Marked Prince - Michelle M. Pillow Page 0,60

the shaking stopped. “And I love you.”

“We should mate,” he said before the thought fully formed in his brain.

Jaxx glanced around. This was not the most romantic place for such a proposal—in the middle of a Federation city on the way to read the future of a psychopathic murderer.

“Here?” She gave him a quizzical expression. “You want to have sex here, now? I guess—”

“Mate, marry me, wed,” he corrected.

“Oh,” Fiora laughed. “For a second I thought you meant… Well, actually, if we could work out the logistics of it, I’d say yes. I’ll always say yes to the proposal of sex with you but I’m fairly sure you know that.”

Jaxx knew she couldn’t help her blunt honesty, but he didn’t mind it. There should only be honesty between them.

“Everything all right?” Salena joined them, worried. “Why have you stopped?”

“Jaxx and I are going to be married,” Fiora said, smiling. She hadn’t given him a direct answer until that moment.

“I figured as much. But why are you discussing that now?” Salena asked. “It’s not like you can do this now. Jaxx, I thought Grace had your marriage crystal.”

“She does,” Jaxx said. “But just like I don’t need a crystal to tell me who I am meant to be with, I don’t need its permission to marry my heart.”

“Agreed, but maybe it can be discussed later?” Salena insisted. “I don’t want to be here any longer than we have to.”

“Life is short and things need to be said,” Fiora told her sister. “What if I don’t come back from this? Of course we want to know where we stand with each other before going into danger.” She then glanced at Jaxx. “If I don’t come back from this, I want you to be happy and never blame yourself for anything that—”

“Salena is right,” Jaxx cut her off. “We should focus on the task at hand. I’m not losing you today so there is no reason to discuss that.”

What had he just been thinking about her honesty? This was not something he wanted to hear or even consider as a possibility. Once a dragon chose his mate, there was no one else for him. If he lost her, he would spend the rest of his life pining for his lost heart. He’d seen dragon-shifters who had fallen to such a horrible fate. They were strange creatures, broken and sad, waiting for a death that took it’s time coming. When the planet had been at war—shifters against shifters—they were often the ones to volunteer for the most dangerous missions as if they hoped the gods would end their suffering.

“What is it?” Fiora asked. “What are you thinking?”

“It’s not important right now,” Jaxx answered.

“Wh—?” Salena began to ask him something and he held up his hand to stop her. He did not want to be forced into putting his worries on Fiora. Salena nodded and moved to rejoin Grier.

“I don’t like you being here,” he said when Fiora continued to stare at him.

“I understand. I don’t like you being in danger either.” She began walking toward where they had last seen Payton. “Any idea where she went?”

Jaxx glanced down toward soft impressions in the street that revealed where Payton had walked. He knew her stride and could pick the footprints out of the many. “This way.”

His skin tingled with the threat of a shift. The dragon wanted to come out but the man held it back. He searched each face they passed for signs of danger. For the most part, they were ignored, but there were a few who stared a little too long and it made him uncomfortable.

The pattern in the ground became distorted by heavy foot traffic. He searched for Payton in the crowd. A couple of beat-up sweeper borgs marched past with weapons. Old skin grafts had peeled away to leave a mechanical skeleton exposed. With each step one of them rattled lightly as if their parts weren’t completely bolted together. Thankfully, they didn’t stop in their progress.

“There,” Fiora whispered.

Jaxx followed her gaze to a row of faded cloths drying in the breeze at the end of the street. The sound of flapping material became distinct against the noise of the city. The sweeper borgs continued on their way.

As material blew aside, he caught a glimpse of Payton watching them from beside the rocky cliff. She’d hidden behind a wide piece of cloth to wait for them to catch up. When he met her gaze, she waved them to join her.

Jaxx escorted