Page 79 of Only Human in Strangeville

He lowered his lips to mine, and I melted into his kiss. Bridger was confident, firm but gentle, at first demanding, then soft and giving. I opened for him, and we explored each other. My heart picked up speed, and I pressed more firmly into his embrace.

The tingle of magic built between us, pulling a needy moan from my lips that Bridger drank with his kiss. He tightened his grip on my back, still cupping my cheek with his other hand.

For a time, the magic simply vibrated between us, but then Bridger shifted somehow and accepted what my magic was trying to offer him. I hadn’t even realized I was doing it, but he apparently did.

“I accept,” he murmured into our kiss.

My magic slammed into both of us. It was like an erotic ice pick to my core. Not completely pleasant, but certainly not terrible. My vision swam as my body shattered.

“Fuck,” I gasped as we broke off our kiss and both went to our knees.

“I’m not sure I knew what I was getting into when I accepted,” Bridger gasped.

“I didn’t even know I was doing it.”

“So, since you’ve marked me, what does that mean?” Bridger’s eyes shone with amusement, and I felt acceptance between the bond we’d just forged.

“Well, I think that means I claimed you somehow kind of like Davin and Katsuro want to claim me.”

“You should still let them.”

“You might have to accept their marks, too.”

Bridger tightened his lips but nodded. “Possibly.” Then he grinned. “It’ll kill them that we made our bond first.”

I smiled. “We are all supposed to have a nice group chat about how we’re going to make this work, but we keep getting attacked so we haven’t actually been able to do it.”

“Maybe we can do that tonight,” Bridger replied. “And I am serious. Take their marks. Vito and his gang are no joke and the stronger we are, the better able to face them we will be.”

“What if I don’t want their marks?” I wasn’t completely sold on the idea, after all.

“Then mark them like you did me.” He grinned. “Just glad I got there first.”

That pulled a laugh from me. “Okay. Hey, you’re pretty all right, you know that?”

“Thanks, Hannah.”

I leaned in, brushing my lips against his. He responded, deepening the kiss and crushing me against his chest, unbalancing us. We toppled over onto the floor, laughing and kissing until Nimbus woofed, alerting us to someone at the door.

Reluctantly, we pulled apart and headed to the door.

Davin was on the other side, about to knock again. His nostrils flared when I opened the door, and his expression darkened when he saw Bridger behind me.

Shit, we’d all been on board with this, right? Not that I’d made any sort of commitment to Davin yet, but his expression told me he hadn’t been as prepared as I’d thought to accept Bridger into our group. Or maybe he could sense the bond somehow.

“Hi, Davin,” I said, trying to break his stare.

Bridger came up behind me and put his arms around my waist.

Davin growled.

Nimbus saved me from having to deal with Davin’s attitude directly. He trotted over to the werewolf, and by his jaunty walk accented by the wag in his tail, I could tell he was feeling mischievous.

He mimed lifting his leg on Davin. The werewolf growled at Nimbus then went back to glaring at Bridger.

Not about to be ignored, Nimbus, aimed and fired…

Davin yelped as the warm stream coated his leg. “What the fuck, dog!”

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