He hands the finished design to Andy.“This is for Madison.The ink will transfer to her skin and you can use this design as a stencil.”
“I need to sterilize the area first.Don’t want an infection.I can freehand the design.That paper is not sterile.”
Rygar waves his hand in front of the man’s face and a brief flash of light comes from Rygar’s palm.“You do not need to worry about infection.”
Andy blinks slowly, then focuses on me as he takes the paper.“I’m sure it’s fine.You’re right, this is perfect for a stencil.”
What just happened?What did he do to him?Is this more of himObi-won-ingpeople to get what he needs?Because how freaking cool!Do you know what I could do with that type of technology?The possibilities are endless.
Rygar is busy with the second design and speaks without looking up.“Take care in how you touch my mate.”
“No worries, dude.I’m a professional.Give me just a minute to get everything set up.”
Rygar returns his attention to the design for his tattoo.Something nudges at my brain as I stare at the strange symbols.They’re so foreign to the image catalog in my head, I can’t begin to describe them.Maybe they’re what would happen if a hieroglyph and a barcode got together and had a baby?
“What does this say?”I trail my fingers over the ink when he lifts his pen.A shimmering spark leaps from the ink to my fingertips.What was that?
I shake it off.Likely a combo of horniness, alcohol and my sexy new husband looking at me as if he’s ready to give me unlimited orgasms.
“It’s your name in my language.You will carry my name as I carry yours.It’s how my people proclaim their commitment to one another.”
Awe.My new hubby is putting my name on his body.I want to growl with satisfaction.A possessive streak I didn’t know I had roars through me with resounding approval.The idea of branding ourselves is primitive and archaic.Obsessive and irreversible.My heart can’t explain to my head why I find it so stinking hot, but I do.Lust rolls through me like a rogue wave.“And then we’ll get a hotel room?”
“Yes, I will make you mine once the ritual is complete.”
“Hot damn, let’s do this.”
Andy waves us over to the black tattoo chair.“Well darlin’, you’re first.Why don’t you hop up onto the chair?And here’s a stretchy headband so you can pull your hair back out of the way for me.”
I take the black band once I settle in the chair and secure my hair.
“This might be a little cold but I gotta at least start with sterilize skin.”He wipes a cool cloth down my neck as he shoots an annoyed look at Rygar.I wrinkle my nose at the cloying scent of rubbing alcohol.
“All right, I’m applying the stencil.Then I’ll get started on inking it.”
Andy places the stencil into the precise location, Rygar directing him the whole time.When the design presses to my skin, I wait, holding my breath.It’s time for him to stab me a thousand, million, billion times with the electric needle.
He turns it on.I hear the buzzing.
Don’t think about it.My skin begins to tingle in anticipation of the pain, at least that’s what it seems like to me.I grimace.
Rygar kneels beside me and takes my hand as the whirring buzz of the tattoo gun starts.“Madison, I need you to repeat after me right as he begins the tattoo.”
“Okay.”Anything to distract myself from the pain and the fact I’m getting my new hubby’s name tattooed on me.
He interlocks our fingers and utters the words he wants me to say, “I join with you freely, my soul now bound to yours.Our bond is unbreakable, now and forevermore.”
Keeping my smile in place, hiding my wince as the needle does its thing, I repeat the words he wants me to say.“I join with you freely, my soul now bound to yours.Our bond is unbreakable, now and forevermore.”
I shiver at the finality I feel.Images of Rygar flash through my mind, things I couldn’t possibly know about him: what he looked like as a boy, the moment he was chosen and promoted to a command position, the responsibility he feels to protect his people, and distant planets he’s visited that look nothing like Earth.Strange emotions float in and out of my mind, some good, some bad, none linger.My heartbeat feels sluggish, my blood thick, my body heavy, as if for a moment gravity doubled.I don’t think I could stand right now, even if I wanted to.Through it all, Rygar is there, and the whirlwind of emotions I feel around him grow stronger.I lose all sense of time as the tattoo takes shape and form on my neck.I don’t know if it’s the buzzing needle, the ink, or the inscription making my skin heat, but the sensation spreads through me, like light blazing a path to every dark corner of my heart and soul.
The moment my tattoo is finished, my pulse staggers at the wealth of sensations buffeting me.I am drowning in blue eyes.“Rygar.”His name is little more than a whisper passing my lips.I don’t want to talk, I want to sink into him and never let him go.
Andy’s abrupt chatter startles me.“There you go, darlin’, all finished.Take a look in the mirror, and then I can cover it up.”
“There is no need for a bandage.”Rygar growls, his voice heavy with lust.
He helps me stand up and then takes a seat in the tattoo chair.Without releasing my hand, he taps his suit a few times with his free hand.The stiff collar retracts, exposing the skin of his neck and part of his shoulder.
