29. Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Twenty-Nine

F ury

Since I met Tally, I've felt fully alive for the first time since I fell to Earth, but it's only now that I have optimistic, hopeful thoughts flying through my head.

I feel clean and hopeful and like a brand-new male.

"I don't know what to do first," I say when I pull over a block from her childhood home and turn with a smile to the love of my life.

"Uh, wash your hands?"

It was a little joke that gets big laughs because damn, we're both a thousand pounds lighter. I was right about that.

"Right you are. I need clean hands. Then all of this will be behind us." I stop dead and tip my head to inquire, "Do you feel the same way?"

"What are you asking? If I wish I'd pissed all over his living room, too? No. I'm good. I feel like I've turned a corner, Fury. "

There's something about hearing my name out of her mouth, though she's said it a hundred times since I've met her, that makes a clanging sound in my mind.

"It doesn't fit." My voice is far away, as though the words are coming from someone else's mouth. "Fury. I adopted that name shortly after I was released from the lab. I only spoke a few words of English, but I figured out the word that fit me, the emotion that was overflowing in me. I went to Ashok, the orc who learned English when we first arrived, and he told me the English word for it. Fury."

The syllables feel foreign. Like they belong in another lifetime, to another person.

Twisting in my seat, I turn to Tally and grip her shoulders, pulling her to look at me so she sees my face, knows this is an epiphany. "I need a new name, sur'nam . Please, don't let the old name escape your lips until we come up with a new one."

Tally's eyes widen at my sudden declaration, but understanding dawns quickly. She nods, her hands coming up to cover mine where they grip her shoulders. "Okay. Yeah, let's do this. A new name for a new chapter, a new life."

I exhale heavily, the relief palpable. "Thank you. I just… I can't be that angry, bitter male anymore. It doesn't fit. It's not who I am now, with you."

A slow smile spreads across her face, warm and bright as the sun emerging from behind storm clouds. "I know. I see you, the real you. And I love every bit of him."

Emotion clogs my throat, thick and full. I pull her into my arms, burying my face in her soft hair and just breathing in her sweet scent. She surrounds me, steadies me, her mere presence a balm to wounds I didn't dream could heal.

"So," she murmurs into my chest after a long moment, "got any ideas? For the new moniker? "

I chuckle, the sound rusty but genuine. "Not a clue. My mind's spinning with possibilities. It's like I'm seeing myself through new eyes. Everything looks different now."

Tally pulls back just enough to meet my gaze, her green eyes sparkling with mischief and affection. "Well, let's brainstorm then! Throw some options out there and see what sticks."

Laughing outright now, I lean back in my seat, keeping an arm slung around her shoulders. "Alright, let's see… How about Sunshine? Since you've brought so much light into my life."

She snorts, swatting at my chest. "Veto. You're not a golden retriever."

"Fair enough." I tap my chin, pretending to be deep in thought. "Ooh, what about Hunk? Superstud?"

"Oh, my god." Tally dissolves into giggles, her whole body shaking against mine. "You're too much! Forget I asked."

"No, no wait! I've got it!" I snap my fingers, grinning broadly. "He-Who-Merrily-Pisses. A little long, but it's got a nice ring to it."

She laughs so hard she snorts, the sound inelegant and utterly endearing. "You're ridiculous and I love you so much."

The words, spoken through residual giggles, hit me like a splash of water. I sober instantly, the levity draining away as I cup her face in my palms, thumbs stroking her cheekbones.

"Goddess! I love you too, Tally. More than anything in any world. You know that, right?"

Her eyes soften, go almost liquid with emotion. "I do. Of course I do."

I kiss her, soft and slow and brimming with promise. A seal, a vow, a benediction.

When we part, I rest my forehead against hers, just savoring her closeness. "In all seriousness though… I don't have a damn clue what to call myself. Nothing feels right. "

"Something just struck me." She pulls away and grabs her phone from her purse. "Don't make fun of this. You'll either hate it or love it." She hunches her shoulders as though she fears the wrath of an army.

"Couldn't be that bad. Couldn't be worse than He-Who-Merrily-Pisses, right?"

"So right." She scrolls for a minute. "I thought I had the right name, but had to check. Like I said, you might not—"

"What already!?"

"Neo. It means reborn." She hurries to ask, "Too… Matrix ?"

I scratch her scalp with my claws—she loves when I do this—while I think.

"Well, it is pretty Matrix , but I like the meaning. Reborn. Since I don't look anything like Keanu Reeves, how do you feel about the wolven word for reborn, An'kar?"

"An'kar… very close to anchor, which you are for me. And it has panache."

Chuckling, I shake my head, so in love with this woman. "I never thought my name and the word panache would occur in the same sentence. On this planet or any other."

"An'kar, you are so, so full of panache. Might I say you're panache-esque? Panach-ier?"

She pulls out her phone, swipes a moment, then reads, "Panache. Confident… style… flair." She stops and waggles her eyebrows at me, then continues, "Zest. Ooh, here's a good one, verve. An'kar is verve-y. No! No!" She's so excited she's wiggling in her seat now. "Pizzazz! Look."

She shoves her phone in my face and points at the screen, which is jiggling so rapidly I can barely make out zest, vivacity, gusto and éclat.

"What the fuck is éclat?" I pronounce it ee-klat.

"I think it's pronounced a-claw."

"Okay, okay." Goddess, I would mount her right now if we weren't in a car on the streets of suburban L.A. "Since I have a claw, or rather ten of them, I guess that seals the deal. An'kar it is."

She cuddles close and nuzzles my neck, snuggling into my shoulder pelt. She may only possess a puny, human sense of smell, but I think my woman likes my scent as much as I like hers.

"So, An'kar, hungry? Just checking it out. Seeing how the name feels."

"Not hungry in the traditional sense. Not for food ." I let my voice dip low, letting her know I've settled on An'kar and am now in the mood for something completely different—her. "You up for it?"

"I think you're forgetting something, An'kar. You have to be up for it. Me? I can lie back and think of England."

"I'm not so keen on the lying back part. I was picturing a little cowgirl action, Tally. And I'd prefer you think of me, but I'll take what I can get."

"What if I think about Keanu Reeves? A little Matrix action?"

"I didn't take you for that kind of woman, Tally."

"I take it back. I'll never mention the M-word again… or Keanu. Promise."

She places her hand over mine as I settle it on the gearshift, getting ready to get back on the road.

"Just one more thing before we go."

There's something to her voice, an odd tone. Is it a warning? Is she worried about something?

"I was wondering, since today's all about rebirth and all that jazz, if I could take your knot? "

Lightning strikes my heart, vibrating through my body. I've wanted this since I realized I had feelings for Tally, but I never expected it so soon.

"M-my knot?" So lame, An'kar. Not macho at all. At this rate, I'm going to have to surrender my wolven card.

"Drive, wolven. Break the land-speed record, take me home, and bury your knot in me."

"You'll get no argument from me."