Page 101 of Bound Paths
She tilted her head to look up at him. “I’m only as strong as the partner who holds me up.”
He chuckled. “I choose to believe you because it’s good for my delicate ego.” He bent and caught her lips in a scorching kiss. She met it—tongues sliding against each other, seamlessly picking up an exploration that would never be complete. Thespark between them only grew the more they were together. Luc’s hands skimmed her cheek—her neck. His fingers tangled in her hair.
“This continent is lucky to have you,” he whispered as they parted. “As am I.”
She nipped his lip. “I know,” she replied with a wink.
He grinned as they shared breaths.
“Are you love birds coming?” Aaron called from the balcony.
Luc swatted a wave at his brother. “We’ll get there when we get there,” he called back.
“I love you,” Rose whispered to him.
His mouth caught hers again. His answer was in the move of his lips across her skin. “I’m glad, because our paths are bound for this existence and the next.” He smiled as they linked hands and walked up the hill to Norden house.
EPILOGUE
It had been months since Rose had thought of the terrible staircase in Osten house. With the mist plague victims restored, Luc’s magic school project, and her duties to the Norden and the Compass Points, Rose was rarely alone.
Sitting on the balcony of her and Luc’s bedroom, reading, was a welcome moment of peace. Compass Lake was at its most beautiful as the sun was rising. A soft fog coated the lake that, in another time, could have been much more worrisome. But the mist plague was gone, the continent was restored, and the Compass Points did their best to bring forth the future they all dreamed of.
The pine and cinnamon scent hit her before she saw him. Luc groggily stumbled onto the balcony and took a seat next to her on the giant daybed. It had been her one furniture purchase since becoming Norden Point. It was wide enough for them both to sprawl out, and the hours they spent relaxing here at the start and end of each day were some of her favorites.
“Did the heroine get her happily ever after?” Luc asked as he snuggled beside Rose, throwing an arm across her waist and pulling her close. His magic wrapped around them. It was never far from Rose since they’d been reunited.
“I think she did,” Rose said with a smile, setting her book on the table. She rolled into Luc’s warmth.
“I knew she would,” he said, pressing a kiss to her neck.
“It was a little sketchy in the middle there,” Rose said. She could feel the exhale of a soft laugh against her skin as he journeyed lower.
Her lips parted as his mouth covered her nipple over her shirt. His hand, in no hurry at all, slipped under her sleep clothes and explored her skin, traveling toward her other breast.
“I’ll admit I think she deserves the happily ever after she got.”
Luc’s hand cupped her breast under her shirt, kneading it as he replied, “Oh, she deserves so much more.” Then he took her nipple between his teeth.
She hissed in pleasure, her body awakening at his touch.
The hand working her breast dropped lower, teasing the band of her undergarments until Rose was begging him to remove them.
“I guess our heroine doesn’t like to wait,” he laughed.
“Or maybe she’s waited long enough,” Rose replied. She didn’t have time to enjoy their banter as he removed the final obstacle between them, granting him full access to her center.
She gasped as he explored her heat. His fingers swirled and slid. Her body arched to him—her bound partner. It had been months, and this bond between them was still a daily exploration. She would never grow tired of it.
“Neither will I,”he spoke to her through the bond.
The heat, the pleasure already building in her body, built with his words. Their bond heightened their intimacy in ways she didn’t know possible. He was inside her in more than just the physical sense when they were together. She couldn’t get enough of him.
“I assure you, it’s a mutual obsession,”he said as he slipped another finger inside her.
She bit his shoulder to cover her moan. Though no one could see them on the balcony, they weren’t exactly in the privacy of their bedroom.
“Do you want me to stop?”he asked. The silk and sin in his voice told her he already knew the answer.
