Somehow it was more than a little reassuring to know that Astrid believed in or had some kind of experience with fated connections. As open minded as Joe was sure that all of Ram's friends undoubtedly were, talking about fate and destiny might be a step too far for some people. "Funny how love and war seem to go together. There's this whole myth about how Aphrodite cheated on her husband with Ares."
Joe's brow furrowed slightly as Ram looked stunned by what he'd said. The one thing that he had in common with his past lives was that they were all soldiers and had seen the breadth of humanity over the course of more than a century. He knew that everyone carried some sort of darkness to them, even the nicest, most positive person. "I—" He nearly said it in that moment, but held himself back. "I like everything about you." The kiss warmed him to his toes and he chuckled at Ram's statement. "I'm going to tell everyone you said that," he teased. "But they won't believe me."
Strength sounded like a pretty good one to Joe. "I like that one. Maybe I should add it to a list of future tattoos."