Page 127 of Star-Born Anomaly
She let out a nervous laugh, eyeing the edge of the modified bed. “Yeah, I’m getting that picture.”
He lifted his hand and gently stroked her cheek with his knuckles. “You belong here.”
“I do?” The expression in her eyes revealed her uncertainty.
But he nodded once. “You do. With me. With others like yourself. You will find your happiness here, Wynn Lambdin.” It was a promise he would never break. “I want you to be my mate.”
Her head jerked back slightly. “Your mate?” Her brow furrowed. “Is that what Calypsons call a couple here? Mates?”
He shook his head. “It is not, but I want us to be mates, if you agree.”
Her body melted into his, her lips curling into a small smile. “I’d like that.”
Iax lowered his head, brushing his lips against hers. Her softness was his undoing. He groaned as she pulled him harder against her, an inferno of emotion rising inside him, needing release.
Perhaps it was a good thing the others on this deck had moved away, because he was not sure he could tamp down his emotions when he coupled with Wynn Lambdin, nor would he want her to.
When she rolled on top of him, he groaned again at how good her body felt against his. Setting his face against her throat, he greedily sucked the scent of her into his lungs.
His only mission, now and forever, was to make her happy and see her content. Nothing else mattered.
The Four were coming to realize that.
Ever since leaving the biodome, they had been setting up their own mental blocks, keeping information from him. They believed him compromised. There had always been some barriers, a pillar of secrets and commands only The Four had access to, but these new blocks were different, almost like they were protecting everyone from him, histaint.
But they could not cut him off completely. They needed him. He was the bridge they required to connect to theCorvus.
He may have left the ship, but some of his essence remained. Not enough to coalesce, but enough to watch, and wait, and listen.
Though distant now, if ever that ship neared Sector Ten, he would know.
And they would all be ready.
Epilogue
Location Unknown
Pain.So much pain.It came from everywhere, inside and out, a scream in his head, in his gut, in his soul.
Sawyer knew pain. He trained for years, from the time he was a child to when he became a man, and pain tolerance was a favorite lesson of the scientists who conditioned CORE agents.
But this? This was nothing like he’d ever experienced. It felt like all the blood left his body at once, through his pores, his eyes, his mouth, his hair. His insides turned out, and his outsides turned in. The skin on his face curled off his bones, rolled down his chest and abdomen, then scraped down his legs to settle at his feet. His muscles melted, boiled, and evaporated. A breath was torture, and so was a whisper.
Then, all at once, the pain stopped.
Sawyer inhaled deeply and sat up like a shot. White light shone from everywhere, piercing his eyes. He closed them to stop the ache in his temples and rubbed at an itch on his jaw.
The pain had been a memory—a distant one, if he could believe the growth of hair on his face—the agony of emptying, of returning to his human form.
He braced his hands beside his hips, and a padded floor squished beneath his palms.
He opened his eyes to find a blank white wall in front of him.What the fuck?He turned his head and examined the space he’d been stuck in. There was nothing here but white walls.
The memory of saving the good doctor from a box surfaced.We destroyed it. It must not have been the only one on board theCorvus.
Unease swirled in his empty stomach. He hadn’t known what they’d done to her. She’d been in one piece when she’d exited the box, though she’d appeared haggard and distraught.
Couldn’t be worse than that pain.
