Twenty-Nine

Vale

We opted not to go home just yet. It seemed too far when we needed each other now. Plus Brennan was still here at the club, wrapped up with challenging Planny on the RPG they were halfway through defeating, and blissfully unaware of what had happened with Dutch. For now, he'd stay that way, too, other than to know he was safe.

Bypassing Prick for now, Dayton and I headed upstairs. As soon as the door to my suite of rooms closed behind us, Dayton set me on my feet. "Strip."

"Now?" I gasped, my body heating up at his rasped demand and yelling yes, please!

"Not later. Now. Unless you want me to rip those clothes off you. They're getting burned, so it doesn't matter to me."

"Burned?"

He was already pulling off his shirt. "Burned," he confirmed. "A purge of anything that got near Dutch in that room."

I nodded. With all the freaky things in this world we'd entered, who was I to discount bad juju. We could burn down both our houses and all their contents if it made him feel better.

"Now, Vale," he commanded.

"Did you mean it?" I asked, still not moving to disrobe. I needed to know. "What you said… About us being married."

His hands dropped from where he'd just unfastened his belt buckle, and he closed the space between us, grasping my arms. "You're mine. You've always been mine. Our souls are one. They always have been."

"I'm not her anymore," I confessed. I'd changed over the past five years and I still worried a little that Dayton wanted Melonie, as I'd been, rather than Vale, as I was now.

"I know. And she'll always be my first wife. And you…you're my always wife. Your heart is the same. You still love me. Us. And I love you with every bit of my being. It doesn't matter if it's here or in eternity. I don't know that I ever believed in souls and multiple lifetimes before now, but I know… We're connected, and we will always find each other."

"We will. Dayton…I love you. For eternity. In life and death. And into our next lifetime."

He nodded, agreeing. "In life and death. And forever."

"I need you," I breathed, craving the intimacy to consummate the vows between us, to cement them once again in the most carnal way. "I don't have any condoms here, though."

He shrugged. "Do you still want that baby?"

"Yes." Excitement fluttered in my belly. I wanted his child more than almost anything. I wanted Dayton most.

"Then we don't need protection. Not from this. I want everything with you, Vale. Life and family. Whatever the future brings."

I grabbed the back of his head and dragged his mouth to mine. "Shut up and give it to me then!"

"You know the rules," he chuckled, ripping my shirt down my arms and dispatching my bra just as roughly.

"Shut up and give it to me, sir," I breathed.

"I'm gonna make you scream so loud, even those without super hearing will hear you."

"Oh, God. Please do." I hadn't thought about that.

"Hmm," he taunted when I gasped. Determined, he stripped off my jeans then his. "That's not a no."

"Never no."

"Never?"

I slowly shook my head. "One reason I love you is that you have never, ever given me a reason not to trust you. Even when you pissed me off. You've always wanted the best for me. You've always been careful with me. So do what you want to do. I'm yours. Always yours."

"Mmm, always mine," he murmured, smiling while he tipped me back on the bed. His hand moved between my legs. "So wet."

"I want you, Day. You. Me. Finally, us. Finally getting our lifetime."

We groaned as he slid into me bare. He kissed my jaw up my ear as he started moving. "Mine. In this life. Another. Any that we're given. You're mine. And I…am…yours."

His lips sealed over mine while we sealed our commitment. Our vow. Our souls locking together once again. Dayton was right. We were forever. In life. Death. And in life again. Whatever it took. We were one.

The End