I looked down at my blood-soaked body and sighed. This was who I was. I fought. I killed. I protected my people. I protectedher.Perhaps she would be upset with me, but I had to believe that with time—and a lot of orgasms—I could convince her to ignore the dark side of me and stay.
I needed her to stay. To choose me.
Fuck. I was in love with her. I loved her. Totally and completely. Losing her would destroy me.
Braced for the worst, I opened the door and walked into the room. Gasps came from several directions. Everyone froze, staring at what had to be a monstrous visage. I did not believe there was a single part of me not covered in blood, imagined my eyes as two bright orbs staring at the assembled crowd. I truly was a thing of nightmares.
Abby’s cry was the loudest. “Oh my god! Cormac?” She ran in my direction but stopped several paces in front of me.
I stood in silence as the entire legion watched our interaction. I could not speak over the lump of pain clogging my throat. I had expected this reaction. I had underestimated how much her rejection would hurt.
“Are you hurt? Is any of that blood yours?”
I stared into her crystal blue eyes and spoke the truth. “No. I am covered in the blood of your enemies.”
“Thank god!” She ran to me and leaped, her arms locking behind my neck as she pressed her body fully to mine. “Holy shit. Don’t scare me like that!”
“Mate, I—”
“No. No talking. You need a shower. You’re getting all those nasty traitors off you, right now.” She squeezed me as tightly as I imagined her slight arms could manage without a single care for her own clothing. She dropped to the floor and took my hand. “Come on. Let’s go. This party is over for you, mister.”
Stunned, I allowed my small mate to pull me along wherever she wanted me to go. I caught Styx’s eye as Abby pulled me toward the door. He lifted a glass in salute, the look on his face smug.
Gods be damned, that bastard was always right. Abby had not rejected me, did not hate me. Sheworriedabout me.
19
Cormac
Abby took me to our quarters, stopping just outside the door. She gave me a once over and shook her head. “Nope. That mess is not going inside.”
I agreed. Had I not been with her I would have showered in the fighters’ area and left the armor to be cleaned by Styx’s finely trained crew. “I can go take care of this elsewhere.”
“Not what I meant.” She glanced down at herself and grimaced. “Gross. This has to go, too.”
I had no idea what my mate intended until she reached for the bottom of her shirt and pulled it off over her head. Stunned, I watched her drop it on the floor and reach for the fastening of her pants. We were alone in the corridor, but this was not the place to disrobe. “What are you doing, female?”
“Stripping. Get busy. Take if off. All of it.”
“I do not understand. I will go remove this offensive armor and return to you when I am clean.”
Abby paused her movement with both hands at her waist, ready to pull her pants off her body. I very much wanted her pants gone. I wanted to touch, taste and lick those breasts, that soft skin. I needed to bury my cock so deep in her eager pussy she begged for more.
“Let me put this another way,mate.”
Her emphasis on the last word was not lost on me.
“I want to play a game with you. It’s calledthe naked game. We take off all our clothes, leave them out here and then we wash each other in the shower.”
My cock hardened to the point of pain. And still, I did not move. “I am covered in blood and death. How can you suggest such a thing when I stand before you like this?”
Stepping forward, she reached for the bottom of my armor and tugged until I gave in and helped her. She was much too small to lift the offensive garment over my head. She dropped the blood-soaked garment on top of her own, making an even bigger mess on the floor.
“Don’t you get it, Cormac? I don’t care about what’s on the outside. I only care about what’s in here.” She placed her palm flat over my bare chest. “Somebody has to kill the bad guys. If no one did, they’d ruin everything, everywhere and hurt a lot of people.” She stepped forward and pressed her naked chest to mine, skin to skin, and wrapped her arms around me. “You are one of the good guys, Cormac. That’s why I love you.”
I grabbed her face, lifting her chin so I could kiss her. And kiss her. I didn’t care who saw us, who judged us, who frowned or who smiled in our direction. Did not fucking care. Abby was mine. She had, by some fucking miracle, fallen in love with me. I was brutal and merciless with my enemies, but I was no idiot. I’d been given a gift by Fate or the gods, destiny or the universe, perhaps by sheer dumb luck.
I wasn’t giving her back.