Page 36 of Rising Reign

I felt the surprise flare in my eyes at Brix’s words. Ink me. “I don’t know how.” But even as I said it, the ache in my chest deepened. Even without releasing my emotional shields, I could feel his pain, his fear.

“I can teach you,” he murmured, his thumb tracing my lower lip.

“Can you explain it to me?” I asked gently. “What it will give you.”

I worried that it might be the search for more pain. The release he used to find through sparring or ink sessions with Ender. I knew that had gotten him through some of his darkest times. But I didn’t want to be another source of pain for him.

Brix’s hand slid into my hair. “I need to feel you in the dark.”

I frowned, trying to understand.

“I’ve carved the darkness into my skin, over and over again, but now I need the light.” He traced a scene of two wolves in battle, snarling at each other.

“But there’s no room,” I said, confused. The truth was, most of Brix’s skin was covered in tattoos. There was very little space to add anything.

“There’s an enchanted ink that’s metallic in nature. I want you to paint the light in the dark. I don’t want to erase the images. I want to bring balance.”

I suddenly understood because I’d experienced the same. Looking back on my past, it wasn’t that I wanted to live through it again, but I could appreciate it for what it had taught me and where it had brought me. It had made me strong and given me the life I now had—the guys, our home. The darkness was only that because of the light it held—a light that had carried me through.

I leaned forward on my knees and brushed my lips against Brix’s. “I’ll remind you of the light.”

His shoulders relaxed as he pulled me into him and stood. “I love you, Little Warrior.”

“I love you, too.”

Brix lifted me, and my legs encircled his waist. He gave my ass a little love tap as he carried me inside and toward the tattoo room. “You know, this is a lot of power in your hands.”

I grinned. “I could put hearts and butterflies all over your badass ink.”

He chuckled. “They’d still be badass butterflies.”

My grin widened against Brix’s neck, the feeling of his skin and the scent of leather and spice heating my blood. He was unending comfort and scorching heat all at once. I could feel the darkness raking at my emotional shields, but I didn’t let it scare or overwhelm me. We were going to deal with it in our own way. In a way that wouldn’t drown me or overtake Brix.

Voices sounded from various areas of the house, but we didn’t see a single soul on the way to the tattoo studio. When we reached it, Brix flipped on the light and gently set me down.

“You know,” I said, looking around the space for the second time and taking in new details, “I could get used to you carrying me everywhere.”

Brix chuckled as he moved to a sink and began washing his hands. “Don’t tempt me, Little Warrior. I’ll take you against me any time I can get it.”

I pressed my thighs together, trying to alleviate some of the tension there. Brix’s gaze dropped to them, not missing a thing. “Killing me, Little Warrior. Killing me.”

I cleared my throat and moved to the sink, too. “I’m pulling it together. I can be a professional.”

Brix pressed a kiss to my temple as I washed my hands. “It’s good to know it’s a struggle for you, too.”

I tipped my head back as I dried my hands, then kissed him. The taste of his heady spice filled my mouth, and I moaned softly. What had gotten into me? I couldn’t seem to stop touching, tasting, and drowning in my mates. I could never get enough.

It was Brix who finally broke the kiss, his breathing labored. “Ink,” he growled.

“Right,” I mumbled, clasping my hands in front of me as if that would stop my horny self.

But as Brix moved around the room, gathering supplies, a different sort of fascination took over. He was so at home in the space. Had a quiet confidence that was hypnotizing. He gathered something that looked like some kind of gun, some wrapped needles, and two small pots.

“Tattooing supernaturals is different than humans,” Brix explained.

“Because we heal so fast?” I asked, remembering how the tattoo Brix had given me had healed almost instantly.

“That’s part of it, but you also have to use special ink to make sure it’s permanent. Because our bodies will disintegrate normal tattoo ink.”