Page 71 of Witch Untold
The pulse in my throat fluttered. “You do?”
“I’ve always thought of myself as invulnerable to pain,” he said softly. “But when I thought you were dead, I experienced agony for the first time. Burning, searing, and destructive. In that moment, a part of me was ready to die.” He brushed his lips across my forehead. “So tell me…is love tumultuous, messy, and destructive. Is it need, passion, and want?”
“Yes, Jasper.” I pushed the words past the lump in my throat. “Yes, it can be all those things.”
His eyes flinched and then his mouth parted on a sigh. “In that case, love is a beautiful storm, and right now, here with you, I’m standing in the eye of that storm.” His hand slid down to my throat in a familiar claiming that made my pulse race. “I love you, Cora. I think I’ve loved you for a long time.”
A wave of emotion drew a sob up my throat because the candlelit dinners, the retreat in the mountains, the jealousy, the heat, all the tiny little things I’d ignored made sense now. While I’d been ignoring my feelings for him, he’d been unaware of his.
We’d wasted so much time.
But no more. I pushed up on tiptoes and kissed his lips, not demanding, not claiming, but tentative and questing. He cupped the back of my head and deepened the kiss, in the way only he knew how.
I gripped the back of his neck, pushing him against the wall and molding myself to him, as if the connection of our bodies would somehow communicate the emotions words failed to do.
But he broke the kiss, anger flashing in his eyes. “Not now, for fucksake.”
“What?”
He blinked at me, as if struggling to see me. “Cora. Cora, I have to—”
Then he was gone.
“Shit. Fucking shit.”
* * *
I tiptoed into my bedroom,stripped off, and carefully climbed onto the bed. Jasper would be back, and we’d figure out this vanishing thing. I’d speak to Conah about it. There had to be a way to fix it.
Tor moaned softly in his sleep and Rune made a rumbling sound in his chest, but none of them woke as I settled between them. The heat of their bodies was a blanket settling over me, soothing away the foreboding that scratched at my chest with needle-like nails. My muscles unknotted, body relaxing and growing heavy.
Tor rolled onto his side and slung an arm over my waist, nuzzling my ear. “Mmmm.”
Leif mumbled and rolled toward me too, hand sliding onto my thigh.
I looked down the bed to see Rune watching me with golden eyes.
Do you want to watch the sea with me, Cora?
Yes.
He dropped his head to his paws again.
I exhaled and closed my eyes. Content. Safe. Home.
The crashof waves pulled me toward the man standing on the cliff, looking out onto the ocean.
Rune turned to face me, golden hair whipping about his face, hazel eyes bright with vigor.
“You came.” He held out his hand.
I took it, tipping my head back to look up at his smiling face. He had dimples. How had I not noticed that before? I reached up to stroke his cheek, marveling at the rasp of stubble and the silken spaces in between. I brushed his bottom lip with my thumb and his smile fell slightly, eyes darkening with desire.
“Cora, I know this time is precious, that we don’t know how long this will last or even if we’ll be able to come back here. I know we should spend it getting to know each other, but…Is it wrong that all I want to do is taste you.”
My stomach flipped. “No. It’s not wrong. We can talk when we’re awake. This time”— I slid my free hand up his chest—“is for other pursuits.”
He claimed my mouth in a kiss so deep it touched my soul. The crash of the waves battled the rush of blood in my ears. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pressing my torso to his, soft breasts against hard pecs. Heat bloomed low in my belly, wetness between my thighs.
