“Maybe a church.”
I couldn’t help the smile that took over my face. I turned to look over my shoulder at him.
“Since when are you religious?” Then it hit me. “Are you asking me to marry you?”
Nyx’s fingers left my hair and instead traced down my back. He made a line from shoulder to hip, then came up and did it again in a different spot. I knew he was tracing my whip marks. They were still sensitive and vivid against my complexion. I shivered but it wasn’t unpleasant, just a stark reminder of all that was to come.
“I don’t want to wait until he’s gone,” Nyx whispered as though loath to voice his name in such a sacred place as this moment. His lips kissed where one scar started near the base of my neck and I shuddered—the sensation now overwhelming.
My lips were inches from his. I could feel his breath on my face. I met his gaze as they jumped to mine from my back. I didn’t see pity—I saw anger, possession and love.
“Yes,” I whispered.
Nyx blinked at me. “What?”
“I would say yes,” I answered.
I turned fully to him and watched the most brilliant smile take over Nyx’s face. I matched it with one of my own.
“Wait—I can do that better,” Nyx laughed.
“It won’t change my answer,” I grinned.
“How does this even work? Who’s supposed to ask who?”
I shrugged and returned his smile, turning into him. “Who cares? The end result will be the same.”
“Well then, I guess whoever gets to it first,” Nyx teased, a challenge in his tone.
He threaded his hands through my hair and tangled his fingers at the back of my neck. I didn’t wait for him to pull me in but pressed my lips to his.
“Game on,” I whispered.
NYX
______________
NORTHERN TACTICAL BUILDING
“Come on,” I grinned.
I was dragging Atlas behind me down the hallway of the newNorTacbuilding. We’d just purchased it a few weeks ago and the contractors had just finished renovating the office suites on the top floors. I pulled him into one and slowed as I took in the view out of the bank of floor to ceiling windows in front of me.
“Whoa,” Atlas murmured.
The city swept out below us, bright and vibrant in the dark before it gave way to the shadowed ocean beyond. I walked up to the glass and Atlas’ arms wrapped around me from behind. He always found a reason to be touching me and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it. Plus, it’s not like I didn’t do the same thing. I was drawn to him—caught in his orbit and completely lost to him in the best ways.
“Is it bad I’m already itching to get back out there?” Atlas murmured from where he had his chin on my shoulder.
I huffed a laugh. “Why do you think I’m in the gun range so much?”
We’d returned from Austria and were thrown into trying to get our lives in order after disappearing for so long. With that came the blissful stress of the mundane although it took weeks for my body to stop acting like I was still in a life or death situation. It was exhausting in its own way.
“I think it’s just who we are,” I said.
We’d been beat up, a little broken and frayed around the edges but the darkness hadn’t gone away. Vetticus had pushedus to the brink but now that we’d returned to civilization it was rudely apparent that we weren’t cut out for civilian life.
We were silent for a long moment, looking out over the city and reveling in each other's company. These moments were so special to me—a calm during the storm that was our revenge plot.
