Themajakcleared his throat then leveled a solemn gaze at Wrexxon. "Raas Wrexxon, do you honor Lokken and the gods of old by taking this woman as your Raisa? Do you entwine your life with hers until you are called to Zedna with the ancients? Do you so swear it?"
Wrexxon's gaze turned to lock on me. "I swear it."
Then Venik turned to me. "Jasmine, do you take Raas Wrexxon as your mate? Do you promise to be a faithful Raisa? Do you entwine your life with his until you are called to Zedna with the ancients? Do you so swear it?"
I barely registered the curious words, although I had never even heard of Zedna before. Was I promising to spend eternity with war gods?
"I..." My voice cracked, and I swallowed hard. "I swear it."
"Then by the authority granted to me by the Vandar people and the gods of old," Venik said, "I pronounce you mates for life. What the gods have entwined, let no force separate."
That was it. No music. No rings. No elaborate, personal vows. It had all been very Vandar.
Wrexxon turned to me immediately, his hand coming up to cup my face with that gentleness that always surprised me. His thumb brushed across my cheekbone, and then he was kissing me.
Not like the fierce, claiming kiss from before with his scruff scratching my cheeks and his lips bruising mine. This was slower and more tender in ways that made my knees weak, and my brain go fuzzy. He kissed me like he had all the time in the world and like there was nothing else that mattered.
I forgot where I was and that we had an audience. I forgot everything except the heat of his mouth and the strength of his hands and the way my body was melting into his.
When he finally pulled back, my lips were buzzing and I felt like I'd been spinning and had just stopped, and the world hadn't caught up yet.
Somewhere distant, I heard Woo-Ben sniffling. "I always cry at weddings. Even strange, quick ones.”
Wrexxon's eyes hadn't left mine. His hand was still cupping my face, his thumb still stroking gentle patterns against my skin.
Then, without looking away, he said in a voice that sent shivers down my spine: "Leave us."
Chapter 34
Wrexxon
The doors slid shut behind the departing warriors and the little green alien, leaving us alone in the sudden quiet of my quarters.
I was still reeling from the way she'd melted into me when I’d kissed her, from the soft sound she'd made when I'd deepened it, and from the knowledge that she was mine now in every way.
The ceremony might have been rushed, but that didn't make the bond less real. Not on my part. As a Vandar, I never made a vow I didn't mean, and I had just vowed to take Jasmine for life. I’d sworn before the gods of old to entwine my life with hers until death called us both, and I had meant every word.
I swept her into my arms before she could overthink, before doubt could creep in and ruin what we'd just promised each other. She gasped, her hands instinctively gripping my shoulders for balance as I carried her to the bed and laid her across the furs.
I leaned over her, bracing my weight on my arms, caging her in without crushing her. Her breath became quick and shallow, hereyes wide as she looked up at me. I brushed a strand of dark hair from her face, letting my fingers linger against her cheek. It had been so easy earlier when desire had fused with our anger and burned hot between us. Now there was no rage, but that didn’t mean there was no heat. It would just require more stoking, a task I would gladly take upon myself.
I captured her mouth in a kiss, slower than before but just as claiming. She responded immediately, her lips parting under mine, and her hands sliding from my shoulders to tangle in my hair. Moving from her mouth, I trailed kisses along her jawline to her neck as I murmured how beautiful she was. “You bewitched me from the moment I saw you in that bakery, covered in flour. You looked at me like you wanted to throw me out."
She husked a laugh. "I did want to throw you out."
I kissed the hollow of her throat, feeling her pulse race against my lips. "It was intoxicating. No one looks at the Qeth’rex that way. Everyone else looks at me with fear in their eyes, like I’m a threat.”
"You are a threat," she whispered as I kissed lower, along her collarbone. "Just not the kind I expected."
My hand traced the curve of her waist through the gossamer fabric, feeling the heat of her skin beneath. "What kind of threat am I?"
"The kind that made me forget why I should resist you.” Her fingers tightened in my hair as I kissed the exposed skin above her neckline. "The kind that makes me want things I swore I'd never want."
"Like what?" I looked up at her, holding her gaze as my hand continued its exploration, mapping the dip of her waist and the flare of her hip. "Tell me what you want, Jasmine."
She bit her lip, clearly fighting some internal battle. "I want—" She broke off, her breath hitching as I pressed a kiss just above her heart. "I want to understand why this feels right when it should feel wrong."
"Because we're the same," I said, continuing my trail of kisses while my hand traced gentle patterns against her side. "Both of us are fighting forces too big to defeat alone. Both protecting people we love at the cost of ourselves. Both pretending to be harder than we are because it's safer than being soft."
