Chapter 612: This and more

“I missed you last night,” Becky said quietly, as soon as their little group was far enough away from the crowded boardroom. Mason took a breath and squeezed her hand. Talking at least helped distract his impatient mind from the crawling agony of human walking speed.

Also it was one thing to tell yourself your women had ‘tiers’—that there were ‘wives’ and there were ‘girlfriends’, and they didn’t get the same treatment. It was whole different thing to explain it to the women you were sleeping with. Probably the best decision was to make it obvious without exactly

saying

it…

And it wasn’t like he didn’t care about Becky. In fact, he loved her. It was just that she was…very

young

. She either didn’t understand the weight he was carrying, or else didn’t know how to manage her own emotions well enough to care. She wanted things from him he couldn’t give, at least not now. He wasn’t sure he had the time or brainpower to manage that.

Maybe a better man would have told her so and broken up with her. She wasn’t pregnant like some of the others. There was nothing binding them together except the fact that Mason didn’t want her out of his life. And that the idea of another man touching her sent explosive little ripples of murderous rage through his body.

“I missed you too,” he said after way too long a pause. She seemed to pick up on his mood. He was afraid she’d be upset but if anything she looked eager to smooth things over. Like she needed to apologize.

“I was hopin’...we could talk.” She moved some hair behind an ear and shook her head as she looked down. “I know yer busy. I’m just bein’ selfish. Maybe later? When things calm down?”

“I’d like that,” he said, doing his best to smile.

Haley was

absolutely

eavesdropping right behind them. He glanced back to give her a head shake because he didn’t want her handling this. Though that thought made him wonder if she’d already talked to her…

Whatever else Becky was or would be in the future, she was Mason’s friend, his lover, and his…fellow soldier. They’d fought side by side, protected each other, risked their lives together. He owed her a lot more than sending his assistant every now and then to check how she felt.

“This is one of Jeong’s undead barracks,” Rahman said, stopping at a metal door.

Mason waited for some kind of punchline, but it seemed the man meant exactly what he said.

“Right. Are they still…active?”

The ex-Saudi butler shrugged, and Mason glanced at Becky. His beautiful cowgirl banished the teenage girl as she formed her Familial Shield, transforming into the soldier she was. He grinned and ushered the civilians back, then flipped the bar lock, opening the door with a clang.

It took his darkness piercing eyes a second to adjust, but he soon saw rows of skeletal soldiers lined up inside. Streak growled in warning, and he knew they were still ‘active’ before he’d turned on his Ranger’s Mark. But what exactly did that mean?

He checked his profile, just in case, but saw absolutely nothing about ‘undead servants’. Whatever had given Jeong the ability to create and control these things, it hadn’t transferred along with everything else.

“Well,” he said. “Either we leave a bunch of undead monsters behind big, red warning signs, waiting for disaster. Or we clear the things.”

“Ready when you are, city boy,” Becky said, some of the usual twinkle back in her tone. Mason grinned and stepped inside.

The moment his foot crossed the threshold, the creatures cracked and popped as they jerked alive.

He summoned his longer Claw and instantly launched at the closest, slashing it in the narrow space between undead rows. His blade broke straight through bone like a bat hitting balsa wood, the thing’s limbs and ribs snapping with a satisfying crunch.

Becky transformed her shield to its mace form and raced in behind him, making several of her own crunching sounds as Mason went for more. The skeletal guards came in different varieties, getting more dangerous further in, the ones at the back wearing metal armor and even carrying spears that glowed in the dark.

Streak howled as he made his entrance, a feeling of pure excitement flooding Mason as his friend sensed the real target: an endless supply of bones.

The fight was soon very one sided.

Mason stopped using his Claws and just pulled apart the skeletons with his bare hands, smashing them with fists and feet and sometimes his head. He didn’t even use his powers, just mashing with brutal force in the enclosed prison of the room.

The spear-armed skeletons were tougher, but comically slow. He dodged past the weapons, or grabbed them and yanked so hard their arms usually came off. His fists caved in metal armor and broke the bones beneath. His kicks launched the creatures against the walls to shatter and fall down in pieces.

In a few minutes it was just him, and Streak, and Becky, panting and turning for more targets in the dark and dust. He grinned when he meet Becky’s eyes, feeling the same lust for battle and what came after they’d always shared.

“We probably bought ourselves a minute,” he said, “if you wanted to talk.”

Becky took a few steps towards him, then launched at his lips.

He almost missed the catch because he really had meant ‘talk’. But he lifted her up, only holding back a second before he gave up and slipped her his tongue. She wrapped her legs around his waist, and the Mason of a few days before would have rammed her against the wall and banged her brains out.

But ‘king’ Mason took a breath and waited. She deserved the truth. Or at least a conversation.

Some

kind of grown up moment where they didn’t just strip and screw to solve their problems. He waited until Becky realized he wasn’t pulling down her jeans.

“I was with Haley, Demi and Naya last night,” he said. “It’s not that I didn’t want you there. I did, and do, it’s just…”

“You don’t have to explain,” Becky said, kissing him again.

This…threw him off. And he had to assume she didn’t understand. Like she was thinking it was just convenience and he hadn’t really thought about it.

“I think I do,” he said after letting it go on too long. “I’m not…I mean, Becky, I know I’m not a great boyfriend.”

She was trying to wave it away like it didn’t matter, but damnit he was going to get it out. He set her down but kept his arms around her waist, looking into those big, green eyes.

“Haley’s my wife. So is Naya. And with Demi it’s…” he shrugged, no idea how to explain. “The system uses the same magic on us, like we’re mind melded or whatever they did in that old Star Wars show. I don’t have to worry about their feelings because…they’re in this with me now, with no way out. They’re all in. You understand?”

Becky seemed to finally realize he was being serious, and looked between his eyes.

“Mind meld was Star Trek. And you think I ain’t with you? How could you think that?”

“I don’t mean…” he shook his head, hating this. “I know you’re loyal. You’re a good soldier and you’re…family. It’s just…” he shrugged. “You’re strong. You can take care of yourself and…you’re not pregnant. You don’t

have

to put up with a man who disappears every two seconds and sharing him when you do have him. So I just thought I should say, or explain, or…”

Becky smiled like he was being cute, or silly, or something, which wasn’t really what he was expecting. She even pushed forward like he was turning her on, which made absolutely no sense at all.

“You’re such a dummy,” she said, trying to kiss him again. He held her back.

“OK, explain. Because I’m over here feeling shitty and selfish and trying to do the right thing, and you’re making it hard.”

“Am I?” Becky looked actually

amused

, and also right about the hard thing, which was pretty annoying. She shook her head, looking between his eyes. “You think I don’t know I could get one of them other horny boys? Like they ain’t always lookin’ at me? So what?”

“So…” he shrugged, trying not to be annoyed at the hypothetical eyes of hypothetical men. “Wouldn’t it be..I don’t know,

nice

, to have a man who gave you everything he had? Everything you deserve? Something…practical. I don’t know…normal?”

“Mason…” Becky frowned and let out a breath. “I’ve watched you fight and die for us.

All

of us. You hardly sleep, sugar. Sometimes you twitch and fight things that ain’t there. In the Neutral Zone you grew those claws and growled at your dreams. I’ve seen you almost fall apart.”

He swallowed at that, not sure what to say. She hadn’t told him about the dreams. But she was right that she’d seen him almost fall apart. And she’d been right there to calm him down, to protect anyone who got too close when he lost control.

“I’ve been getting better,” he said quietly, not sure what else to say. She smiled and ran a hand gently across his cheek.

“I know. And it don’t scare me. Because beneath all this,” her hands moved to the tattoos on his arms. “Yer just a boy from Texas doin’ his best. I can be a pain in the ass. But I love you, you big idiot. And not just because I can’t wait even for a few seconds with you. But because you do so much for us. You fight for us. Protect us. The people I love, my family. And I know sometimes…because yer just a man, you need someone to take care of you, too. I want to be there when you do. Even if I gotta wait.”

Mason couldn’t help but feel the genuine emotion radiating off Becky’s face. He found himself speechless, and she was grinning like she enjoyed that fact. All he could do was shake his head and kiss her again.

“I love you, too,” he said. “You’re amazing and I don’t deserve you.”

“But you do,” she said, hands moving to his chest and roaming downwards. “You deserve whatever them girls did last night. And a whole lot more.”

She kissed his cheek gently as her hands went further, soon finding the growing bulge in his now ripped up suit pants. He took a breath as she grinned and took ties from her pocket, slowly putting her loose hair into pig tails.

“In fact." Her eyes were twinkling with mischief and lust. "You deserve to get thanked right here in this dirty room.” She grinned and dropped as she slid slowly to her knees, working at his belt. “Now be quiet. I don’t want your wife to hear. Sometimes a girl wants her man all to herself.”