He spoke words of love and lust and heat and all that they were together.

He took her again, slower this time, bringing her to climax repeatedly until at last he spooned her and slept away the last of the afternoon.

He woke up as the sun sank low on the horizon, Vela and the beautiful mass of her hair, cradled against his chest. The peace he knew astounded him, the completeness, a sense of destiny fulfilled.

When she moved and looked up at him, he smiled and kissed her. “Looks like a beautiful sunset.”

“Show me.” He rose up from the bed and wrapped her in one of the sheets, laughing the whole time. He took her onto the balcony, and she leaned against his chest sighing contentedly.

Holding his woman in his arms was probably the best sensation he’d ever known. “I love you,” he whispered.

She sighed again. “I love you, too.

Now and forever.” Now and forever.

The desert, with all that dry earth, wind, and dust, made beautiful sunsets full of rich yellow, orange, and lavender hues, one of the beauties of the expansive Sonoran desert.

And he shared it now with Vela, his woman, his breh.

He marveled at life, at all the wealth that had come to him in just a few short weeks, of loving Vela, of knowing her deeply and intimately, of having her love him in return, and of starting this new life with her as a goddamn righteous Warrior of the Blood.