Page 92 of Skinwalker's Bane
Devin sucked in a breath, fighting for calm. It wouldn’t come. She was feeling dizzy again.
Adam turned her hand so the back of it was lying in his. He traced the lines on her palm. “Skinwalkers live high risks lives. I thought it was unfair to ever ask another person to take on that risk. It was mine to carry alone. Yet you were at risk yesterday. It can come to anyone.”
“Including the Captain,” Devin whispered.
“That’s who I was thinking of,” Adam said, his voice low. “When you’re Captain, you’ll be as at risk as me. I can’t ask you to give that up and I won’t stop being a skinwalker, either. We agreed, once, to let ourselves be who we are. Is that a bargain you can live with, Devin? Can you be Captain and the love of a skinwalker’s life at the same time?”
Her vision blurred, as her eyes stung. “I think that’s theonlyway I could live,” she whispered.
He picked her up and put her in his lap. Coffee sloshed across the dirt and he pushed the empty cup out of the way and held her. He stroked her face. “I love you,” he whispered and kissed her.
Devin clung to him, the kiss stealing her senses.
He loved her. He wanted her in his life. The wondrous fact made her heart burst with happiness.
When he finally let her go, Devin wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head against his. “If I get to be Captain one day—”
“In about three days, you will be,” Adam said shortly.
“It’s too late for me,” she explained. “And now, with Zsoka Owens dying as she did, the upheaval—”
“You don’t understand,” Adam said. “Of course you don’t. You haven’t heard any of the three million messages people have been leaving for you. The Bridge wants you. Noa and Haydn took a vote. The Institute and every skinwalker in it wants to sponsor you. There will be an election in two days’ time and Magorian wants you to run. He’s supporting your bid, publicly. He’s already done that, although I don’t think you or Magorian realized that was what he was doing on that stage. Only, I saw it and so did the rest of the ship.”
Her trembling grew worse. “I might still lose the election,” she whispered.
“That is not going to happen,” Adam said firmly. “All five thousand people on theEndurancesaw you hold the ship together, up there on the stage. They won’t forget that.”
“Is that what I did? I was just…trying to help.”
“That’s why you’ll be Captain, instead of the Saubers of the world who have an agenda. You never have had an agenda. You just wanted to help everyone you’ve ever listened to.”
Devin leaned back so she could look at his face. “Do you mind? If I’m Captain?”
“I’ll be the proudest man alive, boss.” He pulled her back close again and kissed her. Then he leaned back, putting space between them. He reached into the pocket on the chest of his jacket then held out his hand. His me-made pendant lay on it, the well-polished metal glowing in the low light.
Devin’s heart skipped. “For me?” she whispered.
He picked the chain up from his hand and reached around behind her neck to fasten it. “I realize it clashes badly with your Patrician style, but you can take it off as you need to—”
She gripped the pendant in her hand, protecting it. “I will never take this off. Ever.”
Adam’s answering smile was slow and heated. “I was hoping you’d say that, boss.”
“Boss…” She smiled.
“Better get used to it,” he warned her. “Which reminds me. You should maybe start returning some of the messages.”
She caught at his shirt. “Not yet.” She kissed him. “Not just yet.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Devin moved back through the bedroom suite to the elegant family area, taking stock.
Adam stood with his back against the tiny kitchenette, his armscrossed.
“Adam! You’re back from the enquiry!” She went to him and he held out his arms. She would never get used to the privilege of having him hold her the way he liked to when no one was looking.
“How did it go?” she asked him.
