“Gold and platinum.Two rings?You really are serious about this marriage thing.”
“Never more so.Equal partners.”
“Do I have to get down on one knee?”
“No.Your job is to stay by my side through gunfights and rescue missions, then cook when we get back.”
“Equal partners?You learn to cook, or you go hungry.”
Grabbing her, he kissed her sensitive neck until she begged for mercy.
The ring slid into place in a promise of forever.The end of one chapter, but the start of something new.
Crowding her back, hands planted either side of her head, Elijah promised, “I’m gonna spend the rest of my life making up for being cold and unfeeling, on the understanding that you sheathe your claws—at least while we’re off-duty.”
“No raking, gripping, or clinging allowed?”
“I wouldn’t go that far.”Rasping his stubble against her neck, he added in a tense whisper, “Don’t leave me again.Never fucking again.Understood?”
“No fucking?”She feigned surprise.“Why, you promised me pleasure beyond imagining.”
“You know what I mean,” he growled against her mouth.
“I guess,” she said as he lifted her.
They hit the mattress laughing hard enough to rattle the frame.Clothes weren’t shed; they were ripped off.Parting her thighs with one powerful leg, Elijah drove into her in a single thrust, and she groaned his name like a prayer.“I’m yours,” she gasped.“Always yours?—”
Release tore through her without warning, vicious and bright, dragging his name from her throat in a broken scream.Elijah followed seconds later, burying himself to the hilt as he claimed relief with a raw, guttural sound.
Afterward, he held her close, rolling them until she was sprawled across his chest.Still joined, still pulsing, waves of pleasure went on and on, while their hearts beat in unison as if trying to occupy the same space.
Outside the window, Mdina slept beneath starlight older than time, while Elijah traced the new rings on her finger.She felt his smile.“What?”
“Tomorrow, we sail again.I'm going to make the best of that voyage, by replaying tonight, one port at a time.”
“That sounds perfect to me.”She laughed softly against his skin.“Take me anywhere.Just never let me go.”
His arms tightened around her until her eyes grew heavy.“Forever,” he breathed as sleep claimed her.
EPILOGUE
The wedding
TheSeraphimrode at anchor off a nameless cove on Gozo’s western edge.In water so clear, the white sand beneath her keel glowed turquoise.No flags flew, no brass band played, no guests who weren’t already crew or family forged in fire attended.Just the ship, the sea, and two people who had given their all for every inch of this moment.
Sable stood barefoot on the aft deck, the salt wind whipping the thin silk of her dress against her legs.The wedding gown she had chosen, a simple column design, was the color of twilight, the exact shade of the amethyst ring on her wedding finger.It had no back, just a few strategic straps.Elijah’s eyes darkened the first time he saw it.
He waited at the rail for the ceremony to begin, his black linen shirt open at the neck, cuffs turned back to reveal a hint of fresh ink on his arm: Sable’s initials, S.A.S., Sable Alexandrovna Steel.When she reached his side, they smiled into each other’s eyes as if accepting that miracles could happen.
The celebrant who married them, a grizzled ex-mercenary with a voice like gravel, kept it brief.“Do you, Elijah, take this woman, knowing full well she’s the most dangerous thing you’ll ever hold in your arms?”
Elijah’s answer was immediate.“Fuck yes.”
Laughter rippled through the small crowd.
“And you, Sable: Do you take this man, knowing he’ll hunt you down to the ends of the earth if you ever try to leave him again?”
She met Elijah’s gaze steadily.“Try keeping me away from him.”
