Page 56 of Magic Hunted
“Now, you have a choice, but bonding with me will only make you do something you don’t need to do. If I was an ordinary panther, and if my parents had been ordinary parents, I would have given myself to you all the moment we touched, but I’m not that person. I’m a danger to you! Brais is already dead…” I forced my words out through my constricting throat.
Ashir cupped my chin, making me stare into his glinting eyes. “And we told you not to lessen his choice by telling us he shouldn’t have done it. Don’t tell us what we do or don’t want either. We’re grown males and bond or no bond, we can still make a choice. You think that because we’re fated, it removes our choice, when the opposite is true, because everything we want is on the line. Honor us by letting us make the choice. By letting us choose you. We don’t take this decision lightly because it affects all of us for life, but make no mistake, even knowing the good and the ugly, we want you. We’re not the type of males who shy away from that.
“Just to be clear. I don’t care that a piece of grimoire is inside you. Or that you need the bond to release it. The grimoire doesn’t factor into how we feel about you. It’s not a consideration. You’re not a commodity. You’re a gorgeous female we’re desperate to learn and love, honor and cherish.” Ashir kissed my temple, his breath choppy. His fingers tensed on my body as he fought to contain his emotions.
Such powerful emotions. Even without their soul-lights, they wanted me.
My fingers curled around his wrist. His pulse beat beneath my touch, fast and hard. My hair stirred as Dias leaned forward and kissed the place where my neck met my shoulder. “Just in case Ashir didn’t make it obvious, the same goes for me, magic.”
“We’ll tell you as many times as you need to hear it.” Savvas stroked his fingers down my arm to rest on my knee. “And we’ll still take you swimming in the pool when it gets too hot in the jungle. If that’s what you want.”
My heart galloped inside my chest, banging on my ribs as though they were steel bars. My life had been filled with scary moments but this was the most terrifying of all. It was also the first time in decades I was being asked to make a choice. My parents never gave me one. Neither did Titan.
I never thought mates would either, and now everything I’d thought was true turned to dust. The tightness inside me wasn’t only physical attraction. I had no bond to blame because when they held me like this, I didn’t want to be anywhere else. I dreamed of being held like this, but being held bythem? It was more than I could have possibly imagined.
I cupped Ashir’s cheek, stroking the stubble on his jawline with my thumb. His throat jumped when he swallowed. His gaze jumped from my lips back to my eyes as he waited for the very thing every cell in my body called for.
There was no hesitation. No more denying what I wanted. Because I did want them. They were right. I didn’t need to make any decisions about anyone but myself. I closed the distance and sealed my lips against his.
A sigh rippled through my body as his lips moved against mine. The kiss was tender. Giving. Taking. Sharing. He drew back, his lips shining. Dias tugged my head to capture my lips with his. He kissed me just as tenderly. Letting me understand they wanted me as bond-brothers as well as individuals.
Dias cut our kiss far too short when Savvas leaned toward me, taking what I freely offered. And then, when no more thoughts tortured me and my mind was at ease and blank, a rumble started in Ashir’s chest as his panther purred.
Savvas drew away from me and also purred, the low sound blending perfectly with Dias and Ashir, as all three alphas joined in their song. My head fell against Ashir’s chest as I listened to them. I let the sound seep into my pores and into the deepest recesses of my fractured soul.
My panther rose under my skin, slinking against the barrier. She blinked at me with her glowing eyes. She settled in a languid ball at the base of the barrier just below the scar in the darkness. The beyond no longer seemed so deep and bleak.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I was in a dreamy place as the day passed, content to stay in Ashir’s lap, all three alphas present and one touching me at all times. My body was attuned to them, needing the gentleness that was so new and provided so readily.
Time ground to a halt and now that I wasn’t on hyper-alert and looking over my shoulder with every passing second, my body fell into a boneless slump. I jostled awake when Ashir passed me to Savvas, who held me in his arms with a soft smile. I sought the sound of his heart in his chest, reveled in his warmth and drifted into a semi-aware state again when he sifted his fingers through my hair.
I slept while my panther slept. Stirred when she did. I ran my fingers through her metaphysical fur, content to curl next to her. She purred for me, nuzzling me every so often with her cold, wet nose as she wound her tail around me, protecting me. Her barrel chest vibrated beneath my cheek and I lost myself in the feel of her silken fur and comforting presence.
The darkness inside me lightened, her presence filling me. She was a part of me, foreign and yet achingly familiar. I’d functioned for so long without her and I hadn’t known what I’d missed. She’d been as stifled as me and now I could actually touch her, I realized how badly I’d been limping along. One half of me functioning for both sides. Half dead without realizing it.
Her green eyes glowed in the lightening darkness, affection in her eyes as I stroked the short fur between her ears. She was a part of me I’d just found, and I was also a part of her just as much. Two halves of a whole, healing.
“Eat this, Haera. I picked it for you from the orchard.” I blinked open sleepy eyes and Dias knelt before me and handed me a round fruit. His lips ticked and his head perked up. “I can see you bonding with your panther. You have her eyes.”
“I do?” I didn’t feel any different.
“We can ask our panthers forth at any time. They are a part of us. The other half of our souls.” With a blink, his eyes glowed a bright emerald, the color enlarging so there was no white showing. His pupils contracted into vertical slits and his chest thrummed anew with a deep purr. “My panther likes you. He also likes your panther a lot.”
My panther shifted to her feet, pressing against my skin. A strange feeling came over me, an urge that traveled through my bones and a pressure that made my skin tight.
“Your panther wants to come out to play,” Savvas said.
“She does?” My shoulders tightened knowing the pain shifting meant.
“It won’t hurt the way it did before. Not when I had to force it,” Ashir said, his forehead creasing. His gaze dropped to the ground, his angst practically vibrating in the air between us.
“It’s all right, Ashir. I don’t blame you for that. You saved me,” I said.
He lifted his serious eyes to mine. “Just let your panther step through. Give her permission and your body will flow from one form to the next. It won’t hurt when both parts of you allow it. It’s as natural as breathing, I promise.”
My panther’s whiskers tickled me, assuring me we could both manage this. Our bodies were made to Change. We didn’t need to fight. We needed to work together. My panther watched me, lending me confidence. I might not know what to do, but she did.
