Page 47 of Commanding Scythe and Sky

Could silence the soul-shredding sob that crept through my nightmares, waking me in a cold sweat, screaming. Screaming for a mate I couldn’t reach. Screaming because it wasn’t a nightmare.

It was real.

And she was in agony.

One steady pull of the trigger, and her pain would end.

I tightened my grip. Breathed. Tried to focus on the list she’d left behind.

Her parting orders.

Ally wouldn’t choose a plan where we didn’t emerge victorious. She wouldn’t. So either we’d already lost, or my brash, cold, calculating mate had put us right here for a goddamned, motherfucking reason.

A broken sound climbed my throat. I clenched my jaw, weighing the familiar weapon in my palm.

Squeezed my eyes shut.

The screech of rubber and a flash of light jerked my head sideways in time to see a truck barreling toward Ally’s McLaren⁠—

—a heartbeat before metal shrieked.

TEN

COME BACK

AUGUST

“What are you doing?”

“Dancing with my wife.”

“But August, the rain⁠—”

“Didn’t bother me on that battlefield. Not about to stop me now.”

She leaned into me, resting her head against my chest as we rocked together in the cold. I would’ve given anything to freeze time—to keep her there, warm against me…

Her moan of ecstasy did nothing to still my libido as she slowly lowered herself into the hot spring, steam wafting toward the open blue sky above the mountain canyon. I couldn’t help but smile as I watched her melt into the warmth of the water. Smiled wider when she answered with one of her own.

“You coming in, handsome?”

“Kinda enjoying the view.”

She rolled her eyes but glanced down at her naked body, bare skin luminescent beneath the winter sun. Her nipples peaked in the chill. Smooth strands of chocolate hair were swept into a twisted bun at her crown, loose tendrils curling around her face in the steam.

Heaven. She’d led me to our own little slice of heaven, buried in the arid mountains of Idaho, each steaming pool surrounded by snow-covered stone. Kingsley could wait, for all I cared. This woman deserved every one of my remaining days.

I hissed as I stepped into the near-scalding water, shaking my head. “Women are insane,” I mumbled, earning a laugh and a defiant splash. She was still shaking her head as she sank deeper, her smile turning coy.

“Promise I’ll make it worth it…”

The slick slide of my palms over her skin as the world grew brighter…

Her moan of ecstasy as I slid inside her…

The too-bright sunlight glinting over her porcelain skin, making it glow as she arched her perfect ass into me…

Her body settling over mine in the hot water, one leg draped across my hips, the warmth of her damp cheek against my pec as I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and tucked her closer.