“Fuck, Helion. Give a guy some warning next time.” Seth Mills lowered his rifle and glanced at something behind me.
I turned to find Oberon Arcas in an embrace with my mate. Kissing her. Arms around her.
She was kissing him back.
She had a fucking mating collar around her neck.
His?
I took a step toward them before I’d even registered the movement. Warlord Razmus stopped me with one huge hand dead center in my chest. “Careful, Commander. Real careful.”
Fuck me, he was correct. I could not afford to fuck this up, not if I wanted Willow back in my life, and in my bed.
Which I did, more than I wanted to keep breathing.
I closed my eyes and called upon the deep, dark well of icy self-control I’d created—and perfected—the last few years. The darkness I had used to bury my grief. My love for my brother. I used it now to hold down the urge to rip Oberon’s head from his shoulders.
“Thank you, Raz.”
The giant Warlord blinked at me, slowly. “You have never called me that.”
“It’s what she calls you, isn’t it?” I’d heard her speak to him, and about him, on multiple occasions. It was a familiar name. A name used by friends.
“It is.”
I lifted my hand and covered his where it rested on my chest, holding me back from charging into a volatile situation. It was more than his hand on my chest, his word of caution. I realized my entire team had been there for me, stuck by me, stayed with me through the last few years of hell—and I’d not treated one of them as a friend. Assets. Skill sets. Tools I had available.
Never friends.
Which was fucking stupid. What was a friend, anyway? A person one cared about, helped out, looked after. Like he was doing right now. “I’ve been an ass, to all of you.” I looked from Raz’s shocked expression to Kayn, who stared at me with calculation in his eyes. Always thinking, that Hunter. Too fucking much like me. “Thank you.” I squeezed Raz’s hand and lifted it away. “Thank you both. For everything.”
Kayn dipped his chin in response but said nothing. He didn’t want to be here. I knew why. He’d looked Oberon in the face and told him that Amalia was gone. Now, if we continued with this assault on the Hive base, we would have to deal with that Prillon’s grief as well.
Not even denial was strong enough to overlook a corpse. Gods forbid we should find the remains of Oberon’s sister.
Raz dropped his hand to his side and tilted his chin in Willow’s direction. “Don’t push her too hard. She’ll run.”
“I know.”
Raz nodded and stepped out of my way.
Willow wasstillkissing that fucker. Her arms were around his shoulders and she was pressed, fully, against him. Her hair was down around her shoulders in a wild tangle I’d only ever seen when she ripped out one braid and began another.
Gods be damned, I don’t think either one of them noticed our arrival.
They were both consumed.
What the fuck was that Prillon doing? Did he plan on fucking her right here? On the fucking floor? Because hehadfucked my mate. I knew the way she kissed, the way she melted into her lover, the way she would wrap her arms around his head and hold him like she never wanted to let go.
My hands clenched into fists at my sides. She wasn’t, technically, mine. She could fuck whoever she wanted, whenever she desired to do so.
Didn’t mean I had to fucking like it.
And what the fuck was she wearing? A Coalition uniform? With full battle armor? Aweaponstrapped to her thigh? Every curve on display. Her rounded ass, full breasts, soft thighs…
His hand was on her ass. The other? Buried in her hair. His lips never leaving hers, like he couldn’t get enough.
I took two steps. Three. Close enough to hear her little sigh of pleasure.
