Page 186 of Knight’s Retribution

His breath shuddered from him as he squeezed his eyes closed, then he breathed deep, in and out, in and out, slow and steady, because he was close to fucking weeping. “Me either, pumpkin.” He carefully, gently, stroked her back. “And you’re okay with me…with me touching you.”

She nodded. “I feel different…god, everything feels so different.”

“Yeah.” She didn’t need to explain it because he was right there with her. Everything felt different, in a really fucking good way.

Her head tilted up, and she grinned at him, and his heart tried to beat out of his goddamn chest. “Best day of my life,” she said, taking another shot at his ragged heart.

“Not sure I can take anymore, Ky,” he rasped and slid his hand up her back, over her shoulders, and into her soft, warm hair, soaking up the feel of her skin, her warmth.

He leaned in slow, careful, in case she wasn’t ready for him to take the lead, to be the one to kiss her, in case she wanted to pull back. She didn’t, instead she met him halfway.

“What can’t you take anymore of?” she asked against his lips.

“The sheer fucking happiness. Thought I’d lost you, pumpkin, and now you’re mine forever and I’m…I don’t know how to deal with all that I’m feeling.”

She rested her hand over his heart. “I think we just lie here and hang on to each other, Rocco. I think we just hold each other tight.”

“Yeah,” he said because she was right, she was so fucking right.

And when she curled into him even more, draping herself half over him, and he thought he was going to pass out from the pleasure of it—the pure undiluted joy of holding his female, his mate, in his arms—he did exactly what she said, he hung on to her.

They hung on to each other, and they didn’t let go.

Chapter 20

“How’re you doing?” Luna asked.

Kyler smiled at the other female and stepped off the treadmill. “I’m doing okay.”

They’d been training hard all week, and she felt incredibly good. Rocco was her mate, and everyone was over the moon for them.

Happiness all around.

Well, that’s what it should be. But Kyler couldn’t shake this feeling growing inside her, this dark, hot, yawning space that was staining her joy. She didn’t know what it was, but she wanted it gone.

“You’re definitely smiling a lot more,” Luna said. “Being mated is a lot to get used to, though. I mean, it’s awesome, but newly mated males are…intense, and hyper protective. You coping with that okay?”

Kyler grabbed the towel she had thrown on one of the weight benches and wiped the sweat from her face. “I’m glad you mentioned it. I was wondering what was going on with Rocco. He’s always been so…chill, you know? Easy to laugh and joke.” She knew that had changed when she was taken, but she had hoped things would slowly go back to the way they were, especially now that she wasn’t flinching and pulling away from him every time he came near. Somehow mating had helped on that front immensely. No, she still didn’t like to be held tight and sometimes not at all, but it was improving every day, and, of course, there were the restraints. “Let’s just say he goes through a personality change as soon as we leave our apartment. It’s like taking a wild grizzly for a walk, and I’m the last salmon in existence.”

Luna giggled.

“He’s okay around his brothers, but the male demi here, forget about it. And poor James took the brunt of it when the guy got anywhere near me during my first training session.”

Luna smirked. “It gets a little better…but according to Meredith, it’s a permanent condition.”

And Meredith would know, she’d been mated to Kryos for over seventy years. “Awesome.”

Luna leaned against the wall and took a sip of her water. “So how’s the training going?”

“It’d go a lot better if I had any idea what my power was. James ran me through a few exercises to try to awaken it or something, but nothing.” Kyler sat on the bench. “I want to help, Luna. I want to be useful…if I can’t figure this out…”

“You will,” Luna said. “Sometimes it can be psychological. Like there’s something there blocking the way. Strong emotion, or trauma. You’ve been through a lot, Ky, you just need to give it time.”

Kyler curled her fingers into tight fists, then stretched them out. “Strong emotion?”

Luna nodded.

Admitting how she was feeling felt like a betrayal. She was newly mated to the male of her dreams, so in love she didn’t know what to do with all of her happiness most of the time, but there were other times the happiness was cast in shadow, and when that happened she struggled to get out of the dark, to work through the burn building inside her.