Mine to Keep

Chapter 2

Yeji's  

Sitting there in Ryujin's embrace, I feel the familiar hum of excitement mixed with trepidation. Our separation hasn't changed her one bit. She's still the same woman who almost killed Niki, who didn't hesitate to kidnap a girl she wanted.

She's also the one who nearly died rescuing me.

Now that I know what happened to her, I can see the physical signs of her ordeal. She's leaner than before, her skin stretched tightly over sharp cheekbones.

There is a ragged pink scar on her left ear, and her dark hair is extra-short. On the left side of her skull, the growth pattern of that hair is a bit uneven, as though it's concealing a scar there as well.

Despite those tiny imperfections, she's still the most gorgeous woman I've ever seen. I can't tear my eyes away from her.

She's alive. Ryujin is alive, and I'm with her again.

It still seems so surreal. Up until this morning, I thought she was dead. I was convinced she had died in the explosion. For four long, excruciating months, I had been forcing myself to be strong, to get on with my life and try to forget the woman sitting next to me right now.

The woman who stole my freedom.

The woman I love.

Raising my left hand, I gently trace the outline of her lips with my index finger. She's got the most incredible mouth I have ever seen a mouth made for sin.

At my touch, her beautiful lips part, and she catches the tip of my finger with her sharp white teeth, biting down on it lightly, then sucking my finger into her mouth.

A tremor of arousal runs through me as her warm, wet tongue laves my finger. My inner muscles clench, and I can feel my underwear getting damp. God, I'm so easy when it comes to her. One look, one touch, and I want her. My sex feels swollen and slightly sore after the way she fucked me earlier, but my body aches for her to take me again.

Ryujin is alive, and she's taking me away again.

As that fact begins to sink in, I pull my finger away from her lips, a sudden chill feathering over my skin and cooling my desire. There's no turning back now, no possibility of changing my mind.

Ryujin is again in charge of my life, and this time I'd willingly flown into the spider's web, placing myself at her mercy.

Of course, it wouldn't have mattered if I had been unwilling, I remind myself. I remember the syringe in Ryujin's pocket, and I know that the outcome would've been the same regardless.

Conscious or sedated, I would've been accompanying her today. For some messed-up reason, that fact makes me feel better, and I place my head back on Ryujin's shoulder, letting myself relax against her.

It's futile to fight against one's destiny, and I'm starting to accept that fact.

With traffic, our ride to the airport takes a little over an hour. To my surprise, we don't go to O'Hare. Instead we end up at a small airstrip where a sizable plane awaits our arrival. I can make out the letters 'G650' on its tail.

"Is that yours?" I ask as Ryujin opens the car door for me.

"Yes." She doesn't look at me or elaborate further. Instead her gaze appears to be scanning our surroundings, as though looking for hidden threats.

There is an alertness to her manner that I don't remember seeing before, and for the first time, I realize that the island was her sanctuary as well, a place where she could truly relax and let down her guard.