21. Bondage and Bonds
Bondage and Bonds
Seth
I’m losing it. No—I’ve already fucking lost it. I have zero control over this situation or my actions. I tried. I tried so fucking hard. I watch Ryn’s face as my cock prepares her for the soul harvest and bonding. She’s so godsdamn ethereal, and so perfect like this.
I should have spoken to her about consuming my fucking tears. It’s too late now. My throat feels tight as I croak out, “I’m sorry.” The words taste bitter on my tongue, because I’m not—not, really. This is more than I could ever fathom, more than I’d ever hoped.
I reach toward her soul and position one finger beneath it, using shadow to sharpen my nail as I quickly sever it from her body.
Ryn gasps, probably just as much from the steady undulation and vibration of my cock as from the sting of the soul-severing.
I take a deep breath and reach forward to pull Ryn into my arms, beckoning her soul to bind with me as I slowly and carefully dissolve her shadow bonds in increments, so as not to overwhelm her with the tingling sensation of blood rushing back into her limbs.
Strands of light shoot out from my still burning eyes and envelop her soul in the most intimate embrace I’ve ever experienced. I groan, panting hard and nuzzling into my woman’s neck, breathing deep.
Ryn wraps her arms and legs around me, unable to do anything more than that with my cock holding her hostage and milking pleasure from her, even now.
I walk stiltedly over to the bed and slowly settle us down, my limbs shaking from the effort as the soul-bond begins to solidify.
We roll sideways, and I tuck her limp form against me as best I can, enveloping her in my warmth.
Harvesting a soul doesn’t usually require a lot of effort, or affect me so profoundly—but I’ve never bound a soul to myself before.
Very few psychopomps are lucky enough to find someone willing to commit to a soul bind, and it’s usually not something that’s done without discussion beforehand. Fuck!
Before the panic can set in, the bond cements.
My cock crescendos and I cry out, joining Ryn in whole-body, involuntary tremors.
The magnitude of my orgasm would normally force my eyes shut—but instead, it pulls Ryn’s soul into me, absorbing her and completing the soul-bond as we fight to catch our breaths, both utterly spent.
I force my eyes open and chance a look at Ryn, praying internally that the most amazing experience of my life—the unequivocal best thing that has ever happened to me—is not the thing that makes her hate me.
My breath comes out in a small hiss as I realize she must have blacked out.
If I didn’t hold her soul, I would probably panic, but now that we’re linked, I can tell she’s not in any distress—beyond being utterly spent and exhausted.
I swallow around the lump of emotion clogging my throat and pull her into me tighter, burying my face in her hair.
Gods, I—I don’t even know how to feel right now.
My inner shaft deflates and slowly inches back into its sheath, allowing my outer shaft to return to its normal size.
I feel Ryn sigh and relax further against me.
We’ll still be locked by my swells for some time, but at least the pressure of the binding knot has faded.
My fingers card through her soft tresses, playing with the long strands as I gently massage her head.
Mine. She’s really mine. There’s no going back now—not that I’d want to.
I just hope she feels the same. I squeeze my eyes shut again as the little voices in my head fight with each other.
I should have had the strength to hold back until I received explicit verbal confirmation.
I’m almost positive she wanted me to take it.
Even if she truly didn’t know that consuming my tears would make her more vulnerable to soul binding, she had to consciously decide that her soul belonged to me, right?
I—I’m pretty sure that’s right. We can’t just force soul-bonds. She had to know. Didn’t she?
“Shhh, you’re thinking too loudly, and my psychopomp just fucked the soul out of me, so I need the rest.” There’s a light, teasing note to her sweet voice, and as soon as my brain processes her words, my whole being sags with relief. Thank gods.
“You—you knew, right? Please, baby, please tell me you did it on purpose—”
She cuts off my verbal diarrhea with a reassuring squeeze and tilts her head back to look at me.
“I knew exactly what I was doing.” All traces of humor are gone from her face, and she cups my cheek, leaning forward to kiss my skull, just over my nose. “I told you, you’re mine. And I’m yours.”
I nod, still a little shell-shocked. “You know that it’s forever, right?
I—I can’t undo it if you change your mind, Ryn.
I should have explained firs—” She grabs my lips between her thumb and pointer finger and shushes me.
I blink twice before laughing lightly, my lips slipping free of her pincher grasp as they curl with humor.
“I knew exactly what I was offering you, Seth.” Her brow crinkles and doubt leeches into her bright grey eyes as she hesitates, “Did offering my soul like that—I mean, you could actually have rejected it. If—if you didn’t want it, right?
” Her anxiety washes over me like a tidal wave, and my breath catches.
Realization dawns on me, and I attempt to send a sense of calm through our bond. She blinks, and her eyes widen. She can feel it, too.
My orbs swirl with amusement, and I chuckle as I nod, “Trust me, I wanted you.” I cast the depth and truth of my words out through our bond as an intense longing to reinforce my words.
Her eyes brighten, and a shy smile curls her lips as she feels it, and I sigh with contentment as we both snuggle into each other, taking some time to fully process our new reality.
Sunlight streams in through the windows of Cuppa Kismet, adding a sense of warmth that’s amplified by the delicious and incredibly inviting smell of coffee and baked goods permeating the air.
Oliver is handing off some drinks to eager customers as Ryn and I walk into the cafe, and I nod as she pecks me on the cheek and signals that she’ll find us a table.
Despite the fact that we’ve only been here together that one time, I’m fucking tickled to know that I already memorized her order. For some reason, little things like that really drive home our level of intimacy for me.
Ollie looks over at me with a smile and then starts blinking rapidly as he clocks Ryn taking a seat at a secluded table off to the side of the windows.
His nostrils flare right before his tongue darts out to scent the air, and I glare at him for using his creepy squonk-scenting thing on my girl.
His eyes lock with mine, and he raises a brow in silent question before shrugging placatingly with his palms out.
Oliver is pathetically smitten with his oblivious little hyena, so I'm not actually mad. Besides, I can’t keep the shit-eating grin from my face as I nod and stop in front of the counter.
“Are you?” Oliver trails off suggestively, and I chuckle.
“Yeah. We uh, actually bonded last night.” My stomach tightens with excitement, and that weird, warm, tingly feeling I’m still not totally used to makes me shiver.
Oliver’s eyes widen as he smiles, a genuinely thrilled smile that makes me feel even more tingly, because how the fuck did I get so lucky in love and friends?
“Seth, that’s amazing. Congratulations. Wow.” He blinks owlishly and then awkwardly sticks out his hand for a handshake. I glance down at it and frown, but take it, wrapping my hand firmly around his before yanking on him and pulling him over the counter into a bear hug.
Oliver squeaks and stiffens up for a second before he snorts and returns the hug, grumbling good-humoredly about how it’s unsanitary to manhandle people over the service counter.
As we pull apart, I rub the back of my neck and ask, “Do you have a minute to come over and say hi? She’s uh, she hasn’t met any of my friends yet.
And technically I’ve only met her evil sister in passing, so…
” I squint as I realize how similar Ryn and I are in that way—both work-focused loners, despite longing for connection.
Well, before this past year, anyway. I’ve finally given myself permission to let people in.
Ryn is still working on that part, but I’d say giving her soul to me is a hell of a start.
Oliver looks a little shell-shocked, but also a little misty-eyed, and I watch that watery sheen dubiously, once again hoping he doesn’t start crying.
I feel like I’ve been pretty obvious about considering him a friend before now, but maybe hearing it out loud somehow triggered his squishy-squonk sensitive side.
I’m all for displays of emotion, as long as they don’t involve tears that make my clothes look like a teenager's jizz-sock.
“I,” Oliver clears his throat and tries again, “I’d love to.”
“Hell yeah!” I glance over toward Ryn and smile fondly at the sour look on her face.
I can tell through our bond that she’s not actually in a bad mood, just caffeine-deficient and peckish.
“For safety reasons, we’re gonna wanna bring a large vanilla chai latte with us.
” I glance at the display counter and add, “and probably one of those crème br?lée danishes, too.”
Oliver looks toward Ryn and his eyes widen comically before he cringes slightly, nodding as he agrees, “Good thinking. You want your usual?”
I shrug and nod as Ollie makes his way behind the counter (the boring, non-counter-jumping way).
“You go ahead on over with your girl, I’m gonna take care of the order and grab Charlotte from the back to tend the counter. I’ll be over in a few.” Oliver smiles nervously over at Ryn before he ducks into the back, and I snicker. To be fair to Ollie, Ryn can be pretty intimidating.
Our eyes meet as I make my way back over to her, and I melt as hers soften.
Gods, I hope I never get used to these feelings.
Everything about the way she makes me feel is so vivacious—the total opposite of the monotonous tedium I feared would define my life.
Instead, I’m the lucky bastard who gets to be defined by her—by our love and the life we create together.
That vacuum of time will now be filled with motes of us, and I’ve never felt more full.
“Did you—”
“Yes, love. Your caffeine and munchies are on their way.” I take the seat next to her, but quickly scoot my chair closer so I can drape my arm around her shoulders while we wait.
She doesn’t say anything else, just leans into me and lets her head rest against my chin.
Smiling to myself, I nuzzle into her hair and kiss the top of her head.
I can feel my contentment mirrored back at me through our bond, and that giddy feeling I only get around her threatens to choke me.
Luckily, I’m partial to a bit of light choking.