33. Brakkus
Brakkus
In the kitchen, I took a bottle of red wine from the rack and poured two glasses. The ring box pressed against my thigh inside my pocket.
“Patio?” I asked.
“Sure,” she said as I handed her a glass.
She followed me out through the glass doors. The pool lights cast a pale glow across the water, and warm air moved over the patio. Beyond the low stucco wall, the hillside disappeared into the darkness.
I set the monitor on the table between two cushioned chairs. Hannah sat beside me with one bare foot tucked beneath her. Her hair was loose around her shoulders, and she wore a soft shirt and shorts.
“Did Northstar accept the changes?” she asked.
“All of them.”
“So you’re doing the documentary?”
“If legal approves the final contract.”
She took a sip of wine. “Do you want to do it?”
I looked out over the pool. “I don’t care about seeing myself on a screen again. But the company wants the exposure, and Northstar agreed to keep my family out of it.”
“What about you?”
I glanced at her.
She waited.
“I want the story told accurately,” I said. “Breakstone. The fights. Building the first gym. Not some redemption piece about a violent orc learning how to sell protein powder.”
Her mouth curved. “That does sound terrible.”
“Trey removed it before I saw the proposal, so I gave him control of media and licensing.”
She smiled and rested her foot against my leg. “What are you going to do with the extra time?”
I looked at her. The ring box pressed against my thigh.
“Build the rest of my life.” I put my wineglass on the table and turned toward her.
“Hannah.”
She studied me, her expression changing as I held out my hand. She lowered her glass and set it beside mine, then placed her hand in my palm. I closed my fingers around hers.
“I meant what I said. I want to build the rest of my life… with you.” Her fingers tightened, and I rubbed my thumb over the back of her hand.
“I want you beside me when Otto wakes us before sunrise and when the kitchen is a wreck. When the company is loud. When life is good and when it turns hard again.”
She held my gaze without speaking.
“I want all of it. With you.”
Her breath caught, but she did not look away.
“I’ve wanted to claim you since I recognized the bond. Waiting hasn’t made me want it less.” My eyes dropped to her throat before returning to her face. “I still want my bite on your neck. I want your scent in my bed. I want every part of you to belong to me.”
I lifted her hand and pressed my mouth to her knuckles.
“But I’m glad we waited. I wanted you to have time to know what you were choosing. Not just the bond. Me.”
Her eyes shone in the pool light.
“I love you, Hannah. I want what we have built to be permanent.”
I released her hand and pulled the black ring box from my pocket. Hannah’s eyes dropped to it. Her lips parted, but no sound came out. I stood, stepped in front of her, and lowered myself onto one knee. She went completely still.
I opened the box. The diamond caught the pool light and threw it back across her face. It was massive and exquisitely cut. I’d looked at smaller rings. None of them seemed right for her.
“Oh my God,” she whispered.
“I bought this before you left.”
Her eyes lifted to mine. She stared at the ring again. One hand rose to cover her mouth.
“When I let you walk away, it wasn’t because I was unsure about you.” I tightened my grip on the box. “I was afraid of what it meant to find a second mate and build the family I believed I’d never have again.”
Her eyes filled with tears, but she didn’t look away.
“I should have asked you to stay. I should have told you I meant forever.”
I held the box between us and drew a breath.
“Hannah Brooks, will you marry me?”
Hannah’s breath caught. She looked down at the diamond, then back at me. One hand still covered her mouth. The other pressed to her throat, her fingers trembling against her skin.
“Yes,” she whispered.
My grip tightened around the box.
She pulled her hand from her mouth. Tears slipped down her cheeks, but she was smiling now.
“Yes, I’ll marry you.”
Relief hit me so hard I nearly bowed over her knees. I took the ring from the box and reached for her left hand. Her fingers shook as she placed them in mine.
I slid the ring onto her finger. The diamond looked even larger against her skin.
She stared at it for half a second, then slipped out of the chair and threw her arms around my neck.
I caught her against my chest, and I rose with her clinging to me.
I turned, lowered myself into the chair, and settled her across my lap.
She pressed her face into my neck, and I wrapped both arms around her and held on. For several breaths, neither of us spoke. The pool water moved behind us, throwing broken lines of light across the patio. Hannah’s tears dampened my skin. Then she lifted her head.
“I want you to claim me.” Every muscle in me locked as she held my gaze. “I understand what it means. I want to be your mate.”
Relief moved through me so fast and deep it nearly took my strength with it. I pulled her closer, euphoric with the feeling of her against my chest. My mate. My wife. My everything.