Page 70 of Knight’s Salvation

Chapter 16

Zenon sucked back oxygenuntil his lungs were at full capacity, but his body didn’t give a shit and tried to gasp down another mouthful. So this was hyperventilating. The hype was true—it sucked.

He went down to his pillow and buried his face in all that soft red hair spread across it, focused on the feel of Mia’s slick heat gripping his cock, her limbs surrounding his body—and managed to unclog his throat enough to blow out a pained breath. Her hand smoothed over his back, calming him.

She’d floored him again, like she had time and again since he’d walked into that shabby little apartment of hers all those weeks ago.

His body still hummed from the impact of his release, but it didn’t matter how hard he’d come. The sheer impact of having Mia beneath him, the feel of sliding in and out of her body already had the next building.

“You are mine, Mia.” The words felt ripped from his chest, a vow that could never be broken, no matter what obstacles lay in their path. It was out of his hands now; could not be denied any longer. He’d felt her reach for him while he’d made love to her, that part that recognized him as hers, the part that would bind them, make her his mate. The need to mate her fully, to take her unequivocally as his had been hard to ignore, but he had to make sure she wanted this first, make sure she understood what it meant.

Could it really be this easy?

He didn’t need Helena to survive. When he found Mia, he’d gained his freedom.

He was free.

“I’m yours,” she whispered back.

He surged forward and she moaned. “I want it all, Mia. I want to make you my mate.” The words slipped past his lips before his brain realized what he was saying. He held his breath. He wanted it more than anything, but it didn’t mean she did.

“Yes,” she said.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he fought the urge to smack himself in the back of the head to make sure this wasn’t all a dream. But when he opened his eyes, his beautiful female was still beneath him, looking at him in a way that nearly had him hyperventilating all over again. “There’s no going back after we do this. It will be you and me forever, no one else. Do you understand?”

She arched, exposing the column of her delicate neck as he slid back inside her. Asking her while he made love to her probably wasn’t playing fair, but he was locked on this course. Nothing could stop him now. “Yes, do it.”

She knew what he was, what he had been, and still she wanted him. He could scarcely believe it. “If you changed your mind, if you left me, I wouldn’t survive it.”

Her soft warm hands moved up to his face. “I love you, Zenon.”

No one had ever said those words to him before. Mia was the first to love him, every part of him, scars and all. She saw the ones he tried to hide, saw how deep and ugly they marked him, and she loved him anyway.

“I’m never letting you go.” He quickened his strokes, emotion welling in his chest as he felt that connection between them present itself. He could see it. This was it. He never thought he was good enough to have this, to have someone like her. Mia gasped and stiffened beneath him, screaming through her climax.

He reached for the connection, so damn close…

Something exploded at the base of his skull and he froze. Body shaking uncontrollably, he reared back as pain lanced through his nerve endings, nailing him from all sides. The room spun and he started to lose sight of the silver thread that would link Mia to him. It faded and shrunk back. Zenon roared and tried to reach for it, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t catch it.

Then it was gone.

It was over.

How stupid could he be? He would never be free. Helena would always have a piece of him. Always.

Rage burned deep in his gut, ate at him like acid, and he didn’t have a hope of extinguishing the inferno building inside.

Lost to it, he was blind to everything around him.

When the worst of it drained away, he became aware of the carnage around him. His room was a mess, clothes scattered everywhere, the dresser nothing but kindling. And Mia, her arms were wrapped around his waist, her chest pressed into his back, trying to restrain him as he tore and scratched at Helena’s mark inked on his stomach.

“Stop, Zenon. Please stop hurting yourself.” The sob that broke past her lips was what snapped him out of it.

“She won’t let me go, Mia. She’ll never let me go.” Every muscle on his body had locked up tight. The cold started to creep through his bones, making his teeth chatter. Helena was in this room with them, whether the bitch was aware of it or not didn’t matter. She’d always be there. “I—I can’t have you, s—she won’t let me have you.”

Mia led him back to bed, and when he lay down she moved to cover him. He rolled to his back, locking his arms around her, and she burrowed against him. The feel of her bare skin against his was amazing. She radiated warmth and he let it soak through him, soothe him.

“Listen to me.” Her palms slid to his chest and she lifted up, looking down at him. “She doesn’t have you, not anymore. This mark”—she dropped a hand and ran her fingers over his abs, making him shudder—“stopped us mating, but it won’t stop us from being together. Do you understand? That’s all that’s left. That’s the only hold she has over you now. I’m not going anywhere. I can give you what you need, for as long as you need it.” She brushed her lips against his, giving more of her warmth, banishing the cold. “I’m yours and you’re mine, as long as I live. I don’t need to be your mate to know that.”