Page 56 of Magic Claimed
Jarom’s teeth chattered and his pain-filled gaze locked with mine. A line of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. “Keep you…safe.”
There was so much blood. Too much blood. My fingers curled around his, slippery with his fresh blood. “You’re a fool.”
He smiled, his teeth a macabre red. “Worth it.”
My heart stopped tumbling and sunk into the pit of my stomach. Iwasn’tworth it. I was going to betray him and he hadn’t realised.
Eike Changed in the burst of magic and ozone crouched next to me.
“Jarom!” Eike’s voice was a pain-filled hoarse cry. Eike cupped Jarom’s face with his hands. “Brother. Speak to me.”
Jarom’s eyes were half closed, glazed, and staring at nothing. The breath wheezed from his lungs, his chest barely moving. His body went lax despite the blood still oozing from his wound. His skin glowed in the moonlight. So pale. Too pale. Too still.
Eike took Jarom’s hands in his, curving over him. Eike wrapped his arms about Jarom, rocking back and forth as he openly sobbed, pain so raw it tainted the air. Eike’s face scrunched as he tipped his head back and howled. The sound was so mournful I felt the pain of it seep into me. Eike’s pain became mine. Mine to bear. Mine to feel. Because of me, Jarom was losing his life.
Jarom had put himself in danger for me. Jarom didn’t like me. He hated me. He…he…he felt so deeply he didn’t trust his own emotions. He’d protected me with nothing more than his body. He, a Second of the wolves, protected Esoti’s slave.
He didn’t protect a slave. He protected his mate.
The world turned dark and cold when I contemplated it without him. He was so stupid, he…he’d lived with pain so dark, didn’t those who life had turned on deserve it the most. My soul twisted as the darkest part of me began to swallow me whole.
I closed my eyes and hot tears streamed down my cheeks. I sank within myself until I reached the golden magic ball. I dipped my hand in it using the bond magic, feeling the warm, silken threads flow through my fingers. This was my avenue of escape, my way out, this…this…I could use this. The power of the magic infused into me, powerful enough to heal the fatal wound of an Alpha wolf. If not this, then nothing else could save Jarom.
I let the bond magic wash through me, imbue me, strengthen me. I scooped the liquid gold, infusing it into my body before placing my hands on Jarom’s wound. The magic poured from me, making my hands glow as it sank into Jarom. He gasped, eyes flying open. His back arched and his arms flopped to his sides. His entire body glowed with golden, life-giving substance. He threw his head back, dragging in a ragged breath as his wound knit beneath my hands.
I willed the magic to pour deep until it found the scar on his soul. I pushed golden light into the wound. Black smoke writhed around the mess. Darkness bubbled.
“Come on. You can do it,” I whispered.
Golden light erupted from the scar, leaving glimmering rose light as it faded. I withdrew from Jarom’s soul to see the skin knitting together over the tattooed face of a white wolf.
I recognized the wolf.
The wolf was me.
My breath stuttered as I dragged my gaze to Jarom’s face, to his twitching muscles, the rise and fall of his chest, and into his liquid brown eyes. The bond between us expanded, drawing me towards him. His rose light reached for me and enveloped me; his soul brushed against mine. The temptation was too much. I reached for him and let the light of his soul seep into mine, filling me, completing me.
I sensed his essence. His joys, failures, likes and dislikes. His lust for me. His desire. The heartfelt plea that he would honor me and fear that he would never live up to be the mate I needed him to be. I felt it all. Raw honesty infusing every emotion. There was no deceit. I saw his very soul. The true him.
It was perfection.
His hand cupped the back of my head. He drew me towards him and there wasn’t a thing I could do to stop him because I didn’t want him to. He caught my lips in his, kissing me deeply. He curled his arm about my waist, crushing me against him, his kiss deepening until all I was aware of was Jarom, his taste, his body, the depth of his soul and Gods help me, I kissed him back filled with as much desire as he felt for me.
A distant part of me heard Eike howl, followed by a chorus of howls from the wolf shifters who had burst into the vale. The howls were filled with joy and reverence. It was a celebration.
I broke our kiss, opening my eyes to smile at Jarom, in awe when he smiled back at me, his face free of tension and pain. I felt his ecstasy running through me. His lightness of being. His sense of wonder that he’d never felt so light. His gratefulness that I had brought about this chance and wonder of the magic of the bond. The wonder ofme. Of what I’d done to him.
Forever locked; we were one half of the same soul, unbreakable through death. What I had done to heal Jarom was absolute and non-negotiable.
Eike tilted my chin and kissed me and even though I’d kissed Jarom, desire for Eike shot through me. Jarom’s fingers traced my back and cupped my buttocks, firming and kneading flesh that tingled with his touch. I drank in Jarom’s touch, Eike’s kiss. My body melted as arousal heated my blood. Underneath me, Jarom’s cock hardened, his thick length pressing into my belly.
I heard the shifters moving off into the forest to give us privacy, then I paid them no mind as the bond magic rose within me, all-consuming and compelling. I needed my mates with me. I needed to be filled with their cocks and their bonds.
I clutched Jarom with one hand while I tugged Eike’s locks with my other. I ground my hips into Jarom’s erection, my pussy swelling with the need to be filled. Eike groaned into my mouth, his tongue lashing against mine. My hands slid down Eike’s toned abdomen and wrapped around his heated cock. I slid my hands up and down his shaft, delighting in the feel of velvet skin over steel. I wanted that cock in my mouth. Needed to have his salty taste on my tongue. I kissed my way down Eike’s neck, grinding myself against Jarom’s cock.
Nothing would stop this intense pleasure until, without warning, the collar around my neck tightened.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
