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Jade’s eyes went wide.
“Don’t worry, dear,” Shassa said kindly. “He’ll have the time of his life, and we won’t leave the inn, you have our word.”
“We’ll send you our credentials,” Ambraza laughed, tapping her bracelet. “But we know better than to cross an Invicta warrior.”
“And of course, your nanny-bot is free to accompany us as well,” Shassa said. “She can be sure we’re doing everything just the way you would want it done.”
“That sounds good,” Rafe said, without looking at Jade.
She surprised him by handing the baby off without protest.
“Here’s our info,” she told Shassa. “Let us know right away if he needs anything at all.”
The two touched bracelets and then Rafe found himself trailing Jade back to her room.
She stopped in front of her door and looked up at him, her blue eyes seeming to pierce his very soul.
“You let them think we were on our honeymoon,” she said.
“Can we just talk?” he asked at the same time.
She nodded once and touched her palm to the door sensor.
It slid open, revealing her little room, which was almost entirely taken up by a bed. Her delicious scent filled the tiny space. He was glad they’d kept the room, now that it seemed they wouldn’t be checking out today after all.
He swallowed hard and tried to focus.
Claim her, the dragon whispered.
“We talked before,” he said carefully. “We talked about the mate bond, and you said you couldn’t.”
“I know that offer isn’t on the table anymore,” she said quietly. “I said I couldn’t be your mate, and I meant it. You would never have offered me your bond, knowing what I was, what I am. I would never have tried to trick you into that.”
“You… you what?” he asked, feeling like Sigg-3’s gravity had just gone upside down.
“The things that were done to me on the ships, and the way it felt to be passed around like a toy…” she trailed off, then cleared her throat. “I know you don’t want to be with a woman like me.”
Then it landed on him.
She wasn’t hesitating because of her own fears and needs at all.
She had some backward notion that he would care about her past.
“A woman like you, who was tricked into torture?” he asked, feeling suddenly furious. “A woman like you, who managed to walk away and pick herself up, in spite of every challenge. A woman like you, who doesn’t feel sorry for herself for one minute, but does her best to help everyone around her?”
She gazed at him, her eyes wide with what looked like wonder.
“It would be my privilege to spend my life loving a woman like you, Jade,” he told her honestly.
Tears sprang to her eyes.
“But,” he said carefully. “I only want it if it’s what you truly want. And I want it in whatever way will make you feel comfortable. Hearing what was done to you, I understand if the mating frenzy sounds like torture. We don’t have to seal our bond until you are ready. In fact, we don’t ever have to do that. We can be companions, if it is what you wish, and if it would bring you peace.”
“Nothing can bring me peace until our bond is sealed,” she whispered to him.
The moon turned on its axis once again as her words sank into his mind, like sweet rain onto the parched tundra.
He prayed to the gods for self-control, but her admission lit a fire of lust in him, and the way her cheeks colored, and the light scent of her arousal teased the dragon’s highly attuned senses was driving him wild.
