She laughed softly, and it felt so incredibly good. How did he do this? A moment ago, she was falling apart in his arms, and now she was laughing, feeling safe and wanted. She could barely contain her happiness. “Then what?”
Gunner was quiet for several seconds and his heart beat faster, harder, thudding under her hand.
“Then we become mates. Laz, Chaos, Kryos, even Zenon have tried to explain to me how it feels, but none of them have been able to put it into words…besides really fucking good.” He chuckled again. “After that, we’re joined forever. If you weren’t already, you’d become immortal like me. And we’ll be able to track each other, call out to each other even easier than we can now. Over time that link between us will grow stronger until I’ll be able to feel how you feel even when we’re apart.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“So if I’m pissed off at you, you’ll know?”
He laughed again, low and rumbly and yummy. “I guess so. I’ll do my best not to do that.”
“I’d appreciate it.”
“No problem.”
Luna smiled at him through the darkness. His fingers brushed her chin, and he tilted her head back before his lips brushed over hers, kissing her so tenderly her chest got warm and fluttery. He lifted his head, then pressed another sweet kiss to her lips, then another.
“You still looking forward to becoming my mate, love?”
She would not cry again. She would not. “So much.”
He let out a relieved breath as if he was actually scared she would reject him. “Don’t cry, baby,” he said gently.
She shook her head. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Since you rescued me and I started…feeling, I’ve become a goddamn fountain. Why don’t you cry all the time? It’s all so…overwhelming.”
“I’m just used to it.”
She blinked, fighting back the tears. “When was the last time you cried?”
His large, rough-skinned hand cupped her face, and he looked into her eyes through the shadows. “When I found you in that room.”
“Oh god,” she all but wailed, and the tears began to flow all over again.
Gunner held her tightly in his arms, protective and comforting, and Luna clung to him, not wanting to ever let him go.
She’d never had anything, definitely not anyone, that was hers.
Gunner would be hers.
And she would be his.
“We need to see what she can do,” Chaos said, his hard gaze unwavering, a frown making his forehead wrinkle.
The male frowned a lot. Luna opened her mouth to say something, but Gunner beat her to it.
“She’s barely recovered. She’s not up to it yet.”
“We don’t have time. You know that as well as I do. Christ, James is out there now, probably being tortured. We need something, fucking anything to tip the scales.” Chaos’s gaze flicked to her and softened a tiny bit. “We need to know what you can do, Luna. We’ve seen demons appearing out of nowhere, easily fifty demons concealed, then standing right beside us. Your power is unique and fucking impressive. It could make a huge difference in this war.”
She wished she could tell him what he wanted to hear. “A lot of that was my brother…or his power at least. His was the strongest between the two of us. I block, mainly.”
“How strong is it?”
She fidgeted with the hem of her shirt as her belly squirmed, suddenly feeling hollow. It wasn’t a good feeling. In fact, she wanted to find the nearest hole to crawl in. Shame. She was pretty sure the emotion she was feeling was shame. “I mean…yes, my power is strong. The beast that was summoned…”
“You were the one blocking it, stopping us from getting to it, to Azel?” Gunner asked beside her.
“He ordered me to protect him while he performed the summoning ritual.” Her stomach lurched just remembering that night.
“And the trance-like state so many demons have been in when they fight us?” Chaos asked.
“That was Azel. My brother and I are…were…” She had to clear her throat at the thought that she would never see her brother again, that Azel had ripped his powers from him and killed him in cold blood. “We’re blockers. I can create shields as strong as you saw that night. I can also create a block so…” She searched for the right word. “Layered, that I am essentially invisible. Ronan, well, it was his power that blocked and maintained cover over our house. Between the three of us, we could control and conceal the demons who have been attacking