Chapter 7
Emberlin didn’t remember falling asleep in Sebastian’s arms in his apartment underground, beneath the ice and snow of Northernmost, but she was vaguely aware while she slept that she’d never felt so at peace or so safe in her whole life.
As someone who could protect herself pretty well with her magic, it was an interesting feeling having someone else make her feel safe and one that she wanted forever.
Waking slowly and a bit disoriented in the warm arms of her not-yet-mated mate, she stared at the ceiling of his bedroom and let the pieces of the last twenty-four hours puzzle together in her brain.
The waterfall, dangerously low magic, the portal that went awry.
Her rescue, the rescue of her sister, and the sweet peace that came from being with a male who already thought the world of her.
And she thought the world of him, too. She’d never really felt like a dragon before, but right now she felt a bit like one, snuggled up to the greatest treasure in the world.
Sebastian stirred next to her, and she hummed in response, her body warm and tingling. She rolled over to snuggle even deeper into his embrace, cherishing the warmth he offered and the sweet scent of him.
He kissed her forehead with a murmured good morning.
“Is it still morning?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he said, his voice tinged with humor.
She didn’t want to leave his arms, but now that she was awake enough and had pieced together everything that had happened, she not only needed to pee, but she wanted to know what time it was.
Wiggling out of his arms and perfectly toasty blankets, she grabbed her phone from the nightstand and saw it was almost two p.m. “Not morning anymore.”
“We definitely needed the rest.” He stretched and then sat up. “Are you hungry? We could have breakfast here or lunch in the dining hall.”
“Why would we have to go to the dining hall for lunch but can stay here for breakfast?”
“Because the only thing I can cook is eggs and toast, so that’s all I have here.” He gave her a sweet smile and she loved how his eyes danced.
“Breakfast works for me.”
She used the bathroom and then met him in the small kitchen, where they made scrambled eggs and toast. As coffee brewed, she located the milk in the fridge and the sugar on the table and helped him plate their food.
“We make a good team,” he said.
“Indeed.” Once the coffee was done, they sat at the small café-style table and ate.
“So I was thinking,” he said, looking deliciously rumpled from sleep with his hair going every which way and shirtless, “that we could go on a date tonight. We wouldn’t be able to leave Northernmost, but there are things to do here.”
“Like the dining hall?”
He chewed on his bite of toast and said, “Maybe. If you don’t mind, I’d like to plan something for our first date. And then after Christmas, I can take you anywhere you’d like to go. With your magic and the Portal, we could literally have a date anywhere in the world.”
“Good point,” she said. “I never really thought about it. Talia and I did open portals to go shopping occasionally, and we spent her twenty-first in New Orleans doing a bar crawl. Oh my gosh, we got so hammered!”
“Sounds like lots of fun. You and Talia are really close?”
“Yeah. You’re an only child though?”
“Yep. But Declan and Gabriel are like brothers to me. We’re all close in age and grew up as close as siblings.”
He told her about his family. His parents were truemates and had grown up in the same pack, knowing from a young age that they were destined to be together. His childhood was idyllic compared to hers, but she didn’t begrudge him the life he’d had because it made him the male he was.
When he prompted her to tell him about her history, she told him about losing her mom as a teenager and her dad taking off.
He growled, his eyes flashing to the amber of his wolf. “He just abandoned you and Talia?”
“Losing my mom was too much for him, or so he said. He was stoic at the funeral and even sat up with us while we mourned her loss, and then after a few days, he asked me if I was okay to take care of Talia.” She’d thought he was going to go to his family’s compound in the wilds of Canada for a while to grieve, but he’d stared at her intently and she’d seen it in his eyes.
The disconnect, the almost emotionless cutting-off of his children from himself.
“I hated him,” she said. “I hated that he wasn’t there for us, and that I didn’t feel like I got to grieve properly for my mom, because I had to be strong for Talia.
Mother Nature stayed with us, along with the other Corners, and they spent days reminiscing with us after he left, protecting us and letting us cry or rail against the unfairness of it all.
Dark magic took her from us, and I always swore I’d get back at Frost if I ever saw him, but that was the last battle that took place near our coven so I never saw him again. ”
“I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” he said. He turned off the water in the sink and dried his hands on a towel. “I wish that things had been different for you.”
She leaned against the counter and stared at the bubbles left over from cleaning the dishes.
“I did for a long time. I resented my dad for taking the easy way out. Sticking around is hard, walking away is selfish. But I’m who I am today because of what happened, and I miss my mom so much, especially when I’m tapped into my healing magic, but I know she’s watching over me and Talia. And I know she’d like you.”
“I’m sure I would have liked her too.”
They stared at each other for a long moment, tension simmering between them.
Then he leaned forward and kissed her, and everything she’d been thinking about—her past, her parents, her sister’s loss of magic, and the burning desire to keep Frost from hurting another magical person again—disappeared as her fire magic flared inside her. She was kissing her truemate.
Her sexy, sexy truemate.
And she didn’t want to stop.
Curling her hands into the waistband of his jeans, she gave an experimental tug and leaned away from the kiss. “I’d like to take a shower.”
“Of course,” he said, his voice gruff.
“And I’d like you to join me.”
His brows rose and then lowered, his eyes darkening. “I’d love to.”
They made their way to the bathroom, and what few clothes they had on disappeared as they moved between kisses and laughter, stumbling and bumping into things.
He turned the shower on, the spray bouncing against the dark tile.
As the water heated, she stared at him, hands on his hips and feeling the warmth of his skin against her fingers, her whole body on fire for him.
And not because of her magic. She couldn’t recall ever being so singularly attracted to a male before, but she felt consumed by him, and that seemed like a pretty spectacular way to feel about her mate.
He tested the water and then stepped inside, pushing the dark curtain aside so she could join him.
He gave her the water first, leaning back against the tile and watching with hooded eyes as she let the hot water cascade over her hair and skin.
He was growling softly, and it sounded almost like a purr, and she really liked the sound.
She used his shampoo to wash her hair, and then she reached for the soap, but he pushed her hand away.
His eyes were entirely amber when he lathered his hands and moved them over her body, exploring as much as he was actually cleaning her skin.
Every inch of her was alive and attuned to his touch as he played with her and teased her, the suds building on her skin and slipping away with the water.
His hand delved between her thighs, his knuckles scraping against her most sensitive flesh, but with every light touch, he backed away, leaving her panting and on edge.
“Just remember that I get to wash you next,” she said, her knuckles turning white as she gripped his shoulder and held on as he lightly brushed between her thighs again.
He chuckled and kissed her, and she rinsed off, tingling still in all the places that he’d touched. As he took his place under the water and washed his hair, she spent an equal amount of time exploring him under the pretense of lathering his skin. So soft, so strong. Muscles on top of muscles.
They kissed and touched, teasing and driving each other wild, until he shut off the water with a growl and threw open the shower curtain. He stepped out and grabbed towels, handing one to her before he dried himself off.
They kept their gazes on each other the whole time, and she’d been unable to look away from his erection while she’d been rubbing him all over with lather. The male was stacked in more ways than one.
How’d she get so lucky?
“My eyes are up here, sweetheart,” he said with a growl.
She breathed out a chuckle and then let out an eep when he scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bed.
In a heartbeat, she was on her back, and he’d roughly pushed her thighs apart to make room for his shoulders. His eyes were mesmerizing, pure amber and so beautiful.
“You smell intoxicating,” he murmured, holding her gaze for a moment and then lowering his head to nuzzle her pussy.
He stroked her with his tongue in slow, languid movements, teasing her as much with his tongue as he had with his fingers in the shower.
He focused on her clit, licking and sucking lightly on the bud and then tonguing her core, feasting on her like she was the best thing he’d ever tasted.
As her body soared toward pleasure, he added his fingers, stretching her, teasing her, rubbing her clit just the right way to make her whole body buck with pleasure.
And then her climax struck as he pushed his fingers deep into her and licked her clit in fast, rapid strokes. She slapped her hands on the comforter, gripping it tightly as her body spiraled into the heat of pleasure, pure bliss making her toes curl and her fingertips glow.
He was inside her from one breath to the next, as her body was still locked in a spiral of pleasure. The heat of his body over her, in her, drove her to another hot precipice of pleasure and she clutched at him, holding his gaze as everything inside her both rioted and quieted.
They moved together like old lovers, like they’d fucked each other for a hundred years and still never got tired of it, seeming to know just how to touch one another.
She stroked his back, digging her nails lightly into his skin until he bowed his back with a snarl.
He hauled her leg up his side, spreading her body as he pounded into her with abandon.
And when he came, howling her name and his fangs descending in the most beautiful sight she’d ever seen, she offered her neck to him and he struck, sinking them deep into her flesh.
She came again, her pussy clutching his cock as he shuddered through his own climax, their limbs tangled and chests heaving, bodies slick with sweat.
Her magic flared and he hissed as he extracted his fangs, and she caught the scent of burning skin.
“Oh shit,” she gasped, realizing her fire magic had burned his upper arm in a band where her palm and fingers had been. “I’m sorry.”
“Hey, hey,” he said, kissing her with a grin. “You marked me. I fucking love it.”
She grinned and cupped his face, feeling how warm her hand still was from her magic flare. “I love that you marked me too.”
He pulled from her body and settled next to her, his hand on her belly and their bodies as close together as possible.
She closed her eyes and reveled in the feelings that coursed through her.
She could feel a connection to him now that they were marked and mated. It was like she could feel his wolf and it was incredible.
“I didn’t know it could be like that,” she said.
“Me neither. I think it’s supposed to be that way with truemates. It’s so good, so amazing, that it obliterates anything that came before it. This is the first day of our life together. The wolf and the phoenix witch.”
“Sounds like a romance novel title.”
He laughed. Snuggling against her, he kissed the healing mark on her neck, which would scar and remain forever, and she reveled in how it felt to be with him. He’d rocked her world, made her feel like the most precious person on the planet.
“I’m so glad you found me,” she said.
“Me too, sweetheart. Me too.”