Page 18 of Magic Hunted
My chest constricted because I knew what I saw. I recognized the naked vulnerability that scarred them as deeply as it did me. They might have built those same walls to survive their day-to-day lives, but Ashir let me see their pain. He didn’t have to, but he let me see without a second thought.
“I want to kiss you so badly, my heart.” His voice was a low rasp, filled with need and yearning so great his vibrant red soul-light brushed against mine. “I want to take your pain as my own because then you might not be so scared to feel our bond. You would see there’s nothing to fear and everything to gain.”
Dias pressed against my back, his hand curling over my shoulder and Savvas’ arms trembled around my waist. My throat swelled and the tears that had only threatened spilled.They understood.And those few words cut so deep there was no denying them.
I balanced on a precipice but then I saw desire on his tight face. The burning hot need and that incomparable connection between us burst into flames. What stretched between us was intangible, but I felt it as physically as his hand on my cheek. My gaze dropped to see his fully erect cock beneath the very clear water, matching the ache that pulsed inside me.
My lips parted as the bond flared, my body burning with as much arousal as the need to be accepted. Wanted. Claimed. “Yes,” I breathed.
Yes, because just this once I wanted to know what it felt tohave a choice. To be recognized and not rejected. Ashir drifted close and brushed his lips over mine.
“I’ve ached to find my mate all these years. Watched on when others found theirs and wondered when you’d turn up. You have no idea how much we want you, even if you can’t see it yet. We’ll spend years proving your place is at our side and ours by yours. We’ll make up for the trauma I know you’ve suffered a thousand times until it no longer shadows your days. Until you realize you don’t have to do it alone anymore. We’re here. For you,” Ashir said.
His hand drifted across my shoulder and grasped the back of my neck. His teeth dragged over my bottom lip before he bit, the sting helping me to work the sorrowful lump from my throat and the desire to wash it away as though it had no right to be in the way of our pleasure.
He’d said words to me I thought I’d never hear. Intentions declared that could never be mine. My chest flooded with his soul-light, streaming the small chink in my wall. My body flushed white hot and I knew there would be no denying this kiss because this is what I’d dreamed of. This is what had given me a slither of hope to keep going, to keep surviving even if my life was fake. In this moment, I didn’t care and gods help me if I didn’t wrap my arms about his shoulders, part my legs to cradle him against the most intimate parts of my body.
Savvas moaned, grinding his cock against my backside as Ashir swept his tongue into my mouth. Warm lips seared the place between my shoulders as Dias kissed my back and licked a path up my spine. Savvas’ hands drifted across my belly and Dias placed his palm on my thigh. They branded me with their touch, their mouths, their cocks. Offering themselves to me in the most persuasive way they ever could. Laying themselves bare and slipping past defenses as though they were never there.
A needy whimper bloomed inside me. My pussy flooded with slick heat. Savvas rubbed his length, grinding himself against me as his hand slipped from my waist to the juncture of my thigh. His finger skimmed my clit and a deep shudder worked through me. My hips tilted to increase the pressure, needing him to press harder.
“What do you want me to do, my heart? Do you need me to touch you here while Ashir kisses you and Dias strokes your thigh? Do you like all of our hands on you? Want me to work your little clit nice and hard?” Goosebumps broke out on my skin as Savvas’ breath washed over me when he whispered in my ear.
I groaned in answer because there was nothing else I could do. There were no words for the mindless need burning through me.
Savvas slid his fingers through my slippery folds, dragging the heel of his hand against my sensitive bundle of nerves as his cock throbbed behind me. I shuddered, tilting on another precipice that was not filled with the usual darkness and fear, but bright glowing light. Savvas crushed his hand against my clit. I tore my mouth from Ashir’s and tipped my head back on a soundless scream as my orgasm erupted.
The grimoire trembled with satisfaction and magical light fizzed out of its tight hold. Too late, golden bubbles of ancient Fae magic burst free, zinging upwards to hit the cave roof and sink into the stone.
“My mate. My heart. That’s the same magic I felt before,” Savvas said, his voice a whispery husk.
“I…oh no!” I said as a distant rumble grew steadily louder.
The ground shook and the calm water of the gentle stream churned into waves. Savvas picked me up as though I weighed nothing, his arms banding around my waist and crushing me against him. Ashir and Dias leapt from the stream as thunder boomed around us.
Pincers erupted in a spray of gravel halfway up the cavern wall, followed by an enormous wedge-shaped head before the bug jumped free of the hole. More poured into the cave, punching through rock from every part of the cave to stalk toward us, only these bugs had riders atop them.
My brain misfired, supplying a name for the fierce riders advancing on us. The largest who led his pack stole my attention. Long white hair fell down his back like moonlight, the white strands glowing in the luminescent blue moss. His sharp features tightened, his eyes glowing white. Long, thin braids entwined with blue threads parted around pointed ears.
All the riders were dressed in matt-black leather armor molded like second skin over long graceful limbs. Geometric lines glowed blue across the leather, up their thighs, arms and over their chests. Their feet were clad in thick-soled boots, edged with glints of silver blades.
Elves jumped from the bugs, charging both Ashir and Dias, taking them to the ground with sheer number.
“No!” I shouted, terror razing my blood like liquid fire. Savvas’ hold tightened on me and I struggled to free myself from his arms. The lead elf swung his leg over the head of his bug and stalked towards us.
“Stay back!” Savvas stepped backwards into deeper water as bugs ridden by elves approached. Water churned along my calves, the current beneath my feet silently powerful. We toppled into the water as they scrambled closer. Water closed over my head and the current sucked us down into an invisible whirlpool. The force ripped from me Savvas’ arms and funneled me into inky wet darkness.
Chapter Ten
The brutal current tossed me around like a plaything and I reached out for something,anything, to stop me from being swept under. Finding nothing, I knew I was about to drown. A distant part of my mind recognized I’d regenerate and live, but the other part, the strongest part, was caught in a mindless panic. What if I was trapped in a tunnel? What if my body snagged beneath the water? I’d drown again and again and again.
Where was Savvas? He could become as trapped as me and he wouldn’t live again. My lips parted, letting frigid water seep into my mouth. White haze filled my brain and nothing but instinct kept me alive. A firm grip banded about my wrist and yanked. My head broke through the surface and I gasped for air.
“Hold on, my heart. I have you,” Savvas rasped.
His firm grip pulled me from the water and onto hard rock, where I coughed and struggled for breath. “Savvas?” I wheezed, clenching my eyes and thanking the gods he was alive.
His fingers tangled in mine as he brushed a clump of hair from my cheek. “Are you hurt, Haera?”
