I found Maya waiting for me in one of the back bedrooms. Mama Bear had shown her where to freshen up and gave her a change of clothes. When I opened the door, Maya looked like an angel. My angel. She wore a long, white, see-through nightgown. Her bare toes peeked out from under it.

She sat on the edge of the bed, running a brush through her wet hair. Her face scrubbed clean of the dirt and tears, she turned to me.

She took my breath away just like she’d done the first night I set eyes on her. I’d claimed her then though neither of us realized it. She was mine. No one would ever hurt her or touch her again. Not Junior. Not Uncle Frank. No one.

“I love you,” I said.

“Come here.” Maya smiled. I went to her. When I sat down on the bed next to her, every bone in my body ached. The wound in my shoulder throbbed and when I moved to slide out of my cut, I hissed in agony.

“Let me,” Maya whispered. She rose and stood before me. Her breasts were at my eye level and I brought my hands up, sliding them beneath the thin cotton of her nightgown to cup her ass.

“I’m a mess,” I said.

Maya leaned down and kissed me. “I like you that way. Rough and wild. Dirty and dangerous.”

“I think you’re crazy,” I teased. “How the hell did you ever get mixed up with me?”

She helped me peel off my vest. My t-shirt was ripped and caked with blood. Rather than trying to pull it over my head, I just gripped the collar and ripped the thing down the middle, shedding it like a second skin. Maya went to her knees and worked my belt buckle.

“Come here, baby,” I said.

“Oh no,” she said. “You can’t possibly think you’re up for that.”

I looked down. Oh, I was up all right. “Can’t help it,” I said. “Haven’t you ever heard fighting makes men horny?”

“Oh, is that what it is?” She smiled.

“Did you mean what you said to Mama?” I asked, almost afraid to give her a chance to rethink her answer.

“What do you mean?”

“Are you mine?”

She sucked in a breath. My cock twitched, aching to fill her. I had one hand on her ass and pulled her forward. I could already feel the heat coming off her. I knew if I slid my hand around and tested her, I’d find her wet and ready for me.

I slipped my jeans down the rest of the way. Maya lifted her leg and straddled me. She slid around me, easy and perfect. My breath hitched as she took my cock deep inside her and held it there.

“Are you mine, baby?”

“Axle!” she gasped. I could feel her thighs twitch as the urge to ride my dick swelled within her. I wanted to fuck her so badly my own body quaked from it. But this was more than that. This was a promise I meant for us both to keep. I’d sworn another blood vow to Bear and the club out by the dunes. Now I wanted to swear another one to this woman.

“Say it,” I said.

Maya’s eyes snapped open. “Yes! God help me. God help us both, but yes. I’m yours. I’ve always been yours. But Axle, you’re mine.”

I leaned back until I was lying on the bed with Maya hovering above me, my dick sunk in deep. “Marry me.” I hadn’t meant to ask her, but the question and my need for her answer burst out of me. I wanted it. I needed it. I’d never been more sure of anything in my life.

“What?”

“Marry me.”

I put my good hand on her hip, holding her in place. “Oh baby.”

“You said I was the best wrong decision you’ve ever made.”

She laughed. “I said something like that.”

“So make another one. Let’s go all in.”

Maya leaned down; her hair fell around us like a golden gossamer. She let out a sexy little sigh and gave me her answer.

“Yes, baby. Yes! I’ll marry you.”

Then she couldn’t hold back anymore. Maya bucked and writhed, taking me in even deeper. She came quickly, arching her back and screaming my name. She was mine. I was hers. Whatever crazy road we went down, I knew that we’d ride it together. And it was all I’d ever need.

Maya was my gift and my calling. As her lips met mine, I sealed our vow.