“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. “Nyk
o, 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.
“Do you know what it was like knowing you were at I.C. command and I could not join you? Do you know what it was like watching you bleed from your eyes while there was nothing I could do?”
She turned back around and put her hand on my chest. I covered hers with my own. “I’m sorry, Nyko. So sorry.”
“Mine, mate,” I said, the words filled with everything I felt for her. “Mine. No one will ever take you from me again.”
“Mine,” she added, her eyes soft with love. “I missed you, too. Touch me, Nyko.”
Stepping back, I stripped off my clothing as she watched. Naked, I moved to the bed beside her, fell back so I was resting on the bed, my knees bent and my feet on the floor. Megan looked down at me with confusion marring her smooth brow.
“I’m yours, mate. Do what you will. I am not in beast form. He is not so patient. But I can give you what you want right now.”
“And what is that?”
“Control.”
She arched one dark brow, her gaze lingering on my body. “Give it to me?” she asked, her eyes lowering to my cock at the challenge I’d deliberately put in my voice. My cock was hard and long, curving up to rest on my belly. Oh, yes. She needed to feel in control right now. I recognized the wildness in her, the deep need to take back her life from the horror she’d survived. I’d been forced to wait as she fought for her life. She was fresh from that battle, a powerful female who’d been made to feel helpless and weak and small. I didn’t want her to feel that way, I wanted her back to her old self. Fiery and wild, confident and aggressive. Mine.
“Do what you will with me, mate.”
Megan
Do what you will with me. Wow. Nyko was lying on the bed, naked. His arms were at his sides and his cock…god, his cock was ready to go. The blunt head touched his navel and pre-cum seeped from the slit. My mouth watered for a taste. I had yet to explore him with my mouth, the beast not allowing me the chance. Now seemed to be the perfect time. His beast wasn’t raging. He wasn’t being all dominant and possessive.