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“Say it again,” she demanded when his lips were a hair's breadth from hers.
“You're stubborn and tenacious.” He chuckled at her small huff of annoyance and relented. “I love you, Sadie Keare. I have from the moment I saw you, and now you're mine forever,” he said, brushing her lips softly with his before pulling back.
She growled in frustration. That hadn't been the kiss she was after. Not by a long shot.
“You're supposed to ask me if I'll spend my life with you,” she pointed out in mock huffiness. “And tell me you want to grow old with me.”
“Is that what human males do?” His eyebrows raised, teeth bared in a quick flash of a grin. “I'm not human, kelarris. You're mine, and I will kill anyone and anything to protect you. My body and blades are yours, from now until the end of our days. I will love you until I no longer draw breath, and beyond that, when we are nothing but distant memories of our children's descendants. And I will still love you.”
Her eyes filled with tears, and she went up on tiptoe to yank him closer. “That was so beautiful. I love you too. Now just bloody well kiss me, will you?”
14
"Are you sure you want to do this, Sadie-bug?"
Sadie turned to smile at her sister, the voluminous skirts of her wedding dress whispering around her legs.
"I've never been more sure of anything in my life."
The tension didn't ease from Halle's eyes even though she smiled. And it wouldn't, not for a long time. She knew her sister through and through, and Halle blamed herself for not speaking up enough and stopping Sadie from going on the trip to Krantav Three. As if she should have known, somehow, that pirates would attack and try to capture Sadie to sell her as a sex slave or worse.
Movement at the door caught her eye and she smiled as Kaas and Ollie arrived, both dressed in formal outfits. Kaas, her brother-in-law, wore a formal version of the leather Latharian uniform, with a deeply embellished sash across his chest, while Ollie had on a tiny suit.
"There's my handsome little man," she cooed, descending on him to scoop him into her arms and kiss his cheek soundly.
"Mama!" he complained, squirming even as he giggled.
She smiled down at her son as she set him back on his feet, brushing imaginary lint from his tiny suit jacket.
"You look so handsome, Ollie. Just like your uncle."
Her son beamed up at Kaas, who inclined his head in acknowledgment. The bond between the two shone through, the shy little human boy reaching up to take Kaas' hand again.
Halle stepped forward, holding a bouquet out to her. "Are you ready?"
Taking the beautiful alien flowers, she took a deep breath. "I'm ready."
Halle pressed her lips together and nodded, stepping back. The four of them left the apartment and made their way down the corridor, Sadie in the middle, with Halle on one side and Ollie holding Kaas's hand on the other.
As they rounded the corner toward the great hall where the bonding ceremony would take place, Latharian warriors fell into step behind them. First one, then a couple more, until the corridor behind them was filled with a strange kind of honor guard. She half turned, frowning. Many of them were Vaarn’s friends and comrades.
"Are they here to make sure I don't escape?" she murmured to Kaas, only half joking. She really hoped they weren't.
He chuckled, the sound a low rumble. "Quite the opposite. It is tradition for the mate's family and friends to accompany her, to ensure she is not coerced and that she has protectors. They are here to protect you from Vaarn, should you decide not to go through with the bonding."
She blinked. "Latharian culture is… surprising sometimes, you know that?"
As they reached the great hall, her nerves returned. This was it. This was the moment she would officially, and forever, bind her life to Vaarn’s. Halle gave her one last searching look, and Sadie smiled, standing straighter. Nothing would stop her from walking through those doors to the man she loved.
Taking a deep breath as the doors opened before her, she clutched her bouquet tighter and stepped through. Her heart hammered behind her ribs as all eyes in the room turned to her, nerves almost stopping her dead in the doorway, but then she looked up and saw him across the massive room.
Vaarn.
Her alien mate. Her protector. Her everything.
He stood near the dais, dressed in formal leathers that clung to his muscular frame. The deep purple and blue tones were a perfect contrast to his silver-white hair, which was intricately braided away from his face to fall around his shoulders. Their gazes locked… held.
Her breath caught at the expression on his face, and the intensity in his gaze. It was a promise of passion and devotion all rolled into one. Her smile spread as heat rose on her cheeks. She had never felt so wanted, so treasured, as she did when he looked at her like that.
