Chapter Ten #3
Stone didn’t respond. That was an answer in itself, he supposed. He wondered how long he should sit there. Maybe he only made a fool of himself. As the thought hit him, a flash of light caught him off guard. Bodhi hovered over him.
River glanced up and smiled. “You’re back.” Even he heard the happiness in his voice.
Gorgeous eyes stared down at him with zero emotion. “You’re hungry.”
The animals in the room made a run for it.
Stone jumped into fight mode. “Aren’t you supposed to be bound? Who set you free?”
Tam climbed out of the mirror. “Oof. Lucifer really needs to replace a few mirrors. His bedroom looks like he got really freaky sometime today, and I just don’t need to see that.”
Stone pulled Tam aside, and they spoke in whispers.
River stood and wiped any dust he might have picked up from his ass.
He ignored what went on behind Bodhi. He also couldn’t look at Bodhi again.
The conversation with Stone bothered him.
Combining that with Bodhi’s blank expression reminded River that his mate had done a lot of evil things.
Too many emotions crushed him, and they were all bad.
How could such a beautiful creature have so little care for anything?
Why had Celeste paired him with someone incapable of loving him?
Had he been that big of disappointment to the gods?
He didn’t understand. It was not like fairies were expected to worship them.
His throat swelled. He had worked so hard to be a good person his entire life.
Now he was being punished, and he didn’t understand.
Bodhi touched River’s chin, forcing River to meet his stare. This isn’t your punishment. I recognize that you see me as a monster. Maybe I am, but no. This isn’t your punition.
But it was Bodhi’s. River knew how to read between the lines. He had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now Bodhi saw him as a cage.
“I’ll go. There's still a little house in Faerie waiting for me. You don’t have to worry I’ll interrupt your life or plans.”
Something dark passed over Bodhi’s features.
He stepped closer and pulled River against him.
The scenery changed around them. They were back at the cabin in the mountains.
There was no missing the way Bodhi was hard for him.
The lust in the air had his wings unfurling with the need to bleed Bodhi’s energy.
Bodhi still looked furious. “Make no mistake, you are mine. You’re not my cage. This is no trap. I don’t give a fuck what that pious Celeste thought she was doing when she paired us, but I know one goddamn thing. Nothing in this universe can hold me against my will. Not even you.”
River felt moved to point out the obvious. “Tam kept you glued to the floor.”
Bodhi snorted so hard, it had to hurt. “I wasn’t stuck. That was just an excuse to get Tam to leave and for me to keep you feeling safe enough to talk to me for hours.”
While Bodhi’s confession meant he had pulled another dang trick on River, River still melted. “Really?”
Bodhi rolled his eyes. He grabbed River’s ass, lifting him off the floor. The move left River with no other choice but to wrap his legs around Bodhi’s waist. Bodhi headed for the bed and crawled onto the mattress. He held River so that he couldn’t get away even if River wanted to do so.
“Dive into my head and root around. I get that you’re a good person who doesn’t do things like that because it’s rude. Whatever. Blah. Blah. This is an order.”
“An order?” River wasn’t truly offended. He just couldn’t stop himself from challenging Bodhi
“Yes. Did I say something that confused you?”
River huffed and did as Bodhi requested.
Bodhi chuckled.
River tentatively touched Bodhi’s mind. He was blasted by powerful magic.
Things he had never seen. River was so fascinated that he dove deeper.
Bodhi had seen so many things. A planet more beautiful than River could dream of.
But underneath it all, there was a dark rage.
There was so much despair behind countless years and lives.
Loving people and watching them die weighed so heavily, River had trouble drawing a breath.
Tears rolled from his eyes and into his hair.
Then a bright light shone in the distance.
River moved toward it as if incapable of stopping himself.
He felt everything Bodhi did as he drew closer.
There was something in the center. River had to know what it was.
He didn’t know what he would find there, but he knew whatever the light held was the answer to everything.
It was the object that would finally set Bodhi free.
The air lightened. It became easier to breathe again.
A delicious scent of fruit mixed with the salt of the sea filled his nostrils.
His mouth filled with saliva. He swore he could already feel himself rocking on a boat in the middle of the ocean, eating extravagant and exotic fruits.
The light blinded him for a second before his eyes adjusted.
Then there the object was, the one thing that Bodhi desired most. It was him.
River stared at himself. He watched himself handing Bodhi flowers.
River reached for them just as Bodhi had.
It was as if he lived the moment through Bodhi’s eyes.
The cosmos were something he had tried to get for centuries without luck.
They were the missing key to his plan to kill Lucifer and get back his nephew.
But Bodhi didn’t care about them any longer.
His eyes wouldn’t budge from River. He watched himself blush and felt Bodhi’s sudden realization.
He had known. In this very moment, over that cauldron, Bodhi met his mate.
River couldn’t wade through the shock. He had known giving his blood to River would bind him.
Bodhi had purposely sucked the blood from River’s cut tongue.
At the moment River had fallen, Bodhi had too.
A dangerous thought struck. He could do this. River didn’t have to be brave or strong to take on a mate most would shun. Bodhi had always been meant to be his.
River blinked. He stared into his mate's eyes. Bodhi stared back, waiting for River’s reaction. He felt the way Bodhi braced for River to respond the way Bodhi thought he should. Bodhi fully expected River would search for any and every excuse to reject him. That was not what River felt at all.
“I love you.” And River knew nothing Bodhi could do would ever change that.
“That’s good to hear.”
River didn’t fall for Bodhi’s deadpan response. “And you…”
“Are grateful,” Bodhi supplied.
“I’m sure, but you also…”
Bodhi didn’t take that bait.
River exploded into action. He pinched Bodhi’s nipple and twisted as hard as he could.
“Ow. Fuck. Ow. Okay. Goddamn. I love you too.”
Everything else fell away. River melted and knew Bodhi could see it in his expression. “Awww! You just said you love me. I can’t believe it.”
Bodhi huffed. “You have to be fucking kidding me.” While Bodhi was grumpy and grumbly, River saw the truth. Bodhi loved him, and he also loved it when River was mean to him. There was no way River could have seen this man coming.
“Would you like to?”
A laugh that sounded as happy as he was escaped River. “As a matter of fact, I would love to.”
Yeah, this was his man. Forever.