Page 80 of Guardian's Destiny

She sobered. "Sitting behind that desk were the most boring weeks of my life. I was glad when he offered me another mission. One too delicate to let anybody else handle, his words, not mine." She raised her hands in defense. "I was to arrange a meeting between him and Zapharos. The Arkhevari had contacted him and said they had urgent news for him. So I set up a meeting. Which wasn't easy, you know how high profile the emperor is. And Zapharos, well you know, he stands out like a sore thumb. Nobody has ever seen anyone like him, and he wasn't about to make this easy for me by wearing a hood or anything." She shook her head, and the urge to slug the miserable bastard again rose up in my gut for the hundredth time since I had first heard his name.

"Before you ask. No, I don't know what the meeting was about. Only that the emperor was subdued after in a way I had never seen him before. I received a new assignment: to spy on the Moggadesh at the space station where we met. I found out that somehow, they got wind of Zapharos and were planning to intercept him, something I couldn't allow to happen. This is why I wanted to go to Astrionis or Pandrax so badly. I needed to warn Zapharos." Another humorless chuckle escaped her, "Something that, as it turned out, was a useless mission, since he already knew about it, like he does about everything else."

SLOANE

I was stillmad at Zapharos and myself. I should have known that the Arkhevari would be too astute to fall into a Moggadesh trap; then again, hindsight and so on.

I snuggled into Vraax, relishing the feeling of being so close to him, of not being mad at him any longer. His apology might not have been the greatest in the world, but I knew it had been heartfelt and that he regretted his actions. Really, wasn't that all that mattered?

Sometime between me baring my soul to him and telling him all my little secrets, the lazy strokes and circles his fingers were doing on my shoulder and arm had become more arousing, and by the time I finished my story, all I wanted was to have sex with him.

Our one and only time together seemed like an eternity ago. I was starving for his touch, his kisses and yes, for his magnificent cock with its ridges that I knew would take me to new heights.

"So now you know the entire sordid story of me." I tried to chuckle but failed. Baring one's soul will do that to you. Talking about my past brought back many confusing emotions, most of all surrounding my dad. All my life, I had wanted to live up to him, wanted him to be proud of me, and when I finally gotthe chance, he died. His saluting me had been the highlight of my life, but also a deep disappointment, because even though he had gone through the motions, deep down I knew he would never accept or respect me. For him, there was only one place for a woman—well, maybe two.

I never understood my parents' relationship, never figured out why my mom didn't leave him until I fell in love with Vraax. No, I would never allow him to treat me like dad had my mom, but my mom and I were two entirely different people. She had been dependent on him. They had been high school sweethearts, and he had taken care of her financially since. But if Vraax's and my fight had taught me anything, it was that you could still love a person even when you are mad at them. Even when they're not entirely who you thought they were. Him not accepting that I had made my choices because of my job and not because I was a woman had been a hard punch to the gut. Would I have stayed with him like mom did? Hell no. Would it have hurt like hell? Absolutely.

That's where I differed from her.

It didn't make me a better person or her worse. It was just what it was. We all made our choices and lived with them. In a way, I had to respect Mom. Her life hadn't been easy, but she had stuck with her decisions. She had loved my dad and me, and I knew in their own way they had been happy even if it hadn't appeared like it to me. But there had been laughter and joy. And they had loved each other. For a second, I wondered if being mad at my dad, needing to prove myself to him, had distorted some of my memories of him. Just because he never saw in me a worthy soldier didn't mean he hadn't loved me. For him, though, the world had been very easy to divide. Black and white. Women belonged in the kitchen, and men fought wars. Other people were enemies or friends. It was as simple as that for him. Anything that didn't fit into that narrative was something hesimply couldn't comprehend and didn't know how to deal with, like me wanting to be a soldier.

It was weird, but suddenly, lying there in Vraax's arms, I made peace with all the demons that had haunted me for years—most of all with my parents. Letting go of the anger I had still held on to was like shedding weight all at once—and I knew how that felt because I had often carried fifty pounds or more of equipment on my body. Dropping it at the end of the day was like going to heaven.

A deep, content sigh escaped me.

"Tired?" Vraax asked.

"Nuh-ah," I mumbled while my hand moved up his thigh. We hadn't reached that level of familiarity yet where one person simply touched the other wherever and whenever they felt like it. But I wasn't a shy person. I usually took what I wanted, and right now, I wanted him to know that I wanted him.

"Sloane," he moaned when I found his hard length by his thigh, covered by his pants.

"Hmm," I hummed, stroking him.

"Does that mean you forgive me?" He wanted to know.

I turned my head to look up at him. "You're still alive and here, aren't you?"

A rumble moved through his chest. His hands cupped my face and lifted me higher up while he contorted himself to lower his. "This is why I love you so much."

"This?" I teased.

"You," he clarified. "You being you. I would never want you any other way."

He had no idea, but those were the perfect words to say to me. I stretched to kill the last few inches between us and pressed my lips to his.

"You know," I stretched the moment out a little bit longer, "you're not too bad yourself."

"Oh yeah?" His eyebrow shot up and his full of shit grin was on full display.

"Oh yeah," I confirmed. "I think I might even be in danger of falling in love with you."

Impossibly, his grin deepened. "I'll keep working on it; I'll wear you down."

"You already have," I confessed.

He startled, looking serious suddenly. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that I love you too."

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