration, the taste of her, the scent of her skin. “You are soft… everywhere.” I placed a kiss atop her breasts, through her dress and lowered my hands to cup the nice, soft mounds of her ass. “I love how your body yields to mine, the way I sink into you, become one with you.” I kissed her cheek, her forehead, her closed eyes. “I love your body. You are beautiful, Tiffani. Beautiful, and brave. You are everything I ever dreamed of in a mate and I look forward to spending the rest of my life learning everything about you.”
She sighed and relaxed into my arms, as she was meant to. Her surrender calmed my beast as nothing else had since we’d left the containment cell. But something bothered me about her words, something I found completely unacceptable in such a strong, beautiful woman.
A growl rumbled through me as the thought solidified. “You will have to forgive my inner beast, for it is quite protective and possessive of you. I find I share the same feelings.”
“That’s… nice to hear.”
I kissed her, softly, quickly. “But you will never speak poorly of your body again. You will not doubt my desire, or your beauty. If you say such things again, I will take you over my knee and spank you, mate.”
She shuddered in my arms, and I kissed her again, tasting her this time. I took my time, not to take her to bed, but simply to enjoy the way she felt in my arms. “Now, tell me about these men who hurt you.”