Page 12 of Starfighter’s Salvation

Corvan looked away and rubbed the side of his neck, exactly the same spot where my own skin was still heated and tingling. Did he have the same mark? "It's too late for that."

Too late? Meaning, he could have refused and didn't? Did he regret it? Not want me at all? And there it was. Rejection number two, in the same breath as the confession. My heart did something I’d have charted as arrhythmia on anybody else. It hurt like a heart attack. Maybe I was having one after all.

He paused and somber eyes examined my face. “I can't protect you, now.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Protect me from what?” I asked.

Corvan's eyes went dark and he stormed toward me like a warrior about to enter battle. "The war. Suffering. Death. You're going to be in danger every single day and I can't⁠—"

"Can't what?"

Corvan rubbed his hand over his face and stalled.

Dekker stepped into the silence, turned his back on Corvan to block my view, and took my hand in his. His touch was warm. Comforting. Strong. “You can refuse him. You can refuse to come with me. You may remain on Earth and never see either one of us again.”

The way he said it told me he expected that answer. Didn't want it. Definitely hated it.

“Or,” Dekker said, “you can refuse the bond and come with me.” He stood in front of me like an angelic protector and refused to move, big and golden and completely, infuriatingly calm. He looked at me like it would take a crane or an explosion to make him leave my side.

"What? I don't understand." I lifted my free hand to my neck and leaned a little to look past Dekker's shoulder to where Corvan was now pacing. "I have the mark. How can I refuse the bond?"

“The bond has not settled,” he said. “It does not settle on the female until she has been properly claimed. Until then the choice is yours. Not his. I have a ship. I have the retrieval order signed by General Aryk himself. I would register our new bond at the Hall of Records the hour we land, and I would not make you wait four days to know how much I want you.” He said it and stared into my eyes like he was making wedding vows. Too intense.

My gaze bounced between him and Corvan as he finished.

“I would not make you wait four minutes.”

Corvan didn’t say a word. He stood there and let another man try to take me away from him.

And God help me, for one second I wanted to say yes. It felt good to be wanted. Even if he wasn't my dream man, wasn't Corvan, but a strange alien who’d walked up to my car and offered to hold me, protect me, and make me his. I wanted to say yes to being wanted right now, out loud, by somebody who wasn’t afraid to tell me exactly what he wanted. Being rejected by the man I’d loved for fourteen months was exhausting, and I had a very handsome alternative holding my hand and saying everything I wanted to hear. Dekker wanted me. Had come all the way to Earth to get me and take me home, make me his. Corvan was standing here scowling and Dekker didn't just ignore him, he doubled down on his offer to me.

I looked at Corvan. "Why are you even here? You don't even want me."

His gaze dropped to my mouth. The answer was suddenly obvious. So was the hard outline beneath the front of his uniform pants. Hello. Heat went through me, low and immediate, and the mark on my neck pulsed like it had been given a vote.

“I do want you, Gina,” he said. “More than I should. That is why I am here.”

“More than he does?”

Corvan looked at Dekker. Dekker looked back. Two very large males having an entire conversation without words.

“No.” Dekker protested.

“Yes.” Corvan's matter-of-fact tone did convince me. A little.

I shook my head to clear it. “Okay. I'm going to Arturri, but this isn't settled. You're not my mate. Not anymore.” I wanted that to be perfectly clear. Priority number one, get to Arturri and make sure Priya was all right. After that, maybe I'd take my time, get to know both males and then decide what to do. Corvan had broken my heart and it was still bleeding.

His mouth opened. Nothing came out. I had broken the alien, and that cheered me up more than it should have.

Dekker laughed. Low, and not unkind. “Elite Starfighter Reyes, may I escort you to your new home?”

“She is not your concern.” Corvan took a step closer, which made Dekker smile.

“She is until she makes her choice.” Dekker looked at me one more time, and there was nothing smug in his expression. "I give you my word, Gina, I will take very good care of you." He really meant it. That made not wanting him wrong somehow.

Why couldn't Corvan be talking to me like that? And why did my heart still long for the idiot who hadn't even bothered to come get me?

"I will escort my bondmate to the Vega system."