Page 53

And through it all, his growing conviction that something fundamental had changed. Some vital piece shifting on the great gameboard of this conflict...centered on the unprecedented bond between ogre warlord and human champion.

On Grok...and me.

"I knew I had to find you," Thane says softly, his eyes distant, pensive. "Had to see for myself...what manner of connection could compel such sacrifice, such devotion. And how it might..." He pauses, weighing his words carefully. "How it might change things. For all of us, human and ogre alike."

I glance at Grok, reading my own quiet awe in his eyes, the set of his jaw. After a lifetime of war, of strife and slaughter...could it truly be that simple? That a single bond, a love that breached the boundaries of race and rancor...might chart a new course, a road to resolution?

"It won't be easy," Thane cautions, as if sensing the shape of our thoughts. "Even if this fragile peace holds, even if we can bring our peoples to parlay...there are centuries of hatred to overcome. Generations of spilled blood and bone-deep biases. It will take time, tact...and tremendous courage."

"Courage we have," Grok says roughly. His hand finds mine, our fingers braiding tight. "In abundance. As well as a reason to fight, to strive...to achieve what no other has in this war." His gaze meets mine, molten and ardent, a silent vow.

My heart clenches, a sweet, fierce ache in my chest. Yes. Oh yes, my love. Reason and resolve, to move mountains, forge new futures from the ruins of the old.

Together. Always, only, together.

"Well then," Thane says, something like wonderwarming his tone. "I suppose there's nothing for it but to return to Thornhall and begin the work of building bridges. One stone, one step at a time."

I smile, hope and determination a fire in my blood, my bones. "One bond at a time," I correct softly, lifting our joined hands. Pressing a kiss to Grok's scarred knuckles, a silent oath. "One unyielding, unbreakable love...that could reshape the world."

The road ahead will be hard, fraught with peril and opposition from all sides. But in this moment, in the shelter of this shabby haven, with my mate on one side and my brother on the other...

I feel invincible.

And later that night, when Thane has bedded down by the hearth and Grok and I lie curled together in the narrow bed...we reaffirm that bond, that promise. With hands and hearts and the slow, sweet slide of skin on skin, we map each other anew. Memorize with touch and taste and hushed, heated whispers all the reasons, the ways and wherefores...that this is worth fighting for.

That we are worth fighting for, in the face of all that would divide and deny us.

I rock above him, his thick length sheathed deep in my welcoming heat. One broad hand cups my breast, while the other curves over my hip, guiding our rhythm as ancient as time, as tides.

"Lily," Grok breathes. "Gods, Lily, yes. Take me, take all of me. Everything I am, everything...it's yours. Only ever yours."

"Mine," I moan softly, undulating over him in long, lush strokes. Feeling him deep, deeper, his thickness stretching me in the most exquisite ache. "My Grok, my mate. My heart, my home."

I lean down to kiss him, slow and sumptuous, my hair curtaining us in a crimson cocoon. We move as one, give and take, a dance that builds in tempo and intensity as pleasure coils tighter. Grok's teeth graze the tender column of my throat as his fingers find the slick nub at the apex of my sex, circling in maddening counterpoint to his steadily increasing thrusts.

"That's it," he growls against my skin as I gasp and shudder above him. "That's it, my queen. My goddess. Let go for me, let me see you. I've got you, now and always..."

And with a keening cry, I do, shattering in his arms as ecstasy crashes over me in breaking waves. He follows me over, roaring through his own release as I milk him in fluttering, rippling pulses.

We cling to each other as we descend, trading soft kisses and shaking sighs. Murmuring affirmations, adorations, with the little breath we can muster.

"I love you," I rasp into the sweat-damp hollow of his throat. "I love you, Grok. In this life and whatever waits beyond, with everything I am...I love you."

"My Lily," he rumbles back, arms tight as iron bands around me. "My soul's own mate. I will love you to the end of worlds, and then I'll find you in the next and love you anew. Always, only, endlessly...I am yours."

We drift into drowsing, lulled by the wondrous weight of this love, this promise. Even as we ready ourselves for the battle to come, the struggle to bring our vision, our fervent dream...to vibrant, valiant life.

A new world, a new way, bought and birthed by this bond, unbreakable and unbounded.

The bond of human and ogre, woman and warrior, forever fused as one.

In this life, and all the rest to come.

21

Grok

Pain pulses through my veins with every labored heartbeat, throbbing in time with my shallow breaths. But beneath the agony, there is softness. Warmth. Gentle hands smoothing over my brow, a lilting voice murmuring soothing nonsense.