Page 57 of Ren: Warlord Brides
“I refrained from entering the premises, as I did not know what to say. Again, my actions do not support my words. I failed as a mate.”
“I’m not sure your apology makes any of this okay.” She sat upright, her thighs straddling his lap. She had his attention.
He brushed back her soft hair, enjoying the way it spilled through his fingers like spun moonlight.
“Calm down, apple dumpling,” she said. “This is the part where I say I planned to seduce you to get you to find Gemma.”
“I do not want our relationship to be based on transactions.” The notion soured his stomach. “I would move the stars for my mate because it pleases me to bring you joy. I need no other motivation.”
A shy smile tugged at her strange, naked mouth. That smile was so utterlyhuman, he’d move the stars. Slay monsters. Hunt missing siblings. Anything for that smile.
“Okay, maybe I phrased it poorly, but I was trying to apologize about not being, you know, upfront with you.”
“You are upfront with me now,” he said, confident that they understood one another.
“One thing. That story you told at dinner, about the warlord. Did that really happen?”
“Yes. After I sent you away.” He could not imagine how fraught the situation would have been if Emmarae had remained. She would have been the target for Kaos’ cruelty.
“To spare me from that,” she said.
“Always. With everything I have. My body. My honor.”
“Even when it makes me hate you?” Her voice sounded hoarse, full of emotion.
“Needs must.” He paused, unsure if he should share his next thought, and decided that withholding information from his mate was exactly what caused this problem. “Directly injuring a female would have turned the clan against the warlord—at least I want to believe that to be true—but accidents happen. Protective shielding fails. Radiation leaks in older dome sections. A fatal incident would not have been difficult to arrange.”
She paled. The pigment spots scattered across her nose stood in stark relief. “You think he’d have me killed?”
“It was the next step of escalation.” Kaos intended to slay Havik and his mate. Only luck and guile spared them.
Perhaps Ren could have protected his mate from the warlord. A male was meant to protect his mate and family. A male—
No.
There was no point in rehashing the unknown. He did what he did. He chose to do the hurtful thing for the correct reason.
He turned his attention back to the problem at hand. A missing female. He had relevant experience. “We will find your sister. Sentient being trafficking is a growing problem on Earth.”
“You think that happened to Gemma? Fuck.” Her teeth worried at her bottom lip. “I mean, I guess I knew. She sent those messages.”
“Forward the messages to my comm.” He tapped at his wrist comm, initiating a connection, and watched the short video messages. “It is possible to find the location where this was uploaded. That will help us determine if she remains on Earth.”
“You can do that?”
Ren left the comfort of the sofa to fetch his tablet. The files on Pashaal hovered over the screen.
“Um, about that,” Emry started, very much sounding like an apology.
He dismissed her apology with a wave. “You were correct to be upset. You did not know my heart, and that is my fault. You are scared, and you believe you are alone.” Simple. “You do not know me enough to trust me, and that is also my fault. I have not allowed trust to grow between us.”
She snorted, a half-swallowed sound like a laugh. Then her eyes went wide. “I’m not laughing. Sorry. Okay, a little, but not at you.”
“You may laugh. I strive to be humorous.” Though he had not intentionally been humorous at that moment.
“You know, the audacity to claim youhave not allowedtrust to flourish when I’m the one who shoved you in an escape pod. Stop stealing my villainy.”
“You are not a villain.”
