Page 40 of Laundering Down the Legions

His hands pulled me against his chest, his body moved up to meet mine, and he came inside me. That plus the bond closing was more than my nervous system could hold. I buried my face in his neck and rode it out.

When it started to fade, when my breathing slowed, I noticed the scar. Glowing. Actually glowing, the skin gone warm gold, which should have been impossible. I pulled back enough to see it, and the light faded as I watched. The scar stayed. But something about it felt lighter. Less weighted.

He was still inside me, still connected to me in a way I didn't have words for. His heartbeat came through the bond. His relief, his certainty, his knowledge that the fear he'd organized his whole life around had just been proven wrong.

"Did you," I started.

"Feel the best thing to ever happen to me?" He finished it. His voice was steady. "No. Better than I ever imagined." He said quietly. His hand moved up my spine to my shoulder blade.

Just this. Two people carrying each other now. His calm came through the connection, his certainty. He could feelwhatever I was feeling, which right now was satisfaction and relief and the absolute knowledge that I'd made the right call.

I settled back down against him, my ear over his heart. I could hear it beating, and through the bond, I could feel it too. Him present in more than one way at once.

"Thank you for the honor of choosing me as one of your mates," he said. The formality would have been strange in any other context, but this was Kearan, and formality was how he marked the things that mattered.

"Thank you for finally deciding to stop running."

His arm tightened, and we lay there in the quiet. The bond was complete. The fear was disproven. And the man holding me was finally, absolutely certain that I wasn't going anywhere. That was enough. For now, it was more than enough.