Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Ward faced Viper again, and his breath caught when Viper met and held his gaze.
He stared at him like he had every answer to any questions, as if he were worth any risk, and was the cause of every goddamn sinful temptation on earth.
The space between them pulsed with invisible weight, a tether thick with need and desire as if their bond had taken shape and now refused to be ignored.
Power coiled in the air—alive and insistent, refusing to be denied.
Heat crawled across Ward’s skin as his body reacted to the pressure, a low hum vibrating beneath the surface of his chest and his bones. Something ancient. Something terrifying. A soul-deep, pulse-wrecking, irrevocable connection.
Viper stepped into his space close enough that their marks pulsed in unison. “You feel that too?” His voice was pitched low and filled with gravel-wrapped hunger beneath a thread of disbelief.
Ward nodded, not trusting his voice.
“It’s not just magic, is it?” Viper asked. “Even without all this,” he gestured around them, “I’d want you. Fuck, Ward, I do want you, with or without glowing marks and holy tea.”
Thank God.
Ward swallowed hard. It would absolutely suck if the man he was so attracted to his cock was almost in a constant state of arousal was only attracted to him because of magic or a mate bond determined by the fates or the gods or whoever else fucked with unsuspecting people’s lives here.
He clamped his lips closed to prevent the words that bubbled up inside him from escaping his mouth, but then he said them anyway despite his resolve not to.
“I want you, too. I don’t know what comes next, or how we make any of this make sense, but I know this…
” His hand found Viper’s. “…You’re the only thing I’ve been sure of since the moment we got here. ”
He saw Viper’s breath hitch. Maybe he wasn’t the only one affected.
I’m going to be so mad if the Fianna’s horny tea just causes this…
Neither of them moved, and the world held still as the bond between them thrummed once more, then snapped tight like a bowstring drawn back and ready to let fly.
Ward’s blood burned and his mind blanked.
He barely remembered bringing the cup to his lips.
One moment, Fionn had offered it with solemn eyes and a phrase that sounded like a vow, and the next, heat had licked down his spine and unraveled him from the inside out.
Whatever the Fianna king had said—whatever power lived in that drink—it had gone straight to his soul and stripped him bare.
Viper caught him before his knees gave out. “Ward.”
“I’m fine,” he breathed. He wasn’t. Not even close. The air around them shimmered, and for a second, he thought he might explode.
“You’re glowing,” Viper said, low and rough. “You’re fucking glowing, Ward.”
I am?
Huh?
Weird.
If he was, he didn’t care, not with the way Viper’s hand curled tight around his arm, or the way his voice had dropped to that possessive growl that made something in Ward’s chest ache and crave more in equal measure.
The fire wasn’t hurting him—it was answering a call he hadn’t even known he’d made.
The Oathkeeper .
That word echoed in his head, not from Fionn or Oisín or any of the priestesses who were now chanting in low, guttural Gaelic tones—but almost as if it were from the magic itself, from the land, or maybe even from the bond thrumming between Viper and him.
It repeated, soft and steady, each syllable a drumbeat in his chest.
Oath. Keeper.
Protector of vows.
Guardian of promises.
His vision blurred, but he saw the moment Viper’s pupils blew wide. The soldier swayed forward slightly, nostrils flaring, like the scent of Ward’s skin had just sucker punched him in the gut.
“I can feel you,” Viper rasped. His eyes were silver-bright, and his voice was unsteady. “Shit, I can feel you in my head.”
“Good.” His throat felt as if he’d been yelling for ten hours straight. “Because I feel like I’m about to crawl out of my skin if I don’t touch you.”
The space between them crackled with energy that wasn’t entirely theirs.
Magic licked up his spine. It gave off sparks as it curled around his mating mark, tangled through his thoughts.
The mating bond had already been a tether before, but now?
Now it was a living, breathing, hungry thing between them.
His skin itched, his bones buzzed, and every cell in his body screamed for more.
Fionn’s voice floated in from somewhere far away. “Go complete your bonding.”
He was vaguely aware that the priestesses had vanished into the trees. Fionn and Oisín followed them with no further explanation as if they knew what was coming, as if they didn’t want to get caught in the line of fire between a couple whose mating bond desired—no—demanded completion.
Viper’s fingers trembled as his hand slid up Ward’s chest. “I can’t—Ward, I can’t fucking think.”
“Then don’t.” Ward surged up and kissed him, and the bond exploded.
Viper caught him with a groan torn straight from his soul, a sound that spoke of surrender and hunger all at once. Ward pressed closer, chest to chest, their mate marks pulsing in unison where their arms touched, moving faster with every shared breath.
The kiss wasn’t soft or hesitant. It was Viper losing his grip on control and Ward letting go of logic, of fear, of anything and everything but the man in front of him. The man he was tethered to. The man his soul craved and his heart desired.
The second their mouths met, the magic surged.
It burned like lightning across his tongue, an ache behind his ribs, a rush of power that sparked every nerve ending into life.
Viper hauled him closer, both hands fisting in his shirt, and kissed him like he needed it more than oxygen.
As if the kiss was the only thing holding him together.
Ward felt the brush of teeth, the slide of tongues, and the way Viper trembled against him like a grenade with the pin halfway pulled.
He clutched at his waist, nails digging in and hips arching forward.
They weren’t even trying to be subtle anymore.
There was no space left between them, no barrier that wouldn’t be burned away by the fire curling in their blood.
“Ward—” Viper choked against his lips. “Fuck, this… this is more than the bond. I wanted you before that mark ever showed up.”
“I know.” Ward tilted his head, dragging his lips down the scruff of Viper’s jaw. “I did too.”
Viper bit out a harsh breath. “If we start this, I don’t think I can stop.”
“Then don’t.” His fingers tugged at the hem of Viper’s shirt, slipping underneath to trace the lines of muscle across his chest. “I don’t want you to.
” His world narrowed to the feel of Viper’s skin under his hands, the heat of his mouth on his neck, and the low needy sound he made when Ward rocked their hips together.
“Let’s go.” Viper caught his hand and dragged him after him.
Thankfully, the crannóg wasn’t far. But even if it had been miles, Ward was sure Viper would’ve dragged them there on his knees.
They stumbled inside, mouths locked, hands grasping, and neither one noticed the door banging shut behind them.
Viper pushed him back against the wooden wall, bracing one hand beside his head with the other palming his hip. “You’re sure?”
He could get lost in his silver blazing eyes with no trouble at all. Ward answered by grabbing Viper’s belt and yanking him forward, their mouths crashing together again. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”
Viper growled—and this time, when he kissed him, it wasn’t a question. It was a claim.
Ward had never known want like this. It wasn’t lust—it was an all-consuming need. Viper kissed like he fought, with calculated intensity, every brush of his mouth dragging another layer of resistance out of his skin until there was nothing left but ‘yes, absolutely yes.’
Viper caught the back of his thigh and lifted, pressing him hard against the wall and forcing their bodies tight together.
The pressure was exquisite. Ward moaned, tilting his head back and baring his throat instinctively.
Viper didn’t hesitate. He traced his tongue along the line of Ward’s pulse before he sucked, nipped, and bit hard enough to mark his skin.
The sound Ward made startled himself with how low, needy, and full of heat it was.
Viper pulled back just enough to press their foreheads together. His chest rose and fell in shallow, panting breaths. “We stop if you say stop. It will kill me, but I’ll do it because you ask it of me.”
“Not stopping,” Ward whispered, his fingers brushing down Viper’s sides before he grabbed the hem of his shirt and yanked it over his head. “Please, don’t stop.”
Viper’s eyes burned silver and darkened with desire. Ward barely got his own shirt off before Viper lifted him again, guiding him toward the thick bedding. They landed together in a tangle of limbs, the fur pelts soft beneath their bare skin.
Everything slowed down as Viper touched him as if he wanted to learn, memorize, and worship every inch of him. Ward trembled beneath those calloused hands, overwhelmed by the way Viper looked at him like he was the treasure he’d been searching for his entire life.
They kissed again, slower and deeper, and Ward arched into it. Viper swallowed the soft sound that broke from him when their hips finally aligned.
“God,” Viper muttered, burying his face in Ward’s neck. “You feel like—fuck, you feel like the world makes sense for once.”
Ward’s voice caught as he pushed up against him. “Then don’t let go.”
“Never.”