Page 71 of Soulbound Shadows: Part 2

“I will pledge this,” Lissa said, taking a step forward. She had a ribbon in her hands, a long strip of the same fabric she’d used for my dress.

“Your pledge is heard. I would tell you two to please join hands, but I see you’ve done that already. Turn and face each other, please. May I have the ribbon? Ah, thank you.”

Gabriel and I turned. There was something almost giddy on his face, like he’d expected to wake up from a wonderful dream and was amazed it was still going. Marcus adjusted our hands so they were palm to palm. The painted runes aligned, and he began to wrap a strip of fabric around our hands.

“Is there one who will speak for Evangeline Summers, to pledge that she is sharing her magic truly and with pure intent?”

“I will pledge this,” Isabella said, and I looked at her with gratitude. She smiled at me with a little ‘what are friends for’ shrug, the chipped mug in her hand dipping slightly.

“Your pledge is heard. Present the chalice. Really? We’re using this? Ah, well.” Marcus accepted the chipped mug, then cleared his throat before speaking again.

“Do you swear to bind your souls, your lives and life forces? Do you swear to support and uphold, to provide what the other needs and take what they have in excess? Do you swear to share the strength of your spirits, so long as you both draw breath? Er, metaphorically speaking, that is.”

“I swear it,” I said.

“I swear it,” Gabriel said.

“Then, drink of this chalice, seal the bargain, and it shall be done.”

The ceremonial potion was sweetly herbal and made my throat all warm and tingly. I took a sip, then watched as Gabriel took his. The long column of his throat bobbed as he swallowed, the runes shimmering in the sunlight. He thrust the mug at Marcus, and then we were moving in sync again, surging forward to kiss each other. Gabriel’s lips tasted of the potion, and his mouth was eager and searching against mine. Warmth spread through me. The paint all over my body heated as the magic began to work. I felt hyperaware of my skin, hyperaware of everywhere Gabriel and I were touching. His happiness radiated through my mind, and all I could do was add to it, mirroring my joy back at him.

When he pulled back, Gabriel’s eyes were blown dark. The runes on his skin were glowing with golden light, making him look even more otherworldly than usual. For the first time, I stopped trying to control the crashing flood of magic inside of me and allowed the dam to break.

Gabriel gasped and stumbled, and I reached for him automatically, but he kept his feet. My magic flowed through both of us now, still terrifyingly powerful, but now much more terrifying for other people than it was for me.

“Did it work?” Marcus asked with mild academic interest.

“It worked,” Gabriel said. His voice had gone rough the way it normally only did after two or three rounds, and I was suddenly incredibly aware that I wasn’t wearing anything underneath my dress.

“Oh, good! I’ve never done one of those before, you know, so…” Marcus kept chattering happily.

“We’re gonna go,” I said firmly. Gabriel’s eyes burned hot on me. We were still glowing faintly, the magic swirling from me to him to me. We were inside each other.

“Ah! Yes, of course, that?—”

Gabriel scooped me into his arms, and I let out a delighted laugh as he strode toward the safe house. God, he could lift me so easily. Even easier now. He was definitely faster, judging from the way the world blurred as he ran up the stairs. As soon as we were in the room, our lips crashed together, hot and frantic. The runes were warm across my skin, tingling faintly as he dragged a fang across my lower lip. I burned, already so worked up I was dizzy with it.

The whole goddamn day had practically been foreplay, and I would lose my mind if I went a single minute longer without Gabriel inside me. Judging by the wild look in his eyes, he felt the same way.

“Do you have any idea how beautiful you look right now?” he growled.

“I mean, I can use a mirror, so—oh, fuck,” I gasped, then gave up on sarcasm. We crashed down on the bed, yanking at our clothes. Gabriel was hard and twitching in his trousers as he rutted against me. I yanked his pants open, and Gabriel hissed when I wrapped a hand around him, desperate to touch him, to feel him against me, but my skirt was in the way. Damn Lissa and the miles of fabric.

Finally, we managed to get the stupid thing hiked up around my hips, and Gabriel slid into me with one smooth thrust. I let out a moan, and we surged toward each other, his body into mine, my magic into his. There was no technique to our lovemaking. It was a desperate, clawing thing. We needed each other, and we were taking each other, fucking like animals. This was part of the ritual, too, our shared magic wrapping around us and pulling us closer together. I didn’t know where I stopped and Gabriel started. That divide didn’t exist anymore. My blood in Gabriel’s body, the throbbing heat of him in me, the magic in both of us—it was all so, so much. We were together in a way I’d never even imagined. We were joined, bodies and minds and souls touching, mingling, becoming one.

“Fuck, fuck! Right there,” I gasped as Gabriel drove his hips forward, and stars ignited behind my eyelids. He was practically bending me in half, and I dug my heels in to keep him close. “Oh, fuck, I love you… Aah!”

I grabbed his face and pulled him down into a brutal, clumsy kiss. The runes flared again, sensation zapping through us. It felt as though, through them, Gabriel was touching every sensitive part of me at once. Magic flared across the small of my back, the backs of my knees, the soft curve of my belly. The runes painted in tight, concentric circles around my nipples were all going off one after the other, making me arch even closer to Gabriel. He thrust into me again, hitting that perfect spot, and I came so hard that the world turned white. With a grunt and one last stuttering thrust, Gabriel followed after me. We collapsed onto the bed, panting and giddy.

“Good magic,” he said nonsensically.

“Really good magic.”

He brushed my hair out of my face and beamed at me. “We’re bonded,” he said like it was a secret.

I beamed back and kissed him, my hand brushing lightly over his cock, and he let out a quiet gasp. He was still hard. I curled my fingers around his length and stroked lazily, just to watch him react. Oh, the delights of vampire stamina.

“Don’t tease unless you’re ready to go again,” he said. It would’ve sounded stern if his hips weren’t twitching up into my hand.

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