Page 138 of Hunted to Be Mine

A band sat on my fourth finger.

My brain stuttered. Simple design, almost industrial: brushed steel or titanium, maybe, with a single small stone set flush into the metal. Dark stone. Midnight blue, catching the glow. Not a diamond. Harder to break, harder to lose.

The kind that belonged on the hand of someone who’d survived impossible things.

“Wolfe.” My voice came out breathless. “What…”

“Well, this is a temporary placement until your cast is gone. Couldn’t risk you getting away.” His voice against my hair carried that deadpan tone that made my heart squeeze. “Seemed prudent to make it official.”

I twisted in his arms, staring up at him. His expression was serious, but warmth lived in his gaze. Vulnerability. “Make what official?”

“Should be mindful of your reputation. You’re a doctor. Very respectable profession. Can’t have you living in sin with a reconditioned operative in a remote refuge.”

Laughter burst out of me. “Respectable? Wolfe, I’m wanted for questioning by half the intelligence agencies in Europe. There’s nothing remotely respectable about any of this.”

“Standards.” His thumb traced over the band, the touch gentle.

I looked at the metal again, then at him. The glow painted him in warm gold, highlighting the sharp line of his jaw, his gaze that held so much now where once they’d been empty. Things I couldn’t always name. But I sensed them radiating from him, steady and sure.

“You’re serious.”

“I’m always serious.”

“You’re proposing. In a remote shelter. While we’re isolated and hiding from a criminal organization.”

“Technically, I already proposed. You’re just now noticing.” The corner of his mouth lifted. “Not my fault you were too busy philosophizing about winter solstice.”

Another laugh bubbled up. “Most men at least ask first.”

“I’m not most men.”

“No.” I touched his jaw, fingers gentle against stubble. “You’re really not.”

The humor faded from his expression, replaced by rawness. “You gave me back my name. My choices. My humanity. Everything they tried to erase. You stood in front of me when my own mind turned against me, and you didn’t run.”

“I couldn’t run from you.” My throat tightened. “You became the thing I was running toward.”

His palm covered mine, pressing it against his cheek, turning into my touch. “I was built to be a weapon. You taught me I could be someone else.”

“You taught me I could break my own rules.” I blinked against the sting in my eyes.

“Risky decision.”

“The best ones usually are.”

Darkness had fully claimed the world outside now. The pane reflected only us, wrapped around each other.

“So,” Wolfe’s voice softened, “are we engaged? Married? What do we call this?”

“I don’t know.” I twisted the band, testing its weight. “We’ve broken so many rules already. Maybe we create our own definition.”

“Our rules.” Fierceness entered his expression.

“Ours.” I rose on my toes to brush my lips against his.

“Then I’m calling it married.”

“You’re calling it… just like that? Without even asking?”