“No.” He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close against his chest. Outside, the storm continued to rage, but here in this small pocket of warmth and safety there was only the two of them. “I will be the opposite of death. I will be your life. Your protector. Your?—”
“If you say ‘mate’ one more time?—”
“Mate,” he said firmly, and felt her laugh against his chest.
“You’re incorrigible.”
“I do not know this word either.”
“It means—” She tilted her head back to look at him. “It means you’re mine, too. If we’re doing this whole mate thing, it goes both ways.”
His pulse thundered in his veins as something frozen and brittle inside him finally cracked. He hadn’t realized how much he’d feared her rejection until this moment. He hadn’t understood the depth of his own need until she offered him this small, precious acceptance.
“Yes,” he said, his voice rough. “Both ways. You are mine. I am yours.”
Always.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Jaz turned away, suddenly overwhelmed by the intensity of her feelings.
“I need to check my data readings.”
“Of course,” he agreed solemnly, but there was a warm amusement in his voice that made her cheeks heat.
Half an hour later, he was seated across from her at the small work table, watching her with the focused intensity he brought to everything.
“Mineral,” she said, pointing to the sample on the table. “This is a mineral. I dig them from the ground.”
“Min-er-al.” He rolled the word around in his mouth. “Like… stone?”
“Similar. But more specific. Minerals have particular elements combined in particular ways. Some are valuable. Some are not.”
“And you…” He gestured at the scattered equipment around them. “You find the valuable ones?”
“I try to.” She picked up the sample, turning it so the faint metallic sheen caught the light. “This is what I was looking for before the storm. Before you… emerged.”
His expression shifted at that—something that looked like guilt moving behind his eyes. “I damaged your equipment. The machine that burned.”
“My drilling rig. Yes.” She set the sample down with a sigh. “That’s going to be a problem. Without it, I can’t reach the deposits I’ve been tracking. And without deposits, I can’t make enough to buy a new rig.”
“Catch-22,” he said carefully, and she blinked at him.
“Where did you learn that phrase?”
“You said it. Yesterday, when you were talking about…” He frowned, searching his memory. “Storm supplies. Running low, but cannot resupply until storm ends.”
God, his recall really is incredible.
“You’re right.” She shook her head slowly. “You really do remember everything, don’t you?”
“Not everything.” A shadow crossed his face. “Not the things I need. But words, sounds, patterns… yes. These I keep.”
She studied him, an idea forming in the back of her mind. He had emerged from deep beneath the ice cap—deeper than any survey had mapped. And he had lived here once, long before the terraforming efforts and before Mars had become a frontier for desperate colonists and ambitious corporations.
“Adjar,” she said slowly. “What do you remember about the ice? About what’s beneath it?”
He tilted his head. “Much. The ice was… home. I knew every layer, every pocket of air and stone. The warm places where water still moved. The cold places where time itself seemed frozen.”
