Chapter Nineteen

That sweet first taste of rebirth continued as I grew into my place as part of the Freelander commune. When I wasn’t in a tête-à-tête in the town hall, fielding questions about Corps makeup and the demands on the Revolutionaries and Freelanders as far ranging as all the InterNation Territories, I took every work detail thrown at me. I spent most of the time in the barn with the animals. I had an affinity with the big furry bastards. They couldn’t talk. I liked to shovel shit. It was a win-win.

I wasn’t strategizing in top-level talks or manhandling manure the late-December evening Blondie caught me hopping on one foot. Some damn thing Micah’s daughter Callie—one of the marble-playing kids in the mess hall my first morning in Chitamauga—roped me into called hopscotch. She twisted a light red lock of hair around her fingers, her eyes fastened on my feet while Dauphine, Callie’s sister and the bolder of the twins, squatted beside me.

“Cain’t clear the square, can ya, Caspar?” Dauphine teased.

Tossing the pebble over the hard-packed earth behind the schoolhouse, I felt Blondie’s stare at my back. He was the only man who made my prick perk up with nothing but his presence.

I dropped both feet to the ground, shaking my head when Dauphine shouted, “I win!”

I pivoted around. Blondie’s hands were loose on his hips, a smile wide on his lips. “Not as easy as it looks, so you can wipe that grin off your mouth.”

“You learnin’ new games on me?” He winked, letting me back him against the rough boards of the building.

I slipped my fingers into his waistband, pushing the hair from his neck to make space for my mouth on the soft stubble that became denser under his jaw.

“Best not get up to anything naughty, big man. The kids are watchin’.”

On cue, the girls butted into our legs, worse than the billy goats I tended. Blondie swung Dauphine across his shoulders, and after I pulled her sister onto mine, I leaned over for a quick peck to his cheek, unable to resist.

He rubbed his hand over the spot. “That was sweet.”

I just smiled foolishly at him until Callie twisted my hair into painful knots, shouting, “Race, race, Uncle Caspar!”

A shot pierced right through my gut. She’d taken to calling me Uncle Caspar, not Mr. Cannon. A lot of the kids had. My big bad rep was getting a bad rap. Instead of racing through a storm of whizzing bullets, I was playing chicken at sundown, the tips of my ears and nose going cold and the smile on my face huge. That December evening we ran the length of the schoolhouse and back again, the girls giggling so hard I almost lost my grip on Calliope.

On our next circuit, Kamber straddled the raceway. “Girls, y’all behavin’ out here?”

“Yes, ma’am.” They nodded furiously.

“Hmmph.” Her fierce maternal expression softened. “Looks like you have a way with the littl’uns.”

Blondie shuffled his feet and sputtered, “Thank ya kindly, Kamber.”

She set him straight in record time. “I was talkin’ ’bout your Cannon there.”

Barking a laugh, I knocked him on the shoulder, which made Callie giggle and wriggle more on her precarious perch, earning them another stern address.

“Dinnertime, and don’t be forgettin’ y’all’s manners none.”

When the girls gained firm footing on the ground, they peered up at us with the same solemn brown eyes. It was with very serious expressions that they said, “Thank you, Uncle Caspar, Uncle Nathaniel, for playin’ with us.”

I coughed behind my hand to cover the brusqueness of my voice. “No problem.”

Blondie ruffled their hair and sent them packing. Skipping away, they bent their heads together in whispers, stopping once or twice to wave.

Later that night, after we’d taken our meal in the mess and messed around in the big bathtub, we cuddled under the blankets. Candlelight cast shadows across his face, his damp hair making wet blots on the pillows. “Linc and I used to switch places, tryin’ to trick Momma up. She got so steamin’ mad when she couldn’t tell us apart. I had to brush my hair just so, make sure my tie was straight and my shirt tucked in. Linc razzed me about my sloppy appearance, but he made the switch just the same. We placed bets on how long we could get away with it. One time we made it two days, foolin’ Momma, Father, our instructors. Hell, even Farrow couldn’t tell us apart.”

“You miss him.”

“Half the time we didn’t get along, and then he went on over to Father’s side, believing all those goddamn lies. But it doesn’t matter. I’ll never be rid of that missin’ part of myself.” Rolling to his back, he ran his fingertips up and down my thigh in an unconscious caress. “Those sisters, Callie and Dauphine, made me think of it.”

Man, seeing him with the kids, the idea of him as a father supplanted the hundreds of other fantasies in my head. “I want children,” I blurted.

“I want yours.”

“How?” It didn’t take a damn doctor to know neither one of us had the right receptacle for growing babies.

“Well, no one’s sayin’ we can’t, for starters.”

“Yeah, but—”

Rising above me, he kissed me into silence. “There’s adoption, surrogacy.”

“Out here?”

“Mmm-hmm. Even here. Not everyone’s cut out to be parents, ya know.”

I spread my hands over the muscles fanning his back, lifting my lips to his ear. “You are.”

“Think we could get married first?” He encircled the ring shining on my finger.

“I’m ready now.” I growled against his throat, throwing him onto his back.

His guttural laugh coiled a hot ball of need in my groin. “Soon, big man, soon.”

*  *  *

“You know the drill, beb?”

“Roger that.” I hauled up my pants, trading my fatigues for sleek new leathers Liz had picked up for me along the way, adding them to a stash of ammo, C4, and other fun treats. I shot a look at Leon and caught him checking out my ass. I couldn’t wait to tell Blondie about that. “No, actually. Not sure I do.”

The only drills I knew came with shouted orders and moving targets. This handfasting malarkey was something else entirely. When I got no response from Leon, I cut around to him again. He lounged against the Love Hovel’s narrow doorway, his gaze fixed on my shirtless torso. “Boy, you better stick those eyes back in their sockets. Blondie won’t take kindly to you ogling me, you know?” I smacked him on the back of the head, trying to pop his peepers back in and the lust out. “Besides, what’s this I hear about you and Darke?”

Darke’s battle-weary warriors had returned to the commune a few weeks after us. The winning combo of Freelanders and insurgents had worked its magic in campaign after campaign, coming up goddamn golden when Alpha finally fell. But triumph in war was cold comfort against the haunting of their dead brothers and sisters who’d been ambushed by the Corps recon soldiers, not to mention the casualties of later combat.

Breaking from the disquiet around me, I’d stepped beside Darke as he hung back from the villagers’ subdued welcome. “I’m sorry.”

The movement of his mouth was the grimace of a cadaver. “You’re not responsible.”

“I’m Corps. I’m responsible.”

“Then you understand this is how they would’ve wanted to die. My Tammerick, my Wilde.” He’d grabbed my shoulders, wide brown eyes sketched in sad acceptance. “Weapons in hand. Righteous of heart. Together.”

Flushing a swarthy shade of pink, Leon curved his lanky frame from the door and pulled his fingers over his lips. “Ain’t nothin’.” Poised with one boot tip over the other, his sharp chin ducked to his chest. “I’m not sure he’s ever gonna get over Wilde and Tammerick. Just wanna be there for him. Plus, you can’t blame me for looking. I’d sure like to have all that dark meat.”

“Fuck, boy. You sure know how to pick ’em.”

“What I’m gon’ do?” Tonguing the corner of his mouth, he surveyed me again. “Like dem big and hard.”

I had to hand it to the kid. He still thought with his dick, but he’d manned up while I was having my whirlwind vacation at the Outpost. The word in the village was he’d pulled every shift he could pick up. On the blackest nights, when they weren’t sure if the fight was headed their way, he’d entertained the children, cared for the elders, and kept the hand-me-down Colt on his hip at all times. A babysitter with a handgun.

“What am I supposed to do now?” After I pulled on a blazing white shirt, I inspected my appearance in the mirror as much as I could. The frigging thing was framed in curlicues and plastered in flower cutouts. I reached for my tie. I didn’t really like anything around my neck anymore, but I’d wear it for Blondie.

“Gawd, Caspar. Just tell ’im you love him. And if dat don’t work, get on your knees. Does it for me.” Leon handed me a shot of liquor and set to work on the throat-choker. “Wearin’ cologne?”

“Shut it.”

“You talk to your man like dat?” He tied the knot, yanked the ends together, and knocked a glass to mine.

“No. It’s all romance and flowers.”

The strong woodsy flavor burning him, he choked out a laugh. “Your hands are shakin’.”

“I got the DTs.” I sank my shot and took more time than usual putting the glass down on one of the gaudy little tables.

Leon held the black leather blazer open. “Jacket.”

I punched my arms through and inhaled. Exhaled. I checked the time like an addict waiting for his next hit. Ten more minutes. We’d been kept apart all damn day, and I needed to see Blondie so badly I couldn’t concentrate on anything other than my heart thumping along with the minutes, trying to rush them along.

Satisfied I didn’t look like a total schmuck, I quelled my stomach and pushed Leon out the door. “Let’s go.”

At the gate to the meadow, I stopped and stared, a smile curling up my lips. It was a damn pretty sight, festooned with ribbons in red, fat bows and bells of all sizes clanging together when we entered. A trail of red berries scattered over the wintry walkway showed us the way to the altar.

“You’re shivering. You scared?”

It was January and cold as a CO heart. Not the Beltane ceremony Hills and Eden had pushed for—a time of rebirth for the natural world—but Blondie and I had agreed. Two months of courtship was time aplenty, and I was so eager to become his husband my heart was ready to leap out of my chest.

The shivers were from excitement, pure undiluted emotion.

“No, I’m cold,” I lied.

When we crested the small hill, there was no stopping the chills coursing up and down my spine. Nope. This sure as hell wasn’t a Joining Ceremony, a cold affair specializing in the commerce of two people, or even a Validation of Union, the same deal for CO higher-ups. This was a gathering of people invested in our love. Arranged in circles, their hands joined, I estimated about five hundred villagers to be looking up at me.

“Just don’t let me cry, Leon.”

“Mais, cryin’s good.”

“I’m not into public displays of weepies.” I started down the far side of the hillock, knowing I was gonna get hit by a heavy case of blubbering pretty damn soon.

“You seen your man yet?”

Holy shit.

Tendrils of dark green ivy worked their way between white blooms on the bower arching above Nathaniel’s handsome head. Nathaniel.

I might know jack shit about handfasting or tying the knot, but when I wove down the aisle toward him, I was tongue-tied. And even though there was a crowd of people around us, it felt like we were the only two men in the world.

All my bluster faded, just like that.

His suede jacket hugged his shoulders, the flaps flipped up over his ass in a dovetailas he leaned toward little Calliope. She held on to his hand, listening with the all-consuming attention of a four-year-old.

I knew exactly how she felt. Nathaniel was worth the attention. He’d commanded mine from day one, and his hold over me had only ramped up since we’d returned to Chitamauga.

On the verge of getting hitched, I thought back to my squat with its bare cot and the plant I’d let die. The robo-fish that’d gone belly-up before I named it, the dog I’d never had. I had more now than I could ever quantify, starting with a family made up of so many more relatives than I ever thought possible. They were all waiting in this snowy meadow, watching me get closer and closer to Nathaniel.

When he straightened from bending Callie’s ear, he saw me. His throat flushed up to his ears, pink captured inside the open collar of his white shirt. No tie.

Narrowing my eyes, I loosened mine.

I never thought myself one for commitment. Hell, I was never even given the chance to consider it before, let alone dream about it. Now I wanted to punch the air, sprint to him, make out with him for hours on end. I held it all together by a tight wire, winding through the throng of Freelanders. In muted wool and multicolored layers of lace or satin or velvet, they’d come out in their best finery. Old, rich leather, collars and cuffs in fur, hats and delicate woven, woody crowns.

The Rivers and the Fieldings.

Fischer and Forrest and Hatch.

Darke clapped my back when I passed by, and Leon stayed behind with him.

Traitor.

The inner ring held Liz and Farrow, their linked hands not nearly as noticeable as their standout Territory garb. Tall and lean as a hairpin trigger, Liz was dressed head to toe in motorcycle black, holstered and booted. Tiny and blonde, Farrow wore a fine lady’s gown.

Micah and Kamber were right there with Calliope and Dauphine.

All but buried in petals, the altar held a simple wooden table bearing the sacred tools for our ritual. I hated to crush those delicate petals on the ground where Nathaniel stood, but they were in my way. Barely noting Hills and Eden behind Nathaniel, I walked to him, his look sending shock waves all the way to my toes.

“Goddamn.” Grasping his neck, I fingered through the loose strands of his hair until I had a good hold. Too impatient to wait until the I do’s, I crushed him to me as his mouth parted for my tongue. Our kiss was hungry; it heated me from within.

Hoots and hollers of the best kind swirled around, followed by Liz’s throaty call. “Doncha think you should exchange rings before spit?”

Turning in to his throat, I groaned.

His hands on my arms, my lover wore a happy, dazed look. “You’re blushing.”

“It’s frostbite.” I stomped my feet in the flowers and snow. I still couldn’t get used to making out with him in front of other people, having the freedom to touch him when I wanted to. I never wanted to get used to it; it felt too good.

Our fingers twined together as we faced Hills and Eden. Beyond the altar, the beautiful meadow was an icy landscape of misty ghosts giving way to love.

Hills the priest was a much better master of ceremonies than Head Honcho the whoreson. Even with his long ears and the crown of fat berries titled on his head, his demeanor was that of a beneficent sage. He gave us each a searching look before proclaiming, “There are two men among us seeking the bond of handfasting.”

Eden held a gnarly wand in one hand, a slim dagger in the other. “They shall be named.”

My eyes brimming, I held on to Nathaniel’s hand, bringing him forward. I didn’t dare look at him, only squeezed his hand harder and rubbed my thumb over his bare finger, which would soon wear my ring.

“Nathaniel Rice unto Caspar Cannon.” A perpetual smile dented the white whiskers on Hills’s face.

Eden wiped her eyes and spoke to her son. “Are you Nathaniel Rice?”

“I am.” The heat of his stare landed on the side of my face.

“Why do you stand before us today?”

He took one step closer to me until I turned toward him. His voice resonated with his pronouncement. “To vow my life and love to Caspar Cannon. Before the people of the Chitamauga Commune, and for all the world to see.”

Hills planted himself next to me and asked. “Would you forgo this man in one year and one day, as is your right by the ceremony?”

“Screw that. I don’t need an escape clause,” I answered.

“No?”

“Never.” Lifting Blondie’s hand, I kissed his knuckles. When his lashes fluttered down, I smiled and brushed my mouth over them again.

“What is your desire, Caspar?”

“This man right here.” Fuck yeah. He felt so good. This was the most right thing I’d ever done.

“Anything else?”

“I love him. I want him always. And ditto what he said.” I needed to recite poetry about how much I loved him? I could tell he knew by the way his chest rose, filling with the force of my emotion.

Placing the priapic wand between our joined palms, Eden bade us to hold it firmly. I stroked the soft skin of his inner wrist, watching while his lips parted and his breaths came as fast as mine.

A long red ribbon trailed through Eden’s hands, its color a carnal shock in the white-on-white landscape. This was the kind of bondage I could get behind. The wide red sash trapping our right wrists together stretched up our forearms with our arms crossed between us. I had plans for that ribbon later, maybe tie Blondie up, have my way with him for hours, days. Hell, I was gonna have him all to myself forever.

Lifting a teardrop from his cheek, I cupped his beloved face. It was hard to smile through all the emotions churning inside me, and when I managed it, I tasted the warm saltiness from my own tears.

The ribbon tethering us as one, Eden quietly blessed us in a bond I never wanted to be freed from.

“Caspar, I love you so much.”

Heat like I’d never felt before lit up every single nerve in my body. “I can’t wait to make you mine, Nathaniel,” I whispered for him alone.

Eden’s voice rose to encompass the commune. “People of Chitamauga Commune, Nathaniel Rice and Caspar Cannon ask that you bear witness to their vows.”

When she passed the athame to Nathaniel, I didn’t waste any time admiring the craftsmanship of the fine dagger. My attention was solely directed on the man before me.

Turning the point to the inner flesh of my free wrist, he hesitated. “You ready?”

“More than ready, baby.”

He lifted my wrist, kissing the pleasure point before driving the tip into my flesh. He watched my face the entire time he said his pledge to me. “I, Nathaniel Rice, bind myself to Caspar Cannon. I commit to him my heart, my honor, and my strength, for I will cherish him always.

“I will watch over him, stand beside him, and guard the love he has given me.”

Mesmerized by his voice and his vows, I couldn’t stop caressing his wrist.

His timbre deepened as he held the knife aloft between us. “May this athame be used against me if my love does not hold true.” Glowing blue eyes tore in to mine. “All this I swear to you, Caspar. So may it be.”

The athame went from Nathaniel to Eden and over to me.

This was the first time I handled a weapon to profess my love instead of do harm. Small rivers of my blood stained my shirt as I continued the blood rite. Cutting a line across Nathaniel’s vein, I focused on him. “I, Caspar Cannon, give myself to Nathaniel Rice.” I tugged him closer, sealing my lips over the red trail.

His moan was rich and low.

“Through war and combat, in times of peace, I will be beside you. My love, my heart, my soul is yours, Nathaniel."

“Caspar…”

“Not done yet,” I said. Breaths slid between us. Parted lips a centitmeter away. “There is no place I’d rather be than at your side. You have brought me solace. You have shown me honor. You are so deep inside of me, Nathaniel.”

His fingers caressed mine, his eyes a brighter blue, shining with unshed tears.

“With everything I am, I commit myself to you. All this I swear in the name of liberty, life, and our love. So may it be.”

We closed the last bit of space between us, pressing the shallow cuts on our left wrists together. The red ribbon was mirrored in the crimson drops, and we were linked by both hands in an infinite chain.

There was nothing more beautiful than that.

Except for Blondie’s pink cheeks and gorgeous forget-me-not eyes.

Hills’s deep bass married Eden’s soft lilt as they spoke together. “From this meadow to the forest, from your hearts to your souls, you will be blessed. Hold on to each other. Be true. Be brave. Know that life and love are a journey you will undertake as one.”

As one. I inhaled against Nathaniel's cheek.

Hills and Eden encircled us. “Nathaniel Rice, Caspar Cannon, you are one before this commune, unto each other, for all time.”

“So may it be.” The chorus surrounded us.

Our rings were placed into our palms, and I curled my fingers against Nathaniel’s, enclosing my token.

We’d both been down to the forge, giving our orders to Smitty. He’d inspected my castoffs, ruminating, the corner of his sandy mustache dipping into his mouth. I’d offered silver from a necklace Farrow had given me as well as a rose-gold pin that had belonged to Liz’s mother.

“Think I can do somethin’ with these.” He’d pushed his smeared glasses up on his nose. “That Nathaniel of yours already been down here, just as keen as y’are, I’d say.”

Nathaniel’s lips moved against my ear. “Love you, husband.”

My hand shook in his firm grip as he eased a new ring on my finger. The wide band was dark as the insides of an old oak, capped in silver, and scrolled with tiny tree limbs. It sat perfectly on my finger, the metal warming as quickly as my heart.

I didn’t think I had enough breath to even speak the words welling up inside when I gave him my ring. Smitty had done a fine job, smelting down the metal and twisting it into lean lines of silver barred by a few rose-gold nuggets, the same color as Nathaniel’s lips.

“There’s no token on this planet that could ever signify how much I feel for you. I love you so much, baby.”

His throat bobbed as the wedding band slid home. His fingers clasped mine as he pulled me into a searing kiss. His tongue coiled against mine, a slow licking motion making me roll my hips into his.

He lifted his head. “Ceremony. People.”

“Fuck ’em.” I bent to him again.

“Only one I wanna fuck is you, so we gotta get through the rest of this thing.”

I covered my groan, turning with him to face the Freelanders who were already ringed around us, six deep. We worked sunwise, accepting hugs from people with broad smiles and teary eyes.

The same path I’d come down earlier was now strewn with waxy white petals and lit by votives eclipsing the early evening. I wasn’t walking alone. Blondie’s hand was in mine when all around flares of red bloomed against the sky. The snapping release of hundreds of ribbons joined chants of Live in freedom! Love at will!

“Holy shit. That’s beautiful.” I stood stunned by the sight.

Some of the ribbons were more pink than red. Some were old things with frayed edges. Satin, cotton, the simplest strings waved from the hands of every person in the village.

“Yeah, it is.”

Captured by the crowd, our path through the snowy fields was a celebratory stroll under the dusky sky awash in a wild rash of red. Reaching the mess hall, we were rushed inside to a view of the rafters rigged with more white flowers and bright banners.

Casks of homebrew were opened. Cider went the rounds again and again. Music swilled up to the ceiling. Fiddles and banjos, guitars and harmonicas, and voices signing songs I didn’t know.

I propped up the corner of the makeshift bar, talking with Micah, but really I was watching Blondie work the crowd. He fucking glowed, and his eyes, whenever they sought me—which was approximately every twenty seconds—suffused me with their passion, starting a tight tingling that ran from my toes to my stomach.

“You gonna ask him to dance?”

“Nah. I don’t want to interrupt him.”

Micah drained his tankard and leaned away for a refill. “Seems to me that’s exactly what you’re s’posed to do.”

“Really?” I peered around again but couldn’t locate him. I turned back to Micah just as a pair of rough hands guided me into a well-built body.

While my eyes slid closed and my mouth parted with a low groan, I heard Micah strolling away. “That’s what I’m talkin’ about.”

“Mmm.” Blondie purred in my ear. “What were y’all talkin’ about, now?”

“Dancing.”

“Gonna dance with him?” He shifted right up to me, his cock a long line against my ass.

“No. I’m gonna dance with you.” His fingers twined with mine, I led him to the center of the room as a slow song started and the floor emptied for us.

His cheeks were pink, his eyes merry, and his lips lush. I brought our hands together between our chests, and our rings clinked softly. Reaching behind him, I caressed his shoulders, sighing when his arms wrapped around my waist.

The silky stubble on his jaw moved over my cheek. “I wanna feel like this forever, honey.”

As we moved in a series of loose circles, I gripped him tighter, our bodies perfectly aligned. “Like what?”

“So in love with you. The way you feel in my arms makes me wanna kiss you all night long just because I can.” Leaning back, he stared at my mouth. “When you look at me, Caspar, those brown eyes so full of love and passion for me, that hot damn mouth.” He enclosed me in both his arms to whisper in a voice that was near breaking, “Can’t believe you’re mine.”

Pushing my voice over the lump in my throat, I cradled his face against my neck. “Double that, baby. Double that.”

Then we danced, just like that. Eventually others returned to the floor, filling in around us. The songs changed, but the music, the other people, everything else was background noise shut out from our close embrace.

“Can I cut in?” I opened my eyes at the sound of Liz’s smoky voice.

A kiss dragged down my throat. Blondie touched his tongue to my leaping pulse and pulled away. “’Course you can, Lizbeth.”

I watched him saunter off, grabbing small Dauphine under her arms to spin her about the floor, his deep laugh joining her squeals.

Liz’s fingers snapped in front of my face. Cutting my eyes to her, I narrowed them at the sight of her smug grin. “What?”

“You done good, Commander.”

“Yeah, I did.” I went back to watch detail, admiring Blondie’s sweet ass. Then I remembered. “Wait. You let him call you Lizbeth?’

She shrugged. First Lieutenant Grant never let anyone call her that, not even me. “Mmm-hmm, and Farrow too.” She waggled her eyebrows. “We gonna do this dancing thing?”

“I suppose.”

“You afraid I won’t rate as well as Nate?”

“No.” I caught hold of her whipcord hips and moved with her. “I’m afraid you’re gonna step on my feet.”

“Ass.”

We didn’t share a lover’s embrace, but we didn’t fumble too much either. We kept looking at each other, our expressions probably the same. A little quizzical, a little surprised by all the new shit we were both experiencing. She’d been my right hand for so long, but now I had a lover, a husband. A new compatriot in all things.

We’d had word from abroad. Casualties, victories, intrigues. The very first steps being taken toward democracy and rule by the people in Alpha. The Company had been booted from Kappa on the continent of Europa and the Free-folk and Revolutionaries in FarAsian Nu Territory were kicking some serious ass.

Blondie had started it. He wasn’t just a desk driver; he was the catalyst. The son of CEO Cutler, the head of technological acquisitions, he’d hot-wired the purifiers all over the world to release a bogus contaminant into the water supplies at the same time, throwing the CO into immediate InterNations chaos.

He’d been groomed for takeover, just not the kind he’d served up. Like millions of us, he wanted something more. First and foremost, the freedom to love whoever he wanted.

Blondie wants me.

There was still a hell of a fight ahead of us, and no doubt it was gonna get real dirty, but we were gonna hang tight for a while. Take advantage of this thing called the honeymoon period.

“So…” I started, peering at Liz as we swiveled around the floor.

Her head tilted. “So?”

No matter Blondie was going to be by my side from now on, I still had a healthy dose of protective instinct where Liz was concerned, especially since while I was planning on honeymooning, she was prepping to go headhunting.

During our trek back to the commune, I finally found out what she’d wanted to tell me the day her D-P fritzed out. She’d been under attack during a fierce Wilderness battle between our Corps and a band of Freelanders from another commune on the road to Beta. After the fight settled, she and the others were interrogated, and she’d had her own questions for her captors. The intel she got did a massive head number on her, so much it forced her to see the tribe of people in a whole new light.

Her father, Robie Grant—a high-ranking Corps medical officer and chief geneticist—was killed while treating wounded in the Wilderness. By Nomads. At least that had been the official story. Now there was a possibility it had all been a Company cover-up, and she needed to get to the truth. A truth that could be found only in Beta Territory, where Grant had last been based.

My face turned sour. “You’re going to Beta. I don’t like it.”

“The war needs me there, Caspar. Don’t go all fucking big brother on me.”

“You’re not just going for the war.”

“I have to find out about my dad. Wouldn’t you want to know?” She stepped away, knee cocked and fingers resting on the butt of her Desert Eagle, where they felt most at home, no doubt.

“I’m going with you.”

She rolled her eyes, and I thought about breaking her neck for her to save her the trouble of getting eyeball deep in Corps and CO espionage up in Beta. “You are staying here, with your man.” She took a step forward, fingers now curled over her sidearm. “Why the hell’d you think I let you get hitched anyway? Nate keeps you out of my hair.”

Anger tightened my throat. “You’re a real piece of work, you know that? I’m still your superior officer, Lieutenant.”

“And you’re a real sumbitch, sir.” She gave a smart-assed salute. And she’d picked up the local lingo. Nice.

It was fucking impossible to love her, yet it was unimaginable how much I did. I rolled my shoulders and blew out a stream of air. “Fine. For now.”

“Thanks for your blessing, Big Papa.” Getting back into my arms, she jerked her chin over to Farrow. “Besides, I got backup. Farrow knows Linc. He just doesn’t know she’s in the underground. It’s fricking perfect. She can get me close to him and the info I need.”

“Foolhardy and stupid.” I gave my strategic assessment.

“You ever know me to go off without my head on tight?”

I hugged her close. “No.”

“Not going to start now, sir. Besides, I’m sticking around here a bit longer.”

She’d gotten caught up in the spirit of the place just as I had. The commune with its colors and liveliness reminded me of her bedroom back in Alpha, the sanctuary she had decorated in such a pretty fashion, that she’d kept hidden from everyone. The village may have been shabbier than her paintings and feminine treasures, but this was someplace to share in the fabric of life instead of shying away from desires in fear.

Motioning to Farrow, I asked, “How’s that working out for you?”

“Digging for some dirty details to spice up your love life already?”

I turned red right to my hairline. “I want to know if she’s treating you right.”

At that, she threw her head back and hooted, like a goddamned owl. “Oh yeah. That’s one way of putting it.” Her hair a black ruff on her head, her slim body swayed away from mine. “But I still like dick, and since yours is not now—nor was it ever—an option, I’m gonna go find a new partner.”

I figured that was enough socializing and tried to get back to Blondie, but people kept getting in my way. Every damn time I got close, he was spirited off or I was waylaid. Man, I wished I could wipe them all from the face of the earth, or at least wind the revelers down and send them to bed, so we could get to ours.

I’d just planted my ass on a bench and was keeping an eye on Leon with Darke when Blondie’s arm slid over my shoulders.

“Ain’t he always falling for the wrong fella?”

Darke leaned down to listen to Leon, locking Leon’s hand inside his big brown paw. After Leon pushed up to say something in his ear, the huge man pulled back, a smile glistening on his lips and a hint of russet under the deep ebony of his cheeks.

“Huh.” I sat up straighter.

“Or maybe not.” Blondie knocked against my shoulder. “You sort things out with Lizbeth?”

“Don’t know about sorted out. She’s going off to Beta, and I’m not thrilled about that.”

Propping his head on his hand, he smiled. “You are such a protector.”

I grumbled some more. Probably damn blushed too.

“Mmm-hmm.” His hand spread around the back of my neck and he drew me near. “Don’t get me wrong. I like it.”

Against his lips, I said, “Of course you do. Got me into your bed, didn’t it?”

Blondie’s slow perusal of my body added a whole lot of pressure in my leathers as my cock hardened. “Sure did. And that’s exactly where I wanna be right now.”

“Hell, yes.” I hopped up, grabbed his hand, and dragged him out of the wide doors before anyone could stop us with more annoying stories about when they got hitched.

“Slow down!”

Slow down? Not frigging likely. I picked him up in my arms instead.

By the time Blondie figured out I was heading in the opposite direction of the Love Hovel, I was already two thirds of the way to our destination. Dazed from the kisses I’d been laying on his neck and against his ear, he asked, “Not taking me back to the Wilderness, are ya?”

“Just a little farther.”

Rounding a big stand of bushy pines, I stopped when I saw it. Our caravan, lit up like a harlot’s den in a far corner of the meadow where we could still see the votives trailing toward our altar.

“What the—? How did you—? Caspar?”

I laughed, tightening my hold on him as I bounded up the rickety steps.

“You gonna put me down sometime?”

“Not yet.” I nipped his bottom lip. “Did some research of my own, and it’s traditional for the groom to carry his beloved over their threshold.”

After stooping a lot and turning to make it through the skinny doorway, I slid him down my body.

“When’d you do all this?” He fell back against me.

All this was having the fire in the cast-iron stove lit hours in advance. Pillows and food, flowers and fine bourbon all at the ready. As well as a fucking thousand little silver tinker’s bells I definitely hadn’t added laced all over the outside of the caravan. The mind-boggling bullshit the villagers had put up was gonna make me think twice about fucking him hard and fast in case I set off alarms.

“Got some of it sorted this morning, during all those hellish hours when no one would let me near you. Then Micah hitched it up to the tractor and hauled it out here.” I walked across the room burnished in candlelight and smelling of sweet blossoms. “Wanted some privacy.”

Giving me a slow, burning smile, he stalked toward me. “Hmm.”

I suddenly felt nervy with his seductive approach. I scrubbed my hand over my hair. “Uh, Evangeline helped with the flowers.”

He didn’t spare a glance at the bouquets bursting with colorful winter blooms. “I like ’em.” He had me backed up against the dresser. My hands flew back. I knocked over the whiskey tumblers. “Know what else I like?”

“No.” My breath was trapped in my chest, my chest billowing in and out so fast I cried out when his midriff met mine.

“You.” His lips were hot, his kiss tender, inviting. His tongue a succulent treat stroking into my mouth.

I clasped his face, my cock throbbing when he groaned.

“So damn gorgeous, honey. Can I undress you?”

Nodding like an idiot, I watched every slow move he made. His fingertip trailing from my waist up the middle of my chest, he slid the tie from my neck, whipping it aside. “I’m gonna make you feel so good, so cherished.”

Spending our first night as married—handfasted—men, I already felt cherished. But his hands unbuttoning my shirt and then tickling through the hairs on my chest took that good feeling to a mind-blowing level.

“Love your chest.” He nuzzled against my pecs, his tongue swiping a nipple. A thrill shot down my body and my hips jolted forward at the sensation of his mouth closing over the nub.

“Oh fuck.” Felt like the only solid thing in my body was my dick, and I was about to fall over.

His fingers scratched over my nipples as he spread my shirt and jacket wide. Backing up, he left me like that. “You look good in a suit.”

“Don’t get used to it.”

“Oh, I won’t. ’Cause you look a thousand times better without a stitch on.” He jerked the buttons on my leathers and I gasped. With the placket open and my cock leaping against my stomach, he slid the shirt and jacket down my arms, returning to caress the heavy muscles of my shoulders. He breathed deeply against my neck before working that pink mouth down my body, nibbling muscles, licking into my belly button, sucking the side of my cock with his hands stuffed down my pants.

“Jesus Christ, baby, please.”

“Mmm.” The smirk on his face totally erotic, he cast his eyes to mine while he lowered my pants, ridding me of everything below.

Up and down my thighs his fingertips teased, his eyes on my shaft. I was getting close to whining when he leaned forward and rubbed his bristly shadow through my pubic hair to my cock. The groan that came out of me broke off when he sucked the head into his mouth. Leaning on my hands against the dresser, I shifted onto my tiptoes and watched him take me deep.

When my cock was wet all over, when I couldn’t breathe anymore through my moans and my entire body was straining, he lifted up to suckle. Just my cockhead between those lips, his eyes closed, he drifted his tongue around and around and into the slit welling with liquid.

So hot I was sweating, so overcome with lust I was swearing and panting, I pressed him off, my hands in his hair.

“Your turn, before I come all down your throat, baby.” I hauled him up my body, and goddamn it was sexy feeling his clothes rasping against my naked skin. I kissed his luscious lips before setting to work on his coat, making my way through his shirt in record time just so I could get to his strong shoulders and lean chiseled chest.

He wasn’t talking anymore, but I was. “Jesus, look at you.” I sent kisses all over his abdomen, sucking his skin into my mouth to feel his muscles tense against my lips. He gasped when I reached down for his foot, resting it on my thigh as I kneeled before him. Nuzzling my face against his thick shaft inside his pants, I traced the ridge of his head clearly defined against the tight fabric.

His hips jutted out and he grabbed my shoulders, nails biting into my skin.

My tongue wrapped around the indecent length of his penis, I made his pants so nice and wet I could even see the veins standing out against his stiff cock.

“Fuck yes,” I growled, tearing off his boots and socks.

Planting his feet on the floor, I sent his pants buttons flying. His back arched when I squeezed my hands inside against his hard, flexed ass, going at his bared cock, grinding my nose in the soft blond crown curling at the base of his beautiful shaft.

I jerked him nice and slow, running my tongue all around his balls and underneath. The tip of my tongue swirled along the tiny bridge of skin just there until he whimpered above me.

Finishing off his trousers, I stood. “Bed, now.”

I followed, placed him on his knees, and faced him in the same position. Our hands wandered over the landscape of each other’s bodies, our mouths never leaving the other. Overheating, grabbing hair and muscles and cocks, we moaned together.

I placed my palm on his chest and retreated, catching my breath. Retrieving the lube, I snapped it open and poured it into his palm and onto my fingertips. “Lie down, Nathaniel.”

“Like this?” His breathy voice was a massive turn-on, and so was he. On his back, his legs spread for me.

I admired his wide-open body, my hand running up his thigh. “Just like that.”

His cock jumped against my mouth when I snuck down to linger over him with long, moist kisses, and then I straightened over him on my knees. “Get me wet?”

His hand wrapped around me, slick and hot, the sensation of his strong touch ripping through me. I gently kneaded his sacs and dipped below, easing a finger into his passage, smothering his groan with my mouth on his.

Both of us ready, I sat on my heels, shaking to be inside him, but there was one thing I had to do first. “I did some other research.” I pistoned my hand up and down both our cocks in a torturous fist fuck.

“Did ya?”

After a deep kiss, I rubbed my mouth over his. “Found this other ritual I like. Let me show you?”

He plucked my bottom lip between his and let go with a growl. “I’ll do any damn thing you want, anytime you want.”

“That’s dangerous.” My kiss rough, my tongue searched his teeth, the roof of his mouth, devouring his groans. “I’ll be taking you up on that offer.”

I pulled his wrist to my lips, licking the neat pink scar from our earlier rites. “Nathaniel Rice. Blondie.” I kissed that sweet flesh. “Blood of my blood, you honor me with the gift of your heart.”

I smeared the tear from his cheek and leaned over to kiss him again, lying fully on top of him.

He captured my hand and turned it over, meeting my eyes to swear, “Caspar Cannon. Bone of my bone, blood of my blood, I take you into my heart. I give mine in return.”

I let the emotions flow. This moment above all others felt so right and true. “My mate, my match, my love and lover.”

I hovered just outside his entrance, letting him accept me into him.

With a small press toward me, he whispered, “I take you into my body.”

I thrust into him, tipping my pelvis, hitting him wide and deep and long, groaning, “God, yes, you do, baby.”

His laugh was snuffed out when his hips rose to mine. I held his neck in one hand, his ass in the other, and we moved together, one writhing motion, one endless wave. His thighs circled my waist and his arms wound around my back, and we kissed through every lunge and each pulsing withdrawal.

The urge to come hit me hard and fast when his hand moved to my thigh, pulling me forcefully in to him. Locked within Nathaniel, I roared with the release that came from my heart and soul, pouring out, pouring into him.

He reared off the bed in his orgasm, face straining, biting down on his lip and moaning, “Love you. Oh God! I love you.”

Rolling against each other, I pushed the hair off his brow and held him.

Although the red ribbon had been folded and placed in a cushy carved box on the dresser, our hands were bound together. Our hearts tied to each other, linked in love.

We stayed that way for a long time, until he rubbed his hand across my chest. “What do you wish for now?”

I could wish for a million things, but none of it mattered then. Not with my husband in my arms and his head on my shoulder, his love filling my soul. “Not a goddamn thing. I got it all with you, Blondie.”

“Me too, Caspar. Me too.”