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He glanced up now, as if seeing it again. ‘I remember Santiago falling to his knees, just breathing. First free air in over four years.’

Savvine whispered, ‘What happened after?’

‘We ran together,’ he said. ‘We disappeared. Off-grid. We tried to find our families, but many had died in the nuclear blasts that engulfed Earth. We dealt with our shitty grief, and tried to understand what we had become. But it didn’t take long before the universe came knocking, and Earth was no longer a sustainable place for us. We needed out. So we tooled up theSombraon our dime and searched for work to keep us relevant to the flotilla. We found that the rich individuals, mafia families, and wealthy dynasties desired protection, and we had ex-soldiers and fighters keen to get to Pegasi and defend and fightfor their right to passage. We merged the two needs and created Signet.’

She studied him, her voice soft. ‘But you’re not just security personnel.’

‘Nada,’ Xander said. ‘We’re remnants of an ancient entity, one left behind in the bowels of Earth. Chosen by spirits we might never understand. Survivors. Guardians. Monsters, maybe, but with a moral compass it seems.’

She studied him with new eyes, his words sinking deep into her marrow.

Xander leaned back in his chair, gaze steady on her. ‘We may wear uniforms now. But the wolves are still inside us. They always will be. The thing is, woman, can you handle the lycan in me?’

She smiled up at him with that slow, sultry curve of her mouth that always seemed to undo some essential part of him. ‘I think it’sfokkin’ hot.’

He chuckled even as his heart lurched.

Fokk.

Emotion roiled in a thunderclap over him as he stared down at her.

She sprawled beneath him, skin flushed, still naked, hair tangled like spilled ink across his torso.

He couldn’t breathe. His chest rose and fell too fast.

As well as the joy he expected at her acceptance, a storm of chaos churned inside him as doubt tore through him.

Because even now, he already knew this early in their relationship: She was the one thing he’d never survive losing.

That was when her fragrance hit him.

Not just her heady blend of vanilla, spice, and amber, but her.

He now realized that her clean, natural scent calmed and centered him, even in the thick of battle, as when they fought the Lombardis.

It felt sacred, freakin’ righteous as it reached into his panic and centering him, calming his fraught anxiety.

His pulse steadied.

His heart, still slamming, began to beat in rhythm with hers.

Fokk. She and her scent were becoming his anchor and mainstay.

Still, he turned his head away before she caught the twist in his expression.

One that screamed, ‘I’m already yours, and I don’t know how to survive without you. ’

His mind and soul skittered.

Sharing his harrowing past triggered all the fear and worry of loss he worked so hard to bury away.

Fokk,he had lost so much.

If anything were to happen, would he endure losing her as well?

With no warning, he got the urge to escape the moment, the emotional tsunami bearing down on him.

‘We should shower and dress,’ he rasped. ‘I’ve got a bathroom next door.’