Page 233 of A Winding Wave of Magic
“Jonathan.”
Beside me, my mate’s sleeping form hummed with life and warmth, one arm slung across my lap, proprietary even in his sleep.
Mate.
Yes.
Something told me that connection was different now too. The cord, that blue-amber bond, was a color of its own now when I closed my eyes to look. Something closer to sage, the hue of Jonathan’s shifter eyes during magic hour.
His fingers stretched, then curled into the flesh of my thigh, like a cat flexing its paws when it purred. A part of me yearned to return to the fold of his arms and bury myself in their comfort, just like another part of me considered pushing him onto his back and taking him deep inside me a second time just because I could.
But there were more important things to attend to.
Things like figuring out what had just happened to us. And where in the name of the goddess we were.
Jonathan,I tried again through a touch on his shoulder.
He huffed and turned over, baring a long, muscled thigh and reaching an arm over his head to reveal the tattoo just under his bicep. A lynx in a wreath. Even now, the animal’s eyes seemed to glow.
I grabbed his hand and shouted through our bond.JONATHAN! WAKE UP!
He shot up with a start and a growl. “What? What is it? Where—good fuckinggods.”
I felt his senses take in the differences in the cave just as I had, though he took a few more minutes to track the perimeter and notice a few things I hadn’t, like a change in scent and a shift in the cave’s energy.
At last, his eyes met mine. “Where are we?”
I shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
Some things were familiar if not exactly the same. The patterns on the cave’s walls were still weathered by time, but significantly sharper than they had been in the dark. I recognized the height of the chamber and the rock we had given ourselves to, though, under my seat, it wasn’t quite as smooth.
The biggest difference, however, was the fact that where the current had previously eddied into a pool now stretched a long, winding passage carved from rock, tunneling through walls decorated with more spirals and other signs I’d only seen in archaeology articles and picture books.
A breeze floated down the passage and wrapped around us both. I shivered again.
“You’re cold,” Jonathan said.
“Well, I am naked.” I looked around. “And our clothes seemed to have disappeared along with the water.”
“I know. Come here.”
Maybe I should have felt shy in nothing but my skin now that a bit more light was here to reveal all of my imperfections, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. Something had broken down between the two of us, reduced to our most savage, animal urges. There was no going back now.
I was gathered into my mate’s arms, and the warmth of his body fused with mine as I nuzzled, marveling at the small things I hadn’t been able to see in the dark. The soft blond hair scattered across his pectoral muscles. The translucent freckles dappling the tops of his shoulders and the back of his neck. The strong lines of muscle and grace that carved over his chest and stomach as if applied with a sculpture’s chisel.
You’re beautiful,I thought. What a gift, at the end of the earth.
My chin was tipped up, and a soft kiss pressed to my lips.Thank you.But you’re the work of art.
“So, the myths are true?” I joked. “Shifters do run hotter? I thought that was just aTwilightthing.”
For that, I received a nip on my ear. “Thankless wench. You could just stick to gratitude. I believe you cried my name at least three times.”
“You wouldn’t like me otherwise.”
He chuffed but didn’t argue as he kissed me again with a bit more fervor and pulled me astride his lap. I looked down to find the solid fact of him aligned with me. I considered it a moment—the tilt of my hips, and he would be there again to banish the uncertainty of our situation and bring us to, well, if notthehere and now, then another.
“Casssssss.”
