Chapter 32
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
When I open my eyes, the bright morning light has faded to the dull glow of midday. A warm body is lying next to me. I roll over—into Mikael, his naked form solid against mine, and rest my head on his shoulder. A satisfied rumble echoes from his throat.
When did he come back?
Or was that all a dream, like the pixies?
Was any of that real?
I prop myself up on my elbow and watch the rise and fall of his chest. He looks like he’s peacefully asleep. I want this to be real, but I’m afraid it’s not. I lay my head back on his chest, listening for the beat of his heart, a rhythm that I know like my own.
“Hello, gorgeous.” Mikael wraps his arm around my shoulders.
A deep, ragged breath releases the tension and fear that had been building, almost convincing me this was still part of the trial. “Was last night real?”
“Yes, very much so.” His chest heaves in a heavy sigh.
“You didn’t come back. I was distraught, frantic, waiting for you. I thought you—”
He puts a finger to my lips.
“Did you not believe me when I said I’d never forsake you?” Mikael lightly presses his lips to my forehead. The next words are a whisper against my skin. “You are mine, and I intend to keep you.”
“I did—do—believe you. But these trials are not the same as something happening in reality.” I nuzzle into him, running my hand along his bare chest, trailing the lines of his pecs and the dragon scales that now mark his body. “When did you get here?”
“Just after the sun rose. You were asleep, and I didn’t want to wake you. I washed, then joined you in bed,” he says, slowly tracing circles on my back.
“I wish you would have woken me. I needed you,” I admit, no longer wanting to fight the way I crave his presence.
“I’m here now,” he says, holding me tighter. “You saved me this time.”
“We saved each other.” I lift my head and give him a quick smile. “Can we stay here for the night? Just the two of us? Act like we aren’t in a race against time, like I’m not cursed to die.”
“I’d like that.”
A serene silence blankets us as we lie in each other’s arms. A sense of peace fills me, something I haven’t felt in a very long time. I listen to the beat of his heart like it’s a soothing melody.
I drift off into sleep again, this time with a smile on my face.
I jolt up, choking on the air as I clutch my chest and side. My teeth grind together, and I squeeze my eyes shut as I’m assaulted by what feels like thousands of stinging insects. It’s happening again, a part of my soul is being reunited with my body.
“What is it?” Mikael’s eyes snap open, and he rises onto his knees.
“Just. Hold. Me,” I push out through strangled breaths.
He does so without question, wrapping his arms around me as I rock back and forth.
Tears stream down my face, drops splattering onto his skin.
I know it’ll soon pass, but I squirm beneath his firm hold, my body needing a release from the agony.
But it doesn’t stop; instead, an intense itching follows, spreading along my ribs.
My cover-up tattoo, unraveling itself as the curse’s hold further weakens.
“I wish I could take your pain.” Mikael’s gaze is locked onto my side.
I follow it and watch as the ink disappears along my ribs.
“You’ve held enough of your own. This is mine to bear,” I say, even though it’s a struggle.
Slowly the sensations subside, and my body starts to relax. I drop my head back onto his chest and wrap my arms around his stomach.
The contact of our skin is different this time.
It’s magnetic, our bond sealing our souls together again.
But it’s still strained.
It’s time. I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and focus on the mental walls I put up around our bond and open myself up.
A flood of emotions barrels into me, so overwhelming that it takes my breath.
His emotions.
Everything I’ve been cutting myself off from.
“Oh, Kai,” I say, tears streaming down my face as I look up at him.
“What’s wrong?” He gently pushes me away and looks over my body, as if to find what else is hurting me.
What hurts is the deep sorrow mingled with intense desire. Sorrow that I’ve caused, in some part. His emotions are overwhelming. I’m shifting through all the layers of him that I had kept at a distance. I didn’t want them before, but now that they’re here, his pain becomes my own.
It’s like that first night he showed up and I stabbed him in the heart, only it’s my own chest bearing the brunt of the blade now.
He senses it, I can tell. Adoration, love, and devotion are all there as he looks deeply into my eyes. “Do you understand now?”
I nod. “I’m so sorry.”
I drop my head, but he lifts my chin. “No… Do not be sorry. We have both suffered. We’re both stronger because of it. And together we’re stronger still.”
“It should be me taking on your pain, if anything. You let me hate you. Let me cut you so deeply over and over.”
He tucks my hair behind my ears, kissing each tip as he speaks. “But the love I have for you runs deeper than those cuts. I didn’t expect this to be easy. That you’d fall back into my arms the moment I returned. I did betray you, even though it wasn’t my choice.”
He pauses, and this time, it’s his eyes that well with tears.
“I never told you exactly what the curse was, because at the time, it didn’t matter.
The king made me steal the amulet because the curse cast upon the thief is that the one you love most will die.
The king was too arrogant to see that his command would also be his demise. ”
Fury roils through the bond when he speaks of the vampire king and the curse, but when his thoughts turn to me, his emotions soften and it extinguishes the fury.
“I am yours,” I say. “Fully and completely.”
“I’ve missed the way you feel.”
I smile. “It only took seeing you bite another woman.”
He laughs. “You were never the jealous type.”
“You’re mine.” I place my palms on his shoulders and press down.
He yields, back sinking into the mattress as I swing a leg over his hips, my knees closing in against his ribs. His hands slide along the outside of my thigh, running up my waist until his fingers grip my ass.
I kiss him with the passion of a thousand burning stars. Pushing through our bond the way my mind, soul, and body are finally free from the restraints I had created. I’m unshackled; released from the cage of inhibitions created by pain, loss, and betrayal.
It’s like sunlight gracing my face after spending months in a dark and damp place. Burning away all the once-frozen parts of myself.
He grabs my face and devours my mouth, flicking his tongue against mine, rolling and twisting with my movements. Each exchange is an offering, either an apology for the past or a promise for the future.
Friend. Mate. Lover. Provider. Protector.
“Make love to me, Kai.”
His expression darkens, becomes feral. “Say it again. Say my name.”
“Kai…” I bite my bottom lip, gaze slowly and deliberately following the finger I trail across his chest, before sweeping my hair back, and tilting my head ever so slightly to the side.
He flips me over, picking me up off the bed, and shoves me up against the wall. My fingers grip his hair, and I hook my legs around his hips, pressing his erection against my opening.
Our kisses are frantic and all-consuming.
A lost love reclaimed, rekindling a bond that now burns its way through our bodies. Imprinting him deeper into my essence than he ever was before, and me into his.
He grips my wrists, pulling my hands above my head, and sets that perfect mouth to my ear. His lips trail kisses along the tip, nipping at the edges.
My breath accelerates, and my back arches with the need to feel him inside me. “Stop taking your time.”
“Oh, but this is what I have been waiting for. I told you I’d worship you.” Kai continues along my body, moving first from my ear then down the column of my neck, and finally across my throat.
In one fluid motion, he transfers both of my wrists to a single hand, then cups my breast with the now-free one. He sinks his teeth into the soft skin above it, and my breath hitches. My vision bursts into stars as my eyes roll back in my head.
Every pull of my blood is ecstasy.
My heart beats erratically at the intrusion, but I crave the way it feels.
I cry out from the way my need has spiked; I’m almost trembling.
“I have been waiting for this.” He pulls his fangs out and brings his mouth down against mine, filling it with the tang of my own blood. It’s oddly satisfying, to taste myself upon his lips.
His patience deserves its reward. I yank my hands free from his hold and push him off me. He stumbles back a step, and before he can protest I drop to my knees and wrap my hand around his length. I stroke it as I look up at him. “You deserve it more than me.”
I take him in my mouth, running my tongue over his slit and around the rim.
He arches his head back and groans. “Fuck, Bryn.”
His hand fists my hair as I work his length, faster and deeper. Veins pulse under my tongue, and I move my mouth to the rhythm of his pleasure. Every one of his moans, louder than the previous, turns me on more, spiking my arousal.
White-hot, mind-numbing ecstasy spirals across the bond. His orgasm is reaching its heights, and I’m reveling in this gift I can give after he’s waited for so long.
“Bryn…” My name is a shaky exhale, his grip tightening in my hair.
He pulls away to lean against the bed, his fist clenching the sheets as his body goes rigid. He looks back at me with a devouring gaze. “You’re in trouble.”
“Punish me then.” I rise and swing my hips as I approach the bed.
His nostrils flare with each step that brings me closer to him. I push him back onto the bed and lean over, flicking my tongue against the tip of his length.
“Stop while you’re ahead.”
I don’t stop.
He doesn’t stop me either.
I return the kisses he gave, crawling over him while moving my mouth along the planes of his muscular stomach, over the scar on his hip, to the dragon scales on his chest. I finally reach his neck before landing on his mouth.