Page 87 of Knight’s Salvation

Ah, shit. A lump formed in the back of his throat. “That part of my life…before, will always be there, yanno, trying to drag me down. The shame.” He shook his head when Silas opened his mouth to speak. “Yeah, it’ll haunt me for the rest of my life. I know that, but with Mia by my side, I know I can fight back the nightmares.”

“That you can, my son.” They were the same words Diemos had used, but coming from Silas they meant something, meant so much. The other male took a step back. “Now, go to her. It’s time you claimed your mate.”

“I can’t. We—”

“You’re free, Zenon. Go to her.” The angel extended his wings and took to the sky.

Was it possible?

Zenon walked back through the control room, and as he entered the hall, broke into a jog. Too impatient to wait for the elevator, he jumped the flight of stairs to the lower level and didn’t slow until he reached his apartment. As he opened the door, Mia walked out of the bedroom. A smile lit up her face when she saw him. How did this happen? How did he get so fucking lucky?

“You’re back. I missed you.” Her smile faltered when she took in his expression, and a small gasp slipped past her lips, not missing the need in his eyes.

“You okay?” he rasped.

“Good as new.”

Reaching back, he pulled his shirt over his head and continued toward her. “I need you, Mia.” He didn’t slow, lifted her off the ground, and carried her back into the bedroom. There was no time for finesse. All he wanted was his female naked, wanted deep inside her.

Standing her on her feet, he pulled the T-shirt she wore over her head then took her mouth, kissing her hard and urgent.

“Is everything all right?” she whispered, clutching his shoulders.

“No. I’m not inside you,” he growled against the soft silk of her hair.

Her fingers trailed down his chest, over his abs to unzip his jeans, and her bare breasts brushed his stomach. She rested her forehead against his heart, and they both trembled when she took his cock in her hands and began to work his straining flesh. “I need you, too.”

He needed her touch, craved it. “Are you ready for me, princess? I don’t think I can wait.” He cupped her sex, sliding a finger through her cleft, and groaned when he felt how wet she was for him.

Releasing him, she stepped back and climbed onto the bed, lying back on the rumpled sheets. Zenon stalked her and covered her lush curves. She opened for him, wrapping her legs around his waist. “Please.” It was all she said, all she needed to say.

Zenon pushed inside the wet heat of her body, and they both moaned. They’d been apart too long and there was no way he could take this slow. He jerked back his hips and slammed forward. Taking her mouth in an almost brutal kiss, he let sensation take over. Mia thrust a hand in his hair, kissing him just as fiercely. Her other hand gripped his ass, egging him on, asking for more without words. He gave it to her. He was lost to the desperate need he had for her, and she was right there with him.

And then it appeared, that silvery thread he thought had vanished forever, the connection that would link them together for eternity.

“It’s there,” he gasped out. “It’s back. I see it.”

A sob broke past Mia’s lips. “It’s there?”

He looked down at her, choking on the emotions clogging his throat, and nodded. “You ready?” he rasped.

Her arms tightened around him and he stared into her beautiful eyes welling with tears.

“Take it,” she said. “Make me yours.”

He grabbed on, held on tight. Mia cried out, digging her nails into his skin as she came.

No, there were no words for what he felt in that moment, and there never would be. Nothing existed that could describe something that was this perfect, this pure. Every part of him was alive. It was Mia, she made him feel this way, and when he looked back down at her he knew she felt it, too. That he did that for her as well.

Thrusting into her one last time, burying himself to the hilt, he held her to him and came hard, filling her, claiming her as his mate. The primal sound that left him was raw, untamed, staking his claim over the female beneath him.

He pressed his face against her throat and breathed in her scent while he tried to slow the beating of his heart. “You’re mine now, Mia. I’ll never let you go. I can’t.”

She ran her hands up his back, threaded her fingers in the hair at his nape, and massaged gently. “And you are mine.” She pressed a kiss to his temple. “If you ever tried to let me go, I’d just follow.”

“Jesus. I love you.” Lifting up, he kissed her.

“I love you, too.”

He pulled out a little and slid back inside her, loving the way her lips parted, her gasp puffing across his skin. He grinned. “I don’t plan on letting you out of this bed for a while.” He continued to move in slow, measured thrusts, torturing them both.

Her face flushed and she tightened her arms around his shoulders. “If you tried to get out right now, I’d tackle you to the floor.”

He laughed, and her eyes turned liquid. “What is it?”

She sniffed and smiled up at him. “I love hearing you laugh. I’ll never tire of hearing it.”

No words existed that could express what she did to him when she talked like that. So he leaned in and kissed her deep, pouring every bit of emotion he felt into it, swallowing her moans while running his thumbs across her smooth skin, wiping away her tears.

“I love you, too,” she whispered against his lips when he finally let her up for air.

“Damn, female, I’m trying to go slow here, but with you talking to me all sweet like that…”

Mia quirked a brow. “And that’s a problem?”

Zenon couldn’t help it. He threw back his head and laughed again. When he finally pulled his shit together enough to stop, and after taking his time kissing her again, he tortured them both and made love to his mate slowly.