He was speechless for a moment as his brain raced through the implications of what she was saying. What, exactly, Nim might do if she thought she was personally responsible for an entire squad’s safety.
It was his turn to clamp her tight to his body as he rasped out the words, “Hell, no.”
She squirmed against him, trying to get free, but he held her too tightly for her to escape, and eventually she softened against him.
Her voice was firm, but he heard the vulnerability beneath her words as she spoke into his chest. “Don’t ask me to regret this, Tris. I won’t. It meant something to me. I understand that you have probably done this hundreds of times, but it was important to me.”
His scales rippled over his back and up his neck as he tried to control himself. He wanted to fling her onto the bed and prove to her, again and again, how important it was to him. How importantshewas to him.
He settled for pulling her around to straddle him, her beautiful naked body pressed against his cock as it hardened painfully between them.
He wrapped a heavy hand around the back of her neck and pulled her down until her forehead rested against his and her wings fluttered closed behind him. “Never tell me that you don’t mean anything to me. Never again. I told you that you’re mine; did you think I said that lightly?”
She shook her head slowly, but he could see she wasn’t convinced. He needed to show her.
He tangled his fingers in her hair and kissed her. Kissed her like she meant everything in the world to him.
Because she did.
He didn’t deserve her. Everything about him was a mess of scars and cynicism where she was beauty and light. But he would take whatever she would give, for however long she gave it.
By the time he broke away, they were both panting, her nipples hard points against his chest. He was about to give in and throw her onto her back when a loud knock on the door startled them both.
Nim curled in against him at the sound, and he tightened his arm around her, holding her close as he growled, “Go away.”
“It’s Jos. I’ve got Nim’s dress,” came the muffled reply.
“Leave it outside.”
“It needs altering.”
“Go away and sort it out.”
A few seconds passed as footsteps faded and new ones returned, and the knocking resumed.
“Get up. We have to talk.” It was Mathos. “They’ve taken your recommendation and run with it. Tor’s being moved tonight.”
Nim raised an eyebrow, and he answered her unspoken question. “I suggested that it would be a good idea to move him to the cells in the palace. That the king might want to hang him tomorrow as part of the celebrations.”
Nim blinked, stunned for a moment, before understanding lit her eyes and she replied, “We can get them at the same time.”
Gods, he hoped so.
He raised his voice again. “Fine. We’ll be there in five minutes.”
He heard Mathos make a rude comment about captains who could only last five minutes and then laugh loudly at his own joke, as his footsteps faded away.
He buried his face in Nim’s neck and closed his eyes, his arms wrapped tightly around her. Trying to inhale her, to memorize her scent, memorize the feeling of her pressed against him.
Just in case.
Chapter Fifteen
Nim and Tristandressed quickly and made their way downstairs to find that Mathos had organized a small private reception room for the Hawks. The large wooden table in the center of the cozy room was already set, covered in platters of hot roast lamb with minted peas and steaming baked potatoes, loaves of bread, and rounds of yellow butter.
Mathos grinned as he told them how the innkeeper had wrung his hands and twisted his apron at the idea of the whole squad arriving for an early dinner, but had eventually been convinced that they were celebrating Nim and Tristan’s new marriage and reluctantly allowed them in.
Tristan grunted grumpily while the men laughed, but Nim held her breath, wondering how he’d take the focus on their relationship. His scales were down, his eyes crinkled at the corners in an almost smile, and she slowly relaxed.
