“Besides survive?” Up, down.

“Obviously.” Their futures depended on the outcome of this stupid assembly.

“I will protect Vale and work with Zion to win a weapon. Preferably a ring owned by Colt.”

Nola had listened in every time Bane and Zion had discussed the war or tweaked their master plan. Most recently, they’d decided to target a warrior named Colt.

Apparently, Colt owned a ring able to break into hundreds of tiny bots that could burrow under other people’s skin, allowing him to track and/or kill them with ease.

If Bane controlled the ring, he would be unstoppable! Bonus: he could use the bots to shred Aveline’s internal organs.

“Why hasn’t Colt already pegged you guys with a bot?” she wondered aloud.

“He hides from the war, never engages in battle.”

“So why was he chosen as a representative?”

“Perhaps he’s the bravest among his kind? Sovereigns rarely share their reasons.”

Or Colt had a secret ability no one knew about? Her stomach twisted into knots. “I hate this!”

On her next pass by the desk, Bane set his tools aside, pushed the weapons back, then looped an arm around her to haul her closer. He lifted her onto the desk, trapping her knees on either side of him.

She wore a shirt and panties, nothing else. Correction: soaked panties. Her nipples puckered as her core heated and ached.

He’d trained her body to react to his slightest touch.

“Will you miss me?” He traced his fingers up her bare thighs, gripped her hips and drew lazy circles on her belly with the pads of his thumbs.

Miss him? Only with every fiber of my being. “There’s a slight chance I...might.”

A smile teased his mouth—another one to add to my collection—softening the rugged plains of his face. “I will miss you very much,” he said, his eyelids going heavy. “And you don’t have to worry about my well-being, dove, not even a little. Knowing you’re waiting for me, your body hungry for mine, I’ll let nothing prevent me from returning to you.”

And there’s another sweet everything. When he said things like that, she fell a little harder. If this kept up, care would soon deepen into love. Are you sure it hasn’t already?

Wait. The truth behind his words registered. “You’re going to wind me up before you hit the road, aren’t you?”

He moved his gaze up, lingering on her feminine core, then her breasts, before meeting her eyes. A wicked gleam lit those golden depths as he toyed with the elastic band on her panties. “I’m going to wind you up so desperately you’ll be ravenous for weeks to come.”

FINALLY. THE ASSEMBLY OF COMBATANTS had arrived.