She didn’t think—didn’t hesitate. She ran to him, colliding with his chest. His arms snapped around her instantly, lifting her, anchoring her, crushing her against him like he needed proof she was real.
She gripped the back of his shirt, burying her face in the curve of his neck. “Are you okay?” he rasped, voice raw. She didn’t answer—she couldn’t. Not when she was trying to memorize the sound of his heartbeat under her ear.
“Talk to me,” he said, pulling back enough to look at her. “Trixie—are you hurt?”
She shook her head. “No. I—I just—God, Cyclops, I thought—” She cut herself off, slamming a hand over her mouth. She’d almost said it; almost admitted too much.
His eyes sharpened. “You thought what?”
“I thought that you wouldn’t come back,” she whispered. His breath caught. She shouldn’t have said it. She wanted to swallow the words back down. They made her vulnerable and exposed. She was bare in ways she hadn’t been—even last night.
Cyclops cupped her face with both hands, forcing her to meet his gaze. “I told you,” he said quietly. “If you need me, I'll come.”
“That’s not what I meant,” she said, voice shaking.
His jaw clenched. “Say what you mean.”
She shook her head violently. “I can’t.”
“Try,” he urged, “for me.”
Her chin trembled. “I don’t know what I’d do if you—if something happened to you.” The confession hung in the air—raw and impossible to take back.
Cyclops closed his eye, as if the words physically hit him. Then he pulled her into his body again, crushing her against his chest, one hand fisting in her hair. “You don’t have to know what you’d do,” he murmured against her temple. “Because I’m not going anywhere.”
Her breath shuddered out. “My father’s men didn’t breach the wall?” she asked.
“No.” His hands tightened around her. “They were testing us again. But they got a little too close, so Venom scared the shit out of them. But we’re okay.”
“You weren’t,” she whispered. “You were out there alone?—”
“I was never alone.” He kissed her hairline. “You were right here.”
Her stomach twisted. “That’s not what I meant.”
“I know,” he said. “And I know what you’re trying not to say.”
She jerked back, eyes wide. “Cyclops?—”
He rested his forehead against hers. “You care about me.”
She shook her head. “No. No, I don’t. I can’t.”
“Yes,” he said, not cruel, just certain. “You do.” Her breath hitched again. “It’s okay if that scares you,” he murmured. “Hell, it scares me too.”
Her eyes burned. “I can’t lose you.”
He shrugged. “Then you won’t lose me,” he said simply.
“You can’t promise that,” she insisted.
He cupped her cheek with a rough palm. “Watch me.”
She swallowed, her throat tight. “I hate you a little for this.”
Cyclops gave her a half-smile. “That’s all right. You can hate me from right here.” He tightened his arms around her, holding her like he’d fight the whole damn world to keep her in them. And Trixie realized something that terrified her—she was already halfway his.
CYCLOPS
