Chapter Fifteen

Fury awakened before dawn, his wife curled against him, her head on his shoulder. His arm tingled with pins and needles, but he did not wish to disturb her or burst the bubble of a dream come true. He held his wife in his arms. The limb could go dead, and he wouldn’t care.

A seismic shift had altered their marriage. They’d been drawing closer with each day, but the marriage had taken a quantum leap forward.

If he’d known a neck massage would have such a positive effect, he would have laid his hands on her sooner.

The relationship had shifted between the two of them, and between him and the boy. Until last night, he’d only considered himself. Last night, for the first time, he’d thought about what he brought to the marriage, how he could serve their needs.

And for the first time, he felt like a husband. He felt like…a father.

Are you the dragonslayer? Brody had asked .

He never should have told that story. He’d started out intending to weave a fable about a noble knight who slew mythical dragons, but fiction became the conduit for the truth to pour out.

People said the more you lied, the easier it got. Not for him. Every day he maintained the lie, the heavier it got. And every time he retold it, it got weightier and more conspicuous, as if the stench of his lies were there for everyone to detect. It felt like he carried around a pack of herb cakes, and every day another brick made of shit got shoved into the bag.

He’d started his story, the bag burst, and the truth tumbled out.

He had taken solace in his assumption the kid wouldn’t see it. But he’d underestimated him; the boy was too smart. He’d caught on.

Are you the dragonslayer?

No, that’s just a story. He should have said that. But he couldn’t lie to the kid, couldn’t add another brick to the bag.

Yes, I’m the dragonslayer, he’d said. Go to sleep now.

He had to tell Verity the truth. But he had no idea how to do that and keep her from leaving him. So, he couldn’t bring himself to do it—not when his marriage was maturing. But soon.

She shifted against him. “Are you awake?” she murmured.

“Yes.” As he remembered unspoken promises, his cock hardened.

“What are you doing?”

“Waiting for you to wake up,” he said in a low voice.

“Why are we whispering?” she asked.

“You started it.”

“Is Brody up?” She squeezed his waist.

“I doubt it.”

“I should check.” She sounded so reluctant at the prospect of leaving, his heart skipped a beat. They were on the same wavelength.

“I’ll go. You stay here.” He slipped out of her embrace.

“You check on Brody. I’ll brush my teeth and meet you back here.” She flung off the covers. She still wore the robe over her nightgown. He hadn’t removed her robe when he’d put her to bed.

“Deal.”

They darted out of the bedroom. She ducked into the bath, and he proceeded to the boy’s room .

Out cold, Brody sprawled on his stomach, the stuffed alien on the floor. Fury closed the door. He shoved a couple of herb cakes into the stove then ran into Verity coming out of the bath. He flashed her a thumbs-up and ducked inside to give his teeth a quick brush.

Back in the bedroom, he jumped into bed, noting her robe on the floor.

“Now, where were we?” she asked.

“Hmm…I think we were right about…here.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Organic and electronic nerves lit up. Her lips were soft, her mouth sweet, her tongue avid as she responded to his kiss. Swamped in pleasure already, he groaned. “I’ve waited so long for you.”

Her breath caressed his face as she gave a little laugh. “We’ve only been married ten days.”

“A lifetime.” He kissed her again, stroking her hair then trailing his hand down her spine to her ass cheeks. Rock-hard, he ached for her. She was a dream come true.

She smoothed her hands over his chest, her touch igniting hot tingles.

He scrunched up her nightgown then slipped underneath to touch the silky skin of her naked ass and thigh. It wasn’t enough. “Take this off.” He tugged at the shift.

She obliged with a seductive, eager smile, pulling the gown over her head, and he yanked his shorts off with equal alacrity. They embraced, naked flesh to naked flesh, her curly mound pressed against his thigh. His cock throbbed.

“You feel so good,” she purred.

“You feel better.” He cupped her breast and stroked the peak.

“Competitive much?” She grinned against his mouth.

“Not with you. Never with you.” He nuzzled her neck, following the slope to her shoulders then lower to draw on a nipple. She gasped and arched but then wrapped her hand around his cock, pumping the length. A teasing smile danced on her lips. She cupped his balls and gave a gentle squeeze.

He groaned as liquid fire shot through his veins. Other women had stroked him—he’d not been celibate—but he hadn’t found gratification in those couplings, no more than he’d enjoyed eating nutri-slop to satisfy his hunger. Verity provided a feast for the senses; he felt her in every fiber of his organic and electronic network .

He slipped his fingers between her thighs. Her wet heat sent another surge of lust pulsing through him. He encircled her clit with nimble fingers, watching the pleasure and emotion play out on her face.

She shifted then, tugging at his waist, hooking a leg over his, encouraging him to complete the act.

He poised on his elbows, savoring the anticipation of their first coupling. Her hair was wild, a feverish blush tinted her cheeks, and her eyes were heavy-lidded with desire.

“Don’t tease…” she said.

“I’m enjoying looking at you.”

“I know what you’ll enjoy even more…” She arched.

He guided his cock to her entrance and pushed inside her tight, wet channel. She gasped, and he groaned, pausing to gain self-control. Her heels locked around his legs, and she hugged his neck. Their lips met in an open-mouthed, wet, searing kiss.

The rock of her hips encouraged his thrusts, slow at first then picking up speed. The past faded away, lies were forgotten, and uncertainties vanished, leaving only the unity of body and spirit of two souls. He’d met not only his wife but his mate, the one he’d searched to the ends of Earth and beyond to find. Their union was so much sweeter than he’d ever imagined. She was his beginning, and she would be his end.

She gasped, her body going rigid, her channel contracting as she came. He held out for as long as he could, but then the orgasm hit with a storm of sensation and emotion, a cleansing fire of ecstasy that burned away all vestiges of what he’d once been.

The assassin ceased to exist. There was only Mike. Because of Verity, he lived. For Verity, he lived.

* * * *

Gray morning light peered through the windows, chasing away the night. Verity curled against him, her hair splayed across his shoulder, her damp skin sticking to him in the most pleasurable, intimate way. She drew figure eights on his chest.

His life would never be the same. It hadn’t been from the moment she’d stepped out of the conveyance, but there was no going back. He could only move forward and face the future. Did she have any inkling of the change she inspired in him? Probably not—unless it was somehow visible from the outside. Life had become wonderful and terrifying—wonderful that he had her, terrifying that he could lose her. The latter remained a very real possibility.

I have to tell her what I am .

But not yet. If his marriage turned to shit, and he lost her, he wanted happy times to remember.

“You have changed my life, changed me,” he said. “You are everything to me. I cannot imagine my life without you in it.”

She raised up on an elbow. “I feel the same way. We haven’t been married for very long, but I am so happy we were matched. I can’t imagine being with anybody but you.”

Her feelings weren’t quite the same as his—how could they be? But that she cared for him was a huge leap in the right direction. He hoped with time her feelings would deepen, and she’d be able to accept his ugly past.

He kissed her tenderly.

“Mommm!” Brody’s yell sounded like it came from right outside the door. “Mommm, are you home?”

Her lips twisted wryly. “Sorry,” she murmured. “So much for sleeping in.”

He smiled. “We got done what we needed to.”

“I’m here!” she called. “I’ll be out in a sec!” She slipped out of bed. He got up too, donning a pair of pants while giving her a once-over as she slipped on her nightgown and robe .

“Same time, same place?” She shot him a seductive smile.

He waggled his eyebrows. “It’s a date. Let’s go feed that son of ours.”