For once, I didn’t want to be standing on my own two feet. I wanted to be in his arms, pressed against his strength. Safe. Protected. Loved. I looked up into the face of my beast and held out my arms.
He reacted instantly, lifting me off my feet. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. When I was confident he knew exactly how badly I wanted him, I pulled back and pressed my forehead to his. “Are you all right? I’m sorry I couldn’t watch. I can’t stand to see you hurt.”
My beast stroked my back with a gentleness no creature his size should be able to manage, yet he did. “Mate.”
The one word sent a flood of warmth through me. “Mate. You’re mine. Okay? Mine forever.”
“Mine.” I’d heard the beast say it many times, but none had felt like this. This time I knew—and accepted—what that word meant. Pleasure. Protection. Respect. Love.
Home. Tazo was my home now.
Tazo lifted me so that I sat on his shoulder and the crowd cheered. I smiled and waved, proud that my mate had just kicked the shit out of two huge, scary Prillon warriors who were, at this very moment, being attended to by medical staff wearing green uniforms, waving their little magic wands.
Maybe, next time, I could force myself to watch.
No. I doubted I’d ever be able to watch anyone hurt him.
In a couple weeks, that would be me wearing green, training to be one of them. I’d see my sister, soon. She was safe, here, on The Colony, with her own beast. I had no doubt Warlord Kai would win her heart as easily as Tazo had stolen mine. Until then?
I looked down into the eyes of the beast I adored and thanked god, or fate, or the freaking Hive for bringing him into my life.
He. Was.Mine.
EPILOGUE
WARLORD TAZO, SIX WEEKS LATER
My mate was glowing, happiness sparkled in her eyes as she laughed and chatted with her sister.
Warlord Kai and I sat around the elaborately decorated dining table and watched our mates by candlelight, a nuance Lavender had insisted wasromantic.
I needed no romance, my heart and soul were already hers. I simply needed to be in her presence to be content. The beast agreed, watching the proceedings with a quiet contemplation I had not known him capable of.
I glanced at Kai and wondered if he felt the same. Tamed. Content. At peace for the first time since childhood, before the war, before the endless battles, killing, capture and torture at the hands of our enemies. To this day, I was not certain how I’d survived.
For her.
The beast had fought for our mate, for the future promised to him, for this very moment.
Larkspur lifted her glass of a sweet juice she called sparkling cider. “A toast.”
“Oh, goodie. I love toasts.” Lavender lifter her glass and held it high, nodding her chin at me to participate. Kai and I both lifted our tankards of Atlan Ale and waited.
Larkspur didn’t speak. Her gaze locked with Lavender’s and they both burst into giggles. “Should we tell them first?”
Lavender looked up at me from under her lashes, the love I saw there stole my breath. Gods be damned, I’d done it. I’d captured her heart. Made her happy. Proved my worth as her mate. That look made me want to kick our guests out, strip her naked, and thank her with my mouth on her pussy until she was a hot, sweaty mess of orgasms. Then I’d fuck her, make her come again and again until she collapsed in my arms, asleep on my chest.
It had quickly become my favorite way to sleep.
“Tell us what?” Kai asked.
His question earned him another round of excited laughter.
What were these two females up to?
Lavender reached for my hand and I gently folded my hand over hers. “I am beginning to feel like a fool, holding this ale in the air. To what are we toasting?”
Lavender and Larkspur locked gazes once more and my mate gave her sister a nearly imperceptible nod. “Do it. Just like we planned.” She twisted around to look at the control panel by the door. “Comm, activate video recording.”
