Page 70 of Vicar
Her dragon eyes weren't erupting but something else. A flaming triangle zigzagged over the massive tattoo on his chest. Painless fire the color of Múspellsheimr. Not the world that had terrorized her but the one that had brought them together.
“Trinity,” he groaned. He pulled her against him and released deep inside her. “Stay close. Don’t go.”
She wasn’t sure why he said that, but it felt right. Like she needed to hear those words. Because when she did, when he pulled her flush against his tattoo and the Múspellsheimr fire, she seized up then melted into a climax that made the world non-existent. Oxygen sucked from her surroundings before everything exploded in a supernova, and air rushed into her lungs.
If she could explain what she was experiencing, she would, but there weren’t enough words. Enough adjectives ever created. So she sank into it. Lost and found herself. Floated until the same Múspellsheimr red that had filled his tattoo seemed to revive her just enough.
Told her just enough.
“It just happened, didn’t it?” she whispered, meeting his eyes. Her heart leapt into her throat at the change she felt. The absolute certainty. “We just...”
She wasn’t sure how to phrase it because she could have never imagined it. Never dreamed she would commit to that level.
“Yes.” He twirled a lock of her hair around his finger, mesmerized and at ease. Wondrous. “We just became mates.” His brows inched up, and the corner of his mouth curled. “And our other halves let us.”
Trinity met his smile and whispered as if it were some great secret their Múspellsheimr sides didn’t know about yet. “They did, didn’t they?” She cocked her head. “Why do you suppose that is?”
Some might say that the power of love conquered all, but they knew their other halves weren’t in that deep yet. There was no way of knowing if they ever would be. If they were even capable of it. Sure, they had come far in little time but did that mean they were heading toward some great outcome? That they could be normal? It was impossible to know.
“And why did your existing tat go all fiery instead of a new one appearing?” She traced her fingers along the triangular tattoo, captivated by it. “Because new tattoos appeared for my sisters and their mates, right?”
“Ja, they did.” He rested his hand over hers on the tattoo, only for her question to be answered in a memory. One in which both their Múspellsheimr sides were surfaced. And it wasn’t that long before they last saw each other.
“Why do you hesitate?” teenage Trinity had wondered, eyeing him with frustration. “Why don’t you mark yourself with something that proves you care for me?” She gestured in the direction of the Keep. “Something that shows everyone that you’re taken?” Her eyes narrowed. “I see other Múspellsheimr dragons do it, yet you hesitate.”
“Only because I want you with me when I do it,” he had returned. “Standing solidly and proudly by my side rather than in spirit form. Standing by my side when I take you as my mate.”
“But we have no way of knowing how long from now that will be.” She had looked at him, wounded. “I don’t want to wait that long. I want you marked now. Claimed by me and only me.”
“I didn’t do it right then, though,” Vicar murmured as the memory faded, leaving certainty in its wake. “You had faded back to the future before I could.”
She kept tracing the tattoo. “Yet you obviously did it eventually.”
“I did,” he agreed, “to surprise you.” He shook his head. “But I get the sense if you saw it, you didn’t focus on it long. That the next time we met might have been the last.”
“It’s beautiful,” she murmured, still trailing a finger along its intricate edges. “Tribal looking. Very Múspellsheimr.” Her eyes met his. “Does it mean anything?”
“I would have said no days ago, but now that I remember, I can safely say it means everything.” He traced his finger alongside hers. “The center marks represent our dragons coming together and the three main points, the worlds you were subjected to. The worlds that brought us together.”
“I love it.” Her eyes welled. “Thank you...or should I thank your other half?”
“I think we should both thank our other halves for letting us get this far.” By no means finished with her, Vicar rolled her onto her back and cupped the side of her neck. “For giving us hope.”
“Hope for what?” she managed when she felt him swelling inside her again. When just his stiffening sent her body into a slow roll of mini orgasms. “Because I can’t imagine anything better than this.”
She couldn’t either. Setting aside the endless physical bliss she was in, her heart had never felt so full. So consumed with another. They were mates now. Bonded for at least this life. Yet, Vicar wanted more. She saw it in the tender way he looked at her. Heard it in the thoughts rolling through his mind.
While she sensed he wanted to say it, to tell her he longed to become fated mates, to be with her life after life, he showed her instead. Over and over, for hours on end, with Alfheim rock shimmering all around them. She swore the colors in the rock became more vibrant, almost as if they reflected the joy she felt. Thattheyfelt.
She had never experienced what she did that night. Never drowned in so much pleasure, knowing she didn’t need to fix him. Couldn’t if she tried. Why would she want to? She loved both sides of him. Wanted both sides of him. Life after life? Yes. Absolutely. But she wasn’t the one who needed convincing, and they couldn’t do this without her other half any more than they could without his.
Without true love in every part of them.
Without a balance she couldn’t fix or find on her own.
She had no idea when they finally dozed off because there seemed to be no direct point. All she felt was love. Explosion. Lights and colors and warmth. Magic at its best. At its most peaceful.
So peaceful, she followed it right into a dream.
