“What is this word, curmudgeon?”
She lifted a brow, and I saw another new expression on her face, one I recognized all too easily from my time spent interacting with and observing my brother’s human mate, Harper. Yes, I knew that look on a human woman’s face. My little mate was about to cause me trouble.
“You know, cranky. Boring. Disagreeable. Doesn’t like anything. Hates having fun.”
My immediate reaction was to scowl and turn away, shame making my throat close and my head heavy. Did she believe me to be this way? I was unsure, as members of the legion rarely dared speak to me. None dared tease me if that was, indeed, what this female attempted.
Logically, what she stated about me was nothing but the truth.
“Cormac?”
“We will be traveling for some time. You should get some rest.”
“Buckled in like this? No way. It’s worse than trying to sleep on an airplane.”
“It is the safest way.”
My mate’s silence communicated her misery clearly. I did not need to look at her to know she was coming to realize the bride processing protocols had made a terrible mistake. I was not fit to be mated to someone so innocent and full of hope. My mate should be hardened by life. Tough. A warrior like me. Then everything I did would not be such a disappointment.
“You big grumpy bear.”
I looked up just in time to see my mate moving to straddle my lap. Once she was seated, I still needed to look down into her face, but not far. Not far at all. Her lips were close. Too close.
“I am not a bear.”
“Oh, I think you are. A big.”
She kissed me, a soft, slow, gentle kiss.
“Warm.”
My cock, already hard as iron, ached as she kissed me again, this time on the tip of my nose. Then my cheek. My chin.
What the fuck was this female doing? I strained to lean forward and pull her tightly to me, but the restraints held me in place, as did my need to keep an eye on the ship’s controls.
“Teddy bear.”
I groaned as she trailed kisses along my jaw to my ear, then down the side of my neck. I felt like a fool, tilting my head to the side to give her better access, but she was conquering my will with nothing but two soft lips and the slight weight of her body on my lap.
“What is a teddy bear?”
Her lips hovered over my ear as she answered. “Something I like to cuddle with. Sleep with. Something that makes me feel safe and warm and protected.”
“You will not sleep with this bear. You will sleep with no one but me.” Rage filled my body with heat as the thought of her in another’s bed formed in my mind. Since childhood, I had been cursed with a very vivid imagination. On the hunt, creativity was priceless. At the moment, that gift acted as a source of torment.
She laughed softly, and I turned to find her looking up at me with an expression I had rarely seen, the softness I had once witnessed passing between Harper and her second mate, Blade, when they thought no one was looking. I had never even hoped a female would look at me in such a way. “You want to keep me all to yourself?”
“Yes.” Gods be damned, it was true. I didn’t care if the processing had made a fucking mistake. I didn’t care if I was cursed with a foul temper and a gift for killing our enemies. Who would keep her safe if not me? Who would protect her better than I?
No one. Fucking no one.
I was keeping her, and I didn’t care if the gods tried to damn me for it. I’d already been cursed at birth. What else could they do to me?
“Come on.” Abby kissed me one more time and crawled off my lap. “Does this thing have autopilot or whatever? Can it fly itself?”
“Yes, but I do not use that function so close to enemy territory.”
“Hmmm.” Abby ran the tip of her finger over my bottom lip. “How often do you fly through this area? Hundreds of times?”