Ascension - Book Eight - Man x Man

Chapter 20 ( M)

Raising an eyebrow, the Siren tilts his head to observe me in the mirror. "I would imagine not?"

"Then the rest would figure itself out." Curling up tightly against the door, I give myself permission to drift off into the void of sleep. 

Warm arms circle around my body, lifting me off the seat and pulling me against the firmness of a broad chest. I feel the familiar pounding heartbeat, inhaling the intoxicating scent of something so familiar that everything in my body relaxed as if it'd been wound too tightly for days. Unhinged, the aches and complaints of my tired joints brought a moan of discomfort as I curled closer into the reassuring mass. 

"Is he hurt?" 

"I know better than to touch what's yours. He didn't want medical attention. He seems exhausted more than anything else. Randy. It was Echo, Kestrel, and Helen."

"Do you find me foolish? I'm well aware of exactly where he was and whom he had been with." I wrinkle my nose at my warlord's tone. 

My hand reaches up to touch his neck, tightening my fingers around the collar of his shirt. "Don't be mad." I plead, for my own sake as much as anyone else's. 

Exhaling low in his throat, he hardens his hold on my body. "Find them." The command is dark, low, and angry. 

Swaying in his arms as he walks back into the house, I expect the door to slam yet it closes softly as if he were trying to cap his mounting rage. Up the stairs, I pry my eyes open to stare at the soft material of his shirt. Dark in color, soft cotton that felt so refreshing against my skin compared to the stiff clothes I was wearing. I hadn't realized how sensitive and burned my skin was from the two short days on the ship.

"Are you awake?" There's nobody else in the room, I could only imagine he was talking to me. Peering up at him, I see that he's attempting to put me down yet I cling to him as if my very life depended on it. "You have to let me put you down, darling."

"Sit," I command back in response. As he moves, I wrap my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist, happily nestled in his lap as he slides his arms around me. "I'm not ready for you to put me down yet." Though my clothes suggest otherwise. Surrounded by a scent that so unique, the stale scent of aged clothes spoiled my reunion just the slightest. "Not yet anyway, I will shower, I know I must smell awful-"

His hands slide up to find my face, pulling back to finally observe me. I swallow at the intensity of the piercing light eyes, tracking every inch of my face. I couldn't help but feel shy, knowing what I must look like after being lost for so long. Brushing my cheekbone with his thumb, he stifles the weakest of laughs, as if it were untested and he wasn't sure if it was the appropriate response. 

"You've just returned from an active war zone and you're worried that you don't smell nice?" Tilting his head to catch my eyes as I look down, he brushes his nose gently against mine. "I'll take you any way I can have you. I just went through days of not knowing where you were, I don't think I could possibly be displeased."

Swallowing back the discomfort of acceptance, I feel the wetness forming around my eyes. Wiping at them with the back of my hand, I sigh in frustration at myself for once more being reduced to a mess of emotion. "You were supposed to be angry with me." I accuse him weakly, laughing at the ridiculousness of it. 

Bewildered at my thought process, he raises an eyebrow and I can only hide my face against his neck in embarrassment. "Don't look at me like that. You didn't want me to go in the first place. I'm waiting for the 'I told you so.'" I retort, I hadn't prepared for this, I hadn't expected him to love me anyway. Of course, I knew that he did, I knew from the bottom of my heart that he worshiped me, but I also knew that his wrath was lethal at its height when I was involved. I expected to be on the receiving end of that.