He stared down at my hand in a daze, then registered his new position. He was on his side, both knees slightly bent and one foot braced on the bed. “I can move my legs. I can feel them too.”
“That’s good. But if you’re hurting, tell me so I can fix it.”
He gave a slight jerk of his head. “Pain’s gone. It just feels warm.” He wiggled his toes with a long sigh. Looking at me again, his tense expression went slack with relief as he reached out and hauled me to him.
“Thank you,” he said into my hair as I held back tears of gratitude. I wrapped my arms around him and let out my own shuddering sigh.
“You’ll be okay.”
“I don’t know if I’d go that far,” he said. “But not being paralyzed doesn’t suck.”
My eyes burned and my belly tightened. I clung tighter to him, unable to suppress a soft sob.
“Don’t,” he said. “Because if you cry, I won’t be able to hold back either.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told you. Shouldn’t have let you get so close . . .”
Bodhi silenced me, his warm lips covering mine in a desperate kiss.
My sobs morphed into a moan when he deepened the kiss and curled his fingers into my hair. My entire body heated at the sensation of his hard, solid frame pressed against me, his arousal swelling against my belly. I let out a muffled protest, but he only held me tighter. I didn’t want to let go. Every cell in my body cried out for me to give in, but I pressed my hand to his shoulder and pushed.
Bodhi fell back with a hungry look and I stared at him in shock. “You heard what Fate said. It’ll kill you all if we make love.”
He blinked at me and reached out to cup a hand over my cheek. “Then we’ll die happy.”
I stared at him. “You’d risk everyone’s lives to be with me?”
He closed his eyes and exhaled sharply through his nose. “No. I’m not stupid, but I also fucking hate being manipulated. I just want to call the bastard’s bluff. I don’t think it’ll instantly know what we’ve done. It couldn’t tell Sandor wasn’t involved, so how could it know whose souls are linked to you? It didn’t sound like it could even tell how many soul fragments you had.”
“Are you willing to risk your mother’s life to test that theory?” I asked.
He fell back on the pillows with a groan. After a moment, his breathing evened out and he looked at me again, more tenderness than heat in his eyes.
“You deserve to be happy. We both do. It isn’t fucking fair that we have to let Fate call the shots and dictate who you can be with. I wish I’d been lucid enough to tell the shithead what I thought. Because if you and I weren’t fucking fated to be together, then I don’t know what the hell to believe.”
“We can’t be. The bloodline wasn’t even accessible to Fate, so there’s no way any of you could have predestined mates. Not you, or your mother. Fate didn’t even know I existed until two days ago.”
“Then there’s another fucking power at work here, because not being able to have you hurts worse than that goddamn hound’s bite.”
The pain in his voice was laced with resignation, which cut me even deeper. I slid close and pressed my cheek against his chest, closing my eyes when he brushed his hand down over my hair and kissed the top of my head.
We lay like that for a little while, just holding each other. After a few moments, he took a breath and said, “Something still doesn’t track. It didn’t know you existed until yesterday morning when you saved me and Keagan from that hound. How did it know then?”
“It must be able to see through the eyes of its hounds,” I said. “And manifest where they are, if it chooses, apparently.”
“So it’s effectively blind without the hounds? If they’re not watching us, it can’t see us? And your four . . . Can you see through their eyes?”
“I don’t know. I can try.”
I closed my eyes and reached for the pups, finding their bright purple presence even more easily than the bloodline. I sensed them appear in the room almost instantly and Bodhi tensed beneath my cheek.
“They’re here,” he said.
“I know. Shush for a second,” I said, keeping my eyes closed and concentrating.
Within my mind, I sought out each bright orb of magic representing the hounds and attempted to push my consciousness into one of them. It gave easily, like a bubble membrane had simply parted to allow me entry and closed around me again.
I gasped at the strange change in perspective and looked around. I was still in the bedroom, but now I was several feet away from the bed and just below the top of the mattress. I turned and saw the three other hounds, their markings making it clear that Blaze was the one I now inhabited. All four hounds’ consciousnesses flickered in my mind in a strange synchronous buzz, like my thoughts had merged with theirs. We were one creature and five at the same time.
With only the slightest effort, I moved, taking cautious steps to get my bearings before leaping onto the bed. I tilted my head at the incongruous sight. Seeing myself through Blaze’s eyes was disconcerting, and I had to work to avoid the temptation of opening my eyes and breaking the connection.
But my heart clenched at the sight of me and Bodhi, our bodies twined in a desperate tangle of limbs. Bodhi’s brilliant tattoos still shone with inner light, and I realized it wasn’t the residual healing magic that filled him, but the more luminescent power of our bond through the mark I’d given him. He was already mine, my mark imbuing him with the same protection of any dragon mark—an irrevocable link that meant no one could harm him, and he couldn’t die except by my own fire.
Fate had to have known it couldn’t hurt him, but that meant it couldn’t hurt any of the others who bore my marks, either. If I claimed them all, they would be safe, but that still wouldn’t help protect Maddie or Willem.
What it did was cast more doubt on Fate’s reach, not to mention its agenda. Why had it made that threat if it couldn’t follow through? Had it just hoped I didn’t know any better? Or was it powerful enough to break through even that level of protection?
A subtle urge flared within Blaze’s mind and I released my control, but remained along for the ride, allowing the hound to take over. It warbled softly at the pair of us, the sound accompanied by a very simple desire.
Be together, it seemed to think as it stepped across the bed to nudge at Bodhi’s hand where it rested at my lower back. It had made the same gestures the day of Susannah’s wedding party when it urged Rohan and Bodhi toward me to clasp my hands. They hadn’t been able to see it then, but had still given in.
Bodhi squeezed me a little tighter. “I think it wants us to go through with it too.”
“I know,” I whispered. “I can sort of hear its thoughts.”
“Look at me,” he said.
I gave Blaze a subtle dismissal and returned my consciousness fully to my own body. Blaze settled on the end of the bed with an expectant look.
I glanced up at Bodhi, my breath hitching at the expression of determination in his gray-green eyes. “No,” I protested, knowing exactly what he was going to say.
“Yes. I love you, Deva. I want to make love to you. I am aware of the risks, but I’m also willing to gamble that we’ll all be all right. Can you give me any solid evidence that we won’t? That Fate will renege and go after the others without evidence that we’ve done anything wrong?”
“Maddie—”
“Is surrounded by the rest of the band. The guys aren’t helpless. They have all the instruments. The only thing in my truck were the amps and cables. Send the hounds to them too, if you want to be sure. Just keep your mind with me tonight.”
“I don’t think Fate can hurt Keagan and Rohan, anyway.” I brushed my hand over the side of Bodhi’s neck where my mark gleamed in his skin. “Or you. Not with these.”
He frowned and placed his hand over mine. I pulled back and watched as his fingers traced the upraised outline of the shimmering dragon mark I’d given him.
�
�It was impulsive, I’m sorry,” I said when he sat up and studied his reflection in the big mirror on the wall over the dresser across from the bed. He tilted his head and stared for several seconds, then started to laugh.
“Don’t be sorry, angel. That’s fucking rad. And this means what, exactly?”
“That you’re mine.” I sat up and rested my hand lightly on his back. “And that you’re immortal.”
He grinned at me in the mirror. “Your stepmother was dead wrong too. I’d just like to point that out.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” I said, gratified by his reaction.
He spun and had me pinned beneath him a second later, gaze intent on my face. “We never should have fucking waited. Send the hounds back to the others. Tell them to watch for danger or whatever you need to do to ease your mind. I’m making love to you before we lose this chance.”
21
Deva
Bodhi’s kiss carried a promise of his devotion, deep and longing and seemingly without end. I was breathless when he pulled away.
“Tell me what to do,” he rasped.
I lifted my eyebrows. “Are you serious?”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “I don’t mean that. I know exactly how to fuck you. What I need to know is how to give you what you need. My soul.”
His face took on an earnest intensity and my heart somersaulted. He really meant to do this now.
My emotions warred inside me. I wanted him so much, but I feared the risk we’d be taking by defying Fate so completely. “This is too dangerous.”
“Do you honestly believe Fate will know the second it happens? If you do, then I’ll back off. But I don’t think it will. What I do believe is that you will do everything in your power to protect the rest of us. We have each other, and I have this now too.” He touched the mark on his neck.
I frowned at his mark and nodded. I had to admit that I had doubts about what Fate knew. It hadn’t been able to recognize I had more than a single soul fragment—perhaps that had been Bodhi’s influence in the moment, helping temporarily bind the pieces I possessed together. Would it even see his, or would it merely see the whole and assume I still only had one piece?
“You could have died today,” I said, touching his cheek. Emotion clogged my throat and I swallowed.
“But I didn’t. And I wouldn’t have been at risk if we’d done this already.”
“We didn’t know that for sure,” I said. “If I’d marked you and accepted your soul gift and it had destroyed your will, I’d have never forgiven myself.”
“But that’s a non-issue now. I clearly have my will, because I’m not fucking hesitating.” He tugged at the collar of the conjured leather jacket I wore, then bent to press a kiss to my exposed collar bone. I sighed and closed my eyes as he settled atop me, his arousal nestling between my legs.
His damaged soul still needed the bond, and more than that, we both wanted it. The security of the others was crucial, but Keagan and Rohan both had my mark and I knew Ozzie, Llyr, and Willem would do everything in their power to protect Maddie while I wasn’t there.
Bodhi pulled back and touched my chin. “Do you know what my mom would say right now? She’d tell us to stop wasting time and to hell with anyone who stood in our way.”
I chuckled softly. “I can definitely hear her saying that.”
Some of the tension eased out of me at his smile, and I inhaled a shaky breath. I’d never been so hesitant to follow through with sex before. It was even crazier that Bodhi was the one trying to convince me and not the other way around. But the stakes had increased, and the prospect of making the wrong decision terrified me.
Yet he was right. We should stop wasting time.
“We’re telling your mom and the others everything when we see them again. They all need to know what they’re in for thanks to us.”
A bright grin split his face. “No secrets, angel. Now tell me what I need to do here.”
“Just make love to me,” I breathed. “I think your soul will know. If I’m open to you and you want to give, that’s all it takes.”
His throat worked in a tight swallow and his intense look was back. “Like gravity,” he said. He braced himself on one hand and tilted slightly, tracing his palm down my side to my hip and back up, his gaze following the path. The warm caress made my breath hitch and his eyes met mine again.
“I love you, Deva,” he said. “Every beautiful inch of you.”
He dropped his head and captured my lips again in a searing kiss, drawing a hungry moan from me. But the very decision to give in banished the last shred of tension and I arched against him, sliding my hands up and around his strong shoulders. Beneath my touch, his tattoos seemed to glimmer with an inner light that faded a second later.
His hardness dug into my belly and I tilted my hips, seeking more direct contact between my legs. Bodhi shifted over me, nosing aside my jacket to trace lips and tongue along the crest of my clavicle.
With a thought, I dispelled the jacket and he raised his head, blinking down at me. “Don’t make them disappear. I want the satisfaction of taking these off you,” he said, hooking a finger between my breasts into the top of my snug black tank top.
“But you’re already naked,” I said, sliding a hand down to squeeze one of his ass cheeks.
He grunted and pushed his hips harder against mine. “That’s because this girl I know seems to insist on doing everything backwards. It’s my turn to get you naked. I’m going to make love to you; then we’ll spend the rest of the night just making out. Then whenever we get to where we’re going, I think I need to take you on a proper date. If time travel were a thing, I’d want to go back and relive our first kiss.”
“It is,” I said, sighing and tilting my head back for his roaming mouth to graze over my throat.
Bodhi stilled for a second. Then he shook his head and laughed. “I don’t even want to know.”
“It’s hard to explain, anyway,” I said, then abandoned words when he raked his teeth lightly over the tip of one breast through my top.
I gasped and arched into him, tangling my fingers into his hair as he wrapped his mouth around my nipple and sucked it hard through the fabric. My core thrummed with a fresh ache, still tingling from the abundance of satyr essence that I’d absorbed. But despite that potent, fertile magic, my need for Bodhi seemed to escalate.
“I want to feel you. Please,” I said.
“You will.” He gave me a sly look and slipped both hands beneath the hem of my shirt, sliding them up to cover my breasts beneath the fabric. He wrapped his fingers around the full flesh, brushing his thumbs across my tips in repetitive strokes until I bucked my hips up into him, hungry for more.
He rubbed his erection against me, the friction giving me some of what I craved, but only making me want more of him. Sweet Mother, if he’d let me get rid of my clothes, he could be inside me already.
“Overeager now after all that protesting?” he said, his words tinged with amusement.
He released my breasts and tugged my tank top up over my head. I sighed in pleasure when his mouth found my bare nipple, and he sucked and teased until I thought I’d break before moving to the other breast.
“Bodhi,” I begged, pushing my hips up into him again. He let out a needy rumble and met my bucking hips with his own, rubbing his rigid shaft against my core through the leather.
He released my nipple, returning his mouth to mine in a slow, deep kiss before pulling away and leaning back on his heels. “Jesus Christ, you’re beautiful.”
His gaze traveled my body, leaving my nerves aflame in his wake. He dropped his hands to my hips and squeezed, tracing his fingertips along the top of my waistband. My breath hitched when he unfastened the buttons one at a time, the gentle tugging forcing the material to rub against my slit.
His gaze heated more and more as he pulled the snug leather over the flare of my hips, his muscles bunching with the effort of removing my pants. But he didn’t take them all the way off. H
e stalled when he got them past my ass and moved his hands back to my hips, sliding his palms flat along the swell of my belly and down, thumbs brushing over my mound in a soft caress. His nostrils flared and he lowered his head, pressing a kiss just at the top of my cleft.
“No panties,” he murmured almost as an afterthought, his lips brushing enticingly over my skin.
“Don’t see the point in wasting energy to conjure them if nobody’s going to see them.”
“Not complaining,” he murmured. His tongue darted out, hot and smooth and wet, teasing just at the very apex of my clit. Not close enough to the tip to drive me wild, but just enough to make me want more. “You’re covered in Llyr,” he said. “I can smell him on you.”
I grimaced and bit my lower lip. “I’m sorry. I can go bathe.” I started to rise, but he shot out one hand and grabbed my wrist, urging me back down.
“No. I didn’t forget how he tastes on you, angel. It’s crazy for me to admit, but I like it. I liked how they all tasted on you. You’re going to have to humor me here.”
He dipped his head again and pushed his tongue lower between my folds, until he finally grazed my clit and gave it a flick, making me buck into him. I struggled in the confines of my pants that still kept my legs securely bound together. I wanted to spread myself open for him, but he gripped my thighs in both hands and gave me a wicked smirk.
“Quit fighting. I promise to make you feel good. This is the first opportunity I’ve had to be with you alone. I’m not wasting it. The best part is that we actually are going to make love at the end.”
“Please, Bodhi.” I gave him a desperate look, tilting my hips up.
“Do you need to come?” he rumbled. He slid his hands over the tops of my thighs and grazed his thumbs softly down my slick outer lips. My core quivered, and I rejoiced when he spread me open a little and dipped his head again, eyes still fixed on my face. His tongue slipped out, the tip pushing between my spread folds just beneath the hood of my clit. Heat and vivid awareness of his touch flooded through me. He was so close to exactly where I needed him.
Fate's Fools Box Set Page 68
