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Her laughter.

She laughed harder and beckoned both of the other women forward. “Come at me then,” she taunted, as she took a swaggering step toward them. “If you think you’ve got what it takes.”

I could have run so fast I would have grabbed Leia and taken her back to the jetty almost before Aimée or the shifter woman knew I was even there, but the sound of Leia’s laughter held me back.

She was sparring with two women who could break her in half as easily as look at her, and she was having a better time than I’d seen her have in days. I couldn’t take this away from her.

But either I moved, or I made a noise, or simply her blood ran as fast as mine did when we were near each other, because she turned around. For a moment, she didn’t spot me, and her gaze scanned the trees then back again, looking past me a couple of times before I stepped forward and offered her a rueful grin for disrupting her fun.

“Hi,” I murmured.

“Nic!” She ran toward me, and her name on my lips was the sweetest of sounds.

“Hey, we’re not done,” Aimée called after her, but Leia gave her the finger before she slammed into my arms.

“You’re back.” She searched my gaze and pursed her lips a little, and I chuckled, lacing my fingers behind her.

“Of course I’m back. Where else would I go?”

Those lips… Always tempting me to kiss them, no matter her expression.

“Oh, I don’t know. Finding my dad, saving the world without me?”

I laughed again and smoothed my thumb over her mouth. “Would I dare?”

She narrowed her eyes a little, and I relented.

“Okay, so I would. I’d do anything to keep you safe and make no apology for any of it.” I shrugged. “That’s just the kind of guy I am.”

“Hey, Leia.” Aimée waved to get her attention. “Are we still practicing over here or what?”

“Or what,” I yelled back without taking my eyes off my mate. “I’m handling Leia’s practice now.”

As Aimée made loud kissy noises, Leia buried her face against my chest, and I lost another piece of my heart to her. This fragile human female trusted me completely, and I needed to talk to her about what our future held—what I wanted it to hold.

“Leia—” As I spoke her name, Aimée yelled too.

“Hey, Nicky, don’t forget that teaching her how to fight is more than just fucking in the yard.”

I flipped my sister the finger, too, and she laughed. Leia backed away, already adopting the fighting stance the others must have taught her. Chuckling, I followed her, my movements a little more predatory than ordinary fighting ones. I would have followed Leia anywhere.

“You going to show me what you’ve learned?”

She grinned. “Absolutely.”

I matched her grin and beckoned her forward, mimicking her movements from earlier. “Come at me then.” I even borrowed her same taunting tone and took a swaggering step toward her. “If you think you’ve got what it takes.”

She ran through a few moves, and I let her get a couple of hits. She definitely didn’t have vampire speed or strength, but she had plenty of the same enthusiasm I’d seen when she fought Aimée and the shifter.

The evening grew darker, and her eyesight began to suffer for it. She misjudged a step and landed hard against my chest. Instinctively, I wrapped an arm around her, holding her against me, steadying her.

“Hey now,” she whispered. “I don’t think anyone has taught me this fighting move.”

“Oh, really?” Shit. Her scent was so tantalizing. I dropped my head toward her, stopping short of taking her mouth. If she didn’t want to kiss me, she didn’t have to do a thing. Just stay where she was and look at me.

I’d drink her in any way I could. Her gaze, her lips, her pussy… Her blood. Just the thought of all the ways I could taste her sent a surge of lust to the base of my cock, and it stiffened, jutting against her.

She laughed, the sound low and throaty this time. “And that’s definitely not a move either of the girls had.”

“I’m just special like that.” I couldn’t help flirting with her, teasing her with my words, even as I pressed closer to her and rubbed up against her a little. A small groan rumbled through me, and my fangs pressed against my gums, making them burn. “Do you really always want me?” My head dropped lower still. Pure invitation.

She inhaled softly, and for a moment it seemed like she might deny me. Instead, she stretched her arm up my body, curling her fingers into the hair at the base of my neck. “All the time,” she breathed.

Then there was no distance between our mouths anymore as she pressed her lips to mine, already teasing me with her tongue. And I kissed her back like she was the air I needed to breathe.

She moaned and the soft noise aroused me further. I groaned, not wanting to break our kiss to tell her how much I desired her. She tugged my T-shirt from the waistband of my pants and her hands roamed over my back, caressing my skin. I dragged my lips from hers, trailing my mouth along her jaw and down her neck, nudging the neckline of her T-shirt with my chin.

“I want you,” I whispered. “I want you so badly, Leia. Say you’ll stay by my side always.”

I punctuated each of my words with kisses as I took her to the ground, to the soft moss beneath us and the shelter from view offered by the night and the shrubbery.

She arched against me, her fingers still tangling into my hair as she pressed her breasts to my body. I ran my hands over her curves and pushed her T-shirt up so I could press the soft swells that were usually concealed by fabric.