Page 17

After seeing Mia safely to the science center, Zoran took his place among the early morning Ky’Lota practitioners, seeking solace in the disciplined company of his fellow aspirants along the path.

His mother led the forms from the center of the Council Grounds, surrounded by concentric circles of warriors and civilians alike. Zoran was surprised to see a few humans there as well, dotted among the more experienced Xeruvians as was their custom. His nephew Nem stood near the back, the top of his head no higher than the hips of the two warriors flanking him.

Zoran stepped into place behind Nem, dividing his attention equally between perfecting his own forms and analyzing the forms of his nephew. For a youngling of but five years, Nem exhibited extraordinary control and focus, far more than was usual for that age. Zoran’s heart ached for the boy. Here before him stood the consequences of the disasters that had befallen their people: a motherless child whose light had dimmed under the weight of such grievous loss.

The morning bloomed around them, unfurling heat and light in equal measure. By the time Alara guided the group through the final form, a light sweat coated Zoran’s skin. The group disbursed, with experienced warriors doling out praise and advice alike, some lingering to chat while others left to tend to family and duty.

Nem turned around and bowed formally to his uncle. “ Kii-la, nona-il , Uncle Zoran.”

That odd, achy feeling throbbed in Zoran’s chest once more. Nem favored his mother, Zoran’s younger sister. Kygana had possessed an uncommon beauty, her features graceful and even. On her son, those same features spoke of a future filled with many conquests and broken hearts.

Ah, Nyklan , Zoran thought. I can see why your son’s presence would prick the scar of a broken mating bond, but I cannot forgive you for holding this precious youngling at arm’s length over a matter in which he had no hand .

Zoran scooped up the youngling and held him to his chest, suppressing his humor behind a solemn mask. “ Nona-il’la , Nephew Nem. Have you come to stand at my side while I negotiate a treaty with the dreaded northern clans?”

The first hint of laughter brightened Nem’s expression. “Do you think Mother Alara will let me this time?”

“I think she will likely say young warriors must first learn their clan’s history before attempting to parlay with such a fierce opponent.”

“I am fierce, Uncle!” Nem scrunched his face into a ferocious growl, then ruined the effect with a pleased smile. “See?”

“Very fierce,” Zoran agreed solemnly. “Must I fear meeting you soon in the challenge circle?”

Nem laughed and threw his arms around Zoran’s neck. “No, no! Not until I am very old like you.”

Alara watched them with veiled amusement as she approached. “If my son is very old, I must be ancient.”

Nem shook his head, though he did not relinquish his hold on his uncle.

Zoran shifted his grip and met his mother’s level gaze. “Mia fares well.”

“Of that, I had no doubt,” Alara replied. “Love tames even the most ferocious beast.”

Hope sent Zoran’s heart into a wild leap that ended in a tumble toward despair. “She does not love me.”

“I was not speaking of her love, my son.”

“I love you,” Nem whispered, saving Zoran from his mother’s astute observation.

“I love you as well, nephew,” Zoran said. “Perhaps you would like to visit my mate this evening.”

“Is she nice?”

“Quite.”

“Does she like younglings?”

The tremor in Nem’s young voice nearly drove a sword through Zoran’s chest, and he vowed then and there to find a way to ease the tension between father and son. Now, before Nem grew to believe that Nyklan had forgotten how to love him.

The love remained. Zoran was certain of that. It had merely been buried beneath unrelenting grief and sorrow.

Would he fare any better should the Fates ferry Mia into the beyond?

Zoran shoved the thought away before it could take root. No, it was as he said: not even death could separate them.

“I believe she does,” Zoran said at last. “Have you not yet met her?”

At his nephew’s mumbled no , Zoran shot an inquiring gaze at his mother.

“I thought it best to wait an introduction on Lord Kerus’s pleasure.”

Zoran curled his upper lip into a snarl at his mother’s mild rebuke. “Tonight, then, or soon thereafter. A family meal?”

“The meal may have to wait. Mia sent a group message earlier proclaiming tonight movie night .”

Zoran shared a baffled look with his mother. Ah, well. Mia would explain. “I shall message her myself and gain permission for youngling nephews to attend this movie night.”

With that, he handed Nem over to more capable hands and retreated to his office in the jutji ’s administrative building, located on the town side of the Council Grounds. Once there, he changed his mind about messaging Mia and initiated a call instead. A moment later, she answered, her smiling visage filling the viewscreen.

“Long time, no see,” she said, grinning.

Zoran found himself at a loss for words. “Is this a common greeting among humans?”

“Among my culture, yes. It’s a greeting used when you’ve recently seen someone.”

“That is as baffling as most other human speech.”

Mia giggled so hard, her body rocked away from her viewscreen. “You should try being on this end of Xeruvian. Is there a problem?”

“Can I not call my mate whenever it pleases me?”

“Of course, Lord Kerus .”

He snarled in the back of his throat, drawing another laugh from her.

“You’re so cute when you do that. So, oh!” she exclaimed, then glanced down. “Hold on. I just got a text from your mom. You want to bring your nephew to movie night? I didn’t know you had a nephew.”

“He is the son of my deceased sister and spends much time with our family.”

“That’s what Alara said, sort of. Definitely in more detail.” Mia’s face flashed through emotions faster than he could read them before settling into a careful smile. “Of course, he’s welcome. You are, too. It’s going to be a real shindig. Popcorn, snacks, the works. We’re inviting mates to come along and, of course, any unmated warriors who want to drop by.”

“This sounds expansive.”

“You say that like we’re inviting the entire jutji . It’s just people who work here, their mates, and any of the unmated warriors who came along on your little adventure to Earth.”

Zoran grunted. “A party, then?”

“Sort of. It’s—wait. Do you know what a movie night is?”

“A party,” he said firmly.

She snickered. “Oh, this is going to be fun. We’re setting it up at the compound. There’s a room there that can hold everyone, I think. We’ve already got someone over there setting up a power conversion system.”

“Should I ask why you need a power conversion system?”

“DVDs,” she said, enunciating each syllable. “Whoops! Jyrak needs me. Meet me at the compound after work? We’re going to have a communal evening meal there.”

“If it so pleases you.”

“Oh, it pleases me very much. Peace be unto you, beloved.”

She ended the call before her parting word could settle fully into his understanding.

Zoran placed a hand to his heart as his legs went weak. “Beloved,” he murmured. Was Mia coming to love him as he loved her, or had the word been a meaningless endearment?

He pondered the difference and decided that it mattered little. His mate was softening toward him, accepting him. Including him in her life. That was enough, for the moment.

Regretfully, he tucked his musings away and initiated a call with Kaelen of Clan Drexus, to extend the hand of peace to his long-time rival. Aklan of Clan Phyrz had made a good point. Zoran needed to find a way to bring his opponents to heel.

Kaelen accepted the call and appeared on the viewscreen bare from the chest up. The other warlord was one of the more massive clan leaders on Zephyria, as tall as Zoran though bulkier, possessed of the cold-eyed stare that had brought more than one enemy to his knees. The lynchpin of the northern clans, Kaelen’s ancestors had built Clan Drexus’s jutji out of the rugged, evergreen-strewn mountains ranging northward into the tundra. The current Lord Drexus had spent his youth cutting and hauling timber out of the great mountain ranges to trade with his clan’s neighbors, and bore the scars to prove it.

Kaelen turned that hard stare on the viewscreen, his expression as unyielding as one of his mountains. “Kerus.”

“Drexus,” Zoran replied, foregoing, as Kaelen had, the traditional greeting and nod of respect. “I hope my call did not interrupt your morning Ky’Lota practice.”

Kaelen grunted. “If it had, we would not now be speaking. What do you want?”

Zoran suppressed his kneejerk irritation and strained for calm. “Clan Kerus is holding a Day of Remembrance in Arkkukari to honor the Pjorii and our dead. As the human females will be in attendance, all unmated males of the warrior and warlord ranks are also welcome to attend.”

Kaelen made a show of swiping sweat off his forehead and chest with a drying cloth, then drawing on a thin sweater before replying. “What concessions must my clan’s warriors make in return for this honor?”

“No concessions save your attendance. If your warriors require accommodations—”

“We shall make do. Is that all?”

A muscle in Zoran’s jaw jumped. Was the invitation not enough? “A vyirkolen was killed near the original fort.”

Kaelen’s eyes narrowed. “Are you leveling an accusation against me and mine?”

“Only if you and yours are responsible.”

“We are not. What was the target?”

“My mate.”

The other warlord hissed in a breath. “She is well?”

“It rendered her no harm. We have found no trace of additional vyirkolen , yet must we all remain wary.”

Kaelen remained quiet for a moment, his eyes fixed on Zoran. “Indeed. If that is all?”

“Until the next Council meeting, yes.”

“Render my regards to Lady Kerus. I look forward to meeting her and her companions on the Day of Remembrance.”

“Peace be unto you,” Zoran gritted out.

Kaelen grunted and cut the call.

Zoran rubbed the base of one horn where an inauspicious pain throbbed. Why had he not reversed the order of the calls and spoken with his beloved mate after dealing with Drexus? Then, at least, he would now be calm and at peace instead of frustrated at the other warlord’s blatant lack of regard.

The DVDs were a huge hit. Mia shouldn’t have been surprised by how popular this small taste of home was among her fellow abductees, or how curious the Xeruvians were about entertainment, Earth style.

It hadn’t taken long for one of the engineers to sort out the power issue, for others to sort through the DVDs and pull out the ones most likely to be suitable for group viewing, and for the Xeruvians themselves to organize a pre-showing meal.

Mia just hoped the movie studios would forgive any copyright infringement for a group viewing.

Later that evening, after two meetings with Alara and a satisfying dive into her own research, Mia settled onto a cushion in the compound’s dining room for the evening meal. Leona and Kira had flown in with their mates, though the males had retreated to another table, giving the women time together. Mia and her friends were joined by Jyrak and her daughter, Rejala, and by Isabella Rossi.

Zoran, Alara, and a little boy entered after the meal had begun. Mia waved them over and stood as they approached.

“Hey,” she said, taking them all in with her smile. “I was afraid you wouldn’t make it.”

“And miss the exciting new Earth DVD?” Alara replied. “We would never!”

Mia and the other women sitting at her table laughed.

“Come sit with us,” Mia said. “We’ll make room.”

Zoran caught her fingertips in his. “I shall sit with the other males, allowing you females to gossip about us to your heart’s content.”

“Oh, we have been,” she said. “Trust me.”

He leaned closer and whispered, for her alone, “Must I punish you again when we return home?”

“I wouldn’t call that punishment.” Especially since her body remembered all too well what he’d done to her. She drew away from him and smiled down at the boy standing calm and watchful beside Alara. “Hello. My name’s Mia.”

The boy looked from Alara to Zoran before turning to Mia and nodding solemnly. “I am Nem, son of Nyklan of Clan Zikri.”

A fork clattered to the table. Mia glanced around as Isabella murmured, “Sorry.” The other woman casually picked up her fork, her attention so focused on her meal that it pricked Mia’s curiosity.

“My nephew,” Zoran said. To Nem, he added, “Would you prefer to sit with the warriors or the scientists?”

With another look around, Nem dropped his grandmother’s hand and tentatively placed it in Mia’s, shocking her.

“Oh!” she said. “I’d enjoy the company.”

“Someone must protect the women,” Nem responded, so seriously Mia had to bite her lip to stifle a laugh.

Even Zoran’s lips twitched with amusement. He knelt beside Nem and murmured something too low for Mia to catch, then pressed an encouraging hand to the boy’s shoulder and rose.

Mia touched his elbow before he could leave. “You’ll sit with us during the movie?”

“I shall never wander far, beloved.”

She nearly melted into a puddle where she stood, and was saved from complete ignominy by Leona’s snort.

Alara turned a speculative look on Mia, but all she said was, “I shall retrieve portions for myself and Nem, if you would make a place for us at your table.”

“Of course,” Mia said, and tugged Nem forward to do just that.

The meal hour sped past. Nem sat between her and Isabella while Alara chose a seat between Leona and Kira, drawing them into a conversation about their lives on Earth. Mia got the feeling the older woman would jump at the chance to visit.

For her part, Mia enjoyed a conversation with Jyrak and her precociously charming daughter. Nem sat silently beside her, his hand never far from hers. Isabella withdrew so far into herself, Mia wondered if she should do more to encourage the other woman to speak.

Finally, the time came for the meal to be cleared away and the movie to start. Everyone helped with cleanup and moving tables out of the way, as the dining room was the one room meant to fit everyone at once. The cushions were rearranged. Mara Sullivan fiddled with the projector and the DVD player. When she was done, someone hit the lights and the movie began playing against a large wall.

Zoran settled beside Mia and pulled Nem into his lap. “I was uncertain what to expect from these DVDs.”

“You’re going to love them,” Mia whispered. “Trust me.”

She snuggled against him, content, and quickly became engrossed in the movie. They’d debated all day which one to show. Some had wanted to go with an animated adventure, like Cars or Finding Nemo , to keep it kid friendly. Finally, though, they’d narrowed it down to Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Princess Bride so the adult males in attendance wouldn’t get bored. Mia had had the deciding vote, and it had been a tough one. She’d ended up closing her eyes and choosing at random. As Indiana raced across the screen, she thought it was a good choice.

The Xeruvians in the audience were all receiving a translation directly into their earpieces. Mia hoped they could understand most of the film’s context. The action, at least, was sure to keep everyone engaged.

Or so she thought until she caught Raelka Korlis sneering at her. Mia lifted her chin and stared the young woman down. Zoran had chosen her. Raelka would just have to learn to accept that.

Nem crawled into her lap and yawned, and Mia put Raelka and her ilk firmly out of her mind.

“What is it, baby?” she whispered.

He whispered something in Xeruvian, then buried his head against her shoulder. She cuddled him close, rocking him gently as his body went limp against her. A fierce protectiveness washed over her. How many children like Nem had she encountered over the years? Children whose parents had died or abandoned them, children who desperately needed someone to shelter them from the cruelties life inevitably heaped on their young shoulders. She’d had to sit helplessly on the sidelines for entirely too long, unable to save those children, but this child, she thought fiercely. This child she could help.

This child she could love.

Zoran draped an arm around her shoulders and brushed his lips across her ear. “Would that you carried our child within you.”

Soon , she thought. She wouldn’t be able to resist him for much longer, and wasn’t sure, in that moment, why she shouldn’t give in now.

Her gaze fell on her friends, seated nearby. Lorik brushed Leona’s hair back, then pressed a kiss to her shoulder. Kira leaned into Ryrda, who was looking at his mate as if she were the most precious woman in the universe. Jyrak’s brother Thorian had brought his mate, Elara Vega, and held her hand tenderly.

Mia sighed and leaned into Zoran’s touch. This mating thing wasn’t so bad, if it meant finding a deep and abiding love.

And she did love him, though she couldn’t quite pinpoint the moment when she’d fallen. Despite his fierce possessiveness, despite his demands, she’d drifted into loving him, like a leaf gliding slowly along a gentle breeze. He was a good man, a proud one, not without his faults. But those faults she could forgive if he could find it in himself to look beyond the mating instinct and see her for who she was, warts and all.

His hand stroked over her hair, drawing her gaze to his. “What troubles you, beloved?”

Her heart clinched at the endearment. He said it so casually she wondered if he meant it or if it was simply what mates called each other.

“Nothing, my love,” she whispered.

His gaze warmed, then he pressed a tender kiss to her forehead and tucked her against his side.

Later, after the movie ended and people started clearing up or drifting home, Mother Alara collected Nem from Mia.

“I see my grandson has claimed you as well,” she said, amused.

Mia unwound Nem’s arms from her neck and passed him to Alara. Her arms ached from holding him. For such a small child, Nem was surprisingly heavy. “I was surprised he accepted me so easily.”

“Yet how could he not, when his uncle worships you as a goddess?”

Mia flushed. “He does not.”

“My daughter, my daughter,” Alara said in the same singsong tone she used when she chastised her son. “Have you not eyes to see? Has your heart not found him good and wise?”

“He’s a good man.”

“And a worthy one, else I would not entrust you to him. Do not make him wait too long, Mia, for his love can only control his instincts for so long.”

Mia sucked in a gasp and whispered, “He loves me?”

“Have I not said so? Has he not demonstrated his love on every occasion?” Alara shook her head, clicking her teeth in disapproval. “We will speak more of this on the morrow. I must return Nem to his father soon. Peace be unto you, my daughter.”

“And unto you, my mother.”

Alara flashed a pleased smile as she carried Nem away, leaving Mia deep in thought.

Zoran collected her much as Alara had collected Nem, by swinging her into his arms and carrying her to his conveyance for the ride home. She rested her hand on his heart, letting its solid thump soothe her.

When they’d locked themselves inside their small home, Mia whirled on Zoran and placed a hand flat on his chest, halting him just inside the entrance.

He stared down at her, his head cocked in curiosity. “Yes, my love?”

Love .

The word pierced her to her core. Was it true, then? Did he really love her as she’d come to love him?

She inhaled a slow breath, gathering her courage into a resolute knot in her chest. “If I run from you, would you chase me?”

His nostrils flared and the color leached from his eyes. “You wish to engage in the mating dance?”

“Yes.”

“If you run, I will not be able to control what happens when I catch you.”

When , not if.

She grinned, embracing the untamed recklessness boiling in her blood. For him , she realized. Only for him could she throw caution to the wind. Zoran would always catch her. He would always be her haven in the storm.

Slowly, she stepped back, locking her gaze with his as she kicked off her sandals, untied her shinsek’uk , and let it drop to the floor. She’d worn a loose skirt to movie night, a pale yellow to offset the robe’s deep red. That too fell to the floor, then she peeled off the matching tunic and underwear and stood before him nude, unashamed, letting him look his fill.

His eyes held hers for a long moment, burning her with the intensity of his gaze. Slowly, he took in her shoulders and the flutter of her heart between her breasts, the soft curves of her stomach and hips and thighs, the length of her legs, her bare feet. He stripped off his weapons, unfastened his shinsek’uk and shrugged it off, and kicked off his shoes, his gaze never leaving her body.

She took a half step back, and a savage rumble began low in his chest.

“Mia?” he snarled.

“Yes, my love?”

“ Run .”

She whirled around and fled toward the bedroom, her heart beating so wildly, it drowned out any noise he might’ve made. But she felt him at her back, felt his eyes on her, felt his heat drawing near.

She’d just scrambled up the short flight of stairs leading to the bedroom when his fingers grazed down her spine. She shrieked out a laugh and leapt for the bed, and he caught her, tumbling them onto it in a flurry of growls and muffled laughter and flailing limbs.

All too soon, he pinned her to the bed with his massive body, holding her arms above her head with one hand at her wrists.

His gaze locked onto hers, nearly feral with his need, and he snarled, “ Mine .”

“Always,” she whispered.

He claimed her mouth in a brutal kiss, grazing his fangs over her lips, sucking her tongue into his mouth, savaging her where before he’d always been so careful. Even when he’d locked them in her office and driven her to three swift orgasms, he’d been gentle.

Now, he was all warrior, claiming his mate in an eons old dance she’d only just begun to understand.

He broke off the kiss with a fierce curse and buried his face in her throat. His fangs pierced her skin so sharply she gasped and arched against him, and gasped again when he rolled onto his back, carrying her with him. She landed sprawling across him with her legs to either side of his hips and his erection trapped between them, heavy and hard and oh so tempting.

“Accept me,” he demanded, his eyes a hot glow above the blood coating his lips. “Love me.”

She cupped his cheek gently. “I do, pjoril .”

His pupils constricted to pinpoints in his now-white irises. “Mia,” he groaned.

And she could make him wait no more.

Carefully, she guided his erection to her core and twisted her hips, pushing down until the broad tip slid into her.

“More,” he demanded. “Take all of me.”

“You’re so big.”

His mouth quirked into a smug smile, then he lifted his hips, pushed down on hers, and filled her in one smooth glide, stretching her painfully. Tears popped into her eyes. Holy cow, he really was huge, and it had been a long, long time for her. So long since she’d trusted another man.

Though she’d never trusted one as much as she did her mate. Even though he’d taken her away from everything she knew. Even though he’d bound them together without explaining it first. Against all reason, she trusted him, and that made the temporary pain of their first joining ease away into nothing.

Zoran flicked his thumb along her clit and curled his upper body toward her, sucking her nipple into his mouth, his fangs sharp as he marked her again. Mia dug her fingernails into his shoulders and let her own instincts take over, rocking her hips against his, encouraging him to take from her, to lose his tenuous grasp on his control.

She wanted to know what that felt like, wanted to know the depths of his own wild heart so she could find the depths of hers.

Her first orgasm took her by surprise, shuddering through her so sharp and quick, she nearly screamed.

“Again,” Zoran growled as he rolled her onto her back, still seated deep within her.

His hips drew back and he thrust into her hard, his hips pistoning against hers in an unforgiving pace. Her limbs were so weak from her orgasm, she could barely hang on. She dug her fingernails into his back, arching her hips against his as her teeth scraped across his chest.

He uttered a string of untranslatable Xeruvian curses, but she got the gist. Her mate liked it when she marked him.

God, was she going to mark him tonight.

He stiffened above her on a low groan, and she felt his cock throb inside her, triggering another flutter from her pussy. Without a word, he withdrew and flipped her onto her stomach, pushed her knees under her, and stroked a possessive hand along her bottom.

The slap on her butt cheek took her by surprise. She buried her face in the bed linens, biting her lip to contain a plea for more.

Zoran rumbled out a low, pleased laugh, then his finger pushed into her core. “Your pretty little pussy looks good coated in my seed.”

She groaned into the sheets, already so hot for him again, her hips rocked back of their own accord.

“Worry not, lover,” he growled. “We have only just begun.”

Quickly he drove her to another orgasm, then buried himself inside her, pushing her higher and higher with every desperate thrust of his hips, until she shattered completely beneath him, and found peace in his furious drive to claim her.

Zoran loved her so thoroughly and for so long that Mia lost track of time. They fell into an exhausted sleep, only for him to rouse a short while later and drag her into his sensual spell again. He could’ve loved her for days, and she wouldn’t have known it. And wouldn’t have cared if he had.

She drifted slowly out of sleep, rising gently into the faint glow of the emerging day. Her arm flopped onto the empty space beside her, and her muscles protested the slightest movement. Not just the muscles in her thighs and core; all of them. Light pain of another kind flared in the bite marks he’d given her. She measured them one by one, smiling smugly with her eyes closed, wallowing in the afterglow of their lovemaking.

The bed shifted beside her, and a warm cloth stroked her throat. “Is the pain very great, pjora-la ?”

Mia popped one eye open and squinted at Zoran. His eyes were hidden beneath lowered eyelids and his mouth had tightened into a grim slash. Scratches scored his chest and thighs where she’d clawed him in her desperation, and little bruises bloomed along his throat and chest where she’d dug her teeth into him, marking him the way he’d marked her.

She nearly purred with the satisfaction of it. If that jealous little witch Raelka could see Zoran now, she’d know once and for all who he belonged with. Not that she’d let another woman anywhere near him, Mia thought, grinning. What’s good for the goose and all that.

The cloth hit a particularly fresh bite, and Mia flinched.

Zoran’s hand paused and he lowered his head. “I must apologize, beloved, yet can find no words to express the depths of my sorrow.”

Mia shifted her head along the bed. “What have you done that needs an apology?”

“This.” He rose suddenly and stalked away, then turned around and walked right back, stopping at the edge of the bed. When he spoke again, a dark emotion strangled his voice. “What I have done to you is unforgiveable.”

She glanced down at her body, stifled a wince at the bruises and wounds decorating it, not to mention the dried semen. “Oh.”

“Oh?” he exclaimed. “Such is all you can say? Have I robbed you of words as well as your dignity? Your safety?” He dropped to his knees and pressed his forehead into her hand. “There is no excuse. Even in the midst of the mating frenzy, I should never have lost control.”

“Zoran.” When he didn’t move, she rolled cautiously onto her side, careful of stiff muscles. “My love, look at me. Please.”

He raised his head slowly, and in his eyes she saw a grief and agony so vast, it nearly broke her heart.

“I wanted you to lose control,” she confessed. “I wanted all of you last night, wanted you to have all of me. Do you understand what I’m saying, Zoran? I love you and I wanted to give you everything. I wanted you to be free so you could give me everything, too.”

His gaze drifted down her body and landed on a particularly deep bite mark on her hip. “You are not angry?”

“No.”

“You do not wish…to leave me?”

“Absolutely not,” she said firmly. “Where would you get an idea like that?”

Honestly. He was so stubborn sometimes, so blind to the way she felt about him. Fear had done that to him. One day, maybe, her love would rid him of it forever.

She stroked a finger down his arm over one of the bruises she’d given him. “Besides, I marked you, too. Do you want to leave me now over a few love marks?”

“It is not the same,” he grumbled. “I am a warlord, born and bred for pain. You are soft and feminine and lovely.”

She snorted. “Tasty, too, apparently.”

“This as well, yes.” He lifted the cloth and rubbed it gently over another bruise, one above her breast. “You are truly not angry?”

“I wanted this,” she reminded him gently. “How could I not? I love you.”

“Love.” He groaned and dropped his head again. “If my cock could rise to the occasion, I would bury myself within you again. Perhaps this time, I would not allow even one space along your skin to go unmarked.”

Amazingly, warmth flooded through her, as softly as the breeze sliding through the jungle around them. “That sounds like a plan to me.”

“Ah, Mia, my love. You captured my heart with your first smile. Surely no other male could love his mate as much as I love you.”

He stood and lifted her into his arms, carried her into the shower, and together, they tended each other with tender kisses and the love blooming so newly between them.