Chapter 20: The Conclusion

Hunter's heart was beating too hard. His eyes were swollen from his tears and he couldn't look away from Mirage's dead face. She was beautiful even in death, incredibly lovely almost as if she were sleeping.

He could feel his fellow ASP members around them and knew they wanted him to give up her body, to let her go back to the ASP office for internment. But he couldn't do it. He couldn't let them take her from him or think of letting her go into the cold dark of the burial floor at ASP. "She can't be dead," he moaned, holding her close.

The white light surprised him. It was familiar and warm, something he'd known before. He looked up, his mouth dropping open as he watched Aphrodite walk toward him. It wasn't the Goddess of Love that he was staring at but the woman that was walking hand in hand with her. "Mira?"

She pulled away from Aphrodite, rushing toward him. She only stopped when she saw her body in his arms. "Hunter?" she asked, shocked.

But it was Aphrodite who answered. "Yes, Mira. You were killed."

"Then ... why?" she asked, her hands coming up in consternation.

"Why are you here?"

"Yes!" Mira's hands wedged against her belly and she stared over at Hunter, her misery at being so close but unable to touch him was blatant in her eyes.

"You are here because you were taken before your time. What happened here was not controlled by the fates but by a man who thought he deserved more power, more abject devotion from his subjects then was his due. You ended up being his pawn, Mira." Aphrodite reached over and ran her hand down Mirage's face, lifting her chin. "You love him?" she asked softly.

"More than life," Mira replied, her eyes meeting Hunter's. "More than anything else."

Aphrodite smiled and it lit up her beautiful face with a glow that was luminescent. "I'd so hoped you'd say that." She reached out a hand to Hunter, pulling him to his feet and away from Mira's still dead body. "You love her?"

"I'd take her place right now," Hunter gasped. Tears still streaked down his face, tears of loss, of pain, of longing that he was unable to hide. "Please, Aphrodite, spare her or take me too."

Aphrodite rose on tiptoe, kissing him gently on the cheek. "Some women are so lucky," she sighed. "I'm almost tempted to keep you for myself and say to hell with all of this." She laughed as Mira cursed, turning to face her. "Whoa, Scarlett, watch your fiddle dee dee, there."

Putting out her hand, she waited until Mira grasped it and then followed her past Hunter and over to her body. "This is going to feel a little weird," she warned, pushing Mirage down and back into her body. For a single instant, both Miras were visible. Then there was a sound, like the snap of a rubber band and she was fused back into her body.

She gasped as she drew the first breath into her air deprived lungs and then she sat up, rubbing her eyes and staring at the men and women around her, men and women she'd served with proudly. Then Hunter was at her side, pulling her off the floor, kissing her.

Aphrodite sighed. "Love conquers all," she mused. She turned slowly, glancing back only once before slowly fading from sight.

"She brought you back to me," Hunter whispered against her lips. "You can't do that to me again, Mira. Promise me! I don't think I'd survive if you did that again." But he never let go of her lips long enough for her to promise, not that she was complaining. He lifted her in his arms.

Glancing at Dianna, he arched one eyebrow in question.

Dianna laughed. "Get out of here; we'll get a ride with the other teams." Beast yowled, reaching out and touching Mira's cheek as Hunter carried her past.

Mira was dropped into the front seat of one of the SUVs. She watched as Hunter sprinted to the driver's seat, sliding in and pulling her next to him, only to kiss her again. "You're alive," he breathed. "You're marrying me."

It wasn't a question but just this once; she didn't mind being ordered around. "Yes," she whispered. She reached out and turned the key in the ignition. "Get us home, Hunter."

He kept his arm around her even as he maneuvered the SUV around the parking lot and out through the gate. Then he pulled onto the road and Mira leaned back into the crook of his arm, yawning.

"Dying takes a lot out of you, huh?" he teased.

"Being away from you was horrible. I don't even really know what happened."

"You were trying to be the hero again. You knocked me out of the way of a tentacle; it hit you and broke your neck. You don't remember any of it?"

"No, I remember my blaster going red and I ... I saw you," she ended slowly. "I saw you and I don't remember anything else until Aphrodite took my hand and led me back to you."

He dipped his head to kiss her. You took that hit that was meant for me, Mira. If you ever do anything so ... so fucking heroic again, I'm going to take you over my knee." He hugged her closer, feeling her press against him. Nothing felt better than just that feeling, her being there, holding on to him, loving him.

"You are marrying me," he ordered, waiting for her to bristle and put her back up like a spitting kitten.

Instead, she sighed. "When?"

"Would now be too soon?"

"No," she answered, watching as a huge grin spread across his face. "I want you to be mine, Hunter. I want to be yours. Whatever that takes, I'll handle."

"Okay, well, we need to invite the ASP teams. We really should wait for Callie to give birth so she can be there, um, my adoptive parents..." He took a deep breath as if to continue naming people and she held her fist under his nose.

"No, you, me, and a member of the clergy or a Justice of the Peace. That's it, no big hoopla. Before we go and find your sister. I'm not taking you into any new world where they might have tall, gorgeous blondes with big boobs unless you belong to me, body and soul."

Hunter laughed. "Oh come on, now. When have I ever gone after a woman like that?"

"Do you want a list?" Mira countered, holding up her hand and counting them off by name.

"Whoa, baby, hang on. Haven't you noticed, I've gotten smarter in my old age? I like small, courageous, females with big green eyes. Kinda like you, now that I think about it." He turned the wheel, pulling into her driveway and then putting her password into the small number pad to have the gates opening for them.

"This isn't going to bother you, is it?" she asked hesitantly, nodding toward the path that led to the statues and her small garden.

"Mira, you didn't go back to your husband or your daughter when you were given the chance for anything in the world, you stayed by me. You gave up your life for me. I can get over a wee bit of jealousy for a woman like that." He parked the SUV and then went to her side, lifting her out and carrying her up to the front door.

"I can walk, you know." But she wrapped her arms around his neck, hanging on when he reached down to open the front door.

"Let's just say I'm a little worried about what kind of trouble you'd get into if I let you down," he teased, jerking his head back when she took a nip at his earlobe. "Hey!"

"I'll show you trouble," she warned. But she screeched when he dropped her on her bed, watching as she bounced and came back to her feet next to him. She stepped into his arms, hers going round his neck once more to drag his face down to where she could reach it. "Kiss me!"

He needed no other incentive, his lips coming down to sink into hers. Her lips parted, her tongue coming out to woo and tempt, moaning when his answered. His hands came up, finding the zipper that held her vest closed over her breasts. Pulling it down, he felt the pert mounds of her breasts, the tight pink nipples erect and rubbing against the back of his hand. She gasped as she felt them, shivering in reaction even as he pushed the white leather off of her shoulders, dropping it to the floor.

Hunter cupped his hands over her breasts, kneading the tender flesh gently. Her nipples grew harder, more responsive and she arched her back, demanding more. She cried out when his mouth left hers, his lips nibbling their way to her ear and then down the sensitive curve of her neck. Her hands were as busy, tearing at the zipper on his uniform, pushing at the shoulders to tug them down his arms. As soon as his chest was bare, she pulled away from him, wanting to see him, to feast her eyes on the beauty of his masculine form.

His muscles rippled, moving sensually under his taut flesh. His eyes were a stormy blue with passion, moving over her body with as much adoration and admiration as hers. "God you're beautiful, Mira. You're beautiful and you're all mine."

He tugged on her, bringing her back into his arms, groaning as her breasts were crushed against his chest. That sensation along had his breathing clogged and his head falling back with pleasure. "Mine," he repeated before picking her up and dumping her back on the bed.

His hand reached for the thick white belt, undoing the buckle with practiced ease. He tugged it loose and dropped it next to her bed, his fingers already searching for the button and zipper of her white leather pants. "Do you have any idea what white leather does to me now? I can't see it without imagining you wearing those skimpy tops and these skin tight leather pants. It's almost embarrassing."