Page 94 of Witch Unbound
I pulled back to lock gazes with him, drinking in his hawkish, cruel features. My heart squeezed with longing and love and my body bloomed with desire. This was the effect he had on me, every fucking time. An effect I’d buried under irritation and annoyance for way too long. He was back and I wasn’t going to waste a single moment of our time together.
The corner of his mouth lifted as if he was reading my thoughts, and the connection between us heated. For the first time since he’d bonded to me, I felt it as a distinct entity. A thick black rope holding us together. More powerful and secure than the connection I had with the guys.
My gaze fell to his mouth. “Are you okay?”
He answered with a kiss, soft, tentative, as if he was testing the waters, testing to see if this, us, was real.
“Jasper…” I spoke against his lips, eyes fluttering closed, pulse quickening.
He kissed me again, harder this time, demanding I open for him, that I give him my tongue, that I surrender.
I complied with a moan, sinking into him, fingers digging into his shoulders. He broke the kiss by dragging my bottom lip between his teeth and then flicking his tongue over it to soothe the sting.
“I was lost.” His voice was husky, chest heaving against my breasts. “I’m not anymore.”
“In the abyss. I saw you there. I tried to get to you.”
He frowned slightly. “I don’t remember.”
I noted the dark smudges under his eyes for the first time. He needed rest and here I was, mauling him. I climbed off him and helped him sit up before joining him on the sofa. “Whatdoyou remember?”
He sat, head bowed, eyes flicking from side to side as if scrolling through events in his mind, and then his head whipped up, eyes wide with panic. “You were in danger on the cliff.”
I gripped his thigh. “I’m okay. It’s all okay.”
He stood abruptly and began to pace, his movements stiff with anger. “You could have died. This fucking thing. This…” He stilled and fell silent for a long beat.
“Jasper?”
He turned to face me, and for a moment, when I looked into his eyes, it was like looking into the eyes of a stranger, but then he blinked, and a frown furrowed his brow. “Fucking thing…I need to stop it. I can’t let it take me again.”
“We’ll find a way.” I stood and wrapped my arms around him, resting my cheek on his chest. “It’s going to be okay.”
“How long have I been gone?”
“Three days.”
“I assume I missed a lot.”
I chuckled and looked up at him. “You could say that.”
He studied me for a moment, his emerald eyes sharpening. “There’s something…different about you.”
“You have no idea.”
* * *
I joined Tor,Leif, and Rune in the kitchen, making sure I had a line of sight to Jasper in the lounge sipping tea. He probably wouldn’t vanish again so soon after getting back, but still, I didn’t want to take my eyes off him for longer than I had to right now.
“I’m going to stay in the cabin with Jasper tonight.” My gaze flicked between them, gauging their responses.
Tor’s jaw tightened but he didn’t object.
“That’s fine with me,” Leif said.
“Me too,” Rune added with a smile.
I waited for Tor to say something.
