“It did,” he agreed, brushing his thumb beneath her eye.“You’re part of it now.Not just protected, but chosen and living by the code.”
Her legs wrapped around him instinctively as he settled between them.“I want that,” she said.“I want the life that comes with you.Even when it’s dangerous.”
A quiet sound left his throat as he leaned into her, skin to skin, heat building slowly between them.“I don’t want a future where I lose you,” he said against her mouth.“There isn’t one where I survive that.”
She kissed him, long and sure.“Then we don’t lose each other.”
He entered her gradually, giving her time, staying with her breath for breath.The connection was deep and intimate, more promise than hunger, their bodies moving together in a slow, deliberate rhythm.
“Luca,” she murmured, fingers digging into his shoulders.“This—this is forever for me.”
His pace faltered for just a heartbeat, emotion flashing raw across his face before he pressed his forehead to hers.“For me too,” he said.“I don’t walk away from what’s mine.”
They moved together, the tension building steadily, each whispered word binding them tighter.Her breath hitched as pleasure crested, her body arching into his.
“Yes,” she gasped.“Don’t stop.Stay with me.”
“I’ve got you,” he groaned, holding her as she shattered beneath him, her cry breaking something open in his chest.He followed her over the edge moments later, breath rough as he buried his face against her neck, release tearing through him.
For a long moment afterward, he stayed there, heart pounding against hers, as if letting go was no longer an option.
After, they lay tangled together, the storm spent, breaths slowly evening out.
Mara traced slow, absent patterns on his chest, following the steady rise and fall of his breathing.“Tell me about them,” she said quietly.“Your team.”
Luca was silent for a beat, the kind of pause that meant he was choosing honesty over habit.“They’re my family,” he said finally.“Not because we work together.Because we chose each other.Over and over.”His hand shifted on her back, grounding, protective.“They know my worst days.They’ve bled with me.I trust them with my life.”He glanced down at her, expression unguarded.“Being with me means you take them too.No half measures.No halfway in.”
She met his gaze without flinching.“I don’t want halfway,” she said.Then, softer, certain, “I’m happy with that.With all of it.”
Something in his chest eased at those words, something old and tight finally loosening.He drew a slow breath, thumb brushing a lazy line along her spine.
“Marry me,” he said.
The simplicity of it made her laugh, warm and breathless.She lifted her head just enough to look at him.“Yes,” she said, then added, amused and fond, “but not like that.I want a real proposal.Something thought through.Something ...us.”
A corner of his mouth curved, the rare, genuine smile that never belonged to anyone else.“All right,” he agreed.“I’ll do it properly.Soon.”
She settled back against him, her cheek fitting perfectly to his chest, the sound of his heart steady beneath her ear.Safe.Certain.Home.
Outside, the world was still dangerous.The Covenant still hunted.Lines were still being tested.
But here, in the quiet after the storm, Luca made his choice.
Not to power.Not to war.
To her.
And that choice—unyielding, sworn, unbreakable—was his iron vow.
