We were in full preparation mode.

Training was still going hardcore, with every able-bodied skein member participating. The elderly and the children were being taught basic maneuvers, even as they were gradually being evacuated to a safe place, one only known to the dragons. The phoenix refugees who weren't battle-able were also being taken to the same place, though with a precaution. The agreement was that they would have to be blindfolded for the trip so as not to be able to reveal the location.

Everyone had agreed to those terms without a fuss, understanding that the dragons were still trusting them with something monumentally important—where their vulnerable people were during times of crisis. A hit there would destroy morale in one fell swoop.

"But why can't I stay with you?" Omari asked as we walked onto the playground. "I don't want to go with all the other children. I want to go with you."

I sighed. It felt like I'd been having this talk, or at least a version of it, ever since Omari had come to live with me. Hopefully that wouldn't be true in the future. I didn't want to constantly stash him away for safety either.

"I wish you could come with us," I told him honestly. "But all of the children are going to the safe place because we want all of you to be safe."

"Well, I want you and Ashur to be safe too! I want Enzi and Hathai to be safe! I want everyone to be safe!"

That was a good point. Tricky waters here. I wish I'd been given a manual when I'd become a guardian.

"Sometimes you have to fight to make the world a better place," I said carefully, feeling corny for putting it that way even though it was true. "Remember the bad men who came for me in the city dome?"

Omari nodded reluctantly.

"Yes."

"Emberich sent them after me. So, we're going after him to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone else like that again. Does that make sense?"

He nodded grudgingly.

"Yes," he said in a small voice. He knew Emberich. He'd been living under the Phoenix King's thumb before I took him away. "But you have to promise to come back safe," he demanded, his eyes intense. "Promise."

"I promise," I agreed, really hoping I would be able to keep it. I took his hand in mine, feeling the softness of it, how small it was. I needed him to stay safe. I forced a smile, not wanting the last bit of time we spent together before we separated to be focused on this. "Now, why don't we get on the jungle gym?"

It took a few minutes to get his mind off the impending evacuation, but I finally did. He was back to his laughing, happy self. This carefree little boy was who he was meant to be. I really wished he didn't have so much to worry about so often. He was old enough to know bad things happened, and too experienced with them already from being in Emberich's court.

Hopefully, this would be the end of the major problems. I wanted to take care of Emberich once and for all, not just for us but for everyone else he'd terrorized throughout the years. I'm sure there were many.

Ashur joined us about an hour in.

"Ashur!" Omari exclaimed, waving in excitement when he saw him. "Look what I can do!"

He swung across the monkey bars smoothly, jumping off and pushing his chest out in pride at the end.

"That's really good," Ashur complimented, ruffling his hair. "Let me give it a shot."

And he did, laughing the whole time as Omari tried to sabotage him. I grinned as I watched, happy to have this reprieve. We spent some time just playing before finally going back to Ashur's building to have dinner. Omari really didn't want to go to bed, as if time would stop passing if he just kept his eyes open. And he wouldn't have to leave to go evacuate. But eventually he succumbed to his tiredness, his eyes shutting as he fell into that deep sleep only children could find. I kissed him softly on the forehead, tucking him in before heading back over to our bedroom.

It really was starting to feel like our bedroom, not just Ashur's. The thought gave me pause, but then I shook it off. We had bigger things to worry about than moving in together.

Ashur looked up from his data pad where he was lying in bed.

"Omari asleep?" he asked.

"Yeah. He is really worried," I said quietly, closing the door behind myself. "I am too," I added, rubbing at my forehead.

Ashur put his pad away and got out of bed, walking over to me.

"I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I was worried too," he said quietly as he took my face in his hands, his palms warm. "But we'd be stupid not to worry."

I snorted. "Great pep talk," I said wryly, wrapping my hands around his wrists.

He smiled. "Sometimes the right path isn't the easiest path. We just have to focus on why we're doing what we're doing, plan the best that we can, and then put our all into it." He shrugged. "That's all that we can do. The rest will unfold as it will. At some point, we have to just let go."

He was right, though it was easier said than done.

I nodded, biting my lip.

"Besides," he said his smile widening. "Just think of the look on Emberich's face when he realizes we're going to destroy his pretty palace."

I burst out in laughter, not expecting that addition. He kissed my laughing mouth, sliding his hands under my butt and picking me up.

Oh. My laughter turned into a moan as he laid me out on the bed, coming down on top of me, his body warm and heavy on top of mine.

The kiss started slow but turned voracious, the laughter drifting away as we kissed each other with the kind of desperation that I knew couldn't be unique to us. How many men and women had clutched at each other just this desperately, with this much passion, wondering what tomorrow would bring? Hoping for the best, but fearing the worst?

Ashur's hands were a little rough as they stripped me of my clothes, but mine weren't any more gentle. I wanted to touch him, slide my hands over his skin, feel his body against mine. Feel the life inside him, inside me. We rolled across the bed, each of us fighting to be on top, to touch the other more. I slid my hands over his back, over his ass, as he deepened the kiss. And I gave back as good as I got.

His grip on me was almost bruising tight as he pulled my thigh up against his hip and rubbed himself against me, hard and throbbing already.

Mmm.

I wanted more. But when I moved to push myself back against him, he pulled back. I made a protesting sound as he broke the kiss.

"Shh." He nuzzled the side of my face. And moved to kiss his way down my neck. Across my chest. Paying special attention to the sensitive undersides of my breasts.

I moved under him, trying to get closer to that mouth. But he kept the pace he wanted. Kissing his way down my stomach, rubbing his face against the side of my hip. Biting gently.

Only when I was squirming under him did he go right where I wanted him most. Where I was already throbbing with need not even a few minutes after he first put his mouth on mine. He didn't hold back either. He licked and sucked, his hands gripping my thighs tightly as he buried his face against me, feasting on me like he couldn't get enough.

I came hard, gripping his hair in my hands, arching into him and making a hoarse sound in the back of my throat as the pleasure stabbed through me. But he didn't stop. Not until another orgasm tore its way through me and I was crying out, not prepared for another so soon. My body felt like it was singing, every inch tingling.

Ashur finally lifted his head up, his mouth shining with wetness as he crawled up my body, his eyes locked on my face. I slid my hands up his arms, the hard muscle tight under my fingers as I smoothed them up to his shoulders.

Then his mouth was back on mine as he positioned himself against me.

He pushed forward, his erection spearing into me inch by searing inch.

We both cried out as he slowly sank in all the way, the pulsing hot length of him fully buried in me. Our breaths mingled, our eyes so close to each other's that they were blurry.

And then he started to move. My hands gripped him desperately as he thrust in and out, his eyes locked on mine.

It was intimate, intense, raw.

It kept me tethered to the now, my concerns and worries pushed to the back burner for this moment. This moment where it was just us. Where nothing else mattered.

I held him tightly as he finally let go, his eyes squeezing shut as his body went rigid above mine. I felt the heat of his orgasm inside me, but I also felt it in the shaking of his body above mine as he finally let go of his control.

Our breathing was loud in the silence afterwards. He rolled to the side, keeping himself inside me as he gathered me close. I listened to his heartbeat as we held onto each other tightly.

And I hoped it wouldn't be the last time.