Page 51 of True As Steel

“You know, we could get this done faster and without ambiguity through a neural network,” Dakran deadpanned.

My heart lurched. Loreus, Dakran, and Marik had been on Xyva with me for a little over four months now. While other broken pods had also expressed their interest in me joining them, I had not connected with any of them the way I had with these three men. In all the ways that mattered, I already considered them as my brothers. Since their arrival, I’d been grateful for them not pushing or pressuring me into joining their pod. However, as they had not brought up the topic again after all this time, I’d begun to wonder if maybe they had changed their minds. It hadn’t felt appropriate for me to bring it up, but I’d been ready to accept for a while…

“I agree,” I conceded, my heart pounding.

“Should we go that route then?” Dakran asked, a sliver of tension seeping into his voice.

At that moment, I realized that he felt as worried I would reject them as I’d feared they no longer wanted me.

“Yes. I would like that very much,” I replied.

“I’m happy to hear it,” Dakran said, this time making no effort to hide the emotion in his voice. “Incoming…”

Seconds later, the firewalls of my neural processor fired up at an incoming connection attempt to my neural network. I granted him access, establishing the neural link between mine and his. My throat tightened as the connections formed with Loreus and Marik, and that all three men also brushed over Caylan’s damaged presence.

“Welcome home, brother,”Loreus said through our closed neural network, his words echoed by the other two.

“Thank you, brothers,”I replied, deeply moved.

For a split second, I couldn’t help the fear they would immediately deep dive into my memories and rampage through the most personal parts of me. But they didn’t… as I had known they wouldn’t. I had chosen them for a reason. Still, I felt them skim over some of the files in the database my brothers and I had built over the years, and I did the same over theirs. It was invaluable knowledge I would happily dig through over the next few weeks. I felt them retreat shortly thereafter from our closed network.

I mentally shared with Dakran a visual representation of what I needed for the weapons tests. He nudged me as a thank you before retreating as well. I smiled, feeling whole again.

A knock on the door startled me. As was usual between us, Tamryn opened it without waiting for me to respond and poked her head into my office. Judging by her sudden change of expression, the look on my face made her dismiss whatever she’d intended to ask me.

“Are you okay?” she asked, worry seeping into her voice.

“Never better,” I said with a reassuring smile.

I pushed my chair away from my desk and extended a hand towards her. She willingly came to me, an inquisitive expression on her beautiful face. She settled on my lap and wrapped one arm around my neck.

“You had the strangest expression on your face when I walked in,” Tamryn said.

“I just joined Dakran’s pod,” I said softly.

Tamryn gaped at me for a moment before squealing with delight. “That’s wonderful!” she exclaimed before crushing my lips with a kiss. “I’m so happy for you! I know you never felt quite whole without one. They’re good men. And they’ve become like big brothers to me.”

“Theyaregood men, and Idofeel whole,” I conceded, while studying her face. “But there’s only one thing truly missing for me to feel complete,” I continued while tracing her features with my fingertips.

“Oh? What’s that?” she asked, slightly tilting her head to the side.

“For you to be my wife,” I said matter-of-factly.

Tamryn froze and stared at me with a mix of shock and disbelief. My stomach twisted with nerves at the possibility she might reject me.

“I am not a man of fancy words, nor am I overly demonstrative with my emotions,” I said nervously. “But for the past few months, you have been my rock, my home, and my haven. With you, I don’t have to try to be something I’m not, I can just be. I love who I am around you, and I love simply being with you. I cannot see a future that doesn’t involve you. All of this, all that we are building here is so that, once we’ve defeated that bastard, I can try to convince you to have a few children with me.”

Tamryn’s face twisted with emotion, and water welled in her eyes.

“I may not show it in exuberant ways, but I love you, Tamryn Vakan. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you,” I said, my eyes flicking between hers.

I held my breath, unsure how to interpret her reaction as her bottom lip began to quiver. And then she smiled as the first tear slipped down her cheek. It was the most beautiful sight in the world.

“Well, you sure took your sweet time, you wretched metal head,” Tamryn said in a wet voice. “Of course, I’ll marry you, you silly man. Back when we thought Loreus was going to leave Xyva to rejoin his brothers, I’d already been willing to follow you to the end of the world. Thank you for saving my life on that ship. Thank you for coming back for me. Thank you for choosing to stay here with me. I love you, Jarog Kaijo.”

THE END