Page 50 of Dragon Blood

Oracle of the Mother.

He’d only ever seen fear in her eyes twice. The day that he’d asked for her heart and then at Regina’s sickbed.

Kai linked his fingers with Astred’s, holding firm.

His pulse ticked a little faster, even while his thoughts slowed as Charmaine’s voice intoned a prayer, then recited several more lines in one of the old languages before gently releasing their hands.

Kai’s dragon growled in protest against the herbal interference, while his tiger hunkered down, waiting, watchful.

Odson stood by Heidi, monitoring the ceremony.

The Wardens protected the Grove and the Nexus.

The Brandts were guardians of the entire region.

Just as Kai’s clan, Dùn Zhao—Shield Claw—were, in his home territory.

Charmaine led the way to the riverbank where a traditional birch-bark canoe floated in wait, folded robes draped over the benches.

“We’ll need to undress?” Astred turned to Charmaine.

“Your clothes may be damaged in the process.”

“The tree is going to eat us?”

Charmaine’s eyes crinkled in the corners. “Just for a little while. “

“Charming.” She turned to Kai, the corner of her lips lifting. “Swim?”

He lifted a brow when her gaze flicked up and down his body. His head felt like it was going to totter off his shoulders. “Sure.”

At the water’s edge, they stripped, leaving their clothing in two heaps.

Astred pulled her shirt up over her head, stepped out of her jeans and into the water.

She never bothered with underclothes.

Kai focused on his task, shed his clothes, following her into the chilled water where she waited, waist high.

With a final glance back at the witnesses on the bank behind them, Astred led the way across the outlet to the island, just large enough to support the solitary tree, which now, to his altered eye, glowed pure white.

Memories flickered through Kai’s mind as they swam, recalling his previous times alone with Astred, always where the water met the earth. The boundaries of two worlds.

Only this time, it wouldn’t result in the union of their bodies in passionate lovemaking.

This meeting of boundaries would unite their souls for a while in the astral sphere of a nexus.

The potion continued to hum through his body, though temporarily dulled by the chill of the river. The closer to the tree they swam, the more intense the roll of power surged through his limbs and drummed around his heart.

Focus became more difficult as the barriers of control—human control—slid away, giving way to instinct and pure intention.

Despite the mission, Kai’s buried thoughts and emotions homed in on Astred.

He’d never wanted anyone else the way he wanted her. Still. Even now, after the rejection.

Drawing a deep breath, shoving all of that aside, he pushed the last few feet through the river to the bank supporting the ancient tree, reminding himself that the potion and the nexus were going to brutally rip him wide open right along with Astred.

But he was too slow to shunt away the raw truth that even now, he’d never wanted her more.

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