“Not Iven.”
“Oh.” Was that shock in her voice? Or fear? I did not want her to fear me.
“Beast.”
“I thought—” Her small hand shoved at my chest and I looked down into her upturned face. She studied me, her gaze lingering on every detail of my appearance. “I wondered what you’d look like.” She lifted her hand to press her fingers to my lips. “You’re very handsome, beast.”
“Yes.” Who was I to argue with my mate? If she believed me to be handsome, then I was.
Her soft laugh melted away some of my rage. Seeing my mating cuff on her wrist helped even more. “Mine.”
“You said that.”
Fuck yes, I said it. I would say it a thousand times. “Mine.”
She sighed and looked around. “So, is this how it’s going to happen? You’re going to strip me naked in the cold, wet forest and claim me?”
“Cold?” How had I not considered her comfort? She was small. Fragile. The weather was chilly. The season late autumn, nearly winter. The season of ice and snow and cold rain.
“Yes. I’m freezing.” She twisted her upper torso and lifted one arm to point. “We’re almost there. You should just keep going.”
Almost there?
I followed her line of sight and hid my surprise. There, on the hill below us, was her home. The home she shared with Brody. The place where Iven had tended her feet. Claimed her. I’d skirted the edge of town, making my way back here.
Home.
I didn’t need to be told twice. My instincts had led me true, carried us both to the one place on Earth, on any planet, I most yearned to be. Home. Her scent in the air. Her feminine presence in every room. Her wet core wrapped around my cock. Her taste on my tongue. Her cries of pleasure in my ears.
Impatient, I kicked the door in, slammed it closed with my foot.
I set her down long enough to remove what little was left of my clothing. When I reached for the buttons of her blouse, she stilled the movement with small hands on my wrists. “What is that?”
I glanced down to find her smiling at the Power Ranger bandage on the back of my hand. Somehow, the strange bandage had survived the attack. “Red Ranger.”
“Did you get a boo-boo?” Was my mate laughing at me?
“No.” I thought of the small child who had placed the sticky paper on Iven’s hand. “Elizabeth. Girl child. For Iven.”
“Why?”
“Sad.”
Her smile faded and looked up into my eyes. “Iven was sad?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I saw the worry in her gaze, the vulnerability. Iven was weak. He should have told her he loved her. Promised her his fortune, his devotion. Protection. Given her everything. I gave her what he had not. The truth. “Broken. Beast.”
Holding my gaze, my mate unbuttoned her soft, cream colored blouse herself. She dropped it to the floor and freed her breasts. I didn’t dare move, afraid she would stop. Lucky for me, she kicked off her shoes and shoved the strange lady-pants down her legs.
On Atlan, she would wear flowing, feminine dresses that kissed her curves and moved over her skin like water.
I wanted to take her there, to my home. Show her The Colony. I wanted her to see the battleship where I’d been stationed, the home I’d grown up in. I needed her to know me.
I was tired of being locked away and ignored. Caged like a prisoner.
