Fuck, her defiance only made me more certain she was mine.
“Once I have you in my reach, I’ll fix that attitude for you, wife.”
“Excuse me?” she gasped, but she shifted, rubbing her thighs together, and I could make out the outline of her pebbled nipples under her shirt.
“I’ve never had a wife, so we’ll have a little trial and error to see what works. Do you think I should make you come until you beg me to stop and promise to behave? Or should I keep you hovering on the edge of release, only to deny you over and over again?”
She held my gaze, flushed and stubbornly refusing to answer, but it didn’t matter. I had her undivided attention.
“There are no other women. I signed up, I answered the stupid fucking questions, and then I searched for hours until I found you.” I leaned closer to the mod, resting my forearms on my knees. “It’s been pointed out to me that I could have looked for a mate years ago. Should have, maybe. Timing never felt right.”
“So why are you looking now?” she asked, a hint of petulance still in her tone.
“Time ran out,” I said, honestly. “And here’s where I make my confession,Aneah. The arranged match my cousin is expecting was meant for me, but I’d rather kill the female than look at her.”
“Jeeze.” Cora blanched. “That seems…. Kinda psycho, Yiri. Who says that?”
“It’s a long story,” I said, “but she betrayed someone important to me.”
“Okay….” Her brows drew together as she took in everything I was telling her. “Just say no. You don’t need me for that.”
“I could say no,” I agreed. “But it would cause trouble for my family and everyone who works for us. I’m my uncle’s heir, so I’m the match they want. The only way I can say no is if I amalready mated. If I can manage that, my cousin will marry the female, and all the trouble will be avoided.”
“So find a mate,” she said, her jaw tightening. “It won’t be me, but you could pull plenty of beautiful women.”
“I have to give my answer in less than two days.”
She threw up her hands, making a frustrated noise. “You shouldn’t have put all your eggs in one basket then. Whyweren’tyou talking to other women if it’s this important to you?”
“I want you.”
“Why?”
I shrugged. “I’m attracted to you. You let me be myself without taking offense. You let me be in control without acting like it’s a threat to your feminine power. I can’t stop thinking about you at all hours. When I should be sleeping, when I’m trying to work. I’m always distracted, wondering what you’re doing, who you’re talking to, what you’re wearing, and how you did your makeup.”
“Those are nice things for a boyfriend to feel,” she said, softening a little. I didn’t like what my translator was telling me aboutboyfriends. “But you’re asking me to marry you. To be your mate. That’s a big deal.”
“It is,” I agreed. “But I want you. That’s not going to change. If I had time to give you, I would spend a year courting you over the nexus if that’s what you wanted. I don’t have time, though. So I’m offering you everything else.”
“Everything else?” She crossed her arms, making a show of not being interested.
“Come here, be my mate, and let me show you how well I can love you.”
“You’re telling me to be your mate,” she said. “To marry you.”
“Yes.”
“Telling, not asking,” she stressed her point, arching a brow.
“I don’t ask for anything,Aneah. I demand. I take. But if you want me on my knees, just say the word.”
“It’scustomaryfor a man to be on one knee when heasksa woman to marry him,” she said with a haughty lift of her chin.
My mouth curled up a the corner as I slid off the bed, the nexus mod following me as I knelt on one knee. “Like this,Aneah?”
“Like that. But don’t think I’m going to say yes just because you’re pretending to have some manners for a minute.”
“Cora,Aneah, will you marry me? Will you come here and be with me? Will you stand by my side, strong and beautiful like the queen you are meant to be? Will you let me love you and teach your body pleasures it has never known?” My words started out teasing because I loved seeing the fire in her, but as I spoke, the weight of what I was asking her for settled into my bones and reaffirmed therightnessof her. And the utter and completewrongnessof being D'vinda’s mate.
