Three months later
Chaya stood in front of the beautiful, intricately carved double doors of the Conway hotel’s grand room and tried to calm the fluttering in her belly.
Mia’s hand brushed hers as she came up beside her. “You look amazing, Chay. Just…” She sniffed, eyes welling up for the hundredth time. “Gorgeous.”
Her sister’s vibrant red hair was piled on top of her head, and the satin green dress she wore made her look like some exotic flower. She gave Mia’s hand a squeeze. “You look pretty amazing yourself. I’m surprised Zen let you out of his sight looking like that.”
She pursed her lips. “Well, there was talk of cuffing me to the towel rail in our bathroom before we left.”
They both giggled, a ridiculous girlie sound she never thought she’d ever make, but right then she was feeling kind of giddy.
“Never have I heard a sweeter sound,” their father rasped as he joined them. “My girls. You look stunning.” His gaze turned wistful, and some of that light dimmed. “Your mother would have been so proud of you both.”
“Thanks, Dad. I wish she was here, too.”
He held his arm out for her. “Shall we?”
“Let’s do this.” Mia gave Chaya a quick hug and, after fixing one of the miniature white roses in her hair, moved behind to straighten the short train of her dove-gray gown. With a nod from her father, the doors were pulled open.
Music started playing, a beautiful piece that Brent had picked out that, even without words, managed to express the way they felt about each other. No one had questioned Brent and Chaya’s decision to have a human wedding ceremony. They couldn’t mate like Zen and Mia or the other knights, and though it was just a piece of paper, it was something they both wanted.
They’d kept it low key, just the knights—in suits, something she still couldn’t believe—and their mates. The people she loved.
She sucked in a breath when she spotted Brent. He looked good enough to eat in his black tux. He’d turned and was watching her as she made her way down the aisle, with so much emotion in his dark eyes that it almost overwhelmed her. When they reached him, her father kissed her cheek and placed her hand in Brent’s. Brent slid his other arm around her waist and pulled her tight against him. The intensity in his gaze broke for a moment, and he smiled, warmth and love all there for everyone to see.
Chaya reached up, cupped the side of his jaw, and brought him down for a kiss, slow and easy.
When she pulled back, he grinned down at her. “Hey, I think we’re supposed to wait till the end of the ceremony for that.”
She grinned back. “Couldn’t do it.”
There were a few chuckles around the room, then the ceremony started. It was quick, simple, and utterly beautiful, and Brent kissed her again when they were pronounced man and wife—but this time there was nothing slow or easy about it.
Everyone came forward to congratulate them, Mia and Zenon joined them last. Her sister hugged them both, tears shimmering in her eyes. “That was beautiful. I’m so happy for you both.”
Zenon looked down at Chaya, expression as fierce as always, but there was something else as well, something softer. “You look beautiful, Chay.”
She nearly fell on her ass. Doing her best to hide her surprise, she smiled up at him. “Thanks. You scrub up pretty good yourself.” She was trying to keep it light but failed miserably when her voice came out husky with emotion. She’d been blinded by fear when she first met Zenon, fooled by the hard exterior. Now she knew what a truly good male he was. She kind of wished she could hug him in that moment, but he didn’t really allow anyone but Mia to touch him.
His expression went from fierce to scary as hell when he turned to Brent. “Do I need to say it?”
Brent looked at his friend, a grin on his handsome face. “What? That you’ll disembowel me with a bread knife if I hurt her?” He shook his head. “No need.”
Zenon shrugged and the corner of his mouth quirked up. Jesus, was that an actual smile? “I had something more creative in mind, but, yeah, that’s the gist of it.”
Brent was suddenly serious. “I’d die before I hurt her again, Zen.”
The massive knight nodded solemnly. “Sounds good to me.”
“Zenon,” Mia admonished, and slapped his arm playfully. He grunted, wrapped his arm around her waist, lifted her, and without a word, carried her like a rag doll toward the exit. “Um…I’ll be right back,” Mia called.
Brent took her hand and led her to a quiet corner, sliding his arms around her waist, pulling her in tight. “Have I told you how beautiful you look, Mrs. Silva?”
“Nope.” She wrapped her arms around his hips and squeezed his butt. “And you look hot as hell in your suit.”
He growled and leaned in, brushed his lips against hers, and rested his forehead against hers.
“You’re mine now,” she said. “There’s no escape.”
His mouth came down on hers again, and he kissed her, giving her everything, conveying all she meant to him as if he’d spoken the words out loud.
“I love you, too,” she whispered when he lifted his head.
He pulled her in closer. “I’ll never get sick of hearing that.”
“Good, ’cause I’ll never stop saying it.”
“Shit, sweetheart.” He sucked in a shaky breath, then a grin turned up those sensual lips. “You keep this up and you’re looking good for employee of the month.”
“I intend on holding that title for the rest of our lives.”
“Sounds pretty good to me,” he rasped.
And then her husband kissed her. Again.
One month later
Chaos flew under the cloud bank, scanning the streets below. There was only one reason he was in this part of the city, why he’d been flying in circles for close to an hour, scanning every dark alley, every moving shadow.
Then he saw her.
A small figure ran full speed across the roof of a building, crossbow strung over one shoulder. He sucked in a breath when she didn’t pause and instead leaped the two-meter-wide gap to the next roof, body rolling into her landing, then jumped back to her feet and carried on running.
He landed behind her, keeping the drop to the street below between them. The reasons for that he didn’t want to think too closely about.
To his surprise, she skidded to a stop and turned, like she sensed him there. She was wearing that goddamned mask concealing her face from him, but as the wind whipped around her, a piece of pale blond hair slipped free from beneath.
He reached out to her with his power, and as usual, she was locked up tight. But something swirled below the surface, something he couldn’t name, just out of reach. This female was strong in more ways than one.
She moved forward until she was standing at the very edge of the building across from him. He didn’t like seeing her so close to the edge. He also didn’t like the fact that he cared that she didn’t give a shit about her own safety.
“What are you hiding, demi?” he called across to her.
She lifted her hands to her hips, and he was pretty damn sure he heard her snort as she shook her head. “Jesus, you sound like a goddamned robot. Just how far do you have that stick wedged up your ass?”
He clenched his fists and clamped his teeth together so damn tight his jaw cracked. “This isn’t a game you want to play with me, I promise you that.”
A quiet chuckle traveled across the distance to him, and he thought he might fucking explode. She had no sense of self-preservation.
“Dude, seriously, don’t burst a blood vessel.” He could hear the smile in her voice, which just pissed him off more. “And to answer your question, knight…if I wanted you to know what I was hiding, I wouldn’t be blocking it from you, now would I?” She said it in a deep voice, imitating him, mocking him.
“Female, you don’t know who the fuck you’re dealing with.”
Her spine straightened. “Oh, I know.” There was an edge to her voice when she spoke again. “You’re an incompetent, reckless, arrogant, egotistical, misogynistic, control freak…to name but a few. I could go on if you like?”
A flash of her helpless, naked, tied to his bed, at his mercy, flashed through his mind and his cock filled, hardened to painful proportions. “That won’t be necessary. And the only one acting recklessly is you and your little gang of renegades. Chaya put herself at risk for your cause and was almost killed. I won’t let anything like that happen again.”
“Neither will I. There’s been enough death,” she whispered the last, but he heard her, the words carried to him by the wind. There was pain in her voice.
He ignored his instincts, which screamed at him to fly across the short distance and force her to tell him what had caused that pain. Instead he said, “This is your last warning. Stop what you’re doing. Next time I won’t ask, I’ll shut you down myself.”
Her low, husky laughter filtered over to him again, and it hit him in the balls.
“Oh, you can try, big man.” She spun on her heel and sprinted away, disappearing into the shadows.
He could follow her. But right then he was afraid of what would happen if he caught her. What he would do if she was close enough to touch.
Knowing where she lived—where she slept.
No. It was best if he didn’t know that. Best that he stayed as far from her as he could.
Because at that moment, he wanted nothing more than to punish her for the way she tempted him…punish her until she screamed out his name.
THANK YOU!
Thank you so much for reading
Brent and Chaya’s story! I hope you loved it!