33. Cori
Cori
T he waves crashing on the rocky beach below the path drowned out the chaos of her mind. Wind whipped through her hair as she breathed the salty breeze deeply into her lungs. The sky was dark now, and the moon reflected off the wisps of stratus clouds that broke up the dark canvas above them.
The sky was peppered with constellations, turning slowly over the horizon. The gravitational pull of the moon on the Earth’s axis tugged at the blood in her veins. Adrian’s hand grazed her forearm, and she stopped at the walkway, a few steps from her doorstep.
“Are you really alright?” His soft voice carried over the sound of the crashing waves and the chirp of crickets.
She nodded. “I’m OK. A bit shocked. Completely conflicted over the fact that my identity is out…” she trailed off, collecting her thoughts. The whole day had felt like a nightmare. Her head throbbed. After years of being comfortable in the shadows, her secret had been exposed—a secret that had never been a secret at all, apparently. She let his hand drift down her forearm and his fingers curled around her own. “Are you OK?” she asked him back.
He sighed, pausing for a moment. “No.” He ran his free hand through his hair, searching for words. “I almost killed someone today, and do you know what?”
“What?” She arched a brow as she opened her senses to him. Fear and desperation rolled off his aura, inky black and shimmering in the night's darkness.
“I would do it again. I would do it a hundred times, if I knew you were in trouble.” His words sucked the breath from her lungs. “There is something about you I can’t understand, Cori. From the moment I saw you standing down there on the beach, I’ve felt pulled to you. When I kissed you, it felt like the world cracked open. You sent me that note today, and something inside me was unleashed. I’d never felt that kind of fury. I knew you were in trouble. I couldn’t control the storm. Seth told me to reel it in but physically I couldn’t.”
She let out a shaking breath. “I know.”
“You know ?” His voice was strained.
She nodded, biting her lip. The bond . She should never have asked him to the island today. Never should have been so selfish, but it had already taken hold of them. “The first time I looked at your face, it was like looking into a dream. Did you know you have fifteen freckles around your left eye?”
He raised a skeptical eyebrow. “I never counted.”
“Why would you?” Her hand shook as she lifted her fingers to his face and traced the outline. “This one is Mira, Deneb, Tau…”
His lip curled up in a smile as the tension in his face fractured. “Are you speaking another language?”
She tilted her head toward him. “Kind of. These freckles are perfectly arranged in the constellation of Cetus.”
His smile spread. “Are you telling me I have a giant whale on my face?”
“I like it.” She ran her fingers over his cheek where the constellation swooped down. “For years, I would see your face in my sleep. I would dream of these stars and wake up just as two blue eyes opened in the middle of them. I recognized you immediately the first time I met you in real life.”
He pursed his lips together, and the muscle in his jaw twitched. “In real life?” He broke away, lifting his touch from her arm.
Her lips parted as she nodded up at him, her magic reaching out for him in tendrils. The speed of the stars collided with the weight of the water in her blood, and he stilled. She knew he felt it too—something ancient, primitive, and raw that couldn’t be pushed away or ignored.
The roar of the tide pulsed in her blood. As though pulled by the gravity of the moon, he closed the distance between them, their lips meeting as he pulled her in.
She plunged into the warm, wet heat of his magic the moment they touched. Her breaths quickened and her pulse hammered like thunder in her chest as his hands wrapped around her hair. He grazed over her back, and her spine arched toward him. Her feet lifted off the floor, her legs instinctively wrapping around his waist as she waved her hand over the lock on the door.
Muttering the incantation into his lips, the door flew open with the urgency of her magic. His chest was heaving fast against her as he carried her to the couch.
He sat back on the sofa, and her body fell on top of him as she impatiently tugged at his shirt, feeling his muscles tighten in response to her touch. A moan escaped his lips as her thighs straddled him and their mouths connected again. His magic was delicious, and she let herself drink it in.
She slid her hand over his chest, relishing the feeling of his muscles twitching as she grazed them. When she had finally pulled his shirt over his head, she stared down at him for a moment. Bronze, freckled skin pulled taut over muscles that had been honed by years of hard labor.
She slowed her breathing, eyes wide and set to his gaze as she slowly pulled off her own shirt and unclipped her bra. His frozen stare lingered for a heartbeat before he pulled her in for another kiss, this time less frantic. The controlled softness of his lips played over hers slowly and purposefully. His bare skin against hers was almost more than she could stand.
She arched her head back as his kisses trailed down her neck, and she gasped as his powerful hands slid down her thighs, continuing to undress her. His thick, rough fingers parted her flesh in slow careful strokes.
The air thickened with dense humidity as her skin grew hot and slick, and when his fingers slid inside her, she was undone.
Lost to reality. Lost to everything that might happen if she let him in.
She needed more of him.
Bowing her head, she kissed his chest as her hand slid down below his waist, his breath quickening and his heart pounding faster at her approach. She gasped as she found him, enormously hard and eager for her.
She arched her mouth to his ear. “I want all of you.”
He let out a pleading breath as her hand encircled him slowly up and down. It wasn’t enough. His hands braced her hips as she lowered herself onto him. The force of his magic pulsed through her like lightning as their bodies connected, stunning her into silence as he filled her.
Her body swayed forward as his hands guided her hips up and down, propelling her. She leaned forward again, deepening his thrusts as she ran her fingers through his hair. Air escaped her lungs with moans and gasps as his body met hers like waves crashing powerfully against the shore.
He gripped her hips harder, pulling her down onto him as his mouth closed over the peak of her breast. She could not hold back, crying out in pleasure as release tore through her, tensing her muscles around every inch of him.
He let go a moment later, a second wave rippling through her.
As she collapsed onto him, shimmering beads of water ran down his skin, and she kissed them away, licking the salt from his skin, as they fell down his neck. He pulled her closer to him and curled his arms around her, burying his head in her hair as she settled her head onto his shoulder.
They said nothing for a while, catching their breath as their hearts slowed back to normal. A few more beads of water fell over the curve of his shoulder, and as Cori looked around, she noted condensation on the windows and furniture.
“Cori, I…” he stammered. “That was?—”
“I know,” she said. She knew what he was trying to say. There were no words to describe the intensity of what they had just shared.
It was not just their bodies that were joined—she could feel the power of his magic as if it was living inside her. Each touch, each breath, and each heartbeat were magnified by it.
“Does this happen every time you—?” She gestured to the water dripping down his body and clinging to the windows.
He laughed. “Yeah, pretty much. I can make it go away when I get my energy back.”
“And when might that be?” She ducked under his arm as water dripped from the skylight above them.
“After what you just did to me?” He pulled her closer. “Might be a few hours.”
She raised her eyebrows at him.
“Fine,” he said, playfully. All the vapor in the room melted away, cooling her skin with the sudden empty dryness. He grabbed the blanket from the back of the sofa and wrapped it around her as he led her to the bed.