Tipping my head back, I sucked in a deep breath and let the muggy night air fill my lungs, only exhaling when Kisa took my hand in hers and began pulling me to the warm sand.

“I’ll wait for you here,” Serge shouted from behind us, and I glanced back to see him getting back into the car. He threw me a smile as he shut the door, and I gave him a curt nod in return.

Kisa and I didn’t talk as our feet hit the sand. We didn’t talk as she led me along the shore’s edge, only stopping so I could remove my sneakers. As soon as the grainy sand hit my bare feet, I sighed and stared out at the dark water, the moon hanging low and bright.

It made me think of the dream, the one where the boy had been making love to Kisa on the beach. My eyes darted down to Kisa staring out at the ocean too, and my heart slammed in my chest, so loud and hard I was sure she would hear it. But she just kept looking out into the night, and I just kept… remembering.

I was remembering…

They were young, very young, when they’d been together, but it had meant so much. They were nervous, too nervous, but when the boy was inside her, her pussy so tight and wet, it stole his breath.

She’d been so nervous as the boy took her on the sand, making her his, something switching inside of him as they came together, like the final piece of their souls had fixed in place and all that was left was them as one.

“It’s my favorite place on Earth,” Kisa whispered, suddenly breaking through the quiet of the night, and I stepped to the side until I was behind her, draping my arms around her shoulders and resting my chin on her head.

“You come here a lot?” I asked, seeing large boats in the distance, sailing across the horizon.

Kisa tensed up, then said quietly, “I haven’t been here in twelve years.”

I frowned in confusion, but before I could question why, she turned in my arms and took my hand. “It’s this way.”

Following her lead, I asked, “What is?”

Kisa’s beautiful face suddenly looked happy and she leaned into my side, her scent hitting my nose, keeping me calm. I didn’t like being out in public. I didn’t like open spaces. I’d been caged up too long, so long that freedom and open areas made me feel uneasy.

“Our cove.”

We walked for a while before we climbed over some rocks and, hidden away from sight, was a small blocked-off patch of sand. Kisa sniffed beside me. “It hasn’t changed at all,” she whispered and jumped off the rock down onto the sand.

Looking back, her blue eyes were bright, her long black dress clung to her fucking beautiful hourglass curves, and her long brown hair blew in the light sticky wind.

“Kisa-Anna…” I rasped out and went to jump down too, but suddenly I came to a stop as something big came back to me… something I think I’d known since the night I’d saved her. I just didn’t know how to actually feel, how to let it in, until now.

My eyes widened as I stared at my woman. “I had her…” I said under my breath and only to myself, memories of us together flooding my mind. “I had her. She was mine…” I repeated, as I thought of us on this beach, in this cove, in Serge’s car, on the pier.

I stretched up my neck and glanced over the rocks to see a long pier shining with lights, and my heart boomed like a crash of thunder in a thunderstorm.

Kisa laid out the blanket on a patch of sand nearest the rocks, and I leapt down beside her. Within seconds, I had lifted her into my arms. Her surprised blue eyes met mine as her hands gripped onto my biceps.

My eyes bored into hers, and I said breathlessly, “I had you. I had you since the day you were born. I asked your mama for you and she said yes.”

Kisa’s face filled with a gamut of emotions: happiness, sorrow, and… hope? I didn’t know, but she nodded and her eyes misted over, moisture threatening to fall.

Dropping to my knees, the memories so strong I couldn’t stand any longer, I laid Kisa on the blanket and hovered over her. Warmth filled my chest like the sun had moved its home inside of me. I’d only ever felt cold before. The cell was cold. Killing was cold… I was always cold, but right now, I was warm… I felt alive. No longer dead inside.

I gazed into her eyes and saw only happiness in her stare.

“Raze…” she murmured, stroking through the strands of my hair, but I couldn’t speak.

We’d always been together. Her and me, from birth, we were always together.

Urging Kisa’s hand from my hair, I threaded my fingers through hers and studied her slim fingers, the nails painted pink, through my cut and scarred hands, marks from years of fighting, my knuckledusters marring the skin…