Page 47 of Dawn Unearthed

She smiled. “I still don’t know what I was thinking. How did I think I was supposed to lift a man as big as you?”

I shrugged, my bear preening. “You tried. And I will be forever grateful for that.”

Sage sighed and looked up at me. “I’d like to get to know you more. Discover everything. This pull? I can’t stop it.”

I moved forward then and slowly trailed my fingers across her chin. “This pull? It’s magic. It’s a bond that ties us together. We can walk away. Even if I kiss you right now, even if we find out who we could be together, that pull doesn’t mean we will ever complete the bond.”

She frowned. “What does that mean?”

“Once I mark you as mine, that completes the bond. Sex isn’t part of it. It can be, and that’s usually when someone marks another, but sex is more part of the pull, a bit of what completes us. If we slept together right now, I’d be claiming you as mine but not as my mate. Not forever. Does that make sense?”

She swallowed hard, and I wanted to reach out and bite her lip, have her taste.

“Why do I feel like everyone else understands this whole fated mate thing but I’m still falling behind?”

“You aren’t. The fact that you’re here right now? It’s not you being behind.”

“I used magic today,” she said again, her eyes wide. “I used magic and power, and I have my store. I bake, I provide. Everything I’m doing…I’m changing. And yet, you’re always there in the back of my mind. I want to know who you are, Rome. Can you show me?”

I nodded and leaned forward. “As long as you kiss me first.”

She rose on her toes, and I leaned down.

When she brushed her lips against mine, I was lost.

Chapter Thirteen

Sage

Rome slid his hands down my sides, bracketing my hips, and I moved closer to him, groaning. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. All I wanted was to taste him, to feel him. I groaned again, needing more. And then, he pulled away.

I frowned, confused. “What?” I asked, my body shaking.

“I don’t want to do too much, not when I want to strip you down and bend you over this table.”

My eyes widened. “Oh.” I shook my head. “That word seems to be the only thing I can say these days.”

“I kind of like that I make you speechless.”

“I’m not normally. Usually, I ramble. Especially when I’m nervous. And I’m nervous.”

“You are?” he asked, his voice a deep rumble. His lips lifted into a smile as he studied my face as if he were trying to understand who I was. I did the same with him. I looked into those dark eyes of his, at that chiseled jaw beneath the big beard, at how he filled out the shirt he wore, and I swallowed hard. Magic and fate had brought us together at first, but I liked the man I saw. And I wanted to know more about him.

I swallowed hard and winced as I looked at the fish tank on the wall.

“I think I’m sloshing the fish around again,” I said, frowning.

He sighed. “At least you’re not knocking the water out. Don’t worry. The fish are fine. If they weren’t, I’d have moved them to a safer place. But Rowen helped with a spell.”

“I need to get a better handle on my water affinity if I want to stand in this room again.”

“You’re already more controlled. I can see it.”

“Are you telling the truth?” I asked as I walked towards him.

He nodded as he looked down at his fish. They happily swam and wiggled towards me, and I could have sworn that one little fish waved.

“The fish are fine, as is the tank. I’ve seen you as you bake and around town. You do have a stronger connection to your powers. As if you’re finally waking up.”

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