He would offer that comfort from now on. Burke would make certain that she was taken care of the way she was meant to be taken care of. As he watched the two of them, he realized that he would be taking care of the two of them.
He was perfectly happy with that.
“Come on you two,” he finally said. “We’ve got work to do.”
Wren sniffed hard and stepped back from the shadow that had enveloped her. She wiped her hands against her cheeks and under her nose. “Thank you. Thank you for this moment.”
“I didn’t break your mind?” E asked.
“You saved me. Just like you always do.”
E wrapped an arm around her and held out a hand for Burke. He took it without question and wrapped his other arm around Wren.
“We’re an odd family,” he muttered.
Tears glistened in Wren’s eyes. “Family?”
“Yeah. Family.” He leaned down to press a kiss against the top of her head. “Should be red.”
Together, they rose through the depths of Legion and into the top level of its mind. The entire time they held onto each other. Burke couldn’t imagine what was going through their heads. Wren the orphan and Legion who was one of many. Neither had a family for a very long time.
“Wren, it’s your turn to take control over your body,” E said as they finally stopped moving.
“Okay.”
Burke watched in astonishment as she stepped away from both of them. “Okay? That’s it?”
She arched an eyebrow. “I know how to take control over my own body.”
“We thought it might be… Difficult.”
“Because I was weak?”
“Well. Yeah.”
“The elixir was a good choice. I can do this.” She leaned forward to press a kiss against his lips. “It’s time for you to go Jiminy.”
His soul was tossed from inside her mind like a ragdoll. He had never been so forcefully expelled from a dream. Perhaps the first time he had been thrown from her mind rivaled this, but he thumped so hard back into his body that he instantly awoke out of breath.
Inhaling through ribs that felt bruised, he moved from his seat to crawl on top of the table with her. She was still wounded. The healers could only do so much when there were so many other people that were wounded in Haven around them.
He pressed his hands against either side of her head. The bruises would be a surprise to her, he knew that. But at this moment all he wanted was to see her open her eyes.
“Come on, open your eyes,” he whispered. “Please open your eyes.”
When she didn’t immediately answer him, he worried that everything had been a dream. Had he fallen asleep instead of jumping into the dreaming world? Had everything he had just experienced been his own mind trying to feed into his fear?
She blinked.
A great whoosh of breath expelled from his chest as he slumped against her. “Oh thank God.”
“Jiminy,” she croaked.
“Yes?” He leaned back just enough to peer into her eyes. “I know you’re in pain. The healers did what they could, but you’ll still ache for a while.”
“You’re kneeling on my hand.”
His cheeks flamed red.
“Sorry,” he muttered as he replaced his knee somewhere other than the delicate bones of her hand. “Got a little excited.”
“That’s okay.” Wren lifted her hand to open and close her fingers in front of her face. “I’m back.”
“You’re back.”
“I’m in control.”
“I should hope so.”
She stared at the vial dangling from his neck. Her fingers tapped it and sent the glass into a dancing whirl. It was empty.
“You’re going to tell me how you got that,” she said.
“You’re not going to believe who showed up with it.”
Wren pressed her fingers against his lips. “Later.”
“Later?”
Her arms threaded around his neck, and her teeth sparkled in a bright grin. “I’m alive. And I’m in control of my body for the first time in a long time.”
Slowly catching on, Burke eased his body over hers and grinned. “Do you know what you want to do with the real estate?”
“I think I do.” Her lips pressed against the cords of his throat. “E you might want to close your eyes for this.”
She could hear the beloved creature grumbling in her head. “I don’t have eyes to close.”
But Wren could tell they had privacy. E disappeared from the corners of her mind, and she was able to focus entirely on the man in front of her. His hands danced over the tangles of her hair and down her arms.
“Bruises?”
“Ignore them,” she whispered as she worked on the buttons of his shirt.
“Don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t. You haven’t. You never will.”
Wren pulled his shirt over his head and danced her fingers over the ridges of his ribs. Scars decorated his pale skin. Bullet wounds, knife slices, even magical burns marked every edge of his body.
She was not repulsed in the slightest. He shuddered as her hands made certain to touch each and every mark that had been left on his body. Underneath her hands, he was whole.
Burke grabbed onto her hands and held them against his beating heart. He said nothing. Words weren’t enough to express what was dancing through his head. Instead, he pressed her hands against his heart and then lifted them to his lips.
“Oh, Burke,” she whispered.
He rose, leaned over her, and pressed his lips against hers. “Jiminy.”
“Jiminy.” She arched into him as his hand skimmed the hospital gown aside.
“You captivate me,” he whispered against her skin.
“You are color.” He held her tight against him.
“You banish the shadows of my soul.”
Their bodies melded together as one. And in that moment he swept the hair from her face to peer directly into her soul. “I love you. I love you and every part of that crazy soul.”
She pressed against him. Her arm slid
