Another first. Thanks to her.
After just a few minutes—that felt like hours—we arrived at the door. I stopped without opening it and turned to Dorian, and the tiny woman he held in his arms.
God, she was beautiful. Long black hair as smooth as silk. Almond shaped eyes that were a startling green against her creamy skin. Her eyes were large and she stared at me with a combination of emotions I would have had no hope of unraveling without the help of these genius Prillon collars. Hope. Nerves. Lust. Anxiety. Longing.
I looked up at my second. “Put her down, Dorian. We do have one custom on Earth that I need to keep.”
Dorian shrugged and gently placed Chloe on her bare feet in the hallway. It was mid-morning, and everyone was either on duty or at work. The hallway was empty as I scooped Chloe into my arms and asked Dorian to open the door as I stood before it, cradling my new bride. There was no long, flowing gown, no diamond on her finger, but she was mine, and I would carry her over the threshold into our new life together.
The door slid open and I looked down into Chloe’s upturned face. “You ready for this?”
She grinned up at me and her arms came up to wrap around my neck. It was a picture-perfect moment happening billions of miles from home. No white picket fence. No dogs, or a floral bouquet, or any of the rest of the things humans associated with this moment. Just me. And her.
And an alien watching us like we were both out of our minds. “I assume this is some strange Earth custom?” Dorian asked.
“Yes.” We both answered in unison.
“A man carries his bride across the threshold the first time she enters their new home,” I explained.
“Why?”
Chloe smiled up at him. “I have no idea, but they do.”
Dorian looked at both of us for a moment, then nodded his head as if making a serious decision. “Then, I will not be denied this custom.”
Before I could react, he’d moved behind me and lifted both of us into the air. Chloe squealed and grabbed onto me, hanging on for dear life. I barked with laughter at Dorian’s huff of exertion and cursing as he plodded through the open door.
“You are heavier than you look, human.”
Chloe burst out laughing and the joy and excitement coming through her collar, the blast of fun and happiness silenced any protest I might have made at Dorian’s odd gesture. Chloe was still laughing. “You two are going to be crazy, I can just tell.”
She was still laughing when Dorian set me down on my feet. But Chloe remained in my arms. I couldn’t bring myself to let her go.
The door slid closed behind us and Dorian walked to one side of the room, opening a drawer. I paid no attention to him, my entire being centered on the woman in my arms. It had been so long since I’d held something soft and pure and giving. She was love and laughter and light, I could feel the strength of her soul, her hope, bubbling up between us. And I was too weak to turn away, to lose contact, even for a moment after so many years of pain and horror and denying myself the comfort of a woman’s arms out of fear that I’d somehow hurt her.
Or lose myself.
As I looked into Chloe’s eyes, her smile faded and the intensity spiraled.
“I can’t let you go.”
She lifted a hand to my face. “I know. I can feel it. It’s okay.”
I leaned down and buried my face in her hair. She smelled like home. Like cinnamon sugar cookies and spring breezes and sunshine.
The room was a blur as I walked to the bed. I knew what was here. Dark blue couch and chairs. A small table meant for three. A bathing room and an S-Gen in the corner. Closets and drawers built into the walls.
And our bed. The biggest bed I’d ever seen. Dorian had acquired the standard size mating bed the Prillon used, and it was more than big enough for the three of us.
It, too, was draped in blue because Dorian had read Chloe’s preferences and knew it was her favorite color.
The pillows were gold, his nod to his ancestry, the color our collars would become once Chloe was officially ours. He’d asked my opinion and I’d given him the truth. I didn’t give a flying fuck what color anything was, as long as our mate was naked between the sheets.
And happy. The need to make her happy weighed on me like an anchor and the old doubts, the old worries started to creep back into my mind as I sank down on the side of the bed with Chloe in my lap. I settled her there and wrapped my arms around her torso, pulling her closer, pressing her to me with as much gentleness as I could muster.
Which wasn’t much. I trembled with the effort to hold back, to be gentle with her when the need within me was like a wild animal with sharp claws. “I can’t let you go.” I said it again, begging for forgiveness. I’d denied myself this dream, turned away from it and endured the pain and loneliness. Accepted a black, bitter, lonely death protecting Earth from an enemy so horrifying I had to keep being a fighter. I had to stop the Hive.