“I want you,” she says softly. “Always.”
“Me too,” Nereus says. “But you need to be absolutely certain. You can’t…you shouldn’t…have to do anything you don’t want to do anymore.”
I smirk. “I’m scared,” I say. “But I’m pretty sure that this is the right thing.”
Nereus nods, his expression softening as he smiles at me. I expect Fiona to reply, to say that she’s relieved or that she’s happy to hear it, but when I turn my head to look at her, her face is in her hands.
And she’ssobbing.
So I take her into my arms, hoping this is the beginning of something new.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
RYKER
The time has come for me to decide what kind of warrior I’ll be.
Tension has been building in my body ever since the first taste I got of the mating bond, my rut raging at me to claim Fiona. The battle on Borealis all but cemented my status as nothing more than bulk and brawn, the adrenaline coursing through me almost enough to do me in for good.
I need to master myself if I want to survive.
And more than that, I need to show Fiona that I’m still just a man.
Everyone seems to be distracted with their own tasks as we approach Triton to rendezvous with Cressida’s forces for our final attack. The pieces are all falling into place, and I’m…
I’m lost. Lost in my new power and my feelings for Fiona and the fact that I can’t seem to quell the beast that lives in my chest.
On some deeper, inescapable level, I’m more afraid than anything else. The man I was just a year ago was more carefree and loose with the rules. Now, the man who stole Fiona away from the palace is lost.
Where has he gone?
“I see you’ve recovered.”
I turn to find Orion walking toward where I sit in the portside lounge, watching as we draw closer to the blue orb of Triton in the distance. He’s changed out of his armor and wears loose black Mlok garb, a bandage on his arm the only indication that he was ever in any danger today. I try to resist the swell of anger and jealousy that courses through me at the sight of him, reminding myself that it’s the beast.
I didn’t have…arrogancelike this a year ago.
“It was just adrenaline poisoning,” I say. “A natural outcome of a berserker rage. Nothing to be concerned about.”
“And yet it’s never happened before, has it?” He slouches to a seat on the plush sofa opposite me, spinning a dagger in his claws. It clinks as it flits over his scales and knuckles, a sort of quiet rhythm to it that calms me.
“Why are you here, Orion?” I say through gritted teeth. “I’m trying to collect myself before we land on Triton.”
“I wanted to apologize,” he says, leaning forward, “for taking your kill.”
My fists clench on my knees, and I breathe deeply in the way that Taln taught me. But I’m not like my brother; I’ve always been stubborn, wild, irresponsible. Needless to say, meditation is not my strong suit. “You have no need to apologize.”
“Once you get your prey’s scent, I know it can be frustrating when someone swoops in to take your trophy,” he says. “And we aren’tfriends, are we, Ryker?”
“What do you want?” I snap.
“I want to become your friend,” he says. “Because I see now that none of us are going anywhere. Not until we’re torn from our queen by violence. And I see the two of us as being in the same predicament.”
“That being?”
“We’re her weapons.” Orion sighs and leans back again, once again setting that dagger spinning across his claws. “But you haven’t yet learned what it means to be wielded like one.”
“I’m twice your age,” I say through gritted teeth.